Wendover w/ My Girls

So my girls and I were talking and we figured the only time we would get away until June, for a short weekend away would be the first weekend in March. So Friday we sent the kids off to school packed our bags and headed to Wendover. Well okay we first stopped at Red Robin for lunch then to Ross for some Dancin Clothes.



Then it was our nice drive out to Wendover for a free room and to just sit around and breath. Terry always asks what do we do in Wendover that we enjoy so much. So this is what we do... We got our room then drove to Smiths for some snacks, got a Red Box movie.












Ate at Arby's and talked there until 11:00 then we went back to the room. Watched our movies while I worked on my clipboard projects and Holly slept, Tonja enjoyed Eat, Love, Pray. Fell asleep around 3:00. Slept in, showered, Tonja gave free pedicures and hair cuts. Then they both straightened my hair for me. We went for lunch at Pizza Hut and shopped the family dollar. Then Kami and Emilee showed up for the Jagertown Concert. So we found them just 1 door down from ours and went to the Peppermill for the show. Emilee and I played $20.00 on 21, I came out $70 ahead. Then we danced our selves silly until 2:30 in the morning.

We drug ourselves to our rooms and crashed until 10:00 the next morning. I didn't fall asleep until 5:00... I swear I just don't sleep well without Terry. Anyhow we got up and showered, cleaned up, headed to the car, but had to gamble our free money away first. Made about 20$ more on the slot machines then ate at Subway and headed home. On the way home we decided we all wanna get skinny so we devised a plan to help each other be healthier and then we went home. That was our fun, nice relaxing weekend. And now it is over but I just can't tell you how lucky I feel to be apart of such great girls! So as you can see it is not so much as what we do as who we are with and how we feel!

Brighton - OUCH!

Yesterday started out perfect! We woke up at 7:00 to go snowboarding as a family to Brighton. We left the house around 8:45 which we thought the resorted opened at 9:30 so we were right where we wanted to be. The kids were all filled with stoke and excitement to hit the mountain again. We listened to the Hunger Games on our trip up and all was good. We got our tickets and hooked up with Troy, Terrys brother. I told Terry, Troy and Bowdee to go have fun and that we would meet them for lunch around 12. So I took Matia and Treg up Magestic for a few really fun rides. We had a few moments where I was questioning my abilities and was wishing Terry was there to help me out. Like the time Tia went ahead of me and Treg through the trees. But Treg was unable to make that path and started heading down a different path. I had to unstrap and carry him back up the hill to the path so that Tia wouldn't be lost and waiting for us. After that I got smart and told her to follow us. Getting off the lift went alot smoother then I expected. They both held my hand and I was in the middle and we just coasted right off. So all and all we had a great time. Treg took a really big wipeout, he was just going all out trying to get down cuz his face was cold. He hit a big bump and it threw him pretty good. He was covered in snow and spread eagle facing up. But he didn't move I got up to him and he was ok he said his arm hurt which scared me but it was just the snow. We were right under the lift and I heard alot of people gasping and pointing at him. But we got him up and started heading down the mountain and shortly after we got going a snowmobile ski patrol came barreling up the mountain headed right for where we were. I seriously think someone called the patrol for this little lifeless boy that just took a big hit. Because if I didn't know him better I would have thought the same thing the way he just laid there motionless not even crying out loud even though he probably wanted to. So after about 3 good runs with the kids we took a quick potty break and there were the boys ready for lunch. We went back to the truck and enjoyed the best pulled pork sandwich ever. Then headed back to the mountain for some fun. Terry decided it was my turn to go with Troy and Bowdee. I was a little nervous because for the last 3 years I have been bound to the bunny hills with the kids while they were learning. So you could say I am pretty rusty when it comes to snowboarding with the Big Boys. But I was excited too so we headed up Crest then headed over to Snake. Thats about the last thing I remember... I guess I caught my back edge and flung back and hit my head on the ice. Troy and Bowdee says I kept asking the same questions over and over. If Terry had the little kids and if we were on Snake. I could follow Troy down the mountain but if I couldn't see him I would stop because I was lost and had no clue where I was. So since Bowdee was following me he would show me Troy and I would start to follow him again. Then I do remember fighting with Troy telling him to leave me at the lodge and to go have fun while I take it easy. (which was about 1 hour after I fell because I insisted on him taking me on one more run, which I remember nothing about.)

