traditions continued

When my brothers and I were younger we had some of the best traditions with our two aunts that lived close by to us, Jana & Dolly. For Easter we would go over to their house to dye easter eggs every year and for Christmas we would make gingerbread houses and christmas wreaths out of corn flakes. It's like rice krispy treats but you use corn flakes instead of rice krispy's and might I add that it is absolutely delicious!

This year Malan & Madi spent the night at my parents house one night while Cort and Mary Ann had a date night and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to continue the tradition with my nieces. I have so many fond memories doing this with my aunts and seeing the time and love that they put into everything they did for us. I hope I can continue to do this every year!

Here's Malan & Madi showing off their wreaths in front of the Christmas tree and the other picture is of them attempting funny faces :)

christmas goodies . . .

Last week we got together at Ty & Amber's house with Lauren & Deven & Pierce & Amelia to make some popcorn treats for some friends for the holidays. We made 3 batches each of caramel popcorn and a yummy white chocolate peppermine recipe of Amelia's. We became pro's at it and are now considered professionals

This is what the boys did while we did all the hard work. . . watched the jazz game and played tennis on the Wii. No help!

Longggggg Overdue

I'm probably the WORST person ever at blogging I have decided. I think one reason might be that I'm not exactly sure how to still work everything to do with blogging. I still don't know how to add friends to the side of the page, and for that reason I think that nobody knows we have a blog. So why blog if the only person that is going to read it is your mom? ha

You would think that my life is completely boring and that I have absolutely nothing to write about, but that's not entirely true. Since my last post....in MAY...ha....Tom has started going back to school (so exciting!), we have moved (we now live in the middle of a sheep farm, no joke), and we are having a baby!

A baby girl to be exact and the time is soon approaching. Only 9 weeks left! I'm going just a little bit crazy. My mom always says that my life is about to change and I don't doubt it. It's no longer about me ha which is going to be a harsh reality I'm sure. ANYWAYS we are VERY VERY VERY excited and can't wait to meet this little girl. We are still not sure on a name. Unfortunately we had a million bazillion boys names picked out and not a single girl name on our list. We've narrowed it down to about 2 or 3 names that we like but we're still not sure. I always thought I would be one of those people that would know way in advance what I was going to be naming my child. But I was wrong. Who knew that could happen? ha

Here's just a few pictures to catch all of you (mom) up to date for the past 7 months:

I turned 23 - wahoo!

Tom and I found a new favorite pizza place in Park City called Maxwell's and took Lar & Devan and had a blast! (obviously, since we're in bobsled)

We went on a date night and I made an elephant piggy bank for the soon to be little girl and Tom made a huge mug that he uses for cereal because he would always steal mine.

Tom still loved to play sports any chance he can get.

Tom turned 26- what an old man!

We all dressed up as Swamp People (aka white trash) for Halloween. If you haven't seen the show Swamp People - you should probably now take the opportunity to catch up on what you've been missing out on. It's about people who hunt alligators. ha

This is our little girl at 25 weeks with her legs all stretched up to her face :)

I still have the cutest nieces in the whole world. This picture was taken at the celebration of my mom's parents, Gigi & Grandpa Bob's, 60th wedding anniversary!

And....this is me at 30 weeks prego

I almost forgot something very important- we also played on an Orem city kickball league this fall and we were pretty much amazing. We were the only team that was undefeated before the championship.

Just to let you know how terrible I am at blogging - this blog took me an hour to complete. That's probably why I NEVER blog!

mmmmmoab

My brother Cort and his family FINALLY moved back from Florida at the beginning of May and I am so glad that they are back home and that I can see my nieces whenever I please. He is starting a new job at a law firm up in Salt Lake so we decided to take a family vacation with everybody down to Moab before he started work.
I had fun spending time with my family, hiking, playing tennis, going to the park, and most of all swimming in the SUN! I live for warm weather and I can't wait for it to me warm here soon. Tom had fun doing all that I'm sure but the thing that he lives for in Moab is jeeping with Tyson. That scares me way to much and I opt out for the pool so we all get what we want. Unfortunately now it's back to the real world of cold Provo and working. Sad day for us.

ps- can you tell my cute Tom doesn't have the same skin type as our family lol it looks like he's still wearing a white tank. but don't be fooled. he's not!

cOlLeGe gRadUatE!!!

