Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Thanksgiving Point....



We spent a family night up at Thanksgiving Point. We did a little Christmas tree craft, saw the reindeer, ate a yummy dinner, saw Santa - which FREAKED Robby out! he wouldn't calm down for at least 30 min after he'd gone.... we don't say the word Santa around here anymore - and drove through the lights. It was a great evening!


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Christmas activities...



I am very lucky to have had the same group of girlfriends for the last 15 years! It's even more lucky that we are ALL living in Utah right now! We've all made our way out from the east coast one way or another... We were able to get together for lunch before some of us left town for the holidays! I love these girls...


Gingerbread house making party at Andrew & Becca's! Rob kind of took over creative control of ours which was alright... I was trying to help Quattro build one of his own but he was eating the candy as fast as I could put it on there.... he'd grab it right off his house... or Sydney's house... or Annie's... didn't make the girls very happy! But it was a fun night!

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

4 years

I came home from the gym one day.... December 18th to be specific... to find this:


"Did I pick up the house before I left this morning?" I thought to myself... then I noticed the smell of cleaning stuff.... and then saw this:


I was shocked! My first thought was, "Rob hired someone to come over here and clean and bring me flowers?" Then I saw my laptop shoved under the couch... "Oh, ROB came home from work and cleaned the house and brought me flowers?!?" Yup! Happy Anniversary to ME! I was shocked. He had come home while I was at the gym and cleaned.... I actually shed tears of joy.... :)

I don't know what was more surprising.... the clean house or my husband coming home after work looking like THIS:

No beard!!!!!!!!!! He shaved! For me! Wow! He had kissed me goodbye when he left in the morning at the crack of dawn and I didn't notice! I screamed out loud when I saw his face after work! Hurray!


(looks like we broke our white shirt trend... but we did go shopping at Wal-Mart again after dinner, hot date, I know!)

So Happy 4 Year Anniversary to us! Thank you, Rob, for a wonderful day full of happy surprises! You make me happy! And I love you.

PS - I'm soooo behind on posting so brace yourself....

Sunday, December 21, 2008

blog background....

So I got a new blog background from Cindy's friend Cristi! I generally don't love layouts where the design doesn't scroll down with the content - I think it looks a little weird how the design stays there on the sides not moving.... but these were too cute to pass up! :) And easier than changing the design myself, trying to figure out all the html.... Check 'em out!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

He sings.... and talks!

Ok, so the obsession continues! NOW Robby is singing along with the fight song! So here's a clip of Rob singing it with him - see how he chimes in! He knows even more words to the song but I think he was a little camera shy....



Rob thinks it's hilarious when Robby repeats things he hears us say.... not always funny! Mommy needs to start watching her mouth more! Rob's favorite, "dang it!" See:


Thanksgiving Part III

Ok this is the LAST Thanksgiving weekend post.....

Saturday we went up to Hyrum to my uncle Brigham's house.... it was so much fun! I wish I'd taken more pictures - especially some with my parents in it!! :( Brigham and Kristie have an amazing home and really awesome kids. They have a couple of miniature horses, goats, a rabbit, cat, dog.... needless to say, Quattro had a ball!




Kristie (my aunt) said she will take the little horse and cart down to the post office, about a mile away, instead of driving. The more the horses are ridden and played with the better off they are so she was happy to let all of our kids take turns on them.


Or you could just have some cousins pull you around!


My cute cousin Rachel plays the harp beautifully! Rob was testing out his musical skills....


It was such a fun day! We had a lot of fun getting to know my uncle, aunt, and cousins better! Hope we can get together again soon!

Vienetta


Ever since Bronwen Grebe's birthday party in, what?, elementary school?, I've been in love with Vienetta. Sadly, I was unable to find this delicious treat anywhere for years.... and then my luck turned! I found it in Mexico on our girls trip and then just the other day at Smith's! Wahoo!!!! I was so excited! Yum!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanksgiving Part II

The Friday after Thanksgiving we had fun with dads home from work again! Becca and I hung out with our little ones in the morning while Rob, Andrew, and their boys went shooting. Quattro loves having Annie around! These two are so cute together.




Later that night we went to Jump On It in Lindon - a giant trampoline place... the kids had a ball! And Rob, the biggest kid of all, also enjoyed bouncing around! It would be even more fun to go when it's less crowded because some of the big kids came close to crashing on top of Quattro a couple of times! But it was definitely a fun activity and we'll probably do it again!

Fight song

The kid is OBSESSED. Lately Robby has been asking for me to sing the BYU Fight Song over and over again... today I had the genius idea to find the fight song on YouTube so I wouldn't have to keep singing it! Just watch his joy......



.....and this lasted for about 30 minutes this morning.... and then again this afternoon! :) My favorite thing is that he's always a few seconds ahead on the motions - doing the rah rahs too early, then rolling his arms for goooo too early, and the arm out for the COUGARS..... ahh.... he makes me laugh! After watching a few different fight song versions we watched a few of the videos of Cosmo but he was getting upset that there wasn't football or basketball in the videos so we went back to the fight song....

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Welcome, baby Kate!

This beautiful little girl entered the world Friday morning.....


Kathryn Elizabeth
18 1/2 inches
6 lbs 10 oz


Amy did an amazing job.... her labor went very smoothly and she is doing great!


Aunt Esther is very happy with this adorable baby girl in her arms...

Friday, December 05, 2008

Thanksgiving Part I

We had an awesome Thanksgiving! My parents were in town from Maryland and we all gathered at Andrew & Becca's! After years of enjoying my mom's cooking and other people doing Thanksgiving for me it was fun to do it ourselves! We had an awesome menu with all the traditional items - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, a bunch of pies, Ben's homemade cheesecake, fresh whipped cream.... mmm.....

Just a bunch of Pilgrims and Indians whipping up our feast....




We had the kids make little Apple Turkeys and wrote things they were grateful for on the wings....


Two cute little Indian babies....



Our funny looking families!

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Tomb of the Unknown Solider

Note: After a little research it seems that some of these "facts" are not true. See HERE for details. A lot of the facts are close, some are just rumors or fallacies, and some are true. Regardless of this, it's still a remarkable and amazing thing that these people do, and what it stands for.

I got this chain email today and normally I don't do anything with them, but I thought that this one was worth sharing. I still hate forwarding these things so I thought I would post it here for all of you.


On Jeopardy the other night, the final question was How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns ---- All three missed it --

This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance,

Very fascinating..

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

"Here Rests
In Honored Glory
An American Soldier
Known But To God"



1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why?

21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.


2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?

21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1


3. Why are his gloves wet?

His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.

4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time

and if not, why not?

He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.

5. How often are the guards changed?

Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.



6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to?

For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30'.

Other requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the

tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on

or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the

rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in

any way. After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on

their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only

400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their

lives or give up the wreath pin.

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat

and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the

top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.

There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty

in front of a full-length mirror.

The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor

watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid

to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are

and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe

E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most

decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame.

Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for

guard duty.



ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington , DC , our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC

evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the

hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of

the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They

respectfully declined the offer, 'No way, Sir!' Soaked to the skin,

marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding

the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be

afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously . . .

24/7, since 1930.




God Bless and keep them.


God Bless and keep them. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

IN GOD WE TRUST