Larry, Amy, Abigail & Chloe

Chloe turns 9 (last May)

2011-11-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

Chloe's birthday was this last May on the 31st. She turned a whopping 9 years old. I cannot believe that my "Baby" is 9!

She had a GREAT day, getting TONS of Justin Bieber things.

Then we celebrated her birthday together with Anna's and she was spoiled a little more!

Chloe's Baptism Day - November 6, 2010

2011-11-24T12:15:00.000-08:00

Yes I am a year behind on this one as well. :) But here it is.

Her baptism day was a WONDERFUL day. She was surrounded by LOTS of family and friends. It is a day she will remember always!

Abi is 11 - part 2

2011-11-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Abi had a great day at school, then she had Karate where they sang to her as well. After Karate we headed to iHop for dinner (yummy) and then we had cake at home.

All in all a GREAT day for Abi!

Abi is 11

2011-11-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

This is from this morning before Larry went to work and the girls to school. She said her day is GREAT so far. Tonight, more family and IHOP for dinner.

{Spring Chicks}

2011-11-21T10:41:00.001-08:00

Okay so this is a post from APRIL, we got chicks!!!! 4 black ones for us, and then we also raised 8 white ones. 4 for my brother and 4 for my parents. They were SO SO SO cute for a few weeks, then they got ugly lol.

I only took pictures when they were so cute and cuddly. The girls had a BLAST holding them, feeding them and taking care of them.

Abi's 10th birthday!!!!

2011-11-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

...wich was November 21st, 2010! yes i said 2010. That is how far behind i am lol. Her birthday is next week as she will turn 11 then :) So i figured i better get last years in.

This is from her friend party she had...

And this is from our Family Party... (and Thanksgiving lol)

Hopefully i will post her 11th birthday before she turns 12 lol

{ a little bragging }

2011-07-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

So I know this happened a few months ago, but I just got around to making the scrapbook page...

So proud of my Abigail for writing such an AWESOME story and winning at her grade level!

{Lake... BIG lake} day 5

2011-07-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

So day 5 - Friday - was by far the BEST day of the trip. We woke up early went to the beach to meet up with our boat. We loaded her up full of coolers and fun then headed onto the lake.

We decided to go down Moki Canyon and decided to find a place to "park" so we could jump in the water, have fun on the slide and just have a GREAT time. Since it was Friday it was busy and we did not stay long down Moki Canyon. There were tons of other people who had the same idea. We headed further down Lake Powell and found a cove where we were the only ones. We dropped anchor again and had tons of fun.

My brothers jumped off the cliff into the water, our girls swam and had a great time, Larry fished, and we all found some shade for shelter. We stayed there for the remainder of the day and then slowly made our way back.

We had another fun night making dinner over a fire, making some s'mores and just relaxing.

The next morning we woke up early, packed everything up, brought back half the beach in our suitcase and tent and drove the RV back to civilization.

We had a GREAT time and it was the first time EVER we have taken our girls on an almost week long vacation. Larry and I had a week long vacation for our honeymoon, but that is almost 12 years ago, so I think we deserved it.

{Lake... BIG lake} day 4

2011-07-07T19:48:00.001-07:00

Day 4-
We decided to rent a boat for Thursday, so we wake up early again as usual... Head down to the docks, only to be told that the wind is TOO strong and that it would be better if we went out on Friday instead. So now what do we do with all of us ready to have fun... It is windy, it is hot... so we head to the visitors center. They have some really cool movies about Glen Canyon National Park, and on how Lake Powell came to be. The girls explored around and became Junior Rangers.

After killing some time there we headed to the beach once more to have fun with the whole gang.
After TONS of suntan lotion and being completely soaked and tired we head back to our campsite to rest from the day.

Day 4 was better than the previous days, we did not break anything, nothing blew up, but we also had yet to go onto the lake for more than a few minutes...

{Lake... BIG lake} day 3

2011-07-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Day 3 -

We decided to take the boat out again this day... We were out in the middle of the lake and white smoke started coming from all sides of the boat, we had blown the head gasket on the engine... I started paddling back to shore, we slowly ran the engine to get back to the dock and decided to stow the boat at the campsite. My dad vowing that "old Spice" would be "sold Spice" when we got home.

The rest of the family would be joining us for the rest of the week and now we were boatless = funless...

My parents (the heroes of this story) decided to rent a boat for a whole day so we would at least be able to use our life jackets.

We ended up spending the rest of the day swimming at the beach, fishing for Larry and relaxing back at camp.

{Lake... BIG lake} day 2

2011-07-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

We woke up nice and early on day 2 (mainly because the sun hit the tent and it was 100 degrees inside right away lol) We headed out to explore the beach and where we could launch the boat. We decided to launch the boat, but there were some bigger waves and the wind had picked up. The wind was at about 40 miles an hour but we decided to try it anyways. We launched the boat, turned the engine on, and it revved REALLY loud and would not stop. After trying to start it without revving so hard for a few times, we decided maybe we were NOT supposed to launch today. So we pulled the boat back out and decided to double check everything with the engine first.

The girls swam at the beach for a little bit, we wanted them to get wet a little at least lol)

Larry and my dad, with the help of the town mechanic, figured out what was wrong with the boat and fixed it. It was too windy to try again, so the beach it was for the rest of the day. The water was warm (70's) and we had fun. Hot Dogs on a campfire at night and aloe for our burned bodies

{Lake... BIG lake}

2011-07-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

We went to Lake Powell with most of the Brouwer family and had a grand ole time... Here is day 1

{after the LONG drive there, we set up camp, had a nice dinner and kind of looked around a little... that was basically day 1}

I am working on the scrapbook page of day 2

I want to be like Abi...

2011-04-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Always wanting to be like her big sister... Chloe decided to get her ears pierced as well. It took a few trips as well of "Yes I am ready now" and "Can we come back next week", but now both my girlies have their ears pierced and they look super cute!

{ another post }

2011-04-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

So here is another post from a LONG time ago... December 2010.
Abi wanted to get her ears pierced and after weeks of going back and forth saying "yes I want them pierced" and "maybe in a few weeks" we finally went.

She cried before the lady even started, but after wards she was WAY excited and told us it actually did NOT hurt at all.

