Christmas Parties

My sweet mother had her family Christmas party at her house this year. It was fabulous! The kids love getting gifts and the adults enjoyed great food and even better company. It brought back memories of my childhood.... this is what Christmas is all about. Each family brought something to donate to the homeless shelter and it made me think about how amazingly blessed we are.

More parties, more food, best friends, and awesome kids. Even though December is a busy month, we always try to get together and at least do dinner and gifts for the kids. This year was no different... maybe a little busier with the house but amazing nonetheless. I must say I have some really great people in my life! Love you all!

First Haircut

Josh gave Garrett his first haircut and it was badly needed. His mullet was coming on strong. I kept trying to trim around his ears and neck with the scissors but he would just run from me. It did no good.

Josh was an expert... I had no idea you could do that kind of stuff at home. I am going to buy myself a set of clippers and attempt this myself. Garrett did really good. He was a little scared at first but by the end he was fine just very itchy!

My baby looks like a little boy now... he is growing up so fast!

School Days!

Gracie had her Christmas performance at preschool. Once again, sooo cute! They sang song after song and played kazoos and rang jingle bells and they were all dressed like Rudolf. She is learning so much in school and can recognize words and she writes and draws all the time. I will be sad to see her go to kindergarten next year. OMG, where has the time gone?

Gracie Sassy Pants!

Oh Boy am I in Trouble....

Gracie is taking dance again and gymnastics this year. She loves it. they had their Christmas program and it was darling. The girls are starting to learn and remember the dances and they are to die for in their costumes. I cannot get enough of how cute they are. She did great, they danced to "I'm gettin nothin for Christmas". She is doing well in gymnastics and practices everyday. Garrett is getting pretty good at somersaults too with Gracie's help. We took the girls to Leatherby's for icecream afterward.... AMAZING! I think that part was more for me.... ha ha!

Garrett....

Have I mentioned that my son is a wild man?

We have lived in our house for one week and one day and so far we have been to the Instacare once because Garrett Superman dove off the barstool and landed on his hands and knees. He wouldn't walk on his leg so we thought it could be broken... luckily, it's just sprained. And tonight we found a piece of dog food shoved up his nose. The poor kid sneezed about 10 times in a row. I had no idea but when I made Gracie clean the dog food that they spilled playing ball he decided to put a piece up his nose. Sick!

HOUSE. IS. DONE.

now I can make it a home.....

Update

Garrett has been talking like crazy for about the past two weeks. I was getting worried because he didn't say anything but mom and dad for the longest time... but now, he repeats everything we say. He Calls Gracie Doo Doo and he says shoes, juice, bear, ball, no, baby, ba ba, car, tractor, more, mama (grandma) and Bob (Grandpa). I am sure there are a lot more words that I don't understand quite yet. ha ha! Garrett was asking for juice the other night and I was too lazy to get out of bed so I told him to go ask grandpa for some juice. He ran out of my room and yelled "BOB, Juice" It was the funniest thing... I didn't even know he knew my dad's name. His hair is finally growing and will become a full mullett shortly. Sooo Excited about that. I tried to cut it around his ears and in the back with no success. Oh well.

Gracie is wonderful and is behaving well for Santa Clause. There is still the occasional melt down but that is expected. She is only five... at least that's what I keep telling myself. She is writing and coloring all the time. She made her Christmas list and just needs help with the spelling. She is learning a ton in school and loves it. She was sick yesterday and cried because I wouldn't let her go to school. What an over achiever.

Jake is sooo busy building our new house. He is gone almost every night doing something. We are hoping to be in on the 23rd of December... just days before Christmas. I pray that we can pull it off. The house is coming along and I am loving it. Painting starts this week and I think stucco goes up Friday.... YAY! I have been choosing colors like crazy and although overwhelming... I still love it. I hope it all comes together. I tend to go with simple choices so hopefully it will all flow.. I did not choose any chandeliers for this house. Only can lights and ceiling fans. Did I say Simple or what?

I am doing well. I just had surgery last week and I feel good. LOVING my kids and my wonderful parents for helping out so much. I am soooo grateful for my full life and all the amazing people I love.

Witches

Rakel and I took all the kids to see the witches at Gardner Village in October. For some reason, even though they are exactly the same every year, it never gets old. The kids loved it. It was a great day and the sun was shining. We went to the candy store and picked out a treat for everyone... Great day all around. I even talked Turner into giving one of the Witches a KISS! See you again next year Withchees!

