Merry Christmas and to all a good night

I just wanted to tell you all Merry Christmas before the craziness sets in. Justin and I are looking forward to running from house to house and eating lots of food. May Santa bring you something nice and not a lump of coal. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Our Future Home

Another of Justin's family traditions is to make and decorate gingerbread houses. His mom probably spends all day baking each part to the house and then several accessories, like trees, sleds, snowmen, people, etc. I have a very poor imagination when it comes to decorating these houses, but I was pretty pleased with my creation this year. It features what our future house will look like and a typical winter day scene. Justin is pulling two of our children on a sled in the front yard. (not yet pictured in this photo) Our other two children are frolicking on the ice pond in the back and I am waving from the front door, most likely waiting for the apple pie I just baked to cool on the windowsill. We also have a small but profitable tree farm that helps pay the Christmas bills. All in all I think it is pretty close to realistic. What do you think?

It only takes two years

My niece and nephew were born on the same day four years apart. Last night at their birthday party, Easton showed that it only takes two years to catch on to what wrapping paper on a big box means. He was so cute, he grabbed all the presents in the stack even his sisters and started tearing at the paper. He would only ask for help when he actually got to the box and could not get the toys out due to twisty ties. In the picture to the right, Easton opened a cute train set and Emery opened white ponies. Easton immediately threw the train aside, yelled horses and took Emery's present. It is a good thing his sister is low key or didn't like the ponies, because she said Easton could have them.

Rollercoaster Sickness

I am unsure if I have a weak immune system or if it is the fact that I am around 40-50 small children each week that is causing me to be sick all the time. I try and use antibacterial hand sanitizer especially after they wipe their noses on your sleeve. I don't so much mind being sick normally. I was never one to skip school for a cold/headache but when you have to act like Barney all day to entertain small children and accomplish their speech goals, a cold somehow makes it impossible to do that. I have several friends working in the medical field and I am wondering if they are constantly getting sick like me? Besides being sick I am enjoying this time of year. I only have one present left to buy, what do you get your sister-in-law? I have all the other presents wrapped and under our tree. It makes it look like we are going to make a haul this year. However, they are all going to be distributed out to family members. Justin and I could not wait and started using our presents as soon as we bought them the day after thanksgiving.

Just when you are getting comfortable

Just when you start to get comfortable, wham they spring a new calling on you in church. I honestly thought I was going to be in Primary for a long time to come because every week they would tell me what a good job Justin and I were doing. Two weeks ago they split Justin and I up putting Justin in the 11 year olds class. I should have expected something, but I blindly went along thinking oh I get to stay with my cute five year olds. Well that was not the case. Today they called me to serve as the Laurels teacher. I have absolutely no idea how I am qualified to teach 16-17 year old girls but apparently the big guy thinks I am. Hopefully I will receive the revelation that I am too, because at this moment I am quite scared. I am also a little upset. Christmas songs are my favorite and their is nothing like listening to cute little five year olds sing away in a manger, Christmas bells, and many more.

One Crazy Weekend.

Thanksgiving was anything but restful this year. Thanksgiving weekend started out nice because I had work off starting on Wednesday and I was able to relax before the storm. Thursday we woke up bright and early ready to get the apple pie and yams made that were on my list of things to bring to the big dinner. I was taking my time making these things when I suddenly realized we were late to meet my mom and of course that makes her stressed and then tension is running high. We made it to Orem only a few minutes late to have dinner with my family and my moms extended family. After a few too many helpings we played a the "name" game. I had a blast. Justin was dragged into it, but at the end he had to admit it was an "okay" game. We left Orem and came home to our house in time to say Happy Thanksgiving to the in-laws before they left. Even though it was early 9pm Justin and I decided to go to bed because we were going to wake up and do Black Friday Shopping. Most everything we wanted was at Office Max so we woke up at three at got to office max around 4am to be third in line. This year we decided to just do couple gifts for Christmas so we bought us a new camera, external hard drive and a paper shredder. Merry Christmas to us. After that we made a few stops at Wal-Mart and Circuit City and Best Buy where we scored a few movies, some memory for the camera and photoshop elements 6 (Thanks Rachel) . After an exhausting morning we went straight home and got our snow stuff to drive to the Uintah's to cut down our Christmas tree. I of course am a perfectionist and last year ended up crying because I could not find the perfect tree on our first Christmas being married. This year I was a little more laid back, but still wanted a fuller tree than the in-laws settled for. Justin finally found me the best tree. We immediately cut it down and hauled it back to the truck.
Sometimes the best things come in large packages. This tree was definitely large. It was around 9 feet tall and five feet or more wide at the bottom. I personally love how big it is and after we cut it down to fit in the basement and had Justin drill some branches into the bare spots it was perfect. Saturday we dipped chocolates from 10 until 4. I have never seen so much chocolate at once. Also all you want to do is lick your fingers the whole time because they are covered in ooey gooey chocolate. We made cherry cordials, covered caramels, chocolate covered strawberries, orange fondant, lemon fondant, peanut clusters, and haystacks. At the end of the day we each went home with a large amount of chocolates.

