A Very Special Christmas...

Tanner has the most amazing gift for the family! He shared it with Jason and I. Seriously, I can't wait for Christmas morning...The Christmas Spirit has just arrived. Time to decorate!

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a great Thanksgiving Day! We even cooked faked TURKEY...I thought it was gross but Taylor and Jasmine loved it. Jason and Missy were caught rapping and dancing in the kitchen...
Missy and I before dinner. The next morning we left for St. George to visit Kathy and watch the horrible, depressing football game.

Jasmine's mother joined us for dinner. She is a wonderful lady. Notice my floating candle apples? Fun little table decoration. Tanner and Jordan had to have the "New Moon" cups on the table! We are excited to have Jasmine join us for the Christmas Holidays in California!
Tanner and Jordan. I love when they get along!!!

Taylor and Jordan

Can you believe it's DECEMBER????

Uncle Tom is in town...

We received a great email from Julie (Tom's wife) a few days ago. They were coming to Utah for Thanksgiving! We had a chance to visit with them. Tom and his family were staying in a condo at Sundance. Uncle Tom met us at the lodge and I was touched to watch Tanner, Taylor and Jordan run up to him and give their Uncle Tom a great big hug. They have really missed having him be a part of their lives...
It was a fun evening catching up and just relaxing.

I can't believe how fast Tanner is growing up!

My kids love spending time with their cousin Amelia. Jasmine (Taylor's girlfriend) also joined us.

Cute Roy! He is now 4 years old and LOVES airplanes!!!

I love spending time with Taylor. He is doing so well. I love him and so happy to finally be in this stage of his life. He is finally happy!

Announcing...

He put in MANY long hours...I love this photo and I love his voice.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Mom joined us for another fantastic trip. Jordan did not qualify for Sectionals held in Jackson Hole, but Jason was the chief announcer and we thought it would be a fun little get away.
Our family friend, Leslie, joined us. We had this beautiful three level, three bedroom condo.

Mom will always stop for a photo with a cub bear!

The weather was sunny but cold. We had snow the last two days.

This is my favorite restaurant, Merry Piglets. Cordero stayed with us the last two nights, along with his dog Silly. We are so proud of Cordero. He placed 4th overall and qualified for the US Figure Skating Championships (Nationals). It was a great competition and since Jordan was not competing we were able to watch many events.

We just love Leslie...she is a great family friend. We also went to the movies. I hardly go to the movies but I went twice in one week. We saw "This is It" - Loved it and "New Moon" - Hated it...Jason had one afternoon off from announcing. It was nice to spend some time with him too.

This is Silly, the dog that pooped in the front seat of our car. Jason was often teasing this sweet pooch calling him "fatty" or "white Q-Tip with teeth"...We watched a late showing of "New Moon." Jason was not announcing and I dragged him to the awful movie. Silly stayed in the car, which he is very use to. When we came out of the movie theater, Silly left a little gift on Jason's seat. I think it was payback for all the mean names! We laughed, REALLY laughed so hard. Cordero was embarrassed and quickly took care of his dog's mess.

Grandma's Back in Town

My mom was back in town to spend a weekend in Jackson Hole. Before we left, we made a stop to visit Aunt Jean and Uncle Harold.
We also made a coffee break with Uncle Steve and Uncle Jeff. I love Uncle Jeff's smile!

Uncle Jeff has a new dog, Tucker. We had to stop by and visit him. This dog just loves the camera!

Mom and her brother Steve riding in the Mothership...

Early Morning Seminary

It's been my goal this school year to make a large breakfast for the family before they leave for early morning seminary. It's been a big hit for the family and they have enjoyed all the bacon, pancakes, hashbrowns and eggs along with the orange juice and family prayer as the quickly leave the house for seminary.
However, this morning after they ate I found them in the livingroom back to sleep with their backpacks on!

Happy Birthday, Jason!!!

My favorite times with Jason...

1-Listening to him announce at a baseball games, ice rinks, ski hill or hockey games. I love working at the rink, especially during events and as I am running around, I can hear his voice announcing throughout the facility. It brings me comfort...

2-Attending or watching any kind of sports. We love attending the U of U football games or Bee's baseball games. Even being at home and watching the game is always fun with Jason!

3-Going away to Hawaii last February...oh yes, that was incredible!

4-The evenings he is playing War Games in the livingroom and I am playing Bejeweled in the office. We often shout at each other, "I love you!"

