Special Christmas Message...

Happy Christmas!!

Wow.. the big day is finally here!.. about time really since I doubt that Owen could have contained his excitement for much longer. He has been a lot of fun this year; it is the first year that he really understood what was going on and he has been obsessed with everything to do with Santa - he has watched the Tim Allen 'Santa Claus' movie about 50 billion times! Fortunately, Owen didn't get us up too early - 7.00am which was acceptable! He was so excited to see all the presents under the tree. I want to thank everyone who mailed over a gift for Owen - thank you soooo much. We didn't have much money to spare on gifts this year, but thanks to the kindness of everyone who sent a gift for Owen, he was very blessed with so many wonderful gifts - THANK YOU!! After the opening of gifts, we went for brunch with the Kaczmar family. Our neighbor Stacey's parents are such welcoming folk and as always, their house was full of children and grandchildren and it was such a lovely atmosphere. We had a large spread of food for breakfast which all us gals helped prepare; Linda has a huge kitchen where everyone hangs out talking and laughing, it's so nice. We stayed until about noon when we came home and we'll stay here for the rest of the day, watching tv and playing with Owen's new toys. Currently he's running round dressed as Batman, intermittently stopping to take a breath and have a drink of 'tea' from his tea-set which was all he really asked Santa for!! The weather outside is perfect for today; a good layer of snow on the ground, bright sunshine and bitterly cold!
Merry Christmas to everyone, enjoy the day!! We love you all.

Who thought Batman was so civilized??

Good Fun with Good Neighbors

Saturday night, we decided to make a quick trip to St.George to visit the LDS Temple, see the Christmas lights and see the Portraits exhibition they had going on in the Temple Visitor Center. 4 Couples went (right to left.. the Heirtzlers, us, the Bouchers and the Barney's). The Temple is an amazing sight at the best of times, with the bright white building gorgeously lit up in the dark night sky, but with the large grounds full of what seemed like a million colored lights, it was so beautiful... my pictures nowhere near do it justice.. you just had to be there. The Portraits exhibition was really nice and the pictures very powerful; we'd been talking about going for a couple of months, so it was nice that we were finally able to get and see for ourselves. After we were done at the Temple, we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. It was so fun to have everyone sat together, talking and laughing. The food was delicious and very plentiful. We had such a fun evening and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends to share fun and memories with.

Party Night

2 Parties in one night... I've been upgraded to socialite status! lol.... First on our party list was a surprise party for our sweet neighbor Robyn .. Dwayne did a great job at making sure she didn't know about it and all would have turned out great had Robyn not seen Ryan (another party guest) running past the kitchen window yelling to everyone that Robyn was here and we should hide!! it was really funny... also due to all the snow, everyone had to park their cars near the house which also kind of gave it away, but it was a lot of fun and Neasha's dutch oven chocolate fudge cake hot out of the oven with ice-cream was to die for!! ... One huge helping of choccie cake later, we were on the snowy roads again and on our way to my work Christmas party which was so much fun. It was so nice to have everyone together in one room with spouses and children and it just made for a really nice atmosphere. I'm so fortunate to work with such a wonderful group of people. Owen had a blast running round with the other little children his age.. his latest love is Kaylee, my co-worker Mickelle's girl; the 2 of them were inseperable - it was so sweet to see them so excited together waiting in line to see Santa. We had Dutch Oven food which was delicious but unfortunately I spent too much time talking that I didn't get as much eaten as I'd of liked!! A really fun time was had by all but unfortunately I still don't feel one bit Christmassy -what's wrong with me this year??? Merry Christmas y'all! xx

