Family campout

A couple weekends ago we went on a family campout up American Fork Canyon.  It was so beautiful up the canyon and I loved that it was cold in the morning.  My house isn't cool right now and I loved sleeping in the cold!

We had fun with all the neices and nephews until we built a campfire.  Then they all wanted to 'help', light matches, put wood on the fire and everything else.  My dad was sure that one of them was going to fall into the fire pit and I got to the point where I was going to help one of them fall in so that the others would learn to stay away from the fire. (I'm nice, aren't I?)

My dad taught us a new Indian saying (since he has some Indian blood he and one of his brothers has taught us 'Indian' lore). 

"White man built big fire, sit way back.  Indian build little fire, sit real close."

We had a true white man fire.  It was huge and warm and attracted all children within the campground!

Germany trip 2011

I've been home almost 2 weeks and I still wish I was in Germany!  We had so much fun and I got to do so many things that I probably wouldn't have if I lived there.  I kept telling myself that I needed to do it because chances of me getting back there are slim.  That's the only way they got me to ride the tram to the top of the highest mountain in Germany!


Here's a slidshow of some photos I put together for the girls at work.


http://cmd.shutterfly.com/commands/pictures/slideshow?site=mygermanytrip2011&page=mygermanytrip2011/pictures&album=8

Disneyland!

I just got back from a fun, quick trip to Disneyland with some of the family! My sister, brother-in-law and their 2 kids were going and they invited mom, me and our other sister to come join them. We had lots of fun! We started out by leaving late Wednesday night and drove through the night. Little nephew fell right asleep and stayed asleep most of the trip, little niece was good until she got sick and threw up a couple of times and lucky me, I was the one beside her in the back seat.

We rolled into town about 8 am and were able to get right into our hotel and took a little break/nap. Then it was off to Disneyland!  

Little niece wanted to meet Tangled (aka Rapunzel) so we got in line and saved her a spot.  She is usually incredibly shy but we were surprised to see her walk up to Tangled and Flynn and talk to them.  She also gave Tangled a hug when we were leaving.

We spent most of the day Thursday in Disneyland, on Friday we went back to Disney and spent quite a bit of time (and I saw my roommate who was there with her sister, brother-in-law and their children), then that afternoon we went to California's Adventure (which I had never been to) then back to Disney for the fireworks. Saturday we spent time in both parks and then that night started back home. With all the 'fun' we had on the way down, we decided to stop in Las Vegas for the night. Then we got up this morning and finished the ride home. About an hour from home, little nephew, feeling left out, threw up (and since I wasn't sitting by him he got it on my pillow for me!)

All-in-all, it was really fun and I would probably do it again (but I'd come a little more prepared for the fun of a road trip with children!)

Passport

I got my passport in the mail today!  Now I'm one step closer to my trip this summer!  Happy day today.

Vacation

My mom had a conference in San Diego for 5 days. She didn't want to go alone so she took my sister and me with her. We had more fun playing in San Diego than she did sitting in her classes but we did get some time to play together too.

We went to the USS Midway and got to walk around the HUGE aircraft carrier. They had so much to see. You saw where they slept and stuff like that, then on the top deck they had quite a few aircaft from different times. Even as big as it was, I'm not sure how long I would last on one.


We found a time that mom didn't have any classes she wanted to go to and we went to visit Sea World. I haven't been since High School and it was really fun. We went to a Sea Lion show, a Shamu show,a Dolphin show and walked through many different exhibits. Then when it got dark we went back to see another Shamu show and watched some fireworks. It was kind of a long day - but a really fun day!
The next day my sister and I went to the zoo. It was a cold day but still fun to see the animals. We got to see the Polar Bears and the Panda's among many other animals.


We also went to Little Italy (and had wonderful pizza) Old Town (and had great mexican food) and the Mormon Batallion site. We walked along the water and ate seafood at Seaport Village (well mom ate seafood!). Lots of fun was had but it was kind of nice to come back home too.

Catching up

Wow, time sure has flown by lately...

I took the week of Thanksgiving off and decided to take my youngest niece to the Children's Museum at the Gateway. We had lots of fun, once she decided it was okay to play. We had lunch and went to Build-A-Bear to look around before going back home.

At Christmas, I had 2 weeks off. Before Christmas, I borrowed my niece again and we went to see “The Princess and the Frog”. We bought popcorn and she was so cute. We got to the theatre and sat down and she put her napkins in her lap and pointed to the bag of popcorn. She was really good through the movie and just kept asking for popcorn. I think she ate more than I did!

We had a really good Christmas and it was fun to have everyone together. As usual, Mom went a little crazy and spoiled us all.

The Monday after Christmas my sister went in and had her 2nd baby. So my youngest niece now has a little brother around the house. She wasn’t sure she liked him when we took her to the hospital and she was a little afraid of her mom in that big hospital bed, but she warmed up eventually. When I was holding him, I got her to come look at his little feet, but she wouldn’t get too close. With the new baby, I now have 3 nieces and 3 nephews and 1 nephew on the way.

New Year’s Eve I got to hold the little guy. His sister got a little mad telling us he was mommy’s baby. I’m sure there’s been a discussion about how she shouldn’t pick him up. She’s a little rough with her baby dolls and my sister was a little nervous about it.

It was a great end to the year!

