Good Times Together

February has been a fun month for us so far! Lots of changes and lots of family time together. My kids are doing great in school and even though they are on two different tracks this year, things have been working out well. Nate and Seth went back to school a couple of weeks ago after having three weeks off and now Alex is home for three weeks. He has been extremely helpful by watching Abby for me while I get stuff done. Plus it's been nice to have someone to talk to during the day. I can't believe he is going to be 13 years old this year! Ahhh! I have a teenager! He is such a great kid though and so much fun to be around.

In other news, Shawn and I have been talking about me getting a part time job in the evenings to help pay off some debt that we have had for way too long. My friend Tricia across the street from me told me that her work was hiring so I went and applied. They offered me the job last Friday and I started on Tuesday. I work at the University Pharmacy at the OTC counter two nights a week and half day on Saturday. I really like it so far. I haven't worked outside my home for about 9 years, so it's been kind of weird to get back into the "real" world. I have to admit though, I enjoy the time away and I think it will be good for Abby to be away from me for a little bit. She is soooo clingy and such a Mama's girl. The boys have been so supportive and have even remembered to "bless Mom at her new job" when we say family prayer. I love my family!!!

So here is a few pics from what we have been up to this month. Shawn and I got to go with our friends to a Jazz game a few weeks ago. We had awesome seats!

The team warming up before the game. That's Korver doing his little jump shot.

Milsap shooting a free throw. He made it, by the way! :)

Alex was so jealous that we go to go, but was kind enough to watch his brothers and sister while we were gone. He loves basketball! He played junior jazz again this year and had a blast. His team won 7 out of 11 games, but I think he would have loved it even if they lost every one. He just can't get enough basketball. Here he is with a few of his buddies.

Playing point guard.

Here he is shooting a free throw on a technical foul. Some kid from the other team got mad at Alex because he kept stealing the ball from him, so the kid grabbed his jersey and tried to shove him. They called a technical and Alex got to shoot two. I think he made both of them, but I can't remember for sure! They won the game too. Alex thought is was so cool that he got to shoot all alone down there at the other end of the court.

Abby loves watching these games. She looks so grown up here, huh? Nate and Seth were there too, but are never sitting down long enough to take a picture of them.

Our family loves to swim!!!! Well, I actually don't love it, but I put up with it because everyone else loves it. Here's all of us hanging out in the kiddie pool.

Abby thought this was so fun. I am so glad my kids aren't afraid of the water!

Although Seth could use a good dose of fear. That kid scares me. His favorite thing is jumping into the deep end and doggie paddling back to the edge. He's not supposed to do it unless Shawn is with him, but I caught him a few times heading over to the deep end without us. I'll be putting him in swimming lessons soon, just so I don't have a heart attack every time he's near the water.


Abby and Alex


Good times!!!

I'm officially addicted

I took a class last spring about digital scrapbooking and started to play around with it a bit. But it wasn't until Shawn bought me Photoshop for Christmas that I really started to realize what you can do. I am completely hooked! What's not to love about the craft that combines two of my favorite hobbies -- computers and scrapbooks! But the best part is...there's no mess! I am lovin' it. Here's a few of my latest pages:

Just playing around

I decided to try and make a custom header for my blog in photoshop, so here is the final product. Pretty cute, huh? I am rather proud of myself. I will probably change it again tomorrow. LOL!

Wishes

Abby is finally asleep and it's Mommy time! Yay! I guess it's been a few weeks since I've put anything on here, but with the crazy holiday season I am just now winding down. I also feel like I need to put pictures on here every time I post for some reason, so that keeps me from writing anything. So here is a picture-free post from me! Anyway, life is ok here. I hate this time of year. I have serious post-holiday traumatic stress syndrome! January and February are always bleak and cold, but I know when March comes around I will start to feel like myself again. I just need to keep busy and let people into my life so I won't start feeling sorry for myself. Thanks Dad for keeping an eye on me!

Lately I have been wishing that I had more friends here in Magna. It's totally my fault that I don't. I just don't make friends easily and I have a hard time putting myself out there, ya know? But I'm trying. I just wish for the good ol' days when my best friends all lived within a mile of me and I always had someone to talk to and hang out with. I wish I could be like my sister who makes dozens of friends everywhere she goes. But wishes don't come true unless you do something about it, right? So my goal this year is to make an effort to get to know people.

My other goal is to work on my family history more. For some unknown reason, I have been crowned the family history queen in my family. I did not seek this title, but here I sit with boxes of family history stuff on my shelves that are gathering dust and I have no idea where to start. I need to do something soon though because my sweet little Grandma, the former queen, is not going to be around forever. And she happens to be the one with all the answers to the questions I am sure to ask. So maybe I should get my butt off the computer, right? Ha! The things I would get done if I didn't have a computer. Ugh...I don't even want to think about that one.

Magical Lights

The Salt Lake Temple is beautiful no matter what time of year it is, but there is something about Temple Square being lit up with thousands of Christmas lights that is just magical. We don't brave the crowds every year to do this, but I'm glad we did this year.

This picture below is actually outside the temple grounds, over by the reflection pool. The nativity over there is all white and looks like it's made of glass. It's pretty cool, although you can't really tell from the picture. My camera doesn't really like taking night pictures.

Abby looks like a big pink burrito.

The front of the Assembly Hall.

The Assembly Hall again. There's my kids in the corner!

On our way back to the van, we passed by the Salt Palace's huge Christmas tree made of lights.

That's Nate and Seth in front.

'Tis the season to be freezin'

Our first big snowfall! I think it's going to be a white Christmas for sure! I had to shovel half of our driveway before I finally figured out how to get the dang snowblower started. Thank heavens for technology. There was a lot of snow and I was getting tired.

Nate is always outside without a coat. What is it about kids that makes them think they are immune to the cold?

Oops...looks like I blasted the side of the house.

A Taste of Christmas

I love Christmas traditions! This is one of the kid's favorites....baking and decorating cookies.

Abby doesn't get to decorate, but she does get to help eat the cookies.

Alex shows off his mad cookie skills

Nate and Seth

Shawn's masterpiece!

Little Miss cutie pie

After having three boys, I have to admit that I am not very good at the whole doing little girl's hair thing. It usually ends up in a ponytail on top of her head. But I tried something new the other day and it turned out so cute! Of course, she is cute no matter what I do to her hair, but that's just my opinion. :)

And the tree goes up!

We put our tree up this year earlier than we have ever done before: the day before Thanksgiving. I don't know what got into me! The Christmas spirit, I suppose, but whatever it was it was fun!

Nate and Seth decorating. (Yes, Seth is usually halfway undressed. I can't get that kid to keep clothes on. I am thinking this is going to be a problem later in his life.)

Abby is fascinated with the lights! These happen to be the lights that went on the outside of the house. We were just checking to make sure they worked.

Alex mourns the loss of a broken Christmas ornament.

A few of our treasured handpainted ornaments that Shawn and I have painted since the beginning of our marriage. The earliest ones date back to 1995! Ahhhh!

Seth poses in front of the finished product the next day.

Congrats to my little sis

Congratulations to Erin and her new hubby who got married a few weeks ago. We are so excited for you! His name is Dave, which makes Dave number 4 in our family. My kids are going to be hopelessly confused. But as we decided at their open house last Saturday, you can never have too many Dave's and we've never met a Dave we didn't like!

Dad and Mom with Erin and Dave

The sisters: Amy, Erin, Me and Tracy. This is a rare occasion. It's not very often that we are all in the same place!

Dave and Erin's new family. Baby Dean, Dave, JJ, Donovan, Shalee and Erin. We love you guys!