Our Sweet Life in the Valley

Tis the Season

2011-12-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

I actually paid Jacob $5 to sit on Santa's lap. I'm the one having growing pains... ;)

7 Mile Beach- Jacob's favorite place in the world!
Jacob with cousin Ty at A Christmas Carol play!!

Cinnamon Creme Syrup Neighborhood Deliveries- Jacob is our runner. What are we going to do when he grows up?
Annual Deerfield Christmas Program
New favorite appetizer- Walnut Date crostini with English coastal cheese

Christmas Party

2011-12-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

It'a always fun to have a reason to get together for good food, great company and fun games.

Linda gave us all marshmallow guns, which was hilarious ;)
Best cooks I know!

La Jolla Groves

2011-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve's Eve dinner with friends at my favorite restaurant= happy mom.

My new favorite appetizer thanks to Pat and Karen ;)
Stuffed Gorgonzola Crimini' mushrooms... mmmm.

Caprese Salad was fantastic

Stake Activity Day

2011-12-29T23:40:00.001-08:00

Our stake primary activity day theme this year was Plant, Grow, Bloom. What a great day. Hundreds of darling little girls came to 4 classes on modesty, (testimony class below) friendship and integrity. This is our favorite activity of the year I think! ;) We had our best turn out ever this year.
Journals for testimony class

Candy seed favors to put in their bag of treasures. They made something in every class- journals, bracelets, pens and took home modesty hangers (hanger with a quote about modesty to hang in their closet as a reminder every morning when they get dressed)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

What's up in 2011

Elise is a sophomore at BYU and absolutely loving her time there! She serves on the board for the Liahona Children's Foundation, a charity endorsed by the church that works with wards and stakes in South America to provide nutritional supplements as well as educational needs. She works on promotion, advertising and the web site.

She was able to go over the summer on a Humanitarian trip, and had an unforgettable experience. I was a nervous wreck with 9 flights and traveling all over Peru and Ecuador.
There was political unrest in Puno that was preventing them from reaching a village, but members from their previous area traveled on an overnight bus with them and stayed in the hotel they would be safe and reach the members that were waiting for them. Talk about service.
One of the most touching experiences for Elise was when members would gather and dance and sing when they came and present handmade gifts to them. All from people who have literally nothing. It was an unforgettable experience for her. The little girls were soooo excited to get their nails painted pretty colors in between sessions. Pic: Elise drying a little girl's nails... ;) happy heart picture. She was also able to visit Machu Picchu which was a big highlight!!
Elise came home just in time to watch Jacob for 3 weeks while Lynn and I were gone, then found a job at a call center taking polls and customer service feedback.
She hated it to say the least, but got the job easily typing a crazy 120 wpm with out mistakes. I knew texting and fb had some sort of purpose! ;) She had been waiting on an opening at Novell with Lynn, but the company was bought out over the summer and intern hiring on hold.
She stuck it out at work for a month and then was recommended by her boss to interview for an editing job in Orem. She was thrilled to get the job as an Editor in the corporate office and happily retired her phone skills for good. She has a cubicle, security badge and a boss named Jan. Kinda feels like "The Office" ;) She works with a good friend which makes it fun. Elise has become quite the crafter and enjoys projects, pinterest and cooking.

Jacob is in 5th grade and loves (to put it mildly) his teacher (who is a man) I have to say Mr. Wells is the best and I am already sad for school to end next year. Jacob really enjoys math, reading and computer science. This is the age of jump drives and lap tops I guess!
Minor League Baseball was lots of fun this past summer and his team took 1st place! Jacob hit a home run during one of the championship games and played pitcher and 3rd base. Tackle football was a thrill and he loved every minute (ok, maybe not the two a days) He was sooo proud to be a Caveman football player and they went to the league championships taking 2nd.

Jacob has become fashion conscience this year and enjoys shopping-- a lot. He is worse than Elise was! He told me he has to look good for "the ladies" ...oh wow, what am I in for with this little latin lover? He went though a fedora phase recently- as you can see...

Lynn & I celebrated our 25th anniversary traveling through Italy for 3 weeks. We started in Rome and rented a car traveling and eating all through Tuscany and Umbria, over to the Italian Riviera through all the food towns like Parma and Modena and ending in Venice. It was a magical trip and I think the most romantic one too! We look back on those memories with great fondness. We stopped off in NY for the weekend on our way and really enjoyed our visit with Jeff, Juliane and kids!
Novell was bought out this summer and ended up being a great thing. Lynn is very happy with his work, although he is spread thin and there is always more to do than hours in the day.
He took a week off work in Sept. to help get ready for the opening of Five Guys #5 store in Buffalo NY area. Store #6 is slated to open in the next few weeks. This month he took another week off to replace our tile and carpet with hardwood. He did a fantastic job.

I do pta, room mom stuff and help in Jacob's classroom. I love my book club and we've had some fun adventures this year! I started Italian lessons and took a night class at uvu with a good friend. So fun! I need to keep learning so I have an excuse to go visit again ;)
Lynn is still serving as stake executive secretary and is always engaged in that work, and really enjoys the great men he works with. I serve in stake primary and love the women I work with and the wards I serve. I loooove primary!

I had a health scare this month and more than anything I realized how fortunate we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the priesthood available to us. As I was reading about the angel who brought the news of the Savior's birth to the shepherds I loved the feeling of anticipation that came with that news and feel the Christmas season carries that same anticipation of accepting the glad news of the gospel with all it's blessings. Have a very Merry Christmas!

With love,
Debbie, Lynn and family

Book Club Dinner!

2011-12-10T22:44:00.001-08:00

An evening with women I love was just what I needed! I hadn't laughed that much in a long time ;) We missed Jennifer who was at temple square. We reviewed the book A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman, but mostly laughed, made memories and talked about our family traditions.
Milk & Cookies Dessert

Centerpiece of branches with snowflakes and ribbon I am in love with from Tai Pan.

Neighborhood Annual Party

2011-12-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

This was the 12th annual neighborhood luminary walk and party. So much fun!! Santa, cocoa, cookies, bonfires and hay rides! I couldn't even get Jacob to pose with Santa this year. The same Santa comes every year, real beard and everything. I remember when Jacob used to run behind Lou Hall's home to see if he could find santa's sleigh and the reindeer.

Lynn loading up the next group to head out for a ride to see the neighborhood lights.
Hot chocolate break

Giving Thanks

2011-12-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving came so quickly! It was wonderful to take time with family and enjoy the holiday weekend and remember all we can be grateful for. After dinner the adults had a discussion led by my father on Abraham. It was really wonderful discussion and great to get everyone's perspective.

Is there such thing as enough food? Never!
Kids table
Jacob and I made mini pies!!

In keeping with the mini theme, we made mini cheeseballs you can just take and put on your plate with some crackers.Giant Cupcakes- go figure. These were pumpkin carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Elise making her famous chocolate brownie trifle
Flavored butters

Fall Stake Primary Dinner

2011-12-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Popcorn Bar

Tricks & Treats!

2011-12-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars fad ended, football gear on for trick or treating I guess... ;)

Fall Break in Park City

2011-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Jacob let me takes pictures - usually I have to bribe him though. He was really into a Bruno Mars phase and loves this hat... loves it.

Scarecrow Hike

Five Guys in Buffalo area

2011-12-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

Lynn and his brothers have been expanding our FiveGuys franchise. He took a week off work this fall and headed back to Western NY to help Steve get ready for the opening of store #5 in Buffalo area. Long 16 hr days and hard work, but it was fun.

