National Champions!

Hello! I just wanted to announce that after all the hard work that Jon and his team put in the last couple of months, they won first place this last week in Las Vegas! It was a national competition where 39 schools from throughout the nation participated, and Jon's team was the very best! While in Vegas, one of Jon's professors secured tickets to the Donny and Marie show for all of the team and faculty. Even though Jon didn't really know any of the songs, he said it was a great memory and a fun ending to an amazing week. I'm so proud of my awesome hubby, but at the same time I'm so glad it's all over and that he has one last thing on his plate now!

One of the funnest things that's still on his plate and will be for many years to come (hopefully!) is getting his new business started. He and his two partners have had a few planning meetings, and are starting to lay the groundwork so that they can begin the business as soon as July 1st hits. They finally decided on a name, which literally took months to come up with! His company is Tresidio Corporation, a play off of the word Presidio, meaning a fort or mission. Though it's not their official slogan, they interpret their name to mean "a fortress of three." Pretty cool, huh? As marketing director, Jon's been working on designing a logo and will start creating their website soon. We are so excited for this business opportunity and look forward to the hard but fun months ahead!

It's so easy to talk all about Jon in my blog posts, but I don't have a thing to say about myself! It's so fun to have Dad here in Provo, and Mom here on the weekends. They and Rick have been a big help to Grandma and Grandpa, especially Mom with her superhero cleaning powers! Last night Mom made dinner and her yummy brownies, and we all watched the BYU basketball game together. I love being close to Mom and Dad, even if it will only last a few months! All in all, Jon and I are very happy right now, and very in love. I can hardly believe we've been married over two and a half years (2 years and 7 months to be exact!), and we couldn't be more blessed.

Microsoft

Hi Everyone,

You may have seen in the news that Microsoft is having some layoffs. I'm happy to report that Mark's department has announced that it will not be letting anyone go. He is lucky enough to be in one of the most profitable divisions of Microsoft. We have a lot of hope that we'll be able to stay with Microsoft for a long time. It is an uncertain time though, so however long it lasts, we feel really blessed for the opportunity. We love you all.

Tyler is proud of me!

I stopped by his school class the other day to grab something and ended up stirring 25 cups of luke-warm cocoa (doesn't stir very well - ever tried it?). Tyler was literally beaming the entire time. He asked his teacher if he could introduce me and his brothers (even through we've already been introduced a few times before). He stood there with the biggest smile I've ever seen. Such a sweetheart. I'm treasuring this now, because I'm guessing within a few years he won't want me around!




The highlight of Adam's holiday was the electric train around Grandpa's tree! It was so nice to visit with them a few weeks ago.

Never a Dull Moment

Hi All,
Today Mark gave a wonderful talk in Church about keeping and sharing testimonies. He put a lot of work and thought into it. After Church, everybody was raving about it, but not for just the normal reasons. Before Mark's talk, during the rest hymn, I had to take the girls out to the hall because Grace was starting to act up and demanding to go see Daddy who was sitting on the stand. So I took them to the hallway and they went to get drinks at the drinking fountain. I stayed by the door to the chapel so I could listen to Mark's talk. The girls were just down the hall and I kept my eye on them...most of the time. A few minutes into the talk I looked over at the drinking fountain and Grace was gone. I quickly went over there and asked BethAnne where Grace was. She pointed to a door that was propped open leading to the cultural hall (which is used as overflow seating for Sacrament meeting). I quickly ran in looking for Grace. I was too late. She was already running through the aisle of the chapel and I was at the back of the cultural hall. I didn't know what to do, I was hoping someone would grab her before she got too far, but they didn't. I was kind of frozen in terror for a minute and then I started going after her. She was very excited and happy, shouting "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" as she got closer to him. Before I was halfway through the Chapel, she was on the stand running towards Mark. He was surprised, and a little flustered for a second, but then he picked her up and sweetly said "Grace is going to help me give my talk today". By then, I reached the front and took Grace from Mark. Before all this happened, Mark had been talking about keeping and growing our testimonies during trials. As I left with Grace, Mark said "speaking of trials...(and then he smiled and paused)" and the whole congregation burst into laughter. After that, Melynie was very kind to watch the kids in a classroom so I could listen to the rest of Mark's talk. It was very good. I was pretty mortified about the incident with Grace, but the rest of the ward thought it was hilarious and they enjoyed the rest of the talk too. We got lots of positive comments from ward members, but my favorite was from a couple of older men in the ward who stopped me after church and said it was a good talk but their favorite part was Grace. Mark says that several people told him that too. So, at least our ward knows who we are now, which is good, right? Have a happy week!

