Family Christmas Party

Yesterday was my family Christmas party at my parents' house in Tremonton. Mom and Dad just built on a new room so we had lots of space to party and be together. We ate some delicious food . . .

Here is Travis making authentic Argentine empanadas. This may be a new Christmas tradition!


Shayla, Liz and Tara had fun making cute Christmas ornaments

We always have an awesome program. Baylee performed for the first time with a number on the recorder. She played Jingle Bells and we all sang along.

Shayla and Liz performed a cute dance routine. Wade and Travis helped out at the end.

Tara and Kelsey entertained us with their version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"

My parents surprised us with a wonderful skit performed by Santa and Rudolph. Doesn't my mom make a cute reindeer?

Baylee sat on Santa's lap for the first time, although she needed Elise, her new best friend, there for moral support!

It was such a fun party. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Just a footnote: Val and I were actually at the party, it's just that we were taking pictures and videotaping so there are no pictures of us!

Christmas Dance

Every year, the Vykelles go to the Christmas Dance together. This year Kelsey invited Brandon. The girls had a delicious catered dinner at the home of Amy's parents, then went on the the Capital for the dance. They had a great time, as usual. Kelsey looked beautiful.








This is my niece, Hayley before her Christmas Dance. She looks beautiful, too!

Thanksgiving in New York

Val, Kelsey and I just returned from the Advanced Dance trip to New York. What a wonderful vacation. We left two days before the rest of the group so that we could be there for Thanksgiving and see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (It was our married kids year with their in-laws) We saw the parade from our hotel window. What a great view! We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the buffet at the Marriott Marquis with Rachel and Kailey Johnson. Tara and the rest of the group joined us the day after Thanksgiving.

Val, Rachel and I at the Marriott Thanksgiving buffet. We had a great view of Broadway and the dinner was fabulous.







Val, Kelsey and I on top of the Empire State Building.
All of us before seeing the Lion King. What an amazing show. The costuming was absolutely incredible. My favorite animal was the giraffe. It moved exactly like a real giraffe. Timon and Pumba were great, too.

We toured Radio City Music Hall. After the tour we got to meet a Rockette. Aftaer we got home, we watched the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center and saw "our Rockette" dancing after they lit the tree. Val said Radio City was the highlight of his trip.


We also saw White Christmas. This is one of our all-time favorite Christmas movies so it was fun to see the play version. The tap dancing in this show was incredible. It was so fun to see during the holidays.




We had a really fun group dinner at Carmine's. Great Italian food! Here we are with Bon Pierce, the mastermind of the whole trip. Thanks, Bon for such a wonderful experience!



Rachel suggested we try to get into a taping of Live With Regis and Kelly. We got up at 5:30 a.m. to stand in line and we got in! It was so fun to see what goes on off camera. Regis and Kelly are great. Rachel, LeeAnn, Sharon and I before the show started.

















The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City truly was spectacular. It has been one of my "bucket list" items to see this show. Radio City is so beautiful and the Rockettes were absolutely perfect. I have to admit, I did tear up a little bit the first time I saw them on stage. Here are Val and I in front of the amazing stage. This picture doesn't do it justice. We had such a great time.

How We Met Tag

Thank you, Kira for telling me I am not too old for this. I love blog tags and those fun emails where you have to answer questions about yourself. I have learned a lot about my friends and family that way. Here is the story of Val and I!

1. Where did you meet? We met at a Young Adult Fireside in Garland, Utah. Val had been home from his mission about three months and I had just graduated from high school and had been named first runner-up to (don't laugh) Miss Wheat and Beet Days the night before. Val had dated everyone in Brigham City and had come to find new women. A guy he was working with told him to come to Young Adults and he would introduce him to some girls. Val saw me and said he wanted to meet me. He knocked on the window of my friend's car and asked if he could take me home. I went with him and my friends were shocked!

