Christmas 2008 slide show

CHRISTMAS 2008

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. We had such a wonderful time, I'm sad it's over.
This was our first Christmas away from "home."
I was really having a rough time leading up to Christmas. I have missed our family terribly. I couldn't wait for Christmas so we could see everyone.

Every year we celebrate Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We have both of my grandmother's over, and aunts, uncles and cousins from both my mom's side and my dad's. It's a wonderful time and I look forward to it every year.
Christmas morning is usually spent at home waking up early to open gifts from Santa, then on to Grandma and Grandpa Kener's for breakfast and more presents with all the family. This too is a wonderful celebration that we can't wait for.

With the crazy winter storms that we have had this past week, we were worried about the commute back and forth. Both of our parents so generously invited us to stay with them to lessen the stress of the drive. We were so grateful, and decided to stay with Mike's parents. We had wonderful time, and it made it so we didn't have to change our Christmas traditions much. In fact, we were even able to sleep in bit more Christmas morning!

We received so many wonderful gifts, but my favorite of all was getting to stay 4 days and spending the most wonderful time with all of our family.

The 12th day of Christmas

ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
twleve drummers drumming...

No drummers, we thought you could use some quiet time so here is a special treat we drummed up for you so relax and enjoy.

Tonight we received a ham from the Honey Baked ham store! WOW!

I cannot believe how much thought, effort and love this person has put into this for us. We are truely grateful for the wonderfu friends we have made here. Thank you to whoever has been doing this fun 12 days of Christmas for our family. We love and appreciate you!!!

The 11th day of Christmas

ON THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
eleven pipers piping...

Here's a pipe of your own, have fun and don't blow the whole day!

Tonight we received a bottle of BUBBLES!!! Fun!
Just one day to go.

The 10th day of Christmas

ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
ten Lords-a-leapin'...

After the Lords get done leapin', this is what they use for their sore muscles.

BENGAY!!! Hahaha.

The 9th day of Christmas

ON THE NINTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
nine ladies dancing...

Here are some canes used by the ladies to help them walk home after they were out dancing all night.

Too funny! We got candy canes tonight!

The 8th day of Christmas

ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
eight maids a milking...

Here's some milk I got from the eight maids-we think they must have been milking some brown cows!

Tonight we received a gallon of Chocolate Milk. DELICIOUS!!!
Looking forward to Sunday breakfast! Mmmmmm.

The 7th day of Christmas

ON THE SEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
seven swans a swimming...

All of the swans have flown south for the winter, but here are some of the bubbles they used while theyy were swimming.

Last night we received Mr. Bubble, bubble bath!
This has been so fun, we love all of these great gifts!

A nice trip home

Yesterday our family took a nice trip home to Sandy. Mike was already down there working, so my dad so graciously came to pick up the kids and me. The weather was awful. It was snowing so hard, and it took nearly 2 hours to get home. However, it was actually a great time for us to spend with my dad singing christmas songs and planning what we would do over Christmas break. The kids did well, only fought a little, and Zack won the game of who could last the longest without talking!

It was so nice to be home. I miss my family terribly, and as soon as we pulled in the drive way my eyes filled with tears. I want to be back there so bad. It's not that where we live is bad, in fact, this is such a great place to live and raise a family, I just NEED my family to be near by.

The kids were excited to spend time with their uncles and Kelsey was looking forward to a visit with her best friend Autumn. My mom made us dinner, then Mike and I were off to the Neil Diamond concert. (Thanks again Amanda!!!)

We decided to take TRAX downtown, however, so did everyone else. That was okay though, we met lots of funny Neil fans!
It took extra time to get there due to the snow, but once we were there, it was so worth it! It was such great show. I have seen him 4 or 5 times now, and he never let's me down!

We spend the night at my parents (thanks Jeremy for loaning us your room!) and went to Mike's parents for a yummy breakfast. It was so great to see everyone and I am SO looking forward to coming down again for Christmas.

SUPER BIG, EXCITINGLY GREAT NEWS!!!