Halloween 2009

My kids were absolutely adorable this Halloween. Gracie dressed up as Ariel in a costume that my Aunt YaYa made 22 years ago for her daughter... she loved it and was able to wear it to dance, school, my work, and Trick or Treating. Garrett wore an elephant costume that was handed down from Dalton... He loved dressing up but he loved going trick or treating even more. He ran from house to house and did not want to stop. He was so mad that I wouldn't let him eat all of the candy as he got it. The kids were able to go trick or treating with their cousins, Conner, Kalder, Mya, and Katie and some good friends too. Overall, Halloween was a success except for the small fact that we didn't carve pumpkins... time slipped away this year.

House Update

These pictures were taken last week but now we have windows and doors, the rough electrical is finished and we have our 4-way inspection today. The tubs are installed and the porch is poured... YAY! we are getting closer every day! More pictures to come soon.

Utah's Hogle Zoo

We were able to go to the Zoo last week on a beautiful afternoon! Gracie has been asking to go see the baby elephant, Zuri, and the baby Giraffe so off we went. There were so many new babies to see and they were all so cute.

It was perfect, we went in late afternoon when Jake got off work and there was hardly anybody there. The sun was shining and we were a happy little family. Garrett loved every minute of it. That kid is obsessed with animals.

We are reading Harry Potter right now and Gracie would not leave without going to see the snakes... I teased her that the glass would disapear and the boa would come get us.. Ha ha!

Love the Zoo!

Making Progress

The NO deer hunt!

We went up to Vernal for the Deer hunt (as we do every year) with the Thomas Family. It is such a great time as long as nobody shoots poor Bambi... This year was a success in my book. The kids had a great time playing outside, riding the 4 wheelers, and fishing. Gracie caught a few fish and a baby snake with the help of Aubrey. eeww! The forest fairies showed up this year again and Natalie told the kids ghost stories... the children were mesmerized...very enchanting! All the kids came away with a bag full of goodies and a very charming mini ghost lantern. We love sitting by the campfire at night while the kids are tucked in the trailers with their chocolate milk and movies! We had a great time and the weather was wonderful!

I guess I should note that the very next weekend was the elk hunt and my sweet dear husband happened to kill one of those beautiful animals. This is his second elk in two years... we all know Ernie! This one Gracie named Elmo but later changed his name to something else that I can't remember now. Anyway, Jake was lucky and shot a six point elk on public property and a general tag. I am not happy about it but he is proud. I think this one will have to live in the garage.

Birthday Party!

Gracie had 2 birthday parties this year to celebrate her 5th birthday. I cannot believe how fast time flies. Wow! five already?

Anyway, We celebrated Gracie and Mya's Birthday together with the Thomas clan on Sunday since their actual birthdays are only 3 days apart. It was perfect. The family got together at Granny Goose and Papa's and the girls shared a cake and opened what seemed like a million gifts. We were very lucky Gracie could even go to her party because she was throwing up sick the day before. She hadn't eaten in a day and a half and she was even scared to eat her cake for fear of getting sick again.

The day of her actual birthday we went to Bouncin off the walls (because we don't have a house yet) and it was soo much fun. Everybody had a great time sliding down the huge slide and bounin around. Gracie still wasn't 100% better and ended up spreading her sickness to 10 people... sooo sorry people! I still feel bad about that. It was a great time and Gracie loved having all her friends there.

Foundation....

We have a foundation.... Basement, concrete walls... whatever you want to call it is fine with me! I am a happy girl and I love seeing the progress of our NEW HOME!

Utah Marathon Relay

So I sort of participated in the Utah Marathon Relay this year with some great girls... Go Team SILS - Sister in laws (in case you were wondering)

My amazing teammates were Tiffany and Erin Padilla and Rena and Karli Thomas... and they smoked it and ran their little bums off!

Thanks Gals for being strong... sorry for the let down on my part!



Note to self: DO NOT go out to a bar and party til after midnight when you have a race that starts in the wee hours of the morning! Oh, one more thing, PLEASE don't eat a breakfast burrito the size of a brick from McDonald's and a diet coke before you run... this behavior never pays off!

Happy 5th Birthday!

I just want to wish my beautiful daughter the happiest birthday ever! I love you so much Gracie Lynn and I am so proud to be your mom. You are such a wonderful, smart, and helpful little girl. Thank you for being so perfect!

xoxo

Mom

Oh Holy HOLE!

We have finally broken ground for the new Home! We dug on September 5, 2009. What an adventure. Kory, our brother in law, is an awesome excavator and hooked us up with his Skillz and a full day of HARD Work! Thank you Kory! We are super excited. This is the start of our new life and we are never moving AGAIN! No, Seriously.. Never!

OH HAPPY DAY.. Oh happy Hole!

Camping with the FAMDAMLY!

We went camping with my family (and most of the dogs) a few weekends ago to the cabin at Strawberry. It was fantastic! We had a great time boating, sitting by the fire, drinking, eating, cooking, exploring and playing! Here is our trip in pictures.

