it's up...

www.thebiggestlosercedarcity.blogspot.com

DAMN

Sorry its a swear, but that's the only word to describe the 10+ pounds I've gained. I'll spare you the excuses, and just let you know my friend Camille & I are starting a "Biggest Loser" contest and we want LOTS of people to enter!
I have to work at the salon today, but I'll post the details on the Biggest Loser Blog late tonight. It starts Monday January 5th, so check the blog and sign up! You don't have to be chubby, live in Cedar, or be a girl to do it!

Christmas fun...

Our Holiday fun started Tuesday night with a party at our house...


[there are lots more photos on the Downey's blog]

And continued Christmas Eve at Shayne and Daisy's house...



We had dinner with most of the Scott family, had some musical numbers, played a game, acted out the nativity scene, and opened jammas!

And ended with a wonderful Christmas day...



The boys were so cute! Grateful for every present they got [seriously, there were WAY too many], excited to see Mimi & Terry and Kat, Tony & Kahlil, and completely EXHAUSTED when the day was over!
We had a great Holiday Season this year, and are anxious to start a new year!

dear santa...

Porter wants... a new bike, a lightsaber, and a toy shotgun with 5 bullets.

Cooper wants... a new bike, a lightsaber, a toy rifle with 7 bullets.

merry christmas...

candy complete...

I finished my 15th and final batch of Christmas candy yesterday! This year I did 14 flavors (I did double batches of cinnamon). This candy is a tradition for us to give each year.
While finishing the candy, I sent the boys out to play in the snow... and there was plenty of it! We have had TONS of snow in Cedar this week, and I love it! I love the feeling of being surrounded by pretty white snow and the mystery of knowing if and when it will stop.
***'tis the season***

snowed in at number two...

Yes, it's true! At our competition at Jordan High School we [Southern Utah coaches] were called to the announcers table on Saturday at about 7pm and told we could not travel home that night. Bummer. Thankfully the Country Inn & Suites had enough rooms to keep us warm until we could leave Sunday morning.
As for the competition we did well: 1st in Kick, 2nd in Prop and Dance, and 4th in Military. We were really disappointed [confused and mad] with the 4th place. We at least deserved 2nd or 3rd, but what do you do - that's the sport! It's probably good for the girls not to get to confident with placing high in all the routines. Logan beat us. They placed 2nd at State last year, but I know we can beat them. In Prop we had a 2 point safety penalty for a girl stepping on a prop - without the penalty we would have had 1st!
Now for the 100% McCall moment: our "rival school" had made some accusations over the last week about our sportsmanship - or lack of - which is TOTALLY unfounded and untrue. HONESTLY. So... at awards we beat them by a lot in Dance, they beat us by a little in Military, and we were certain they had beat us in Prop, like they had the competition before. When they announced Cedar as 2nd and hadn't announced CV at all, we assumed they had 1st. WRONG. Emery won. And when they announced it I JUMPED out of my seat, shot my hands in the air and yelled "YEAH!" Then dropped back to my seat as fast as possible. How embarrassing! The CV parents were right behind us. Oh well, that's the game right!

one down...

We did it!
We had our first competition this weekend and we ROCKED! We placed 1st in Military, Dance & Kick. 2nd in Prop. 1st in the 3A Division and 1st Place OVERALL at the competition! Canyon View (our rival school) beat us in Prop - so we need to really work on it for this weekend. This weekend is the biggest competition (besides region & state) at Jordan High School. All the "big" teams will be there. Last year we placed 5th in State and the teams that beat us will all be there.
I am so proud of my girls! This is when all the early mornings pay off! One competition down... 4 more to go!

problem in nursery...

Porter loves nursery. Nursery doesn't love Porter. Here's the proof:

[3 weeks ago]
I went to pick Porter up after nursery.
nursery leader to me: "I'm going to have to ask you to not let Porter bring knives to nursery anymore."
me: "I'm really sorry, I didn't know he had one."
nl: "I think it was in his pocket, it wasn't a problem until he started chasing the girls with it."
me: "sorry"

me to proter: "why did you take a knife to nursery"
porter: "I just wanted to"

[this week]
nl to Jaren: "We have a problem with Porter and I don't know if I should address with you or your wife"
jaren: "yeah?"
nl: "when he uses the bathroom, he gets no pee in the toilet, so we spend 10 minutes cleaning the bathroom"
jaren: "yeah, we've been working on that at home too"
nl: "from now on, I'll have to come get one of you to take him to the bathroom"
jaren: "sorry"

jaren to porter: "why did you pee on the floor and wall in nursery?"
porter: "the potty there is too little"

a few of these...