Festival of Trees & The Storybook Cavalcade Parade

I love this time of year in our sweet little town; they put on so many fun activities for the children and I can't imagine living anywhere else and missing out on all that goes on here. This morning we took Owen to the annual Festival of Trees. There are at least 30, if not more, themed Christmas trees; all decorated beautifully - each representing a different theme. They also have storybook characters wandering around in costume to greet the children - it really is a fun little event. Owen's favourite trees were the Superman and Batman trees and of course the Toy Story tree! The festival is held in the Heritage Center that has 3 levels and Owen was like a kid in a candy store, running up and down stairs to each level, I was quite exhausted after our hour looking round and trying to keep up with him - there was so much to see, he didn't know where to go first! The majority of the upper floor was dedicated to 'The North Pole' and Santaland. A little tunnel leads you into an area full of penguins and snowy things, along a hallway all decked out Christmassy, ending in Santa's den. I just love seeing the look on Owen's face when he sees Santa.. it's just priceless.. of course I never have the camera ready at such a moment! After a brief chat with Santa, we were off to our next fun event... The Storybook Cavalcade Parade... another annual tradition for us it seems! I was a little worried that the weather would ruin it because it's been so jolly cold this last week, but the weather proved me wrong and although only 43f, we bundled up and it actually wasn't too bad stood in the bright sunshine. It was quite a long parade and very well done. Each of the floats represented a different child's storybook. Owen loved the floats, especially when he saw the Buzz and Woody floats.. although when Buzz Lightyear came round, I noticed that he was rather more interested in the guy inside of the float who was driving it, he smiled so big when the guy stuck his hand out and waved at Owen - it was funny. So many people had turned out and it was such a nice atmosphere.

Snowy Sunday

Yesterday it snowed about 3 inches worth. The night and early morning were above freezing point so the snow had started to melt some by the time it had warmed up enough for us to take Owen out playing in it mid-afternoon today. It sure was pretty outside; it was quite mild and the sun was shining brightly in cloudless blue skies... I love the snow when the weather is like this. Fortunately, Owen has the best snow gear out the 3 of us so he was kept snuggly warm and dry while he sledded and threw snowballs. Alfredo & I sure were given our afternoon exercise running round the field and up and down the hill with him on his sled! It was fun to see Owen have so much fun though and I thought I'd share some of these pictures with you.

Thanksgiving.... and a lot to be thankful for..

Wow.. I cannot believe that it is the time of year again when we sit down to eat turkey and all the trimmings with friends. Thanksgiving morning was as beautiful as one could hope for on this special day.. clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine amid a very crisp cold air.. gorgeous! We started the morning with a semi lay-in (does 7.30am count?) and by 10.30 we were on the road south to the town of Hurricane with good friends Roger, Arlene and their 4 kids for an afternoon gathering at Roger's parents' place. The Olcott family are the most welcoming and friendly group you could ever wish for - they're simply awesome people and I am so happy that we got to spend our Thanksgiving with them. There were 17 of us sat down to lunch which was cooked to perfection and perfectly coordinated by Roger's dad. Around the table were us 3, Roger, Arlene and the 4 kids, Roger's sister Shay, her hubby and their 2 kids, my best work gal pal Becky (who is Roger's sister and my desk-mate at the Sheriff's Office), her husband Kyle and their 2 boys and of course Roger and Becky's parents who were such wonderful hosts. Owen had such a fun time with all the children, who although a lot older than him, included him a lot in their games and with a 'grandkid cupboard' full of toys, he was in his element. The home was all decked out gorgeous for christmas and looked really festive. Food was plentiful with the traditional turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and everything else you expect from a Thanksgiving feast... and there were 4 kinds of pie for dessert... wow, we were all very uncomfortably full to say the least, in a really good way! After clearing away the tables, we sat around talking and laughing and then decided to hit the stores for a spot of sale shopping, unfortunately the sales don't really get underway until tomorrow which is Black Friday - the most awesomest sale day of the year!, so anyways, we left the women shopping and 5 of us decided to start the journey North and for home. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to battle the crowds in the sales for what few bargains I can find, so let's hope the die-hard shoppers who will be at the store at 5am haven't pipped me to the post and taken everything by the time I get there at 10am or so!. Wish me luck! What a very fun and lovely Thanksgiving we had today with such wonderful people who we are so blessed to have each and every day in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for in our life here in Utah and I think that Thanksgiving is a really nice holiday to celebrate - there is no gift giving or commercialism (if you don't count Black Friday bargains!) like at Christmas, and the whole point of this holiday really is to get together with friends and family and to just enjoy being together and be thankful for everything we have.

