Birthdays

Brynli and Wyatt's birthdays are 1 day apart, so they always get to share a birthday celebration. Brynli thinks it is great that her birthday is 1 day after her dad's, and I think Wyatt likes it too. I can't believe that my little Brynli is 7 years old. Wow how time flies. I won't say how old Wyatt is, but Brynli was a great present for his 30th birthday.

Here are some pictures of our celebration at Grandma's house. Notice the darling cake that Melanie made. She is so talented and all my kids are so excited to see what she is going to do next.

 Here Brynli is opening her presents from Grandma & Grandpa. She was so excited to get a password journal. I guess that makes her feel really big.

 Here are some pictures of our birthday celebration at home. Poor Brynli was sick on her birthday. She was trying to pretend that she wasn't too bad, but I could tell that she really didn't feel good. She still wanted to open her presents and go get ice cream. 

 Brynli went ice skating at one of her friends parties about a month ago and ever since then she has wanted to go ice skating for her birthday. She wanted to just go as a family. All the kids were super excited because they have all wanted to go ice skating all winter long. They all had a great time. By the end of the night they could all skate unassisted. Sadie was pretty excited about that. I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked because I stayed outside the glass and watched with Aubrey and I sent Kamryn in with my camera. I am glad for the 3 pictures that I did get. And I am glad that everyone had such a good time. I just wish it didn't have to be so cold.

Wyatt and I went for a snowmobile ride for his birthday. It had been awhile since I had been snowmobiling. I forgot how fun it is. I'm sure Wyatt gets a better ride when he goes with the boys, but we still had a great time. Sorry, no pictures, we were too busy riding. 

The best thing I ever did!

14 years ago I married my best friend and the love of my life. It was the best thing that I ever did! I love you Wyatt, Happy Anniversary. Thanks for 14 amazing years.

Motorcycles

Wyatt took Kamryn and some friends to Devil's Playground to ride motorcycles one afternoon. They all had a great time. Kamryn is getting pretty good. Here he is showing his stuff.

And Wyatt had to show off for the camera a little too.

Monkey see, Monkey do!

While hiking Kamryn thought it would be fun to flip into the sand. Of course if Kamryn does it then Derek wants to do it. And Wyatt will not be out done by both of his boys. (sorry, the videos uploaded in the wrong order.)

disclaimer: no one was seriously injured in the making of this video

How well do you know your husband?

My friend Melody tagged me. I don't really like doing tags about myself, but tags about my husband are fun. Answer these questions to see how well you know your husband. Then send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

Tag your friends and have them try it too...

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? The Office would be his favorite choice, but the News or Jay Leno is more accurate.

2. You're out to eat/what kind of dressing on his salad? Thousand Island

3. What's one food he doesn't like? celery

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. Water

5. Where did he go to high school? Uintah High

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? egg sandwich (and I don't like them so he has to make his own)

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? Ice cream (or maybe that's just me)

10. What is his favorite cereal? Hot cereal, malt-o-meal. He really doesn't like cold cereal.

11. What would he never wear? cowboy boots

12. What is his favorite sports team? Does the Honda team of supercross riders count?

13. Who did he vote for? John McCain

14. Who is his best friend? Me, of course! 

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? put myself down

16. What is his heritage? German & English (I think)

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Anything but chocolate. Maybe strawberry.

18. Did he play sports in high school? Wrestling & baseball.

19. What could he spend hours doing? riding motorcycles, snowmobiling, boating.

20. What is one unique talent he has? He's very artistic

Who do I tag: Becky (you don't have to tag yourself), Chauntue, Jamie,  & anyone else who wants to play along!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Two of my favorite people had birthdays this past week. My wonderful husband Wyatt turned  35, and my darling little Brynli turned five. We celebrated their birthdays together at Grandma's house and then Brynli had a little friend party. It's kind of fun to have two birthdays together. I know Wyatt likes to share his Birthday with Brynli, and Brynli thinks it is super cool to have a birthday the day after her dad's. Thanks to aunt Melanie for making the cakes. She always does such a great job.

I can't really believe that Brynli is five. Time goes by so fast. It seems like once they turn five they grow up so fast. Brynli is such  sweet girl. We love you Brynli. Happy Birthday!

Husband Tag

My sister tagged me, so I guess everyone gets to learn a few things about my husband.

1. Where did you meet your husband? At Utah State University. We lived in the same apartment complex, in fact his apartment was directly below mine. Very convenient. 

