HAPPY 2009

We had a fun and fabulous Christmas! Thanks to our families who spoiled us this year, we got some well needed gifts. I love this time of year because the fun just keeps coming. I hope all of you had a great Christmas and I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year! Love Ya!

See us dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sadies Dance Moves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Freaking Snow!!!

Well today I had the privilege of driving home on the freeway during the BLIZZARD!! I could not see anything around me! It also didn't help that a huge truck kept drenching my windshield with ice balls. My whippers froze up and just began to smear the ice across my windshield making it impossible for me to see!! At this point I was freaking out!! I was sliding back and forth and couldn't see a thing and I was headed up around the point of the mountain. I called Mikkel and began sobbing because I thought that I was going to die, as if he could do anything anyways. He told me to calm down and be careful but for some reason I wanted him to just make the snow go away. I calmed down and decided to crank up the defrost to see if it would melt the ice chunks on my whipper blades. At this point I had said some bad words and was trying to find just a few clear inches on my windshield. I leaned over to the passenger side because the windshield was less icy over there. I got the biggest cramp in my back from leaning over but luckily the defrost had melted some of the ice. I was now almost to my exit and I was counting the cars that were sliding off the road. I figured that If I got stuck going up the hill to my house then I could walk the rest of the way. My goal was to just make it down the off ramp. I just wanted to be inside my house and I had to pee so bad. I came down the off ramp and totally just ran the stop sign because I wouldn't have made it if I had stopped. The rest of the way up hill I just pressed the gas pedal as hard as I could, sliding and screeching all the way. I finally made it to my street and I had one more hill to go and then It was straight into my garage. I pressed the garage door opener before I got there so I wouldn't have to stop in our sloped driveway. I started to turn into the drive way but I slide and got stuck in our shrubs!! I got out and grabbed a shovel, dug my self out, backed my car up, and gunned it up the drive way. I had made it... I had accomplished something that I fear every winter and I did it with almost bald tires and no 4 wheel drive. I am proud of myself (but not for swearing, bawling uncontrollably, and running a stop sign!) I am not going to be trying that ever again!
Have any of you had fun experiences like that this winter?

My Great Husband!!

I just have to brag about how wonderful my Hubby is!! Last night I went to party that my dance students threw. I was gone for about three hours and when I came home the house spotless!! I had been dreading cleaning all week and knew that come Saturday I would be sweeping, scrubbing, and dusting away! But now I don't have to! He did everything- Scrubbed bathrooms, dishes, laundry, carpets (shampooed and vacuumed), swept, dusted, and mopped! He said, "Now you can go shopping all day tomorrow!" This was very unexpected and totally amazing.

Thanks Babe! I love you so much!

Is it only Tuesday?

Why does this week feel so long already? I mean we just had a weekend but yet it feels like today should be Friday!! I am already exhausted and soooo ready to stay in my sweats for three days. What is going on? maybe I am getting sick, but I don't feel sick though. maybe its just the stress of the holidays on top of other things that normally stress me out... Its just been a hard two days so far! So please weekend get here fast!!!

I Am Thankful...

During this Thanksgiving season I am full of gratitude and Thanks for the wonderful things I enjoy in my life!! I have to admit that sometimes I focus on what I don't have instead of what I have. When I change my perspective I realize that I have so much to be thankful for!!

Here are a few things I am thankful for...

*My Husband! He is so amazing and I sometimes wonder how I ended up with such a great guy! He is so sweet to me and always has nice things to say to me. He keeps me on track and is so patient with me. I love him, he is my rock... oh and he is incredibly good looking and charming!!

*My House! I am so grateful that we have a nice and comfortable house to live in!! Its comforting to know that we have a lot of extra room for future kids! I love decorating for holidays and putting things the way like I them. I love just being in our house and relaxing!

*Teaching Dance! I am extremely thankful for my fun job! I absolutley love teaching something that I am passionate about. My students are so cute and it is so fun to see them learn and progress.

