Winter Fun!!

Beautiful Snow at Snowbasin!Looking at the gorgeous mountains from my bedroom window...
Winter is so fun! We are a family that likes to be outside no matter what time of year. I have taught my kids (and will continue to teach them) that just because it is cold outside, doesn't mean we have to be stuck indoors until spring. We are not animals that are supposed to hibernate. And honestly, if you don't get out and see what winter has to offer, you are missing so much of nature's beauty that is ours for the taking! Just bundle up and go for it!
Here are some of our fun winter times....

Sienna just LOVES to ski! And she is very good at it too. This was only her 2nd day skiing, and this photo is at at the end of that day, on the slopes leading down from the advanced beginner lift (the Becker Lift)! No more bunny hill for this little skier!!
I am not sure what he was doing with the old dish scrubber - but he made it into some kind of snow toy and had fun!
Mmmmmm...yummy snow ball
Angels making snow angels
Front yard fun!!

Our new home in North Ogden

Finally! Here are some photos of our new abode!
View of the mountains from the front yard...
Coming in the front door...
The upstairs living room...
The dining room....
The deck...
The back yard...The wood building in the corner is actually a little playhouse for the kids. We have a small wooden bookshelf and a plastic kitchen setup in there.
The back yard again...and our little Tuff Shed
more backyard...
The kitchen...we will be replacing the ugly brown carpet and icky yellow lenolium with slate tile or wood laminate sometime very soon! And the plan is to actually complete a full renovation on the kitchen and dining room within the next few years.
the upstairs bathroom...which is also due for a renovation within the next few years.
Gunnar's room - (YES we will be painting it "boy colors" in the spring!)

The Master Bedroom....
our closet...we can pull the drapes closed when we want it to look nicer. If you'll notice, the curtain rod is bent; a gift from Gunnar to us during our first week here. He was trying to close the curtains and pulled down way too hard on them, causing the rod to bend.
heading downstairs...
to Sienna's room. Which she is soooooooo excited about. She tells anyone and everyone who comes to our house (including the Questar Gas and Satellite TV installation guys) to come check out her very own cool new room!
She is terribly proud of it! And just like a grown up, she hangs up all her own clothes now.
Here is the food storage and.....
weight room....
The downstairs bathroom (which Sienna refers to as HER bathroom that we are welcome to borrow from her from time to time)
My big laundry room - notice the cool closet rod (above the washer and dryer) for those things that are not to go into the dryer...
The downstairs Family room / Computer Room.
And last but definitely not least...the big mess of all the stuff we have left to go through, find places for, maybe throw out, and just plain organize. This room will be great when it is done. This mess is concealing an entertainment bar, perfect for get-togethers and such.
Well there it is. We are so proud to be home owners and are very grateful to live here. It is a great house and has a lot of equity potential too. Plus the neighborhood is fantastic. We have already had the welcome wagon drop by a few times to welcome us. And it is safe and quiet and we are so pleased to call it home!!

Christmas with a capital "C"

My dad shared this video with me and I think it is great! Freedom of religion is a very important part of this country, RIGHT?!

