A Year in Review:
*Enjoyed a weekend of sledding and four wheeling at Granny and Grandpa Free's House.
*John was laid off from his job and could only find sales commissioned jobs.
*On St. Patrick's day we went roller skating as a family at Classic Skating.
*My mother fell down three times in her home. She was hospitalized and resides now at Orem Nursing and Rehabilitation.
*My Mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, due to her medications over the years.
*I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I had to be medicated for it.
*Spent Easter weekend with Manoel and Eliane at Granny and Grandpa Free's house.
*My daughters turned eleven and seven years old in April this past year.
*Little sister won a "girly" razor scooter and pink Paul Frank helmet from school.
*Went camping with the Free family to Panaca Nevada over Memorial Day weekend.
*Explored the trails above our house like Battle Creek Waterfalls and "G" mountain.
*John turned 35 years old and enjoyed his yummy key lime cheesecake!
*Went boating and stayed in a cabin with my brother and sister's family.
*Enjoyed summer BBQ's, water slides, doing creative crafts, Lagoon, and swimming.
*Went to many yard sales and found some great treasures like a bread maker.
*Learned how to make amazing homemade bagels, bread sticks, pizza dough with my bread maker.
*Hubby and I survived our first 5K race and started our weight loss journey.
*Had an incredible Free family reunion in October at a cabin near Paragonah, Utah.
*John got a coaching job (teaching clients how to set up websites and eBay accounts) after eight months of working in dead end sales jobs. What a blessing!
*Big Sissy had her first Halloween themed slumber party with a couple friends.
* My grandfather Coleman was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He is not sick yet thankfully and I don't know if he is going treat it aggressively.
*Enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Silva family and went shopping on black Friday.
*Big Sister had her first Daddy Daughter Winter Formal Ball at our church.
*Little Sissy was hospitalized for a day/night for a yucky kidney infection.
*Rode the Train Trax in Sandy to see the Christmas Lights at Temple Square.
*I aged another year the big 34 years old, hopefully wiser yippee yay!
* Enjoyed the first big snow storm in December by sledding, making snow angels, and a snow man.
*Had a sleepover at Granny and Grandpa's house on December 25-26!
*Went to The Living Planet Aquarium, Olive Garden, and Cold Stone!
*Celebrated the end of 2010 on New Year's Eve with our good friends Dave and Amy!
We sure had a roller coaster of emotions this year. One thing is for certain, even though there were some rough patches in 2010, we tried our best to rise above them by doing simple fun things with our family like camping, cooking, hiking, biking, having picnics, playing at the park, listening to free summer band concerts, playing board games, etc. I can still smile about what we have accomplished this past year even though many tears were wept during times of heartache. We had a wonderful support group (family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, church members, etc) that helped us survive last year! Thank you! We learned a lot from our hardships. Our patience was tested and our faith grew. Our destiny was always in the Lord's hands! We did our part (praying, having family home evenings, fasting, family prayer, and family scriptures). We were blessed for being obedient. We hope to continue those wonderful goals in our home. We are wishing, hoping, praying, and crossing our fingers that 2011 will be a fabulous successful year for our family! May our 2011 goals be accomplished, may our 2011 bucket lists be shortened, and hopefully some of our wishes and dreams will come true!!!
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Any Fish in There?
Monday December 27, 2010
Since we were surprised with some unexpected Christmas cash from Granny and Grandpa Free, we decided it would be fun to take the whole family out to see the The Living Planet Aquarium. John has Mondays off from work, which was a perfect day to take the kids to the Aquarium since they were out of school. My oldest daughter constantly complains of boredom and on this day she was guaranteed to have some fun!
The Aquarium has many interactive educational activities in addition to the many tanks of fish, mammals, reptiles, etc. There were boats, coral reef sculptures, a movie, puzzles, a huge frog for the kids to play on, and so forth. It was very interesting and fun place to take the kiddos during Christmas break!
First, we explored the exhibit for Utah's native fish, frogs and toads. It showcased Utah's endangered species such as June Suckers, least chub, Columbia Spotted Frogs and Boreal Toads. There were tanks full of Utah's famous lake trout and rainbow trout.
As for the Salt Water Wonders in the Ocean Exhibit, we saw the following creatures: sea turtles, sea horses, an octopus, sharks, lobster, coral reef, moon jellies, sting rays, etc.
The girls are standing in front of a gigantic fish aquarium filled all kinds of sea life creatures including a clown fish that looks like Nemo!
We loved watching how the sting rays eat their food! They are such friendly amazing creatures that occasionally jump out of the water. We all got to touch the string rays while they were swimming past us in the tank.
