My Funny Valentine's

Adam was out of town for Valentine's Day but that didn't mean I was left Valentineless. In fact I had TWO and boy are they sweet.
I won't lie to you though. This was probably my least favorite V-day. Okay, not probably. It WAS...by far! As much as I LOVE watching "Mickey Mouse Playhouse" on the night for lovers well... My honey who has been my Valentine for the past 6 years was nowhere NEAR me on the 14th of February. When I told people that Adam was going to be out of town for V-day, I was loaded with sympathy and plenty of "Ohhhhhhhh!" 's. I shrugged them off honestly feeling it was no biggie. I was wrong. By the time evening rolled around I was feeling pretty pathetic and lonely. Keep in mind that Adam had been gone for 4 days by this point. A long time for me! And to top it off we had barely managed a "hello" by phone all day. It also didn't help that everyone's status on Facebook stated that they had had the "most wonderful Valentine's EVER." Well, that's funny because mine was the WORST ever. Okay not really.
So now that a few days have passed and Adam is home I've decided that I'm just grateful that I have a wonderful husband who is my Valentine year around. Who needs Valentine's Day anyway? Not me...I think...
BTW- Adam made it up to me when he got home.
You can go ahead and get your mind out of the gutter now.

How bad could V-day be with these two monkey's?!

You know you're getting old when...

...you're child (Kyle) says that you have "big hills on your forehead" (like when you raise your eyebrows...) *sigh*

"Mission Accomplished"...

..says Adam.

Ever since Adam and I started dating he's been trying to get me to go ice skating. He wanted to take me one evening before we were married but I just wasn't feeling up to it having worked all day. So I called and simply asked if we could cancel the skating and just watch a movie or something. Well, the guy has never let me live it down! Since then his #1 goal in life has been to get me out on the ice but whenever the opportunity to go ice skating comes up we can never go for one reason or another. One time we went with my family but I was big pregnant and just didn't think it would be a good idea with my center of gravity being so...round... Needless to say, Adam skated...alone. Poor baby!

So recently some friends of ours had the BRILLIANT (pfffft...) idea to go and of course Adam thought it was the best idea ever concieved...to claim his victory! Sure enough he finally got me out on the ice. And, I guess, we had a great time too. :)

Here a few pictures of the momentous occasion.

RaNDoM cUtENeSs

Winnie the Pooh will always be welcome here.

My feelings are nothing new and have plagued many a mommy before me.
I have recently felt the anxiety that many mommy's feel when they realize that their baby won't be a baby forever. i.e. Kyle has taken a liking to Winnie the Pooh and therefore goes around the house singing "Winnie the Pooh" to himself. This is an everyday occurrence. However, yesterday as he was singing it the unfortunate thought occurred to me, "Before you know it "Winnie the Pooh" will be gone only to be replaced by 'Winnie' the girl. And various other scary things.
As much as I dislike these rude interruptions of thought in my life, I am also thankful for them. I am given the opportunity to re-focus my priorities and what is truly important. Facebook can wait. Dusting can wait. (It always does.) Even my blog can wait. But my growing baby boys will not. Listening to Noah sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the ABC's verbatim or watching Kyle develop a new passion for puzzles. These years are but a flash. I don't want to take them for granted. My boys are so sweet. I hope they both ALWAYS know how much their Mommy loves them.

Holiday Highlights

...er...2009...

We had a great time this holiday season. So many opportunities to see friends and family. Here are some of things that made this season memorable...

Christmas lights at Temple Square- a total MUST!

Just a darn cute pic I HAD to sneak in. :)

Adam's little birthday celebration. It took place after he got home from skiing which is the reason he might look less than thrilled. The looks on Noah and Kyle's faces make up for it though. :)

Kyle decorated this particular cupcake and I think he did an adorable job.

Two of the the 3 wise men.

Wise men delivering gifts to neighbors

We did an FHE on the 3 Wise Men and told Kyle that this is where giving gifts during Christmas comes from. When we told him that we were going to take gifts to our neighbors that night, he took it all to a whole new level. He ran and grabbed his super-hero cape and asked that I make him a crown to wear and then insisted on going to every door as one of the Wise Men to deliver the goodies. Daddy and Noah got in on it too. Now one of Kyle's favorite Christmas carols is "We Three Kings". This just may have to be a new Christmas tradition.


Christmas Eve Pj's

Kyle and Noah really enjoyed opening Christmas presents.

Cheryl, this one is just for you...

Santa in the flesh.

Grandma Norma

Ellsworth trying to figure out what Cheryl got him for Christmas. In case you're wondering, it was a headlamp.