Baja 1000, Ensenada, Mexico

I think pretty much everyone knows that Alfredo recently spent a week down in Mexico working on the Baja 1000 off-road race.... he was originally intending to be part of the support crew for a guy who had signed up to race solo but the course was somewhat rougher than expected and plans changed at the last minute and Alfredo got signed up to be the race partner which of course he was thrilled about! The race was 675 miles off-road and between Alfredo and Eric, the 2 of them finished in just a little over 28 hours, a time to be proud of given the technical difficulties the course posed. So anyways, here are some pictures of Alfredo in action!

Veterans' Day.... and Mommy and Owen's fun day

So today is Veterans' Day and I am fortunate to work for a company who observes this holiday and gave us the day off! - yay for me!! ... As on all holidays, we woke to find a gorgeous American flag flying outside our house, blowing proudly in the breeze... that's one of the things I love about this country, we're so patriotic!! Owen always gets well excited when the town puts a flag outside our house - he loves it! So, on a day off, never one to sit home and do nothing, I wanted to go do something fun with Owen. Our day started off at the Highland Park in St.George (love that place!) - this park is awesome. It's less than 2 years old so is still very clean and is in a really nice area of town and the grounds are very well maintained and Owen just loves it there - there's so much for him to play on. The park is huge and atop a big hill so has awesome views of the surrounding mountains. After he'd expended some of his seemingly limitless energy for a good hour and a half running round, we headed to Costco where they have 4 big aisles full of christmas toys and he had a wonderful time running round pressing buttons and testing stuff out. We had a quick slice of pizza for lunch then headed to the Washington City Aquatic Center to use up some more of my little man's energy! .. LOVE the Aquatic Center!!! This was only like the 3rd time we'd been in the 2 years or so they've been open but Owen totally remembered it and couldn't wait to get there! They have the classic lap pool but the majority of the Aquatic area is devoted to the play center for kids. They have a baby area for little tots and then a bigger play park, for want of a better word, that is inside the pool area that is full of so many fun things and there is this huge bucket on the very top that constantly fills with water and every couple of minutes dumps gallons of water on anyone unfortunate enough to be on the play park at the time.. it's so much fun!.. So anyways, we're back home now and i'm struggling to keep my eyes open; we had so much fun at the water park and we went up and down the waterslides so many times I was getting dizzy, lol. Owen practically passed out with exhaustion in the car on the way home so I know he had an awesome day since he rarely naps in the afternoons any more. So all in all, a very fun day and what a treat to have the whole day with my little man on a Wednesday!.... back to work tomorrow...

Horsing Around!

I just had to post these pics of our sweet neighbor Dave and Owen in the horse wagon that Dave just got done making... how awesome is this! He made it totally from scratch out of an old bicycle - how ingenious! Anyways, so I get home from work today and Dave is in our front yard with Maple the horse and this wagon and had come to give Owen a ride round the block. Not being able to resist, I hopped in the wagon too for a spin! Maple was in her element trotting down the street (we actually ended up going about 2 miles); she was such a good sport but had little disregard for 'STOP' signs or rules of the road, lol... it was fun, especially taking corners so fast we were practically on one wheel. Owen loved it though, he was giggling away. What a treat it was to get to take a ride!

Happy Halloween!..... Boo!!

Happy Halloween everyone! ... After a very late night at Roger & Arlene's party, I managed a lie-in til 9am which was soooo nice! We had such a great time last night, thanks guys!

Alfredo went dirt-bike riding with the guys today so I took Owen to the Iron Mission State Museum in town. What a neat little museum our town has. It documents the history of our County / town over the last 150 years since we were settled officially. There are so many old carriages, all kinds of farm equipment, displays detailing the railway that used to pass through town and so many other really cool interactive things for kids; Owen had so much fun. Outside is a huge area full of more farm equipment and old tractors. There are also a couple of old homestead cabins, a school house and a replica of a smelter that Owen just loved. His favourite thing by far was a Wells Fargo (mail/pay-load) carriage that he couldn't get enough of. This was the only one that kids could go inside and he went in and out so many times I was afraid he'd wear the door off!