Sled Fest 2007

At least once a year, our group of friends tries to go up to Brighton Ski Resort after dark to go sledding. We sled down a run that ends up at the parking lot. Last year there was so much snow you would sled all the way to the parking lot and then several feet on the lot. This year we were hoping for at least a couple of inches of snow but alas it was man made snow that had turned to ice. You would think that we would be smart and drive back home but no, we ditched the sleds and used our bottoms to go down the ice. We quickly discovered that if you dug your heels in they provided a sufficient braking system to slow you down before a ditch that Brandon P. said didn't feel to good crashing into. After several times going down the hill we ended back up at the parking lot to enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate. The other wives were sitting in the car and did not participate in the bum sledding.

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

One thing I still can not get used to is the fact that I don't have to stress about Monday coming on Sunday night. I was so use to relaxing until around six and then freaking out about what homework I didn't do or driving back to school from home that I forgot what it is like to just sit at home and really have nothing of great importance to do on a Sunday evening. I am loving this.

I LOVE HOLIDAY DESSERTS

I am horrible about eating smaller portions around the holiday's because I love all the desserts so much. I found this Turtle Pumpkin Pie in the Kraft Magazine and I love pumpkin and I love pie so I just had to try it out. It is filled with whip cream, caramel, cup of pumpkin, milk, and jello instant pudding mix. Top it with pecans and you have one sweet treat. Here is a look at how mined turned out and a look at what the magazine says it should look like. Theres looks a little better but you can eat mine.

Looking Good

It has been raining pretty much all day today making it necessary to don specific clothing when going out to feed the horses. Muddy fields and rain required Justin's over boots and the nearest coat I could find. I am still wearing my skirt from church. I think it just completes the ensemble.

Christmas Shopping

I love and hate this time of year. I love the holiday's and all the family togetherness, but I hate trying to figure out what everyone wants. This year my husband has got me stumped. I have a couple of ideas all of which are more than we have set in our budget. Two of the three he would love but would use only a couple a times a year. The other would be a big distraction but he would use it often. Do any of you other wives have any good ideas, if so let me know.

Sharing Germs

One thing that Justin and I did not experience last winter was continually getting each other sick, it looks like we are starting early this year. Since September we have shared colds, bronchitis, fevers and just plain being sick of blowing our noses. We have had the humidifier going for the past two weeks. I have never had a flu shot in my life, but I am starting to think with being this sick already and working with very small children I might want to do that this year.

City of Rocks

While I was in Georgia, Justin was able to go with his brothers family to City of Rocks in Idaho. Justin loves to go rock climbing and me well it is not really my cup of tea. I always try, but as his brother and sister-in-law can attest, I basically suck at it. So this was the perfect time for him to go when I was not home. I am not sure how hard the climbs were, but they seemed to be pretty difficult. His brother mentioned that one of their climbs was rated R. After looking at all of the pictures Heather took it seemed like they had a lot of fun and the scenery was gorgeous.

Manly Men

At the bonfire, the boys were the life of the show. They performed musical interludes, fantastic stories, and character fights around the fire light. It was one crazy night.

Halloween Bonfire

For the last three years, our group of friends has continued the summer bonfire tradition and has made a Halloween bonfire tradition. This year our normal bonfire spot out near Dugway was occupied by some hunters. Determined to have the bonfire, we drove on until we found a spot near the road to Iosepa. Originally Justin was going to go as a bearded lady however, he decided to go as a cowboy since he already had the stuff and he didn't want people to think he was just a transvestite because you wouldn't be able to see the beard in the dark. I debated over my costume for weeks and finally decided to wear my moms old drill team uniform from her high school days. The skirt is a little deceiving. My mom was super skinny in high school so I had to leave it unzipped and pull it up to under my chest. The funny thing is, it is still long, just goes to show you how different uniforms standards were then.

