2008 in review

Another year down and out. Is it just me, or did this year fly by. I can't believe it is New Year's Eve already. Hmmm. We've had a lot of fun this year though.


It started out cold and snowy, but we took a fun vacation for Spring Break. A friend and I took the kids on a cruise. Too much fun! We did the 5 day cruise to Cabo San Lucas and back. It was very interesting, 2 women, 7 kids, 1 suburban(with a Thule on top), several Gameboys, lots of movies, and only a few tears. (And only a very few from us 2 moms!)


Conner started playing Lacrosse, and it was a lot of fun learning this new sport. Brianna had several dance competitions, and she did very well at all of them.


We started the summer with just relaxing, hanging with freinds, and playing outside. We went for a short trip to the Oregon coast, and Brad was able to go on that trip with us. It was an amazing trip, even more so, because when we came home, our yard had been totally fixed up! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa James!!!!


Brianna had the opportunity to dance at the 4th of July Stadium of Fire in Provo, along with 1500 other girls. These are her good friends Rachel and Tierra. She was sad because Tierra moved just after this. It was sooo hot, and me and a few other mom's were armed with spray bottles and cold grapes to keep the girls cool. We did good, because not one of our Junior girls had any heatstroke! Yeah!

Some really fun movies came out this year too. Mamma Mia being one of my favorites. I think I saw it 6 times, then had to buy it immediately, and watch it like 12 more times. Brianna and I have all the songs memorized, and Conner wishes we would move somewhere else when we sing!

Twilight was the other really amazingly good movie that came out. I've seen that 3 times so far, and will probably see it a few more times! I'm such a dork, I even have the necklace from the movie, I made a Bella bracelet, and have a Team Edward t-shirt. At least my friends are fanatical dorks with me!

Although, the bracelt my friend and I made are cuter! But this is the general idea.

Conner got to participate in marching band this summer and fall. That was a lot of fun for him, and it ended with a trip to Cali. He had a great time at Universal Studios, and Disneyland. They even got to march in Disneyland. A few days after he got home, Brianna and I, along with my friend Tanya and her 3 youngest, went to Disneyland together. It was a lot of fun! This time it was 2 moms, 5 kids, in my Honda Pilot. Brianna and her friend Brady, (Tanya's son) had fun riding Splash Mountain over and over again. I think it was 14 times or something like that. We had fun in California Adventure as well.

A few friends and I decided to get healthier this year. Yeah. Really, that was said with a great positive attitude! It was actually. I've lost about 25lbs. since October, and I hope to continue with that momentum through next year. The only downside is that I don't eat a lot of Brad's cooking any more, so he's trying to change how he cooks. It will be good for all of us. Oh yeah, in case I forgot to mention it, Brad is the cook in our family. Except on those days few and far between that I do. Then it's Pier 49, or Bajio, or JCW's. Taco Amigo maybe.... I have them all programmed into my phone!

Then, to finish up the year, Brianna had her Christmas recital, Conner had a few Jazz Concerts and performances. Christmas was good, we didn't get spoiled too bad, only a bit.

We all got another year older, I think I may be up to 14 or 15 now. Yes, that is mentally. Ha ha to all of you thinking that.

We spent time with good Friends, and great family. We had another anniversary, 18 this year. We've kept our jobs, for the most part. Hopefully next year will find us in a better place economically. We can always hope at least. We've missed family and friends that live far away, and we don't see much. We do think about you!

And now we are here on New Year's Eve. 5 hours away from the new year. I hope the new year brings you all what ever it is you need or want.

Wishing you all the best,
Brad, Brina, Conner & Brianna

Anniversary

This December 27 was our 18th anniversary. Yep, 18 years. I know, I must have gotten married when I was like, 12 or something. (Thanks Allison!) Brad got these gorgeous roses for me. The nicest flowers I've gotten in a long time! I couldn't resist getting lots of pics. 18 years. Wow. Who would have thunk it.

Pics of Kids

Brianna's dance company have pics taken every fall. It's with a great photographer, and includes hair and makeup. This year I decided to have them do Conner's pics as well. And no, he didn't do the hair and makeup. Not even a little bit!

And I wish they got along this good all the time. Really though, they do get along very well, except when Conner tries to scare Brianna, like he just did, and now she's crying. Sigh. Kids, what can you do.

