12.29.2008

then and now

Nicole, Camille, Heidi, Heidi and Me

This is a picture of my girlfriends from high school.  Here we are in front of the beautiful waterfall at the Oasis Resort & Spa in Mesquite.  This is where I spent every Spring Break in High School and my first year of college.  There are many more cheesy pictures like this one.  Each one perfectly posed on the landscapes of the infamous Oasis Resort.
   
Tangent Questions:  Where was Natalie?  Why was Dani never with us?  

Anyway, this picture was the closest replica that I could get to our most recent picture together.  I think we've all improved.  I sure hope I have!

14 Years Later...

Dani, Heidi, Nicole, Camille, Heidi & Me

Here we are now.  Of course, the other Hooper is still MIA (we missed you, Nat).  We are all a little older, a little wiser and much, much cuter!  Seriously, aren't these women gorgeous?  I'm so lucky to still be friends with these girls.  Not because of their good looks, but because of who they really are.  I am grateful for the many years of memories that we made together.  These girls have helped shape me into the person I am today.  They are amazing and each one of them has changed my life in some way.  I'm so proud of all of our accomplishments, achievements and successes over the years. It's incredible to see how far we've all come.

  Ladies, here's to the next 14 years!

12.27.2008

i wanna be a cowboy...

My Grandparents are 100% country.  They would love my boys to be cowboys.  Unfortunately for them, they never will be.  However, they do love to dress up like cowboys.  My Grandma & Sister gave my boys hats, boots and western shirts.  They do make pretty cute cowboys!

12.26.2008

a little bit of snow...

This was Christmas night at our house.  Yes, Payton is buried at the top of this hill.  The kids love it!  Tim likes shoveling, but not this much snow.  We definitely had a White Christmas this year. 

12.25.2008

Christmas 2008

Oh Christmas Tree!

Cooper's 1st Christmas.  I think he loves the new toy!

This is what Payton looked like after every present he opened.  Pretty excited!

Parker was also excited and a bit overwhelmed!

Check out Parker's new bat cave.  We love imaginext toys!

Cooper's finally ready to start enjoying the fun, but...

He was more interested in eating the paper than unwrapping the presents.

It was a "wicked" Christmas for me.  Tim surprised me (with some help from his  Dad) with Wicked tickets.  I was so surprised and so happy!  

Our Christmas was delayed until the snow plows made it up our street, but we finally got to my Grandparents to celebrate Christmas.

Parker, Grandma Patty and Payton

Sweetest moment of the day

Cowboy Payton

The Hulk Cowboy Parker

Cooper still just interested in eating the wrapping paper.

I made a tribute scrapbook for my Grandpa.  My family all wrote letters to my Grandpa and we compiled all of our pictures.  It turned out really neat.  I think he liked it!

Unwrapping Gifts at the Joneses.

Tim, Cooper and Brice

Payton, Tim and Krista at my parent's house.

Clint & Becca

Payton, Ashton & Parker

These ninja turtles sum up our Christmas pretty well, It was totally awesome, dude!

12.24.2008

Christmas Eve

 
We had a pretty easy going Christmas Eve this year. Normally, we have a party with some of the Jones family friends, but they didn't have the party on Christmas Eve this year. So, we had our own party with Tim's Parents. We ate dinner and played a silly game that involved pushing people out of your way and a newspaper. It was a great way to get the boys wound up for Christmas!


After our little Jones party we went over to my grandparents for their traditional Christmas Eve spread. My Grandma always has lots of yummy appetizers and her homemade candy.  Can you tell by Tim's creepy face that we are having a great time?!  Weird!


My grandparents have had some extremely bad luck this past month.  Their beloved dog that they have had for years died earlier this month and the next day my Grandpa found out that he was dying of cancer.  Yes, extremely bad luck!  We bought my Grandma this puppy for Christmas hoping that it would help lift her spirits a little bit. 


The puppy loved licking the drool off of Cooper's face.  I guess this is officially Cooper's first french kiss!  


This holiday was bitter sweet for me.  My family spends so much of our Christmas with my grandparents and it was hard to imagine that this would be my last Christmas with my Grandpa.  I was even more grateful for family this year and treasured every moment we were able to spend together.  