She is a cutie with her pierced ears :)

{ a NEW year }

2011-03-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

So I have WAY too many pictures and stories I have not blogged about... I just don't know where to begin, so This will be totally random, and there will be no chronological order to any of my posts, but I will hopefully get caught up this way.

So I will start with this one... January 1st 2011

There was TONS of snow in Highland, and a HUGE hill right down the street from my parents, so instead of going home after our New Years Party, we all crashed at my parents house. We slept on beds, couches and floors, but we had a TON of fun. We raided the closet for winter boots, hats, scarfs and sleds and headed to the GIANT hill. The girls had a blast, my mom even went down the hill on the back of Justins sled.

Hopefully this year will bring MORE joy, and LESS accidents for the White House!

Alright... Alright... I will try again.

2011-03-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

So yes my blogging has been LACKING to say the least. I just need to find some time to do this once a week to catch up, so I am deciding to "TRY" to post on Sundays when the entire gang is taking naps :) So we will see if I can get a post this Sunday!

SOCCER SOCCER SOCCER...

2010-11-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

i LOVE soccer!
My brother called me to tell me that he had tickets for a REAL Salt Lake Soccer Game! So we went on a triple date with my brother Mark and his wife Jennifer, and with my other HUGE soccer fan brother Paul and his wife Nicole.

it was AWESOME!

Little Haunts of Fun

2010-11-10T08:12:00.001-08:00

So I won tickets on the radio to go to "little haunts" at This is the Place Heritage Park. I received 8 tickets and so I took my girls, their 3 friends, and my sister in law Jennifer and her daughter Kaity. Tickets normally for this would be $9 for adults and $7 for kids. So that was a pretty good deal. :)

This is the Place Heritage Park is a Pioneer park where they have old homes and show you how the pioneers lived. For Halloween they make it "haunted" and during the day it is less scary hence the "little haunts".

So the girls did some trick or treating at the log homes, some Halloween games and listened to some witch stories. It was fun for them and they were not stuck at home on a nice day when there was no school.

Jason Derulo

2010-11-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

So I won free tickets on the radio to see Jason Derulo in concert!

Lucky for me, he was there with B.o.B, IYEZ and Auburn as well. It was AWESOME!

FREE !

2010-11-10T07:49:00.001-08:00

So October was a pretty cool month for me in the "winning cool stuff for free" category. We went to Ladies Night at Deseret Book while the guys went to the Priesthood Session at conference, and I won a FREE book.

Larry and I just finished reading it last night together. It was a VERY good book.

Then I won tickets on the radio to take my girls and 3 neighbor girls to "little haunts" at This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. (I have another post for that) So we had a fun day there. Normally tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for kids, and I won 8 for FREE.

Then I won tickets to see Jason Derulo in concert! And I was entered into a contest to actually meet him as well. I got called a few days later to tell me that I had ALSO won the "meet and greet" and was gonna meet him in person.

So I would say my October was Pretty good in winning category :)

{ FaMiLy PiCtUrE tImE }

2010-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

I love Family Picture time! I love decorating our home after wards with the beautiful faces of our girls and the goofy family shots we added in between.

We took these in between the Sunday Conference Sessions in the park across from the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We were not the only ones who had that exact same idea. :)

I love how we can see Larry's knee brace in the one of all 4 of us (what a memory that will be a few years from now.)

Back to School.... again!

2010-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

This year I was not as prepared as normal to have the girls go back to school. The day they went back Larry was still in the hospital and so he did not get to see them off. I was at the hospital till late the night before, and went back as soon as the bus picked them up.

They made it though, with new clothes, shoes and backpacks!
I found the scrapbook page I did last year (not as pretty lol) but it was fun to see them both side by side to see the difference.

2010

2009 Back to School

So the 1st few weeks of school was a little harder for the girls since I was not completely focused on them with Larry in the hospital. But they are doing extremely well in school right now. We had one parent teacher conference already and got rave reviews from both teachers. :)

Oh Summer where have you gone...

2010-11-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome summer. We swam LOTS at our pool with friends and just our little family.

We went to the Splash Park in Highland a bunch of times. It was FREE and FUN and so of course we had to go there.

I cleaned out our garage and put our old TV in it, hooked the wii up and I could keep an eye on my kids (and all the neighborhood ones) and just have fun playing Guitar Hero and such outside. Jumping on the trampoline with the sprinklers on is always a summertime classic and WAY too much fun.

We ate at some new places for lunches... had a BIZILLION snowcones. Tigersblood is still Larrys fav, Abi LOVED them all but was partial to the weddingcake flavor, Chloe liked the cotton candy and bubblegum ones (too sweat for me) and I discovered my new favorite... PINK LEMON SOUR! The girl at the snowcone shack knew us by name at the end of the summer and knew what we were gonna order before we told her.

We had our "sneaky" fun when we drew a chalk outline by the pool since they had closed it and had put caution tape around it... We wanted to smear fake blood as well, but figured it would stain the concrete and then we would REALLY get in trouble. We told all the neighborhood kids someone died by the pool and got a good laugh when they believed us.

All in all, a VERY successful summer, and we knew it was the end of summer when Larry broke his leg, and the girls went back to school. :)

{ Larry's Longboarding Career }

2010-11-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Alright I am now blogging about the accident that put a hold on my blogging for a bit. See this happened the end of August, and yes we are in November now.

Larry was longboarding in front of my parents house in Highland, we were all together for a birthday party for my mom, and my nephew had just returned home from his mission to Edmonton Canada.

All the boys were goofing around and Larry's board started to wobble and threw him off. He landed on his left knee, rolled and then just stopped. He dislocated his knee, scraped his elbow and arm, and hit his head pretty darn hard.

His knee cap was on the side of his knee, and so we could NOT move him safely, his eyes were also starting to roll and so we called the ambulance. After waiting a whopping 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, they had to try and get him on the board, then on the stretcher... not too fun since every time they moved him he screamed.

He was taken to American Fork hospital where they wheeled him into the ER. They had to move him once again from the stretcher to the ER bed... (screaming once again, poor guy)

The ER doctor popped his knee back into place when they moved him to the ER bed, and boy I think the entire hospital heard him. They called in an orthopedic surgeon who came and took x-rays and cat scans. He had broken his "Tibial Plateau". This is the top part of the Tibia.

