It is only Wednesday!
3 days to Vegas

5 days. Seriously, the longest 5 days of my life. I think I am into the 28th hour of this day...and it is only Monday! I need to be in Las Vegas right now.

Cathy had photos taken of Sophie in her blessing gown and I cried while looking at them. She is a beautiful baby. I am looking so forward to meeting her.

Tony and Megan have a perfectly gorgeous new baby girl also! Paityn Rae was born on January 23. I haven't met her yet but I received a lovely picture. I think it is fair to say that Megan has wanted a baby girl since she was old enough to know what a baby is. Congrats to her and Tony - and to Colton, Braxton, Landon, and TJ - the luckiest older brothers around. That little girl will be a princess for the rest of her life.

All these new babies make me think of my mom. She was such a proud Grandma and I can't help but think she is preparing these new babes for their turn on Earth. That sounds so sappy but if you knew my mom you'd understand. Every new baby was a treasure and she loved and doted on each and every one. Even when she was in immense pain she would whisper and coo at the babies and it was a sincere smile that came to her face when they acknowledged her. We say "mom would have been so proud" but I think it is more accurate to say "mom is so proud".

Sports and Flooring

2009 is Doug's year. The Utes won the Sugarbowl - along with every other contest they were involved in, and now the Steelers are headed to the Superbowl. I have one happy sports fan in my house!

11 days until we go to Las Vegas - the time is not passing fast enough! Come on, I am ready to go!

Our home remodeling project increased dramatically over the weekend. I am somewhat relieved to report that I am still married. The pantry addition created a need to extend the kitchen floor - unfortunately, Armstrong has discontinued the product Doug used for the rest of the kitchen. So, we are tiling our floor - the ENTIRE kitchen. We found a 16"x16" tile that looks really good with our cabinets and it was on sale. $200 worth of tile and we are on our way...

Doug is a saint. He became very pale at Lowe's on Saturday afternoon when the decision was made to replace the flooring. Every ounce of blood left his head and he got a little sweaty, but he didn't argue (probably because the lack of blood in his brain prevented any thought process). We'll see how far we get with this project before he tries to lock me in the crawl space.

18 days to Vegas...

We are in the process of remodeling our home - again. Or should I say still? I don't know. Doug bought this house before we were married and he did an excellent job of fixing it up. Then he got married and his new wife demanded all kinds of changes. Poor guy had no idea what he was in for! I say "we" when I talk about these projects but I have had very little to do with any of the actual work. Doug has done everything and he has not complained a bit.

I am fairly certain we are going to die in this house so I hope we can make it as close to perfect as possible. Doug, my jack of all trades, has not come after me with a hammer yet so I am assuming he is okay with all of my plans! My house will be the "Winchester Mansion" of Taylorsville. I should start leaving time capsules in each wall we open up.

Last year we created a new access point for our basement and turned an unused area into a family room. Now we are closing off the back stairs and creating a pantry in the kitchen. We were able to open up the back entryway and still have enough space for a nice storage area. We are so close to having storage in our kitchen! How great will it be to not make a trip to the basement before every meal? Wahoo!

Doug has been cruising through this project, it seems to be going well. We hope to be finished by the end of the month - before the trip to Vegas!

It is snowy and cold today. The skies are dark and the roads are slushy, yuck. We are going to Las Vegas for Sophie's blessing on February 2 so I am starting the count down. Even if it is cold and wet in Las Vegas I won't be driving to work or dealing with rush hour traffic. I am so excited to meet little Sophie and to see Anika and Syndey together.

Anika and Sydney were born one day apart - Anika on December 31 and Sydney on January 1. It is so much fun to see the girls side by side. I hope they grown up to be close, even though they live 600 miles apart.

The last time we were able to visit Eric and Cathy in Vegas was in October of 2007. Cathy took these pictures of the girls and created this cute scrapbook page


It will be fun to take some new photos of the girls.

