Awards and a flashback...

Ok. Once again it has been way too long since I made an update. Kids are back in school. Work keeps chugging along. And it has been WWWAAAAYYY too cold. I am ready for the cold to be over. We need the precipitation, but I am tired of the snow.

Elizabeth had spirit week in school last week. They participated in various activities for the week. On Monday Elizabeth was in an oreo stacking contest for the "Anything Goes" assembly which was boys vs. girls. Her team won. Tuesday brought back the 80's. It was fun finding clothes for Elizabeth to dress up in for 80's days. It brought back A TON of memories. Did we come close enough?

Wednesday brought crazy hair day; Thursday brought pajama day; and Friday brought superhero day. Friday also brought a special award for Elizabeth. She was one of 6 recipients in her grade for the LION OF THE QUARTER award. Six students from each grade were chosen for their outstanding academics, citizenship, friendship and all around attitude displayed for the 2nd quarter. We are very proud of her and her accomplishments. She received another outstanding report card this semester.

She has one game left for Jr. Jazz on Saturday. They have won every game except for one. She has just started Young Women's Basketball and they have won every game so far.

Alesea's reading has skyrocketed. She reads anything and everything she can get her eyes on. She has also taken up the "hobby" of trying to spell everything she can. Her teacher recommended that she test for the ALPS program, which is the Accelerated Learning Program for Students. This is the program that Elizabeth was in. Alesea starts testing for the program tomorrow morning. She will have another test in two weeks. We will then be notified of her results in April. She is doing outstanding in school as well. She is still our little comedian.

James is doing better as far as tantrums and fits go. He doesn't bully kids as much anymore either. He hasn't completely stopped, but he is getting better. He loves to hang out with his big sisters. He is trying to learn to sing the alphabet song. He loves music and stories. He is also trying to learn to count. He is becoming a little comedian as well.

Mike's work is going well. He finally received a much deserved raise.

My work is going well.

I am going to add a section for my brother, David. Hopefully he doesn't shoot me for this, because he is very humble, but I am very proud of him and his accomplishments. He received an award from the Secretary of the Air Force for some of his accomplishments. Here are a couple of links to the article. Please be aware the photo is courtesy of U.S. Air Force photo/staff Sgt. Christina M. Styer.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,161571,00.html

http://activepaper.olivesoftware.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=U1NFLzIwMDgvMDIvMDcjQXIwMjEwOA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to post an update more quickly next time, and until then, enjoy your days.

Christmas loot and a lost tooth...

Well, the crazy Christmas Season is over! I feel like Christmas is becoming WAAAYYY too commercialized. I know I am guilty at times about losing sight of the real reason for Christmas. Hopefully among all the goodies and presents we can also think about the birth of Christ and his ultimate love for all of us. It is pretty amazing.

Christmas day started about 8:30 a.m. for us. YES! Somehow our kids let us sleep in a little bit! Don't ask me how or why! As for the loot, here is a quick summary...

Elizabeth came out with some accessories for her i-pod, as well as clothes, shoes, games, and art supplies, a skateboard, and guitar picks, among a few other things. (For those of you who don't know, Elizabeth has taken a few guitar lessons and is waiting to be able to start them back up.)

Alesea came out with dolls, stuffed animals, games, clothes, and a toy laptop computer among a few other things.

James mainly came out with anything with wheels on it, and some clothes. After every present he opened, it had to be taken out of the packaging and played with before he would open anything else.

We spent the day at our house being completely lazy and enjoying each others company. A small ham, "funeral" potatoes, corn, and homemade rolls filled our stomachs at dinner.

Last but not least, Alesea lost her very first tooth that evening. As you can see in the picture, her permanent tooth had already started growing in behind it, so she officially did not have a tooth-less smile. She needs to lose the tooth next to it because that permanent tooth is already growing in as well. (To Shawn - my orthodontist friend - do you foresee any problems because of this??? j/k)

We hope all of you had a great and relaxing Christmas and were able to spend valuable time with family. Take care and we hope your new year is great!

Oh, just to elaborate on the crashing Christmas tree from my last post...

Mike woke up at 2:30 in the morning to a crashing sound and checked through the house to find nothing. Except for after he crawled back in to bed he realized he did not check the living room. He got back out of bed and checked the living room to find that our whole Christmas tree had fallen over. He ran upstairs and woke me up to help him. Sappy Christmas tree water had spilled all over our carpet and ornaments had fallen off. We ended up cutting extra limbs off of our tree to fit it in a larger and deeper tree stand. Fun times at 2:30 in the morning.

