Family Christmas Party!!

Last Saturday we went to my Family Christmas Party! My moms side of the family has always been really close and we look forward to this party every year.

We eat dinner, have a visit from Santa and then of course DANCE!! Dancing is always a must with this family!

This year instead of hiring a DJ, Jim took on the task. He did a fantastic job! The family did the Cha Cha Slide, The limbo, a game of copy whatever Mark does, the twist and more. There were dance offs and prizes for the winners!

All of the kids received a bag of goodies from Santa including a stuffed bear. Even my Grandma sat on Santa's lap. This was not hard to convince Grandma to do because she loves all men...hehe. This year Santa was so great, it even made me BELIEVE!

Overall it was a fantastic night. I love my family so much and enjoy spending time with all of them. Its been so fun to share these events with Tyrone and the girls and watch them build relationships with my family. Thanks to everyone who put this together and helped with the yummy food!

I had to giggle when Tyrone took his shoes off and I noticed he was wearing bright purple socks(the picture doesn't do them justice)! He said he was wearing them because it was cold outside. Well, it keeps snowing and getting colder outside so does that mean we will see Tyrone in a dress and heels soon!?!?!

A "Starr" Day

This last Saturday Ashley said was on of her "best days ever"! It started with her last basketball game where she made her first basket!! The crowd all cheered!! They won the game and her teammates were good to tell her they could not have won without her. the couch gave each of the player a jazz banner. He bought a special pink one for Ashley since she was the only girl on the team.

That afternoon she had her first piano recital. She played two Christmas songs and did a fantastic job! It has been fun to see Ashley push past her fears and really shine.

We hurried from the piano recital to a family party where she sat on Santa's lap and enjoyed playing and dancing with cousins. What a fun day!

A little bit of Heaven??

This Thanksgiving we had just Kaitlyn with us. We decided to visit Tyrone's dads grave, which we do on most holidays. I took a quick picture of Tyrone and Kaitlyn and loved how it came out with the sun coming through the trees!

Tagged

Here's a gooey, romantic game of tag.Here's how it works: I will answer questions about Tyrone. At the end of the post, I'll tag 3 people and post their names. Then, those three people can do the same thing on their own blog and so on and so forth. Feel free to do this on your blog anyway - even if you're not tagged!


*What is your husband's name? Tyrone Grant
*How long have you guys been married? 2 1/2 yrs
*How long did you date? 8 months
*How old is he? 39
*Who is taller? definitely him
Who can sing the best? ME!! actually I haven't heard him sing much, he is too busy telling me to stop
*Who is smarter?me again. ( did u say who is smarter or who is always right?)
*Who pays the bills? Me
*Who does the laundry? Usually him! I do help a little...I sort the clothes
*Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Him but i sleep on the correct side
*Who mows the lawn? He does. I do sometimes but I dont get the lines straight enough for him
*Who cooks dinner? usually The Pizza Place, Mcdonalds haha...we both cook
*Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? We are both extremely stubborn so neither
*Who kissed who first? it was mutual
*Who wears the pants? Definitely ME!! lol

(thanks Kristen!)
So now I am tagging Tiffannie, Stephanie & Reggie

Girls Night!

The other night Lexy and I were driving to grab dinner for the family and she asked me what is the longest i have been friends with someone and who my oldest friend is. I was surprised myself when I answered "I have been friends with Kristen for 28 years!" We met when we were 4 years old and still see each other now. Along with Kristen, the group we hung around with through jr high and high school still try to get together periodically. This last Friday night we had a "girls night" and my house. We had dinner and played games. It was so much fun we have decided to make it a monthly event. I am lucky to have so many good friends!!

Christmas Time...Bah Humbug

I finally gave in! I have been avoiding buying a tree for a couple of years now. Before meeting Tyrone and the girls I had three small trees that i would set up with ribbon and lights and it worked great for my single life! Well for the last couple of years I have been trying to convince everyone else that we don't need a new tree... I finally caved. I dont know why but I am a bit of a scrooge this time of year. Maybe its the fact that i am not a big fan of the cold winter in general or maybe it is just the stress and let down of Christmas that i get caught up in. But I have realized that my irritations of others forgetting the true meaning of Christmas has caused me to forget it also. So last weekend we bought our first Christmas tree as a family! Tyrone and I assembled the tree and then, with a little instruction, the girls decorated it! It was SO much fun! Since Tyrone has been married before we really enjoy all the "firsts" we share as a family! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Twilight!!

