Christmas 2009

This season has been a busy one. Parties, food, friends, and good times.

Kind of feels like this:

Good thing Dad has his festive shirt to bring joy to all!

We celebrated Christmas with traditions with the

Anderson's Christmas Eve dinner and reading The Polar Express with the Clark's.

Dad with the bell - good thing we can all still hear it.

Christmas Day:

 

Sophie

We had breakfast at the Anderson's and opend gifts. We also played this fun game called Bananagram. FUN!

I didn't take pictures over at the Anderson's. I was just having to much fun with the girl above!

At the Clark's we opened gifts and munched on goodies.

Angie, Pat, and Tommy.

(He is blind so yes his eyes always seem to glow in the dark)

Mom and Dad

Grandma Bonnie

If one of your family spends 3 months in the Middle East you might end up with an Arabian Christmas headwear. It really made things festive through out the day! Thanks Angie!!

These two were everywhere and did everything. The second they sat down they were out.

Clayton is sporting his new coat though!

Katy got me the cutest sheep! I can't wait to switch over decorations to see these guys everyday!

I hope I get to go visit Katy & Clayton really soon and add to my collection!

Angie got us a nativity out of olive wood.

I love the grains of the wood and the different colors.

Christmas was magical and wonderful! It was so good to see all the family throughout the Holidays!

I hope you had happy holidays as well!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Jen & Pat

ANGIE IS HOME!

Angie came home tonight!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angie is back the United States!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were all excited at the airport

Dad was waiting patienly until he saw her ...

And we were excited too....

ANGIE IS HOME!!!!!!!!

To My Family......

Happy December 15th!

Much love!

Hello..

A little bright spot in my day:

Hello little guys.

Pat says they only like me because I feed them.

oh well, they still are fun to watch

Zoo Lights 2009

We bundled up and braved the cold to go see the animals and lights at the Hogle Zoo.

 

(Trent and Pat were wearing matching coats so they thought they should have a couples picture)

Did I mention it was cold? We had to get a hot chocolate before we ventured out. It turned out to be a cold chocolate. We were all quite disappointed. But we still had animals too see!

Luckly they had heaters all over the zoo.

This is Travis half hiding and trying to warm his face at the same time

Well, animals like people do not like the cold. Plus for these poor guys - when the sun goes down they go to sleep. So it wasn't really fun for them to have billions of flashing lights trying to get a picture or see into an enclosure. While I was trying to show that the monkeys were actually inside on the trees - I snaped this picture that looks like the kid is floating in the monkey enclosure.

AHHHH!!!

Well most of the animals were alseep so we moved very quickly.

 Quick shot!

The zoo would not be complete unless there was a stop at the lion fountain:

But it had to be out of lights of course so the water wouldn't freeze

We decided we need to come the minute the zoo opens for the evening so the animals will be active after they have had dinner.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a small Thanksgiving tonight. Katy and Clayton hosting the Pratt's in Lake Village, AR, and Angie is in the Holy Land. So it was just Mom, Dad, Grandma, Pat, and myself. I helped with the cooking this year. I was all about taste testing as I went. The stuffing was a fight with what to do with the celery. I am going to have to side with Dad and say that the celery is not supposed to be huge chunks - sorry Mom! - but we comprimised and put in a few big chunks and a few small ones. Who knew the size of celery can make a difference. Grandma made her famous rolls. They were size of a small loaf and amazing as always!

I also made the Banana Cream pie. Well, Mom made the crust and I did the filling. I need to work on the banana's on the bottom to be more even. Good thing there is next year!

The next few days will great because I will not have to cook since we have a fridge full of yummy leftovers!

YUM!!

The End to the Season is Here....

The Bengals made it all the way to the end of the season and into the first round of playoffs. They ended with 6 wins and 4 losses.

The weather all season has been great! There was one overcast day and one really really cold day Other than those two days it was beautiful and hot!

Pat - you are an amazing coach and these kids love you! It has been great to see how these kids have changed from the start of the season to the end and I know they couldn't have done it without your hard work.

The kids have one more season before highschool ball begins but since our vision of the future seems to change around here with the change of the wind - Pat doesn't know if he will be able to coach. I know he wants to - but we will have to see...

GO BENGALS!!

 

It's NOVEMBER!!

October has gone by way, way, way to fast!! I can't believe kids were out getting their yearly candy supply stocked up yesterday. This year I was not really into getting dressed up - but we did go to a great halloween party!

Mom, Dad, Pat and I made six and a half batches of carmel popcorn to take to various parties. I would have gotten a picture but I was elbow deep in sticky sauce. It was a delicious treat!!

