this is too amazing NOT to post... our niece is a natural talent what can we say! let's not forget she works her TAIL off all week though and this doesn't just come over night. this photo is of our incredibly athletic niece Myka Wilden (Cherilyn and Rick's second daughter). seriously how impressive is this! and she's only 8 years old. oh how i can only WISH i did gymnastics... dallin got to... and i'm jealous. just wanted to brag about our family genes ;)

disneyland IS Christmas!

hAppY neW YeArs 2oO9!

topped off the new year's celebration this year with broomball hockey! our favorite new year's tradition sponsored by our wonderful friends the jambors! and of course we have to mention that the thomas team won... per the USUAL!

xXooXOXxoxXOx!!

the Thomases in california together!

due to the wonderful blessing that both thomas brothers married women from sunny southern california... the boys PLANNED their Christmases to forever be on the same rotation. Christmas in CA this year and Christmas together in UT next! aren't they clever ;)

so this year, on the CA rotation, we spent a few hours together and painted some pottery! aren't these the cutest mugs ever??!! (our pottery, not our faces... although, Shannon is quite the cute pregnant lady! she's due in june... we can't wait!)

can you stand on your head? part II

this is dallin's go round... aka this is NOT how to drink water from a cup while standing on your head... good laughs though. and these are the memories we take with us. hA!

can you stand on your head?

drinking a cup of water while doing a headstand... sounds easy, until the person doing the headstand gets water up their nose. here's my sister trisha doing it... like a pro.

disneyland IS Christmas!!

my mom is probably THE best disneyland goer there is... AND as it is her MOST favorite thing to do, and Christmas probably her favorite holiday, why not combine the two and MULTIPLY what really equals happy! now if only she figures out how to integrate missionary work in addition to this happy day, THEN will she have accomplished her ULTIMATE dream day EVER! my mom, lisa, brent, dallin, and i celebrated our holiday at the happiest place on earth! "oh happy day... i think i'll say that again... oh happy day!"

HERO...

dallin has decided to join this mentor big brother program called HERO. here's his little brother Trevarious. doesn't he look so proud sitting in the driver's seat of the polaris ;) dallin took him driving around our 86 acres. they had a blast!

home sweet home...

for those of you who haven't been to our barn, we live in the woods on a hill... i took this shot on a walk with anika one night. i think it looks cozy...

Superbowl CHAMPIONS!

dallin and i... along with our favorite forsyths (and some others), joined a flag football league. after a season battle we ended up champions! i've included the highlights from the Superbowl... oh and the 12 and 21 thomas jerseys, it just happened to be our best play "twelve twenty-one baby!" Bunch a' sweaty scrubs....

Congratulations to Jacobs for winning the Concourse League championship last night!! They defeated Auto Trader 27-21 in a classic game that went down to the very last play.

Auto Trader jumped on the scoreboard 1st with a long bomb on their first drive of the game to take the lead 6-0. Jacobs would have to punt on their 1st drive but would be able to tie the game after an interception would give them the ball back. After the 1st quarter the game was tied 6-6.

The 2nd quarter was just as tight as both teams were able to score and both defenses made some excellent plays to keep the game tied 12-12 at half. Auto Trader would score 1st on an interception return for a TD and after the extra point they would lead 19-12. Jacobs would answer back but was unable to convert the extra point and Auto Trader would still lead 19-18 after 3 quarters.

In the 4th quarter Jacobs would score a female TD for 9 pts to lead 27-19 but Auto Trader would intercept an return the extra point to a 2pt score and the would trail on 27-21. Auto Trader would get an interception to get the ball back with less than 5 minutes to play but Jacobs team Captain Lisa made a great interception to give Jacobs the ball back with a chance to put the game out of reach. Auto Trader's defense tightened up and on 4th and goal knocked the ball away to get the ball back with less than 2 minutes and no time outs.

Down 6 Auto Trader would need to drive the entire field to tie the game up. They were able to move the ball to the 40 yard line and had one final Hail Mary for a chance to tie. The Auto Trader receiver slipped and Jacobs was able to knock the ball down and seal the win 27-21. Congrats to Jacobs and Auto Traders for a GREAT Championship game!

here's the oposing team... our season enemies. in the season we actually lost to them, for our only loss. they were serious trash talkers, and well one thing led to another and some guy on their team swung at our team... wasn't pretty. alas, these thugs went DOWN in the superbowl! haha!

tis the season!

dallin and i have "attempted" to have family home evenings... for this one we made chocolate covered pretzels and pumpkin bread! yum and de-lish! dallin wanted to thank his master's thesis advisors because CHECK CHECK he's officially finished!!!

little snippets of Glenridge Hall

our first "official" christmas!

seriously, what would Christmas be if we didn't decorate a tree?? pretty much not Christmas at all... so dallin and i decorated our first little newlywed tree... we love it! i used magnolia leaves and nandina berries all around our "barn" (aka our home), on the piano, bookshelf, cupboard, (not sure if you can tell that from the photos), but nothing like using natural elements to bring the season indoors! merry Christmas to all!

opening the ornaments...

topping the tree with a wooden star...

view of the living room... the little 4.5 foot tree greets everyone upon entrance to our home ;) and you can see it through our windowed front doors... so cozy...

and our antique 1912 piano with the magnolia leaves... funny the piano fits with the 1915 barns! Tah-dah! and Ho Ho Ho!

oh blow dallin blow!

the beauty of fall and all the leaves!

gives my husband something fun to do on a simply gorgeous saturday afternoon...

don't you just love the changing of seasons?? i do...

death in a bottle

wonder what this is?? it's a disease in the making...

i've hesitated to share the following photo, mostly for my personal pride, but after much contemplation decided it is all for the better to share. beginning in october i started to notice these random spots all over my body-- typically on my hands, wrists, feet, forearm, shins, calves, ears, and then one day my face-- to which i diagnosed myself the "quasimodo disease."unfortunately it came just one week early to halloween-- it could have been an award winning costume.

after two months of what the doctor diagnosed as "hives" or common allergic reaction, and two weeks of writing EVERYthing i ate or put in my mouth, nothing seemed to match how many new spots i was receiving a day. the more i itched, scratched, the bigger the spots spread... i truly concentrated on NOT scratching, but who can control that in the middle of the night!

until one day, it dawned on me, two months ago i purchased this new refill, nothing fancy hand soap. to which i have now dubbed DEATH IN A BOTTLE. yup. after not using this soap anymore, i've had ZIP ZERO ZILCH... NO hives. the pieces all made more sense after this blessed epiphany... once i had the hives i used the soap ten times more to wash my hands of the cream i was using to stop the OUT OF CONTROL itching and swelling. i began to wash them even more when they were getting worse for fear of spreading them to myself. when my feet are cold i habitually wash my feet in the bathroom sink and wash them with the handsoap to warm them up. and the day i woke up as quasimodo, the night previous i used the simple handsoap to remove my make-up from sunday.

nothing soft about this!

alas, this is my plea to friends and family... please don't purchase this hand soap. not sure any of you would have the same reaction, but who wants to find out? and, i'd like to be sanatary, if this is all you offer for handsoap then you can guarantee i won't be washing my hands. and i'll be sure to wipe my hands all over you ;), your children, and your little dog too...

Anika turns ONE!

so officially anika's birthday is november 6 2007... and she's ONE! just some pics of our little angel... i know... pictures of my dog turning one?? isn't it obvious i have no children.... haha!
fun to see she went from brunette to blond ;)