This week in a nut shell

It's bee a busy week. It started with me taking a final for my class on Monday. I did really well, and was relieved to know that my brain still works. We made treat plates, enjoyed a little Christmas concert at the school, and still have a few parties up our sleeve for this weekend. The other big project we accomplished is our Christmas letter. This year we were too cheap to send our cards, and so we made a blog. It was a lot of fun and a lot easier to share pictures. Here is the address. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

http://nordstromholidaygreetings.blogspot.com

Monday Morning Adventures

So the plan for this morning was to get the kids off to school, go to my water aerobics class and then putter around getting things done. First wrinkle, snow. No problem; I got up early and went to shovel the drive. Steve was getting a ride with a neighbor because of said snow, and didn't have time to shovel. The girls were excited because a neighbor lady gave them a kid sized snow shovel. So they got booted up and came out to help. About 8:00 am we were done, and I started herding everyone in for breakfast. We had already happily waived goodbye to Steven. We put the shovels away, and continued onto the house. This is when wrinkle number two comes in. The door was locked and we have no spare key hidden or at a neighbors. So I started knocking on doors. We finally found a neighbor home. She was in her rob, but she let us in. Thankfully she gave the girls some breakfast so I could at least get them to school on time. Meanwhile I called Steven so he could borrow a car and bring me keys. I got the girls off to school, then jogged in place by our door until Steve came. This is where we discover wrinkle three. He did not bring his set of keys. He remembered his wallet but not the keys. He carries them in his backpack and so that's where they were. I get in the car, and think quickly of a good plan. We'll stop by a friends house to see if she can follow us in to campus and bring me home so that Steve will at least get a minimal amount or work done before his day is over. She is glad to help, but her husband had taken the kids to school and hadn't come back. She calls him, he's on campus working, even though she thought he was working from home. I did however find out that he was coming home mid-morning to work from home. So I drive into campus with Steve, call our friend and ask to hitch a ride home with him when he leaves. He is glad to help out. I finally arrived home at 10:45 am. Then I had to make lunches for the girls and take them to school so they wouldn't starve. Wow!

Gingerbread Train

We have a tradition of making a Gingerbread House at the beginning of December. This year the girls saw a picture of a gingerbread train, and really wanted to make one. So I googled it, and found a pattern. No problem I thought. So I started making gingerbread on Friday night. It's best to let the dough refrigerate for several hours, so Friday night it went in the fridge. After a few errands Saturday morning, I cooked my first batch. Once it's cooked you have to cut it into the shapes you want quickly because after it cools and hardens, you are out of luck. So I had all my pattern cut out of card stock and ready to go. I cut up the first batch, and then came to the realize several things: 1. The train was going to be a lot bigger than I had thought. 2. I was going to have to make at least two more batches of ginger bread. 3. I should have scaled down the pattern, but it was too late to look back. So I proceeded bravely onward; three batches of gingerbread and a double batch of royal icing latter we have a giant gingerbread train. It was a lot of fun to put together and decorate, and it only took about 1 1/2 hours. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Happy Birthday Uncle Sean

A Random Conversation

Last night I was chatting with the girls, when we had this slightly random and pretty funny conversation. For a little background, the girls went on a field trip yesterday at school. They crossed the street to the high school and watched a production of Pirates of Penzance. As a side note, this is a very clever move, get all the kids to the play, tell them they can "bring" their parents the next night, then the children all think they will see the play again. It took some explaining for the girls to realize that we would all have to pay to see the play. Okay back to the reason for the post. We are talking, and K suddenly says, "I almost fell asleep in the play." "Oh you did!" It's warm, dark and cozy, why not? Then J pipes up and says, "I almost peed my pants at the play!" I didn't have a quick a witty response for that one! These two keep me on my toes that is for sure.

October

As proof that we actually do other things besides yard work I thought I would post a few pictures from this month. Really this last week to tell the truth. We'll start with a couple from carving pumpkins. Then from this morning. Steve ran the Halloween Half Marathon here in Provo. It started in Aspen Grove and ended behind the Riverwoods Mall. Other than the fact that the race started 50 minutes late, it was a lot of fun. The girls and I love to stand near the finish line and cheer, and Steve loves to run. It's a win win. We are really proud of him and his results. He came in 9th over all and 2nd in his age division finishing in just under 1 hour 24 minutes. Since we had plenty of time to wait before he came in, we took a few pics. Then of course we had a blast trick-or-treating tonight. So enjoy the pictures, and I hope you have a great October.

