Future Olympian in the Making

Randy took Chase skiing for his first time ever the other day. He LOVED it! I think we may have a natural in the making! He signed him up for a lesson and they have passed him through to level two. The only thing the teacher said he needs to work on was his getting on and off the lift-- they said he still needs supervision for that. Well, I don't think I would let my four year old ride a lift without my supervision anyway, but we will work on it! :) He is excited to go again-- which hopefully will be very soon!

Fantasy Football Champ

You probably can't see from the picture very well-- but that is a copy of the final standings of our fantasy league. I had to give an update of how the season went and well-- it went great we ended in second after the regular season with a record of 10-3 but then we had to take out a very worthy opponent in Livin on a Prayer who had actually won the regular season. We had a pretty great team-- with a little help from some mid season pick ups like Chris Johnson and Wes Welker-- we were tough to beat! Anyway, I hope the league will let us play next year-- we had a lot of fun but they may not like that we have just begun our fantasy football dynasty! He he! But, seriously we had a blast playing this game and the NFL will never be the same for us again!

87% Girl

For Christmas we found out what we were having-- or at least what it might be. It is still early but we think it is 87% girl. We will know in a few more weeks with assurance but for these next few weeks we are excited and will enjoy the belief that it is a girl until they tell us otherwise. We had no idea what it was until we opened it up Christmas morning. We were at my families house and I Tyler was on the phone so he even got to be a part of the moment. We were all so excited. It will be the first girl for my side of the family amongst 7 other boys-- so she will be out numbered. Anyway, I am not even sure what to expect except thank goodness we have Debbie's little Maeve paving the way on the Ohran side. She is soooooo cute so hopefully she will teach this little peanut her ways!

Holiday Fun

Playing in the snow with Henry-- spent most of the day out here!
The traditional sitting with the elf at the Geisler Christmas party

So this weekend was a busy one for us. First, Randy had Friday off-- the old use 'em or lose 'em theory so we have a few days off this holiday season. We spent the day together running errands and such but then we went up to our friends cabin at Sundance for the night where we had a great time with friends. Chase spent his time outside in the snow sledding and building forts-- he could not get enough! (His new nickname is Frosty the Snowboy). Then we had to bolt early the next day to attend my moms side of the families annual Christmas party. It is always nice to see cousins and my grandparents. One of my cousins, Ben, proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes-- pretty cute to say the least. Anyway, I love this time of year with all the get togethers and parties-- definitely a great way to cap off each year.

Seeing Santa

Chase with his preschool teacher Miss Ann

The other day for preschool, Chase got to see Santa. It was actually his second time-- and we have since seen him a third at a ward Christmas party. Chase loves Santa and wants to see him as often as possible to remind him to bring him Lego Pirates. He is afraid that he might forget-- so maybe after telling him three times he just might get it!

After Nearly Three Years...

I'M PREGNANT!!!

Due early July. More news to follow!

My Thanksgiving Pie

I need to clarify before I begin-- this picture is not the pie I made for Thanksgiving but I did make one. In fact, a REALLY good one. I have my grandma's recipe that is delicious and for thanksgiving last year I tackled making this pie. So because I found it successful last year I attempted to make it again this year and it did not disappoint. In the interest in trying to journal I needed to express the amazing feeling I got when the pie I made this year was complete! I love to cook-- I love finding new recipes and I love sharing my meals with others. I love eating others really delicious foods-- I just love food and the whole cooking/ eating process. That being said I have never felt so accomplished as a "cook" until I have finished making my grandma's apple pie. I can't explain why-- I just felt so proud when we pulled it out of the oven and there it was a beautiful, aromatic, mouth-watering apple pie! And it tasted every bit as good as it looked. I wish I had taken a picture of it but it wasn't until later that I realized I wish I had. I would really like to know if this is just me or if there is something to this. All I know is it makes me want to make more of them-- I just need more people to share them with!!!

A Captured Moment

The other day we were at Grandma and Grandpa Bum's house and someone discovered this moment and told us to get our cameras, so we did. I love this picture. I think it is so cute of Chase and his cousins watching Kodiak play his DS (which, by the way, Chase now wants for Christmas). I love the friendship that Chase has with his cousins. They have a special friendship and he is always asking to play with Coop and Kodes. I feel very blessed to have family so close to us so that Chase can have these amazing cousins in his life! We have the greatest family in the world!!!

