One more Christmas post

I tried and tried to find something for Geoff for Christmas. He's nearly impossible to shop for. With a little help from Ebay and other online retailers I came up with a few things.

He's always in need of shirts. He says he needs shirts that are a little more than plain t-shirts. You know, to appraise in. It's best to make a good first impression. Well, take this one for example.
And I think these pants may be the perfect shade of plum. These match the shirt.

These sweet shoes may be slightly too fancy for him but maybe not for date night. I checked to see what sizes were available. They definately have his size. After all, Geoff IS my star studded hero.Heaven knows he needs a new swimsuit. I found this one. The only problem I see is that Geoff really likes to put his keys in his pockets. I can't see any pockets on this swimsuit.



Or even this one would do. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (cat sound) rrrrrrrrrrrrr (more cat sound)
But he's not much of a "tassels" (or whatever the heck you want to call them) kind of guy.

After being a little discouraged about trying to find an outfit I settled on a fun, snuggly pet. The kids are just begging us for another puppy! I searched and searched to find the best one for our family. You know, one that we could easily get rid of. We've had several puppies. They grow up and get un-cute and we get rid of them. Here's what I found. This might cure the kids of ever wanting another puppy again!


After so much stress about finding the right gift I gave up. Geoff ended up with one of these for Christmas....... (a big one!)

My favorite person

I love him. I love him. I love him.

The other day I was feeling blue. Geoff and I were sitting in the office and I told him I really wanted to run away and hide out in some big huge city like New York so that I could get lost. I could just wake up and watch people all day and not have a care in the world. I just wanted to run away. Just for a little while. Where nobody could find me.

A few minutes later on his way out the door he took my face in his hands and said, "I'd be lost without you."

He melts my heart. I don't tell him often enough. Whatever have I done so right to have him in my life???

The good days

Yeah- I've got to take a minute and count the good days. Let me tell you about my day last Saturday. It was one of the best I've had in a long time.

6am: wake up and leave for South Mountain with mom and Jodi
7:15: arrive at South Mountain and hike to the top. What a beautiful view! You can see the entire valley. We got to watch the sunrise.
9:30am: home just in time to eat some breakfast and take a shower
11:30am: Pick up Jodi, Stacey and Katie for lunch and window shopping
3:30pm: home for a nap
6:00pm: out the door with Geoff, Wes, Ash, Ty and Caleb to see the zoo lights (Thank you, Sunny!)
10:00pm: home. Watch a little t.v. with Geoff
midnight: snuggle in my cozy bed but not before giving thanks for such a wonderful day!!!!!!!

The best part of that day was no worries. none. zippo. nada. Not even to clean the house.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade?

After my last post I decided that I had better give some thanks for what I DO have!
If every earthly possession was taken away from me here is what I'd be down to:
The gospel
My testimony of the gospel
My marriage
My children

My greatest blessings ever.

There were some good things that happened in 2008. I have had many humbling experiences and so I relied on the Lord and my testimony heavily which strengthened my relationship with Him.
My marriage has been strengthened and we have a stronger resolve to do the things that will keep us together forever in love.
We have strengthened relationships with our children.
We have felt love and support from others who have been so willing to help.
I have a greater desire to reach out to others who may need my help because I have been a recipient of needed support and I know how appreciated it is.
I have a greater desire/need to live simply, laugh often and love deeper.

The past year has helped me see through so much of the world right to what matters the most; my testimony of the gospel, my relationship with the Lord and my family.

My thoughts of the year 2008

(warning: This post is rated pg-13 for mild profanity)

Dear Year 2008:

I am so glad to be over with you! I will never have you in my life again. You brought me nothing but heartache, trials, pain, tears, unhappiness, sadness and stress.
You put me through so much that I never want to be reminded of you again! I've found 2009 and he promises to be good to me.
You can take all the pain and torment and you can go to hell.
That's right....go to hell!!!

p.s. that was me spitting in your face on New Year's Eve!

All I want for Christmas is...

A BIG, HUGE, RED WATERMELON!!!
And that's what Ashlyn got.
Believe it or don't but she ate this entire melon to herself minus a couple of bites for mom and dad.
This girl LOVES watermelon. Her room is even pink and green. She paints her nails pink and green.

A little accident

We had a great time taking the kids sledding behind the car......for a while.



You can see the frost on their faces!


Until we had a little accident. Wes and his friend were sledding behind the car side by side both on sleds and the car came to a stopping point but Wes wasn't looking at where he was in relation to the tow hitch on the back. He was busy watching his friend beside him. He didn't stop and ran straight into the tow bar and chipped several teeth, got a bloody nose and a bruised face to prove it.

It's a good thing he got some sweet friend lovin'! Actually they will both die when they see this picture!

A peek at our Christmas morning

Moving on to....

Christmas!

We made the trek to the cabin again. We left our house December 23rd for the mountains. The roads were pretty good until we hit Showlow. From Showlow to Springerville we traveled about 20 miles per hour on iced-over scary roads. I was driving and we were towing a trailer. It was a bit nerve wracking.

We got into Alpine at about 10pm and headed down the lane to our cabin. We got about 1/8 mile away and up ahead on the road were 2 trucks stuck in the snow right in the middle of the road and there was no way around them!

