January 2013

So here we are at the end of January (ok, so maybe there is one more day left, but lets pretend).  I must admit, I'm not a big fan of January and this January didn't disappoint.  I spent the first few weeks of this month with a crappy cold that took forever to go away, but  I am grateful that I have so far avoided the flu so far (knock on wood).  Then we spent the middle part of the month trying to get that darn kidney stone out of Dan.  They finally realized that this thing wasn't moving fast enough and it was time to blast it.  Last Tuesday was the big day, the stone was finally pulverized!!!!  And lets not get started on the cold, snow or inversion.  Wow, I am sure sounding like a downer.  Ok, no more complaining.  Even though all of this was going on, life was still great as ever.  I spent some good time with my family and friends and that almost ALMOST makes me forget we are in the middle of winter.  Oh, and one other bright moment of January was my yearly time spent volunteering at Sundance.  It was nice to drive up out of the smog of the valley and see the blue sky and hang out with all of the festival goers.  Now we are here, end of January.  This blog post does not contain a lot of pictures because if I took pictures this month they would mainly be of snow, Dan lying in bed in pain with kidney stones, me hanging out in my heating blanket and more snow.  So there you have it.  We made it, winter is 1/3 of the way over and that is a silver lining in my book any day   Enjoy the pictures while I start preparing for February where I just may be making plans to get out of the cold for a day or two.  :)   See you next time my one blog follower . . . and my mom/dad . . . but not my sister (she's not so good with computers, hehe).


This was yesterday.  The girls were helping Dan shovel snow.

My visiting teachers brought me this flower that dances in the sunlight.  There hasn't been much sunlight lately, but when there is and this little guy dances I can't help but smile.

It was so pretty up in Park City.

And here are my girls doing a little dancing playing Just Dance 2.

December 2012 - Happy New Year!

Well it looks like we made it to 2013.  Happy New Year!!!   I'm excited to start a new year, but I've been nothing but sick since the year started so I'm hoping to hurry and get better so that I can start enjoying the new year.  My house is a mess, I need to go grocery shopping, I have a list of other things I should be doing, but the only thing that I feel like doing is updating my blog whilst watching some court show, so here we are.  I should prepare you though, I took a lot of pictures in December so be ready for picture overload.  

We had a lot of fun last month.  December is always a great time full of friends, family and food, and this past December did not disappoint.    

Howie, or elf, made his return this year.  He likes to make us laugh every day.  The first day he got here this is how we found him:

Every year we attend the cousins party.  This is a party full of women on my moms side of the family that all go way back.  I think it started with my great grandma and cousins (don't quote me on that though) and still goes on today.  It's always fun to see family and get a chance to get some fun prizes.

Howie making trouble again another morning.

The girls made a bunch of beards and mustaches one day.  I think we all look pretty awesome.

Howie again . . .

We had daily activities in our count down to Christmas calendar and one day it said that the girls make dinner.  The girls wanted to make pancakes so that's what we had.

Our first family Christmas party.  My camera died early into this party, but here are a few pictures of the girls singing with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Some old dance clothes were donated to my parents and the girls are loving playing dress up.

Family picture while drinking hot cocoa.

Howie again.

Emma started piano lessons back in September and had her first recital in December.  She did such a good job, and I was such a proud mommy watching her play.

Emma and Dan even played a duet.

Off we go to another family Christmas party.  I ended up with these three silly kids in my car.  Jeffy still needs to learn how to smile without looking scary.

Playing with uncle Kwinton

Kids being crazy

Papa trying to fish with the kids

Howie decided he wanted a mustache too.

I love taking funny pictures with my fish eye.

On my birthday I got some Groupons to go shoot some arrows with the fam.  It was such a fun way to spend my birthday.

One of the countdown activities was a camp out by the Christmas tree.  The girls really liked this activity.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Hastings.  It's always fun to see more family and to have lots of good food.

Andrew asked me to take his picture being sad.  It was pretty cute.

Dan messing around with the kids.

My girls were the angels in the nativity play.

This was their big moment.

On Christmas Eve I let them open there pajamas, ornaments and gifts from each other.  They girls get so excited to open a few things the day before Christmas.

So cute in their new pajamas

Emma got a Diary of a Wimpy kids ornament, Hannah got the Hershey bar, I got Dan the Universal Orlando one, and Dan got me the Reese's one.

Opening their gifts from each other.

Christmas day!!!  I just love taking the pictures of girls coming down the stairs on Christmas morning.

Dan go a blow dart shooter

At this point I told Hannah she was starting to look like a homeless person.  (No offence to any homeless people reading my blog)

Dan liked the Giants watch I got him.

We got the girls a kindle fire to share for Christmas.  They both were so excited!

When we got down to my parents house I found these two buddies under the table playing their new video games.

The transformers fighting

Jeffy got a new wand

Playing games

Playing games

Playing games

Playing games

Papa has no games to play :(

Ready to open some more presents.

They all got new head lights.

I love to read, so I like to get the kids new books from their aunt Angie for Christmas

Emma and Sierra got duct tape

I think Jeffy likes the book I got him

Nana and papa got a game table for the kids to play with

I think my mom likes what we got her

Dad too

Playing games

Dan's big eye

Relaxing at the end of the day

Playing old school Atari games

The girls got cute jackets for Christmas.

Although I am not a big fan of the cold or snow, my girls have been enjoying playing outside in the snow.  I ran outside long enough to take some cute pictures of them sledding in the front yard.

Oops

Double oops

For New Years my sister and I decided to have a Minute to Win it party at my house.  It was such a fun night, even though I was MUCH sicker than Kwinton ever was.  :)

First we had a nacho bar for dinner

My parents brought a keg . . . a keg of rootbeer that is.

Can you tell how much fun Jeffy was having

Our first games was sorting m&m's

Then we had a cookie race.  Trying to get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth without touching it.

Nikki did it!

Then we stacked cups.

And an indoor snowball fight.

Then we had to stack dice on popsicle sticks.

Then we bounced ping pong balls into cups.

And then we shot rubberbands at cups.

We played in teams and also as individuals.  Chris R was the big winner of the night!!

Well, it was not only a great December, 2012 was also a great year.  We've had a lot of fun adventures and firsts.  I'm looking forward to new adventures and new firsts in 2013.