End of year questions

My cousin Becky had these questions on her blog…so I am copying her. 

1.  What was my greatest accomplishment?

• I graduated with my Master’s degree and I lost 45 lbs. 

2.  What do I regret the most?

• I regret some of the arguments that I had with Joey. 
• I regret loosing my temper with my kids a few times….ok, a lot. 

3.  What was I most thankful for?

• My husband, my kids, my health, I have a lot to be thankful for.

4.  What will I change for next year?

• I would like to change my hair style.
• I would like to change my car.

5.  When did I feel the most loved?

• I felt truly loved when my co-workers dedicated a shrine to my existence.

6.  What was the most exciting thing that happened?

• I went to Las Vegas to see Mama Mia …it rocked and rolled.
• I started a blog
• I learned how to text message

7.  What am I most looking forward to?

• I’m really looking forward to summer break!  I’m planning a long road trip out to Kentucky!  I also just love summer break.  It is what I live for. 

new start

We took a drive to Tremonten to see the house that my parents are building. They are planning to move back in the Spring.  Katie and Trevor have been doing the grunt work and we wanted to see their good works.  My mom said that they wanted to move to Tremonten because she didn’t want to live in a ”dump”.  I think she might have been refering to my house.  Lots are much cheaper when you live in the middle of nowhere, which means they can afford a nicer house. 

 

 It was VERY chilly and the roads were quite slick, but we survived.  Their house is going to be really nice, I think they’ll be happy with it.  Katie and Trev did a good job of picking out the lot.  It has a really pretty view of the mountains and a giant pasture.  They also have a GIGANTIC garage.  They’ll be able to fit six vehicles in that sucker.

 

After the tour, we drove back to Brigham to have lunch at Maddox.  Grandma Ge Ge gave us gift certificates so we enjoyed them together.  Maddox is delicious.  It is my favorite restaurant and yes, I had the turkey steak.

jammin’

We had Katie and Trev over for a little after-Christmas dinner.  With my brother in Boston, and my parents in Germany, there weren’t any other respresentatives of “my side” of the family. 

After dinner, I mentioned that our garbage disposal was broken.  Before I knew it, Trevor had taken the whole thing apart and declared the motor burned out.  Joey decided to go buy a new one since our handy man was there and all.  Trevor fixed it up good.  I probably would have went without a disposal for a very long time if it weren’t for him.

Afterwards, we jammed with the Rock Band that Joey got from his mom.  We cleaned up popcorn with the vacuum that I got from his mom.  It was a very special evening.

Before, During, Aftermath

After all was said and done, this was the state of my living room after the Christmas morning masacre.  Bothof my children slept in till 9:00 am.  Joey and I were both awake by 8:00, and wondering why they were still asleep.  Didn’t they know that Santa had come?  We laid in bed reminiscing of Christmas’s past, when we’d have such a hard time falling asleep and counting down the minutes till we could wake up to open presents.  Good times. 

Tessa was thrilled with every one of her presents.  She exclaimed “wook mamma, wook mamma!” at each present.  We’d ask her, “What is it, Tessa?” and she’d say, “I don’t know!”  Every single present, without fail.  Her favorite was her baby, baby bottle and diaper bag. 

Nate tore through his presents like a hurricane.  He  has not yet learned how to be gracious and expressed his displeasure with certain gifts.  He even cried a little.  His favorite was his new tiny snow shovel.  He saw it at Checker Auto parts and fell in love.  He had a chance to shovel on the 26th. 

My gift from Joey showed up a couple weeks ago on my doorstep, un-wrapped, in this box.  Joey was really mad at Amazon.com because he had even paid extra for wrapping paper.  Regardless, I LOVE my new TV.  I also received a copy of the best movie ever made.

 

I got Joe Joe a new coat and a cozy new robe, which he put on immediately.  His old one had holes in it and it was time.  He was also happy to get the 11th season of Simpsonsand the Black Knight DVDs.  He was especially happy to have the “special edition” Black Knight, complete with a two sided “coin”.  I’m not sure why this coin is so cool…but he seemed happy.  If he’s happy, I’m happy.

Twas the night before Christmas

We attended our traditional family get together at the condo.  This has been a tradition in Joey’s family for a long time.  I really like Joey’s family and I have loved this tradition from the first time I joined in, when we were still dating.  They have always made me feel at home .  They’re tradition is pretty laid back, consisting of presents and food, lots of food. 

Here is a picture of Averi Montana…Hannah’s little sister. 

In my family, we also had a Christmas Eve traditional dinner.  We would invite Grandma Aggie and Uncle Bob over each year.  After a fancy sit-down dinner of stuffed pork chops, we would then beg my dad to open just one present, which would of course, be our Christmas PJs. My parents have been in Germany for seven years, so it has put a damper on this tradition and the other side has been spoiled with our undivided attention.  Next year, however, my parents will be back and we might have to divide once again.

