White Moose

Holy Cow! I mean Moose! Check out these pictures my dad emailed me that were supposedly taken in the Park City area. From my own little research I found that white moose are very rare and they are not albino. They still have brown eyes. It is when the parent both have a specific recessive gene making them white. Anyway, pretty cool.

Thanks Mom!

My wonderful Mom came for a quick visit on Wednesday. She called on Sunday and asked if we had anything going on because she wanted to come see us. She flew in Wednesday morning and flew out this morning at 6 AM. It was such a nice treat to see her even if it was a quick trip. She is the best mom and the greatest grandma. The girls love her so much and they were very sad to wake up and see she had gone. We did some fun things while she was here including a trip to the zoo, visiting brad and work and bringing him lunch, going shopping at the mall, dinner at cheesecake factory and just hanging out. We were having so much fun we forgot to get the camera out. Bummer!
Thanks Dad for sharing her with us for a couple of days! We wish you could have come too.

Travis the Hero

My Brother in Law, Travis, is an insurance sales man by day and hero by night. Brad was talking to his Mom last night and she told him he should get online and look at the front page of the South Idaho Press (the Mini-Cassia newspaper) and read about his hero brother. Travis is a volunteer for the Heyburn Fire Department and last night a man and his dog had fallen through the ice into the Snake River about 50 feet from the shore. The dog, a bermese mountain dog weighing 90lbs, fell through first and his owner tried to rescue him by getting in an inflatable boat tube and pushing his way out to the dog. When he tried to pull his dog out the tube tipped over causing him to fall through the ice about 4 feet from his dog. I guess the sheriffs department received a call when the dog fell through the water but they wouldn't respond because they won't put rescuers lives in danger to rescue an animal. I don't think I agree with that but anyway when the man fell through they responded (if they responded in the first place he wouldn't have had to go out on the ice to get his dog, of course someone is going to try and rescue his dog). Travis was one of the responders and being the lightest one there at 5'7'' 140 lbs he volunteered to go out on the ice to rescue the man. He was quoted in the paper saying "I just happened to be the smallest one there so I volunteered to go out. I was ready to get in the water, do whatever it took to save him." After being tied to a rope that was held by the other firefighters on shore he crawled out on the ice with a backboard. He put his hands on the backboard and used his knees to push forward, trying to spread his weight as evenly as possible over the ice. He said he wasn't afraid because adrenaline took over and "it was a good feeling to know you have all those people on land with the line. It took a lot of the fear away." He got about 15 feet from the man and threw the backboard to him. Luckily the man in the water was strong enough to hold on to the handles and the firemen on shore pulled him out of the hole and to shore. Being the amazing man he is Travis then set off to save the dog. He used the mans boat tube and made his way out to the dog. When he got close to the dog he said "I saw the dog start to give up and he started going under the water." Knowing things were critical, with the ice breaking beneath him and the dog about to give up he tried to pull the dog out by his collar but the collar came off his neck, he then grabbed as much scruff as he could with one hand and managed to grab one of his legs with the other as the firemen on shore pulled him out of the water and back to shore. Both man and dog are fine. That is pretty amazing since they were probably in the water at least 30 minutes. Way to go Travis!!

Travis is one of the greatest people I know and while he is being called a hero in this situation (and he is) there are many times Travis is a hero when the spotlight isn't on him and no one is watching. He has the greatest heart and would do anything for anyone. Anyone who knows him loves him. I am proud to be able to call him my brother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY J-BIRD!!!!

Since you are becoming an old lady I thought it would be good to look back at your 26th year, before you forget. I hope you look back at this last year and realize how awesome you are. You were super supportive of me and managed to keep our lives exciting with tons of great adventures that will always be great memories. I think this first picture sums up your 26th year attitude.

ROCK ON (Technically it appears that you are signaling "I LOVE YOU". I'm no sign language expert, but I do know the proper butt-rock hand signal)

You took us on a last minute trip to San Francisco for spring break. If I remember correctly, I believe you made the decision to go to San Francisco on a Monday and we left the following day.

Multiple times you took our girls to see some breath-taking views in the Rocky Mountains. Camping, water skiing, hiking and swimming were all common activities.

You ran and completed Robie Creek, the most difficult half marathon in the northwest.