2:30 A.M. and the cRAsHinG ChRiSTmAs tReE

Ok... I was going to make a story out of this one too, but I think I have written enough for this week. I think the title of this post explains it all. If anybody would like me to elaboarate, let me know. HAPPY HOLIDAYS to EVERYONE! Take care!

The Plywood Christmas Tree

It was December 2004. Mike was studying for and taking his finals in order to graduate with his Batchelors Degree that semester. I was pregnant with James, and in the beginning stages of taking and reviewing applications for the people that would replace our job as managers of the aprtment complex we lived in. We were also trying to make as many repairs and fixes as possible around the apartment complex before we had to leave. On top of that, we had started looking for jobs for Mike and looking for a place to move. You might say things were a little busy. We normally take a day and head up to the Uinta Mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. 2004 was a different story. We really had no time that year to head up to the mountains as usual, so we scoped out a few tree lots around town. The price of trees seemed to be outrageous, and for trees that did not seem to be what we wanted. We somehow had it in our mind that if we went tree shopping on Christmas Eve, we could find a tree at a discounted price. We would spend Christmas Eve as a family decorating our tree. Christmas Eve came and as we drove to the first lot we had browsed earlier in the month, the tree lot had packed up and left. No worries, we would just continue on to the others that we had scoped out. As we went to every lot we had found, we discovered they had all packed up and left town. We were getting worried and frustrated, hoping we wouldn't have a Christmas without a tree. We were getting desperate and started driving around the buldings of local businesses hoping they had thrown out their trees in the dumpsters or back behind the buildings. No luck. We drove by many trees that were planted on the property of some of the businesses and briefly thought about breaking the law and cutting one of them down. (Don't worry, it was just a brief flash of desperate thoughts, we never would have really done it! LOL) It was very late and there were no trees to be found. The mood was somber as we drove home empty handed. We got home and put the kids to bed. Mike was determined and would not let our kids wake up Christmas morning without a tree. He disappeared in to the storage shed of our apartment complex for about an hour. I heard banging and power saws sawing. Finally Mike emerged with saw dust all over him and spray paint on his fingers. He told me to go out to the shed and take a look. Mike had created a 3 foot 2 dimensional Christmas tree out of plywood. He had spray painted the tree green and the stand red. (The couple that had managed the apartment complex before us had done many Christmas projects in the past and left cans of green and red spray paint. I almost threw them away on many occassions, but never did.) I have to say I have never seen anything so creative, and made with as much love as Mike put in to that tree for his kids. We brought the tree in to the living room and decorated it with Christmas lights and candycanes that could hang on the "branches". We now use the plywood christmas tree in our holiday decorating and laugh about the year we almost had no Christmas tree.

Our month in a minute... or two.. or three...

Ok, it has already been a month since I had an update. It seems only like a couple of weeks. A lot has happened in the last month. Here goes...

Elizabeth received her first report card with amazing grades, academically and citizenshiply (Is citizenshiply a word? LOL). She started basketball and has had two games. Her team kicked heiny both games. I should add that she made two baskets the first game. Yeah! She is now officially a teenager. The big 13! I can't believe it!

Alesea received all 100% in a round of kindergarten testing. She also has two loose teeth. The fun part is her first two permanent teeth are halfway grown in right behind the two loose baby teeth. Yikes! She was sick for two days the last week and a half, just the two days were a week apart. She is doing well now. She has been having fun with a new friend that I babysit after school for an hour.

James is still throwing fits and tantrums, but has his adorable moments too. He still can't get enough of trucks and cars. He is learning so many new words and new things, he amazes me every day. His new argument is any time we ask him to do something his response is..."YOU!" As in you do it. He is getting big, but still has no desire to start potty training. Any tips or hints from any of you out there?

Mike is still working for BD. He went "surfing" with a couple of his buddies at the new Solamon Center in Ogden about a week ago and enjoyed that, even though he took a beating. The Solamon Center has fun games and activities including rock climbing, surfing and swimming, indoor skydiving, video games and I think bowling, among other activities. We both would like to try the indoor skydiving sometime, as well. (I'd prefer that over the real thing any day.)