Baby shower

We had a baby shower for Jenny.  She isn’t having her baby until June, but we aren’t likely to see her and thought it would be good to have one while she’s here.  Unfortunately, it snowed and everyone was too afraid to go out into the snow to come to the shower.  Not a single person, other than us, showed up.

I was especially disappointed that my blog fan, Holly, didn’t come.  She would have added a lot to the party because she is so awesome. I also made her a Christmas gift that I thought she’d like, but didn’t get to give it to her.

Well, we had fun without them. We had some taco salads that were easy, yet delicious.  Did I mention that I drove from Bountiful to Ogden (with two children) to get there?

Battle of the gingerbread

 

This is a picture of what my sister calls a “gingerbread mansion”. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would just like to show everyone what a REAL gingerbread mansion looks like…

Ben-knee-hawn-nuhs

My sister and brother inlaws, Jenny and Judd , are in town for Christmas.  Joey actually introduced the two of them.  Judd had been his long time friend and Jenny is his step-sister.  After Judd got rid of his religious ideals, Joey figured that they should meet.  They have been living in Kentucky and we don’t get to see them very often.  Judd suggested that all the “friends”  get together for a little slice and dice at Bennihanas. 

We have a lot of memories at Bennihanas, which we brought up over dinner.  One of my fondest memories was when I was pregnant (very pregnant) with Tessa.  I had licked my plate clean and I was still SO hungry that I then ordered a pizza from the piano bar that we attended.  I finished that off with some cheesecake.  Tessa was a VERY hungry baby. 

Another fun time was at the Bennihanas in Vegas.  Judd decided to pay for the girl that he didn’t like’s dinner, while the girl that he did like paid for her own.  Judd used to be a little mixed up with women.

Hawt Tub

We took the students swimming for this year’s class Christmas party.  Despite the huge snow storm and trouble getting all FIVE wheelchairs over to the rec center, the kids had a blast.  It is a very fun thing to see these kids having fun in the water.  It was especially fun to get some of my non-mobile students in the water and to see their expressions of pure delight.  It must be very fun for them to feel so weight-less in the water. 

Of our 13 staff, only FOUR of us got in the water.  Kenzie is allergic to chlorine, so she gets a pass.  The rest of them, however, are LOSERS.  We made the non-swimmers go get the kids dressed while we enjoyed a little hot tub action. 

Is that a giant icicle, or are you just happy to see me?

Joey is six foot three. 

functional party

We got together, all 13 of us functional skills staff, and had a pot luck party.  It was a lot of fun and the food was very yummy.  We drew names to bring a “real” present and then also brought a white elephant to exchange.  White elephant presents are my favorite!  I love giving and getting very funny presents.  This year, I brought a very shnazzy swim cap which Jana picked.  It was the second funniest gift, in my opinion.  The funniest was Nate’s washable briefs that Kenzie was so lucky to receive.  I laughed till my tummy hurt. 

There was some discussion about having a talent show, but I was just as entertained with these gifts.  The funniest part came later with the “real” gifts.  We were wondering if some of the people mixed up the two presents.

I have to say that I love the people that I get to work with.  They rock AND roll.  They’ve also built a shrine unto me, and laugh at all my jokes.  What’s not to love?

A little homework assignment for Nicole?

After we finished our aprons at 12:30 am, this is how I found Eric, Becky’s husband.  He was very dilligently working on Nicole’s (their daughter) homework assignment.  He was learning about Hellinism and drawing all sorts of pictures.  I then learned that this isn’t the first time that this has happened.  Becky also had done some of her assignments…although she is somewhat offended that her last assignment earned a “C”.

Sewing with Becky…

I drove by “Brooks” in Bountiful one day just before Thanksgiving and noticed some really cute “retro” looking aprons in the front window.  Their cuteness was overwhelming so I stopped in to look at them and came out with the pattern and a mission to make all the females in my life an apron for Christmas. 

My favorite cousin, Becky helped me put together all 13 aprons. She is a very good seamstress and I needed her help and equipment to make this happen.   It took us two days work, but they look fabulous.  We also had a fun time talking gossip and being funny till all hours of the night.  We are by far the funniest cousins in the fam. 

Butcha Family Christmas

Well, it was the annual Butcher Family Christmas Party, a traditional getting together of all of my mom’s side of the family.  Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and lots of kids.  We held the party at a senior center this year, instead of at someone’s home.  I was glad to have the extra room for the kids and not having to worry about my kids breaking something.  I also got to chat with some of my cousins that I don’t get to see very often.  Joey was bored, but I liked it this year.  We stopped having Christmas parties on the Koldewyn side, which I’m a little sad about.  I guess that at some point we will all just have our “own” family Christmas.  It’s inevitable because of how many kids we are all having.  I hate getting old.

