A Peek at our Week...

The kids came over and we made cookies from the cookie dough Tyson sold for basebell.  They were having a good time. 

Half the fun is the results...There were cookies of all sizes and shapes.  But that did not deter anyone from eating them.

What a cute face!

There are a fun bunch! 

Papa Turns 38 or so.

Just before Ty's birthday is papa's birthday.  Here are some shots of this event!  So hope it was a happy one and a good year yet to come!

So hope it was happy!

TYSON 12!

Well, yesterday was a big day for Tyson.  He turned 12.  It is so hard to believe that he is that old.  But life passes quickly.  There is no doubt about that.  It was exciting to see his accomplishments and abilities that he has developed over the years.  Here are some pics of my #1 grandson on his special day. 

 

Just the maternal side of the family attended the party.  But we had a great time.  It's a great age.  I can still remember when I was that age.  Unfortunately, long past.  So have a great day.

And How was your day?

So Thursday was Valentine's Day.  It was bitter-sweet for my daughter and her family because they discovered someone had broken into their garage and stolen a lot of their possessions. It's never nice to have these types of experiences happen, especially to family members.  Well, life goes on and we have to deal with these problems as best as we are able.  It isn't easy.  The insurance will pay for some, but still there is the deductible and sometimes the things lost have special meanings to them.  It goes to show that even in a little peaceful community, bad stuff happens to good people.

So then I took the kids their Valentine's surprises on Wednesday to help them not to feel quite so badly.  Brian also got a little surprise as we were relaxing about 9:00 at nite.  The doorbell rang and when he answered someone had left him a Valentine surprise at the door.  It was anonymus with a card to Brian and a bag of goodies attached to this balloon.

So he was happy about that.

I also had a nice little surprise from the hubby as I got home from work.

Red carnations and white roses.  Very pretty.  Then we went to dinner and had Japanese food.  Spencer likes his place in Orem better than this one we went to in American Fork.  But it was closer...Oh, well, maybe next time we will go there. So enjoy the weekend.  I will be a little more relaxed because I finished writing all the college curriculum courses I had been assigned to write.  What a lot off my plate!  I am relieved!

A little Bit of Random...

Ok, so I know I haven't blogged in a a couple of weeks.  So a little random update.  Besides going to work I haven't done much.  The reason being is that my job assignment has been very demanding in the last few months and to make a long story short, when I get home, I am as close to being "dead to the world" as I can ever remember.  It is so intense everyday with deadlines that literally are killing me.  It has been hard writing college curriculm and trying to do it well.  Not easy for me.  So I have one class left to write and I hope after that I can go back to my normal work load and work type.  So these pictures are probably mostly about basketball because that is about the only place I have gone to.  So here are some pics and a few random shots of what is going on in Utah...namely, snow...snow, more of the white stuff.

So that's it in our life, basketball, work, snow...snow everyday more snow...

Read-a-thon!

So in the last little while Brecklyn and I have had a new common interest.  We have been reading.  So now Brecklyn comes over with her backpack full of her favorite books and sometimes her laptop and says that she wants a read-a-thon!  So, alright, we read.  She likes to read "Nancy Clancy" books and I have been into reading "Amish Fiction".  I find the Amish people quite fascinating and when we went back East on an LDS History Tour, the tour bus took us to an Amish village.  We got to stop at some shops and see some of their wares, including their famous quilts, which were gorgeous and intricate, to say the least!  I have a few Amish dolls that I purchased, the kind with "no face" on them.  So different!

Well, when I went to Poland late last September, I decided I would be alone without company for quite a few hours and so bought two books at Wal-Mart that I could take along to read during "down-time".  So I read these books and had to have more.  Bought a few more and went to the Highland City library and they had some more, as well.  A couple of the authors that write Amish fiction are Linda Byler, and Beverly Lewis and Wanda E. Brandstetter.  So I have been exchanging them back and forth with my mom, who also seems to enjoy reading Amish fiction books.  Although they are fiction, the fiction part is only the persons mentioned in the stories, not the customs or traditions.  they are just woven together to make some interesting reading.

