How Liz became my SIL

What do you think of my new blog background? Did you know that I went an entire year without changing it? I know, it is a bit pathetic, but it is true. I manage to post, but making blogs all cute and personalized is not something that I do well! I have been playing around with this idea for a while, and finally asked my SIL, Liz, to help me. She was kind and helped me update my blog (aka – she did the whole thing while I looked on confused). I am very excited with the results!

As a thank you to Liz, I decided that I would do a post about her. I am sure she is so excited about this! I am going to tell you the story of how she became my sister-in-law. I think it is quite a funny!

In fall of 2005 my student ward got a big group of incoming freshman. Liz was among them. For the longest time I thought her name was Michelle, but that is beside the point. Karl (my brother) and I hung out with a really good group of people, and Liz began joining us. The more I got to know her, the more I liked her.

One Sunday dinner in November, while Karl was not home, I announced to my family that I had found the perfect girl for Karl, and that we all needed to start praying for them. While it was said in jest, I was kind of serious!

I remember my sister calling me in January to tell me that Karl had asked Liz on a first date. I was ecstatic! And then there was a second date. And a third.

Then, a few months later, I knew something was going on with the two of them. Everyone kept telling me that I needed to talk to Karl, but they couldn’t give me any details. I was so sure they had broken up. I was heart broken. I waited all night until my brother got home and demanded that he tell me what was going on. He gleefully informed me that he and Liz had decided to get married. I think I may have been as excited as they were.

So that is how my prayers were answered Liz became my SIL. Some pretty powerful prayers ;-)

Love you Liz! Thanks for your help with my blog!

AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Last night my family welcomed the new year with our traditional finger food feast. For as long as I can remember this has been how we spent new years eve. We always have a bunch of really yummy food, and no utensils are allowed on the table. Everything must be eaten with your fingers, or toothpicks. It is so much fun! This year we had quite the spread! It was wonderful!

For dessert my mom wanted to try a recipe she found for shortcut cannoli. I love cannoli's, and enjoyed these a lot. They aren't quite traditional, but taste amazing! We served them with fresh berries (where fresh berries come from in December, I don't know!) I thought it looked so pretty!

My friend, Kim, came over and joined in our celebration. After dinner we all enjoyed a movie together before heading off to watch a small firework show that my brother, Karl, was setting off. It was fun to see, and a great way to ring in the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

FELIZ NATAL!

We did Christmas a little early this year. Steve & Lacey went to Steve's house, while Karl & Liz went to Liz's house, so we held our festivities earlier this week. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the holidays.

All of us in our pretty pajamas.
Aren't we a good looking bunch?

Madison - the prettiest package

Ivy gave her momma a sock monkey so they can play together.

With the cutest nieces a girl could ask for!
(and wearing my super cute retro-style apron)

Eskimo kisses

I drew Steve's name for our gift exchange this year. Lacey told me what I could get him, but I felt like it was a little too boring. So I bought him a puzzle as well. With ALOT of help from my mom we put the puzzle together (I hate puzzles) and wrote where his present was hidden on the back of the puzzle. Then I gave him all of the puzzle pieces to put together. I unintentionally bought a puzzle that was WAY too hard. It took all of us working together to put it together. I don't think Steve was so thrilled with me.

But we did manage to get it all put together, and it led him to his gift . . .

Which was the 'Napoleon Dynamite' soundtrack
(Steve, it's only 'cuz I like you!)
Hope you don't draw my name next year!

Eric drew my name and gave me a set of books from an author that I really enjoy. All of the authors books are out of print, and HARD to get a hold of. They are also incredible. He gave me four (Lacey borrowed the fourth, she likes them as much as I do) and I can't wait to read them! THANKS BUD!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

A just in case stocking

As I have mentioned previously, I dream almost every day, and I almost always remember my dreams. Usually they are quite bizarre, and make no sense, but every once in a while an entertaining dream pops in there. Today I had one of those dreams.

First I have to explain something. When I was young my mom started an embroidery business. She could sew any design or logo on your choice of hat/shirt/bag/swimsuit etc. One of the best things that she ever made in my opinion was our Christmas Stockings.

When my mom first made these stockings she used coordinating materials for her and my dad, my grandparents, my brothers, and my sister and I. When Lacey and Karl got married (not to each other, of course) they got new stockings with material that coordinates with their spouses. They look like this:

I love our stockings, they are quite unique. The problem that we are having now is that my mom sold her business when we moved houses. So now we are trying to figure out how to make stockings for the grandkids. It has been discussed a bit in the past few days, which is probably why I had the dream I did today.

