2009 A Recap

January-Pretty uneventful!  We had a lot of snow, and Nate started working in the office all day again.  We all went to a Gymnastics meet at BYU-which further solidified Bella's love of gymnastics.  And  we got passes to the Legacy Center-which was supposed to encourage us all to exercise more. 

February-I donated my hair.  We started in on preparing for summer activities such as girls camp and football.  I got to go to some friends temple sealing, it was a really beautiful day.  And my mom visited at the end of the month.

March-March is always filled with a bunch of family birthdays.  Two of Nate's sisters, his mom, my brother, and a few friends.  So there is lot of celebrating, which is fun.  We bought a new couch!  Our old couch had been really awful for a few years, so I was glad to finally be rid of it.  I still love our new one, so that is a good sign.  Jack played indoor soccer.  Sophie started going to nursery-which she loves, except when other kids are crying, then she seems to think they are on to something and joins in.

April-April began fabulously with a book club adventure into the mountains.  Jack and Nate began the baseball season.  We had a spring break which included visits to the pool, the zoo, the Childrens Discovery Museum, and lunch with Nate.  Nate and I spoke in sacrament meeting on the 19th.  I made Jack a quilt for his birthday.  He also got a bike.  Nate had a football over nighter.  And for some reason, my brother-in-law had a duel?

May-In May my friend Shelly and I began work on a quilt-it is still not finished.  Marsha came to stay with us for a few months.  Holly and I went to a childrens book festival in which we should have brought our children.  Isabella had her sixth birthday, it was on the last day of school.

June-Jack and Nate still have baseball weekly, and football practices and tournaments began.  I went to girls camp in the second week in June.  It was really a lot of fun.  The food was to die for and I inhaled a constant stream of hot cocoa.  Isabella played t-ball and loved it, she took it very seriously.  We saw Suessical the Musical in Midvale in the park.  We had family pictures taken.

July-We also have a lot of birthdays in July.  My mom at the beginning, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, my soon to be sister-in-law.  An aunt, a cousin, a few friends, and me.  We had a fourth of July BBQ and set off fireworks.  The kids had a primary activity about the pioneers.  Jack had scout day camp.  We all had dentists appointments-the first for Nate in like 8 years.  Nate and I went to see The Fray at USANA Amphitheater.  Jack had good news at his eye appointment, his eye is getting better each year.  We had a neighborhood BBQ on the 24th with fireworks.  We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house as a family.  We set up the tent in the backyard for some near home camping.  Nate's company moved to California and we did not.

August-I went to Youth Conference at Reid Ranch. It was a ton of fun, horseback riding and archery, all sorts of fun activities.  My niece had her first birthday party at our house.  Nate and I had our 12th anniversary on the 5th.  Isabella started outdoor soccer.  The football season began on the 21st.  School also began-I am anti school beginning in August.  I picked out the serger that Nate got me for my birthday!  I love the serger.

September-For book club we went and saw "The Scarlet Pimpernel" at Hale Theatre in Salt Lake.  It was so funny, I am hoping to go again and take Nate.  The Malibu broke down and was in the shop for two weeks, so Nate and I had great times juggling the van between us.  It also cost a week in Europe to fix, not thrilling.  Jack started his second season of flag football.  My mom visited for Sophie's second birthday.  Bella participated in the primary program.  Jack and Nate went to Arizona to see the Colts v. Cardinals game.  I was released from Young Womens.  Then called to be the Relief Society President.  It was a busy month.

October-Roger and Cassie came over and fed us all before General Conference.  The kids went to the Bean Museum with friends.  We had some more family pictures taken, Nate finished up the high school football season.  I made the kids Halloween costumes.  Jack was a Jawa.  Bella was a peacock. Sophie was Tinkerbell.  Alice and Violet came trick-or-treating with us.  We also had a ward Halloween party with games and pumpkin ice cream.

November-We had a getting to know you meeting for relief society which was a lot of fun.  Jack, Isabella, and I went to a fireside featuring Mike Schlappi- it was an awesome fireside, the kids loved it.  The kids ran in the turkey trot at school.  We had Thanksgiving dinner here at our house.  Everyone really chipped in this year, which made it a bit more relaxing for me.  I finished Christmas shopping by doing almost all of it online.

December-Richard Miskin turned 80 years old.  We went to Temple Square with the Glovers to see the lights.  Bella and I went to see "The Princess and the Frog" together.  Jack started basketball season with a clinic put on by the Flash.  I helped out at Bella's class Christmas party, so fun!  And we had a ward Christmas party with a big turkey dinner.  Our neighborhood did a Christmas Pixie thing in which we delivered gifts to an assigned family for six nights and an unknown family delivered things to us for six nights-the kids loved the doorbell ditching aspect.  Olivia, our new niece entered the world!  We then went to Oregon for Christmas.  There we decorated trees and cookies.  Ran into old friends.  Stayed up way too late, played Shang-hai, and had a lot of fun.  Nate's family came over for his birthday-also shared with my grandma.  Then last night Roger and Cassie showed up to play Pounce and ring in the new year.

