Thanksgiving Break

This year was probably the best Thanksgiving we have had our whole married life. Being in your own home during the holidays is blissful! With both families here, it's always hard trying to decide where to be when, but I think we kind of figured it out and relaxed more this time. We had a great time with both families. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Alan's parent's house this year after I ran the Turkey Trot with my family that morning. The run is such a fun community and family event. The weather is always beautiful and it's a great way to start off the day of pigging out! I have to admit, after running 6.2 miles, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep all the turkey down. That night Alan went to the ASU/USC game. It was too bad ASU lost on such a great day!




The next day, we went to the grounds of the the Mesa Temple. Because Alan's parent's were awarded "National Parents of the Year," they were asked to turn on the Christmas lights this year. They had a nice program and Glade and Carol had a few moments to share some thoughts. After that, the whole family went up to the stage and watched the temple grounds light up as Glade and Carol turned on the lights. As soon as the lights came on, Mae said "Oooooo Halloween!!!!" We MUST reintroduce her to Christmas. I don't think she remembers it from last year. Halloween is what's fresh in her mind. I'm so grateful I married into such a great family.


Right after that, we rushed to Chandler Center for the Arts to see the Nutcracker. The girls were mesmerised through the whole performance. I almost didn't bring Mae, because I thought she might be too young to enjoy it, but I'm so glad I brought her. She absolutely loved it. During some parts, she just couldn't contain herself and would stand up out of her chair and dance. It was so cute. Grace sat completely still, eyes glues to the stage. When we first walked in, she said, "Mom, is that a really big T.V.?" I had to explain what a stage was. It was fun to see some of my dance students there and it was especially fun to see one of my students who was a dancer in the Nutcracker!
During the break we also took the girls to the Disney movie,"Enchanted" on opening day. We went with my sister, Alexis and my friend, Julie and her two little girls. The girls dressed up for the occasion. We got plenty of looks and had so much fun! I don't know what I'll do if we ever have boys. Do you dress them up too and take them along for the ride? Everything we do is so girlie. I LOVE IT!
Alexis was here for a week without her boyfriend. So, I pretty much took advantage of her loneliness:) It was so much fun to have her here. The entire week we had to keep it from her that her boyfriend was coming to surprise her and propose. Saturday night, we went out to dinner with my family so B.J. could come into town and set up his whole plan at the house without Alexis knowing. He proposed that night and Alexis was SO surprised! I'm so excited to have another married sibling and I'm so excited to have B.J. in our family. They are so cute together.
Now I'm playing catch-up from partying all week. Grace didn't even have clean underwear to wear to preschool today. AAAHHH! Back to reality!


Mae got pretty sick at the end of the week. Alan was able to bond with her while she sat on his lap for two days straight. He took such good care of her. He would be a really good stay-at-home mom (or dad). Now Mae doesn't want me anymore. I went into her room when she woke up this morning and she looked pretty disappointed to see me. All she said was, "No, I want Daddy!" I sure have "Daddy's girls" and he loves it!

Charades

While we were up at the cabin for the long weekend, we played charades for the first time with our little family. It was a Sunday night and everyone had taken naps. We had to get creative. The game went on for over an hour and it was probably the most fun we've ever had as a family. The highlight of the evening (and I wish a had a picture of it) was when Alan whispered in Grace's ear to act out "a Popsicle." Grace went to the front of the room and stood as still as a statue with her arms glued to her sides. Alan kept telling her to start acting it out (assuming she was going to pretend to lick a Popsicle). Finally she said, without moving a muscle, "I'm doing it, Dad!" After many clues from Alan and even more guesses, we finally got it! We couldn't stop laughing. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Easier Borrowed Than Done

Well...we took the girls fishing for the first time. Or should I say we took the girls duck feeding. At least the ducks were biting that day in Payson, Arizona. The fishy crackers were a big hit with the girls and the ducks. I wish I had a video of when we tried to feed a big herd of geese and their ducklings up on a grassy knole next to the lake. I'm sure we would have won big bucks on America's Funniest Home Vidoes. Grace, Mae and I were screaming while the honking geese were just about biting my heels. Grace was running so fast she fell down during the part where I was trying to gather my ducklings while at the same time trying to throw the remaining crackers far enough to distract the those greedy geese. Needless to say, I was so scared. We escaped with only a few skinned hands from the fall. Probably not the smartest thing I had ever done. I had no idea those things were so fast.

