Choose

I've seen on a number of blogs I read that the lovely women who write them have chosen a "word" as a new years resolution of sorts. A word they want to work on, and strive to focus on in the next year. I thought about trying to come up with one, and was always coming up with a blank. Until I watched this video. It sealed the deal. My word for the year is CHOOSE.

The Little Match Girl

Nicole and Ellie's dance studio put on their winter production of "The Little Match Girl" in December. Wow! Lot's of extra practices and rehearsals to get them to, and they weren't even any of the principal dancers. I thought they did a great job, and really appreciated all the hard work of the director, Wendi, and all her teachers and other studio help. So much extra stuff for them, and right before Christmas. I wondered how the story would be portrayed, since it really is a sad story, but I thought it was done beautifully.

Nicole was a village girl, right at the beginning, and then was a part of the candle dance at the end of the show, after the little match girl has died and gone to heaven. The dance was lovely, as all the girls came in holding little battery powered candles with the stage and auditorium unlit, and that's all you could see, were the candles moving in unison. Then the lights came up and all the dancers were in white and the little match girl was there dancing with her mother that she'd been dreaming of. Ellie was a dove in an earlier dream scene.

I had to laugh. Nicole is very easily distracted, and even though she knows her dance, if something catches her eye, she keep sort-of doing what she's supposed to be, but you can tell she's distracted! She's done this same thing at both piano recitals she's been involved in...I guess we need to work on her focusing skills! Ellie got out there and was a bit overwhelmed by being on stage, so she did a couple plies(sp?) and a turn and other than that, pretty much stood there with a deer in the headlights look, and seemed to forget that her arms could, and were supposed to, move! But as you can see in the picture below, she wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed!

Here are some pictures I managed to get of them....they sort-of worked despite the fact that my ISO was maxed, no flash, and I was sitting in the back!


*Nicole is front standing girl*



*Nicole is in there: in the back, just to the left of the girl in the black leotard!*

Next up early this summer: "The Lion King"!

Nicole's Baptism Day

Okay, be prepared for picture overload.....I narrowed my favs down to a few, but there are still alot! We found Nicole's dress the week of her baptism, and I planned to take her out thinking it was going to be a bit warmer that day....then the weather changed and we had an arctic blast blow in! Think 20's with wind....and here's my poor girl in a short sleeved dress. :( We tried to do some pictures around the temple, but she was so cold she couldn't smile and her nose turned pink immediately! So we headed into the American Fork amphitheater which created a nice wind break and were able to get some good pictures there, thank goodness!









Her baptism day dawned cold, cold, and a tiny bit snowy. It was a beautiful day with family surrounding us to congratulate Nicole on her decision. I cried through my talk, Ron baptized and confirmed Nicole, and we headed home for a nice lunch with family. I am so blessed to be the mother of these children, and to be entrusted with their care and teaching upon this earth. I am also so thankful for my good husband, and that he is worthy to use the priesthood that he has been blessed with. It was a good day. A very good day. :)

Merry Christmas

Eight is GREAT!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, eight is a big deal, and that is because that is the age the children are baptized and become members of our Church. I took Nicole out for a little photo shoot, first, so we could catch her at 8, and second, so I could send out some invites to Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles for the baptism! I, of course, procrastinated until the last possible day, so I was just praying I got some I could use. Nicole is funny....her fake smile is obviously fake and forced, but if you get her laugh for a genuine smile, she either throws her head back and laughs as well, opens her mouth up too big, or squints her eyes down to almost nonexistent....makes for fun pictures! But here are some of the good results:







We used the one above for her invitation. Not the typical baptism look, since she wasn't in a white dress, but the door was perfect to put words on with photoshop, so I was thrilled!

Since the other kids were there that afternoon, I caught some quick ones of them:







Riley hates having her picture taken and is highly uncooperative when we try.....Ron had to grab her and hold her arms down to her side in order to get this.....someday, she'll be sad she was such a stinker about it since she'll have hardly any pictures of these years. :)

Spike the Incredi-Hamster

How lame am I? I took no pictures on Thanksgiving....I must head over to my hubby's blog to steal some.....here I go.


And here you go.....a shot of the lovely dutch oven stuffing.....something must be cooked in the dutch oven in honor of my dad, "Burn it again Kenn", the dutch oven master. (Really, he was excellent!) It also helps free up the single oven in our home, which helps immensely. :)


To go along with the photo...a little twitvid:


So, what do we use our oven for if not the stuffing? The turkey you ask?

Absotively not.

My hubby taught himself the fine art of Deep-frying the Thanksgiving Bird before we met. Our 1st Thanksgiving together, he shared this delicacy with us, and we've kept him busy since! (Okay, I did roast the turkey the last couple of years, but missed our deep fried wonder too much, so this year, Ron got put back to work!) For any of you that are wondering, yes, it is easy, no, it isn't at all greasy, and the added bonus is your turkey is cooked in an hour!