2. What was your first thought when you met? I thought he was cute and I liked that he was from Brigham City, not Tremonton or Garland.

3. Do you remember what he/she was wearing? Not really, this was a long time ago folks. He must have had on dress pants and a shirt and tie. Maybe he was wearing that light blue suit that he had back then. I do remember what I was wearing. It was a brown dress and I really liked it.

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person? He kissed me on the forehead on our first date. We were at a Young Adult dance. The first time I kissed him was in his car. I can't remember if it was the first or second date.

5. Where did you go for your first date? As I said before, a Young Adult dance. I had been dating another guy and Val asked me to the dance before Jon did. Jon was really mad.

6. When were you officially a "couple"? We met in August and started at USU the end of September. We were pretty much a couple by then.

7. How did he/she ask you out? When he took me home from Young Adults he just asked me if I wanted to go to the dance next weekend. Of course, I said yes.

8. Has this person ever proposed to you? Heck yes, we've been married for 28 years! We had already decided that we were getting married, but I didn't have a ring yet. My mom said she was not writing one check for the wedding until I had a ring on my finger. Val picked me up for dinner. While we were driving there, he gave me a white rose and told me he loved me. (The white rose is the symbol of the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, his fraternity) I smelled it (which he knew I would do) and there was my ring in the middle of the rose. He asked me to marry him. The rest is history.

9. Do you and this person have kids together? Yes, we have four lovely children - Travis, Wade, Tara and Kelsey. Two darling daughters-in-law, Liz and Shayla. One awesome son-in-law, Dan. One perfect granddaughter, Baylee.

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person? Wow, I don't think so. Val is a pretty law-abiding citizen.

11. When was the first time you realized you liked this person? On our first date. He was and is a great dancer and we had so much fun together.

12. Do you get along with his family? Yes, his parents have always been so nice to me. I love my sister and brother in law and I adore my nieces and nephews. We have girls' nights all the time and they are some of my favorite times.

13. Do you trust this person? As I said before he obeys the law. I trust him with the big things in life totally. However, sometimes I can't trust him to remember to do things around the house, or run errands for me. He is a little forgetful sometimes.

14. Do you see him/her as your partner in the future? Of course, we have been together 28 years, why start over now? I keep telling him that he is not leaving me to deal with everything by myself. We started this together, by dang we're going to finish it together!Seriously, I am so glad that I have someone to grow old with. We have been through a lot together and that bonds a couple in a special way.

15. What is the best gift he gave you? The best material gift is my beautiful 25th anniversary ring - I love it! The best gifts of all have been my four children. I love them, too.

16. What is one thing he does that gets on your nerves? Anyone who knows us at all can answer this - he picks out his whiskers when he is nervous, worried, upset, etc. It drives me absolutely CRAZY. I am always saying "Val quit picking your chin!"

17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now? Hopefully still alive and still married. I hope we have lots more grandchildren. I would like to be able to travel alot and take our family with us. We will still be living in this house because we hate moving. I hope Val has retired and that we have enough money that we don't have to eat cat food (that is a joke of ours).

18. What causes the most arguments? When I am "mean" to Val. He is very sensitive about that. Also, his grouchiness.

19. How long have you been together? Married for 28 years and 7 months. Dated for 21 months before that.

20. Are you married? Boy are we! May 17, 1980.

I tag Shauna Robins and Cindy Peay. (They are my only friends who have blogs)

GO BIG BLUE!

Our family spent a fun day in Logan last Saturday at the USU Hawaii football game. We were invited by my brother-in-law, Bob, to watch the game in the box that his mother-in-law, Margaret has at Romney Stadium. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we spent a wonderful day eating delicious food, talking and laughing, and watching the Aggies win big. We even got to enjoy the famous Aggie Ice Cream.
It brought back such fun memories of our time at Utah State. I do have to say that the halftime show wasn't nearly as good as the ones I was a part of . I wish I had a picture of my Aggiette days to post. I need to learn how to work our scanner.