2.How long did you date before you got married? 9 1/2 months

3. How long have you been married? a little over 12 years 

4. What does he do that surprises you? He never gets mad at me. Even if I try to pick a fight. We really have never had a fight in our 12 years of marriage, a few disagreements, but never a fight.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His beautiful blue eyes.

6. What is his best quality? He is always so much fun and can make me laugh, but he also is very responsible about important things like family, work, and the gospel. Also, he is so likeable. Kids like him, adults like him, teenagers like him. He is a great husband and father. He is just a great guy.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Not really

8. What is his favortie food? Anything, he's easy to please.

9. What is his favorite sport? Motocross

10. When and where did you first kiss? At my apartment in Logan. It was about a week after our first date. I actually had been out with someone else. When my date dropped me off Wyatt came up to my apartment. We were just talking and hanging out and then he kissed me. (I didn't complain). I guess he felt that he needed to hurry and make his move to win me over. I guess it worked, but really the other guy was no competition.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I don't know if we have one favorite thing, we like to do many things together. We love to go boating and biking. We also love to watch The Office or play the Wii together after our kids have gone to bed. 

12. Do you have any children? Yes, four

13. Does he have any hidden talents? I'm sure he does, but he is so good at hiding them, I don't even know what they are. (at least I can't think of any at the moment).

14. How old is he? 34

15. Who said I love you first? He did, of course!!!

16. What is his favorite music? I don't really know, I'm not much of a music person.

17. What do you admire most about him?  He has so much faith and doesn't worry about anything.  

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? Probably, but I better add a picture. He doesn't like to read blogs, just look at the pictures.

20. Who will I tag next? Tari, Jamie, Peggy.

Boys Trip to Hanksville

Wyatt and Kamryn went on their annual trip to Hanksville the end of October. (I know I've been a slacker updating my blog, I tried to get Wyatt to post about it, but that didn't happen, so here goes nothing). They went with the Reeves, the Hulets, and the Woodwards. Kamryn said it was the best trip he ever went on. Two days of riding motorcycles with your friends, what more could a nine year old boy ask for? I think the big boys had a good time too. Doc Woodward brought his R.V.  Kamryn and his buddies had just as much fun riding to and from Hanksville in the R.V. as they did actually riding their motorcycles. Kamryn's getting to be a pretty good little rider. Wyatt said that the little boys would make a track out of anything. I'm glad that they all had a good time. There was no phone reception in Hanksville, so I didn't talk to Wyatt until they were on their way home. As I was talking to him about their trip, I asked Wyatt if all the bikes ran good and if anyone got hurt. He responded with "everything ran great, and everyone was o.k.  I might have been unconscious for a little while".  I guess he had a pretty bad wreck were he was knocked unconscious for a little bit. I think he may have bruised his ribs because he was pretty sore for over a week, but other than that he was just fine. He didn't even have any scrapes and scratches. His wreck happened on Friday, and Saturday he just took some Motrin and rode all day. He wasn't going to let a silly wreck keep him from having a great weekend. I'm just glad that I wasn't there, and that they both came back in one piece. I guess Kamryn had a little bit of a wreck too. It wasn't his fault, but I guess one of the guys jumped a hill and clipped the back of Kamryn's tire as he landed. It could have been ugly, but again I'm just so grateful he was o.k. and I didn't see it happen. I'm glad they have a good group of friends that they can go and have fun with, but I think it's a good idea for them to take Doctor Woodward with them every year.

Halloween Memories

Thirteen years ago today was my first date with Wyatt. I'm usually not very good at remembering specific dates, but Halloween is pretty easy to remember. He had asked me to the Halloween Howl, a big dance at USU. Then before the dance he asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him. Of course I was delighted. His best buddy Chase was proposing to his girlfriend Annette. He had led her all around town on a scavenger hunt, and then they ended up at a nice restaurant in Logan canyon. Chase wanted the waiter to bring Annette a red rose about every 5-10 minutes. Then the last rose was a white one, with her engagement ring. Anyway, Chase didn't trust some waiter with the engagement ring so Wyatt and I were going to eat on the other side of the restaurant (so we couldn't be seen by Annette) and give the waiter the ring when needed. Well the restaurant was really small and nobody else was there that night. There was no place for us to sit so that we wouldn't be seen. We ended up standing in the kitchen of the restaurant just talking to each other, the waiter and other employees. We did get to spy on the engagement, which was quite romantic, but we didn't even get anything to eat. We had so much fun though. That could have been such an awkward first date with a lot of guys, but Wyatt and I just hit it off from the beginning. We could totally just talk and have fun together.  After the  restaurant we  went back to my apartment and got our costumes for the Halloween Howl. My roommates helped both Wyatt and Chase with their costumes, makeup, and hair. Then we went to the pumpkin walk in Logan before going to the dance. We had a great time the whole night. It was a little strange to dance with someone dressed like a girl, but we still had a great time. I don't think we ever ate dinner that night. I guess I didn't care too much, because obviously I went out with him again. In fact we just were kind of together after that. Not always formal dates, but just together all the time. Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but 1995 was definitely my favorite Halloween.

