Tis the Season!

The Beginning of the Christmas Season Post

This is one of my indoor cycling classes that I teach.

This is the gym that I love because of the people but

the facility is very small. Mind you, this picture was

taken a little after 5:00 a.m.

For the past 3 or 4 years I have done a contest in

this class to keep us (me) motivated through the holiday

season. I donate whatever I have chosen that year to

give to the winner. (Although everyone gets some

little prize at the end for participating!) This year my

whole theme, at the gym and with my family, was

centered around Sub for Santa. Anyway there were

4 points possible. I teach this particular class on Saturdays

at 6:00 a.m. and Tuesdays at 5:30 a.m. You have to get

there a half hour early to get a bike, only 11 bikes are

available. So you get a point for each day that you were

there, then each one of us made a personal goal, it could

be weight lifting 3 times a week or going to yoga or it

could have something to do with your eating habits,

(or ones that you are trying to break) One girl, not pictured,

wanted a way to get an extra point just in case the other 3

points were not do-able so I said they could have an

extra point if they did an act of service within that same

week. Anyway, the contest lasted only 6 weeks

this time. It was so fun! (I personally had the same jar

of peanut butter on my shelf the entire time!) That was

a goal of mine. Anyway the person with the most

points won $50, but the catch this year was, they had to

donate the money for a Sub for Santa! This class is so fun.

It was fun to listen to what everyone happen to do

for their service that week. It made me conscience

of what I could do to serve someone throughout the

week. Great way to start the holidays and hopefully

continue throughout the new year.

Mainly the people that come to this class are serious

road bikers. We work insanely hard! I wanted an

after class picture when we were all drenched

with sweat but no one would. This is why I keep

teaching, it pushes me!

Sarah at Halloween!

This picture was deleted from my last blog

and I wasn't starting over! The boys were

out trick or treating when I was there

visiting. She was a little Kitty Cat!

Getting caught up!

Well it's been some time since I have posted but

I wanted to get caught up before Christmas

is here! (That would be tomorrow!)

This was Halloween. Lindsey and her

friend Brynn dressed up to go to a huge

party. They wanted to go as old ladies.

With this costume, they were able to

act however they wanted. They

had the best time because no one

recognized them. You will see by the

following pictures! Little Ike

joining in!

They would dance together and then go

up and dance with the "all dressed up

pretty girls". It made the girls feel

really uncomfortable!

They stuffed toilet paper in their bras, at which

some points, Lindsey would take it out and wipe

the sweat from her nose and Brynns and then

stuffed it back in. Disgusting!

Look at their noses! That is why they would

sweat! Ashley was at this same party and

she said that it was very embarassing to

see them. She was trying to explain to her

friends that her sister really was cute.

Not only did they look like this, they acted

how they looked!

To continue on with the Halloween theme, at one

of the gyms I had to dress up like the 80's to

teach step. This was what I came up with.

Keat and Isaac had spent the night and

Isaac took my picture. Sorry about the messy

closet in the background!

Sometimes I get to have Sarah on the
weekends. We were all dressed ready
to go to church. She is so good when
she comes with me. She doesn't make
a peep! Look at her little tongue!
The stockings she has on, I got when she was
born. This was the first and last time she wore
them. She is dang cute!
This is my work party that Dr. Leaver
took us to Rickenbackers. We had a lot
of fun. Starting left to right, Reggie, her daughter
Shaylee, Stacy, Jeff, Tara, Ty, Cindie, Dr. Leaver
and Shara. Sorry about the red eyes but no
time to take them out! I love working with
all of them!
Sarah absolutely loves her books. Look at her little toes!

Another weekend with G'ma. This was
after church!

After headband hair!

Welcome to Lindsey's crazy ideas. Her and

Brynn decided to dye her hair. This was after

about 5 times! It took her about $190 to go

and have it fixed. It's dang cute now!

Last weekend Chelsea and Joey went and

picked up their early Christmas present to

the boys. They stopped at our house on the

way home. Sarah hadn't seen her yet because

she was asleep in the car so these were her

first reactions! (Notice Lindsey's cute hair now!)

This is Sarah Sue and Gracy Gru! (These

are Chelsea's nick names) The dog's name

is Gracy!

Giving kisses!

Little Gracy and look how beautiful Lindsey is!

Linds was just realizing that Gracy will be

full sized when she gets home in 5 months.

More about where Lindsey is heading on the

next blog!

Sweetest and most patient and loving Mom

ever!

Sorry for the quick random blog but I have much

more to post!

Thanksgiving Point and Sarah is 7 months!

Little Sarah is 7 months old!

She's eating her breakfast. That's Lindsey

feeding her. Kind of messy! (Check out Sarah's

new high chair at G'ma's house).

What a doll!

Modeling her cupcake hat that Angela gave her!
Playing with her toys. I believe she had a
little accident, that's why there is
no clothes!

Saturday we tried to go to Timpanogos Cave
but it was sold out. We ended up at Thanks-
giving Point. It was full of Halloween things
for the kids!

I look away for second and Cort and Rodger had

disappeared. They were playing teether ball

with a pumpkin head!

Joey and Keat joining in the fun!

Stylin' Sarah ridin' along!

This is while we were waiting for the

Pig Race to begin. Aren't they

cute couples!

They had a lot of different things to play on or

with. They had paintball. Corn mazes. Tunnels

inside hay and also inside dragon's mouths.

They had this set up for dodgeball.

Keat and Ike loved this!

Cort and Sarah enjoying the shade!

I could stare at her forever!

Cortney found a little store. Interesting,

look at Cort's face so fascinated with the

cash register and then Sarah, wondering

when she gets to play with one!

Look at the big boys sneaking in to have

a little fun!

That is some serious dodgeball!

