We had a great Christmas this year. We were able to go to Temple Square to see the lights and take some pictures. Luckily, it had warmed up to the 20's for that evening. The week before it had been in the single digits. Brrrrr! But I digress. Constantly.




Look how happy everyone is!! We're standing in front of a giant statue of Jesus!! Shouldn't everyone be happy?!







Isn't it hard and sad to be them? We also got together with our old and dear college friends like we have for the last few years. We went up to Tibble Fork Dam and went sledding on Christmas Eve Day.





Beautiful Day! The kids went to bed early so Santa could come to town.


We spent time with Kara's family in the afternoon, eating, opening presents, and spending time together. All in all it was a good Christmas.

Christmas is upon us

Wasn't it just July?! I say that every year around this time of year. Because it literally does feel like it was just July. And every July I think, "Oh no. In 5 months it's Christmas." But then there is January and February to bring us back to the cold, dark reality of winter. So I have that to look forward to.

We had a fun fall. In September we went on a river rafting trip down the Colorado near Moab, Utah. We did the same trip last year and had a blast. This year I actually, got out of the raft and swam in the muddy waters of the Colorado. You can't tell what is down there...kind of freaks you out. We camped overnight on the beach about half way through our 20 mile trip.













The day after Thanksgiving we drove back down to Moab and stayed the night visiting with our old friends the Andrews. The Andrews drive over to Moab every year for Thanksgiving to escape their family dramas. They have children about the same age as ours. We ate out, shopped around town, and went out to the Hole 'n the Rock which was fun.

Here we are next to a Jeep made completely out of junk.

Molly and Matthew find a new ride

Last Sunday my two youngest children found a new toy. The stairs. Actually it is an old toy but is being used in a new way. Matthew has a bunk bed in his room that has this old crappy mattress on it. We bought it for Adam years ago when we were in graduate school and we were poorer than dirt. Of course, now we are just poorer than dust but we're moving up! It was brand new at the time but really cheap. I think it is just a really thick piece of foam. Anyhow, they drag it off of his bed and downstairs to the top of basement stairs then they slide down the stairs on it. They did this for hours. They brought it down again today. I tried it and screamed all the way down-it was a small thrill. I thought I'd take pictures of them to memorialize their new toy.

School again

The kids will start school again this week. Adam will be in 10th grade at American Fork High
School, Emily in 7th grade at American Fork Junior High and Molly in 5th grade and Matthew in 3rd grade both at Forbes Elementary where I also work as a secretary.

My cousin Paula mentioned on her Facebook page that signing up her two high school daughters for school this year consisted of paying over $1200 for public education fees. And she still had to pay for her twin boys at their junior high. YIKES! Luckily I have to come up with only $500 for my two secondary school students' fees. $200 for Emily and $300 for Adam. Sometimes it would be nice to have a credit card in our possession.

In-laws visit

Jon's dad Clay Sherman and his wife Stephanie visited us here in Utah this weekend. We didn't do anything spectacular just sat around talking and listening to the kids and their friends be silly.
Emily and Adam played a duet on their electric and acoustic guitars and Emily played a song on the piano which in and of itself is a miracle. We ate good food-flank steak, shrimp on the barbie, watermelon, strawberries, cucumber salad and other stuff I can't remember. For dessert-key lime pie. Fun weekend.

Dog Days of Summer

It's that time of year when it is too hot to go outside except early in the morning or late in the evening. All outdoor activities have to be curtailed unless it involves a swimming pool or a lake to sit in. In Utah we have what is called a swamp cooler that cools our house. Air-conditioning sucks all the hot air out of the house while evaporative cooling (swamp cooler) pushes water- cooled air through the house. If the temperatures are below 95 and it is dry outside then the swamp cools nicely. However on days like today it is not so wonderful. Today is 100 degrees and about 50% humidity which is high in Utah. It's like living in a cooled down sauna. Makes one very, very sleeepyyyy....and laaazzzyy.

Beginning of summer: part deux

Our family from the east end of the country came to visit us at different times for the first few weeks of June. Grandpa George was here to be a part of Matthew's baptism and then Jonathan's brother, Ben, and his wife, Leah, and boys, Duncan and Donovan came to spend a week with us. Ben's family and our family went to Bear Lake in the northern Utah/southern Idaho region. It rained 1.7 inches every day for two days in a row! And it was cold!! We decided to do some other non-beachy things like investigate a local stalactite cave in the region called Minnetonka Cave. My children have been there several times and are sick of it but they had a good time anyway. On the last day the sky cleared for awhile and we went to the beach for a couple hours. On the way home we hit the Great Salt Lake on Antelope Island. The stink was terrible and the bugs horrible! I can say I've been to the Great Salt Lake and now I never have to go again. But you really do float in the water because of the high salinity.