at the races

The Brower Boys had a ski race up at Park City this weekend. I lovingly shoved Kevin at 6:45 am when his alarm went off, made sure he was awake and went back to sleep; I was not getting up that early. I would rather drive up by myself a little later and waste the gas, then wake up at that dreadful hour. Sorry 'Global Warming'.

It was snowy and cold, but luckily my puffy kept me warm. Thank you husband for the coolest, cutest, warmest coat ever.

The babies came up a bit later when it was warmer and got to watch their daddy, uncles and grandpa race down. They loved it. When I told Ellie her dad was skiing down she startled giggling and dancing.

The boys did awesome. They of course cleaned up with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. And Kevin's not going to like this one bit but he didn't get first. No $100 for us. I need to give him better pep talks we're thinking. Shalane is a master at these, or so Daniel says.

1st- Mitchell
2nd- Daniel
3rd- Kevin
And Mark did very well in his age division.

and then with the handicaps they put in place:

1st- Daniel - the $100 winner
2nd- Mitchell
3rd- Kevin

Beware Daniel and Mitchell, Kevin is going to come back angry for the next race. He is determined, or so will ensue after my pep talk.








Cute bum. Kevin skiing with little Ellie.


Wow. Ellie actually has a smile on that face of hers. She must really love skiing.

The babies loved skiing with their dad and uncle Kevin. Loved it. I was surprised at how much they liked it. Kevin and Daniel would not hold back speed wise. Those babies felt more G-forces then I probably have skiing.
I think we've got little ski racers in the family.


This is what Ellie did every time Kevin put her down after skiing with her. She would put her sad, puppy face on and cling to his leg. It worked every time.


The Karbon male ski model. I'm married to him.

puffies, ducks & ice skates

A little video of fun in our wetlands park:

Christmas with the Browers

My MIL is awesome and decided to have Christmas a day early so me and my SIL could enjoy Christmas time with our families. We are completely spoiled being able to have two Christmas's.

Christmas morning while we were waiting for Ellie to be woken up, Kevin goes "Where's the fat one?" It took me a moment to figure out who he was talking about, but not Alta. She kept calling Ellie "The Fat One" the rest of the morning. Not good.

I got Kevin two big packs of Reeses Tree's for Christmas and had Ellie help him open it. She was sooo excited when she saw what they were. When we later took her for a little morning stroll, she was not too happy about going back inside. When I kiddingly told her she could have a "Reeses Tree" if we went inside, she let out a yell of excitement and started for the door. I could not believe she had understood "Reeses Tree." Maybe she really is "The Fat One".

Kevin got me an amazing pair of road biking shoes for Christmas. They are the best looking shoes I have ever laid eyes on. He did amazingly well. I don't even remember seeing them at Canyon Bicycles when we had gone there to peruse. Now to just find me a road bike to go with them... Does anyone have a Cannondale SuperSix, 56, Shimano 105 components bike for around lets say $500? You could really help me out here.



Alta loving her "Cutting Projects"


All the boys got "Technology Shirts". They all had to try them on and see who looked the best in them.



Benny got a new do' for Christmas. He's looking extra puppyish these days.


Ellie enjoying her "Reeses Tree"


The Babies enjoying there new baby sized table.



Goooooodmorning me!


Who even drew this and took this picture? I think we have an artist in the family!

it's almost here

I can't believe Christmas is almost here. It always comes so fast. This year has been incredibly nice with no school. This time of year was always extremely stressful trying to get everything done in time. I always wanted to think about Christmas, but school always won. But this year Christmas won! I was done with Christmas shopping last week. All the presents were wrapped and under the tree last week. Chocolates were passed out last week. And I still had this week for Christmas! Huzzah!


We have a wetlands park in our neighborhood. And since the pond froze over, Kevin has been ice skating on it! We luckily found his size ice skates at D.I. (on our third trip), but have yet to find me any. I did find a lean (mean) frying machine at D.I. that I wanted to take home, but Kevin said that whatever I made in there, he wouldn't touch. Darn it all. I want me some fried chicken!



I decided to try out my sewing skills again and make some Ugly Dolls for my nieces. I'm still working on them. Hopefully some of them turn out. Hopefully my nieces like them. Ellie saw me making the first one and loved holding on to it. But that was before I put the Ugly face on it. My family saw the first two that I finished and all of them laughed and called them ugly. Good thing that is the point. But when I took it to Hadley to show her, her face lit up and she yelled out a "CUTE!" Oh Hadley I love you. She really does love the weirdest stuff.


Meet Bunny, Albus, and Stickhead.

Some of Kevin's customers brought him a present the other night. Beer. Kevin didn't have it in him to say anything but "Thanks!" So I came home after work to two cases of beer sitting by the door. My first reaction was to check it to see if it was non-alcoholic. And then I went "Kevin................."
So what now?
Who want's to come party?
Mom, I'm kidding.

sundays with ellie

Thank goodness Ellie hasn't been the biggest fan of nursery. Sundays with Ellie must live on!