I was sitting at the lodge for about 45 min while Troy and Bowdee were off looking for Terry and the kids. There was a really nice guy named Chris who came to talk to me. He sat down and showed me his good luck golden necklace that was from back in the 1600's. Thats why he didn't need a helmet like I evidently did. He also balled up some snow for me to hold to my head. And he was just a cool cute guy who took my mind off my hurting head and made me feel like I was going to be okay. Ya know he could tell I was hurting and what a nice thing for him to do. To spend that long sitting and talking to some old lady to make sure she was okay. When he could have just walked right past me and been snowboarding. I know most people would look at him with his long curly hair that was begining to dreadlock and think what a punk. But wow what a heart of gold that kid had. Chris whoever you are thanks for making a difference in my day. I hope someday I can be more like that, so outgoing and helpful instead of shy and passive.Troy found Terry and the kids going up Crest yelled to them and they hurried down as fast as they could. Then we left, that was it 30 minutes before the lifts closed. Bowdee was so cute, I was feeling guilty making everyone leave early. So he says its a good thing mom because now we can beat the traffic. I have to say I am one pretty lucky girl to have a family that loves me as much as they do. Troy was so sweet and fabulous to take care of me. Bowdee was so worried, I think I really scared him and Troy both. Terry made sure I had everything I needed and I wasn't falling asleep. Matia kept rubbing my head and asking me questions. Treg well that was the funniest part of the whole thing, listen to this. Terry was teasing me about if I died this and that which was all funny and good hearted. Then Treg says "Yah if mom dies then we won't have to go to school tomorrow."

So when I woke up today I seriously felt like I was hit by a freight train that was going super fast. My hip hurts, my neck kills, my head throbs and I feel older then I have ever felt... But I am happy to be alive. I am thankful for my sweet family and all my dear friends. I hope I am living a life that I show people how I feel about them and that they will never have to wonder if I loved them. Because I do love my friends and family so much! I just hope they know that. Thanks guys

Nosey Neighbors

Check out our nosey neighbors. Our chickens are so funny. The other day Matia and I were in the office when we hear a thump on the back door. Matia checks it out and our silly Sweetie Pie was trying to fly through our glass door. I guess I cleaned it better then I thought :) But they often times peek through our door and tease Dash our dog... By the way aren't hens suppose to be quiet? We have some that I swear are as loud as the roosters. I hope it doesn't keep the neighbors up.

Boys Boarding Sundance

So Wednesday was the perfect day to skip school and go boarding. That is just what I did for Bowdee. Okay so I did't go boarding with them... But I did take them up to Sundance to enjoy the day. Right when we got up there we met up with Jonah Beck and his parents which Jonah is a really good friend of Bowdee's. It is funny because I remember Bowdee pointing to Jonah when we were in the same ward and said mom that kid is so funny I want to be his friend! Ever since then their friendship has grown stronger and stronger. So when we met up with them his parents offered to bring the boys home.It wasn't a hard decision when I had preschool to prepare and activity days girls coming to my house at 4, to do a scrapbooking layout. I took their generous offer gave Bowdee some money for lunch and went home. The boys had a great time and I got so much done!

Fish Dinner w/ Mom & Dad

So after my mom and dad babysat Dash (our Labradoodle) while we went to Wendover. We invited them over for a YUMMY fish dinner. Terry makes the best fish dinner and any time he is willing to cook it for me he is welcome to go fishing. My mom is also a big fan of Terrys fish dinner. Okay so she will eat just about any fish put in front of her. In fact that is why her dad would take her fishing is so she could eat the fish and he could catch more! Nobody can eat fish like my mom. She will lick the bones to get the last little bit and she is so fun to watch. I think that is why we invite her over its kinda entertaining just watching her. Anyway I have to say I am pretty thankful for my parents and all they have taught me. I wish Terrys parents lived closer so we could share little unexpected moments like this. Moments that might go unnoticed to some but will forever be etched inside my brain. I love you mom and dad!

