all i want for christmas...

he has lost his first tooth! and ain't he cute. it's been loose for about a week and today when he came home from school, i "checked" it and with a little twist, out it came! the one next to it is super loose too...i will "check" on that one tomorrow.

ps. sorry about the picture, it's from my phone...remember, my camera is gone?!

tis the season

*so i lost my camera. at the chili's in glenwood springs. all my thanksgiving photos. plus the photo of mom biting into her bigmouth burger.

*my new camera should be here on tuesday. shawn had it sent to his work. why? because we only have a po box and shippers just get confused.

*my turkey was beautiful (i would have had a picture to post, but...ugh). and i think it was de-lish!

*this year was the first thanksgiving shawn and i and our family have had with my parents. since shawn & i were married, we have always gone to mesquite for thanksgiving (it's only fair since we used to have sunday dinner EVERY sunday at my parents). and while we missed the burtons, the golfing, and the warm weather, it was nice to have it at home.

*i have been sick. it makes me depressed.

*because i have been sick and depressed i gave into a fake tree. don't get me wrong, it's nice and all but it is fake. maybe when i feel better...

*i didn't get out of bed until about 6 pm today. thanks shawn. i love you.

fa-la-la-la-la

birthday boy!

today is shawn's birthday.

he got himself a ski pass and skis.

the kids and i got him a helmet...to keep his little noggin safe.

and the utes got him a win!!

happy birthday! i love you!

surprise!!!

so last wednesday or so i called and asked annie to come visit. i had been feeling a bit homesick, missing my fam. and she said she could and would! hurray! i think i asked katie too but knew that she probably wouldn't be able to come.

well, friday annie and dan showed up. and about 15 minutes later i heard a knock at the door. i thought it was probably the neighbor kids. but then i heard anna exclaim "erin!" after she opened the door. i was so surprised and even more happy!

even though it was a quick weekend i am so grateful to have such great sisters who will drop everything and come cheer me up!

 

we played in vail. we made turkey dinner. we shopped a bit. it was so fun. thanks for coming!

moab

 

last weekend we met shawn's parents in moab for a quick get-away. it was fun but way too short. highlights:

*we hiked negro bill canyon

*we hiked in arches national park. we did delicate arch, double arch, sand dune arch.

*mikey was so excited to hike to double arch and look for indiana jones' footprints.

*it was cloudy the entire weekend but no rain...in my opinion, the best way to hike down there.

and since we were on vacation, we did not live on our food storage. oh well.

all part of the "snowed-in" experience

here is my friend, the little red hen.

 

and here she is making bread.

 

 

 

and here i am enjoying the yummy, hot-from-the-oven bread.



i was supposed to be learning to make the bread. but i don't think i could do it yet on my own. particularly because i don't have a fancy-smancy mixer. i guess we will just have to do it again.

food storage? what?

we were given the challenge at church on sunday to live solely on our food storage. what? we are to pretend that a big snow storm has cut off all access into the eagle and gypsum area, which could really probably happen (not the best sentence, i know). well, okay...




got any suggestions?

and if you think we have plenty of pepsi, think again. this has to last shawn TWO weeks. and we cheated and bought milk.

actually, i think we will survive two weeks pretty okay. i have been working on food storage little bit by little bit. i bought milk simply because we don't even have powdered milk--which is on my list now.

and cold cereal needs a stocking-up. mikey told me he is getting bored of stuff we have. okay.

and seeing as how anna has strep throat, i have learned that i need to stock up on over-the-counter meds. i have gone to the store to get motrin (the bishop said we should not go to any extremes with this challenge).

and i am hoping our toilet paper lasts--i am limiting everyone to four squares per number one and eiaght squares per number two. and if you come visit this week or next, bring your own tp or go before you come or hold it.

that's all for now. i wil maybe keep you updated.

october fun: part HALLOWEEN

 

we had a great halloween. here are some photos of the day. highlights of the day:

*school parties

*trick or treating trot in vail village with friends

*lighting our jack-o-lanterns

*neighborhood trick or treating with friends

we all had a great night. and i even think that the kids were in bed and asleep at 8:17...earliest time for the week. mikey even put himself to bed.

just for the record...

the gloves were NOT my idea. anna found them.

