A Snowy Weekend of Firsts

Alena and I had an amazing weekend of firsts.  Here is the list:

First Time:

1 – Overnight without kids since Haley was born.

2 – Snowmobiling

3 – Rolling a snowmobile over

4 – Repairing the main drive belt of a snowmobile

5 – Seizing up a snowmobile engine

6 – Seizing up a snowmobile engine twice in one weekend (two different sleds)

7 – Seeing the cabin in the winter.

8 – Snow shoeing

9 - Pulling a large trailer with the new truck (handled very well)

The plan was to snowmobile into the cabin for a fun snowy weekend with my buddy Dennis and his wife Michelle.  The whole cabin area had a few batch of powder from storms earlier in the week.  This made it very hard for a bunch of first time riders to get to the cabin.  After many tries and many stuck snowmobiles we were almost there when the snowmobile that Alena and I were on seized up.  The third cylinder had a loose sparkplug, or it became loose when it seized up.  With darkness coming we had the challenge of getting 4 of us and a broken down snowmobile back to the trailer.  With the help of a couple of good kind hearted fellow snowmobilers we made it back.

We slept at Dennis’ brother’s home and took the broken snowmobile back where Dennis had rented it to exchange it for another one.  Back out the next day Dennis and I were on a long fast ride and the second snowmobile seized up on me.  We were even deeper in the valley then and made for a long tow back. 

Alena and I then had a lot of fun snow shoeing, the low tech snow travel.  I want to try a full snowshoe hike back to the cabin.  It has long been a dream of mine to stay in the cabin in the deep of winter. 

Something to talk about...

So, we have obviously been pretty lazy lately and I decided to do a little overview of what has been happening. We did finish the living room project pretty quickly. The longest part was waiting on the carpet to be delivered and installed. We really like it though. I even took a suggestion from Christy and did a little creative painting on one wall. It turned out really good too I think. Thanks Christy! I am also proud to say that I finally spent money on a couple of wall decorations for once in my life. I can't afford to spend money on more clothes because of it, but at least I can't get too fat or too thin for my painting and the big wrought iron piece I got.

Ethan and Karley both had their birthdays in September and I think they had a lot of fun with that. We mostly did family parties for them both and it was nice to see that we could all have a fun time without going out somewhere.

Eric's sister Tiffany married Jason on September 27th. It was fun having all of the family in town. She was married in Lindon at Eric's grandparents' house. It was really beautiful. It was fun to see how much everyone has grown and changed. Matthew and Joshua are getting so mature. We had fun playing with them all weekend.

Speaking of weddings, Eric and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on September 23rd. I can't believe we have been married that long. It sound even longer when you think about the fact that we have actually known each other for 15 years! Does that mean we're old? I mean, we have 4 kids, we're on our third house, our metabolisms are slowing down. No..............we're not old yet. :-)

One other thing that has happened recently is that Ethan started Kindergarten. He loves it and is doing pretty well too. Last night when I was tucking him in bed, he started telling me that today he hoped they would talk about spiders at school since it is October. They have been studying pumpkins so far. He is also having fun making several new friends this year.

There Was A Wall

We are not often called spontaneous, but every once in a while we have our moments. Then again we had been thinking about and planning the removal of the half-wall separating our family room and what we have called the piano room for some time. We wanted a larger more function-/group-friendly room for some time. We have even been in a few of the neighboring homes with our same floorplan that have done the same thing. The thing that put us over the edge was the fact that Alena is simply not teaching much this month so it is the perfect time to rip things up.
I took time lapse photos, 1 minute between pictures, during the demolition and made this little video. Enjoy!

Our Big Fat Excuse

Ok!! I know we haven't put any updates up for quite awhile, but we actually have a really good excuse. We have been working our tails off, trying to build and finish an office in the basement for Eric. We originally thought we were just going to get it to drywall, and then move him in, but we decided to try our hands at finishing. Once we did the mudding, sanding and texturing, of course we had to paint. Then there's the reality that I am me, and I could not stop until I had finished the paint job with a glaze. We will be posting pictures soon, but I just wanted to explain a little of what's been going on with us.

