7-11, Slurpees & Snow!

This year I decided we needed some "real" family photos - so for the FIRST.TIME.EVER - I paid someone! I'm really not that tight - I just haven't ever been big on paying for photo's, mostly because it seems that pictures are SO trendy, and SO not.me! A friend suggested Abbey, of ak studio design and told me she was fun and loved out-of-the-box ideas so I decided to run with it.

LeGrand and I brainstormed for what seemed like For.Ever! I wanted something different, and something that was us! No offense, but I'm not a train-track, orchard, wheat field, sit-in-the-studio or walk-down-the-road kinda girl.

Ultimately my BRILLIANT hubby came up with this --1980's, sippin slurpees at the sev idea! And I LOVE it! Don't be fooled, we were freezing and it was snowing on and off the whole time! I'm already getting excited to come up with something fun for next year!

a NEW Year!

The fact that it's 2011 just BLOWS my mind! I'm pretty sure I can remember 1990 like it was yesterday :)

I'm always excited about a New Year, but unlike most of the negative comments I've been hearing in the last couple of days - 2010 was a GREAT year for us! We really have no complaints! Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud?!

I'm anxious to see what the New Year brings and excited about the things will do, the way we'll grow, the experiences we'll have, the people we'll meet and all of the opportunities that will come our way!

We finished out 2010 at a New Years Bash with the ward! Those who came had a great time, and I thoroughly enjoyed Dancing the Night away! AND it was my last shindig to put on as activities Chair-woman! Now I get to teach the Valiant 9's.

Loa & Laex are growing WAY too fast!
Loa's everywhere now that she's mastered the army crawl, she loves, loves her brother and shes our super smiler - always happy!
Laex is now a SUNBEAM - holy crap! He enjoys his video games, trains, books, sister and helping out with everything!

LeGrand and I couldn't be happier! We have a great job, a nice home, a healthy family, the gospel of Jesus Christ and many loved ones to share our life with!

December & Christmas 2010

December has been a blur...

BUT

We did enjoy our first big SNOW fall - Laex helped me shovel and then we built a snowman! We got about 6-8 inches of snow overnight - Laex was IN HEAVEN!
















































We had many evenings of Christmas Stories or Christmas Movies with Popcorn -Christmas Vacation is a MUST :)
We got an early Christmas Present - the Wii and had a blast bowling, bowling and bowling - Laex loves it and usually kicks our butts :)
























































A
N
D

We were finally able to S L O W down and enjoy the Holidays in Vernal! We had a great time!

We arrived in Vernal on Thursday, enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner with Mom, Kenz, Grams and Gramps, Trev, Ramey, Taite & Avi --We missed Elder Hoopes & our Dad who was out in the snow working :(

Thursday night we had fun opening our stocking gifts - A tradition Mom started, we each buy a gift for each others stockings and write a nice note to go with it - we then open them either Christmas eve or this year, the day before, so that the stockings are empty for Santa!



















































































Friday we enjoyed the day playing lots of fun games and hanging out! We spent our Christmas Eve at Aunt Jenny's Annual Christmas Eve Party with yummy food and a fun Gift Exchange Game!




































Saturday Laex had a BLAST as he realized he'd been good enough that Santa came :) --It was the first year he really got into it and he was so excited! He opened his & Loa's presents! Then we spent the rest of the day jammin out on the wii, playing games and enjoying the kids as they went from one toy to the next! We had lots of yummy finger foods, we grazed, played, rested, played and grazed some more :) AND we got to enjoy our LAST phone call from Elder Hoopes, he'll be home in exactly 5 weeks, we can't wait!! And we ended the day with a trip to visit Grams and Gramps. (YES! we ROCKED Just dance - it was a riot . ALSO, as a side note, Laex really thinks he's buzz lightyear so when he got "wings" he was ecstatic!)







































































































































Sunday we got to go to church with Grammie and Papa and then enjoyed our last evening in Vernal.

Monday we got up, packed the car to the brim and had a nice trip home --when we arrived out house was only Forty degrees, with the heater not running :( Luckily LeGrand was able to mess with it a bit and get it going - so the heater, along with the gas log running we got the house heated up! We were happy to have warmth!

We had such a nice holiday, we're happy to be home, have the decorations put away and be able to relax

Turkey Day!

This year we stepped out-of-the-box and hit Little America for Thanksgiving dinner! It was SO nice that none of us had to Cook or Clean but it did feel a bit weird that there were no left-overs.

We enjoyed ourselves so much it may become a tradition!






















































































































































We finished off the day with a serious shopping trip that started at 9 pm in line at Toys R Us and ended at about 3 am at home buying everything I needed online :) I heart Black Friday excitement!

Blizzard 2010

LeGrand insisted that I document the "BLIZZARD" of 2010 - it was expected to hit two days before Thanksgiving (Tuesday Nov. 23rd) around 5pm - the hype was crazy!

People were let off work early, all the colleges closed early, Schools around the Wasatch front canceled all activities after 4 pm, people were lined up at Costco trying to "get prepared" all so that everyone could get home before the biggest storm of the past ten years hit.

I got this text from LeGrand around 1:30 that day: "if you have time please fill up the MDX. this storm is supposed to be ugly. also we need ice cream" LOL-Priorities!


HERE'S the result...

a little wind blowing around some "fluff" (LeGrand's words)

7.5 months

This is a bit late - as have been all of my posts lately - BUT, here's some awesome stuff about our amazing little lady at her 7 1/2 month mark!

She had one tooth and another on the way so we've had some rough nights (the "other" one is now here - hopefully it will get better!)

She not only sits up but is ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE --no "official" crawling YET - just scoots herself around!

She'll eat her baby food but would MUCH rather have "REAL" food - this is daddy's fault, he thinks she needs to try every.thing.
















She is so fun! --almost EIGHT months old --WHEN did that happen??