Day after Christmas

Treg was just dieing to test out his new snowboard. He wanted to know if it could do all the tricks that the Snowboard on SSX Tricky does on the Xbox. So we headed to the park with a good hill and let them have at it. He did amazing for his first shot at it and he even got a little air when he hit the jump at the bottom of the hill.
Matia even got up the guts to give it a go. She was simply amazed when she got to the bottom of the hill to find out she actually really enjoyed the ride. She even went the extra step to learn how to get out of the bindings and carry the board up the hill herself. Good goin girl!

Bowdee on the other hand is a old pro at this boarding stuff so he showed the younger ones how it was done. He didn't bother with locking the bindings in because of the short hill. But he sure had some fun when he hit the jump.
I have so much fun watching the kids, especially when they end up loving something that I love so much. Terry of course is all over teaching them and I have to hand it to him he is the best teacher possible. He is so patient with them and he has the muscles to do it. Love ya babe!

Christmas 2008

Wow, where does the time go? Last thing I knew I was recovering from an all nighter with the girls and then Whammo it is now January! Crazy, I guess I will never get used to how the time flies when you get older. Well our Christmas came and went just like all the others. We got to stay home and just have a good time with our family and not plan to go anywhere. We stayed home and played with games and new toys.
Bowdee got the Animal Crossing on the WII that he asked Santa for.

Matia got the D.S. and Pet shops she asked for.
Treg asked for a Snowboard and I was completely suprised when Santa actually brought my baby a real snowboard. I love these days of Christmas with children. There is nothing that even compares to the excitement a child has a Christmas time. Truely Magical!

Matia's Christmas Dance

I love Matia being the girl that she is. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I love to watch her dance, sing and play. She is so funny and dramatic. Saturday was her dance performance, yes this was the Saturday after the Friday that I had no sleep. Troy and his girls and grandma and grandpa came to cheer on Matia. Matia did wonderful. She just loves being up on stage and dancing. It was really short and sweet and we loved every mintue of it.After her dance we went to DelTaco to eat dinner and then up to Temple Square to see the lights. I was a little delusional and don't remember to much.Although Terry thought it was great because I was too tired to complain or argue about anything. I always love going to see the lights up on Temple Square there is just something special that touches me. Then we came home and I don't remember anything else just dark peace. I guess everyone stayed up until midnight and thought it was wonderful because I wasn't there nagging at them to go to sleep. Well it was one long day full of good memories even if I don't remember everything that went on.

Girls all nighter!

So me and a few of my friends decided to finish up our Christmas loose ends all in one night. So we kicked Terry & the kids out of the house (yes they went to Uncle Troys) then me and the girls busted out all our projects and tried to complete them. We had a great time and we talked and projected. Some made quilts while others made pillow cases, cards, bags, frogs, you name it we were doing it. We have been getting together now each month for almost 5 years. It has been nice to have some girl time to look forward to. These girls mean alot to me. I can say just about anything around them and know they will still love me. I thought we would crash at 3 or 4 but no we stayed up all through the night. Anyway it was fun and I survived the next day all the way until 10:30pm. You will see on my next post what I did the following day. Thanks girls you ROCK!

Gingerbread Houses

So we have made a gingerbread house for many years with Troy and his family. It has been a tradition for 7 years now. We have also learned that the best way for our family is to buy a kit at Costco for 9 bucks and hot glue the sucker together. You see we have had so many gingerbread houses fall apart and quarls caused by those gingerbread houses that we just think it is better safe then sorry. So here is our gingerbread experience this year. Nice and simple.

I love Christmas!

