Lazy Lake Days... (cont.)

The puppies really can be sweet when they are getting along... ha, ha! They are truly the best of friends!

OK, I admit: we eat well at the lake. Cousin Oliver, Brock, Aunt Martha and JJ having a bite.

Grandpa Wendell and Dad were chatting on the deck.






Cousin Mac and Aunt Marty giving a private concert.








Naps are definitely in order at the lake.

I love this picture! Two sisters noodling about the lake.

And of course, my hubby. God love him - he is so silly!

Lazy Lake Days... (cont.)

This year, JJ and I were fortunate to have our good friends, John and Marisa Christensen, with their two kids, Braden and Sierra, join us at the lake for five days. We had a great time with them hanging out, swimming, boating and fishing. This was their first time to Washington and although the drive was long (12 hours with two six year olds! Yipes!), they decided that it was well worth it.

The picture for the family Christmas card! Ha, ha!






Dad and son catching some fish. (Thankfully we were not dependent upon them for dinner - I heard that sunfish taste awful!)

Cute little Sierra.

John drove the boat while I went skiing - thanks, buddy!

Lazy Lake Days... (cont.)

John and Sierra with a BIG catch!





JJ and Sierra flagging while Braden was being pulled behind the boat in a tube. Fun!

Sierra and Braden are ready to head out in "Grandpa Jerry's" boat.

The Christensen's cruisin' the lake in the peddle boat.

Jazz and Faith's First Birthday...

Much to my complete pleasure, and (I must admit) much to JJ's embarrassment, I threw my two dogs a first birthday party. I know most of you are thinking that I am a complete wacko, but really I love to have people over, and since I have been out of town for what seems like forever, I wanted to do something fun for the kiddos. Well, needless to say, we had fun alright! Along with the help of my good friend, Stacey, I made tacos, spanish rice and cupcakes for about 20 people. The kids played two games, plus knocked a pinata around for a few minutes - until the body fell off, and head split open and all the candy flew out - and the adults sat around and chatted and laughed. I would say that the "Puppies First Birthday Party (thrown in honor of all my most-loved kids in all of Salt Lake)" was a great way to end the week. JJ even had fun! :0)

Yes, I am guilty of making my dogs wear clothes - for one night only, as promised to my husband!

Faith and Jazz were both very well behaved, and even wore their feather boas proudly, until pinata time came around, and they were forced to retreat to their kennels. Faith promptly dismantled her boa - feathers flew and the kids were horrified; Jazz sat calmly in her kennel and I don't think even so much as tasted one of her feathers. For being twins, they sure have completely different personalities!

The first game that we played was a new take on "Hot Potato". I wrapped a little AM/FM walkman-radio in about 12 layers of wrapping paper. We turned on music ("Who Let the Dogs Out... appropriate, huh?) and when the music stopped, whomever was holding the package got to unwrap one layer of paper. The person holding the present on the last turn (which in our case was Taylor) got to unwrap the last layer of gift wrap and got to keep the prize. I cracked up when Jazz decided to join the circle - I guess she wanted to be a part of her own party!

Jazz gets some love from all of the kids! We tried to include Faith in the picture, but she was having nothing of it.

Puppies Birthday (Cont.)

Elyssa won first prize in one of our games, and proudly wears her new doggie ears!

Braden takes a swing at the pinata, definitely one of the highlights of the party.



Jazz gets some love from her new friend, Jesse.

And last, but not least, the girls each got to have their very own cupcake. Yum!

January Sleepover at Auntie Erin's...

I have been feeling really guilty lately because I have been promising these three girls (my "neices", who are actually the daughters of JJ's and my good friends) a sleepover for about six months now. With my crazy schedule, and my being out of town for what seemed like "forever" to them, I have had to put them off, until last Friday night. We started the night with a yummy dinner of chicken nuggets, tater tots and canned fruit (OK, well the kids loved it - and if truth be told, my husband too! :0). Then Elyssa brought out her new soda pop making kit, and gave us a sample of her favorite concoctions. I liked the Cherry Vanilla the best! In the meantime, I started assembling the gingerbread houses, and JJ made home-made chocolate chip cookies, which are always a hit! Finally, after an activity filled night, the girls put on their PJs and settled into their bed on the "sofa sleeper" to watch Ice Age - the Meltdown with some air-popped popcorn (my favorite Christmas gift from JJ) and juice. Whew! What a night!!!

All three girls snuggled into a queen-sized hida-bed, and would have slept tight as bugs in rugs if it had not been for the fact that Auntie Erin forgot and left the kitchen window open all night (which was originally due to a fallen tater tot in the oven that left the kitchen filled with smoke)! OOPS! Sorry, ladies!!!

Very happy with our finished product. From left to right: Taylor, Cheyenne and Elyssa.

And I just could not leave out the other two members of our party: yes, they are girls, too! True to lab form, they were in the middle each of the activities all night long (and they may have even gotten a little snack or two, as well.)

Sleepover (cont.)...

The highlight of our night was the making of our gingerbread houses. The girls and I enjoyed creating, decorating, and even snacking on our creations.

Taylor and Elyssa are just getting started.

Cheyenne and I worked together on our house. She wanted to start with the peak of the roof... Cool!

The finished product: Cheyenne did all the work on the front - I added the icecicles on the eaves.


This is the front of Taylor and Elyssa's house. I love the creative windows designed by Elyssa, and the gingerbread man in front with yellow hair and a half lifesaver smile (decorated by Taylor) is my favorite!

"Annual" Pumpkin Carving Party...

My heart was warmed about a month ago when several of my little buddies asked me when the "annual" pumpkin carving party was taking place. What makes this funny is that we have only had one other party of this nature, and that was last year. I am thinking that after several more years we can make it "annual". As you will see from the pictures below, it was a great success and everyone had a wonderful time!

Step 1: Pick your pumkin. Ashton, Elyssa, Stacey (their mom) and I went to the 90th Street Pumpkin Patch; I think we must have wheeled that 'barrow about a mile before we found the perfect carving specimens.

Step 2: Pick your stencil. My pictures don't do any of these carving justice, but let me tell you, some of them were so intricate and well carved that by the end of the evening, we had a difficult time picking the winners of the carving contest.

Step 3: Take the lid off. Tamea had never done this before, and she thought the pumpkin "guts" were "cool, but really, really slimy."

Step 4: Start the cutting! Most of the kids are a bit too young to do this part themselves, so the parents stepped in... They probably sawed, cut, scooped, carved and detailed for over two hours straight!

Step 5: Display your masterpiece! This is the very best part of the whole evening: when the finished product finally has a candle in it, the designs absolutely come to life. The kids and parents really outdid themselves this year!

Step 6: Have some fun, why dontcha???

Fun (But Totally Random) Pictures...

Can you tell that JJ and I went to Disneyland for our honeymoon? We had a blast!

Clowning around, like we so frequently do...

This is one of my favorites; it was on our Christmas card last year.

Gina, JJ's sister, is so funny!

Our "twins" at eight weeks.

Faith (on left) and Jazzmyn happy to be playing in the sprinkler.

Our puppies are almost grown dogs now; I can't believe it! (Faith on left, Jazz on right) And I know those of you with "human" children are just laughing at me right now :0)

This picture is a little bit dated (taken last Halloween), but it is one of my favorites! Cheyenne (on left) and Taylor are our good friends, Carl and Regina's, girls. They live about 20 minutes from us, so we are able to spend quite a bit of time together. So fun!