Cousin Sleepover

So as the boys were fishing or should I say searching for their tents. I was home nice and warm with my 3 cuties and 3 cousins for a sleepover. I love watching my kids play with their cousins. I never lived close enough to my cousins to become really good friends so to me it is like a bonus in life to have cousins that are close. So we played Just Dance, Kami and I got an ice-cream, we ate Mac-n-cheese (because we love it and Terry hates it). Then we went to church in the morning. Well we were going to church and I started with a migrane so I headed home for some medicine hoping to stop it before it got out of control and ended up nursing it for the next 3 hours. Talk about feeling guilty. I seriously thought I would be able to head back to church right after I took some medicine but it put me down and I had to remind myself to go get the kids from church. Then Terry came home and we headed out to Wendover for the night. We like Wendover for a few reasons. It is a long enough drive away from home that the kids feel like we are going away. #2 We love the long family talks we have on our way out to the middle of no-where. #3 The kids love being allowed into the hot tub (which was not working this time). #4 The kids love choosing where we eat which includes subway, mcdonalds, and smith. But they think it is wonderful and we think the FREE price is wonderful. I remember my dad and mom taking us to the hotel by the Airport.
Dad got some kind of discount from where he worked so thats why we would go there. And to this day I remember eating at Pizza Hut, swimming with my dad and watching a movie. It was the best day ever and we loved it. So we go to Wendover and we love it as a family.

Boys Ice Fishing Trip

We headed up to Strawberry on Satuday night for a quick overnighter. It looked like we got there just as the tail end of the storm passed. As we were setting up our QuickFish 6 tents, the full moon was shining through the light snow that was gently falling from the sky. All and all it had the makings of a great night. Little did we know that Mother Nature does this to lure us out into the wild. We settled into the fishing tent and began fishing. While we were sitting there talking about the good-ol-times, it happened. There was a loud "POP" and before we could say holy smokes, we were sitting in a blizzard. Our sleeping tent flew into our fishing tent and with a "POP" the fishing tent lifted off like a rocket and the two tents began racing across the snow covered ice. We took off after the tents and about 200 yards later we caught up to our tents and we were wondering what the crap just happened. We drug the tents back and over an hour later we were finished getting camp back together. The only thing we lost was the snowmobile, but my buddy said he thinks that he saw a green lady with a big nose and a tall black hat flying around in the sky on it.
Anyway, my brother had a 21 inch cut on his line for who knows how long and reeled it in. I think he caught it off of a green 3 inch tube and chub. Our other buddy made it through the storm and joined us for a good clean game of Hold-em. We only got three hours of sleep that night at began fishing at 8:00 a.m. The action was hot on the chub bait, but it is a new way of fishing for us and it was extremely difficult to set the hook.
I had one fish take my lure at the hole while I was trying to land it. Later I caught a 22 inch cut and when I looked in his belly to see what he had for breakfast, I found my lure from earlier. Talk about lucky, I wish I had that same luck during our game of Hold-em. Anyway, 15 feet of water and hot action on the tube jig with chub bait. It was good time. Only landed 2 cuts and 1 crawfish. We saw some nice bull elk near Heber on that North side of the canyon on the way home. P.S. this was written by Terry for a fishing forum and I stole it for my journal. I love the way he tells this story

What do I do?

