Happy Family-Versary

I laugh every time I see this picture from my work party.  Happily married for three fantastic years -  and I'm still not smart enough to tilt my head towards Jason instead of away from him when we're taking a picture.  We really just need to always make sure he stands to my right.

Actually, I guess I can tilt my head in the other direction....  Mickey is taking a photography class and asked the two most attractive (and agreeable) people he knows to do a photo shoot.  So we spent a sunny Sunday afternoon taking pictures at Daybreak.  I wish we had the whole experience on video, because Mick was NOT impressed with our wardrobe choices, Rooney really wanted to jump in the lake, and Dahlia had to go to the bathroom BAD.  I kept wishing there was some cute, young couple there taking engagement pics so they could see what their lives were really going to be like in a few years.  I sincerely hope they'd still go through with the wedding, but I KNOW they'd think twice about getting a naughty wiener dog and trying to take pictures with him off-leash at a reservoir.  Note to self: next time we do a photo shoot, Rooney is staying home. 

We celebrated our anniversary with the Christmas show at Desert Star.  The first night I bought the tickets for turned out to be the BYU/Utah football game.  When I rescheduled, I moved them to the night of the PAC-12 championship.  So after moving the tickets three times, we were really just happy to be there.  Good thing the show was fun or I can guarantee it would have been our last adventure at Desert Star!  They do not love me at the ticket office there.

Tidy Turns Twelve

It literally seems like yesterday I was flying to Iowa to meet my very first nephew for the very first time.  And now he's tall, and twelve years old, and has read a million young adult fantasy books that I have never read and will never read. 

I'm so proud of his decision to receive the Aaronic priesthood.  He also went on his first temple trip to do baptisms at the Twin Falls temple with a member of the bishopric who also happens to be my brother. WOW. I'm old.

Catch Up Post #2

After November 1st hits, it's time to start decorating for Christmas, according to these holiday nuts.  I try my best to hold them back from decorating before Thanksgiving.  But they did enjoy the chance to LOOK at the decorations at Lowe's early in November.

Catch Up Post #1

As much as I would like to pretend that I took President Nelson's "social media fast" challenge so seriously that I determined to never blog again... that would be a lie. I just have been woefully neglecting my blog. But I'm really going to try to catch up on everything you've missed the last couple of months.  So here we go.

Kami Kate had a birthday.  Not just any birthday.  A trolls birthday. She even inspired me to watch the Trolls movie, which I admit I hadn't done before.  And I really liked it.

Jason and I went to my first Utah game.  I decided that since he has been to countless musicals with me, and since this "Utah thing" doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, it was my turn to go to a game with him. Utah beat USC and we had a great time.

Some really cute kids I know celebrated Halloween in style.

And I caught Rooney on Jason's side of the bed enjoying the fan he pretends not to like. But clearly he does enjoy it on the rare occasion that he gets the bed to himself.

October Conference 2018

Every Conference, there's a rumor that church is going to be cut down from 3 hours to 2 hours. Every Conference, millions of members worldwide are disappointed when that's just a rumor. But October 2018 was when our dreams became a reality. 

In between flag football and rice krispy pumpkins, we also watched Conference. Sort of. 

Tyler was the first one to realize that dumping a bowl full of chocolate chips on top of his rice krispy pumpkin was a lot faster, and ultimately a lot tastier, than taking the time to decorate a jack o'lantern face.

 Bryce quickly followed suit.

 Luckily, the younger kids still indulge their Aunt Traci.

It's Autumn Time

Note to self: When Dahlia wants to quit dance class and take horseback riding lessons instead, just go with it. She'll love riding. And no one will miss dance class.

Lily Lake

Despite our best intentions, we never made it camping this summer. (Kids, say it with me: We can't do ALL the things.)  But Jason had an itch to go fishing last weekend, so we made a quick afternoon trip to Lily Lake. It was a beautiful day. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to sing "Fishing in the Dark" for hours even though it was very much daylight the whole time we were there. You can't beat that. 

Surprisingly, Rooney was pretty well behaved on this outing. I think he knew we were testing him. He liked playing in the muddy water, exploring in the trees, and he didn't bark once at our fishing buddies. He may have earned the right to go on an overnight campout next summer. Maybe.

Mickey and Dahlia both caught a fish. Or, more accurately, Jason caught two fish and each of the kids reeled one in. (Or rolled one in, as Mick would say.) 

I can't even tell you how proud I am of capturing the moment when this little fishy decided to start dancing. That's quality, right there. I call it "When good fishing goes bad." And it's my new favorite.