In my dream I came home to find that my mom had made me and my husband new stockings. (Yes, you read that right. But no, I am not married!) I told my mom that she really didn’t need to be doing that, and that she should be working on the little girl’s stockings. My mom turned to me and said “I thought I would have them ready, just in case”. To which I replied “Mom, I am not getting married before Christmas. You really don’t need to be working on these right now!” and she once again said “I know, but just in case . . .”

I woke up laughing. I can assure you, I will NOT be getting married before Christmas. I told my mom about my dream and she laughed with me. She knows that there is no reason to make a new stocking, even if it is just in case!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I love the holidays - and thanksgiving is no exception! I love the chance to get together with family, to sit and talk and play games. I love the traditional foods, and most importantly, I love the chance to remember all that I am thankful for! At the top of my list is my family!

This Thanksgiving was great. We had everybody together for the first time in five years. Between missions and semesters spent abroad, it has been a long time. We had lots of yummy food (including two types of sweet potatoes, HEAVEN!) and a enormous turkey that we will be enjoying for a long, long time! It was a fantastic day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

My week by numbers

This past week has been long, and at times hard, but I have also seen many blessings around me. The viewing and graveside service for my grandpa were really beautiful, and we couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. It was nice to see family and talk about all of the good times with grandpa.

The rest if my week was full as well. I tried to decide what to write about, and decided to stick it all in. So, I present to you, my week by numbers:

1- adorable sympathy card from 24 adorable first graders (and one great teacher)

2- projects done! (a movie for my social studies class, and a book for my first graders)

3- the number of times I tripped while going up the stairs on Friday (twice at home, once at work)

4- the number of days I DIDN'T have to scrape frost off my car this week!

5- hours spent on one project over two days (a six minute movie). Thanks for the help, Liz! It turned out great!

6- average hours of sleep per night.

7- meals where ham and scalloped potatoes were the main dishes. I am a bit hammed out.

8- comments left on my post about Grandpa. A Kate’s Corner record! Thanks for all of your support everyone!

9- pieces of dental floss I went through while trying to remove the first piece of dental floss that somehow got stuck between two teeth while I was flossing on Wednesday night. It took me half an hour, and my mouth was bleeding and sore by the end. It was the strangest thing ever!

10- number of snowflakes & love notes given to me on Friday (love first graders!)

1923 - 2008

Yesterday my Grandpa died. It was a hard day for us all, as he was such an incredible person whom we all loved so much. My dad is an only child, so my four siblings and I were my grandpa's only grandchildren. Because of this, Grandma and Grandpa have played a huge part in our lives. Summertime’s were spent at their home, Fridays were made for trips to Wendy’s, and each holiday was celebrated with family traditions, either at our house or theirs.

He loved being a grandpa. Perhaps the only thing he loved more was being a great-grandpa (or maybe golf). He had a special place in his heart for his Maddie, and Ivy, his “red-headed one”. They were able to make him smile like no one else could.

I will always picture him sitting in his porch swing, enjoying the nice summer days as he swung back and forth. I will remember him popping his dentures out to get a squeal, always the jokester. But most of all I will remember the love that he shared. I never, ever doubted how much he loved me. I am so grateful that I was blessed with such an incredible Grandpa who influenced my life so much.

Here is part of his obituary:

He was born August 2, 1923, in Ogden, UT. He was raised in Weston and Preston, Idaho, and served in the U.S. Army during WWII. His battalion landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. Upon discharge, he moved to Clearfield where he met and married his sweetheart, Norma, on July 3, 1947, whom he was later sealed to in the LDS temple.

He was raised during the depression, which combined with his experiences in WWII, left him with an understanding of the things that are most important. His family, both immediate and extended, was the love of his life.

As hard as it is to have him gone, I am so grateful to have the gospel, and the knowledge of eternal families. I know that I will see him again.

We will miss you!

Family Pictures - 2008 edition

A few weeks ago a budding photographer, Kristin, was kind enough to take family pictures for us. It was actually her first time taking pictures of a large family, but you would never know it! It was quite the circus, trying to get everyone positioned right, looking at the camera, and smiling, but they turned out so good! I LOVE them! Here are a few of my favorites:

The whole gang! (I love Maddie's expression here!)



My baby bro.



Awww . . .So cute!



Madison with Nana and Pop Pop



What is this?!? a portrait of myself I actually like!
Kristen, you are a miracle worker.



I am in love with Ivy's chubby cheeks!

Thanks so much Kristen!

Even More . . .

PUMPKINS! Yesterday our family did our annual pumpkin carving get together. I always forget how much work it really is to get these things carved (even though I always do the most simple of designs!) but it was fun! Here is a group shot of all our pumpkins:

And a close up of my masterpiece:

But the cutest pumpkin award goes to Liz. She didn't even do much. She just cut off the top of the biggest pumpkin she could find, cleaned out the seeds, and threw Maddie in there. Maddie LOVED it. She thought it was hilarious!