She loved the Christmas tree and was especially excited to find Kevins' stocking filled with treats. She got so excited when I pulled out a reese's tree and started to dance. I couldn't resist. Kevin loves those reese's trees. But he surely doesn't dance when he sees one. Kevin won't be too happy Christmas morning.
Wait, yes he will! I got him the coolest Christmas gift this year. And the best part is, he hasn't tickled what it is out of me yet. This never happens. Only a few more days...

finally

I finally caught a little of the Christmas bug. It always takes me a while. But I will admit to listening to Christmas music right when Thanksgiving is over. I really love me some Christmas tunes.

I made chocolates a while ago, but this year I also wanted to try and make my mother-in-law's rocky road. So, since the bug bit me, I decided to make a small batch to give to my friends along with some chocolates. Lucky ducks.

I always laugh at my decorating ability. Its nonexistent. I thought I could be O.K. at decorating. But then I realized this was a lie when I got married. I like too much stuff. But I don't know how to put hues, textures and designs together. I did take a interior design class in high school, but the only thing I remember from that class was my teacher taking my phone away from me for the entire day. So maybe that shows how much I liked that class.
I also don't like spending money on decorations; but I like the expensive stuff. This means I just don't buy anything.
I told myself that with all the money being saved, once we move into our dream home, in who knows how many years, we can buy nice, expensive furniture and decorations and an interior designer to go with it.



So here are all my Christmas decorations:

1) A fake tree that my sister gave me when they got a bigger and better tree.
We really wanted to go and chop down a tree this year, but the permits for the area we wanted to chop one down in were all sold out. So hopefully that tradition will be started next year. Note to self: Buy permit in November.
I got the skirt, ornaments and bow on extreme clearance one year only because my mother and sister made me get them.

2) A christmas tree candle. yum.

3) A wooden santa my mom gave me.





Now onto shopping.

Thanksgiving: Part 3

Me and Shalane started the day out with a bike ride up Snow Canyon. We knew that you had to pay to enter the canyon. We didn't know how much, but we knew. We just decided to forget that little piece of information. I told Shalane that even if they try and stop us, we just cruise on by. I mean were on road bikes, were fast. And hopefully we would be faster.
Paying to enter our States parks doesn't sit well with me. I live here. Let me in for free.

Well sure enough as we start to ride past the park ranger station: "Hey! Hey! HEY GIRLS! You need to pay!!!! HEY!"

"Keep going Shalane!"
And we ride on.
We rode pretty fast for a while. Adrenaline was surging. Shalane kept saying "I can't believe we just did that!" "I'm scared!"
And I was too. But they didn't come for us; so we relaxed.
It was a nice ride, but hard. It's five miles continuous uphill and I am proud to say we didn't stop.
That was until the park ranger station at the top of the canyon stopped us. We had forgotten about the top station.
Shalane was a little ahead of me so the nice guy on top first stopped her. When I rode up I said "What seems to be the problem?" in the most innocent voice I could conjure.

"You didn't hear the ranger at the bottom yelling at you?"
"Whaaat? Nooo..."
"You need to pay."
"You do?"
"We have a park pass in our car at home." (My sister-in-law did, this wasn't a lie)
"You need to bring that next time."
"How am I supposed to carry that while I bike......" as my voice trails off... "Ok, will do, thank you ranger!"
And we were free. We had done it!
Shalane felt really bad. Me, not so much.


Me and Alta drew this together. For some reason I thought it was really cool so I told her to be careful and not mess it up. I messed up one part and she replied with: "Umm...you kind of just messed it up....." Touche.


"Look how fat my head is!!"



We took the boys to the playground since they didn't get to enjoy it the day before with us. We made them spin, spin and spin some more.
Once they got sick of that, we played some frisbee.









We decided to go out for ice cream the last night, and ventured out to Nelsons Frozen Custard. But when we got there, we realized we couldn't wait: we had cards at home to get to. So we went to Smiths and each picked out a Ben & Jerry's. Why is ice cream so much better when you get your own pint of it?! I'm no connoisseur of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, and have probably only tried two different flavors, but the Pistachio flavor was really good, so I am going to say it is the best Ben & Jerry's flavor.


Alta came and sat on my lap with her ice cream and said "I love to share!"
So I had a bite of hers, and gave her a bite of mine.
But then she continued to eat just mine.
"Mmm Malorie! Yours is really good!" "We love to share!" She is a sneaky one.




Every night us kids would stay up playing UNO. Didn't know that game could be so fun. There was a lot of competition. But this game didn't even come close to the heat that SCUM created. We had to end that early one night due to everyone getting a little too into it, myself included. That game is stupid. I am still mad. Mostly at Mitchell. Worst king ever.