If I have to be a Grandma...

I'm at least gonna be a cool one!!

Me and Kash in our Ed Hardy t-shirts

Remembering Scott

We miss you coming to our games.

We miss your latest and greatest electronics.

We miss your car being parked in the driveway and you sitting on the front

porch waiting for us to come home.

We miss you coming and watching the BYU - UTAH games.

We miss the sunflower seeds and beef jerky you always had.

We miss the treats you always brought over.

We miss your positive attitude even when things were the toughest.

We miss going to 'The Kelly Clarkson'.

We miss you staying with us and wondering if you

 would stay for a few days or if it would be a few months.

We miss having you and your boys over for dinner.

We miss the funny stories you would tell us.

We miss wrestling with you and accidentally cracking your rib.

We miss you taking us to movies.

We miss you taking us to Evanston to get fireworks and then

lighting them off in front of the house and the neighbors getting mad.

We miss you and love you Scott and think of you always.  

Christmas Lights

Nothing better that nice clear simple lights.

(This isn't the greatest picture either.)

Watch out Clark Griswold! 

(You have got to enlarge this picture to get the full effect.)

 

 There is some pretty tough competition out there!

Kalen's friend took us past this house the other night. 

It's too bad you can't see the Carousel and the Merry Go Round and 

the Teeter Totter with elves and Mr. and Mrs Clause riding on them.

  There was also Christmas music playing

not so softly in the background.

Did I mention the huge snowman on the side of 

the driveway and the lines of lights on the roof?

What do the neighbors say?

Do the neighbors like the bright flashy lights and loud

Christmas music?

Do they feel like they are in Las Vegas?

Do they like the extra traffic that has been driving

up and down their street for the last month?

Is it soothing to fall asleep to?

or

Do they want to unplug all the lights and tip over the

Merry Go Round when the neighbors are sleeping?

I guess I have quite a few hang ups about Christmas lights.

The worst are the icicle lights.  They are always tangled up and

never hang right.

The multi-colored have never been a favorite.

And all the lawn ornaments are soo not a favorite.

Lights that are stapled to the fence...not a good idea.

Plastic Santa in a sled on top of the roof...really not a good idea.

The only thing that could make any of these worse is to add 

blinking lights to any of them!  I HATE blinking lights!!!!

They give me a headache!

Lights should be clear and very simple.

 ( You could alternate clear with red or green.)

  Straight and not saggy.

And definitely not blinking!

It is pretty funny to see all the crazy lights and decorations

that go up at Christmas.  Some people go just a little bit

overboard.

17 Year Anniversary

After 17 years of being married we figured we deserved a night out.

We stayed downtown at the Peery Hotel.  A very old but quaint hotel.

It was very cute!

We ate dinner at Canellas Restuarant.  

We ate at this resturant on our first date over 17 years ago.

They even gave us a free dessert!

We went and saw the Body Worlds Exhibit which was very interesting,

we did a little shopping at the Gateway walked around.

This morning before we went home we went and walked around

temple square.  What an amazing place to walk around with the millions

 and millions of lights decorating the trees and shrubs and flowers and buildings.

I can't believe the amount of lights and the time and effort it takes to prepare for the holiday.

  The reflection pond looked really cool, there 

were floating lights in the water.  I wish we could have seen it when it 

was dark.  

It was a very nice get away.  Like usual not long enough.  But we had a great time just spending time with each other with out the distractions of home.

Love ya Erk!!!!!

Kash's 1st Birhday

The Presents...

The cake....

More cake...

Pretty much no fear in just digging right in and eating the whole thing.

I think he might be sick tonight!

The clean-up.

What a mess you are!

It's all good now...you are nice and clean!!

Happy Birthday Kash We Love you!!

***Look for many more pictures in the Family Photo section

at the top of the page!!***

This one's for you Diane

Aunt Diane requested a movie clip of Kash walking so here it is.

He is almost 1 and has been walking for about 2 weeks.

Watch out!!

Annual Christmas Open House

A few years ago, about 7 to be exact.  My neighbor and I were saying how tired we were of neighbor gifts.  You have to either make or buy way to many and who do you give them to and who don't you.  You end up spending way to much time, money and effort and what do people do with these crazy Christmas trinkets?  They end up in the garbage or you save them and never display them again.  Now I know many people like to bake their favorites treats and pass them to all the neighbors too.  Again what happens to them?  If it's not some weird fruit cake then it ends up sitting on the counter until little by little I have ended up eating the entire plate of treats.   Not good!  So with all those thoughts we decided to start a neighborhood open house where we would make donations of some sort to a worthy cause and invite the whole neighborhood (yes the whole neighborhood, obviously not everyone comes) to come together and eat treats and visit with one another.  Tonight was the 6th (we skipped a year when my neighbor moved) annual open house held at our home.  Many people have commented on how glad the are that we ( I have two very good friends who have helped make this so successful) organize this every year and it is so good to do something for others.  After all it is the season to give.  This year each family was encouraged to donate to what ever specific organization they choose.  Such as Toys For Tots, Utah Food Bank, Shop With A Cop,  Salvation Army or Make a Wish.  In years past some of the things we have done are, collecting toys for Toys For Tots, Donations for Make a wish Foundation, and donations for a child who was terminally ill.   The ornaments on this tree had the names of the various organizations that families had donated to. We had many families in our neighborhood come to our home and enjoy the company of others while donating to a worthy cause. This has become a fun tradition in our neighborhood over the years and probably for many more years to come.