5pm was Trunk or Treat at the church.. and time for a change of costume to something a little warmer... Lilo 'n' Stitch! Owen at this point was very sugared up, tired from a very late night last night and had quite honestly had enough of halloween at this point! We took him anyways and he had fun for about the first 15 minutes (in which time he accumulated probably 2 months worth of candy!!) and then decided that he'd got enough candy and wanted to go home, much to Alfredo's and my disappointment since we were enjoying visiting with friends/neighbors. Reluctant to stay home so early on Halloween, we met with friends Scott & Carrie and took Owen to the Haunted Hay Ride which was fun. Owen was a suprisingly good sport and enjoyed himself. A quick trip for hamburgers afterwards concluded our Halloween fun. We've all had a blast this Halloween but I am very pleased that it is all over and done with and we can get back to normalcy for a few weeks. We put the clocks back an hour tonight so I have an extra hour to hopefully rest up from all the fun the last 2 days have bought!! Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Friday Fun

So I guess we got in the spirit early for Halloween this year and have already had a wonderful day full of Halloween fun and the big day isn't even here yet! .. I kind of like Halloween on a Saturday because it seems the whole weekend is dedicated to fun! Me and my gorgeous gal pals at work got dressed up like we normally do.. Mickelle was a giraffe (her outfit was the work appropriate version in this pic!!) and Becky was 'Frenchie' from Grease the movie.. don't we look fab!! We had treats in the office and just had a fun day... I'm so thankful to have the most awesome boss! After work, I got home to find that Mat & Lu's wedding DVD had arrived so i spent the next couple hours or so watching that.... wow.... what a fab day they had and what an amazing job Lu had done on the DVD, it was so professional and just wonderful. Thank you SOOOO much Lu for sending that to us... watching that really made my day.. thank you!! Early evening took us back into town for the car dealers trick or treat fun/activities. The 4 car dealers and Lin's Market get together to do lots of fun activities for the kids and there's tonnes of candy! Owen had such a fun time. He was so excited to finally wear his outfit; not quite sure what he is but i thought it looked rather Power-Ranger-esque! lol. Last stop on the Halloween circuit for Friday was a party at the Olcott's house which was fun. Lots of laughs, good company and an all-round good time was had by all.

First Snow of the Season... 28 October 2009

Okay, so the first snow actually fell yesterday on the 27th, but today gets a special mention because we woke to a blanket of white this morning. It's so cold today.. a high of 31f... brrrrrr... the kind of cold that bites at your fingers, it makes you want to cry. I guess winter is officially here! Alfredo took Owen out to play in the snow this morning so thought you'd like to see a picture! I guess I need to dig out my gloves and snow/ice scraper for tomorrow since the sky is thick and heavy with white so i don't think it's over just yet!.. We're living in a beautiful winter wonderland.

Funday Sunday....

Sorry about the lame post title, lol.. I couldn't think of a better way to describe our fun day! I took Owen to run around the Discovery Park after lunch on Sunday and then we went to the movies to see 'Astro Boy' the new cartoon movie that's out; it was a cute kids movie and he really enjoyed himself. We got home late-afternoon to an invite from our good friends, the Heirtzler's, to go hiking out at Three Peaks. The weather was getting really chilly at that point, but we all soon warmed up on the hike, bundled up in winter clothes. The scenery out at Three Peaks is so gorgeous. We followed a hiking trail probably a mile or so up a fairly steep hill to this amazing rocky outcrop that provided a 360 panoramic view which these pictures sure don't do justice. It was really cold and windy at the top so we didn't stay long. On our way back down, we veered off on another trail that meandered through some hoodoo-like insane rock formations that the kids were all climbing over and exploring - it was a lot of fun. We found our way back to the cars just at dark and headed back to the Heirtzler's place for fresh out the oven cookies and peach cobbler, and to play a board game which was so much fun. Owen had so much fun on the hike, he was a real trooper and despite the steepness and difficulty of the climb, he never complained once, he had so much fun with the Heirtzler kids and I am so blessed to have awesome friends/neighbors to share fun days like this with.