More Pumpkins!

For as long as I can remember, each year around Halloween we have gone to the pumpkin walk. The pumpkin walk is a fun event where people or groups create scenes based off of a theme - and everything (at least the majority of the stuff) in the scene is made out of pumpkins! It is always lots of fun, extremely entertaining, and FREE! Today we went with my grandparents so they could enjoy. It is fun to see at night, too, when it is all lit up. I really do love pumpkins!

This was one of my favorite scenes. It was a hospital. I thought the woman that was puking her "guts" (aka pumpkin seeds) out was hilarious. And can you see all of the babies made of little pumpkins on the right hand side? It was really cute! (you can click on the pictures to get a better view)

This was another favorite, "Noah's Ark". I thought it was so clever how they used pumpkins as elephant bums. And the tumbleweeds for the sheep. How do people come up with these things?

Until Steve arrived towards the end, it was just Grandpa and all his girls going through the Pumpkin Walk. When we mentioned that he had alot of girls with him he said "Good! I like girls!" It was so much fun!

PUMPKINS!

I love pumpkins! I love to carve them, I love to paint them. I love the smell of them. But most of all, I love to eat them! Yum, Yum, Yum! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin roll, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Ice Cream (from Cold Stone - Sooooooo Good!) you name it, I love it! This week I found special edition Pumpkin Spice Quaker oatmeal at the store. Of course, I had to buy some. It was good (though not super pumpkin-ey). One thing that I had never done and always wanted to was make a dinner in a pumpkin. This year we finally tried it, and this was the end result:

You clean out a pumpkin and fill it with a stuffing made with LOTS of things. Then you bake it. When you serve it you take a scoop of the stuffing, and you scrape the cooked pumpkin off the sides to eat along with it. It was my first time eating pumpkin as a squash side dish, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! Definitely a worthy effort. Plus, I think it turned out so pretty! It fed 12 people quite easily. I think this is going to become a yearly tradition in our home!

This is what our supper looked like after Liz and Steve got to it. They pulled off pieces of the pumpkin skin and created a "Jack-o-lantern". I think it looks like ET.

Madison found her Uncle Eric's hat. She loved it. Doesn't she look adorable?

Racin' in the Snow

Today was the Red Ribbon Run against drugs. There was a 5K run, and a mile walk. My friend, Bethany, and I did the run, and I talked my family into doing the walk. All week they have been predicting snow for today, but I didn't believe it. I woke up this morning to howling wind and trees bent over. I prayed that the weather would hold off just until after the race.

Apparently it worked, because as the race was about to begin it cleared up a bit and the wind backed off. It was CHAOS! I would guess that over a thousand people showed up, even with the insanely cold weather. The 5Kers started first, so Beth and I were off. Yes, I ran in this hat. At least until it got too hot and I took it off.

As I rounded the first corner the ipod I was using died. So I ran the race musicless. My Newsies couldn't get me through. Thank goodness Bethany was with me! It actually wasn't that bad. When we had about a half mile to go it started snowing pretty hard. I was so excited. I love snow! But I can't believe that it is snowing in October.

As we approached the finish line we began to pass the mile walkers. I was looking around for my fam, and then we passed them! Dad and Karl ran with us the last half block, and we crossed the finish line as I created a new personal best - 28:44. So exciting!

My cute parents.

When we crossed the finish line we all got these medals. Madison wasn's sure how she felt about the race, or her new green marshmellow coat, but she sure liked her medal! It was so much fun! Give me another year and I will have them all running the 5K with me!

Duathlon . . . WE DID IT!

A couple of weeks ago my dad came home with a registration form for a duathalon. I had never heard of one before, and I still think they may have made up the word just for this event :) It is a race consisting of a 2 mile run, a 13 mile bike ride, and then another 2 mile run. There was the option to either do it individually, or on a team with one person running and the other riding. I told my dad that I would run it if he would ride it, and so we signed up!

It would have been a perfect day for the race, if it hadn't been for all of the wind. As I was doing the first 2 miles I was struggling, and I knew that my dad was going to have quite the headwind going up in the canyon. I got back, tagged him, and off he went.

Here he is riding into the finish line. He said it was the hardest ride he has ever done. Besides the wind, there are lots of hills, but he did a great job! Good job dad!

And here I am at the end. It was a very different racing experience. Because of all the switching we were quite spread out by the time we crossed the finish line. Our goal was to finish in 1 hour and 30 minutes. We almost made it. I really tried to push it at the end, but we still ended up with 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 22 seconds. 22 seconds away from our goal! But we did it! And it was lots of fun!

