HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES

We have had a lot of fun times this Holiday! We thought we would share some highlights:

1. Christmas Eve Bike Ride-- whole family, 18 miler!
2. Dave and Leslie's quest for the BEST chocolate cake ever -- we found it, we have the recipe if you're interested.
3. Nativity skit/and Christmas Day (Santa came!!)
4. Hike to top of Lone Mountain! (Notice VIVA in the background)
5. Matt taking FIRST PLACE in the Falcon Invitational Tournament!!! YEA!! YEA!!
6. Abbey coming for a sleepover! :)
7. Sledding at Mount Charleston! Woo Hoo!
8. Going to the movies (which we hardly EVER do) Girls: Enchanted, Boys: I am Legend! Both excellent movies! Fun fun fun!
9. Rang in the New Year at an awesome party hosted by Richard and Heidi with Nikki, Jordan, Sammy, Spencer, and Warren! Super Fun! Thanks guys! :)












YEA!

Waxing sentimental

I have been feeling quite sentimental this year about Christmas. Usually I look forward to the time of being here in Vegas alone with just our family, but this year I have had a surprisingly "homesick" feeling for the Christmases of yesteryear. Maybe it is because I miss my Mom so much at times like these, maybe it is because we might stay here the ENTIRE holiday this year, I don't know. But nevertheless, I long for those times when my whole family was gathered around the table with the amazing holiday meals my Mom prepared. The cheeseball, the Christmas punch, the ham, homemade rolls and all the trimmings. I loved being there! My parents truly knew how to make a house a home. I love all of the memories I have of my childhood Christmases. Even though we didn't have a lot of money, I have rich memories of singing around the piano, doing the nativity scene, reading from Luke and waking to find that Santa had truly come! I love to watch my children at this time of the year. What a blessing they are, they keep the spirit of Christmas alive in me! So, for what it's worth. Here's a warm thank you to my family for giving me those wonderful memories!!!

Katie and Lindsey's Christmas Piano Recital

Lindsey and Katie did a FABULOUS job on their peices at the Christmas Recital Saturday. We are proud of them -they are getting to be pretty good! :)

LANNIE-CLAUS Came To Town!

It's always like Christmas when Lannie comes to town! We had a fun week with Aunt Lannie, as always she spoiled the kids rotten! They love it! We went to the Bellagio yesterday and saw the "flower room". It was gorgeous! It was lots of fun being with her and Nathan! Thanks for coming to visit! We love you! She stayed long enough to see Lindsey and Katie perform in their school choir concert ~ they did a great job! Fun times!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY! #11! woot! woot!

Happy Birthday Little Miss Lindsey! We are so proud of our little Lindsey lou-who, she is growing like a weed, but much cuter than a weed! We love her so much! Thanks for being a great daughter and a good example in our family! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We woke up this morning and took the kids on a scavenger hunt... the kids had to follow the clues to find the different items for their breakfast, it was fun. We went to the park, ALbertsons, the church and Wal-mart to get the ingredients for a "grand slam" breakfast, after eating that, we hung out, opened presents, made jewelery, scrapbooked, did mattress surfing, and then had Rich and Heidi and the boys over for more mattress surfing, and cheesecake! Fun day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!

Yummy Recipe-- BBQ chicken pizza

I was wanting to find some new weight watchers recipes, because I'm getting sick of my old ones and am having a hard time staying on this diet because I need VARIETY!! So I looked online and found this BBQ chicken pizza, but they said to use store bought refrigerated pizza crust, YUCK... I got this dough recipe from Heidi D. It is delicious. Its only 5 points a slice.... YUM! This is the best recipe for pizza crust that I have ever tried. This isn't the actual picture by the way, mine had much less cheese! :) Just wanted to get your saliva flowing with a good picture!

Pizza dough

1 ½ c warm water
2 tsp rapid yeast
2 T olive oil
4 T sugar
1 ½ t. salt
4 c. flour
Mix for 15 minutes in bosch with hook, then put towel over it and let it rise for 15minutes then cut into 4 sections. Roll out into desired shapes/sizes. Cook in oven 450 for 8-12 minutes with toppings on.
Cornmeal in bottom of pan.

Top dough with your favorite BBQ sauce, cooked shredded chicken, sauteed purple onion and green pepper(in low fat cooking spray), then top with 1 c. low fat mozarella. Delicious!

Matt takes 4th place at the Las Vegas High School tournament!

Matt fought hard all day! He worked so hard and did such a great job! He was awesome! It was long day for Katie and I who went and watched from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. But we loved every minute of it! Katie is quite the cheerleader! She is hilarious standing on the sidelines screaming her guts out! Matt was 4 and 2 with three of his wins being pins! He did a great job! He seems to get better every season and he LOVES this sport!! Sorry, I don't have any pictures, but I forgot the camera, we'll get some later on! Just had to announce his victory anyway! GREAT JOB MATT!

I've been tagged! :0

Hey! I am new to the "tagging" thing, but I will give it my best shot. I think the question is 6 unknown things about me. Here goes:

1. I hate Oreos. I am a VERY picky dessert eater. I rarely go for anything store bought. If I am going to have a store bought cookie it is always a nutter butter. I think Oreos are disgusting. Too dry, too fake chocolatey and too much lard inbetween. (Sorry Oreo lovers!)

