December fun so far

Oh the excitement after the first big snow has fallen. The smell of clean air, the children bundled up from head to toe in bunchy warm clothes, all so they can go out and play.

Well - Hailey decided that instead of me shoveling the drive, I should leave it for her "hill". She created her own launch pad setting the sled at the boarder of the snow, and running from the far side of the garage & jumping onto the sled. She really flew down the driveway. (If you watch the video, you'll get to see Derek participate in the fun as well).

What can be more fun than doing snow angels in the fresh powder? Derek loves making snow angels!

Dave surprised me by getting us tickets to the Phil Vaser concert a couple weeks ago. We had great seats (no one directly in front of us!), and had a blast listening to the music & watching the drunk people dance to country. It was a good time!!

Linda gave the grandkids a little pre-Christmas spoiling. Last Sunday she had over all the grandkids, and made oodles (and I do mean oodles) of candy & holiday treats. Each kid got to bring home a box of goodies to eat, or share w/ friends. She got each of them some goofy glasses for fun - cute, huh? :)

Monday we hit up our annual session of the Forgotten Carols (no pics, dangit). I always love going to this performance, and it really puts me in the Christmas mood. If you haven't seen it - I would HIGHLY recommend. It's become one of my favorite traditions!

Tuesday night we went to Temple Square with Dave's folks, and two of his aunts. It was beautiful & fun to check out all the lights.

Here's Jim w/ his sisters - Helen & Edith. We were so glad they could come up!

A shot of the Salt Lake Temple :)

Me & my little buddy Derek

Yesterday I hit up Gardner Village (one of my favorite spots for all seasons) with Amber, Cambrie & Ethan. Besides Amber realizing she had lost her wallet (which thank goodness was found), we had a nice time. They had all their elves out on display, which the kids always love. And to top it off, it was a pretty nice day - into the 40s!

The stroller babies - checking everything out

more elves

Derek needed to take a picture, so here's Amber & I w/ the elves. Not a bad picture for a 4 year old, eh?

-- And here's the sledding video - check it out :)

Clear Creek

In Hailey's school district, all 5th graders are able to go to an overnight camp called Clear Creek. I was lucky enough to be able to go up with her as a chaperone. The camp was absolutely beautiful, and the kids (all girls) had a really good time.

Here's Hailey in the very COLD morning en route to breakfast. There is an older couple that work/live up there, and this is the view they have every morning -- getting to watch the sun come up. It's so beautiful!

Hailey and I on our way to the cabin for lights' out (which due to some loud girls, ended up being well past midnight -- on a school night no less).

Hailey & some of her buddies that are in her class scored a great "private" section of the cabin (a separate room w/o a door). Here they working their shenanigans.

There were several stations the girls got to do. Tie dying was just one among the many -- bracelets, picture frames, robot making (out of recylables) in addition to some other team building activities.

Isn't Hailey's tie dye shirt wonderful!?

Hailey & her BFFs getting ready for the skits.

Giving Thanks and Thanksgiving

The days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to be surrounded by friends and family whom I love. This season of the year is my favorite. I am so blessed. Here are just a few of the highlights from the past little bit.

Derek here is loving his little cousin Luke. Despite cheering for opposing teams during the big game - they came together to share their mutual love of one another :)

Don't you wish you were a cougar fan too? Not that I'm really that into football, but that was a good game, and even better that our team won!! Go blue!

Thanksgiving morning my sisters family & I have a tradition of running a turkey trot (to try and balance out the mass consumption of food & goodies). This year we ran the Fleet Feet turkey trot, and it was nice, besides being very chilly!

My B-I-L Bill picked up a puzzle during his routine trip over to Cabellas, and made his own little setup (tablecloth, lamp & all), to do his puzzle work. I ended up getting a little too obsessed with the puzzle. Now, I just need to find more time to finish it :)

The boys (Bill, Steve & Dave) watching the game.

Meanwhile, Derek enjoyed playing Lego Indiana Jones in the front room that had been converted to a projection Xbox 360 haven. He & his cousins couldn't stop giggling - he loved having buddies to play with!

The feast! The culmination of all our hard efforts in the kitchen. It was a lovely meal, and we enjoyed having my sister Christine, Melanie (& fam), and Dave's folks over for the big meal. There's nothing better than being surrounded with family at Thanksgiving.

Earlier in the month some girlfriends & I went to the Christmas show, and had a great time! I'm glad for good girlfriends, they make the day-to-day so much more enjoyable!

In addition to this, there were games played, treats eaten and black friday shopping done. Those pictures will be posted later... Pulling an all nighter of shopping is ridiculous. My sister & niece and I started at 11pm, and ended shortly after 7am. Stores should just open at 8am.... allowing for more sleep :) At least some Christmas shopping was done :)

Halloween festivities

The cool weather, some moments of snow, colds coming on -- Halloween must be near!!