You were very supportive of me multiple times while I back-packed in Canada, trained for LOTOJA, went on skiing trips... Some might say your husband is a loser, I say your are awesome. Looking back at LOTOJA, as hard as the race was, spending an entire day in a car, traveling across 3 states with two demanding girls was an amazing feat. I can remember seeing you and the girls at mile 130 and getting a boost of energy and a renewed desire to push on to Jackson Hole.

You spent time in New York City with Hillary and Kay.

...and in your spare time you started a professional picture framing business!!!

This goes without even mentioning all of the small things that get done everyday that keep this family going. You really are the most important person in my life. That goes for our girls too. We would be lost without you Jenni. Happy birthday babe.

Silly girl

Ayden has been pretty funny about sleeping lately. I think it is so funny when she falls asleep somewhere other then her bed. I know that is weird that I think it is so funny and it may seem like she does it a lot because every time she does I post a picture of it on my blog but it really isn't that often. At least it used to not be often. It is becoming more of a common occurrence lately. Last night after she was in bed a couple of hours I went in to check on her and she was asleep on her little chair and then today I found her in the hallway asleep on the rug. Yeah, she is wearing her Fiona costume today. She even wore it to the gym today. I got some strange looks but I think most people know how three year old girls are about dress ups and princesses.

This time was a couple of weeks ago. She fell asleep in her little house one Sunday afternoon. That kind of started a new thing where she wants to sleep in it at night. She probably sleeps in it half the time. It is nice that she will fall asleep places other then her bed now because it makes trips a lot easier.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAD!!!!

Happy birthday my dear. Looking back at your life as a 30 year old I would say that it was a pretty good past year for you. We have had many fun trips, family get togethers, you accomplished the spudman and LOTOJA and you are growing in your career. I hope 31 is as good to you.

Your life is one to celebrate! You bring happiness to many, especially the girls and I. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father. We love you!

I sure hope you are enjoying your birthday skiing it up in Utah with Wade. We miss you!

Look what an amazing thing one blog post can produce!

Attention Meridian Women

Oh Yes It's Ladies Night and the Feeling's Right Oh Yes its Ladies Night Oh What a Night!

Thats right, we are having a ladies night in honor of many things, a sad goodbye, happy birthday's and most of all some girl time!

When: This Wednesday night, February 20th.
Where/What time: Call me (or email) for details, don't worry I am not stupid enough to post them on the world wide web.

So mark your calendars, tell those husbands, get those babysitters (if needed), spread the word to all and call me for details so you know what word to spread.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!!

I just wanted to tell you happy birthday. You really are one of the greatest people I know and I am so lucky to be able to call you my friend. Thanks for all you do for me and for all the memories we have made together!

Sexiest Movie Kiss

In honor of Valentines Day I read an article on msn titled the "Sexiest Movie Kiss." The article lost all credibility to me when it did not include the unbelievably hot kiss from The Notebook. Even this picture gets me going and it is only the beginning of it. Seriously am I right or am I right? Let me know if you all agree. What other movie kisses would make your top 10 list? I think we could come up with a better list them msn!

Tagged

11.Best thing I cooked last week...honestly there wasn’t much being cooked in this house last week. I guess ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. Yes, that was for dinner.

2. If $, time, and babysitting were no object; where would you go and with who? I would love to go to Brazil with Brad. Then take the girls on a Disney cruise.

3. Last time I cried. I have been a cry baby lately. In fact it seems like I have cried almost every day. The most recent was last night while watching Amazing Grace. That is one amazing movie. I would HIGHLY recommend this one. I know I have been all about recommending movies lately but this one is the best of all. It is really moving and educational. A must see. (Thanks Mom and Dad for giving it to us for Christmas. It is crazy it took us so long to sit down and watch it but we both loved it.)

4. 5 things I was doing 10 years ago.

a. I was about to turn 17.

b. I had my first kiss (I know I was old).

c. Skiing all the time.

d. Running track.

e. Driving my parents crazy I am sure.

5. 5 things I was doing 5 years ago.

a. I was about to turn 22.

b. I was spending the weekend in Hollywood with Brad.

c. I was in my junior year at USU.

d. Dealing with the cold winters in Logan

e. Figuring out how to be married to someone (wait, I am still doing that :))

6. 5 things I was doing 1 year ago.

a. Coming home from our long San Diego excursion and adjusting to life back in Meridian.

b. Loving being out of the baby phase and feeling free again.

c. Getting serious about starting my framing business.

d. Trying to teach Alex how to walk.

e. Having fun being back with all our friends.