I thought about making the small hike to the cabin without the car but all of our belongings and overnight bags were in the back of the trailer all covered up. I thought about hiking without our things for the night but the kids had shorts on and I had slip-on shoes. All of our snow boots and gear were in the cabin.

We decided to turn around and got stuck in the snow trying to. One of the neighbors kindly came out to help us in 7 degree weather with the wind blowing something awful.

Driving back into the town of Alpine we realized that all the hotel parking lots were snowed-in and we couldn't even get in. We had no place to park. We did manage to find a hotel that would take us and with a good running start we got the car through the snowed-in parking lot.

The next morning our good friends and rescuers, Dan Nicolds and Dan Adair, came to give us some chains for the tires. I forgot to mention that we spent at least an hour in Showlow trying to find chains for our tires. Every place we checked was sold out! Dan and Dan even tracked down the snow plower guy and asked him to clear the road to the cabin. We made it!

Gotta go back in time.....

To December 14th. (OK! to be honest, it was Dec. 12th, the party that is, not his birthday. Just wanted to put out that honesty because Melissa will check the dates on my pictures and see that, in fact, it was NOT the 14th but the 12th)

This was the day of Tyler's 9th birthday. Here are a few high/lowlights.

We had a big balloon fight.....

Some male bonding time......
A game of wrap the mummy....

a fun toilet paper fight...

and, of course, presents!

We also had a special birthday dinner with nonny and poppy. Growing up, every year for our birthday my mom fixed our favorite meal and we got the red "You Are Special Today" plate. It is a tradition I love. A couple of years ago for Christmas my mom gave me "THE" plate so now I can carry on tradition!


ok- correction. Jodi made a comment making sure I knew that I didn't get THE plate. My mom got us all A plate that looks exactly like hers, my mom's that is. Didn't mean to make it sound like I got the actual plate.

correction for Jodi- I AM THAT SPECIAL AND DON'T FORGET IT!

How do we get red potatoes?

"Well......they just spray paint them!"

wise words from Tyler Brady

Anybody up for some fun?

It's called the Wasatch Back relay race. It's June 19th and 20th. I'ts a relay race, 178 miles from Park City, Utah to Logan, Utah.

We are trying to gather a team of 12 by January 31st. As of now we have 4 with 1/2 dozen maybe's.

I just have to say how proud I am of my mom! She will be a runner with us this year. Wooohooo!
As many of you know, she was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago. This past fall we thought she may have more cancer (tests showed uncertain signs). After several more tests she is free and clear! I'm so excited to make some memories with her during this run (AND TRAINING FOR IT!)

Hey guys- quit giving me your lame excuses! No you don't have to be a great runner, no you don't have to be in great shape, no it's not a ton of money! It's $85.00.
Yes, you do have to think positive and believe you can do it.

How do you like that for being on a soap box!
C'mon friends! Let's have some fun!
We're taking males and females.


Here's a phrase I copied from their information website:
"Running three legs during a 24-hour relay race is much easier than you think. Each team member runs three legs, ranging between 3 and 8 miles. This relay race is physically demanding, but legs vary in difficulty, and runners can choose their legs. This unique relay format makes the Wasatch Back an accessible race for beginners yet challenging enough for the most competitive".

Here is a link for more info: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php

email me if you're interested! lmbrady@expressappraisalsllc.com

Merry Christmas family and friends!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving for our family was a little different this year. We spent it together, just the 6 of us in our cozy cabin in the mountains. We've never spent the holiday without extended family. We missed everybody but we had such a great time.

Here are Wes and Tyler.......














We spent alot of time playing games.......














Here is our table set and ready for the feast......

Here is Tyler......
and Wesley holding the grub.......
We couldn't get enough of this (the snow not the harry snowman)......
Ashlyn getting ready for a snowball fight.....

Close-up shots are my favorite...





and here's Ash and Caleb.....



We couldn't get away without a snowball fight! Geoff and Wes tubing....


Me and Wes going tubing....

and, this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE!!!!! What is it about your man doing the dishes for you?

mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm!!!

EXTREMELY rare sight!

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING! In fact somebody tell the world to stop. It's been spotted and what a sight it was!!! It's such an exciting time I just had to share this with all of you! I can't believe I've actually seen it with my own eyes. I've always wondered what it looked like. I was not disappointed. It's beautiful! It's so much better than I EVER imagined it could be. Never in this lifetime did I even think it may be seen but MY eyes have seen it! It's such a rare experience. It's said to be more difficult to spot than big foot or, like Wesley likes to say, a smart blonde. I'VE SEEN IT! I just can't believe it!
I don't think anybody else saw it and that makes me a little sad. I would have liked somebody else to enjoy this extremely rare, unusual, gigantic moment with me. Nobody was there. But just to prove it and show the whole world that it actually was seen I have documented the experience and taken photos. I wanted hard evidence that it was sighted. May even be the last time I see it. It only lasted for a brief few minutes and then.....IT WAS GONE!







Yep, that's the bottom of my laundry basket!
Beautiful, isn't it?! Wouldn't you agree with me?

Ahhhhhhhhhh! Look at that clean, empty corner!

Here's a before shot.