Kyle LOVED seeing all his cousins from out of town.

This post is getting much too long and yet I haven't added pictures from all the family Christmas parties on both sides, the amazing MoTab concert we attended, Ethan and Amy's engagement party, the party for deaf children at the deaf center, my grandfather's funeral...but alas I must stop. So many memories, so little time to blog them.

Happy New Year everyone!

Spencer Coleman Hind 1921-2008

My Grandpa died today. I am so full of emotions of every kind. Grandpa would be a whopping 88 years old in January. He lived a long and full life. I can only hope that I am blessed in the same way. He enriched my own life and many others. At a very young age he contracted spinal meningitis which in the end left him unable to hear at all. However, through his trials, my life has been enriched. I am thankful to have learned sign language among other things from him and my grandma. What a good man he was. I will miss him very much.

Some of my fondest memories are of him coming over to our house daily to feed the horse kept in our backyard. We got occasional rides and unlike most people, we had a HORSE in our backyard! I also remember him taking us to the West Jordan rodeo grounds to ride horses with ice cream afterwards. The there is the rib jab that Grandpa will always be famous for among the grandkids. Grandpa had a great sense of humor and a smile right to the end. What a good example he was to me. I feel blessed to have had him in my life for so long. I am so grateful for my testimony of the gospel and that I know I will see him again. I'm sure we will have a great chat then.

Spencer Coleman Hind
"A Man of Service"
January 10, 1921 ~ December 17, 2008
Spencer Coleman Hind, 87, passed away Wednesday, December 17, 2008 in West Jordan, Utah after a long and productive life. He was born January 10, 1921 on a farm in Smithfield, Utah, the son of James Albert and Amy Coleman Hind.
When Spencer was 7 years old he contracted meningitis and lost his hearing completely. He attended the Ogden School for the Deaf where he met Gladys Allsop. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 5, 1940. Spencer and Gladys recently celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary with their family and friends.
In spite of what many would consider a disability he worked hard to support his family. He was a welder repairman for Westinghouse for 35 years.
Spencer was beloved in the deaf community and served the deaf people in many ways. He had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and passed this faith on to his children. He served diligently in the LDS Church and was a pioneer in the leadership of the deaf branch of the LDS Church. He was the first deaf person in the church to serve as Branch President. He presided over the Salt Lake Valley Branch for the Deaf for eight years. He was called to be a high councilman in the Salt Lake City Park Stake. He was also the first deaf person to serve in that calling. He served in many capacities in the church including as a temple worker and as a full time missionary along with his wife in the Houston Texas Mission.
He loved horses and spent several happy years as part of the West Jordan Riding Club. He also loved dogs, tools, sports, and cars.
The Hind sense of humor is legendary and Spencer was no exception. He loved to tell funny stories and tease his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Gladys; his children, Carol Stirling (Fred) of Pocatello, ID; Spencer J. (Judy, deceased; Karen), Richard (Cindy), Douglas (Karen), Ken (Valorie) all of West Jordan, Bill (Cherri) of Riverton, Janet Taylor (Boyd) of Mesa, AZ. He is also survived by 32 Grandchildren and 47 great- grandchildren. He was proud of his large family and enjoyed being among them.
Proceeded in death by his parents, his brothers Platt & Bernard and sisters Wilda and Thelma.
Services will be held Saturday, December 20 at 1:00pm where friends may call Friday, 6-8 pm and Saturday from 11:45 to 12:45 pm prior to services.
Dad, you can finally hear us.

Happy Birthday to my sweet and sexy husband. I love you so much.

This had me in tears...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gingerbread houses!!

Okay, okay, so they are only graham cracker houses. I'm lazy, so sue me. The point is that Kyle enjoyed eating...er... decorating his house. Isn't it so cute? Adam chose to go a little "ape shiz" and built a "Shiflett gingerbread house". Noah just had a good time getting his pudgy little hands on as much candy as he could.

NKOTB...

Don't know what the above title stands for? Well, then you must not be a 30 something female who rocked out to New Kids on the Block concert 18 some odd year ago. And for those of you that also don't know, the New Kids are BACK. So of course this meant that me and my g-friends HAD to see them again. And see them we did! As soon as we heard they were going to be in town we forked out *gulp* $80 bucks with nary a blink. (Our nostalgic sensitivities were totally taken advantage of.) We HAD to be there. "We" includes me and my girls that go way back to Jr. High- Kerri, Jessica, Brianna (cousin too) and also Kerri's cool friend, Shannon. We waited a whole 5 months and when it finally came we were like a bunch of giddy little 12 year olds. When the boys came out the place erupted, the 5 of us doing our part to make sure the New Kids knew the girls were in house. These are pics of the girls just as NKOTB came out. They all looked a little flushed, wouldn't you say??? (Plz, don't kill me, B!)