They even got on the news! I had added the news clip but it seems unavailable right now. Store #6 slated to open in mid December. http://amherst.wgrz.com/news/news/59550-five-guys-burgers-and-fries-opens-wny

Elise turns 20 conference weekend

2011-11-30T23:49:00.000-08:00

General Conference Sunday session

Elise turns 20!! A busy college girl who works part time is hard to get time with sometimes, so we are happy whenever we get to see her. Hard to believe my baby is a grown woman. She has blessed our lives for 20 years and we are so grateful to have her in our family. ;) What would our lives be like without her? We celebrated with a fun dinner and something red and shiny in the parking lot.

Born to be a Caveman

2011-11-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

I've never seen a boy so proud to be a Caveman ;) Jacob loved (loved is an understatement) tackle football this year. They went into the playoff's and almost won the very last game, but came in second to Lehi. I've never seen him work so hard at practices and games or eat so much in my life.Jacob did really well during this game against PG and the coach let him to run the Flag at halftime.
Cutest thing ever.

Wyoming Cabin Trip!

2011-11-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yearly bookclub trip to Meghan's cabin in Wyoming. Great friends, great food, hilarious river rafting, lots of laughing, good talks, late nights, and great naps!! So much fun, what an amazing group of girl friends who inspire me constantly! This year Ginger put a book together of some of the pictures from our past years adventures. It is so darling and such a great memento!!

Park City Summer Trip

2011-11-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

Cabin above Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City. The Wisers invited us up to vacation at their employers fabulous cabin. 6 floors, elevator, on demand movies and a dream kitchen stocked for our visit. What could be better? ;) The were so sweet to invite us, we all had a great time. The girls went to a concert, we shopped, hiked and played games.

Game Night!
Backyard

Game Room
Jacob modeling his back to school purchases.

Jacob played diner owner the whole time. We all sat and ordered at one time or another.
Kristi on the deck...

Minor League JOY!

2011-11-29T19:51:00.000-08:00

Lynn was one of Jacob's coaches for the Yankees. They went to the championship and won 1st place. Below is Jacob's Homerun during the playoff's. He was thrilled as you can see in the next picture!Priceless face..
Celebrating after his home run hit ;)

Elise's Humanitarian Trip

2011-11-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

Blank until I can get her pictures ;)

Summer Fun

2011-11-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

4th of July

What could be better than a beautiful and not overly hot 4th of July? We got lucky and had Lagoon without crowds. Heaven. Elise brought friend and we stayed up there overnight.Lagoon Water Park
Deer Creek with cousins!!

Lynn, Jeff, Juliane water skiing in background

Cousin Fun at the Splash Park in Alpine

ITALIA- Rome

2011-11-22T20:25:00.000-08:00

Roman Colosseum

ROME was the first stop on our 25th anniversary trip. We spent months planning out route details and studying things we wanted to see and 3 wonderful weeks away on vacation! I am going to have to severely edit myself here, but I did post a lot of pictures on fb. We had visited Milan and some surrounding towns ten years ago, but this trip we wanted to take our time and explore more of the country.
The hardest part was realizing there is never enough time to see everything. Greece, Almalfi coast, Capri etc.. will have to wait for next time!
We spent three romantic weeks together celebrating twenty five years. It was the best trip I think we have ever taken and I will always keep those memories close. The shot below is a view of the Colosseum from Palatine Hill. Below that is the stone walkway that leads from the cololsseum through the Arch of Titus into the Roman Forum.
Inside the Arch of Titus, with a relief showing the sacking of the Jerusalem temple by the Romans.

GIOLITTI'S by the Pantheon, was fabulous- said to be the best gelato in Rome- I think we tried countless gelaterias, this one was on the top of the list ;)

Italia- Rome 2

2011-11-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Vatican City
Rome's Fountains
Some of the best times we had in Rome were spent walking at night. The city is so stunning. We ended up at the Trevi fountain a few of the nights. It's so beautiful lit up.

Walk to the PantheonInside the Pantheon

View of Roman Forum
We ate.. according to Lynn the BEST Lasagna he's ever had in a little Trattoria in Rome. I'm not a big fan of lasagna, but I LOVED it too. This was his favorite until we got to the coast. ;)

Tuscany

2011-11-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

We loved driving through Italy and especially Tuscany. There are countless Hill Towns to see.

Volterra has incredible views, etruscan artifacts and wonderful history.
Etruscan Arch- oldest known. Early example of arch and keystone.
Newly uncovered Roman Theatre
We stayed several days in a villa in Sienna and took day trips to surrounding areas by car. Sienna is magical, especially at night. Below is entrance to the ancient walled city.

Trattoria
Best meal in Sienna... wow.

Hill Town Orvieto's Duomo has the most elaborate and decorated facade in Italy.
Ever wonder where some of the beautiful hand painted pottery at Sur La Tab comes from? Right here... Hill towns are wonderful, We also saw San Gimignano which was fabulous.

Florence

2011-11-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

What a marvelous place Florence is. I felt like I could see Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael or Botticelli walk around the corner at any time. It seems unchanged.

Viewing the David was a remarkable experience.
End of the day viewing Florence at Sunset. Bucket list item.

Cinque Terre

2011-11-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

We spent several days on the Italian Riviera at the Cinque Terre- five villages connected together by a hiking path and then in the 60's or 70's I think, the train connected them. Truly enchanting villages and very beautiful.

Pesto Lasagna

Venice

2011-11-07T19:34:00.000-08:00

On our way from the Riviera to Venice we stopped in Parma- lifelong fantasy fulfilled ;) We also stopped in Modena for Balsamic and Bologna. Parmigiano Reggiano Factory below.Venice is a magical place as well. It's best to just get lost in it's maze of streets.

Pink Lights...

NYC

2011-10-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

In May we spent some time visiting my brother Jeff and family in NY before we flew to Italy. It was so much fun to see all of them again! We had a wonderful time and Jeff took off with us for a great day in the city.
Since we've done a lot of sight seeing on previous trips, this was different and sooo fun! A full relaxing experience (with lots of walking of course) going wherever we wanted. Shopping and food, what could be better? I loved it. Pictured above is Batali's Eataly. After a trip there, I almost felt like I'd been to Italy... almost. ;) Great Gelato.

Chelsea Market was such a great place. I had always wanted to go. Food network is upstairs. We had a wonderful lunch and coconut cupcakes from Elena's. Recommend not missing that!
Famous Donut Planet with a line out the door.

Farmer's Market in Union Square- the best bread and honey. We also discovered more shopping, much to Lynn's delight, and I squeezed in my suitcase a few treasures from Fish's Eddy and some other fun stops.

Birthdays and Baseball

2011-05-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

Jacob turned 1o on May 3rd. I think back over this last decade and can't help wondering what our life would be like without him. He's becoming a little man and I love watching him grow up. This year he's become particular about music, clothes etc..
Jacob is a hugger and I can usually count on his arms sneaking around me as I'm cooking in the kitchen, or a kiss on my cheek while I'm working on the computer. I love to hear him sing around the house- and in the shower! He's become interested in singing at school., maybe choir is for him. :)
His birthday was in the middle of crazy baseball and the night before Lynn and I left for Italy, so we celebrated with a late dinner out this year with the promise of some great Italian chocolate we'd bring him home.

Hill Airforce Base Tour

2011-05-05T13:39:00.001-07:00

Jacob and Lynn were all about seeing every inch of Hill. ;) I have to admit it was pretty amazing. We also got to see our neighbor's plane he actual flew during wartime.

