Uncle Gordo and Leigha visit!

Uncle Gordon and "perspective aunt" Leigha came to visit last week!  What fun to have them come and hang out for our CRAZY Utah weather for a week.  They spent the middle of their visit in Roosevelt Utah visiting Leigha's family, they spent the weekend before and Friday after with us.  

The first night only Gordo was here (Leigha had to work).  He brought presents for the kids from Holland.  Nora got these sweet clogs and took right to Gordo, snuggling with him.

 Reed got some yummy caramel waffle cookies that I might just eat all of!  Delicious!  We went skiing on Saturday.  Reed did 3 runs down from the gondola, we were there all day!  I was so proud of my little bud, he did great!  Nora hung out in the lodge with me.  We went outside for some fresh air sometimes too.

 Then she took a nap.  How cute is this?

 We went skiing again on Monday when Leigha got into town.  Another beautiful sunny day!  Reed did two more runs on Monday (in addition to his 1 run on Sunday morning).  6 gondola runs in one weekend is awesome!

Nora got a new coat, how adorable is she?

 She also took a nap on Leigha.  How sweet!

While Gordon and Leigha were visiting her family, we got a nice ice storm.  It had been so cold here, the ground was freezing.  Then it started raining (our annual January rain) but this time it froze to the ground.  It was quite a nightmare on the roads!  I had to attend our bi-annual trade show, Outdoor Retailer, so I HAD to brave it out there.  Luckily I did well, no crashes, spin outs, or even a close call!  At least the storm cleared out the nasty inversion we had going on for 2 weeks.  But right after the storm, we had like 4 days of really thick fog.  But don't worry, we got more snow on Sunday and this morning!  Another storm is right behind it then they say that the inversion will be back.  It's seriously crazy weather!  But I love it!

Gordon and Leigha came back on Thursday night, we did dinner and then on Friday hung out before they had to head to the airport.  Sure was fun to have them in town!

I love this picture.  Nana took this when she watched the kids on Thursday.  She took a picture of Nora with her hair in a pony and posted it on Facebook.  Apparently, Reed wanted his picture too.  Nora needed a peek around.  So funny!

Reed has been using his imagination quite a bit lately.  Here he is creating his own house.  He put all the stools from the counter in a square, went and got his play table and insisted that I put it on top for the roof.  Here he is in his house.

Needless to say, the table fell off and landed on his sister and there was lots of crying from both of them about it.  Last night, he put all the stools on the side of the counter and created another house.  He invited me over for coffee, then he put me to bed.  He woke me up and drove me to school in his plasma car (pretty impressive driving really).  The he would drop me off in the front room - school - and tell me he was going to get money and would be back to pick me up.  Which he would do and take me home to go to bed again.  I find it funny that his play time is a very similar version of our reality each day.  I also find it funny that he thinks that Fogg and I just "go get money".  It's called work son!  Cute anyway, he loved taking care of me like I take care of him. 

Reed has also been super lovey lately, telling me how much he loves me, daddy and baby sister.  He also is loving on his london lately.  The he tells me he loves his family.  What a sweet boy!  He's doing great at school.  We get comments that he is very well behaved in his Sunday school class so I hope he's that way at regular school too.  He is doing great with using the potty all the time, yet asks if he can be potty trained.  We tell him that he is already trained.  This comment usually comes when he sees an actual train, so I wonder if he thinks there is a train with potties on it or something?  Anyway, he's even rid of diapers overnight though we still have the occasional accident which is really no big deal. 

Nora has been learning more and more words and getting to be generally a much happier girl.  She has her moments of drama but she is learning to communicate and interact a lot more.  She's been sleeping great lately (except this morning she was up at 4am!).  She can ask for a banana, she tries so hard to repeat words.  She is also finally getting more teeth!  She's had only 3 teeth (the two middle bottom ones and only the left side one on the bottom) for months.  Finally looks like that fourth tooth on the bottom is coming in along with the two top middle.  And also one random tooth way off on the right side of the top.  I can tell that hurts her sometimes but mostly doing ok with it.

