Christmas 2008

Well, another Christmas down! We had a super fantastic time. Christmas Eve we had my grandparents, Jenny's family and my parents over for a nice dinner. We had a ton of really tasty food.

Christmas morning was soooo fun!!! The girls were so cute and thankful for every present they received. Felicity kept saying "This is so exciting" and "This Awesome". Sammie's favorite present was her Nintendo DS and Felicity's was her play kitchen. I have to take a picture of her with her cute apron and chef hat (Thanks Cody & Cyndee).

We spent the day playing with new toys, playing Rock Band, watching movies and playing board games. That night we had a nice dinner with a bunch more yummy food. It was a great day but I am looking forward to next year when I am more maneuverable and in less pain.

Grandma's Fairy Party

Here are some really cute pictures from Grandma's Fairy Party Thanksgiving weekend. The girls loved it! The fairy cakes were so super cute. Thanks for all the effot Grandma.

A Week in St. George

Well, we survived a week in St. George. We had a great time. First we visited with Cody and his kids...

Then we made a stop at Grandma & Grandpa Brooks' before they took off for another 10 days in Disney World.

Next Sammie and I went to Tuachan High School for Kaya's fall dance performance, Boundless. It was great! Kaya choreographed one of the dances performed. The music was all really good choices. I really liked most of the choreography, even though it is contemporary and not my favorite, ballet of course. I didn't get a picture of Kaya...bummer! She did fantastic! It was so fun to watch her. Thanks for inviting us.

We finally made it to my parents at about 11:00 Monday night. On Tuesday J.W., Randy, Cody, and my Dad went on a dirt bike/Quad ride in Santa Clara somewhere. They didn't get to ride for long because J.W. had an oil problem with his bike and of course set off to the motorcycle shop to fix it but they didn't have the right part so no more riding!

On Wednesday Sammie got to go to her Aunt Oyunn's class at Red Mtn Elementary and do Thanksgiving celebrations. She learned so much about the pilgrims. She absolutely loved it. Felicity stayed home with me and helped me make some pies. Obviously she had a good time!

We went to Grandma & Grandpa Spilkers for lunch with J.W.'s dad and to decorate for Christmas. J.W. got roped into hanging lights and Sammie had to pick the pomegranites in the back yard. It had just rained and every time she picked one she got showered with water and leaves! She got soaked!

Here is a picture of Mom and Dad preparing for the big feast! The turkey was delicious, as always, and the food was fantastic, and the table settings were beautiful! Thank you for all your hard work!

Happy Birthday J.W.!!!!

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Okay, so I am a little late with this post. Did you expect anything different? Sammie made a really cute "Happy Birthday" banner from flying charts and Felicity made Daddy some kind of a picture with mountains on it (I'm guessing because he likes to ride in the mountains). He also got a new pair of tennis shoes and some hiking boots and a psp game.

When he came home from his trip he took the girls to see Body Worlds at The Leonardo downtown. This was Sammie's present to him. I didn't go because I just can't handle looking at "once living" bodies with no skin. They all really enjoyed the exhibit. Sammie wrote some really cool pictures and observations down in a notebook they gave her at the mueseum. I am going to keep that forever!!!

I can't believe my man is sooooo old!!!!! Thirty-four used to seem decades away. But ya know what, I'm only nine months behind!

Happy Thanksgiving

Make a Smilebox greeting

Say Cheese

Felicity just loves to get her picture taken. Good thing since I haven't gotten professional shots done since her 1 year birthday. I really intend to every weekend, it just hasn't happened yet. Whenever she is feeling cute she says "take a picture". I almost always have the camera handy, but if not, she is happy with a pretend one, as long as you say "cute" after the click!

Another ATV Trip

J.W. just finished 6 days home and so after he worked his little butt off cleaning the house for me, mowing the lawn, winterizing a million different machines in the garage (No kidding), and doing the laundry, we thought he deserved a break.

We went to this place he discovered from his moto-head buddies called the Knolls. It is about halfway to Wendover. It was really fun. There we sand dunes and also lots of hills with trails to ride on. It had just rained the day before so the sand was perfect! We were the only ones out there and had the place entirely to ourselves. I know we would not have liked it half as well if the dunes were crowded with people and we were worrying about the crazies running into us.

Here is a picture of J riding around in a "bowl". I tried it once but my balance is so off that it was just too scary for me.

J.W.'s latest adjustments to Sammie's ride really made a difference. He switched the gas from a thumb type push thingy to a twist grip. Sammie's poor little thumb used to get so sore after just a half hour of riding! He also put on a new rear shock and now she's not bouncing around so much. Sammie did awesome! She rode for a really long time all around the dunes. She is becoming quite the good little rider.

Of course, being the little beach bum that she is, she had to take a break playing in the sand.