In the South American Rain Forest Exhibit we saw lots of fish, a dwarf caiman alligator, electric eel, piranha, amazon frogs, a lazy anaconda, penguins, and so forth.
There was an activity where you place your fingers on some metal and can feel the shock waves from the eel. Ack!
Ewww, I gotta say that is one very creepy looking eel!
Oldest Sister loved looking at the cute penguin exhibit! The penguins were fun to watch!
After checking out the Aquarium for a couple hours, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. My nephew Justin was so kind to give us a gift card for Christmas, Yay! Thank you Justin! John and I got soup, salad, and bread sticks. Big sister got cheesy meat ravioli while little sister got mac and cheese.
It was an interesting experience while dining at Olive Garden in Sandy. The waiter didn't give us our drinks until after we ate a basket of bread sticks. He didn't bother refilling our drinks when they were gone either. In addition, we asked for more salad and no salad was given to us. On top of that, little sister was burping loud monstrous belching sounds and bringing up the "gasy" subject at the table. Okay, I will be honest here, we are relaxed about that stuff at home but she always says "excuse me" however, doing it openly in public is another story! What the heck! Seriously? Why do kids do such embarrassing things in public? Her awful manners in Olive Garden didn't sit well with me. I asked her to stop acting that way by burping inside her mouth and refraining from the "gasy" subject since she was getting attention from the other costumers sitting near us. Unfortunately, no matter how I confront her on her behavior, it made her cry in the restaurant, but she has no shame about her bad manners. Hopefully she learned her lesson and it might be a while before I take them to a "sit down" restaurant.
Here is the guilty burper laughing at her accomplishment. She blames it on the Sprite, but one can conceal a belch quietly in the mouth while dining in public, right... We ended the family outing by eating freezing cold ice cream from Cold Stone! What a crazy idea to have ice cream when it is 20 plus degrees outside! It was very delicious nonetheless!
Since we were surprised with some unexpected Christmas cash from Granny and Grandpa Free, we decided it would be fun to take the whole family out to see the The Living Planet Aquarium. John has Mondays off from work, which was a perfect day to take the kids to the Aquarium since they were out of school. My oldest daughter constantly complains of boredom and on this day she was guaranteed to have some fun!
The Aquarium has many interactive educational activities in addition to the many tanks of fish, mammals, reptiles, etc. There were boats, coral reef sculptures, a movie, puzzles, a huge frog for the kids to play on, and so forth. It was very interesting and fun place to take the kiddos during Christmas break!
First, we explored the exhibit for Utah's native fish, frogs and toads. It showcased Utah's endangered species such as June Suckers, least chub, Columbia Spotted Frogs and Boreal Toads. There were tanks full of Utah's famous lake trout and rainbow trout.
As for the Salt Water Wonders in the Ocean Exhibit, we saw the following creatures: sea turtles, sea horses, an octopus, sharks, lobster, coral reef, moon jellies, sting rays, etc.
The girls are standing in front of a gigantic fish aquarium filled all kinds of sea life creatures including a clown fish that looks like Nemo!
We loved watching how the sting rays eat their food! They are such friendly amazing creatures that occasionally jump out of the water. We all got to touch the string rays while they were swimming past us in the tank.
In the South American Rain Forest Exhibit we saw lots of fish, a dwarf caiman alligator, electric eel, piranha, amazon frogs, a lazy anaconda, penguins, and so forth.
There was an activity where you place your fingers on some metal and can feel the shock waves from the eel. Ack!
Ewww, I gotta say that is one very creepy looking eel!
Oldest Sister loved looking at the cute penguin exhibit! The penguins were fun to watch!
After checking out the Aquarium for a couple hours, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. My nephew Justin was so kind to give us a gift card for Christmas, Yay! Thank you Justin! John and I got soup, salad, and bread sticks. Big sister got cheesy meat ravioli while little sister got mac and cheese.
It was an interesting experience while dining at Olive Garden in Sandy. The waiter didn't give us our drinks until after we ate a basket of bread sticks. He didn't bother refilling our drinks when they were gone either. In addition, we asked for more salad and no salad was given to us. On top of that, little sister was burping loud monstrous belching sounds and bringing up the "gasy" subject at the table. Okay, I will be honest here, we are relaxed about that stuff at home but she always says "excuse me" however, doing it openly in public is another story! What the heck! Seriously? Why do kids do such embarrassing things in public? Her awful manners in Olive Garden didn't sit well with me. I asked her to stop acting that way by burping inside her mouth and refraining from the "gasy" subject since she was getting attention from the other costumers sitting near us. Unfortunately, no matter how I confront her on her behavior, it made her cry in the restaurant, but she has no shame about her bad manners. Hopefully she learned her lesson and it might be a while before I take them to a "sit down" restaurant.
