a mafia valentine's

The Corleone Family Some couples like to spend valentine's alone, but the Godfather called the family together this year. And when the Godfather speaks, the family listens. betrayal leads to death...

top 3 habits I need to overcome

January was far too long and I'm very grateful it's almost the middle of February, (although it's still much too cold for my liking) but in the spirit of the new year I'll list some changes I need to make in 2011.

I do feel it's going to be a good year, it is the year of my golden birthday afterall...

1. Picking off my toe nails.

Yes, I said off! Self-inflicted Chinese torture? afraid so. You have no idea how many nights I've been woken up by throbbing pain from my poor little pinky toes. And I do it to myself! It's gross to me and I'm sure horribly disgusting to others. sorry. I don't know, you'd think I'd learn but time and time again, it just happens.
It goes like this: I'll be sitting watching TV, or sitting at the computer and my restless legs end up bending up to my chest and and suddenly I'm unconsciously picking, (I'm a picker/popper/plucker by nature), grab a snag and all of a sudden I have a bleeder... and no toe nail.
My most recent offense was a couple of weeks ago and because I had no baby toe nail, my toe was swollen enough to hurt when trying to put my shoe on and I missed out on a zumba class that Libby talked about all leading up to our girls weekend. so sad.

2. Reading the last page/chapter of books.

Again, who does this?!! I do.

I love reading and can really get into a good book. I'll finish reading where I'm at in the book and just flip to the end, mostly to see how many pages I have left, and take a quick glimpse at the last page. I can't help it, the suspense can kill a girl.
Well, this backfired when I was reading Jane Eyre and found out the whole story when I was at the first initial climax. The events yet to unfold totally surprised me and I couldn't pick the book up for a week. I finally just finished it and must admit that reading it through explains so much more and really builds the story so much better than sneaking to the end. Lovely book, no wonder it's a classic!

3. Having to have something sweet every day.

To say I have a sweet tooth wouldn't be 100% honest. I like my chocolate, always have, and afraid I always will. But I also know that with aging comes the slowing down of the metabolism. And it's my observance that people make up the difference and make wiser choices to stay ahead. I realized I've yet to master this and the ever daunting word of SELF-DISCIPLINE.
Example: I was out to lunch with my friends and their kids a while back and noticed me and their children were the only ones taking the cookie samples. And then one friend didn't even finish her single cookie that came with her lunch. seriously? you're too full to finish one cookie? my mentality just isn't there.. but I wish it were. People just say no, just take one, just chew gum or drink diet coke instead, so why can't I?! Well, that's why it's on my top 3 things to change in '11.

wish me luck!

and please get excited about the dear little one's first piggy's:

darling, no?

heart warming

that clever little child.

knowing I was at work, missing the nighttime ritual and my little peach, she wrote me a special message and had her dad text it to me to send her love.

and it made my night.
how sweet.

what a hoot

{first year pictures by Foto Fly}

you say it was your birthday

there's only one way to celebrate a December birthday....

Introducing the first annual
Lumberjack & Lumberjane Extravaganza.



the man of the night


Turns out flannel, axes and some facial hair really does bring out the best in everyone.

We celebrated Bruce's birthday in style by transforming our carport into a lumberjack lodge by putting up a tent, adding space heaters, throwing down some carpet and lighting a fire. Then we had a tasty lumberjack breakfast and competed for the coveted title of, "Lumberjack of the year 2010."
It was pretty sweet.
..and hilarious.

enjoying a hearty lumberjack breakfast:


can you identify this human?! it took me a while....



the nail pounding challenge:

Jen and Chris chugging to break the tie. Chris won, sorry Jen

Jenny and Lib balancing on the logs.
And "new record Jenny" doing just what her name entails...


The proud victors:
1st place- Jer
2nd- Cam
3rd-Kory

let it snow

Don't get me wrong, I really do think the snow is beautiful and I always wish for a white Christmas...

..but to think we were soaking in the sun on Maui's beaches just 2 weeks ago, and now we're literally up to our knees in snow makes me want to cry just a little inside.

You'd think I haven't spent my whole life in Utah. I should expect it by now.

Here's to a snowy holiday season!

uno

My sweet baby Claire turned one last Friday.

ONE?!!

Seriously, how did that go so fast?! So cliche but really, this year has flown at an insane rate.



We celebrated with a festive Thanksgiving party with her cute little friends in our neighborhood.

Believe it or not, this picture was totally not staged- these three little bros must have been feeling the holiday love and thanksgiving and cuddled up to each other. love it!

um, yeah, really hard to get a good picture of 10 kids under 5!





Because Claire loved her feather Halloween costume so much, we had to incorporate them somehow into her birthday... pin the feather on the turkey!!



I expected Claire to dive into her cake with both hands but was very surprised when she just bent down and started sucking the edge. It was hilarious!!

love. my. girl.




Sunday my family came over for dinner and more celebrating- we're big on birthdays!
and the party hats got double use!



The real birthday surprise came when our pumpkin bowls once full of soup became the helmet of "Captain Birthday Pumpkin Head"

The Captain requested a special dance with the birthday girl. She obliged.