Hoping

Here is the home we recently put a bid on. It is a short sale, so we'll see what happens. At this point, we are just waiting and hoping.

M.I.A.

I realize we have been missing in action lately. Matt and I have been living with my parents for the last 3 weeks, and have done no blogging while we are here. We don't have the ability to upload any pictures, so we'll just catch up later.

Lots has happened.

Holidays

Another Christmas come and gone....it happened so quickly, I didn't even get to chronicle it. We have had lots of snow lately...lovely, fluffy snow, so my family went sledding (I call it sleigh riding, but Matt has assured me I am incorrect, since we did not actually ride on a sleigh. I still like my term better)

PS Do we look cold? It was cold.

PSS Matt made the hat I'm wearing...my Christmas gift. Isn't it cute?

A close-up of THE hat. What a lucky girl I am. Ignore the gross cold sore on my lip

Be honest, does she look like "Randy" from "A Christmas Story?"

Christmas Eve was especially exciting. My parents received their mission call. Drum roll, please.....The Philippines MTC. My mom will be the medical advisor and my dad will be her assistant. You can see the look of shock and horror on my mother's face as thecall is read, but we are all confident in her abilities. (Sorry about the picture, Mom, but it is just too perfect) They leave March 30, and will be missed greatly! What can we say...the Philippines await!!

Santa came....brought Sophie a cooing doll and a baby stroller. She adores them both, but we didn't get any pictures of her playing with them. Bonus: the doll has a secret recording that says: "Islam is the Light" Didn't pay extra for that.

I'm actually laughing out loud as I post this picture. Family portrait Christmas morning with the camera on a timer. The best we could do. I have been told I'm sort of a "group shot" kind of person. I have to agree. Every event, I try to at least get a group shot. No artistic candid shots, just lurpy group shots.

It wouldn't be Christmas without an evening of lights at Temple Square...and yummy dinner at the Lion House. Ever had their rolls with honey butter? Mmm.

New Year's Eve, eery resemblance to white rapper, Eminem. He could not have been more in character as he sang to the "Beastie Boys" on Rock Band. A moment I will forever store in my brain. I think he really felt like a rock star...have to admit, I didn't exactly hate it.

I am his groupie

Our lovely hostess/host for New Year's Eve party

Had to include this picture...Sophie found this bead hat in Gramsie's box of dress-ups and would NOT let me take it away. Wore it all day. Maybe it makes her feel like a princess. Who knows.

Give Thanks

A perfect Thanksgiving, in my opinion. Growing up, my family and I spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house in Kalispell, Montana. We managed the trip in a wood-paneled station wagon with 9 people in the car. My mom would have my younger sister on her lap, and I and my older sister would sit in the front seat between my mom and dad. The other four siblings sat in the back seat. It was definitely tight, but I look back on it fondly.

This was the first year Matt and I were able to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and for me, it was bliss. I love the quaint little town, my Aunt and Uncle's cozy little home, and the wonderful smells of Thanksgiving dinner. It was very nostaligic.

One of the best parts of the trip was playing games at night. We were in a hotel, so we all put our kids to bed, plugged in the monitor, and met in my parents' room for intense game-playing. We laughed a lot, stayed up late, and ate plenty of popcorn and junk food.

We also took Sophie to Madagascar 2. Surprisingly, she sat through the ENTIRE show. I only had to leave about 5 minutes early to change her diaper. We shopped, of course, but we didn't do the 4 am thing. Not worth it in my opinion. Kalispell has a great little downtown with some fun shops. We spent more time there than anything. Lastly, we ate. We ate at some yummy, unique restaruants, and we enjoyed the after Thanskgiving turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce. My fav. A perfect Thanksgiving, in my opinion.

30

This guy turned 30... about 3 weeks ago (So I get behind on blogging sometimes.) I threw a surprise party for him, which apparently wasn't much of a surprise after all. He had some hints along the way.

Anyhoo, we had a lot of fun with it. I asked everyone to bring an inexpensive, or even free gift of something that reminded them of Matt. He's such a funny, quirky guy, some pretty great ideas came out of it. Among them were: a bidet, a dented toy car (A story from high school), plastic money, an afro wig, a home perm kit (yes, he once permed his hair), a weird plastic skull head with hair (story from high school involving a locker war). We laughed at the stories everyone had to share about Matt and also enjoyed a little cake.

I also put together a memory book as a gift for Matt. I asked several friends and family members to contribute pictures and stories to make this a really special gift. I spent countless hours on the computer putting it all together, and it finally arrived in the mail on Saturday. I was so excited to show Matt, and this is what it looked like:

The cover--looks pretty good (even though my picture of it isn't so great) But once we opened the book up, this is what we saw: pictures of some guy HUNTING and drinking beer. I was mad at first about the mix-up, but then we got a pretty good laugh about it!

I'm not a fan of hunting, so these pictures of gutting a dear completely gross me out.

Yeah, that's right, drinking from a beer bong.

Hopefully the REAL book will arrive in the mail soon!

Halloween

I know, delayed Halloween posting, but better late than never, am I right? I got behind on my blogging because of a surprise birthday party I threw for Matt recently (more info on that later)

Halloween this year was a lot of fun, especially since Sophie actually grasped the concept a little bit. She insisted on carrying her own treat bucket (who can blame her?!), and it was hilarious to watch her decide on which candy to pick. Lots of suckers. And thanks to this candy-filled holiday, she now officially knows what candy is, and asks for it all the time.

Check out this adorable picture my friend Veronica took of Sophie. Yes, she is a rock star photographer. Check her out http://veronicareeve.com/

Wheeler Farm

My cousin, Vanessa, and I are only 2 months apart in age. We have always been pretty close and spent lots of time together when we were younger. We were kind of weird, though. When Vanessa slept over at my house, we would sneak up to the kitchen late at night and eat, get this, homemade dill pickles. We loved them, and would usually make several trips to the fridge.

Fast forward 20 years, we have toddlers only 6 weeks apart in age. I love how it all worked out and we try to get these two together once a month. This month we made the trip to Wheeler Farm and let them see cows, sheep, horses, chickens, and my personal favorite, baby pigs. so cute. We also took a ride for the steep price of $1.50 on a wagon to tour the entire farm. (I love how inexpensive Utah is!)

Sophie showing me Hayden's eye