Saturday, December 27, 2008

Winter Fun....


Well, Denver has been gone for a few days now and wont be back until the 5th of January. What does this mean? It means sleeping in without feeling guilty....or taking naps with the same result. It means cleaning.....or not......watching what I want on TV....not worrying so much about whats for dinner...... but it also means, shoveling the driveway after a foot of snow gets dumped on us overnight! It made all the other fun seem, well, not that much fun after all. Seriously, I felt like I moved enough snow to cover the wasatch mountains twice. OK, maybe not that much but still, I was hurting the next day. Big thanks to Denver for shoveling everytime it snows.....it made me really miss him. So, after all that snow we had to go sledding today! It was a good time, at least for 3 of us. Addison wasnt too keen on it after I took her down the hill with me on the tube. We were flying down the hill, and I mean FLYING....I had a hold of Addisons torso but her legs were flying outside of the tube and I was afraid I might lose her to the wind at one point. The tube was spinning in circles which didnt help and I was screaming at other sledders to move outta the way.....lest they be creamed by an old lady on a tube. It was hilarious and I wish that I had video of it even though the laughs would be at my expense. After we huffed it back up the hill, a guy was smiling at me in a way that said....."lady, you should have seen how funny that looked" ....but instead, he asked where we bought such a fast tube. Ha! I made grown men jealous with that run..... Addie wouldnt slide again after that so we just chilled at the top of the hill and watched the boys. It was good fun. Can I just add one side note, actually 2 side notes.... #1 Utah drivers are clueless and cant drive in the snow. Nevermind the explanation because I have too many examples to share ....... and #2 Utah retailers are clueless because they stop stocking winter wear in December. So that means that if a big snow storm hits in December (like this past week) and all the crazy people who hadnt previously bought winter wear run out and buy it all up, thats it.....no more to be found. I should probably mention that I am one of those above mentioned crazy people along with half the city, therefore I should learn my lesson and buy my children boots, gloves and snow pants in July (because that makes total sense) in order to avoid the irritating 3 hour search that occurred today for those items, which was almost a bust by the way. In fact to further illustrate my newfound "lesson learning" from this experience, I will be purchasing swimsuits for our family next month since retailers in Utah think January is a good time to start selling summer clothing. DUH.

The Worst Part About the Holidays......

Is taking it all down and putting it away.....ugh. Although I havent started the tree yet, maybe next weekend. For now Im taking baby steps and just removing the Holiday music from my blog playlist. Im loving the soundtrack from the movie "Twilight" along with some of my other faves. So thats whats on here for now....I'll probably mellow out again in a week or two!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

A visit from Santa = 3 very Happy children and one very tired Mama (with an extra pic of Addie, our mommy in training)......Merry Christmas Everyone.


Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve Fun.....

Tuesday we had a really nice get together with my brothers and their families. Weve pretty much done this for the past 3 years so I guess it has become tradition for us. We met at Nate and Alisa's home and had yummy Wasatch Pizza and exchanged gifts. Everyone was really happy with their gifts (we hope :) I had an especially great time because Nathan and Alisa, who "employ" me to watch their son Soren, gave me a Christmas bonus as would any good employer.....but this bonus was the best ever.....UGG boots! I have been wanting UGG's for a very long time but cant ever seem to justify spending the dough on them. Now I have some.....yay! We also got an awesome movie package for our family which included and air-pop popcorn machine, a few movies, candy, and all of it came in a supe huge stainless steel popcorn bowl. Too cool. Last but not least, we got a fondue pot with cookbook. This is really exciting because I have to host a Bunco party next month and what better thing to bring out for a party than a Fondue Pot....thanks Jeff and Nicola!

Then our family went bowling for our Christmas Eve....


this was great fun although my score was seriously lame and Im not even going to talk about it. Shameful.....:) We ended the night going to see the lights on Temple Square


which is always a nice way to end the evening....brrrrrrr. We came home, opened the Christmas Eve PJ's, had hot chocolate and put on a movie Fred Claus. This is how you cram it all in when someone is leaving town...... Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!





Monday, December 22, 2008

Say Hello to My Little Friend.....

Christmas came a few days early for me. And unexpectedly so. I had just finished making cookies last night and complained that if I had a "Kitchen Aid" it would have been so much easier because the dough was soooo thick and I couldnt even use my hand mixer. So, Denver goes out to the garage and comes back in with this!



Isnt she pretty!~ I am very excited for this nerdy mom gift.....some guys might get put in the doghouse for a gift like this but not my guy. Its the color I love too!!! Im very excited and plan on breaking it in soon. I happily threw this pathetic thing in the garbage.....See ya!


I hope you all have an equally exciting Christmas gift waiting for you under your tree....

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Its a blizzard out there!.....

