A year.

This year has seemed to have simultaneously flown by and taken forever.

Not sure how that is possible, but it has.

So much has happened... both happy and sad, thrilling and exhausting.  

Mark started a new job... without quiting his existing one.  It's been a whirlwind of travel and projects.  I am so proud of him.   He's piled up the frequent flier miles, traveled from coast to coast and northern border to southern several times.  His company is officially nationwide. 

Evan graduated first grade, started second, and has grown out of every inch of little boy that was left in him.  He's reading like a pro... a 4th grade pro.  He's a social butterfly.  He loves sports (GO UTES!) In fact, thanks to his influence, it was the first year we watched the Superbowl in this house!  (He was very bummed out that the Colts lost.)

Ryan... Ryan walked, talked, grew by leaps and bounds and generally shocked us all with how fast he lost his "babyness" and turned into a little boy.  He is such a character.  So unlike his older brother, who was quiet and snugly.  Ryan is pure, tough energy.   

Me, well... it's been a tough year.  So many emotions... from crushing sorrow to wonder and joy.  Work has been insane, very short staffed. However, that has made the few times Mark and I got away from it all together just that much more special. 

So, to end the year!

 Here are a few of my favorite moments...Enjoy.

PS... The song is Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz.  LOVE IT.  And I don't even like pop!

Signs of Snow, A Teaching Post.

This is the Walker Center.  The lights at top change with the weather forecast.  Blinking Red means SNOW.  It was blinking this morning... and I'm pretty sure if it could blink faster or brighter or in some way more intensely... it would have been.

We didn't have a White Christmas, but we are going to have a White New Year.  The mountains have gotten almost two feet of snow in the last 24 hours.

Oh, and Lake Effect.    That's what we're getting tonight/tomorrow. 

I tried really hard not to complain with the unplowed foot of snow on the roads this morning... I tried hard to think about the poor folks on the East Coast who have been snowed in for a week.  

And then I held my tongue at the idiot drivers, who have every right to be cautious in the bad weather, but choose to be idiotic cautious.  Like the lovely woman driving in the far left lane of a 5 lane freeway this morning going 5 mph WITH HER HAZARD LIGHTS ON.  Honestly.  If you aren't comfortable a. driving at a reasonable speed (ie similar to those around you) b. in the slow lane, even with it's slightly less clear pavement c. with non distracting car lighting:  STAY OFF THE FREEWAY.  That's why there are surface streets.  Freeways are for people who feel like driving a. at an increased rate of speed, b. in a semi organized fashion that involves slower traffic keeping to the right, and c. without hazard lights flashing and illuminating your phone number which you have beautifully plastered on your mini van's back window with vinyl letters.

So, lessons to learn from this post:

1. If visiting SLC, look at the top of the Walker Center to figure out if you need an umbrella.  Solid red means rain, blinking: snow, blue... blinking or solid: nothing will fall from the sky and hit you in the head... well... nothing weather related.  It does not forecast bird poop.

2. If you really love skiing, I suggest you get your butt out here.  Current Alta snow base: 118 inches.  Fresh powder: 21 inches.

3. New Yorkers need more plows so that I feel comfortable complaining about my now nearly cleared streets.

4. Learn to drive in the snow, or, if you feel that's not an option, don't drive in the snow.   Either way, use your common sense... especially if you have your phone number plastered on your vehicle.

Bubbles

Garden tubs are for brothers to play in, not for girly baths!

Christmas Morning, A Tale of One Toy.

Before I start.... let me apologize for the poor photo quality.  I didn't want to ruin the moment by setting up the perfect lighting and camera conditions...  and wanted to post them now rather than waiting a week until I had time to edit them.  Seriously, I never have great Christmas photos!

Evan could barely contain his excitement.  In fact, most of the pictures of him are blurry.  I threatened to have his dad pin him to the ground in order to get this picture.  It's one of the few that is sort of not fuzzy.  This was his Rudolph gift.  For some reason, Rudolph thinks my kids are smelly and dirty because he always brings some sort of hygiene item.  Evan got a body scrubber (a manly "poof") and some shower gel. 

Ryan wasn't too sure what happened, but his brother was flipping out, so he figured whatever it was it was good!  Hehehehe, love the sleepy eyes.

Okay, so back to Evan.  Evan was just a weeeeeee bit excited, as I mentioned. 

He had asked for a bell from Santa's sleigh.  And he found this attached to his gift....

And after he had secured it to his wrist (and verified that Mark and I could, in fact, hear the bell) he ripped into his Santa gift. 