12.23.2008

cooper's extreme hair makeover


BEFORE...

Wild & crazy hair.  He has a cowlick in the middle that prevented his hair from being combed over to the side.  This hairdo has no rhyme or reason.

The back was improving.  His "thoot" (it's a Bergstrom term) was actually beginning to lay down.  

Yes, his hair was beginning to tame, but we did it anyway.  Cutting Cooper's hair was not an easy decision (okay, nothing for me is an easy decision.) I knew that this was the only time in his life that he could pull off such a crazy hairdo and I LOVED his crazy hair. I also knew what the outcome would be when we cut his hair.  Cooper's hair is very similar to Payton's when he was a baby. I was fully aware that once we cut his hair he would look like a completely different child.  I was also aware that he would probably have the same hairdo for the rest of his life. Despite all of these factors....
     
We gave our favorite stylist (and friend), Susie, the go ahead....

He did not love his first real haircut.  He has had many trims in his short life, but this was just too much.  The picture at the top shows how he really felt.  He didn't even love the sucker that I kept shoving in his mouth. 
 

AFTER...


So cute...we love our new little man's hairdo!

12.22.2008

celebrating at school

Parker's preschool class performed a Christmas Program for the parents. They sang a bunch of songs that they learned at school. It was cute.

This picture is Parker with his teachers and his two best buddies. He is so lucky to have TWO of his favorite friends in his preschool class with him. I'm sure we'll never have a picture of preschool without these two boys in the picture.

Mrs. Teresa, Ryker, Kyle, Parker & Mrs. Camille

Parker trying to smile?!


Payton's class had a day long party. They had Polar Express Day and everyone wore their pajamas.



12.19.2008

elves

Tim's family has a tradition that we decided to do with our family. The tradition is that the twelve days before Christmas, you put your shoes outside of your bedroom door and Santa's Elves leave a little present for you. Like this:


The kids really love doing this. Thanks to Payton, so do a couple of his friends as well. Last year, he told his friend, Chase, that you leave your shoes outside your door and you get a present from the elves. That night Chase's Mom found him opening the front door and leaving his shoes outside. She asked him what he was doing and he explained what Payton had told him, which followed with a phone call to me to ask about this tradition. I clarified that you put your shoes outside of your bedroom door instead of the front door. I also gave her some Elf pointers. Needless to say, it is now one of their family traditions. This year Payton shared this tradition with his friend, Caleb. I'm sure you can guess how the rest of the story goes. Caleb's family is now enjoying this tradition also. Pretty funny!

The elves are always a nice threat to have during the holidays (just like Santa, but more immediate.) I am constantly saying, "If you are not good the elves won't leave you anything." One "rough day" (as Payton put it) I used this threat more than a dozen times. So, that night this is what the elves left in the boys shoes:

Tim was appalled. His Mom said this only happened one time while her kids were growing up. I guess the elves at our house are mean! However, this note did not have the intended effect. The boys didn't care. Payton thought it was funny. Parker didn't think twice about it. Although, I must say, we did have a much better day.

12.17.2008

merry christmas


This is our families Christmas card that I made over a month ago, but never sent out because all of my addresses were mysteriously deleted from my address book on my computer.  I didn't have them backed up on my hard drive and I didn't have a hard copy.  I have learned my lesson.  It will take me until next Christmas to find all of your addresses again.  In the meantime, please accept my apology and this informal, online Christmas greeting.

Merry Christmas!

  

12.13.2008

holiday lights

Our little family had a fun night out this weekend. We started out the evening by driving to Temple Square to see the lights. It's tradition. If you live in the Salt Lake Valley this is a requirement for celebrating the holidays. The kids loved looking at all of the beautiful lights and the many beautiful nativity scenes. We were lucky to get downtown early and beat the weekend crowds. We were also lucky that the weather was great. After enjoying the lights, we went to dinner at the Blue Plate Diner in Sugarhouse. We had never been to this restaurant before, but had heard really great things about it. You can read a review here. We were not disappointed. We loved it! The kids loved it! It was the highlight of our night! On our way home we drove through some neighborhoods near our home and looked at some amazing holiday lights. I know I say this too much, but it really was the perfect night. I guess that's because anything that I do with my family feels perfect