So after some 2 1/2 hours of SCREAMING, singing and groovin', this 30 year old was spent. Funny because I don't remember feeling this way 18 YEARS AGO. Wow, I feel old. Ahh well. The boys are still older than me.... tee hee hee. Come to think of it, I don't remember a whole heck of a lot from the 1990 Marriott Center concert. Pretty much the only thing I remember is Jordan's open shirt blowing in the breeze....he was my favorite! Goll. What do you expect!

It was a fabulous night with my friends and one that I shan't forget (I hope. :) ) anytime soon. I wish my baby sister could have been there with me as she was the one that was with me during the concert and laughed when I had to sit down for fear of fainting. (I'll never live that one down)

Wire Whimsy

Still trying to find the perfect thing to grace you mantle top for Christmas or need a adorable hand-crafted gift? Ya'll, you SERIOUSLY have to check out this site. I love this stuff! It's totally unique so you won't have to worry about everybody having the same thing. A lot of time and love are put into these so be sure to check it out and patronize if you feel so inclined!

Time to print....

my BLOG! I am now at the 75 post mark and this baby needs to go hard copy PRONTO! This is the main reason I am even doing a blog- no, not for you, silly! :)
SO I need your help. I have researched a few ways to print my blog and some of them seem difficult (i.e. editing HTML) or not quite what I'm looking for (i.e. having it professionally bound into a book) What have ya'll done? Or are you lazy like me and haven't done anything? My preference would be to just print it off on my printer and then put it into a binder (I already have a yearly picture book professionally bound) but I don't want all the extra stuff from the side of my blog on the print out. Understand? Anyhoo, any and all suggestions are welcome....please!

I'm it!

I've been tagged a few times with this one so I guess I'll give it whirl. I actually don't mind tags. I'll get a good laugh one day, I'm sure.

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
Biggest Loser
LOST
The Office
Oprah
WordWorld
News
*I'm boring. I just don't watch that much TV. The last few were a bit of a stretch.*

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
Subway
Einstein's Bagels (Tasty Turkey on Asiago...Mmmmmm)
Chili's chips and salsa
Cheesecake Factory's cheesecake...duh.
Carl's Jr. chocolate shake
Training Table broccoli soup
Lion House's rolls
Chick-fil-A's cole slaw

*I seriously don't really have favorite restaurants but I do have favorite things to eat at various restaraunts

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
Watched PBS with the boys since I couldn't get my rear end out of bed.
Went to Wal-mart
Checked blogs and my email
Made dinner which ended up being only so-so
Went to the Fabric Center where Dawn works to get fleece for YW's on Wednesday. (We are making blankies for PCMC)
Yelled at the dog because he was about to tread on my freshly cleaned carpet
Fell asleep before the news ended
*Wow. Again, I'm boring.

8 THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO (in no particular order)
NKOTB concert
Staying up until 12am to see Twilight
Me Birfday
Seeing family on Thanksgiving
Seeing my boys reactions on Christmas morning
Getting my hair cut
Being home with my hubby on the weekend
A good nights sleep *hint, hint Kyle AND Noah*

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
Redecorating my bed/bathroom, kitchen, family room... shall I keep going? *sigh*
A trip with just me and Adam
Finishing the basement
Lasik
To be in better contact with all my friends
More ENERGY
Patience in all things
Less doggy doo in my backyard *hint, hint Tommy*
*See, I'm not asking for much!

8 PEOPLE I'M TAGGING
Any 8 people that want to squeeze their noggin's dry.

Halloween Happenings

I really enjoyed Halloween this year but I think Kyle enjoyed it even more. He has been pumped to get out there to get candy, candy, candy! Every house we came to Kyle said, "Stay here." while he tromped up to the doorstep yelling "TRICK OR TREAT!" or sometimes "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" (LOL) " all by himself. *sniff, sniff* He's getting so big. Noah on the other hand just enjoyed roaming around the neighborhood. He is all about the walking.

Ethan and Amy made the cut for my blog since they were so....creative this year. :)

They were both so cute in the superhero costumes. Kyle would run and look back so he could see his cape "flapping" behind him and then would get upset if it didn't flap in true superhero fashion. Unfortunately I couldn't get Noah to wear his mask. I was lucky to get the cape. Without that he would have just looked like a little boy with tights on...not good...

Whit woo!

The similarity is not a coincidence.