fun at home...

More of December...our sickly trip to Utah!

Well, we were so excited when the Friday before Christmas Tom learned that the council got their goals accomplished for the year and they would have the rest of the year off....so excited! So, we left the following Tuesday (early, early) in the morning and drove to Tom's parents home in northern Utah. We were planning on staying there until the following Monday....but then we got sick. It started out as just colds...but then on Friday night Taylor officially caught the friendly family flu virus and threw up. So, we packed up and left the next morning to come back home...we knew we'd all be much more comfortable at home. Taylor threw up all through the night we before we left, but thankfully only once on our drive home...she just slept and slept, the poor girl. And then we got home, bathed the kids and an hour later Max threw up. We were all sick during the entire rest of Tom's vacation....and yes, I was depressed about it! Tom had been so busy with work so we were SO excited to have time together as a couple and a family; we had all these fun things we wanted to do...and then we ended up spending most of his time off taking alternating shifts of sleeping and caring for the kiddos. It was sad! That is why it has taken me SO long to put up these pictures!!! I just didn't want to be reminded of it! I think this next year, we will plan on having a much calmer, less populated and hopefully healthier Christmas vacation! It was great to see family and friends though! Just wish it would have had a happier conclusion! Oh well, there's my personal pity party that I knew would be coming when I posted these! ;-) Sorry! me and Amber (Tom's best friend from H.S.'s wife, I loved spending time with her when we lived in Logan)

and this is Tom's best friend from H.S. Eric...as you can probably imagine, he is quite entertaining! He's a junior high science teacher and had some fun stories for us!

here we are with two of Tom's brothers and their wives...one the left, John and Stacey and their boy Max's age Sam...and on the right Rob and Emily. We love these guys!

Max with a Christmas present...

Taylor with a Christmas present..

Taylor pretending to close her eyes...

Taylor wanted her chance laying in the cradle...

doing the nativity...

Taylor got to be Mary and Max was Jesus...it was pretty cute!

the fam shot!

Taylor and her cute cousin Sammi...

Maddie played the donkey! I think Maddie had the best time on this trip! She had so many kids to play with and to "clean" up "spills" after! And, (thankfully honestly!) she didn't get sick!

Tom making Taylor/Mary "pregnant"

Max in the car...these are reverse order if you haven't figured that out yet, by the way

road tripping...

So, Tom and I were listening to a book on tape (I can't even remember what it was) and Tom likes to "act" out things he hears and pictures in his mind...this is him doing just that! Isn't it hillarious!!! I LOVE my husband!

our stop at Applebee's...kids eat free on Tuesdays!

hanging out before we left in Mom and Dad's bed....

Get yourself to OLD NAVY this weekend!!!

My incredible sister in law Emily called me yesterday with the exciting news! Old Navy tends to have this awesome sale twice a year where all the clearance items go on an additional 50% off!!! It's so fun to get great stuff for so cheap! Anyway, the sale started there in Utah where Emily lives yesterday. Here where I live it starts tomorrow (and goes through the weekend) and some stores may not do it at all. So, I'd call the store before heading out to find out their status. Also, at some of the stores they let you purchase the stuff up to 2 weeks in advance and then bring the in receipt (you may need the stuff too) for a price adjustment once the sale starts (that's what the kiddos and I were up to this morning!) That way you miss the crowd and get earlier dibs on the stuff you want/need.

So, Happy Shopping Everyone!!!

50 SECRETS...

Of the World's longest living people...(Sally Beare)

I checked this book out at the library a couple weeks ago. I thought it sounded interesting...and it is SO interesting! I love it! I love learning about health and nutrition and this book has expounded my knowledge so much...my husband and I have had several conversations about food and lifestyle lately b/c of it. So, because of this book I have decided to learn more about preparing raw meals for my family (they have raw food preparation demos at Whole Foods) and we've also decided to become 'semi-vegetarians'. We already don't eat much meat and when we do it's usually turkey, but I think that we'll start only having meat in our meals 1-2 times per week. I'll replace the meat with beans or legumes which is great b/c it's a healthier version of protein but also so much cheaper!

Anyway, this book doesn't spend the whole time convincing you not to eat meat or to go totally raw...it just discusses five cultures in our world where the people typically live to be over 100 and then discusses 50 "secrets" or healthy habits that these people live by. She continually talks about eating things (like meat) in moderation and motivates you by explaining why certain things are so important. I've enjoyed it thoroughly b/c some of the secrets you're probably already familiar with but it goes in depth about the biology of our bodies (a topic I find fascinating!) and why we need certain nutrients, food, antioxidants, etc. Who doesn't want to live a longer, healthier, happier life?

Anyway, I highly recommend this book! It's very informational and motivational! If you do read it you'll have to let me know what you think!

Some of December...