Ward Christmas Party

We had a wonderful ward Christmas breakfast this years. It was a blast and both girls loved Santa!

Happy Birthday Miley!

A bunch of our friends

Miley, Hannah, and Noelle

She asked for a Mickey Mouse cake....and mommy aims to please!

Her digital camera

Showing her FurReal cat to Marley

Miley is officially out of the "terrible twos"! At least she should be! She is now our big 3 year old. We had a wonderful party and combined our traditional "Christmas karaoke" with her birthday party. It was a lot of fun. Miley got a camera so that she doesn't carry ours all over the place. She got a lot of other fun things too, and best of all got to celebrate with all her friends!
Just a little note one our sweet 3 year old. She has got more imagination than anyone I know. Her liveliness just oozes from her being. She is a fireball of delight. Sure she never sits down and doesn't listen to a word we say, but we love her spunk so darn much!

Dear Santa

Just thought I would share Miley's letter to Santa (FYI, Hannah is a 10 year old friend who she adores):

Dear Santa,
I have been nice this year. I was nice to my friend Hannah. I helped Santa Claus. I gave you a present. For Christmas I would like; Food, to set up the Christmas tree, ballet, a dolly, Hannah, a pink present, a kitty and dog. I love kitty cats and a dog. I want to get a big Christmas tree. Have a nice Christmas! I love you. Thank you!

From, Miley Eliza Simons

Happy Thanksgiving

Marley driving us home

The shoot-out

The view from the cabin

Mason and Carol setting out Thanksgiving dinner

Miley eating her snow

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went down to Hurricane, Utah, and then to Kolob to Michelle and Steve's family cabin. It is brand new and absolutely beautiful! We had a great time there and the kids loved playing in the snow. And we had great food!. The next day we came off the mountain and had the annual Theobald family shoot-out. All the guys went skeet shooting. It was fun. Then a little shopping to finish out the day. On Saturday we had family pictures, then headed to Vegas. On Sunday we got to hear Quay and Carol give a presentation in church on the temple. It was so much fun! We had to head home on Monday but were so grateful we got to spend so much time with family!

Who knew???

Recently we were tagged by my cousin Kristi. The topic is "6 things people don't know about you". Hmmmmmm.......................
1.Marley is a pig! She eats as much for a meal as I do sometimes...and several times a day. The exact opposite of Miley.
2. Mason has 3 jobs. He works for Elko county as the Juvenile and Family Court Master. Then he hears the child support cases for a couple of counties south of us. They don't have enough cases for a full-time Court Master, so they asked Mason (who is known far and wide for being a great Hearing Master!) to come down a day or two each month. He also teaches a political science class at the college here.
3. Miley is the greatest pretender. She often makes me be a puppy or baby. We play that we are pirates, racers, and ballerinas all the time. She will take anything (food, toys, sticks, etc) and they become little mommies and daddies. Such a great imagination!
4. Mandy would really like to go back to school and get her Master's degree or Juris Doctorate. It probably won't happen until all the kids are in school though!
5. Mason has only got upset with Mandy once or twice in their whole marriage. He is very, very kind and patient!
6.We love the gospel of Jesus Christ so much! This may not be big news to anyone, but I don't think we express our gratitude for the blessings we receive enough.

Happy Halloween

We had such a great Halloween season this year! A week before Halloween we had a party at our home for a few friends. It was so fun. And then the kids had a blast at the various Halloween parties and trick-or treating. Mason and I had planned on being M & M's, but when we got to the store he saw a whoopee cushion costume that he HAD to have. So ofter pondering long and hard about what I could be that goes with a whoopee cushion, I decided to be an air freshener. It turned out cute and got lots of laughs. Miley was a very adorable princess complete with a "bippity-boppity-boo" (her wand). Marley was a little mustard covered hot dog. They were precious as always!!

San Francisco

Mason had to go to San Francisco for a week for a work conference, and the rest of us decided to tag along. Who can resist San Francisco? It was a long 9 hour drive to get there, and once we did get there we found out that there had been a goof up at work and that we didn't have a confirmed reservation. But after we found a hotel to stay at, the rest of the trip was a blast! The girls and I relaxed all day, and then when Mason got done we would go someplace fun each night. We went to Chinatown, Japantown, Fisherman's Wharf, Peir 49, and other really great places. It was a wonderful little trip!

