Sledding EC Style

On new year's day we did a little sledding. It was great fun. We all took turns being pulled behind the 4-wheeler on the sled, until we broke it. It's probably best for children not those of us grown up people.

When it was Kirk's turn we all decided to snowball him.

This is the prep picture with all the impressive snowballs ready to fly.

Here's the action shot.

We didn't Kirk as snowed as we would have liked so Jeremy and Trevor decided to take some real action.

Bullseye!

Player Christmas and New Years

Since this blog has become a type of journal consisting of the happenings in mine and Kirk's life, I have decided to have it printed up as a book. Due to this decision I will be stopping this post at midnight on New Year's Eve. (Ok, it might actually go a few moments after as well)

We spent New Year's with the Player's this year and celebrated Christmas on New Year's Eve. It was fun to celebrate two holidays on the same day.

The day was full of fun. We headed to Utah around 6am which is the same time I go to work everyday so it was totally normal for us. We got to St. George and swung by Jeremy and Dayna's house and scooped up Damian. This was not a pre-planned adventure but he's so cute so we couldn't resist. Damian was great on the way up until about 40 minutes from Kirk's parent's house but as soon as I started dancing and looking like a fool he chirped right up. On the way we hit freezing temperatures (obviously) but unfortunately the window washer fluid we had in the car wasn't equipped for such extreme weather. The auto shops in Las Vegas don't see this as a necessity apparently. =) We had to stop once and scrape off all the frozen fluid that was obstructing Kirk's view out the front window. We stopped in Cedar then and got some of the heavy duty stuff. Why even make the other? Seems pointless. Even if you don't have a large number of freezing days. Anyway...

That night we went to dinner with the Mecca Bike Club that Kirk's parents participate in. Los Dos Amigos. MmMmMm. Then we came home, wrapped the remainder of the presents still in need and then started our Christmas event.

We got some very awesome gifts from the fam. I even got a gift card for Tai Pan. WooHoo! And Kirk really liked his lighter.

Right after this shot the lighter ran out of juice so Kirk had to focus on a different toy. So what does he do? He picks up his new Nerf dart gun and shoots Dayna straight in the eye. Foam dart meet eyeball. Apparently it hurt real bad but Dayna was a trooper and didn't even try and kill Kirk.

Here is most of our loot. We got a steam cleaner which I am so excited about! Can't wait to whip that baby out and steam the crap out of my house.
After 'Christmas' was over we played a game and then it was time to usher in 2010. Apparently one of Trevor's favorite things to do is to burn the trash in a barrel outside at midnight.
Here's our roaring fire.

My favorite thing is that when you live in the middle of nowhere on New Year's Eve you get to "shoot their pistolas up in the air. And they called us scum-sucking pigs. Us!" Movie anyone?

Anyway, so this is what we did. The gun I shot is probably one of the coolest guns ever. It is a 22 revolver with a really long barrel. (Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about?) It really is an awesome gun.

I will continue on with the remainder of our visit in my next post to introduce 2010!!!

Goodbye Sister Hales

My old roomie and friend Jill is leaving for her mission in January to the Phillipines. Amy and I met Jill when we moved to Provo in 2004. She's from Henderson and is my same age but we didn't know each other back home. She was always a good friend of ours. I remember once it was raining like crazy and we went to Jill's house to visit. Then we decided to run home in the rain and Jill wanted to come with us. I was in a bit of a fight with this guy I was dating and as we ran down the street he came onto his front porch and tried to get our attention. Jill took my lead and ignored him and then participated in the guy-bashing that ensued once my house was reached. From that moment on I knew Jill and I would be great friends. =) In the Fall of 2006 Jill and I moved in together with our friends Kylee and Kristina. We had the greatest time in that apartment. There were many trips to the gym together, still lots of guy-bashing (I couldn't seem to shake the kid) and even an occassional night when Kristina and I would tie Jill and Kylee's bedroom door closed thus locking them in. One of my favorite memories of Jill happened on a sunday afternoon.

