Skiing

Brian & I planned a skiing weekend for when Treyton left since we would not have any children at home. We were going to go to Sunrise, but they hadn't been getting any snow and it was uncertain whether they would have any by that weekend. So, when cousin Buck's wedding turned out to be that same weekend, we changed it to Brian Head so that we could do both and take my mom to the wedding.





I'm getting better (I did a couple of blue runs), but I'm still no where near as good as Brian (and likely never will be):


On the way home, we took the scenic route... (through southern Utah and the Grand Canyon)

"Gingerbread" Houses

My mom invited the kids over to make gingerbread houses a couple of weeks ago. Only Elise & Treyton were able to go, due to Ethan getting back really late from an out-of-town field trip. They had fun making them. Unfortunately, they were inadvertently covered in furniture polish when Brian was polishing the kitchen cabinets and had to be thrown out without being eaten.
Brian & I got to go see "Four Christmases" and share a "Founder's Favorite" at Cold Stone, both of which were good. :)

The next day, I took all three kids to Lowe's for their "gingerbread" house project.



Ethan was lucky enough to build his on his own. Unfortunately, the other two had my "help" and ended up with their lids nailed shut. I figured out how to fix them, and they are functional now.

Next month's project is a time capsule.
https://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/step1.asp

2008

I got our Christmas cards mailed off yesterday. We're "going green" this year by saving paper on the newsletter. :D Actually, I really wanted to put together a nice little newsletter on the year, etc. but I finally realized... it just wasn't going to happen. I decided my best bet would be to put the blog address on the cards (Thanks, Lisa!) and then try to post something here before the cards arrived to the addressees. :) So, here goes:

Brian
He's been working out of his new chiropractic clinic for just over a year now. It's been a learning experience, but things are going quite well. With the additional space he's been able to see more patients than he possibly could have before, as well as do more physical therapy with the gym area. At the time we did not feel the timing was ideal, but with the turn the economy has taken we now see that the timing could not have been more perfect and we're incredibly grateful for how well everything has turned out.


Chanda
I'm still working for Brian and we enjoy working together. I've been sewing a lot this year. I made Halloween costumes for Elise & Treyton (Ethan prefers gory costumes from the store) and have really improved my skills. Apparently following the directions really helps. ;) I also started my first patchwork quilt and have another one planned as soon as I finish the first one.

Brian & I celebrated our one-year anniversary last January by going skiing in Utah. We're looking forward to celebrating two years next month. :)

Ethan
Ethan is in 4th grade. He has been doing really well in Cub Scouts. He earned his Bear badge just before his tenth birthday and he is now in Webelos. He has been swimming most of the year and really enjoys that.

Elise
Elise is in 1st grade where she has been working really hard learning to read and is getting better all the time. She also is taking swimming lessons and enjoys that. Elise loves to help cook at home.

Treyton
Treyton is in Kindergarten. He played soccer in the spring. He likes to do "exercise" and eat things that will make him "strong and healthy." He is also learning to read and enjoys cutting out paper letters to make words.


We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year!!! :)

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving this year to spend it with Brian's family. It was the "off" year with his family so we did not get to see everyone we would have liked to and we did not get to spend as much time as we'd have liked with those we did see, but it was still enjoyable.

The day after Thanksgiving, Brian embarked to teach Elise & Treyton how to ski. There were a few tears, but all in all it went pretty well and they should be better next time around.


Brian's Mom got a cake for the kids' birthdays and we celebrated all three together.


The next day we went to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square with Bart (Brian's brother) & Shonnie's family.


On the way back home we stopped in Zion National Park.

Halloween

I made Elise's costume last year, so she asked me to make her a Snow White costume this year. She was determined that she needed to look exactly like Snow White, so I bought the officially-licensed (i.e. more expensive) pattern that is exactly like the movie. I also dyed her hair black with temporary spray-in stuff (which Brian informed me is incredibly messy to remove). But she wanted her GORGEOUS blue eyes to be brown like Snow White's, and that's where we drew the line.