And promptly flipped out. 

Due to his brother's excitement, Ryan figured out that there was GOOD STUFF underneath the wrapping paper and went to town without much encouragement.



And found a vacuum. 
Mark helped him get it out of the box and installed the batteries while Evan did "The Sort". 

So while Evan rushed around making piles of gifts for each of us, Ryan was test driving his new toy.

Evan sorted and sorted...

Ryan vacuumed.

Again, Evan, still sorting.

And Ryan cleaning up. 

At last, Evan finished sorting... and was very impressed with his pile...



And Ryan kept vacuuming.

Evan opened gifts, and loved everything. To the point that almost every picture is a blur of fist pumping, head bobbing, and hugging of the gift.  This picture is a rare snap of the camera when he still in the "opening" stage and had not begun rejoicing yet. (Notice the furious flurry of blurry hands though?)

We tried to tempt Ryan by ripping the corner off... just enough for him to see that all the other paper covered up really awesome things too...

Interest was shown... and then... he kept vacuuming.

We did get him to open things, slowly.  And all the while with the vacuum within arm's reach...

He pretty much didn't let go of it all morning...

Well, honestly... All day...

And he also really liked the stocking cap his teacher made for him. 

And good grief.  The batteries, after two days of NON STOP "vrrrmmm vrrmmm vrmmming" are still going strong.  Damn energy efficient toys.

Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas wonderful.  The boys loved all their gifts...even Ryan, who learned that as long as he could hear his vacuum, he could play with the other awesome things too.



Story Time With Grandma Rie

Christmas Eve always means a trip to Manti to visit Mark's extended family.  This year we had lunch at Grandpa Gary and Grandma Marie's (Mark's grandparents).  After everyone was done eating, Grandma Rie (Evan started calling Marie "Rie" when he first started to talk.) gathered all the kids around in the front room and read them first the story of Christ's birth from Luke 2, and then several other Christmas stories.  She had them all, even little Ryan (in the striped sweater) complete entertained.   After 4 or 5 stories, they ended by singing several carols... and an enthusiastic rendition of Rudolph. 



Gingerbread Houses and Plates Full of Candy

We stopped at Grandma Kim's (and Grandpa Rick's) house on Christmas Eve. 

Grandma Kim asked if Evan could make a gingerbread house.  And then proceeded to teach him how.

We LOVE Grandma Kim... Even when she is handing the boys a bag full of sugar.  She's just that special. 

Seriously, Evan had a blast.  He loves anything artistic, so this was something new and wonderful to him.

Of course, the plate full of sugar helped keep him motivated.

And this one loved the plate full of candy too!

Grandmas are the only people on the planet that can get away with this!

Seriously awesome... especially for the first time!  And it even survived the long ride home.

Ho Ho Ho

Evan asked for a bell from his sleigh. 

Ryan asked that I pretty please take him off the strange man's lap.

The BEST Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
½ tps vanilla
1 whole egg
¼ cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate is best)

Cream the peanut butter and sugars.  Mix in the vanilla and egg.  Fold in the flour and chips.  Dough will be crumbly. Roll into 1 inch balls and bake @ 350 for 8 mins.  Let rest on the tray for at least 5 mins before attempting to move to rack to cool completely. 

I know a 1/4 cup of flour doesn't seem like a lot, but I promise, it's not a typo.  And while you COULD use white flour, the whole wheat adds a nuttiness that is just mmm.mmmm..... MMMMMM.

And make sure you have milk on hand. 

If you have leftovers... ummm... leftover...

http://www.sweetpeasandpumpkins.com/2010/11/baked-whatever-you-have-on-hand.html

This is from one of my very favorite healthy, kid friendly REAL cooking blogs. 

A few of my favorite things...

Count Downs...

Evan made this Santa a Rudolf last year in school.  The count-down to Christmas rings come off of Rudolf's collar and then are strung across the mantle.

Evan also made this snow man in school last year.  Below is a Advent "calendar" that I made with my scrapbook scraps.  Each number has a riddle inside that leads to somewhere in the house. 

I am thankful...

Even if I can't get them both to look at the camera at the same time, these two guys make my world go round!

Lake Effect

Yesterday, we had green grass.  Today, we have a foot and a half of white stuff.  And it's still coming down.  I hope I can get out of the neighborhood tomorrow!! 

PS.  Ryan was NOT impressed.