Here is the guilty burper laughing at her accomplishment. She blames it on the Sprite, but one can conceal a belch quietly in the mouth while dining in public, right... We ended the family outing by eating freezing cold ice cream from Cold Stone! What a crazy idea to have ice cream when it is 20 plus degrees outside! It was very delicious nonetheless!
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Christmas Weekend with Granny and Grandpa Free
I saw this quote on one of my friend's status updates on Facebook.
Greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master. Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. ---Author Unknown
"Light of the world" by Greg Olsen
On Christmas morning, the girls set their alarm clock for 6:00 AM. John and I slept only a total of three hours, grrrr! However, it was fun to see their excitement on their faces when they opened their presents!
Big sister with her "Secret Mrs. Claus" gift! WOW, she was so shocked to see a mountain bike- A Vision Hyper Aluminum that is white, pink and black!
Little sister was surprised with a doll American Girl Lanie Doll
that looks just like her!
With Grandma Hawley's Christmas $$,they got some new winter gear: hats, gloves, and scarves from Old Navy on the left and The Children's Place on the right!
Big sister got a Penguin Pillow Pet
! She is fascinated by penguins lately!
Just what she wanted a soft and cuddly Lady Bug Pillow Pet
!
Big Sister got little Sissy a colorful butterfly necklace.
She never expected to own a Apple iPod nano 16 GB Pink
either! Thanks to a great layaway plan! I'm so tired of her stealing mine, lol! She has shown us how responsible she is this year past year by baby sitting her little sister as well as helping around the house. We are confident she will take good care of her new electronic device!
Another Barbie to add to her collection! Oh joy!
Grandpa and Grandma Coleman sent the girls each a Hallmark reading book, which had a recording of my Dad's voice reading them a story! What a fun gift! Thank you so much, Dad and Kathleen!
We quickly cleaned up our Christmas mess, packed our bags, and headed out the door to Grandma and Grandpa Free's house! Before we started our journey to southern Utah, we had to make a stop to a couple extended family member's houses to drop off our Christmas treats! Our first stop was the Nelsons, then the Frees, and lastly my Mom at the Nursing home!
My Mom was so very happy to see us and was especially excited to see the many baked goodies. She told me this year she missed making Christmas treats and was too ashamed to tell her family or friends that she is living in a nursing home. It is sad. She looks older than her age because her body has been battling with so many illnesses. Poor lady! It just breaks my heart how much she has been through.
After visiting with my mom for a few minutes, we started our holiday traveling! John and I divided the driving time for our road trip to southern Utah. We were so exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before! He was first and then I drove most the second part. There was tons of fog on the roads! UGH! We finally made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, which was a lovely turkey dinner, loaded with lots of veggies a tossed salad, carrots, sweet potatoes, and Granny's homemade bread! For their Christmas gift, we gave them the perfect wall hanging that says:
Bless our house as we come and go. Bless our children as they grow. Bless our family as we gather. Bless us all with love and laughter!
My sister gave me the exact same wall hanging to me for my birthday this year. Because I loved it so much, I knew my in-laws would love it too! In addition, I gave them some of my home made cookies, brownies, banana bread, and pumpkin bread! We watched Despicable Me
(John got it for Christmas from us) and the kids played Chinese Checkers with their grandparents. The next day we went to church and had brunch (French toast, bananas, bacon, and juice). The girls were happy to spend some time with Granny and Grandpa!
After church, John took a small nap and we were off to our next adventure to play games with my ex step brother's family-The Hahn Family!
My family has been truly blessed this year. We have enjoyed spending time together with many extended family members and friends. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives and able to feel love from Jesus Christ. I am very grateful for Jesus' wonderful example when he lived on this earth. We hope we can strive to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We hope your household had a Very Merry Christmas! ♥ Jen
Greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master. Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. ---Author Unknown
"Light of the world" by Greg Olsen
On Christmas morning, the girls set their alarm clock for 6:00 AM. John and I slept only a total of three hours, grrrr! However, it was fun to see their excitement on their faces when they opened their presents!
Big sister with her "Secret Mrs. Claus" gift! WOW, she was so shocked to see a mountain bike- A Vision Hyper Aluminum that is white, pink and black!
Little sister was surprised with a doll American Girl Lanie Doll
that looks just like her! 
With Grandma Hawley's Christmas $$,they got some new winter gear: hats, gloves, and scarves from Old Navy on the left and The Children's Place on the right!
Big sister got a Penguin Pillow Pet
! She is fascinated by penguins lately!