Treyton did not specifically ask me to make his costume, but he wanted to be a "Pollen Jock" from The Bee Movie and the only way that was going to happen was if I made it for him (I did look, but I guess that was not the "hot" costume this year because I could not find one anywhere). I bought a basic bee costume, black sweats to wear underneath, sunglasses, and a Nerf gun. Then I made him a fleece vest to resemble the black leather jackets with yellow stripes that the Pollen Jock wear in the movie. At the last minute, he decided he needed yellow boots like the Pollen Jocks, so I made some fleece covers to velcro over his sneakers. And at the last last minute, Treyton decided I should cut holes in the vest so his wings could stick out! I was not about to cut holes in the vest I just made, so I cut out some gold fleece into wing shapes and safety-pinned them to the back of the vest.

My Brian

Brian is my perfect match. I never believed there was any such thing as a soul mate until I met him. He's my other half; hand-crafted just for me. I have learned so many things from him. He's a very hard worker and gives his all to everything he commits himself to. I'm so incredibly thankful to have him in my life.

What can I say? I LOVE HIM!!!

Happy Birthday to Brian!

After getting Treyton off to school, Brian and I went to IHOP for breakfast. His favorite breakfast is omelets, so he had one.

He had two patients scheduled for late morning, and then a new patient called and made an appointment. I don't think he should work on his birthday, but I also know he wouldn't enjoy it knowing he was missing out on business, so... here we are at work.

After the three patients, we are planning to catch a movie before the kids get out of school. It's Tuesday, so Brian gets Ethan & Elise. Ethan has Cub Scout pack meeting tonight @ 7, but we can probably do something fun together before that.

Autism Walk

I took Ethan & Elise to the Zoo Walk for Autism last Saturday (Oct 18; Treyton was still in Utah).


Their favorite exhibit was the little monkeys that pee on everything. : P


Then Elise rode the carousel.

We had our picture taken in the photo booth, but I haven't scanned that in yet.

E.T.

Brian's painting the house today. He has all the windows covered with brown paper, which makes it quite dark inside. The garage door is open, but covered with a clear, plastic drop cloth. I feel like that scene in E.T. where the house is enclosed. I'm expecting guys in space suits to come barging in at any moment...

Clarification:
He painted the outside of the house.

The first step is admitting you've got a problem.

Brian said he tossed and turned all night... dreaming about the upgrades he was going to do to the tent trailer. He wants to extend the hitch and weld some kind of storage system on there. I'm all for his plans to create additional storage, but if he's losing sleep over it... I think he may be a little too obsessed.

The kids are all out of school this week for fall break. He gets Ethan & Elise at noon and he's going to go do something with them while I have a girls day with Brenna. :)

P.S.
The house also stays amazingly clean with no kids around!

Quiet Sunday

It is SO WEIRD with no children around and having the house so quiet...

Cold Camping

The kids seemed to have lost their excitement about camping when we tentatively planned to go last weekend. So, we made other plans last weekend and then Brian & I went camping by ourselves this weekend. Turns out we still needed earplugs because the wind was howling like a freight train all night, but other than that it wasn't bad. Brian had made a bunch of upgrades to the tent trailer and this was our first (and probably last for the season) chance to enjoy them.
In addition to covering the top with rubberized paint and putting in trim all around the floor inside, he installed a stereo system (that also plays MP3s). It was too windy to really enjoy the outdoors, so it was quite nice to be cozy inside the tent trailer (oh, and he also fixed the heater when he was doing everything else).

Paige & a friend came up to stay with Treyton while we went camping, and then Paige took Treyton to the airport this morning. He was excited to go, but he was a little nervous, too. She said he was getting scared in the car on the way to the airport. She gave him a pep talk and told him how brave he was. It's not his first time flying by a long shot, but it's his first time flying unaccompanied. Also, he hasn't seen his "Matt dad" in a long time so that probably caused a little nervousness, too.

