January 24-30

* We laid out all Rachel's clothes for the week last night. She comes up to me this morning having quite a problem, "I don't know what to wear... they are all so cute!"
* I have a new owner at work. Lots of changes to keep me busy.
* Went on a date with my BFF, Ann, to Utah Gymnastics meet. Was so fun!
* Date # 2 with Ann involved our husbands. Movie: The Dilemma and Dinner: Epic (yum!)
* New favorite place to shop for clothes: Deseret Industries. I totally get more for my money!!
* Come home from church to find Austin's shopping list:
Cheese nips, Ritz bits, Raisn Bran, Nerds rope, Reses Pese, gummy worms, diet coke, gummy bears, oreos, 5 lunchabeles, dog treats, tolet paper. There was a little something for everyone in there.
* Conversation with Mike while he was at work on Sunday: "Ok, well, I'll see you on..... (crickets) Wednesday." For those of you counting.... that's 3 days!

January 17-23

* Rachel keeps writing her last name as "Blachel". It cracks us all up.
* Family Movie Night with Mike (Yeah for HAVING to use his holiday hours in the same pay period)We watched "Big". The kids had never seen it, and they loved it.... right up until the big "F" bomb at the end. In a PG movie. What is the world coming to? Mitchell especially liked it since Josh in the movie turns 13.
* Discovered what all the "dropping" noises are when Austin and Rachel take a shower. They are playing Soap Soccer, also known as Shower Soccer with the soap.
* Austin makes lunch for the family (hamburgers on the grill with dad's help). He then proceeds to tell us we can thank him for lunch... and dad for passing on his awesome grillmaster skills (gangsta hand gesture included).
* While watching "The Black Stallion" last night, Austin and Mitchell have all sorts of comments about the movie. It drives me crazy. Favorite one: "Hey, mom. They are just "horsing around". This gets giggles all around... until I yell at them to go to bed.
* I HATE video games..... and the X-Box 360. Enough said.
* Dinner with Siggards (Cherlyn used to babysit the Black kids when they were younger). So fun to hear stories from another point of view. And all the kids came home with a new toy!

January 10-16

* Started round 2 of P90X, classic which entails a Plyometric video (with lots of jumping). Amazed that a guy with a prosthetic leg can do the workout... and proceed to almost die. Soreness lasts 3 days.
* Yoga with the Young Women. Wonder if I have joined a new religion.
* Did research on Kindle vs Nook. Happily neighbor, Nikki, has a Kindle and is generous enough to let me borrow it for a couple hours. Do "research" while watching football. Decide I need a Nook so I can "borrow" ebooks from the library.
* Watch football (Ravens vs Pittsburgh). Comment correctly on some plays. Not sure how I feel about this.
* Read Kyra's updated blog. Scream a little... and cry that she has updated.
* Go to Saturday Evening session of Stake Conference while my family goes to In N Out. Leave early because I decide that family is more important than Stake Conference (besides it was almost over by then anyway). Get home in time to kiss my kids goodnight.
* Make churro's with my new Kitchenaid (breaking in slowly). Kids love them. House smells like frying oil. Not my favorite smell.
* Discover Gingerbread Granola. I am addicted.
* Saw Dr. Dave with Austin. Austin's vision is 20/20 with his glasses. Has made lots of progress over the past 3 years from 80/20. He's so good about wearing his glasses all the time.

