Friday, December 31, 2010

The Year in Review

...or at least the last half that I failed to blog about! The year has flown by and I have been totally neglecting my blog. Is there a crime for blog neglect? I hope not or I'll be put away for a very long time! I promise to be better this next year, and decided to share some pictures to close out the year. Enjoy and have a great New Year! Love you all!

The kids' first week of school! Don't they look excited to be going to school at the beginning of July?!!! At least they both get to start school near the end of August, next school year. No more year round school! Hurray!








Broncos Training Camp. It was fun to see the players up close and Alec got Eddie Royal to sign his Broncos jersey.

Milking cows at the county fair. I did it too and realized I would make a horrible farmer!

Our garden. My dad and I fixed it up this year and it looked great!





Halloween. I love my ninja and cowgirl!



















Alec tried swimming on a local team this year and is a natural. He finished out the season winning first place in the backstroke. He is so happy and is excited about swimming every year. I'm excited about a college scholarship he could get if he sticks with it!
A date Greg and I took to the gun club. We are a couple of wild and crazy kids!

Madison had a Mexican Fiesta at school and danced the Mexican Hat Dance.
Christmas. We had a great time! Madison and Alec bought each other nearly identical gifts and Greg's dad jammed on Al's new guitar.











Greg and Alec ended the year with their annual ice fishing trip. Glad they had a good time while I was sitting at home in my warm house!






Monday, July 5, 2010

Our New Addition

No, I didn't have another child! We decided to get a pet. A real pet. Not one that gets flushed down the toilet or buried in a small hole in the back yard when it dies. Since a cat seemed to be the lowest maintenance of what was left to choose from, and since I grew up with a cat and we had a cat earlier in our marriage, after much discussion, I took the kids on a trip to The Dumb Friends League last week.

We were concerned about Al and his allergies. In the past, he has had reactions to long haired cats, but not short haired ones or dogs. We were going to test it out and see if he could handle having a cat live in our home without coughing and his eyes watering. We entered the facility and were shown two cat room, the well cats and the sick cats. We were assured that the cats in the sick room just had colds. It turned out that all the cats under 1 year old had colds, and since we wanted a kitten, that was the group we had to choose from. We selected three kittens to "interview" and waited in the room for our first meet and greet. When we met each cat, I practically made Al rub his face with the kitten and inhale her. He had no reaction from any of them and we had the green light to get a short haired cat.

The first cat was a four month old who was very playful, too playful. She was so hyper that Madison was scared of her. She was too big for Mad to pick up and she was very scratchy. Although Al and I really liked her, the third vote wasn't there.

The second one was completely the opposite. Although she was snuggly when held, she mostly hid in the corner and didn't want much to do with playing. The kids were willing to settle for this cat, but I just didn't feel right about it. There was a third kitten we decided to see to make up our minds. It turned out there was another family looking and we snagged the third cat just in time.

Within the first few minutes, we knew she was the cat for us. Her personality seemed to fit exactly what we all wanted and at just about 3 months, small enough for the kids to carry. She can be playful, but will snuggle too. Her shelter name is Savannah and the kids like that name, so we will probably keep it. We were sent home with some cold medicine and she is getting better each day. She is great at using the litter box, but has furniture scratching issues that we are helping her overcome with alternatives. She is feeling at home and is beginning to get into things like a small child. We have to "child proof" the house for her. She had taken a couple of dips in the toilet because she didn't bother to look before jumping up, but she is learning. The kids annoy her to death, but she is so cute and hard to keep our hands off of. The funny thing is, the one in the family who least wanted a pet, is the one Savannah snuggles up to the most. And Greg loves to hold her too. I get jealous sometimes!

We are looking forward to a long relationship wiht our new family member.


June Is Bustin' Out All Over!

School and baseball filled up much of the month of June. The kids were in school until the 22nd (late, I know!) and so we didn't have much opportunity to do fun summer activities until after they finished up the school year. Alec has been playing baseball since mid-May. His team has done fair, when they haven't been rained out.
Here is a picture of a double he hit. That game so entertaining, the best of the season and maybe of Alec's 3 years playing baseball! He was so thrilled and was beaming afterwards.














Madison decided she wanted an American girl doll, so after saving some money, I broke down and threw in the rest and we made a trip to the store. What a cute place, but sooooo expensive! She decided on one of the "look like me" dolls, and I have to say, it looks a lot like her! Now I just have to help her clothe the thing without putting us in the poor house. Those doll clothes cost more than the real clothes I buy for Madison! Fortunately, I have some friends who have traveled this doll journey and have the scoop on all the places to find bargins. Thanks for the advice!

