Who Would've Thought...

that the Great Salt Lake valley has the WORST air quality in the nation, as of 1/10/10. Yes, that means it's worse than LA and NYC. Here's a picture of the gunk we are breathing. It's not fog, my friends. It pure pollution!
The only way to escape this is to head for the mountains or pray for a strong storm to blow in and push this stuff out of here. The weird thing is that you don't notice it that much until you get above it and look down at it. No wonder I get headaches if I'm out in it for any length of time.

While I'm cooped up indoors I have different options on what to occupy my time with. Let's see, there's cleaning (nope), organizing (nope), watching tv (nope), shopping (maybe), or being on my computer doing Photoshop (yep).

"WII" Have Fun

One way to get everyone laughing and having a good time together is by playing the Wii. Nothing makes for a better night of entertainment than beating the crud out of either of their parents. On this night Jordan, Becki, Ben and I played Wii Sports and Mario Olympics. Becki had to practically force Ben to play...
He's one tough dude with the controllers. Watch out.

Ben and Becki boxed. She just couldn't get into it.

As always, Jordan beat me. He's especially adept at knocking me out in the boxing ring.

Yep, Jord won. He's basking in the glory!

Christmas 2009

What a superb Christmas. As always, we've been extremely blessed with opportunities to give gifts and also to have received so many gifts from our loving family and friends. Cherished most is the time spent together with family.
We began our festivities on Christmas eve by listening to Christmas music as we prepared for our candelight dinner. This is the only time I use my good china. We've turned this into our family tradition. Each year we try to have a different entree--this year we served ham, rolls and au gratin potatoes.

Becki

Though it was fun watching the kids open their presents when they were little with their eyes full of excitement and wonder, it is SO enjoyable with them being older. Instead of taking 20 minutes for the entire family to open presents, we were able to allow everyone a chance to open one present at a time as the others observed. I think it took close to an hour to open presents this morning! We all got things on our list. Mark modeled his "Little Black Riding Hood"...

Aaron checked out his gun cleaning kit...

Dan is trying to guess what video he got...(the answer would surprise you!)

Adam is checking out one of his gift cards as Cohen is certain he should share some of his candy with him...

Jordan was just a tad excited to get a Wii game that was on his list...

Dan was excited to get a gift card and a toaster...

Look at Diane's excitement over food containers!

On Christmas afternoon after our extended family brunch, Ben came over and he and Becki exchanged presents.

Ben gave Becki an Aeropostale hoodie and an itouch. Holy cow! Aren't they cute!!

We love the surprised look on Ben's face as he realized what Becki got him.

A signed jersey of 6 Jazz players. He especially wanted Deron Williams' autograph. He was totally amazed!

Go Jazz Go

Autumn has turned into winter. As soon as we fattened ourselves up on Thanksgiving the snowflakes began to fall. Out came the winter coats, gloves, snow shovels and ice scrapers. It got down right cold! Whoever said there was global warming sort of missed the mark, in my opinion. One of the good things is that it's basketball season. We've got some serious Jazz fans here. Ben, Becki & Jordan dressed to show their support for our home team as they played the LA Fakers...oh, I mean Lakers. The Jazz were so awesome. They beat LA! YaHoo!

December has been busy with preparing for Christmas. Also, Dan closed on his condo on Nov. 30. He and Adam are now all moved in. That means it's a little quieter and a little cleaner here. Oh, and there's a lot more room in the driveway. Dan & Adam still manage to come home Sundays to eat dinner and do laundry. They seem to be doing well there. It hasn't turned too much into a man cave yet.

For Real

Have you ever had a time when you saw something and said to yourself, "Gee, I wish I had a camera right now."? Well, Mark & I had that happen to us as we drove to my hometown. I didn't post this to offend anyone. It just struck us as one of those things you had to see to believe.

Yes, indeed. This is a real life, honest-to-goodness, redneck pick-up truck, along with the hound dog guarding it.

October daze

October went by so fast at times I felt like I was in a daze! Dan decided he wanted to take advantage of the government's $8000 rebate for 1st time home buyers. Various times I would accompany him to view different condos. He discovered the joys of house hunting. He had 2 or 3 condos he was ready to make offers on but for one reason or another, it didn't work out. He even made an offer on the perfect condo for him but they didn't accept it. Nothing else seemed to interest him. Then, a week ago, his agent got a phone call from the homeowners he made the offer on and they wanted to T A L K. To make the long story short, they agreed on a price and signed the papers. Dan should be able to move into his condo around the 1st of December.

Dan, Adam & Becki are inundated with homework; thanks especially to Math 1050. They have all lectured Jordan to make sure he takes as much math in school as he can so he doesn't have to do it in college. Thank you. That's one less lecture I have to give--maybe.

Mark & I made a trip to Wis. to visit and help out a bit. We spent a day in Chicago checking out the Windy City. And I do mean windy! It was cold and I did not come prepared for bone-chilling weather.
It was so cold they shut down Buckingham fountain.

Bracing myself against the wind.

One sharp building, that Sears tower, or whatever they call it now.

Mark is trying to hold down the fort, so to speak.

Catching Up

Fall is flying buy. I'm behind in my blogging. Here are my final pictures from our trip to Oceanside. Everytime the weather is crummy, I think about Oceanside and dream of being there instead.