Evidence to the Contrary

They may say that they don't like each other, but this is how we find them each night.  I think they secretly do!

A Joint Celebration

This year a few of my friends put together a lunch in honor of my 33rd birthday.  The EXTRA fun part was that the day of the party just happened to be the Chinese New Year.  So of course, Chinese food was the perfect choice for lunch!  One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the room was double sided pictures of me hanging from Shannon's chandelier.  She called it "A Nicole Mobile".  It really made me realize how lame I am when it comes to ... well anything.  I never do such fun little things like that.  It was so cute & funny!  Jenn made us all brownies and we topped them off with cherries and whipped topping.  Everything was fabulous and I appreciate very much all of the birthday wishes (from all of my family & friends) who remembered me on my day.  Thank you!!  

Ringing in the New Year with a BANG!

Our idea of ringing in the New Year may not be typical, but we sure know how to blow stuff up and have a great time while doing it.  Shooting guns out at the Ridgeway's house is like going to a buffet restaurant for dinner.  Ryan brings out all kinds of different guns and ammunition and everyone gets a little sample of everything.  The best part is the exploding targets Ryan makes out of Tannerite.  Talk about exciting!  After we shot till our hearts content, we went over to Kelly & Aundrea's house for dinner.  Spencer made us a Shrimp Boil which always hits the spot with me.  The next 5 hours or so was spent playing a very loud game of Mexican Train.  Seriously, it's a wonder we ever get invited back, but I am glad that we do!  Right before the clock struck twelve Spencer and Ryan got a game of jump rope going inside the house.  It was pretty hysterical.  All of the kids managed to stay awake and watch the ball drop with much enthusiasm.  This last minute plan to get together turned out to be a really great time,  I'm just having a hard time believing it's really 2012!  And as a side note - the gun I am shooting in the above picture is a AR-15.  This gun has a pretty impressive flame that shoots out of the barrel each time you fire.  Now talk about feeling like a tough woman!!  I love it!

A Christmas Surprise

Christmas is such a fun time to spoil people with gifts, but it can be really easy to go overboard.  I know my kids don't really need any more toys or electronics, but what else do you get them?  It's what they like.  I really felt strongly this year that I did not want to go that route.  I didn't want to invest money into items that would be played with a few times and then forgotten.  So this year Spencer and I did something a little bit different.  We decided to give the kids an early Christmas present and take them to the Great Wolf Lodge.  Check-in would be Friday, December 23rd and we would come home on Saturday, Christmas Eve, in time for family celebrations.  Apparently, we weren't the only ones who thought this sounded like a good idea because a few of our friends jumped in on it too.  The only question that lingered as we got closer to the date was how to tell the boys.  I think I came up with a pretty fun idea.  I found a picture on my computer from a previous visit to the water park.  I inserted text on the photo and then printed it on 8X10 photo paper.  I glued 2 extra sheets of card stock to the back for thickness and then drew puzzle pieces on the card stock side.  I then carefully cut out all of the pieces to create a puzzle the kids could put together, revealing their gift.

On the morning of the 23rd, we gathered the boys around the kitchen table and told them that we would like to give them an early present.  I handed over all of the puzzle pieces and they proceeded to put it together.  When they finally got it assembled they repeated with excitement that they were going to the Great Wolf Lodge.  Austin asked "When?", to which we relied, "Right Now!"  They ran up the stairs and packed their bags in a hurry.  We arrived around 1:30 p.m. and immediately headed to the water park.  That evening our entire group went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then hit the arcade afterwords.  The water park opened up at 9:00 a.m.the following morning and we were among the first ones to enter. We stayed and played until 1:00 p.m. and then made our journey home so we could officially get our Christmas festivities started.

Ryan & Misti Ridgeway

Mike & Amanda Chan

Brian & Rebecca Chan

Years of Memories

This year for Spencer's birthday I wanted to do something different, and something a little extra special.  I came across this link on pinterest  (http://nothingbutbonfires.com/2011/06/sixty-years-memories) that sparked an idea I thought I could pull off.  It involved acquiring lots of different memories from people who have known Spencer throughout different stages of his life.  I called this "Years of Memories".  I sent the following message via email to several of Spencer's closest friends and family members:

Hello Everyone!

I have a big favor to ask of you. Spencer will be turning 35 this month, and to celebrate his birthday I’d like to put together a little surprise for him. I am trying to create a “Years of Memories” present by filling several envelopes with a memory his friends and family have of him.

And this is where you come in!

If you have a spare moment in the next few days, I would be so grateful if you’d jot down a favorite memory you have of Spencer. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy—you can mention anything you’d like, although, the more nostalgic the better! You may email me back your response and I can simply print the note/letter and place it in an envelope. Or, if you would prefer to hand write it you may mail it to the address below.

Thank you so, so, so much for participating -- I know everyone is busy with their own lives, and I do appreciate you taking a few minutes to do this; it will be so worth it when he reads all the memories people have of him! (Please don't forget to keep it a surprise until then, though!)

Again, thank you so much!

It was a lot of fun getting responses back to this request.  So many of the stories that came in about Spencer brought back a ton of memories I have of him as well.  As I received the letters I would print them off and place them into their own envelope, all identical.  I decided last minute to write the names of each author on the front of the envelope, and I am glad I did because Spencer chose to save some of the letters for last.  Once all of the letters were received, I wrapped the entire stack in ribbon and created a little card which explained everything. 