Both the kids love Yo Gabba Gabba, Nora can even say "gabba!" when it comes on.  It's a silly show but they love the colors and simple lessons.  There is a lot of singing and dancing on it and Nora will do both along with it.  In fact, at church on Sunday, she was singing along to the music - so cute! 

Well, that's my catching up for the day, catch ya later!

Snow, cold, boots and words

Well, here we are again.  I've got nothing in particular to mention today, just an update on our world.

It's been cold here, really cold.  Right after my last post, it started snowing.  Like really snowing.  Thursday night through Friday night it just snowed.  Needless to say, we were pretty excited about it and we got some good skiing in.  The beauty of my job is that I can work from home when I need to and they TOTALLY understand when the need to ski strikes!  So I got a few runs on Friday morning and then we got a babysitter on Saturday and were able to ski with friends.  Both days when Reed saw me leaving with my ski clothes on, he was very upset that he couldn't go.  He promised to ski fast if I took him.  Oh buddy, I love the enthusiasm, but seriously, that snow would have been over his head!

Anyway, it's been cold.  Here is our thermometer the other morning.  Yes, it says -19 degrees.  Yipes!

 Nora wanted to try on my big snow boots.

Reed did have fun with his friends on Saturday.  Jane (who is in the background) and Ben, Reed and Nora and Sierra all got to stay with Grandma Jan (Jane's grandma) so the parents could all go skiing.  We had a blast!

Reed has said some very interesting things this week.  The most impressive was this morning.  He told me that the sun was a circle and that trees are lines.  Then he looked at his sucker and said, but this sucker is more like an octagon.  I laughed (even wondering how he knew that word) and then I said, well, what's an octagon buddy?  He said, it has 8 sides.  I was beside myself!  He is so stinking smart, don't underestimate 3 year olds, they know more than you think!  We also passed a car crash where there was a car up on the side of the road (which was on a hill).  He said "cars belong on the road not the mountain!".  He also says funny things like "I don't want to talk about that right now".  He's also been loving on his baby sister quite a bit lately.  He gives her hugs and has been playing with her a lot.  It's heartwarming to hear and watch them interact.

Our friend, Nik, just got back from his year long tour in Afghanistan yesterday!  We are so proud of him and are so happy that he is home!  Reed told me that he loved him and that he was going to tell him how big he is.  Reed is also very excited about turning 4 this year (it's a good 5 months away).  I made a deal that if he could stop sucking his thumb by his birthday that I would throw him a birthday party (I only throw them every other year and this is an off year).  He loves parties so hopefully that works.  We also tell him that being 4 means that you are a big boy and big boy's don't suck their thumbs.  

Nora has been sick and more sick.  Doc thinks she might have allergies, we are going to start some experiments to see if that's true.  I feel bad for the poor girl.  She can't sleep real well and is always fighting a running nose, cough, congestion or worse.  Hopefully we can figure it out for her.  She is starting to say words too, says mama and dada all the time. She barks at the dog a lot and says more and all done with signs.  She loves London.  She also understands a lot.  When you say bath time, she runs to the stairs and starts heading up, she loves bath time.  She also can say night-night (though it's more like na-na).  She blows kisses all the time and waves hello and good-bye.  One of the cutest things that she does is that she will pick up the phone or look at the phone and say "HI!" and wave at it.  She will also great you when you walk in the room with an enthusiastic hi.

Well, stay warm wherever you are!  Cheers till later!

Belated Christmas Pics

Good afternoon everyone!  I keep meaning to update and I just seem to run out of time!  I love to blog, so I wish I had more time to get it done.

I've got a bunch on my mind today, so that's what I'm going to ramble on about.  Mostly, I'm including the pictures from Christmas that Michelle just sent me so that you all can see.  Then I'll ramble after them.

