Thursday, December 30, 2010

I'm baaaack!

When I started my blog 2 ½ years ago I called it “A blog about nothing”. Mostly it was a title that I felt would fit the audience, if anyone would ever read it. I knew my blog would generally not be very clever, insightful, or particularly entertaining, hence to the reader it would basically be about nothing. After neglecting the blog scene for over a year I have realized that my blog was about something to me. It helped imprint life moments in my brain. Not only could I remember experiences through reading back but they were more imbedded in my brain from writing them down in the first place. I wish I would have written posts this past year. I know I had some great learning experiences both pleasant and difficult. I am going to have a hard time remembering moments that seemed small and insignificant at the time but probably had a great impact on me. I’ll post my Christmas card. It’s pretty superficial but how do you wrap up a year in one page? In the future I will write in my blog whenever I want or need to remember something. Most of the time I feel my life is full of small and simple experiences but when I look back over a period of time I recognize the great things that have happened. My blog will help me remember and enjoy all my moments.

CHRISTMAS CARD 2010

We want to express our love to you this season and hope you know that we are truly grateful for your friendship.

JASON feels fortunate to work at his dream job at Intermountain Medical Center as an anesthesiologist. Though he loves his job he tries to work as little as possible which happens to be about 60+ hours a week. Sitting in the hot tub is his favorite place to unwind. Free time includes BYU football season tickets and he stands strong while getting “harassed” by our mostly Red neighborhood. Helps coach Chandler’s hockey and baseball teams. Not normally talented in the art field but designed the backyard deck that was built. Loves folding laundry because it gives him a chance to sit and watch TV for 15 min. Not a lot of chill time so embraces any chance he can to golf at his home course.

SUZANNE I’m thrilled to be retired from my nursing job of 10 years. My time is spent with my kids and the Young Women in my ward. Each hour that goes into these two callings is such a blessing and has shaped my entire life. I also get to watch my 17 month old niece at least once a week while my sister works. During the summer I enjoy boating. My new love is wakesurfing and wakeboarding. I did the Salt Lake 1/2 marathon and a triathlon in Vegas just to keep myself focused on working out as much as I talk to my family and friends at the gym.

CHANDLER (11 years old): Plays hockey in the winter, baseball in the spring, and golf in the summer. Loves playing the guitar.

ASHTYN (10 years old): friends, cheerleading, singing, piano, and skiing.

MORGAN ( 8 years old): monkey bars, piano, cheerleading, hopscotch, and wakeboarding.

ETHAN (4 years old): our dog Indy, preschool, DS, Xbox, Wii.

INDY (1 ½ years old): Almost died from a rat poison overdose. Oops!

OUR FAMILY: We added a new member to our home for 6 months. A 17 year old neighbor girl got clean, sober, went back to school, did a TON of makeup work, graduated, and started at Snow College in August.
February: Disney Cruise with Jason’s sister, her family, and his mom and dad.
May: Adult trip to Zion’s National Park with my siblings, their spouses, and my parents.
June: Our first Lake Powell trip with some of Jason’s siblings.
July: Houseboat Lake Powell trip with all the Hosenfelds and my sister in law’s parents.
August: In charge of Youth Conference. Took teenage boys and girls from the neighborhood to Park City and boated for a couple of days.
October: Went to Texas to visit friends from BYU and to watch the BYU/TCU football game.
November: Heard this phrase often: “Is Dad STILL at work?” So Jason took a week off and we took the kids to Disneyland.
The rest of the months were filled with life’s activities.

We love you all and know that our life is full because of the friends we’ve made and the memories we have together.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

I was 34 for a moment

Yesterday was my birthday. I haven’t considered posting anything for the last couple of months until right now. I’ve pretty much been on a non-stop pace lately. My brain is fried and it’s hard to think straight, but I don’t want to forget what I did and learned when I was 34.

My 34th year started with one of the best trips I’ve been on. Jason and I surprised my kids with a Disney World/ Disney Cruise vacation. We first spent four days in Disney World. We loved everything except… Chandler didn’t like it when I was taking pictures during Thunder Mountain. Did he fear my safety because I wasn’t holding on or did he fear the camera might be dropped? After all, it is the wildest ride in the wilderness. Chandler also didn’t like the Rock –N- Roller Coaster. I have to hand it to him for at least going on it. Ashtyn stood in line for the roller coaster, got the front seat, started crying, so they kicked her off before she could ride it. She was relieved. Jason didn’t like feeling panicky and claustrophobic when the Mission to Mars left him in seriously small quarters while they had a 15-minute delay. Ethan was happy and got his naps in whenever needed. There was one night I forgot to feed Ethan dinner before putting him to bed. I realized when he woke up crying. Oops. We somehow got a banana to hold him over till breakfast. Morgan soaked everything in with lots of smiles and enjoyed every minute of it. Our hotel room was in the perfect location, the Ducks court. My hockey addicts loved it.









The kids were thrilled to find out we were going on a cruise. The cruise was great…there’s just nothing better. Even Ethan throwing up in the shuttle in St. Thomas or Morgan throwing up during the night all over the wall by the side of her bed couldn’t damper the fun. There was karaoke, movies, beaches, jet skiing, snorkeling, swimming, and lots of sun.


Not feeling too well

Ashtyn saying "Hi" to me since I stayed on the ship with two sick kids at St Thomas.





The wonderful year also included the Iron Girl triathlon in Las Vegas, Salt Lake ½ marathon, the Spudman triathlon in Idaho, jeeping and hiking in Moab, exploring upstate New York with the Hosenfeld's, a trip to California with the kids, my siblings and parents, but solo from Jason. Another trip to California, adults only, to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary. We got into the world of boating and have had a good time learning the ropes. Jason got his anticipated Cougar Club BYU football season tickets and enjoyed going to the home games with family and friends. There was lacrosse, football, hockey, golf, ballet, jazz, hip hop, and lots of piano practicing. Ashtyn learned to ski and is awesome at it. We had the addition of two new dogs. I also have been able to babysit my adorable little niece every Mondays while Alisa is at work.

A great blessing was the opportunity I had to quit my job and become an official “stay at home” mom. A dream come true! My famous last words regarding my retirement from the Newborn ICU was, “with the blessing of not having to work and having more time comes more accountability for me. I will need to answer for how I use my time.” I was called to the Young Women’s 1 1/2 weeks later. Well that pretty much takes up any extra time I would have had…and then some. And I love it.

What has meant the most to me this year are the simple things. Being a mom to four healthy kids is so much fun and it’s so nice having Jason to share life with. I love going to the gym everyday. It’s a huge part of my life because of the friends I’ve made and the way it makes me feel. It's also so cool that my mom and two of my sisters work out with me. The Young Women are also a significant part of my life with how much time I get to spend with them. There's not a day that goes by that I don't have some form of Young Women interaction. Service is a miraculous thing. Everything always seems to work out. When I’m busy someone is always around to help take my kids here and there or fill in wherever I can’t.

my BYU boys




Another year is gone. While I'm 35 I'm going to try to hold on tight and make the most of it because before I know it I'll be writing "I was 35 for a moment".