We found snow!

It's been on the calendar for a few weeks now. The kids had a half day of school last Wednesday, so Steve took the day off and as soon as the kids walked in the door at noon, we took off for Happy Jack (30 min. north of Payson). Believe me, I was not sure if we were going to find snow....they did have a lot of snow up north earlier this year, but it was near 80 in Mesa...and it cooled to 60's when we arrived in Payson....no snow anywhere to be seen on the way.....we kept driving up the mountain...saw a few patches here and there. We drive a few miles more above Strawberry and finally we see SNOW....lots of SNOW. Whew - what a difference a few miles makes. We were the only ones there all afternoon and had a blast. We'll definately come again next year.




Ha ha Starr...I no idea what this is about.

For Joseph, this was even better than video games!

Mom and Joseph resting...

Yes, Josh is wearing pink and purple...it's all we had in his size...haha. He enjoyed throwing snowballs at everyone.

Jan/Feb Recap

This is what our family has been up to since 2010!

**Our annual New Year's hike in the superstition mountains.

**Steve assistant coaching Starr's volleyball team.

** Parent night/orientations for Jr. High and High School...not to mention helping kids figure our school schedules.

**Boy Scouts --trying to get caught up, organized, and have almost succeeded. Just finished putting on a Scout Court of Honor last week.

**In the middle of another art show at Costco....done this weekend and then I can tackle the next project...yeah!

Coming up....yard work (thanks to all this rain), garden planting, anniversary, and softball season....gotta love it all!

Carrot Pudding

My sister and I have fond memories of my grandma Curtis' carrot pudding. She always made it during the holidays and it was definite family favorite. This holiday season Katie and I wanted to see if we could come close to duplicating it. We found the recipe, forgot some ingredients (opps), but it was still super yummy - and we'll try again soon. So here's to you grandma....we sure miss you!

Temple lights

After Thanksgiving we saw the temple lights with our children and extended family. We like to go early enough in the month so we're not freezing....although it was very busy! Here are some favorite pics....


Jeff and Jessica....
Me and my mama...
Thanks to Terri for the rest of these pictures....lovely.

2009 Christmas Recap

I believe the technical word for what I'm about to do is called 'blog barf'. Don't pay attention to the smell..haha. And I think I did this last year too -- my apologies.

Our ward Christmas party included visits with Santa. I'm so glad there's a picture of Emi wearing her boots, as I don't think she took them off the entire month because she loved them so much.

Doesn't Joseph look excited?

My big Joshua....wasn't even scared. Brave boy.

We made gingerbread houses....the boys house....

verses the girls house....
Our Family Christmas Eve party. Two cousins....I love this picture.

The pinata. I couldn't find a Christmas themed one, but this one did great. However, he was almost too cute to break!
But we did it anyway.....poor thing.
The favorite white elephant gift exchange.
We have a tradition of opening pj's on Christmas eve....however this year, as Steve's mom's gift to us, she made us all pajama pants......we loved them. Steve and I got frogs on ours (yes, there's a story in there somewhere that I won't go in to.)
This year they all matched what the kids loved....the little boys have Curious George on theirs, Emi has butterflies/flowers, Starr has stars and Jeff and sports. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next year.

Christmas morning.....

Our December.....

One word describes our December....puzzles!

After getting reaquainted with an old friend, Eric Dowdle, from High School (thanks to facebook), we got to talking and when he learned I work Costco Roadshows with another art company from Utah, he invited to work his show in December. It was by far the hardest and longest show I've ever worked. It started black Friday in November and went through Christmas. Dowdle Folk Art hired both Steve and myself -- which involved Steve driving a large truck up to SLC, driving it back, and then keeping 3 Costco's stocked with 42 different types of puzzles every day. It was exhausting...fun...and just plain hard work. However, since Steve works in the construction industry, we were grateful for the extra work. Would we do it again? I don't know....I compare it to having a baby -- perhaps after a while the pain will be forgotten. We shall see.