A New Year

Happy New Year! Happy 2013 from our family. 

Our most recent family photo (minus our dear Spencer and his wife Ashley).

Evan is a senior this year and will graduate May of 2013.  We're so excited for him to complete this milestone in his life.  He's already planning to attend college and thinking of majoring in Computer Engineering - he'll be excellent in this field. 

Tori is a junior this year.  She's doing great in school and enjoys participating in all the extra-curricular activities.  She's on the Vipers volleyball team.  Todd and I love watching her play, she's got great energy and enthusiasm.

Todd and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this year.  It's hard to believe 20 years have gone by already.  When people say that marriage is a roller-coaster ride, they are absolutely correct.  We've had some highs and lows but it's been worth every minute.

Thankful

"Family, like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one"  Anonymous

This quote nicely sums up my thoughts on another wonderful year and how, while the family continues to change, we always remain as one family.

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and sisters.  Dinner this year was at my parent's home and it was yummy food with lively conversation.  Evan and Tori were so thrilled to be there... really they weren't to thrilled but they did enjoy the food.

Todd was helpful and carved the turkey for my Dad, while Dad stirred the gravy.  Delicious!

Three of my sisters were there.... someday it will be all of them.... until then we'll enjoy those that are with us.  We had Kayce, Nan, and Carol there.  Also in the picture is me and Mom.  It's amazing how sisters can be so different but yet so alike.  When we get together and talk it's like reading each others minds.  We can bounce around from subject to subject because we just know how the subjects connect even though those around us may be confused.  It's great! 

Spencer and his wife, Ashley, spent Thanksgiving with her family but then came to visit us over the weekend.  I'm always in heaven when all three of my children are with me.  Spencer had just given himself a lovely haircut and it fits his personality.  He's always been a bit of a rebel punk... love that boy.

My Dad was able to stop by for a visit with us also and spend some time catching up with my wonderful children. Yet, another year to be thankful for family and another year to focus on how swiftly time flies and to always be thankful for our precious time together.

Tori Takes a Vacation

There's much more to share from our travel to Vancouver but let's take a little break so I can share with you Tori's own little vacation.  She had the opportunity to travel to Connecticut and New York city this summer, all on her own. 

My younger sister had her third child early in the summer and we hatched up a fun plan for Tori to travel out to Connecticut for a few weeks to be my sister's unofficial nanny for a little while.  The goal was to have Tori help keep the older children, Jackson and Elise, entertained while my sister took care of their darling newborn, Andrew.  I think Tori did keep the kids entertained and the kids loved having her there but...... I think Tori had a hard time with the early mornings.  Tori is used to sleeping until well into the afternoon during the summer and with young Jackson and Elise she had to quickly adjust to early mornings.

You can see Jackson and Elise quickly fell in love with their cousin Tori.

They spent many of their days hanging out at the local pool, playing in the rain, eating yummy cupcakes, and being silly for the camera.

They also calmed down for a little bit to let my talented sister take some pictures of the whole crew.  Aren't they just the cutest bunch of kids?

Lillian, my sis, was so sweet and took a day off from the baby and Elise and took Tori and Jackson into New York city for the day.  A big thank you to Matt, her husband, for watching the younger kids.  Tori absolutely loved traveling into the city.

They arrived in Grand Central station and headed off to Dylan's Candystore, Serendipity for some yummy frozen, hot chocolate, and fabulous FAO Schwarz toy store.

Just before they left New York to head home after an exhausting, fun-filled day they took a little detour to find a New York city fire station.  Their hope was to get a picture inside with some of the crew for Tori's firefighter Dad back home.  Todd would have loved that Tori was able to see inside and meet some of the crew; unfortunately, everyone was gone but they did get a great picture of the cool fire station door.

Tori made it home safe and sound after her two week visit and handled traveling out there and back on her own just fine.  This little girl of mine is just growing up so fast.  I'm glad she had this opportunity to have fun with her cousins.

Time Flies Quickly

Is it already September?  Has it really been over a month since my last post?  Time flies by much, much to quickly. 

There are so many things to share about our family that I really must be better at posting on my blog.  Todd and I had a wonderful trip to Canada with some great photos from the trip that I really want to share and the family has had some fun times boating this summer and some great pictures of my athletic children.  Also, Evan and Tori have started back to school and I have some great recipes I want to share.