The surgeon said that he wanted to transfer Larry to a more "experienced" orthopedic surgeon since it was pretty bad. They checked Larry into the American Fork hospital (once again he needed to be moved from the ER bed to a hospital bed, and yes still in pain)

The next morning (Sunday) another ambulance came and picked him up... once again he had to be moved from the Hospital bed to the stretcher... then off to Utah Valley regional Medical Center.

He was seen by Dr. Bacon at UVRMC, and he scheduled him for his 1st surgery. His knee was so swollen that he wanted to put an external fixation around his knee, to keep things in place and wait a week for his main surgery. He checked out his leg and discovered that Larry was starting to suffer from "compartment syndrome", this is when the leg is SO swollen that it starts to pinch the nerves and can cause permanent damage. He quickly opened up an ER room, called in an anesthesiologist, and surgical crew and got Larry down to surgery.

The surgery went well, and Larry had to stay in the hospital till Thursday that week. He tried to walk with crutches, but that did not work. So they helped Larry walk with a walker. He was having such a hard time. He went home high on anything and everything they could give him, and his leg still hurt. He has such a high medicine tolerance that they had to give him pretty high doses of all the medicine. His Blood pressure had been high the entire week (180/120) His oxygen was low as well, and he needed to be on constant oxygen.

He came back to the hospital on Monday the 30th of August for the 2nd surgery. We got there at 5:30 am, the surgery started at 7 and Larry was up in his room after noon. It was a LONG wait. The doctor was very pleased how everything fit back together again inside, but said that when he opened up his leg he was surprised at how bad it looked. He fixed him up good though.

Now he was on these high painkillers for the 2nd surgery, and he had been on MAJOR painkillers since the 21st. The painkillers hardly worked so they gave him HIGH HIGH doses. He started to become delusional, and tried to leave his bed. He fell a few times as he tried to just walk away. He thought he was being held in an abandoned hospital against his will, and he was SO confused. He started to think ALL the medicine was doing this to him. So he started to refuse his medicine cold turkey. After 2 days he started to "wake up" from his hallucinations. On Friday morning he woke up "sane" and feeling good. He was discharged, and came home.

He is doing awesome now, and is going to physical therapy and is able to bend his knee 110 degrees.

He is also back to work, and doing terrific. He is SO strong and I am SO proud of all the "bad luck" he has faced and that he is still smiling :)

Welcome Home Elder Brulla

2010-11-09T09:30:00.001-08:00

So my nephew returned home from his successful LDS mission in Edmonton Canada. He came home a few months ago on August 18th. He is now engaged and getting married soon, so I better blog about this before I blog about a wedding. :)

{his fiancee is also from his mission, and he knew her before, so it may seem like it was "fast" but it was actually perfect lol}

Happy Anniversary

2010-11-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

So I am slowly catching up since it is now November. Maybe before 2011 starts I will be caught up. Well we had our 11 year anniversary on August 14th. It is also my brothers birthday that day, and so we went to Utah lake with some of my family. We boated around, ate hot dogs and had a great day! Then Larry and I went camping in Lehi (I know so far away right?) and went fishing on the Jordan River. It was a nice relaxing day and evening.

I am thinking maybe we should do this again next year!

After the parade... { July 10, 2010 }

2010-11-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

After our FUN steel days parade in American Fork, Chloe and I headed to our Macey's grocery store in Pleasant Grove. We definitely have the BEST grocery store EVER! They always have fun things in their parking lot, and they are SUPER friendly!

After the parade, we got to see the Macey's parade up close, and they also have a small "petting zoo" in the parking lot as well. Chloe LOVED every minute of it!!!

And who does not love to get the 25 cent Hot Dogs, Drinks and Cotton Candy they always sell at these events as well!!!

Steel Days in American Fork!

2010-09-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Steel Days are one of the Summer parties we ALWAYS go to. My niece is in the American Fork marching band and so we HAVE to go to support them for sure. The band puts on a fundraiser breakfast in the morning, then the AWESOME parade and of course the FUN carnival rides. :)

July 10, 2010

4th of July 2010

2010-09-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

So yes it is September, but I am now just done with the 4th of July scrapbook pages.

We love the 4th of July. The parades, the fireworks, the carnival rides...

The summer months are full of these parades and carnivals and those are a few of the things that make the summer so much fun!!!

A "new" member of the family

2010-08-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

So this happened July 1st and I am now just getting too it now.

My brother Paul and his wife Nicole just added number 2 to their family. Aubrie was born last December and the adoption was finalized June 30th so they took her to the Temple on July 1st to be sealed to their little family. Big brother Isaac got to join them as well.

Aubrie is a cutie and a perfect fit into their little family, we are so excited to watch and see her grow :)

11 years and counting...

2010-08-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated 11 years... I cannot believe it has gone by SO FAST. I still remember going to bed super late on Friday the 13th as we hung lights all over my parents back yard for the reception. Waking up early to get EVERYONE ready as we had 4 families all crammed together in my parents home. Getting to the temple being all giddy, nervous and excited. Having my mom help me get ready in the bridal room. Walking into the room to see all of our friends and family there just for us. I got teary eyed then already... Making those sacred and special vows together as a couple, and hearing those special words... together FOREVER.

I could not be happier than I am today. I have everything I need!

Never Enough....

2010-07-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

WHY are there never enough hours in the day to do everything? I am SO ready for my kids to go back to school so I can actually finish a project. They are ready to go back to school as well I think. They are driving each other nuts, and me in the process. :)

I am so ready to scrapbook ALL the pictures I have on my computer. They are just waiting to be made into cool scrapbook pages as well, but alas I have NO time during the day. My schedule is completely out of the window with having to entertain my kids ALL DAY LONG. So YES, I am looking forward to school.

Well enough griping and groaning for one day. I better get back to the HUGE pile of laundry, the other HUGE pile of dishes, the vacuuming and cleaning up after 2 rugrats, and of course the NUMEROUS photos on my computer...

Our Garden of Eden

2010-07-24T21:59:00.001-07:00

Our Garden is growing so well. We are able to eat vegetables we grow ourselves and it is SO awesome!

We have been able to get 1 Squash, a bunch of peas, some carrots, onions, a green bell pepper and some spinach already.

We are excited to see the rest of our garden grow. We are looking forward for our corn and tomatoes to be ready. We are learning SO SO much and are so grateful we have a garden to help us with some of our vegetable needs.

Some cool adventures...

2010-07-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

So we went up the Pleasant Grove canyon a few weeks ago with some of our friends.

