Daniel's Snow Adventures

Next year we are going to take Daniel skiing. This year Daniel had fun just playing in the snow and didn't seem to mind the cold even with wet jeans and shoes.

Not Your Typical Swimming Haven

The resort had an outdoor pool and a couple of outdoor hot tubs. The pool was 85 degrees and each hot tub ranged in temperature. Being pregnant, I was banned from the hot tub, but I did venture into the pool once for a game of glow in the dark volleyball, but no one else showed up. 85 degrees was not hot enough to keep a pregnant woman warm when the air outside was 7 degrees.


Daniel was always the last one out of the hot tub. He loved it and kept wanting to go back. Thankfully Christian was able to take him in a couple of times. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Daniel in the hot tub.

It was snowing the first night we swam

The water wasn't as hot as it looks, the air was freezing though!

I love this picture!

Tim and Christian both grew up in a family of girls and it seems both still need a manly outlet every-once-in-a-while. I don't know if it was the altitude or the lack of sleep, but skiing down black diamond slopes was not crazy enough for either of them. There was some one-uping talk going on in the hot tub and before I knew it, I was videotaping this!

As if that wasn't enough, they all went out again so I could take this picture!

Should I be worried about having two male children back to back? Especially if they are genetically linked to the gene pool pictured above?

Prodigy Children

Christmas evening we spent karaoking and the decision was not eggnog induced. I don't know why any of us spent money on tuition and stressful college years to get engineering and business degrees. Here was the evening's line up and photos/videos:

• Tim and Joan "Breaking Free"
• Tara and Daniel "The Wheels on the Bus" Buddy style
• Christian "Eye of the Tiger"

He really has the "Eye of the Tiger"

Christian definitely had the best moves!

Christmas Morning

I don't know if I enjoyed Christmas morning more as a child or now as a mom watching a child.

Bluey (pinky's replacement) was an instant success and immediately became a tent.

The "Choo"

Setting up the train (Fisher Price should send us some marketing money)

No time for breakfast or other presents...just the "choo".

Daniel was too distracted after opening his train to open any other presents. We saved the other presents for later in the day.

Family Visits

I could kick myself for not taking more pictures with our families. After all we do have 2 GB memory stick in our digital camera and what good is it if I don't fill it up with great memories.

We spent most of the week with my family and had a family get together with each side of my family. I saw some cousins I hadn't seen in eight years. I hardly recognized others. It was fun to catch up with everyone. I have no pictures to prove this though. We did see the production of "Savior of the World" at the conference center theater with both sets of my grandparents. I sort of documented this with a family picture on temple square...without the grandparents though.


We spent a day with Christian's family (again no pictures were taken). The Lamoreaux's were so great to drive hours in a terrible snow storm so we could see them. We loved the little Ron Paul pep rally (there will be more on Ron Paul later), conversations, and laughs.

We did witness the negotiation of Joan's relocation package (my family is moving and so my youngest sister was granted a negotiated relocation package). She got a pretty good deal although she did not get the private jet or the NYC shopping spree she asked for. Hopefully the pictures portray how the negotiation went.

Two veteran parents; each with an MBA and formal negotiation training.

A 15 yr old's list of hopes...and a snowball's chance in hell.

Christmas Lights

Last night we went to the local botanical gardens to enjoy a little Christmas light festival. Other than being quite chilly, it was really enjoyable. Here are our attempts to capture the festival.

A maze of lights

Romantic gazebo

Our festive friend Kathi

Lots of model trains...by far the hit of the night!

Good Morning Sunshine

I usually don't make it in the shower until after Christian leaves for work. I shower quickly and Daniel usually entertains himself while I jump in. As I was finishing up in the shower I heard a lot of clanking. I poked my head out of the door and asked what was going on, to which Daniel replied "busted"! I didn't even know he knew that word.

I went on to investigate what had happened and found this...

Daniel had dumped our spare change cup out and was playing with the coins. I explained we would need to clean this up. I went to hang my towel up only to come back to this...

He remembered the clean up part! After I brushed my teeth I stumbled upon this...

Maybe a little Sesame Street while I shower would help.