Just what she wanted a soft and cuddly Lady Bug Pillow Pet
!
Big Sister got little Sissy a colorful butterfly necklace.
She never expected to own a Apple iPod nano 16 GB Pink
either! Thanks to a great layaway plan! I'm so tired of her stealing mine, lol! She has shown us how responsible she is this year past year by baby sitting her little sister as well as helping around the house. We are confident she will take good care of her new electronic device! 
Another Barbie to add to her collection! Oh joy!
Grandpa and Grandma Coleman sent the girls each a Hallmark reading book, which had a recording of my Dad's voice reading them a story! What a fun gift! Thank you so much, Dad and Kathleen!
We quickly cleaned up our Christmas mess, packed our bags, and headed out the door to Grandma and Grandpa Free's house! Before we started our journey to southern Utah, we had to make a stop to a couple extended family member's houses to drop off our Christmas treats! Our first stop was the Nelsons, then the Frees, and lastly my Mom at the Nursing home!
My Mom was so very happy to see us and was especially excited to see the many baked goodies. She told me this year she missed making Christmas treats and was too ashamed to tell her family or friends that she is living in a nursing home. It is sad. She looks older than her age because her body has been battling with so many illnesses. Poor lady! It just breaks my heart how much she has been through.
After visiting with my mom for a few minutes, we started our holiday traveling! John and I divided the driving time for our road trip to southern Utah. We were so exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before! He was first and then I drove most the second part. There was tons of fog on the roads! UGH! We finally made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, which was a lovely turkey dinner, loaded with lots of veggies a tossed salad, carrots, sweet potatoes, and Granny's homemade bread! For their Christmas gift, we gave them the perfect wall hanging that says:
Bless our house as we come and go. Bless our children as they grow. Bless our family as we gather. Bless us all with love and laughter!
My sister gave me the exact same wall hanging to me for my birthday this year. Because I loved it so much, I knew my in-laws would love it too! In addition, I gave them some of my home made cookies, brownies, banana bread, and pumpkin bread! We watched Despicable Me
(John got it for Christmas from us) and the kids played Chinese Checkers with their grandparents. The next day we went to church and had brunch (French toast, bananas, bacon, and juice). The girls were happy to spend some time with Granny and Grandpa! 
After church, John took a small nap and we were off to our next adventure to play games with my ex step brother's family-The Hahn Family!
My family has been truly blessed this year. We have enjoyed spending time together with many extended family members and friends. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives and able to feel love from Jesus Christ. I am very grateful for Jesus' wonderful example when he lived on this earth. We hope we can strive to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We hope your household had a Very Merry Christmas! ♥ Jen
On the Night Before Christmas....
On the night before Christmas, it was a very busy Christmas Eve! John had to work a couple hours. While he was working I did some last minute shopping for him. Later that day, I hurried and finished my neighborhood gifts and visiting teaching gifts/home teaching gifts! John and the girls helped me drop them off before our dinner!
For some of our neighbors, we gave them cookie cutters! On the back of the paper cookie,I wrote, "Cutting out a perfect Christmas wish for your family! Merry Christmas!" We also gave some chocolates away too.
As for John's home teaching families and my visiting teaching sisters, I gave them the following: Cookie dough mix, frosting, and sprinkles. I wrote the following: "Whip up this mix for a wonderful holiday fix. Wishing you a 'rich' holiday season! Merry Christmas!"
Next we opened our last advent gift from John's parents! We have been enjoying Grandma and Grandpa Free's FUN advent Christmas presents these past seven days! The kids have enjoyed the excitement of opening one present a day! Here is the awesome gift list!
Day 1: A Kenny G Christmas
CD, which we have played over and over again.
Day 2: A lovely Christmas table cloth which I needed, mine last year ripped a hole.
Day 3: A beautiful Christmas center piece and vanilla cookie candle.
Day 4: A fun 300 piece puzzle and molding clay for the kids!
Day 5: A yummy popcorn cake recipe that included all the ingredients, which we planned on making for a New Year's Eve party.
I snagged this photo of the popcorn cake from my brother in-law Dave! For the recipe I did a stove-top version instead of microwave.
Marshmallow Peppermint Popcorn Cake
5-6 cups of popped popcorn ( about 2 1/2 cups of popcorn kernels)
1 cube of butter
1 bag of miniature marshmallows
1 c. smashed peppermint candy
1 c. peanuts
Melt butter first then add marshmallows in a small sauce pan. Melt the marshmallows then add crushed peppermint candy and peanuts. Stir together until the candy is melted. Pour marshmallow, candy, and peanut mixture over popcorn and mix well. Grease an angel food cake pan with some cooking spray and fill it will the popcorn mixture. Remove and serve on a large platter.