First, I'll start with back to school.  Talking about how quickly times flies, it's really hard to believe the summer is over and the kids are now in school.  The days are growing shorter and we're starting to feel a chill in the air each morning.  At the start of each year, it's a tradition to take a picture of the kids on their first day of school and this year was no different - even though they are both of the opinion that this particular tradition is pointless.

Evan, as always, was very accommodation and patient with his Mom and stopped for a few minutes to let me snap a photo.  Evan is now a Senior this year.  He's decided this year that he wants to be a computer engineer, which I think he is well suited for this type of career.  Love this boy of mine.

Tori isn't so patient with her Mom when it comes to first-day-of-school photos.  Actually, she's not so patient with Mom taking any photos.  Here she is frantically getting ready for her first day because it was much, much to early in the morning to get up on time.  Tori is Junior this year and is ready to take on the world - I think this girl was born ready to take on the world.  Love her tons and tons.

I've got to track down some pictures of these two on their first day of kindergarten and do some trips down memory lane.  These two have grown so much and it seems like just yesterday I was cradling them in my arms as little babies.  The same goes for my grown up boy, Spencer, who is now 25.  We love him and cherish him and his sweet smile and loving personality.

Playing Catch-Up

It's time for me to play some catch-up and update this blog.  There's been some great events going on in our family and life has been hectic and wonderful as usual.

First up is Spencer's birthday.  My baby boy who isn't much of a baby boy anymore.... turned 25.  Can you believe it?  He's 25!  We celebrated his wonderful day by traveling to Salt Lake city to meet him and spend the day (sadly Ashley was not feeling well so she was not there with us).  We had fun touring the Clark Planetarium and got a picture of my three wonderful children visiting the planet Mars (not really, of course). 

Aren't these three wonderful children so kind to indulge their Mom by posing for a cheesy picture? I keep forgetting that grown children and teenagers don't like posing for cheesy pictures for Mom... when will I ever learn?

 After spending time at the Planetarium, we walked around and found a great place to eat.  I have to say that spending time eating with the family is really, truly one of the best ways to spend time with your children.  It seems that wonderful conversations always come up around the table.  I love it!

We were able to get a group picture at the end of the day.  I love these two pictures.... our three wonderful children hugging the parents who love them forever and always.

Spencer's birthday always seem to fall on or around Mother's day.  Mother's day is always nice but can many times be a little disappointing (just being honest).  Disappointing because there's so much hoopla about wonderful Mother's and wonderful children who love their Mother's.  While I know my children love me and my husband loves me, there really isn't much hoopla going on in our house on Mother's day.  That's fine.... I guess.  But I have to mention this day... this year.... because Todd surprised me with a wonderful, thoughtful gift this year.  Do you see why I have to mention the gift?

More catching-up to come....

Sisters

Sisters can be a wonderful thing in life.... they can also be a challenge.  Luckily for me, the majority of the time my sisters are a wonderful thing.  Yes, it's true I didn't say ALL the time, just the majority of the time.... because, really, no family relationship is perfect.

With that said, last month I've had such a fun time with my sisters.  Lillian came to visit all the way from Connecticut with her cute family and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of her visit.  While she was here, we managed to take a few minutes away from our time talking and laughing and eating to take a few pictures.

Unfortunately, we are missing our sister Carol who wasn't feeling well that day; otherwise, I absolutely love this picture and love that we could be together for this picture.  While the picture above is great, I think this next one is my favorite.

This laughing together is really what we do.  I pray that I can pass along this love of family to my children so that as they grow and become adults they will always have the joy of family around them.

A Few Things.....

It's been awhile since my last post and I have a few things to share.

First, my last post is in reference to sweet Tori's 16th birthday.  She's now driving.  We decided to buy her a car.  We are now a four car family.... four cars.  I kind of think it's ridiculous that we have four cars; however, with that said I'm very grateful that we have the cars.  It sure is convenient and so very, very nice not having to run Tori to all her practices and school events.  I hope we can survive the insurance and fuel!

