San Antonio Falls

Cameron wanted to go to San Antonio falls all during the whole vacation. Saturday we were supposed to tile and I was supposed to do laundry but I didn't feel like it. I wanted to go do something fun for the last day before real life began. (Sunday church started at 9:00 am.) So we decided to go out to San Antonio Falls. It was a short hike up a rode to the falls. To actually get to the bottom of the falls you had to negotiate a little trail that was on the side of a steep shoot. It wasn't too bad and after we held the girls hands they were willing to cross. On the way back they didn't even need our help. There wasn't that much water coming off them and it was much warmer than we expected. It bordered on being hot. The girls enjoyed taking their shoes off and putting them in the icy water and Annika enjoyed touching the water with her finger.

We also drove up to the ski resort, (Mount Baldy) to see it. I was unimpressed. I am not sure I would be willing to park my car and walk through their many levels of parking with my skis. Then put my skis on and ride a lift up to who knows where to ski. But Cameron said there is good steep terrain so he might be willing.

Holidays in Review

Saturday December 26th: Cameron, Chalon, Todd, Wade and I went skiing at Snow Valley. It was fun to ski with them and it was probably my best day skiing ever. I felt like they all pushed me to ski faster and I had a lot of fun. The girls enjoyed the time with their cousins at Grandma Sue and Pa Pa's house. Melissa was a great aunt and helped out even though we never asked her if she wanted to. Thanks Melissa!

Sunday: I got some flu bug and spent the day in bed. I haven't had to do that in a long time. I slept most of the day. Ali and Ashling went to church with Grandma and Cameron stayed home to take care of me.

Monday: We worked on projects around the house. We installed baby locks and started remodeling our master bathroom. On the list is new tile (we have had it for a long time but haven't had the energy to replace it.) and refurbishing and staining the bathroom cabinent.

Tuesday: We went skiing in the morning. The whole family went up and we took turns watching Annika and skiing with the kids. The snow was great and the kids are great at skiing. Ali and I enjoyed racing together. Tuesday afternoon we got a babysitter and went to the temple with Cameron's extended family. It was great to all be together and we are going to make this a family tradition to go each time we get together. After the temple we went to dinner and enjoyed some more time together.

Wednesday: Cameron went skiing with Wade in the morning. Then we worked on the bathroom remodel a little more. Later the boys went to see Avatar and the girls got together to let the kids play. We made Melissa a little book with pictures of the cousins for the baby. There were some unfortunate events at dinner time that caused us to wonder if all the food for the rest of the time together would be undercooked.

Thursday: The girls met for breakfast in the morning. We then went and got pedicures and manicures. We shopped for a while and then retured home. We met for dinner at Grandma Sue's and enjoyed a relaxing New Year's Eve. We played some Wii, played some card games and watched a movie with the kids. I like playing the Guitar Hero and think I need to get my own Wii in the future. The boys and the missionaries played a lot of ping pong. Most of the kids stayed up until midnight except for the little ones. I don't know if I will let that happen again next year but we will see. Everyone slept at Grandma's house except for Cameron, Annika and I. We went home to our own beds since we live so close.

Friday: Annika did not sleep in but the girls slept until after 9:00. It was their first time staying up that late and I am proud that they could sleep in so much. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, played cards and then played Settlers of Cataan. It was a relaxing day. I took Annika home for a nap in the afternoon while the kids had marshmellow gun wars in the street in front of Grandma Sue's. Then we had Wade, Melissa, Ellie, Mike and Sue over for a last dinner before they went home.

If you wonder why I am tired it is because we did all this stuff in a week. It was a fun vacation with lots of wonderful things for everyone. I am glad because the cousins played well together and Ali and Ashling loved it. I am a little relieved today to be sitting in the house by myself but the laundry is going to keep me busy for a month!

Friday:

Thu

Big Changes

I saw a sign dicussing the big changes brought in the 2000 decade. At first I thought it was a little odd as I couldn't think of what had changed so much. But I know life has changed a lot in the past ten years and it made me think of changes to our little family. When we filled out the census in the year 2000 it was Cameron and I. We had been married for four months and lived in a little apartment in Provo. We made somewhere around 10,000 dollars together the previous year. We did not have any kids. We only had high school diplomas. I was a student and he was a construction worker who was attending school part time. I worked at a laundry mat.

Fast forward to today. Now we are still together. (Hey in some ways that in of itself is a pretty big miracle.) We live in a nice house that we hope to purchase later this year. We make much more than 10,000 dollars. We added 3 children to our family. We both have BS degrees from Brigham Young University. He is a Civil Engineer and I stay home and try to create a home for us to live in. I guess it has been a decade of change for us.

I am grateful for my beautiful family, for our college degrees, (even if we are still paying for them,) and I am glad to be making more than I was at the beginning of the year 2000. If only our next 10 years can go so well. (although I doubt our family will grow that much in this decade. We will have to wait for grandkids and sons-in-laws for that.)