So I finally graduated from college and received my diploma in the mail to make it official last week and I am so very excited! It's a little bit weird to think that I don't have to sign up for classes this upcoming fall - I'm not exactly sure what to do with myself. I probably should be applying for jobs but I'm just loving having free time. I have decided that I will dedicate myself to applying for jobs this next week even though I've heard from all my classmates that it is hopeless. Anyways- for my graduation my best Jessie flew out to come see me walk! It was a blast! Tom got kicked out of the bedroom for the couch (he went willingly although I know that he is so glad to have his bed back) and was such a sweet husband to do that for us. It was such a fun week and I miss her so much already!

easily the cutest sister-in-laws

I was thinking today that, well more than just today, but specifically today about my sister-in-laws that were married into our family. Sometimes you just get lucky and that's what happened with our family. Besides adding family members to the family I feel like I got best friends as well. Mary Ann came along first almost 6 years ago and I was not quite sure what to think of her at first. Ha Mary Ann don't laugh! I thought she was the cutest but she was so quiet it seemed! I didn't know how she would fit in with our family at all. Little did I know that she is quite the wild child. Well wild child may be the wrong words. SASSY! Mary Ann is as sassy as can be, especially when she gives you the finger. (Not the finger you're thinking about, but if you know her you know what I mean.) She is such a wonderful mother to my two little nieces and I have to say that if her genes didn't turn up in Madi and Malan then those little girls probably wouldn't be as cute as they are. No offense Cort - it's just the truth. HA. So here are some cute picture of our lovely Mary Ann.

On to the next sister to join the family - Amber Bamber as my mom likes to call her. I wasn't too sure about this one either. She seemed quiet as well. Maybe I was just nervous about having sister-in-laws or something, who knows! I actually felt bad for Amber as she joined our familly because our family is pretty athletic and let's just say that Amber would much rather sit around than do anything that requires energy to move about. HA! She's probably loving this right now. Amber is the fastest internet racer as my grandma GiGi has said in the past. She amazes me more and more with this talent that she has. Not only is Amber an amazing runner but she has introduced me to a few things that I am thankful to her for - mainly cardboard kitty. Tom and I love when we get together with Ty and Amber and make dinner or play fugitive or search for rocks up in the mountais to make a fire pit in their backyard lol. She is just a blast and I'm happy that she lives so close and that I work with her that I get to see her as much as I do. So with regret, I mean happiness, I share a few pictures of our Amber!

* Side note/ Mental note: I am constantly trying to sneak/take pictures of these two and I have discovered today as I was searching for pictures of them that I do not do a good job and that I only have a few of just them. So girls I will try my hardest to do a better job! HAHA!

Happy 88th birthday Grandpa BOB!!!!!

A few weeks ago we had the chance to go celebrate my moms dad's 88th birthday with the family. Unfortunately Tom had to work so he couldn't' come. We had a delicious dinner and my cousin Laura Jane made an absolutely wonderful lemon cake that we had with 3 different kinds of sorbet. That is my kind of dessert!

Me, Grandpa Bob (the birthday boy), GiGi

Laura Jane, who made the yuppy birthday cake. If you look closely you will notice that she has a ring on her left hand. Everytime I see her she steals my wedding ring and wears it until I leave to go back home. I almost forgot it last time- Tom would not have been happy! ha

Grandpa Bob has recently started to write short stories about his life that are so fun to read. It's amazing the detail that he can remember and it makes the stories seem so real. I'm so glad that he is writing these stories that we will have them as part of our family history and I hope that he continues to write more so that I can share them with my children someday. (Not for a while - don't worry!) He is an amazing man though, not to mention he gives the best back scratches. It's so much fun whenever we get to spend time with them.