What, she's only 11. No way. Are you sure? She's gorgeous! Has she done any modeling? Wow, is that her real hair? Is it naturally curly? She's so lucky to have hair like that. Her eyes are amazing. Such pretty eyes. She's tall for only being 11. Are you sure she's only 11.

These are just a few of the comments I hear from people about Brianna. Makes me happy, since I did have so much to do with how cute she is.....NOT.

Setting up the tree, and Santa

Brianna and Talia with Santa after her dance recital. It was so cute, Talia was too shy to talk to Santa, so she whispered in Brianna's ear what she wanted for Christmas. Oh, and the reason Brianna is in an indian costume is because one of the dances was a Peter Pan production, and she played an indian. Now you know.

Conner taking a break from setting up the tree. It's hard work you know, and he needed a guitar jam session to recharge himself. And notice the vacuum in the pic. That's Conner's new vacuum. Really, he loves to use it. Our old one was horrible, and this one really 'sucks'.

Conner and Brianna set up the tree this year. We were really slow for some reason, and then it took a few more days to get it decorated. Too busy.

Winter wonderland

We have a ton of snow these past few weeks. And of course, this is the one year I didn't buy snow clothes for the kids. So after the first storm, off I went to Wallies to get snow gear. They have been having a lot of fun, and I even got a snowman this year!

This is how much snow we got in just a few hours. I love our willow tree when it is covered with snow.

Conner playing in his snow cave he has been building. The girls wanted to help, and he said they could, as long as they don' change anything!!

Brianna and her freind Rachel in the snow cave. They played outside for hours and hours, and got just a little bit cold.

In the snow, Brianna, Rachel and Conner.

The Cheetah Girls.......suck.

For Brianna's birthday in October, I got Cheetah Girl tickets for her and a few freinds. She has been so excited for the last 4 months. We got a cute new outfit to wear, planned a fun day, the whole nine yards. And what do we find out the night before the concert? Cancelled. Yep, no show. Scheduling conflict. Whatever that means. Maybe they didn't sell enough tickets, who knows. I have a very sad little girl, and nothing else is coming to Utah any time soon. Bummer.

Conners Jazz Ensemble Concert

This is my baby boy Conner. Okay, he's not so baby any more. He's big ole Freshman who loves music. He started out Jr Hi playing the Clarinet, but moved up to Tenor Sax. He is in Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, and just finished up with Marching Band. Yup, he LOVES music. And girls, but that's a whole nother story. Oh, and he's playing the guitar too, but that's just for fun. If only he liked school work as much.
Conner thinkin' he's all that! Well, I guess he is. Could be that I am a bit biased though.

In the Jazz Ensemble this year, he was picked to do a solo in a few songs. He felt a little overwelmed, so he dropped back to just one solo. I recorded it, but it was with my little camera, because someone, I won't name names.... Conner.... lost the charging cable for the camcorder. Anyway, I will load that later, takes a little while I guess.

The most talented kids....EVER!!!

I know, I say it all the time. I have amazing kids. But I can't help but say it when they just continue to show me how truely talented they are.
This time it's Brianna who amazed me. She decided she wanted to do an entry for Reflections. The theme this year was "Wow", and she wanted to do a dance. She, and her friend Rachel, picked the music, choreographed the dance, came up with costumes, then had me film them performing the dance. It was cute, but you know, an 11 year old choreographed it.
Well, today I got a phone call saying she won, and is moving on to the council level. They also want her to perform it at the awards ceremony. Wow is all I can say!! They are worried the stage might be too small, but they are excited.

The Pulse Dance Convention

Brianna on the first day of the convention. She is in the intermediate group, about 500 or so in this room. My camera battery was dying, so my pics aren't too good. I'll get some better ones soon. The convention has some of the best choreographer/dancers around teaching the classes. This level has 4 classes on each of two days. They learn danced combinations very quickly, and have a great time. It's exhausting for the girls, but they learn so much in a short amount of time. Brianna's feet are killing her by Sunday night, but she's got a smile on her face!

I can't remember which teacher had this in the dance, but it's very interesting. One teacher, Tyce Diorio, asked the class who knows how to do a particular jump they were working on. Brianna raised her hand, and he had her do it. He said she needed to flex her foot more, but great job. Of course, I was in line getting her lunch, so missed a great photo op. Darn lunch line at Pizza Hut!!! But I was so proud she was brave enough to raise her hand.

This is at the Q&A period on the last day. See what I say about a smile. She was so tired and sore, but doing what she loves best!!

