Disneyland

One of the many reasons I am still not done with my Christmas shopping this year is because we headed out on a fun-filled family vacation to Disneyland December 10-14. Nothing quite like 5 days at Disney with 5 kids 5 and under! The first couple of days we were there it was so warm. I dusted off my capri's and sleeveless shirts! The last couple days were colder, but nothing like the blizzard we came home to.
If anyone knows the magic secret to make 5 kids look at the camera simutaneously and smile, I would love to know. Seriously, call me and let me know!
Me and my buddies Easton and Cam who produced some of my favorite quotes of the trip. Easton: "Am I stuck with Ace again, I'm kidding!" "Can I use your bathroom, Cam is dropping it like it's hot in ours?" "Tanner, what brings you here?"

Camden calls me on the hotel room phone: "Ace, can I come over to your hotel?" I say sure. Then click, followed by a knock on the door.

The Christmas parade at Disney is amazing. We found our seats at least an hour before the parade as we learned from the night before that a half an hour isn't early enough! To kill the time Bryce's mom bought the kids suckers, which was a huge mess and really funny all at the same time.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

This was our year with my mom for Thanksgiving dinner, which is always fantastic because we don't cook! Instead we headed to Stein Erickson's lodge at Deer Valley with our fabulous friends and their fabulous friends. With my extended family living so far away while I was growing up I have come to believe that family is whoever you want them to be. I consider good friends my chosen family, which is what I am most thankful for this year. Bryce and I are so lucky to have such great families and such great friends. The lovely ladies, Amelia, Davee, my mom and me after making several trips through the buffet line! PS. they have an entire room devoted to dessert, Yum-o!
After dinner we headed to Bryce's grandparent's house for dessert. Yes, for those of you math geniuses out there that does make 2 desserts! It's just that Aunt Peggy's apple pie is so good I can't pass it up (and I don't even like pie). I thought this pic was so cute, grandma reading a story to her great-grandchildren.
And of course, then there's Bella, so cute! We bonded over some Coke Zero and pumpkin pie. Don't really know which she liked better, but I did end up having to hide the coke and distract her with some poker chips (not sure that was better, but at least she wouldn't be on a caffeine high that night)!

Jazz vs. Grizzlies

As some of you might know, my company did not renew it's Utah Jazz season tickets this year. With my boss being out of town all the time, it didn't make sense. My boss did buy Wednesday's game from his neighbor (who coincidently has the 2 seats next to ours) to give to a VP at Delta. Unfortunately, the Delta VP couldn't make the game and my boss was headed back to London earlier that afternoon, so he gave them to me! For those of you who don't like your boss, or those who kind of like your boss, sorry, but I love mine! My favorite Jazz player, D Will and yes, this is the view from our seats! This is why Bryce and I are so spoiled and can't sit in the upper bowl. Nothing quite like row 2. Of course the Jazz beat the Grizzlies 117 to 100. Go Jazz! PS. thanks to my wonderful mother for letting me borrow her camera. Love you Mom!

James Bond

Yesterday, my Mom, Bryce and I went to see the new James Bond movie. Whatever you have heard about this movie was an understatement. For example, if you heard it was action packed, that was an understatement as this movie is so full of action there are only a couple of moments to catch your breath. If you heard that Daniel Craig is a great James Bond, that was an understatement, as Daniel Craig is the best James Bond ever. The story is fairly complex, so I recommend watching the last Bond movie before you see this one (wish we had). This is an incredible movie, go see it!

Go Utes

In Utah, you are either a Ute or a Cougar. There is nothing in between and I have yet to meet someone who doesn't have strong feelings one way or the other. In case there were any doubts, Bryce and I are Utah fans. My dad was a professor at the U, Bryce and I both graduated from the U and have friends who play or played for the U football team. So I am sure you all can imagine how happy we were yesterday when the Utes beat the Cougs, resulting in another undefeated season with a BCS bowl! Go Utes!

We went over to the Domans for the big game. Although there were Utes and Cougs, Bryce's queso brought everyone together (inside joke, probably had to be there)! We had a great time, I was thoroughly entertained with Wendy's outlook on the game, Colin's tongue tricks and all the banter going on. The food was great (just pull it apart with two forks Les) and the company was fantastic. Thanks Trav and Les for a great party, we love you guys!

I'm confused, are these all Ute fans? Looks like Colin is booing the Cougs, just kidding!As promised, my favorite picture of the whole night. That about sums it up!

Twilight

Yes, I am obsessed. A big group of us went to see Twilight last night. My mom and I arrived at the theatre an hour and a half before the movie started and ended up being second in line with a nice place to sit while waiting. By the time they let us in, the line behind us was ridiculously long. We ended up with great seats!

After watching the trailers, I was convinced that I wasn't going to like the movie. I was convinced that the actors were all wrong and they were going to kill a book that I love. But, they really didn't. The meat of the story is there, abbreviated, but there for the most part. The actors who play Edward and Bella are really good, so much better than I thought.

I really only have one complaint. There needed to be more of the romance. We needed to see more of why they fell in love and what they were like together. They left out my favorite part, where Bella wakes up in Edward's arms and he has heard her say that she loves him in her sleep. Bella says, but you already knew that. That's good stuff right there!

Thanks Mom H for the tickets!

Happy Halloween

So, we have Bumblebee, a Bears Cheerleader, Optimus Prime, a Pirate and Ironman. What a cute bunch!

