A Lovely Day

Valentine's Day 2009

We had a lovely Valentine's Day (ha ha, get it?) celebrating as a family. For starters, we decorated Valentine's cookies with Aunt Trenda and Aunt April, and cousins Cade and Ambree.
They all thought the cookie cutters were a lot of fun, even if we did end up redoing most of the ones they cut out.
Jacob was most excited about the various candies we had to put on the cookies. He kept asking, "More this one?" and pointing at the conversation hearts. Once I let him get down to play, he would occassionally sneak back and steal a candy heart or two.

Leila contributed to the cookies by chillin' here and letting me work. What a good baby!

Saturday morning we had heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. By the way, heart-shaped pancakes are harder to make than you'd think.
Jacob eating his strawberries and blueberries. His pancakes were already gone by the time I got the camera out.

We got a bunch of snow that morning, so decided it was the perfect day to go sledding. Jacob got sprayed in the face with snow the first time down, and decided that wasn't any fun. So, we built a snowman and chased each other around in the snow.

He also let me pull him in the sled, but he kept hollering, "Walk SLOW, Mommy!!" What happened to my daring little boy? He did eventually warm up to the idea of sledding (on a very small hill) and enjoyed racing Daddy. Then, as a special Valentine's Day present for us, he fell asleep on the way home from sledding and didn't wake up all night! Sweet! So, Bryon and I were able to enjoy a quiet dinner for two.
Bryon made me some fabulous penne pesto, bruschetta, and bread sticks. My present to him was his favorite chocolate layer cake, which tasted way better than it looked, thus no picture. Bryon also got me an amathyst ring from this site: www.silverjewelryclub.com, which has some great jewelry.

It was a very fun Valentine's Day for all of us!

Leila all ready to go sledding. She slept in her carrier the entire time...but she sure looked cute doing it!

Jacob showing Daddy the snow. He loved having 'snowball fights' which consisted of him running up to you, and setting a pile of snow on you, then running away laughing.

Ambree, Trenda, and Jacob decorating cookies.

April helping Cade. He had very specific instructions for April, and his cookies were masterpieces.

The best picture to come out of cookie decorating. Ambree's enjoying her creation, which has about 8 cookie's worth of frosting on it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yeah, so, the Christmas card thing didn't so much happen this year, and what was going to be a New Year's card once we got family pictures, turned in to a Valentine's card. Hey, at least it wasn't Memorial Day! So, for all of you blog friends who don't get a real card in the mail, just know that we love you because you save us the price of a stamp!

Family Pictures Winter 2009

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. We had family pictures done, and I'm really happy with the way they turned out, especially considering the subjects the photographer had to work with. Anyway, she was awesome, so if any of you are looking for someone to do family pictures, check out her blog at http://www.candidexpressiontm.blogspot.com/ Enjoy!

Goodbye, Edna; Hello, Minivan

R.I.P

Edna Chrysler

1991-2008

Okay, so Edna isn't really dead. Just dead to me. For those of you who don't know, this beautiful '91 Chrysler New Yorker has been my car since I got my learner's permit. I would never have imagined as a Sophomore in high school, driving my friends to lunch, that I'd one day be hauling around two kids in car seats in that same car. Edna has exceeded my grandest expectations, enduring thousands of miles as I drove back and forth between Brigham and Provo, and giving me the ability to work after I graduated from college, when Bryon and I definitely couldn't have afforded two cars. Having this reliable old dame (and no car payment) all these years has been a great blessing, and I'm sad to see her go.
Ah, I'll never forget her plush velvet seats, faux wood paneling, and all her little quirks I came to know and love so well. We just sold her yesterday (to maintain her dignity, I won't mention the price), and I had to restrain myself from calling out "Take good care of her!" as the new owner drove away. (Okay, not really, but I kind of thought it.)
But, there is a silver lining in seeing Edna go. As much as I loved her, I really hated trying to load kids into the back seat (especially since only one of the doors worked), and I'm extremely happy to now have a nice, new minivan, complete with automatic sliding doors.

Here I am with our new (for us, anyway) Chrysler Town & Country minivan (brand loyalty coincidental). It's been very nice so far, with lots of extra space, and separate captains chairs in the back, so Jacob can't throw his toys, shoes, juice box, etc. on Leila's head. I'm still adjusting to my new identity as a 'minivan mom,' but when you compare that to driving around a car targeted at the AARP crowd, you can't really consider this a step down.
So, yay for new cars! And best wishes to Edna. You will be missed.