2. I have been called "the angel of death" by my family because I have been the first one on the scene of a few too many deaths, heart attacks, car accidents, etc.. This is something that I really HATE. I am so scared now of coming upon such a scene, that when I see an accident I have a VERY hard time stopping, and shamefully have not stopped a couple of times... I think I have been seriously traumatized! Even though we laugh about some of these occasions, I am really hoping that this is in the past and not a curse I will have for life!

3. I have a crazy ability to memorize phone numbers, and the words of songs. I seriously know thousands of lyrics to thousands of songs. It is sort of an odd little gift I have, which I am sure I could put to better use somehow!!!

4. I want to write a book.

5. I work part time as a medical transcriptionist at home. It is a great little side job that I can do whenever I want. This is one of the reasons that I am such a frequent blogger and emailer, I am on my computer alot of the day and when I get bored of typing, I check my email and blogs! :)

6. I love being immature. (This isn't a shocker for most of you!) I LOVE to laugh my head off and do really stupid things. I love to tease Dave and my kids and I love to act like I am 14. It is the best. I love to blast the music and dance like an idiot in my living room! I also love to roll down my car window and scream at people on the sidewalks. My favorite, favorite quote is Dave Barry's "You can only be young once, but you can always be immature" My mantra. It is a great stress reliever.

I tag: Jamie, Emily M., Dorothy, Emily G., Dan and Dougal.

GREAT THANKSGIVING TIMES!

Ellie

Katie

Lindsey

Cosi

THANKSGIVING WAS A BLAST!!!

Doesn't this "starstruck" picture of Katie say it all.

Dan and Julie hanging with the kids.

Little John "laxin"

CJ spectating

Me after turfing it "splits style"


We had such a great Thanksgiving vacation! We went to Provo/Orem on Wednesday night after Matt got out of wrestling practice, and arrived there around 11 p.m. It was a hoot! We had a wonderful feast on Thursday complete with all the trimmings at "Grammies" house with the WHOLE gang! It was tons of fun and great food!
Some of the other highlights were going to a movie,playing basketball(men), talking,eating, shooting guns (men), talking, eating, Spinning (women), talking, eating,visiting LeeAnn and her family and doing some renovation projects at their house, shopping, eating, talking,the BYU/Utah game on the big screen, everyone getting their braces done (THANK YOU MARK!) and the kids favorite part (including some of the adult "kids" too) was going to "Jump on it" I have added some of the great pictures from this event.... It was lots of fun! Thank you so much to Debbie and Rob for the awesome hospitality! We had a great time! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

We're addicted!!!!

So, Dave and I are hopelessly addicted to the TV show 24! We started season one last spring, and could not stop until we finished the whole thing. We watched it every night after the kids went to bed, it became our ritual... we watched it for our dates, even got take out, took the van up to the mountains one night and watched it on the DVD player in the back seat of the van.
Anyway, after we finished season one we told each other that we should hold off on starting another one, so we did....

UNTIL 2 weeks ago we started season TWO, it was as spellbinding as season one, so we watched that every night, then this weekend we started season 3... today we VOWED to each other that after we finish this season we will be done for A LONG TIME!!!! I wonder how long we can control ourselves?! LONG LIVE JACK BAUER!

This is the first time we have ever been hooked on a TV series! WoW! I can see that this can be VERY addicting! YIKES!

This is definitely the way to watch a TV series though, hold off until they are all on DVD, no annoying commercials and you don't have to wait 7-8 months to find out the ending!! I know we are about 7 years behind on what's good on TV, but ya know, we are old and behind the times, what can we say! :)

Check out my Slide Show!

My Great Husband!

So today Heidi and I were talking about how great our husbands are and it just got me thinking more and more all day about what Dave does... SO, I wanted to just say "Hats off" to my sweet husband and thank him for all that he does for me and for my children! He is the best! Here are some of the things that I love about him and am grateful for:
1. Has a strong testimony, and has really changed who I am.
2. Is easy going and makes the best of all situations.
3. Puts up with and helps me through my ups and downs.
4. Works soooo hard at his job!
5. Does not complain.
6. Eats whatever I make.
7. Has incredible will power!!! (Hence the 60 pound weight loss!!!--- way to go!!_
8. VERY handy FIX it man! Has saved us THOUSANDS over the past 18 years! He can seriously fix/make or do anything around the house (tile, wood flooring, fix cars, washing machines, dryers, water heaters, plumbing, sews, etc...) AMAZING~
9. Is great about playing with the kids when I am tired... always loves to be with them.
10. Always happy to give back rubs/foot rubs without complaining!
11. Never gives up!
12. Great at loving and befriending people.
13. Treats me with respect and kindness.

These are just a few of the many reasons I love Dave so much! He is a great man. I am so lucky and I just want to say thanks for all you do for us! I know that it can be a challenge to balance work, kids, cranky wife, and your church service~ but you do an EXCELLENT job with all of it! I LOVE YOU!

Fall 2007 Soccer Season Lindsey and Katie!!

Halloween Fun!

Matt(and Mallory) at the Halloween Dance as Dwight from "The Office"

Ellie and Katie at school party





Lindsey in the school parade

Katie in her school parade


All three girls before going to our ward trunk or treat. Lindsey's a runner,Katie's someone getting out of the shower & Ellie's a witch! :)