Well believe it or not I was one of the crazy women who went to the midnight show of Twilight!

My friends and I bought our tickets way in advance. On the day of the show me, Kristen and Cherie waited for 5 hours outside the theatre (I bailed for a little while and went to work) for wrist bands to claim our spot in line that evening.

Although I didn't love the show like most of the fans it was a very fun experience. I will not think much about the movie but I will cherish the time I spent planning it with Kristen, waiting in line in the morning with her and Cherie, going to a late dinner with Jenny and Kasey and being able to share the experience with Kaitlyn!

Break a Leg!

You may or may not know that Kaitlyn's dream is to be a famous actress when she gets older. She has been in a couple of smaller plays growing up. But unfortunately her last few auditions have not gone as she hoped. Well things seem to be turning around. Kaitlyn tried out for a part in Scrooge at the Terrace plaza playhouse and she made it!! She has a small part but was so happy and knows you have to start somewhere! It has been so fun to see her so happy, make new friends and gain new confidence! She will have 18 performances of Scrooge and she looks forward to everyone of them! The other night while I was taking her to her play she told me that she had googled her own name and it came up, that is just the beginning of her road to fame! This last Saturday she tried out for a part in Music Man and got a call back for this week...keep your fingers crossed!!

Go Ashley!!

Its been a long time since I have blogged so i thought I would do a quick catch up!

Ashley is playing basketball for the first the first time this fall. It wasn't going very well at first. She was so lost and scared her first game that she would play again for three weeks. I tried to give her the "you need to face your fears and be tough" speech and "you'll never learn if you don't try" I even tried the "we all get scared sometimes". None of these worked so I went with bribery! It worked! She has been playing and LOVING it!! She is the only girl on her team and is doing a fantastic job. She even told us this week that she wants to play again next year!!

Tagged

Its been a long time since I've been on here and I just noticed i was TAGGED!!

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1. Law & Order - SVU
2. CSI - Miami
3. True Blood
4. Bill Maher
5. CNN
6. dancing with the stars
7. What not to wear
8. The life & times of Tim

8 Things That Happened yesterday:

1. Went to Twighlight at 12:10
2. Bed at 3:00
3. Up for work at 6:40 and say bye to the girls
4. Tried to get through work...lots of coffee
5. Client lunch at Corbins
6. Went to Ogden for a closing
7. Dinner with Bill & Felicity... wonderful sushi and fabulous company
8. Finally BED!!!

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

1. Anywhere that serves sushi...YUM!!
2. any place that someone else chooses...I hate making that decision
3. Cutlers
4. Taco Time
5. Red Robin
6. Chili's
7. Costa Vida
8. Rumbi

8 Things that I am Looking Forward To:

1. Every Weekend
2. Thanksgiving
3. Going to Kaitlyns play
4. Obama's Inauguration
5. Spring.....the winter is never short enough for me!!
6. Genells Wedding
7. Christmas get togethers
8. Vegas in February

8 Things on my Wish List:

1.Financial Freedom..... or at least for this housing crises to be over
2. Get back in shape... a size six would be fun!
3. A Maid, free of charge!!
4. be good at blogging
5. more time with family and friends
6. Visit Scotland
7. See Ben Harper in concert again!
8. Learn to play the Guitar.... and relearn piano

8 People I tag:

Anyone who wants to play!

Ive been thinking all week(as most of you i'm sure) about 9-11. I cant believe its been 7 years! I am truely grateful for all the men and women that have put their families on hold and their lives at risk to fight for my freedom! I am personally thankful for my brother who has left us serveral times since that day to serve his country.

Welcome Home!!

We are REALLY excited to have Ray, Cami, Savanna and Jayden back in Utah!!






CrAzY sAvAnNa!














Cute Little Jayden










We haven't spent a ton of time together since they have been back(especially with Cami - poor girl works too hard) but we have really enjoyed having you around! We want to see more of you!

Fun Hobbies

Well Ive not been very good at blogging lately!! I figured I would blog about a common recurrence in our home! As many of you know Tyrone loves to make beer. He is a home brewer. Believe it or not this originally was my idea. I even came up with a name for our beer, "Hipwell Home Brew, "The beer that makes a house a home"! I had always thought it would be "fun" to try. Well, this fun hobby has become somewhat of an obsession for Tyrone. As many of you probably are already aware, my sweet Tyrone likes things a certain way so I have stepped back and let him take over. I thought I would post a few pictures of the process to let you in on what happens at our house about once a week!
Tyrone's other hobby is his garden! He had some good luck with zucchini this year. A couple of weeks ago I decided I should support him by trying to make something with the zucchini. I'm not much of a cook so this was a fun challenge for me. I made zucchini bread and stuffed zucchini. I was actually kinda proud of myself. But before the oven even had a chance to cool, I was ushered out of the kitchen so Tyrone could start on a new batch of beer!