Heritage Livestock Parade.. Pumpkin Festival.. SUU Homecoming Parade

I can't believe how perfect the weather was again today - it is such a treat for this time of year! Another gorgeous Fall day with bright, very warm sunshine and clear blue skies. There were 3 events happening in town today, all over the course of the morning / early afternoon and I wanted to go to them all which we fortunately were able to do.
We started off by watching the Heritage Livestock Parade down Main Street. Our little town is awesome! - where else would they close down the Main Street in town to have a tractor and sheep camp parade and then turn 100+ sheep loose to run down the street? - it was so much fun! The sheep were a little more under control than last year where they were all running round, totally out of control, but it was a lot of fun. This year they had more 'herders' to keep them on course, but it was still lots of fun to see.
Next we went on to the Pumpkin Festival in the gorgeous grounds of the SUU University. For a $5 entrance fee, Owen got to choose a pumpkin from the corral and paint it, decorate a halloween cookie, make a kite, play pumpkin bowling and dive into the leaf corral - he had so much fun. The place where they hold all the activities is a gorgeous big grassy area with lots of huge trees that were all shedding their leaves. It was so pretty, and Owen had such a fun time doing all the activities.
The block behind where the Pumpkin Festival was being held was on the parade route for the SUU Homecoming Parade which was awesome! We lost count of how many floats were in the parade, they had a couple of marching bands from the University and local high school, dance and cheerleading troops and lots of other fun acts in the parade. Owen got so much candy, we didn't have enough pockets to carry it all! He proceeded to eat rather a lot of pieces, and combined with the very sugary sweet cookie he'd eaten at the Pumpkin place, he is now bouncing off the walls with hyperactivity and sugar-induced tantrums.... oh well, it was all in the name of a very fun morning!

Hidden Haven - Parowan Canyon

Hidden Haven is everything the name suggests... we hiked this in early Spring 2009 shortly after the snow had melted and we were impressed with its beauty then... but now, with all the colors of Fall and leaves falling everywhere like confetti, the trail was stunning. A beautiful, well marked trail winds through a 'wildlife / vegetation study' area then leads up a granite waterfall to an even more beautiful waterfall.. the last 100ft or so of the hike isn't very child-friendly so we only went as far as Owen was safely able - he was a real trooper though and hiked a good 3 miles today - he really enjoyed himself. The weather couldn't have been any more perfect with clear blue skies and bright, warm sunshine. At the end of the trail, we stopped by the water to let owen have a short rest and splash his hands in the water and climb among the small boulders and trees.

2000 Flushes, Iron County

Today was the most gorgeous Fall day... 77f, bright sunshine in clear blue skies... an adventure was most definately beckoning! We left the truck at Three Peaks rec. area a few miles West of town and headed further West on the dirt-bikes. A series of dirt roads and off-road tracks meandered through to the edge of the Three Peaks area where we crossed a County Road and continued on dirt tracks to 2000 Flushes. What was once a coal mine has long since been abandoned and flooded with water; the mine was used in the early 1900's. Legend has it that miner's hit a water vein, engulfing the mine in water and taking with it, huge machinery and several workers.. the area certainly has an eerie feel to it - the size is immense and it's really very remote out there. Owen thought the sounds from the echo of his voice were very cool - he was yelling out all kinds of words and couldn't quite figure out where the echo was coming from - it was fun to watch him. The water color is the most intense shade of blue / green, rather like toilet cleaner I guess, which is how the area got its name.. 2000 Flushes. We hung out by the water's edge for a half hour or so in the warm sunshine before heading back a different route to the truck. We rode alongside a rail-track for a while - Owen is loving trains right now, so that was very exciting for him. There were some old rail-cars that we lifted him up onto and he had a great time running round. We made it back to the truck a little sunburned and saddle-sore (well, I was!) and thankful for this perfect weather that made such a day out possible.