I love visiting Eric and Cathy. We have so much fun together. Cathy pulls out all the stops and bakes every kind of sweet she thinks I might like - she is an excellent baker. When we stay with them she leaves a little box of Charleston Chew candy on the bedside table! And we always take little shopping trips together, we don't spend a lot of money but we have a good time. Cathy is a great mom and I always feel so relaxed when I visit her home. She has everything under control and just seems to make things work. Eric is a blast also, he is the funniest guy I know. And I get his humor which makes me feel smart. He is throwing a Superbowl party during the weekend we'll be there so I'm sure this visit will be a riot.

Todd and Erica are going to be attending the weekend festivities as well. I can not even begin to explain how excited I am for this mini vacation. We are going to have such a good time - the laughs will be non-stop, the food will be incredible, and I am betting I won't want the weekend to end!

I hate to wish the days away but January 31 can't get here soon enough!

I'm a little behind! So sorry.

GO UTES! We had a little party at our house last night and cheered theUTES with our most favorite pals.

Todd and Erica and the girls came over along with Cassie and Matt. What a fun night!

The UTES played Alabama in the 2008 Sugarbowl and I'd say we cleaned up! The UTES didn't even look like they had a hard time getting the win. They scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and Alabama never caught up. I guess all those "experts" were wrong about Utah.

We had so much fun. The girls played all night and the adults really relaxed.

We sang Happy Birthday to Anika at halftime - she can't get enough of that song! We had to celebrate with the girls - what's a birthday without your pals?

I can't believe my baby is two! New Year's Eve will never be the same for us, and I'm sure Anika will enjoy celebrating her birthday with everyone.

This year we had cake and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and The Drachman's. Grandma and Grandpa JJ gave Anika big stuffed Mickey and Minnie dolls - the best gift ever! Her little bed is so full of Disney gear she barely fits!

Anika had a wonderful day. She talked to just about everyone on the telephone and sang happy birthday all day - bet you didn't know blowing the candles out was part of the song!

Now that she is two we need to work on getting rid of the bottle she needs to fall asleep and maybe we'll even work on potty training! Lofty goals...

Happy New Year! My resolution is to keep this blog current. What a blast to go back at the end of 2009 and read and see what we did!

Christmas 2008 was okay. For some reason Doug and I just didn't get into it. We never figured out what was missing, but something was "off". Our home was decorated, we listened to holiday tunes, we shopped for our loved ones, we attended holiday gatherings, and even checked out the light display at Temple Square. But we just couldn't get into the groove.

Anika was able to see Santa Claus several times this season. She become more comfortable each time and eventually got close enough to touch him. "Jingle Bells" was her favorite holiday song, we even used it as our doorbell chime.

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson helped us decorate the Christmas tree. We had pizza for dinner and then enjoyed the evening together. Hopefully this will become a tradition in our family.

We visited Grandpa Mark and Grandma Sandy's house to decorate their tree on December 14. It was fun to see everyone and we always have fun reminiscing about the different ornaments. Mom gave each of us an ornament every year so you can imagine how full the tree is now! Santa visited the party and everyone sat on his lap to share their holiday wish. We sang a few songs and enjoyed the time.

Christmas Eve was split between the grandparents' homes. Dinner and gifts were shared at The Roberts' first. It was my year to buy angels for all the girls - Mom started the tradition a few years ago and we decided to keep it going. Shopping for the angels was fun, but a bit stressful. I wanted each angel to be special but I think I missed the mark - Cassie's was the only one that really matched. We spent the night at The Johnsons' along with Doug's sister and her family. The kids had fun together in their new jammies. Since Grandma and Grandpa JJ give the jammies we are going to give slippers each year. Anika's slippers looked like wooden shoes from Holland. They are so cute.

Christmas morning was crazy! The kids had a terrific time and I think everyone enjoyed the gifts Santa left for them. Anika received her first tricycle - hopefully she'll figure it out by the time the weather warms up!