Happy Spring!

I never got around to putting Anna's easter picture on, so we will just call this her Spring picture. We met up with my girl friends and our kids at Kiddie Kandids, I don't know if I will be doing that again anytime soon. It was pretty hectic and crazy with 6 kids, ages 2 and under. We tried to get a group shot of them, but failed.

However I did take one with my phone and this is how it turned out.

The day before I dressed Anna in her dress to make sure it fit. It was around the same time that we would be meeting the next day to do pictures. She was not happy about it at all, she kicked and screamed until I got her changed and down for a nap. I was a little worried that we would have a repeat the next day, but I was extremely lucky and she was great!!

Tagged

1. I sleep with Vick's Vaporub on my lips and under my nose every night. I have done so for as long as I can remember. In fact, a few of my friends do it as well, because of our many sleepovers when we were growing up, I always had my Vick's.

2. I enjoy to ski...but NOT with my husband. I have a great time when I am with pretty much anybody else but Shaun. I love him, and I love to be with him...just not on the mountain. He is very sweet and doesn't tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing, he just skis and then waits when I'm a little slow. Maybe because he LOVES to do it so much, that subconsciously I feel intimidated. I don't know though because he's not intimidating!

3. My favorite part of the day is when Anna wakes up in the morning and after her nap. My other favorite part of the day is when she goes down at night or for a nap. She has always woken up so happy and smiley. She is usually jumping in her crib and laughing. She thinks she is hilarious. Her thing has always been to wave. She waves and says hi as soon as she sees you, and waves and says bye just as you lay her down.

4. Finger nail clippings gross me out. Even the sound of it drives me up the wall. I can hear it from a mile away, why do people do it at church or in public? Shaun has always been very good at going outside or going in the bathroom.

5. I was always a very clean and organized person...until I met Shaun. My bed was made every morning and my car cleaned weekly. Now I don't know the last time I made my bed or cleaned my car. Shaun's messiness rubbed off on me instead of my cleanliness rubbing off on him. My house is usually a disaster and I would be embarrassed if someone just popped in. This year as a goal, I am trying to be better about picking up and cleaning. This is my year to clean out and get organized. I am going to be a getter-donner instead of just thinking about getting it done. So feel free to pop in anytime!

6. If I could choose any church calling in the ward, it would be as the librarian. No planning, teaching, babysitting, activities or meetings to go to. It seems like a great way to meet the people in your ward and a fun calling to have. Maybe someday!!

Mountaineering - The Pfeifferhorn

Friday the 29th didn't feel like a work day... so I didn't go. Instead, I toured the Lone Peak wilderness area. Unfortunately, Friday the 29th started at 4:00am for me. My good friend Steve Lloyd picked me up and dropped off his boy Weston for Myranda to watch. He is two weeks younger than Anna. We prayed all the way up the canyon that Weston would fall back asleep and not wake up Myranda until morning.

Skin track at 5:00am

Steve is a professional photographer. He needed to do a shoot for Powder magazine on the Pfeifferhorn. The Pfeifferhorn is one of the worlds true horns. It is known on most maps as the Little Matterhorn. You must skin, climb and rappel in order to summit and descend the peak. There were five of us in all that made the trip.

After skinning and climbing for quite some time, we finally caught our first view of the Pfeifferhorn. Steve and I commented that this view was worth the wrath of Myranda if Weston had in fact not gone back to sleep. From here, we skinned a little further and then removed our skis for the final ascent up to the peak.

This is where the ice axe came in handy. A slip on this steep slope will send you along way down.

On our way to the top. It was amazing to look back and see where we'd come from. Like I said, you wouldn't want to fall here!

Once at the top (elevation 11,326), I got into my best mountaineering pose for the camera. You also get good service here... so I sent Myranda a picture text.

From the top you rappel into a steep chute. You then ski the chute for several hundred feet until it chokes off and cliffs out. Then you must rappel out of the chute. From there you can ski the apron out. What a blast. With all the photography etc. It took us the entire day to tour this. I didn't return home until 6:00pm.