Be Mine

2011-05-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Valentine's Getaway at Vienna Bistro

Birthdays, Basketball and Pinewood!

2011-05-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Jacob recieving his Bear Award at Pinewood Derby
Pinewood Derby!

Grandma C's Birthday Party
4th grade Basketball. It was a really fun season. Lynn coached and Jacob had a great time! The best part? INDOORS!

Primary Stake Meeting

2011-04-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

Our Primary Presidencies are amazing and work really hard. As part of our leadership training we made some yummy snacks for them, including fruit salsa with cinnamon chips our secretary Maria made. Really great.

Dad's Birthday!

2011-04-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

We always have some celebrations to look forward to in February! Happy Birthday Dad- we love you! We had some fun evenings out and a nice Sunday Dinner. Elise joined us from BYU and baked his favorite cake from scratch.

It's Here!!

2010-12-26T23:17:00.000-08:00

Jacob has been counting down the days since we started his advent quilt. For him, it can't come fast enough. For us "older people" Christmas can't slow down enough... I love everything about it, the music, lights, smells, gatherings, treats at the doorstep, good friends and opportunities to serve. It wouldn't feel like Christmas without snow and luckily we got a large shipment right before Christmas!

Christmas Morning
Santa's Signature

Oh.. wait... one last lonely forgotten present? Jacob holds his breath... crosses fingers... he's asked for this x of a gift for a long time, but I hate gaming systems... Santa was a softy... I blame him.
Yes.. Victorious!! It's a Christmas miracle
Shock & Awe
We had a relaxing Christmas morning and didn't get up until 8am. Whoo Hoo! Cinnamon French toast and Cocoa were breakfast. Lounging in PJ's for several hrs. was our activity!

Just Dance 2 I took video too- it makes me giggle- Jacob's got some moves.
We had Grandma Christensen and Aunt Pam over for the day. We had a traditional dinner with all the trimmings and ate Grandma's amazing homemade pumpkin pies.. and aunt Pam's incredible fudge...YUM! We played games, and went to the movies and played games. What a relaxing day!!

Family Traditions

2010-12-26T22:49:00.001-08:00

This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Gillans. Some of their kids were away on Christmas Eve, so we got together for a "non traditional" dinner of BBQ ribs (which may have to be a tradition now) and festivities! It was so much fun, the Gillans are truly family! We also had a special and touching visit from our neighbor and good friend Connie Allen, who is just like family also!

Before bed, we read from Luke and did the devotional/activity from "A Christ Centered Christmas" Scott and Teresa gave us this book at the family party and it's a wonderful tradition to start. Simple and focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Next year, we plan to start the week before Thanksgiving with each week dedicated to a member of the nativity. What a wonderful little book. Perfect for fhe's.

Christmas PJ's
Santa's Milk & Cookies, or in this case.. Eggnog. Santa really likes Eggnog.

Candy Sled Racing is a must do tradition. Since mom and dad were gone this year, we borrowed Dad's awesome slick race tracks and had a fun little race with the Gillan Family!
Serious business racing in heats

Nice work Jacob!!
That must be Pat's thumb down in the picture... ;)
The line up
Elise and Shannon with prizes. Elise was 1st, Shannon 2nd and Pat 3rd barely beating out Lynn. Karen was 4th and Jacob and I came in last, but ours was really cute. We should really add a category for the heaviest loaded candy bar!
Ok, Elise won 1st place... and she tried something new this year. Can you tell from the picture? We're not saying what that was, because it's our awesome strategy for next year's big family race.... hehehe... It 'twas... sheer genius.... that college education is totally paying off! David Dean if you ever read this, we could let you in on our secret.... maybe.... if you let us play with your new baby!

Christmas Adventures

2010-12-26T22:13:00.000-08:00

Festival of Lights with Grandma Christensen and Aunt Pam. We had a fun dinner out, and then went to the festival, which is amazing-- another fun tradition!! If you haven't ever been, go next year!

I loved decorating with chocolate and silver this year, but couldn't resist adding some red!

"A Christmas Carol" by Hale Theatre. As we were waiting for the show to start, Lynn and I counted back and realized this was our 15th year to see this play. It's become a favorite Christmas tradition.

It's such a beautiful story and it's always so tender and touching. This year, we booked tickets for the very last day (23rd) and the very last showing, which was great. Jacob is always happy when he catches one of Scrooge's chocolate coins!

Family Party- Jenna was due to have her little girl so we had an early Christmas with mom and dad so they could leave for AZ to help out with the new arrival!! We ate great food as always, had a wonderful sharing of talents, played games and got to hear about Eric and Alec's Eagle Projects in Belize. Grandma and Grandpa shared special memories and funny moments about each grandchild. They always do a wonderful job hosting all of us, we are a crowd!

Fun Christmas Surprises...
Talent Show: Beautiful job of "Carol of the Bells"
CandleLight Christmas at "This is the Place" Pioneer Heritage Park

Very, very friendly sheep...

Mmmm.... cheesecake factory

Christmas Block Party!!

2010-12-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

Hay rides, cookies, cocoa, warm bonfires, good friends and Santa... what more do you need?

This is Santa telling Jacob his beard is actually real... Jacob thought it was a fake. ;)

Lynn loves to do the annual Hay Ride...

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

2010 in Review

Elise (19) finished an active, memorable senior year at American Fork High. She enjoyed serving as a student body officer with amazing kids, who are lifelong friends. At the end of the summer she said to goodbye to her darling piano students and headed off to BYU with lots of friends and a big smile on her face! She lives in Heritage Halls and is loving college life and takes advantage of all campus life has to offer.
Between school, dating and social activities, we don't get to see her as often as we'd like, but we steal away time with her every once in awhile! She has great room mates and fhe brothers that we enjoy having in our home as well. She's had some fun room mate road trips and loves her BYU ward so much. We are thrilled for her to be having a wonderful experience at school. She seems to have turned into a beautiful women overnight. We really admire her drive and sense of adventure.

Jacob (9) enjoyed lots of sports this year including baseball where his team won all stars and Lynn coached. His real passion is football. He played again this fall with Lynn coaching and wants to move on to tackle this next year despite anything I have to say about it! Jacob helps tutor after school at math club and will start tutoring reading in the new year. We admire how quick he is to serve others. Piano is the price he pays for sports, and he is starting to enjoy it more and more. Cubs round out his schedule and he really likes it.
Jacob is passionate about fitness and working out. He has a hanging bar thingy on his door that he does pull ups from and weights in the basement that we have to monitor... he's still little. ;-) Eating healthy has also been a thing with him this year. I don't want to say it's an obsession, but he snacks on dried Nori sheets. He has a four pack and says he is working on a six. This year he has been learning Creole on his i-touch and would like to go to Haiti on a mission. Kung Fu is another interest and since we didn't want to pay or schedule for lessons 4 times a week, he got a dvd that he practices with. It's pretty cute. He is very dedicated to things he is passionate about. Cleaning his room is one thing he is not passionate about. One big news flash-- he found a single chest hair. Sometimes you can see it, if the lighting is just right.

