Papa's Visit

Gary was kind enough to make it over for a visit since we weren't around for Christmas! He was very generous with gifts for everyone...but we mostly just enjoyed his company. The boys are always excited to see Papa and go running to the door when he arrives. Jonah was blessed to receive a new stereo, remote-controlled helicopter, and Uno game while Ash got a blinking, sireny gun that lights up and makes tons of noise :*) and a Monster Truck that moves, shakes, and sings! Thank-you Papa!

Our Newest Family Member

Ok, do you want to know what's sad?? Coming home from a 10-day vacation to Utah and discovering that your child's gerbil, Ben, has died. I swear this wasn't intentional--just wanted to get that out in the open right away for all of you familiar with my past pet histories.

So, meet our newest pet...a hamster named "Utah." It was meant to be. I went to Petsmart and he was the only hamster left and was called a Winter White hamster because he only turns pure white in the winter months. Because we had just come from snowy Utah the name just fit. Jonah loves him, he's adorable, quiet, clean, and playful. We're definitely hamster fans now. Whew---crisis averted. Sorry Ben. We'll miss you.

More Pics

Elsberry Photo Shoot by Lisa Gardner

Lisa was kind enough to get out her lights and camera and shoot some pics for us. We'd gone an entire year without doing this and were cutting it a little close! Thanks Lise--they look great!

Sweet Pea's First Photo Shoot

Meg had this vision of a photograph that I tried to realize while I was staying with them. So, after dragging Zeb out into the cold and onto the back porch, I proceeded to take many, many (Zeb would say TOO many) pictures. Luckily, we had some great ones! Aren't they the cutest couple?!!! We're so excited for their first baby due next summer.

New Year's Eve 2010!

We spent part of New Year's Eve at Ryan's, along with some of their friends, Sonja's family, Meg and Zeb, and the Chukwurah's. They had some seriously yummy food and we enjoyed all of it! We also played cards and socialized for a while. I took Jase and Asher back to Meg's with the intent of getting some rest, but we ended up watching a movie and counting down to the new year. Way fun! Jonah got to spend the night there to get as much Lisey play-time in as possible!

Friends

It was very nice to be able to have breakfast with some former Alta High School girlfriends: Emily Wilde and Kristen Cottrell. Emily is married to Jeff and lives in Orem with her three (cute!) boys and Kristen is living in Sandy while teaching 1st graders in Orem. They were a delight and I enjoyed hearing about all of their latest adventures.

Lasik...well sort of

On December 28th, 2009 Jase went to the Hoopes Vision Center in Draper to get lasik surgery done again on his eyes. The last one was done about 7 years ago when we still lived in Utah. Anyway, after he got in there Dr. Hoopes determined that PKR would be a better surgery to do. This meant more pain and a longer recovery time. So, for 3 days afterwards Jase was confined to Meg and Zeb's home with his eyes closed and sunglasses on, usually sleeping. He was a trooper though and came through it well. We stayed a few days longer so that the doctor could followup with him on Friday, January 1st. It turns out he was healing very well so we drove home Saturday, the 2nd.

More Sledding Pics

SNOW!!!

SO happy that we got to see a white Christmas while in Utah--and it wasn't just "white", it was perfectly falling snowflakes, gentle and unassuming, multiple times, white Christmas. Perfect. Jason and Lisa invited us to go sledding with their family at a nearby Draper park. The snow was sufficiently packed down and the sun was shining--again, perfect. We had so much fun--especially once the frostbite set in and we couldn't feel that our hands and faces were freezing off anymore. Perfect.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas evening, and had dinner, at Mom and Fred's home in South Weber with all of the family. It was an amazing turkey dinner that rivaled Thanksgiving (you outdid yourself again Mom!) and we ate WAY too much :*) But it was so fun to see everyone there and open gifts together. Mom and Fred were very generous, as usual, and showered each family with a huge bag of gifts and lots of love.

GrandDahl and GrandNeva

On Christmas Eve we spent time at Dad and Neva's home in Lehi, along with Meg and Zeb and Renee and Emeka. We all had dinner together (yummo!) and then talked, had dessert, and watched a movie. Then, on Christmas morning, we visited again and enjoyed homemade egg mcmuffins, opened gifts (a book, framed picture, homemade hats--thank-you!), and played Battleship (thanks Zeb!). It was lots of fun. We're so grateful for such amazing grandparents.