Christmas Day! (edited edition)

Somewhere around the 16th of December I realized that none of my family would be with me for Christmas. And this hasn't happened since we had kids. I started to be a little worried because there are usually more presents and more people and I wondered if we would be enough. We decided that we would open the presents slowly and let the kids play with each one and not rush our morning. It worked perfectly.


Christmas eve some visitors (without kids,) brought us cookies and we invited them in for our Christmas Eve dinner of waffles and bacon. They stayed and helped us wrap presents, bring up the desk, and deliver another flying tree squirrel to his new home. I enjoyed having them and it made me miss my sister and her wrapping help less. Later we finished setting up the doll house and all was ready for Christmas morning.

Annika's Christmas presents from Santa

The Christmas Tree!

Our girls always surprise us on Christmas. They wake up at the normal time. Annika woke up first around 7:00 am and then in our bed she yelled to her sisters until they woke up and came in. Then we all went upstairs to see what Santa brought us.

Cameron made Ashling a doll house for her barbies and we bought a set of furniture to go in it. She was very happy to have it.
I bought a used ugly desk and chair from the thrift store. It didn't seem to hold much promise. But a new coat of paint plus painting the hardware and recovering the chair made a brand new desk. Ali has been wanting a new desk for a long time and she was very happy to get it.
Ali gave me the biggest, longest hug in the world for giving her the desk.

Santa gave Annika a shape sorter that she seemed very happy to have.

Annika loves our dog and is always climbing all over her but our dog doesn't seem to mind it.
Annika has started to ask to go outside. Too bad it is the coldest, wettest part of the year. I guess we will have to go down the hill where she can crawl around in the warm sun at the park.

For Christmas I was spoiled. I got a treadmill that was hiding in the garage. I like my treadmill because Cameron had to do research and buy it off of Craigslist where we could afford it. Nothing like a little thought. After it was set up I got right on it and started running. What surprised me the most is that Cameron went running on it too. I also got some ski socks, a sweater, a pair of pants and some perfume. (Hopefully I will smell better now!)

Annika is an expert stair climber now. She can go up and down!

The girls gave Annika a puppy that sings, dances and moves around. It also will chase its bone. Annika loves the little toy!

We are ready to go to Grandma Sue's house for Christmas dinner!

We opened presents at Grandma Sue's house. We sorted them all out and each family took a turn. Our families are getting too big to open presents all together. I am not sure what the best way to open presents is. How do you open presents in your big family celebrations. It was fun but it was a very tight fit in their living room all together.



Ashling got a Karaoke machine for Christmas from Grandma Sue and she hasn't stopped singing since we opened it. It was what she kept asking for and she was so excited to get it!
Annika was a little hard to contain during the present opening at Grandma's house.
Cameron had two themes for Christmas. He got a hat, gloves and thermos for skiing. He also got an external hard drive, ear buds, and a cooling fan in the hopes that we can once again have music on the computer. He also got an emergency radio from his parents with weather band on it. (If you know Cameron then you know how important that is to him.

Merry Christmas to all and I hope your Christmas was great too!

Thoughts on the Eve of Christmas Eve

I went shopping without Annika and it was easy. The other girls kept up with me, didn't cry and they buckled their own seats when we got back in the car.

The girls rooms are cleaned and ready for santa to come. (We have a bag to give away, a bag for the trash and some things we chose to put away for a while.) We are hoping for some new toys to fill the empty shelves.

In cleaning the rooms I put away the newborn toys and filled Annika's cupboards with Little People. She played with the house for an hour. She put the animals and people in and out and pushed the buttons. She spun the mobile on the baby's bed around and around. I am glad she likes the new toys but I am sad that I have to say goodbye to my newborn baby and see an almost toddler take her place.

My Christmas shopping is done, my cupboards are full and I am happy. I may not leave the mountains until January and I may go skiing everyday.

I still need to do some wrapping.

It snowed yesterday and it is cold. I think we will be having a white Christmas.

We got our season pass pictures taken yesterday. Ali reminded me she is growing up. She put a scarf on, wouldn't wear her coat in her picture, had on a hat and posed just so for the picture. Her season pass picture looks perfect. Mine is okay.

I am very excited that Cameron will be home with us until after the New Year starting tomorrow.

I wish my family had come to my house for Christmas and I miss them.

My girls are playing together happily today and it makes me happy.

The Windows of Heaven

Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

This year has not been financially easy. I am sure you know that. And it is not over... at least I do not think so. But I feel like this past week the Windows of Heaven have opened on our small family. Cameron has worked overtime for the 6th straight day in a row putting in 12 hour days and working his furlough day. (The overtime hasn't happened in over a year.) Other blessings have been poured down on our heads in abundance. It couldn't have come at a better time and I am so grateful for the blessing during this holiday season. Just when I was sure we couldn't take another day of being so tight we have been given a respite. And I am grateful. It is interesting to look at the Lord's time in retrospect and to see how he has guided your life to this point even if you couldn't see his hand in everything while it was taking place.

Ashling's Christmas performance

Ashling's preschool class did a Christmas program at night. Ashling could sing every word to every song on the whole program. It was cute, short and simple and I really liked it. She loved having Grandma Sue and Pa Pa come too.