On Wednesday night Bella and I shared a bowl of butternut squash mac and cheese. About an hour after we finished eating she started digging through her diaper bag. After she had pulled almost everything out she picked up her spoon and crawled around our kitchen with the spoon in her mouth like this. It was hilarious!

Happy Birthday Cam

I cannot believe that our nephew Camden just turned 4 years old. Where does the time go?
These are a couple of pics from the book that we made Camden for his birthday. He is so adorable, smart and funny. During our birthday book photo shoot we told Camden that we needed to go to the sporting goods store. He asked if there would be guys at the store. Bryce asks, "What guys?" Camden replies, "Guys, you know, humans!" We were totally cracking up. My other favorite moment is when he was trying to explain how we were not the same level of family. I am not sure that I totally understand even now, but I believe it has something to do with the number of family members. Bryce asked Cam if he wanted Aunt Ace and Uncle Bryce to have kids. Camden answered excitedly "Are you two getting married?" I was like, Cam we got married a long time ago. He said, "that's right I saw the pictures of you with the flowers."

Camden thanked everyone for coming.

Camden checking out "Camden the Sports Superstar"

Camden's football cake. Yum-O

Bella and the pink pony. A girl after my own heart. I mean, who doesn't want a pink pony?

Bryce and Addie. At least she knows his name! I was called everything in the book, even daddy!

After the party winded down we got out Guitar Hero.

Bella soon took over the drums.

In order to get a serious game going we stuck her in the Guitar Hero box, literally! She had a blast!

Random Pics

I thought these pics from dinner last week were too cute. Bryce and I have such adorable nieces!

Funny Story

The funniest thing happened on the way home from work today. I'm going to try and tell this story as best I can because I was laughing so hard I was crying almost the entire way home. I hope this isn't a "you had to be there" story. So Bryce picks me up from work today and he's already giving me a hard time immediately because I have a garbage can full of paper (I take everything from work home to recycle). So we're joking around with each other right off the bat. We start driving down the road and he is playing with this rubberband. He has it looped around the steering wheel and I tell him to quit messing around. He looks over and says "What, you ride your horses with reins, these are my reins." Not much I could say to that, I just laughed. So then he takes the rubber band stretches it out (like one does when they are going to shoot it at someone) at our car radio. He says "Do you want to listen to number 2 (the radio preset)?" and then proceeds to flip the rubber band at the #2 preset. Meanwhile, he is driving. All this is happening while he is driving. The rubberband richochets off the stereo and hits me right in the face! It didn't hurt or anything, but Bryce and I were laughing so hard. I was laughing so hard I was crying, my stomach hurt and I was squirming. For those of you who haven't heard Bryce really laugh, I mean really laugh, it is totally hilarious! I was laughing so hard I couldn't even tell him that he didn't actually change the radio station. My husband does the funniest stuff. Love you babe!

Happy Birthday Spencer

Sunday night we gathered at Mom and Dad's to celebrate Spencer's birthday, which is Thursday. Happy Birthday Burt! We love you! PS. There sure are a lot of golf courses around here (remember that one?) When I was in Chicago last month I picked him up a Bears polo shirt. He even wore it that night, what a great brother! Bella, Cam, and Easton all had their Bears gear on too! Bears won by the way! Sorry honey (Bryce is a Lions fan). So, I had to bribe the boys to snap a couple of photos. They were like "no, I don't want to take a picture together." I told them I would post it to my blog so they could see themselves. So this is them giving "high fives."

And the more serious picture that I had to bribe them for. Thanks boys!
So Mom bought Halloween gingerbread houses. Not sure who was happier, me or the kids! Cam sat the entire time with me and decorated the house. We had some structural problems as our roof kept trying to cave in, but it held together in the end. Just don't touch it!
See my finger, still holding the roof on at this point!

Bella's Birthday Bash

Happy Birthday Bella!

We went to Bella's first birthday party last night. Bella turned 1 on the 25th of this month. We gave Bella a butterfly painting and a Bears cheerleader outfit. She was not that interested in opening presents, but loved cake time!

Did I mention that Bella loved the cake? She resorted to eating the plate when the cake was all gone. I don't think Bella smiled during the entire party until it was bath time in the kitchen sink (she was covered in cake and frosting).

As we all know, Bella doesn't like it when food is taken away from her, not given to her fast enough, etc. She also didn't like it when the water coming out of the faucet was diverted (to wash dishes, rinse cloths, etc), turned off, or when bath time was over.

After almost everyone had gone home Bella modeled some of her new clothes (including the Bears outfit we got her). Amber, wait that has buttons on it!

A family of Bears fans! What a great Christmas card idea!

Night at the Races

Tonight we headed out to Tooele to watch our neighbor's kids last motocross race of the season. Kylee is in second grade and ended up tying for first place this season. Way to go girl! She is an awesome little rider and looks totally adorable in her riding gear!
Trevor is in fifth grade and a fantastic rider. My heart skipped a beat when he went down after another rider landed on top of Trevor's bike in his second race. Luckily both kids were okay, phew! Good job Trev!
The hungry and thirsty cheerleaders! Our neighbor Erin (middle) with her cute cousins McKade and Brynlee.
For those of you who aren't aware, this is Bryce's counterpart Clint. They are so much alike it is scary! Don't get the two of them started.

This is my counterpart Terra. I think we find more are more ways we are alike every time we hang out. Watch out everyone, there's two of us! Terra, do I have to be a mom to get the cheese and crackers open! Seriously, why do they make those things so hard, they are for children!