Nora got some new jewelry in her stocking.  She got a jingle bracelet and glow in the dark necklaces.  I also got her a flashing ring.  She is clapping in this picture because she loves them so much!

 Reed is a present opening master!

 Reed and James did the gingerbread house building again.  This time it was a small village. 

 London got a gift box, he promptly chewed up the rope and tennis ball.

 Lala gave Nora my old cabbage patch dolls, she loved them.

 We spent much of the weekend up at Snowbasin skiing.  We took Reed on Saturday, and Fogg skied in between Reed's breaks.  Reed did the middle sized lift (which goes halfway up the mountain) twice during the day which was awesome.  He was ready for the big gondola!  So on Sunday morning, we took Reed to ski from the very top of the Gondola!  He was excited and did extremely well.  He skied better than he usually does, mostly because he had to focus a bit more to conserve energy and there were some steeper parts that he had to turn.  He was absolutely rocking the turns.  I cannot tell you how proud I was of him.  When we got the bottom, he said that he wanted to go again!  I decided to quit while we were ahead and leave him wanting more.  In the afternoon, Fogg and I got a sitter and went for a few runs just for ourselves!  I think I'd like to make that a habit...

Here is Reed rocketing down the hill!

 Love my little buddy!

 Nora got some new long underwear for Christmas and she wore them for the first time on Saturday.  It's been so cold here, so I bundled her up.  They were so cute on and seemed super comfy!

While at the top of the mountain on Sunday afternoon, I took this picture of the inversion.  An inversion is when the cold air is trapped in lower elevations and this results in yucky air just staying down there.  You can see on the right side of the picture that cloud, that is yucky smoggy air in Ogden.  The left side of the picture is where we live, no yucky smoggy air.

Ok, so I wanted to update you on Fogg's dad.  He has surgery to remove his kidney that has the mass on it and it went really well from what I've been told.  He lost minimal blood which will really help in his healing.  The doctors seem to think that they got all of the bad stuff, though they will be testing the kidney and coming up with any further care down the road after they get results.  For now, he is just recovering and healing.  Keep him in your prayers!

I'm starting a working mom's group.  I'm excited to be able to chat with my friends that are working moms about our struggles.  It will be nice to have a sympathetic ear and hopefully we can share ideas with each other for dealing with the stresses of working while raising our kids.  I found this great poem that spoke to me last night.

There will be a time when there will be no slamming of doors

No toys on the stairs, no childhood quarrels, no fingerprints on the wallpaper.

Then may I look back with joy and not regret.

God, give me the wisdom to see that today is my day with my children.

That there is no unimportant moment in their lives.

May I know that no other career is so precious,

No other work so rewarding,

No other task so urgent.

May I not defer it nor neglect it,

But by the Spirit accept it gladly, joyously, and by

Thy grace realized

That the time is short and my time is now,

For children won't wait.

-Helen Young, Children Won't Wait

Well, that's all I got for now, chat with you later!

2012 - The Year the World Didn't End

It's time for my annual year end wrap up.  Can you believe it?  I really, really can't.  2012 went fast.  Did it go faster than most other years?  Probably not, but it sure felt like it. 

Well, as we know December 21st, 2012, the world did NOT end.  But lots of other stuff happened in 2012.  In the US, Hurricane Irene threatened to be huge but ended up petering out, then Sandy came and stole the show.  I believe that the east coast is still recovering.  Obama got re-elected among one of the most contentious elections that I can remember (though that's only a few).  There were lots of political scandals but what's new there?  A lot of the rest of the world is fighting, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.  Of course, fresh on our minds are several shootings - Colorado movie theater, grade school in CT.  We lost a few history makers - Neil Armstrong, Whitney Houston, Dick Clark, Andy Griffith, Sally Ride.  Lots of celebrities had babies and named them bizarre names.  Oh remember this stuff - Kony 2012, Tan Mom, Chik-Fil-A protests, Linsanity,?  I didn't till I looked it up!  London had a big year, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, hosting the 2012 summer Olympics and the announcement of a royal baby in 2013. 

