Sometime after August...

Well, since it has been awhile, I guess I'll start after August. Although we haven't been very busy. Here are the highlights till the end of the year. The reason there aren't a lot, is because my camera is still broken, and while I can take pictures with it, I can't SEE what I'm taking a picture of. So it's a "Hope this turns out" conversation while taking pictures! and most of them DON'T turn out. THE BEST MOM EVER!!!! In late September I signed Spencer up for a Nerf competition. It was downtown during the Dew Tour. He signed up with a friend to compete in the Dart Tag competition. You played on a team of 4 people, competing against another 4 people, and you fought for a set amount of time. The winners of this went on to compete for $25,000 in Florida. This was a BIG deal. Spencer was so excited about this and had been talking about it for weeks maybe even months. Only 8 teams were allowed to compete, and he got to be one of them. (I signed him up as a surprise and didn't tell him about it until 2-3 days before the competition.) He about DIED as I told him that he got to compete and I had signed him up... all the months of wanting and waiting... Finally came true!!! I felt like the BEST mom in the whole world. I've never seen the kid so happy. So, Saturday came and we went downtown... went TOTALLY early to make sure check-in wasn't a problem, found GREAT parking... the kids were practically skipping down the sidewalks... and we couldn't find anyone to check in with. They had packed up and left. We were totally baffled. So we asked around and they said check-in was two hours earlier... WHAT? seriously. this was just wrong. So as we were talking, some guy that was in charge of the competition, from inside the gate, heard us and said that he could still get us in and signed up. SWEET! Nope, after some talking and investigation... he told us that the 10-13 year old competition was the DAY BEFORE! CRAP!!!! We argued with him and told him NO the email said TODAY, but alas, I was wrong. Stupid confusing email... it was the older groups competition Saturday, and the younger on FRIDAY... who would have a competition for school aged kids during school? So after tears and more tears, and even more tears, and feeling like the WORST mom in the world... We decided to go in and make the best of the Dew Tour and see all the other cool stuff they had there. Spencer ended up being able to ride some cool motorcycles and he even won some elbow and knee pads from a Nerf target practice tent. That sort of made up for missing the grand competition. sorta. Oh, well, Maybe next year OCTOBER I love October... and not just because of Halloween, although that is a big part of it. Aaron's and Spencer's birthday are also in October. We celebrated Aaron's birthday quietly, just like he likes. and we had a Nerf/Lego party for Spencer. Spencer wanted a Lego cake, and a Nerf war, (since he didn't get to compete, a Nerf war would have to do!) We had 9 kids in all and they played lots of games, like... how many Lego's can you pick up with chopsticks, and what awesome thing can you build with Lego's in ONE minute, and Nerf Strike on the Wii, and Nerf war. Now the Nerf war was really fun and exciting, but all the aforementioned games were pretty much duds. I think all the kids thought I was kidding when I told them what we were going to be doing. Maybe good games for 5-10 year olds, but these 12 year olds thought it was silly, but they did it anyway, cause I told them too! They also thought the prizes were "cheap" and "stupid" and "do you want this cause I don't"... Note to self, buy cooler "name brand" prizes next time.... (or just don't invite those kids back for the next party! hehehe... I am kidding of course, kinda!) oh well, you can't please everybody, and Spencer thought it was cool so that's all that mattered. Nerf war Singing Happy Birthday! Lego build in a minute! Spencer and his cake. Those Lego men and blocks are made out of chocolate. Spencer helped me make them, and designed his own cake! I also had a witches night out with my friends. We do a Girls Night Out once a month, and during October, Gardner Village does a Witches Night Out theme. They have the outdoor shops all decorated with Witches and invite women to come dressed up as witches to shop and dance and play and eat. It was SO much fun, and ended up being a pretty warm night for October. All the girls in our group And finally HALLOWEEN!!! I truly love Halloween. It is my favorite holiday hands down. So one weekend when Aaron came to visit... (remember he is still living in AZ) we decided that we needed to do something REALLY fun. So we went shopping for Halloween decorations for the house!! We had such a great time together getting bales of hay, and window decor, creepy skeletons, and eyes that hung from our trees! I can't wait for next year to decorate again!!! NOVEMBER Thanksgiving was really nice. We decided to stay home this year and spend some quiet time together since Aaron got a "long" weekend home. We had Cindy and Trent and Gil and Natalie over for dinner. We had Prime Rib, Sweet Potato Pie, Macaroni and Cheese, and Rolls, among other things, but those are the highlights. I, unfortunately, did not get any pictures, because I was busy cooking all day! DECEMBER Christmas came quickly, but it was fun to celebrate it! Me and my mom did chocolates again this year, and we named ourselves Shannlee's Chocolates. We even had labels made up, cause we are silly. Again, no pics sorry. Hopefully if you are reading this blog, you got chocolates, and know what they looked like. If not, let me know.. I still have a couple boxes left!!! During our Christmas break from school and work (since I work at the school) we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. They have done a ton of upgrades since the last time we went 4 years ago, and this is the only pic that turned out so enjoy! JANUARY And last, and probably least... Aaron's work asked me to make some cakes for their kickoff this season, and I made them. Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse in the middle, and a white cake with lemon mousse in the middle, topped off with lemon frosting. SO GOOD!! and they look cool, and I got pictures of them, so you get to see them! :) So that is the rest of our year in review. Maybe this year, I'll be better about updating the blog. hmmm, that is a good new year resolution. By the way... Aaron is officially back home, living in our house, and working out of the Salt Lake office!! Yipeeeee. So nice to have him home after living out of state for almost a year!