Wow. Talk about a snow storm. It started at about noon today and didnt stop until after 7pm. I went to pick up Ian from Chess club after school and noticed I was low on fuel....like really low....but I did not want to get out in that mess so I thought I would just pick Ian up and then get gas later. I shouldnt have listened to myself. 3 blocks after I picked him up, I abruptly ran out of gas. No chugging and sputtering....just immediate engine failure. Nice. I did manage to get out of the middle of the road and thankfully I brought my cell phone with me since I wasnt wearing socks and walking to a phone would have proved very chilly. I called my brother to come to my rescue because Denver was at home watching this very brothers child and didnt have a carseat for him. Big thanks to Nate and Alisa for braving the weather and putting gas in my car. Ian was so upset about the incident he declared "This is the worst holiday beginning EVER! " (it was his last day of school for the Christmas break)

So, after that fiasco, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to warm up. We lost power to the house a couple of times which meant pizza for dinner....the delivery guy didnt look too thrilled with having to be out in that mess. I dont blame him but am grateful that he brought us our dinner. Then I had to go to work and that was interesting driving 20 miles per hour on the freeway. Now it is 1:00 in the morning.....I am home and off to bed. Apparently the snow is supposed to resume tomorrow (today). Looks like we will have a white Christmas thats for sure!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Let it snow.....


This is the view out of my front window. It is so quiet when it snows.....I love it. Got home from work late so I decided to sleep in and take the kids to school late. Perfect day to do it too....

Friday, December 12, 2008

Addie Scissorhands....


Addison decided to cut her own hair....grrrrrrrrrrrr. After I got done blaming all the boys in the household, I realized that the little stinker must have done it herself (with the scissors that Denver kindly left out for her....hey, I have to blame someone more responsible than her). Thankfully the damage was minor and is reasonably able to be hidden. This time. I shudder to think what it would have looked like if she had been the least bit coodinated with them. Luckily she has not mastered the art of scissors yet.

Ring, Christmas Bells......

I received a real treat last night when I was able to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choirs' Christmas concert. This concert is so difficult to get tickets for that I dont even bother trying. I have an aunt and an uncle who both sing in the choir but they are only given enough tickets for their immediate families and sometimes it isnt even enough for that. So.....when my aunt called me the other to offer me one of the tickets she received, well, she didnt have to twist my arm! Big thanks to Angela (my cousin) for giving up her ticket to me! This years guests (they always have special guests) were Brian Stokes Mitchell and Edward Herrmann. There was some speculation that maybe this year they got Josh Groban as the guest but unfortunately that didnt happen.....Im still hoping for that..... A month ago when I saw who the guests were going to be, I wondered if it would be that good. I didnt know who Brian Stokes Mitchell was and Edward Hermann will always be the guy from The Lost Boys.....(awesome 80's vampire movie) so I wasnt sure what he was going to add to the event. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. Mr. Mitchell was very good.....very broadway....but very good. He has a really beautiful voice with a huge range and I enjoyed some of his songs quite a bit. Of course I was left wishing for a few more choir pieces but maybe I am biased :) I have to say the highlight for me was the reading that Edward Hermann gave. He told a story about a family who suffered a lot of loss during the civil war era and how they managed to still have hope at Christmas. The orchestra played in the background as he told the story and he told it with so much feeling that I may have believed it to be a true story about him.....I think he even was crying at one point. Very moving. I loved it. He also told the story of Christ's birth from Luke at the end which was awesome. They had dancers and bell ringers and it was a really beautiful concert. We had great seats too thanks to Grandma and her wheelchair. I can never get enough of the choir though and wished there had been a couple more pieces by them.

Not much else going on over here. Just seems that I have no time and yet I cant figure out why. Its this time of year I think. My lack of posting shows that I have been preoccupied with other things. I'll work on it......

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Value of Time.....

My Aunt Chrissy sent me this little thought/poem about the value of time. I could personally relate to more than one of them as I know she can too so I wanted to share it......



To realize The value of a sister...
Ask someoneWho doesn't have one.

To realize The value of ten years...
Ask a newly Divorced couple.

To realize The value of four years...
Ask a graduate

To realize The value of one year...
Ask a student who Has failed a final exam.

To realize The value of nine months...
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize The value of one month....
Ask a mother who has given birth to A premature baby.

To realize The value of one week...
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize The value of one minute...
Ask a person Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize The value of one-second...
Ask a person Who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.


Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Ian's Baptism.....

So, today was the big day. Ian has patiently waited an extra month for his chance to get baptized. We bought him a nice suit for the occasion and he looked very sharp. His own words this morning were...."I look pretty handsome in this..." He was very composed and I am so very proud of him. Dad got up and introduced him to the congregation and listed a few of his favorite things: Fave Primary song: "Called to Serve" Fave scripture story: Daniel in the Lions Den and also what are some of his Christlike qualities. Denver said that Ian's was love. He loves people and has always had a hug for anyone who would let him do it... ever since he was 18 months old. We decided to wait for his confirmation to be done tomorrow during our church services. After the baptism, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch. This was Ian's choice for "fancy restaurants to eat at on his special day" . Nate and Alisa & Soren came with us as well. It was a really nice day and most importantly, Ian is happy. Here are a few pics from the day.



Evan really wanted to try on Ian's suit.....funny thing is that it nearly fits him anyway. We just recently discovered that the boys have the same size foot already. I think Evan is going to be VERY tall.