I was very excited to give this present to Spencer.  It just so happened that on his birthday we had a long drive ahead of us.  Just before we left I told him that I would like to drive because he had a present to open.  I then handed him the stack and he looked a little taken back.  The first thing he did was flip through the stack and read the names of people who shared a memory.  I could tell he was excited to read the stories people have of him.  One by one I watched him work his way through.  When all was said and done he thanked me and told me what a cool gift it was to receive.  I can't take credit for all of it though.  This would not have been pulled off if so many wonderful people had not participated.  So thanks goes out to anyone who was involved in this surprise for Spencer!  I love you Spencer, and happy birthday!!

Flowering Pots

I was feeling a little crafty this Christmas season and decided to make some "Flowering Pots" that the boys could give to their teacher's.  I was able to get all of the items I needed at Walmart and the best part was everything was so inexpensive!  Each gift cost me less than $2.00 to make.  In the Christmas section at Walmart I found these super cute, miniature size buckets.  I bought a brick of floral foam and cut it down to fit the entire inside of the bucket.  Using a hot glue gun, I secured the foam to the bottom and then glued enough peat moss down to hide the foam.  Each bucket took about 18 tootsie pops to fill.  After everything was done, I created a little card saying, "Merry Christmas", glued it to a skewer stick and stuck it in the middle.  Who knows if the teacher's liked them, but they sure looked cute when all was said and done!  :-)

I Believe

  "No one can measure the effect of an unselfish act of kindness.  By small, simple

things great things do indeed come to pass.  Of course, gifts given and gifts received

make Christmas special.  For many children Christmas Eve is a very long night as they

look forward with eager anticipation to the gifts Santa brings, which is why children love

Santa Claus.  Let me share what someone once said about Santa Claus:  First of all, he's a

joyous individual ... Next, Santa Claus is interested in making others happy.  He increases

the happy moments in the life of everyone he meets.  He loves his work; he gets fun out of

his job.  He is childlike, simple, humble, sincere and forgiving.  Finally, he is a giver. His

philosophy is to give himself away in service.  He is a friend to everyone.  He smiles. 

Perhaps you and I could attain greater happiness if we emulated Santa Claus a little

more, for his way is the way of the Infant Jesus."

President James E. Faust

(First Presidency Christmas Devotional, 1998)

Our Progressive Thanksgiving

One thing that I have come to learn, and accept, about Spencer and I is the fact that we are always on the go.  We love to get together with friends and family and could play all day long.  So that is exactly what we did this Thanksgiving.  We played all day, and all night long, going from one place to another.  The day started out at McCormick Park.  Spencer organized a Turkey Bowl game while I organized a 5K Turkey Trot run.  Thanks to dry weather the guys had a great time playing football and I was so pleased with how many people showed up for the run.  We had a great group of 16 people (not all pictured) and hopefully next year there'll be even more.  Oh yes, this will be a tradition.

 After our early morning exercise, we headed out to the Ridgeway's house to shoot guns.  Traditions are the best and that's one tradition we can't let die.  Everyone looks forward to shooting clay birds and it gives us all a chance to pull out our shot guns and dust them off.   

 Mom & Dad hosted dinner at their house and we ate at 4:00 p.m.  Sitting at the table this year was Kathryn and her family, as well as Jeff and his.  I always find it enjoyable getting together with Spencer's family.  I love the stories they share and you can feel the love they have for one another.  Thanksgiving is definitely a time in which I am extremely grateful for family!  After dinner we went over to the Kalauli's to play games and eat more dessert.  I must admit we were a little rowdy while playing games so we'll have to wait and see if we ever get invited back.  :-)  Black Friday started early this year with a kick off at Walmart at 10:00 p.m.  Throw in 3 very short hours of sleep and then we were back at it for another 8 fun-filled hours.  The Ridgeway's were with us so there was never a dull moment.  Literally we had a blast!

Track & Field

Watching Ryan run through the years has been a highlight for our family.  We are so proud of him and all of his accomplishments.  Right now he holds the 2nd place all time record for the 800 meter run in BYU's history.  Pretty awesome!  Ryan's coach, Ed Eyestone, is a former Olympian runner himself, so I'd say he is in good hands.  We hope that if it's Ryan's dream to run in the Olympics someday that we can be there front and center to cheer him on.  That would be an awesome experience!        

Beautiful Friends!!

"Even though we change and we're

all finding our own place in the

world, we all know that when the

tears fall or the smile spreads across

our face, we'll come to each other

because no matter where this crazy

world takes us, nothing will ever

change so much to the point where

we're not still friends".

(lifeisabeautifulstruggle.tumblr.com)

Shannon, Sheila, Paige, Myself & Jenn

These silly ladies are some of my closest friends!! Some of them were there to celebrate the arrival of my first born son with me, over 9 years ago. Through the years we have seen each other's family take shape into the joyful families they are now. We also share a lot in common with each other which has been the bonding element for all these years. It's fun to reflect on the many memories and traditions we have created and will still continue to create. There will be a time where we will be many miles apart from each other, but like the quote above, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not still friends! Thank you ladies for being you!