Kelsey made the school play! Hooray!

Earlier this week she tried out for the school play, which is a musical. She was so nervous and actually considered not trying out. After much persuasion, she went ahead and tried out. I wasn't there, but her friends said she did great. Apparently she did, because she made the part as the Head Secretary!

CONGRATULATIONS KELSEY!!!

The 6th day of Christmas

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
six geese a laying...

You don't really want geese all over the house do you? How about some of the eggs they left behind?

Yes, tonight we received a carton of eggs! Hooray, it's omelets for breakfast-yum!

The 5th day of Christmas

ON THE FIFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
five golden rings....

Sorry, I'm too poor to buy five real gold rings, but will some golden pineapple suffice?

YUM, we LOVE pineapple!

The 4th day of Christmas

ON THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
Your true love gave to you-
four calling birds...

I can't find those calling birds, but here are four messages they left for you before they flew off.

Tonight we received a beautiful card with wonderful holiday wishes, a note to remind us to read to our family the story of the birth of Christ LUKE 2:1-17, a message from President Thomas S. Monson titled "The Best Christmas Ever" (Beautiful story!) and last but not least, a stocking with tickets to a Utah Jazz game in January.

We don't know who has been leaving these wonderful gifts, but we are so grateful to them for lifting our Christmas spirits.

Merry Christmas!

The third day of Christmas

ON THE THIRD DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
three french hens....

The french hens were not available so I'm giving you some chicken noodle soup, compliments of the three french hens.

Yes, we received a large can of chicken noodle soup. YUM!!!

The 2nd day of Christmas

We were so excited to see what we would recieve tonight.
It read:
ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you-
two turtle doves...
Unfortunately, I don't have any. Will candy turtles on a bar of Dove soap do?

This was so cute! We recieved a big box of chocolate turtles and a bar of Dove soap.

Can't wait till tomorrow!

The first day of Christmas

We recieved a cute little package on our doorstep tonight.
The tag read:
ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS
your true love gave to you- a partridge in a pear tree...
Sorry, but I couldn't find the partridge so I am giving you some pears from the tree the partridge flew away from.

Inside we found 4 delicious pears. YUM!
How fun. We are looking forward to tomorrow!!!

Catching up

I've been slow to post a bunch of things that have been going on in our lives.
I'll try to catch up!

About a week or so before Thanksgiving I started a new job. I am working in the writing lab at an alternative high school. It is very different from what I am used to in Elementary school, but it is good. I am SO glad I am not a teenager anymore!
It is a great job and I am making many new friends between staff and students. Apparently I am much nicer than the last lady because I let them listen to music and I actually talk to them! Nice!
It's part time, and the hours fit perfectly with the kids' schedules. I even have Wednesdays off!


Zack had a Chistmas performance on the 3rd of December. He didn't want a part in the play, so he settled for being a part of the singing group. It was so cute and they sounded great! We arrived 45 minutes early in hopes of getting a nice close seat, but unfortuantely so did the rest of the 3rd grade parents! So most of the pictures have spectator heads in the way, but at least we got some!


Kelsey had her first formal dance on the 5th, which also happened to be Mike's 35th bithday! (Scroll down to the last post to read about the dance.)
Because of the dance, we decided to go out to dinner and bowling the night before his birthday. We had a great time, however, we really need to brush up on our bowling skills. Not one of us hit 100! But we had a great time, and enjoyed being together.


The next day my parents brought my grandma up for a visit. This was her first time up to see the house. We spend most of the day hanging out on good ol' historic 25th street. We went to the Railroad Station and to a local craft boutique and out to lunch. We had such a great time, but of course it made me miss my family and want to go home! I'm wondering if the homesickness will ever go away???

Mike has ofically moved his shop up here. Well, just about anyway. We still have a few things left to move and we need to get the electrical work finished (Monday), but we are so excited to not have to make the 100+ mile commute everyday. Now, we just need to pray for more work. With the economy the way it is, work has been slow, but we are SO thankful for all the little jobs that have been keeping us afloat.