Lynn & Debbie: We are adjusting to a daughter away at school and only one child at home. Babysitters are becoming more common around here as are play dates so Jacob won't be lonely. I serve as Stake Primary President and Lynn as Stake Executive Secretary. We are grateful to serve in an amazing stake and find juggling not too bad most of the time. It's easier, now that Jacob is older. We took fun trips this year, including one to the Caribbean with the kids for Elise's senior trip-great memories and Jacob's ready to go again!
We started a fun business venture with Lynn's brothers Steve and Alan opening Five Guys restaurants in upstate NY. Lynn and I spent a week there in October for the 4th store opening which was exciting. Lynn's been with Novell now 21 years and is really enjoying the work he is doing there. I still love photography and practice whenever I can, taking photo jobs when time permits. I feel I've learned more about photoshop this year. Cooking and book club are still favorite things! Visit the link to my food blog at the top of this page. I am determined to add to it in 2011! We have been doing some home renovation projects and the calendar always seems full, but we enjoy any time we can get away together!

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year. The holidays give us opportunity to give thanks for blessings, give service to others and remember our Savior. Of all things we give thanks for, it's the knowledge of Jesus Christ we are most grateful for.

Giving Thanks

2010-12-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have to give thanks for a relaxing getaway Thanksgiving. We spend the holiday in St. George with my parents and sister Jenna who drove up from AZ with her family. It was so great to see her. Jenna is due with her third girl anytime now! I wasn't very good at taking pictures this trip, I think I was too relaxed! ;) I didn't even get any of Elise, but she napped a lot anyway! I think she was catching up on missed sleep from dorm life. It was a nice break for us all and a good time to reflect on blessing and what we are really grateful for.

Jacob with Cyrena and Natalie
Guitar lessons from Uncle David

Lynn is a great pancake maker! Jacob's favorite #17

Natalie and her shark with a cheerio on top
Fishing with Grandpa and the girls
4th Grade Utah County Parade and Oral report. Boy.. am I glad that's over... Mommy project #248... done.
Jacob after his class play. He did a darling job!

Wedding Trip

2010-12-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

The happy couple! Josh and Angie were married in the Boise Temple. It was such a beautiful wedding!The little girls liked to chase Jacob around the reception

Tricks & Treats

2010-12-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

KUNG FU is all the rage at our house. Jacob really gets into it, so of course it was the only costume choice for this year! I love everything about Fall and Halloween is too much fun! Jacob is growing up so fast, he wanted me to come to his school costume parade but wouldn't let me take a picture. I had to bribe him for this one.

TREATS! My favorite, favorite thing is to pass out yummy treats to our cute neighbor kids!
LOOT! Most of which is still in a box, Jacob's on a health kick-- and snacking on dried Nori. I don't get it.
COLORS! Awww... cuteness! Such creative ideas these girls can come up!
TRICKS! This is what happens when my daughter goes on first "grown up" road trip alone. All those years I said "no jumping on the bed" have apparently not made any impact. ;-)

New York Trip

2010-12-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

Late October brought a week in upstate NY for the opening of store #4. Five Guys Rochester has been a venture we've been doing with Lynn's brothers Steve and Alan. Lynn installed the sound system and security cameras etc.. and I helped hang signs, put up vinyl lettering on the doors etc.. whatever needed to be done. It was exciting to see it open. I was washing the outside windows before it opened and so many people came by just to chat and say hello. Such friendly people up north!

Steve and our other partner Reed have the heavy work load and do an amazing job! We enjoyed the fall colors and sight seeing a bit when we had a free minute. I discovered A.C. Moore and a Christmas shop and wished I packed a larger suitcase!

Lynn's vinyl banner he had printed in a day-- don't we love technology?

Nice timing for a good Zagat rating
Opening Night
Palmyra Temple
Sacred Grove
Great house, great decorations with flying ghosts and witches. Jacob would have loved it.

Training Days-- I watched the training video one of the days and found it very interesting!
Trip to the famous "Anchor Bar" where we ate ourselves silly and brought home gallons of sauce.

What happens when your birthday falls on Conference Weekend

2010-10-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Elise's birthday is always the week of General Conference, which is fun because it always kicks off the holiday season and Conference time together. She had a full calendar of bday activities with room mates and friends, but we were happy to get a little time on a special weekend!! The Wisers were in town, so that made it extra fun!

I think we overdosed on bday cake, traditional conference cinnamon rolls and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, etc.. but tradition is tradition! We finally let her go back to BYU Sunday night, after a "certain boy" (who was texting non stop all weekend) asked her to come back for a bday surprise... oh, it's hard letting go.

It's hard to believe 19 yrs ago this soul came into our world. We couldn't have been more blessed by 100 daughters. She makes our lives happy ;)

Conference Sunday

Football & Chili

2010-10-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... fall bring lots of things, including 4th grade football. Despite all my begging against tackle, I think that's exactly where Jacob will be next year... Ughh. But, I won this year and flag it is! This boy is obsessed with football and he's great at it and fun to watch.. so here we go. Lynn has done a fantastic job coaching, it's a great group of boys.

This is Jacob's "hurry up and take it, I need to get back to the game and the other guys are watching" photo. I love that he will humor me though...

Reviewing plays- Jacob is in heaven.

The call came out for a chili contest at the harvest carnival- and Jacob was on me to enter since he first saw the flyer- which made me giggle. I made a pot from scratch and kept notes on the ingredients, which I'll post on the food blog. He was my advisor and test taster. Secret ingredients were braised beef (since I don't like hamburger) bbq sauce and bacon. There were a TON of pots at the church and he got a little worried. But, the YM judged and we received third place medal! That was one happy boy- who ate a lot of chili that night. lol.

Denver Trip

2010-10-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

A fun trip to Colorado for Jared and Melanie's wedding in the Denver temple. We hadn't been to Denver for a long time-fun to be back, it's so beautiful! The wedding was really wonderful, wish I could have taken notes during the sealing-- lovely thoughts by the Temple President.

It was great to meet up with family and friends again. The outdoor reception was so fun. Below is a shot of Jacob before the reception started- he'd been rolling around playing (hence, the grass stains on his new pants) and ran over to take this "GQ" shot for me. That kid is so darn photogenic!!! I'm always pestering him to let me photograph him. I loved this one so much, I framed it.

Our trip to Denver had to include a visit to Hammond's Candy store which opened in 1920. They are featured on the Food Network etc.. a lot. The men humored us and mom and I loaded the back of the car with hand pulled candy canes ;)

Outdoor receptions are so pretty!

Jacob caught the wedding garter, which is not his first time... he really likes it.... ;)
Wedding Party
The happy couple! I was their photographer, and they were so easy and fun to take pictures of.
Jacob and cousin Luke gettin' their groove on.

Once Upon a Time..

2010-10-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

We as a stake primary had so much fun putting this girl's activity day together. We based our theme on Elder Uchtdorf's talk to the young women this past spring "Your Happily Ever After" We made supplies for almost 300 girls ages 8-11 and went through it all! Each girl was given a pink bag to take to each of four workshops. Each workshop focused on something different and they received or made something in every class to take home. This idea could be used for ward activity days or YW's too. To start the day off, I gave a quick mini talk on Elder Uchtdorf's talk. I brought in a Grimms Fairy Tale book from my childhood and talked to the girls about how their "once upon a time" starts now.

Bookmarks

"Once upon a time" banner

These were a fast, economic centerpiece we can re-use. They are just vases from the dollar store with scrapbook paper rolled up and placed inside. Tissue paper, ribbon and paper crowns sprayed silver. Balloons came up out of the centerpieces. Rose petals and tulle all around the tables. I don't think we could make anything less expensive- and easy!

Princess Diaries we made from black and white composition notebooks Walmart had on sale for 25 cents each before school started. Yay for little miracles when we have a budget and 300 to buy! We made a card stock cover from clip art the girl's could fill in with colored pencils.

