Alphabet Tag

Here's how you play... Beverly (a good friend from year's ago in BYU ColorGuard) tagged me with the letter "E". So now I have to list 10 things I love that start with that letter. So here it goes…...

1. Elephants ... really, that's what came to mind first! But I think about our trips to the Zoo!
2. Envelopes ... yep, that came second. And then I think about my business and the 400 letters that we are stuffing this week for all of my clients and how grateful I am for my business and that I get to work from home.
3. Entertainment ... I love entertainment. I love movies, I love traveling, I love reading, not as much into TV though. I love having fun and that leads me to #4.
4. ENJOY ... I was reading a friends' blog today and she talked about Living until the day I die. To me, that means enjoy life. Do your best and make the most of every day because you don't know when you will not have another with that person you love or that they won't have another with you.
5. Now I have to start thinking ... E??? Errors ... I know we all make them. Errors in judgement, errors in speech, errors in our work, errrors in the things we do. I HATE them, but I always strive to correct them, so if I've ever made an error in how I've treated you or something I've said or done, please let me know. I truly value all of my friends and family so much!
6. Europe! This one took a minute to come up with! I have been to Spain and Italy and loved both trips and hope to get to do more and see even more parts of Europe.
7. Eternity ... I'm grateful for my Savior and the eternal plan for my family.
8. Eggs ... I'm not a big fan of eggs or breakfast, but its an E!
9. Equator ... my office assistant Karianna helped me come up with that one. Nothing more to say about it.
10. Everyone! I tag everyone who reads this. I challenge you all to take the letter of the alphabet that corresponds with your birthday. I'm changing this. You are supposed to tag 10 people each with a different letter after yours but I think this is fun!

1st - A 2nd - B 3rd - C 4th - D 5th - E 6th - F 7th - G 8th - H
9th - I 10th - J 11th - K 12th - L 13th - M 14th - N 15th - O 16th - P
17th - Q 18th - R 19th - S 20th - T 21st - U 22nd - V 23rd - W 24th - X
25th - Y 26th - Z ..... 27th - A 28th - B 29th - C 30th - D 31st - E

(I would have had D if this had been how I was tagged ... and I like that letter so I'm doing it too!)

1. Dad - my own dad is amazing. I love him so much for all he does for me and my family. But I also think of Steve - the dad of my kids! I love you Steve!
2. Donna - hey, that's me!
3. David - my favorite brother - ok, so he is my only brother but he's still my favorite. He has been a really special friend and exmple to me my whole life. I am SO grateful for him and the times we've had together!
4. dog - I'm not an animal person, but I am grateful for the time when we had a dog growing up. Toby was a good dog.
5. doorbell - mine does lots of fun sounds since it is an audioShare doorbell. my kids love the voice saying "hey, somebody's at the door" the best.
6. dreams -I am a dreamer. I love to dream of fun things, places, situations etc. Dreams keep me moving forward and working hard for the things and people I love!
7. dinosaurs - I love Thanksgiving Points dino museum. Maybe we need to go again soon.
8. daring - I'm not daring, I'm rather reserved but its a goal of mine to not worry so much, to be more daring and to have more fun and to just enjoy things.
9. daylight savings! I love this time of the year when the sun shines later in the day so we can enjoy the late afternoon and evening before the sun goes down and it gets cold.
10 - DisneyWorld (and DisneyLand) - the happiest places on earth, right? I actually really want to take my kids this year. Alyssa remembers going once but the other girls don't remember it at all. This would be a great year too because they all still love Princesses and would really enjoy it all!

One last D - DONE! I'm done with this post. Time to get to work! If you do the alphabet tag on your blog, leave me a note so I don't miss it!

Notes about Us!

By the way, I did post some other new stuff down about 2 posts, so if you read recently, scroll down to see some new stuff.