Afternoon at the Instacare

So this morning my wonderful mother came up to my house to watch and play with my kids so I could get some things unpacked and some chores done around the house. First of all, a couple days ago, Nolan began installing our R.O. (reverse osmosis) water filtration system under the kitchen sink. Well when he got to a certain point, he clamped down on one pipe in particular and it just buckled under the pressure. It was an old metal pipe and apparently it was pretty rusted and rotted out. So he went to Home Depot to get things to fix it, but problem after problem continued to arise. In total there ended up being about 5 or 6 trips made to the Home Depot. Because of the delay, I was not able to use my kitchen sink for about a day and a half. Well, with 2 kids and, at the very least, three meals and three snacks during the day, by this morning there was a HUGE mess to clean up.
So I tackled that while my mom took the kids on a walk and to a local playground. Time just flew by and before I knew it, they were back and my mom informed me that she had already been here for three and a half hours and it was getting close to the time she needed to leave. I couldn't believe it! All I had accomplished was the enormous kitchen mess. Oh well. At least it was done and I could put Gunnar down for his nap and put a movie on for Sienna and then I could try to start unpacking boxes....Or so I thought!
About 5 minutes after my mom left, I heard a huge THUD followed immediately by Sienna screaming very intensely. Sienna has the tendency to sometimes whine and "fake" cry when she bumps into stuff of gets mildly hurt. But this sounded more intense. I was trying not to panic, and I gave her a hug and asked her what happened. She continued shrieking and said she hurt her head on the wall downstairs. I said everything would be fine and let me just look at it so I can kiss it better. I looked at her head and my heart sank! I saw an enormous gash in the back of her head about half way down. The cut was about and inch long and very deep. There was blood pouring out of it and dripping down her shirt. I ran her into the bathroom and put her head into the tub. I told her we needed to wash it off a little so I could look at it better. Well when I looked at it better, my heart began racing. It looked terrible.
I grabbed a towel and put it on her head and told her to keep pressure on it. I grabbed my purse and Gunnar and told Sienna we needed to go right now. She asked me where we were going and I told her we needed to go to the hospital so a doctor could help fix her head. Instead of a hospital we actually ended up at the I.H.C. Instacare right up the street from us. They took us right back and got going on the procedures. Things calmed down a little at that point, but Gunnar was extremely ornery and tired. He kept whining and telling me he wanted to go home and go to bed. I wanted it too. The nurse was really nice and got some big Legos for him to play with.
Sienna was so brave throughout the whole ordeal. They numbed the area with a topical gel first and then waited for it take effect before administering the local anesthetic through the needle. It took two nurses and myself to hold her down while the doctor did this part. Poor little girl! Tears sprang to my eyes as my little baby girl pleaded for us to stop. We kept explaining to her that it was almost over and to hold really still so we didn't have to start over. Finally the pain subsided and she relaxed. When the doctor began putting the stitches in, she asked him if he was putting a ponytail in her hair, because that is what it felt like. That made me smile. The total tally of stitches came to a grand total of SEVEN!
Finally all was done and I treated my little angel to some chicken nuggets and ice cream. (Gunnar got some ice cream too for trying to be patient even though he was sooo tired!) She kept telling everyone we saw (at the drive through and such) that she hit her head and it bled all over the place and that she had to get stitches. Plus, as per the doctor's orders, she got to spend the entire afternoon lying down and watching all her favorite movies. When we got home, she actually bumped the back of her head while turning around. I told her she needed to watch very carefully where her head was going for the next few days.
I know this turned out to be not so serious, but I had never dealt with this before. This was my very first emergency trip for stitches or emergency care for one of my kids. I am so grateful that this did not end up being worse.

Home sweet home

Well we are all moved in to our new home now! Well, all of our boxes are technically inside the house, but only about half of them are actually unpacked. It is definitely an adjustment for us (me especially) to be living in such a disorganized way. I am by no means the worlds most organized person anyway, so having even less organization is a bit stressful. Currently, I don't know exactly where my camera's hardware is for uploading photos to my computer, so I don't know when more photos will be posted here. Soon, I hope.
I would like to say a big huge thanks to everyone who helped us on our moving day. It was a great relief to have that much help and support.
By the way, Nolan is feeling much better now. He actually has not had any adverse side effects at all from the surgery.
Well, there is more to unpack, and it is getting close to dinner time too.
Thanks for tuning in....

What has happened lately...

I just wanted to let you all know what has happened lately.

