"LVSURVEY09"

Photos by Micaela the Great!

we love you micaela!!!!

Christmas Surprises

So I have my brother, Steve's, name for Christmas this year. He's never gotten a "real" massage from me. I arranged ahead of time to get a sitter (Russ is out of town) so I could surprise him with one. I had Aimee tell him to meet them at Miracle Bowl (right next door to my work) to go bowling with her and the kids. She even had the brilliance to pretend she had no idea where Miracle Bowl was--she just had a coupon. After I finished with my first client, I got the room ready for him, put on my coat, and excitedly ran out to the parking lot--like a giddy school girl. (Brooke, that phrase was for you, remember when we used to always say that??) I saw Steve on the phone in the middle of the parking lot. I called him and hid behind a car. When he answered he turned around and saw me standing behind him. He got off the phone with my dad and told me he was waiting for his family to meet him for bowling and that they were late. I told him it was a ploy and he crooked his head to the side and said, suspiciously, "Really?" I linked arms with him and led him to the clinic, telling him that he was actually here to get a massage. He sheepishly smiled and told me how sneaky me and Aimee are.

I think one of my trademarks is that I LOVE SURPRISES!!! What Christmas surprises have you given or received this year?

Thanksgiving time

(sorry the pics are all out of order again.) Playing in Micaela's fun yard.

Trying out the new car seat..

Me, Russ and Gracee made a quick trip down to AZ for Thanksgiving. It was sad that I couldn't see everybody I wanted to see--quick trips are tricky that way.

We got to continue our tradition of running a turkey trot thanksgiving morning--only this time we shared it with Diane, Dad, and Slade! It really was a blast! (dad, can you send me what pics you have?) Me and Slade had so much fun just being goofy and silly like old times. We ate dinner with everybody at the Stokers, it was cozy and yummy.

This is Gracee modeling the dress Grandma made for her birthday. She loved her visit with grandma! She slept there and when grandma had to get up in the night to change her diaper--Gracee was just THRILLED!! She kept smiling at her in the dim light saying, "Hi!" over and over again! She definately remembers her from when she used to live with us here in UT! Grandma was very relieved about that!

The day after Thanksgiving Micaela did a photo shoot for us--pictures to come! Thanks for sharing your talent with us Kala, you are such a dream!

We enjoyed our visit with the Adams family and fish boys. Gracee loves her cousins. Thanks everybody for hosting us! We are lucky to have such fabulous hosts!

Run for Fun? What the Heck kinda fun is that??

Ok, so as usual my photos are all out of order. Cute. Anyway, the first annual Halloween Provo Half Marathon rocked! I did it with my good friend Kimberlee. It was an honor to run with her for her FIRST Half! Congrats again Kimmie! We started up by Aspen Grove Family Camp. We got to stay warm in the lodge while we waited for the race to start. That's actually a HUGE perk for a race, cuz usually they make you wait out in the freezing cold and your muscles and nerves get all crampy!

They blocked off the main highway for us to cross over to run on the Provo River trail. I felt som important as we ran passed at least 100 vehicles. They weren't even annoyed-acting that we messed up their morning commute. They cheered fur us and all of the fun costumes.

As long as my knees do okay, this run will be a yearly tradition. It was on my favorite running path and was organized very well. Thanks for reading!

silly sock friends...next year there'll be a better costume.

chip off the old block..

Momma and Gracee usually have the munchies... lucky for us, we usually try to make it something healthy...

if possible!!

Ha! I love this one. As soon is the refrigerator is open even for a second, she bolts over and immediately starts going for the carrot bag or the apple drawer. She takes a nibble or two out of each one and moves on to the next.

What goes down must come up!

We are so happy to have our Gracee back to health! The last two weeks were rotten rotten rotten! She had a virus that gave her horrible blisters in her mouth! She was so miserable and wouldn't eat or drink for quite some time. It was very traumatic for us. Russ had to pick up the pieces of myself I kept losing throughout each day. He was such a big support.

Luckily, she's been catching up on sleep. Yesterday she didn't wake up until 11:15am! (17 hours of uninterrupted sleep). I was just talking to a friend who is waiting for me right now at a play group. At about 10:30am I was telling her WHY Gracee was still asleep, "Well she went to bed soooo late last night! It was almost 9pm!" She said, "Nora went to sleep at 9pm last night too, but she woke up at 5am!" She says I'm a "lucky dog"!

But hey, we deserve it after the last couple weeks, right? We knew that when Gracee did feel better, it would be so much more wonderful and magical than we ever remembered health being! What goes up must go down...the reverse is also true.