The Count (Ha, Ha, Ha!)

My little smartie surprised me this last week by being able to count to 29 on her own. After that she said, "20-10, 20-11, etc.) I explained to her how counting works with the 20, 30, 40, etc. Yesterday she figured out how to count to 99 all on her own. At the end of each set of 10, she would pause while she figured out which came next, then would say 60, 70, or whatever and keep going. I was surprised and impressed that she figured it out that far.

Jumpin' Joe

I have always thought it was cute when Glade jumps! We finally caught it on video. His little face when he looks at his Daddy is precious also.

Trip to Utah

Ryan decided that for his birthday, he wanted to take a ski trip to UT. We happened to luck out and find Southwest with a half-off deal there and back. So, we all decided to go. We went for a 4-day weekend, getting there around noon on Friday, and flying back about 7 on Monday night, so it was a good length. We really enjoyed the trip. It was especially nice to have all of Ryan's family together. Those not living in Utah decided to make the trip since we were coming. It's been a few years since we have been together, so it was wonderful. Thanks for making the trip!

Also, thanks for letting us stay with you, Dad and Mom. And Rich and Kim let us crash in on their house for large family gatherings, as usual. Thanks for being willing to have the chaos.

Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport. We went to lunch and then decided to check out some things on Temple Square. We got a tour of the Conference Center. Too bad the roof was closed because of ice.

A "little door" at the side of the Salt Lake Temple.


Kim and Glade by the beautiful doors.


Conference Center with Grammy and Grandad.



Kimberly and Glade also really enjoyed the dogs. Glade even learned to say Cocoa.


That night we celebrated my birthday, again, on my actual birthday. Thanks for the delicious cake and gifts!



Ryan got his day of skiing, along with all of his siblings and his Dad.


My sister Mindy and her husband Scott drove down from Logan to see us and we got to meet our new niece Stephanie. She's a cutie!





Dusty and Leah had to go home Sunday night, but the rest of us all went to the Draper Temple open house. Kimberly was really excited to get to go inside of a temple. We really enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I finally crossed over the "old" line. That's right, I turned the big 30 in the middle of January. I don't feel much older though. We celebrated a little early since we were going to UT on my actual birthday. We made eclairs and had fun filling them with pudding and frosting and eating them. Let me tell you, eclairs don't do well at holding all that many candles.




I was totally spoiled by my family, as you can see. I have since enjoyed reading my new books, playing my new games, and watching my new (old) movies. Thanks!

Goodbye Grandma Loucks

The other day I was EXTREMELY tired and didn't really feel like making dinner, so my great husband took us out to eat. We decided to walk since it wasn't too cold. On the way home, we noticed an interesting thing. The moon had a rainbow around it. The moon was full (or pretty close to it) and there was a ring with varying colors going all the way around it, not close by it, but pretty far away. It was a really neat sight.



The next morning we were notified that Ryan's Grandma Loucks had died the night before. It was kind of neat to reflect back and think of that beautiful moon rainbow and think the maybe it was her telling us goodbye.






Ryan and Kimberly made a trip to Florida to see his grandparents last May, right before we moved to WA. We are very glad that they were able to do that.