One last look back at the peak we just conquered. Thanks for the invite Steve.

And fyi... no, I could not walk the next day... too sore! But still it was worth it.

If you would like to see some incredible photography, visit stevelloydphoto.com

Having fun with Dena

Shaun and I went to get CPR certified on Tuesday night. I had planned on going with a couple of girls from the ward, so Shaun was going to have a daddy daughter night with Anna. 45 mins before I had to leave to go to my class, Shaun decided he wanted to come too. So Anna went to play with her cousins and Great Aunt Dena. We met them at Cafe Rio, where she ate a quesidilla, then went home with them to play. Dena took some pictures of her, so I thought I'd steel some of them since I'm not to good at getting out the camera.

Patrick...in Costa Rica!

I just thought I'd post a picture of my baby brother Patrick. He is serving his mission in San Jose, Costa Rica. He left for the MTC in October and arrived in Costa Rica December 26. He just had his first baptism and we are so excited for him. Keep'em coming!

Happy Valentines!

This year was the girl's year to make plan's for valentine's day. Since going out to eat with a group of 10 would be CrAzY on valentines, we thought we would make a nice dinner. Actually Toni did most of the work. But we all brought something to contribute. The girls met up at Whipperman's at 6:00 so we could get all dressed up. We had decided to make it a little corny and wear our wedding dresses.

Surprisingly, after 5 years for Whitney and myself, we still fit, but it was a tight fit for me. The guys were told to dress in their suits and show up at 7:00. They weren't too happy about the suit thing, but they wanted us to plan this year. We'll see what they come up with next year.

For dinner we had shrimp to start off with, followed by steak and baked potatoes, and a lime dessert to finish it off. Unfortunately, I had been feeling sick and throwing up all day so I just watched everyone else eat. After dinner we took cheesy prom pictures with a lovely backdrop so we could remember our fun night.

Kyle & Whitney

Ian & Loni

Shaun, Mandy & Anna
Anna wasn't feeling well either, so we had to cancel the babysitter and bring her with us. She had just thrown up all over her clothes that is why she is in just an undershirt. But we loved having her with us, she is our little valentine!

Ronnie & Lisa

Scott & Toni

Kip & Emily

As soon as dinner and pictures were done, the girls were out of their dresses and into something we could breathe in. We finished the night off by playing the Newlywed game. Shaun and I won, yay! Our prize was a $20 gift certificate to Fratelli and chocolate. We had a great night (besides the fact that Anna and I didn't feel so great).

Projects...do they ever end?

We have been living in our home for 3 1/2 years now. It has been a lot of fun and a lot of work fixing up a home. Since we had Anna, just over a year ago, we haven't done anything to the inside of the house. But I have been saving my money and I am ready to fix up my laundry room. Yay! Since it's so yucky, I never bother to even clean it. So here is a before picture and as soon as it's done I'll post the after picture. Hopefully this spring we will be able to redo our bathrooms and start on the back yard. So it looks like we have lots of projects in our future. Good thing Shaun is an excellent handy man!

911 Emergency

So that is who we got a call from, after Anna had called 911. We heard a voice on the line, and Shaun, not knowing it was 911 hung up on them. 30 seconds later they called us back to make sure everything was okay. He assured them that it was, telling them that it was our 13 month old that had been pushing buttons. He answered a few questions and we thought that it was over. 10 minutes later there was a knock on our door. Shaun yelled come in, thinking it was my dad. It was a police officer stopping by to double check everything was "really" okay!

So we had to document the occasion and took a picture. Anna is no longer allowed to play with the phone.

Happy New Year

We went up to Grandma and Grumpy's house to go tubing on New Year's Day. Grumpy and Uncle Kyle built a great tubing run behind their house. Anna wasn't so sure if she liked it. But being the mean parents that we are, we made her go down several times. It was her first time playing in the snow, we kindof had to throw something together to keep her warm. We had a great time, if anyone wants to come play, give us a call!