THE REAL BEAUTY OF UTAH!

B & D had a busy morning last Monday shoveling a total of 4 times. This is how much snow fell from 5 am until about 1 pm. I do believe this is the most snow in the shortest amount of time we've had in 14 years of living here. My neighbor informed me that there was more in 1993 - the year before our arrival. Thank Heavens for 4 wheel drive!

D gets a fun part!

To add to his exciting b-day weekend, D got a part in a BYU film festival film. He's one of the main 3 parts - a goofy 14-15 yr old obsessed with Pop Rocks. He is thrilled because he is the only 15 yr old cast. The rest of the cast are 19 to 21 yr olds who look really young. Pop Rocks is sponsoring this film & want to get in Sundance next year. How cool would that be? Anyway he doesn't get paid & he films from 3 pm to 3 am Friday nights & 5 pm to 5 am Saturdays nights for the next 3 weeks. Fun driving time for mom & dad. Only 1 more year until he can drive himself! That will be a happy b-day for me too.

D turns 15, Eats Cake, Cheats at Bowling & FINALLY gets a suit coat!

Like a typical computer savvy teenager, he quickly figured out how to change his score in order to save face from his mom kicking his butt. Mr. T I think has some talent, he bowled a 96 with 2 strikes! Big B is still trying perfect his curveball. (without a lot of luck)

D has been complaining for the last couple of years that he's the only one at church who doesn't have a suit jacket. So we went shopping and got him this very dapper coat & tie. The tie was a compromise - the first 20 he showed us looked very much like he was going for the clown look - so I used my veto power. Did you all know paisley is back in? This one happens to be paisley & bright but not bozoish. Doesn't he look spiffy? ( And a very cute girl noticed and complemented him on his new clothes)

D gets properly embarassed at the Cheesecake Factory with Choc Tuxedo Cheescake to wipe away his discomfort.

Mr. T & Ari Are Now Experts in Crop Dusting & Worm Farming!

The twins are learning about farming & every child was assigned a topic. We lucked out and got the extremely interesting topics of Crop Dusting & Worm Farming! This is one aspect of twin mommying that isn't that fun - I get to do 2 reports. I brought in a surgical mask as a visual aid for crop dusting and Ari emphasized how poisonous the chemicals are.

Mr. T was totally stoked about bringing in real earthworms. (Thank you Walmart for providing year round earthworms.) He was in all his glory holding them and showing them around. He also baked some worms in his 'Bug Maker', think Easy Bake Oven for gross looking bugs. Of course, then his teacher decided to keep the worms and extra day and that did not go over well for Mr. T. He was angry, sad, distraught and about as emotional as a 6 yr old can manage. She let him bring them home Friday and he literally spent 4 hours playing with them. Poor little disgusting, but oh so helpful, creatures. They now reside happily a foot under our compost pile.

I do wish we would have been assigned "Where does Chocolate come from?" (the report between their reports)

BIG B TURNS 45!!!

Yikes, how can I be married to a man that's 45? Why does that sound so old? We enjoyed a night out with all of us including Aub & Michelle T. at a "hoity toity" little place, that just may have been a little too nice for kids that just may be a little too young to go to it. I guess it was french because it was called "Francks" with a french pronunciation. And we had fondue with stinky cheese. I managed to pick out 3 gifts that B didn't want to return, so it was all good.

A Visit to A Friends Cabin - and Fun with Cousins

Tallon didn't want to leave sledding & snowmobiling fun with our friends.

Big B giving "torture" and "persheda's" to poor little B-Wyatt.

We also had the fun of having Jeff, Christina & the boys for New Years. It was a quick visit with 2 days of skiing for dad's and kids and 2 days of mom's fun. Ringing in 2008 with pretty much the same resolutions as every year...........

I am sorry to have been offline for 2 months but I had a computer nightmare & said more than my share of swear words - contemplated driving my car into the front windows of PC laptops. In the end - B saved me from drilling in foul language to my little ones and a stint in prison. I have a new PC and he found all my info. WooHoo and an renewed appreciation of my addiction to a computer.

I have no photos of Christmas - only video & I haven't figured out how to load video

Our Christmas this year was great. Thanks to Michelle T and D's ability to argue about what he wants for Christmas. D was telling me how if he did not get the new X-box 360 that he'd be really mad. I was saying how we are done with gaming systems and Michelle started telling us about families she works with that are refugees who've lost everything. I told her I'd rather spend the $400 on one of those families. She sent me a list that included things like blankets, diapers, warm clothes and food. So I decided to take full advantage of my calling as compassionate service leader and asked my Relief Society president if I could open up the sub- for- santa to our ward. I was emotional everyday because I saw the absolute generosity of people who I didn't know could even afford it, or I didn't like (shame on me I KNOW). It took away all of my usual holiday anxiety and replaced it with strong feelings of being blessed with Michelle T. and so much love from so many people. It made my year and honestly was the best Christmas ever. Our family delivered everything and I hope it made an impression on my children - I want to be a part of that every year and throughout the year. And I never heard another word about an X-box 360!

'Fancy Nancy' -The smallest tree since 1995-Cute X-mas Clothes - BYU beats UCLA boys trip

Ari has a style all her own, especially loving the books called "Fancy Nancy". Do you think I need to worry about her style choices in the future? This looks cute as a 6 yr old - but what will we get from her at 16?

My piano now takes up my x-mas tree room - so the ceiling is low in the new spot - B thought it was fabulous to have such a tiny tree this year and it lived through New Years. I think it cost us $25. A record low for us.

B, D and Mr T. flew to Vegas on the Saturday before X-mas to meet B's friend since he was 5, Grant. As many of you are aware - they enjoyed the last "miracle" play of the game - and enjoyed some drunk Y fans creating a not very great example of BYU fans.

Me & the girls enjoyed the nutcracker at the Capital theatre while they were gone. It only took (I think) 6 times going to the Nutcracker for Aub to really enjoy it! Thank heavens for small miracles.

Just a quick note about Turkey Day.

I am officially the class photographer for the kindergarteners. This was a very cute party. They made friendship soup. All the kids brought a can of some vegetable & they poured it into crockpots & made bread in a breadmaker. It smelled heavenly! And Ari ate 3 bowls of the soup. Our Thanksgiving day was very quiet. No snow -so no skiing this year. Just a movie day to see Enchanted & then we spent the evening with Mom & Dad eating pie. It was a perfect day & still my favorite holiday.

Ari Finally gets a Visit From the Tooth Fairy

She's just caught up with Tallon. As of today - B was in all his glory pulling out the second tooth. This was the first pull. My kids don't have the time to lose teeth before Dad gets his hands on them.