It was after church and while being mormon seriously limits your options on a sunday afternoon, being a provo mormon limits them even more. One popular activity of choice is to 'visit'. It's somewhat of a phenomenom. Everyone goes and visits. Mostly to the residence of someone of the opposite sex and females seem to do the majority of the visiting. It's part of the whole dating and mating ritual. Don't get me wrong, I had my 'visiting' times as much as the next girl. But on this particular day during this particular time of our lives, Kristina and I didn't want to leave the comforts of our own home (as comfortable as a college apartment can be). However, this attitude did not mean we didn't want to entertained and this job of entertaining fell on our dear Jill. Now, Jill wasn't aware of our desire for her to have 'quality roommate bonding time'. Jill had in mind that this day would be made perfect with a nice long cozy sunday afternoon nap. Unfortunately for Jill, her plans were definitely thwarted by our boredom. As Jill lay peacefully sleeping in her bed, Kristina and I had a great idea. We wanted Jill to get up. At first we tried calling her over and over. Jill always had her phone nearby and we knew she'd hear it. That only lasted as long as it took her to turn it off completely. Plan B. The living room in which we were wasting away the moments shared a wall with Jill's room and the fact that Provo apartments have paper thin walls also helped. We decided to use this fact to our advantage. We decided that we would yell her name to rouse her from her slumber. Now, picture the most annoying voice you can. Pitchy, loud, shreaky. Multiply that by two and you have mine and Kristina's chorus of Jill's sent assaulting to her ears. She tried to let us ride it out and tire of our silly antics but to no avail. We shrieked Jill's name for at least 45 minutes until she emerged from her cave. I think even Sam (our friend) came by during our bellowing and couldn't stand it, so he left. Now it was time for some good old fashioned roomie bonding. Jill quickly got over her annoyance with us and found the humor in our pitiful and pointless lives that day. (You may wonder where our previously mentioned roommate Kylee was at this time. She was working at Chilies and had to miss all the fun. Such is life.)

Jill will be a great missionary. She will be missed but I know she'll have the time of her life. Maybe I'll write her companion a little note on how to keep things interesting in their apartment. Take care of Sister Hales, Phillipines.

Have a great time Jill and work hard.

The whole fam-dam-ily christmas.

Everyone came to my parent's house on Christmas day. Everyone, that is, besides Heath and his fam. They had to stay in Virginia this Christmas and we missed them a ton. Ben's kids got a go cart from Santa. It was so fun to ride. Even Mom took a turn and she had a great time on it.

Mom got a Wii. It's so fun. I think it had someone on it constantly. This is Mom doing the ski jump.

Thr grandkids got cowboy hats and boots from Grandma and Grandpa. They loved them. These are Jono's boys in their gear.

We had such a great Christmas. Delicious food, Fun gifts and Awesome Family.

Our first Christmas as Man and Wife

Here are a few pics of our Christmas morning. We stayed in Logandale to have Christmas with the Bailey fam. We woke up aroung 6am and nobody else was up yet so we got to have our own Christmas together. It was great. I got some great stuff. A bike Stand/Trainer to make my bike into a stationary bike indoors. It's amazing. In the picture I am holding the old belt to my treadmill that Kirk gave me!! He bought it off of Craigslist and all it needed was a new belt and it runs great. IT IS SO AWESOME!! I love it. We have it set up in the garage right now but will be putting them both in our dining room as soon as we get our new tile down. My kitchen will also be our own little home gym. =)

These next pictures are Kirky's presents.


A couple days before Christmas I was in Bass Pro Shop getting my last minute gifts for Kirk when my Dad called. For weeks I had been wrestling with whether or not to buy Kirk a .45 pistol he wants so badly. It was way over our budget and wasn't the easiest thing to get my hands on so in the end I decided to just settle with the other gifts I had planned. Then I got that call. My Dad was at his friend's pawn shop and was looking at a Springfield XD 45 pistol. It was exactly what Kirk wanted. And since we know the guy I was able to get it at a really decent price (still over budget mind you). I sat in Bass Pro Shop running through the scenario in my head. What would be Kirk's reaction on Christmas morning? Can I go over the budget that much?