We were able to fit some visits to the pool into the schedule. The kids only had two weeks until school started up again, so we found some hot days to sit by the pool. Well, I mostly sat by the pool and they swam. I am really starting to enjoy this older kid phase where I can relax and the kids can do their own thing without hanging on me!

The kids go off track the last week of July and I have some more fun things planned for those last three weeks of summer that are sure to please and entertain us all.











Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I Have Been A Busy Girl!

For those of you who don't already know, I have been venturing into other business activities. I decided to create a resource for LDS women who have their own businesses or want to start one. Kind of mixing spiritual enlightenment (can I really provide that???) with business resources. I also have a blog and Facebook page that go along with the website. If you are on FB, I would love to have you as a fan! Click here to check it all out. I would greatly appreciate any feedback, even of the critical nature!


My business is morphing into the direction of internet communications and I am feeling myself pulled into the direction of consulting. So to develop that evolving division of my company, I am beginning a road of mega studying and research, learning everything about Facebook, You Tube, blogging and a huge assortment of other communication tools. I am so excited to finally feel like I am putting my college degree to work and expanding upon it! I'll update soon to let you all know how things are developing.

Stuff (Ok, I couldn't come up with a whittier title!)

Alec has been taking trumpet lessons this year at school and we had the honor of watching all his hard work pay off at a concert. He did a great job and has really shown us his musical talent this year! Pardon the bad picture quality! I forgot my video and still camera, so I had to settle for my crappy phone camera. Very disappointed in myself, but there were so many kids in the band and a bad seating setup, we really couldn't see him at all when he was playing. I'll have him play a tune or two and post a video.



As a family, we headed to the gun club to "shoot some powder" as Greg calls it. We all had such a good time. Here is a cute picture of "Mommy's Little Snipers".



Greg and Al went turkey hunting near the beginning of May, and while they didn't shoot us our Thanksgiving dinner, they caught this monster during some fishing time. They did release it, so no fish for us, but were able to snap this picure to give them both something to brag about.




Summer is coming and the kids are excited about swimming and doing all sorts of activities. Maybe I'll be better at blogging about it all by then!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Easter 2010

Easter rolled around again and the kids were so excited about decorating eggs the Monday before. They love to dye the eggs, but that task is so messy. I loved my friend Christina's idea of using colored sharpies! Maybe next year.





They dipped and painted and created these wonderful masterpieces. Easter morning, the kids were thrilled with their candy filled baskets, as was Greg with his white chocolate bunny. We didn't have church because of General Conference, so it was nice to relax at home and watch conference on tv. We went to dinner at my parent's house where we also celebrated Alec's birthday. He wanted a cake from Whole Foods. The Berry Chantilly cake is absolutely delish!

My poor guy! He was sick during and in the weeks after his birthday, so he wasn't able to enjoy much on that day. He gets to take a couple of friends to the movies in leiu of a party this year, so he is looking forward to that soon.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Mega Catch Up Time!

Here I am again, way behind in posting. But better late than never, right? (Just nod your heads "yes"!)

Madison had her birthday in February and had a little party at the house with some of her friends. The theme was "Crazy Hat Party" and each guest wore a silly or crazy hat and played hat themed games. I even made a hat cake and used fondant for the first time. It sure is a lot harder to use than those cake shows on tv portray! But the kids thought it looked great and everyone had a good time stuffing their faces with pizza and cake.














Madison started gymnastics and is so far having a good time, even though they teach them some difficult skills. And it doesn't help that she is so small and doesn't have a lot of upper body strength! Oh well! She'll grow eventually!





At the end of March, Alec participated in his Cub Scout Pack's Pinewood Derby. It snuck up on us pretty fast this year, but we were able to complete the car and it looked pretty stylish! It was a military Humvee that even had a personalized license plate with Al's name on it.

We were trying for the design award win this year, but surprisingly, he tied for 5th place in the pack for racing. He did win a 3rd place trophy for best design, voted on by his peers. It was funny that all three design awards went to military themed vehicles. Guess that is what 8-10 year old boys are interested in these days!

Below is a video of one of his races.



Madison was chosen by her principal to represent the class of 2021 (wow!) at the CC Schools Foundation Leadership Luncheon. They award scholarships to high school seniors and part of the program was a little segment where a few 1st graders marched on stage in graduation gowns and answered questions. Jim Bennimen from CBS4 was the MC and asked the kids questions about their interests. Madison did very well in front of the crowd and looked soooo cute in her gown. I can't wait to see her at her graduation in 11 years!