Peachy

I bought a case of peaches last week and it turned out being more peaches than I anticipated. Somehow, in my mind, a case consisted of a few flats of nicely arranged peaches. In reality, it was a whole box full of peaches with no other filler whatsoever.
I spent last week scouring the city to collect the proper equipment. This was my first canning excursion as an adult so I had nothing of my own. Both Wal-Marts I checked were completely out of canning jars, but I finally found some at Fry's (thanks to a tip from Carla). I found a big, canning pot at Wal-Mart, and all the other specialized stuff at Shar's.
Brian was afraid, however, that I would not actually get around to canning the peaches so he started the process on his own Saturday morning. Halfway through, I encouraged him to go ahead with his own Saturday plans (i.e., I gently threatened to take over his housepainting project like he was taking over my peach canning project) and he went on his merry way. :) What I didn't know what that he had already started to make a sugar syrup to can the peaches in. I had purchased white grape juice for that purpose. So I used what I thought was plain, boiling water to boil the skins off the peaches and... to sterilize my jars. I was wondering why they were cloudy until Brian wandered by and explained. Fortunately, by that point it was funny.

I ended up bottling 5 quarts (only 4 sealed, though), making two quarts of freezer jam (thanks again, Carla), and the rest will be regular jam in cute little half-pint jars. :)

Slideshow

Free Camping

I should have posted this before our free weekend getaway, since this was the weekend before, but I just didn't get around to it.

We went on our first camping trip with the tent trailer here.
The place we stayed a couple of a weeks ago was just a few miles away and cost $14/night. We were woken up multiple times (aside for from the screaming banshees, er, sleepwalking/talking children...) by headlights from other cars as it was a very busy campground.

This time, we found this campground that was secluded with all the spaces set pretty far apart. If it hadn't been for the sleeptalking (I think the trailer keeps them better contained as far as the sleepwalking goes) children that time, I think we would have slept really well. (I've since stocked the tent trailer with earplugs.) So, not only was this campground way better, it was FREE! : )
We stayed two nights and had a pretty relaxing time. : )




(Apparently we have a "lizard whisperer," too, Monica.)

Breakfast in the trailer while I tried to master my dollar store tripod.

Three, little helpers cleaning up camp

Our Free Weekend

Brian's windshield has been cracked for more than a year, but it was a small crack so he wasn't worried. Then the summer heat made it spread until it became blinding (and then, of course, he got pulled over and advised to get that fixed) so he decided it was finally time to replace it. The company he found came to him to fix it, and then mailed us a gift card to Macaroni Grill (where we had our first date).

My mom had offered to take Treyton the weekend before but we had been camping, so we decided to take her up on that the following weekend. I called my sister Carla for suggestions on where we could go for a quick getaway (she always knows all the best deals) and she gave us two suggestions. Brian called and made the reservations and we were off!

So, free babysitting from Grandma, free dinner from the glass company, and free lodging/food (paid for by sitting through a time-share presentation the next day)... There were a few hiccups in the plan, but over all it went off okay and Brian was especially pleased with the low cost of it all. : )
When it came time for the hard sell, all he had to do was tell them how much he's paying in spousal support and the guy let us go. 17.5 months to go...

Camping

So... we bought a little tent trailer and now we're going camping today after the kids get out of school. : )

Unfortunately, until Brian knocks out the block wall and puts in a boat gate, Audrey (my car) is evicted from the garage... : (

Labor Day

We had a BBQ and had a great time socializing! : )

My dear, sweet husband was kind enough to come outside and take a picture for us. : )

Anita, Carla, Paige, Chanda, Monica, Brenna


Anita, Carla, Stone, Paige, Chanda, Monica, Brenna, Elise's shoulder


Elise


Rocky's arm & forehead, Stone, Gma's lower torso, Treyton, Gavin

Labor Day also served as the combined birthday party for Dad, Cody(27), Brig, Rocky(28), Treyton(5), & Mom. Instead of swapping candles and taking pictures with the same cake like the last joint birthday party, age numerals were placed on opposing ends of two sheet cakes. : ) Very efficient. : )

Brocade

I decided I wanted to make a shirt for myself. I found a pattern I thought would look really nice in a silky fabric and brocade was on sale. How was I to know that it would turn out to be the single, most difficult fabric I've ever tried to work with? I'd had an extremely difficult time with the crepe I tried making a dress out of once, but that was nothing compared to this. The brocade virtually disintegrated in my hands as I tried to work with it.
I can't even adequately describe how difficult this project was. Very, very difficult.
Now I feel like an expert who can make pretty much anything. : )

Elise announced that she wants me to make her a shirt just like this one...
I don't know if I'm up for that just yet. I made her a
white princess dress last year for Halloween (that has doubled as a church dress since then) and I'm about to start making her a Snow White dress for this Halloween. After that, we'll see...



