My First Professional Gig

I was asked to play in a community concert. I needed to prepare enough pieces to play for about 25 minutes. I have been dreading the event. Last night was the concert. I was very relieved when it was over. The event coordinators gave me an envelope when I was there. I thought it was probably a thank you card. When I opened it, it was a check. I guess I am now a professional pianist!

We did not take pictures at the concert. Here I am at home showing off my prize money. I guess I have no more pride if I am displaying my picture when I am nine months pregnant.

Balloon Festival

We went to the Bluff Balloon Festival this weekend. It was beautiful watching the balloon along the red rocks. The kids liked predicting which balloon was going to be up first. Although they liked watching all the balloons in the sky, I think their favorite part was the hot chocolate and breakfast at Twin Rocks.

Design on a Dime

My project last week was to re-do Brigham's room to get it ready for the baby. Brigham was still sleeping in a crib because I didn't want to add another bed to the small room until I absolutely had to. Here is my re-creation of the boys' room:

BEFORE:

There wasn't much to this room before.


BORING!

AFTER:

This is our re-design on a budget. We didn't buy any new furniture. That bed came from Josh's house. He slept on it when he was a kid. In any other room, I think it would look horrible, but I think it looks great with the cowboy theme. It is hard to tell from these pictures, but we painted the walls and added a window seal (I did that window seal myself!) Brigham has been so proud to sleep in his BIG BOY bed! The girls are quite jealous of the room makeover. Now they are begging me to start on theirs.

I have been itching to use my new scroll saw that I got for Christmas, so I decided to cut out the
"Howdy" from wood. I was happy with the result!

Just a side note: We have had this new bedding on for a week. Brigham has already thrown-up on it. I can't remember the last time he threw up. I guess he was just waiting for some brand new bedding! It has been properly broken in!

Shae's All About Me Week

Shae's kindergarten spotlights a child each week. Shae's spotlight was last week. She was so excited to make her poster and talk about it in class. On Friday I went in and talked about Shae and we played "Shae BINGO." Shae had a perma-grin the entire time. It was cute to see. She is such a fun and energetic kid. For a treat we brought OREOs (one of Shae's favorite snacks.)

Josh Finally Gets His Deer

Well, Josh didn't get a deer during bow season, and he was sad that he didn't draw out for rifle. I guess he was feeling a little sad that he didn't get a deer last year so he decided to go hunting this morning on his way to work. I will admit his choice of weapon is a little unorthodox.

In case you were wondering, yes this is the car that we bought BRAND NEW last year!


Anyone want to come over for some road kill venison tonight? YUM! YUM!

Sledding Fun

We have had a lot of snow the last week. The kids have loved it. The day after Christmas we braved the frigid temperatures and took the kids sledding. There is a big tubing hill at third reservoir, however my dad brought his four-wheeler and the kids just wanted to be pulled behind it.

Brigham was just proud to put all his snow gear on. He loves to wear his snow boots in ANY weather.


The kids are getting ready for another trip. Buddy, our dog followed them wherever they went. Brigham didn't last too long on the sleds. He wanted to ride on the four wheeler with us.

The girls being tricky doing 360s.

I was on the back of the four wheeler trying to take these pictures. It was fun to hear the squeals of delight.

Christmas 2008

CHRISTMAS EVE

We had Christmas eve at my parents house with my Grandma, Aunt Paula, and Jeff and Alisa and their family. We started with a big Prime Rib dinner and ended with a Christmas program.

Is this Christmas or Halloween? The kids got into my mom's dress-ups and decided they needed to be fabulous for the program.


Brigham, I mean scary snake, did not want to miss out on the dress-up fun.



All the kids performed a talent for us. Here Bodell and Abby are showing off their musical talent.

Shae asked me at six o-clock if it was time to go to bed. She wanted to skip the program and go to bed so that Santa would come.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

I thought that the kids would wake up at their regular time. I was wrong! Shae woke up at 5:45 and went in the living room to check if Santa had come. She ran back and woke up Bodell. They were in our rooms jumping up and down with excitement that Santa had come and hoping we could open presents. It was so fun to see the excitement in their faces. Having kids definitely makes Christmas very fun.

Brigham loved all the presents and toys. His favorite gift was probably a new Disney cars sleeping bag and flashlight.

Bodell's favorite gift was her iPod. Shae's favorite gift was her portable princess cd player, althougth her robe comes in at a close second.