I rode with Felicity for just a little bit on the 4 wheeler but as much fun as it was, it was not comfortable at all so Felicity and I spent the afternoon in the truck watching DVD's and reading and snacking. It was a very fun day even if we didn't get to ride that much.

Airplane Decorating

I got the baby's crib bedding in the mail and I LOVE IT! I am excited to do an aviation themed nursery, although I'm not sure where that will be yet. Let me know if you find anything cute that would go along with this set! I only got the crib bedding, not the accessories.

Pumpkin Carving

We had some neighbors over last night to do some pumpkin carving. They turned out really great. This was the first year Sammie carved her pumpkin entirely on her own and she did fantastic! Hers is the witch. Felicity chose Blue and he turned out so cute! I did the party bat and J.W. did the Haunted House. The Haunted House is my favorite pumpkin ever! It is definetely the winner! Our neighbors did the Fright This Way and the Ghost. Although it was fun, I missed having our party. Next year we are bringing it back! Mark your calendars so you don't miss it!

Oh yeah, how could I forgot Felicity's pumpkin? She did it all by herself. When she was finished she sang "Happy Birthday to you" in her most dramatic and loud singing voice. It was funny.

Halloween Mini Golf 10-16-2008

We went mini golfing with Jenny and her kids. They had the whole place decorated for Halloween and had spooky music playing. It was really cute and fun. Sammie is a great putter. With some practice I'm sure she could be an expert golfer. JW did dang good. As for me... I had to take a six on almost every hole. I wasn't trying my hardest and I couldn't stand for me than a couple minutes due to the pain in my hip and back so that is my excuse. After this little adventure we decided there is no way I could make it for a trip to Disneyland so that is off the books! BUMMER!

One Wild Night

Sammie was in a dance recital last night. It was a Halloween show. There were about 15 or so dance numbers, a bunch of skits and a professional magician. It is put on by my studio every year. Sammie is taking Hip Hop classes this year and she rocks at it! I think Hip Hop is totally her genre. She wore a cool skeleton costume and they used black lights so it looked really cool. I only got to watch her dance from the wings but from what I could see she did awesome! I got to watch her rehearsal and I know she did great in those.

I had two of my classes perform last night, both preschool. They did really great. I was very proud of them. I need to get them to smile more though.

One Wild Night is an understatement for my night last night. I was backstage trying to keep the kids from tearing down the school while they weren't dancing. I had a billion kids back there and only 3 people! It was awful! I did have things planned to keep them entertained but my help ditched as soon as the show started. As always, Sammie was a huge help. She helped glue the little witch craft together for the little ones and read stories to them and kept them from escaping the room. It was all very stressful. Consequently, I could not sleep last night. I had the stupid preschool songs going in my head all night and couldn't shut them up! I woke up this morning with a huge migraine. I took some Tylenol and that didn't help. It has been with me all day and hopefully I can kick it to the curb soon cause it's making me crazy!

Halloween Preview

We took the girls to a Halloween Party at the Library last night. It was CROWDED but they had a lot of fun hearing spooky stories, doing crafts, going through an obstacle course, and getting balloon animals. Sammie chose a Monkey to go with her Pirate costume and Felicity chose a white "cycle". She had fun vroooming her motorcycle around on the ground until it popped a little. Then the new game was bite, bite, bite until it popped! Of course then the monkey was in danger so we found a safe place in the cupboard away from the little biter.

The girls costumes turned out really great if I do say so myself! I sewed all morning to get them finished up but I am really happy with the way they turned out. Our little bo peep says "AAARGH" just like her big sister pirate! Sammie is such a fantastic and sweet big sister, she took such good care of Felicity and made sure she could see the storytellers and was having fun.

Felicity saw the back of a ninja turtle and was mesmerized. She walked around to the front and stared at him then ran and got the camera from Dad and just had to take a picture of it. Pretty good picture taking for a two year old!

Sammie's Poem

Love is Strong like a Tree

But also Soft and Fuzzy

Our Love will never Fall

I Love You

By Samantha

****The First Snow of Winter!!!*****

I can't believe we have snow already! Isn't Oct. 12 a little premature? The leaves haven't even turned colors yet. So many tree branches broke because none of them have lost their leaves yet. My tomatoe plants and pumkin patch is now ruined. The last time it snowed it was May 1 so we only had 5 months without snow! Sammie is terribly worried it will snow on Halloween and ruin the whole day. She prays for a sunny day on Halloween every night.

I don't know who was more excited, the girls or the dog.
As soon as Felicity saw there was snow on the ground she ran to the closet to put on her "keep warm" (AKA Snowbibs) We just bought them and told her they will keep her warm in the snow, hence the name. She also had to put on her "boops". The girls and the dog had fun generally making a mess.