Vanilla Ice

Nater has been taking “learn to skate” lessons at South Davis Rec. Center.  He has loved it.  I have been quite amazed at his ability, as I can BARELY stand up on the ice.  It’s so cute to see these little kids in ice skates.

Last friday, Nater was in the Christmas skate program.  He got to perform his skills for a very large audience.  Santa came out and skated with him and his class.  He did a very good job, I was very proud.

stick to the ribs

Nater is the exact opposite of a vegetarian.  I guess you might call him a “meat” atarian.  He will not eat most other foods.  He keeps it to chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and now ribs.  He LOVES him some ribs! 

 We are so lucky that he likes the most expensive thing on the menu!

under construction…the update

I tiled the bathroom floor.  Tiling is very hard work and I don’t think that I would like that to be my profession.  If I were a rich (wo)man, la da da dee da da de da da, I would definitely pay someone to do this for me.  But, doesn’t it look fabulous?

Katie Lou

My sister Katie, along with some of her friends, and I, all got season tickets to the Desert Star playhouse this year.  We had the pleasure of seeing, “Miracle on 42nd Street”.  It was fabulous!  I absolutely love to see these funny plays.  The theatre is sort of set up like a comedy club with little tables to sit at.  They have really good pizza there, but unfortunately, we got the appetizer sampler…..not a good choice.

I love my sister Katie Lou.

We have such a good time together and I’m so glad that we are close.  She is such an awesome mom, great speech pathologist, and terrific homemaker.  She is very domestic.  People that know her are always telling me how much they LOVE her.  Even though I’m the older sister, I really look up to her and not just because she’s taller than me.  I think she is the bomb.  Major wicked, man!

Breakfast with Santa

While Joe Joe was at home with the dish network guy (bonding), I decided to check out the annual “Breakfast with Santa” held at the Wight Reception Center in Bountiful.  It’s a fundraiser for the Family Connections Center.  I was surprised at first that it was kind of expensive, $13 for adults and $9 for children.  When we got inside, however, I was very pleasantly surprised by how nicely done it was.

First of all, it was not crowded.  This is a huge plus after the “Boo at the Zoo” nightmare in October.  We were seated at a very nicely decorated table with real napkins (not paper) and real utensils.  We were served an awesom full plate of food with juice and were told that we could have as much as we wanted.

Because it was not very crowded, the kids had plenty of time to talk with Santa and tell them what they wanted for Christmas and they got their pictures taken.  Afterwards, the kids were delighted to make two different crafts and get their faces painted.  In addition, there was a very talented blind man playing the piano and singing Christmas songs.

Two thumbs way up for “Breakfast with Santa”.  I will definitely go next year!

Friday Night Lights

It was the annual Clipper “Christmas Light Show” in Bountiful and is was FREEZING cold!  I was brave and took both of my little munchkins to it by myself as Joey wasn’t home in time.  There was a lot of whining and crying because Nater fell asleep just minutes before we had to get out of the car.

When the parade started, the whining stopped because they passed out candy and free glow in the dark items.  Tessa HAD to eat her candy cane right away, of course, so off came the gloves.  The whining and crying made a re-appearance when the parade was over because her hands were so cold.

Minus the whining and crying, I really enjoyed the parade.  It was fun to see all of the lights on the floats and trying to figure out how they plugged them all in.  Do they have lights that can plug into the cigarette lighter?  We will definitely go again next year, only I’m bringing hot chocolate!

pay back

 

I’ve got him right where I want him.

I heart vampires

The goose is getting fat

Traditionally, we put the tree up on the day after Thanksgiving.  This year, however, when I tried to put up our tree, the pre-lit lights were not working on the bottom branches.  A few explicitives later, I was trying to cut them out with wire cutters.  I guess I cut in the wrong place because the entire bottom third of the lights went out.  My first thought was to just throw it away and buy a new tree.  But, Joe Joe insisted that I act like a pioneer and string the lights on myself.  So, that’s what I did.  I strung lights like in the old days.  And, contrary to what Joe Joe was expecting, I let the kids help me hang the ornaments….in the back.

under construction

We have had our bathroom “under construction” for going on five months.  We gutted it during the summer and then realized that we didn’t have the money to fix it.  I spent months looking for a jetted tub on KSL.com.  It was very difficult to find one that was close by, the right color, and the right size.  I finally found one in North Salt Lake for $300. 

My sainted brother-in-law, Trevor, came over to help us install it.  Thanks to Trev, we didn’t have to hire a plumber!  We are so excited to finally get this bathroom done!  Now….here comes the tile.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep you all posted.