"Nearer to my Father in Heaven in Two-Thousand Eleven..."

I stumbled across this picture from a strange blog that I can't necessarily recommend, but the photograph so perfectly captures how I feel about entering a new year. 2010 had it's beautiful moments of "highs" (a week in New York with my best friend, Wyatt losing his teeth, Carson starting to read, Halle's new school feeling like a success, etc.), and I'm so grateful for those. My life is truly incredibly blessed in ways I do not deserve. But mostly (and I hate to sound like a whiner here, but if I'm being honest...) as far as I'm concerned the door can most definitely hit 2010 on the way out - I'm so ready to be done with this emotional roller coaster-of-a-year! I'm thrilled to have a fresh start and take on the next twelve months with a new, invigorated motivation and ideas! Today in church a sweet sister bore her testimony and shared what a rough year it had been for her (it's odd, but it seems most people I talk to agree with me that 2010 could have been much, much better, so it wasn't just me it chewed up and spit out). Anyway, I digress...I loved something she said about the way she was looking forward to this new beginning. She said her goal this year could be summed up in her new motto: "Closer to my Father in Heaven in 20-11". SPECTACULAR! I hope she doesn't mind, but that's gonna be my new motto, too. I'm taking control of my life and working harder so that is more closely aligned with what my Heavenly Father would want for me!

Bring it on!!!

welcoming in a new decade with nothin' but good ol' fashioned fun!

Spending New Years in the Basin was relaxing, fun, and soooo wonderful!

Mom and Dad were brave and took on Halle in Kings in the Corner, with the Arizona rules, of course. (Dad, loved watching the western with you, and Mom, thanks for the scrum-diddly-umptious food, particularly the PORK CHOPS WITH GRAVY!!! Do you still have leftover rice? Next time I won't make the mistake of doubling the serving size!) There's something about going home that is so relaxing. You just feel so comfortable and at ease. If the kids were entertained, you could find Brett, Mom, Dad, and Myself reading our books. I finished "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie", and it did not disappoint. Brett finally wrapped up "The Lost Symbol" and Dad enjoyed John McCain's autobiography. Last time I checked, Mom was working her way through about 3 different books! Maybe she'll finish sometime before Easter! ha ha

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We also enjoyed watching "A Christmas Story" on the big screen at the Vernal Theatre (great idea, Nickole!).

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This was our second time spending New Year's Eve at the Red Canyon Lodge with Mike & Fawn--that place is so great and fun! It's like having the accomodations of a simple motel in the rugged backdrop of the mountains next to a wood-burning stove! We laughed because two years ago when we did this, Fawn and I totally overdid it--the food was delicious but WAYYYY too much in quantity (shrimp, crab, steak, you name it). This year we decided to simplify and just do fajitas, but both Fawn and I forgot so much of what we needed (OK, she forgot one thing, I forgot everything!). Still, we managed to have an abundance of great food and an even better time! We even found the perfect sledding hill--fast enough the older kids had fun and mild enough the smallest kids felt brave enough to go by themselves!

Thanks guys, for another wonderful New Years!

See you in 2012???

This was so nasty, disgusted, and just plain WEIRD.

Natalie cut into the tomato only to cut a spider that was INSIDE the tomato in half! The spider was still wiggling it's leg even after it was cut. From the outside the tomato looked pretty much unblemished, except for the teensy-tiniest little healed-over pin-size hole that no one would have even noticed had we not been looking for an entry point. Talk about heeby-jeebies!

Nice face, Bert!

kind of hard to see, but can you make out the baby to the

right of the doe? so sweet! and the mama stepped in front

of the fawn after this picture was snapped to protect her

baby. i loved that!

Paige & Natalie gave Halle a little makeover

just in time for the countdown.

Hmmmm...

3..2..1..Happy New Year!

To help us ring in the new year, we invited some very FUN and fabulous friends from the neighborhood over for a party. Some friends were new, some not-so-new, but now they are all dear to our hearts! It was pretty low-key...just games and food...but wonderful to spend that time with people so worth being around. We wanted them to feel free to invite their kids, and we also wanted our kids to have fun on New Year's Eve, so we did something we've never done for a party before: we hired a sitter. Cami is our kids' favorite "night-time" sitter and I say selfishly NO, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU HER NUMBER! We want her all to ourselves! She rode herd on the kids up in the playroom, feeding them treats, playing games with them, and helping them have a good time. It was a bit of a splurge to hire a sitter on a holiday, but let me just say it was WELL-WORTH IT! I highly recommend it! And in the end our friends that brought their kids generously pitched in--thanks guys, that was certainly not expected! Thanks for celebrating '08 and welcoming '09 with us! Maybe we'll have to do it again next year!

So 6 years ago, our friends Jesse & Ely introduced us to a the New Year tradition of eating 12 grapes (one for each month of the year) within the first minute for good luck..Here's Jenny, Brandon, Dave, and Heather getting those grapes down so their wishes could come true! Technically, it wasn't midnight (seriously, how can anyone with kids stay up that late? We counted down at 10:00. We might be pansies, but at least we're well-rested ones!) I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but we were too busy having fun!