In the end I decided to go for it. However, for my safety I also decided not to give him any ammo. That way he couldn't shoot me for my budget plundering. =)

Until he unwrapped the gun I was stressed!!!

Don't worry though. He LOVED it!

And now for the best gift of all!

That's right.

A genuine BYU Pez dispenser.

The box may look a little damaged but do not fret. This is not due to any lack of care that BYU places in their shipping methods. It is a result of the "I hate BYU" dance Kirk had previously informed me he would perform on any BYU paraphernalia I gave him.

The Forgotten Carols 12/21/09

On December 21 Kirk and I went to see The Forgotten Carols by Michael Mclean. It was a great show. Kirk had never seen it before and I think was a little hesitant to go since he thought it might be kinda lame but even he liked it in the end. It really does bring the Spirit and even though it does have a little cheesiness it is pretty awesome. I love it!

I of course had to document our little outing even though in these pictures you can't really tell where we are. Mostly I just like the faces Kirk pulled in each.

Christmas Eve

This was an early Christmas present from my mother-in-law. Isn't it so cute!?!?

I saw this in Bear Lake this summer and almost bought it but didn't and then Kirk's mom surprised me with them before Christmas. I love it! Thanks Kim!

We spent Christmas with my family this year in Logandale. We have a lot of traditions in our family especially around Christmas so there really never is a dull moment. On Wednesday Dec 23 we had our work Christmas party. Most of the family came and we had such a great time. Following the party we went to the temple to see Emily's friend Sarah Purcell go through for the first time. It was so great to see the light in her eyes as she made such an awesome choice and it made the Christmas spirit that much stronger. After the temple we hurried to Amy's house to meet up with the rest of the fam and go Christmas Caroling. Every Christmas for as long as I can remember my family has gone caroling. The number of houses we sing to has dwindled as the number of family members in attendance has multiplied. It is a hard tradition to keep up when juggling so many different schedules and dragging so many little kids along (the kids were great this year). But the tradition lives on and I think it truly does bring joy to the homes we visit. This year we only went to three houses: the Lee's, the Whittles and the Bleazards. And just like every year we had to discuss when the boys start their part. We sing 'Christmas Bells Are Ringing' in a round and from year to year we cannot remember when the boys are supposed to come in.

The next day was Christmas Eve and the celebrations continued. Everyone got to my parent's house that afternoon. There was delicious food, games and lots of family. That evening we started the festivities. First comes the nativity acted out by the kiddies. We have acted out the nativity every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. As we got older our get-ups got a little sillier and irreverent. (Like once I came as a wiseman on skis. And Cousin Robbie brought a lamp for his gift to the baby Jesus.) We always got a real nice laugh but I think my mom is secretly grateful that she has enough grandkids to take part now so she can avoid the irreverence of her children. =)

Net we all sing SilentNight. A few years ago we started a tradition of watching a film called "The Gift". It is one of those seminary type church films. It is about a little boy who has to get up every morning really early with his Dad to do the chores around the farm. He was having a hard time finding the perfect gift for his dad that year and the tie he ordered just wasn't going to cut it. He decided that on Christmas morning he would wake up way earlier than his dad and do all the chores himself then sneak back in bed with his dad being non the wiser. His dad decides that instead of dragging him out of bed he will let his son sleep a few minutes more and start the chores. He gets down to the barn and to his surprise the chores are completed and his son is waiting for him inside the house. It was the perfect gift. The dad had never seen the kids come down on Christmas morning because he was always in the barn until that Christmas when his son gave him the best gift. It is such a great movie.

Next Grandpa reads 'The Night Before Christmas'. He has also done this for as long as I can remember.

Here are a few more pics of the days festivities. Mark and Collin are Santa and an elf and Janie is Santa's little helper. Apparently Santa and the elf turned a little retarded.


We also wanted to take a picture of everyone in Christmas gear. Notice Zach and Joey snuck in the picture with their oh so festive blue shirts. =)