We have been in our home for 6 months now! Wow. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. We are still uncertain whether we will stay here permanetly or not. I of course have mixed feelings. We have another 6 months to go before we make a final decision, so we'll just wait and see.

Kelsey had her Chistmas choir performance last week. It was wonderful!
Again, I had too many tall heads in my way, so no good pictures, but I am hoping to get a copy of a video to post soon. Her choir teacher is so talented. He has so many different classes and each one sounds magnificant.
She is planning to try out for a part in the school play. It's a musical and she is very excited. I'l keep you posted.

Christmas is soon approaching. We haven't done nearly all that I had hoped to do, but as of today we are finally finished shopping. HOORAY! Now we can focus on family time.
We are hoping to go see the lights and build a gingerbread house on Monday. So until then, that is all I have to post about for now!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS and love to all!

Gorgeous!

Isn't she gorgeous?
This is Kelsey and her friends after the big school dance!
We were lucky to find the "Perfect" dress after MUCH searching. Her friend helped her with her hair, and the make-up was done by the girls at the Clinique counter at Dillards. What a fun night they had!

The Dance

Decorating the Christmas tree

We actually decorated the Christmas tree about a week before Thanksgiving-I'm just slow to post!

A Parent's Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
I searched for the tools to hand to my spouse.
Instructions were studied and we were inspired,
In hopes we could manage "Some Assembly Required."

The children were quiet (not asleep) in their beds,
While Dad and I faced the evening with a dread:
A kitchen, two bikes, Barbie's town house to boot!
And, thanks to Grandpa, a train with a toot!

We opened the boxes, my heart skipped a beat...
Let no parts be missing or parts incomplete!
Too late for last-minute returns or replacement;
If we can't get it right, it goes to the basement!

When what to my worrying eyes should appear,
But 50 sheets of directions, concise, but not clear,
With each part numbered and every slot named,
So, if we failed, only we could be blamed.

More rapid than eagles the parts then fell out,
All over the carpet they were scattered about.
"Now bolt it! Now twist it! Attach it right there!
Slide on the seats, and staple the stair!
Hammer the shelves, and nail to the stand"
"Honey," said hubby, "you just glued my hand."

And then in a twinkling, I knew for a fact
That all the toy dealers had indeed made a pact
To keep parents busy all Christmas Eve night
With "assembly required" till morning's first light.

We spoke not a word, but kept bent at our work,
Till our eyes, they went bleary; our fingers all hurt.
The coffee went cold and the night, it wore thin
Before we attached the last rod and pin.

Then laying the tools away in the chest,
We fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.
But I said to my husband just before I passed out,
"This will be the best Christmas, without any doubt.

Tomorrow we'll cheer, let the holiday ring,
And not have to run to the store for a thing!
We did it! We did it! The toys are all set
For the perfect, most perfect, Christmas I bet!"

Then off to dreamland and sweet repose I gratefully went,
Though I suppose there's something to say for those self-deluted...

I'd forgotten that BATTERIES are never included!!!!

Farm homes

Ever since I was a little kid I have loved old farm houses.
I always wanted to live out in Draper in one of the old houses. I wanted lots of land and horses and cows. I wanted to drive a tractor and wake up early to gather eggs from the chickens.
Now, I really don't want to gather eggs or milk a cow, but I would LOVE to live in an old farm house. I suppose I could get used to farm life-IF I had a farm house!

We have been here 6 months now. It has taken me some time to get used to life here, but I truely love it. It doesn't seem so bad to drive 10 miles to the nearest grocery store, and I am so used to the cow smell that I don't even notice it anymore!

However, I am ready to move! Not back to the city life of course! But maybe out to Plain City or Warren. I love old towns. I love historical sites. And as I have mentioned before, I love farm houses!
These are pictures of some old farm homes that I took yesterday. There is so much history in these houses. I love the craftmenship, the colors, the area, everything about them!
So, if you know anyone who would love to live in West Haven, send them to me. My house is now for sale! Okay, not really, but hey, if the price is right it certainly could be!

