Halloween Party

When I moved in, Brian was clear that he still wanted to throw his parties, so I knew what I was getting in to... or did I???  Our Halloween shindig ended up with 500 of our closest friends and the cops showing up twice!  At one point, before the height of the party we counted 120 people just in my great room!  There were points where you could barely move.  These are my friends that dressed up as Tetris- my favorite costume of the night.  They brought the music from the game and would fit their pieces together.  Clever!   The dance floor was hopping all night.  Surprisingly, the reason the cops showed up wasn't because of the noise but because people were "parking over the white line."  My favorite part of the night was when I was talking to the cops for the second time on the front porch and my friend Jacob Neilson, who was dressed like a SWAT team member, came out and said to them, "Don't worry, I've got everything under control."  Classic!

Gassing Up the Car

This is Ryan's first time gassing up the car. It's starting to get cold here so I'm taking advantage of the fact he still thinks this is a novelty while I sit in the warm car...

Jazz Game

Ryan is playing Jr. Jazz, so we were able to get free tickets to a Jazz game. They may not be winning many games this season, but it is fun to live in a place that has a few Pro teams. Real Salt Lake Soccer is our fan favorite. We had a couple extra tickets so I sold them to scalpers (which totally embarrassed Gracie) and bought us dinner with it. The game was entertaining and we were up until close to the end. Talk about nose-bleed, our tickets were on the very last possible row. I made the kids move up, embarrassing them yet again. Oh children... ;)

Fondue FHE

For Family Home Evening one night, we invited our downstairs neighbor, Brian Adair, and his two kids, Dallin and Aiden, up for Fondue dinner. We had leftovers from the big Sunday dinner we had done with our friends the night before. Whenever they are with their dad, they often come up and hang out. Sometimes we swap babysitting or we do Family Home Evenings together. It is nice to have the priesthood in our home.

Embrace the Snow!

Our motto in moving to Salt Lake City has been to embrace the snow. I knew one of the biggest things we would miss about Boulder City besides my parents and the boat would be the warm weather. This positive outlook on the cold has made winter something we are excited about rather than something we dread. This is us sledding after the first snow. The kids loved it. I hopped on and we had some good wipe-outs. I rolled over Ryan but he survived. We went with my single guy-friend, Jacob Neilsen, and 5 of his 6 amazing kids and Hayden Poch. We have been so blessed to have Karen Poch and her family in our lives here. We have really been embraced into their home. We live really close so it is fun. I remember the day I walked into Stacy Taylor's ward (where I lived this summer while testing out the Utah move) and seeing Karen there! It was so great to see her again! She was the relief society president of the ward. She has really helped us feel at home.

Ice Skating at the Olympic Oval

Our motto is "embrace the cold."  It's helping us really love Utah!  The Olympic Oval is as skating rink as big as a track.  We could watch figure skaters, speed skaters, and hockey players play while we skated around.  Fun day!

Cousins!

Around here we just LOVE babies! Gracie and Eva came to visit and we got to keep them while their parents went to Mexico. :). This is a little trip we took down to the spray park. Gracie loves being the babysitter.

Mommy-Daughter Race!

Gracie and I were the first mommy-daughter duo to cross the finish line at our ward Activity Days race. We wore matching socks and called our team the "Striped Divas." We had fun and stuck together for the whole 2 miles, employing strategy and smarts to overtake our opponents in the final stretch! I have been training for a Ragnar and Gracie recently started showing interest in coming along with me on my runs. I now run 5 miles at 8:15/mi and Gracie ran the mile at school in 9:29. We had so much fun. Gracie was pooped at the end but I was so proud of her! We linked arms for most of the race and helped each other along. Yay Striped Divas!

Flying Trapeze! Gracie's 10th Birthday

What a fun party! Cirque du Soleil cast members taught us how to do trapeze! Gracie brought 3 friends-Avalon Viau, Anna Walker, and Chloe Payne. We all got up there and had several turns "learning the ropes." It was fun "getting the swing of things!"

Cosmic Bowling

We went bowling with the Parks clan. The losers had to eat a spoonful if Mayo! Then we came out to BC and played silly games.

First Day of School

This is quite possibly one of my most favorite photo bombs EVER! Love my parents in this pic! This is Dad's signature goofy face :). He made it when I was a kid and is still bustin' it out.

Gracie started 4th grade in Mr. Newkirk's class and Ryan started 2nd grade in Ms. Rovacchi's class. I started my first day back as a full-time teacher since Gracie was born. I'm teaching Spanish at Brown Mddle School in Henderson. I'm getting paid as a sub until the state of NV gets my license issued.

Vegas Kids VIP Day!

These kids of mine live in Vegas but they never get to experience Vegas, so some friends got together and decided to do it up right! A bunch of single parents with kids rented a hummer limo, dressed the kids up, and drove around the strip. They loved doing Vegas in style! Lacy Wheeler got to be an honorary single mom so she could come, too. We just love Lacy!