HAPPY NEW YEAR! Love- Jared, Em, Mackay, Malz, Isabelle, and Gracie

INVERSION

According to Wikipedia...."In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to a temperature inversion, i.e., an increase in temperature with height, or to the layer (inversion layer) within which such an increase occurs. An inversion can lead to pollution such as smog being trapped close to the ground, with possible adverse effects on health. An inversion can also suppress convection by acting as a "cap".

What it really means to me is.....

This is what I see from my windows at work! Grey, foggy, ugliness! We are supposed to get a storm today and while I hate driving in the snow.... a storm would clear out the air! No wonder I have no energy.....

Dinner with the Fam....

Here is a picture of us having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with the Nielsen family. It was yummy! And it was awesome to have everyone together again (almost). We haven't been all together since Hawaii (June 2009). It was a fun celebration!

We have a big group (15) so we had a long wait but Maren and Loren got to the restaurant early and got our name on the waiting list. . .so the table was ready when everyone got there. Thanks Loren and Maren! It was really fun! BTW.... Jared is really happy.... he just doesn't smile for pictures. And I know that RED is not one of my best colors.....but it's Christmas.....had to wear it!

Last night, Jared and the kids picked me up from work so we could go see the Christmas lights at Historic Temple Square. It has been years since I have gone to see "the lights." Little did we know, there was a Jazz game and several concerts were just starting so parking was next to impossible! Once we finally got out of the car we realized just how cold it was! Brrrr! But we are tough so we bundled up and headed out!


After we got back to the car, we had to make one more stop.....to Wendy's for a nice, cold FROSTY!!! YUM!

Christmas Decorations at the office....Oh Brother!

It was time to decorate our "office space" for Christmas. So, I assigned out the task to a few of the ladies I work with. . . I guess I shudda done it myself! When I came back to my office after a meeting....look what I saw!!! OH-MYLANTA!

Aren't they so sweet to decorate my office door??? Oh, the JOY! Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

I have to say.....the snowman on the board is darling! Do you like the SPORK arms? And even though you can't see it very well.....He is smoking a cigarette!!!! No pipe for our snowman.....just a good 'ol Marlboro! My gals are hysterical! I guess they showed me, didn't they?

PIE NIGHT!

Because Mom and Dad deserted us on Thanksgiving to travel north to convince little Cameron to come out and play, they invited everyone over for PIE NIGHT on Monday (Family Night)! It was so fun! They come up with the best ideas these days! There were cupcakes for the non-pie eaters too. They should have retired years ago!! (Oh yeah, they did!) Here are some pics from the night! Pie, Pie, me oh my! I love pie!

Winter has hit!!!!

It's winter in Utah! My 40 minute commute was over 2 hours today! Oh, the joys of a Utah winter!!! GRRR!

A tale of two trees....

Those who know me well, know I have a little tree issue.....I can't let the kids help decorate the tree! Kids around a tree make me extremely ANXIOUS! Why, I am not sure? I know it sounds horrible but I want my tree decorated in a certain way and a certain order. It's all about the PROCESS! We all know that kids don't work that way. Mackay and Mallory are used to this odd behavior...Isabelle and Gracie are not! So, I bit the bullet and let them decorate the smaller tree in our living room (the main tree is downstairs and I decorated it when they weren't home to avoid any unpleaseantness). I gave them a few instructions so I didn't totally lose it and I left the premises! I started feeling anxious as soon as they started picking up the ornaments....It is better not to watch! When they finished, this is what I saw...They did a great job! (I did move a few things around but tried not to move too much) This is a tradition I may be able to live with...I decorate one tree and let the kids decorate another while I am in another room, city, or state...

The funniest thing is my tree is nothing fabulous! A simple tree that the Festival of Trees would laugh at.... Anyway....Here is MY tree in the basement (the pics are bad, took them with my phone)

One huge step for Emily makes two big smiles for Gracie and Isabelle!