Breakfast at McDonald's

We have a lot of family traditions, and there were a couple more traditions we did today. My Mom’s family has a holiday tradition of going to McDonald’s for breakfast the day after Christmas. (Above) Scott and Jen at McDonald’s.

(Above) Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews all at McDonald’s for breakfast.

Celebrating Christmas with Scott's Family

Another thing we do every year is have Christmas brunch with Scott’s family. We usually have it the Saturday before Christmas, but this year it just worked out to be today. I always love this celebration with Scott’s family. We just relax the entire day, and since we don’t do it on Christmas Day we don’t have to rush off to another family celebration - we can take our time and do whatever we want. :)

(Above) Scott helping with breakfast.

(Above) Usually the guys end up playing computer games all day.

(Above) Everybody else usually watches movies. Looks like everyone is pretty tired from Christmas!

Home for Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! Hope you did, too! Here are a few photos.

(Above) Christmas Eve with Jen’s family.

(Above) Opening presents at home. Alaska & Kira each got a stuffed hedgehog that grunts when you squeeze it.

Dipping Homemade Chocolates

Another thing my family always does at Christmas time is make homemade chocolates. Everybody brings something to dip, and we spend the night dipping chocolates. When we’re done, everybody gets to take a plate of candy home with them. I always bring toffee and sometimes peanut butter bon bons. Other people bring Carmel, nuts, truffles, homemade Almond Joy, marshmallows, pretzels, and cookies. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears and gummy bears are favorites and are the first to be eaten.


(Above) Here I am, dipping my toffee.


(Above) Our niece with some of the chocolates we did this night.


(Above) My brother and I getting plates together to take home.

Gingerbread Houses

My family has a tradition of making gingerbread houses every Christmas. It’s a tradition my grandma started when I was little, and we’ve done it for as long as I can remember.

(Above) Jen and Scott.


(Above) Everybody working on their houses.


(Above) My sister and nephew making funny faces. My nephew decorated his house himself.

(Above) The finished product: a gingerbread "village" with a house for each child in my family. (All of our nieces and nephews get to decorate and take one home, too.) Since I’m the oldest child, our house is on the left end. Scott decorated this one.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Alaska & Kira love Christmas. They know that we put up the tree and decorate the house. We wrap gifts and then at some point we open them, and Alaska & Kira always get something fun to play with. So they love it when we get the Christmas decorations out and put up the tree.

This is Kira in the photo above, but notice how Alaska has opened every box of Christmas decorations that she can reach.

(Above) Alaska helping Scott put up the tree.

(Above) Kira helping Scott put up the tree.

The Utah Jazz

Once in a while we get the chance to go to a Jazz basketball game, usually thanks to my aunt and uncle who have season tickets. We always have a good time! Tonight we got to go with Scott’s sister and her husband (below).

Agree to Disagree

Generally Scott and I have similar opinions when it comes to a lot of things. But there is one thing we cannot agree on: who to root for every fall in the BYU vs. Utah football game. My family are big BYU fans, and I grew up going to football games and even attending college there. One year while living in Provo, Utah, I even camped out all night with friends to get season tickets to the BYU football games. Aaaaw, those were beautiful times.

However, I married a Utah fan. And despite our yearly "disagreement," I still love him. And he’s mostly a good sport about going to my parents’ house for football parties, no matter who wins. Utah won this year :( . We’ll see what happens next year!

Birthday Boy

Celebrating Scott's birthday at my parents' house.

Full Circle

We had the opportunity today to go and see our friends have their little boy become a part of their forever family (his adoption was finalized last week). It was so sweet! Congratulations!

First Snow

Alaska & Kira enjoying the first snow of the season.

We have grass!

We finally have grass in our front yard. The sod was delivered yesterday and Scott has been laying it all day (and doing a nice job, too).

Always Love Weddings

My brother got married last week. It was a beautiful wedding!


My brother and new sister-in-law.

Scott and Jen

My brother and all the nephews. Unfortunately I missed the picture of the bride and all the little girls. :(

Jen & Scott at the reception.

Nephews enjoying the chocolate fountain.

Niece and nephew at the candy table.

Another Year . . .

Celebrating my birthday.

Why did you get married?

I don’t usually watch Oprah, but today they were advertising a show called "Why did you get married?" They asked a few questions of several couples that got me thinking about our marriage and how I feel about it.

Why did you get married?
I got married because I loved Scott and I couldn’t imagine being without him.

What did you expect of marriage?
I was pretty independent when we first got married, and I think I expected that I could be my own independent self, separate from Scott, not relying on anybody else to take care of me but me. But it wasn’t until I let my guard down and began to rely on him that our relationship really started to grow in ways I didn’t know it could.

What did you NOT expect?
We were good friends from the beginning, but I didn’t expect how deep our friendship has grown over the years. Also, I didn’t know that love could grow so deep. I didn’t expect that I would have to rely on Scott’s support so much, and I appreciate that he is always there for me when I need love and support.

Celebrating the Pioneers

Every summer we usually have a Pioneer Day celebration with family. Grandma (my mom) hides buffalo chips (Chips Ahoy cookies) and ropes (licorice ropes) in the back yard and our nieces and nephews go on a hunt (like an Easter egg hunt). The last few years it has kind of become a tradition to water slide before dinner. The guys tack down a few large pieces of plastic sheeting on one of the slopes in the backyard. Then we soap up the slide with dish soap and run water down it so it’s nice and slick. Everybody has a blast!

Kira the Bunny

Kira has always loved carrots (sometimes we give her 1 or 2 as a "treat"). But lately she has started doing something that is so funny. When I get into the fridge, she comes running and looks through the crack in the door at the veggie drawer - she’s looking to see if I’m getting carrots out. Silly dog.

Christmas in July

I’ve got the Christmas bug already. It’s only July. Might be because I didn’t feel like I was able to enjoy the entire season last year as much, and I missed that feeling. Anyway, this morning I’ve been listening to "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "O Holy Night." Scott thinks I’m crazy :). (Right) Christmas 2007 - making gingerbread houses.

Quote of the Day

If you want to move mountains,
you’ve got to start carrying stones.
- Chinese Proverb

Alaska's Great Idea

Whenever we go to the vet or take the dogs for a ride in the car, we always start off by taking them out to potty beforehand, usually at a time of day that is not their normal "potty time" (that’s what tips them off that something out of the ordinary is going on). Alaska had a great idea this afternoon: she insisted on going out to potty in the middle of the day. Then as I was waiting for Kira to finish, she went to the car door and wanted in. Nice try, Alaska.

Photo Shoot

With our nephew being so little and new (only 4 days old), my sister and I couldn't resist having a photo shoot! My sister would keep him warm and pose him while I snapped photos. We got a lot of great photos and hope our SIL will have some fun things to scrapbook (she wasn't feeling well and we hope she feels better soon!).

Happy Birthday to our New Nephew!

Our new nephew is finally here! We're so excited! Congratulations to my brother and SIL!

(Above) Scott with our nephew, just hours old.

Happy Easter!

This is our annual Easter Egg Hunt with nieces and nephews.

Waiting to hunt.

The hunt is on!