Nolan has been suffering with gall stones for about 6 weeks now, and he had been trying various alternative healing methods to release or dissolve the stones. These were not successful, however, so we thought this may in fact have to end in a surgery. Over a week ago, last Friday night, (October 19th) Nolan had a severe gall bladder attack and decided to see a surgeon about it. Unfortunately, the only days the surgeon could schedule surgeries is on Wednesdays, and they couldn't fit him in for a consultation until the next Friday (which was this past Friday - October 26th). They also told him if the pain got too bad, that they could maybe squeeze him in. Well, on Tuesday & Wednesday (the 23rd & 24th) Nolan was still in pain, but it had subsided enough that he thought maybe it would get better. But on Wednesday evening, the pain returned with a vengeance. He called first thing Thursday and got in for the consultation. The surgeon (Dr. Whipple) set up an appointment for the following Wednesday, but told him (Nolan) that if the pain got too bad, he could go into the ER and have it taken out sooner. He (the doctor) also said he didn't think that (with the high number of recent attacks) Nolan would even make it to Wednesday anyway.

Saturday afternoon arrived (October 27th) and Nolan called me when I was at work and told me he was having yet another attack that was so bad, he was ready to go have the surgery. I left work, we arranged for the kids to go to my parents house for a few days, and we headed off to the Emergency Room.

The inept, incompetent ER doctor on Saturday night did nothing more that to give Nolan a shot of morphine and perform a few measly blood tests, to which he concluded that there was nothing wrong with Nolan and we should just go home and wait until Wednesday for the surgery we had previously scheduled with Dr. Whipple. This release was also decided after Nolan was given the morphine at the hospital, and he (Nolan) had consequently said that he wasn't in too much pain anymore - because of the morphine (duh!) Dr. Dipstick (ER doc) then released him. I put up a fight at that point, but was told that most ER surgeons wouldn't perform ELECTIVE surgeries on Sundays. We were told we were welcome to stay the night and talk to the on-call surgeon the next morning (because he was currently in an emergency surgery), but again, it probably wouldn't do any good, because, like I said, ER docs don't do ELECTIVE surgeries on Sundays. I still could not understand why they kept calling this serious (much needed by this point) surgery, elective. It is not like we were getting a nose job or cheek implants or something!! By this time, Nolan had been in almost constant pain for EIGHT days!! Well, very reluctantly (and very agitated by now), we went home. After talking with my dad (an RN) about all of it, we knew something more had to be done. We could not just ignore it and it would go away. But we were so tired and frustrated, we didn't know what to do.

Sunday morning at 3 a.m., Nolan was awakened by extreme pain and could not control it with Lortab pills or heating pads on the affected area. Later, when I awoke Sunday morning, I knew what I had to do. I immediately looked up his phone number online, and called Dr. Whipple at his home to explain my concerns. We should not have been released from the hospital Saturday night, and I felt that something needed to happen now to resolve this problem! I came to find out that Dr. Dorko (the ER doc) had called Dr. Whipple the previous night and LIED to him and told him that Nolan was not in pain, did not have any infection, and was comfortable enough to go home.

Anyway, Dr. Whipple was on call at Ogden Regional Medical Center this weekend, but made special arrangements to come to McKay Dee Hospital to perform this much needed surgery. We are very grateful to him for rearranging his schedule and taking the time to take PROPER care of my husband.

After a 32 hour stay, Nolan is home from the hospital now. The surgery was successful and so far the recovery is moving along well. His gall bladder ended up being very inflamed, extremely infected and full of pus. The surgeon who performed the surgery, Dr. Whipple, mentioned quite a few times that it was a VERY good thing I am such a persistent person and that I was so pushy with getting this surgery underway. If it had gone any longer, it could have turned into a much worse infection, or the gall bladder could have even possibly ruptured.

We are so grateful that Nolan is home now, that he will be O.K., and all of this is finally over. We are also so grateful that we were inspired enough to listen to our "gut" feelings (spiritually and physically) and persist in this situation. I urge all of you to do the same. Do NOT ever take anything for granted. And just because a doctor tells you something is one way or another, don't just go along along with it blindly. I could not be happier that we didn't just go along.

.Good Health and Happiness to you all!!


