Jr. Honor Society

Bailey got invited to be in the National Junior Honor Society. It's based on academic achievement and citizenship. We're pretty proud of our little munchkin. She works really hard in school. I missed the ceremony, but Mark got to go with her. Way to go Bailey!

Island Park Weekend

We spent Valentine's weekend at the Harris' Cabin with our awesome friends. It was so much fun! We went up on Friday morning, and came home Saturday night. The guys snowmobiled the entire time. Mark had a blast! The girls hung out in the cabin scrapbooking, and entertaining me with their craziness, while I hung out on the couch. Even though I couldn't do much, it was so great just to put down my book, and have fun conversations for a couple days. Sure beat my normal, boring recovery days. I think it was exactly what me and Mark both needed.

 Byron, Mark, Jason, and Brian getting ready to snowmobile. 

 Mark and Brian

 The guys (The Perks were there too, but they left before we thought to get the camera out).

 Lesa, Michelle, Becky, and Misty (not in the picture) were great/silly company!

Here is my cozy little spot on the couch!

Thanks everyone! We had such a great time!

Valentine's Day

I had 3 AWESOME valentines this year!

 I woke up to this fun package waiting for me. Mark gave me a Gary Allen CD for me and Bailey would have something new to listen to on our long drive to CA. He also gave me a gift card to Amazon so I could pick out some new books to read while I'm down recovering from surgery. And I got a coupon for a night out of town in the mountains as soon as I'm feeling better :)! I'm pretty spoiled!

I got Mark a silly game, and some of my friends planned a weekend in Island Park so the guys could go snowmobiling. SO FUN! That will be my next post.

 Don't ya think he's a pretty cute Valentine? He got some candy, cologne, and the Imagine Dragons CD.

Bailey got some candy, the How to Train Your Dragon movie, and a cute black belt.

 There was a dance after school at Rocky Mountain. Bailey danced with her first boy. Ahhhh, how cute! Then, she had some friends come over to decorate cookies.

Breanna, Neesha, Bailey, Madi, Annie, and Torrie.

 Sawyer had a romantic, candlelit dinner with cute Savannah. Mark served them Chinese food, using his best, made up Chinese accent. Nothing like Mark to add to the romance :)!

It was a great day!

Back Surgery

In November I started having a lot of problems with my lower back. I would lose my range of motion, and then get to where I eventually couldn't walk. I went to the chiropractor a couple times, but nothing seemed to help. I would be stuck on the couch for a week, and then slowly start getting better. Then I would have the whole problem start again. This went on for 3 months. We didn't know at the time, but I had a bulging disc. I was at the gym, and I hurt it again. This time it was a lot worse. The pain started going down my right leg. It got so bad I couldn't lay down, I could hardly sit down, and I could only be on my feet for a little while. When I couldn't stand it any more, I finally went in for x-rays and an MRI. The disc had ruptured, and the pieces that came out were sitting on my nerves. They tried a steroid shot first, and that helped a lot, but not enough. It took the pain out of my leg, but not my back.The only way to fix it was to surgically remove those pieces. The surgery only lasted about a half hour, but the recovery has been a long BORING process. I have to stay down for 4 weeks, and then I can start gradually working back into my normal routine. Then by 6 weeks I can pretty much do whatever I was doing before. Good thing, because exactly at the 6 week mark is when me and Bailey are going to visit my mom for a little horse riding adventure over spring break.

 All ready for surgery! I was a little bit nervous, but mostly just relieved to be getting it taken care of.

 Most people find this disgusting, but I think it's fascinating! This is all the stuff that squeezed out of my disc area and was sitting on my nerves. That's a lot of stuff! No wonder I was in so much pain!

6 weeks is a long time to be down and out when you've got 2 busy kids, and lots going on in your life. People have been SO GREAT! I had made 6 freezer meals ahead of time, but I didn't even have to use any for a long time. My family, friends, and neighbors have taken such good care of us. We had dinner brought to us for a full week! I get regular texts and calls from people checking up on me. People have brought over books, magazines, and movies to keep me busy. I even have a group of friends that come over once a week for a few hours to keep me company. I have really been blessed, humbled, and realize how great people are from this whole experience. I've learned how service can truly help a person. As soon as I'm up and going again, I will be looking for ways to serve people from now on!