More personally, 2012 went fast cause I have two small kids at home.  They grow up quickly, they make each day different and very busy.  I turned 31 this year.  We celebrated our 8th anniversary.  Reed turned 3 in May and Nora turned 1 in October.  I went back to work in January from my maternity leave and changed positions in April.  The following 8 months have been crazy at work, but so enjoyable.  We took a few vacations camping and to visit family.  Though I have very little in the category of "awesome" to report that we did this year, we really did have an enjoyable time doing our little things that we love so much - skiing, dirt biking, spending time with friends, traveling.  I'm trying to reemerge myself in all those things that I love to do but are often difficult to do because of kids.  We went to the City of Rocks this fall and I got to rock climb again, something I haven't done in years. 

We are blessed with amazing family and friends.  We've had several friends blessed with babies this year and already several announcements of babies to arrive in 2013.  We've had some health scares in the past year both in our family and with some friends, we are thankful for the ones that have been resolved and are praying for those that are currently facing difficulties. We love visits and times with friends, they truly shape the people that we are.

The things that define this year for me are immense. In May, Nora faced a very scary health issue.  By the grace of God, it turned out to be pretty much nothing.  We thought we would be quitting our jobs, selling our house and moving across the country to seek the very best medical care possible for our baby girl.  Though it was thought to be lymphoma, luckily it ended up being a very common birth mark essentially, presented in an unusual way.  If that kind of thing doesn't help you understand being thankful, put you on your knees in prayer, then I don't know what does.  We reevaluated a lot during that time.  Several people very close to us are battling cancer.  One is one of my best friends Dad.  Keep him in prayer, he is still working through all of the details and beginning treatment soon.  The other is even closer, Fogg's dad.  Though the news came quickly, we are so thankful that it has been good news so far and seems that it will be a quick solution and recovery.  Dick will be headed in for surgery in the next couple of weeks, please pray for him and the doctors.

I'm really into goals this year.  I know that every year I list a bunch of stuff that I want to improve upon but this year, I'm really going to focus my goals and work hard on doing them.  I generally spend a lot of time worrying, stressing about things like cleaning and laundry.  Though those types of things still need to get done, I'm going to refocus on the things that last.  I REALLY am going to get my body back to as close to pre-baby as possible.  I'm thinking that it may never get back to exactly pre-babies, but I need to lose those final 10 pounds, tone up and hopefully lose 5 more to get into ultimate shape.  I need my strength back, I feel so weak!  I'm going to work hard to be better at spending (or better phrased - NOT spending).  A budget refocus is in my future for the year and I'm going to work hard on it.  We would really like to pay some things off this year to free up money to save for our 10th anniversary trip and/or a deck remodel.  Along those same lines, I need to work on getting rid of stuff we don't need.  I need to sell some stuff!  I'm going to focus on spending some good quality time with my kids.  Though I work full time, I still need to focus on educating my kids in a variety of ways.  They need to know the Lord, learn about what Jesus did for us.  They need to learn to pray and to read the Bible.  Reed needs to learn the ABC's and maybe even to start to read a little.  Nora needs to learn a whole lot of words and even more discipline.  These are important years for my kids and my role in their lives is unmatched and extremely critical to the people that they will become.  That needs to be my priority.  I'm also going to do a better at studying, praying and spending time with God.  Without Him, I am not all that great, spending time in the word will help me in all of the above goals.

More broadly, I'm going to work on being nicer, forgiving more often, being compassionate and empathetic, and generally being a good person.  I need to communicate more with my friends and family that live outside of Utah.  Though I will never be good at remembering everyone's birthday's, I want to make people feel special any time that I possibly can!  I need to continue to be a good wife and mother, there is always room for improvement in those areas! 

So though 2012 wasn't remarkable in too many ways, it's time to learn from what the year was and move into the new one.  I love New Years because it really is a good time to start new goals and projects cause you'll know exactly how long you've been at it.  To you and everyone out there, happy new year and good luck to everyone!

