San Francisco Emerald Bowl 2005

The Utes are victorious! Today was the Emerald Bowl in SBC park in downtown San Francisco. The Utah Utes played Georgia Tech (ranked #24) - it was supposed to be a really close game. As luck would have it, no I mean skill, the Utes dominated! Final score was 38-10. My dad flew down from SLC so we could go to the game together. We had a great day! Tomorrow he gets to go to work with me and get a glimpse of all the chaos I deal with daily. Ha ha.
(post by Tucker :-)

Glinda the Good Witch

Jordyn just informed me over and over that she wants a dress JUST like this one worn by Glinda, the good witch (the girls are really into The Wizard of Oz right now). The bigger, fluffier, the fancier...the better, according to Jordyn! My mom gets a kick out of it because she feels the same way as Jordyn - so she is willing to indulge this desire! Too funny.

More Pics...

Just thought I'd post a few more pics of the Christmas holiday time...

Aunt Lyndsy sent Jordyn and Lexi cute little Princess canopies (I guess that's what they're called?) for their rooms. They love them so much!!
These are the cute dresses my mom bought the girls for Christmas day. They looked adorable. Baby Lyric had a matching one too.
"Gam" (what the grandkids call Tucker's mom) sewed the girls these adorable jammies. So cute!

Alyson got to spend Christmas morning with us. Here are the girls just after they opened their presents. The kitchen in the background is their main Santa gift this year.

Obviously, Tucker and I. This is Christmas eve at my parents. Tucker loves to wear his Santa hat! :-)

Shopping Blah

Like most people, Target is one of my favorite stores. I almost can't refer to it as a 'store' because it's such an enjoyable hang-out place for me. If I am in the mood, I can happily browse for hours. So, I left the fam at home tonight for a bit to see if I could catch some great post-christmas steals. But I must have REALLY not been in the mood because I had no interest in digging through the (what felt like) leftovers, and all the people blocking the isles were making me feel claustrophobic. I think (and hope) I can attribute this anti-shopping feeling to the head cold I have. I ran into a few stores and didn't find much, but my greatest find was at Target - a fold out table and 4-chair set on sale for $40. Will come in handy when we have extra guests over for dinner. Hope you were more lucky than me today if you joined the shoppers!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas Eve last night! We had tamales, enchiladas, rice and beans for dinner and opened all our family presents. Carly and Alyson stayed at our house last night so Santa could (conveniently) visit Alyson at the same time as Jordyn and Lexi. We had a fun, but short Christmas morning as we had an hour of church to attend at 10:00. This picture is our whole family just after church today. It's fun when we can all be together...our family is quickly growing! Hope your christmas is as good as ours!

Mosely

It's really sad to me that a pet has to have such a short life compared to its owner. Our cute little poodle family dog Mosely is gone. At nearly 12 years old, he died of leukemia. He was the best family dog. My mom hand fed him and took amazing care of him his last 6 weeks as he was on a rapid downhill slide. We will miss him a lot! Especially all the little grandkids who love "mo-mo" so much.

3 Year Old Photographer

So, these are the kind of surprise pictures I get every time I download my photos from my digital camera! In fact, I am usually lucky enough to find at least 25 each time! Jordyn is an aspiring photographer and loves to grab my camera any chance she gets! I have to admit she does a pretty good job sometimes.

Tara's Visit

I just wanted to post about my fun couple days with my friend Tara. She and I have been friends since we were 1 year old...so it's much more like a sister type relationship. Our moms are best friends too. We have known eachother through EVERY thing and we have a special bond. She and her husband Bill and two kids Jade and Joshua live in Vegas now, so she stopped through as she was traveling home to Stockton for Christmas. Tara's husband is in the military, so until recently, they have lived overseas in both Spain and Japan. We were able to visit them in Japan four years ago.

Anyway, we had a fun time just hanging out. We didn't even shower yesterday, we just stayed in our comfy clothes and spent time at my house! It was fun. Tara is so creative and talented. When she comes, she always does something to help me. This time, she sewed a hole in the seam of my couch and she fixed Lexi's Snow White dress (which she does wear every single day), and she taught me how to cook chicken in a pan that stays moist!! It was a lot of fun!

Santa Clause is Coming...

Can you tell who this is? Well, this is Tucker's 2nd year being Santa's "helper" at our ward Christmas party. He loves it! He knows most the children by name and they are always very impressed by that! He also loves to get into the details...for example, when the kids would ask for a digital camera, he'd reply "Ok...how many megapixels would you like?". Of course, this really stumps them. Too funny. And the only kids of the whole crowd (maybe 60 kids) who didn't like Santa were OURS! They were absolutely hysterical and crying! Even when he revealed himself and said "it's just daddy!", they were still hysterical! It was so bad that they are probably scarred for life, especially Jordyn. She was the worst!

