Conference Weekend

We went to Utah for Conference weekend with the Brandon, Mason, and Puppy. We had a great time visiting with some of TJ’s siblings and my family and relatives. We had tickets to the Saturday afternoon session and TJ took Brandon to his first Priesthood session.

TJ and Bethany

Maddie, Jessica, Baby Shane, Rebecca, Me, Bethany

Cousins

Cute family

Skyler, Shane, Jessica, Brandon, TJ, Mason, Me

My parents

Me with my cousins, Amber and Hillary

Arizona

TJ and I went to Arizona for a visit and to get away from the snow. We stayed with our friends, Nick and Jen in their brand new gorgeous house. We went to a Spring Training game and watched the Cubs play the A’s. We had a UFC party and ate out at yummy restaurants. Jen and I shopped for décor for their house, and the boys went shooting. I was able to meet up with my friends, Amber and Tiffany for lunch. I miss all my AZ friends! We went to visit TJ’s brother, Mark, and sister-in-law, Tracy. It was fun seeing them. We don’t get to see them often enough! We had a blast and it made us miss Arizona so much!

TJ and Me at the spring training game

Jen and Me

TJ and Me at the field

Nick and Jen

At Waldo's BBQ in Mesa. So good!

Me, Jen, and Scarlett

Mark and TJ

Mark, Tracy, and Family

Mark, Tracy, Me, TJ

No visit with Mark would be complete without a muscle contest between brothers!

All Things TJ

TJ celebrated his 35th birthday on January 26th. He took the day off work and we went snowboarding at Copper Mountain. It was a nice resort and it was great to get out and snowboard. This was our first time snowboarding in Denver since we moved here, almost a year and a half ago. That night, we went to Pappadeaux for TJ's birthday dinner and celebrated with some Cajun food.

Snowboarding at Copper Mountian

TJ enjoying some birthday pecan pie at Pappadeaux

The Saints won the Super Bowl!!! TJ is excited, nay, ecstatic over their victory. So ecstatic, he now has a Saints hat commemorating their NFC win and 3 Saints t-shirts celebrating their Super Bowl victory. He definitely now looks like their biggest fan! WHO DAT!

December Happenings

At the beginning of December, we went to Utah for TJ's Dad's 65th birthday and TJ's nephew's baptism. It was really fun spending time with TJ's family. Seven of his nine siblings were able to make it to the festivities.

Michelle with 3 of TJ's sisters, Bethany, Rosalia, Jessica, and Baby Shane

At Hunter's Baptism

TJ and his brother, Mark

Brandon celebrated his 12th birthday on December 17 by having a sleepover with some of his friends and a spaghetti dinner with family. He is now a Deacon and attends Young Men's. Can you believe TJ has a 12-year-old?!

For Christmas, we went to California to spend the holiday with my family. Puppy had been visiting my parents in California since Thanksgiving, so she was there too. We had a fun and relaxing time. We saw Avatar in 3D and rode motorcycles around town to see all the Christmas lights. There were some amazing Christmas Tree Lanes, and it was fun to see them from a motorcycle. We stayed in CA for a week and then drove with my parents, brother, and dog to Salt Lake City. We stayed in their condo and brought in the New Year. Our dog was out playing in the snow on one of the days in SLC, and injured herself. She came up limping pretty badly. We've taken her to the vet and they say she tore a ligament and will need surgery. We're trying to give her a chance to hopefully heal without surgery because we don't want to put her through surgery or pay $3,000 for the surgery. She seems to be getting better slowly, but she still has a limp. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

New Year's in Salt Lake. You can kind of see the fireworks and the lights of Temple Square in the background.

Halloween and Thanksgiving 2009

For Halloween this year, we went to Brandon and Mason's grandmother's house and watched the boys Trick-or-Treat. Puppy was a jail dog. I can't tell you how much she hates being dressed up, but she puts up with it. Brandon dressed up as his Uncle David Jones. He pretty much looked like a cowboy. Mason was a Sumo Wrestler. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures of them in their costumes. I really need to be better about taking more pictures. I've been slacking.

Jail Dog

The Denver Zoo puts lights up everywhere around the holidays. We braved the cold and went to see the lights.

We went to Scottsdale for Thanksgiving with the boys and my family. We were able to see our friends, Nick and Jen, and TJ's brother, Mark and sister-in-law, Tracy while we were in town. Again, I'm terrible with the lack of pictures right now. We went miniature golfing, swimming, and did some Black Friday shopping. We scored the last Dyson Animal vacuum at Kohl's. Brandon came with TJ and I and thank goodness he did. He ran to the back of the store and got one of the two vacuums they had in stock. How I love the anticipation of Black Friday! Not knowing if you'll get what you came for... It's fun when you do score that item! We LOVE our new vacuum. If you have a pet that sheds, it's amazing. We were disgusted/amazed to see all the stuff the Dyson picks up that our old vacuum didn't. The boys also stayed over at the Williams' house and played with their kids. On our drive to AZ and back home, we listened to Twilight on CD. We really enjoyed it and it was a great way to pass the long hours in the car.

Lake Powell - August 2009

We went to Lake Powell in August 2009 with Brandon, my family, Nick and Jen, and the Cannons. Mason was feeling sick the day before we left, so he didn't come with us. We stayed on my parent's houseboat and had a great time wakeboarding, playing in the water, playing games, eating good food, and visiting Rainbow Bridge.
We cut our trip short by a few days because Mason was admitted into the hospital for an infection in his pulmonary valve caused by a rare strain of Strep. If you didn't know, Mason had to have his pulmonary valve replaced when he was a baby and now has a bovine (cow) valve. Because it is foreign to his body, the valve can't fight off an infection. The doctors think he may have gotten the infection from a mosquito bite or a cut, but they don't know for sure. He had a PIC line put into his arm. It lead to the valve and delivered a heavy duty anti-biotic that was administered every day for 6 weeks. Luckily, the infection is gone and Mason is back to his athletic, fun-loving, goofy self.

TJ, Michelle, and Brandon at Rainbow Bridge
Brandon

TJ, Michelle, Jen, Nick

Brandon attempting to catch some large Carp

Mason in his hospital bed with his little sister

Mason's 9th Birthday - July 31

For Mason's 9th Birthday, he and a group of his friends went to a water park in Golden, CO. They had a couple hours of fun on the slides before we got rained out. That's Colorado weather for you! Sunshine one hour, downpour the next. He got a lot of fun presents. He's really into wrestling and his favorite wrestlers right now are John Cena and Ray Mysterio. He's going to a new elementary school now and is doing well in school.

Birthday Boy