Going Private

I should have done this a long time ago, but I am making my blog private. If you would like to be invited to view it, please send me your email ASAP.

Lots of New Posts!

So I have neglected my blogging the past few months, and I didn't know what I wanted to share. I have shared a little of everything, so look at the last four posts to see what we've been up to.

Miscellaneous Happenings

Here are some other things that have been the highlight of our year so far...
We went to Solier Hollow for the UVU tubing night. Rachael took Ellie with her, and they had a blast! Matt's brother Brad and his wife Alicia had their baby boy, Tristan on February 15th. Rachael was so excited to see him, and is proud to have a new cousin to take care of. I also thought I would throw this funny picture of me and a couple of my friends from school. The three of us get to do presentations at faculty meeting each month, and we try to put a little humor in each one. Last month the paper towel heads presented. We thought it was hilarious, but I'm not sure how the rest of the faculty felt about it...

Birthday

Rachael had another birthday! I tell her to stop having those, but they seem to come around every year. She is such a sweet girl, and I love her more than anything. She loves ballet, and has been taking lessons for six years now. She also loves to play the piano and the flute. She is an extremely good helper, especially when it comes to taking care of her younger cousins. Every time she gets together with them she is helping them put on plays and shows for the adults. She has a great sense of humor, and is a joy to be around. I honestly don't know what I would ever do without her!! When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said, "I want a Reeses cake!" I wasn't sure how I was going to do that, but it seemed to work out. Happy birthday Rachael, I love you so much!!

Weekend Getaway

During a three day weekend in January we decided we needed to get away. We packed our bags and took off Friday afternoon to stay in St. George for the night. We stopped by the St. George temple and walked around for a while. We got up the next morning and met our good friends, the Sorensons, in Mesquite for breakfast and a day of four-wheeling in the dirt! Wendy sure is a dare devil, and took us on some thrill rides : ) After that, we made our way to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing, and all three of us loved it! We went to the M&M's world the next day, and they had an M&M dressed up like the Phantom - so cute! On the last day we went to see the Hoover Dam. It was amazing, and the best dam site I have seen in a while!! I really don't like Las Vegas, and Rachael got very educated that weekend, but it was so fun spending time with each other and getting away for a couple of days.

Wedding!

Lisa and Tim were married on December 29, 2009 in the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple. It was such a fabulous day, and I am so proud of them!! I know they won't agree with me, but it came super fast! Everything was perfect, and they are still in love : ) Tim's family is wonderful, and Lisa is lucky to have them in her life. I am so glad I got to be a part of Lisa's wedding. Matt and I were honored to stand in as her parents (long story) and now we have practice for when Rachael gets married (although I told her she is going to live with me forever). Lisa and Tim are such great examples for Rachael, and she loves them very much. She now feels like she has a sister. Congrats Tim and Lisa, we love you!!

HALLOWEEN!

Here are some pictures of my cute little whoopie cushion! Who would have thought this is what she wanted to be for Halloween? As we were looking online for witch costumes, this one popped up under the "funny" category. When she saw it, there was no turning back. She's so funny and definitely has a great sense of humor! She was even impressed that both great grandmas knew what a whoopie cushion was : )

This is a picture of Matt's sister Lisa and her fiancee Tim. Lisa has been living with us for the past 6 months, and is like a daughter to us. They got engaged 2 weeks ago, and are getting married on December 29th!! We have a lot of planning in the works. I didn't think I would have to be doing this for at least another 10 years, but here it is, and we love it. We also made mummy pizza for our Halloween dinner. They were very yummy mummies!!

I Did It!

You all should be so proud of me for posting twice in such a short time! Anyway, for those of you that don't know, I have been working on my Master's degree for the past two years. I have always told Matt that I wouldn't do it because the Bachelor's was enough for me. When the school district took on a cohort program and offered it right here, I had to jump at the opportunity. The neat thing is that it was offered through the same university where I got my Bachelor's degree. Go T-birds! I am now officially a "Master of Education." I have to say I am proud of myself for this accomplishment I have made.I also want to thank my family for being so supportive. They helped with Rachael during the summer, brought us meals when I was doing homework late at night, and provided amazing moral support. I couldn't have done it without them. I also appreciate them coming to graduation to celebrate with me. I know it was hard to sit through long ceremonies, but it REALLY meant a lot to me. We also had a really fun time! Spencer and Annie couldn't be there because they had already planned a trip to Hawaii. I know they wanted to be there though. Thanks again, I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Shocker!

Ok, so I know it's a shocker to all of you that I am FINALLY posting! Sorry, but I got behind, then it seemed too overwhelming to post all that has been going on. I am only going to post our most recent happenings so it isn't so overwhelming : )

Spring break was last week and we decided to take a family vacation. Matt gave me tickets to Wicked in Portland Oregon for Christmas and we were just going to have a weekend getaway to go see it. By the time we had decided to make a vacation out of it, Wicked was sold out and we couldn't take Rachael with us. We left on Friday and saw Wicked on Saturday with Matt's parents. My mom flew out with Rachael on Sunday and met us in Oregon. While in Portland we went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. We got to see the Da Vinci exhibit there. It was very fascinating. We then drove down the Oregon coast which was absolutely beautiful! I have never been there and now I wonder why it has taken me so long to get there. We stopped at every lighthouse we could get to and took lots of pictures there. I'll post some of those pictures later. We also drove through the redwood forest and stopped to look at some of the trees there. Ok, so I have heard the redwood trees are big, but I had NO IDEA how huge they were! They were beautiful, and I was so amazed. I know this world didn't just "happen." It was created for us and seeing these things has made me appreciate it even more. We kept driving down the coast and ended up in San Francisco. I liked Wicked so much that we got tickets to see it again in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre. This time my mom and Rachael got to see it with us. I could see it over and over and over again! It is SO GOOD!!