Christmas Wrap-Up

Wow, what a fast Christmas time!  Unlike last year, I really got into the spirit and enjoyment of Christmas this year.  Last year was warm weather, I was extremely overwhelmed with a new baby, etc.  But this year, I was so excited to do all of our traditions, enjoy the time, it snowed!, I had vacation time, etc.  So anyway, I took the week before Christmas off of work, so starting 11 days before Christmas, I had my last day of work!  I called it my 12 Days of Christmas Vacation.  

Unfortunately, the first two days of it were spent either puking or taking care of someone that was puking.  We all got the stomach flu!  Yuck!  But by Monday everyone was back on track.  I used Monday as appointment day, ran around, got lots done.  I took this dog to the vet.  As you can see, he lays around a lot, getting old.  He has some health issues, skin infection, ear infection, skin cysts, swollen lymphnodes and a very bad spine and hips.  Those of you who know my dog, know that he doesn't usually lay around like this.  But a pampered dog he is, using a pillow and everything.

 And laying down AT the vet's office? Now that's just unusual!  This is after he peed on the Christmas tree in the corner...

I did other things like ski, wrap gifts, clean the house, get together with friends, run errands, shop, host a party, spend time with family, make treats.  You know, stuff I rarely get to do alone!

Reed and Nora did cute things.  This is one of them:  Reed made a bed for Mickey in the hall.  He told me to be quiet cause Mickey was sleeping.  I had to step over Mickey all day!

After lunch with friends one day, they both crashed in the car.  Can you believe that Nora is already big enough for the forward facing car seat?

On Saturday before Christmas, we went to Snowbasin to ski and visit Santa.  Here are the Duran boys and Reed getting close to him cause he had candy canes!  These three boys look so much alike!

 Reed was soooo excited!

 Nora not so much...

On Christmas Eve, I took Reed skiing and Lala met up with us.  It has snowed so it was a bit slow on the Little Cat lift, so Reed said it was ok to go up the bigger lift - Becker.  Oh and did I mention that he got rid of the Edgy Wedgy? (BTW - an edgy wedgy is the rubber thing that holds the tips of the skis together for learning skiers. Kids typically keep them awhile).  It fell off on Saturday and he didn't notice for half the run.  When he noticed he insisted that I put it back on, I tried to convince him to keep it off, but he really wanted that thing on.  So I put it back on and at the bottom bribed him with a new toy if he would try skiing without it again.  He said fine and from then on out, he is an edgy wedgy free skier!  He got a new book by the way.  So anyway, on Monday, we headed up the big lift with Lala and he skied the whole thing by himself!  I am SOOOO proud!

 Santa came.  Well, I did, but it's fun to say Santa did.  I love wrapping gifts purdy like.

 Reed and Nora got this new chair and table set from Grandma and Papa Fogg.  Now they each get their own chairs and won't fight over the one!  And they are adorable!  Reed gasped when he saw them on Christmas morning.

 As usual, we went up to Basin in the morning with our friends.  Here is Ethan and Nora hanging out.

 We usually have pictures of the toddlers but they would absolutely not cooperate this year!  Reed wanted to ski, Jane wanted to ski with Reed and Ava was having a little melt down at the time.  We never did get them all together again.  But we attempted the little ones!  Here is Ethan, Ben and Nora.  Aren't they so cute?

 My little Nordic girl.

 Lala and Nora

 The whole group!  from L-R: Sarah, Ethan, Ava and Jared Heilig, Ben, Pete, Amy and Jane Gompert, and me, Reed, Fogg and Nora.

 Three gens skiing together!

So after this, we headed home to make dinner while the kids napped.  We had the Scrip's over for dinner along with some new friends, the Brown's.  But I was too busy to get my camera out so I have NO pictures!  I have to admit, it was kinda nice to just be present and having fun instead of taking pictures.  However, other people took pictures which I have requested copies of.  I'll post when I get them.  The kids had a blast opening gifts, we had a great time with our friends and enjoying the true meaning of Christmas.