Guilty Pleasure

So I have a confession... I LOVE this show. It is called the Real Housewives of Orange County. I got hooked on it last season and I hate to admit it!!! It is so funny. These women live the most lavish lifestyles and spend money like CRAZY! Then they have all these silly cat fights over who is prettier or richer-- it is addicting to watch to say the last. I have watched other cities since last season of this one but none of them compare to Orange County. Definitely a fun watch but admittedly a fun waste of time. The new season started last week and it is on Bravo on Thursday nights-- so I tivo and watch it when I can-- usually right before I go to bed!

Happy Halloween 2009

Baby Dre, Luigi (Caleb), Mario (Griffin), Donkey Kong (Chase)

Chase looks o happy to be going trick or treating!!!

So this year Chase decided to go along with Caleb and Griffin's Mario theme and be donkey kong! He loved it-- and as for me I was happy not to have to worry about him getting too cold! I must say this is the first year in awhile that we didn't dress up-- so sorry for letting our fans down! Anyway, Chase made a killing with the candy. We are in the process of trying to slowly make his candy disappear. He is great about asking for a piece of candy though. Thanks to my mom for making his costume. It was not an easy pattern/ material to sew but it looked great and he was happy! Happy Halloween to all-- and a happy birthday to Randy's mom-- I adore her! She is the bestest mother in-law ever! I really lucked out! Now on to Thanksgiving!

The Halloween Smash

So this year we decided to play in a four man scramble at Talons Cove! It was soooooo fun! They had all the pin placements in the hardest part of the green and more then once our ball would roll right back to where we started from! The highlight of the tournie was my closest to the hole shot on number 4 where I hit it to like 5 feet away. This would have won me a new sand wedge but being that my dad didn't make us pay our entry fee-- well-- he also wouldn't let us claim the prize. Oh well-- it was REALLY fun. Thanks Dave and Rox for being part of our awesome foursome! We really did make a great team.

A Game of World Domination

This weekend we went down to St. George where Randy and my dad played in a golf tournament together. It was really fun to just sit and relax. It was just my dad and Lance and Randy and I and Chase. So at night we decided to teach my dad and Lance how to play risk. Then we proceeded to get dominated by them. (We played in teams). In this game of chance it really doesn't help when you-- meaning me-- rolls snake eyes twice when being attacked! Randy and I just didn't have the magic touch. Seriously, Lance and my dad's worst obstacle was not Randy and I but each other-- when they would have to attack the other one their rolls were too high so they would take each other out before Randy and I did! It was a fun night though! Even if we still have to listen to my dad brag about his world domination prowess.

Oops...

Well there is a first for everything... I got into my first fender bender. It was all my fault. I was taking Chase to the County Health Department to get his flu shot and there was no parking so I saw an empty spot on the street that I needed to parallel-- so I started to pull in and got too close and swiped a car! From there I got out of my car to check out the damage and sure enough there is paint exchanged between both cars. Luckily for my car the paint came off but unfortunately for his car mine didn't. Anyway, since it was a parked car I decided to call the police to handle it because who knows how long the person would be. Once the police officer arrived she took my information and had me fill out a form-- while we are both filling out forms and not paying attention the car who I hit somehow drove away! The officer had taken their license down and found that it was a Lehi City car. Long story short, I am dealing with the City of Lehi about fixing the damage. Thankfully, they are being really nice and hopefully this won't cost a fortune right? Merry Christmas Jami.

To the Zoo We Will Go

So for Fall Break we went with Deb and Quincy and the gang to the zoo. There is a baby elephant there that we have all been dying to see and it did not disappoint. It was so cute. There was also a baby giraffe. The weather was perfect, the crowd wasn't too bad, and all the animals seemed to be out and about-- not just sleeping like usual. I think as far as the zoo goes this was one of our better trips. However, Chase did see on the map that we missed the owl exhibit and he was pretty ticked. He said that was his favorite part that we didn't even do. Oops!

