Happy Christmas Loved Ones!

I've been thinking about what a traditional time of year we are enjoying. Some of our family favorites have been passed down through several generations. When I was in college, I did a folklore paper about my Mormor (Swedish grandma). I learned a few interesting tidbits about our family traditions.

Santa Lucia
The Celebration of lights. My family didn't even celebrate this in Sweden because it was considered very Catholic and they were Lutheran. It was only when they immigrated to the U.S. that they celebrated as a way to be more connected with the Swedish community. It has been one of our most beloved traditions so I'm glad they got over their religious differences :)

Swedish Cardamom Bread

I always thought it was 'cardamoN' so that was a shock :) My grandma made this ridiculously delicious bread but no one could seem to duplicate it. There were recipes; but none seemed to create her delicious-ness. So my mom finally insisted on making it with her and actually writing down how she did it (she followed no recipe). This bread has to rise THREE times before it's baked! Are you kidding me?! I have people ask me why I only make this at Christmas...
Now you know.

An Accidental Tradition
About four years ago, for FHE, we took the kids downtown for ice skating, dinner, and lights. We haven't missed a year since and they fully expect to do this every Christmas season exactly the same way - down to eating dinner at the Olive Garden.

Seriously love this time of year. Love all of it - the neighbor gifts, the shopping, the old movies, the million family parties, the Christmas spirit in general.
Happy Happy Christmas Everyone!

The BIG 4-0

So 20 years ago, I was really dreading not being a teen-ager any more. It really bugged me. SO, on the big day, my friends, who were really sensitive to my 'depression', gave me a card that told me how they had been watching 20/20 the night before and they saw 20 people with 20 children with 20 illnesses and 20 blah blah blah - you get the picture...

You'd think 20 years later I'd be twice as sad.

...and you'd be right ... j/k

This time around, my very YOUNG friend Whittney gave me a whole slew of gifts designed to help the elderly ease into the rest home with more comfort.
e.g. Old people need warm socks and sweaters because their circulation is going.
Old people need large print playing cards to entertain at the nursing home and be able to see what they're playing.
Old people might as well drink regular Mountain Dew because their metabolism is shot anyway so live it up.
Old people sit and do puzzles until they just die...

Seriously though, BB made the experience a big deal in a good way. We ran a half marathon a few weeks before and had a great time on the day of with a bunch of good friends and family. BB gave me surfing lessons for my 40th birthday to be taken next fall in Hawaii. So, all in all, not a bad day...

Great fun with great friends (one of which brought 40 bottles of diet coke) and NO black balloons!


Now this is friendship... she's one of the biggest byu fans I've ever met...

Fun with the Deli Family

Guaranteed fun when the Deli Family is in town. WISH we got to see more of them while they were here but it was great to have a day.

It's a MAD House

S0 we've had a good few weeks. The kids got out of school mid-June and we headed on a 'business trip' (poor BB) to Northern Cal. We celebrated D-man's 5th birthday there but really partied when we got home.
That's probably too many kids to fit in a pool but, miraculously, the water never turned yellow... Santa Cruz


Sometimes, I think there's a lot to be said for peer pressure. Anush probably would have never dared jump off the diving board if she wasn't with her cool and older friend, Ally. Yay Ally! Yay Anush for going for it..
Happy Birthday U.S.A. Our neighborhood likes to party and July 4th (or 3rd in this case) is a great excuse. The kids started the festivities with a bike parade...

Happy Birthday Dawn

First, I'm sorry for ripping this picture off your blog but I realized I don't have a great shot of you (and this is a great shot).

I had such a bad attitude about moving to the suburbs five years ago. If only I could have looked into the very near future and seen the absolutely fabulous people I'd meet, my attitude would have done a 180. And let me just say that if you were the only friend I made out here, it still would have been worth it. So this one's for you :)

Dynamic (and that's a big DUH for anyone that knows her)

Always has something up her sleeve (block parties, pot lucks, Easter Egg hunts, you name it)

Whittney loves you too :)

Never a dull moment

Dane never would have gone to primary without you!