Highlights for January 1-9th
*Christmas tree was already taken down on January 1st, and Mike was mad at me. But I loved it, so there.
*Sunday was the first day of 9 am church for 3 years. Am I happy about it? Yes, but the jury's still out on what to do with my kids in the afternoon, so I don't kill them.
*First week of Mike's set schedule was a success. Wednesday evenings off: nice (except I am at YW, so I don't truly appreciate it.. but kids do). All day Saturday off: LOVE IT!!
* Tried to go bowling with half off coupon on first Saturday Mike had off: FAIL. Dumb bowling had another "thing" going so wouldn't honor the coupon. Alternate activity: Sizzler for lunch at 3 pm.
*Friday: spontaneous Girls night with Rachel after BFF, Ann, told me she was going to Utah Gymnastics. Parking: something to be desired. Gymnastics meet: Awesome with free tickets... and finding Ann and sitting next to her on the 9th row right behind the vault. Rachel LOVED it, and said to me that she HAS to learn how to dance like the floor routines... and that she was going to DIE if she did not get to do gymastics. Successful outing.
* Saturday: Bowling = FUN. Austin says he uses his mind control to guide the ball. Rachel was a great cheerleader for everyone, and did pretty well. Mitchell is left handed and struggled to keep his ball right down the lane. Mike did the best... although I got 3 spares in a row. Yeah for bumper pads!!!!
* I have been wanting a Kitchenaid mixer for about 15 years now, and Mike won some money from a sports "thing"... and surprised me with a beautiful mixer. I have yet to use it.
* I was feeling ambitious and cleaned out our "pantry". That's all I want to say about that.
* Made a Buttercup Purse

Jack, Dave, John, Peter... the gang's all here!

Contrary to popular belief, I actually do not really like concerts. My first concert (besides the Mid-State Fair... those don't really count, right?) was a Bon Jovi concert up at Wolf Mountain... at which I bought a t-shirt. Mike now relentlessly teases me about that. (I secretly wish I still had it. I would wear it everywhere just to annoy him.)
However, this summer was my turn to make up for all the concerts I have not gone to.
August 13: Jack Johnson. This was the one I was most looking forward to.... and it did not disappoint. We arrived pretty early (like, 5:30 pm early), and were walking around in the grassy area. Mike leads us over to a stage they have set up, and says "That sounds like G-Love." Well, sure enough it WAS G-Love (did you know his real name is Garrett? Just learned that on Wikipedia... everything on Wikipedia is true.)! So we are about 5 feet from the stage listening to his hip-hop blues and kinda weird singing voice, and thinking how unreal this is. He plays a couple songs with guitar and harmonica (how does he DO that?), and introduces Paula (somebody) for a song. Then he says, "Welcome Jack Johnson up to the stage." REALLY? IS THIS REAL LIFE? Yes. It was.

The rest of the concert was good, but a bit of a disappointment after being SO CLOSE.


August 17: Dave Matthews. Going anywhere with Mike's siblings always makes for a fun time. Amie, Ryan, Becca, and Matt joined us for this concert. (Missed you Beef & Megan!!) Lots of fun just hanging out on the lawn talking without interruptions from kids.

August 31: Owl City & John Mayer. Nikki & Ian joined us for this one. Fun times... especially listening to the girls behind us complain about less talking, more singing... and they wanted less jamming, and more songs sounding like the CD. Interesting.



September 10: Peter Cetera. Nikki, Janelle, Liberty. We had a GREAT time making fun of the bio they gave us for him. His witty comments about how Sandy was fortunate, and Salt Lake City really missed out on his concert kept us rolling in the aisles. We may have been on the younger end of the age range in this crowd. I say that because we were the ONLY ones standing at all. At one point Nikki says, "I'm getting my money's worth out of this concert." This was especially funny because the tickets were free.

one year

no tears were shed, except when Miles bit Rachel. Followed by a slow dinner at El Farol.

This sums up Austin to a tee.

This was from last year... Third grade with Mrs North. She was such a great teacher for him, she told us she even wanted to take him home.

Mystery Dinner in YM/YW

It's a little hard to tell, but everyone is eating random food with random utensils: spaghetti noodles with a toothpick, anyone?

Rachel's Kindergarten class

Is it just me, or does this seem
Like 2023 is forever away? I know it will go by in a flash, though.

"Hike" at Silver Lake

Friday we went for a "hike" around Silver Lake. Mitchell was at scout camp, so it was just the 4 of us.