Number 1 Reason I Love Weekends

Excuse the bad qaulity... This was taken at about 6am this morning... the lights were off, the bed warm and cozy... and all three of my boys were snuggling and giggling.  What a way to start the day!!!

Oh. My. Heavenly.

I found this candle on a clearance rack at Target last weekend.  It is to DIE FOR yummy smelling.  And I usually am not big on smelly things... They only had one, I'm tempted to go to every Target in the valley to find more.

Late Halloween Pictures

Mostly, Halloween was spent with me chasing this:

And this:

I didn't get ANY pictures on Halloween itself.  However, the following week, my parents were coming to town and I talked Evan into showing off his Clone Trooper costume.  He threw in some kicks and other fight moves..... And the skunk, who did not understand that skunks did not have fight moves, would not stand still for his picture.  I ended up with a lot of this:

Which, I guess, really is what a skunk fight move would look like....

But alas... I do not have any beautifully posed smiling pictures of my cute little skunk in my cute little skunk costume. 

To quote Angela, *sigh. 

A Creative Sunday

Okay, so today was one of the first Sundays in a while that Mark was home.  He and Evan went off to get manly haircuts, which left Ryan and I to wander the craft store. 

I have had THIS bookmarked for what seems like ages.  (Okay, actually about a year.)  So, along with a few frames... because who can go into Michaels without buying a frame??... I got some supplies.

Instead of a foam wreath, I got a flat, MDF floral ring.  #1: I liked the size better, the foam wreaths were either super small, or gigantic.  B:  I wanted mine to be more "flat".  D: (name that movie) The MDF ring was 1/3 of the price of the foam.

I found a really old Tom Clancy book in a box in my basement.   I never finished reading it... and since I had purchased it in 1996, and had not picked it up since, I figured it was time to repurpose it.   Although, the dang high quality book was made with super high quality, archival paper, so it hadn't yellowed a day.  Whatever.  That's why I have tea... well, to discolor things and to drink I guess. 

So, with Ryan down for a nap, I set out to destroy the book.  First, I inked up the pages with some lovely Tim Holtz Distressing Inks, while I waited for the water to come to a boil. 

Laid out some paper grocery bags, and waited for a bowl full of Prince of Wales (my favorite tea, if you wanted to know) brewed.  

We (Evan and I) then wadded up pages, and dunked them... then laid them out on the paper bags to dry.  After we got a system down, we grabbed the blow dryer, and helped speed up the process. 

I wasn't going for totally tea stained, just not bright white like the pages were, so a quick dunk was all it took.   Washing paper is one of my all time favorite distressing processes.  It always gives a slightly rustic texture, even if you do it in plain water. 

Okay, so I also deviated from the instructions when I glued it all down.  No WAY did I want perfect little spirals!  1.  I don't have the patience and 2. I like things that look messy and haphazard.  It hides the imperfections better!   SO, instead of rolling the pages, I stuck the pencil down in the center, and gathered (wadded) the edges up.  Also, to fill in the little holes, I cut some of my pages into halves and quarters.

Also, I ran the distressing ink over some of the edges right before I hung it up, just to give it a little more pop.

And this is what I ended up with!

Heart Strings

Buffalo

This last summer year has been crazy busy for Mark, and in turn for me and the boys. 

We haven't had a lot of time to be together, and so when my beautiful friend Megan's wedding was announced, and it happened to fall on the weekend of the tenth anniversary of Mark and I meeting, it was all the excuse we needed to plan a trip.

So, off to Western New York we went. 

We stayed in Buffalo, so of course, that meant a trip to Niagara! 

Ignore the old lady blocking the view of the falls, lol!  I'll photoshop her out later. 

Mark really isn't into posing for pictures, so this was the best I could get when combined with a crowded tourist attraction!

So, a trip anywhere with Mark is not complete without an urgent work call...

But I didn't mind as it gave me plenty of time to play around with my camera.  I love this shot of Mark, and the shot below I plan on editing just a little to get rid of the people in the lower corner, and then blow it up and hang it in our entry way. 

Okay, so the "reason" for the trip!  The Wedding!!  Absolutely stunning, beautiful, and fitting!  Megan and I grew up across the highway from each other... her mother was one of my mom's best friends, and Megan was really the only girl my age within walk distance.  We've kept in contact throughout the years, and through many moves to various states. 

She is absolutely the most beautiful person I know, inside and out.  And a wedding on the beach of Lake Erie at sunset was the only fitting place for such a beautiful bride!



And, there were a RECORD number of pictures of ME this trip, lol, very very rare!