My First Post-Middle School Race

My friends and I ran the "Frosty Four miler" on Saturday.

I finished in 39 min. and 28 sec.

It was fun, I am glad that Kelli invited me to go.

Ski Season 2009

Eric was able to get quite a bit of skiing in this season. There were some Friday ski trips with Tyler, taking Gabe out of school for a day, and a couple more Saturday trips with the kids. I even decided to try it out (I haven't been skiing since before we were married).

Eric-- rippin' it up.

Gabe and Eric skipping out on school and work. Way to set your priorities!

I thought I was going to be a good sport but I enjoyed it so much that we went up again 2 weeks later and I purchased my own season pass! Crazy.

Festival of Trees--Happy Birthday Mom!

For the past few years I have been able to go to the Festival of Trees in Utah with my mom and sisters. I love going and I think I will always try to go down for it. The Festival is always the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving and my Mom's birthday is the 2nd of December. This year they happen to both be on the same day. It is so nice to be with the girls!! Here are a few pictures:

We went to Texas Roadhouse and since it was my mom's birthday she got to ride the bull.

Workin' out

We thought this was pretty funny...Elijah was trying to work out with us. Such a cutie.

I usually end up having to hold Meg toward the end if she is awake.

One year older and wiser too...

Eric did a wonderful job making this birthday great. Since my birthday actually fell on Sunday we got to celebrate Saturday and Sunday. He planned out a whole day for me on Saturday. Here is my schedule.
9am Facial
10am Haircut
11am Pedicure
12:30pm Reservations at Tony's a new steakhouse that officially opened that day (very good by the way)
2pm Capitol Theatre for the 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.

It was really fun!! They were running late for the pedicure so I had to reschedule that because my schedule didn't allow for a lot of wiggle room. After the haircut I went home to nurse Meg and get Eric for dinner and the show. I have the best husband ever and it was so nice of him to make all those arrangements for things I wouldn't set up myself.

The celebration didn't stop there. Sunday morning Gabe made me a homemade birthday card...

I thought it was so cute and creative of him...Thanks Gabe!!

I am pretty sure Gabe made my card, but I found this a little later, it looks like he might have gotten some help.

I found this little note in my bathroom.

(Meg love=Meg, that's what Gabe calls her)

And this little note on my plate at dinner time

(Chuba Buba=Elijah, again, that's what Gabe calls him)

Gabe wanted to make sure that every one was involved in wishing me a happy birthday.

Emma also gave me a little present. She said she got help with spelling from Gabe at the beginning and then did it herself...I think I can tell when Gabe wasn't involved any longer. I thought it was pretty cute-that's a mermaid in case there was some uncertainty.

Sunday evening Eric prepared a really fancy, yummy dinner. Sometimes we have fancy dinners at home after the kids are in bed, but for this fancy dinner our older kids were invited. The two babies went to bed and then we had my super fancy 4 course birthday dinner.

Course #1: Homemade butternut squash soup Course #2: Garden Salad

Course #3: Chicken Milanesas with pasta and marinara, Course #4: Birthday Cake

Emma helped me blow out the candles.

Eric fixed my family cookbook by taping all the recipes down so they don't slide around anymore and gave me some scripture marking pencils, I know that might sound not that exciting, but they were both very thoughtful and cute. There was also one more birthday present from Eric...he did all the dishes, basically almost every dish we owned, especially after making the butternut squash soup. Thanks Eric for treating me like a queen. I love you lots and lots.

Quick trip to Utah and Lake Powell

The last weekend in September we got to go through the temple with my two youngest siblings who are going on missions. Our entire family was able to attend. It was a very memorable day. We won't have another opportunity to ALL be in the temple together for over 2 years. What a great day!

For Christmas last year my parents invited all the adult members of our family to go to Lake Powell and said they would rent a houseboat. We had originally decided that we weren't going to go. But we kind of arranged Jess and Jon's temple day to coordinate with the dates for Lake Powell. So since we were already going to be in the general area anyway we decided to go ahead and go to Lake Powell as well. Everyone went to Lake Powell except Jacki and Brian, they have a 3 week old and didn't feel like they could make it.

Eric and I left all the kids except for Meg with a sitter and flew in Thursday night really late. We met Jed and Jamie (who had just flown in from Las Vegas) at the airport and rented a car. Then we got up Friday and went to the 10a session. We enjoyed Cafe Rio take out (YUMMY) and then drove with Jed and Jamie in the rental car down to Page, AZ. We rented the houseboat on Saturday morning and stayed until Monday afternoon. (Every one else stayed until Wednesday.) Then we drove to Las Vegas, where we caught a flight home and Jed and Jamie dropped off the rental car and picked up their real car. Quite a bit of planning and coordinating for this trip but it all worked out.



The only pictures we managed to take were of us leaving but we really did have a great trip!

Ward Campout

We attended the annual ward campout this weekend. We went up to camp Z and were given a cabin to stay in because we had the babies. We had a pot luck dinner friday night and the ward provided a french toast breakfast. The babies slept relatively well and we had great time.

Saturday morning the ward had a few activities available. Shooting and Archery were very popular.

I love Isaac's facial expressions in these photos!

There were canoes available as well. Eric and Keith won their race!

Then he took the boys out...

Elijah was all about throwing dirt and rocks into the lake...the height of entertainment for a 19 month old!

Everyone had a good time!!

One year ago today...

One year ago today Eric opened for Business. It is fun to look back and think about how crazy life was back then. I am glad it is over! Our house was being built so we were living in a one bedroom apartment that Jill had available. Elijah was still not sleeping through the night. The kids had just started school and we were living about 15 min. away. We were tardy a lot. (It didn't help that there was construction on our road so commute time was really unpredictable). Eric was training staff and getting supplies etc., etc. to get ready for the big day. We didn't have Internet or a computer for me, or a tub for Elijah. And we just found out a week or two ago that I was pregnant.

THEN:

pictures of the office

Eric's first day of practice...he received a warm welcome from the dental community!

Our (very) humble abode:


Waiting for our house to be finished:

NOW:

Matching scrubs...fancy!

A little more decor added throughout the year...


We decided to celebrate our first year in practice so we took the girls out and gave them each a gift, thanking them for putting up with a new practice. They really are great! They even sent us flowers earlier today to congratulate/thank us.

Happy one year anniversary of employment babe!