(I know I look kind of pregnant, but I assure you I am not.)

Painting II

Treyton picked up the camera and decided to take this picture all on his own. I had to help him turn it on, but he did the rest.


Shortly after this photo I ended up telling Brian that unless he wanted to replace the carpet, it wasn't a good idea to have me paint the trim. When we painted the walls, we had drop cloths in place. Without them, I can't help but get paint where it shouldn't be.

Painting

Before we were married, I gave Brian a gift card to Home Depot that I specified was to be used for paint. The master bedroom of this house had been painted a hideous shade of lavender by his former mother-in-law. I have my own reasons not to care for the woman, but that was one of the reasons high on his list.

Fast forward 19 months and our bedroom was still lavender. Within the past couple of weeks he developed this burning desire to paint the bedroom and finally insisted that it happen this weekend. I think part of it was our tax refund (the lone benefit of paying spousal support is that your taxable income is significantly reduced and a large refund is likely). Brian had a court hearing earlier this month and it didn't go very well. I think that's the other reason for the sudden urgency in painting. I think it gave him a sense of erasing the past figuratively since it can't be done literally.

Brian had patients this morning until about noon (and, of course, e-mailing the scammer guy). Then we spent the rest of the day emptying the room so it could be painted. I think it turned out quite well. I'll post pictures once everything is in place. I think it'll be even better than before because as everything gets put back, other unfinished things will get done, too. I have valances and curtain rods that have been waiting since... the same Christmas as the Home Depot gift card to be put up. They match the photo display curtain rod (Thanks Carla & Monica) that I made for this room, too.

Best of all, when all is said and done, I will have a permanent crafting area. : ) When he got tired of my stuff scattered all over the house, he put up two folding tables forming an L in the corner. Now those are going to be replaced by cabinets and a counter top. : ) I'm SO excited!!! I've been sewing a lot lately. I made another dress and a nightgown for Elise, then I made myself a blouse that was hands-down THE most difficult thing I've EVER made. I think that one deserves its own post. However, I've already posted more today than I have in the past year so... it'll have to wait.

Good night. : )

Craigslist scam

All I wanted was a tent trailer, for crying out loud in the dark!!!

Brian found a good deal on Craig's List and sent an e-mail. He was afraid it was already sold because the guy didn't respond right away. In all likelihood, the delay was due to the time difference between here and Nigeria...

Brian started getting all these weird e-mails referring to "the product" and telling him he'd have to use this third-party escrow-type service that would guarantee everything was safe. The first thing that caught my attention was that the e-mail said there were no scratches when the ad clearly said there was one "purley" (sic) cosmetic scratch. I Googled the name of the third-party service (Online Outpost) and my browser suggested that I might want to search for "Online Outpost Scam," indicating that there were more than 85,000 hits for that search term. That was clue #4. (Clue #3 was too much irrelevant information (e.g., "I'm a construction engineer.") which is typical for liars to give.)

I immediately called Brian to give him a heads up this was probably a scam. He replied to the e-mail saying he needed to see the trailer in person. The guy replied with pictures, but otherwise exactly the same e-mail. Then Brian said he'd need to talk via webcam. The exact same e-mail was received again (claiming to need a fax number and all kinds of other unnecessary information). The e-mails kept promising that after providing all contact information, then he would receive "confirmation" that the third-party had "the product" in their possession.

At this point, Brian started messing with him and e-mailed asking whether it was a V-6 or V-8. I'm fed up with it though and asked him to stop wasting our time and told him he's a pathetic waste of oxygen who should learn a real skill instead of trying to scam others out of their honestly earned money. "Pathetic waste of oxygen"probably isn't translated in their detailed scam instructions, so from what I've read about this scam on the Internet, I can still expect the same response as all his previous ones: "Please let me know what is your opinion and if you agree to start the transaction."

Family Reunion

back LtoR: Weston, Cody, Colton, Brian, Brig, Jim, Lance, Paige
middle: Rocky, Brenna, Chanda, Treyton, Carla, Gavin, Aftynn, Monica, Maci, Anita
front: Ethan, Elise, Stone, Brynn, Madison

Lance & Ethan


Elise


Treyton


Chanda