Zion's for the weekend

A couple of weeks ago, my roommate and I took a weekend trip to Zion's. On the way I got to stop and visit with Lindsay. I had so much fun catching up and seeing her little girl. Then we went to Zion's. We had fun hiking, and seeing the beautiful fall colors in the park. We made smores around the campfire and had an all around good time. It sure was beautiful there.

Weekend fun...

I had an amazing weekend full of fun. My mom, aunt, two sisters and I went to sunny San Francisco. Since we couldn't get tickets to Wicked when it came to Utah, we decided to go watch it in San Francisco. My office has an apartment there and we got to stay there for free. It was beautiful and had an amazing view of the Bay Bridge. (the photo was taken looking out the bedroom window)

The play was great and it was fun to go with my sister who hadn't seen it. (all the rest of us had) She was funny about it. I don't remember being that amazed by it, but is sure was good.

We walked along the wharf, saw Alcatraz (far off in the distance), saw the Golden Gate bridge (again, far off) and went to Ghirardelli square and bought chocolate (would you expect any different from 5 girls?).

I did get some blisters on my feet from all the walking but it was so much fun! I'd go back in a second and do it all over again!

Valentines/President's weekend

I had a, well let's call it an eventful, and long holiday weekend. I started it off by getting another cold (it seems like I have been sick for 6 weeks) and this one caused me to lose my voice. So I spent Saturday coughing and not being able to talk.

On Sunday, our choir had been asked to sing for Stake Conference with a couple other ward choirs, since I play the piano for our choir and don't get to sing, I was really looking forward to singing. But without a voice, I wasn't much help!

I got Monday off from work, but my bro and sis-in-law went on a mini vacation and I volunteered to watch the 4 kiddies since youngest sister had them Saturday and grandma had them Sunday. Plus I was the only one who didn't have to work Monday.

We had lots of fun (read that last bit with a TON of sarcasm). I had one with double ear infections, who woke grandma at 5:00, me at 5:45 and then threw up about an hour after grandma left for work. And another with an ear infection and a sinus infection. (we only knew they were sick, my sis-in-law took them to the doctor after she got home) The other two had coughs and runny noses and I am really glad that I didn't catch whatever they all had! We did get some fun in - played games, colored pictures, did some cleaning and laundry, and tried not to bother grandpa who was downstairs in his office working... It was mostly a fun day, but I sure was glad when it was over.

VACATION!

I love Christmas time. The lights, the traditions, not having to work for 2 whole weeks. Now if it would just stop snowing today life would be perfect. I'm not too fond of snow today, I didn't want to drive in it, so it kind of ruined the plans I had today. I did end up going out but didn't go to all the places I wanted.

I've shoveled the sideway twice and my roommate once and it needs it again. I think we'll wait and make the other people in the building shovel.

My roommate made a snowman in the front yard, he's a tiny snowman and will probably get lost in the snow if it keeps snowing!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanksgiving week

I had so much fun this week! Loved the time off of work and didn't get on the computer for most of it and was still quite busy!

• Watched youngest niece for a couple hours on Monday.
• Took Dad to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. He had surgery and has a cast on his foot.
• Took oldest nephew to buy a book for his birthday gift (a month late!), and 2nd niece came to my house for a sleep-over Wednesday night. We had pizza, watched a movie, played a game... she wouldn't go to sleep... but we had fun!
• Had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. Played Rock Band with Brother and Sister-in-Law. It was fun, but I'm not any better at Rock Band than I am at any other video game.
• Watched my first James Bond movie. I've avoided them so far, but this time I couldn't really get out of it. That's the show that Mom and Dad wanted to watch.
• Got to do our Thanksgiving tradition of shooting targets in the desert. But we didn't get to shoot the rifles just the shotguns so I have a rather nice, big bruise from the shotgun.

All in all, a wonderful week, and I really wish it wasn't coming to an end. I haven't missed working yet, and I'm not ready to go back!

Busy, busy, busy...

Boy have things been busy lately. For a week, I wasn't home before 9 pm and it's taken it's toll. All I want to do this week is sleep!

Here are some of the highlights:

• Spent a couple of nights with the family. Youngest nephew left me a voicemail, it was so cute. Was told by my 2nd niece that I am her favorite aunt! (since she has 7 aunts I felt this was a great thing, even if she was just trying to avoid going to bed! And yes, it worked...I let her sit and rock with me a bit longer.)
• Spent some great time at Friday's Kids and played a great game of 'Duck, Duck, Goose'.
• Went to a fun basketball game with roommate.
• And in the midst of everything, I even got my laundry done!

Now, if I can just get through this week at work everything will be great. I've got a couple of days of vacation next week, added to the holiday, I don't have go all week! I can't wait for my vacation to start Friday at 5.

Vacation

I just got back from a marvelous vacation. I got to go spend 4 wonderful days with a dear friend and her 4 kids. We did many fun things, but I liked seeing the new "Lincoln Log House" the best! Such a fun home. I can't wait to go back and see it after they've finished remodeling and moving in.

Sam also spent hours sewing a border for my mom's Christmas gift and I can't wait to put it together. I'm going to have it done by Thanksgiving for you to see.

I already miss little Strawberry Shortcake and am counting down the days until I get to see her at Thanksgiving. I miss holding the baby and listening to her 'talk' to me too. And I loved learning about bugs from the boys. There is a whole other world out there if you look through the eyes of little boys.

Thanks again Sam, for letting me visit you and for the greatest vacation I've had in quite awhile.