New Post Coming Soon... Stay Tuned

Lately...

What we have been up to lately: Playing in the fountains at the Gateway Mall, and then listening to the Jazz on the Plaza in the evening! Swimming at our friends pool... Thank goodness for friends!

Going to Draper Park to cool off in the stream and catch frogs, snakes and other such nonsense in the water...

Going to birthday parties, that also have crazy scary animals such as triantulas, ginormous scorpions, snakes, bearded dragons, and HUGE cockroaches during them, but Spencer had a great time!!

Going to the Splash Park every Thursday with the girls and kids, and Classic Fun Center on Mondays!

Aaron getting a new car after his dropped every ounce of liquid available onto our driveway. Too many road trips, I suppose.

Going to Arizona Science Center and getting to learn so much about EVERYTHING, but spinning and riding on the bike on a wire, was the funnest!

Lego Convention: Do I need to say anything else...

And thats about it!

Family visit

We were lucky enough to have Aaron's brother Brent and son Malcolm come up and visit us a few weeks ago. Brent was dropping Malcolm off at the MTC. (good luck Malcolm) It was really great to see them. We wish the whole family could have come out since we don't get to see them very often. (I think the last time we saw them was when spencer was 6 months old...) Aaron's other brother Stephen came up too and we got a "boys and sons" pic.

On another fantastic note: Our house is officially up for sale. The pictures turned out great!

ARIZONA!!

Well, in case any of you haven't heard, we are moving to Arizona! Aaron got a job transfer to the Mesa office, and he starts March 28th. We are thrilled beyond belief to be going. We have always wanted to move back there.

Spencer and I will be staying behind, so Spencer can finish up this school year. Hopefully by then we will have sold our house and we can move down to join Aaron ASAP.

Of course, we invite any of you to come and visit us down there. There will always be an open guest room, and sunny warm weather to entice you.

Spencer's 5th Grade Program

Spencer's 5th grade program was last week. They worked so hard on it. It was all about being an American (in case you couldn't tell). They sang so many wonderful songs, and paid tribute to all 50 states, and all military personnel. There wasn't a dry eye by the end of the program. It was really neat to be able to salute all branches of the military, and thank them for what they have done for us. Spencer got a special little part in the program. He was portraying the war of New Orleans. He was very excited to be able to hold a muskett (especially in school, where guns are not allowed, even at halloween) This was the best part of the program for him. He was so handsome standing up there, all dressed up. He also got to do a 4-square but, he was on the opposite side I was on, so no pics of that. But rest assured, it was totally cute! Spencer is the 2nd from the top

Spencer is the one facing the camera on the stairs

Spencer is the one smiling in the pic below...5th from the right.

January 2009

We have had a GREAT year so far! We just had a nice little break from school and during that time our friends came to visit us from Phoenix! They left the nice warm 75-80 degree weather, to come to the freezing 18-38 degree weather. Burrrrr!

We did have some fun though. We went snowboarding at Brighton,

went bowling at Fat Cats,

rode on the bob sled track, up at the Olympic Park, in Park City,

went to the Olive Garden, ate pizza, stayed home and made fools of ourselves, and sang it up with Sing Star, watched the Arizona Cardinals make it to the SuperBowl (CONGRATS!), and watched SNL, (its tradition). We also stayed up way, way to late every night, laughing, joking, and eating. We are not as young as we once were, but we sure had a blast trying to convince our bodies other wise!! We always have a blast whenever they come up.

Spencer and Britney, (their daughter) got along really well this trip. They were like two peas in a pod. We heard so much laughing and snickering and playing and planning we couldn't help but laugh ourselves (wishing we were that young again).

After all that fun, we were very sad to see them go, but here's hoping for more trips, or better yet, for us to move down there, so we can have fun ALL the time!!!