A Day at the Beach and Hospital

The beach, the beach were going to the beach. From my sisters house in Augusta, GA the beach is roughly three hours away by Savannah, GA. So in order to go to the beach we wanted to make it an all day outing. We left the house in search of a nice sunny day and warm water. We found both on Tybee Island. The weather was beautiful. The seagulls were divebombing everywhere in search of food. Whole swarms of them literally came at us one time as my nephew Jordan continued to throw pieces of chips to them. After a picnic lunch on the beach, we headed to the water to play.

The water was warm making me regret not brining my swimsuit especially when Jordan wanted to barrell into the water and I was getting really wet anyway. As we were walking up and down the beach Jordan would run into a wave and stumble of course as it hit him. (P.S. Jordan is two so a wave to him was those little ones coming into shore) I was holding onto him by his hand and everytime he stumbled had to pull him back up and he would shout wah hoo and run after the next wave. What I didn't know is that he had previously had nurses elbow and that he was prone to it again and that I was slowly yanking his elbow out of it's socket everytime I pulled him back out and away from a wave. Eventually I succeeded in pulling it loose and we spent the rest of the afternoon debating wether or not we should go to the hospital at Fort Stewart about 35-40 minutes away or drive the 3 hours home to the hospital at Fort Gordon. The debate was on and with it insued many phone calls to all the people we know that are nurses or PAs. (It's not that we didn't care about how he was feeling, but you have to picture a screeming boy until we got him in his car seat and put a movie on and then he was laughing and seemed like any other normal kid so we fiqured wait in a hospital and part of the state we did not know well or drive home quickly and wait at that hospiat?) Eventually a call was placed to Grandma and she instructed us to take him to the nearest hospital. We were lucky and only had to spend a short time there. The doctor twisted his arm quickly and that was that. He was moving his arm again and laughing and we were off to McDonalds to eat dinner. Oh the joys of having kids. Another reason I am grateful that Justin and I do not have kids yet. My sister Katie was a wreck and I was a little scared for my life while she was driving. The beach trip was cut short, but we still managed to have some fun and get some great pics. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to all those we called and gave us advice.

Sunday afternoon stroll

Saturday was a little dreary, with clouds for most of the day, but Sunday was bright and cheery with the Sun a burning 80+ degrees. Michelle and I spent most of the morning prepping for dinner and making the apple pie for dessert that is tradition to have on conference Sunday in my family. In between sessions we ventured out to see the Duke Chapel and the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The chapel is a very old Methodist church that has stained glass windows, huge vaulted ceilings and organ pipes off the back wall. I thought the weirdest part of the chapel was seeing a smaller worship place off to the side with grave like figures in it and the small baptismal font. While we were there a children's choir was rehearsing for a concert they were giving later and they were awesome. The acoustics in that building are terrific, I bet the Tabernacle choir would love it in there. Michelle also told me that they film a lot of movies using the Duke Chapel however she could not remember any at the time, if any one knows let me know. After the Chapel we went to the Gardens and walked around for forty-five minutes. It was a photographers dream. The flowers and surrounding landscape was gorgeous. My favorite was seeing the huge Lilly pads in the ponds. Michelle and I had fun taking pictures and just walking around enjoying nature. The funniest thing we saw was a wedding party who was not from this country. The bride was wearing a white, pink, teal blue and brown wedding dress with teal shoes.

To eat or not to eat. Ice Cream, of course you eat.

Saturday was a very tiring day for me, I think the jet lag and not catching up on some sleep had finally caught up to me. I was starting to fall asleep every time Michelle and I got in the car. Towards the end of the day Michelle finally convinced TJ to stop studying and come with us to the Dairy. The Maple View Farm Country Store is just that, a little store that sells homemade ice cream, cheeses and milk. It reminded me a little of the Aggie Creamery in Logan when you first walked into the store. After out selections were made, mine butter pecan and Michelle and TJ chocolate chip cookie dough we settled out in the rockers to enjoy a beautiful NC evening.

