Annual Memorial Chris Keyes Birthday Sledding Party

A few years ago my older brother, Chris, decided to celebrate his birthday with a family sledding party. It was so fun, we decided to do it every year. Then he moved. I think we may have done it one other time since then, but we talk about it every year. I got sick of all the talking and, because we live on a golf course, I decided it was time to restart the tradition with or without Chris in town.

My little sister, Lori. She thought we would be "out of bounds" sledding in the backcountry so she wore her good hunting pants. Nobody shot at us thanks to her. She thinks of everything.


As you enter the sledding area, the golf course has a posted sign that basically reads: Area Closed to Sledding. Here we are walking right past it with the rest of the trespassers.


Our Faithy likes to do her own thing-if you hadn't noticed. She wanted to find the perfect sledding spot all by herself, so she went on alone. My favorite part of this pic is the background with the snowy mountains and the Great Salt Lake. You can't see our house, but it's just off to the left about a half a mile.


Mia's favorite part of sledding is all the snow she gets to roll around in and eat (when we're not watching).

Faithy, on the other hand, LOVES to sled and even squeals "wahoo" as she slides down the hill backwards.

This sledding hill is shaped like an uneven bowl. If you go fast enough you can make it back up the other side and down another hill. After Tony's failed attempt, I tried. I can't prove it because nobody got a picture, or even saw me, but I made it all the way down the smaller hill and almost into a tree. Later, Tony told me they got distracted and by the time they tried to find me and take the pic I popped up behind them asking "Did you see that"? Yes sir, I went that fast and discovered where Faith learned how to squeal "wahoo".

Thanks, Chris, for starting a fun tradition. We'll expect you to pick up right where you left off when you are back from Tennessee. We miss you.

Christmas Fun

Christmas Eve the girls put out some reindeer feed, cookies and milk then went to bed. Christmas morning, Tony and I awoke to Faith and Mia sprinting into the room yelling "Santa brought us horses!" It doesn't get much more fun than that.

Mia in her new Princess jams that will get worn out in approximately 1 week - because she loves them and wants to wear them all day every day! Thanks anyway, Grandma Trish.

Christmas morning Faith put on her rock star costume grabbed her Barbie guitar and microphone and hopped on her horse to sing "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". She says she wants to be a rock star that only performs for family and friends.

Classic Christmas Activities...

For our last Family Home Evening we decided to do a gingerbread house.

Tony and the girls starting to decorate with candy....

working on the roof.....

Mia trying to sneak yet another piece of candy....

The finished product. In the end Tony and I rushed to finish it before the girls could eat any more of the candy. Right now it's on the top shelf of the pantry, but who knows how long it will last-my girls have climbed up there before.

Is That What You're Wearing?

As a parent I have learned that there are some battles that just aren't worth it. For example, I let my girls dress themselves in most cases and I won't say a word about what they wear, unless it's winter and they want to wear a swimsuit. Just the other day we were getting ready to run some quick Christmas errands so I had on black fleece pants and a red long sleeved shirt. When Faith saw me she asked "Is that what you're wearing"? I said "yes" and she replies "oh no".
My first thought was "have I just entered the "I'm too good for my parents" stage already? She's 5 for the love"! I laughed, but did not change my clothes. A few minutes later Mia comes out in the outfit featured below (red top on backwards, pink pants, brown poka dot skirt, and snow boots) and Faith says "I love your outfit Mia"!
Was this a glimpse into the future? Probably, but after some thought I've decided that it's Tony's fault. Did you see the sweater he wore to his work Christmas party? Or maybe we're all just a bunch of jokers?

A Christmas Gift For Jesus

Here are Faith and Mia at our ward Christmas party. They were asked to write down what their gift to Jesus would be this year.Faith's gift to Jesus is that she'll love, share and be nice.
Mia wants to give Jesus a kitty cat and a dog.