Day 6: An amazing fish carving napkin holder handmade by Grandpa Free. XOXOX
Day 7. A cute green present orderment with $$ inside and an awesome 2011 calendar which they made! Now I have no excuse to forget anybody's birthday on the Free side of the family! Thank you so much Granny and Grandpa! You made some happy memories for us this year and kept the kids occupied sculpting with their clay! Yay, that means less BOREDOM in our household that lasted for a day, lol!
Next the girls opened their Christmas Eve gift, which contained new pajamas! Yes, it is a family Christmas Eve tradition to receive pajamas in our household! John also gave us some more toe socks! Here we are in our new PJ's! I got mine on my birthday a couple days before!
At dinner time, we lite our new Christmas candle and listened to Christmas music. Our Christmas Eve dinner menu included the following: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and sparkling ginger ale.
Big sister read a story to us while we ate our dinner.
For the next couple hours, I made tons of goodies to give to my extended family members and felt inspired to drop off some baked goods to my Mother the next day who was afraid of being lonely on Christmas day! So John and I made the following goodies: pumpkin chocolate chip bread, banana bread, peppermint brownies, and peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies! I was done baking around midnight, no joke! A "Secret Mrs. Claus" one of John's friends dropped off a surprise for big sister! We talked with her until 3:00AM that night and she watched us set up Christmas! What a sweet friend to do such a nice thing for us! Thanks you, my friend!!!
For some of our neighbors, we gave them cookie cutters! On the back of the paper cookie,I wrote, "Cutting out a perfect Christmas wish for your family! Merry Christmas!" We also gave some chocolates away too.
As for John's home teaching families and my visiting teaching sisters, I gave them the following: Cookie dough mix, frosting, and sprinkles. I wrote the following: "Whip up this mix for a wonderful holiday fix. Wishing you a 'rich' holiday season! Merry Christmas!"
Next we opened our last advent gift from John's parents! We have been enjoying Grandma and Grandpa Free's FUN advent Christmas presents these past seven days! The kids have enjoyed the excitement of opening one present a day! Here is the awesome gift list!
Day 1: A Kenny G Christmas
CD, which we have played over and over again.
Day 2: A lovely Christmas table cloth which I needed, mine last year ripped a hole.
Day 3: A beautiful Christmas center piece and vanilla cookie candle.
Day 4: A fun 300 piece puzzle and molding clay for the kids!
Day 5: A yummy popcorn cake recipe that included all the ingredients, which we planned on making for a New Year's Eve party.
I snagged this photo of the popcorn cake from my brother in-law Dave! For the recipe I did a stove-top version instead of microwave.
Marshmallow Peppermint Popcorn Cake
5-6 cups of popped popcorn ( about 2 1/2 cups of popcorn kernels)
1 cube of butter
1 bag of miniature marshmallows
1 c. smashed peppermint candy
1 c. peanuts
Melt butter first then add marshmallows in a small sauce pan. Melt the marshmallows then add crushed peppermint candy and peanuts. Stir together until the candy is melted. Pour marshmallow, candy, and peanut mixture over popcorn and mix well. Grease an angel food cake pan with some cooking spray and fill it will the popcorn mixture. Remove and serve on a large platter.
Day 6: An amazing fish carving napkin holder handmade by Grandpa Free. XOXOX
Day 7. A cute green present orderment with $$ inside and an awesome 2011 calendar which they made! Now I have no excuse to forget anybody's birthday on the Free side of the family! Thank you so much Granny and Grandpa! You made some happy memories for us this year and kept the kids occupied sculpting with their clay! Yay, that means less BOREDOM in our household that lasted for a day, lol!
Next the girls opened their Christmas Eve gift, which contained new pajamas! Yes, it is a family Christmas Eve tradition to receive pajamas in our household! John also gave us some more toe socks! Here we are in our new PJ's! I got mine on my birthday a couple days before!
At dinner time, we lite our new Christmas candle and listened to Christmas music. Our Christmas Eve dinner menu included the following: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and sparkling ginger ale.
Big sister read a story to us while we ate our dinner.
For the next couple hours, I made tons of goodies to give to my extended family members and felt inspired to drop off some baked goods to my Mother the next day who was afraid of being lonely on Christmas day! So John and I made the following goodies: pumpkin chocolate chip bread, banana bread, peppermint brownies, and peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies! I was done baking around midnight, no joke! A "Secret Mrs. Claus" one of John's friends dropped off a surprise for big sister! We talked with her until 3:00AM that night and she watched us set up Christmas! What a sweet friend to do such a nice thing for us! Thanks you, my friend!!!
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