We made some great grilled cheese sandwiches and s'mores. We then headed up to an awesome waterfall about a mile or so up the mountain... We had a great time and definitely need to do it again, and again.

sTrAwBeRrY dAyS cHiLdReNs PaRaDe

2010-07-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

So this happened BEFORE we went to Moab, but I forgot lol

We had our annual Strawberry Days Children's Parade in Pleasant Grove. So we got together as a ward, and walked in the parade. The theme this year was "dream big" and so we had the children dress up as what they would like to be when they grow up. (not all the kids wanted to dress up, but some did)

We had TONS of fun as always, even though the weather decided to NOT cooperate with us. It was overcast, WINDY, and a little cold. BUT we still had fun!!!

Fathers Day Weekend FUN

2010-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

So yes this happened LAST month, but better late than never to blog about it.

So for Fathers Day Weekend we decided to go and camp at our favorite place.... MOAB. We headed out Thursday after Larry got home from work. We set up camp Thursday evening, then Friday morning Larry made us a great breakfast and we headed to Arches National Park (one of our favorite places to go). We have been there numerous times, but it NEVER gets old.

We decided to hike some arches we have not hiked in the past. Landscape Arch was one of the ones we did that day, and a bunch of other ones.

We made DELICIOUS grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Added some juicy watermelon and smores and it was a perfect evening.

Saturday morning Larry made us a delicious banana pancake breakfast, and we packed up our car and headed back to Arches for some more exploring.

After Arches we headed to Dead Horse Point, and what a view that was. Gorgeousness for miles around. We walked and admired the views for a bit, then got back in the car and headed home.

We made it home by Saturday evening and had an enjoyable night. Sunday morning at home was breakfast in bed for Larry. Since he made us breakfast the last few days (and all the other meals as well). All in all a great trip. We are ready to go back again...

{ The Best Dad }

2010-07-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

So as I am catching up on my blog posts from June still... here is another one.
Father's Day!

We had a FANTASTIC father's day. The girls finally got to give Larry a PINK tie. Every time they see one in the store they beg me to buy one for Larry. So for father's day they knew exactly what they wanted to buy... a PINK tie!

We also got a NEW tent for our camping trips, and the COOLEST campfire tool ever... a GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH MAKER!!!

We went to MOAB for the weekend and had a GREAT father's day!

You ARE an awesome DAD to our girls Larry, and I love you with all my heart!

OuR fAvOrItE pArAdE...

2010-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

So we go to almost ALL the parades that we have in Utah Valley... And 1 is ALWAYS our favorite one... every year!!!

The people along the parade route in Orem are ALWAYS excited and loud and crazy (like we are) and the whole atmosphere is just AWESOME! And of course there are fireworks every year as well.

Once again this is from June and YES I am behind on my posts, but catching up :)

Birthday Girl...

2010-07-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

So this little girl turned 8 on May 31st (memorial day). And I have just finished her scrapbook page, so now I can blog about it lol.

We had an awesome day filled with family, Barbeque, swimming (in a cold pool) and just having fun!

She is a PRO at the hula hoop and so we got her one. She also got some books, she loves to read, and some new shirts. Her loving sister picked out a BUILD-A-BEAR and an outfit for the bear for her as well.

She has been an absolute JOY to have in our family the last 8 years, and we are SUPER excited to see her grown even more in the years to come. She definitely COMPLETES our little family.

{ School Project }

2010-07-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here is another post from... oh 2 months ago or so.
YES I am way behind, and trying to catch up. I guess we are having TOO much fun this summer, and so I don't spend a lot of time in front of my computer.

Well Chloe had her 2nd grade animal project, and she had to talk about KOALAS. So she made a Koala habitat and a poster with cool facts about Koala's.

She is such a cutie!

Teachers

2010-06-26T13:40:00.001-07:00

These were the girls teachers this last year. They were AMAZING as usual. I don't think we have had a teacher that was NOT good at Mount Mahogany Elementary.

(last day of School was May 28th, yes I am behind on my posts)

Chloe's Field Day @ School

2010-06-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Both girls had field day this year again, I went to Chloe's this time as she was entered into some of the games. So much fun the last week of school before Summer begins.

(Field day was May 21st 2010 - Yes I am behind in my posts)

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

I LOVE being a mom. It is definitely one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given. Although they don't always listen, and sometime they drive me crazy, I do love them very much! I had a GREAT mothers day. Abi & Chloe brought me Granola and Strawberries in bed. We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting at church, and since I am in the Primary Presidency, we created paper Aloha necklaces with ALL the primary kids for their moms. I got 2! We then had dinner at my Moms house and was served by my wonderful husband. I did not lift a finger. :) Then after we came home we had a nice little walk outside and hung out for the rest of the evening. The girls went to bed without a fight and Larry and I got to relax for a bit. All in all, a wonderful day.

{The Toothfairy strikes 3 times...}

2010-05-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Toothfairy is now broke... Having to come to our house twice in 1 day and then again a week or so later...

But I like how cute she looks with all those big gaps...

2 YEARS

2010-05-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

2 years ago TODAY - May 4th 2008 - I started my Blog! I cannot believe it has been 2 years already. It was fun to read through ALL the posts and see the pictures. It brought back LOTS of memories for sure.

I will keep blogging, and see what I can blog about for the next 2 years.

EASTER 2010 - I know about a month late!

2010-05-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had a GREAT Easter as always!

I LOVE Easter!

{ better late then never }

2010-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

So we celebrated my Dad's birthday at a cabin up in Aspen Grove. He turned 70 and so this was a BIG deal for sure. This happened almost a month ago, and I was kind of slow to post this.

We had a GREAT time, and were thinking we should just make this a yearly tradition. :)

- sPrInG tImE -

2010-04-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

I love spring!

I am excited to see my GIANT sunflowers grow on my front porch!

going in a different direction...

2010-04-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Larry was sick of his hair, and he needed a change. So he asked me to BUZZ it all off! At first I thought he was joking, but when the clippers were pulled out... I knew he was serious. So I buzzed it ALL off!

It took a day or so to get used to... but I like it now :)

* sKaTeR bOy *

2010-04-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

So we found Larry a new hobby where he can de-stress, have fun and exercise all at the same time... long boarding! He works up a sweat riding up and down the street, and it makes him happy so that is a plus.

