The last few months

Michael quit his job right before Christmas and he is enjoying doing a little consulting work and getting his business going. We love having him at home more often and eating three meals together a day. He works so hard for our family.

Me- I love being at home with my boys. They keep me really busy but when I get a chance I'm working on writing my grandfather's biography and am also training for another triathlon in April.

Anthony is so much fun. When he isn't dressing up as a knight or super hero he is coloring. We are getting quite the collection of his art on our magnet board.

Ethan is a busy little 18 month old. He follows his brother around and does everything he does. He loves treats, loves yelling "NO" and is full of laughter and affection.

He's getting some curls. I hope they last.
Another one of Ethan's favorite pastimes... attacking the perpetrator as mom vacuums.

Valentines

We had an awesome valentines up in Salt Lake. We dropped the kids off at the babysitter and headed to La Cucina Toscana for a fancy and wonderful dinner (so fancy that they charged us $7.50 for flat water... we now know what that means). We then went to the symphony and stayed the night at the Marriot. We had such a good time. I sure love this guy.

The symphony at Abravanel Hall was so beautiful.

Christmas

We decided to move the week before Christmas so things were a little crazy but we were unpacked in time for the big day. We enjoyed Christmas at home with our little family and then went to Michael's parents for a yummy traditional english dinner with yorkshire pudding.

Anthony hand painted all of his Christmas gifts. It took him 2 1/2 hours but he didn't stop until every corner of the sleighs were painted.

Thanksgiving

We went to my sister-in-laws vacation home in St. George for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed nice weather, tennis, shopping, and a super yummy dinner.

Wrestling Uncle Rick. My boys can't get enough of him.
Dad doing the turkey honor.

Only my mother would get coordinating aprons for the girls. She' the best.

Friends, Family and Disneyland

In October we headed to So. California for a crazy and fun week. We started by visiting Michael's Grandma in Thousand Oaks. She had never met Ethan and so we were so excited to spend a couple of days with her as well as Michael's aunts.

In this picture we were at the Reagan library and were able to tour Air Force 1. Pretty cool to see how he flew around.

After Thousand Oaks we headed to Santa Monica for a day on the pier.

Next we headed to Disneyland for 2 days with some good friends Mike and Laura. I was worried that the boys would be too young but they were able to go on most of the rides. They had a great time. Anthony's favorite ride was Pirates and Ethan didn't clutch onto us for dear life during It's a small world, so that was probably his. I hadn't been since I was a kid and enjoyed the park way more than I thought I would. We were worn out by the end but really had a great time. Here are some highlights.

Lastly we headed to Bakersfield to visit some good friends. We hadn't been for a couple of years and so it was so good to be back with such good people.

California Trip

We went out to California last month to see my family. The guys took a rafting/fishing trip down the American River while the girls shopped and spent a couple of days in Tahoe. We had such a fun time. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Walking around some fun fountains while a band played in the background.
Ethan loves his Grandpa.

Me working my brother in tennis.

My parents surprised Anthony with a Spiderman slip-n-slide. He thinks it is the greatest thing ever.

The guys about to leave for the fishing trip.

My childhood friend Laura and her two adorable girls with my mom and I in Tahoe.

We celebrated Ethan's first birthday while we were there. Needless to say he loved his cake.

Happy Birthday Spiderman, I mean Anthony

We celebrated Anthony's 3rd birthday on Friday. Anthony requested a spiderman party and so we partied it up with pizza, a pinata, bean bag toss, pin the spider on spiderman (thanks Janni), cake and presents. The kids didn't really know what was going on (especially with the pinata) but it was fun watching them try to figure it out. Anthony went crazy when he opened his spiderman costume from Nana and Papa. He hasn't taken it off since. It was a fun day.

Girls Camp

I had a wonderful week at Girls' Camp. We went to Heber Valley and enjoyed beautiful cabins, lots of pretty hikes, canoing, a challenge course, and an all-around fun time. I missed my boys but it really was a fun week.

Biking

So we've made a new tradition of taking a family bike ride every Saturday morning. I love it because Michael gets to haul the trailer and so I get a nice relaxing ride up the canyon. We usually ride up to Bridal veil falls. What a pretty spot.