 Flowers from Grammy and Papa!

My orchid from Kassie!

A HUGE Thank you to everyone who has helped us! You have no idea how appreciated it has been.

Bonneville Sweethearts

Sawyer had a great time at the Sweethearts Dance. It was the last girl's choice dance of his high school career. Seems so strange that all this fun stuff is coming to an end.

We got doorbell ditched one night, and when we went out, we found a 'full' diaper and a sign at the door. He got asked by Logan Hatch. His answer was equally tacky. He gave her giant batman underwear that were tied in a knot. He told her not to get her panties in a knot, of course he would go to Sweethearts with her. It doesn't get much more classy than that!

For their 'day date' they went sledding at Freeman Park. They all made it back in one piece, and then started getting ready for pictures, dinner and the dance.

Logan and Sawyer

They are missing Hailey and Connor in the pictures, but they met up with them later. After pictures, they went to dinner at Hailey's house, and then headed to Bonneville for the dance. 

Andrew and Melissa, Spencer and Katie, Sawyer and Logan

Gotta love his face :)!

 Handsome guys!

 Thanks for being a great date Logan!

The Alligator Is my Bread...

Mark came downstairs one day and decided, out of the blue, to try to make bread. I'm not sure where the idea even came from. I just rolled my eyes and let him go to it. The final result was...um....let's just call it interesting. I laughed so hard I could barely breath!

 Here is the result of his first attempt. It was pretty hard, and looked a bit like an alligator. We used to sing a song in high school, "The alligator is my friend..." We were carrying the bread around singing, "The alligator is my bread..." Then we'd all bust out laughing again. Poor Mark :)!

We know Mark, and we knew he wouldn't be deterred. When he decides to learn something, he won't give up until it's perfected. He did some more research, and before long he made great bread! Now he's so good at it, that he wants to get a Kitchen Aid mixer. 

Here's the good bread. Not nearly as funny, but a lot more tasty!

Sawyer's Wisdom Teeth

Sawyer started the process of getting his mission papers filled out. Who knew it would be so painful?!? He had to have two of his wisdom teeth taken out. He was a trooper. It's hard for a teenage boy to not be able to eat anything solid for 5 days. He survived on jello, shakes, pudding, mashed potatoes, and soup. 

 Right after the procedure. Not too puffy yet!

 It's not so bad when you get a big care package from a cute girl! Savannah brought him over all kinds of treats and fun stuff to pass the time.

This is a few days after. A little swollen, but not nearly as bad as they said he would get.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Mark had a great 39th birthday!

 When he got home from work, he had some presents waiting for him.

 He always complains about his feet being cold at work, and we always tell him that he needs fuzzy socks. So Bailey bought him the craziest pair she could find :)!

We got him a snow thrower! We knew that was something he would love, but would never go out and buy for himself.  We left it up to him to pick out his own though. 

Perfect timing! We had a very cold, snowy January, so he got to use his present right away!

5...4...3...2...1...Happy New Year!

We were quite boring for New Years this year. Sawyer went to a get together at Christie's house, so me, Mark, and Bailey just stayed home and had a nacho bar and watched movies. I almost forgot to take pictures at the stroke of midnight, but luckily I grabbed my phone and got a few.

 Yummy nachos!

 Happy New Year!

We are SO excited that 2013 has arrived! We have so many fun adventures planned! It will be a big year of changes for our family, but we are ready to dive in and take it all on! Here is just a glimpse of some of the things to come this year:

Spring Break trip to California to ride horses

Sawyer graduates from High School

New York

Sawyer goes on his mission

Girl's Camp

Ragnar North West Passage

One Direction concert in Vegas

Let the fun begin! Happy 2013!