Christmas...a bit late...

...but since our Christmas tree is still up, it doesn't feel as late.


My first White Christmas! This is what our front yard looked like Christmas morning. Isn't it beautiful!


Our family room Christmas Morning. Santa found Tanner and Kate!


We had two Christmas tree's this year. I wasn't sure if we would be moving back to UT before Christmas, so we set up a little tree in AZ.


Tanner loved it because he could reach the top! Well, almost.


Our Christmas tree in UT.  Even though we still had boxes all over from moving, I insisted that we put our Christmas tree up.  It was our first Christmas in our house, there was no question where my priorities were.


Tanner coming around the corner to see his...


"...Big, noisy digger!" This is the only thing Tanner asked for, he saw this digger at Costco, and LOVED it. He had to have it. Look how happy he is, I Love it!


Trying the buttons out.


Kate's first Christmas. Playing with her new phone!


Loved opening the presents. We could have just wrapped empty boxes and she would have been happy.


Trying out her new "Peek-a-boo" toy.


Tanner trying out his new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Magnet book from Grandma (see, she always gives the coolest books!). He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!


"Wow, it's snowing in there!" I loved these as a kid, they seem so magical!


Kate trying to reach Tanner's chocolate from his stocking. She always wants whatever Tanner has in his hand.


My beautiful babies in their matching Christmas jammies. Merry Christmas everyone!

A Visit to Texas!

I know I haven't posted for a while. Things have been sooo busy! We moved back to Utah (yeah!) a few days before Christmas. The day before we moved we spent several days in Texas for my younger brother's graduation. He graduated from Texas A&M. We had so much fun hanging out with my family, and seeing Spencer get his diploma. We are so proud of you!

I'm going to be a posting machine for a while. Here's our trip to Texas...



Tanner thought it was very cool that he could check out the cockpit of the plane when we were waiting to take off. He was amazed by all the buttons.


The night we got there, we were quite entertained with Tanner's piano skills and...


...Kate's flexible gymnast moves. (I still can't believe this picture when I see it, she's doing the splits!)


The happy graduate! Isn't my brother so handsome!


Gig' Em!


Spence with his favorite niece and nephew (they are the only ones, so I can say that).


I love this picture because Kate and Tanner are looking at each other and NOT the camera. I'm sure Kate probably grabbed Tanner or something so he was her his "How dare you" glare.


My wonderful family! I miss them so much!


Spencer and his BEAUTIFUL girlfriend Claudia (whom we adore by the way!)


Getting a well deserved kiss!


Spencer and my adorable mom and dad.


Giving Spence the greatest graduation gift! 6 of us in this picture are BYU Alumni, but we dressed up in Aggie gear to get a picture that he would always remember. Love you Spence!


Acting silly, and giving the famous "gig' em" sign. We had such a great time with everyone. We love you!

Kate's Grandma...

My mom is the most adorable grandma to my sweet babies. You will never meet a more sweet, gentle, kind, and loving woman in the entire world. I feel so blessed that my children have such a wonderful grandma! I took advantage of some Grandma and Kate time and started snapping pictures...


My mom is a school teacher, so she always has the coolest books. All the books she has sent to Tanner have become his favorites. Here my mom is reading to Kate. She's absolutely loving it.


LOVE this picture! LOVE you mom!

Hooray we're back in Utah! Matt wasted no time testing out the snow!

Here are some beautiful photos he took of his backcountry trip with Ryan, his brother.

Star of the Show!!

A few months ago, Matt was asked to be a speaker at the Best Practice Seminar, a Sales and Marketing Summit for Assisted Living.  

The invite alone is quite a big deal.  This is a National Seminar where people pay $1000 to attend.  Everyone else presenting (as you can see from the program), are all widely well known as the tops in their fields of expertise.  So, as I'm sure you can imagine, Matt was quite intimidated but decided it was a great opportunity, so he gladly accepted the invitation.

Today was the big day and let's just say, as the title says, he was the "Star of the show!"  He was blown away and humbled by the rush of people who came up to him after he presented.  "You were by far the best presenter," "You are the reason I came to this conference," "Phenomenal" are just some of the comments others made to him.  They had to ask Matt to step out in the hall afterward because there were so many people who wanted to talk to him and they needed to get on with the rest of the conference!  They even invited Matt to present at next years conference in Florida as well (with an hour time block instead of 20 minutes).

I am so proud of you Matt!  You deserve every bit of praise.  I have been watching you for almost 6 years now develop into the incredibly talented V.P of Marketing for Courtyard Senior Living.  It has been a long, not always easy, road and today I hope you felt a small amount of why we keep telling ourselves, "This will all be worth it in the end."   Congratulations sweetie! I love you!

We've Been Elfed!!

If you want to see us do a little elf song and dance, go here.

Back to Winter!!!

Over Thanksgiving Vacation, Matt got back into the mountains with some climbing friends. Here's the link to his website post with additional photos.

I love her...

How can you not?

Another day at the Zoo...

Here's another sweet movie Matt made. We went to the zoo last weekend and took some footage of Tanner's favorite places and animals to visit. It's kind of long (5 minutes), but I know the grandparents out in Texas and Utah will appreciate it. 

I've been Tagged...

Life-fixing classes

Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It’s more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you’d also like to take.  Tag five.

Photography--I would most definitely take this class with Holly.  If there is anything I want to do as a mother it is making sure I capture life's little moments, remembering all the fun times we have, and photographing the uniqueness of each of my children.  I love Holly's pictures because they capture emotion, I definitely want to learn how to do this better.  I want to remember my children's expressions, how they reacted to certain situations, and their sweet personalities.  You can most definitely capture this on film, if you have the right tools, the quick eye, and some knowledge of what you are doing. Every time I take pictures, I hope to get a little better...

