Coyotes...

Mike and I went to our first Coyote game at the Jobbing.com arena (weird name for an arena!)
We went to dinner at his boss' house then we piled in cars and headed over. I forgot that we would be sitting in a building with giant ice... so it was a little chilly... but I fixed that with some hot chocolate. It was a great game... overtime, then a shootout! The coyotes lost but our tickets are good for a free chalupa from Taco Bell. YAY Coyotes!

We raided the boys closet and dressed in our Coyote best!

It was quite a place going in... shops, eateries, huge lighted billboards and big Coyote hockey guys!

Mike's favorite part... the Zambonies

No more blonde...

When Trent was little he was QUITE blonde compared to his siblings.... Brandon and Trent were the youngest and the other siblings were a lot older.... soooooo.... they used to tell him our family went on a trip and we found him in Russia. So... unknown to me.... he believed he was adopted from Russia for a while. Sometimes they STILL tell him he is adopted from Russia. So here's a picture of him and his brothers a LONG time ago when he was still very blonde:

When he got older and his hair dakened up a lot, he did blonde highlights sometimes.... but NO more blonde now. Here is Trent sporting his new look with dark hair. A lot darker, and still cute!

News from Brazil!!

We finally got an email from Brandon. Sounds like everything is good in Brazil. Here are some excerpts:

Oi! How´s it going in America! I made it to Brazil but I didn´t send you a letter so i will do that now. The brazil ctm is nothing like the one in provo. It is only one building and only aout 300 missionaries are here.I saw andrew before he left and he was excited to go. the food here is not vey good but i´m getting used to it. the ctm is very beautiful and we are in kind of a poor part of são paulo, it is very different than anything im used to seeing. .. My new district is really cool and my new comp is elder nyman, he is from wyoming.the ctm is alot more relaxed than provo and we can go outside the gates on p day. I´m writing this email in a small store down the street from the ctm. we also go teaching this friday so we will head to a busier part of the city for that. We just got back from the são paulo temple and that is really cool because everything was in potuguês, thats because i did inititories. its really cool to go out and about through the city and see things. ..I´m having lots of fun here, the teachers are really good. this city is huge, they said that it is one of the top five biggest cities in the world. But one of my teachers said in goiania there is only cows. Nice that you won the contest! All the brazilians think i´m related to c.s. lewis or jerry lewis. And i guess lewis is really hard for them to say because every single one pronounces it as levis. The e sounds like the e in levy. But its all good, the brazilians are so cool and are really friendly. We also have usa vs brazil pillow fights that we always dominate at. i have it all on video! haha. Poruguese is coming along better now that i can here the real accent and can pronounce things correctly. I´ll be here for about another month and then i´m off. ..I better go now, write back any questions you have. see you later,ate logo.

Decorated!

We finished up decorating this weekend... not that we had that much to do ... just finally had a block of time to do it in! Mike put up our lovely Christmas lights!

I put up the decorations, the Nativity and the Winter village

... and hung the stockings

Me, Mike and Trent decorated the tree.... They did a great job!Thanks to my brother... we have a whole bunch of miniature Craftsman tool ornaments and those are Mike's favorite... NO one else but Mike puts those on!

We don't have room for everything on our little tree... so we pack it full!
Our tree is a memory tree... we don't have a theme or color scheme.... just Christmas memories. We have pictures of all the family members, decorations the kids made when they were little, decorations I made, decorations that friends and family have given us. When Mike and I got married we started collecting Christmas ornaments on our honeymoon. So now everywhere we go we buy a Christmas ornament. It's amazing how many places sell ornaments all year round!

We even have a Partridge!

So now the lights and decorations are in place, the fireplace is going, the baking has begun and the Christmas music is playing.... that means the next thing is ..... SHOPPING!!! We gotta put some presents under that tree!

Winter Formal...

Today is Winter Formal, Here are the pics: Trent all dressed up and ready to go
No winter formal outfit would be complete without a very large rhinestone wristwatch!

The beautiful corsage

Trent and Taylor

Where I work.....

Shhhhhhhhh!!!.... I'm asked all the time... where do you work?... sometimes I just say I'm a receptionist... but I'm gonna tell you where I work.... Get ready....Some people will cringe.... I work for an HOA.... but don't tell! Here we are...So here are the dinghys at work.... no wait... here are all of us at work on the Dinghy! Don't let the picture fool ya... this is NOT a glam job and we really work in a regular ol office!

It's your birthday shout HURRAY!!!

Happy Birthday today to MY MAIN MAN MIKE!!!!

LOVE YA!!!

This is like at 5 in the morning... Mike opening his presents!

Of course.... his favoritest thing for breakfast.... homemade chocolate, chocolate chip muffins... warm right out of the oven and a cup of cold milk! YUM!!