Christmas Day!

Check out the crazy hair on my sweet little ones!

Yum! Belgian waffles with strawberries and blueberries. Probably Aiden's favorite food in the whole world.

Aiden loves to play drum's on daddy's new Guitar Hero band set.

I'm not sure what the wink is all about, but I thought it was pretty cute.

Happy (Belated) Holidays!

Since I've been so derelict in my blogging duties over the past couple months, I have tons of pictures, so I've decided to break them into two separate posts: "Holiday Season" and "Christmas Day".

We all helped decorate the Christmas tree, but for some reason I only have a picture of Eva next to it. The kids had a blast decorating. They especially loved the big ropes of gold tinsel garland. I told them that we needed to put it on last, but throughout the decorating process they kept trying to sneak the garland on. When it was finally time (I should have taken a picture), they put the garland on all by themselves and it ended up as one big mass in the middle of the tree. I got it straighted out, but they kept moving the garland around every few minutes and knocking off ornaments in the process, so I finally had to put the garland back in the box (much to my happiness, since I hate the stuff anyway). Eva was a little disappointed at first, but after I explained that it was because "Aiden is too little and keeps making a mess with it," she was fine.

Here is Eva as a lamb in the ward Christmas party. She stole the show, and I wasn't quite sure whether to be amused or mortified, so I was both. When the lambs and shepherds first came out onto the stage, all of them stayed quietly in their places in the corner, except for Eva who crawled across the stage, danced around, took a peek in the manger, and waved to mommy and daddy. Towards the end, everything kind of got to be too much for her, and she burst into tears so I had to come carry her off the stage. Such a sweet little attention-hogger :).

Eva did a fabulous job helping mom decorate cookies for her preschool Christmas party!

Eva and Aiden showing off the gingerbread house Eva decorated.

Eva was a beautiful angel (of course! :) ) in her preschool class's nativity scene.

Christmas Pictures

 

 

 

 

Hi Everyone,
Here are my favorite pictures from Christmas. We had so much fun in Boise! It was great to get to know Ben and Bo more. They are so adorable! It was fun to see Boise get that much snow, it was a very cozy, white Christmas. We were really blessed to have a safe drive both ways. We went home through Portland which added a couple hours but it was uneventful until we got to our street. They had record amounts of snow in the Seattle area while we were gone, and our street hadn't been plowed yet, so our van got stuck right in front of our house. Mark had to spend 20 minutes shoveling snow to get our car unstuck and in the driveway. It was a funny ending to our trip. So now we're getting settled back into life here in Redmond. BethAnne has been enjoying school more during the last few days, and today she was actually sad to leave school (which was really good). So, that's it for now, have a great week everybody!

Happy New Year!

Hello family! I realize it has been a very long time since I last posted, and I apologize profusely! Today marked the beginning of a new semester for Jon and the end of the NAHB project that has engulfed his life for the past few weeks. Well, he still has to present in Vegas in two weeks, but the book is done and sent in, and I'm so proud of him and his team! This semester is going to be intense for Jon (can you say 21.5 credits?) but what's new about him having a busy semester? He's anxious to be finished in June and get his business off the ground. I'm really impressed with him and his business partners, and I look forward to the adventure ahead! As for me, I'm enjoying my low-key, low-stress job and being a house-wife in the evenings. I'm far from mastering the art of homemaking, but what with coupon clipping, crocheting, and keeping the house in order, I am feeling quite domestic! I guess I don't have much else to report except that we love you all and hope you have a happy start to a new year!

Dialog for Christmas Funs!

OK - so I thought I'd better say a few words about this great holiday to go along with the pictures! This was most definitely a white Christmas - the first in probably a decade! And so fun with the ATV masquerading as Santa's reindeer, and Hartnett's turquoise plastic toboggan as his sled! That's Rick on the ATV - he and Carl took turns pulling each other - and then Brian pulled Carl and the boys on Saturday. Carl borrowed one of my fluffy pillows to save his backside! And the snowman! Carl and Mark really outdid themselves! - with help from Stephanie, Grace and BethAnne. Oh - and can't forget how Stephanie got a double family! - Lucky Duck! - I haven't got one in 30 years! We were soooo grateful that Lisa and Company could finally get through the snow on Friday evening! I don't ever remember the freeways being closed like they were. And we had such fun having "second Christmas" - with Christmas dinner and Grandma presents a day late. So much joy! Thanks to all for a great time! - It sure has been quiet around here this week - Christmas is put away for another year, and everything looks ordered again.....Love to all - and have a Grrrreat January!

More Christmas Fun!

Christmas Fun!