A small, interesting post script...
At 4 p.m. this afternoon, we were scheduled to close on the purchase of our new home. Well, since Nolan was not released from the hospital until 6:30 p.m., the title company representative was nice enough come to the hospital, and we finalized our paper work while Nolan was in his hospital bed.
Now on with the actual move... :)

For anyone watching...

I know I am a total slacker on blogging. Recently, all of my time is taken by packing, cleaning, working, and of course all the regular "motherhood" duties.
My kids and I did have an opportunity to go hiking recently at Snowbasin Resort (before all the wonderful snow fell). Here are some of my favorites from that day.

Gunnar kept complaining that he was in the baby backpack, and insisted that wanted to hike by himself. He kept saying, "Onna waak, mama. Onna do it." (I wanna walk, mama. Wanna do it).


Sienna was always so far ahead, it was difficult to get a good shot of her. She is such a good little hiker!
Some beautiful fall colors!

I have way more photos of autumn Snowbasin pictures too, but those will have to be posted later.

Stay tuned for more - later - probably around mid-November or so. We will be moved in and settled (hopefully) by then.
Thanks to anyone and everyone for tuning in...

The "Mom Song"

This is a MUST SEE!! - only takes 3 minutes!!

We got a house!

As previously mentioned, we have been house shopping lately. I really did not want it to be a long drawn out process, so I got organized, met a Realtor, and we looked at about 25 houses in 3 days. We found one in particular in North Ogden that we kept coming back to. We ended up really loving it and decided to make an offer. They accepted our offer and we are now on our way to being homeowners!! Yesterday we had our home inspection and it went really well. The house is about 40 years old, but has been VERY well taken care of. The only problems found were things you would expect to see in a 40 year old house...like small cracks in the driveway, and the railing spacing is just a bit too wide for today's current code. But all in all it passed and we are ready to move forward! The house is 2050 square feet, (4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 living rooms, dining room, kitchen, covered deck) and is a split entry 2 level home, on 1/4 acre lot. It has 2 large storage sheds and 1 small shed on the property too. It is located about 2 blocks from the Elementary school (which is rated 2nd best in the district) The house is currently occupied so they are packing and we are packing. The closing date is set for October 30th, and moving day is November 3rd. I will post pictures when I can get them. The photos that were online are no longer available.
Well I had better get packing! Toodles!

My Husband and me

What is his name? Nolan Bob
How long have you been together? 11 years! -holy crap!

How long did you date? 3 years

How old is he? 32 - he'll be 33 in December

Who eats more? It is pretty even...we both eat small meals more often during the day

Who said I love you first? He did

Who is taller? Nolan - by exactly 1 inch

Who sings better? We're pretty even on that one ... both have good ensemble voices, but solos are iffy

Who is smarter? Nolan [his level of genius is sometimes hard to take though :)]

Whose temper is worse? mine, but Nolan has definitely had his moments!

Who does the laundry? Me

Who does the dishes? Me mostly, but now that he is out of school, we are TRYING to even it out.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

Who pays the bills? Me,

Who mows the lawn? Mostly Nolan, but usually when he starts, I come outside and take a few turns.
Who cooks dinner? Me mostly, but Nolan is a much better cook. He cooks for me on the weekends when I am at work, and those are always the really great dinners. He has actually taught me most of what I know...about cooking!

Who drives when you are together? Mostly Nolan, and he doesn't like it either. I've told him that it's just standard fare as a husband, and he doesn't agree.

Who is more stubborn? Nolan - but he'll probably try to say it is me and that is just not true! It's not...it's not...it's NOT!

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Me

Whose parents do you see the most? Probably mine by just a little bit. However, it is pretty even since both families live in Salt Lake.

Who kissed who first? Nolan kissed me.

Who asked who out? Nolan asked me.

Who proposed? Nolan proposed to me (down on one knee) in a boat out in the middle of Bear Lake, during the sunset of July 19th 1998.

Who is more sensitive? Probably me, but it really depends on the topic

Who has more friends? I think I do - he is friends with spouses of my friends too though so it kinda evens it out.