*The Gospel! I am so blessed to have been born into the church. It is so comforting to know that I am doing what I should be doing in life and I am getting blessed for doing so. I can't even imagine living with out a purpose or not knowing why I am here and where I am going. With out the gospel in my life I would be completley lost and feel empty inside.

*Family! We are so blessed to have both of our families live near by and I love spending time with them. When we lived in Arizona it was just us two.  It was really hard not seeing everyone for months at a time. It made me realize how important family is and that friends will come and go but your family will always be there.

Those are just a few things that I am thankful for! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

Twilight Movie!!

Last night I got to go see the new Twilight movie at the midnight showing!

It was so good and Edward and Bella are so cute together!!

Let me know what you thought of the movie...

Easiest Pumpkin Cookies Ever!!

I made the easiest pumpkin cookies ever!! They taste amazingly good for the little effort I put into making them! I thought they were to good to be true! I have to thank my friend Jessica for posting this recipe on her blog. I just had to share this with all of you. So here it is...

All you need is:
* 1 can of pumpkin
* 1 spice cake mix (just the dry mix! not the eggs, oil, or water)
* 1 bag of chocolate chips

* You put it all in a bowl and mix it up, pop them into the oven at 360 degrees, bake for 20-25 minutes (or how ever long they need)
Then you stuff your face with as many as you can!!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider...

About three months ago Mikkel and his friends found a black widow on our front porch! I told them to smash it emediatly but then Mikkel asked me to go and get him a jar. He courageously caught it, brought it into the house, and poked tiny holes in the top so it could breath. I was wondering what he was going to do with it... keep it for a pet? Yes!! That stupid spider has been in that jar for three months and is still alive because Mikkel keeps catching flies and bugs for it to eat! (by eat i mean wrap them up in its web and suck the guts out!) I have to admit that it is pretty cool to watch it spin webs and wrap up bugs! I put the jar in a cupboard everyday so I don't have to look at it and some how it keeps ending up in the center of our island like a center piece! weird! It still gives me shivers every time I pick up the jar! We have become somewhat attached and have named her Lola. She has tripled in size and is huge now! I wonder how long she will live?

Can you see her red spot?

This is her tiny home and in this pic she is eating

a delicious cricket! yum.

Pumpkin Carving!!

Last night we had our friends and family over for a pumpkin carving party!! I made yummy taco soup for everyone and then we carved the night away! It was so much fun and nothing gets you in the Halloween mood like carving pumpkins! We had a variety of pumpkin masterpieces including; a Y for BYU, a cat, a bat, a welcome sign, a smashed face, a frowny face, a ghost, and a 3D stretched face! Mikkel is the one who spend the most time on his! He started by peeling off the top 20 layers of the pumpkin and chiseled away piece by piece until the face was perfect! We made a giant mess and ended up with more pumpkin on the floors then on the tables but it was totally worth it! We had so much fun and hope you enjoy the pictures! (I didn't get pictures of all the finished pumpkins, just ours... sorry)

Vennis got cozy on the carpet while carefully carving hers

My mom and little sister

Trevor scooping away

Lesley flinging some guts off her hand

Matt acting super excited!

Jacine

Mikkel and Vennis are scooping the guts from the bottom of

their pumpkins instead of the top (new strategy i guess)

This is one of the giant messes

Mikkels masterpiece complete with guts spewing from the mouth

My cute kitty

Hailey with her tiny creation

Blondes For A Night!!

We went to a Halloween dress up party last night! The theme was Hollywood couples so we dressed

up as probably the most hated couple in the Hollywood Hills! We were Speidi... aka Spencer

Pratt and Heidi Montag! They are from a reality show called the Hills. I watch the show and

Mikkel always makes fun of me but he thought it would be fun to dress up as them! I found

this awesome blonde wig and Mikkel put yellow paint in his hair and beard to make it look bleached!

It was a fun party and I am so glad we had an exuse to dress up! Mikkel was such a sport and

let me pick out his costume and dress him up!Thanks honey for being silly and

dressing up with me! So how do you think we look as blondes?