And I must say he looks pretty good riding his board around.

FUN in the SUN

2010-04-20T22:03:00.001-07:00

It was SUCH a beautiful day last Saturday, and we were outside ALL DAY LONG!

This is my kind of time of the year... 70's weather, not too hot and not too cold, perfect park weather!

{ Odyssey of the Mind }

2010-04-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Becky started up an Odyssey of the Mind chapter in Utah, and she asked me to design the logo. I had tons of fun doing this. This is the 1st time I have seen a logo of mine on dozens of t-shirts worn by tons of people. My brother was an official at the Odyssey of the Mind tournament this last week, and so he got to wear one of my shirts as well. I just had to take a picture cause it was SO cool to see, and I LOVED the hat he was wearing as well.

Isn't it cool :)

best concert EVER!

2010-04-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

NEED I SAY MORE!

Primary Activity with Cool Cars

2010-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

We had an AWESOME primary activity in March. We made cars out of cardboard boxes, and let the kids decorate them. Then we had races around our racetrack, we played red light green light, and other games. We ended the activity with a drive-in movie. The kids got to sit in their cars, we brought them popcorn, pizza and Capri-suns. They had an awesome
time, got all their wiggles out, and just had fun.

We even made little drivers licenses for the kids. It was a fun way to spend some of our Saturday. I LOVE primary!

{ Abigail the Magnificent! }

2010-04-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

So Abi was the Evil Maleficent in her 3rd Grade play of Sleeping Beauty, and she was FABULOUS!!!!

She did such an amazing job, she knew all her lines PERFECTLY, and her acting was beyond what I thought she would do. I was blown away! So I went to ALL her performances. I LOVED it. I am excited to see her act more and really have her develop the talent she has for Drama!

Yes I am a slacker....

2010-04-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have like 5 posts on my computer, and I am slacking getting them up. So you are warned, there may be a bunch of posts coming your way SOON. (hopefully this week)

-Abi's Play
-Larry's new haircut
-Aspen Grove
-Easter
...

and more.

Art

2010-03-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

I LOVE art! and so I decided to make one of my smaller walls in my living room my ART wall. I went through my hundreds of pictures I have taken over the years, and found some of my favorites... blew em up, and hung them on my wall. It is still a work in progress, but this will be my ART wall. I am excited to have some of my art on my wall, and to be able to change it out when the mood strikes.

This is my 'train' collection for now... When I change it or add I will post some more.

Turning 70 deserves something special...

2010-03-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

So my Dad turned 70 yesterday and instead of an new tie, or socks, or something we "normally" give him. I blew up one of my tulip pictures to a whopping 20x28! Yes it is big, but it is a tulip (since we're Dutch that is kindda our flower) and it is red (his favorite color) and it is from ME! (come on anything from me should be awesome right?

This is a picture I took of it with my phone after I got it framed (and signed, yes I need to sign them all according to my dad)

This is the picture, simulated in Photoshop with a white mat, and a black frame so you can see it better. :)

I added a fan page on Facebook (if you are one of the few that actually goes on facebook lol) It is for my 'business', check it out here it the link:

DUTCH GIRL INK

Also the Cookie Rookie created a fan page as well on facebook:

THE COOKIE ROOKIE

and if you want to be our friend on Facebook, just go to

www.facebook.com/thecookierookie

{ Happy Birthday Daddy-O }

2010-03-23T13:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Dad. You are the greatest, and I am so grateful to have you as MY dad!

Here are the cupcakes you requested... You are never to old for cupcakes!

You are my hero Dad, you have made me the person I am today!
I love you very much,
Amy

3 tier practice cake

2010-03-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

So we celebrated 6 birthdays last Friday. My niece Ashlee who turned 10 in February (but my mom and dad were still in Australia so we waited to celebrate it with ALL of our March Birthdays) Then my birthday was on March 1st, My brother Mark's birthday on the 14th, My sister-in-law Becky and my nephew Aaron on the 15th of March, and my Dad's birthday on the 23rd of this month... So I decided to make a 3 tier cake to practice some of my different cake and frosting flavors... Here it is, and it was yummy

So this is the bottom layer - it is Orange Butter Cake with Pink Butter Cream frosting and I drew Flowers with melting chocolate for the sides:

The middle layer is a banana cake with Green frosting and I drew chocolate clouds to go around the edges:

The Top layer is chocolate cake with chocolate clouds around the edges as well:

And a chocolate sun on the top:

The final result:

Well I had TOO little time to really make this look the way I wanted it to look, but it was really tasty and it was good practice.

Tooth-fer

2010-03-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Chloe lost 2 teeth yesterday! And they are in the cutest spots in her mouth as well, so when she smiles now it is just so stinking cute. So 2 teeth in 1 day hence my attempt at a clever title.... if you don't get it, it's alright I am stretching here.

We had to bribe her pretty good to get both of them out yesterday... They were both SO loose and we did not want them to fall out while eating or sleeping so we asked to pull them out. Oh boy there were screams of bloody murder ringing through the house until both of them were out, and she has a smile on her face. So a polly pocket and $5 later we had 2 teeth in a little plastic baggie.

She has a way of getting anything she wants out of us... who can resist those blue eyes and cute smile anyways, right?

yes... i caved!

2010-03-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Okay so the boycott of Facebook is over. We decided to create a Facebook account for 'the Cookie Rookie' So all of you that are on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/thecookierookie and add us as your friends... (please)
We are hoping to get our name out there through marketing ourselves on Facebook, and we can only do it with your help.

THANKS!

{ CUPCAKES, CAKES = happy neighbors }

2010-03-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have been baking like crazy lately, and I absolutely LOVE it! We are trying to add custom cakes and cupcakes to the Cookie Rookie and hope to open a little shop in the future with all sorts of goodies. So here are my cupcakes adventures from this week:

These are AWESOME Banana split cupcakes - bananas, chopped up cherries and chocolate chips inside, marshmallow cream frosting, chocolate drizzle and cherry up top.

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes - Whip cream and sliced strawberries in between and on top.

Primary Kids Cupcakes - I made these for a Primary Teacher Meeting, they are just white cupcakes with frosting, and then I drew the little kids faces with melting chocolate.

Now onto my cakes I made:

This is my firefly cake - yummy made from scratch chocolate cake with chocolate mouse in between 2 layers, homemade butter cream frosting and I drew fireflies and moons with melting chocolate to decorate the top.

