Christmas Party Time

One of my (Noreen) favorite things I get to do is be the School Board President for our high school. I work with amazing people, both on the board and in the administration. Because of budget cuts this year we decided not to do our traditional Christmas party at a nice restaurant. I volunteered to host, although I've never thrown a nice sit down dinner party before. Luckily, my mom came to the rescue with all her nice dishes, linens, and decorations. She helped me set up too! The party for 29 was a big success and so much fun.

Fabulous Forties!

I hit the big 40 this year. It's actually a milestone I've been looking forward to. Steve threw a surprise party for me at our favorite Indian restaurant - a first in our 20 years together! Here's to a great decade!

Days of 47 10K

My dad always taught me to "sprint home" when finishing a run. Here I am "sprinting home" at the end of the July 24th Days of '47 10K! The last 2 miles are through the parade route which is a lot of fun. Steve (dad) and Janey came to cheer me on at the finish. Unfortunately Steve didn't feel that his knee was up for the race, but he was mad that he didn't just go for it. No worries, we'll get you there!

Simulations Week

These pictures are from the formal banquet, the final activity of our four day Simulations Week.


I (Noreen) am the president of a non-profit youth leadership organization. We sponsor Sim Week every year and it takes an entire year to plan and put together. This year was our best one yet, due to amazing mentors, volunteers and youth! I especially loved getting to work with my sister-in-law Rebecca who served as our event manager. We wanted the youth to learn about different government types and hopefully come to appreciate their own more. They were placed in either a Monarchy, Theocracy, Socialist, Totalitarian, or Tribal country for the week and given different objectives, problems, resources, and secrets to deal with. The youth were excited and engaged the whole time, learning the art of negotiation, lobbying, governing and diplomacy. Pending planet destruction, leader assassinations, and world war only added to the excitement!




Whitney says,"You know that moment where five different countries are coming together for the final peace talks and suddenly everything they were all agreeing on five minutes ago is out the window because of some payment squabbles? And then you realize that not only to you have to endure the unpredictability of your fellow politicians while masking the fact that you have secretly become the dictator of your country, but that you have suddenly have been appointed speaker of the house and have to single-handedly keep a week's worth of negotiations from going down the drain due to over-talkative delegates?
Me too.
Sim week was great, I had fun writing the back story and even more fun being from a socialist country."

Snow Canyon

My mother's day present this year was a trip with Steve down to Southern Utah to bike beautiful Snow Canyon. Along with the amazing scenery, we saw many fun birds, including the curious Canyon Wren pictured above. We biked miles of trail and hiked through the red sands. A quick and timely getaway that was the perfect present!

My Student Art Show

For the last three years I have loved teaching art! This year we focused on learning about different influential artists and art styles and doing pieces inspired by them. After many extra hours of preparation, we held our annual art show at the local library. Here are some of my favorite pieces that we did this year.






I wanted to teach pointillism to my students this year. (Pictures made from tiny dots of color placed close together.) This mural (all done with dots of paint on the end of pencil erasers) was a team effort and a labor of love. It took well over 60 man hours to complete. I just love the way it turned out looking like a beautiful patchwork quilt. An experience the students will not soon forget!

Race for the Cure

May 12th Steve and I rode trax downtown and joined thousands of others in SLC, for "The Race for the Cure." A 5k that raises money for breast cancer research and awareness. It had been years since I'd run this race and it is definitely more of an event for a cause than an athletic competition, but fun to be involved. We beat our Stake 5k time by over a minute!

Relief Society 5K

This Saturday I ran in our Relief Society 5k. Dad and Janey came to cheer me on and hand me water at the finish line. I improved my time from last week by over a minute, but I have much more fun running with Steve than by myself. Too bad it was girls only!

First 5K

Steve and I ran in our Stake's 5K April 28th. We have been training since February at the indoor track at the Olympic Skating Oval. This was our first 5K of the season and Steve's first race ever! We are having so much fun being running partners and crossed the finish line together.

20 Years!

So sad Alesha was gone for this photo! Jennifer, can I get the one from the night before with Alesha in it?

This weekend was my 20 year High School reunion! It was delightful to catch up with so many old friends and acquaintances, and see how people had "turned out". The highlight however, was a sleepover at Alesha's cabin with my 6 closest friends. We have stayed close throughout the years, but it had been a long time since we had all been together. We visited nonstop through the night, finally turning in about 4 am. We could have kept going, and did the following morning. The best part was going through Denise's shoebox of high school photos. What were we thinking with that hair and those sweaters?! I am so blessed to have such amazing, talented, beautiful, virtuous, loving friends in my life.

2011 Art Show

One of my favorite things to do is teach my art classes every week. This year I had 3 classes, with a total of 16 students. The first semester we focused on drawing principles and "seeing" like an artist. The second semester we delved into all sorts of art medium: acrylic, pastels, water color, colored pencils and oil pastels. We also did a fun field trip the the Utah Museum of Fine Art and we passed off the Art Merit Badge for the boys in the class.

Saturday I held an Art Show at the local library for all my students and their family and friends. It took hours to mat everything and get it hung, but it turned out beautiful! It was so satisfying for the students to show off their hard work. I can't wait for next year!

First 5k of the Season

Saturday was our 2nd Annual Relief Society 5k. It was a gorgeous day and a nice run. I took 1st place in my age division, but felt far behind the runners both younger and older than me. I improved over my time last year by 3 minutes, and hope to shave off a few more by next year. Steve and I have been training together and I look forward to doing my next race with him. He just didn't pass for a sister for this one!

Happy Mother's Day!

What a lovely day! Breakfast in bed, flowers, chocolate covered strawberries, an electric can opener (that I really wanted), kitchen knives (that I really needed), a beautiful needle felted bird, and an adorable apron sewn by Janey. She made matching aprons in her sewing classes with Grandma and did a wonderful job. It was nice to feel appreciated this holiday!