Meet Mickey

Introducing Mickey... my parents adopted a little Jack Russell pup named Mickey. He is sooo cute and playful. Bear and Mickey are great friends already. He is still potty training and chewing pretty much everything but adds a lot of fun to the house. Gracie wont put him down and Garrett tries to sit on him. They are just toughening him up I guess. Welcome Mickey... We love you already!

From the Garden....

This morning I went out to my Parents garden to see what was growing and this is what I found.

WOW! I picked carrots, butternut squash, zuchini, yellow squash, grapes, green and purple beans, tomatoes, and green peppers.

This is one of the many reasons I appreciate living with the parents. I am learning how to garden and I cannot wait to plant my own garden. I love eating the freshness that grows all summer. Earlier this season we also had peas and there are melons and pumpkins that are not quite ripe yet. My mother grows her own herbs like basil, thyme, and cilantro as well. The kids love to go out and see the new growth and help pick and water the garden. Too bad they don't appreciate the good food too. Give it time right?

Television

Don't you LOVE it when you come upon an old Seinfeld episode that you haven't seen before?

I do.... and I am proud to report that it happened twice in one week!

Oh, the simple things in life!

Flaming Gorge

We ended up in Flaming Gorge over the 24th of July. It was a lot of fun. I really just wanted to stay home for the long weekend but we decided to head out on Friday Morning and I am so glad we did. We only planned on staying one night because we thought Garrett would be really hard, but amazingly he was PERFECT! He slept great in the trailer and was awesome on the boat. He played with the big kids in the dirt and had a great time thinking he was one of them. We were totally shocked he was so good that we stayed another night. And we are glad we did because Jason and Aubrey ended up driving up on Saturday afternoon just in time for the RAIN! It poured rain so we just sat under the awning and talked while Garrett slept and Gracie went with Aniston and Kalder played. The sun came out at about 5:00 so we headed out to the lake. We skied, wakeboarded, and surfed. The water was nice. we stayed on the lake til dark and had a great time. When we got back to camp, we had dinner, put the kids to bed and relaxed by the fire with a cocktail. Soooo nice! The next morning we got up, had coffee, and off to the lake again for a wild day of skiing and tubing. The tube was terrifying so I stayed in the boat most of the time. Once again, Garrett was awesome. We didn't take our boat this time. So thanks to Kory and Doug for dragging us around the lake all weekend.

Bear Update

Bear is doing fairly well since she was hit by a car. She still can't see very good and she has lost her bark, which is not a bad thing. She has to go in next week to get a tooth pulled that broke in half and the nerve is exposed. She keeps having accidents in the house and she is still sleeping a lot. She is definately not the same dog that she was before but we are just happy that she is alive and doing well.

She seems to be getting a little bit better everyday and we just hope she can figure out that she needs to go to the bathroom outside instead of in. She may just be missing Rocky... she is sad.

Rocky

Rocky and Bear were hit by a car this week. Rocky didn't make it. We are so sad. Rocky was a wonderful, playful, sweet, 2 year old Jack Russell. Rocky was Bear's best friend. Bear would sneak downstairs just to be able to sleep next to him.

He had the softest ears and the best kisses and the cutest underbite. He was so relaxed yet playful and full of energy. He was such a good dog. He was good with the kids too. Every time Garrett would pull at him, Rocky would turn and kiss him until he let go. Rocky we miss you more than you will ever know. Every time we go outside we stop at the heart rocks and visit you.

My parents adopted Rocky as a pup and he was the last pup of the litter. He trained so easily and rarely had any accidents in the house. he was the light of their lives. He loved to go for walks in the gullie and rides in the car. he wouldn't let you forget about a treat after going outside to potty. He met you at the door barking every time you came home. I used to yell at him for barking and now I really miss it. Sorry Rock.

We love you and miss you sooooo much Rocky! You were the best dog and friend ever!

Sally

It has been a sad week at our house.

Last Wednesday, I let Sally outside and she never returned. I had a bad feeling before I went to bed and went out to call/look for her about three times. For some reason, I knew she was not going to come home. We are sad, we miss her.

I will never forget how happy Gracie was on her 4th birthday when Ya Ya brought her home with her new kitten. Gracie named her Maddie at first but couldn't remember the name so we changed it to Sally. Sally was sweet and playful. She became friends with the dogs right off the bat. Sally would have been one this week on August 4th.

Sally, we miss you!

Rainbows....

This picture was taken by my dad that rainy day in late June when the rainbows were at their best. I love this picture... Rainbows always make me feel better... It has been a rough week for us here but that is for another day and another post.

ENJOY the Rainbow!

Girls Weekend Out!