This cake I made is not the "prettiest" cake, I just wanted to try some recipes for the cake part and the frosting part, and try out my cloud and sun making skills.

So there is NO WAY i am eating all these cakes an cupcakes, so we have been wandering around our neighborhood making some of our neighbors pretty happy with Cake and Cupcakes... We need good taste testers to make sure the taste is just PERFECT!

{ I LOVE YOU BABY }

2010-03-15T19:01:00.001-07:00

Thank you for the beautiful flowers.

I love being surprised with them.

You are the best thing that happened to me!

More free time ahead....

2010-03-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

So we started watching a "NEW" show a few months back. My brother got us watching "Battlestar Gallactice". I am not a huge Sci-fi fan but this started out pretty good so we kept watching it. We were getting 1 disk at a time from Netflix and so we were slowly watching the episodes and then sending the disk back just to wait for another disk to come. Well my brother had seen the "origional" show from the 70's but we started the new re-done show, so he started adding disks to his queue as well, and soon we were watching 1 disk a night (4 episodes) We would stay up WAY too late for sure. Well after a few months of faithful Battlestar watching, sleepless nights, to be continued episodes and not having the next disk yet... we have FINISHED the entire show! We don't know what to do with our time now... it is crazy we will not have any Battlestar episodes waiting for us tonight. Maybe we will go to bed on time for once.

THANKS MARK!!!! It was a cool show. (Find us something new)

{The awesomeness of Johnny Depp}

2010-03-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

So I wanted to see the NEW alice in wonderland for my birthday, but it did not come out until yesterday... so we made sure to go today as a family. I absolutely LOVED it. I am a BIG Johnny Depp fan (love anything he does) and it was SO fun to see him as the Mad Hatter. I also LOVE Tim Burton movies, and this was DEFINITELY one of his.

It definitely had some darker moments in there (Tim Burton for sure) but the graphics were AMAZING. And seeing it in 3D was SO SO cool. I was never a fan of 3D, but this new way of doing 3D is SO awesome. And there were tons more previews of new 3D family movies coming out... so much fun!

{ a new direction}

2010-03-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

So Larry has been working really hard for our family to find employment and provide for us. He studied hard and passed the exams for his Life Insurance License. Well after giving that a try we found out that Larry is no salesman. He is TOO nice (lol) He was working 6 days a week, sometimes from 9 am to 9 pm and would only get a paycheck if he made a sale. So you can guess we were pretty stressed about this all. So he made sure to find a job that would provide for his family, give us insurance, security and peace of mind. We now have a steady paycheck coming in again, and boy is it NICE!!!
Thank you baby for working so hard for us, We LOVE you even more for that!

And you can't beat the perks at his new job either. Foosball Table and Ping Pong Table in the break room to de-stress and have FUN, A mandatory 1 hour a week on their AWESOME massage chair... (Oh yes I tried it out and it is HEAVEN) and an all around GREAT environment to work in.

{ More goodness to come... }

2010-03-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

So I have taken over Larry's cookie business as he is working full-time again and I am home... So I have been trying to figure out how to make our business successful and fun. I am working on lots of fun things for the summer time, and starting this month we added GOURMET CARAMEL APPLES to our site.... so check it out because the are Delicious!

http://thecookierookie.com

{ making your mouth water yet? }

So all the apples are dipped in CARAMEL then dipped in CHOCOLATE (milk or white) then they have chocolate drizzled on the top (MINT, VANILLA, PEANUT BUTTER, MILK, WHITE or DARK) and to "top" it off they are TOPPED with PEANUTS, HEATH BAR CHIPS, CRUSHED OREO or CANDY.

the BIG 3....4....

2010-03-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

So it was my Birthday yesterday. I am not one that is TOO excited to celebrate it, as the number keeps getting higher. I made a scrapbook page of the festivities so click on the image to enlarge it so you can read and see all about it.

{ The scary part is over }

2010-02-21T18:35:00.000-08:00

Abi had her surgery on Friday. She was a trooper and did SO well. She was really brave and the surgery went AWESOME. The doctor told us afterwords that everything went smoothly and that her adenoids were HUGE and that she is going to do so much better now.

She had a nice Popsicle right when she woke up and was still trying to figure out what had just happened. I found her a cute little stuffed snow dog at the gift shop and it was SO SO cute I could not resist to get it for her.

She is slowly getting her voice back and is doing so great!

{ Valentines Day Fun }

2010-02-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT valentines day weekend. Larry and I got engaged on February 16th 1999 so we had an extra special weekend. We celebrated Valentines day on Sunday, then Monday was Presidents day and we went to a play. I won tickets on the radio from FM 100 for a play at the Pioneer Theater in Salt Lake. It was a play right up my alley as I love anything to do with LAW and it was about a jury deliberating at a murder trial. Larry really LOVED it as well. So we had a great FREE night out.

Then Tuesday was our Engagement Anniversary. Larry took off Monday and Tuesday so we had a nice long weekend with him.

For Valentines day I made us an awesome meal and tried to dye everything either Pink or Red that I could... The Ravioli I put in a pot of boiling PINK water and it kindda worked, then the Marinara sauce was already RED, then I put PINK salad dressing on the salad, and bought some PINK raspberry drink as well. For dessert I made Banana Cream Pie (Larry's ABSOLUTE favorite) and dyed the pie PINK as well to go along with my PINK theme. It was delicious. I had never dyed food before, and I must say it was ALOT of fun. So I might do it more often, just for fun.

theater debut...

2010-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Abigail's 3rd grade class at school is doing the play "Sleeping Beauty" this year. Abi tried out for a part and she was cast as...

MALIFICENT

She is SO SO SO excited that she has a part in the play. This is her 1st play and I guess her part has some of the most speaking parts in the play, so she is a little nervous but she has until March 31st to practice and get her parts down. Yes our little "Drama Queen" is finally getting her start in theater. I think this might be something that she will excel in and enjoy hopefully for a long time.

We will keep you posted on her debut and performance, who knows her name might one day be in lights.

And...

2010-02-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

I LOVED IT! So they did change a lot and it does not follow the book very well. They also left out some characters... But all in all...
I LOVED IT!!!
I would definitely see it again, and it might be one worth buying for our shelf at home. So YES I would recommend seeing Percy Jackson and the Olympians. And I would recommend reading the book, it is wicked cool.