"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" workshop.

We talked about images we see in advertisements are not always "real beauty" Models have teams of people working on them, photographers take a million pictures and pick the very best one, then a lot of times it's put on the computer and altered to look differently. I showed the "Dove Evolution" commercial from youtube to the girls. I think it really made an impression on how distorted beauty ads can be. These young girls are surrounded by these ads and may start to compare themselves with them. They are comparing themselves to something that isn't even real most times!

We talked about Heavenly Father's idea of beauty and modesty and I wrote a story about a "Princess Perfect" who never was really happy until she stopped focusing on her outward appearance and started helping others. The girls each received a copy of the story and a rainbow sucker that represents letting your "true colors" shine through as we watched a "commercial" set to the song True Colors that I made, showing regular girls doing amazing things just like them. They are all amazingly beautiful!"Princess Academy" workshop. Lisa did a great job! The girls learned table etiquette and had dessert served. A massive amount of dessert quickly plated and served by Karen and Mary!! More importantly they learned that having good manners is more than how we act at the table, it's making sure everyone around us feels included and welcome. It's about being a good friend. The girl's "graduated" at the end with a diploma.
"Princess in Training" workshop by Tacy. Here, the girls learned about talents and how a lot of talents are more than just the obvious ones we can see, like singing etc.. The girl's thought about what talents they have that maybe can't as easily be seen. Then they made princess charm necklaces from Tacy's bead boutique- they were the big hit of the day!
Darling "Princess Diaries" workshop by Maria. Maria talked about gratitude and each girl colored the cover of her own Princess Diary gratitude journal.
Is there anything cuter than 8-11 yr. old girls?!?

Labor Day

2010-10-12T17:13:00.001-07:00

Deer Creek!

Say what you need to say

2010-10-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

First day of school for Jacob and "moving in day" for Elise to BYU equaled emotions that were a little tender. The whole week we were preparing to move Elise in, I kept hearing the same song on the radio, etc.. and found after she moved out, when I'd hear it again, it left a small knot in the middle of my chest. I know she's not far in miles, but it does mark a milestone of changing dynamics for our small family.

As the weeks passed we found her to be "made" so to speak, for BYU life. She is taking advantage of all the campus has to offer, loves her roommates and ward and fhe group and on and on and on. She tested out of freshman math and english classes which allowed her more freedom in her schedule to take classes toward a possible major choice. The social dating scene is a major source of fun these days and I love hearing her fun experiences!!

As the weeks passed the knot in my chest lessened as we heard how well she was doing. How can I be sad when she is so happy? So did I say everything I needed to say to her before she left home? I don't know. I sure tried.... ;-)

Dorm Decor- way fun to decorate!!
Parent Night
First day of dorm life for Elise!
First day of Fourth grade for Jacob!

What happens when you take the all star quarterback to your high school reunion?

2010-10-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Lynn took me to San Francisco for my birthday in August and that timed with my 25th high school reunion north of the city. What a memory filled trip! We used to have a lot of dates in SF. We love that city. We also stayed a few days with my brother Dave's family which was wonderful and got to see lots of old friends and more family. We had a great time driving all over our home town visiting favorite places and old homes. Good memories!

Lynn and me with Lynn's sister Holly (who I graduated with) and husband Dennis.

Okay, so Lynn was kind of the "Bell of the Ball". It seemed everyone remembered his football glory days... That's what happens when you take the all star quarter back to your high school reunion...
So much fun! I don't think we've ever laughed so much in a musical. Darling.

Fresh crab... mmmm.

Dave and Nikki took us to Powell's Candy Store- was a nostalgic trip... we filled up our bags easily!
Corner flower market in downtown SF where Lynn used to buy me flowers on his way home from work when we were dating- it's still there!
Historic Windsor trip with Dave and Nikki and kids.
To die for Mexican in Windsor- Dave and Nikki were such great hosts!

Summer Fun

2010-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Sand DunesThis picture scares me... ;)

Lynn was one of Jacob's coaches this summer, they went to All Stars and then won for their league. Congrats Jacob!

A very cute Pirate from "Pirates of Penzance" Play this summer
Jacob and good friend and co pirate Isaac
Summer BBQs with cousins

Elise's Senior Trip

2010-09-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

For Elise's Senior Trip we all went to the Caribbean on a cruise right after graduation. It was a surprise gift and really hard to keep secret! We made great memories, laughed until we cried, stayed up way too late, ate everything we wanted, and had really fun adventures!Kissing a stingray brings seven years good luck. This is one of our kids favorite things to do on Grand Cayman Island.

Elise and Dad coming up from a scuba dive off Grand Cayman
Snorkeling off of Labadee Is.

Dad and Elise jet skiing on Labadee
Mexico

Jet skiing in Jamaica- not one of my favorite places, but this trip we really enjoyed the island- it's breathtaking.

Braids
Royal Caribbean's water park where Jacob spend every free second on the ship... when he wasn't eating...

Jacob was a non stop eating machine, loving everything- lobster, fish, mussels, crab, his favorite- shrimp and even escargot below. When he found out he could order multiple things he was thrilled. He loved choosing (and ordering by himself without help-- and no kid's menu please- he was going to experience everything he wanted) He would later visit the cafes and then order room service around midnight.
We made out kids a little sick with this one.

Milestones

2010-09-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

2010 Seminary Graduation
Lynn was in charge of seminary graduation and that meant I was his helper! It was a nice evening and hard to believe Elise was graduating! She was one of the readers and played prelude before the graduation. Thats what you get when dad needs a last minute fill in! We did a dessert buffet afterward for what seemed like a million people. I will forever be grateful to the Fraser family for helping serve, carrying floral arrangements, food, trays, sweeping and loading my car.

This is one of those times, when you keep asking yourself, "how did we get to this point so quickly?" Graduation was exciting and memorable. It was one of those milestone "payback" moments for sure. Things are changing, it's all good, but we can't help but feel a little bit sad to have these years over. Elise's experience at American Fork High could not have been better. We watched her develop into a beautiful young women with a strong work ethic and solid leadership qualities. We admire her tenacity and drive, her kindness and love for others. She surrounded herself with strong good friends and we are forever grateful for them as well.
Graduation at the Marriott Center
Elise seated with the student body officers- top row left.

"Gear-ing up" for BYU!!!!!
Graduation Family Party- thanks to all the family that came!!

Nine and he's all mine... for now

2010-05-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

In all this May Madness, Jacob turned nine!! What a sweetheart of a boy. He's all ours for now, but with a daughter about to graduate, I know how fast these years go by! Between preparing for stake meeting and helping Lynn with some events, a party was really the last thing I could even think about! Jacob made it easy on me and asked to play Laser Tag with friends-- I highly recommend it.. great party-and easy!

One thing Jacob got for his bday was his own (albeit monitored and guarded) email... let me tell you, I have never received so many messages! He lays in bed sending us things, love notes, funny cat videos... on and on... :) Now when I ask him to do something I get "just a minute mom, I really need to check my email." I love that boy!!

Birthday Dinner: Instead of Olive Garden, Jacob requested Lobster Ravioli for dinner. That boy has expensive taste, but thanks to my bff Costco, it was easy to put together!

Birthday on the ball field
Birthday Party: What is is about boys and arcade games? Give them a sack of coins and they are giddy!

Magic Tricks!

Happy Anniversary- hold that thought...