My wonderful Mother in law treated all the women in the fam to a much needed kid free weekend in Sunny St. George. We went to Tuacahn and saw Footloose. It was amazing. We ate and ate and ate, played games, shopped, layed out, swam, stayed up late, slept in, and ate. We had sooo much fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.... even the drive was fun. We went with Dorene, Alex, Kristie, Karli, Rakel, Rena, me and Vick. I really feel like we are so lucky because we are not only sisters in laws and cousins but we are friends at the same time. Thank you girls for making it such a great weekend. I love you all! I will never forget where I learned to play hand and foot.

Thank you soooo much Vickie Ann. You are soooo wonderful and I love you. I had the best weekend ever.

Another Fabulous Weekend!

It all started Friday morning with a trip to the pool with Kim, Jenni and all the kids in tow. Wow, talk about not relaxing.... I had Garrett remember. I honestly felt like I didn't even get to visit with the ladies. Garrett loves the water and has absolutely no fear of it. SCARY! Anyway, we enjoyed the water and then we were off to lunch at Zupas - which was cut a bit short thanks to Garrett... LOL! I can't take him anywhere! Then we headed home for a long, much needed nap and a shower. (that was relaxing... Garrett and Gracie slept too!) I woke up around 3:30 and thought I was short on time to get to the parade. Needless to say, I rushed for nothing. The parade didn't start until 6:30 and I arrived at 5:00. That sucked! So I headed up to Herriman for Turner's all star baseball game (which he won.) I was there just long enough to see him hit a triple and bring 2 people home. Then the kids and I made it back to Riverton for the parade. Garrett almost got ran over by Murray City when he ran into the street. Once again, no fear. Crazy kid!

Saturday was super relaxing. I made Jake go on a short run with me in the morning. It was the first time I had ran since my race and it was hard. Jake did better than me and he does NOT run! Oh well, I will get back into it soon. Back home for pancakes, a nap for Garrett, and a quick shower. Then we decided to head over to Riverton park for the festivities. Garrett and Gracie had fun riding the rides but it was stinking hot. They went on the ferris wheel with my mom and Garrett screamed the entire time. He hated it but he liked the small kid rides. Back home to pack, eat and let Garrett have another nap. Then we were off to the store for fireworks and food for the lake. Jason and Aubrey came up and we lit a few fireworks for Gracie, got attacked by June Bugs, and enjoyed watching the city fireworks in the valley off the deck.

On Sunday we headed to Yuba with Rakel, Kory, Jenny, Kim, JR and all the kiddos. It was so much fun. We had a blast wakeboarding, tubing, knee boarding, and swimming. This time we took Garrett with us and he loved it. The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded. Gracie kneeboarded all by herself. She was so proud.

June in a nutshell

June was a very busy month. Here is what we were up to...

We went to Bear Lake and stayed in Ron & Betsy's Cabin. It was cold and rainy most of the time but we were able to sit out by the fire, go swimming, watch movies, make great food, play at the park, and eat Pizza and Ice Cream. We had a great time with the kids and the Broberg's. Garrett did horrible as usual.... one night he didn't go to sleep until after 3:00 in the morning and that was after we drove around for 40 minutes. I was ready to pack up and go home. The poor kid will not sleep unless he is in his own bed. So hard! This finalized our decision not to take him to Lake Powell with us.

I have been training to run the wasatch back for the last few months. I ran with a team from work and I was lucky enough to run with 2 of my sister in laws, Rena and Karli... it was hard but worth it. I ended up running about 13.1 miles in a 24 hour period with 2 hours of sleep. I beat my projected time on each of my 3 runs and was super happy about that. We all did great but I definitely don't think I could have done it without support from my girls. We started the race about 9:30 last Friday morning and ended about noon on Saturday... we drove home, rested, and went to Stephanie and Drew's wedding that night. It rained but it was beautiful. The next morning we woke up at 5:00 and started the drive to Lake Powell.... then our boat trailer started smoking and that set us back about an hour. Jake and my dad had to fix one of the barrings... no fun! Finally, we were off and driving... six hours later we were in beautiful Lake Powell. We met up with the houseboat and the friends and started our relaxing vaca!

On top of all that, we were doing T-Ball, Dance, and School. I am ready for a less busy July!

Lake Powell

We went to Lake Powell for a week with the Hansen's and Johnston's and it was wonderful. We were able to leave Garrett home with Vickie and Lenny and several other people so that we could go relax and have fun in the sun. We played in the water, swam, wakeboarded, knee boarded, slid down the slide, surfed, had water balloon fights, and rode the wave runners. We had a few perfect days and one windy day! The houseboat was wonderful and the kids has soooo much fun. Gracie tried out the kneeboard and loved it. She got right up. She had a great time playing with Dax and the big girls in the sand and water. Everyone was so sweet to her. We ate the best food ever and the whole week could not have been more PERFECT!