Valentine cards

With February quickly approaching I couldn't help but make a couple valentine cards to send out.  They turned out really cute.  Here is an example of one of them. It helps to have some cute kids to make the cards cute (hey, what can I say, I'm biased).

Baby bags

I am a bag addict.  I found the cutest link for baby bags  here.  I'm hoping to win one as a little valentines prize.

25 Random Things

25 Random Things 

1.  I love starting projects (finishing… not so much).

2.  Sheets LINE dried in the summer/spring are a must.

3.  Chocolate=blechhh… kaka.. Vanilla or Caramel:  Good

4.  Lavender is my weakness… either the plants or the smell of it.

5.  I am a candle ADDICT!

6.  Match.com is where I met my husband

7.  My license plate is personalized: GOTGAME

8.  1^st concert attended: Loverboy w/ Susan Condie (1983-ish)

9.  Most recent concert attended: LIVE @ Hard Rock in Las Vegas.

10. I can’t stand dirt/leaves/pebbles on my driveway or sidewalks.

11. My first initial major/career choice: Law.  Teaching school is close… minus the years of school and pay.

12. Favorite vacation spot: Cozumel, Mexico.

13. Snow is fun for a day… maybe 2. 

14. Running in warm weather gives me a headache.

15.  I stole the teachers’ edition of the math book when I was in 5^th grade… Mr. Hamblin’s class I do believe.  Got caught too, in front of everyone.

16.  Weekend favorite:  Einstein’s w/ Hayden and Aspen.

17.  I know how to do dry wall and cut hair thanks to my Grandma Toni.

18.  I HATE stopping for gas.  Ran out of gas twice in one day.

19.  People tell me I look like my mom, and that my oldest daughter looks like me.

20.  My Grandpa Roy is my hero.

21. I have more cousins than I could count… not kidding!

22. In high school I entered 2 pageants and WON one of them.

23. Playing college basketball and volleyball is one of the things I miss most about college.

24. Procrastination is my friend. 

25. Someday Destination: Kingwood, TX… year 2014.

tagged:  Kara, Laurie, Debra

Salsa Chica!

Aspen likes SALSA.  Not on a chip, or as an accent... just SALSA. Dip the chip, suck it off and go double dipping for some more!  

IT's MONDAY???

We tend to take nice relaxing weekends and fill them up to overflowing.  This weekend was no exception.

We threw in a floor refinish into the mix for Friday and Saturday.  What this means for us is long days, late nights, a sitter and several fast food stops.  The end product was a little extra $$ and an AWESOME looking floor.  The pictures don't do it justice, and I should have put a BEFORE picture in to show the difference.  What a great hardworking husband I have.  After putting in a 40+ work week doing sanding, he adds a Friday and Saturday to his tasks, and complains about blisters and boo-boo's a lot less than I do.  Of course, now that it is Monday, and he worked right 

through the weekend, its a little more painful than any blister... having to go back and do another 40+ week without a break.  I love you Hayd!

He is such a hard worker.  He got a $100 gift card as his reward at work for his dedication at work.  SPORTSMAN'S WAREHOUSE... here we come.  (Sportsman's warehouse... only because that is where the card was for).  Ok, let me preface this by saying we are not hunters AT ALL.  We don't fish (except when we get lucky enough to have Grandpa Lynn take the kids out at Lake Powell).  Camping is still something I am trying to convince my husband is an acceptable, humane thing to participate in.  So going into this place was actually really humorous.  Every isle we walked down felt like we were out of our element (however, the duck call thing could have been fun to use at school).  Aspen didn't mind, she found a mini-shopping cart and a coon hat (complete with a tail), and was, literally, off and running.  

So two pairs of shoes, a hat, a couple drinks, and a kids' body glove swim top and we had spent our wad.

We spent yesterday (the only day we had without manual labor) dropping off the equipment we used for the floor, dropping a car off at the airport for a friend, and cleaning up after our work.  There's only 4 days, 14 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds to get to the weekend... but who's counting?

Paying the price

It all adds up...

Living in Utah

+ January

+ single digit temperatures

+ pre-dawn running =  

A glimpse at what I'll look like when I 

turn 60... well, the hair color anyway.

In the GAME

Without the help of Morgan watching Aspen after school, we chose to have me sit out this year officiating basketball.  This seems like the logical thing to do, since I'm gone all day, and Hayden's schedule is... well... unpredictable. 

However...

I miss it.  

I miss it when I show up to watch Brenden's game and the ref's are in the hall doing their pre-game.  I secretly hope an official doesn't show up so I can throw on a shirt and whistle and go call the game.