The next day we went to see Alcatraz. We didn't spend much time there because mom was getting nervous in there. We then made the trek from San Francisco to Reno and stayed a night there, then we drove home the next day. It was so much fun spending time with my family, and it was a nice break. Now we only have 6 more weeks of school...yea!

Last, but not least, Matt and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on the 11th. It was the day after we got back from vacation and Matt surprised me the next morning with 2 dozen roses and a bracelet. He is so thoughtful and never forgets special events in my life. I want him to know I am grateful for him and I appreciate how good he is to me. I am so happy we have eternity together : )

I'm Busy, Are You?

I think I know the anser to that question is an overwhelming...YES! - it is a busy time of year! As I was going from one party to the next last night I thought of how fortunate I am have have good friends and family that I can feel comfortable around, and have a good time with. Even though it's busy I have tried to keep ahead of the game so I can focus on our Savior and why we celebrate Christmas. Here are some of the things we have been up to...Parties, parties, parties, family pictures (as you can see) for the Christmas cards, dancing at more than one event, letters from santa, and much, much more! I feel very fortunate to be blessed with a wonderful family, good friends, a nice home, food, and clothing, and so much more than I could ever ask for. I am so grateful for our Savior and for his sacrifice for us. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I promise I will try to do a better job at updating my blog!

WOW!

Rachael entered a story for the Reflections contest and I thought it was really cute, so I wanted to share it with you. She wrote a story about her cousin Lucy. The theme was "Wow," so this is what she came up with (this is her own work with no help from anyone, and grammar and spelling are also original work):

"Hi I have a cousin that has a huge imagination and every time she uses it I say wow! Here is my story...My cousin is so funny with her imagination, and nobody can go wrong with her. She is a 3 year old little girl and her name is Lucy. When she comes to my house she always goes upstairs and plays in the play room. In the play room there are baby dolls and a kitchen set. Lucy cant ever go wrong with that. It is her favorite. Her favorite thing about life is parties, especially if it is a birthday. She will get happy on birthday parties but she is not so thrilled when the person opens a present and it is not for her!!! When Lucy gets her imagination kicked in the first thing it does is play house! She always wants to be a mom with a rich husband and two babies. The babies are usually me and her sister Ellie. I know that Lucy is not always happy, sometimes she can get mad and angry. When she is mad and angry she screams and will hit and kick to get you away from her. When she wakes up from naps she usually is fussy but sometimes she is happy. Whether she is mad, angry, cranky, or happy I still love her!"

Rachael also has a great imagination, and is always writing stories. She loves creative writing and is constantly working on new stories. She doesn't get this from me because I am not very articulate. She is definitely a young author! Great work Rachael, keep it up!

Halloween

Here is a picture of Rachael and her friends MaeLin, BrookLin, and Jaxon as they were headed out for trick-or-treating. Shad took the kids out and let them sit in the back of the van with the back door wide open. They thought that was the coolest thing ever! Matt and I stayed home and handed out candy to the little ghosts and goblins. He had the fog machine out on the porch which made it extra scary! Thanks to the Sorenson clan for taking care of Rachael - she doesn't like to go trick-or-treating alone...or with only mom and dad - It's always more fun with other kids.

I have also added some pictures of the pumpkins Rachael and I carved. We had a great time, and Matt loved eating roasted pumpkin seeds when we were finished.

Haunted Canyon Train Ride

Since we were out of school for two days, we decided to take Rachael to do something fun. We ended up going on the Haunted Canyon train ride on the Heber Valley Railroad. Matt's parents, sister Tosha, and brother Terral and his girlfriend Chelsea all came with us. I had been in bed with the flu all day, but didn't want to miss out on the fun, so I decided to go - I probably shouldn't have because I felt miserable! That's why you don't see any pictures of me...you would think I was one of the cast on the train! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and Rachael had a great time. She especially liked that she got to wear her vampire costume. She is usually fine around scary things, but when the guys with the crazy hair and make-up got right in her face she started crying. She got over it quickly and is still up for watching Poltergeist with dad any time.

Braces!!

So Rachael got braces on October 7th! I was a little worried about how she would adjust to them, but she's doing fine. It's kind of "cool" right now for kids her age to have braces (why? don't ask me!) but I'm sure it won't be so cool when she is a teenager. She had to get orange and black for her colors because it is close to Halloween. She's already the fashion guru when she coordinates her braces to the season. She even wore black and orange to school yesterday so they would match. I can't believe how fast she is growing up - it makes me sad, but I will enjoy every minute.