Second, Evan is such an amazing young man.  I don't talk enough about him and he needs to be talked about.  He has such a steady, reliable, quiet personality and a quick intelligence.... he's going places.  One other item of note with Evan - I've discovered his motivation as a teenager.  As a parent trying to encourage certain behaviors and enforce rules, it's always very nice when you discover something that motivates compliance, right?

We've always encouraged good grades because we know all the children are fully capable of earning good grades.  To encourage good grades, we have offered a monetary reward for each A earned.  This reward has never been a motivating factor for Evan.  What we discovered is that when we started making Evan pay us for his car insurance because the cost increased due to his low GPA, he suddenly improved dramatically on his grades.  His motivation is that he doesn't want to spend his money.... he's a saver.  I love it!

Finally, Todd has been cleared for full-duty at work.  It's a true blessing.  After his shoulder surgery, the doctor told us it would most likely be a year before Todd would be have the range of motion needed to return to work as a firefighter.  His surgery was the end of December and he's back to work the first of April.  Todd received a Priesthood blessing, given by members of the Mormon faith, and was blessed to have a speedy, full recovery.  I believe our prayers were answered and I am grateful.

This Little Girl of Mine

This little girl of mine.... I'm gonna let her shine..... Let her shine, Let her shine, Let her shine.

Can you hear me singing?

Tori is an amazing young women with so much fire and energy it's difficult to keep up with her.  She now loves Volleyball and she's pretty dang good.  At 5' 1", she is scrappy and digs right in and never lets the ball get past her. 

She's amazing at everything she does and we thoroughly enjoy spending time with her during her volleyball tournaments.... well.... except when the tournament is from 8am to 6pm with an hour or two between her games. 

I'm learning that life goes by much too fast and my little girl is growing up much too fast also.  So, even though her tournaments can be a long, grueling day, I'm enjoying every second I can soaking up time with this little girl of mine.

Along for the Ride

As a parent of two teenagers and an adult child, I've come to the realization that I'm not so much parenting as just along for the ride.

All three of my wonderful children came to our family with very unique, very strong-willed, personalities.  Todd and I have fooled ourselves for awhile thinking we could get them to behave and think exactly how we want them to think.... hoping they would be perfectly, perfect little images of us.  Well, at least all the good qualities of us... cause we don't have any bad qualities... only good.

Ok, back to the point.  The point is.  We've done our best but in the end, they are who they are and who they've always been; we're just along for the ride.  We've tried to provide some bumper pads in the game of life for them, some railings to help them avoid going over the edge, but otherwise they are headed off to their destination.

And their destinations and lives are going to be amazing..... cause they are amazing people.  Todd and I have been blessed to be part of their lives.

Sweet Spencer always does his best to tolerate us, and never wants to hurt our feelings, but has a mind of his own.  Always has and always will.  Love him tons and tons.

Darling Evan is our quiet, a little bit shy, son who hides his brilliant mind behind his quiet confidence.  He's always seemed to know exactly what needs to be done and just does it.  Not because we've told him to but because it's the right thing to do.  Love him a million times over.

Beautiful Tori came into our lives as a force of nature.  She moves forward with a purpose and direction and doesn't let anyone stop her.  She seems to tolerates us because we provide food and shelter and, well, maybe she loves us a little too.  She's been this way since birth and she's fabulous.  Love this young woman.

We are blessed!!

The Love of the Sport

Our family enjoys the winter months here because of our love of skiing and snowboarding.  Each one of us enjoy this sport and we look forward to each snowfall; sadly, this year has been a little skimpy on the white stuff so far.  We've all looked forward to forecasts predicting snow falls and have been disappointed when it's just a light dusting of snow. 

So after telling you about our enjoyment of this sport, you might be surprised that we've suffered from some injuries over this last year.  Injuries that would make many people think twice before heading to the slopes.  Why do we still persist in putting ourselves in harms way when there's risk of injury?

At the end of the season last year, poor Tori broke her arm, which caused her to miss out on Volleyball tryouts for the year.  Recovering from this injury was not fun and wearing the cast was not pleasant.  Yet, this year she's all ready to hit the slopes to try out her new snowboard.

At the beginning of this season, Todd took a terrible fall and dislocated his shoulder causing a severe injury in his shoulder and to his bicep tendon.  All resulting in surgery and some temporary nerve damage, which keeps him from work until he fully heals.  Yet, he's disappointed that he's missing out on the ski season.