EXCITED, EXCITED and more EXCITED...

2010-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

YES today at exactly 6:45 PM I will be in my seat at the Thanksgiving Point theater to see Percy jackson! OH YES!!! I am SO excited.

Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

2010-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

WOW! Big words. Well we took Abi to the doctor yesterday since her tonsils are HUGE. And yes she needs her tonsils and adenoids out! She is a little freaked out about it (and so am I) She is our drama queen so the drama is in full gear this week. Both girls went to see the dentist as well on Monday so this is definitely her drama week. I had my 1st surgery (if you don't count the C-sections) a few months ago and was scared out of my mind, so I can relate and am now also scared for her. So we will have 2 frazzled minds running around the house the next few weeks. Her surgery is scheduled for February 19th, so we can enjoy Presidents day and all and maybe get her (and my) mind of things. She is excited about the unlimited supply of Popsicles and ice cream we promised her.

VALENTINES special

2010-02-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well it is the month for another wonderful holiday. It seems we have a holiday at least once a month. This month we have a great special at the Cookie Rookie We have a bouquet of heart suckers (6) for $4.00 or 2 suckers for $1.50

1 sucker for yourself and 1 to share! They are available in STRAWBERRY or CINNAMON flavors.

So check it out and get your orders in before THE BIG DAY (it is on Sunday this year)
thecookierookie.com

Utah Flash

2010-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

My girls came home with FREE tickets to go and see the Utah Flash. Larry had to work, so it was a "girls" night out of us. We got good seats and enjoyed the game. The Utah Flash Fox (the mascot) even came over and sprayed us with silly string (wish I had taken a picture of the girls covered in silly string)

It was fun and Chloe kept telling me it was her 1st basketball game, and she was SO excited. A fun FREE night (minus the parking we had to pay for, and Wendy's on the way there) just with my girls.

And we got FREE bam bam sticks as well. I have always wanted some of those to MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!

Jack is BACK

2010-01-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

I am SO SO SO excited that 24 is on again. Out of all the TV shows that are on right now i HAVE to watch 24. I can forget all the rest as long as I get my Jack fix every Monday. So I have been in heaven the last 2 nights as the new season premiered.
Sunday night 2 hours, and Monday night 2 hours... Oh yes!

I AM LOVIN IT!

Rewards are so yummy...

2010-01-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

So we have set a bunch of family goals for this year, and for sticking to our goals the past 2 weeks we have REWARDED ourselves. We told the girls we would take them to the Macey's grocery store and get them Kong cones for reaching our goals. They did not believe us when we told them the cones would be HUGE! Well tonight they were pleasantly surprised when they saw the GINORMOUS ice cream cones they got.

YEP these cones definitely live up to their name.

A new calling...

2010-01-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

Well so I am a Mom, a Wife, a Homemaker, a Cook, a Cleaning Lady and as of today I am also now the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency in our ward. Yep! That is right. (not sure what they were thinking with that one, lol)

Well I guess the Lord has faith in me, and so I am excited to go on this new adventure. One of my favorite neighbors was called as the new Primary President and I am extremely excited to be working with her. Larry is a little sad that he now has to go to Sunday School without me, but he is excited for me as well.

Yummy Soup

2010-01-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

We made Yummy Potato Soup, I wish it looked like this picture below, but alas I am no gourmet cook. LOL

So Abi learned how to make Homemade Potato Soup at achievement days a few weeks ago, and so I decided to let her make our dinner tonight. So we went to the grocery store and got all the ingredients. Then Abi, Chloe and I shared the space in the kitchen while we peeled and cut potatoes, cut up broccoli, carrots, onion and bacon and got everything ready for our soup.

I found out that our kitchen is not as big as I thought it was as well. 3 girls in one kitchen makes it a little cramped. Larry and I cook together every night and that works pretty good, but one extra body and it gets chaotic. So I decided that I need a bigger kitchen LOL (yeah right).

So the soup was yummy, and all 3 of us enjoyed it! Larry had to work late (YAY he is working again) and he does not eat half-and-half (it makes him sick) so he has a frozen pizza in the freezer waiting for him when he gets home, and some cupcakes as well since I have WAY too many left over from this afternoon.

Here is Abi's recipe in case any of you want to try it:

One potato per person
1 cup carrots
1 cup broccoli
1/2 onion sautéed in a separate pan
1 cup cut pre-cooked bacon
1 stick of melted butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups half-and-half
2 cups shredded cheese
4-5 bouillon cubes

Cut potatoes and put them in boiling water for 15 minutes (check) add veggies and bouillon cubes. Add melted butter, flour, half-and-half, and cheese. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serve Warm! and Enjoy!

Yes, I was bored!!!

2010-01-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

So I was a little bored today as I did too much yesterday while cleaning and Larry told me I was off limits from cleaning today. My back also told me I was to not do any cleaning today. So i had to find something else to entertain me. Well after doing a load of laundry ( it was necessary) and the dishes (also necessary) and after I had a nice walk to the grocery store and back... I decided to make CUPCAKES.

So after pulling out all the creative energy I had this is what I came up with (click on the picture to enlarge it to see the cool details)

So I made cupcakes that looked like POPCORN, cupcakes with FACES, cupcakes with BUGS all over them and some other random ones. I made the bugs with melted chocolate and then drew out my bugs and then let them harden again... It was WAY cool.

I really like how the Scorpions and Butterflies turned out... Now my only dilemma is that I have 24 cupcakes on my kitchen counter that need to be eaten. There is NO way I am eating them all or am letting my kids devour more than 3 each LOL.

A much needed haircut.

2010-01-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

So I can cut Larry's hair, and I have done so since he came off his mission... I can cut Abi and Chloe's hair... but when it comes to my own hair... Well I need to go and get it cut by a PRO.

I hate spending money on myself and so it is hard for me to go for haircuts, get new clothes and such. Larry did some computer work for our friends a while back, and she gave Larry and I a free haircut then. Well I loved my haircut and color, and so when I was frustrated with my hair again, Larry called her to see what she would charge for a cut and color for me. (he is so thoughtful) She told him that she still owed him for the AWESOME job he did with their computer and so he set up a time for me to get my hair cut and colored. Well I had Larry take a picture because I absolutely LOVE it.

YAY for good haircuts, and YAY for an AWESOME husband who made it happen.

