Christmas 2012

 We had a delightful Christmas this year. We decided to do Christmas morning at our own home when we realized that we won't all be home for Christmas together the next four years. Whitney will be gone on her mission the next two Christmases and then Steve the two after that. So, we made the most of it.

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's to open gifts with everyone on Noreen's side of the family. Everyone gives such thoughtful gifts, it's always a highlight. It was especially fun to have everyone in the family there.

Then it was off to Christmas dinner at our other Grandma and Grandpa's. We had a fun time eating, visiting, playing games, opening gifts and eating some more. We missed those who were sick or too far away to come. All around, it was a wonderful day.

Park City Escape

To avoid some of the busy and rushed feelings that the holiday season can bring, we took the week before Christmas off and enjoyed some time at my parents' Park City condo. The first night just Steve and I went up to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary! We had an amazing (that's an understatement) dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Park City. The next day we brought the kids up for the rest of the week. Jesse got to join us on Wednesday for some cross country skiing. We also went swimming, watched lots of Christmas movies, did more cross country skiing, played games, and generally relaxed. I feel a new tradition coming on!

Merry Christmas!

 From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013!

More Hobbit Time

This week Whitney got her braces off (for the second time), took all her BYU finals, and arrived home in time to go to the premiere of the Hobbit with her boyfriend Jesse (yes, it's official.) They went as Galadriel the Elf and Pippen the Hobbit. They actually ended up with tickets to go twice, once at 8:30 and then again at midnight. Since they had both just finished finials, it was a little hard to stay awake for the second showing.  What a fun way to start the holiday season, and just look at that beautiful (and expensive) smile!

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.

The Nativity

Our ward put on a beautiful Christmas party with a live nativity. Ellie was so excited to be a shepherd and was riveted to the newborn that played baby Jesus. She's the shepherd in the yellow robe on the left. The best Christmas Pageant ever!

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!

Halloween 2012

 

This year for Halloween we had two Egyptian Princesses and a Navy Seal!

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!

Buttlerville Days

Every 24th of July Grandma and Grandpa's city puts on Buttlerville days complete with small town parade, music, food and lots of activities for the kids.

Ellie was desperate to climb the rock wall, but the line was at least 30 minutes long, so she and Janey took turns on the inflatable slides while the other one held the place in line. Just as it was about to be their turn Ellie was coming down the Shark slide when a little boy decided to climb up. They had a major collision and Ellie came back to the rock wall bleeding. She was not willing to give up her turn on the wall however and promptly climbed to the top. When she came back down she started crying again and we discovered that she had broken 3 teeth in her crash! The medics on site wanted to ambulance her to the ER for x-rays, but she was fine with a trip to the dentist the next morning. Amazingly they were able to save all the teeth!

We should call Janey spider-girl! She climbed the rock wall 3 or 4 times, in under a minute each time.

Spring Break and Happy Easter!

There is an old saying, "Change is as good as a rest." Spring Break wasn't really a break at all, but we did change things up and have a very successful week. Analese had the chance to visit home with her week off, and Whitney sat in the same spot on the couch all week, first finishing a math course and then writing the rest of the week. Steve L. also wrote almost 50 pages over the break for his novel writing class. When he wasn't writing he was labeling and shrink wrapping swag for his dad's company and earning some good money. Daniel worked very hard learning his lines for his upcoming Shakespeare play. The girls didn't start their break until Thursday, and we had a fun afternoon at the aquarium with friends.

Dad spent a very intense week at work, and their company's new book was released on Tuesday. It hit #1 on Barns and Nobel, # 7 on Amazon and we are holding our breath to see how it will do on the New York Times list this week! This is a big deal for their company and it was fun to see it launch so well.

I took the week to catch up on some projects that have been plaguing me, like ALL the laundry, ALL the paperwork and cleaning out the basement! I also got to attend a doTERRA Essential Oil conference on Friday that I really loved.

The weekend brought 3 different egg hunts, lots of cousins and enough candy for the kids to be on a sugar high all week! We had a lovely Easter Sunday. Dad was the concluding sacrament meeting speaker and gave a wonderful talk on Courage and The Atonement.

Hope you had a wonderful break too (or at least a wonderful change!)

Happy April Fools Day!

We enjoyed a lovely General Conference weekend watching from home. It was 80 degrees on Saturday and then Snowed on Sunday. Ah, spring in Utah!

I served the kid's our traditional April Fool's day sushi for dessert. (Rice krispy treats with gummy worm seafood and Fruit by the Foot seaweed. I hope all your tricks were sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Janey and Ellie planned, designed, schemed, crafted and talked non-stop about Valentine's day since the moment they opened their last Christmas present. I'm the room mom for Ellie's 1st grade class, so I got to plan and run the class Valentine's party. So much love to go around!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011, we've been having so much fun, we almost forgot to blog about it! We started off Christmas Eve with a matinee of the new movie "Tin Tin." The kids were really into the Tin Tin comics when we lived in New Zealand, so we loved the movie.

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's with our Subarus loaded down with gifts. Grandma had gingerbread houses for all the kids to decorate. Grandpa grilled steak on the BBQ, which reminded me Christmas in New Zealand, where every one grills and goes to the beach to celebrate the holiday.

We spent the night and opened our Santa gifts in the morning before church. Its was wonderful to attend services in the ward I grew up in. The rest of the day was spent exchanging gifts with waves of family as they arrived at different times throughout the day. We had so much fun, we didn't want to go home, so we didn't. We spent the night again, and repacked our Subaru's for the ride home.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

An "UP" Kind of Weekend!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Hope you did too! We started the weekend off right with family pictures on a gorgeous afternoon. Seriously, you couldn't have asked for better November weather. (Can't wait to show them to you when we get them!)

Steve's parents put on a lovely feast, with all but one of the 27 Grandchildren attending, including the 2 brand new babies. We filled out the weekend with going out to dinner and the movies, more cousin time, a hike up Butterfield Canyon, a visit to the "UP" house and more going out to dinner and the movies.

Can't wait for Christmas break to do it all over again!

Happy Halloween

The kids came up with their own Halloween costumes this year, as usual. A gangster, devil and a witch, definatly the opposites of their true personalities. Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Kung Fu Ride

The cool weather on Monday, Memorial Day, did not stop us! Determined to go on a family bike ride, we donned jackets, gloves and stocking caps and jumped on our bikes. First we rode a few miles to In-and-Out burger and replaced all the burned calories with a yummy lunch. Then we rode to the movie theaters to watch the new Kung Fu Panda 2 movie. I wasn't quite sure where we would chain up our bikes, but there was a bike rack right at the entrance. We had the best parking of anyone there!

It had been threatening rain all day, but it graciously waited until we rode home and parked the last bike in the garage before it started to sprinkle! Our total trip was about 10 1/2 miles. I think a new holiday tradition has been born.

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!