January

I thought not homeschooling my kids would make my life less busy but it seems like it's even more busy now. January just flew by, which is fine with me because I always get the January doldrum blues. Collin and Grace both had friends come over throughout the month to work on Science Projects for the Science Fair. Grace and her friends grew plants, Collin and his friend tested which things burned best. No comment.

Jon was in Hong Kong for another 2 weeks and came home with malasadas from his day long layover in Hawaii. That's love.

We also had one good snow storm which the kids have been looking forward to all winter. They were outside all day working on snowmen.

I'll let you guess which one is which childs.

We also had a fun weekend getaway to Pocatello, Id. We swam in the huge pool (ok, the kids swam and we marinated in the hot tub), saw old friends and kicked back. We were only there one night but the kids set up for a few weeks, which was done in the first 10 seconds of getting there:

Looking forward to the upcoming events of this month!

Happy New Year!

Dear 2012,

Can we be friends? I'm not saying that last year was uneventful and full of changes, and I did learn a lot, but it would be nice to have a healthy calm year. Please?

We had a great New Years Eve. I haven't been up that late in YEARS, and I felt my years because it took me a few days to get over it. First we went to my sisters and ate good food and had got to hang out with my family - I took no pictures. Then we dropped the kids off and went to some friends of ours and walked in at the tail end of their Minute to Win It game. Jon made a name for himself that night by playing Junk in the Trunk and winning in record time. Enjoy:

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas this year, but it sure went fast. We couldn't find the Christmas tree till the first week in December which is late for us, so maybe that's why it seemed so short. We started out December by making snowflakes:

Got a beautiful frosty, foggy day:

The kids got to do the daily advent calendar:

And decorated the house:

Grace and I made neighborhood treats - dozens of peanut butter blossoms, and peppermint snowballs and pounds of cinnamon almonds and we all took them around that night. We also made gingerbread houses at my moms house - see them in the background?

We had a lunch with the Bybees down in Springville then a dinner at my moms in Provo Christmas Eve. Then came the big night. The kids might get almost as excited about opening "jaminas" on Christmas Eve than presents the next day. Grace's usual jamina-to-the-face picture:

Collin was thrilled about his Paul Frank jaminas too.

They are getting SO big!

Collins usual Lego face picture:

And Midge with an armful of little stuffed animals.

We had a breakfast with Bybees again - I don't know why I didn't take any pictures! And then a dinner at our house that night. I love having this here because it gives us an excuse to have to get our Christmas mess cleaned up, AND to have everyone over again!! We missed that!

We love being by family again!

Fall Highlights

I am finally getting around to all the pictures I meant to post while waiting to find my camera cord or memory card reader. For about two months we had either a lot of deer or the same 3 or 4 in our back yard. Every day we'd wake up and peek at how many and which ones were in the yard that day. The kids loved it more than the squirrels and birds in our backyard in Houston.

They especially loved the day they were right at the bottom of our back stairs. Collin was raking the leaves and looked over and there they were so he froze and kept that position for about 2 hours just watching them.

The leaves turned and fell and the kids LOVED raking them (we'll see how long that lasts!)

Like I said earlier, my Grandma passed away and my life changed by it. But we were able to see a lot of family because of it and got to have a girls lunch on my moms birthday at Flour Girls and Dough Boys in AF (try the honey butter ham sandwich - YUM!)

Grace fell and got a swollen ankle so we took her to the doctor the day before Thanksgiving

And after getting x-rayed, found out she had fractured the growth plate in her ankle.

My poor Midgie on that big x-ray table!

Jon was in China for a week and as we were leaving for the airport he found out his Grandpa had died in his sleep, so we had the funeral while Jon was gone; I got a ticket the next day, we had family (with 5 boys) stay with us, and I got to do the Scribble rush by myself. It's been quite a month!