This office has been taking up much of my limited free time each day, plus many of our evenings and Saturdays. This last Friday night, Karl and Jessica came over and Karl helped Eric move the furniture in downstairs. We have been pretty focused on this project because finishing it meant moving Eric out of his office upstairs, then I will paint his old office, then we will move Alyssa into that room, and then we will finally be able to move Karley and Haley into Alyssa's old room. This translates into Haley moving out of our room!!!! I am so ready to get the baby stuff out of my room and hopefully be able to help her learn how to sleep through the night better.
That's right--you heard me. As soon as I posted that blog about her sleeping through the night, she decided she was done with that. We're back to waking up 2 or 3 times a night. AHHHH!!!!!

We will get those pics on soon!

2008 Fathers and Sons Campout

Ethan and I always look forward to the time when we get to have a “Just Boys” campout. This year was no exception and we had a lot of fun driving up to the camp, setting up camp, and playing with all the other dads and boys. This year’s Fathers and Sons had a fun surprise in store, Snow! Yup that’s right snow in June. We had a good night sleep and awoke to what I thought was rain as it was melting on the tent. As the morning progressed it got colder as more and more snow fell. Needless to say people packed up a bit earlier than normal as everything was getting covered with snow. Great memories!

SCORE!!!!!

Ethan scored his first goal today at his soccer game. I told him at the beginning of the season that if he scored a goal, I would buy him a milkshake. He needed a little motivation to try harder to be more involved. Anyway, he was a little disappointed after his goal today because he realized after the other team started cheering that he had kicked the ball into the wrong net. Oops! He did ask for his milkshake later though, and we decided that he had done what we wanted. Stay in the game and try hard to be involved. Now that I think about it, I never did specify which team he had to score for. Oh well. He still has 2 more games to try and score for his team. Go Ethan!!!

TIMBER!!

OK, Alena and I have been watching a fun series on the History Channel called Ax Men. So I took a chain saw to our aspens to test out the skills/knowledge we have gained. Let me tell you it is not as easy as it looks, and it does not look easy!
The real reason we took down the aspens is because they are simply too big, and putting out too many roots that are reeking havoc with the lawn, fence, house, and cement borders. Plus, the aspens were sending mini trees up in our neighbors yard. The neighbors did come over to help on the last tree that was leaning into the house, and yes they were excited to see them go. All were surprised that I could fit all the trees into my little truck and trailer.

A Goal Achieved

Mid November of 2007 I simply decided that I was tired of being as heavy as I was. I was already going to the gym 3x a week and was in shape and strong but simply too heavy. I had not resisted the year to year weight gain of about 6 pounds a year since Alyssa was born, and I knew I could not walk down that road much longer. So I decided I would be 210 by my birthday, which was to loose about 1 pound a week. I am happy to report that I have done that and more! I am now 205, down from 235! I have set 210 as my new max. I do have to admit it feels good.

Some have asked what my "secret" is. So far no one has liked my answer. I simply had to be a little hungry all the time. I kept the same workout schedule and simply did not eat as much. What a concept hu? Worked for me! :D

Meet Camille and Shaylee!

We got to see Karl and Jessica's new baby twins Camille and Shaylee. They are going to be in the hospital for the next 5 weeks as they try and put on more weight. They were born at only 30 weeks. Together they only weigh 6.75lbs. They are long and skinny. Karl and more importantly Jessica are doing fine. A family of 4 already!

Springtime in Utah

Once again, Shalice is the instigator of another set of pictures. I was telling her how beautiful the yard is right now with all of the springtime bulbs blooming and the new growth on the trees and bushes, so of course she requested pictures. I will do anything to make her want to move to Utah more. :-) Anyway, here are a few of the front yard.
These are the flowers that
bloom on the tree by the front door.