I counted all my books read in 2009-91, I had no idea I spent that much time reading.  Leave book suggestions for 2010 for me please!  I made 16 quilts in 2009, I think only a few still live here-so that is good.  I also made various outfits and accessories.  I have a list of things I want to get started on for this year, and 4 UFO's that need to be finished in the next six months!!!

That was just a glimpse of our year.  I realize I left out most of the scouts and gymnastics and day to day stuff.  I had a great time working with the Youth, I will really miss that.  I am looking forward to all the Relief Society fun I will have this year.  Jack will turn ten this year and I can hardly believe that!  We have a wedding in the family, which is always exciting.  And we will finally see our long lost Texas relatives.  Leave in the comments one goal you have this new year-if you do that sort of thing!

Watch Out!

So, my watch has been trying to escape from me all year.  I wear it everyday.  I have worn it everyday since my 20th birthday really (gift from my mom).  In the past year, the watch has fallen off frequently.  At Youth Conference this summer, it came off while I was horse back riding, and I thought-well, that is the end, a horse will step on it and I will be so sad.  But, one of the Young Women saw it fall, and though neither one of us could do anything at that moment, she helped me retrace steps and find it after the ride was over.(thanks Paisley!)  It was fine, laying there on the ground.  Other times I find it on the floor after I have been playing with the kids.  Or at the bottom of my purse, must have come off while I was rummaging.  I have had this watch for more than twelve years, I like it, I don't want to lose it.

Nate has had more watches than I can remember.  When we first married I bought him a really nice watch, in a few months-gone.  He told me he was always having to get new ones on his mission because they were constantly dying.  I thought-yeah, cheap watches, so over the years I have bought him, and he has recieved as gifts, many watches.  They all stop or disappear.  The batteries die within a few weeks, the movements go bad, all sorts of weird things.  He even seems to have an ill-effect on stopwatches.  Needless to say, I do not buy him expensive watches any more.

When we were first married, I always interrupted Nate, not out of intentional rudeness.  You see, he used to pause in the midst of his sentences because he wants to be clear and understood.  I am always ready to get my word in, so as soon as he would pause, I would start talking.  Now, I pause and he interrupts me.  And my watch had tried to run away all year long.  I am sure there are a list of traits we have adopted from one another.  Moral of the story-I am blessed to have married someone whose qualities I love and wouldn't mind having myself.  But I still love my watch and want to keep it. 

Tis the Season...

...to be busy.  I decided to download pictures from the camera today to find I have taken only 7 since mid-November.  Sad.  And, my best picture from Thanksgiving, is this one:

So sorry Roger and Jack, you both look great in this shot.








Despite their apparent giddyness, Thanksgiving was really good.  Everyone brought something and we hung out and played games and talked all day long.  It was more relaxing for me than it has been in the past, and that was nice.

We went briefly shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but not first thing in the morning, and the crowds were not big.  Nate and I were sorely tempted to buy a giant TV at Wal-Mart.  They had TV's sitting up at the front of the store with really low prices.  It has been a long time since we looked, so we have no idea if they were good prices, and really we aren't impulse buyers, so maybe next year.  Then over the next few days I buckled down and finished all the Christmas shopping.  Finished.  What I couldn't find in stores, I ordered online.  Everything has arrived, yay!

However, I have a few birthdays in December I have yet to really take care of.  So technically only the Christmas shopping is done.

We have had some snow here this past week.  We have all had our turns shoveling and I can tell you, I am a bit sore.  Sunday morning I took a turn and the snow was really really wet, and I regretted even starting about halfway through.  It was wet and heavy, and it got warm enough to melt the snow into great lakes all down our street and at the the end of our driveway.  Then it gets cold, and we have big icy ponds.  The kids did play outside Saturday.  I was at the church putting together the gifts from the Relief Society, and when I came home they were making forts in the back yard.  Nate gave them my bread pans to make bricks for the forts, I was alarmed at first, but Bella brought them back in reasonably good condition.

Now we are just in the swing of holiday activities.  The kids are getting really excited for Christmas.  Sophie is a little confused about it all still, she seems to like Santa, but keeps telling people "Trick or Treat!"  I am sure in a few weeks it will all be clear to her.

V

It is so weird to be old enough to see the reincarnation of past trends. I suppose a lot of pop culture is on a giant cycle and so if you live long enough, you may see the same things pass by you several times.