Well - Halloween was fun this year. Derek & Hailey both did parades at school. Hailey's school goes through the gym, and Derek's goes around the block.

Here's Derek's preschool class along with his jail-bait teacher, Miss Carrie :)

Miss Witchie herself :)

I spent my Halloween morning running my second half marathon, the Halloween Half. It was a beautiful run -- starting up Provo Canyon at Aspen Grove, then ending down at the Riverwoods in Provo. It was a beautiful run, and I ended just 1 minute over my goal time (my finish time was 1:56). Now I'll have to sign up for another one so I can get my goal.

I ran with two of my girlfriends Stacie & Amber. Did I mention the Halloween Half encourages dressing up? We had a good time on our run! We were all "Mrs. Runner Up". Pretty easy costumes to work around our running gear! There were some very interesting costumes! Amber's daughter handed each of us a bouquet of flowers as we were approaching the finish line. It was fun!

In the later afternoon, our ward had a nice Halloween kickoff dinner with delicious soups, bread, dessert, hot cocoa & cider. The kids enjoyed a parade around the park.
Here are my kids, the little witch , the big witch and Buzz Lightyear (who smiles for no one)
This year I made skirts for Jenna & Hailey, and I was pleased at how they turned out! Especially since I don't profess to be a seamstress of any sort!

The little Witchie was my candy helper. Each time the bell would ring she would run to the door with delight!

Derek sorting out his spoils from his trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

Hailey got a ton of treats as well! I'm implementing a 3 day rule. The kids can eat as many treats as they want for 3 days, and then it goes bye-bye. I've heard dentists say it's better to just get it over with, than to let them slowly rot their teeth out. Not all my kids have a zero-cavity track record with the dentist... I won't name names.
So, we'll see how this idea works out!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween, because we sure did!!

We're havin' a party!

My little Hailey is not so little anymore!! She turned 11 this week. It's hard to believe she is so grown up already. For her bday breakfast, she wanted cake (a girl after my own heart), so I negotiated making "easy cake" - an old family recipe. (sorry pics didn't rotate..)

Her birthday party with friends was a huge success. I had converted an area of our unfinished basement into a glow room, decked out with black lights & glowing paint splattered everywhere. Hailey & all her friends spent most of the night down there with their pizza, snacks, glowsticks etc. They had dance-offs, sing offs and an overall great time. They made masks which were fun to see glow in the black lights... pretty spooky!

Here's the crew...

The birthday girl :)

A small plate of her cupcakes -- cute, eh?

A birthday wouldn't be complete without a cake to the face... I'm pretty sure Dave started this tradition, but the kids get a kick out of it :)


I'm so glad for the young lady Hailey is becoming. She is very sweet, bright, helpful, capable -- and my best helper!! I'm so glad to be her mom!!

Derek turns 4!!

It seems like just yesterday that Derek was just a little (well, at 8lb 12 oz - not really too "little") bundle of baby! I can't believe how he has grown! He has been such a joy in our family! He is our little comedian! He makes us laugh & tear our hair out!

The only thing better than a birthday celebration this year, was 4 of them!

On Derek's actual birthday we went to the zoo. Mimi (Dave's mom) came along for the fun, and sadly, Hailey had to miss out :(. But as a whole, it was a fantastic day!

One of my favorite places to celebrate is "Blue Plate Diner" in sugarhouse, on 2100E & 2100S. They have the most amazing banana splits! SO - after a nice hot day at the zoo we hit it up. Derek's face says it all...

A reminder, in case we forgot, that "D" is 4 :)

(can you believe how huge that banana split is?? SO tasty!)
Since it was enormous, he decided to share!

Yes, we are a family of Gorillas (minus Hay) :)

On the train... Me w/ Jenna & Linda

D & D. Dave & Derek

Birthday morning - opening presents from Grandma & Grandpa

The "friend" party

What do you get when you combine 13 3 & 4 year olds? A party of course!! It was very busy & a little chaotic, but on the whole, it was a great party!!!

Here's Derek getting presents shoved in his lap to open! Some of the kids wondered why they didn't get to take their gifts home with them. Gotta love kids!! And - thank goodness for a goody bag to send home with them :)

The kids playing the balloon stomp game. Some ended up body slamming the balloons, because they weren't heavy enough to pop the balloons by stomping them :)

The party group

Outdoor games :)

Derek & his big sissy :) Hailey was such a WONDERFUL helper at the party, keeping the kids reigned in and happy!

F-O-U-R

At the family party (we do monthly parties for my family), Derek & his cousin Zack had a great time playing! They also happened to be our September birthdays!

Time to blow out the brownie cakes :)

The "other" family birthday. Derek of course got his head shoved in his cake.... a party isn't a party...

The Cake before being smooshed

Mimi & Papa got Derek a music set- drums, maracas, bells, tambourine etc etc. It's continued to be a hit!

We all love Derek very much, and had a wonderful time celebrating his 4th birthday!