To be sick or not to be sick

Holly stayed home from school today because she was sick (and I had the evidence in a bowl this morning to prove that she was sick). I've been around a while, so I know all the kid's tricks for playing sick. She was really sick! But, you sure wouldn't be able to tell that now, four hours later. Here she is sitting on her bed with a cute cap on her head, watching Psych, eating Coco Puffs and rearranging her stuffed animals.

I've heard of the 24 hour flu and maybe even the 12 hour flu, but come on, the 4 hour flu. It's just weird!

Totally awesome 8th grade field trip

Today I chaperoned on the 8th grade field trip. It was really great! It was a two day BYU/UVU field trip today and tomorrow. Since there are 600 8th graders, I wasn't sure how it was all going to work out and how organized it was going to be. For the most part, it was organized and a really good experience for the kids. The group I was with today went to BYU. We got to see a presentation in the new Hinckley visitor center, the Bean Museum, and the Planetarium in the Eyring Science Center. It ended with a tour of LaVell Edwards Stadium including the locker rooms. Way cool! I had never been inside a real live college football locker room before.

Overall, it was totally awesome. I wished they would've done something like that when I was in Junior High. I really think it gets the kids thinking about college at a fairly young age and it helps them see that college really is a possibility for them.

The only thing I regret is not taking my camera with me. Oh well, fun times! And I don't think Jill was too embarrassed to have me along.

Better late than never

We returned a week ago from our Christmas trip to California. We had a really great time once we got past the car sickness and the throwing up. We enjoyed the nice weather and the fog. Since I grew up in California, fog (not snow) always reminds me of Christmas. I'd actually even be okay if I never had a white Christmas, imagine that. We devoured lots of yummy food, which included homemade Chinese, Mexican, and American, a traditional breakfast at the bowling alley, and New Year's Eve homemade clam chowder. Our visit would not have been complete without many competitive games of Perudo, Malarky, Settlers, Apples to Apples and lots of family time.

Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Cousins and sleepovers are the best. It's always the coziest in Grandma's (Nana's) bed.

Hangin' with the cousins.

Great Grandma and Grandpa are the best - Thanks for the delicious prime rib and shrimp cocktail.

Ready, Set......... New Year's Eve

Just waiting for the festivities to begin

Inseparable cousins and best friends

Here's Grandpa (Shrimps) taking a little break before the clock strikes midnight.

The two little men

Jill and her little shadow

Monopoly - the All American non-competitive game - Not!

And finally, announcing 2009 (even though it was really only 11:00 p.m.) The younger kids were falling asleep and we knew they wouldn't make it to midnight, so we poppered early.

The poppers can make you crazy.

The explosion of the poppers. :)

I think it could really start a new trend.

Friends for life

Who is this "old lady" with the huuuuuuge glasses?

Oh, to have such long locks of curls.

Is it a clown? Is it a fancy lady? Or is it Kevin?

Amazing Grandparents

Another set of amazing grandparents

Thanks for the great times and the good memories.

The best of 2008

This is my final post for the year 2008. Thanks for the tag Krissi. It was fun reminiscing about the events of the past year.

Here goes:

My Top 12 events of 2008
1. We purchased our first SUV. It became a necessity for me, when I got stuck in the snow for 3 hours in my van.

2. I received the calling as Primary Chorister - for the first time ever. I guess they think since you can play the piano then you can also lead. It's been a lot of fun. The kids are great.

3. I was finally able to have all my varicose veins treated. Although a long and painful process, definitely worth it in the end.

4. Our third child, Megan was baptized. We had a great experience and it was a lot of fun to have all the family together in one place.

5. We made our summer trip to California and had a very memorable time. We visited with lots of friends and family, and we even made it up to Sacramento to our old stomping grounds. Great fun!!

6. We took Jill and Kevin to Magic Mountain for the first time. What a blast!

7. Camping at Bear Lake for the first time was a definite hit. It made it even better to be there with family. I think it will become a fun tradition every year.

8. Our youngest, Holly, started first grade which means that all of our kids are in school all day. Wow!! I was able to start substituting in the schools. Fun times.

9. Our oldest, Jill, became a teenager this year. She's a great kid. Teenagers are actually pretty nice people.

10. I was able to pull off the first ever, real surprise for Zaron for his birthday. Very fun!

11. Kevin started and ended his first successful football season injury free.

12. I watched a marathon for the first time and what made it even more memorable was my sister ran it and very successfully. It was her first marathon. Great job Sis! I also ran in my second 5k race and didn't do too badly.

Bonus event #13 (I know I said 12, but 13 is such a lucky number.)
We enjoyed a very nice Thanksgiving and Christmas with lots of family this year and we made lots of great memories. I learned that you can brine a turkey successfully as long as it's cold enough outside and you have an ice chest large enough to hold it.

2008 was Great! Bring it on 2009!

One of life's happy moments

Yesterday, Zaron and I decided to take advantage of some of his free time off from work. We went to Salt Lake and attended the temple and then went to lunch at The Garden. We had a very nice time. When we returned that afternoon, as we drove up to our house, we saw all four of our kids out in their snow clothes playing together in the snow. It was a happy sight to see.

This picture doesn't show it very well, but the mounds of snow in front of our house are "ginormous".

One of Life's happy moments!