A Saturday's Activities

We haven't done too much lately that warranted pictures but yesterday was a pretty fun-filled Saturday.

I have lots of great women around me who are as crazy as me and we did an indoor triathlon together. Don't we look great before our race? I'm glad we didn't take an after picture because I would have looked dead :)
10 minute swim, 30 minute spin bike, 20 minute treadmill. I hadn't trained as well as I would have liked, mostly due to the fact that I got a week long cold about two weeks ago that forced me not to exercise (which is saying a lot for me) and I lost my momentum after that. No excuses though, I felt like 20 minutes was 19 minutes too long by the time I got to the treadmill but I did it. Everyone did great although one of my friends must be cursed on the bike :(

After a nice long shower I felt human again and since it was blowing outside and still a little chilly (Spring's in three weeks right?) we tried out the Game Shack in Southlands Mall. For a few bucks the girls played lots of arcade games and air hockey. I can see date nights for Eric and me coming up reminiscing our days at the Nickelcade in Provo.

This was about the only thing Evelyn did, she kept begging to go back on the horse.

After a much needed nap I was perusing Facebook and one of my friends had posted a picture of a dress made from a shirt. I thought it was so cute that I searched the internet for the tutorial, realized I had all the needed materials, and spent the next hour and a half making a dress for Elizabeth (she claims she hates skirts so we need more dresses). I never move that quick when it comes to sewing as evidenced by some projects I finally completed a week ago that only took an hour at most but have been sitting on my sewing table for two years! Here's the result of my creation. Not bad for a first try (don't look too close at it) and I'll have to go cuter next time as my scraps are all gone now. The necklace is a gumball necklace we made at Super Saturday in October.

The other two made it almost impossible to take a picture of just Elizabeth but at least they love each other.

The Cultural Experience

Melissa is definitely helping me culture my children with the occasional Spanish phrase thrown in, Honduran food (very good I might add) and dance parties to Hispanic music.

Have I mentioned we're also becoming very cultured by watching House Hunters International? Will it be the budget buster, fixer-upper, or the one next to the sanitation plant?

Rachel also had a dance party with herself and her rat the other day. Love it!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Okay, I promise I'm not going to rant about Valentine's day! Here's a picture of this year's valentine creations which really was a fun hour or two spent with my girls crafting.

We went to the school Valentine parties and watched as way too much sugar was consumed. I don't care what studies say, my kids were definitely on a sugar high that night so they didn't want to go to bed.

Another Year Younger and Another Cheesecake!

I love how my husband obliges my cheesecake fantasies for my birthday and other special occasions throughout the year. This year's deliciousness--chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake!

Didn't take any pictures on my actual birthday but it was a fabulous day filled with Just Dance 3 with Melissa, food with lots of friends, belly laughs, and of course cheesecake. This is taken a day after to show mom I do like the shirt she got for me.

On Saturday we went ice skating in the bitter cold (especially when compared to Honduras) but had a fun hour or so.

Sisterly Love
Right before they both fell down
Towards the end of our ice skating and I got her to smile with the promise of very yummy homemade hot chocolate
This one fell down so many times (but got right back up laughing) the teenage boy helpers were keeping count. Maybe it was a ploy to get their attention, hmm.

SNOW

Even though I'm a California girl at heart, I must say I really like snow. It's beautiful when it comes down and very fun to play in. Yeah there's the shoveling and not being able to get out of your driveway at times but the bright side is a good workout and not needing to go anywhere. We have a fun little sledding hill right down the block and I bought a pair of snowshoes so I can get out on the trails by our house before they plow them. Now living in Colorado I know it will snow pretty good and then we'll have warm days before and/or after so it doesn't stay all winter and is a nice change-up.

Our most recent snow storm set some records for February with 12-18 inches depending on the reports but shoveling felt like more with the drifts. Thankfully Eric returned home from a business trip right as the storm started so his plane wasn't delayed or canceled and then we had a fun snow day with no school on Friday. A few pictures to prove I can remember the camera.

