A night out

Nick and I had a much needed night out with friends. We'd been anticipating our romantic dinner for 2 weeks. Our friends made it a great night. We drove to Fort Collins, Colorado to dine at the Melting Pot restaurant. We had a 4 course meal that was so delicious! We were eating for 3 hours straight. The stove top and fondue pots were in the middle of our table, everything was fresh from scratch. We started with the cheese fondue, we got to pick 2 different pots of cheese, which our wonderful waiter, Stephen made right in front of us. We had bread, vegetables and apples to dip. Then we had the best salad ever, topped with sugar crusted pine nuts, YUMMY! Next was our meat platter, which included raw lobster, shrimp, fillet Mignon, chicken and scallops. Nick was the only one complaining that we paid too much money to have to cook our own food. There were 2 boiling pots with flavored stocks, and we put our meat in for a few minutes to cook it. It was pretty good, but I must say that they saved the best for last! Dessert, it was a pot of turtle chocolate and a pot of a milk chocolate peanut butter concoction, both set on fire to make it even more fantastic. We had cheesecake, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, strawberries, and brownies to dip. HEAVENLY!! It was a perfect evening. But to top off the night, I wore my pajamas that Nick sent me for Valentine's Day. I never expected to get PAJAMAGRAMS !! What a thoughtful guy Nick has turned out to be! I love my sweetheart!

Happy Valentine's Day from Isaac, Sophia and Savannah

The kids all celebrated Valentine's Day early. I got to join Sophia and Savannah at their preschool party, then later we all went to Isaac's 3rd grade party. They all had a lot of fun and a lot of sugar.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

We now have a YouTube account, here's the videos if you want to check it out.
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Lunchbox Love

As I was shopping at Michael's I found the cutest lunchbox notes, I just had to buy all 4 packs at once! They have fun trivia facts on one side and a cute positive sediment on the other. I thought Isaac would be thrilled and surprised when he opened his lunchbox at school to find a thoughtful little note from his Mother. I placed the first note, knowing that Isaac would be the envy of every kid at his table in the school cafeteria. They could only wish they had a Mother like me. Right?? That was 3 weeks ago, and now every morning without fail the first thing out of his mouth when he wakes up is, "Don't put a Thank-You note in my lunch today."

Isaac's book project

Isaac had an assignment to read a book and make a project about what he learned. He will give an oral presentation to his class(I really wish I could be a fly on the wall and see it!). He chose a book about whale sharks, we learned some very interesting facts. Whale sharks have 3000-6000 tiny teeth that they don't even use for eating, they have very small eyes, because vision isn't important to them, and whale sharks are the biggest fish in ocean. He did most of the project by himself, I did my part by shopping for the materials. Savannah was watching him work on it and thought it looked fun, so she made her own ocean project. When she was done, she told me I had to see it because it was amazing!! I thought she'd done a great job, I just wish the kitchen table was covered in sand, seashells and water. That's what I get for leaving the room for a minute! They both earned an A from me.

Soldier Hollow

Soldier Hollow was the site of the 2002 Winter Olymics cross country skiing event. It is in Midway, Utah, just a few minutes from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house. They have different activities there, including tubing. Adam, Adalee, Nick, Sophia, Savannah and I(this was the day after the ski trip, and Isaac was done with snow activities)went to try it out. The best part about the tubing is the tow rope. Instead of the arduous walk up the hill toting a tube, they attach your tube to the rope and it pulls you to the top. The girls thought the ride up was just as fun as the ride down the hill. When you arrive at the top, you drop off a steep curvy hill, which detaches your tube. At the top, there are 6 slides to choose from, some are really bumpy, which made for a fun ride. Adam and Adalee had been before, they were both so helpful with Sophia and Savannah. We all took turns going with each other, it was a lot of fun. The girls liked going with Nick because he went so fast that they hit the fence. Thanks Adam and Adalee for the great afternoon.

Happy Birthday Grandmas!