Okay I know I have been slacking on the blogging stories in my life. I have been so busy with filling the Christmas season with joy that some things have to take a back seat. Last weekend Terry went to a B-ball game with his friend. I really wanted to go to the Quilted Bear to see the live reindeer and Santa. I have never done this before and thought it would be fun. And heck while I am in the area I might as well go see the elves at Gardner Village. So I drug Troy (who seems to be my second husband lately), Terrys brother with me to go have fun. The thing I didn't mention til he got here was that I had my 3 kids, his 3 girls, my brothers 3 girls and my sisters 2 kids to go with us. Well off we went to have a good time, yes that is 2 adults and 11 kids. Quilted bear was fun there was no line which was a blessing because it had been crazy all day. And with 11 kids I don't think that would have been fun. The reindeer were cool, which I have never seen, I think they said it was Dasher! SOO CoolThen Gardner Village was fun and not very busy. We walked around counting all the elves to see who could find the most. Troy is such a sweet guy, he is so easy and fun to be with that we had a great time. It was funny because on the way out we were walking past a family and he says (loud enough they could hear) "So honey do you think we should have another?" then I reply "I think it would be great you know Aunt Dixie has 12 kids and they all seem so happy." The lady stopped in her tracks and said you want another here you can have this one right now and you can have your dozen just like that. I laughed all the way home. Then we came home and had pizza and made popcorn balls and watched Rudolf. Yes the house full of my neices and one nephew. It was wonderful. Then Troy took his kids home and the rest stayed for a fun cousin sleepover. I just love being an aunt, I don't think it gets any better then this baby!

Christmas Tree

Usually I love the whole experience of putting up the tree. However, this year I accidently dropped my box of ordaments and broke some precious ones. I should have known right then and there that it wasn't going to be a good Christmas tree year. That night we spent 2&1/2 hours trying to fix the lights on our tree (we leave it strung for the next year). Well to make a long story short we didn't fix the lights and we ended up buying a new prelit christmas tree and decorated it the next night. It turned out to be perfect for us.

Post Thanksgiving

So the day after Thanksgiving I always go shopping. This year I drug out my sister Kami to go with me. She is not a crowd person so I didn't think she would follow through with it. But she did and we had a wonderful time. We stayed out from 4:00am until 5:00pm and got so much accomplished. Terry stayed home with the kids and if you know Terry by the end of the day he was going stir crazy. So on Saturday he worked all day to fix my jeep heater and front seat for Bowdee and we took our jeep out that afternoon for her maiden voyage. Yes we called my bro and told him where we were going just incase we didn't return at a decent hour. Then we headed for the hills. It was great but with the doors and hard top off it was cold. We were all bundled up so it wasn't too bad though. Terry and Bowdee went off on a walk hunting for rabbits. Tia, Treg and I stayed back to tend the campfire, which was fine by me. This was the first time Matia was allowed to be the fire master. Bowdee usually has that position so when I handed it to her she was all SMILES!Treg on the other hand was just not up for much so he just laid in the back of the jeep all bundled up in our super warm jeep blanket and was content on doing just that.Dash did great until the moment we pulled out the guns. He gets to frightened by the sounds. It was kinda sad and I felt bad for him. But we had a great time and we made it without any misshapps! These are the things in life that make us feel alive. These are the moments we treasure the most. Just us together as a family, talking, laughing and living in the moment.

Thanksgiving Feast

This year we had Thanksgiving with my family at my house. I have done this before but this year I was touched by the true meaning of Thanksgiving and felt a desire to go up and beyond. I wanted to show my family just how much they mean to me and tried to make it as nice as possible. So for the adults table I got a nice table cloth with chair bows then I put candles on the table with my Grandma Bennions china. I also went to DI and got as many different kinds of wine goblets as their were people. Then I made some platers that stand on candle sticks to hold some food. I also gathered pinecones to hold the name placetags. It looked amazing. Then for the mostly single adults table I had the same kind of set up. We had 15 adults and 7 children so it worked out on two tables. I think they were all impressed but I am not sure they relized the true meaning behind it all. To me my family is above royalty and I wanted them to truely feel important. The childrens table I covered in white paper so they could draw on it with markers during dinner and when they were finished or waiting for the adults. They thought this was ultra cool and it really did keep them busy. After the dinner the little kids skipped off to the basement to prepare a play for the adults. And we just hung out for a while. We looked at the newspaper, talked, looke through grandma b's jewlery, and we played a little rockband. It was the best just to be together and laugh and love. My whole family is amazing and of course I missed my 2 older brothers with their darling families. I know they would have been there if they could. But it is just sad without them. This year I am truely thankful for my parents I don't know what I would do without them. I am thankful for my husband and children they are my life and keep me going strong. I am thankful for my siblings they give me a feeling of belonging. I am thankful for all of my families good health! I am thankful for all the many miracles that happen to us daily. I am thankful that I love my life! Happy Thanksgiving.