october fun: part III

 

here we are carving our pumpkins. we have taught our children well in the proper usage of sharp knives...

october fun: part II

 

actually, this should probably be part I because it happened first. but, i am not that organized.

we hit a pumpkin patch in silt a few weeks ago. the kids had fun. the cat made me want to be a cat that day. perfect. mikey kept trying to throw the pumpkins like a ball. and anna was the boss of the wheelbarrow.

october fun: part I

 

last saturday was the annual halloween fest up at beaver creek. we went up for the fee ice skating. the kids love it. it was a beautiful day for ice skating. i even donned a pair for a little bit.

just in case you forgot what we look like...

these were taken just up the street a bit. thanks to my friend kathy for taking them.

tagged

fourth picture from the fourth folder of my picture files.



anna on her 8th birthday.

my good friend

for a great story read here. it's amazing and she's even amazinger.

i should be fired. but that's impossible, now, isn't it

so for being your typical, stay-at-home mormon wife and mom, i suck. i thought i wasn't very good at homemaking because i always had a kid around. boy was i wrong. mikey and anna are in school full-time now, that's 7:50am to 2:50pm--seven full hours of alone time, and my house is still always a mess. dinner is hardly cooked (although i have improved immensely on this one since moving to the middle of nowhere) and when it is cooked, it ain't that great. laundry seems to still always pile up. and for some reason i thought it would change after the kids started school. what's wrong with me? i need some inspiration! or some serious consequences. or maybe i should just come to terms with the fact that i am not that great at keeping house.

now, don't get me wrong. i am not depressed. i just wish i had little magic fairies to come and do my work so i could play or rather so i would not feel so guilty about playing. anyone know where i could find these little fairies?

in the meantime, i guess i will go do my dishes. so i can make something scrumptiously yummy for dinner. oh wait, it's friday. i don't think i cook on friday. and besides that, i cooked last night. so maybe i don't have to do my dishes now. wow. i feel great.

enjoy the saturday drive

on saturday we drove up to aspen and over independence pass. it was beautiful.

enjoy.

 

how much is that doggy in the window?

just call me the queen of domesticity

 

this is what i did this week. hah.

25 quarts of peaches for me.

and for my friend, double that. plus, a few quarts of tomatoes. maybe two batches? crazy.

who'd have ever thunk i could be so home-mecky.

more stay-cation

right outside our hotel: (made me feel a little safer).

oh, and i told him to look really mean when i took this picture. he did a good job.



and i ran into this important person. lucky me. he was all smiles.




and there was a bomb scare. they had a big area of the 16th street mall blocked off with these threatening looking men.





apparently there was a suspicious package in an alley and it was blown up. pretty freaky.

stay-cation: denver 2008

we had a little stay-cation this year to denver. we hit the broncos game.

 

from left to right, top to bottom:

*riding public transportation--part of the stay-cation experience
*cute poser
*invesco field, where a couple of days later was part of the dnc
*cute bumbs
*the city
*proof that we were three rows from the top
*proof that she was not happy to climb to our seats located 3 rows from the top
*and they say this is the nose bleed section...never a drop (except the boy in front of us bled a bit)
*the statue
*proof that a cheese head and a bronco head can be friends
*shawn gave in and bought him a hat
*the statue at night
*the pyromaniacs
*look closely...that bird's got the best seat in town
*my view
*the team (filler picture, really)


here is the statue from another angle. not sure how i feel about it.

welcome to our family...

dear little honda pilot. i am looking forward to spending many hours and many miles with you...

12 years...and one day

that was then...september 14, 1996



and this is now...september 14, 2008



happy anniversary to my love...thanks for a great 12 years!

oh what do you do in the summertime...

when all the world is green?
do you swim in a pool to keep yourself cool?

or go to a dermatologist
and get your spitz nevus removed?

so does she...






anna had a black freckle appear about christmas time. well, it started to grow. and people often tried to wipe off the speck of black pepper on her nose. i decided to have it checked out by the doctor. and her black freckle was deemed a spitz nevus.

and they took it out. it was deeper than the doctor anticipated and thus we have a blue stitch (great for the first day of school).

if you zoom in on the first two photos you can see the lovely spitz nevus on the right side (her left) of her cute nose.