I love this time of year, but was not able to snap a really great picture of the leaves changing. Last weekend Pat and I went on a little drive up to Park City and down Big Cottonwood Canyon. The tips of the mountains had just gotten their first touch of snow. The view was beautiful though.

Thanks babe for indulging my need for an adventure drive!

Sophie The Bee

Happy Halloween!

(So cute!)

Disney World

We went on vacation with Pat's family in October to Orlando, Florida - so of course this included Disney World! (Can't get enough of Disney!)

It was Sophie's first plane ride and she did really well. I think Mark and Kristen were a little worried because the moment we got into the security line she started to cry - Like she knew she was going to have to get out of her car seat and be poked and proded, but she was a champ!

Pat took a shower the first morning and he ended up sharing it with this little guy. Good thing it was Pat and not me because I would ahve screamed and drowned him.

It just so happened the second night as we were coming home from the Magic Kingdom Judy let us know her side was really bothering her. We got her home and got her some Gatorade thinking she may have been dehydrated - it was 95 degrees everyday with 90% humidity every day. Sticky & Hot. We kept making or tie the weather records each day. Judy still wasn't feeling better after a little bit and she decided she better get to the hospital. Dirk drove her over and we went to bed only to wake up and find out the she would be going into surgury to take out her appendix.

This is her hospital - it was so nice and beautiful! We called it the Ritz. She had to stay for another day for observation.

She was supposed to take it easy - but since she didn't want to miss the trip, we got her a wheelchair and water and were on our way.

The boys went on Kali River Rapids and got soaked. You can't really tell from this picture but Mark and  Nick are soaked all the way through. They said they were a little cooler after ward but Nick's jeans were really heavy.

Pat and I went on Midway Mania. A 4D Toy Story game where you have to use a gun to shoot at these different boards. If you go to Diney World or Disneyland this ride is totally worth the wait!!! Guess who won??!!!......

I DID!! It was a killing!!! I loved it! Pat tells me since I don't play video games that he would destroy me! His face was priceless at the end when he realized that I won!

The EPCOT Wine & Food Festival was also going on and we ate so much good food from all over the world! EPCOT is one of my favorite places and now as I am older I understand more of all the culture and am more interested in learning about different places all over the world. China was especially interesting to see since I had been there. The video was really cool because I could tell Pat if I had been there. All my memories of that wonderful trip came rushing back. Here we are in Paris at sunset. (Maybe one day we will be in the real Paris at sunset!)

We had such a fantastic time with the family. I never got a shot of all of us - so this is as close at it will come.

Alena's Wedding

This weekend we went to Alena's wedding in Long Beach. She got married on a cruise ship and since we were not going on the whole trip we flew down for the day. Katy (!!!!) flew into Salt Lake the night before.

It was so great to see her! I haven't seen her in so long and we gabbed forever the first night. Grandma stayed at my parents house so we could all get up in the morning and go.

Pat was not able to go because he had a football game Saturday - it was a close one but it was a loss. It was an early morning and we just seemed to be in a rush all day. Traffic control kept having problems at the Salt Lake Airport and we had to sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes. ERR! We met Aunt Jeanette, Allison, and Justin at the airport and all road together to the ship. Cruise ship workers are one of two kinds - one wants to help you out and enjoy your vacation and get it started early. The other wants you to run and rush you through the whole process. (Go here NOW! Do this NOW! We are withholding boarding of all other passengers until you board! Geez pal - just waiting for my sister to get out of the bathroom - no need to freak out!) We made it on time and had a great time. We meet up with almost the whole family. The only ones that were missing were Angie, Patrick, and Clayton.

(WE MISSED YOU ALL!!!!)

These people came up the escalator right as the wedding party was walking down the asile. Their faces were priceless as they realized the bride and her dad were waiting for them to clear out before they could walk down.

We ate, danced (GO DAD!), and chatted. It was over all too soon and we have to leave the ship (NOW!!!!) We got lost on our way out since we had taken a detour to Grandma's room. One person we asked how to get out was "Take the gangplank" - Thanks pal, but where is it? Finally after searching we made it off. Aunt Jeanette and Griffin headed off to the airport, while Katy, Mom, Dad, and I went to Taco Surf - my favorite place! It was so yummy!!! (THANKS DAD!)

I sent these tacos to Pat - he learned of the goodness of Taco Surf during our Disneyland trip and was jealous we were able to go.

It was FANTASTIC to see all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles - of course to short!

Congradulations to the beautiful Bride and handsome Groom!

Thanks for letting us share in your special day!