My Man Mitt

Recently Mason got a call from on old intern friend of his from DC asking if he knew anyone in the Elko area who could volunteer to help out for an upcoming Mitt Romney visit. Mason, of course, said his dear wife would love to (he knew I would kill him if he didn't). So for a week I have been making calls and coordinating. Then the day before his visit, the campaign guy called and asked if I would be willing to do a BORING Job......sit in the holding room with the Governor and make sure people don't come in and bother him. I almost wet my pants. It was a lot of fun! Governor Romney spent most of the time giving press interviews, but it was cool just to watch. Mason came and watched the event (with all the regular people, not in the back with the special people like me!) Romney told a great story about a boy scout troop who bought a flag and sent it to their state capital and the capital building in DC to have it flown. It was so special to them and then they got the wild idea to send it to space. Miraculously NASA agreed! They watched the shuttle take off with their flag and were so excited....right until the shuttle exploded. It was the Challenger shuttle in 1986. The scout leader called every week for several months to see if they had found a piece of their flag, but never had any luck. Then about a year after the explosion, he found out they had found something. The whole troop went to NASA to be presented with something. It was in a water tight canister and when they opened it up to see what was left, they found their whole flag completely intact!! I thought it was a great story!

Rubber Chicken Party

It was recently my friend Memori's birthday. Memori is a wonderful, fun, creative, and genuine gal who my family loves! We think she is one hot mama! So for her birthday my friend Laura Cooper and I decided to throw her a surprise party. Since she has an odd, but endearing, love of rubber chickens, we made that our theme. Laura made a Rubber Chicken cake, and I came up with games and decor. It was a blast!

My Quilt

When we first saw our home 3 years ago, it was full of quilts. The lady who lived here was a quilting genius and made the most beautiful creations. I decided the that I was going to learn to quilt. Since then I have made a few quilt tops, but have always had to pay someone mega-bucks to do the actual quilting. So I decided to take a quilting class at the local quilt shop and this is my creation! It is very, very far from perfect, but turned out cute for my first complete try!

Teeth

A while back I decided to take Miley to the dentist. When she was younger we had to give her iron drops and it left dark spots on her two front teeth. They were supposed to fade, but hadn't. I finally decided the dentist was our best option. When we got there he discovered that Miley had several cavities. Way more than most two-year-olds. They were also in weird places, not just in-between teeth like normal. Of course, I felt like a horrible mother until he asked if she had ever had high fevers. Well we told him that she had basically had really high fevers her whole first year because of her vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). He then explained that if people have bad fevers while their teeth are developing, the teeth will get weak spots. That is what happened to Miley. So we made an appointment with a pediatric dentist at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. After our vacation, Mason came back to Elko to work and I stayed in SLC with the two girls by myself (totally stupid move). Tuesday, July 15th we went to the appointment. They did a quick look and told us that the next day they would be doing surgery to fix the cavities and possibly a root canal. They take little kids into an operating room sometimes so they can give them anesthesia and then its easier to do the work.
So the next day was a nightmare for me. I know its just teeth, but I was still freaked out. I had to drag both kids to the hospital by myself at 6 am. They gave Miley something to drink to knock her out and then laid her in a wagon. As they were pulling her away I was told I wouldn't be able to see her after surgery because I had Marley with me, and kids weren't allowed in the recovery room. Well I was already tired and stressed and that information sent me over the edge. I called my cousin bawling. My cousin was very sick and very pregnant but she drove all the way from Bountiful to come get Marley. I then went and sat in the parents waiting room. I watched as doctors came in and told the parents their child was okay. After about an hour my doctor came in and said, "Would you mind coming into a private consultation room with me?". I almost started to cry again. It turns out though that she just likes to talk to parents in private. Miley had done great, she just didn't like to talk in front of others, like all the other doctors. It took Miley awhile to come out of it, but she didn't have any side effects from the anesthesia like they thought she would. She did super! And I am so glad it is over!

