Summer Time!!

Hello there!  Now that it's twenty twelve, I'm planning on hitting the ground running!  I'm going to catch up on my memories, so I'm overviewing the wonderful Summer we had.

In July,

-We had a blast at Hogle Zoo with Grandma and the Gittins (that sounds like it should be some sort of crazy rock band name, doesn't it? "Grandma and the Gittins" has a nice ring to it!)

-We attended our cousin Emily's baby blessing

-We celebrated Independence Day in Oakley with the Rodeo, Parade, Food, and Family!

I love, love, love this picture!

-We had to leave the Oakley festivities early to head down to San Diego for the Bar Convention (we watched the fireworks from the freeway). We went with friends from the firm and had a great time in Sunny CA!

-We played at the beach

-We went to Lego Land.  Disneyland it ain't, but we still had fun.  The best part was the mini cities they built.

-We had a blast at SeaWorld



  -Our last day in San Diego was spent touring the USS Midway. It was really neat!

-Jen went to Park City for the weekend for a Girls Only Trip with Denise, Jill, and MomNancy. We had a blast zip lining, alpine sledding, hiking, shopping, and eating!

-We went to a Bees Game with the whole family

-We celebrated Jason's birthday at the Spaghetti Factory (surprise, surprise!)

-We went to Lagoon for Harper's birthday

-We said goodbye to the Gittins family. We miss them so much!

-Ryan and I hiked up to Adam's Canyon's waterfall with Amanda and Jay

-We celebrated Grandpa Blair's birthday up in the canyon and roasted hot dogs and S'Mores

-We enjoyed our annual neighbor/friends fireworks night in our front yard

-Braiden enjoyed basketball camp at the SportsPlex

-Ryan and I saw Idina Menzel in concert up at Deer Valley!

In August,

-Had a great backyard BBQ at our house with friends from the firm

-Katie and Lauren had a blast at Girls Camp

-We took the girls to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Hale Center.  It was awesome!

-We did lots of school shopping (two teenage girls, one picky sports loving boy, and one kid who outgrows everything in a matter of weeks....you do the math!)

-We saw the "UP" house at the Parade of Homes with Amanda and Jay.  It was so cute!

-Soccer started back up again for the boys

-The kids got all dressed up for the first day of ninth, seventh, third, and first grades!!



-Ryan completely surprised me with a trip for our 16th wedding anniversary.  He has tried to surprise me many times before, but always unsuccessfully. This time he pulled it off!  We went to Disneyland for a few days and had a wonderful time just being together

-We had a fun-filled FHE with the Dawson family!

Whew!!  What a fun summer we had!  We made a lot of great memories. What a great family I have!  I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people I share my life with!

Plans For Twenty-Twelve

I'm grateful for another year of life on this earth surrounded by the people I love!!! 2011 was a wild and crazy year! The first half was nuts with Ryan's trial. Looking back, it was a blur. I generally don't do nearly as well without him around. He grounds me and keeps everything going well. We all missed him so much, but we got through it and learned to use the time we did have together better. We were all so grateful for our Florida trip...that really seemed to get us through to the end.

The second half of the year was spent tripping to here, there, and everywhere. Starting in May, Ryan and I went somewhere every month except December. May was Milwaukee, June to NYC, July took us to San Diego, August to Disneyland, September was Jackson, October back to Disneyland, and November to St. George!! Whew!! We got good mileage out of the luggage we received as gifts!! I'm grateful for all of the memories we made, from the little, every day ones to the big, fun trip ones.

So, now that a brand new year has begun, I thought I would look ahead to the coming months. To be honest, I haven't made many plans as of yet, but I do know a few things that will happen:

-Ryan and I are heading to California next month with our friends from the firm...adults only! I can't wait!

-Lauren will get her braces off this Spring!

-Ry will turn the big FOUR-OH!! (I tease him every night that I'm married to an old man!) I want to throw him a big party, but he's not too hip on the idea. At least I have a few months to convince him!

-(I can't believe I'm typing this next sentence...) Katie will be getting her driver's licence learning permit this Spring. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

-We might go to Mesa Verde over Spring Break. It's somewhere we've never been and I've heard it's great. It's not definite, but I hope we can go.

-Ry and I are thinking about heading to Boston for work. Neither of us have been there and I would love to go!!

-We are signing Katie up for EFY this Summer. It is a huge conference put on by BYU for the youth. I can't wait for her to have that experience!

-Another trip that's just in the "let's see if we can make this work phase" is to go to Yosemite in the Summer. I would love to take the kids there!

-Again, I can't believe this, but Katie will start High School in the Fall.

HEAVEN. HELP. ME.

After that last bullet point, I can't write any more!! I only have a few short years left with my kiddos and it's screaming at me in the face! I'm realizing more and more how precious time is and how rapidly it passes.

I better make 2012 really count!!

Every.

Single.

Day.

25 Things I Want to Remember Right Now....

I am determined to catch up on 2011, but here's what is going on right now:

1-I got an iPad for Christmas, and I can't tell you how much I love it!

2-I have spent the last week going through every one of my cookbooks and bookmarking the recipes I love, like, and want to try.

3-I then cataloged all of those recipes into my iPad so I can keep track of them. I now have literally years of new recipes to try!!

4-I am starting my voice lessons again. I absolutely love singing and want to get better at performing.

5-Braiden's basketball started up and he's pretty darn good.

6-There were so many changes made to my Primary recently, including one of my counselors. I will miss Charlene so much, but am excited to work with Jill again! I've been Primary President for over two years now, and I still absolutely love it!

7-I'm amazed at how fast time keeps flying by! Lauren is about to turn 13 and Katie is trying to figure out which classes to take for High School!