Val and I had a blast at the game.

Lara came home for the weekend from California. It was fun to spend some time with her.

The boys enjoyed being right above the end zone. Travis spent his day heckling the Hawaii players.

Big Blue paid us a visit in the box. Here he is with Grandma Margaret. Thanks, Margaret for such a fun day!

4.0 - AllState Drill - Student of the Month!

Congratulations to Kelsey for achieving a 4.0 GPA this term. Val and I are so proud of her we decided to take her on a trip to New York City. (we were already going with Advanced Dance)

Last night Kelsey auditioned for the All-State Drill Team and was chosen as one of the members from a field of over 70 girls. (I had to edit this post after Tara reminded me of that)

Kelsey was also named Student of the Month for November at Viewmont. Thanks Kelsey, for being such a good student and outstanding person. Val and I love having Kelsey around to comfort us in our old age. She is such a fun girl. Great Job Kelsey! It has been a big week. We are very proud of you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What a surprise I received on Halloween when my doorbell rang, I opened the door, and there was the cutest little pumpkin ever standing on my front porch. Baylee loved being a pumpkin for Halloween. She went trick-or-treating at her Grandma Juana's work and then came to our house. She wore her costume all night long and even left the hat on! Of course, we think she is the cutest thing ever.

"THRILLER"

On Saturday, we had a "Girls' Day Out". Since it's Halloween time, I decided we should get in the spirit by seeing Odyssey's "Thriller". All of us love dance so much and love this production and we were excited to go together. We started the day off with lunch at Chili's. YUM! The performance was amazing as usual although Liz was a little creeped out by the zombies. By the end of the day, she agreed to pose for a picture with one. We had such a good time together.

I have always said that women are the glue that holds a family together. If the women are close and enjoy spending time together then the family will be close and enjoy spending time together. I have found this to be true both with my mother, sister and nieces and with my sister-in-law and nieces on the Steed side of the family. Hopefully the girls and I will continue to strengthen these bonds as we find new fun and enjoyable things to do together.

I Love Baylee

I may be biased but I truly think that my granddaughter, Baylee, may just be one of the cutest babies ever! We had so much fun last weekend. Baylee and her parents spent two days with us for a scrapbook/conference weekend. We got to play together while her mommy worked on her scrapbook and while her daddy watched Red Sox baseball. This little girl is such a delight in my life.


Baylee is a Red Sox fan like her daddy.













Baylee is just as cute as her mommy.














Baylee found Aunt Kelsey's old recorder. She loves to blow it and is so proud of the music she makes.

Grandma's little angel!

Out to Lunch

Last week I went to lunch with my Mom, my sister Raegan and my Aunt Myrtle, my mother's sister. We met in Logan at the Olive Garden and had a wonderful visit. Luckily, I had my camera and we took this picture of the four of us.

Leave a Comment!

Lately a lot of my friends have said to me "I saw your blog the other day, it's so cute!" Thank you to everyone who takes the time to look at my blog. However, part of the fun is reading the comments that people leave and none of the people who tell me they look at my blog leave comments. It's so easy to do. Just click on the "comments" line at the bottom of he post. It will take you to a screen where you can read all the comments that are posted. You can leave your own comment. If you aren't a registered Google user, just click on "sign up here" and then you can enter your email address and password. Also to my friends who say they have started a blog but never post - please, please start posting. It's a fun way to keep up on what everyone is doing in this crazy world we live in. I would love to check in on your blogs and promise I would leave a comment!

Our New Deck!

Perhaps it was because of my threats to pour
gasoline on our deck and set it on fire, Val decided to tear apart our old deck and build a new one out of Trex. Trex is an awesome new building material that needs NO MAINTENANCE. We will never have to sand or stain our deck again! Tearing apart the old deck was a big job and Travis, Wade and Dan were a big help to Val. They also helped in the construction of the new deck. Kelsey served as Val's construction assistant. I stayed in the house where it was air conditioned. I love the end result - it is beautiful! Thank you Val for all your hard work.

