Comfort Food

Sometimes, cookies and milk are the only way to get through the day. Oreos, how we love thee.

Snow

Over the last few years, I've had to up my game and do snow removal. I learned the hard way that it requires vigilance. It turns out, if you don't shovel well for months on end, your driveway will get very narrow and you will acquire the dreaded "hump". You will get stuck when your husband is out of town and you have sick babies. There will be no one to call and you will be totally screwed. Not that that happened to me. Oh wait, it did. Soooo..... ever since then, I've had sort of a mania taking place. The mania involves a need for the driveway to be at a state of cement, NO ICE, at all times. It is sick. I know. It is also exhausting.

Moving on to now. It snowed a lot in December. A LOT. I shoveled a lot. Jeff shoveled a lot. The 12 year old neighbor across the street helped me shovel a lot. Then, one day, a miracle occurred. Meet our new baby.



Jeff brought her home and I am smitten. Completely and totally in love with all you see pictured.

That's Some Tree You've Got there Clark...

I've seen Christmas Vacation a million times. 999,999 of those times I've laughed and though, "funny, but who would really let that happen.". This year I know. This year, Christmas was at my house.

Let's start with the tree. Last year we cut a beautiful fresh tree. It was wonderful. The tree was perfect. I planned a repeat this year. Not so much. After a full on domestic about a work trip on a holiday weekend and a huge snow storm the week prior, we set out for a canyon in Idaho. We got out of the car and Spike refused to move. He stayed in the truck with Grandma and Grandpa the whole time. (Side note, Bryce stated, that he would be staying in the truck, he had cut trees for years and it was a "pain in the ass." If we wanted to do it, "have at it". )

So the place was a mad house. A billion people, no exageration, were trying to cut trees. We hiked in on a snowmobile trail about a mile and found the trees. We passed a young family like ours, coming out and the mom was nearly in tears and the dad looked like he wanted to kill himself. I asked how much further the trees were and he said, "to hell and back". Okay, so obviously, that guy is having a bad day. Not us, we're having a hap, hap, happy time!

Trees were in sight, we went for them, and Jeff instantly fell into snow past his butt. Hilarious, until I did the same thing. We looked around for a bit and Carter and Jeff located, the tree..da da da da! I thought it looked a little big and suggested we keep looking. Jeff was kind of over it, (I don't think the prior domestic had helped) and Carter was focused on eating snow. I suggested other trees, but we settled with the tree, despite it's size. I was worried, but really, the time for fighting was over and the time for fun had begun.

Jeff started to saw. Jeff has what we call, "superhuman Remund strength" and I've never seen him not push through something. He had to take 2 breaks to "breathe" during the sawing. Too late we were committed. The tree finally fell and it looked even bigger. We tried to move it. No luck. Between the weight and the depth of the snow, we couldn't make it budge. We cut off another 4 feet.

Just then Mike and Ash came up with their tree. It could easily be pulled with one hand. Neither was sweating. Mike offered to help Jeff move our tree. They both pushed and pulled. I think there might have been swearing. It moved! Then I noticed Mike kept moving and Jeff just stood. He claimed that, "his body gave up". Once we got to the snowmobile trail it got easier. Jeff really did help the whole way. I walked with Carter and did nothing to contribute. Bryce rolled his eyes and we were on our way.

Eventually headed for home. I decided it was huge, but that we could deal. Then while I was at the dirty Mav in Evanston getting a drink, I heard some local dude and the worker talking smack about our tree. Something about "city folk" getting trees that were too big. When I went up to pay he asked me if I had the biggest tree in the forest. I could feel my local/country girl heart break. I was city folk.

So the tree got in and decorated (thanks bob, for the big A ladder). We bought $80 of lights to cover the stupid thing. It filled the whole living room. I yelled at kids not to touch it for fear of disaster for over a month.

Despite everything, it was beautiful, it sparked and glowed for all (like the whole neighborhood) and the kids loved it. It didn't fall. Carter told everyone about how we picked the most beautiful tree in the forest and had so much fun. It smelled good and I'm sure we'll always remember the behemoth tree of 2010. If we start to forget, there seems to be an endless supply of pine needles in the carpet.

PS. The minute Christmas was over I threw that puppy out and boy, did it feel good.

Review 2010

When you have 6 and 3 year olds, the alphabet is a frequent subject. I could see no better way to review our year than with the alphabet.

A- This year was our 10th anniversary and we spent it in Hawaii. It was a wonderful trip and an even better 10 years.