I quit my job at the Target Portraits Studio because the hours were too crazy. I was working 5-6 nights a week just to get 17 hours of work. I am now working in the Macey's Grocery Store Deli. It has been a good job so far. I especially enjoy the times when we are required to sample meats, cheeses, and salads so we can tell the inquiring customer whether they are good or not, or what the flavor differences are, or what we recommend. I really like the people I work with, and the time goes by fast. Plus, I work more hours than at Target in 3-4 days. That gives me more time with family. I have been busy taking portraits of several families for their holiday cards and gifts, as well.

As a family we finally went up to the Uinta Mountains and cut down our Christmas tree yesterday. We took our snowmobile and a couple of sleds and made a day of it and played around. It was freezing, but we had a great time.

We hope everybody enjoys the Holidays. Merry Christmas and just in case it is another month for an update, Happy New Year.

How sweet!

Hello everybody!

Halloween is over, thank goodness. We have so much candy it is not even funny. We purchased a bunch of candy to hand out, but it didn't get handed out. Mike and I both took James and Alesea out trick-or-treating so no one was home to hand out the candy. The kids collected even more candy, so we are overwhelmed with the stuff. Trick-or-treating was great this year because the weather was so nice and warm compared to past Halloweens nobody was "freezing to death". After the candy collecting was finished for the night we went to a haunted house that is put on by a friend of ours. He does it out of his garage every year just for people who want to take a few minutes to go through. He changes it every year. He hands out king sized candy bars at the end. The haunted house is actually really good for being in a garage.

Alesea and Elizabeth are still chugging along in school, and doing well.

I am looking for a different job. I love working at the portrait studio, however the hours are crazy. During the off season, I only get 5 hours a week. During the holidays I get the 20 hours I would like, but they are spread over 6 days a week. I am looking for a job that will give me 20 hours, but over 3 days instead of 6. I interviewed at a local grocery store over the weekend. I will let you know how it turns out.

Mike is doing great. He took a trip down to the "Sand Dunes" last weekend to go 4-wheeling with some buddies and some of the Young Men in our ward and had an enjoyable time.

We are all doing great. Just moving through life at a steady pace. Hope all is well with everyone. Belated Happy Halloween!

It took 5 years...

Ok, everybody! Hold on to your hats! We finally have an updated "family portrait"! This is as good as it gets for now! Enjoy it, because it might be another 5 years before we have another one. We took a drive while listening to the last session of conference on Sunday. Our first attempt was up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We hiked up a little area that Mike has been to for rock climbing, hoping to take a family picture by the waterfall that is there. Within 3 minutes of being up there and trying to get set up for the picture a very large group of geologists showed up and took over the small area. They all stared at us as if we had invaded their party (even though we were there before them) and continued to stare at us until we pretty much felt shamed enough to leave. The rest of the canyon was pretty busy from sight seers taking pictures of the leaves. So much for that idea. So we headed way back out west to Butterfield Canyon (which is closer to our house) hoping that it would be less busy. Well, it was less busy and had no slushy snow to hike through. Voila! Here is one of our favorite pictures that came from that day. (Please scroll to the very bottom of the page.) Enjoy!

Now for a quick update...

Elizabeth did not get elected as a class officer. She is totally ok with it though. Out of 13 students that were running, six were elected. She is still enjoying school. Recreational soccer is now over for the season, and basketball will start soon.

Alesea still has a crush on the same boy in her class. Her kindergarten teacher approached me telling me that Alesea and Declan are best buds and do everything together in class. She is doing very well at learning to read. At first it seemed she didn't have a whole lot of interest in learning to read, but we have worked with her on helping her realize that part of reading is sounding out each letter and putting it all together. She seems to have grasped the concept and is doing really well and seems more interested.

James is still James. Throwing fits and tantrums at times, and being cute and adorable other times. He is doing better in Nursery at church. He hasn't had any biting incidents for a while. He loves to copy what Alesea does, which drives Alesea crazy. He is still infatuated with anything that has wheels. He is very particular on how he plays with his cars and trucks. The setting has to be just right or he gets upset. He is also very particular on the clothes he wears now. There are only a few shirts and pairs of pants that he will wear. I hope he grows out of that stage soon.

Nothing has changed for Mike and me. Just the same old stuff going on. I am working more hours at the portrait studio for holiday hours, but that is about it.

Hope everything is well with everybody! Take care and keep in touch!

Love,

All of us!