We are going on a trip!

Wow. Like that's news for us. However, we are going to Hawaii tomorrow for a few days and then maybe somewhere else after that. Clayton is done working for a short spell so we are trying to grab this opportunity by the horns and run with it... or some idiom less mangled. And for some odd reason I am more excited than usual. Not excited enough to be packing right now, but that's what 1 am is for right?
On Tuesday Clayton joined me in Palm Springs California for a long overnight. I worked, he played. We did have some time in the morning to check out downtown and play at the pool. 45 minutes of sun and we have sunburns. That is the problem with being bundled up in 35 degree weather. You forget the power of the sun. The happy, happy power of the sun. Anyhow, I had to continue working. I went on to Calgary Canada and Clayton went to Park City to shop. Without me. (Insert frowny-face emoticon here.) Actually I am happy anytime he gets interested in fashion. So all is well, and he looks hot in his new jeans. Really. You should check him out next time you see him.
For all of our blog fans out there (the two of you) you may have noticed a change in background. I loved the Monet template I had, but it made the pictures transparent. It also hid the music player. Which is a problem if you are reading my blog and sick of the music. Now you can easily push mute or skip the track. I aim to please.
Well, I should be getting ready to go. Tonight I was going to dye my hair, give myself a pedicure, iron and do laundry. Which of these would you eliminate? You may find out which one(s) I cut out by the pictures I post of our Hawaii trip. In my defense I just got off work a little while ago. Anyhow. Call me if you want a pineapple sent to you.

End of February

Not much has happened lately, but I photographed it all nonetheless. The nieces and nephews all had Monday off for President's Day, so we had Tommy and Grant over for a n evening of Catan. The Monday morning session went to Tommy. Here he is with his trophy while Clayton and Grant hang their heads in shame. What losers.Grant lost control of his anger and decided to get revenge with some sweet karate moves. Much blood and broken bones later, they made up and ended up playing Risk.
On Tuesday my friend Shauna ( http://babygirllucy.blogspot.com/ ) visited me for lunch. Here she is with her sweet baby Lucy. Lucy is so adorable it hurts. She has such pretty blue eyes. Shauna is one of my best friends from high school (go Timpview). She was co-president of the art club with me. I don't think there was much of an election, (or an art club for that matter) before we decided to create one and appoint ourselves leaders. She actually went on to have a very successful career in design. Luckily the thing we still have in common is a great love of sarcasm, ANTM, celebrity gossip and Lucy.
Tuesday night was Lone Peak High School's final b-ball game. My niece Megan is a cheerleader there. My other niece Abby got to perform at half time with her for a cheer camp thing.
My parents came too. Here is my dad teaching Allie "go-fight-win". She is a natural.
Well, like I said. A slow news week. I went back to work this week (ugh) and today is Clayton's final day at NuSkin. He has worked there almost eight years. They have been great to him, but he is ready to move on and try new things. We will be traveling a bunch in the next two months before he has to settle back down, so hopefully we will have some exciting new pictures to share. And hopefully we can go see all of our friends in Phoenix! (Val & Sam, Betsy & Jay, Matt & Melissa!) Oh! Other great news is that Mark and Sarah had their baby boy this week! Little Boyce Charles Turpin. We are so excited for them! Check out the little hottie here. http://turpintribe.blogspot.com/

What happened in December?

So this is a catch up blog. I never found the cord to my camera so I purchased a new one. Pictures will be forth coming. First off, thanks to everyone for your support this past week. We love our friends and family and are so blessed to have such good ones!
Yesterday was V-Day. Clayton and I had an awesome steak dinner at home and watched Roman Holiday. We were going to have a tradition of making things for each other rather than buy stuff to show our love. We did it last year and it was very fun. This year however, we wussed out and said no presents. Which of course we both neglected and bought stuff. I got him a giant glass jar to hold cinnamon bears in.

It is supposed to be like the one at Tom & Jenni's house that he hogs whenever we are there. I think Jenni only buys those for him. Clayton bought me a cake (wow he knows his wife) and got me a collection of Beatrix Potter dvds. It was a wonderful Valentine's day.
I really love cake.

But to catch up: Christmas was so much fun this year. We went to Logan where we spent time with Clint & Alison and family. http://fiveredheads.blogspot.com/ They put on a nativity with the family that was so cute.

Clayton's brother Tyler served as a great donkey. Micah is the ever faithful Joseph leading Mary (Autumn) on.
Sorry for the sideways picture. Longtime readers of my blog will understand that certain computer functions are beyond my command. However, this seems to be a common problem with Mac books. Oh well. I had to include Autumn all ready for church. She is such a doll. The other kids are all so cute too, but I have to make some cuts or I will never get this out.
This is our awesome He-Man tree. We are big fans. Clayton bought old eighties He-Man figurines on e-bay for a steal. We have 60+ now. Since we weren't going to be home much around the holidays we didn't even bother getting out our decorations. So these became our ornaments. Prince Adam rides atop like an avenging angel.

So how did we spend our new years you ask? Playing Settlers of Catan of course. Like any good dorks would. We invited our nephews Grant, Calvin and Jack to spend the night. We had a lot of fun despite the trash talking between brothers. "I own you." We even made a super-awesome trophy for the current winner to keep at their residence.
Here are Grant and Calvin trying not to destroy each other.This is Clayton holding up nine fingers to show how often he beats me (and everyone) at this game.
This is me showing how often I've won. Um, did I mention that we are dorks? Even after the boys went home we played for three more days straight. We each would play three teams a piece. Dohoho-horks. However, we are looking for friends to play with. So if you Catan, give us a call.
This is Shane and Heidi at their Idaho reception. Shane is one of Clayton's best friends. I was too sick to go to the reception so Clayton had to drive to Blackfoot alone. We are so excited for Shane to have finally found such a lovely bride. He is the last of their group of friends to tie the knot.
And as Lisa ( http://thehigginsons.blogspot.com/ )always says: Here is one for the road. Tom and Allie. Her attitude is perfect for the hair.

Stupid, lame, idiot-head news.

Sorry for sharing bad news this way, but I can't face making phone calls to everyone. We lost our baby. Again. Miscarriages suck. We are devastated of course, but trying to look forward and understand God's plan for our family. It's comforting and also sad how many people have also had to suffer through this. It's seems to be way too common. We are extra disappointed as we thought we had lost the baby in January, but then had an ultrasound and got to hear the heartbeat. It's a bit of a roller coaster. As sad as I am I can't help but think of others who are struggling through much harder times right now. Darren's little sister who is fighting cancer, Julie's beautiful cousin who lost her husband, friends who have struggled with infertility for years... you see why we can't wallow too much. We have been so blessed in our life together, and we know we will have children at some point. So in the meantime I will enjoy some sushi while I can and plan for the future. Oh, and we will probably go on another cruise.