Another twitvid:


Now, I'm sure you are all asking, what the heck does this post have to do with a hamster?


After our tasty meal, shared with my mom, Aunt Carol, niece Cali, her hubby Danny, and his brother Eric (say that 12 times fast....) we headed out to spend some holiday time with Ron's family at his sister Shirlene's home. We played Bingo (for PRIZES!), Apples to Apples Jr., and the kids played Twister. We also met Shirlene's (or should I say the kids) hamster. She is a fairly new hamster to their family. Got her at the pet store just a few weeks ago. Imagine their surprise when two weeks after they brought the little jewel home that she dropped a load of 6 baby hamsters into her cage! Lucky us that the hamsters were the cutest little furballs the night that we met them and Shirlene announced that they were ready to go to their new homes.....we tried to arrange a trade for the dog, but they wouldn't go for that. Too bad I'm a sucker, and we happened to have an empty aquarium at home, so a couple days later, after purchasing a mesh top, wheel, water bottle, food and bedding, we brought home our new pet. Ellie kept calling it a raccoon, so we were thinking of "Bandit" for a name. One of the kids suggested Kevin, and Jared asked, "What about Carl?".....we aren't sure where that came from! In the end we went with "Spike".....a tough name for our little fuzzball.

Without further adieu, meet "Spike", hamster extraordinaire:



He's already a lot bigger, as he wasn't quite 4 weeks old when we brought him home. The kids think he's fun. Jared doesn't like to hold him. The first time he did, J had something on his hand that apparently smelled quite tasty so Spike tried to eat it....gave J a pretty hard nibble/chomp to the palm, so J likes to watch him best in his hamster ball. I swear the thing is more than nocturnal though, he sleeps all. the. time.

Birthday fun....

Unbelievably, my oldest baby girl (that I birthed, giant noggin and all) turned EIGHT in November. Told you it was unbelievable! Since 8 is a somewhat big deal around these parts, we had to have a little shin-dig with friends. I took the easy way out and took them all to Jump-on-It, the best party activity place ever. A thousand times better that Chuck E. Cheese. Just a giant room with trampolines all strapped together, padded and netted up for safety.....pay for an hour of jumping and you've got some happy kids.




Come home to some lunch, presents, and cake (the infamous cupcake cake...turned out okay) and you have some even happier kids and birthday girl!

At our house AGAIN?!

Could not resist sharing this.

Yes, I am aware of the serious lack of attention my poor lonely blog has been receiving. Way too much life taking up time. Stay tuned though, I have lots to share. Birthday, baptism, new pet.....hopefully this week. :)

Is this guy in my house?!

I love the comic strip Baby Blues....almost as much as Calvin & Hobbes. I find so many of these strips that, I swear, I think I have a hidden camera in my house that this guy is getting his material from. This one is especially fitting since we've just visited our dentist, and since then, Jared has become a tad bit obsessive about flossing.

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

Ron and I enjoy watching this Food Network show. Most of the places Guy Fieri visits are too far away for us, but it is fun to see some of the really odd food sometimes shown!

We have been excited to see him visit the SLC area a couple of times, and have had to go to a couple of the places after hearing about their menus. The first place was Lone Star Taqueria, found in the Fort Union area. Very good, very worth it, awesome yummy authentic Mexican food. Tamales and fish tacos.....that's all you need to know.

We took our second adventure out to Ruth's Diner. The famous Diner in Emigration Canyon that's been around since the 30's. It started out located in an old train dining car, which is still there, but has had quite a bit of square footage added to it. We were lucky enough to be seated in the old train car. This place has the BEST biscuits I have ever eaten...ever. Ron got an order of the biscuits and gravy for us to share...I could've died happy right then. We went after Ron's first post-op eye appointment, so almost lunch time. I got soup and a half sandwich, both were good....I'm always a sucker for a turkey sandwich that has cranberry sauce on it! Ron got a fabulous omelet with crab, avocado, and smothered in hollandaise sauce. My, oh my....not a thing to complain about with that! I'd recommend this place anytime. I might have to get a season pass to the Zoo so I have a reason to visit Ruth's a few more times. ;)

A little shot Ron took with his phone of Ellie and I in our dining car booth.


**Since I mentioned Ron's eye, I figured I should give a little update....that last appointment went well, everything is looking good. After reviewing his ultrasound again and taking another look at his eye, they are thinking that what they thought was a macular hemorrhage is actually an old solar burn. At some point Ron looked too long at the sun and burned the back of his eye. Another reason to always listen to your mother. When she tells you not to stare at the sun because you'll go blind, she isn't kidding! But no, Ron isn't going blind....the doctor was quite pleased with how everything is healing. :)**

Now go eat!