Larry also started his NEW JOB! Yesterday was his 1st day, and man did he look GOOD!
He has to wear a suit when he goes to the office, and then when he goes to clients homes he needs to dress down a bit by wearing khakis and a polo or so. He passed his test and is now a genuine LICENSED Life, health and accident insurance agent. He works mainly with Unions and gets sent to union member homes to help fill in gaps they may have in their coverage. He is LOVING it, and he gets to set his own schedule.

And a perk for me... he looks GOOD in a suit! :)

My Oma!

2010-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

My Oma passed away this morning. She was 89 years old. She lived in Australia where my Moms family all lives, and so I have not been able to spend lots of time with her. My mom is a lot like my Oma, and so in a sense I was able to see her almost every day and hang out with her. The time I have been able to spend with her has been AWESOME. She is an amazing woman and I am glad to know that she is now reunited with my Opa, and our Heavenly Father.

I Love having the knowledge that I will see my Oma again.

And that I will be able to be with her and the rest of my family Forever!

PEPERNOTEN

2010-01-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

So we added PEPERNOTEN (or our own version of them) to the Cookie Rookie Sweet Shop.
We are calling them Gourmet Ginger Bites, and they are addicting and finger licking. For those of you who do not know what PEPERNOTEN are, they are a Dutch "cookie" made with Ginger, Anise, Cinnamon and Clove Spices. Check out our website to see what we have to offer.

http://thecookierookie.com/

We make them Plain... ( and they are Yummy that way)

Or dipped in Chocolate (White or Milk)

oh YES!

2010-01-06T18:24:00.001-08:00

FINALLY!

...and boy was HE happy!

Wanting to be like her sister

2010-01-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Chloe LOVES her sister, and wants to be just like her. So when Abi got her hair cut, Chloe wanted that right away as well.

It is easy to maintain, so I was game to do it! And she looks so cute. (an added bonus)

My Finished Glass Flower

2010-01-03T16:58:00.001-08:00

I got my glass flower back, and I am so proud of how it looks. Larry and I are planning a date night (during the day, they are closed at night) to go there and do it again, since Larry did not make one the last time. I had so much fun doing it, and my flower looks super cool on top of the tv.

Another one bites the dust...

2010-01-01T14:21:00.001-08:00

Well another year come and gone... Man this is going by WAY too fast. And the holidays just flew by as well.

We hope you all have a GREAT New Year, and that you are able to keep your resolutions. We will be sitting down as a family this coming Sunday to make our Family goals for 2010, and I hope we get to keep them as well.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pizza Pizza

2009-12-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

Larry has been so anxious to make pizza, and he has been searching high and low for a good crust recipe. Well after trying a few and tweaking them, he has come up with a combination that makes an AWESOME pizza.

He has made it a few times now, and I must say it is BETTER than any one we buy at the store.

Abi's New Haircut

2009-12-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

So Abi has been bugging me to cut her hair for a while now. I LOVE her long hair, but she is not the greatest in combing it all the time, and so she gets lots of knots in her hair, and screams when I try to brush it. So I gave in and cut her hair!

She LOVES it, and so does everyone else in our little family. So that is a good thing. :)

Snow, Snow and more Snow...

2009-12-30T21:21:00.001-08:00

Well we got dumped on the last 2 days, and the girls have been SO excited...

We had bought the girls new sleds a few weeks ago and they had been waiting very impatiently for snow...

And man did they have fun!

Creating Art

2009-12-30T16:01:00.000-08:00

So I went to Thanksgiving Point today to make some glass flowers with Jennifer for her birthday. This was the COOLEST experience ever.

We got to pick our own colors, and they showed us once how to do it, and then we were set loose.

We get to pick up our flowers in a few days when they have cooled down all the way. I am WAY excited to see how mine turned out.

Santa Came...

2009-12-25T10:17:00.001-08:00

We had a GREAT Christmas! We celebrated with some fun traditions on Christmas Eve. We opened up our pajamas on Christmas Eve, made a fun Chinese meal together, and then baked sugar cookies, frosted them and put them out for Santa to eat. We also drove around town looking at all the Christmas lights while the cookies cooled down.

We were very sneaky last night, as I left my camera out to see if we could sneak a peek when Santa would come. The girls were WAY excited to find out that we were actually able to get him on film... So here is proof that Santa did stop by our place last night.

Christmas morning did not come TOO early for us, as the girls were nice enough not to wake up until 8:20 A.M. They started with their presents from Santa (thanks Santa, we could not have done it without you) Then they opened the presents from us, and Grandma and Grandpa.

We hope everyone else's Christmas was as GREAT as ours. We spent it together and that was the BEST!

Aubrie Noelle Brouwer

2009-12-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

She is finally here, and today for Christmas Eve she was able to go HOME!

Merry Christmas Paul, Nicole and Isaac.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

We wish all of our friends and family, a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May we all remember WHAT we celebrate this season, and may the joy of Christmas be with you and yours throughout the season.

Time on my hands...

2009-12-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

With all this time on my hands, I have become quite crafty. I am having lots of fun with it. I have always wanted one of those exchangeable band watches, the ones you see at the fairs, and such. So I decided to make one... or three.

So I got one watch face at Roberts craft store, and so far I have made 3 bands. It is WAY WAY fun to do.

Now all I have to do is make a blue band, and a silver one, and a yellow one, and.....

SHE's HERE!!!!

2009-12-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well Paul and Nicole's little girl was born.
7 pounds 3 ounces, 21.5 inches long

AUBRIE (NOELLE or NOEL) they are not sure yet on the middle name BROUWER!!!!

And she gets to come HOME on Christmas Eve!

New Baby Today?

2009-12-22T14:06:00.001-08:00

Well for those of you who do not know. My brother and his wife have anxiously been waiting for their baby to be born. They are ready to adopt this little girl and take her home as soon as she is here. I got a call about 3 and a half hours ago saying the birth mother just started labor.... SO FINGERS CROSSED this little girl will be here TODAY! and that they can take her home on Christmas Eve. WHAT A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT that would be.

I for one cannot wait to meet her!

LETTER ART

2009-12-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

As you see in my post below this one, I started making Letter Art. Check out my website for more information. I am making them for my nieces and nephews for their birthdays this coming year....

Pure Originality Site

They are great as gifts or for yourself as well of course.