5-TiVo...late at night, he will watch my TiVo shows with me (General Hospital and Oprah!)

6-Friday nights...all the kids are out of the house and it's just Jason and I.

7-All the kids are in the house and watching him cook and chat with them all.

8-Late at night, when everyone is in bed and we talk until the wee hours...

9-When he comes home early, just to be home early.

10-Growing old with him...I can't believe he is 43 years old!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Thinking About Dad...

Seriously...two years. It's been 2 years since my Dad died. I still hear his laughter, I still smile when I see his photos and my heart aches when I think how much I miss him! Two years...

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween with the Utes!

Great Game, Great Company

It was great...we didn't buy any candy. Left a note on the door saying "Go UTES!..."
I didn't have to deal with costumes! and I don't have to pick up candy wrappers for the next week and the UTES won!!!

Tanner's New Haircut

Tanner has a new job at the movie theaters at Gateway. However, they require short hair! (I love it...)

Skatin' Utes!!!

Jason's new adventure is now announcing for the University of Utah Hockey team! He really enjoys getting to know the players and staff. It's fun to see our rink turn into this loud, fast action game!
Missy and I stopped by a while ago to listen to Jason announce for a few minutes. We were hooked. We stayed for the entire game and now attend most of their games! We are learning the rules and trying to understand this sport...
The kids came and joined us one evening...

Central Pacific Regionals

This has been my project for the past 18 months. It's been a fun process to bid for this competition and watch it finally come together!
Bob Weston, our club President and I near the admissions table. The event took place from October 15-19 and we made a nice amount of money for our club.

My mom's fantastic idea to find an artist to draw the skaters during the event. Missy jumped in with the Dodger spirit!

Mom also came to organize the hospitality and just about everything else!

Jordan skated in a new level this year and fulfilled her goal of landing the double axel. She placed 9th overall but did not advance to the next qualfiying competition. She is excited for the new year of training. She plans to stay in the Novice level. Next year will be filled with more double axels and triple jumps. We anticipate a great year of traveling too!!!

Two of My Favorite Things...

a night with just Jason and watching the

Ute's play some ball!!!

Reuniting...

One of the girls I taught in California (Petaluma 1st Ward) was getting married over the weekend. Jason and I attended her reception and had a fantastic time reuniting with some of my favorite people. Karen and I served in Young Womens together and worked for many years with this unique, talented and beautiful group of young women. 15 years later, it's wonderful to hear about their adventures, families and careers. I am so proud of them all! It was fun to watch Rachel have three lovely daughters surround her and witness what an amazing mother she has become.
When my boys were little, they loved Maggie and her brother (along with their awesome two dogs!). I am so fortunate to have those wonderful years with this group of girls. I will always cherish their energy, beautiful voices, camps, activities and all the crazy things we did together. This group of girls experienced all the broken bones with Taylor (and often came to my rescue to babysit while I was at the hospital). Chased Tanner during church and youth activities and followed along with my pregnancy and birth of Jordan. I appreciate Maggie, when she saw me at the wedding, she said I haven't aged and look the same...(She must of been my favorite one!)

Homecoming

Tanner asked a girl to Homecoming. He left a path of Christmas lights in her backyard leading to a note with cute up pieces of paper asking her to Homecoming. Late one evening, she left this in our front yard. The light bulbs spell "Delighted".

Traveling with Mom

My mom is FANTASTIC to travel with. She has quickly adjusted to our skating life and I love it. It's been a terrific year having my mom join us in many different states! She knows how to motivate and encourage Jordan, she can sit on hard, dirty benches for hours and adapt to various temperatures in different rinks...
She also makes friends with everyone from skaters to dogs...

We just love having her with us!!!

My Favorite Dessert!

This was worth having the surgery!!! My favorite dessert, a frozen banana covered with milk chocolate and almonds...ahhhh I had three of them during the week!

Traveling in LA

One of our favorite restaurants is "MaMa De's". It's a traditional to eat there every year!
Jordan having fun with the camera...it was great to finally eat more variety in my foods and not get sick. Still staying away from meat and a little bit of dairy.

Jordan made final rounds and landed a scary double axel in her long program. She accomplished many goals and come home charged to prepare for Regionals next month.

A Little Time Away from a Rink...

It wasn't frozen and one of Jordan's favorite spots...Manhattan Beach.
Jordan was competing in LA at Golden West. My mom flew in and joined us for the week.

Our first evening we took a little walk along the beach.