PICTURE TAG

I've been tagged by a couple of friends, and now I tag everyone else!
Open the 4th file in your picture folder, and post the 4th picture along with an explanation of what it is.

This is Zack at the school carnival dancing with Jocelyn. There was a riffle about whether he would dance with Joselyn (back up future wife) or Sunny (Future wife!).

They were dressed up and danced to 50's music. Too cute!

Thanksgiving

I know that a few posts ago I wrote about some of the things I am grateful for, but I just have so much, that I must post again!

I am truely blessed with a beautiful happy family. I thank the Lord everyday for each and every one of them.

My daughter is so beautiful and sweet. She is such a joy to be around and is so loving and caring to all who she comes in contact with. I am so thankful to have her in my life.
And Zack, he is such a fun kid. He makes me smile everyday. I love that he still cuddles with me and isn't afraid to hug and kiss me even though he is 8. So grown up!

Mike is such an inspiration to me. This is a man that knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go after it! He is so talented and loving and thoughtful and he works so hard for us. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!


I am also so grateful for my wonderful parents. My two brothers. My grandmothers. All of Mike's family. And of course all of my wonderful friends! Thank you all for being so fun. You are all so wonderful and caring and thank you for always being there for us!

I have a beautiful home, food to eat, and cars to drive. And to pay for each of these, I am very grateful for my new job. I am thankful for the students I work with each day, and I pray that they will one day be as happy as I am.

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and my brother Jesus Christ.
I am so happy that I have been sealed to my family for all Eternity. The Temple is such a beautiful place full of many rich blessings. What an awesome opportunity we have to serve there!

I am also grateful for our Church leaders and for President Monsen, a true living Prophet. How great is that?!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you-I love you all!!!

Yes, I am a geek, but I'm an excited one!

Yeah!!! I am SO excited.
My sister-in-law Amanda gave me an early birthday present last night. Can you guess what it is? Okay, I'll tell.
NEIL DIAMOND CONCERT TICKETS!!! Yeah!!!

I've have seen him 3 times and loved every show.
I have always loved his music-it's just so upbeat and fun.
I know-I'm such a geek, but I don't care!

I am really hoping that since this concert is in December that he will be playing some of his Christmas songs. That would just make my day-again! Hehe.

THANKS AMANDA- you're so awesome!!!

Sad passing

Yesterday while cleaning Zack's room I noticed that his frog had passed away. I wan't really sure how he would react, but I knew I had to break the news to him gently.
Unfortunately he didn't take the news to well. This little boy is so tender hearted.
He absolutely loves all living things and was pretty close with his frog. Froggy.
What a sweet boy he is. He asked me to pray for the frog, and of course I did and I even heard him say one himself.
It's too bad that we had to have such a hard lesson on life, but I'm so glad that I am the mommy and he needs me to help comfort him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

HAPPY BITHDAY MOM-WE LOVE YOU!!!

Farm hand Harvey

This is Harvey.
He is a weiner dog. Don't tell him that though. He thinks he's tough. I think it's little dog syndrome. He's kind of a dumb dog. Actually, he is a really dumb dog. And he doesn't mind at all.

Today Harvey decided that he is a farm hand dog. He rounded up all of the cows. Actually he started a stampede. I took out my camera because at first it was pretty funny. Then it got scary and I stopped taking pictures. I truely thought he would be stomped like dirt, but thankfully he is quick.

He thought it was great fun herding them from one side of the field to the other. The cows on the otherhand didn't think it was so fun. They scuffed and mooed and chased him. Scary stuff. And the dumb dog does not listen to reason, and would not come back.

Thankfully he is back in his kennel, and I am thinking of what a great Christmas gift he might make another family! Any takers? He has a matching brother too!