2010-05-20T16:23:00.001-07:00

What is the deal with the month of May?!?! The calendar gets packed full and we run from one event to another every week...having a graduate this year just adds to the mix of activities! Our anniversary was a nice diversion from schedules and games, events and meeting etc..

Jacob had a bball game, Lynn had church business, but he insisted on finding some time for us to get away for dinner. He arranged a late dinner out for us and it ended up being a romantic and relaxing evening. We shut the place down. It's so nice to have those quiet times to talk. I love him for making it a special night and love being married to him, he's my very favorite person...

Primary and Pinewood

2010-05-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Stake Primary Leadership Meeting. Our theme was "D.O.T.S." (Depend On The Savior) It was great to see and connect with our wards again. They are really fantastic primary leaders! Elise lent me her video she made for New Beginnings, (incidentally where we totally copied this theme from) and it fit perfectly with our night.

It was all about the depending on the Savior with pictures, video and music, then she had over 6000 pictures of kids that panned out to make dots which turned into a picture of Christ at the end. I appreciated borrowing her talent for the night! :) Karen Gillan lent me all the tablecloths from New Beginnings and we had a lot of fun coordinating the food. My presidency spoke and President Goodsell gave concluding remarks which was a great ending. I love primary and working with a such great women!

Pinewood Derby!!!! Jacob and good friend Isaac showing their cars. This was the coolest track system we'd ever seen, very slick and quick!

Spring Break!

2010-05-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

Spring Break this year was just that, a much needed break for us all. We spent the week in Vegas enjoying general conference and celebrating Easter and doing some fun shopping. We had a fantastic dinner at Aunt Linda's Easter Sunday and a fantastic stay at the Wisers, which is always wonderful!! We got together with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins and really enjoyed ourselves!

We also visited Uncle Alan's office for teeth cleanings and Elise had a milestone- her first cavity and experience with laughing gas. It was such a groovy experience she wrote about it on her blog that very night! I wish I had been there to see the "show." I hear she was quite hilarious. ;) It took her forever to come off the high... she could never do drugs.

A big thing for Jacob and Lynn was going to the store location where "Pawn Stars" is filmed. We love that show. Jacob got his picture taken with "Rick" and visited a bit. It was "oh so cool." He bought a hat, he laughed, he cried, it was better than Cats. :)

The "Easter Bunny" per se, did not happen to visit this year... Several months ago Jacob was torturing me about the validity of Santa. After a lengthy talk and Santa finally emerging with his validity still intact (so far) Jacob moved on to the Tooth Fairy. He said "Come on Mom, tell me the truth, I know the tooth fairy's not real." I finally said "you're right, there's no little fairy that flies around and leaves money for your teeth." I went on to say, It's just like the Easter Bunny -there is no big bunny that hops around house to house hiding eggs at Easter--- "Wait" he says... "Huh? What are talking about!?!? NO EASTER BUNNY?!?" "How could you tell me that?!? Yep, I'm up for Mother of Year for sure now...

We had a fun "Girl's Night Out" dinner during the Priesthood conference session with aunts and cousins. I think we stayed for over 3 hrs!! It was a ton of fun. We were serenaded as well. I think Casey directed him over to Elise which was hilarious. :) He did play some awesome "Santana" hits for us.
Elise and Katie
Jacob with Rick from the TV show "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel.
CRAB LEGS FEST... ooohhhhh... delish.......
I think we ate our weight in crab legs... It was heaven!!

"Piano Girl"

2010-05-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

Elise has been teaching piano for the last few years. It's been a wonderful experience for her and she has loved the kids she teaches! Pictured below are the students who could come to the recital. She had two recitals back to back on a crazy busy day (of course) She'd been gone to school since the wee hours of the morning and after school was helping interview for new candidates for next year's student body officers and the alloted signup time for BYU housing online was at the same time- of course. She was a bit stressed doing it at the same time while texting me. If she was the interviews she couldn't talk on the phone, if she took her laptop into the hallway she lost internet connection. And, she'd been so busy, she hadn't fully decided on where she wanted to live yet.... and the clock was ticking. Ahhhh.....

I had visions of us sitting down at the computer, having a mother daughter moment choosing housing.. uh no. Elise's schedule can be nuts. She did a great job, got it all done, felt prompted to choose a certain dorm, signed up and was home a few minutes before the first recital started. The recitals were darling and her students performed wonderfully. It was fun to visit with their families too! I took care of the desserts in between texting with Elise about housing, doing primary stuff and handling Jacob who had just broken the neighbor's window... and running to the store for papergoods at the last minute because I hadn't even thought we might need cups and plates! Ahhh...don't we love days like this? It ended up being a very fun evening though! We were really proud of her!

Beauty and the Geek...

2010-04-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Beauty and the Geek School Dance. Elise's date Matt is actually a very cute guy underneath all his "geekness." Fun times-she's had a very memorable Senior year. :)

MaRCh MaDnEsS

2010-04-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

Pre Jazz pump up-before going to the game. Lynn took Jacob to a BYU basketball game not to long ago and painted his face then as well. Jacob kept getting on the jumbo screen ('cause he was so spirited and cute) At one point he got so excited being on the big screen again, that he suddenly jumped up and lifted his shirt WAY up to bare his chest. Ok... I think he'd seen someone do that on tv once. The crowd cheered and got a big kick out of it. I think Lynn was in shock.

Jeff, Julianne and kids came to visit over their winter break. So fun to play, catch up and see them again! We all fought over baby William though!
"Sibling Lunch Out" with my brothers Scott, Jeff and Chad. It was really fun- I have such wonderful brothers!! We were missing Dave and Jenna A LOT though!

"UNDER CONSTRUCTION"

2010-04-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Before the stampede of boys to the lunch table!

Annual 11yr. Boy's Stake Activity. Our theme was "Under Construction" "How do you measure up?" It's all about preparing for the priesthood. The great thing about this activity is that we can use the same theme every year, since we have a whole new batch of fathers and sons each year!
It's always a good event and fun to be involved. We had a great guest speaker and President Goodsell spoke as well. This year we had to switch buildings at the last minute due to a funeral at the stake center and then we had a HUGE snow storm on top of that. It all worked out and we had a great turn out thankfully! The room is decorated construction style and we serve lunch to the fathers/sons in hardhats. Each boy receives a key chain measuring tape from Home Depot with the theme on it. Those boys are so cute. I have a great stake primary presidency and love the women I serve with so much! We all have way too much fun togther...

February Fun

2010-04-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in quite awhile. Life gets in the way, but I'm determined to keep some sort of record of family events!! Below is Lynn's mom Betty and her birthday celebration out. It was fun to catch up with everyone! Winter brought basketball season and Lynn coached. Lots of fun and indoors- yah! Jacob had a great piano recital too with his piano (and primary) teacher "Connie" Elise designed a poster with 2010 theme to be displayed in all the highschool classroom and around the halls.

My St. George Valentine

2010-03-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

I spent Valentine's /Presidents weekend in sunny warm St. George with my two boys. A/C on in the car?!? What?!? It was great! We also celebrated Jacob's adoption day which is actually on Valentine's Day (the day we went to court to legally adopt him) What a blessing he is to our family. It was a very relaxing and very fun get a way at Grandma and Grandpa Taylors winter home. We missed Elise who stayed home to go to a dance and do student council stuff.

Happy Birthday & New Beginnings...

2010-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my husband, best friend and favorite person... I love you!