8-I volunteer at the elementary school every week. It's seriously one of the highlights! Those kids are so cute! (Disclaimer: two hours is all I can do! I am amazed at all of the wonderful teachers who put in endless hours! It would wear me right out!)

9-Ethan received Captain America pajamas for Christmas, so he keeps asking me when he can watch the Captain America movie while wearing them.

10-Ryan moved into his office before Christmas and we are slowly trying to decorate it.

11-My mom had to go to the ER for high blood pressure last week. It scared us all pretty bad, but in the end, I hope it was a good thing because it will make us more aware of this problem and keep her healthy longer. I love you, Mom!

12-When we arrived at the ER, we watched the aftermath of the police shooting in Ogden. What a sad thing to witness! It made me appreciate our public servants and all they do for us each day!

13-We love the show Psych at our house. It is a recent discovery, and Ryan gave me the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas. It is hilarious and we love watching it after the news before bed.

14-Katie is in the thick of her school play practice. She loves it and I'm thrilled for her to be doing what she loves.

15-Ryan was asked to speak in church on Christmas Day. He did a fabulous job and people still talk to me about how great he did.

16-We decided to be really mean parents and take away all kids' electronics (TV, computer, phones, IPods, and DS) for a whole week! I have to say, besides a few minutes of protests here and there, it has been GREAT!! We have played card games, read books, practiced the piano more this week and I haven't regretted being a mean parent! (I'm considering being a really mean parent one week out of every month!)

17-I am thrilled to be hanging out with my friend Stephanie more. We have both been so busy, but we are trying to make more of an effort to see each other.

18-Katie made cookie dough the other night, and I will never admit to how much of the huge double batch I ate! It was so yummy!

19-I am finally trying to learn how to run my camera, take better pictures, and figure out Photoshop!

20-Braiden is obsessed with all things sports. Jazz, football, stats, players, records, you name it. It's so funny to watch!

21-Ethan showed us his Irish dance moves the other day and had us all rolling on the floor with laughter!

22-Both girls earned a 4.0 this semester! What Smarty-Pants kids I have!

23-I have a slightly unhealthy addiction to the website Pinterest. There are so many cute ideas, and a few of them I have actually done myself.

24-Even though I consider my shoulder completely healed, I've discovered that I will probably never be able to go bowling again. Oh well, I stunk at bowling anyway!

25-Lauren and her BFF Kim call me "Mama Jen" and Lauren loves to call me "Fur-Fur" because I told her that's what my friends called me when I was in High School.

I could probably come up with at least 25 more, but that's a good start.  Life is good, people.  Really, really good.  That is all for now....

Finishing up Florida

Hello, folks! Boy, life just keeps truckin' along, doesn't it?  One of my many goals is to catch up and stay caught up on my little blog.  I have a lot of work to do! I want to finish up my Florida Vacation posts first since it was almost a year ago!!! 

One of the things we were most excited about visiting Florida was the chance to see one of the last Shuttle launches! So, to get us ready for the launch, we spent a whole day at the Kennedy Space Center a few days before.  We loved it!!  They were, of course, preparing for the launch and the shuttle was already on the launch pad.  We thoroughly enjoyed the museums, the tours, and we even saw a real live astronaut!

The boys were so excited about all things space after going to the Kennedy Space Center! We are glad we were able to get a good background before seeing first hand people going to space!  The day of the launch was kind of crazy.  It was scheduled for 5:00pm, so we left around 10am.  The drive is about an hour and we wanted to hit Cocoa Beach beforehand.....we almost didn't make it in time!!!  The traffic was so terrible, that it took us until 4:30 to get there!!  It was crazy!  At one point, I was so sick of being in the car and not going anywhere, that I literally got out and walked a little way until Ryan caught up with me in the van!  But, once we got to Titusville, we staked our spot and watched history unfold.  It was incredible to be there and see it with our own eyes and feel the earth shake and hear the rockets!!!   So cool!!

Next Stop...Hollywood Studios!

Disney's Hollywood Studios was such a fun park!  We watched an American Idol audition show, rode Tower of Terror, and played on the Toy Story ride.  We also ate at a fun restaurant where we were transported back to the 1950s where we supped at the kitchen table on pot roast and we were not allowed to put our elbows on the table and we had to stand in the corner if we didn't clean our plates!  So funny (and yummy!)

The shows were great too!  We watched a darling version of Beauty and the Beast, and you can't beat Fanstasmic! We had a great time!

We were winding down on our wonderful family vacation, but the most magical place was still to come.  We loved the Magic Kingdom! Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Haunted Mansion....I could go on and on!

The most memorable ride was the Lilo & Stitch ride.  It had been talked up quite a bit, so we didn't want to miss it....We now wish we HAD missed it!  You are placed in this small auditorium, tightly strapped into your seat when supposedly, Stitch gets loose and turns out the lights and spits and jumps on you....not fun!  But we did laugh about it the rest of the trip.  If you are going to Disneyworld, skip this ride: consider yourself warned!

However, that was the only low point!  We had a blast, as you can see...

We finished the day with a wonderful walk down memory lane.  I grew up watching the Electric Lights Parade and this just took me back!!  I vividly remember the snail float and the music and watching it with my boys was so fun!! Disney Rocks!

We also visited the Orlando Temple on our trip (once with all of the kids, and then again to do baptisms with the girls).  What a great part of our trip!  It was neat to take a break from parks and nonstop fun to do something spiritual! And what a beautiful building!

As you can see, it was a FANTASTIC trip!!  I know I've said that over and over, but it really was! Our little family really needed it and I wouldn't trade the memories for anything!