A Merry Ugly Christmas Sweater Party (AKA Work Party)

We always have fun at Tony's work Christmas parties. His boss especially gets festive in his blue snowflake sweater that Tony makes fun of, but secretly wishes he had. So this year we got our own ugly Christmas sweaters to wear to the party. The only problem was they don't make "bling" Christmas sweaters for guys. Yep friends, Tony's wearing a woman's sweater. So ladies, if you saw this pic and thought "I have Tony's sweater in my closet" I'm sorry. First, because we wore them as a joke and second, because Tony was wearing it. It did get awkward when another lady was wearing a sweater similar to mine. Oh well. Next year we'll put more time into the effort and find ones with lights and music. Maybe I could knit some? Yea, right.

Mmmmmm.....Cheesecake

Let me start by emphasizing how much I HATE to cook. Well, I really hate it. For Enrichment, (a church thing for those of you that don't know) Laura Cesarini, who used to own a catering business, taught us how to make this cheescake. Her's was so beautiful and yummy, I decided to try it on my own for my sisters birthday. This is it. Laura's was fabulous and so beautiful that mine can't compare but I am pretty darn proud of myself for getting this far. We'll call it ghetto cheesecake for Laura's sake. Now, you all know how needy I am, so leave me a comment to tell me how beautiful it is!

Our Christmas Tree

We thought it would be fun to cut down our own tree this year, but by the time we got around to it "all the good ones were gone" according to the lot owner. We just stopped at some place on the side of the road and ended up with the best Christmas tree ever.

The girls were so excited, Tony had to hold them still so I could get at least one pic that wasn't a blur.

Ughh, Do I HAVE To Go...No Wait, Was That D Will?

It started out with Tony telling me he had tickets to The Jazz v Raptors game that he'd gotten from work. Not only that, but he had to bring a client. "Yipee" (where's the sarcastic button on this thing?) I thought. Then, he says there's a dinner before and his client would be Jason White or Whitey and his wife Annie-our long time friends and now clients of Tony's. I was excited to see the White's and started starving myself early that day in order to prepare for dinner, but "who cares about The Jazz" thought I.

Here we are after dinner...it was well worth starving for, and it was served in one of the upper rooms overlooking the arena. Okay, it was pretty cool, but now on to find our seats on the top row.

What is this, you might ask? Apparently T had neglected to tell me we were on the third row. So no, there wasn't a hike up to our seats, but an elevator down to the arena floor. They were announcing the team behind us when Whitey took this pic. Was I really going to be that close to Deron Williams?

And here it is....this is what the game was like for me. The world would spin out of control in fast forward, except for D Will, who moved in slow motion. It was like a dream (or a bad camera) and I was in Heaven.

At half time, Annie and I joined our girls-the Jazz Dancers, on the floor and shook what our mama's gave us. Yea, we're pretty talented. I'm sure that's why all those people were laughing.

This topped the whole night off perfectly. As we were slowly leaving D Will came running right toward me to scoop me up in his arms and tell me all about his great game. Oh, wait, that was a dream. He did run toward me, but just because we were right next to ESPN's desk. This is me trying to whisper sweet nothings into D Will's ears (if only he didn't have headphones on!) during his post game interview...all while some angry ESPN chick tried to get me to move out of their shot. Well, at least my hands and arms were on ESPN. I'm pretty much famous now.This was the story of a girl who only went for the food, but had an AWESOME night watching basketball. Thanks Whitey, Annie and especially T...I love you even more than D Will.

Merry First Christmas!!

We feel fortunate to have so many family members close that we get to have multiple family Christmas parties. We were so blessed to have The Nana and Great Grandpa Keyes here with us for Thanksgiving AND stay for an early Christmas party. This side of the family's Christmas party includes a tradition doing "the big sock". Since I was a kid, The Nana would fill the sock to the brim with presents for the kids. The only thing that has changed since then, is that I have fun watching my girls, nephews, and nieces get presents instead of getting them myself. This way is even better! We love you Nana and Grampy.

Here is Tony and the girls making their Christmas ornaments that Nana Bev and Grandpa Keyes hang on their tree. I love this tradition...mostly because the mess is at Nana's house and not mine. Thanks Nana Bev! This is Mia, Faith and their cousin Belle. This trio has so much fun when we get together. I'm not sure we'll let them hang out unsupervised as teenagers...lil rascals.

Everyone was waiting so patiently for the "Big Sock". I was impressed, until I realized they were being so patient because they really thought it was just a big sock.