Sarah all tuckered out!

Cortney insisted we have a picture by the

pumpkin tree. Zoom in and look at Isaac's eyes!

This was my favorite thing, to watch Keat and

Isaac ride the bull!

Even one handed! It was a fun time!

This is the Sunday after dinner. Love

seeing Ash like this, which isn't too

often. (Meaning no makeup!)

I love having everyone over for Sunday dinners

but run out of ideas of things to make. Cortney

gave me a new recipe, Lettuce Wraps! I loved

them and even Lindsey ate them. You put

some of the ingredients into an almost empty

peanut butter jar and mix it around. That may

give you a hint of why I like it!

And of course, Lindsey challenging herself to

stuff the rest of the chinese noodles all

into her mouth!

Almost had it!

After dinner we went outside to play

"Lightening", a basketball game and then

they ended with some pretty sweet stunts!

It was a great weekend!

Love my kids!

Ashley's Birthday/Sewing/Sister's Trip!!

September 19th Ashley turned 21! Because I

wouldn't be home for that day, we all went into

Salt Lake and met for lunch. Ashley admitted

to me that she was a little disappointed that

I wouldn't be home for her birthday, especially

because it was a "Sunday birthday". She told

me that on Sunday birthdays you are suppose

to go your families and have dinner for sure!

Well thanks to Cortney, she had everyone

over to celebrate! The day after Dave took

her shopping and literally bought her every

item in Buckle. I think she made out just fine!

A couple of weeks ago Isaac came over and he

wanted to sew something. I had some material

and he said he wanted to make a pillow for Sarah.

He sewed this on the sewing machine all by

himself, (well with a little help!) Please keep

in mind, Isaac is an X man on his football

team and loves the sport! Shoooooo!

He was so proud of his pillow!

Let the Sister trip begin! The plane

ride to Oakland!

I got to sit inbetween Jack and Paula. We had
the most obnoxious guys sitting all around us
on the plane ride over. They were heading to
the Raider's game. A little too much to drink.
When we got there Paula drove us to San Francisco.
She took us down the famous Lombard street!

We then drove to Carmel and met LeAnne

at Brooke's house. She took us down to the

Warf to eat. As we walked up and down

they handed out little samples of clam

chowder. They wanted you to try theirs

so you would come and eat at their

restaurant.

On Sunday morning we went to church then

we went home and took a drive to where

Brooke used to live. We got out and walked

around. The houses were so fun to look at.

We got to walk through one that was for sale.

Trying to pose for another sister photo.

Didn't quite happen.

On our way home there was a live Brass Band.

It was pretty fun to listen to.

The next day was Monday. We got up and

Paula, LeAnne and I would go on our little

workout sessions. We walked/jogged around

Brooke's neighborhood. I could have done

that everyday. The houses were amazing to

look at. Each morning we would come home

and Jack would be up waiting for us. This

day we went to lunch at a Thai place that

Mike and Brooke love. It was good.

It's too bad we didn't have a photographer

follow us around so we could be in pictures

together!

When we were done we looked around at a

couple of stores. We then went down to Canary

Row and Paula found her favorite store. We

looked at possibly renting bikes but decided

not to do it.

We went home and played a fun game that

LeAnne taught us. This is the famous picture

that we got made fun of. I took a picture with

my camera because I thought it was fun to

see how all our hands looked so similar. Well

everyone else sent texts pictures to see if

their kids could tell who's who.

Tuesday morning we got up and went on a

little hike. It was by the ocean. It was

beautiful. I still would have to say that

the neighborhood walk, with all the houses,

was definitely my favorite!

Somebody did take our picture.

On the trip I found out a little about each

one of my sisters. LeAnne can kicked

anyone's butt at walking. She literally flys!

Jacki writes children's books and she also

hates to shop! Now come on, the words Jack

and shop should be in the same sentence but

it has to have the word bargain in there also.

But the big $30 bucks I spent was purchasing

everything that was on sale.

Paula is quite the traveler because she goes

somewhere at least once a month with Bill

and was quite the guide and lovely model!

On Tuesday we drove on 17 mile drive. We went

to Pebble Beach. It was beautiful. Guess I didn't

take any pictures. On the way back we drove

along the beach. We got out and had a photo

session. A guy took our pictures but I was

told by my sisters not to put any of those

on here. After, we went to the little cute

shops right down from Brooke's house. They

had local artists and some of the nicest shops.

I guess we stayed for 2 hours! This

was us, once again attempting to pose

for another sister's photo.

Tuesday night we made dinner and then

left the dishes and drove down quickly to

see the sun set.

Our last morning we got up and walked along the

beach. Paula was just telling me not to take

a picture of her butt. Oops! LeAnne and

Paula took their shoes off but because I'm

a cripple I kept mine on. It was beautiful.

We tried to get Jack to come down with

us but she didn't want to.

While I was waiting for them to rinse their

feet off I took this picture. I wish I would have

taken more. These are like the houses all over

there. I loved them!

After we made lunch we played our

game again and then packed up and

headed for the Oakland airport. We

wanted to make sure we missed the

traffic so we were a little early and

decided to go see the Oakland temple.

Some sister missionaries took us on a

tour. There was a lot to learn about

the outside of the Oakland temple.

We got in late on Wednesday night.

We had a lot of fun. When asking

everyone if they would do it again

everyone agreed. Although Jack

said that she would have to do the

itinerary next time. Sounds good to me.

Thank you so much Brooke and Mike,

for your beautiful home and letting

us stay there. Also thank you Le Anne

for planning it for us. Thank you to

all my sisters for a great time! I love you!

Look what I got to come home to!

This was actually the next day. They

came over to see me after I had some

mouth surgery. Aren't they the cutest!