We pretty much couldn't open our back door because of all the snow on the deck.

Throw a snow suit on these girls and they're good outside for an hour or two.

Monkeying Around

On this the last day of track off (have I mentioned it's been a long FIVE weeks?) I asked the girls what they wanted to do with a few suggestions and they said go to Monkey Bizness so we did. Some friends joined us and we monkeyed around for two hours and had lots of fun. I think Melissa and I might have had more fun than the girls as we had to try everything out ourselves. Jumping in a jumpy castle, climbing up a hug slide, going through an obstacle course, and playing air hockey (Melissa won :() is hard work but someone's got to do it.

My little Monkeys
Monkey Bizness is not just for kids, or maybe we're just kids at heart

Flying Kites in January

So what do you do when you have a nice and sunny yet windy day in January? You go fly kites of course. I was so glad I picked up some kites at the end of fall and we finally got around to using them. The girls loved running around the field and seeing how high their kites flew and we got our daily dose of Vitamin D for a winter day. I'm sure we have a bunch of snow and cold in front of us before summer shows through but we'll take days like this in winter!

Getting a Little bit Crafty

The girls' track off is almost over (thank goodness! I mean I love my children) and I realized I hadn't done any crafts with them. So we gathered up our supplies--empty egg cartons, paint, pipe cleaners, floral tape, empty jam jar, and modpodge. Here is the result.

Not as good as what I found online but still a good morning project.

Awww, how precious!

We have a new (or returning) addition to our household. If you haven't heard, Honduras is pretty dangerous so they decided to pull all Peace Corps volunteers out so Melissa is living with us again. The girls got really snuggly this afternoon and I had to snap a picture.

Bring on the New Year!

What do you have when there's 10 people sleeping in your house for a few days? A par-tay! My family (minus Melissa who is in Honduras) started coming into town the Wednesday before New Years and we got out and tried to see some of Colorado's finest together. Thursday evening we went downtown, got a quick bite to eat, tried my failed attempt at a walking tour, and ended up at the Capitol building where we all stood on the 5280 step. Of course the favorite part for my girls was probably riding the 16th Street Mall bus up and down.

Christmas lights were still up downtown, pretty sure that's City Hall

Friday we enjoyed the winter sports with a nice 50 degree day. Since the snow from our big storm the week before has melted off in spots, we headed up to the foothills and sledded/tubed/snow-shoed in Golden Gate Canyon park. Eric's sister Lynne and family joined us along with cousin Mike and we had fun with snowball fights and a lot of runs down the hill. I had to take my coat off as it was so warm but I think it was the perfect outing for 17 people until one person scraped their head pretty good. I tried to get pictures of everyone but it looks like I missed a bunch.

Mike, Rachel, Brian, Eric, Rob
Rachel, Brian, Eric
My dad
Eric's sister Lynne and my mom
My sister Tricia and her husband Danny

Rachel, Brian, And Stuart

Evelyn was very content to sit with uncle Danny while Elizabeth was off hiding the whole time.

On Saturday we had the baptism and luncheon with all 20 family members at my house--so much fun! After stuffing ourselves some went to see MI4 while mom and I watched the new Jane Eyre. When the movie goers got home, we ate even more food, talked, and danced our hearts out in Just Dance 2. I wish I had my camera for that one, can I borrow some pictures dad? I think only three people made it to midnight--Eric, Elizabeth, and Rachel (after a one hour "nap" from 8:30-9:30pm). Sunday we went to church, ate more food, and played Uno for hours in the evening and I think I only won one game--my Uno mojo is gone! Monday was somebody's 18th birthday (again!). We went out for Greek food after a Downton Abbey marathon (very good show and season 2 is coming out tomorrow).

Well, 18 or 29, neither is the truth but we won't tell your real age mom.
It's a miracle, Rachel's eating salad!
Now the house is back to normal size (until Melissa comes for a visit in a little over a week), Christmas is down finally, and we have a very memorable holiday season under our belt.