Fantasy Football

So my latest obsession is Fantasy Football. Randy and I were invited to my cousin Sarah and her husbands league and now we are hooked! We have a decent team lead by Adrian Peterson-- we got the first pick in the draft so that is, of course, who we picked! Anyway, we had a strong start going 2-0, even defeating the strong team in Bone Crushers (it helped his QB got hurt Matt Hasselbeck). In week three we lost a nail biter to JD's team Pura Vida. We had a 6 point lead going into Monday nights game where JD had D. Williams for Carolina. We thought it was a sure loss but the Cowboys held him to just 7!!!! So we lost by one! But let me just say I have NEVER enjoyed the NFL like I have this season! We were watching Monday Night like it was the Superbowl! It is really fun! Now I can see how my dad has played this game for over 30 years with his friends. Very addicting! Thanks Sarah for the invite-- although you may regret letting us in because I am sure we will be taking home the pot! (He he he!)

And Once Again

So, yes, we went to Disneyland... again. It must seem like we travel a lot-- but that should stop now that summer is over and all our planned vacations are crossed off. (I guess we'll need to start thinking about our next destination.) Anyway, we had another fun filled week at Disneyland. The lines were short and the sun was hot-- maybe even too hot. We even escaped to another Angels game versus the Yankees. We saw A-Rod and Matsui hit homers and the Yankees still lost so we were pretty happy. (We are pretty severe Yankee haters over here).

Here are some quick highlights:

• Chase was tall enough to ride two new rides which have quickly shot up to his favorites-- Grizzly Peak (pronounced Griz-uh-lee by Chase), and Mulholland Madness. I think we went on each of them a million times. thank goodness the lines were short.
• Listening to the Cougars-- LOSE to Florida State! This did not make us too happy and I am not even that big of cougar fan to begin with so I don't think I can ever cheer for them again!
• Playing the carnival games at California Adventure. We played for over an hour and had so much fun. Ethen was the family hero by winning at the IMPOSSIBLE baseball toss. He was pretty impressive by winning what we called the "trifecta" he won all three of the big stuffed animals and then one more for Chase. And he did it with not too many tries. People were stopping him asking his trick because they had wasted a whole bunch of money trying to win them.
• Riding Space Mountain-- it has been changed for the Halloween festivities and it is actually really scary. Almost Poltergeist like.
• The Trivial Pursuit ap for my iphone!!!! Made the drives a lot more fun.
• Riding Grizzly with my mom! She was quite entertaining to watch.
• Watching my phone like a hawk trying to follow my fantasy football ap! We did eek out a victory! Yay!

Anyway, all in all it was really fun. And yes, we are excited to do it again!

Better Late Than Never

Chase playing Nintendo-- notice that Teddy is playing too-- we even had to press two players!!!

The putting green.

Randy surfing! His fave!

For Labor Day we went to St. George. We stayed at my uncle Gary's house at night and then during the days we met our friends at Sand Hollow Reservoir to go boating. We had a blast. The lake was perfect, the weather was perfect, and the company was perfect. We wish we would have ha more time to play at the house we were staying at but we enjoyed the time while we were there. Chase loved the Nintendo and we got some putting in as well as a little swimming. We especially enjoyed watching the BYU vs Oklahoma game-- it was a great atmosphere for such a big game. I must say that you Cougar fans need to send me away to my uncle Gary's house for any game where they are playing ranked teams because I was at Gary's Yellowstone cabin when Ty Detmer and the gang defeated Miami! Anyway, I have tried to download pictures of Chase and a video of Chase surfing-- his first time ever! He LOVED it! But as I am computer illiterate-- I have given up trying and will have to have Randy help me when he gets home!

Where I Was

So on this hallowed day I have always wanted to journal where I was so I have a written memory of it for me and my family. So here it goes:

