Certification!

So the hubby has been working on a certification to help him out at work..you know...status stuff and the added benefit of three more letters behind his name. It has been a long road, but within the last 6 months, he passed 3 of 4 of them and took one today. He passed!!! He is now certified! He is officially CIA*. Yeah! He couldn't be happier, and I couldn't be more proud of all the hard work he has done to get through this.

*Note the term CIA stands for Certified Internal Auditor. I know what you were thinking!

Christmas

Well, December was quite the busy month. Parties, Funerals, Snow, and Christmas. On Dec. 19th, we had a family party with my mom's family. It was snowing quite heavily so only about half the family made it. We had dinner, sang some carols, had a few people play on the piano or violin, and had Santa come hand out presents. Both children were not excited about sitting on Santa's lap, but we talked to them, showed them others who were sitting on his lap, and thankfully, no crying...maybe because he was handing out presents. lil' K was excited about her princess bath set and was showing everyone.
Every Christmas Eve, my family goes down to Temple Square. This year we did it on the 23rd, and we decided to ride Trax (which added about an hour to our time out, but the kids enjoyed being on the train) We walked around to see the lights at Temple Square and the nativities. When we got back to my parents to eat dinner, my sister said Mom and Dad had to go to my grandma's. Grandma passed away shortly thereafter, home with Grandpa for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we spent time at the in-laws. We had dinner and scones...yummy! When we got home, Frosty had left some gifts for the kids, new homemade pajamas. The kids got ready for bed and asleep quickly.

Christmas morning, we actually had to wake up the kids. They were so excited to see the presents and before you could say "Merry Christmas," wrapping paper was flying around the room. Shortly after opening presents, F got a call from his mom saying his dad was in the hospital and he would need to go give him a blessing later in the morning. We cleaned up, and headed to my parents for breakfast, then F went to see his dad, on the way, he had to give his brother a blessing because he was heading to another hospital with pain from a fall he had earlier in the week. (Note: both are great and came home Friday afternoon/early evening) I stayed and opened presents with the kids and my family. The kids got a new outfit and a toy from the grandparents.

During the time at my parents, I cut my thumb real good, but luckily I did not need stitches. We didn't need one more person in one more hospital. F came back and we hung out with what was left home of his family and played "Scene It Seinfeld." (which I rocked) The last stop for the day was my grandpa's for a large family party. We filled ate too much and visited with family. When we came home, it was snowing little pellets of snow, but we only had less than a mile to drive. The kids played with their new toys for awhile before putting them to bed. Christmas was quite a day, but the children had a great time.

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Grandparents

Maxine Hale & Harold Howard West

Harold Howard West 1921 ~ 2008 Harold H. West, 87, beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away Saturday afternoon, Nov. 29, 2008 after a lifetime of service to others. Harold was born September 12, 1921 to William Howard and Martha Ella Davis West in Lehi, Utah. He was the fifth of six children and the only son. He attended South High School and graduated from the University of Utah in 1943 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. A few days later he married Maxine Hale of Salt Lake City, Utah in the Salt Lake Temple and moved east to work for General Electric. After the birth of their first child, Sandra, in 1944, Harold was commissioned in the U.S. Navy to work at the Naval Ordinance Laboratory in Washington D.C. After World War II, Harold and Maxine moved to Denver, Colorado where he worked for the Bureau of Reclamation. Their second child, Susan, was born in 1948. Two years later, Hal and Maxine moved back to Salt Lake City where he took a job with Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and later Kennecott Copper Corporation. In Salt Lake City, three more children followed: Marilyn in 1952, Stephen in 1956, and Roger in 1962. Harold retired from Kennecott in 1985. Harold West was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in various callings for the church including bishop of Valley View 7th Ward. In 1986, he finally had a chance to serve a mission with Maxine in the Washington D.C. North Mission. Harold loved to play tennis, garden and study history. Hal loved be the handyman - he always had a project underway. There was never anything, however, that that interfered with his devotion to his family and above all his wife Maxine. Harold is survived by his wife, Maxine, children who are honored to call him father: Sandy (Milton) Thackeray, Susan Corrigan, Marilyn (Ronald) White, Stephen (Lisa) and Roger. He is also survived by a sister, Anne Pulsipher, 23 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

