~The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

We have had the BEST holiday season this year! It has been FULL of family, friends, parties, service, AND the Spirit! Here is what we did this past holiday.....

~Marty took his Mom to see "Scrooge" at the community theatre! Our nephews Austin, Tanner, and Adam had parts in it!
~Took the Young Women Ice Skating. I didn't skate! Hey,..I was a designated driver and I couldn't drive injured. :) And...I didn't have socks....
~Took the twins to Temple Square to see the lights! They loved the big tree and nativities set up in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. FYI: Go watch the "Plan of Happiness" presentation on the 2nd floor of the visitors center! It is SO good....
~Went to see the Festival of Trees with Marty's side of the family. Cayden and Sydney (cousins) were so cute with Ethan and Nyah and I actually had a spare hand to shop a little!
~Went on a Youth Temple Trip
~Attended our Ward Christmas Party
~Attended Marty's Seminary Christmas Party! The twins were TERRIFIED of Santa! In unison, they screamed when he walked in the door. Good eats though and we LOVE the families Marty works with!
~Had a "Spa Night" with the ladies in my Ward. Mercy River performed and treated us to a spirtual spa! It was fantastic and filled my spiritual bucket!!
~Enjoyed getting to know some new neighbors at a neighbor Christmas Party! We laughed so hard our cheeks hurt!
~Had a Christmas PJ party with my our Young Women! It was so fun...
~Went to "Scrooge" with my sister this time! LOVED it!
~Had our 1st annual Schroader Christmas Karoke Party at Marty's Mom's church building! It was awesome! We ate, sang, and did a gift exchange. We had so much more room for our BIG family!
~Went to Temple Square with the Nelson family and saw the lights! Cold,...but fun!
~Attended the 25th Annual Christmas Sing-a-long at the Energy Solutions Arena. Cool story: We went with Marty's family (his brother and neices and nephews were in town) and had a pretty big group. We arrived and there were hardly any seats left and unless we split up, we wouldn't have had a seat! So,.....Marty (my deal-makin, charasmatic honey) went to see if we could get into some box seats. It was a free event...It was Larry Miller's dream to fill the place,...so why not sit in seats that were available. Long story short,...We sat in box seats, right above the stage and had a perfect view! And...we got free hot dogs and drinks! Jon Schmidt, Robert Bowden and Orchestra, and Big Budha were there performing. Now that is fun!
~Used our Free Night Stay at the Holiday Inn Express in West Valley with the kids and had a little mini vacation. They have a water park attached to the hotel, so we were able to go swimming.
~Spent Christmas Eve with Marty's family and played some games....
~Woke up Christmas morning and opened gifts from Santa and eachother. Ethan was so excited about his basketball hoop that he fell to the floor and just stared at it! Nyah, my little organizer, started to sort her "groceries" in her new grocery cart! It was a joy
~Went to Grandpa house to play with the whole family! Missed Mom.....so much!
~ And now.....we are trying to catch up on Sleep and clean up all the messes we have made. Oh,...we love this time of year!

~~The UNTHINKABLE~~

I've officially STOPPED scrapbooking! (Gasp,...I know!) Due to lack of time, materials, and funds to pay for such an expensive hobby, I have since focused more on journaling moments and making simple photo albums! I KNOW,...I've committed the most grevious sin here,.but I have to tell you that I would much rather document all the wonderful things (and not so wonderful) that we do as a family than still be stuck trying to finish my scrapbooks from early married life. I still haven't finished the twins first year (I've done like 3 pages) and they're 2 1/2! I actually feel quite empowered right now! My goal is to document life as we know it while saving money and keeping my sanity. And just so you know,....I admire all you diehards out there that have perfect scrapbooking habits! I will continue to marvel at your genius and beautiful books! (Machelle,...I'm talking to you!) As for me,....I just need to SIMPLIFY!

In an effort to journal for myself and my littles,....I have decided to play catch up and do a mass blog entry! So these next blog entries are more for me,...but enjoy nonetheless!

~~Snowbird 2009~~

Every other year, our entire family heads up to Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon for a family vacation. My parents bought a timeshare many years ago and we've loved going there. Paige and her family came out from New York again this year and were able to be with us which was awesome! I didn't get a lot of pics this year, but we always have a good time there. Honestly,...I just love being with my family. I feel very lucky to have family that I consider my very best friends! AND the best part....there was no puking on this vacation. No, no...we left that memory in Yellowstone!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

~~Cache Valley Getaway~~

We spent a weekend up in Cache Valley this summer and really had a blast. We spent time swimming/hot tubbing at the hotel, going to the zoo, and shopping at Gossner's chesse factory and the Pepperidge Farms Outlet. Nyah absolutely loved the swimming, while Ethan was in ESPN heaven in our hotel room. (We don't have cable, and he LOVES anything ball!) Let's just say that he was the "master of the remote" this trip!

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~~Treehouse Museum~~

The kids and I were invited by our ward friends to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden! Wow,...what a great place. I was so impressed by the different rooms and all the fun things the kids could play with. The staff even gathered up toys that were "germified" and sanitized them. I thought that was so cool! We will definitely have to go back there!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

~~Temple Tuesdays~~

This past fall, we started a new family tradition...."TEMPLE TUESDAYS." We've been going to the temple every Tuesday and we spend time on the temple grounds walking around and spending time as a family. It has been such a treasure. Ethan and Nyah now ask if they can go to the temple all the time. I am so grateful that they already have a love for the temple. It makes it that much more real to them when we discuss it as a family. It has been interesting to see, however, that Satan finds a way to make it hard to get there! I am not kidding! Marty and I have had more "disagreements" on Tuesday's in particular then ever! Isn't that something. It just goes to show you that it is the right thing for us to be going. We've gone to the SLC, Bountiful, and Ogden temples. The kids really love the Ogden temple! Nyah calls Angel Moroni--"Angel Mormon-I." It is so cute!

~~Summer 2009 Catch-UP~~

Ambria, Ira, Addison, Candice and Asher

Our sister-in-law, Candice married Ira this last July and we hosted thier reception dinner in our backyard! They now live in Kansas where Ira is stationed in the Army! It was a great day!



My sisters and I had fun this last summer canning and freezing food! We canned salsa, peaches, and froze corn this year! I love my sisters and this just gave us another reason to hang out!!


Marty and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary this August! For my gift, Marty moved our very heavy piano from Dad's house into our new home. He had my dad and his buddies from work help him move it and I came home to the surprise! I love having my piano again! Later, he bought me a beautiful framed photograph of the Salt Lake Temple! (Richard Webb is the artist ---in case you are wondering..)


We celebrated Marty's MOM's birthday this past Septemeber and enjoyed having everyone from the family come! We actually have the space now to host gatherings! We love you, MOM!