January is a busy month for birthdays. Both Grandma Reeve and Grandma Larsen's Birthdays are just one day apart. Angie, Meridy, and Lena also are celebrating this month. Happy Birthday to you all, I hope each of you had a wonderful day. Grandma Reeve was on vacation on her birthday, I hope you and Grandpa had a fun trip. We were able to be in Midway for Marilyn's birthday this year. Ben, B'Andra and their kids, Adam and Adalee, Marilyn and Lowell, and our family went to dinner at the Homestead to help Marilyn make Birthday #68 special. After dinner, we returned to their house for cake and ice cream. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ski Utah

Last year over Martin Luther King weekend, we had a wonderful ski trip with our friends, the Smith's. We thought it would be fun to make it an annual trip, so Nick got a few days off, and we made our plans. Well, we found out that the Mountain Dew Tour would be at Snow Basin ski resort, which would have been a crowded mess, so we had a change of plans. We stayed with the Smith's later on in the weekend, and we had a great time with their family. As for skiing, we decided to take our family to Deer Valley Ski resort. We stayed at the Zermatt Resort, which is always nice. First thing Friday morning we woke up ready to roll, we went to Adventure Haus (ski shop) to rent skis and boots for the kids. We were excited to be on our way and started the drive toward Park City. 20 minutes later we get a phone call from the ski shop letting us know we'd left the ski boots back at the shop. They were so kind and brought them to us. We enrolled the twins in the Bambi ski school for beginners. They had 2.5 hours of ski instruction, lunch, and play time. Isaac, Nick and I ventured off on our own, which was great fun. We did several runs, it was such a beautiful day and amazing scenery. Isaac thought it would be nice to have lunch in the lodge up on the ski slopes. We enjoyed a relaxing lunch before we went back to skiing. Isaac was doing great under Nick's instruction and supervision, I think he only wrecked once. Isaac was also feeling more comfortable and confident as he went off onto the side trails and through the trees. Nick was a good sport, but decided we had held him back long enough, and thought he needed to go off on his own to tame the mountain. Isaac and I were alright until he went off on a difficult little side trail that ended in moguls. He crash landed and lost a ski in the process. We tried for 15 minutes to get the ski back on, but we were on a steep slope and we kept sliding down. We were both getting frustrated and tired, but some nice lady finally stopped to help. We were happy to be on our way back down. A minute later, my skis got crossed and I was going fast and out of control, next thing I know Isaac is right in front of me and I yelled as we both wiped out. We slid several yards, tangled up before we came to a stop. We both just laid on our backs in pain and didn't move. Isaac was quite mad at me, and said, "We have NO business being up here!" He might be right! We picked the girls up from their Bambi class with just enough time to take them down the bunny slope once. They were happy to get to ride the chair lift. They did a fantastic job, and didn't want to leave. We gathered all the gear, and were on our way back to Midway. Nick dropped us off at his parents house and went to return the ski equipment. When he got there, he realized we were short a pair of skis. Adventure Haus thinks we're idiots!! They were very nice about it and called the ski resort in the morning to see if they'd been turned in. Turns out, they were in lost and found. The gracious people at Adventure Haus told us they'd retreive them for us. Isaac says he's never skiing again!!

Sledding

It was a warm day in Cheyenne today, it reached 48 degrees! It felt like summer to us, so we decided to spend the day outside soaking up the sun. We went to the Happy Jack Recreation Area, where they have groomed snow trails. We have 3 sleds so we divided up and started sledding down the mountain. We got our exercise, because there are no chair lifts to the top. We were walking up the hill and Savannah said, "This is a good day." She gave Nick and I a hug and told us she loved us for taking her sledding. I love family days!! After we got home from sledding, we went for a walk on the green way that goes through the city. It was a very pleasant day in Wyoming.

Happy New Year!

We had a fun New Year's Eve. We celebrated by going to a friends house for dinner and fondue. We didn't make it to midnight, but it was a great night. It was our kids idea to take a clock cookie, it turned out to be a big hit at the party. I can't believe it's 2010! I've got some big goals I hope to accomplish this year.

