A NEW ADDITION

After months of pestering, Aaron finally gave in!! We have been searching for just the right puppy for our family, and it was no easy task. We thought a medium-sized dog would be great, but when we played with them, it just wasn't right. We have always loved labs, even though they are more work, and they are great family dogs. We found a liter in Lindon near Aaron's work and went to take a look. It was love at first sight, with ALL of them!! It took forever to pick out just the right one, but when we found him, we knew it was meant to be.

The kids were very excited when we picked them up from school. Mikel was not even scared like we thought she would be. After discussing many names, it was narrowed to Oscar, Lucky and Tyson. After a vote, our new member of the family was named Tyson Bear Hooley!! Birthday: November 2, 2009.

CHRISTMAS LISTS

We decided to write Christmas lists a little early this year because we have SO MUCH going on between now and then, and because shopping started in October and we wanted to make sure Santa was bringing the right gifts! :-) Baylee had mostly clothes on her list, with some DS games and a few odd things that neither of us had heard of (might have to look them up). Mikel had a big list, as usual, that included new clothes for her doll, more Barbies, Littlest Pet Shops, and a DS. Nik wants a Batman Cave, a race track for his cars, Transformers (especially Optimus Prime), GI Joe toys, and a new big boy bike.

It was a little strange making our lists without Conner this year. When he comes to visit, we will have to get his list as well...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This year, Halloween was exhausting! Before the big day even hit, the kids had multiple parties at school and daycare, a carnival, and an office trick-or-treating at my work. When Halloween actually came around, the excitement had worn off...which was great for mom and dad! :-) Nik wore the same fireman costume as last year and Mikel wanted to be a queen. Baylee went to Elko to spend time with her other family, but dressed as a zombie prom-queen.

Mikel and I went trick-or-treating to a few houses that night, but mostly stayed in and handed out candy. We made hot chocolate and watched Twitches while waiting for kids to arrive. She liked everyone telling her how beautiful she was, but got seriously offended if they said she was a princess rather than a queen...you would think she was really a part of the royal family!

Since so much had already been done, Aaron took Nik to his first Utes game that night and he LOVED it! He talked for days about how much he liked seeing the football guys tacking each other and the players running onto the field through the smoke. But his favorite was getting to yell with the crowd as loud as he wanted. He made it though the first half and then they came home - not bad for 3 years old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Through our 7 years together, I have never been able to successfully surprise Aaron with anything!! This month, I finally pulled it off. Aaron turned 40 this month, so what better to mark the occasion than a surprise party. I was able to gather friends and family together, with the help of sneaky family members (thanks dad!) and the party was a huge success! Aaron's brother Troy was even able to fly in from San Fran, despite being a new daddy (thanks Tracey!) to bring the surprise to an even greater level.

Everyone had a great time and it was wonderful to have so many friends together. Hopefully we can all get together again soon...it was amazing to reconnect with everyone and to realize the love that we have for each and every person who was able to attend.

FINALLY!!

So after talking for months about how I wanted to start a blog, and whining to friends about not knowing how to get started, I finally did it! I am so proud of myself...it was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Now let's see if I have the time to keep it updated... :-)