I spent 9 hours at the high school yesterday trying to CREATE a prop routine that we have to compete with in 2 WEEKS! I don't know how many Cokes & Diet Cokes I had.

I stopped counting.
This is the first year coaching that I haven't felt prepared for competition. Seriously no prop routine!
Here is how drill team goes in case you're not familiar: in order to qualify for State each team MUST compete with a Military, Dance and (it rotates between) Prop or Novelty Routine. Teams normally go to 3 invitationals before Region to get a feel for what the judges think. You can also compete with other routines like hip hop, lyrical, kick and officers at the invitationals, but not at Region.
This year I decided to compete with the required 3 and add Kick as well.
But we aren't ready.
Military, Dance & Kick are ready, but I don't have a Prop Routine.
Again, no Prop Routine and competition is in 2 weeks.
WOW!

sunday...

We had a really fun day on Sunday, Downey's came up for most of the day, which means our stomachs were sore from laughing by the time they left! We wish we still lived by each other - we have SO MUCH FUN together. Here are some photos of the house as well...

...

Our House

Kitchen

Family Room

Powder Room

Laundry

better late...

There was a high school football playoff game on Halloween night, and you KNOW I couldn't resist planning a halftime extravaganza! I'm finally posting the video that I promised. Here's a recap:
My high school team did the monster mash. They each chose a "character" (ie: fairy, clown, ladybug) and made a cute tutu which were the same - but different.
What you can't see is that my college team, who were dressed like Zombies, wandered into the stands during 2nd quarter and walked around being freaky.
As the high school team danced, the Zombies walked onto the track and by the end of monster mash, were standing right in front of the girls just staring at them.
Then my college girls did Thriller.
It was an AWESOME night - the crowd was in awe! The best part is that it was ALL A SURPRISE - nobody knew what we had planned! I wish it was bigger and it's a 6 min video, but my boys LOVE to watch it...enjoy!

I'll add a photo of my high school girls soon!

remember these?

At practice this morning, in the corner of the gym on the bleachers I saw a "Trapper Folder". Instantly I remembered the days of the "Trapper Keeper." I don't know if they make them like they used to - maybe they have evolved into the more "metro" folder, and the original keeper is gone?

Lisa Frank was always my favorite - and I LOVED coordinating my pencils, erasers, rulers and everything else, with the Lisa Frank design I had chosen for the year!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

OK, so I did it twice to see if there was a difference with a different photo. I've never been told I look like ANY of the people in EITHER one of the collages - or any celebrity for that matter!
Try it...

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Roots

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family history - Family tree search

jealous

This is Kahlil, my sisters little girl. I need one!

haven

Friday night I got a call from my friend Stacy inviting us to a friends and family dinner at their new restaurant Haven in St George. IT WAS AMAZING! I'm going to rave - not just because it's Stacy's, but because it was so good and I want everyone to go!

They expected to open Friday and had a bunch of food that needed to be cooked, so they had a small private party. They did a limited menu... we had a spinach salad [jaren said it was the best salad he had ever had] to start, then the choice of salmon, fillet or rib eye [Camille got the fillet, the rest of us had the rib eye] with dutch oven potatoes [not your typical potatoes however]. The steaks were all topped with seasoned sauteed onions, and the meat comes from a butcher in Kanab. It was HONESTLY the first and ONLY time I have ever eaten a steak without A1. The meat they get is delivered daily and is the most aged steak in St George, it was so full of flavor and so tender!
OK let's talk about dessert. We had a made from scratch [EVERYTHING they serve is] chocolate cake with a hint of raspberry - heavenly!
The atmosphere is incredible, really nice, but not uncomfortable, loud but not annoying, cute waiters & waitresses, and a cool pass through window where you can see the cooks working!
The restaurant should open on Monday and is on Blackridge Drive [right by Design Theory]
Seriously... GO!

thank you

I haven't avoided blogging so long so my friends would continue to leave wonderful comments on Jaren's post (which I didn't know he even knew how to do), but because we haven't had our internet hooked up until today! BUT I'M BACK!
THANK YOU [sincerely] for the kind things you have said, the texts, phone calls, visits, thoughts and prayers.
I feel really good and am continuing to have blood tests weekly to make sure things are clear. The bummer is that I can't try for a baby again for about a year.
We HAVE had an action packed few weeks, which I will blog about shortly, including: moving into the house, an awesome 28th birthday, Jaren's hermaphrodite deer (he gets mad when I call it that, but it's a funny story), and more!
I am also very anxious to see what everyone else had blogged about over the last 3 weeks...

What A WOMAN!!