Maxine Hale West 1923 ~ 2008 Maxine Hale West, 85, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed way Tuesday evening, December 23, 2008, while sleeping peacefully at home. We know that after completing her earthly mission and returning to her Heavenly Father, she was joyously embraced by her recently deceased husband Harold. Maxine was born on January 23, 1923 in Garfield, Utah, to Elmer Clinton Hale and Matilda Leone (Roundy) Hale. Maxine was the second of six children and the oldest daughter. Growing up on Elm Avenue in Sugarhouse, she attended Forest Elementary with her siblings: Clinton, Dorain, Colleen, Vern and Judith. Maxine first met Harold West while cleaning the chalkboard after school one day, as he swept the classroom floors. After grade school she followed Harold to Irving Junior High, South High School, and then the University of Utah. After the war began, Maxine worked for a short time at the Arms Plant. Maxine and Harold were married on the 24th of June, 1943 in the Salt Lake Temple. Mother was the light of Dad's life and Dad was her constant and tender companion. Mother and Dad shared a great love and in doing so set a marvelous example for their five children: Sandra (Milt) Thackeray, Susan Corrigan, Marilyn (Ron) White, Stephen (Lisa) and Roger. Maxine is survived by her five children, older brother, Clinton Hale and younger sisters, Colleen Workman and Judith Smith. She rejoiced in her 23 grandchildren and her joy was completed by the 38 great-grandchildren that love her dearly. Mother's love for music began early on in life when she began taking piano lessons in the fourth grade from Mrs. Seabury. She became an accomplished pianist and performed and taught lessons for many years. She was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved serving in various callings including the great highlight of fulfilling a mission in the Washington D.C North Mission with her husband. She also had compassion and love for her neighbors whom she served. Along with Dad, she loved to laugh and enjoy life and appreciate the beauties of nature. Their love story will be remembered as one that will go down through the ages. We rejoice that Mom and Dad were reunited for Christmas after their brief separation of 25 days. We are thankful for their 65 years of earthly life together.

Wow, the time flies!! I cannot believe this year is coming to a close and so quickly. We have had quite the adventureous last few weeks. Last month we had a delicious dinner with the entire bishopric and all the clerks, including our families. Our bishop served his mission in Japan and fried us some breaded chicken with rice and sauce. He also made a seaweed with tofu soup. I loved the chicken and rice, I ate the seaweed soup, but definitely the one and only time I will.

The next Saturday, I took lil' K with me to an enrichment group to make pies. F took lil' L fishing with his dad. After making the pies, I went shopping at Old Navy. While trying on clothes, F called asking me how long I would be shopping. I asked why, and he told me we needed to take lil' L to the doctor. Come to find out, F was carrying all his gear and holding the hand of lil' L , came to a stream. He held lil' L's hand and lifted him over, as he did, lil' L twisted and F heard a pop. Out came the elbow. I knew exactly what had happened. We called the pediatrician, but closed. Headed to a clinic, closed. Called triage at pediatricians, just as I had suspected...Nursemaids elbow and need a doctor. Look up online for clinic with extended hours. Find one, go to it, doesn't take our insurance (even though it showed up on our insurance) Call another clinic. Open!! No one was a the clinic so we got in real quick. The doctor popped it back and showed us what to do next time it happens. She watched lil' L play to make sure he was alright. He was finally talking and being active. Up until then, he was quiet unless we were moving him, then he cried. It took us longer to find a place open late in the afternoon on a Saturday, than to have his arm taken care of. It was sad to see him in so much pain, but glad to have him better.

F and I went with a bunch of people to Body Worlds 3. Wow!! It is amazing what we are composed of. We then went a grabbed a bite to eat at Hires with Derek and Tawna afterwards. Yum!! When we picked up the kids, my dad was telling lil' K how long her hair is getting and she came straight over to me and reminded me to get scissors. She has been wanting a hair cut for a while now. I had told her to remind me and she did. The next day, snip..snip..snip..off with about 4 inches. I think she looks so cute and she loves it.

I have been quite busy. Rooting for our favorite college football team and member of the top ten, I have been sewing and being somewhat crafty...this one is for another day. By the way...what a game!! Very exciting! Go Utes!!