I Love Legacy !

The new Legacy Parkway opened on September 13. Val, Kelsey and I took a Sunday drive to try it out. My evaluation - WONDERFUL ! It is a much-needed, beautiful stretch of highway from Farmington to I-215. I can't believe that it's completion has been postponed for so long.

On Monday I took Val to the airport and we used Legacy. The traffic moved smoothly, and we got to the airport in record time. I was back home before I knew it. Coming home from Idaho on Monday afternoon (5:45 p.m.) I used Legacy. There was no traffic. I could see northbound I-15 moving smoothly and without backup. I couldn't believe it. As you can tell, I'm very excited about this road. Finally - driving in Davis County is not torture any more!

Today I took my bike out to try the biking/running trail that runs adjacent to the highway. It is GREAT ! Our area has been in need of something like this for many years. I saw people biking, walking, and running. There were workers all along the path working on landscaping, finishing touches, etc. This is going to be an amazing thing for our area. Try it out - you'll be hooked, too!

Football Fun

Last weekend, Grandpa Val and I decided we needed a little Baylee time. We picked her up from her parents and took her out to dinner and to the football game with us. It was so much fun! She stood on my lap the entire first half and watched the game and the cheerleaders. She would clap her hands and shake her arms and yell every time the cheerleaders would cheer. It was the funniest thing ever! She loved watching all the excitement and was such a good girl. She never cried or fussed even once. I can't believe we have such a perfect grandchild. We will definitely do this again! Baylee and Aunt Kelsey at the game
Baylee and the Vykelles

Photo Shoot

Last week, the Vykelles went to Red Butte Garden for their photo shoot. I got to go along as a chaperone because Bon and Tara weren't able to ride the bus with the girls. While I was there, I helped out as the shoot photo designer, placing the girls in the shots. It was so fun and I really enjoyed getting to know the girls a little better. Of course, there was the normal silliness. Here are a couple of shots of that!

Kelsey, Kailey, and Whitney. These girls have been together since 9th grade cheerleading and now for three years together as Vykelles. We call them "The Three".

We also took this opportunity to take a few

mother-daughter shots.

How was I so lucky to have such beautiful girls?

Home Improvement

Since I have worked so hard to make my kids' homes cute, I decided that my own home needed some serious work. I decided to start with my laundry room. I wish I had taken some "before" photos. I checked some design sites on the internet and they suggested that since the laundry room is a room that not many visitors see, it was a room that you could have a lot of fun with. They suggested bright, fun colors and I took their advice. The color I chose is called "Utah Sky". It is such a bright, happy color. I really like the way the room turned out. I have never minded doing laundry too much, but now I love being in my pretty, blue laundry room!

I really like this part of the room, especially

the picture over the sink.

I love this vinyl saying! I found it on the internet. The wall is actually the same lovely blue as the rest of the room. I don't know why it looks so weird in this picture.

Cousins are the Best

Right before school started, I took a quick trip to the Bay Area to attend my cousin Carol's daughter Kerri's wedding. I rode down with my parents and my sister. It was just like old times, the family vacation with the four of us in the car. Val met us there as he was already in the area on business. We attended the wedding and reception, visited with Steve and Barb (Val's nephew and wife) and spent time with my favorite cousin Blake.

He is absolutely one of the funniest people I have ever met and I could talk to him for hours on end. It was so good to see him again and to visit with him and my aunt and uncle, Roma and Boyd. It was a great weekend getaway.

Kerri and Matt during the ceremony.












Raegan and I celebrating at the reception. Don't worry, it's only sparkling cider!





Aren't the colors pretty? I loved the
decorations.


Raegan, Blake and I at the Santa Cruz pier. We had a great time talking, laughing and having lunch.