I slaved over these "brownies 3 ways..." Caramel swirl macadamia nut, chocolate ganache, and cranberry orange with cream cheese icing.... I don't think we saved any calories, not having cake... :)
Elise's last "New Beginnings" for YW's. It was such a beautiful night. The theme was D.O.T.S. "Depend on the Savior." I'm thinking we should steal it for our stake primary leadership! Each girl was given an attribute with a rose and amazing Ari (new president) talked about "pointalism" and how we are all part of a bigger "picture." Elise gave a beautiful talk and made a video with stills and video of Christ in the Americas with music, then pictures of girls and more and more pictures scanning farther away until they were just dots (she downloaded like 6000 pictures), then all the dots formed a picture of Christ. She had great scripture quotes with it as well. It was very touching. I want her to make one for our primary leadership about children... I may need a box of kleenex though... What a great ending to 6 years of New Beginnings.

"Hero Dance" Pics

2010-02-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

Elise at AF High's Super Hero Dance. She was able to be involved in "Hero Week" at school and got to help plan assemblies, nominate fellow students and give a tribute for the teacher Heather Christensen that died last year in the tour bus accident. She said it was really touching to see all the students that were selected for a "Hero." This has been an amazing high school experience, we couldn't of asked for a better atmosphere for her to be in. :)

She also gets to help with dances and this was one of the most fun she said. A cute boy Devin asked her to the dance. He won "Mr Caveman" for the 09-10 school year, what a doll he is! Super cute and so nice and polite! They had a fun "day date" and got the rest of their costumes ready. Elise and Devin went as CatWoman and The Joker- anti heros which I guess ended up being lots of fun!

GiRLs CabIN TrIP!

2010-02-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

A fun get a way with girlfriends and fellow bookclubbers to Meghan's cabin in Wyoming... Late nights, yummy food, fun shopping, crazy games and laughing until it hurts. We did squeeze in discussing "Gone With the Wind." It was relaxing and just what we all needed! These are amazing women, I love them!!

New Year's Eve

2010-01-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

Bowling, dinner out with friends and a New Year's Eve party with Karaoke fun with all the family in town - then several hours of the game "what's your sign" which we all got addicted to thanks to Elise and Jenna! Several nights in fact we were addicted to that game! We enjoyed yummy party food and bubbly for the New Year. It was a great way to start 2010!!
Kristi and I look too composed, must not be to the chorus yet... :)
Alli and Josh singing classic Queen-- Josh home from Portugal!
Awww... I always wanted Lynn to sing Journey to me!
David, Jenna and Jacob (who loves karaoke)

Elise and cousin Jared (newly returned missionary) It was so great to see him and Josh again! Elise is "schooling" him on lyrics he has not heard, having been in Chile for two years. :)We started out the evening with a date out for amazing Chinese in Salt Lake with other 15 couples. The Wisers came with us and were so gracious to come not knowing anyone. They even played 2 truths and a lie with all of us! Great food, great friends. Thanks to the Kimballs for organizing a really great night!

Is Elise talking smack with Tara's husband? :)

Bowling New Year's Eve day with mom and dad, Rutkowski's, Griggs, Wisers, Deans and Scott's family. We had lots of family in town which makes a very fun holiday!

Lynn's still got it--

2010-01-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Morning!

2010-01-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

The waiting is hardest isn't it? I remember waiting at the top of the stairs for my parents to get set up with camera gear etc.. It seemed like it took forever. Pictured: Jacob, Cyrena and Natalie waiting for Elise to arise...Elise loves having a mom who always has a camera in hand... :-)

Christmas Morning... presents, yummy breakfast and lounging... It's the greatest!!

Can't Forget Santa!

2010-01-20T19:13:00.001-08:00

Milk, Jenna's incredible homemade cookies and carrots-- and believe me I know a certain little boy who was checking the trash in the morning for carrots. He didn't find any though! The milk jug was empty and the cookies eaten by a happy Santa.
Jacob tried to act like he was too cool for matching PJ's... but he really did love it and still asks me to wear them the same night he does. He still cuddles too, thank goodness!

Christmas Eve Program

2010-01-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Great ending to a great program with Mom sharing a story from her childhood and Dad sharing about the Savior, which led to a wonderful group discussion on service and the Savior's example. I always happy when we have opportunity to share testimony with our children and grandchildren.

Christmas Eve Program

2010-01-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas Eve we have a "program" where all are invited to participate however they'd like. Jacob did a great job on the piano with his Christmas songs. The cousins were darling, singing, playing flute :) and sharing songs etc..

We gave Elise a pass as she had been completely overcome with work all December with the student body officers. They raised $5000 dollars and Walmart gave $2000 which gave AF High a total of $7000 for local needy families. They collected gifts in addition and organized the collecting and delivery. We were very proud of her. I know it was a lot of hours, a lot of stress and worry that they would make their goal, which they exceeded. Way to go! We were sad not to hear her play piano and cello though!
Eric playing beautifully
Alec playing the Viola-- beautiful!!
Seth on guitar-- Jacob was loving this- he wants to play!

Christmas Eve Fun

2010-01-20T18:16:00.000-08:00

This turned into the "dance" portion of the Christmas Eve Program! The Chad Taylor family gave us a great talent show- reminiscent of the Jim and Pam's wedding from "The Office" Too funny!

Elise gettin' her groove on..
I should forward this pic to Chad's ward... Bishop's got some sweet moves...
with a little pleading, David showed us our favorite moves! Everyone got into it!
Annual "Stuff It" Game: Jacob with cousins Luke and Naomi

Candy Sled Racing!

2010-01-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

Candy Sled Races- a very fun Christmas Eve tradition!! This year we split into more teams than just our families, because of the "heats" we needed. I have no clue about heats, but we had fun! Lynn and Jacob pictured below with their 2nd place prize- dinner gift card-yum! Eric and Alec won first place and the Dean family won the golden ticket this year (hidden inside one of the chocolate bars) One of these years, the Deans will take 1st place!! :-)Elise and I were on a team. We called ourselves the "Spice Girls" and we thought our sled was the best decorated! Uhhh, we didn't win.
Grandpa built a new and improved track system this year. Very slick!
Elise and Cyrena watching the races...

Jacob and cousin Isabelle

Jacob and cousin Cyrena

Hard at work, making sleds that are aerodynamic... kinda.... ok, chunky and loaded with candy, but sturdy.

Christmas Eve Dinner - Kid's table

Holidays!

2010-01-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

Fun evening out on Temple Square with the Blights.

My Favorite Time of Year

2010-01-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Dinner with Lynn's mom Betty and sister Pam before they left for the holidays. Niece Haley and cousin Alli from BYU came too- a fun night of food, visiting and catching up!
One of our favorite yearly Christmas traditions is seeing the musical "A Christmas Carol." It always puts us in the right spirit and reminds us of the true meaning of this beautiful season! We also have traditional treats- Milka Swiss Chocolate bars and Chocolate oranges.

Jacob pictured below at his Christmas piano recital. This year they performed for a local care center. Jacob commented how good he felt when playing for people who can't really go anywhere. He did a great job!!
This is Jacob's wood working project for scouts. He worked hard on it for several weeks (with dad helping) :-) I LOVED it!

Family Portraits

2009-12-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

2009-12-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

All Through the House..

2009-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas is the best holiday, and even though it's a lot of work, at some point I feel a spark and let myself become wrapped up in the "magic" of the season. I want my kids to have cozy, warm, fond memories of holidays at home. Fireplaces, cozy scents, soft slippers, warm cuddles, cocoa, homemade goodies, good stories, snowball fights, Christmas secrets, advent, service to others, fun traditions, and most of all time together.