Take Ten Christmas Party

We had our annual Take Ten Christmas Party tonight. Tucker organized it for our employees (we have about 60 currently). My parents came too, which was nice since they are the founders/owners of the company. It was a nice evening, and some great buffet food!

Sign

I know the wooden signs with quotes are becoming really popular, but I love them. I've searched a lot on different websites and I finally found a site I love. This gal does a GREAT job! They are beautiful, high quality and affordable. She will custom make them too. She has an ebay store, you should check it out: Kelly's Signs. Anyway, here is a photo of the one I just got in the mail today. I'm not sure if this is where I'll permanently keep it, but it sort of fits above my stove just right. (in case you didn't get it...the year 2000 is when we got married!). Kind of cool, huh?

Harmony

Today was our final Harmony Christmas season performance. Even though I enjoy it, it's always a relief when its over because it is a lot of work!

A little background: my amazing mother started the original Harmony singing group over 20 years ago. Then 5 years ago she started this branch of Harmony where I live now, consisting of women in our church ward. Our motto is "sisterhood, singing and service". There are usually 12-16 women involved at one time. We do two seasons, one Jan-May and one Sept-Dec. We practice for about three months, then perform throughout a couple weeks at the end of the season. We sing three part harmony along with some choreography and then we perform to 11 hospitals/convalescent homes in the area as a service to them.

I don't sing all that great, but I know a basic pitch and I think its a fun thing to be a part of. It feels good knowing that it brightens up the day for these cute elderly people we sing to. I'm so glad my mom had the vision and tenacity to start and continue something like this. I mean, between the 14 of us in it now, there are over 40 kids, 23 of which are not even in kindergarten yet! So we pay monthly dues which basically covers our babysitting costs (we have four babysitters who babysit all the kids at once). Anyway, like I said, it's a lot of work at times, but our motto really sums up all the reasons this group has succeeded.

Lindy and Mike are Here for Good!

Well, my sister Lindy and her husband Mike are officially NOT residents of Utah now and have finally moved here. They pulled up in their moving van tonight, exhausted to say the least. They'll start the unpacking tomorrow and start job interviewing ASAP. It will be fun to have more family close by. Today is little Lyric's first birthday. So, even through their exhaustion, we had a little party for her. Parties for one year olds are pretty fast, so it was perfect. I made a lady bug cake and she loved playing in it.

For now, the only long-distance family members are Carly and little Alyson! Carly loves Huntington Beach and we're not sure we'll ever get her out of there! We just hope that her work permits her to visit more often than she's been able to lately. If it weren't for the LA area traffic, I'd probably hop down there more often too! I'm excited to see them at Christmas time.

The Flu

Ugh, We've been hit. I thought we'd been fortunate enough to miss the flu that's been going around, but it finally hit. I got hit hard and fast on Friday night. Life was horrible for about 24 hours (luckily, it was fairly short). Then tonight, we put Jordyn to bed just like normal and about an hour later we hear the horrible sounds of throwing-up. She's now thrown up a three times and ALL OVER her bed I might add. It's times like this that I want to call my dad! Growing up, he was always the one who could stomach cleaning up throw-up, and although my husband is wonderful, this is one area he CANNOT do, no matter what. If I even made him try, I'd just be choosing double duty clean up for myself!

Change is Hard

For the past two years, I have served in my church calling as one of the counselors in the Young Women's organization (for girls 12-18). It was time consuming and challenging, especially initially. But over time I really grew to love these girls and love my service to them. I especially loved having a chance to be with my "little" sister Kristy (not so little at 16!). I was able to be with her (as well as my 14 year old brother Ryan since the boys and girls combine activities often) a lot more than I would have been otherwise. Serving in this capacity has meant that every Wednesday night for the past two years, I have been at the church with the youth...as well as on Sundays, and at Summer Camp, and a lot of youth dances, and....well, the list is endless.

Anyway, on to my point. I was "released" from this calling this past Sunday and asked to serve as a counselor in the Primary. I have bitter sweet feelings about this change. It will definitely be fun to be in the Primary organization with Jordyn, as she has reached the age to move from nursery to Primary. Our year revolves around the theme
I Will Trust in Heavenly Fatherand His Son, Jesus Christ, Their Promises Are Sure. I'm excited to learn more about how the Primary runs, but change is always hard!

Jordyn and Mommy Time

Today before dance class, Jordyn I had a few rare moments alone. Lexi was sleeping, life felt calm for a bit, so we just sat on the couch together and sang songs & talked. It was cute. She is too smart for her briches (however the heck you spell that!). Right now she loves to sing Christmas songs, especially Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer with all the little add-ins (you know, "like a lightbulb", "like monopoly" etc). She just soaks up the one-on-one attention - it just doesn't happen as much as I'd like.

Lights are Up!!