First 5K of the Season!

It's been about 7 years since I ran any races, so I wasn't sure I could pull off our Relief Society 5K. With just a few training runs, I was able to run the whole way, my first goal, and beat my best training time, my second goal. I'm so greatful that all my previous years of running are paying off. Steve says he'll run the next race with me. We'll see if he can keep up!

Happy Birthday to Me

Thanks to everyone that helped make my birthday so special!

Steve took the day off and treated me like a queen. We started the morning off with the breakfast sandwiches Steve bought and then by painting an accent wall in the living room a lovely green. I'm redecorating the front room with a New Zealand theme. (I'll post pictures when I finish.) Then I got to go to lunch with my mom and sister while Steve took the kids birthday shopping. After lunch I got my hair done and met the family for dinner at Bajio. The next night Steve and I went to Market Street for dinner to celebrate some more. I guess you could say my main present was not having to cook!

My favorite part of the whole day was watching Steve (dad) and Janey practice her clogging routine to the tune of Deck the Halls by Donny Osmond while I finished painting. What an awesome dad!

A Couple of Firsts by Noreen

Thursday night I experienced two exciting "firsts." The first, "first" was attending my first Governing School Board meeting for Whitney's charter high school. I was elected by the Board as their newest member and after being officially voted in, was able to participate in voting on various school related items. We also got a sneak peek at the exciting direction the school is taking in the coming year. It was invigorating to be involved in such discussions and having a real vote in the direction of the school. Anyone who really knows me knows I'm passionate about education, so being on the Governing Board is an exciting opportunity that I am grateful for.

My second "first" was trying my first sushi. Brooke, you'll be so proud! The Governing Board has a sushi tradition, taking turns bringing a tray to the meetings. As the tray was passed to me in the middle of a financial discussion, with lots of spread sheet handouts, I cautiously took a roll between two fingers. I tried not to look like I was trying sushi for the first time while making eye contact with the school director to show him I was following the April financial report. The sushi was delicious, so thankfully I was spared the embarrassment of pulling faces or dashing for the nearest garbage can in front of everyone. I'm grateful to be a thirty-something mom that is still enjoying experiencing "firsts."

A Little Bit Country

Steve and I finally broke in our Christmas presents to each other. We found a perfect, groomed cross country skiing trail up the canyon. We had such an amazing time Saturday morning, that we took off at 6:30 on Monday morning for an encore while the children were sleeping. The trail is a gentle incline up the canyon for a great workout and then you get to coast all the way down for your reward. Can't wait to go again!

Kiwi's and Kauri Trees

During our trip, we were able to horseback ride on the beach, view a marine sanctuary from a glass bottom boat, see a massive gannet colony with all their young, and watched a sheepdog show. (All these pictures were lost, but hopefully they are on a back-up of the computer. I will post them when we find them.) We spent 5 days between the likes of Goat Island and Sheep World and two nights at Whatoro near the Giant Kauri tree forests. We saw the giant Kauri Trees (up to 45 feet in circumference and 2000 years old) that were truly awesome in size. A highlight of the trip was a guided night walk through the Kauri forest. Kiwi are nocturnal and endangered and very few people have the chance to see them in the wild. Steve took the older kids on the night walk and they were lucky enough to see a real kiwi! For a lifelong birder like Steve it was a true miracle. I stayed back at the caravan with the little girls and we had our own wildlife adventure. A weka (a cricket like bug about the size of a mouse) invited himself into our small trailer and jumped all around until I could shew him out! Yikes!

The Greatest of Ease

Remember the crazy, dangerous playgrounds I told you about? Well you should see their adventure parks! We went to one at the Bay of Islands that had giant slides, and real tight rope walks a professional sized flying trapeze! I never thought I'd have to see my husband and daughter "fly through to air with the greatest of ease," but watch I did through the cracks in my fingers that were over my eyes. Well they obviously lived (and loved it by the way pictures) to see another day.

Daniel, not so sure about the giant slide.

Steve L. on the monkey bars.

Dad on the trapeze

Whitney ready to take the plunge. (We took video of her swinging, so I don't have more pictures.)

Good old NZ humor.

Bay of Islands part 2

We serendipitously ended up at the Bay of Islands during Waitangi Days, which is the celebration of the signing of the peace treaty between the British and the Maori in the 1800's. We learned much about New Zealand history and culture. We saw traditional Maui song and dance and helped launch the massive Waka (War Canoe) at the Waitangi treaty grounds.

Tree stump of the giant tree that the canoe was made from.

A powerful cyclone hit Australia during our 10 day stay at the Bay of Islands. Being toward the north end of the North Island we received the backlash from the storm. Monsoon like rain dumped for 48 hours straight. It was unbelievable! We extended our stay in that region by a couple days because we certainly couldn't drive in the severe weather. Fortunately we had followed Steve's promptings to take a tour out to Cape Reinga (at the northern most tip of the island) and Ninety Mile Beach the day before the rain started. This didn't make a lot of sense because we planed to camp closer to Ninety Mile Beach the next week. Not ones to second-guess promptings, we went that Monday and had a fun time on our tour that we found for 1/3 rd the regular cost. That night the storm set in and washed out the roads and a bridge and they had to alter the tours. (We talked to one guy in our camp who said they took the busload to a pub instead of the lighthouse at Cape Reinga!) Once again, we felt so blessed that we are watched over in our travels. We stayed nice and dry in our Caravan (without power!) and played games together. When we emerged, we found the playground under 18 inches of water and the gentle Wytangi River we had kayaked the week before was raging and full of rapids.

Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of the North Island.

Janey fell on the wet playground!