Neighborhood Luminary Walk Party

2009-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is the same Santa's lap Jacob has sat on since he was a baby! He is the real deal.

Elise and Shannon who's home from college!
Master Hay Rider... and a pretty cute Santa too.
Red noses, hot chocolate
Snow ball fight with Brother Rogers :)
Lynn is the official driver of the hay rides... he LOVES it and even got a generator this year so he could have music and lights.
Singing Carols... Our neighborhood Luminary walk party has become a tradition 9 years now, thanks to wonderful families who started it. The first real holiday snowfall was that day, so it made a very festive atmosphere! We line our sidewalks with luminaries, Christmas music is playing, bon fires are going, Santa comes, kids are singing, cocoa and cookies flow and it's a wonderful time to be together with great friends!

Christmas Party

2009-12-08T07:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas Party with book club friends I LOVE!! Husbands came and Skanchy's hosted - what a fun night!! :) Pictured: Christie, Heather, Katie, Carolynn, Ginger, Debbie, Meghan, Linda, Jennifer.

Thanksgiving '09

2009-12-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

Grownup's Table... ok, not so grownup. The kids table emptied so quickly I didn't get a shot of them before they ran off to play! I think they inhaled their food.

Karaoke is very helpful in burning off Thanksgiving Dinner calories...
Jacob and Luke
Elise, Alec, Eric
Ok, we have no excuse for this picture, except to say it was Gloria Gayner's "I will survive" I would not have even has posted it, but it made me laugh really really hard! It looks as though our eyes are closed and yes, we are pointing... I think disco fever was burning inside us or something. I hear there is a video, I'm scared.
Ty, Luke, Jacob
Elise and Eric gettin' their groove on
Teresa and Naomi-- too cute.
Mom and Dad singing a love song!
This is what Isabelle though of her Daddy's singing... below.
Scott and Chad unleashing it all...

Thanksgiving was a great time to stop, give thanks and enjoy the harvest season. I had time to reflect on many blessings this season. Now that we have family history work on two Mayflower Pilgrims that came to America, Thanksgiving has an even deeper meaning to me. John Alden and Priscilla Mullens came on the Mayflower as two young people and married sometime after the first winter when so many Pilgrims died including all of Priscilla's family. They went on to establish communities and have ten children. John and Priscilla have since be characterized as "the pilgrim couple" that we see from all the pictures to statues etc.. during Fall. They are a great example to me of sacrifice, faith and hard work.

We had a really fun, relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. Dinner at mom and dad's was fabulous- ate way too much-- and had a very entertaining karaoke night. The kids had a ball, ok and so did some of us adults! It was a weekend of games, movies, relaxing, cyber shopping :) and family picture time!

Park City Girls Trip

2009-12-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Mom, Elise, Teresa, Debbie

We spent a long weekend in a fancy resort in Park City with the girls. It's a very very fun tradition and kicks off the holidays! We missed ShayLynn, Jenna and Nikki a lot!! We shopped, and ate out, and shopped and enjoyed the resort and shopped. That pretty much sums it up!

WIzArD oF oZ mUsiCaL

2009-12-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable performance by AF High Drama department. Wow-- great musical. Jacob is reading Wizard of Oz right now, so he absolutely loved it!

Fall Formal '09

2009-12-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

I have fallen behind again blogging... but am trying to update a few pictures at least. These are from Elise's Fall Formal, from what I remember a busy hectic day... I had a stake primary activity that day and with all Elise's activities going on, we missed her date and I never got a picture of her-which I was not happy about-- but I do have these, so I thought I'd share them! Elise is pictured with date Corey and good friends! It was a memorable night at the old BYU Academy building (where Elise' great grandmother attended school) which is now a beautifully restored library.

TRicKs aND TrEaTs...

2009-11-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Candy Bar Display

Trying his best to be a scary Zombie Mummy.

Elise on her way to school all Jedified....

Getting in to character....

One smokin' Jedi (real braid included) and a Mummified Zombie

Locked and Loaded for little ghosts and goblins... We have a tradition of giving big chocolate bars etc... for Halloween- because lets face it, it's all about the candy. Over the years, word gets around, so we are prepared! We handed out over 230 giant lollypops and candy bars this year. We let the children come in and choose. Lynn was going to add up how much $$ that was, but I distracted him with a Kit Kat bar.
Poor Witchy Kitty.... Is this animal abuse? Jacob chose her costume this year, she was NOT happy. Halloween was very fun and NOT freezing cold! I even left my door open for trick or treaters. It was beautiful weather. Elise had parties to go to, so Lynn was on "tailing Jacob duty" (he did not want any parental supervision this year) and I was on "Door Duty" I looove Halloween! So much fun. We had music playing outside and the kids were so adorable. The BOO lollypops were a bigger hit this year than the candy bars. Thank you Peppermint Place Candy Factory!

Haunted Hallways....

2009-11-03T14:04:00.001-08:00

"Dead people" room. Jacob was a bit timid to pose for this picture... Below is Jacob asking the Greek Gods (Latin club) to grant him a treat... they granted him 3 pieces.
Elise was in charge of the student body officer's room for "Haunted Hallways" at the high school. Families are invited to go room to room trick or treating and they collect donations for charity. Elise's room was "Indiana Jones" themed and you walked through a dark maze with a dressed up tour guide, trying to avoid looking the red eyes of the statue, barely escaping the large stone ball dropping on you and natives shooting at you from the trees. Alec grabbed us as we started the tour in his gorilla suit, it was great... scared Jacob to death-until he realized it was his cousin!!
We were really impressed with the adventure, complete with theme music and fans blowing! Elise shot us with dart "marshmallows" and it was so dark in there, it took us awhile to realize Jacob was eating them off the floor-...lovely.... We escaped through the last tunnel where the treasure was awaiting us (a big chest of candy) and a glimpse of Indiana himself! Sooo much fun!! I think that was our favorite room!

Mummies making Mummies

2009-11-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Jacob pictured at his school costume parade. Below are shots from family home evening before we headed out to "Boo" some families in the neighborhood. Jacob's favorite cupcakes at Halloween are the mummies... with gummy eyes.

AF Homecoming Game

2009-11-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

We got into AF spirit and football this season. Jacob really enjoyed the game since he is playing flag for the first time. He loved being at the AF game (especially with treats)

Football & Piano

2009-11-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

Jacob is easily embarrassed with applause or attention...
Taking a Bow with Connie and some of her 60 piano students!!!!
Jacob pictured above in his football game. He made 3 TOUCHDOWNS that game!!! Scored some extra points and blocked the other team from scoring several times. Lynn got some video I'll have to post when I get a chance. So cute! He was very pleased with himself!

We rushed over to his piano recital -a little late- at Connie Allen's home. Loved her costume! One of the pieces Jacob played was "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" by memory and Connie led us all in singing along. I think we sang that songs 3 or 4 times that night as it was in the primary presentation this year and several children were learning it. Great night!

St. George Trip

2009-11-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

We spent fall break in St. George with Grandma and Grandpa Taylor (and half our ward) ;) It was a much needed break, lots of fun sightseeing and relaxing! Jacob was a spoiled boy. His favorite thing was golfing with Dad and Grandpa. He drove the cart-- not sure if he was "legal" but as long as he was eating, drinking and driving he was having a ball! Elise stayed home that week having a lot of socializing and student council things planned. She came down with the flu and was sick the whole time! We felt so bad for her, but did make her sleep in the basement when we got home so we all wouldn't catch it!