Twilight Movie

So I went to the 12:03 showing last night of Twilight. I wasn't much suprised when I heard there were people lining up at the door at 11:00am that morning to get a good seat. They let us in at 10:15pm to get our seats, so that was nice we didn't have to stand outside the whole time. I went Tonya and Angie who are some crazy book readers. I love them to pieces we have the same book reading taste although I am not as fast as they are. It was fun to hang out with them, but I must say honestly the movie was a huge disappointment for me. I don't know that I can recommend it to anyone. Of course that is what I expected but it was even worse then I thought it would be. Let's just say it was very slow and I am sure a man would call it painful. This is one of the first movies that I watched after reading the book and I realize it can't be compared to the book but it is sad when you have such a good image of your characters and then it gets washed away from the movies image. Oh well it was good while it lasted and it was fun going with all the obsessed and getting "SHUSSHED". Tell me what you thought of the movie if you have seen it. I am eager to hear. P.S. Sal we were thinking of you the whole night and wished you could have been there with us.

Gotta love those Utes!

So this weekend we dedicated Saturday to cleaning out the yard. Wow it is amazing how much there is to clean after the fall hits. So we got the kids out there and we had Bowdee mowing the lawn or leaves. Tia was putting all the branches on the trailer and Treg was picking up all the tomatoes out of the garden. Then Terry and I were busy doing everything else there is to do. It reminded me so much of when I was little, my family was constantly working together. Whether it was on the farm or in the house. We loved working together because it just got done so much faster. Then that night we went to Troys house to watch the Utes football game. Bowdee has been a BYU fan for quite sometime now. So we had to show him how great the U was. We had a great time with Troy and his girls eating pizza and donuts and enjoying a GREAT Football game. We finally converted Bowdee to be a Utes fan. But he says he will cheer for BYU when they are not playing the Utes. I have a feeling we will be watching more football in our future with Bowdee's growing interest. He loves watching those football games.

HORRAY!

Last week Terry was offered a permanent position at LanDesk. Well as permanent as any position is, what I am saying is he is no longer a contractor. He had an idea that this was going to happen but just didn't want to get my hopes up. Last week it really happened. Now we have insurance and paid holidays and even a little paid vacation. I just can't tell you how excited we are to get these nice benefits. It has been so long we have dealt without them that it seems like a fairytale. You know how they say somethings are too good to hope for. Well that is how we feel about this job.

Thanks hun, for doing all you do for this family. I really appreciate all you do to make this life the best for me and the kiddos. Thank you so much we do notice and love it. Good luck in your new job which you don't need the luck because you are just that GOOD.

Family Halloween Photo

As you may know I am a little crazy about my photos. When Halloween came and went I knew I was going to regret not getting that family photo. Well I couldn't just drop it, so today was spent dressing us all back up in our Halloween costumes, looking for Tregs Batman mask, and painting on faces again. Then hours of taking photos and trying to find one we liked. I must say everyone was great sports and didn't make me feel bad for being OCD. Well this is the one we ended up with. Someday I will be glad I did this. But I can't say at this moment I am glad I did it.

Joshua Wendall

So you all know I absolutly loving being an aunt. In my mind that is the next best thing to being a wife and mother. I love showing my love for my siblings through the love I show their children. I hope someday I will be called "my favorite aunt" from one of my neices or nephews. Well we just recently welcomed little Joshua Wendall Romans into our family. Terry's sister Talesha just had her 4th baby. She now has 1 girl and 3 boys. Talesha is an amazing person. She is just really sweet and very stable. I just melted when she placed her sweet baby boy in my arms. I really had to question Terry "are you sure we are finished? Maybe there is just one more." Joshua is very beautiful and so alert. I couldn't believe how much he was eyeing me. He really seemed to know what was going on. Like he could tell I wanted to take him home with me. Thanks Talesha for sharing your sweet son with us. Goodluck with number 4, I am sure your family will make him feel so welcome.

Obama Wins!

Today history was made. The United States of America's people voted in the first Black American President. I will be the first to admit, Terry and I both don't follow the political races. I have a really hard time listening to them because I just don't believe any said. I don't believe any of the rumors of the canidates pasts. And I don't believe what they promise. I did vote, however! Then I thought why are you voting for somebody you don't really know. Then I thought does anybody really know who or what they just voted in? I dislike the whole process of lies and trying to outbeat another. But I am grateful to live in a country where I have the option to vote. Congrats to Obama I hope you do many good things for this country. We need a little good right now.