I miss it when I see a ref make a good or bad call... I miss having the crowd go NUTS over a call (It never fails, someone is always crying about the call.  Who is crying all depends on who you called the violation/foul on).  

Maybe I'm a sadist.  I've been called such.  Teaching Jr high, and officiating basketball... 2 events that require taking your life into your own hands.

On the other hand...

When I get to go home after a long day and STAY home, instead of having to dress and leave again....

When I get to spend Thanksgiving with family instead of in and out of a gym.

When I get to hang with Aspen and Hayden instead of a hostile gym full of fans...

That's when I'm glad I'm on the sideline instead of on the floor.

I'll just be a "basketball mom"

Photoshop is my friend

I'm new to this whole photoshop thing, and am learning how to use it by looking up my tools I need in google.  HEY, it beats the instruction manual!

Had to play with this picture of Aspen wearing a dress that Morgan wore a mere 18 years ago (yes, my husband has grounds to call me a pack rat when it comes to baby clothes my kids wore).

Don't tell him I said that... he'll never let me live it down.

A day in the Life of...

4:00am.  Baby awake and kinda crying.  We'll let her cry herself back to sleep we decide.  

4:34.  Baby awake and really crying.  Ok, we are tired and she is not, so maybe she will lie in bed with us.

5:16.  Is Sesame Street on this early? NO... dang.  How about something else... ANYTHING ELSE.

5:45.  Attempting to sneak in a few minutes of sleep.  Yeah right.

6:00.  HEAVEN... Sesame Street

6:25.  Hayden leaves for his study session, I am wishing I had gone running at 5:00

6:50-7:40.  Entered grades.  Got 1 class out of 6 done.

8:02.  Leave to run with Aspen bundled and the temp reading 9 degrees.  Lovely

8:04.  Aspen screaming.  Great, this is going to be a fun run.

8:30.  Aspen finally screams herself to sleep.

8:38.  Home from run... Aspen had a great 8 minute nap.

~shower

~breakfast in the car

9:28. Drive to Layton.  34 minute nap for Aspen.

~funeral

1:00pm.  Lunch with relatives at Olive Garden

2:00.  Drive to Ogden.  Aspen is asleep within 30 seconds of leaving the restaurant.

2:40.  Ogden High parking lot... cat nap

3:15.  Tired baby at Brenden's basketball game.  Joy joy.

5:30. Head home.  Find out my 18 year old daughter pierced her belly button today. Someone shoot me.

IS THIS DAY EVERY GOING TO GET BETTER!?

6:18... Heaven... Home, Hayden, and dinner he made.

8:14.  Aspen in bed.

I'm pooped.  I'm hoping there isn't another day like today for a long while.

Hayden is my saving grace today!  He picked up the slack where I lacked the time and effort to come through.

Love you H.  Sleep well Aspen

The ODDS are not as they seem

There is no such thing as easy come... a lesson I've tried to teach my kids throughout their lives.  I have my days of effectiveness, and other days where I don't do so hot.  

One of my days that didn't go over as I had planned, was several years ago when I took the kids to California, and on our way there we stayed in Las Vegas on our way there.  As we were walking through Circus Circus I thought I would instill the lesson "GAMBLING = BAD/DEBT/NO MONEY", so I tell them, "This is why you shouldn't gamble" as I threw a quarter into the slot machine.  I made $10.  "WOW, that was cool", my kids said... "we know where to come if we need to get some money".  Great... not exactly the object lesson intended.

Needless to say, my kids have spent a lot more than that $10 on a different sort of gambling: Crane Toy Machines.  You know which I'm talking about... the machines that make you move the arm around and then grab the toy and try to get it into the drop box, only to move it JUST enough to be motivated to drop another 50 cents into the machine to move it again.  $10 later, you might as well have just gone into the store and bought the thing you were trying to win.

Well, Aspen has been entranced with this machine.  She found one at Village Inn when we were there with Grandma and Grandpa Fraser, and it had TONS of stuffed animals in it.  Wow!  She would stand on the bench next to it and press her face up against the window.  After we ate and were leaving the store, she again saw the machine and started crying because we were leaving it.  I gathered up Aspen, before the tantrum could progress, as Grandpa fumbled for some change.  Ok, ok... so we'll just stay while he tries ONE time, and then we are not wasting anymore time or money on this stupid game.  2 quarters and one grab later, Aspen is walking out with a fuzzy pink bear and grandpa is busting out of his shirt with pride.  She thought that was pretty cool... and grandpa was pretty proud of himself as well.  Apparently he didn't stop bragging about it to grandma Deb the entire drive home.  Lucky, Magic Grandpa.

Now we have to keep kids away from CLAW machines and LAS VEGAS.