Sadies New Do!

Sadie got a hair cut yesterday!!

I couldn't look at her long crazy hair anymore! I finally took her in to the grooming salon.

when I picked her up she looked like a different dog! When we got home she was acting a little weird. She buried her head in a blanket and just laid there! i think she hates her new hair do. She probably thinks she looks like a boy cause all her long flowing hair is gone. ah she'll get over it!

Before (hair in ponytail to keep it out of her face)

After

Any Costume Ideas???

This year for Halloween we are going to a dress up party!! I am so excited because I have not been to a dress up party in years!! I love Halloween because it is the one time of year that you can dress up, act like a kid, and get away with it! The theme for the party is HOLLOW- WOOD and we have to dress up like a Hollywood couple! We have a few good ideas but we are still stumped on what to dress up as. So if any of you have some ideas for us let us know! Thanks!

Fall Is Upon Us!!

Yes It is that Time of year again!! I Love this time of year!! Though I will miss my flip flops, T-shirts, and Bermuda shorts greatly, nothing is better than putting on a big sweater and fuzzy socks to keep warm! The beginning of this week was perfect weather! It was still warm but had that nice cool breeze and i was loving having our windows open in our house! Yesterday was the first day that we had to close the windows for good and turn on our heater! I like seeing how long we can go until we have to turn it on. I think winter maybe coming a little too fast though! What is with the snow today!? I am not ready for snow yet!! i love all the beautiful colors of the leaves and I don't want any snow to cover them up! :) What is your favorite part of Fall??

Paint

I have been wanting to paint my house for a long time now! I keep telling Mikkel I want to but we just never get around to it! Well my white boring walls just have to go. I want to paint them a neutral warm color to create a more welcoming feeling. I don't want anything too dark or bright. So I was wondering if any of you have painted your house a color you like and could maybe recommend a brand and color. I don't know anything about paint so any suggestions would be great!

I Found All of YOU!

So my tragic blog story just got a whole lot less tragic!! I thought I had lost all of your precious blog addresses but just now as i went into create a blog list you were all hiding in there... All of you that I thought i would have to search for again were there all along! It is weird that my list just didn't appear on my blog when I exported my old one. Weird! I am so glad that I don't have to stress over that now! Maybe I was blessed for going to the General Relief Society meeting in Salt Lake tonight! YAY!

Almost Back To Normal!

So after basically totally screwing up my blogger settings last night and spending 3 hours trying to salvage as much as I could... I had to create an entire new blogger account and export all my posts from my existing blog to my new one!! What a pain! Now I know its not that hard to change a background on a blog because i did it right the first time but I tried to change the color of the template I was using. I clicked on a button that said "restore to classic template" I thought this would just go back to the original background so I could try to change it again. But NO! It completely changed all my settings and erased by "layout" tab! so i had no option of going in and rearranging my layout! it was like it went back to the old blogger from 5 years ago that only had basic settings for blogs! I didn't no that clicking one button could send me back in time! So everything is kind of back to normal but I still lost some pictures and some of your URL addresses! What a nightmare! I know some of you are thinking how I could manage to do this and it doesn't make sense but I just needed to vent and explain my frustrations!! hopefully this wont happen again but if it does then I am officially done blogging!

UGH!!!

So tonight in an attempt to choose a cute new background for my blog I have managed to get all my links erased and all my pictures!! now my layout is all switched up and I am going to have a melt down!! oh why does this stuff only happen to me!! ugh! so how do all get cute backgrounds with out it ruining your lives!?

The Office Returns!!

I have been waiting and waiting for the new episode of the Office for a long time! Last night it was finally on and I can't believe Jim purposed to Pam!! I thought for sure that they would drag it out for a couple seasons and throw some twists in just to worry us! It was so unexpected and honestly I got a little emotional. I love when Kevin asked Holly if she thought he was retarded! Just the way he said it was so funny! Poor Andy... Angela is a little hussy! I wonder how long she will keep leading him on and go behind his back with Dwight?? Well I know many of you tuned in for this wonderful occasion last night so please leave me your thoughts on the episode!