Noni Costco Partay

When we heard the Jons work party was going to be at Costco this year we were like "Eh?". It ended up being AWESOME! After Costco closes they set up for the party. We went at 9:30 and it looked like it normally does on a Saturday afternoon- packed! This was the line to get in (with a choir serenading us while we waited):

Your invitation to the party comes with a $200 Costco Gift card and a voucher for a ham or turkey. Then all the isles are set up with games - toss the bean bag, throw the football through the tire etc. and if you win, you get more Costco gift cards:

Then there was food. Lot's of food. This is the crepe bar:

And the crepes being made in the dairy isle:

And the tables of hors d'oeuvres (by the meat section):

Feasting amongst the produce (I think of this every time I've been back shopping) :

Let's not forget the Italian Soda bar:

And the best part. The Cake Walk. We got in and were busily chatting for 2 rounds when boom, Sheree won. She picked one of the last 2 chocolate cakes. I thought, "great! now I'm all alone" and the next thing I knew, my number got picked! I got the last coveted chocolate cake. We got many an evil eye from those who had been there for half an hour waiting to win a cake. Our husbands were very proud of us.

Can't wait for next year!

Argh.

I think we are in more confusion since the small move from Jons parents basement to Orem than from Texas! I can't find my camera cord to upload my pictures, there are piles of to-be-sorted all over, the house is a mess, Scribble is uber busy and a lot has happened this last month. Grace fell and fractured her ankle bone but is mending nicely, Jon had his annual bronchitis and is getting ready to go to China for work, Collin has been writing his first novel and my world shattered a little with the passing of my grandma. It's been harder than I thought it would but life goes on I guess. We had Jons work party at Costco last weekend and I used my phone for pictures so I can post those.

Happy Holidays!

Introducing . . .

Our new, wonderful house . . .

The view from my bedroom - all the way to the mountains south of the valley and across the lake:

The sellers were the best. They left us flowers with a note that said, "Welcome Home" and that's just what this house already feels like!

Now, I gotta get back to unpacking boxes. Hopefully I'll find my winter clothes today!

PS In about another month we will be prepared to start taking reservations for our extra bedroom for anyone who wants to come stay with us. Please.

Fall!

This is going to be a GREAT week! The kids have UEA (Utah Educators . . . . um . . . I don't know - we used to just call it the Deer Hunt) and have school off and we will using that vacation to unpack. Yes, we will FINALLY close on our house on Wednesday!! YAY!!

Fall is here and we have been taking advantage of it. Driving up the canyon to see the changing leaves, picking apples and pumpkins, eating chili and apple crisp etc. These are a few of my favorite things - fall edition: The kids eating a donut off a string at the fall carnival at school, that was big back in the day!

Picking out a homegrown pumpkin from my dads garden.

We used to come home from school and sell pumpkins in front of our house.

Picking apples. . .

Hiding in the corn stalks:

Seeing how many people, pumpkins, bushels of apples, bags and jars of jam we can fit in one Mini:

And pine nut stands everywhere! I love pine nuts and have missed having them in the fall. There are about 100 more stands around town then there used to be - not that I'm complaining mind you.

Now we just need to get into our house so we can set up shop and get nestled in for the approaching winter.

The Big Bash

Last Saturday was the big party/fiesta of Jon turning 40 and Collin turning a bonified teen. Jon wanted a taco cart with five different meats, 2 pinatas, lot's of cold drinks and as many people as we could get there. I added 4 cakes (which no one got pictures of :( from The Chocolate) and sent out the invitations. We had a blast. (I know this will come as no surprise, but the lack of pictures is because my memory card was full - it wasn't my battery dying this time!)

I think this is Jon's first plate of maybe 4? Tongue, buche, and other cuts/parts of pork:

Lot's of girls for Grace to play with:

And some of the guys hanging:

People ate till they were stuffed and we still came home with about 10 lbs of meat and taco fixings and almost 2 full cakes. These are the taco helpers and eaters:

Then pinata time. I love this picture of Jon's mom Sue cheering him on in the background:

I love the kids faces in this one:

We had a great time and hope everyone else did too. I'm already starting to think about Jon's 50th! Maybe a BBQ. . . I'll think on that while I eat some cake. MMMmmmmmm.