The New Love Of My Life

Besides my husband and kids, this is the new love of my life. We have been wanting to get an elliptical for 3+ years and finally did it! We kept putting it off because we hadn't saved enough money or it was now good weather and I could take the stroller out with the kids. But now with me working more and it still being miserable weather, we decided to finally get one. Last year I was able to go 3-4 x week on the walking trail by our home but this year that won't be happening too often. I'm hoping that I'll still be able to get outside 1-2 times/week. I found this at ICON sporting equipment in thier refurbished/scratch-n-dent store. It's made by Reebok and I got it for a great price.

I finished putting it together Friday night and had the rare occasion to not have any kids Saturday from 1-3. Jace was taking a nap and Levi was playing at a friends house. I was able to climb on the elliptical, get in a cardio workout and then do some strengthening as well. It felt so good to workout again. If it wasn't Sunday today, I'd be working out right now. I've been feeling a little squishy lately.

Popcorn

For Christmas we got a popcorn popper (no more microwave popcorn for us!). Since then we've gone through 1 1/2 bags of popcorn. We've had plain popcorn, buttered, flavored (kettle corn and white cheddar) and a few batches of caramel corn. Mmmmm.

The boys like to sit and eat popcorn and watch a cartoon. I just have to vacuum after!

Oops

I left a pen down. We were wondering why Levi was so quiet in the other room.

Check out this website

A few months ago I saw this website on Good Things Utah and have been hooked ever since. I check it at least once a day and have been able to save some money. This was especially helpful during Christmas time. Many items I was able to get at more than 50% off and often get free shipping!!!
Melea (the blogger) has great ways to save money and even gives you the direct links right there so you don't have to search for them. I've started getting some of the free samples in the mail and it's fun to see what's waiting for me each day in the mail.
So if you would like to save some money, check out this blog!
www.freebies2deals.com you can even just click on the button on the right.

Happy New Year

We've had a lot of snow lately and I found a great place to sled by the old McKay Dee in Ogden. There are large and small hills that are perfect for kids. So for New Year's Day we decided to go sledding in the morning (after our action packed New Year's Eve of watching a movie after putting the kids to bed). We borrowed a couple of sleds from the Blass's and headed up to the hill.

Jace wasn't so sure what to think. When I put him down, he just stood there motionless.

This was Levi's first run. He lasted about 3 runs total and would rather just play in the snow. We were there about an hour and had a fun time.
This next year will be full of challenges, good times and bad. But through it all we will have each other and the gospel. I'm not sure how the quote goes exactly but the trails we face today will be seen as blessings when we reflect on them later.

As we all face the challenges of today, we wish you all the strength to endure and the ability to see the lessons that are to be learned.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas was a lot of fun this year with the boys. Levi went to see Santa 3 or 4 times and always asked for "a car, a monster, and a truck". I think Santa got the message and was able to deliver everything except the monster.
Levi really understood what Christmas was about this year, as far as the presents and Santa went. We're still working on the true meaning of Christmas with him. Jace could feel the excitement in the air and was happy to be in the action.
Christmas Eve we went to Rick's family party in Woods Cross. It is always a little crazy there, but with 90+ people from my mother-in-law down, how could it not be a little chaotic. We have dinner and get to visit with everyone, it's fun to see everyone and how fast the kids grow. There's usually someone pregnant at almost all times in this family so the family grows fast and it's often hard to keep track of everyone. After dinner, Grandma Cook gives out a gift to each person, yes, all 90+ of us. Then the kids get to do a pinata while the adults try to keep the little ones from getting too close.

Levi wanted to open every single present as fast as he could. Until he got distracted by a new toy and would then play with it for several minutes before realizing that there were more gifts to open. One of his favorite presents was this "Cars" track that was given to us by a neighbor who was planning to send it to Deseret Industries. All we had to do buy a "Car" brand car to go on it. Both he and Jace have had a ton of fun playing with it.

After we had our Christmas morning we relaxed and let the kids play for awhile before heading to my parents for brunch and more presents. Levi was pretty excited with the scooter he got from my parents and has been zipping around on it since.

Jace and Levi have enjoyed playing Candy Land 3-D style.

Rick and Jace had a good time sitting back and watching the chaos.

Around 2 o'clock Levi started to ask "can I go home, I'm tired, I just want to go home". We still had to go to Grandma Cooks for dinner and more presents.
We had a good time at Grandma Cook's and got to see Jon, Cecily and the kids.
Next year I think we are going to invite everyone to come to our home so that the kids can stay and play with their new toys.

Family Pics 2009

I have a very talented sister-in-law who charges way too little and spends way too much time editing all the photos she takes. However, I am very grateful that she is willing to share her talents and help us out. I don't think I'll ever need to go to a photography studio again.

Cecily actually took pictures of my entire side of the family and did a great job with the big family photo as well as the individual families and kids. We ended up meeting with her another day to take our little families photos because the 3 year old had enough that day and was no longer cooperating.

If anyone needs some photos taken, I can get you her contact info.