So I get alot of people asking me what I do with all my spare time since my kids are all in school now. So I teach preschool on Tues and Thurs which takes all but about 5 minutes before the kids come home... Then on Mondays I recover my home from the weekend of madness and playtime. I also do most of my errands on Monday, at least I try. Wednesdays I try to spend a couple hours scrap booking or organizing family videos then I usually have a list waiting for me like I did today... This was the list I wanted accomplished before the kids came home.
Do my moms hair
Exercise
Pick up med at Target
Return pants at Old Navy
Make Flaming Gorge Reservations
Make Yellowstone Reservations
5 Loads of Laundry
Dishes
Clean Carpets
Clean Terrys Car
Fill up Car Gas
Costco for groceries
Make covers for ice fishing sleds
Spring Clean bedroom and bathrooms
Put in for deer hunts
Update Blogs
Prepare new month preschool
Sweep and mop kitchen floor
(I had all but about 2 of those items done before the kids came home.)
Fridays are the days I do what I want weather I go out to eat with friends. Go walk around some store. Or end up finishing that to do list I was working on. So I guess I am just trying to say life has a way of keeping me busy. Very rarely I have a moment where I wonder what can I be doing. But I wouldn't have it any other way I enjoy being busy and I go crazy when I feel like I have accomplished nothing. This is not something I admire about myself. I truly wish I could sit still and just enjoy watching what is happening around me. And sometimes I do... Those times are when we are ice fishing, camping, snowboarding, boating... You get my drift but when I am at home I am busy... There are moments where I will take a time out and play WebKinz.. Yes this is my latest craze which is fading but I love the pizza game and Atlantiles they just help me to slow down. Crazy how life just happens.

Valentine's Day 2011

I love Valentine's day every year, it is the same every year but the whole day is just special to me. It goes like this I wake up to new flowers from Terry with some kind of sweet surprise. Then I decorate the table and make pink heart shaped pancakes, wake up the kids with a sweet kiss and hug and happy Valentines day.

Then send them off to school dressed in red or pink with their Valentines in hand. Tia usually has some kind of a heart shaped into her hair one way or another. Then I stay home and bake cookies and package them up for later door bell ditching which the kids just LOVE.
Then I go and help out at one of the kids classroom parties. This year it just happened to be Bowdee's year. He wanted me to have them play the heart stacking game, but since they are getting older I made them do it using straws. It was just fun to be there watching them interact with each other.

After school was homework, piano lessons for Bowdee, Gymnastics for Treg and Tia, then swimming with friends for Bowdee and lessons for Treg and Tia. Door bell ditching on our way home to our heart shaped pizza from $5 Buck Pizza (although I can't recommend because this year it was GROSS).

Then we opened some small gifts and Valentines from each other. Then headed in to stay up late (which mom doesn't allow very often on school nights 9:30 that was pushing it) to watch Guardian of Ga'hoole. Which the kids just loved. So it was the perfect Valentines day one filled with love all the way around. Happy Valentines Day to all of you!

Brighton Snowboarding

After spending all day Saturday at Basketball games and in the basement running wire through some itchy insulation. We decided it was time to get outside. So Sunday morning we woke up early and headed to Big Cottonwood Canyon. Everytime I even get near the mouth of the canyon I feel an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. It takes me back to the year Kami and I worked at Solitude (as you know a great time in my life). So needless to say we were all happy as can be. We got up there before 10 and had so much fun the rest of the day. Except at lunch time as we were sitting there drinking hot chocolate and eating whatever we had (since we forgot our lunches at home) we notice how pink we were all getting... OOPS mom forgot the sunscreen. So we went up for just a couple more runs then cut out 1/2 hour early because I didn't want to get into to much trouble for neglecting my children. I promise you one thing next time I will be more prepared. I think I was just so excited to get up there that I forgot all about reality. It was a great day and the kids did wonderful for their first time boarding this year. Matia is officially all on her own. We need to work on her toe edge a little more. Treg is doing fabulous all though all he wanted to do was go off the jumps and do tricks like he does on his X-box game SSX-Tricky. It didn't helpe that the lift went right over the half pipe and skate park. We just told him he has to keep practicing so he can get good enough to do those tricks without hurting himself. What is scarey is I see him having the guts to do those tricks and it won't be long! I will be closing my eyes and saying lots of prayers when the tricks start. If ya look really close this is Bowdee going off a jump getting some serious air. Ya like I said not to far away. It was so fun though to be enjoying one of my favorite things to do with ALL of my family! And seeing that they really enjoy it as well. Life is good today!