Turning into OLD PEOPLE

It's a Sunday evening and I'm folding laundry as 60 minutes comes on tv, and as I listen to the stories presented for the evenings show I am highly interested, even though they are topics some would find horribly boring:  politics, war, Haiti, and such.  So I rush to get the socks to sort while I watch, and it occurs to me... I HAVE BECOME MY PARENTS!

Not in any negative sense of the word.  Let me explain.  Growing up as a child there were certain things that made me vocalize my, then teenage, outspoken opinion: Country Music (the old "twangy" kind), News programs... on the radio or on tv, going to bed BEFORE TEN???  These are just a few examples, but they make my point. 

 

I now listen to that twangy country stuff... the new Taylor Swift is good, but just doesn't hold a candle to some good old Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, or Charlie Pride, although my husband doesn't agree with me.  

News programs are now my FAVORITES to watch (right after Law & Order), and they are set on auto-record on my dvr.  Favorite radio station to listen to?  NPR.  Yes, the same NPR that used to have me MOANING in the back seat of dad's truck, praying he would accidently switch the channel to something "teenage" worthy.

Bedtime?  9:30-10.  Yeah, I must be getting old.  My kids don't pull any punches on letting me know it either.  But when LIFE happens before 7am, early bedtime is a requirement.

So it just leaves me wondering... WHEN exactly is it that we turn into our parents?  Is it a conscious choice or is it just the reality of realizing we are getting older, and therefore long for reminders of earlier times?  Whatever it is... I can't say I mind much.

Family Pictures

US

STOKED... sneak peak

WHat a fun day!  We had family pictures taken as part of Christmas for my mother in law... this is only a sneak peak of what we have so far, but I AM SO EXCITED to see and post the rest.  Our photographer is Michelle Tandy and she did an AWESOME job... especially since Aspen's nap time was way past due, and didn't want to get her picture taken without a sucker in her mouth.  She was great to work with, and worked well with us.  What fun ideas.  I can't wait until I get the rest to post.  THANKS MICHELLE!!!  Her blog, for anyone who is interested on having some taken or seeing some of her other work, is www.michelletandyphotography.blogspot.com

The Grandkids

The gals

The Famiy

The coolest dude and I

A very cool day!

I remember seeing a picture of my dad and his siblings standing with my Grandpa Alva and Grandma Jean Snow in front of a temple... taken probably 20-30 years ago.  I am not sure where it was taken, but I remember thinking "WOW, to get 12 people all at the same temple at the same time.  That takes talent!"  Well, I am glad to say that we have helped my dad have a picture of just such an event (minus Garrett, who was gone back to college).  It was a great day, and we had a good visit at breakfast afterwards.  THANKS DAD!  

Aspen would LIVE in a bookstore if she could!  To be able to have Grandpa Lynn's lap to sit in and have him read to her is HEAVEN to her.

Running from 2008 into 2009

It was 54 degrees yesterday... 54?!?!  IT'S JANUARY!!  It was great for running.  December has been a hard month to keep up with running, sometimes only making it out once a week for a long run (to make up for not running, of course).  I figured out this week one reason why it has been difficult to stay motivated... BOREDOM.  Hayden dropped me off on a back road on our way home from Salt Lake this week, and I ran home.  THAT was fun.  New scenery, new route, new distance.  So yesterday I started running in some random direction and just explored new areas as I ran.  FUN!  

Well, my new shoes 

and cool watch that controls my ipod that I got for Christmas from Hayden definitely help with motivation.

 

Some of our accomplishments or notable moments for 2008:

• Aspen turned 1
  
• Morgan graduated from Lehi High School
  
• Wade began violin/orchestra
  
• Brenden competed in state CX tourney... personal best time!
  
• Hayden passed his 2 tests for his license, and picked a company name
  
• I was voted recipient of the Golden Apple Award by my students
  
• Sealed as an eternal family on 8/8/08 in Manti temple
  
• I ran three 5k races
  
• Hayden finished our stairs in hardwood!
  
• I officiated my last game (for awhile anyway) of basketball by reffing 3A state tournament
  
• Brenden got his drivers' permit (heaven help us)
  
• Wade was ordained a deacon
  
• Vegas for Hayden's #36 birthday
  
• Morgan went to college

What will 2009 bring?  

If we have anything to say about it:

• Tonia:  run a 1/2 marathon
  
• Hayden:  start up his hardwood company
  
• Aspen:  learn to TALK! (and dribble a basketball :D )
  
• Brenden:  beat his personal best time ~ take Region! 
  
• Morgan:  get back into school
  
• Wade:  rocket launch w/ Grandpa Frank

We started the new year off by taking Aspen to the ducks.  This was her first duck experience, and definitely NOT her last.  All she wanted to do was hang on the fence and watch.