New Look

Who doesn't love a good Before and After photo? Well, here ya go. I've been growing my hair out since Jacob was born (not on purpose. More as a result of laziness), but the length was getting kind of annoying. So, I decided to go for a new look. This is the shortest my hair has ever been, but I'm all about easy maintenance, and this style requires practically zero work. Anyway, here I am last night, bidding farewell to the long locks...

BEFORE

I decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love. This is actually the third time I've chopped off my hair and donated it. The stylist joked that I didn't even flinch when she cut it off, and I explained that when you have long hair, there comes a point when you move past attachment on to annoyance. When this happens, you're glad to see it go.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

AFTER

It feels amazingly light, and I find it very weird to have my neck exposed (the last time my hair didn't cover the back of my neck was third grade!), but I definitely like the look, and I'm so excited to not have to do my hair. Seriously, she just put some gel in this and brushed it around a bit. No heat required! Awesome. By the way, she's an excellent stylist, if you're in the market. Her name's Memorie, and she's at Landis Salon here in Salt Lake. Unless of course you live in Brigham, in which case no one compares to April Miller.
Anyway, it's nice to have a change once in awhile, so I'm happy with it. Feel free to post comments telling me how cute it is!

Christmas 2008

Well, the photo documentation of this month's activities wasn't too reliable (I've included a few at the end). So, what follows is a checklist of the traditional Christmas-time events, and the ones we actually accomplished:

Decorated Christmas cookies? Check.
Made gingerbread houses? Check.
Kept Jacob from eating gingerbread house? Uh...mostly.
Played in the snow/built a snowman? Check.
Drank hot chocolate after snow excursion? Check.
...with marshmallows? Check.
Saw the lights at Temple Square? Check.
Went to Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo? Check.
Played Mary and Joseph in Nativity reenactment? Check (Leila made a darling Baby Jesus).
Drove in a blizzard? Check.

Attended at least 3 family Christmas parties? Check.
Participated in a White Elephant gift exchange? Check.
Played phone tag with multiple family members in an attempt to coordinate party scheduling? Check, check, check, check.
Attended a Christmas concert? Check.
Sang Christmas songs in a choir? Check.
Bought at least one Christmas present on Christmas Eve? Check.
Decorated Christmas tree? Um...no.
Put lights on the house? Nope.
Put up any Christmas decorations at all? Well, define "put up."
At least managed to bring the Christmas decorations box in from the garage? Check!
Made chocolates as a family? Check.
Exchanged way too many sweets with neighbors? Check.
Sat on Santa's lap? No, we were clinging to one more year of Jacob's ignorance on the whole "What do you want for Christmas?" thing.
Sent out Christmas cards? No, but not for lack of trying! We were thwarted several times on taking family pictures, so anticipate a New Year's card from us this year.

Hosted a traditional English Christmas dinner for friends? Check.
...with Brussels sprouts and Yorkshire puddings? Check.
Stayed up late Christmas Eve? Check.
Woke up early Christmas morning? Check.
Talked to both missionary brothers on Christmas day? Check.
Had a wonderful, joyful, uplifting Holiday season? Check.

Christmas Eve at my parents' house

As a family at zoo lights. Leila is in the wrap under my coat.

Zoo Lights


Jacob playing with one of his favorite Christmas presents: Thomas and Friends

Leila looking adorable Christmas Eve in her new jammies.

Checking out my new laptop Christmas morning. Yep, using it right now.

Jacob being excited about his new Cookie Monster.

Opening presents Christmas morning. (That candy bar is Bryon's, not Jacob's.)

Leila in her Christmas dess.

Baby Shower for Jessica

On December 12th I hosted a Teddy Bear themed baby shower for my friend, Jessica Low Young. Her little boy is due today! It was a lot of fun to be with friends from high school. Half of the people there were pregnant, so we basically talked about babies the entire time (I was the expert, since I have double the number of kids of anyone else there). We played a few "baby shower" games, ate food, watched Jessica open her gifts, and decorated letters for the nursery. It was a lot of fun, and we all wish Jessica the best with her new baby!

Our group of friends from high school. April and Tati are pregnant, too. This picture was taken for Carin Reeder Larson, who couldn't be there because they're living in Virginia. We missed you, Carin!

The letters for Kyson's nursery. Hopefully Jessica and Jonathan don't decide to go with a different name!

Tati, Aptil and Jessica getting crafty. Notice that I am behind the camera, and not anywhere near the scissors and glue.

Jessica opening presents. April is holding Leila.

The teddy bear diaper cake I made for Jessica.

A more edible teddy bear cake.