Disneyland Trip

After riding this ride a few times, I was done, but the kids wanted to go again. So Brianna took them. We should have known, that without parents on the ride with them, something would go wrong. Here they are, all happy and wet after the big drop.....

Here they are looking at the end of the ride, just around the next bend, still wet and happy.....

And here they are stuck under the bridge, for 25 minutes! At least they weren't sitting in the sun like a few of the rafts. Seems a raft got stuck somewhere, and they had to shut the ride down to fix it, but they wouldn't let anyone off the raft. They said they couldn't help them off the ride while the water was flowing, and the ride would be fixed quickly. Wrong wrong wrong. They said it would be fixed "momentarily" every 3 or 4 minutes, for a half hour. Poor Carson was in tears, but thankfully they were on the raft with a great family, who cheered them up. Needless to say, this was there last raft trip!

Have to take the picture in front of Mickey every time we go. Now it has sparkly lights, which don't show up on film very good, but look very cool in person.

Disneyland Trip

Well, a few months or so ago, my friend Tanya said her sister was taking her kids to Disneyland, and she kinda wanted to take her 3 little ones too, but she didn't really want to drive by herself. And, she wanted someone to go on rides with Brady, who happens to be the same age as Brianna. We got to thinking about it, and realized that I was already driving to Las Vegas for a dance convention on the weekend. What if, we thought, I just go a few days earlier, and go with Tanya and the kids. What a great idea, we thought, and yet another road trip was planned. (We like to do things like this!) So, we left on a Tuesday, stopped in Vegas that night, and got to Disneyland Wednesday. Great day, no lines, not too chilly! We also spent Thursday and Friday at the parks, then headed back to Vegas Friday night. Along with half the population of LA it seemed. We got to the hotel about 12:30, and were quickly checked in and sent to our rooms. The last sentence was said with great sarcasm, because it took over an hour to check in, and when we did get to the rooms, they only had 1 bed. What's the point of making a reservation I asked. To guarantee the room, they replied, not the bed types. So, after yelling and crying at the manager (who did NOTHING!!!), and waiting until 4 AM!!!!! for roll away beds, and not getting them, I fell into bed. Kids slept on couch and floor or tub or something. Can't quite remember!! But, aside from crap hotel, the trip was great!!

Brianna and Brady working hard on Pirate Island (formerly Tom Sawyer Island for you old people). Wish I had one of these at home. Not sure what for, but they had fun turning it.

This is a picture of Aladdin and Jasmine. I saw them, hurried and took the picture, and later realized that no, I don't know who is in the pic with them. Oh well.

Brianna and Brady on the Haunted Mansion ride. I got some great pics of the ride, until over the loudspeaker I hear "Please don't take flash pictures on this ride!" Oops, I thought as I quickly put my camera away. So for you travalers, who like to take pictures, don't take them on rides at Disneyland, they don't like it!!!

But the flash makes things like this great Christmas wreath show up sooo well!

Brianna and Melanie on the Astro Blasters in Tomorrowland. Brianna loved having little kids to help out with, and also liked having Brady along to make him ride the scary rides with her.

New header

I know, the header isn't quite done yet. Waiting on getting pics back, then I'll put the those in the boxes.

Why rainbows are special.

Rainbows are special in our family. Whenever we see one, we have to run and get the camera. We have actually been known to follow rainbows. Brianna always wanted to see the "end of the rainbow". I told the kids years ago that my baby boy Carson made us rainbows up in heaven, to let us know he was thinking of us. That's why we love them so much, makes us think of Carson when we see them.

Fall fun at Hee Haws

Me having a blond moment. I was taking a pic of this really cool rooster, and I commented how still it was being. My dear friend Tanya then told me it was fake. Sure, go and ruin the moment for me. Still thought it was a cool picture.

5th grade fieldtrip to Hee Haws. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Who knew farms were actually interesting. And the day couldn't have been more beautiful. I love fall!!!!

Marching Band

I know, great pic huh. I tried to get a close up of Conner. He's the 4th one from the right. It rained almost every band competition. But they still did great.

Look at those lines!! And the really cool thing, Conner marched the entire season with two broken toes. Now thats dedication!

Catching up with Conner

Conner flying a kite on the beach in Oregon.

Hanging out at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We take this same pic every year we go, and it's fun to see how much the kids have grown.

That's my lacrosse player. This was his first season, and Conner loved it! So, we bought all the gear, and he's getting ready for spring 2009. He plays defense, so he gets the big stick.