Tagged

Okay I was tagged by Deena and now I have to expose 6 quirks about myself. I think Terry would be the better one to answer this since I don't consider my quirks to be quirks but oh well here I go.

1- I have a REALLY hard time not changing all the little kids shoes that ended up on the wrong feet. Even though they are so proud of themselves it just gets to me and I really have to strain not to change them.

2- I am a door locker. Whether I am home or not I lock the doors, I lock my car doors and everything all the time. I even get confused when I get out of my jeep and there is no door to lock. When it is cold outside and I come in I especially lock the door. It is like I am subconsciously trying to lock out the cold. Crazy I know.

3- I take too many photos. I don't know if this is caused by the lack of photos of my childhood. Or the hopes that my children will remember everything from their childhood. I am just not sure. But I do take photos of everything and it is ridiculous.

4- I sleep better when the kids are in my room. When they aren't there I stress about them then I am constantly checking on them. I wonder if they are cold or sick or having a nightmare.

5- I can't walk by my garbage can and leave the lid open. I have to have it shut. When Terry cooks he likes to leave it open so he can just toss what he wants to get rid of. Well I am constantly walking by and shutting it. Which ticks him off. So I am learning to get out of the kitchen when he cooks so I am not tempted to shut the garbage until he is finished. Hey wait is this my quirk or Terry's?

6- When I am riding shotgun I LOVE, LOVE to roll down the window on nice days and do the wave with my arm. You know the up and down wave. I just love it and if ever drive me around on a nice day you will either see me doing this or fighting the temptation not to do it.

So there, there are a few of my quirks. Poor Terry I know he has to live with a syco, but hey he had the choice and he said yes. I didn't force him into this crazy love. Now I get to tag a few of you who I would love to learn of your quirks to make me feel normal. Kathy, Katie, Sally, JaNae, Nancy, Amy, Tara, Allison, and yes you too Heidi.

Halloween Party

The night after Halloween we went to my brothers for a Halloween party. We got a trusty babysitter and broke free for a few moments. It was fun I have not been to a costume party in so long that it just made me feel like a youngster again. I will post better photos of us later. But this was the cutest one so far. Captain Spaulding and The Nun (Kye and Emilee) my cute brother and his wife.
The cutest Western couple I have seen in a long time. (Shawn and Josie) some good friends of ours.Dr. Fietkau and his wife. I love his fake Cigarette it even smokes. I tried to trick Terry with it and he just blew me off. And what is a party without the Rockband. Kami was my drummer but you just can't see her behind me. It was fun all in all. Thanks for including us among your friends Kye and Em.

Halloween Night

I just love Halloween, even though it is one of those crazy busy days. That seems like you are running around all day long. Well this Halloween was no different. Van Helsing woke up at 7:30am ready to put on his costume. So I let the other kids sleep in while I painted his face and finished some last minute touch-ups on his costume. The next time I looked at the clock it was 8:30 and "The Dead Princess" was still sleeping. We only had one-half hour to get her ready. So we curled her "Dead Princess Hair" and we painted her face then we got her all dressed. And of course mom has to take photos before they go to school. Treg got dressed in his costume and then him and I went to lunch with Christina and Caden. Of course we stopped by the Haunted House on the way home and took some photos. Then I got to go help with the craft in Matia's class. I have to say Katie did such a wonderful job with the activities she had planned. Count Dracula came and told some stories then they turned off the lights and used flash lights to find the bats hiding in the dark. It was super fun.Right after school we headed to Daddy's work for their work party. They had it well organized and the kids wanted to be in the costume contest. We didn't stay to find the results because the kids were so excited to go trick or treating to all the desks. We finally got to see where dad works.Then we came home and had pizza for dinner and Troy came over with his cute girls to go trick or treating with their cosins. I guess they had a lot of fun because they stayed out for a couple hours and came home with tons of candy. It was nice to have a really warm halloween for once. I don't ever remember it being this warm.
So later Kye and his girls came over to visit and they stayed till 11:30. Then we had busted out the boom-box and disco CD's and danced in the strobe light. We love those family dances we can act like complete fools and we still love each other. It was a great Halloween I will treasure these memories forever.