Gun powder and lead

Today we got together with with a bunch of friends from our new ward to shoot clay pigeons. It's been years since I've been out shooting, and it showed! But I had a great time. This is the perfect area for Mike to live in with bird hunting right outside our back door. They farm next door to us is often used for target shooting and it doesn't seem to bother the cows at all. In fact, they came right up to the fence to watch!

The women definitely out shot the guys and they were pretty good sports about it.

I'm so glad I am finally getting to know and bond with people out here. I guess it's easy with a shotgun in hand!!!

Is it too soon to put up the tree?

I love Christmas.
Most of all I love to decorate for Christmas. Not that I have lots of great decor or anything, I just love the look of Christmas stuff!
I am super excited to decorate this year because we are in a new house. I have some fun ideas of what to do, but I have to get the tree up first.
My friend Wendy and I went shopping a few weeks ago at Tai Pan. They have the most beautiful trees. A little more glamorous than I would want, but they were pretty. It made me want to put my tree up. I have been thinking about it ever since.
Today as I drove past a home in my neighborhood I spied a tree in the window (I love to look in windows-keep your blinds shut or I will peek!) It looked so pretty and now I really want to put mine up.
The tradition in our house is to put it up on Thanksgiving night, but hey, new house, new traditions-right? Maybe this weekend!

You need to mute my playlist at the bottom of the blog to hear this!

Kelsey's Choir Performance

It's funny, when we were registering for school I suggested she take choir.
I don't know if it's because I was the one suggesting it, or what it was, but she absolutely did NOT want to take it! One of her friends and the office lady talked her into it however, and it has become her favorite class! Teenagers!

Her teacher is amazing. He is the most popular teacher at the school and has won many awards for his various choirs.

I am slow to blog about it, but here are pictures from the performance a few weeks ago. This is the fall performance and we are really looking forward to the Christmas performance-she is singing "Carol of the Bells" -one of my all time favorites!

Fall...a time of thanks

I love fall.
The crisp cool weather, the beautiful colors of leaves falling everywhere, and especially Thanksgiving.

I have so much to be thankful for;
My amazing, beautiful children, my husband, my parents, all of our family and friends. God, the gospel, prayer, my home, Mike's job, health, freedom, and my life just to name a few.

Sometimes during this season, I get so wrapped up in getting ready for Christmas that I don't savor the month as I should. But today, as I relax by the fire and watch the rain, I am going to ponder about all that I am grateful for and just enjoy November.

Happy Halloween

More Halloween Fun

We have had so much fun this Halloween.
Here are some pictures of us picking out pumpkins, decorating cookies and carving the pumpkins.

Gardner Village. A day with the Witches

A hunting he will go....

How many days until Zack goes on his first hunting trip???

Zack is such a funny kid. He is SO excited for his first hunting trip that he made a paper chain!
He has just 3 days to go. They are planning to leave Friday afternoon and return Sunday.
Mom is very much NOT excited for this trip. I get so nervous when Mike goes out, it's going to be twice as hard knowing my baby is out there too. But it means so much to him and it is in his blood, so I am going to grit my teeth and pray ALOT.
Maybe Sunday I will have a post of the elk. Ewwwww! Just kidding.

Thank you

I just want to say Thank you to everyone who has been so thoughtful during this difficult time. Some times life just sucks. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family by my side at all times. I love you all.
I truely appreciate the kind and encouraging cards, emails, treats and prayers. And thanks to my sister-in-laws for the beautiful flowers!

Happy Hallow-Christmas?????

Where in the world can it be 90 degrees one day, fall the next and then you wake up to winter? Utah of course!
This is what we woke up to today. SNOW! Ewwwww. Yucky, cold snow.
Actually, I have to admit, the first snowfall of the season is always fun. But still, I was rather enjoying that one or two days of fall we had!

I called my mom this morning to see how much snow they had received. Not surprising, they only had a light dusting. Nothing actually sticking to the ground. Here on the otherhand, well it's a downright blizzard! Okay, maybe not actually a blizzard, but there are a few inches STUCK to the ground, and you can't see far beyond a house or two.