Stagville Plantation

The second part of my North Carolina tour involved stopping at Stagville. Stagville was once the largest plantation in North Carolina. It was owned by a family called the Cameron's. At one time the Cameron's owned over 30,000 acres of land and 900 slaves. At Stagville we were given a tour of: 1- the Main house where the Cameron family lived, 2- the slave houses and 3- the Great Barn where they stored over 70 mules to help them do work in the fields. The guide talked a lot about how spacious the Cameron's living room was and how they would have been a rich family during that era. I couldn't help but contrast their house to the houses that rich families and even middle income families live in now. They would have been amazed at how small thehouse then seemed. The second part of the tour included the slave houses that you can see on the left. Originally the houses were not this nice, but the slaves were always getting sick and so Mr. Cameron decided to build nicer houses for them. He did this not because he was worried about their health, but because he wanted them to work in his fields and they couldn't do that if they were sick. Usually there were about 40 slaves living in these two story houses with 4-5 small bedrooms. The last stop on the Stagville tour was the Great Barn. The coolest thing about the great barn is that the slaves built this massive structure in about 5 months and if you look at the craftsmanship, it was almost built like a boat. A lot of how they notched boards together and the ceiling especially of the barn looks like the bottom of a massive ship.

Tobacco Farming, Employment Opportunities

I have now been in North Carolina for two days and I am realizing how grateful I am for the dry climate of Utah. I like not feeling like I am melting in the afternoon sun. Michelle and TJ have been awesome hosts and shown me around some of thier favorite sites of Durham. Michelle and I spent most of Saturday driving in the car from one site to the next. Our first stop was the Duke Homestead. The homestead was the home of Duke Washington a former Civil War vet who returned home from the war and started farming tobacco. He became so wealthy that he and his family played a prominent role in building Durham city. They are also the family that endowed over 1 million dollars to start Duke University. On the tour we learned all about tobacco farming and just how to cure the plant as well as grind it for cigarettes. Above is a picture of me by the Bonsack machine which was able to roll many more cigarettes per minute than a person could. It was really fun to see the old buildings and how people lived in that era. Even though the tour guide boasted of the wealth that the Dukes made from tobacco farming, I am not ready to switch careers and life styles just yet.

1st stop Minneapolis

I started my trip out east with a layover in the Minneapolis airport. Originally I was going to have just enough time to eat some lunch and find my next gate. Then when I got to gate g17 which is across the airport, the plane was not there and everyone was wondering when we were going to be boarding. The flight attendants were sitting across from me at this gate and so I fiqured that I was in the right place. Well after the time we were suppose to be boarding one flight attendant looked up at the board and saw that they had switched our gate to C4 across the airport again. So we took off at a rather brisk pace. Some were running, but I fiqured the plane was not leaving with out the flight attendants and we could walk. Well it turns out there was not need to run because the plane was having air conditioning problems and we would not be leaving for another two hours. this left me time to look around the airport and realize just how small SLC airport is. I finally boarded the plane around 3pm and was off to the Raleigh-Durham Aiport to see TJ and Michelle.

Jetting off to the south.

http://www.freepatriot.com/imagewarehouse/airplane-departing.jpg

Another benefit of my job is that I can take time off whenever I want and not have to use my vacation days. I am taking a week off to see Michelle and TJ in North Carolina and my sister Katie in Georgia. I have worked a little overtime everyday in order to build up comp time. Kids on the Move does not care if I have all the comp time now just as long as I still see all my clients and that by the end of the quarter (December) I have worked the number of hours I am paid for. You may ask what my husband is doing, well he is planning an all night Halo 3 Marathon in my absence. I personally think my plans sound better.

Work or Play? This has yet to be decided.

About Kids On The Move

Kids On The Move is a non-profit organization based in Orem that provides support and services to children and families in Utah County. Kids On The Move serves families with children birth to age three, including families of children with special needs and also low-income families. Kids On The Move provides services and support to children and families through four main programs: Early Intervention, Early Head Start, the Early Education Center, and Resource Library.

Squints the Wonder Cat

Earlier this summer Justin's dad, Brian, brought home a cat that was brought to the police station. It was a little white Manx cat. If you don't know this type of cat has no tail or a little fluff of a tail that looks like a rabbit tail. Also their hind legs are longer so they walk or rather hop around like bunnies. Justin swears that he hates cats and because of this Squints follows him around and prefers his lap to anyone else much to Justin's annoyance. ( p.s. Squints was given her name because she had an eye infection the first week she was here and she was always squinting. Really original I know, but since I was the one that started calling her that, I have no one to blame but myself. )

Utah Bridges

We decided to join the crowd and start a blog of our oh so exciting lives. Justin wanted to name the blog Suspension Bridges because that is what he wants to name his first child. I say his because never in my right mind will I let him do that to our child.