Young Women, Here I Come!

Jamie was introduced to the Young Women's program at New Beginnings this year. She loved every minute of it and now thinks it is very unfair that she has to wait until August to attend Young Women.

Here is her introduction to the group, given by Jennifer Burdge.

Here is her BFF, Lauren Mecum.

Jamie and Lauren are very fortunate enough to attend the same school!

More Family Pictures

As promised, here are some more of our family pictures that we took over the holidays!

THANKS again Les for sharing your amazing talent with us and braving the cold!http://crimsonlilyphotography.blogspot.com/

Happy Valentine's Day!

Things You Should Know:

• Sidney has had her outfit planned for over a week.
• The valentine socks from Grandma and Papa were the prefect addition to complete her outfit.
• Yes, I did consent to let her wear her pajama pants to school today.
• We spent 1/2 an hour curling her hair today.
• This is the first Monday in a long time that Sidney woke up in a good mood and did not complain about going to school!
• I bucked tradition today and made heart waffles instead of our usual pink heart pancakes...the kids seemed okay with the change.
• Brent officially proposed to me 16 years ago today, a lot has changed in those 16 years, but we are still very much in love!

Last Race of the Season - Part 1

Riley's last race of the season.

This race was a JV Classic and each racer raced against skiers in their grade level.

Riley was the only 8th grader respresenting ISD 196.

This is the START of the race!

Last Race of the Season - Part 2

Almost at the END!

The FINISH!

Riley's time was around 28 minutes,

about 5-6 minutes better than his last time on the course.

(Varsity skiers can ski this course in about 18 minutes.)

It was fun to see Riley race this year and he still loves this crazy sport!

Late Night Studies

Jamie had lots of homework this week,

on this particular night she was finishing up her pirate journal

and I actually caught her falling asleep!

Complete!

3 parent teachers conference with 6 different teachers -- CHECK!
3 children who are succeeding in school -- CHECK!
3 children who are great at math and science -- CHECK!
3 children who need to work on their writing, mostly editing and revising -- CHECK!
3 children who have lots of friends -- CHECK!
3 children who are a delight in their classrooms -- CHECK!
1 son registered for High School -- CHECK!
1 daughter registered for 7th Grade -- CHECK!
2 children that registered for Band and Foreign Language instead of all the other fun electives they could have taken -- CHECK!
2 busy days with children home while Mom attempted to work -- CHECK!
6 extra children visiting during some time over the past 2 days -- CHECK!
1 messy family room and kitchen -- CHECK!
1 Family 'Date Night' -- COMING UP!

We are very blesssed and grateful for Riley, Jamie and Sidney.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time!

Bye, Bye Cougars

It is a sad day when our BYU Cougar watching days end....

we went to our favorite website (channelsurfing.net) tonight to watch the game and found this!

Something to Look Forward To

Today: High of 6 degrees, with a 'feels like' temp right now of -23 degrees.

Sunday: Predicted High of 41 degrees!

That is something to be excited about!!

Family Photos

While we were in Utah, Aunt Leslee took some family photos for us on a very cold day, she was quite the trooper! Here is a sneak peak....we love them and will post the rest soon.

You can check out some of Leslee's other pictures on her Crimson Lily blog, HERE.

(To see all the recent updates to our blog, be sure to click on the Older Posts link at the bottom of this page!)

Nordic Skiing

Riley has enjoyed his second season on the District's Nordic Ski Team. He has even tried out a couple races this year. These pictures were taken at a race last week that was held with freezing temps way below 0! It was a cold day and Riley and I both came down with bad colds the next day....anything for a good competition right?

When I got the race, the first thing I found was Riley's name carved in the snow. He proudly showed off his masterpiece.



Getting some last minute wax on the skis.


Ready, Set, Go! Riley is the skier on the left.

Christmas in Utah

We spent the Christmas holiday in Utah with our loved ones there. We had a great time and once again, had so much fun that we didn't take many pictures. Some highlights from the week were:

• Playing, playing, playing with cousins, aunts, uncles, Grammy and Grampa
• The traditional Christmas Eve program and Nativity
• Enjoying the 4 wheelers and fun at River Meadow Ranch
• Visiting Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Hansen in Idaho
• Christmas morning with the family
• Playing in the snow with Uncle Mark and Uncle Nate
  
• Watching and going to movies
• Adult night out for dinner with the kids successfully babysitting themselves
• Skiing at Brighton Ski Resort
• Here are some pictures from Christmas morning.
  

Winter Band Concerts

Riley's 8th grade band performed at the Mall of America this year, during their holiday concert series. His most proud moment was playing the horse clopping for the song Sleigh Ride, he did a great job!

Jamie's 6th grade winter concert was great. She did a great job and enjoys playing the clarinet. She wouldn't look at us and smile, but we caught a great candid of her smile in the picture below.

Lots of Snow = New Toy

Our first big snow storm of the year occurred on the 2nd weekend of December. The weathermen were completely correct with their crazy predictions this time...it was true MN blizzard!

We ventured out in the crazy weather to attend Blake's baptism and loved being with him on his special day, but we were very glad to make it home safely.

Luckily Brent planned ahead and purchased a brand new slow blower this year and it came in very handy. Here he is using his new toy for the first time.

About a month later, In January, the drifts at the end of our driveway are as tall as Brent!

Little Miss Mismatched

Sidney designed her outfit for 'mismatch day' at school....she had different colored ribbons in her hair, on her wrists and around her waist. By the time she was done...she looked really cute!

Girl's Weekend - NYC!

I spent the first weekend of December in New York City with 2 wonderful girlfriends! We had a great time enjoying the sights of the city at Christmastime. We saw two fabulous shows and even caught a NYC Stake Christmas Fireside. The shopping was great, the food was too good and the girl time was priceless!

The 3 of us with Molly Shannon, who was starring in Promises, Promises. She was very friendly and talkative, not too mention beautiful....loved her!


Another star sighting, Matthew Broderick (above) and Casey Affleck (below). They were filming a Thanksgiving Day Parade scene on Central Park West for the upcoming movie Tower Heist.

Central Park with some remaining fall foliage...beautiful!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time spending Thanksgiving in Michigan with our family. It was so fun, we didn't even take time to take any pictures!

We played lots of games, watched lots of TV and sports, went to several movies and enjoyed being together.

These are the things we are most thankful for:

• The Savior
• Our Extended Eternal Family
  
• The Restored Gospel
• The Scriptures
• A Warm Home
• Time Together as a family
  
• Skiing in the Winter
• Golfing, Biking and Swimming in the Summer
• Employment
• Good Friends
• Cell Phones
  

Argentina

Riley and his friend Kurt stand proudly in front of their Argentina project for Global Studies. They worked hard and were selected as one of the best 10 presentations in the 8th grade.

Riley spent a day at the Minnesota Zoo on Geography day where they displayed his project. He volunteered by spending the morning with small children and introducing them to world geography.