Who has more siblings? It is even - he has 2 brothers and 1 sister, and I have 3 sisters.

Who wears the pants in the family? We both wear pants :) (Nice save, whoever I stole that from!)

Now, who to tag? Holly & Nolan...since they are the only other people I have links with!

Poison Concert

On August 18th we were fortunate enough to attend the "Poison" concert - for free. Our next door neighbor, Steve, who is also my boss now, has been friends with Bobby Dall (the bass player for "Poison") for years. He asked us this past spring if we would be interested in going to the concert with them in August. We said "yes" and he got us some passes. They were fantastic seats, too. We were about 8 rows back, dead center!


I have always liked Poison's music. I was never a die-hard super fan, or anything, but do I like their music and find myself singing along whenever a song of theirs come on the radio. We did see some die-hard super fans and very interesting characters, like the ones in the following photos...

I couldn't seem to get this guy from the front, but you get the idea!

Some of the women we saw were just comical. They looked like they would be more at home in a lingerie magazine than at a concert. If you ask me, they were pretty pathetic actually. I mean come on! Enjoy the music, but dress normally while enjoying the music!

I was expecting to have a good time that night, but had no idea it would turn out and great as it did. The 80's rock band, "Ratt" opened for "Poison".

"Ratt" was one of Nolan's favorite bands in the 80's so that was quite a treat for him. By the time they finished, the energy level of the crowd was already building. When "Poison" stepped out on stage and began their performance, the crowd was going wild and the energy levels were through the roof! I was actually surprised at how many of the songs I knew and how excited I was to be there at this particular time. I spent the entire time jumping up and down and screaming the songs - as if I was a giddy teenager in the mid 1980's. At one point, some Untied States Marines showed up on stage and "Poison" paid tribute to them. The marines sang along for one of the songs...it was pretty cool.

I was so pumped after the show. Our little group of Steve's friends waited off to the side afterwards to be escorted in to meet Bobby Dall. It was exciting to actually have the chance to meet such a rock legend. We both (Nolan and I) got his autograph and our picture taken with him.
I am glad we had this very fun opportunity.

New found respect

As I mentioned, I have gone back to work. Even thought it is only part time, I am away from the house enough now that Nolan has really had to step up and start getting even more things done around the house. He is really trying hard and doing a good job so far. My first weekend at work was Labor Day weekend, and since it was a very busy weekend at the resort, I agreed to work all four days. Plus Nolan has been off work for a few weeks and wasn't going to start his new job until Wednesday of that week, so we got to have one more day off together. So I went off to work and he stayed home with the kids and became a "Mr. Mom" of sorts.
Nolan is great at taking care of the kids, but needs some work on getting house chores done. I am not perfect by any means either, but while he was in school, I took care of everything for the house so he could concentrate on his studies. Now we are trying to rearrange things so that the load is more evenly spread out.
Our kids are quite a handful right now. My daughter who will be 5 next week, has so much to say and is very energetic. So much so that sometimes she goes too far and will end up accidentally hurting Gunnar when she is just trying to play with him. She is constantly talking and loves to tell stories and dance and run and jump and twirl - well you get the idea. We are actually considering enrolling her in a tumbling class so she can expend some of this incredible energy. Gunnar is a very rambunctious 2 year old who loves to climb on everything and get into anything he can get his little hands on. He likes to run and jump and scream and holler (etc.) when Sienna does too, and that can get a little hectic. Plus he is always hungry, so it seems like we are always making him food and cleaning him up.
So back to Labor Day weekend...I had been at work and Nolan was taking care of the kids and home. Nolan has done this before - like last year when I was working, he has the kids all day on Saturdays. Also when I go to run errands by myself or am at my Yoga class or something, but he has not been totally in charge of it all for 4 days in a row before. When I got home Monday night, He came up to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss and said, "I love you! You are so awesome! How do you do this all of the time?!"
I smiled and replied, "So you are saying you have a new found respect for me?"
His reply, "Totally!" (another kiss) "Oh! And I cannot wait to go back to work!" (followed by a huge smile).