What a perfect Sunday, stay home in bed day today!
I decided to head home yesterday to visit family. I think I over did it as I am in much pain today. I was planning to watch some fun Halloween movies with my kids today. Now I am thinking Chirstmas movies might be more appropriate!

By the way, it's suppose to be back in the 70's by later this week.
Only in Utah!!!

i wanna go home

Don't get me wrong. I love my new house. I love my new town. I like my new neighbors. Some more than others. I like our new ward. The kids schools are great.
BUT, I really miss my old home, my old city, my old friends and neighbors, our old ward and our old schools.
Yes, we went home this weekend. This always happens to me after a visit home.
We had a great day yesterday. We arrived in Sandy early so Kelsey could go to a girl scout activity at Boondocks. I spent a few hours with my parents and my brother Jesse. Jeremy and his band were playing in the X-96 Big Ass Show. I'm so proud of him!
Anyway, later that afternoon we headed over to my good friend (old neighbor) Wendy's for a BBQ. Her brother Matt, another good friend of ours has been staying with her and is getting ready to travel on, so we had to have a BBQ. That's just what we do!
Wendy's sister Grace, yes, another good friend of ours, and her husband Mark and their daughter Jessica, oh and Wendy's daughter Chelsey were there too. I truely miss this family, and our BBQ's. I'm so glad we were able to get together, even though it was a short time. And the food was so YUMMY!
After that we headed over to Mike's sister Monica's. She was hosting one of my vinyl lettering parties. She, along with Mike's mom and most of his sisters were there.
We don't get to see them much since we've moved. Especially because most of their get-togethers are on the weekends, and since Mike has to travel everyday, he definitly does not like to do it on the weekends!
We had a great time catching up and sharing creative ideas. I even got to see my friend McKinsie and her son Izac. It was great!
Unfortuately, time goes by quick, and before we knew it we had to get back out on the road. Kelsey's best friend was getting Baptized and we were running late. That's a whole other story! But, we had a wonderful time and I miss you ALL!
Thanks for a great day!

Another visitor

Today I had a visit from another friend, Heather.
Heather is the wife to my childhood friend Zach. Yes, this is partly where I got my Zack's name from. Zach and I have been friends since we were 3 or 4. We grew up across the street from one another and always thought of ourselves as brother and sister. His mom had four boys and adopted me as her daughter.
Right out of High School, Zach joined the Military and moved to California. That's where he met Heather. Zach and Heather got married in April, 1999, just a few weeks before Mike and I got hitched. They stayed in Northern California until about 3 years ago. Up until we moved up North here, we hadn't seen them in years. But now that they are living in Ogden, which is close to here, we get to see them more.
Zach and Heather just had their first baby. Her name is Greta and she is gorgeous!
I am absolutely in love with her. She is so tiny and sweet, I could just eat her up!
I am so glad they are so close so I can get my baby fix. I am addicted!
Just look how cute she is!

My friends

I have such great friends!
I have to say, I was really worried when we moved up here, that none of my friends would ever come to visit. OKay, apparently I didn't have much faith in our friendships. Silly me! I truely have the best friends.
Since we've been here, we've had quite a few friends come up and visit.

Today my friends Melissa, Syndi and Traci came up. Traci has the most adorable twin girls, Ryan and Kendall, that came to visit too. I would have kept them if Traci would have let me! Seriously, they don't come much cuter than these two!
Anyway, we spent the day talking girl talk, laughing and catching up. and no gossiping-good girls! Hehe!
Of course we had to pick up lunch at the world famous Burger Bar, which we took to the park to eat. The weather was perfect for a perfectly fun day!
Thanks for coming up girls! I love you guys and miss you SO much!
We should have taken pictures! Dangit.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!
It's been 34 great years today and you haven't killed each other yet. Way to go!!!
Congratulations!
Be nice to each other and do something fun!


I love you guys!!!