On September 11, 2001 I was on my way to work-- at that time I was teaching in Taylorsville at Bennion Junior High, so I had about a half hour commute. As I was driving there I was listening to KBULL 93 and after one of the songs the emcee got on and said that something had hit the World Trade Center and he was unsure of what was going on and that he would keep us posted. So I turned the channel to the AM dial and found that whatever station it was had Bryant Gumbel on straight from Good Morning America or something and he was giving a play-by-play of what was happening. I knew right then it was big, so I called Randy, who was still home, and told him to turn on the tv that something weird was going on. He did and he started reporting what he was seeing. He was blown away. The second plane had not hit yet but shortly after it did. We hung up because he had to get to school. That is when my dad called and we spent time talking about the craziness going on and that is when the Pentagon got hit. We were talking about all the planes in the air and all the possible planes being rumored to be hijacked. I was dying. Once I arrived at school I talked to a few teachers before running to my class where I turned on my tv and pretty much stayed watching the entire time. That is where we witnessed the towers falling and the news of the plane crash in Pennsylvania that we would later find out was filled with civilian hero's who would take the plane out of the hijackers hands. I have to admit that our principal got on the speaker telling all of us to turn off our tvs and return to our daily routines but I could not do it. I was glued to the images and would be for the rest of the week. My students all seemed pretty calm except one, Katie, her dad had left on a flight that morning so she was pretty shaken up about his whereabouts. We let her call home and he was fine. He had called her mom from Denver where the were forced to land during the crisis. I must say that day changed our lives forever. When I got home we decided to modify our date night plans-- it was/ is our anniversary that day so we did not quite feel like celebrating and I needed to stay by tv footage so we went to McGraths Fish House and watched tv while we ate. Then we went to my families house where everyone was. We watched footage there until we went to Lance's Little League football game. It was really nice to be around family during this. It is times like this that you appreciate every moment we get with them!

So, on that note happy Patriots Day-- and happy 12th Anniversary Randy!

Utah Olympic Park

Every year Xactware has a company Christmas party and a company summer party. This year for the summer party the rented out the Olympic Park. We had never really been there and let's just say Xactware really outdid themselves this year. Here is a picture of us in the sweatshirts we all received getting ready to watch the big finale-- an aerial show performed by past, present, and future Olympians-- emceed by former Olympian Trace Worthington. It was amazing! I must say I was also impressed by Randy's boss he CEO who was invited to try it out and started pretty high up there and worked his speed into a back flip into the pool!

Every year they recognize those who have worked for 5, 10, 15 etc years at the company and since Randy has been there for 5 years he was among those recognized. He got a gift certificate to Nordstrom-- hmmm I wonder what we shall do with that?

Randy and I got to experience the Bobsled. Now that was a thrill! Some intense speed in this tiny box, wedged in between three other people talk about a rush. Just a heads up though-- if you are going to try it out you CAN ride a chair lift up to the entrance of the bobsled-- something Randy and I failed to see so we trekked the entire mountain up-- a great workout just before our huge adrenaline rush!

Chase was bummed he wasn't old enough to try but he made a great super fan!

Surprisingly, this was Chase's favorite part. He got to climb the rock wall and he insisted on doing it several times. The poor worker would have to strap all the equipment on and off of him because every time we passed the climbing station he insisted on doing it again! The quote of the night was him saying, "I LOVE rock climbing!" Not quite sure how I feel about this but the proud mom in me was very happy that every time he tried again he seemed to go higher and higher! I think he would have stayed there all night if we had let him.

Although the rock climbing was his favorite the slide was another treat! He loved doing the slide and got to do it as many times as his heart desired. They also had those blow up jumping tubes for the kids which he extremely enjoyed. Gosh, I cannot say enough about what a great day we had. It was such a fun party to have the chance to go there and have this whole park to do whatever we wanted! We did the extreme zip line as well as an extreme raft where you get to ride a raft down one of the ski tracks-- it was quite steep and quite a rush. Anyway, I highly recommend this place as a fun activity for families! Can't wait to see what's in store for next year!

Chasisms

Yep-- Teddy has his own car seat. Chase had filled up his chore chart so he got to go to Build-a-Bear and buy Teddy's car seat that Chase had been eyeing for awhile. This makes for an interesting day since now he insists on buckling him everywhere we go. It can take FOREVER! I feel like I have two kids now-- it's great fun! By the way-- this is on a good day! Sometime all of Teddy's friends come and need to be buckled in their seats as well!

Before tub time

After tub time! Yikes

Chase discovered our triathlon cap and thought it was a farting cushion until we told him what it was-- now he likes not getting his hair wet!

Also of note Chase told us yesterday that Teddy went on his mission so he wrote him a thousand letters! When asked where Teddy went on his mission I was expecting Mexico like Tyler but instead it was Costa Vida!