Snowboarding tricks

We just returned from a fantastic vacation to Disneyland with the Brems family. I didn't get to run in the half marathon that I registered for, but that's okay, because I am nurturing baby right now. It was really fun to see the race from the other side. After seeing the pouring rain and howling wind on race day, I didn't feel too bad about not running. The guys did great! Disneyland was a blast. Most of you have probably already read about it on Dani's and Ashley's blogs, but they didn't write about my favorite ride. . . the 12 passenger van! My dad rented a huge van to drive us from the airport and to Disneyland. It was fun because we could all fit in the same vehicle. It was quite an adventure. I was so proud to see Gib ride all of the scary rides. And I don't just mean Snow White's Scary Adventure, he went on the Tower of Terror and everything! He really loved Disneyland and California Adventure. I also ate the yummiest corndog! I love the chocolate covered bananas and metoeric meatballs from Tomorrowland. Thanks, Mom and Dad, it was a wonderful vacation!

The baby is doing well. We had an ultrasound last week and my doctor said we have a very active baby. It was moving all over the place like a jumping lima bean with it's little arms and legs swinging everywhere. I used to call the baby peanut but have started calling it lima bean instead. Gib says our baby will be a runner because it spent it's first 6 weeks training for a half marathon with Mom!

Today we drove out to Tooele to visit the Gilberts. We went into the hills to see Spencer and his friend, Michael Buck, snowboard. They built a little jump and installed some rails so we could see some tricks. I loved to see how much Spencer has improved. I boarded with him his first season and now, a couple seasons later, he looks like a pro! I'll never be able to keep up now. It was a cool, clear day and we had a beautiful view of the Great Salt Lake. Cheryl cooked yummy Pigs in a blanket with mashed potatoes. Yum. I am treating pregnancy as a ticket to eat whatever I want and I intend to enjoy every minute of it that I'm not nauseous!

Parenthood

I received this email shortly before discovering we were having a baby. It's hilarious but I am concerned about the negativity portrayed. In all honesty, we are thrilled to have children and will gladly suffer anything described below for the rewards of parenthood. We think this is our miracle baby and I don't know why I am so fortunate. I am so grateful for this gift. In a way, I almost feel guilty about being so happy about this because I know the pain of wanting children. Ever so humbly, I hope I can share our joy with you. I can't wait for us to be parents. I know Gib will be a tender and loving father. He is already taking such good care of me and the baby. My doctor's office has advised me to rest often and Gib has made sure that he takes care of EVERYTHING at home so I can relax. He does all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning (including the dreaded litter-box). He makes sure there is always gas in my car so I don't have to get it in the cold and smell the fumes. I am so spoiled. He certainly loves me, doesn't he? Okay, now for some humor. . .

Thinking of having kids?

15 Lessons to consider:
Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who
already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, atisleep habits, toilet training, table manners,and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial (or the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)
Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.
How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again. Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is also excellent). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month old baby.

Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're
thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt-sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Happy New Year

We had a fun New Year's Eve at my parents house playing games with family. As always, we played the Wii and then played a fun game called "Ticket To Ride", which, Chad and Ashley gave us for Christmas. Thanks, guys! We started out the new year with a family run. It was 11 degrees outside. Burr! Can you see my big red watch? I love it! For Christmas, Gib gave me this great Garmin GPS running watch. It has really motivated me to run! It tracks my pace, mileage, heart rate, and elevation with instant feedback.

Merry Christmas! (a little late)

One of my favorite Christmas tradition is the Brems family white elephant present exchange. We had some really funny ones this time. Below you will see a picture of Chris wearing his fake chest hair, Grandpa Brems opening the infamous, new and improved "ab-roller" and Justyn holding a pine cone decoration with dingleberry bells. And isn't Santa so handsome?

For Christmas at the Gilberts we spent a lot of time competing on guitar hero. We are all hooked, it's so fun.

Thankfully, we received a lot of snow in the valley for a White Christmas!

Four little elves!

Check this out, click on the link below! I dare you to try not to laugh!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1375606710

French Onion Soup

My parents came up to Ogden last Saturday. They gave us money to help us buy new leather couches for Christmas and they wanted to see them. We also went to dinner at the Union Grille and ate some of the best ever French Onion Soup. Seriously, you should try it if you ever get the chance. It is worth the drive from Salt Lake to Ogden.

This is our fancy tree for which we have spent years collecting matching decorations.






This is our fresh-cut tree with hand-me-down decorations. There is one ornament Gib made his Mom back in 1986. Wow, that's a long time to keep a homemade ornament in such good condition! Gib's Mom also gave us his first ornament, a glass soldier, to put on the tree. Also, notice the homemade tree skirt my Mom made before I was born. She's so talented. I think she thought it was funny to see that I still had it.

Oh Christmas Tree. . .

Gib's parents, Dave and Cheryl, came up to Ogden to visit us on Saturday. We saw a Christmas tree lot on Washington and decided to stop and look. Gib's Dad bought me a tree. I was really excited to get a fresh cut tree that smells like pine. Now we have an artificial tree in the living room and a real tree in the kitchen. The artistic snob inside me rejected the flaws of a real tree but now that we have decorated it with homemade ornaments I am very fond of the real tree. It looks great with a hand-me-down tree skirt made by my Mom over 20 years ago and special ornaments given to me and Gib as gifts. We also had dinner at the Pizzeria and drove past Pine View Reservoir to see the snow. As you can see, it was so beautiful with the banks covered in fresh snow. We had a fulfilling weekend. On Sunday, Chad blessed Logan. It was a touching blessing and it was rewarding to watch the men in our family join efforts to bless our sweet little spirit. Here are some great photos from that day.

Above is Grandma Brems with Taylor Tebbs. She is so fun-loving. She kept running around in a circle over and over again with a huge smile on her face. She was very proud to tell me and my Mom that she wanted shiny diamond things for Christmas. Amy said she sat on Santa's lap and told him exactly what she wanted without any prior coaching from Mom. She is a girl after my own heart. After all, who doesn't love shiny diamond things?