High School Tag

High School Tag: I was tagged by Monica and now I tag YOU!
1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes, I married someone from my high school
2. What kind of car did you drive? Mustang
3. Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? YES!
4. Were you a party animal? I went to a fair share of parties
5. Were you considered a flirt? Very much so. I liked the boys!
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No just Drama
7. Were you a nerd? I hope not.
8. Were you on any varsity teams? Um, no.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Yikes. Just once.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Bits and pieces
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. S and Mr. Brady
12. Where did you sit during lunch? We always went to Maverick or the 7-11
13. What is your schools full name? Jordan High School (the cool old haunted one,located where Jordan Commons is now)
14. School mascot and colors? Digger Dan the beet digger and the colors were maroon and grey
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Yes. Wow. I really have to think here. Um....I really can't remember! I better pull out the old pictures. I went every year, I know that much!
17. What do you remember most about graduation? Getting my hope chest. It was full of great memories. Such an emotional day!
18. Where did you go senior skip day? Every day was senior skip day .
19. Were you in any clubs? Drama Club
20. Have you gained some weight since then? Gee, do ya think??!!!
21. Who was your prom date? Chad Turnbow
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I did go. It was stupid.
23. Did you have a job while in high school? Yes, a few mall jobs over time. Vanity, the candy store and some chinese place.

Get your season tickets now!

This is too funny. They got the sign up with prices for the Rock Wall. They are even selling season tickets. Get them while their HOT!
Rock climbing while the weather's good, sledding come winter!
I love it!

The wall

Hard Workers

This is Zack, Bailey and Demri hard at work on the rock climbing wall!

The imagination of a child

I feel like I have so much to blog about today. Forgive me if I get long-winded!
First of all I have to tell you about Zack. Zack seems to be Mr. Popular in our nighborhood. We constantly have kids over to play all day long. It starts just moments after school lets out until 9:00 at night. We LOVE it. At times there are 7-10 kids here at a time. It's so different from our last neighborhood where I don't know that we even had 10 kids total! Well anyway, Zack and a group of friends are making a "rock climbing wall" in the mound of dirt piled in the empty lot next door. It's almost finished, and as they are making the last few adjustments, the girls across the street realized that they may need a "nurses station"!!! Apparently it's a wall for "skilled climbers" and you just never know, someone could fall. How cute is that?! As they are explaining this to me I am trying my hardest to keep a straight face. They are adorable!
Zack, being the entrepenuer that he is, is planning to charge the neighborhood kids to climb! They also plan to have a bow and arrow station and an airsoft gun section. They might do something else for the younger kids, like make a slide or something, but they just don't know for sure yet! Too funny! I love the imiganations of these children. I love how simple life is for them. I wish that for just one day, I could go back to being a simple minded, imaginative child!
Jenny, my best friend since I was 5, called me today. We haven't talked for a couple of years. I hate how life just gets in the way sometimes and you lose track of the imporatant things, or in this case, people in you life.
It was SO great to talk to her. I miss her so much. We spent a few hours just reminissing about our childhood.
Talk about imiganations! Holy cow. We did some of the funniest things. We used to jump on our bikes and ride off for hours tring to "Solve a mystery" I don't know that we ever knew exactly what mystery it was we were solving, but who cared? We had our pencil, paper and bikes and we were off-like Nancy Drew!
We were also VERY mischeivous. Hehehe! There was this family that lived across the street from her that frequently had babysitters for their little girls. Next door to them was a scary house with questionable tenants. Well, we would watch for the babysitter to get there and then we would call and pretent to be the "questionable" neighbor in need of a cup of sugar. Mind you, this was way back in the days BEFORE caller ID! We would tell the poor babysitter that we were unable to come over to get the sugar so could she please bring it to us. With much hesitation she would do it. It was always so funny to see the faces of both the reciepent of the sugar, and the sitter! We would watch slyly from her front window and just die laughing! How awful we were, but aww, the memories! Hehehe!!!
I had such a great childhood. We were very fortunate to live in a neighborhood with tons of children the same age. Unfortunately, that neighborhood grew up and moved away and once my children were born there weren't many kids to play with. I am so grateful to be here where my kids can have a childhood like I did. One where you can play outside all day and use your imagination freely!