A visit to the Twin Falls Temple open house...

Well we decided to make a visit to the completed Twin Falls Temple last weekend on the last day of the open house. The Twin Falls Temple will be the 4th temple in Idaho (1st, Idaho Falls; 2nd Boise; and 3rd Rexburg). Once dedicated it will also be the closest temple to Elko (170 miles from our home, compared to 231 miles to the SLC Temple). As of the moment we remain in the SLC Temple district, but I would guess that in practice we will visit the Twin Falls Temple more frequently.

We were accompanied on our visit by Darrell and Faye (Mandy's parents), Monica and Heidi (Mandy's sisters), Monte (Heidi's husband), and all the kids, Macey, Riley, Miley and Marley.

It took a couple of hours for us to complete the entire tour. We started in the adjacent chapel where we were seated in the chapel to begin with, then moved to one of the rooms in the chapel where we watched a 10-minute film on the Temple and the history of the area. We were then guided through the temple by a couple of local members.

As you might imagine, the Temple was beautiful. I have included various pictures of the interior and exterior of the Temple for your viewing pleasure. The Temple will be dedicated on August 24, 2008.

Twin Falls Temple at Sunrise

Twin Falls Temple Entry and Recommend Desk

Twin Falls Temple waiting area

Twin Falls Temple marquetry woodwork on desk with syringa motif

Twin Falls Temple art glass detail with syringa (Idaho state flower) motif

Twin Falls Temple railing detail with syringa motif

Twin Falls Temple wood and art glass panel on stairway

Twin Falls Temple ordinance room with mural

Twin Falls Temple ordinance room

Twin Falls Temple celestial room

Twin Falls Temple bride’s room

Twin Falls Temple sealing room

Twin Falls Temple baptistry

Twin Falls Temple at sunset

Weekend with the Saculles

Well we spent this last weekend with Mandy's sister Monica, her husband James, and James' extended family in Boise, Idaho. We are friendly with Monica's in-laws (the Saculles family of Valdez, Alaska) and we decided to go up to Boise to spend some time with them while they were down in the Continental U.S. visiting. We headed up there on Friday afternoon, and returned on Monday afternoon.

James' parents Juan and Luisa Saculles were there along with James' brother John, and John's two children, Johnathan and Jasmine. We also spent some time with the extended family, including: uncle Boyd, auntie Thelma, cousin Boyd, his wife Kim, cousin Michelle, aka "Missy," and her husband, Matt.

On Saturday we went to Zoo Boise. Miley had a fun time checking out the mean tigers, monkeys, penguins and bears. It was a roaster that day though with temperatures in the high 90's. We rented a couple little jeep strollers to push around Miley and Marley. That night Monica and James did a little BBQ at the house with steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs and brats with the whole clan. Luisa mad some Filipino pancit (a stir fried noodle dish common in the Phillipines). It was great! Following the BBQ we had a fun time trying out Monica and James' Wii Fit. The Wii Fit is a platform device that attaches to the new Nintendo Wii that allows you to do various exercises, balance games and strength exercises. Below is a video of me doing the hula hoop game on the Wii Fit.

On Monday morning before we left Boise we went to the park to watch James and Johnathan shoot off some model rockets. James had helped Johnathan build a rocket to shoot off. It was pretty amazing how high the thing went. There was a little device installed in the rocket that clocked its speed. One launch clocked in at nearly 80 mph. Below is a video of the launch.

Mandy & Miley going down the giraffe slide at Zoo Boise

Marley in her Jeep stroller at Zoo Boise

Miley running down a concrete tube at Zoo Boise

Johnathan, Miley and Jasmine inches away from a gigantic tiger at Zoo Boise

Miley and Johnathan making gooey worms at Monica and James' house

Miley the diva performing on the American Idol game on the Wii
(Luisa, Jasmine, Johnathan, John and Juan in the background)

Miley, Monica and Jasmine playing with bubbles at the park

Johnathan, Mason and James setting up the rocket at the park