I know that many of you know this. I do, but I don't say it near enough. McCall is amazing! Endure for a bit as I brag about her. I love her and am so lucky to have her.

This weekend we moved in to our new house. Yes, the house that McCall designed, helped build, cleaned, general contracted, and now is decorating. It's been a big project and one that wouldn't have happened without her. I work in Milford and so I am gone from sunrise to sundown. She has handled the bidding process, overseen the work, and anything else.

Now that, in and of itself, is a feat for anyone. But she has done this while coaching the Cedar High dance team, the SUU dance team, cut hair one day a week, and taken care of two little boys and a husband. She hasn't just done these things, but she excels at them. She has taken both dance programs to new heights and is an amazing mother.

I'm not done. Monday we found out that McCall wasn't in-fact pregnant with a baby, but had a Molar pregnancy. So, yesterday she went into surgery and had a D @ C performed (if you want more details you can ask McCall or myself). I am so amazed at how she has handled it all. It has taken me 8 years to figure out that she just needs a little praise and someone to listen to her. I'm not as good at these as I should be, but I'm working on it.

Tomorrow is McCall's 28th Birthday. With the new house, surgery, and everything else going on I wanted to thank her. I am very proud of you, McCall!

let's hear it for the boy

Saturday was opening day of the Antelope Hunt Jaren has been looking forward to. He has been trying to draw out for this hunt for 4 years - and was he ever excited!
He took off Friday night after a day of preparations including: getting his new camper ready, packing, shopping, and crossing off EVERY item from his carefully prepared Excel Spreadsheet! A friend and fellow hunter [who did not draw out this year] went with him.
He had planned to come home Monday night and go back out the next weekend if needed, but I got the call Saturday afternoon while in SG that he got one!!!
He took the shot from 600 yards away and actually hit it twice [that's impressive I'm told] and is very happy with what he got. When he made the shot[s] Brock was a few hundred yards away and saw the whole thing, he was so excited and impressed he came flying toward Jaren on the Mule - Baja style - screaming, "You Rock! No Way!"
Jare came home last night and took the boys and I out for a night in the camper and treated us to another delicious mountain breakfast.
Next feat: the deer hunt!

a need to be fresh

I've always used Scrubbing Bubbles as my bathroom cleaner - until the last few months when I have been on a hunt for a new one. I think Scrubbing bubbles works really well, but SMELLS LIKE PEE!
I'm mostly looking for a bath/shower cleaner. I like the aerosol spray of Scrubbing Bubbles better than some of the "squirt" sprays I have tried.
Any suggestions?

watch me fall downg

Nope, note a typo in the title, Porters latest speech impediment [although he talks UNBELIEVABLY well for his age] is to add a "g" sound to the end of his words. Some examples are:
"Turn it DOWNG!"
"This is MINEG, huh mom."
"Is this toy BROKENG?"
"Oops, I dropped my sucker on the GROUNG!"

We love you FRODO
[which is what he called himself when he couldn't say Porter]

lipstick

"I was just your average hockey mom. I love those hockey moms, you know, they say, what is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."



After returning home from a barbecue Monday night, I turned on my recording of E! to catch up on what I'd missed over the long weekend, and was surprised by John McCain's choice for VP. While I had hopes of a McCain/Romney ticket, I was grew more and more excited as I googled Sarah Palin. I waited, however, to hear her speech at the Republican Convention last night, and I've grown from excited to ecstatic!
I know politics are a taboo subject, here are some of the reasons I will vote for McCain/Palin...

On Family:

From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That’s how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

..........

On Government Spending:

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef - although I’ve got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

..........

On Barack Obama:

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word ”victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.

..........

On John McCain:

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome.

A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, ”When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe’s door and flash a grin and thumbs up” - as if to say, ”We’re going to pull through this.” My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause.

c...

Cooper on Kindergarten:
"There is so much candy there... it's a WONDERLAND!"

Cooper on the slow moving car in front of us:
"Move Over JACKASS!"

Cooper on the tiny zit [if that's what it is] on his face:
"Now that I have a zit, I'm older. You and daddy aren't the boss of me anymore."

yearbook yourself

coop's first day

Tuesday was Coopers 1st day of Kindergarten, and he was SO EXCITED! He has a really cute teacher [Mrs Vasi] and lots of friends in his class. One of his best friends - and sometimes girlfriend - Haislee is in his class as well.

Cooper is smart and funny, nice most of the time, and very confident!
He loves ranch on everything, the Alvin and the Chipmunks CD, and Sponge Bob.
He has good handwriting, is a great athlete, and an awesome big brother.
We love you Coop!