More later!

Carpe Diam

This weekend's to do list was full of things to do that don't really matter.  Work on Christmas gifts, make goodies for neighbor/teachers, clean, laundry, run errands.  So Friday night, I spent the evening starting those tasks.  I made to/from tags, I started prep on goodies, I started a couple loads of laundry.  And Saturday, after I made a few goodies, we gathered up the whole family and ran errands.  Feels so good to get things checked off the list.  After we got home, I worked on a few more tasks - yay for getting things done.  But I had to stop sometime during the day and enjoy what was happening in front of me.  This cute girl:

Well, I was cleaning up the kitchen and looked over to see this happening.  I laughed instead of getting mad and grabbed my phone for a picture.  You just gotta enjoy these moments when you get them.

Saturday night, Fogg and I went to a Christmas party.  We had a fun time, wish we had a picture of us all gussied up but oh well.

Sunday is when it all went off plan.  Nora woke up with a nasty cough so I ran her to the doctor.  Turns out, she just has a nasty cough, nothing more.  I worked on a few more things before we headed to church, but my timeline was starting to slip a little!  At church, Reed claimed the job of "superman" during the Away in a Manger song.  Classic.  On our way home from church, Reed asked if I would take him skiing. Though there was quite a bit left on my list, I thought "you don't get too many of these opportunities - go!"  Of course, without much thought, I dropped my to do list and seized the moment to spend quality FUN time with my favorite little buddy.  He skipped his nap (though he made up for it when we got home later) and we headed up skiing.  I love skiing with him.  So what if I have to lap the bunny run, the laughter and enjoyment that he has for my favorite sport is pretty much the best thing ever.  He laughed and laughed and we played games (which was my way of getting him to practice turning and looking ahead).  I just had a blast with my little buddy!

 We ran into Reed's friend Liam too!  It was Liam's first day on skis, so we rode the lift with him (and I'd give his dad some teaching pointers) then we would ski down!  Reed enjoyed having his buddy there.

 We took one hot choco break but before I was done, he was asking to go back out again!  We skied to almost 4:00!  I thought he would konk out in the car on the way home, but nope, he talked the whole way.  Then we pulled in the garage and he saw his sister at the door.  He yelled at me, "get me out, I want to see my baby sister!"  While I was getting him out, he said "I'm going to run in and give her a big hug and a big kiss."  Which he did - so cute.  Before I even got all of our stuff unloaded he was passed out asleep in his chair. 

I'm so glad that I skipped out on (well, actually postponed) doing my list and spent time with my family.  What an irreplaceable experience. I did spend the time after the kids went to bed (and while I was making dinner) finishing my tasks.  I worked on these:

And got a bunch of other stuff done. 

And it snowed again this morning.  Reed declared that he loved me more than snow as I was dropping him off at school - yess!

Tree, fashion, sleeping and lights

I got Christmas decorations up and I paired down a bit this year.  Last year when I pulled my decorations out, I found out that they had a lot of mold damage, so naturally a bunch of stuff got pitched.  This year, I just decided to keep it more simple and classy.  So anyway, there is a closeup of my tree.  I have a red and gold theme going on, my tree has a lot of pinecones, birds, owls, bird houses. 

Reed got himself dressed the other day.  This is how he presented himself on the first of December.  Very appropriate right?

Nora was fighting a stomach bug last week, luckily she is over it now.  She got up really early on Friday morning and wouldn't go back to sleep.  I propped her in the highchair with some Kix and a tv show and not too much longer, she looked like this.  She was pooped by 7am!  

One of "traditions" that we have started is going to the "Lights Before Christmas".  It's a bunch of lights they put up in a park in Layton.  We decided to walk it this year sense it was so warm *sigh*.  You can't barely tell it's us, but we're there!

Nora looking at the lights and Reed checking out the snake lights.