7. 5 favorite hobbies.

a. blogging

b. playing with my girls and watching them grow and do new things.

c. ladies nights out

d. skiing

e. framing

8. 5 places I've been.

a. China.

b. England.

c. Taxco, Ensenada, Tijuana, Mexico city and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (different trips).

d. Hawaii

e. Hong Kong

9. 5 favorite foods.

a. Pasta (Italian in general)

b. Chocolate

c. guacamole and chips

d. lettuce wraps from P.F Chang’s

e. cafe rio shredded chicken salad with tomatillo ranch dressing.

10. 5 favorite memories.

a. My wedding day.

b. Skiing in high school.

c. Accomplishing Robie Creek.

d. The days I found out I was pregnant and the births of my girls.

e. Family trips when I was little.

I think this was pretty boring. Sorry about that. I tag kim, elizabeth, annie and hillary.

Current Events

It has been a while since I have posted anything. It seems things have been pretty busy around here. I will copy my friend Annie and do a little catch up on everyone.

Brad- In the engineering world everything is project based. Sometimes he doesn't have much work with no pressing deadlines and he is complaining he isn't busy enough and other times he is swamped with tons of work and complaining about the workload and deadlines. Usually this changes from week to week. However, this time he has been swamped since the beginning of December and pretty steadily busy before that. The 80 hour weeks and all nighters are definitely taking a tole on him and everyone else. I think when the slow week finally comes it will be the first time he is okay with it.

Jenni- My church calling and my framing has kept me pretty busy not to mention my two little terrors and their needs and messes. I have also found some time to read and I recently finished Into The Wild by John Krakauer and The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Both of which have left me with many thoughts. It seems I have also seen a lot of movies lately. One in particular that I really liked was The Bucket List.

Ayden- Ayden is a roller coaster. I don't think you have seen a little girl go from being the sweetest thing in the world to the most emotional cranky little thing ever in the matter of a few seconds. She takes a lot of patience but sometimes she brings so much joy to us. Lately she has been testing what it means to tell the truth. She makes things up all the time. Such as, my mom said bla bla bla... My dad said bla bla bla... I have a brother that lives in New York but he is on a trip to Disney land right now... I have to wear my coat backwards because my Mom told me I have to... I have a loose tooth but you can't see it, only me... On thursday Dad told me I have to put peas in my macaroni. I am not sure what to do about it. I guess it might be a normal stage.

Alex- Poor little Alex. She has had quite a rough winter. In addition to all her ear infections she was just diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. Besides a little bit of a cough and runny nose this past week I didn't notice anything alarming until Thursday night when she started breathing really fast and wheezing. I took her in to the doctor on Friday and she said she had full blown pneumonia and that she was really only using one of her lungs and the lung she was using was in bad shape too. I felt so awful that it had gotten so advanced with out me noticing. I read later that the bacterial form can be really sudden so I felt a little bit better. She has been on breathing treatments and antibiotics since. I didn't notice a big difference in her condition the first two days but today she seems to be getting better.

Here are some pictures from the past week:

Last Sunday brad and the girls made a snow man. It was the first time they got to go out and play in the snow together since Brad gets home pretty late. It was nice for them to spend some time together and the girls loved it.

Ayden also had fun sliding down into a pile of snow. River even did it a couple of times.

Here is Alex getting a breathing treatment. She is amazingly pretty good about sitting there for twenty minutes with a mask on her face. She cried and screamed and fought the first one at the doctors office but since then has been fine as long as we sing I am a Child of God to her. I have to tell you that I can't sing and for some reason I am a Child of God is a really hard song for me to sing but singing it over and over again is giving me some good practice.

Ayden has been feeling a little left out lately with all the attention Alex is getting. So we had some quality time together and she wanted me to paint her nails and put makeup on. Here she is posing "like a princess."



This morning Ayden wanted to hold Alex while she did the breathing treatment. I thought it was so cute. Here is a picture of it and the video of them from behind while Ayden is singing I am a Child of God to her. Alex is a little fussy in it but usually she just sits there. It is also kinda hard to hear since the nebulizer is loud and don't forget to turn the music off on my blog too.