My sis had her baby the Monday before Thanksgiving and was a whopping 9.5 lbs!! What a boy! I love just holding newborns, they smell so sweet and just cuddle. The kids were able to see him on Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day with F's family and had a blast. We don't see all of them too often and was great to catch up. Because I had made pies with enrichment, I made 5 pumpkin pies and whipped topping to go along with the peach and apple (click for the recipe) pies I had already made. The pies were a hit. We did have way too much. My mom made the entire dinner for them, so I offered to bring pies since I was already taking some to F's family. I had 8 pies total, we gave 1 pie to F's parents, 1 to my parents, 1 to my sis and still had about 1 pie of left overs to take home. F's mom also sent us home with a full turkey dinner that we have had twice since Thanksgiving. Whew.. I think I will have to continue with more another day. I am grateful for this time of year to be be thankful for all the Lord has given us.

Halloween Fun!

My apologies for my recent hiatus from blogging. We have been having computer troubles....aka: we just completely wiped and reinstalled all of our software for the second time (yes, second). Now we are back in business.
I did not take many pictures from Halloween this year, just enough to document costumes. In late September, lil' K was beginning to really dream of her costume. We had discussions of Princesses, but she finally decided on being a black cat (good, we have black clothes). All we needed was the ears and tail. lil' L kept saying he wanted to be a horse or a pumpkin (where he got these ideas, I'll never know). Those two ideas were vetoed by papa (being the Superman fan he is) So, we bought costumes early in October and were ready to bring on the festivities.

Each year my family does a Halloween dinner before Halloween actually arrives. This year, the little ones wore their costumes (also a great chance to get their pictures together and not hopped up on sugar). We enjoyed a great dinner including Dirty bath water, Creepy Crawly Jell-O, Pumpkin Chili with Monster Nose Hairs, Witches Brooms, and more.

The week of Halloween, we carved pumpkins for FHE. By this, I mean, the kids helped to take out the pumpkin guts, decide what they wanted their pumpkins to be, and then for me to play pumpkin artist. Later in the week, we decorated treat buckets. Both of the kids had plastic buckets in which we covered with Halloween paper that the kids decorated with their names, pumpkins, and other pictures/words. I think they turned out great (sorry, I don't have a close up, but trust me).
As for Halloween, a great party at preschool for lil' K where we decorated pumpkin cookies. lil' L was excited to wear his costume and run around pretending to fly. lil' K wanted everyone to chase her around, including my parent's dog. We kept the night simple. We visited my grandparents, and both of our parents with lots of food (pizza and halloweenies)

We took the kids trick-or-treating around to a few houses in each of our parents neighborhoods. The weather was absolutely perfect, no jackets or coats needed for the cat and superman. I was glad we didn't have to say "He's Superman, see the pant legs." We rolled back home just in time to clean up the kids and get into bed. The kids had great fun and I'd say as parents, we did too.

Am I the Only One?

...Or is anyone else "Pavlov"ed to salivate for a Crystal Pepsi whenever they hear Van Halen's "Right Now"?

Wasn't that the song on the commercials way back when?
I heard that song while driving today and suddenly I am back in jr. high (yuck) craving the shortly popular drink.

Another Birthday

I can't believe another year has come and gone. Now my baby has become a little boy...and everything that comes with it, such as sound effects, sword fighting, tackling, throwing the football around, getting into everything, and so much more. We enjoyed a great birthday celebration for lil' L. On his birthday, F had to work part of the day and then we decided to head up to the zoo. Just as we were walking to the gate, I got a phone call from my mom to tell me that my grandpa was not doing well in the hospital and they didn't know how much longer he had. F told me to go and be with my family while he spent the afternoon with the children. F had a great time taking the kids around the zoo (usually I am the one, so it was good to have some time for just him and the kids.) Quite a busy day, but the majority of the birthday celebrations happened the next day. In the afternoon, I decorated the cake and then we went to walk around Silver Lake. It was a bit cold and sprinkled rain. We warmed ourselves up with dinner from Wendy's (lil' L's choice). After dinner, we made homemade peach ice cream and had both sets of grandparents over. Lil' L couldn't wait to open his presents. He was trying to open them and kept them close to him until he had free reign over opening them. He was extremely excited about all of the cars and trains, we had to open them almost immediately. Bad idea, especially since he wouldn't give them up to have us sing and for him to blow out the candles. When we did convince him, he began blowing out the candles as soon as he saw them and I mistakenly got close enough for him to do so before we were finished singing. Of course, he jumped right down to play again. He definitely knows what birthdays are all about! I love this guy. He is so loving and imaginative. It is incredible to see the changes that happen every day!

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