Tribute to Tigger

Last Friday my sweet cat, Tigger, died. It was a very sad day as Tigger has been such a huge part of our family for the last 19 years (yes, 19). The truth is that I can't really remember life before her. I do remember my sister bringing her home though. I was 4 years old and my sister brought her home from her friends house in her little pink bike basket. As I am sure you can imagine, Tig didn't like that so well! I wanted so badly to name her Samantha (after the girl on 'Who's the Boss'), but Tigger was chosen instead. And it fit.

The first year of her life she was not a very friendly cat. Then one winter night she accidentally got left outside. She found that our neighbors car engine was warm, and climbed up inside to sleep. The next morning when our neighbor turned on his car he had a really yucky surprise. It did some major damage, but my mom couldn't bear to put her to sleep (dad was on a business trip). A week later she returned home, sewn together and with her jaw wired shut. Miraculously, she recovered fully. And even better, it seemed to have changed her.

Where she hadn't been a very kind kitty before, she became the sweetest, most loving cat you could ever imagine. If you were sick, she knew it. She would cuddle up to you and not leave until you were feeling better. When we moved to a place with lots of fields she learned to catch mice she became an expert mouser, keeping our house mice-free.

Tigger had a very odd trait. When she wanted anything (to go outside, or to be fed, etc) She would turn around and use her back foot to quickly thump the wall behind her several times. you know thumper on 'Bambi'? It was just like that. It is hard to explain, but I have never seen another cat do anything like it. Several times I thought someone was knocking on the door before I figured out it was Tigger. We always joked about recording her and sending it to America's Funniest Home Videos. She only stopped doing this a few months ago as she began to get sick.

She loved my niece, Maddie, and would sit patiently, letting Maddie pull her fur, acting like Maddie was scratching her ears in just the right way. It was adorable! And since my Grandparents moved in she had taken to lounging with them throughout the day, giving them attention and love. They just adored her.

Yes, Tigger has been a huge part of our family over the last 19 years. She will be very missed.

Family Fun!

In Bear Lake there is a cute little theater called “Pickleville Playhouse”. Each summer they put on two plays. This year they were doing Thoroughly Modern Millie. My family has been talking about going for weeks, but we finally got around to it, seeing as summer is drawing to an end. We went over and enjoyed hamburgers and shakes, and then went to the play.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was honestly the best play I have ever seen at Pickleville! It was so good! It is a tiny stage, but they manage to put on such a good show. I think my niece Madison enjoyed it more than anyone else. She danced all over the place when they were dancing, and waved her arms all around in the air. We had to put her binkie in when she started singing along at the top of her lungs. It was adorable. I will not be surprised if she grows up to be an actress :)

On Saturday we celebrated Madison’s 1^st birthday. She got lots of presents, but was really only interested in the very first one she opened (her first cell phone, which she already knows how to use, even if a bit backwards). There was lots of good food, and then Maddie got to play with her birthday cake. It took her a while to figure out what to do with the cake, but once she got the hang of it she got it all over the place! It was so much fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE JO!

Jackson Hole: Take Two!

This last week I got to go to Jackson Hole again. I know I went two weeks ago, but Jackson is so wonderful, I don’t mind going twice in a summer (honestly, I wouldn’t mind living there for the entire summer!) This time I went with my parents, my little brother, my SIL Liz, niece Madison, and my friend Bethany. Unfortunately, the rest of our family couldn’t come due to work, but we still tried to have fun ;)

We left on Wednesday morning and arrived in Jackson late in the afternoon. The trip was a bit long (and filled with lots of construction and accidents) but we finally got there! That night it was over to the Bar-J Wranglers for a yummy dinner and a great show!

We woke up early the next day to get ready to hit the Snake River. Maddie kept us all entertained as we got breakfast ready.

While our family generally takes a raft down the river, my dad and I have always wanted to try rafting the river in duckies (little two person rafts). Since we had less people with us on this trip we decided that it was the perfect opportunity! Dad and Eric went down in one, and Bethany and I went down in the other (the duckies really didn’t appeal to Mom or Liz, so Bethany came along to be my rafting buddy) Here we are before we set off on our adventure!

I have always loved river rafting, but never been in charge of guiding the boat! Bethany had never rafted the river before, so it was my responsibility to get us in the right place and not get us killed! I got quite the workout and ended up putting us in lots of eddies! On our first trip down I didn’t see a rock in front of us, and we ended up stuck on top of the rock! My dad and brother were further downstream, and couldn’t stop laughing. Right at the end of the first trip we hit a rough rapid sideways that almost threw both of us out of the boat, but just Bethany was lucky enough to go swimming!

By the second trip down we had gotten the hang of things and enjoyed the rapids! It was awesome! I will definitely be going down the river in one of these things again!

That night we went back to camp and enjoyed tin foil dinners and peach cobbler. I love camping food! I don’t think it gets much better!

We headed home Friday morning. It was a short trip, but very enjoyable!