Endless energy (and then some)
No Horcruxes in her house

I ripped off the subtitle of my blog from you

Sunrise - her name so fits...

Everyone wishes they were lucky enough to be adopted by you...

Sum Sum Summertime

Last week, while I started my summer with a rousing rendition of stomach flu (like more violently ill than I have ever been in my life - including pregnancies), BB and the kids spent the day building the biggest Lego tower I've ever seen. It actually lit up in the dark because they put two flashlights in the middle - so cool...

The flu bug swept quickly through our family and luckily didn't seem to last long.

Diggity's last two weeks of pre-school have been one long party. This is him getting ready for backward day. I'd call it Kris Kross day but that would really date me I think. Tomorrow is officially his last day of pre school and I'm feeling strangely nostalgic and sad to see this era in his life (and mine) come to such a quick end.
I love so many things about this picture. I love this kid - he puts my little D-man on his snow board with him to slide down hills at the neighborhood parks. He loves the Yankees. And, I love the initiative of any teenager that will get out and do some work to earn a few bucks. He was power spraying our garbage cans and did such a good job that I really felt sad to put garbage in them after...

Cousins Cousins Cousins...

The guy with the hotdog roaster is my cousin Bill. He's the reason I started playing soccer at the age of seven. Even though he's only a few months older than me, he was my hero as a kid - the person I most wanted to impress. To this day, I feel lucky to know him and be apart of his family.
I really like these two guys too :)...

We got together last night up Big Cottonwood Canyon to roast hot dogs and hang out.

Dirty kids = Good times

btw - Anushka doesn't need the glasses - they are her latest fashion statement...

Random Fun Pics

I'm realizing for about the catrillionth time that catching up a blog is tedious work - much more fun to write up the event while details are fresh in my mind. Since I've been so slack on this in the last ... lot of months, I'll just share a quick overview of life since circa Fall, 2009.

BB and I hit NYC at the beginning of the year - he was speaking at a conference and I was along for the ride. I have really missed spending time in the city (I used to go about every year before I was married - not that I'm knocking marriage :)
Some hilights were:
Wicked - Spectacular
Lower Manhattan/Canal Street - one year I vow to do my Christmas shopping there
Museum of Natural History
This old Swedish cottage that was actually transplanted from Sweden to the U.S. and is now located in Central Park. I'm kind of a sucker for all things Sweden:
We saw the new Yankee Stadium (and maybe shed a tear at the sight of the original being torn down):

Thanks to the generosity of our dear friends Mike and Dixie, I made two trips (one with just the girls and one with couples) down to the Bryce Canyon area and got to go snow shoeing in Bryce as well as Kodachrome Canyon.

I highly recommend their spectacular inn if you're ever in the area!

The kids are becoming quite the skiers. Diggity got a lot of notice because he was so small cutting a trail down the slope.

BB and Anushka went to a Daddy-Daughter Valentines Dance.

Our little Diggity had to have his tonsils out. Here he is pre-surgery:

And post-op (still a little stoned):

Anushka's birthday had a St. Patrick's theme this year...

Here she is showing off her birthday outfit:

Easter outfits before Easter. We actually spent Easter weekend in San Jose.

Here is one huge reason why we moved to the 'burbs. This is a representation of the kids covering about 5 streets. They are getting ready for the neighborhood Easter egg hunt which has become an annual tradition:

D-man with his buddy Isaac - seriously, two peas in a pod...
And they'll be in the same Kindergarten class in a few weeks (yikes)

Here are a couple shots from the Easter trip we took to San Jose. Once again it was a business trip for BB and we came along. This was at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium:

BB having a wheel chair race at the San Jose Tech museum. They also got to experience how an actual earthquake feels. It was a hit...

I also hooked up with one of my best friends from childhood and her kids...

Our kids hit it off. Seriously - 'Heidi and Liz...The Next Generation'

We hung out in Santa Cruz while poor Daddy had to go to work every day... We would have rather had him with us.

And finally, our new family pet... j/k... He wandered into the back yard while we were weeding.

Diggity was broken hearted when he flew away after being fed almost an entire loaf of bread.