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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

We made it to 8!

Jake and I had our 8th anniversary on Tuesday! We tried to go golfing but, it was a tornado out there. We went to Dinner at Happy Sumo and to see Star Trek the movie instead. Good Show! Good Food! Great Husband!

I really can't believe it has been 8 years already! Even though it has been this long.... I still feel like we are just starting out in ways. Possibly because we haven't found "our place" yet. Hopefully soon!

I feel so happy that I have such a great family. I love my husband and my kids more than anything... As always, I am one lucky girl!

Happy Anniversary Jake... I hope we Live long and Prosper together!

Blessing Baby Garrett

We finally blessed Garrett a couple of weeks ago at my in-laws house. It was so quaint and nice with only family present. My father in law, Lenny, gave the blessing. Thank you so much Lenny. You are so great. Actually, I must say that I have married into one of the best families out there. All of Jake's family is amazing. Talk about the most unselfish people I know. So, here is a shout out to the Thomas family! I LOVE YOU GUYS! ALL OF YOU! XOXOXO



And, now for the blessing day photos....

*EASTER*

Easter was fabulous as always! We were able to celebrate with both sides of the family. We had my favorite brunch and the biggest treasure hunt ever at Auntie Ya Ya's house. Then we had another egg hunt and dinner at Granny Goose and Papa's house. So much food and fun. The kids scored. I swear we had more candy after Easter than after Halloween. Love it!

Garrett did really well gathering the eggs and dragging his basket all over the house dumping the eggs out along the way. It was cute. The Easter Bunny brought Gracie a new "bra" swimming suit and the game of Sorry. She was one happy little girl.

Happy Easter to all and to all a good night!

Hope, Prayers, and Love!

My friend Candice has a beautiful daughter, Savannah Grace Evans. Savannah is seven years old and she has been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma. She had surgery and they were able to remove 80% of the tumor. Please visit her website by clicking HERE. Her family is looking for any help, prayers and answers. Please spread the love and include her in your prayers.

Hawaii Report

Is this the most beautiful place on earth? I think so...

Hawaii was amazing. I did NOT want to come home to the cold. We went for 8 days to Kauai thanks to my wonderful parents... this was our Christmas Gift. I may have some of the best parents on earth... not because of the trip but because of what the trip allowed us to do... spend time with each other with no other obligations or worries in the most beautiful place on earth. The kids had a blast and loved hanging out with each other 24/7. We left on Friday morning and arrived after dark on Friday night... that made for a very long day traveling with a 9 month old baby... but, we made it! The first 2 nights we stayed in Princeville which is an amazing resort/condo community. The rest of the week we stayed in a 3 bedroom house in a little town called Koloa. We ate ice cream and shave ice... and everything else we could shove in our faces.. It was the best. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to eat? Well, eating is by far my favorite thing to do and I did it well in Hawaii...

Here is Gracie playing on the beach and in the ocean. She hated the sand in her swim suit... we had to rinse it out more than once. One day, she was playing in the water and a huge wave came and knocked her down and spun her around in the sand... we all went running to see if she was okay and she just sat up and laughed....what a sport, she was completely covered in sand...too funny!
Baby Garrett loved the ocean as well. He would laugh every time a wave would reach him on the beach. He ate more sand than I want to admit and he wanted to be big and play like the other kids. He spent a lot of time practicing his walking skills, back and forth, back and forth between us. Oh yeah, he cut two more teeth while we were there... top right and left. It gave him a fever and it sucked.

We went to a luau and played on several different beaches, went in the canyon, saw whales and turtles, but my favorite thing we did was stop at some local house that was advertising fresh lei's for sale. An older couple lived there and started feeding us all this fresh fruit that they had grown in their back yard... it was very neat. We had apple bananas, coconut, oranges, and some wierd spiny red fruit that my brother was allergic to. His lips swelled up so we improvised and doped him up on baby benedryl. Funniest part of the trip... poor guy!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

What a wonderful holiday. There is nothing better than getting together with the people you love, eating perfect homemade food, sitting and just enjoying the company. I must say we had a perfect day! We had 2 turkey dinners. YUMMY!

First, we woke up, had our morning coffee, and Jake started watching the Titans Football game as soon as it started. The Titans killed the other Team... I am not sure who it was but I do know that the Titans won again... strengthening their one loss record. Jake was happy, but it made for a lighthearted argument about him being slow because he was so into the game. Grrr! Our goal was to arrive early to Jake's grandparents house so we could visit with Jason before dinner (who was only in town for the short weekend). We were "on time" for Thanksgiving dinner to say the least. Luckily, Jason didn't show up early either.

I was able to get myself and both the kids ready and in the car after making 2 platters of Meat Pickle (Pickles rolled in Ham that has cream cheese spread on it)... Sooo Yummy! Jake helped make the dish and for that I was "Thankful".

Our first stop was the Thomas family dinner. The food was as good as ever. We were able to visit with the whole fam and the kids played outside in the sunshine.

Then we went to my family's dinner at Auntie Ya Ya's and ate AGAIN! It was fabulous! We played with the wii and even got my mom playing... she loved it! Tennis, of course!

We got home late and I still hadn't had a chance to look at the ads for Black Friday. I put the kids to bed, set my alarm, and online I went. There is something about Black Friday that I LOVE. I think it is all the chaos, but I am not sure... I get a kick out of people watching and seeing how they fight over everything.

I woke up at 4:08 am the next morning and off I went to shop. Rena drove because she has the biggest car. We picked Kim up and started at Walmart then moved on to Target, JCPenney, The Buckle, and Famous Footwear. Somewhere in there we stopped the shop to eat at Village Inn. We were home by 10:30 with a car full of wonders.

Later, we had dinner plans with Jason and many friends at Tsunami. Love the Sushi! Love the Friends! We had an all night sitter, thanks to my sister in law, Becky, and brother Eric. My son was a shit (as usual) and Gracie choked on 3 pennies... Lovely!

After dinner we ended up at Club 90... enough said! I love to people watch and this just may very well be the perfect place. It was a great time. Jeff reserved us a table and gave several lap dances to perfect strangers! Steph was a good sport about the whole thing... the things she puts up with to give us a good laugh. Thanks Steph! Oh yeah, Jake got hit on by a super cute girl... I am so lucky to have him!


Saturday was amazing. We picked up the kids in the morning went to the store to buy baby gates and stayed home the rest of the day. I was able to watch 5 episodes of Prison Break before our company showed up for a friendly game of Texas Hold 'em. Good Times.

Sunday I watched 4 more episodes of Prison Break (I am finally caught up) and made my own turkey dinner. I was impressed with myself. Here's what was on the menu: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, stove top, green beans, and rolls. It was pretty good. I really love to cook. Have I mentioned that Rena and I made the most fabulous Fish Tacos last week. I think I am obsessed with them. Jake may argue with me on this one, but I think they were Rubios good!

FISH TACOS: JUST ONE MORE THING TO BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING!

Family Photos!

Talk about a small family! This is the entire family on my dad's side. There are 17 total but Grandpa died so only 16 are pictured. It's great because we can almost all sit at the same table for Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner. Needless to say, we are all very close.

This is my immediate family with my Grandma Lucille (Maternal Grandmother)

This is my immediate family with my Grandma Dorene (Paternal Grandmother)