The thrill of the sport is hard to give up and how can we resist such beauty in nature?  Let's just hope and pray we can all be a little more careful, a little more coordinated, and much more safe in the years to come because I don't think the family can ever give up this sport.

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a wonderful life I lead.  I'm so very blessed to have my husband and children and so thrilled to have them all home for the holidays.  We don't get to see Spencer and Ashley very often now that they've moved and I was just overjoyed when they came to spend four days with us for Christmas. 

It's tough for a Mom to adjust to having her children leave the nest, at least for this Mom it's been tough.  I cried for days when Spencer moved out.  Having him home with us along with the addition of Ashley, his wife, was an absolute joy.

As you can see from this picture, I've got some pretty good looking kids (just ignore the silly face Spencer's making.... he's just a good looking kid).  Oh, by the way, can you see that Evan is now taller than Spencer?  Evan has grown like crazy this last year.

Sadly we're missing Todd from the picture.  Poor Todd.  Just two days before Christmas Todd had surgery on his shoulder to repair some damage done after a skiing accident dislocated his shoulder.  The accident had happened early December and it took some time to determine if he would need surgery.  Once it was discovered he needed surgery we decided to move forward as quickly as possible so he could recover more quickly and avoid taking a lot of time off from work, which resulted in surgery just two days before Christmas.  No fun.  He's been such a trooper and was involved with all our family fun but generally spent his time laying on the couch or resting, which resulted in missing him in our family picture.

Say your prayers for a quick recover for Todd.  He really struggles with not being in tip-top-shape and keeping busy.  Recovery from this injury will be a long, slow process and that's tough.  Say a little prayer for him.

On Christmas Eve we had my parents over for a Christmas Eve family dinner.  We love having them over and, of course, had to capture the moment since we don't get to have Spencer with us very often.

Here's my Pops with his two oldest grandchildren, my wonderful sons, Spencer and Evan.

Here's Mom and Dad with my three crazy, wonderful, beautiful children.

My favorite picture of all.  My sweet oldest child who said he missed me and missed my cooking.  Isn't that just the nicest thing a son can say to his Mother?

Christmas Lights

Just after Thanksgiving we headed up to Salt Lake City to spend some time with Spencer and Ashley. I miss that boy so much and was so happy to spend a day with him.  The original plan was to have the whole family together but unfortunately both Todd and Evan had to work that day so it was just me and Tori with Spencer and Ashley.  No matter, it was a wonderful time.

The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional lighting ceremony of the Christmas lights in Temple Square, Salt Lake City.  Have you ever seen the Christmas lights in Temple Square?  If not, I highly recommend making it a family tradition.  It's a beautiful sight and puts you right in the Christmas spirit.

Spencer and Ashley, such a cute couple.

Some of the sights at Temple Square. 

Can see why it's a great suggestion for a family tradition?  If you go, be sure to bundle up, it can be cold.

Thankful

I am so thankful.  So thankful for my husband and children.  So thankful for my parents and siblings.  So very thankful for our freedom, our home, the beautiful area we live in, the home we have, for our health, and so much more.

This Thanksgiving we spent the day at my parent's home and I sincerely appreciate their hospitality.  Four of my sisters were there and it was just so much fun to spend time with each of them and their families.  It seems that I never get enough pictures.

Me with Kayce and Alison.  Missing is Carol and Nan who were also with us.

It's always so nice to see the cousins enjoying time together.  In this picture are three of Kayce's daughters with Tori enjoying a board game. From left is Emily, Tabitha, Katy, and Tori.

It's also fun to see the men in the family together.  It seemed they were either in the living room waiting for the food to be ready or downstairs watching a football game after gorging on Thanksgiving dinner. Seems to be a tradition. :-)

My sweet Evan.  When did he get so tall?

My sweet Tori.

Tori with her cousin Emily (Kayce's daughter).

As I mentioned, we are so very thankful for each other.  After Thanksgiving, we were able to spend the day with Spencer and his wife, Ashley, visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  I really missed them at Thanksgiving but I'm very thankful to spend time with them.  Next post, I'll share the pictures.  Happy Thanksgiving!