Dave is intrigued

It's Dave, I am intrigued that I am just now finding out my family has a blog.  I soon will have Jedi powers and actually know how to post as me.  Sad, as I am a computer guy.

What happens when you're MY Valentine!

Julie, Evelyn (my sister-in-laws) and I surprised our husbands for Valentine's and took them snowmobiling in Heber. We had a really great time, with the exception of a few minor incidents. . .

(Sorry, since I can't seem to figure out how to get writing between the pictures without screwing everything up, I'll give you the story first and then you can see the pics.)

We had some white-out conditions that aided us in getting lost for a little while! :) We got stuck a few times and had to crawl around in the snow--because when we tried to walk we would sink to our middles! It was actually pretty hilarious crawling, and watching the others crawl around in the snow! lol Julie took a jump and landed harder than she expected, causing her to nearly fly over the handlebars, luckily she wasn't hurt! Dave took a jump he didn't see, and smashed his face into the windshield of the snowmobile. When he tasted blood he wondered if he'd broken his nose or knocked out his front teeth, but luckily it wasn't as bad as either of those scenarios. It split open under his lip and above his teeth, losing his frenulum, which left a deep/large hole. After getting back to the lodge and evaluating the injury we all decided we better skip dinner in Park City and head home so Dave could have it looked at. . .not to mention we were worried that if he ate anything he would probably get food in the opening! So we dropped everyone off at home and headed for the instacare. When they saw the hole they turned us away and said it was a job for the ER! DANG!!! Two hours later Dave got three stitches and antibiotics and was finally sent home. We picked up a Jumba Juice and Kneaders sandwich to top off the night. Over all, we had a great day together! :)

Call Home!

It’s February 1st already, I can’t believe it. I’ll blame my lack of blogging on: #1 the holidays (we loved every minute of it—being around family so much, sledding at Dad’s for his b-day, the kids playing with their presents and spending lots of time with cousins) #2 being pregnant (20 weeks now, up 15 lbs, and SO excited—and still a little bit in disbelief about it), #3 having a new puppy (Cooper or “Coopy Coo” as we’ve come to call him, who loves to snuggle up at my feet when I’m on the computer—and who is already potty trained, I might add), #4 living close to Rachel, Irene, and Afton (we—Rachel, Irene, and I—still work out at least 4 times a week together and of course, end up spending time chatting and having the kids play afterward, and we also have the 3/4-year olds together once a week for preschool—which is when we see Afton), #5 having fun with friends (bowling, out for lunch, temple, etc.), #6 attending Mark’s awesome field trips (this month ice skating and snowshoeing), #7 having Kim and Mom visit for a week (late nights up talking and meeting Becca and Frosty for lunch), #8 reading some good books (just finished the Kingdom and the Crown series and now reading The Undaunted), #9 being a mom of three (doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, carpooling, keeping up with schedules—piano lessons, scouts, therapy, b-day parties, performances, doctor appointments, etc.—playing/reading to the kids, washing faces, wiping tears, and giving loves!), and #10 being ME (going out with Dave—movies, dinner, MUCH needed home improvement planning that we can start on as soon as tax return comes in—chatting on the phone, facebooking, reading others’ blogs, visiting friends/visit teaching, planning and attending relief society activities, cutting/highlighting my hair, attending showers, being “home-room mom” for Mark’s class, scrapbooking, planning family vacation—to Disneyland and Sea World this spring, and in general keeping it simple and loving every minute of it! :)

Good Reads #2

I posted last February that I was going to read The Kingdom and the Crown series by Gerald Lund. And, I've finally finished the 3rd and last book. . .soooooooooo good. It took me the whole past year to get through the first two, though. They were a little harder to read than books I'm used to, so I kept putting them down while I'd read other books here and there. But, in the end, I'm so glad I kept going because the last book was so good I couldn't put it down. There was a lot of backgroud that needed to be set up in the first two to make the last one easy to understand how Jesus came to be crucified! What an experience! I learned so much and would recommend this historical fiction series to everyone. I have to specifically thank Jenny for telling me how good they were, it was because of her comments that I kept on reading. . .everyone else I asked about them had either not read them or had only read the first, or half of the first, etc! So, THANKS Jenny!! :) I loved them.

Also, I finished Alma, by HB Moore that came out a couple months ago. It was Awesome! If you haven't read her series, you MUST! The first four are Out of Jerusalem, and then she has Abinadi and Alma. I can't wait for her next book. Let me know if you read these after seeing my post last February. . .I hope I inspired SOMEONE to read them!!! :)

Hair cut and countdown!

I still can't really believe I got my hair cut off! I love it, I just can't believe I actually FINALLY did it. It's been a long time coming. . .I've had long hair since 1992! Differing lengths of long, but nonetheless LONG! My sister Kim (who has also had long hair for years) came to visit and we decided we'd at least get bangs (which I've not had since 1995). Then we got a little more daring as we looked through pictures, and decided to go a little shorter than normal. When we got to the salon, we told the lady our pathetic background and asked her opinion. . .she was so excited that she got to be the one to cut our hair off! The minute we sat down she cut our pony tails off and said "there, now you can't change your mind--let's go wash your hair!"!!! Talk about SHOCK! I couldn't quit smiling the whole time. She was hilarious and totally assured us that we'd love it. She also said she'd continue to encourage us to go shorter, but that baby steps were good. hee hee

Kimmy is also pregnant (which could explain our impulsiveness), 10 weeks behind me. I'm 16 weeks now and almost as big as I was on Halloween! :)

Christmas 2009

Our kids were SO excited to see a puppy under the tree on Christmas morning!! It was fun to have the cousins pop over to welcome him too.We're just a little worried he won't get enough attention and love around here: 

Kyra said she didn't care much for her other gifts as "all she wanted for Christmas was a puppy". :) Darci, on the other hand, hasn't quit playing with her vanity (and all the jewelry and make-up that came with it) yet! And, Mark, of course, LOVES his new transformers!

My mom made up cards with pictures of all the people in our family and taught us how to play a few games with them. What an awesome idea--since we have nearly 60 people just on my side of the family! The kids and I loved it.

On Christmas Eve I gave Dave and the kids my FIRST digital scrapbook! I'm so excited to have finally finished one and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I plan to have this become a tradition. . .I'll finish one full scrapbook every year to give them for Christmas. :)

We really enjoyed having Doug and Evelyn with us first thing in the morning and to have our parents stop by throughout the day to see us. The kids loved having so much time to just play with everything and each other. And, we loved just being here to watch them!  What a beautiful Christmas!

Santa Claus is coming to town. . .

We had a lot of fun writing letters to Santa! The kids love this tradition and each year can't wait for the day after Thanksgiving so they can get on with letting Santa know that they've been good kids throughout the year and therefore they would like. . .for Christmas! :)

Oh the excitement! Here they are mailing their letters!

Yesterday we were very excited when we saw Santa at the Festival of Trees! The kids couldn't wait to tell him that they'd already sent him a list of things they'd like for Christmas, but that they'd thought of a few more things. . .

I LOVE this time of year!