Moab Adventure

Wyatt and I had a great, much needed, weekend in Moab. We hadn't been away, just the two of us, for 3 1/2 years. Thanks to Alys, Melanie, and Megan for watching all the kids and making it possible for us to go. It was great to not have to worry about the kids. We took our mountain bikes to do some trails in Moab. Moab has great mountain bike trails. Wyatt has been with "the guys" before, but I have never mountain biked in Moab. In fact I haven't done much mountain biking. I got a new, full suspension, Gary Fisher last summer. I ride it a lot on family bike rides, some longer bike rides on the road, and even a few mountain bike trails here in town, but I still feel that I have not used this bike to it's potential... until this weekend. The bike and I both got a great workout. Like I said, I'm a novice rider, so I was both nervous and excited about this trip. My husband, on the other hand, is very experienced and maybe even leans toward extreme (probably where my nervousness came from). We left Friday morning after we got all the kids to school and to the babysitter. As we approached Moab it was still too early to check into the Bed & Breakfast, so we decided to hit a trail on our way into town. We did the Klondike Bluffs trail. This was a great trail to start with. It had a pretty good uphill, but it was doable. Then we took a short hike to a beautiful overlook of Arches National Park. Then the downhill was a lot of fun. I decided that this must be the girls trail. We saw quite a few couples as we rode the trail, and even one group of all girls. After this ride I felt much more confident about riding. I felt pretty good and I was ready for some more riding. But I don't think I was quite ready for what was to come.

Saturday we decided to do the Slick Rock trail. I was a little nervous, especially after reading it's ratings in the trail guide. The ratings were as follows... Grunt Factor: (10) very tough roller coaster ride-lots of short steeps; Techno Factor: (10) very difficult, very steep ups/downs on rock; Fear Factor: (10) very scary in spots. The Klondike Bluffs trail we had already done was rated (5, 3, 3), so all 10's was a little intimidating. Wyatt assured me that I could do it. He said, "You can't come mountain biking in Moab without doing Slick Rock". I made sure that I prayed Saturday morning. I wanted to live through my Moab adventure.  After a great breakfast we hit the trail at about 9:00 a.m. The weather was overcast and rainy, but at least it wasn't scorching hot. We started with the practice loop which added another 2 miles to the 13 mile ride. It was a very intense, tough ride. I did my share of walking. I either powered out on the really steep uphills, or chickened out on the really steep, scary downhills. I got pretty good at my dismount. No more not being able to clip out of my clipless pedals. My husband was awesome! He would ride his bike to the top of the tough hills, and then walk down to were I was and push my bike up so I just had to walk up. He was really good to wait for me and tell me how good I was doing, even though I know I was totally holding him back. It was not the same experience as when he goes with the guys. This wasn't the girly ride like Klondike Bluffs. We saw one other couple that turned back shortly after starting. Then we saw another younger girl who was with a group of guys, who finished the trail. There were two other girls just starting as we finished, so I'm not sure if they finished or not. We saw a lot more guys than girls. As Wyatt was waiting for me in one spot, there was a guy that passed by him and said, "You've got one tough chic". I'm sure he was pretty proud at that point. I really felt like a tough chic. I completed Slick Rock! I may have walked some, and cursed more than I'd like to admit (sorry mom), but I completed Slick Rock, in the rain no less. It rained the whole time and we were drenched by the time we were finished. Our original plan was to ride two trails on Saturday, but after 4 1/2 hours of Slick Rock, and with the rain still coming down, I was spent after one. We went back to our room, showered, got something to eat, shopped and just relaxed. It was a great weekend! We had a lot of fun (it was fun after we finished), and I was quite proud of my accomplishment. I really enjoy mountain biking and would like to do more of it. We'd like to make this an annual event. If anyone would like to come with us next time let us know. We would love to have company.