Making progress!

Yay! Today we got our yard trenched and we picked up the sprinkler equipment. I am getting so excited to have a yard. I love this house, but it has been so frustrating being stuck inside it all the time! It's been a slow process, but considering we haven't even been here 3 months yet we're doing okay! Some of the neighbors have been in a year now and we're ahead of them. Saturday we will actually have the sprinklers in, and hopefully early next week we will have the grass in.
I'll keep you posted!

the backyard

side view

The front

Yard picture

And the fun begins... part 2

Well it's been a while since we've done much in the yard. Mostly because it's been too darn hot!
We learned something pretty cool the last time we rented a bobcat. If you rent it over a long weekend, you get to keep it longer and still pay the price of one day! That's how we did it over the 4th of July so we decided to do it again for Labor Day weekend.
The people behind us got the back fence put up this morning. It looks so good! I am so happy to have it up for both privacy reasons and for the fact that it finally looks like we have a yard! YEAH! And what a big yard it is. I didn't realize just how big it is until be saw the lenght of the fence.
We are getting our sprinkler system in within the next week or two and the grass comes shortly after that. HOORAY! Of couse we won't get to enjoy it much this year, but I keep thinking about how nice it will be next spring. I'm actuallylooking forward to mowing it! We probably won't do much as far as trees and flowers yet, but soon enough.
Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what's happening here.

Week One

Well, one week down and we all survived!
Actually, I can't believe it's already Friday. This week has flown by pretty fast.

The kids like school, for the most part.
Kelsey is still getting used to all of her classes and getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus. And Zack had early day the first 3 days of school, so the past two have been a little rough. But all in all, they are adjusting well and making lots of new friends.


I've been asked by numerous people how our talks went on Sunday.
Humpf. Does that sum it up?! Ha.
OKay really, it was quite funny actually. They had two quick speakers before me. One was a return missionary that was explaining that he was only back for a while, I guess he was only 8 months into his mission-not quite sure what happened I was too busy shaking uncontrolably to listen, and the second was a youth recapping about the youth conference from the day before. Then it was my turn. The dreaded moment had come! I stood up somehow, but barely, and started speaking. I could hear my voice so loud it was scary. I was shaking so bad I thought for sure I was going to fall on my face. I moved the microphone out of the way (I truely hoped by doing so nobody would be able to hear me)and continued on introducing my family. I had it all written down on paper, just incase. But for some reason, I decided to add something. Well, because of this, I lost my place on my paper! I didn't want to just stand there looking for my place, so I turned the paper over, where I new I had a whole new paragraph (it was also the end!) and I just finished from there. It was actually a good move for me because it was only about 10 seconds long and I was done! The funny part was that the Relief Society was scheduled to sing after my talk, but they weren't expecting my talk to be over in less then 30 seconds, so it took them a minute to get situated. Once they were finished it was Mike's turn. He did a wonderful job, even got teary eyed, which of course set me off! Oh, I should mention, as he was speaking, I went down and sat by Zack. Zack had been sitting alone since Kelsey left him to sit with her friend in the back. Lucky her. Anyway, as I said, his talk was wonderful. But it was short too. Not 30 seconds short, but about 10 minutes short, which left about a half an hour of no talks! Whoops! Thankfully we have a very prepared Bishop and the Stake President was there as well, and they were able to fill the time up nicely. In our old ward we would have been heros. Sacrament was last and if the talks fell short we just went home early. Not the case here. Sacrament is first. Tough luck. anyway, I am SOOOOO glad that horrifying experience is over and I can almost guarantee we will never be asked to speak in sacrament again!
I guess since I am already speaking on church related topics I can tell you that Mike and I were called this week to be Primary Workers. Until they know what class we will be teaching, they will call us workers. We are very excited and know that this is a good place for us. I'm just glad we get to do it together!

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