♥ What are your middle names? Richard and I don't have one.
♥ How long have you been together? Married 12 1/2 years, plus about 10 more months dating
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? a full year
♥ Who asked who out? I'd say his friend Kyle asked me out for him :) That is after Steve stood me up once. : )
♥ How old are each of you? Steve is 35 and I'm 32.
♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most? my sister, she lives close
♥ Do you have any children together? 3
♥ What about pets? about 12 fish right now and a frog!
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? being too busy
♥ Did you go to the same school? Nope
♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope, not even the same state
♥ Who is the smartest? He is
♥ Who is the most sensitive? Me but he's come a LONG way
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? I'd have to say Yapona
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Italy and Spain
♥ Who has the worst temper? Plead the 5th! :) Actually if it is morning, him, if it is night, me.
♥ Who is more social? me until he warms up and/or is in his element
♥Who is the neat Freak? Uh ... HIM!!!!!
♥ Who hogs the bed? neither of us. We both do ok.
♥ Who wakes up earlier? Me. Steve is NOT a morning person and he needs his sleep.
♥ Where was your first date? a frozen yogurt shop in Provo after marching band practice.
♥ Who has the bigger family? we both have 3 siblings, but he has more nieces and nephews. But I have A TON more aunts, uncles and cousins!
♥ Do you get flowers often? YES!
♥ How do you spend the holidays? trying to balance his family, my family and our own kids
♥ Who snores louder? I don't snore, but I do make noises.
♥ Who goes to bed first? me, if we don't go at the same time. If he goes to sleep first I wake him up when I come in and then he can't get back to sleep.
♥ Who is more jealous? definitely me
♥ How long did it take to get serious? 2 months but then we broke up.
♥ Who eats more? pretty close to a tie, or me!
♥ Who does/ did the laundry? We both do. He helps A TON.
♥ Who’s better with the computer? Steve's the programmer but I do pretty well on my own when it comes to software
♥ Who drives when you are together? Always Steve.

Help on my blog!!

HELP NEEDED! How do I make it so that when you click on one of my pictures it opens up larger? I know I've done it on some of your sites!! HELP!

A cabin with a warm fire, snowmobiles, yummy food, games and great friends!

That equals an almost perfect weekend!! Steve was just missing two things ... his comfy bed (we were on a queen size bunk bed and he's rather picky about his sleeping situation) BUT more importantly a flushing toilet! But other than that, it was perfect! : )

We went with 4 other couples (and two guys who came without their wives - 12 of us total) up to a friend's cabin for Valentine's Weekend. We had 5 snowmobiles and LOTS of snow to play in.

I haven't been snowmobiling since I was 12 and I've never been riding out in the open like we did. I don't have a lot of pictures of us out on the snowmobiles (because the possible camera damage to take them with us) but it was definitely my favorite thing. Flying down a trail at 60 miles an hour! Riding around in fresh powder! It was amazing, except when you get stuck - something I managed to do REALLY badly right at the end of our last ride. It took us about 30-45 minutes to dig my machine out ... it was buried in powder that had a slight crust on it so once it fell through, it really sunk in - deep! I was standing with my foot beside the bottom of the machine when we finished digging around it and the snow was almost waist deep. And I wasn't close to the ground. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!

While we were in the cabin, we played lots of games, talked a lot and just had fun. We also did some sledding down the hill behind the cabin (pictures to come). THANKS Jared and Angie for inviting us!!

Valentines Cookies!

Tradition at its best! Decorating sugar cookies at the Taylors' house with our neighbors. 8 families including about 22 kids. Pure chaos and pure sugar! But purely fun! Thanks Michelle!
I didn't capture this next picture (I think Michelle took it) but it captures a breakthrough moment for Taylor ... it may seem small to most, but Taylor dancing with the twins and Jason is HUGE (even if Makenna is in the middle of the circle). Jason is one of our best friends and around our kids about as often as anyone else. We've known Jason for longer than we've had kids. Jason was the first person to see all three of our kids other than family. He's almost like family to us. And his daughter is Taylor's best friend. BUT Taylor always holds Jason at a distance. She refuses to be friendly with him no matter how hard he tries. But this picture captures it ... Taylor interacting and even having fun with Jason. She's finally coming out of her shell! Thanks Jason for loving my kids so much and never giving up on Taylor! A look back ... the adults pulled out Michelle's scrapbooks and did some looking back to when there were only 3 or 4 kids at the cookie parties before the rest of the kids were born! These are friends that I hope we'll have for life!!