Reading Progress

Well to start I have been so incredibly busy! With our fall dance classes in full swing I have been teaching more than ever and I love every minute of it! We will be preparing for our annual Nutcracker show for the next two months which will make me even more busy. I am excited for it and I have a lot of choreography to teach. ah :) Due to the fact that I am getting home much later now I haven't posted anything new forever!! I used to post something at least once a week... what happened to me? I guess nothing that exciting has happened to us... no babies on the way, not moving, no new pictures, Sorry! I do have some progress on my reading that i would like to report. A few posts ago I told you all that I was going to start reading the Twilight series books. I am proud to say that I have finished the first two and I am on chapter 9 in Eclipse. I read the the first one in about a week because I was so excited!! The second one took me a few weeks and I only read it when I had free time. This third one is killing me! I have read about one chapter every week which puts me on chapter nine. I forget what has happened from the last time I have read. Am I losing interest or am I just so busy and stressed that I don't have time to read?? I don't know but I have to say that Twilight was my favorite so far. I hope Breaking Dawn will keep me interested, that is if I can ever get to it... I will let you know when I finish it!

Gymnastics

Mikkel and I have been watching the Olympics every chance we get! We loved watching Micheal Phelps dominate and win all those gold medals! My favorite is always gymnastics! I always wanted to be a gymnast when I was younger. My mom signed me up and I was bored doing cartwheels and forward roles! I wanted to go on the bars and balance beam but my teacher told me that I wouldn't be able to use those for a few more years! I didn't want to wait that long so I quit. I think I could have been pretty good if I was patient and stuck to it, but dancing caught my interest soon after...

I just wanted to voice some of my concerns, thoughts, and issues I have about the womans gymnastic competition!

All of the US team was amazing! Some of them got injured which was unfortunate but they held it together and did the best that they could! I feel bad for Alicia Sacramone! She had a bad fall on the balance beam and fell apart during her floor routine. I know the pressure is extremely high and the stress of it all would be very overwhelming! My heart goes out to her!

I think that Nastia Liukin missed her calling in life... She should have been a Ballerina! (GASP) I know I know she is an amazing gymnast! But look at her body- her long slender figure, her long legs, and her extremely beautiful pointed toes. She would have made a gorgeous ballerina! Now I only say this because I was one and I teach ballet so please understand! I told Mikkel this and he said, "Ballerinas don't win gold medals!" I laughed and then realized that I was out of line to think of her as something less than a gold medal gymnast!

My biggest issue and complaint is over the chinese girls! Who are they kidding!! Half of them are not 16! It must be nice to have your own country host the Olympics so you can lie in order to compete! Its not surprising considering that they digitally enhanced the opening ceremony fireworks and had a "cute" girl lip sing the words to the "not so cute" girl's voice!! Oh and the tie between Nastia and the chinese girl was ridiculous considering Nastia had less mistakes in her routine! I can't believe they gave the chinese girl the gold anyway and Nastia the silver! IT WAS A TIE! At least let them do the routine over! If I was Nastia I would have got up there on that gold medal platform and stood right beside her!! Seriously how convenient is it for the chinese?? They have more golds and are obviously being favored cause they are in their own country!! I think they should investigate so they can prove that some of them are under age and then their precious medals will be taken away!

I am glad that Shawn was finally able to get her gold medal for beam!! She deserved one! I am so glad that Nastia took silver! I am surprised they didn't just give the chinese the gold and silver!

Well I am glad that the gymnastics is over cause if I had to see one more under aged chinese girl win gold I would probably lose it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKKEL!!!

That's right my husband is 27 today Aug 7th!! Since you never hear from him cause he refuses to be a part of this blog world... I just wanted to do a special post for him and spotlight all the things he loves to do a long with some of the things I love about him!