Kathryn

Juliana

Kathryn

Juliana

Kathryn and Juliana

A Reunion

On Thursday I got to see some friends of mine. To say we go way back might be a bit dramatic, but well it feels like it, and we aren't that old yet... 13 years ago I was just starting out my college career. I had signed up to live in an apartment but didn't have any idea who I would be living with. Fate threw me together with some of the greatest girls ever. I actually had 6 roommates for my first semester. Since those days 13 years ago, I have kept in touch with some of them on and off. A few weeks ago, I was chatting with one who mentioned she would be in town this weekend. She lives in Arizona, and I haven't seen her in at lest 3 years. So I knew I had to get thinking and plan something. Thanks to facebook, I found most of my first year roommates, and sent out an invitation. We got together on Thursday. It's magic how the clock turned back, and it seemed liked we had just left each other a few months ago. We've married had children and earned more than a few extra wrinkles, but we also have some amazing memories. I was so blessed to know them in college and I still feel that way. We were missing three others who live too far to come, but for a few hours I was able to feel "like a kid again." So many good and hard things we went through together that helped make us who we are. Thanks girls, for everything.

Yard Work Part 2

This is not the promised pictures of the front yard. We haven't reached that part yet! It has taken longer than we thought to finish up things in the back yard. Yesterday we were out there from 8:30 until 5:00. Well at least Steven was. I had to come in around 3:00 to get the girls clean and dinner started because we were baby sitting for friends at 5:00. So we got the garden tilled, and the back corner cleared out. Here are some pictures.

Here is the best before I could find. You'll have to just concentrate on the top right corner for the before picture part.

Here is the corner now. We are planning on putting the bench back eventually when we decide just what to do with all the space.

This is a shot of all the rocks we found in the corner. It was crazy how many there were. I think they were collected on purpose, but then they got covered over by all the growth back there.

Finally here is a shot of the garden after getting tilled. I can't wait to plant things next year.

Out of Retirement

In my closet there is a pair of shoes that have been very lonely lately. I think they have something like NIKE on the side! They are very nice shoes and while they feel very comfortable when I wear them, I haven't had then on my feet for a long time. Really this is not such a surprise, the bigger news is that they ever made it on my feet in the first place. For a while now I have heard them whisper every now and then when I open the closet. It has been getting louder as I have a pair of pants that are lonely too! They deserve to be worn, but there they sit, collecting dust as I continue to ignore the shoes, and my waist ignores the pants. So today the shoes came out of retirement. I will not mention how long they were on, or how fast they got to go, but they did go. In the end, they made it farther than I thought possible so perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem. Now the trick is to keep the shoes out of retirement, the treats on permanent vacation, and eventually the pants will join the shoes. If you don't hear back, well I might have some great shoes for you!

What We've Been Up To

I realize the frequency of my posts has been seriously lacking this year. So here is the reason....are you ready for this? Two words yard work. I know crazy. First of all we do so much of it in our "spare" time that there has been little time to do other things, and second of all that's really what we have been up to. I keep telling myself if we do all this work this year it won't be so much next year. I know it's not good to lie, but please for now just let me believe this little white one because I may not make it otherwise! When we moved in, we didn't really understand just how large our yard is. At first glance it doesn't seem that big, but once you start having to weed every square inch, well almost, then it grows exponentially. Previous to us living in the house it was lived in by a widow who was not able to do a lot. She kept it up as much as she could, but for a few years it's been getting more and more wild, then this last year the house was empty. So we are making up for a lot of years of work that just didn't get done. Anyway, to the fun part, before and after pictures. I have to warn you though, we haven't got to the planting part of the plan yet, so you may not be too impressed! I just thought you all might like to know why I dropped off the face of the blogging world. Note: This is just the back yard, there is one more thing to do in the front then I'll post before and after.

This last Saturday we spent the better part of the day and really got a lot of things cleared out. Today Steve got up early and took this load of green waste to the city green waste place! hopefully we are getting to the end of it for this year.

They're Off

Today is the first day of school and I am officially alone. How do I feel about this? I do not know yet. We'll give it a few days to process, maybe a few years and then I'll let you know. The girls were excited and couldn't wait to get going. With their back packs full of school supplies I sent them off. Here are a few pictures.

Juliana and Kathryn

Happy 24th

Today was a first in our hose. Steven ran his first Marathon. He ran the Deseret News marathon this morning. He did an amazing job. He ran it in 3 hours and 20 minutes! He was only 10 minutes shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon! I am so proud of him, and really glad that he is still walking! Here are a few pics.

Another one "bites" the dust

Really I should way two more bit the dust. Today the girls each lost a tooth. This is number two for Kathryn and the first for Juliana. They have been just hanging on for several days, so I decided that is was finally time to get them out. They are excited and were very brave. Here are some pictures.

Juliana

Kathryn

Our House

Here are some pictures of our new place. I know it's taken me a while so I hope you didn't give up hope.  The pictures start on the top floor and go down. Enjoy.