After a few minutes of fishing with Dad, Grandpa Soelberg, and Uncle Mark, Grace placed her fishing pole on her chair and said "Dad, make sure my pole doesn't fall in the water" and off we went to the nearby park. After some time went by, we walked back to the dock to check on the progress of our fishermen. No progress was made, except the sweedish fish had all been eaten:) As we were packing all our gear into the back of the truck, a nice old man told the girls to come see the two rainbow trout he had caught. Then he told Alan he had plenty in his freezer and sent us home with his catch. I wish we had taken a picture with him or at least gotten his name so I could send him a thank you note. Maybe he'll find our blog. Thanks nice old man! After Alan gave us an educational seminar on cleaning fish, we ate a delicous campfire-cooked trout dinner. It was a great day.

Mae's Birthday and Collyn's Wedding

Mae and I went on a quick trip to Utah together for my cousin, Collyn Dewey's wedding. I brought Mae with me because she wasn't two yet - still free to fly. She turned two on the day we returned home. I'm so glad I brought her with me. It was the last time we saw Grandma Sandstrom. I got a great picture of her reading to Mae on her lap. I'm so glad we got to see her one last time. It was so fun for everyone to see Mae and she was great during all the wedding festivities. I'm really glad I got to be there for Collyn too. She is my closest girl cousin on the Sandstrom side. She was a beautiful bride. It's so fun to have cousins on the Sandstrom side join the married club. Since I'm the oldest grandchild, I had to wait a little while for that. On Mae's brithday we went out to lunch with Grandmama and Grandma Walker and then flew home to have a quick party with our little family.

Halloween Glitter

Last night we went to a neighborhood Halloween carnival. Grace and Mae wore their princess Halloween costumes that Grandmama bought for them at the Disney store, which I have kept hidden according to the direction of my husband, who has a major glitter fetish. I carefully took them out of their hiding place and made the girls dress in the bathroom as to not track glitter around the rest of the house. While at the carnival, Mae fell down on the playground and Alan went to her rescue. I glanced over a few moments later to see why Mae was still crying. I could tell Alan was trying to console her with his soothing voice, but all hands were off of Mae. It wasn't doing the trick. I finally understood what was happening and picked her up - of course at the same time giving Alan much grief. Later that night at 12:00, Alan mopped the floors. He just couldn't take that sparkly stuff sticking to his feet. (and he says he wants seven girls:)HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

On Halloween we went to Grandma Carol's house to see all the cousins costumes. Then we went to our ward trunk or treat where Grandmama and Papa met us. Then we took the girls trick or treating around our neighborhood for a few minutes. It was a busy, fun night.

Our History

Alan and I met at Poston Junior High at the end of our eighth grade year. I thought he was a hunk who could play football and sing and he thought I was the cutest brace face freckled brunette he had ever seen. Sparks flew in the seminary building despite our young ages, but when the appropriate age of 16 arrived, I decided I wanted to date others. Our awkwardness in high school towards each other made it hard for some friends to believe we ended up together. We both graduated from Mountain View Highschool - class of '99. We wrote two times while Alan was on his mission in Conception, Chile and while I was busy at BYU.

When Alan returned home from Chile, we were both thinking of each other. I was finishing up spring term at BYU when he called. We talked for a long time and concluded that I would finish finals early to fly home to Mesa and go out with him. (finishing anything early, by the way, is very uncharacteristic of me) That was our first official date. We went to a comedy club called Gestures and on the way home we were holding hands. Things happened fast and Alan proposed in Aug. (That was after my dad proposed to him on behalf of myself in Hawaii - a trip my dad also took the initiative of inviting Alan to for a surprise birthday present).

Alan followed me up to BYU shortly after our engagement. (The harsh reality that he was going to be a cougar instead of a sun devil still doesn't sit well with him). We had a great time in Provo. He grew to love Provo but we're still working on the Cougar part.

We were married in the Mesa Arizona temple on December 28th 2002. Grace was born in Payson Utah on February 17th 2004. Alan and I graduated together later that year and then made plans to move to Omaha, Nebraska.

Alan attended Creighton Law School in Omaha. We loved it there! We made great friends and Alan loved his educational experience. Mae was born in Omaha on November 2, 2005. Alan graduated from Creighton in May of 2007.

We are now back in Mesa. Alan has a great job at Rowley, Chapman, Barney and Buntrock - a small firm located in downtown Mesa. I am teaching dance to about 50 little girls (including Grace) and staying busy as a mom. Ironically, we live right across the street from Poston; a constant reminder of our first crush.