Friday Flyday!

Ahhhh....

I. can't. wait. for. sunshine.

HISTORY!

Today was an opportunity to be an eyewitness to history. As I watched coverage of the inauguration this morning and throughout the day, I found myself very moved and even emotional at times by what I saw and what I heard. Although I did not vote for Barack Obama, I felt very proud and inspired to see so many Americans coming together this day. I found myself proud to be an American and to live in this free country. I found myself proud to know that we live in a land where anything is possible and there are no more excuses. And mostly, I felt very inspired to do my part.

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However, I was a little "less" than inspired and proud of this:

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What the h*#! was Aretha wearing on her head?

Gettin' out and enjoying January!

Let's be honest...I've never been a big fan of January. Period. There's always the little bit of a let down of the holidays being over, I'm always struggling to keep my New Year's resolutions, it's cold and there's usually an inversion of gross, gray haze that prevents really being able to enjoy the uplifting (and for me, necessary) benefits of sunshine!

Well... I found a perfect cure for the January blues! On Saturday, we took advantage of an incredible day and took our Young Women up to Little Dell to enjoy some fresh air, blue skies, beautiful scenery and to get a little exercise! Lucky for us, we had some great expert guides in Brad and Gina who helped many of us who were....well, not so expert!

Strapping on... ready to get out there!

Brad was such a great help in getting us all suited up!

Plus he was a great sport to hang with a bunch of girls all day!

It really couldn't have been more beautiful. (yes, the scenery AND us)

We hiked around the reservoir and then along the foothills until we came to this amazing fort, which was the perfect place to stop for lunch and a spiritual thought. This cave, made of nothing but branches (no nails or other support) was tall enough that you could easily stand up inside (especially for those of us "not quite 5'5-ers") and big enough that it comfortably held all 7 of us sprawled out inside! Really cool and definately worth the hike.

Most of the girls were "first-timers" and they were such great sports! I continue to be amazed at just how much fun teenage girls can be!

What a beautiful day!

Me and Gina...

I really couldn't be any luckier than to get to do all these fun things not only with ridiculously fun teenage girls...but also with other amazing women!

Thanks again to you and the mister for such a fun day!

Date Night

After being home in bed for most of the week and not leaving the house for a few days, CJ treated me to a Jazz game last night. I still wasn't feeling great, but I was anxious to get out and have some fun with my gentleman friend! I dressed in my fanciest leisure suit (aka...sweats) and we were off! CJ was even nice enough to drop me off right in front while he went and parked the car a few blocks away. Man, I. love. him.

So, once he arrived after parking, we found our seats, ready to enjoy a little pre-game warm-up. We hadn't been sitting there for long when who should we see coming up the staircase to settle into the row just in front of us...

Yes... President Uchtdorf and his darling wife. He has quickly become one of my very favorite apostles and church leaders, so you can imagine my excitement!

He was so kind to shake everyone's hands and greet everyone who approached him. Both CJ and I really loved seeing him casually dressed in a button-up and sweater vest. So cute! His smile and countenance was so genuine and sincere.

I especially loved this cute teenage boy, who couldn't have been older than 15. He walked over and asked if President Uchtdorf would pose for a picture with him. It was very sweet and both he and his Dad seemed like "win or lose" it had already been a great night for them.

The game was great...but I was just as entertained and pre-occupied with this amazing man on the row in front of me, enjoying a night out with his loved ones... just like me!

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(It sort of reminded me of when the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat right in front of CJ and I at a Cubs game last year...only this was BETTER)

WAY. WAY. WAY. BETTER!

We are F-A-M-I-L-Y!

{FAMILY PICTURES '08}

Getting everyone together for family pictures isn't very easy when there are over 3 dozen of you. But this year, we decided to attempt the impossible and we succeeded. It had been several years since we had done a family picture with everyone and our family has changed a lot since then. We also knew that with Logan (my nephew) leaving on his mission soon that it would be atleast another 2 years before we could attempt to get everyone together again. I am so glad that we were able to pull this off. What a great Christmas gift it was from all of us to my parents!

It all began with the 2 of them...

Then came 8 kids...

...and 17 grandkids (with more still to come we hope!)

And this is the whole gang... 38 and counting! WOW!

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It was also a good chance for me to sneak a few pictures with the mister...

Lucky Me!

G's Cookie Bake '08

I mentioned in my post about my grandma that when I was growing up, she would have all the grandkids over for sleepovers and the annual Christmas Cookie Bake. It was always one of the most fun nights of the year and some great childhood memories. Once my mom started having grandchildren of her own, she took over this tradition and has been holding Christmas Cookie Bake Sleepovers ever since. Most of the grandkids are older now and many are starting to have kids of their own, but this is still one of the best parties of the year! My mom goes to so much work and makes hundreds (literally hundreds) of sugar cookies for everyone to decorate and eat. She is such an incredible grandma and I know how much everyone loves this night!

Although the kids are older now, it's still serious business decorating all these cookies.

Cassidy and Courtney getting started...

Chauntelle, Colby and Logan with their plates of cookies...

I'm not sure that Mae had any cookies with her frosting! It looks like she just went straight for the bowl of frosting! So funny!

Riley is a great decorator, especially for an 18 month old!

Evie Mae and sweet little Trey. Best Pals

Madison even made the trip down from Idaho just to decorate cookies. She was also a big help with Riley and the other little ones.

Apparently at Grandma's house, you can eat frosting with a spoon and as much candy as you can find. This picture was taken just moments before these sweet little girls found my purse, dumped it out and man-handled every single content with those sticky little hands. Bless their sweet hearts!

Thanks Mom for such a fun night! Even though I am not one of your grandchildren, I love being invited to this party and making such happy memories!

Until next year!

I'm back...new computer, new year, new me!

Hooray! Thanks to Santa (and CJ)...(and GP) we finally got a spiffy new computer to help us ring in the new year!

As you can see from the advertised photo..."monitor sold separately"! So, although we got the new computer, we decided to stick with the lovely 17" monitor with an 80" girth, that takes up most of the desk and looks more like this: (atleast for now)



We also hooked ourselves up with a sweet corner desk unit from none other than IKEA and yet another room in our home is nearing completion. Yea.

I have lots of happenings from the last 6 weeks that I'd like to update, but I'm not quite sure that I have the energy to document it all!

We'll see...Stay tuned.