Christmas 2009

We started our Christmas a bit early this year, since we'd be traveling and didn't want to load up all of our gifts. On the 19th, we let the kids each open 3 gifts, then we left for Utah the next morning. When we got back home from vacation, we let them open a gift every night for several days. It worked out so well, I think we'll do it every year. Kids usually get so many gifts on Christmas day that they're overwhelmed. We had a fun week and a half with family and friends. We drove to Midway, Utah to Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's house. Isaac entertained us with some delightful piano solos.

We stayed at the Zermatt Resort, it is a beautiful place. We got to see some ice castles, it was an amazing sight, but so cold that we rushed through.





The trees in Midway were just glisting with beauty, Mother Nature flocked them with ice and snow.



After a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa, we drove to Orem, Utah to visit the Frazier's. They are our friends from medical school that we hadn't seen for 7 years. He just finished his Orthopedic Residency and began practicing in Utah. It was fun catching up with their family, we played games, made jewelry, and ate Heather's great cooking.


The next day we drove to Hurricane, Utah to visit my family. We had a great time visiting and playing with everyone. Isaac's favorite part was eating at Golden Corral. When we got home he asked if we had any buffets in Cheyenne. Christmas day was so fun, the kids got some fun gifts from cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Reeve. Nick and I scored some nice gifts as well, thanks Mom and Dad. The day after Christmas we met at Gordon and Debbie's house for the Larsen Christmas party. Debbie was nice enough to make us all dinner. We played games for a while, and then we went back to Hurricane to pack our suitcases. We got up early the next morning and made the 11 hour drive back to Cheyenne. I didn't get very many photos of our trip, because Nick gave me a little video camera for Christmas, and I used that instead of my regular camera. I'll post some videos when I figure out how to use it.

Too Cold!

It has been a bitter winter already for us in Cheyenne. A few weeks ago, I was driving home at 9:00p.m. and the temperature was a freezing -9 degrees. Brrrr.....

Grand Cayman

Our second annual tropical vacation with the Smith's was fabulous! This year, the Burton's and the Blocker's joined in. I hope to do more trips in the future with them, it was so much fun. It was a relaxing, fun-filled adventure. Grand Cayman is a beautiful, green, warm, lush paradise. It took time to get used to the island, everything is backwards, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, you drive on the left side of the road, and if that's not difficult enough, there are several round-a-bouts to navigate through. I'm so glad that I didn't have to drive! The guys did great job getting us around the island. It's a small island, about an hours drive from one side of the island to the other. The Caymanians were the nicest people I've ever met, genuinely sincere and eager to help. Mike hooked us up with an amazing private beach front house in Rum Point. We each had our own bedroom suite. It was so peaceful eating breakfast on the back porch watching the bright blue waves crash. We walked along the white sandy beach collecting coral and shells, it was total bliss! We could walk out the back door, take a few steps to the water and start snorkeling. We saw lobster, sting-rays, an octopus, and numerous brightly colored fish. We all had an opportunity to go scuba diving, where we saw lots of great sea life. The guys were even brave enough to do a night dive. We dined in some nice local restaurants, and sampled the delicious local island cuisine. The highlight of the trip for me was Sting-Ray City. When I found out we were going, I was expecting dry land with buildings, shopping, etc. But I soon learned it was not a city at all, but a shallow sand barge in the ocean. We took a 20 minute boat ride, had 3 minutes of instruction, put on our snorkeling gear, and jumped in the ocean. Seconds later, we were surrounded by swarms of hungry sting-rays. We held out squid, and the sting-rays came and ate it right out of our hands, it was such a thrill! The rays were huge, and they were very friendly, rubbing up on us and letting us hold them. I have a whole new appreciation, they are an intriguing creature. The week went by too fast, and we left the balmy 85 degree weather to arrive in blizzard conditions at the Denver airport. Back to life, back to reality!