So Brecklyn and I do just that, we read.  The minute she comes over, she wants to read and in a very particular way...we get on grandma's bed, crawl under the covers and read.  Occasionally there is the glass of milk and chocolate chip cookie, along with that.  Breck and I are both cookie monsters, much to grandpa's chagrin as he crawls into a "crummy" bed.  I do my best to take care of that...but you always miss a few crumbs.  Then Brecklyn loves to cuddle up to me and have me read to her.  Actually she prefers to read to me about Nancy Clancy.  It reminded me of a story from many years back....

Back when Jamie was a little, little girl, she too, liked to crawl in under the covers with me and either read or watch TV till it was bedtime.  One night she was sort of sitting up in the bed next to me when her dad, the now infamous "grandpa" came in and said, "Jamie, time for bed".  Her response was a loud and resounding, "NO!" and with that firm "no" she threw her body and "head" back and hit me hard!  Her very hard head hit me smack in the middle of my face, between the forehead and top of my nose.  Instantly I was literally seeing "stars" and not the nice kind...also, the pain was horrific and the nose went into instant "nose-bleed" mode.  Yes, I had to pop right up and take care of that.  I was really dizzy as I jumped up.  I finally got the instant nose-bleed under control and eventually the intense pain simmered down to tolerable.  The next day was Sunday and we had later services around noon or so.  By 11:00 I bent over to put on shoes and felt dizzier than ever in my life.  And after that the dizziness did not stop.  I ended up not going to church as planned and the next day the dizziness had not stopped.

Spence took me to the doctor who said I had a concussion.  He said I would be like this about  2-3 weeks and then it would slowly go away.  Oh my, it was Christmas time.  I was so dizzy when it was Christmas Day, that I couldn't go to the Christmas dinner at Spencer's parents in South Jordan.  You can see how long ago this was, because they moved to Las Vegas years ago and then at that time my parents were in California.  But thank goodness, that is now all just a funny memory that came to mind as I was thinking about Breck's read-a-thons and grandpa coming in at 8:00 pm and saying it was time for Breck to go home.  I was glad not to get "nailed" yet again!

So here is a sample of what I am into reading:

And only a sample, and that is because I am still watching German movies.  And so here is a sample of that!

So this is how I have been spending these dark wintry and very cold nights. Just as an "aside" note, back when I was a girl about Brecklyn's age, my friends, Cindy and Carolyn and I would go to the tiny Elmore, Minnesota town library on a weekly basis, by foot, of course and check out all the Nancy Drew, Hardy boys and Box Car Children books and Little House books we could get our hands on.  Those were our faves and then we'd go home grab a blanket and sit in the shade reading till the day was over and then it was on to "night-games" although I doubt we called them that back in the day....

Winter Woolies...

To all my German friends and relatives that have asked "how's the weather in Utah?"  Here is an answer to that question. 

That should answer the question.  And yes, it's cold!

Nothing But Net...

Tyson had his first Basketball game of 2013 today.  I took lots of pictures, but my shutter speed was not set fast enough and I wasn't quite sure how to change it.  The pictures that turned out better, had little to no action, while everything else was just a blurrrrrrr.  So I will post a few pictures and there is one I really liked!

Here's the team waiting to start the game.

Ty's on the right and ready to go.  I don't know for sure, but I think he was the highest scorer for the game with 5-6 baskets.

Going for the gold.

Yup, got some gold!

 

And yet again!  Gold Rush!  Can you see him on the far right?

Well blogger went on strike and won't let me upload the rest of the pictures I had planned on....so I will close for the moment.  Very frustrating!

Christmas Past

I didn't really post anything after or during my Christmas break, but I guess I will play a little catch-up ball today.  We had a very nice Christmas Eve together with my parents and Jamie's family.  We had the usual food menu....it never seems to change, but I guess I actually like it to stay this way.  So then that's a good thing.  We had Roladen, red cabbage, "almost cheesy potatoes", as they didn't get cooked in time, mashed potatoes, gravy, other vegies and rolls.

And then we "dressed up" in our Christmas attire:
(At least some of us did, that is)

Grayson had RSV and so he wasn't too excited to participate this year.  Logan always has that mischievous look on his face in every picture.  Don't you think?

Then a little family picture to torture the kids just a bit longer before they open their gifts.

Autographed Packer's football for Tyson

 Presents for everyone.

A Packer's Jersey for our little football player, with his own number and name.  It was a wonderful Christmas and we had a great time.

And a little musical numbers.  Sheesh I should have practiced, I'm getting so rusty!