Running--I would take this class with my sister-in-law Lauren, and Leah Humberstone (I really enjoy reading about your success Leah). I have run on and off since I was in college.  I really enjoy running, it is very therapeutic, especially if you have good tunes and a moment to get out and breathe in the fresh air.  I love it!  I would love to start running in races, 5k's 10k's, Half Marathon's etc.  I have been out of shape for so long, that I need to take this course so I could ease into it the right way.  I have weak knees and need to strengthen them before I get into it, but I know this would help me reach me health/exercise goals.

Religion/Spirituality--I would take this course with my mom, actually I would take the course from her.  She is one of the most consistent and spiritual people I know.  I think of those primary songs, "I see my mother kneeling..."  I would always see my mother kneeling in prayer and reading her scriptures, writing in her journal and never missing the "important" things like FHE.  I never thought much of it when I was little, but as a mother now, trying to fit everything in, I really admire that she constantly made it a priority.  She made it seem so easy.

Organization--I would take this class from my mother-in-law.  She knows where to find anything in a moments notice.  She has a great filing system that keeps everything organized, she has an amazing closet that organizes everything that most of us just throw in a junk drawer.  I love that.  Many times during the day I throw m hands up in the air just wishing I were more organized--maybe living in a tiny apartment that I only planned to live in for 3 months, and it has now been 9, has something to do with it. =)

Mothering--I would take this class with and from all the wonderful friends that I have and mothers that I know.  I think every mother wishes they were a little better in something, or a few somethings.  If we could pool all our ideas together, we could teach each other so much.  I would focus on the "patience" and "relax, their just kids", sections.  I admire so many of you for your patience with letting your kids just be kids.  I really, really need to work on that.

Fashion--I feel so frumpy sometimes.  I want to feel cute, even if I'm just running around in my workout clothes.  I would take this class with my sister-in-law Lauren, and my friend Kendra.  Teach me how to accessorize, both of you seem to have it down.  I wish I had more courage and confidence to accessorize, I think that would make a big difference.

Cooking/Nutrition--I love cooking and I love nutrition, and I can't seem to get enough information.  Matt will laugh at me because I'll buy a book I'll have only gotten about a third of the way through the one I bought prior.  I'd take this class with anyone who wants to learn more.

I tag Brynn, Ashley H., Jessica W., Andrea C, and Meg G.

October 31st...

October 31st is widely well-known as Halloween. We love Halloween and luckily, it is another special day for us too.  It's Matt's Birthday!!  We Love you Baby, and so we did all we could to make it a special day for you.  Hope you had a wonderful birthday, you deserve it!

The lovely breakfast table.  We started the day off having a traditional morning breakfast and opening presents. I made Matt's favorite, Blueberry Muffins and OJ.

My darling family!  I think Kate was a little unsure about the animal that was on her daddy's back (the hood to his costume was on his back).

I had to post this one.  What a darling girl!!  Such a sweet expression.

So this is where Matt leaves for work, and my day starts going downhill...

Today, this picture makes me smile.  Yesterday I wasn't smiling, in fact, I was so close to loosing it.  Tanner was really, REALLY getting under my skin yesterday.  He would not take a nap, I'm sure he was just excited, but he would just keep running out of his room, saying, "I'm awake."  So, I put him back in his room and told him that if he got out of his room again, I would take all his toys away until tomorrow.  He jumped up and followed me out.  So, I started to put his toys up on top of the kitchen counter, and the little stinker started helping me--he would go grab some toys and bring them too me.  So, then I put him back in his room again and told him we wouldn't go trick-or-treating if he got up again.  He's been very excited about going, so I thought for sure he wouldn't fight it anymore.  But, he jumped up again and followed me out.  Dang it!  I was really looking forward to taking him trick-or-treating, but I had to follow through, so we didn't end up going. (Another side note, I was venting to my mother-in-law later and Tanner asked if he could talk to Cole, and while he was talking to Cole I heard him say, "No, I'm not going trick-or-treating, I wouldn't go to bed, and mommy said I would be in trouble if I didn't go to bed, so now I'm in trouble." It's funny now, but at the time, I just wanted to scream).  We did go visit Matt at work because the residents wanted to see the kids all dressed up.  And of course, after about 2 minutes in the car, I looked in my mirror and this is what I saw.  Why do they fight it?  I'm just glad a good night's sleep allows me to look at this today and smile!

My cute family, Tanner the "Spider," Daddy the "Lizard," and Kate the most adorable "Pile of Leaves" I've ever seen.

Too Cute!

But of course, I am VERY biased.

My tired, little spider playing by the rocks at daddy's work.

Enjoying some Reese's Pieces from an employee--the ONLY treat he got on Halloween.

Asking Mommy to "Climb the Mountain."  I think it is adorable that he calls big rocks mountains. 

Look at me Mommy, I made it to the top of the mountain!!

Getting ready to blow out daddy's candles.  I think this picture is so funny.

Blow those candles out!

Mmmmmm, candy corn is my favorite!  Sorry Mary, I couldn't wait for you to cut me a slice.

Daddy did it!

Mmmmm, this is good, I want some more!

Overall, I have to say it was a great day.  We celebrated a wonderful father, husband, and friend, and I didn't have to think of what to do with all the Halloween candy, because there wasn't any.  LOL!