New post! New post!

My view - on my way home from work.....

I have been working lately. I started a new job at a familiar resort. Last winter I worked on the lift crew at Snowbasin, in Huntsville, UT. It was a lot of fun and just fantastic to be able to take advantage of the ski benefits. Since I was only part time, I had to pay an whopping $10.00 to ski, and so did my husband, Nolan. My kids, because they are under 6 years old, ski for free not matter whether or not I am an employee. I had a good time last year, but this year, I wanted a change. I was planning on asking the ticket manager (who happens to be my next door neighbor and friend) if I could work on his staff this year. Well I was outside a few weeks ago hanging my laundry out to dry, and he came up to the fence and out of the blue said, "Hey do you want a job?" Of course I said, "yes". He the said, "Okay, you're hired. Can you start Labor Day weekend?" I started working on the ticket staff and am having a great time! I have already met more of my fellow resort co-workers in the 6 days I have been at work this year, than I did the entire season last year. I like learning more about the resort and its inner workings, too. I also have a beautiful drive to and from work. The leaves are starting to turn and I am excited to see the colors in full bloom in a few weeks. I have been driving on the "Old Snowbasin Road" which is a lot less crowded and much more picturesque. It is closed in the winter so I am taking advantage of it now. When I get some "fall color bloom" photos I will post them too, but the pictures in this post is what the view looks like now. Still very scenic. This is looking towards the resort

.

Sienna started Pre-school at Children's Classic Pre-School and Daycare, and Gunnar will be joining the same school in November. She attends only 2 days a week and so far, Sienna loves it! Gunnar will love it too. I know this because every time we drop off Sienna, he pulls away from me because he wants to stay there and "pway, Nie-Nah" (play with Sienna). We have to wait until November for Gunnar to enroll because it is such a great school, there is a waiting list, and the classes for kids his age are all currently full. It had been a long while since the kids had haircuts, so in honor of Sienna starting her new school (and Gunnar really wanting to start school too) we took a trip to the (oh so elegant) salon, Dollar Cuts! Gunnar and Sienna love having their hair cut and they are so cute when sitting up like big kids in the big chairs.

There is so much more going on right now, too. Nolan started his new job at Hill Air Force Base and is really enjoying that. It has a promising future for us, too. We are going to be house shopping soon. Now with these new jobs underway, it is time to get out of renting and join the homeowners. Hopefully it can happen in a timely manner. I am also working on some of my personal photo scrapbook projects right now too. I will try to get caught up and keep up on regular posts.

Thanks for tuning in!

Paint Jam

Truly Amazing....watch n see

Silly Sienna & Goofy Gunnar

My kids love listening to books on audio CDs as they are going to bed. Tonight, I was asking my daughter which story she would like to hear. I said, "Do you want 'The Mystery Envelope', 'The Monster in the Closet', or 'The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid'?"

She responded by telling me very adamantly, "Mom! It is not 'The Monster in the Closet'! It is 'Junie B. Jones has a Monster UNDER HER BED!' ... by Barbara Park ... read for you by Lana Quintal."

I looked at her and laughed. "How do you know all that?"

"Because mom, I am a smart girl!"

She is definitely smart. I pushed play on the CD and sure enough the voice on it said, "'Junie B. Jones has a Monster Under Her Bed!' ... by Barbara Park ... read for you by Lana Quintal."

As I was laughing, I looked out of the kids' room and saw that Nolan could barely contain himself as he laughed with me at our little girl's funny comments. Sienna joined in and then of course, Gunnar, never wanting to miss a beat, laughed right along with the rest of us, even though he didn't know what we were laughing at. (By the way, this happens quite often when something funny happens. Gunnar loves to laugh every chance he gets ... and sometimes it is a forced laugh ... which makes the whole situation even more funny!)

I am so thankful for my cute little family!