Hooray! We finished the lights tonight! Tucker did a great job. We put up the colored icicle lights. At first I bought 6 strands, thinking that would be enough. Well, I had to go buy another 5 strands! Anyway, it's fun to have them up. Makes me feel even more festive.

Oh Christmas Tree...

So our projects this Saturday were to get a Christmas tree and put up Christmas Lights. I always have lofty goals like this in a short amount of time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We just about accomplished it all this time. We went to a fun tree farm near our town and picked out a tree. They also had a Santa, a carriage ride and Christmas music for the kids! It was a lot of fun! This picture above is us ready to drive home with our tree!

Then we got home and decided to put up Christmas lights on our house. It's always sounded a little complicated to me, but then I look around and figure "if all these people are doing it, it must not be THAT bad, right?". Well, just to confirm, it IS complicated! It's time consuming and sort of puzzle-like. But it's also our first time, so maybe it gets easier with time! We are about 3/4 the way done. I figure, if you get them up soon enough, then you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor for almost a month! We picked out the colored icicle lights. I'll try to post a picture of the finished project (which better be soon!).

New Family Member

No, not a pregnancy announcement! Ha ha. It's a new baby kitty. We adopted him from my friend Tiffany while in Utah. I might add that it was not a unanimous family vote. Tucker was definitely not on board, but agreed to give it a try. I think this cat is slowly growing on him (though he may not admit that). Not all cats are equal, in my opinion - it depends on their personality. And this cat's full of it! He is very cute and very very sweet. He lets my kids hold him as long as they want and loves to play. Hasn't even tried to scratch my couches yet! So far so good.

While in Utah...

I was able to go to Lyndsy's baby shower (Tucker's sister). This picture is of my sister-in-laws Lynda Ann, Lyndsy and Maren, my wonderful mother-in-law Jeannine, nieces Taylor and Emmi and baby Andrew - while we were at the shower. Lyndsy is expecting her first baby (a boy) in February!

I also included a couple pics of the cousins. We did a bad job picture taking this trip, so not many to display, unfortunately! Too bad I can't download images from my head! LOL

Don't Ever Travel the Sunday After Thanksgiving!

Horrible. It was horrible. The hours and hours of traffic...it brings back the nightmare just talking about it.

Back up for a minute. We decided to take a quick trip to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with the Maxfield side of the family. It was a fun trip, too short as usual and the kids got to make some fun memories with their cousins. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner (thanks Jeannine!) and got to play games all night. (I'll post pics of that soon).

Now back to the drive home. We left on Saturday night so we could stay halfway in Vegas area, thinking that would help us beat the traffic. We got in to Vegas around 2 am, had an unrestful sleep for about 6 or so hours. By the time we got packed up, situated and left it was 9:30 am. We did not arrive home until....drumroll...8:30 pm!!!! 11 hours!!! Keep in mind, from that point it should have been a 5 hour trip. Yeah. It was bad. At one point, it took us 2 hours to go 10 miles. It was horrible, as I mentioned already!!!

So, now we're home and recovered and on with life. Luckily, all that remains in time is the good memories of a trip. It was worth it so we could spend the time with family and a few friends, but one thing is for sure - we will NEVER travel that day again!!

We Have Another 2 Year Old!

We celebrated Lexi's 2nd birthday last night. Officially, it's on the 24th, but since that's Thanksgiving day, we thought we'd have a separate celebration. My family came over for dinner, cake and ice cream. The cake was (of course!) Snow White (her favorite). I always have fun experimenting with cakes, and she just couldn't have loved this one more! We had a good time! One thing I was reminded of as I watched her open the gifts is that kids don't need very much to be happy. She would've been perfectly happy if she had stopped after the first gift (which was a pair of Snow White socks my mom got her)! Less is more, less is more, less is more (I chant that to myself constantly). So, as Christmas draws nearer, I'm trying to remember this. Its all about MY self-control because I think it's a blast to go buy them things I know they'll love. But they actually love each thing way less if there is too much. So, I was happy for the reminder last night, just in time for Christmas!

Sunny California

We have continued to have beautiful weather, still hitting the 70's (and sunny) this late in the year. One of the perks of California. So Tucker's been able to take the girls on a few bike rides with our new bike trailer! It was actually a birthday present for him...sort of inadvertantly for him. I figured this would encourage him to use his beloved Trek bike, more often than he has lately, since the girls will also get to benefit from it. And they really do love it. He's trying to determine a safe route to use at night since he's hardly ever home before it gets dark now. Now I just need to decide...do I want to fix my bike so I can join them...or should I just enjoy the peace and quiet I get while they're out?

