Father's Day 2009 and Marlene's 13th Birthday

June 19th was Marlene's 13th Birthday...She is official...teenager. However we did not get to see her until Saturday. She has grown up so much since we last saw her which was only January! So on Sunday we celebrated Father's Day and Marlene's birthday. Uncle Chad, Aunt Karen, and Cousin Constance came and we were so happy! She got to open a gift from Hayley and Chad. Our gift was clothes and anyone who knows a teenager knows you cannot just buy them. She had to go pick them out. Chad got her the coolest rocket.



This is Chad wishing that he had bought two. One for her and one for himself.



We got a picture of everyone on their way out. Note that the bike in the picture is not Marlene's. She is a little too big for that. It is actually Constance's Utah bike that Dennis put together for her.



All and all it was a great day with the family!

Christmas 2008

We were very blessed this Christmas. We spent the entire day with family and it has been wonderful. We opened presents first, had brunch with Tyler, Christi and Cameron.



Then I had the best Christmas nap ever! When I woke up we had dinner with Hans, Tasha, and the kids. Now we are just winding down and getting ready to crash.



For Christmas my big gift was a beautiful new camera! It is a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Now that may mean nothing to you. I know it did to me. But Dennis did the research and from what I can tell I love it! There is so much this camera can do, I don't even know where to begin. But I am hoping to find a local photography class and see what I can learn. I am also going to read the entire owner's manual, which is something I have never done. Even with my limited knowledge, it takes beautiful pictures. I am going to love this camera. Thank you Dennis!!

Dennis' big gift was a recliner. He has wanted one for years! This was finally the year. Although he found the acutal gift anti-climactic.



I gave him a fake recliner. But if you know Dennis well, you know for an item like that he has to pick it out himself. He has a very picky butt! So, now he gets to go get one. I wished I could have had one there, but I would rather him get one he loves.

Dennis also got a few Nightmare Before Christmas items. It isn't Christmas without a few Nightmare items. It is our favorite movie after all.



We got my mom a cashmere sweater for Christmas. We hope that she likes it.



And for Dad we got Weight Training for Cyclists. They do the MS ride every year and hopefully this will help them prepare even better.



Hayley's favorite gift was her gift from Bryan. A Southwest giftcard! Thank you to Hayley for wrapping every single solitary gift! What a gal! I despise wrapping more than anything. Well, except for moving. We are so grateful for her.



The one thing we missed this Christmas was the few people missing. Russell, Jodee, Lisa and Bryan. But they were with family and I am sure they had a wonderful Christmas. But we sure did miss them!

Dennis took a few pictures with my camera. This one was a test shot and I just loved it.



He even snow plowed a bit...



And it's a little blurry because it was a timed shot and we didn't know how to focus it yet. But here is a pic of the gang.



Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends!!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

Wow! How time flies! We have not posted in a while and are hoping to get back in the swing of things. We have had a wonderful holiday season. Dennis is still fishing periodically. Yes, you heard me right...fly fishing in the Provo river in December. I have just been busy working and with the occasional winter cold. Marlene is not with us this Christmas. But she will be coming for a few days at the beginning of the year. Natasha is spending the holiday with her mother's family in New Castle. We are planning on heading to Cedar City the day after Christmas to see her. I will post again tomorrow but wanted to post a few pics from Christmas Eve.

For as long as I can remember we have always had a family dinner with my Dad's family at my Grandma's. They are getting older and decided not have it this year. So we are starting our own traditions with the immediate family. We had Hans and Tasha's family over. We had soup that Dennis made in bread bowls. Yum! Here is a picture of the whole family.



Then we read the Christmas story in the scriptures. We usually do that Christmas morning but are mixing it up this year. Last, we made cookies and the kids frosted them.



Now it is the last minute scramble of wrapping presents (THANKS HAYLEY!!)and Dennis is making his delicious breakfast casserole for the morning.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Lights at Temple Square

We went the Friday after Thanksgiving with my family to see the lights at Temple Square. They were amazing as always. The funny part was going from the Spaghetti factory to Temple Square. We got our transportation messed up and ended up with 6 people in my Mom's car...squishy!



But again, the lights were amazing. If you are in Utah...check them out!

Thanksgiving

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving. My dad's whole side of the family came over for Thanksgiving dinner/lunch. My mom made an amazing turkey, potatoes, and loads and loads of pies. Janny made sweet potatoes...yum. Tasha made homemade stuffing...yum. Mer brought her famous relish tray. There is something about a relish tray that I love, probably the no chopping part. You can have broccoli, cauliflower, 3 different kinds of olives, sweet and dill pickles, and my favorite pepperoncini peppers. I swear I had a dozen of them. Grandma brought her super delicious Clam Dip. And Grandpa made his homemade toffee...yum! Tammy made fruit salad and Karla made pasta salad. Lets just say we had a lot of food and a lot of people. I think we had 37. Needless to say the meal was wonderful. After dinner/lunch we had a baby shower for my sister in law Jodee. They were leaving first thing Saturday morning so this was the only time we could all get together. It was so fun to see her opening all of her presents. She has waited so long to be a mother and she will be a great one! Those are going to the luckiest twins in the world. Congrats Russell and Jodee! After the shower we had pie. Lots and lots of pie. The rest of the night we relaxed. I did some cleaning. I mopped the floor...it was very dirty with all of that foot traffic. I have so much to be thankful for and it was the perfect day. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I am not sure why. I don't do exotic costumes, I don't eat much candy, I don't have children to take trick or treating, etc. But for some reason I love it! A few years ago when we were living in Salt Lake City we went to a friend's house to carve pumpkins. It was so fun! Dennis and I are not artistic and we do not do the fancy pumpkins that you see around. But we have started doing it every year. And as far as I am concerned that is 30 more minutes I get to spend with the love of my life. Here are some pictures from Pumpkin Carving 2008.

I got one of Dennis while he was mid-carve.



Then I made him turn and smile.



And here we are on the porch with our pumpkins. Dennis carved hearts into the white one...at my request.

Labor Day Weekend

Well I had an uneventful Labor Day weekend. Saturday was BYU's first game and they won! Go Cougs! I actually don't care about sports, but the hubby is in a much better mood when they win. Sunday we had a sleepover with my niece and nephew. They are so cute. I was my nephew's favorite because I spent the evening showing him bugs. He is obsessed with bugs! Monday was rainy and cold. We moved Lisa and Bryan into their apartment Monday morning (in the rain...so fun!). It is so good to have Lisa and Bryan back! We missed them. Monday night we had a BBQ at the house with the Hortin family. It was great to see everyone! Sorry no pics, there wasn't really anything to photograph. But I hope a great time was had by all!