B- Birthdays were lots of fun this year. Carter had a spongebob party, Spike's was construction, and we spent Jeff's birthday in Yellowstone while tagging along on a work trip to Montana. Jeff and I also had a great vacation in Boston with good friends.

C-You all know about the acquisition of the cat. Grrr. Spike also experienced his first cavity. Carter took climbing classes through parks and rec and make progress in bravery.

D-DIGGERS! There is really nothing more to say, diggers take up 90% of Spike's time. He also spend a good portion of Jan-April doing dinosaur breathing (AKA-neutralizer with a dinosaur mask) after a nasty case of pneumonia.

E-This year, one of Carter's catch phrases is Easy Peasy. My fingers are crossed he can keep this positive, can-do attitude throughout his life.

F-Friska. Jeff and Carter love the stupid cat. I don't. Enough said. Fishing-Carter caught a monster 9lb cutthroat with Grandpa Bryce in the spring. I don't know that fishing will ever measure up after that monster. He also caught his very first fish all by himself, a perch at Mantua. Grandpa left him in the boat while he went to get the trailer and Carter caught a fish!

G- We worked really hard on our garden this year and it was a hit! I'm sort of falling in love with gardening.

H- Jeff and Carter have been reading the Harry Potter series this year.

I- Two little boys have a lot of great ideas. Spike also says, "I do not know" all the the time and it drives Carter and I Insane!

J- Whether it is hippity hop balls, off the boat, into the pool, on the trampoline, or on the furniture, these boys love to jump!

K-Carter is doing great in Karate and Mrs. Kohler's Kindergarten class. Spike loves to give kisses to everyone he loves. Carter is on record as hating kisses.

L- We had a great time with Grandma Cindy in Legoland in August. It was pretty much a yuppie mom paradise. Giant sand boxes, creative play, very few gift shops and healthy food. I was kind of the white trash mom there, but it was cool and we loved it.

M-We had a huge step forward in life. I took both boys by myself to Despicable Me and we made it through! No longer does it take 2 parents and a million trips in and out to see a movie.

N- Every day, the kids want fewer naps and Jeff and I want more. Carter is done with naps. Spike, well, he wants to be done but I refuse to give up.

O- Spike dreams of being an operator on a construction site.

P- Spike started neighborhood preschool and potty training finally stuck. Carter has started piano and is doing an great job with it.

Q-We have a million questions a day. I know the answers to very, very few. Honestly, I know it is good they are curious, but I just long for quiet some days.

R-Carter has turned into a great reader. It has been so fun to watch the world open up more to him each and every day as he reads new things. Jeff and I also did the Ragnar Relay this year. I trained for months, Jeff trained zero. We both had a good time (I think anyway...I think the experience is like childbirth, you forget how bad it was). Both Gil and Cindy retired from Deer Valley this year. Carter is convinced the decision was made solely to spend more time with him. Who knows, maybe it was?

S- we skied a lot with carter. Carter learned to love it for the first time and I remembered that it was fun again. We also spent a day in Sea World where we learned that Jeff's mom is the master packer of plastic animals. Also, sea world staff will give you a free churro if your child falls of out of the rental stroller while you are trying to pay.

T- Carter finally got the Two-Wheeler. I had lost hope that the child would ever have any desire to ride a bike. (3 years of failed attempts will do that to you) Little did I know it would take one week of watching his friends ride bikes to school while he walked. He hopped on the bike and didn't look back! He also lost his first two teeth.

U- Can I tell you how great it is to wash cute little boy underwear and not change diapers? One question though, will my bathroom ever be the same again?

V-Victory The Bears are in the playoffs and "the BYU" had a losing season. The boys at this house couldn't be happier.

W- The highlight of our summer was Ashley and Mike's wedding. What a wonderful day! If there ever was a time when the world stopped for an evening and everything was perfect, that was it. I know the day was about Ash and Mike, but I will forever be grateful for that night, when everything was right with the world.

X-X is Spike's favorite letter. I have no idea why.

Y-Yelling. All members of our family are trying to have less of this in our lives next year.

Z- Carter loves playing Zombiee Farm with Cindy. In other news, old Zoiee turned 10. The poor thing is starting to get "dogheimerz" as Jeff calls it. Her face is going gray and she has lost a lot of spunk. For as much as that dog has driven me crazy over the years, I love her so much and it makes me sad to see her getting old. Thankfully, she'll still fight to the death with scorpion and bark if anyone walks on the road. She still has some zest for life in her yet.

So now we know the ABC's-let's all have a great year in 2011. Happy New Year!