Class of 1995

Yep, I had my 10 year reunion this past weekend! It was so crazy to see people I haven't seen for 10 years. The highlight was having a seperate lunch with some of my closest girlfriends from High School. The photos I posted are "before" (senior year) and "after" (just yesterday at lunch). It was really fun to catch up on the past 10 years and laugh about old times. At the reunion dinner, the comment my friends and I heard the most was "you look exactly the same!". I had to stop and ask myself if that was a compliment or not because, in my opinion, I look a lot different. I mean, I don't curl my big bangs or wear green eyeliner anymore! But I decided to still take it as a compliment, ha ha.

Bananas

I (like most people, I'm sure) am motivated to make banana bread when my bananas are to the almost-ready-to-throw-out stage. That was the stage they were in today. So I made a big batch of it. Jordyn really loves to help me bake, so I have to be in the mood for an assistant when I bake lately. She does a good job. The bread turned out good and since it was overcast and windy this afternoon, it was the perfect time to bake.

There are a couple of things I do to my banana bread to make it 'my own'. First, I substitute 1/2 of the butter with applesauce. This doesn't change the flavor or texture, but makes it a little healthier. (But beware, if you substitute ALL of the butter, then the texture is a lot stickier). Second, with high demand from my family, I add chocolate chips. Yeah, I know I know, that washes out the health benefits of the applesauce, but it tastes so good! Try it!

Disneyland!

Well, we decided to take a little trip down to Disneyland. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive and most of my relatives live there, so we stayed with my Grandma and went all day Saturday. It was me, Tucker, Jordyn, Lexi, Kristy, Ryan, Carly and Alyson. It's worth the crowds, the heat, the exhaustion and the germs all for the magical experience for the kids! The girls just loved it! They held up really well for such a long day. They loved the characters, most of the rides...but they weren't so fond of Pirates of the Carribbean. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary, and one of the highlights was the new and improved Space Mountain. We had a good time! Now it's time for sleep...whew!

Life, etc.

Sorry, no photo today. Just a few thoughts. Life has just felt so non-stop lately. In fact, I start to wonder if one of my coping mechanisms is to constantly say that to myself...maybe the reality is that life is ALWAYS nonstop!?! No, but seriously, this has been extra crunch-time. I think a lot of it is connected to the business' growth. How could it feel anything BUT non-stop when we've expanded by 100% in a few short months. So because of that, I know that part of the craziness is temporary. We're just ready for some sort of normal schedule with Tucker around a little more. We really are excited for the Holidays though. It's just such a cozy time of year. And seeing it through your kids eyes really gives it a whole new meaning! I feel like decorating for Christmas right now, but I won't allow myself until after Thanksgiving. Only a few more weeks!

Mommy & Me

Lexi is in a dance class called "mommy & me". It's once a week for 45 min. She loves it. It's mostly the basics - somersaults, balance beam, stretching. It basically teaches her to listen to an instructor and prepares her for the next level of dance. I know there are some who may wonder why we would have them in dance at this young age, but they love it so much! They get so excited when it's dance day! This is a photo of Lexi at her last class. She is such an independent little stinker...she always tells me "no mommy, I do it!" on the balance beam. Not quite yet Lexi!

Halloween

What else would my girls be? Of course, princesses. They both adamately picked out their outfits. Lexi has been drawn to Snow White for the past 8 months consistantly and Jordyn loves Cinderella (even before all the current hype). So, what other choice did we have? We had our church Halloween party a couple nights ago. Tucker was a Samurai Warrior and when asked by my girls what I was, I replied "I'm just a purple-haired-girl"! It was a fun night. And now we have princess dress-up clothes for a long time to come - they are size 4-6!

Princess Stuff Galore!

With two little girls, we are swimming in Princess everything! So our latest Princess purchase is little Cinderella helmets from Costco. For Tucker's birthday, we got him a bike trailer to pull the girls in (giving him extra incentive to use his beloved Trek bike!) and they need helmets to go on a ride. Of course they modeled them first thing the next morning - so in this picture, they are still in jammies!
I had to post the picture of Lexi's little cute-cheesy smile. You just can't help but giggle!

Business as (un)Usual

We opened cafeteria #2 (well, #2 of the new cafe's, it's #5 for Take Ten total)! It has been a crazy and adrenaline filled couple months. We recently won three new state contracts for cafeterias - the first opened Oct. 5, the second opened Oct. 15 and the third will open late November. This is a photo of Tucker and I in the office of Kern Valley (Delano, CA) cafeteria.

Happy Birthday To You!

Tucker's 33! We had a little birthday party for Tucker, complete with a University of Utah cake (professional decorator, you ask? nope, just Jamie) and a Batman blanket! It was a fun evening with chinese food and a little round of the game "What Were You Thinking?". Happy Birthday Tucker!

Finally!

I've been wanting to create a family website for so long! I've just never gotten around to figuring it out. But blogspot.com makes it so easy. So here we are! This is sort of like our little online journal and we hope it helps our family and friends feel even more connected with us. So check back as often as you'd like! We'll try to keep it interesting!

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