my butter & eggs

I am so lucky to have such great parents... when I talk about my dad, it's funny because people never know which one I am talking about!! I am LUCKY enough to have TWO. So today is my dad's birthday. We went over to my mom and dad's house for dinner, cake and presents. This is my favorite picture of my dad, it's hard to get one of him smiling.. but Claire seems to know how to make that happen! This pic is a couple years old but has always been my favorite! SO dad.. Happy birthday! Thanks for being such an awesome DAD!! I love you!

11:30pm...ring ring.."hello" "hey mac, do you know where mom is?" Strange question this time of night?!! "NO, what's up?" "I think I broke my arm!" ...mom found..trip to ER til 2:30 in the morning..broken in 3 places...surgery needed..surgery done..not enough pain pills to make it feel better.. 2pins 2screws and 1plate.. a HUGE splint!!! Fast Forward 1week (day after surgery) Levi and I do not do much celebrating on our anniversary any more.. Something about Cass being born on that day:) So the next day we left to go to lunch together (16 years and we celebrate by going to lunch!!) 2miles from home..ring ring..cass screaming on the phone so hysterically that I can't understand ONE thing she is saying.. after about 2 min of me yelling back at her to calm down.. she finally gets it out that Brady hurt his arm and "It LOOKS REALLY BAD MOM!!) me yelling at levi to turn around.. us both racing into the house to see Brady moaning on the couch..no tears..arm obviously broken..load him in the truck.. ER..xray tech saying "OHH" like I said obviously broken!2broken bones.. Resetting the arm.. I left the room for that one.. still NO tears!! A huge splint to match Uncle E.(cast a couple days later) a stop at Zabas for much needed food.. a stop at grandma's to compare arms!!

We went to this cool little Ghost Town just outside of Las Vegas. We had been wanting to take the kids out there and decided we should take Jessica, our great photographer, with us too and have new family pics taken at the same time. I loved it out there and have been so excited to see how the pictures turned out. We got them today. I love all of them.. here's a few of my favs...







and these were Levi's favs.. for a couple of reasons...
1. He saw this "lubrication" sign and thought it would be great for he and I to take a picture under it.. Right as we were taking the pic, one of our kids asked "what is lubrication" Jessica, Levi and I all started laughing..??!!
2. Levi saw a crowbar resting against one of the walls and kept saying all he wanted was a picture of him hitting me over the head with the crowbar.. so he got his wish!!Should this worry me? Not the picture.. but the fact that he wanted to do this so bad???

We started a new tradition this year. Instead of having Christmas at home with gifts that in 2-3 weeks my LOVELY children will not remember... We are doing Christmas trips! So for our first time, we went on a Ski/Snowboard trip to Brianhead. It was my favorite Christmas so far. Tons and Tons of snow...3 amazing snowboarders... and 1 of the cutest little skiers I have EVER seen!! We went early in the morning on Christmas Eve and stayed until Sunday. We hit the slopes every day and snowmobiled every night! The cabin we stayed in was so much fun. It snowed all day on Christmas day and that night. The next day we woke up to be snowed in... had to wait for the plow to come get us out. I Loved spending the time up there and best of all...NO PHONE SERVICE!!! I think it will be hard to talk the kids into doing anything different next year. Great time for us all...I love my little fam!!

Monday I was at the salon waiting for my 12:00 appointment...A new client, that was my mom's "neighbor"' I was standing up front with my back to the door.. I turned around to see my SISTER.. who is supposed to be in New Zealand walking in the door with my two nephews!! I didn't know what to do or say.. I just kept saying over and over.."what are you doing?" She is back!! FOR GOOD!! YEA!! I cried and laughed and cried and was so excited. Her and my mom had planned this whole little suprise. This was a great day. I am still in shock that she is here. This was only to be followed by another great day. Erik coming home from his mission! We all went to the airport to meet him. It was great to see him. He has gotten so tall and seems a little older, but other than that he is the same funny Erik!! Then on Saturday, Claire was baptized. We were lucky to be able to have a family baptisim. It was so neat to see so many family members and friends come to support her. I know what a neat and special girl she is, but to have so many people show up to support her made me a little teary. We had a big family dinner at Bajio (one of her favorite places) it was great! She looked so pretty. I loved her dress. Levi and Claire went shopping for it a week earlier. Erik also had his homecoming on Sunday. We had another family dinner at my moms. It was the first time in along time we had almost all been together. It has been a great week!!!

I know I have made this known before.. but I really want Brady to be a professional bull rider. This last summer he was in the Star Valley Rodeo. He did the Calf Ridding! (or as he recalls..he rode a bull!)

A few weeks ago, Levi and I went to the salon (probably to fix something AGAIN!) Brady waited in the locker/break room. When it was time to leave, he was quite giggly and had a smirk on his face! After a few seconds of trying to figure out why he was so amused by himself, I saw this written on the big board on the wall.....