Honeymoom

Since we are new to this blogging thing, I thought I might share some of our honeymoon pics that many may not have seen. We both decided to visit a place that we knew that none of our family or friends had been. We chose Nicaragua, which in hindsight was a GREAT decision.

Spa Party

My niece Emi had her birthday party this past week! Lexy and Ashley were invited and luckily I was able to take off work and go with them to help out! My sister-in-law had planned a fabulous Spa Party for the girls. If you don't know Carrie, she is AMAZING and knows how to throw a party.

The girls rotated through different activities. They had facials. Had their pictures taken with a towel on their head, a robe and cucumbers over their eyes. They made bracelets. They also made lip balm, which I got to be in charge of!! each girls also got to soak and exfoliate their feet. And then they were treated to a foot massage and had their toe nails painted for them (of course the color of their choice and nails stickers for that special touch). Each girl also was treated to Eye Candy (glitter eye liner) and shimmer lotion!

The was a designated waiting area for the girls to hang out, read magazines, cool water and enjoy girl talk as they waited for their name to be called for their next activity!

After all the girls were done with each activity they all came together to enjoy endless cupcakes, grapes, specially made slushies and CANDY SUSHI!!

Everyone had a fabulous time! We hated leaving but as we headed out each girl received a gift bag with candy, spa products and a fun flower clip for their hair. The pampering never ended!

Happy Birthday Emi we love you!! And thanks again Carrie for a wonderful time!

We just cam back from our first official family vacation! We went to Emily, Minnesota with Tyrone's family. The family gets together every two years so this was the first one for me. At first Tyrone and I were not sure about going. It was little more money then we were wanting to spend and we also considered spending our vacation time alone with Ty's girls. We FINALLY came to the decision to go! We decided we would extend the original vacation plan so that we could fit in a few days alone with the girls. This worked out perfect! We flew into Minneapolis on Thursday the 26th. We spent the next two days at the Mall of America; visiting the underground aquarium, riding rides at Nickelodeon Universe and eating at the Rainforest Cafe. We had a ball! But after all this I think the girls favorite part was having their own hotel room and swimming in the pool!
On Saturday we left the Minneapolis area and headed 3 hours North to the small town of Emily. The drive seemed much longer than 3 hours. the girls rarely complained, they were great. Tyrone and I were the ones who kept saying "Are we there yet?" Once in Emily we stayed in a lodge house with all of Tyrone's family. The lodge was right next to the lake. The girls spent most of the week at the lake both swimming and fishing.
Monday was mine and Tyrone's 2 yr wedding anniversary. The family agreed to watch the girls so we could spend some time together. We left Monday afternoon and headed 2 hours West to Duluth. It was the neatest little town right on Lake Superior. We stayed night their and headed back to Emily the following afternoon.
The rest of the week was spent at the lodge with the family. We played with the kids, read books and had many late nights playing games. We got a little restless after a couple of days but enjoyed the time to relax. I was off of work for 12 days! this is the longest amount of time I have ever been gone, I loved it!!
Our last day in Emily was Friday the 4th of July! We went to another small town, Crosby, about 30 minutes away. we enjoyed the parade there in the morning and then went back again that evening for the fireworks. It was one of the best firework shows we had ever seen. Tyrone made the comment that night that Friday was one of the best days he had spent with his family. That comment made every dollar spent and every mosquito bite we endured all worth it! We had a really good time.
Saturday morning it was time to leave Emily. Tyrone and I had enjoyed our time on Duluth so much that we wanted to take the girls there. We spent all day Saturday in Duluth(longer then planned). we rented a bike carriage that had two benches and peddled around the city. Every time we needed to back up all five of us made the appropriate "beep, beep, beep" in unison. It was nice to have stranger look at us and smile at how much fun we were having. We arrived back to Minneapolis area about 10:00 that night. We had to be up at 4:00 the next morning to head to the airport.
We are glad that made the final decision to take this vacation. It was nice to get away and be able to spend uninterrupted time as a family and get to know the extended family better!

We are joining the world of BLOGGING!!!! We are so excited about our first family vacation the we have decided to create a blog so we can share our fun with EVERYONE!!!