Boat Show 2011

Every year we look forward to going to the boat show... Not because we are interested in getting a new boat. I think it is more about dreaming together as a family and seeing the nice things we can get if we keep working hard. We really enjoy boating together and so it is fun to dream about it as well. We also like going and meeting Pro Wake boarders and yes my boys want to be just like them. But whenever we have met a pro boarder they have always been some of the nicest people I have ever met. They show interest in my kids and they talk to us like we are their friends. I have been so impressed with their personalities. I feel like a stocker when we go there asking the Marine Product workers who are the pro boarders that are there that day. Then going and asking them for their signatures, but it does something for Bowdee especially. I think it shows him that they are real people and that they went for their dreams and made it reality. This year we had the opportunity to meet Shaun Watson, Chad Sharpe, and Parks Bonifay. They are all GREAT guys that I am glad my kids got to meet them. We also saw Danny Harf but he skipped out before we shook his hand. So call me a stocker if you want but I think its a great privilege to meet these great guys! We also love watching them do all their tricks and it helps my kids to see even these guys sometimes biff it. Okay maybe that helps me feel better about my wipe outs then it helps them. Never the less we had a great night looking through boats, dreaming about the good times on the lake, meeting new friends, and watching the fish swim in the tank. We especially LOVED the UTES boat this year.

Ice Fishing w/ Kyes Fam

Sunday Kami called and asked if she could take Bowdee boarding to the Canyons with Izak. You just can't say no to an offer like that so we sent Bowdee on his way to have a great day with his bud. Thanks Kami for giving Bowdee such a great experience.
Then we headed up to Deer Creek to go ice fishing with Kyles family. Emilee had never done this before so she was nervous to get on the ice. But she was a real trooper and I think she really enjoyed it.
She caught one fish and I caught 3 I guess there was a little girl power going on because the boys didn't catch anything. Not that I am bragging or anything but we even baited our own hooks.
The kids had fun pulling each other around on the sleds and playing their little games. The girls would take turns fishing but as much as they wished it the fish just wouldn't bite their bait. :(
It was a good time! After fishing we went to see the ice castles in Midway again. However, we got there and they were gone. So we found them in the city center to find they were closed on Sunday and this year they are charging $5.00 an adult and $3.00 for children. Which was a bummer.

5th Grade Boarders

So when your child goes into 5th grade they are offered a skiing/boarding passport for just $25.00. With the passport they get 3 passes to each ski resort in utah and some others in different states as well. So on Friday I checked Izak and Bowdee out of school early and took them to Solitude. All it costed us was the gas to get there. I choose to save my money to board with the family so I sent these 2 boys up on the lift all by themselves.
I seriously got a tear in my eye just like when I sent them to Kindergarten. I could feel the thrill they got from the independance and it made me sick. Ya I am happy for them and I trust them but at the same time it made me realize in just a few years they will be going without me at all. They had a wonderful time they got on the first lift at about 12:00 and didn't stop until 4:30 when they closed the lifts.
Well they did stop to take a quick hot chocolate break with me. But I think that was more for me then them. I think they felt bad for me just sitting at the bottom of the hill reading my book and watching for them to come down and wave to them after each run. I tell you what the whole ride home they were as quiet as can be and yes they sleep so good that night.


I remember coming home from ski days with my family and all of us just crashing to watch a movie with my mom. All 6 of us were spralled all over her room where ever we landed. Ah the feeling of complete exhaustion after a great day on the slopes... There is nothing like it! I must say going back to Solitude made me homesick for the days Kami and I worked there. I have never had a job I liked better then being a Mountain Host... Ya I would ski around all day getting paid to look for people who were lost, hurt or lonely. It was a job of a lifetime.