Tubing at Soldier Hollow

One of our favorite family outings is tubing at Soldier Hollow every winter. We went on Jessica's birthday this year (mostly because it was a day we could all go). We arrived at 4pm for the 4-6 tubing session. We suited up and hit the slides! You grab a tube, walk a short distance and hook on to the lifts. Then you ride up the hill on your tube. At the top, you jump off and head to the slide of your choice (one of 6 or 7). When we first arrived, the slides were rather slow and slushy because it had been snowing, but it wasn't long before they froze solid and were VERY fast!

All of the kids love tubing. Jessica even tried to go down by herself this year - no fear! Steve gave her the biggest push he could, but about 1/4 of the way down the hill, she stopped. Just too light. I was at the bottom and saw her sitting there in her tube, not moving at all. Then she stood up. I figured she was crying and scared. But nope, she was bugged! She grabbed her tube and pulled it a little way. She evidently was either tired of walking or thought she could slide if she sat back down, because she plopped back down on her tube and just sat there. One of the employees had to walk up from the bottom. He tried giving her a big push and that didn't work either. He pulled her for a little while until she was close to a steeper hill and then gave her a big push. She made it almost all the way down. She didn't go alone again! We also tried going together - all 5 of us. We put Alyssa in the front, holding on to both Jess and Tay's tubes. Then Steve and I ran and jumped into our tubes - pushing the entire group down the hill - and grabbed onto the the other side of Jess and Tay's tubes. The first time it actually went well. We flew SUPER fast and everyone loved it. The second time ... not so great! Alyssa was only holding on to Tay's tube so when we pushed she flung off to one side, pulling Taylor with her. I was holding on to Taylor still but Alyssa and Taylor jumped our track and went down the one beside us. When I looked up and realized there were kids ahead of Alyssa and Taylor and they weren't moving NEARLY as fast as we all were, I did everything I could to pull them back to our track, but couldn't so we had to drag our feet and try to stop before we collided with the other kids. We did bump the other kids but not too hard so all was well. I think my arm about ripped out of the socket though!
And here's a picture of me ... posed since there were no other ones taken. I had the camera. And then one of me with all the girls - just to prove it was all of us on the outing. :)

By the time we were done, Taylor and Jessica were frozen! We were all ready to head home! Another fun year at Soldier Hollow!

Jessica's Birthday Party

Hip Hop! Hoorah!! Kangaroo Zoo! I love this place for parties. Its just so easy! The employee who was our "host" was awesome. She raced around the place with the girls, chasing them and playing with them and helping them play games. She jumped with them and really made it extra fun. Then you go in a private room where the employee helped cut up and serve the cake, provided drinks and then brought in the Kangaroo to meet the girls. AND, then she cleans it all up and even loaded the gifts and left over cake into my car! Its the way to go. Plus all the girls LOVE going there. It works for all of them even though they aren't the same age.

Jessica chose 3 friends to go with her. We suggested some others since the party was for 8 kids ... but she didn't want BOYS. NO BOYS. JUST GIRLS. That was what she wanted, so that's what we did. She chose Tess, Aly and Paige. That plus my 3 makes 6 kids ... so I opted to let Taylor and Alyssa each bring a friend too, Makenna and Mady. Then at the last minute, Tess couldn't come, but the 7 girls all loved it!

I always get a little carried away with pictures though. Just so many expressions and poses to capture!

There is actually one more spread to come... I warned you, I get carried away with pictures.

In Memory!

Patty Mendenhall

Passed away 2-28-09This picture was taken in Aug 2004 after my grandmother's funeral. That was the last time I saw my aunt. Patty was the wife of my Uncle John, my mom's youngest sibling and only brother. I didn't know my aunt very well. We didn't get to see her that often. One of my best memories of my aunt are of a Christmas when they came to visit us in North Carolina. Its been about 18 years ago, my cousin was just a baby. I remember watching her, she wsa so happy when she watched him. Her death reminds me how short life can be, how fleeting it is, how unexpected it is and how important family is. I'll miss you Aunt Patty! Prayers and love go out to my Uncle John and their 19 year old son JJ.