When I was little, I spent a lot of evenings at my grandparents house. My grandpa watched a lot of sports and a lot of political stuff. I remember this because he always yelled at the TV, good times. And my grandma watched Falcon Crest, Dallas, and Cheers. For some reason, I remember watching V at their house quite vividly. Why, I have no idea, I was only 7 at the time. This pretty much guarantees I will have to check out the new show based on the old one. I think the remakes of a lot of shows like this are mainly attributed to massive leaps in technology. Also, the new V has Juliet from LOST. What does that mean for her character there? I mean, I remember how last season ended, but it's LOST, she's bound to show up in some fashion.

After writing this post, I think the main point was to practice my reference tags.

Halloween 2009

The kids and I before the trick or treating began. That's my niece, don't you love the ears-hilarious! Bella is wearing the Tinkerbell costume Bella wore when she was that size. Jack is a Jawa, I thought about painting his face, but he wasn't really wanting me to.
After all the trick or treating. Jack and Bella still had a lot of energy. Sophie was pooped. She began the night running up to every door and yelling trick or treat before anyone answered. Then she whispered it once some one answered. She did always say thank you, so that was good. Bella wanted to be a peacock this year. I made a colorful dress and attached a bunch of tulle to the back. She was very excited about it. But what made the girls really excited, was the makeup. Bella had a painted peacock mask, and they both were covered in glitter powder.
The kids carved their own pumpkins. Bella's has the big nose, Jack's is on the top step. I had fully intended to make a witch's has for the greenish one. But I ran out of steam. Maybe next year. Jack's candy is over half gone. He has a bit of an upset stomach, but claims it was worth it. Bella will have candy for months to come. And Sophie's got all sorted, we didn't take stuff we knew she's like out, just stuff that she would probably choke on like taffy and Werthers and the like. She got some temporary tattoos and really loves those. Also a hit was the mini cans of play dough.

Football

Jack took this!

From May to November, our lives basically revolve around football schedules. We have high school football practices, passing camps, and scrimmages in the summer. Then we go into flag football games, for both Jack and Nate. We have sophomore and JV games on Thursdays, and varsity games on Fridays. Then regular season college and NFL games begin, and we have regular entertainment on TV. This year, Jack and Nate are even doing some fantasy with Roger. If my daughters don't understand football by the time they are grown, it will be because they aren't paying attention.


All this football creates a very emotional atmosphere. People go from the high of highs, to the low of lows. If Jack has a good game, makes a few catches and pulls a few flags. We have a good week. If the high school teams struggle, I ready myself to administer no small amount of therapy. If BYU does badly, the whole household is sulky. And if the Colts lose, well, they have had a good season thus far. Thank you Colts, keep it up! But all my sympathy and interest ends when it comes to the fantasy league. I mean really, I am just too spent to be worried about the Jet's entire defense on a weekly basis.


The team Nate plays on with our ward did win it's game on Saturday, making them Stake Champions! A few of the players commented they heard me laugh quite a lot in the game. You see, these games don't draw a very big crowd, and I hadn't really watched one before. It was amusing to see these guys play like they weren't going to be terribly sore and really pay for it the next day. But now they are going to regionals! Who even knew they had regionals? Here in the Miskin household, we are very excited about it, this week is one of the high of highs.

Sophie's Birthday

Sophie had a birthday a while ago. Poor thing, doesn't get a post on her birthday. My excuse is that is was a very busy day. A very busy week in fact. Her grandma and great-grandma were visiting, so there was a lot of shopping and going out to eat. I got released from Young Womens. Bella had primary program practice. Jack had a football game. Nate and Jack needed a ride to the airport. Her grandma and great-grandma were visiting. Really, it was quite a busy time.

For weeks and weeks she asked for an Elmo Cake. She, like her sister before her, is a huge fan of Elmo and all things Sesame Street. Luckily for her, I already had an Elmo cake pan. She loved it, despite the hacking into Elmo moments after this picture was taken. She didn't get the whole blowing out the candles thing. I had to do it for her. Maybe next year.

She got everything a two year old could really want. However, in the picture above she is clutching her two favorite gifts, a pack of tic-tacs and a bag of marshmallows. I am going to just get her assorted mints for Christmas, really, she would be pleased as punch. After the tic-tacs and marshmallows were gone, she gained more interest in her other gifts. She carries the backpack around a lot and really tries to get money out of the Cinderella bank.

She tolerated her brothers football game pretty well. She told a lot of people it was Sophie's Happy Day. In fact, over a week later, she keeps telling people that. She's a busy kid lately, into everything and leaving a path of destruction like a whirlwind. She is really trying to assert herself and find out where her boundaries are. She talks a lot, most everything is understandable, but still some gibberish. She is finally starting to get a little taller and stretching out. She does not want me to do her hair under any circumstances. And I am not willing to risk cutting it yet. I can't believe how fast the past two years have gone!