He loves to spend time in his "Man Cave" (this is what he calls it, but it is just our basement)

He loves watching movies, working out/lifting weights, and playing video games on his

PlayStation 3! When we moved in he said that I couldn't decorate the basement cause it was his playroom.

He loves to get into trouble!!
(as you can tell from the picture below... fire work powder + bottles + Mikkel= trouble) He is always up to something when he is with his boys! I thought boys grew out of this stage after Jr. high... apparently not!

He hates to be dirty or sticky!!

He showers constantly and gets nervous when I eat sticky foods or

candy around him! I don't know how he will survive being around our babies :)
Here he is washing the sand of his feet after we walked on the beach!

He has such a tender heart for animals!

He is so sweet to our dog and he loves to cuddle with her! They

have so much fun playing together and I am amazed at how he taught her all her cool tricks!

He is extremely competitive!

When we play games he usually wins but when he doesn't... watch out!

He loves Guitar Hero III!

He has mad skills and has beat almost every song on expert!!

He knows everything about everything! I am amazed at how smart he is. He is always telling me some new fact or scientific theory. He also knows a lot about the gospel! He is constantly teaching me new things and he can answer every question I have.

He is extremely picky about his food!!!

He hates cheap imitation food a long with most fast foods. He likes anything and everything as long as it meets his standards! He likes to eat at all the pricey restaurants cause they serve the best!

He is an amazing cook! He can whip up anything and basically

just throw anything into a pan and it tastes delicious! I am

so lucky to have my own personal chef cause I don't cook!

Here he is eating some ribs with his beloved hot sauce, which he puts on everything!!

I think he needs a napkin... don't you think?

He is so dreamy!! I love him so much!

He is extremely patient with me and has helped me become a better person.

I love you honey! Thanks for being my sweet husband and loving me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Tender...

So mikkel showed me this video and i thought itwas so sweet and i cried... i know i am baby! this is exactly why i love animals. so please click on the link below and enjoy the clip! we coudn't figure out how to put the video on our blog sorry!!
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25796645#25796645

Poor Duck...

Sadie has this little Aflec duck that is (was) her favorite toy! This thing was old, dirty, mangy, and blind (cause Sadie ripped the eyes out a year ago). She loved this duck and carried it around every where. We played many games of fetch and keep away with the duck. Well today Sadie decided to de stuff the duck by viciously ripping the stuffing out through its jugular. That duck had a great life with Sadie and is now laid to rest in the trash can!

In this pic you can see traces of stuffing on her mouth! (savage beast)

This is her in action

This is her sweet, "what have I done" face!

At the scene of the crime there was stuffing all over the floor and the duck carcass lay lifeless!

**4th Of July Fun!**

This year we had our friends and family over for a pool party and barbecue for the 4th. Mikkel's sister, her husband and two kids live in Colorado so it was fun to spend time with them while they were here visiting! We started the day by swimming and laying around the pool. Mikkel, Brennen, and Joel played an aggressive game of keep away and water basketball. The kids had fun splashing in the water and playing around with each other. We ate tons of great food then got right back in the pool for more fun.

Vennis and I
Kacia, Laila, and Chandler
Jacine, Mikkel, Laila, and Chandler
Joel and Mikkel lounging by the pool

My cute mom and I

Mikkel's parents, Donavon, Kandra, and Jacine. Our neighbor

Trevor is in the back ground unaware that he is being captured in the

picture as well.

Trevor's wife Lesley with her sister Meredith and husband Brandon
Mikkel and I preparing some food
Vennis with her husband Josh, enjoying some of Lesley's
awesome, chocolate, crock pot cake.

******************************************************************
We all had such a great time and enjoyed being with each other. After the sun went down we sat on our balcony and watched about 10 different fire work shows from all over the valley. We are so lucky to have an awesome view from the back of our house. We still got to enjoy them with out the crowds and traffic. They were delightful! Trevor, Lesley, Meredith, and Brandon belted out patriotic hymns from next door, which added to the magical evening! Thanks for providing the music guys!!