Christmas Party

I hadn't been to one of my family Christmas parties in about 4 years, so I decided it was time to go to one. I haven't seen some of my cousins and their families for about that long as well. We had a nice breakfast, had an ugly sweater contest, sang songs, Santa came, and then we went bowling. I didn't get any pictures of us bowling (I left my camera in the car). But the kids had a great time bowling, even Sicaly bowled- get this- she got a higher score than I did!!!! It was great to see family and we had a fun time- my aunt did a great job!!!

My grandma with some of her great grandchildren

Hallee with Santa

Blyss with Santa

Sicaly with Santa

The ugly sweater winners- Holly on the right took1st, Kolee 2nd, and my brother Nick took 3rd

On the Farm

While we were in Idaho for Thanksgiving we had some farm pictures taken to put in our presentation when we compete in Nationals in Hawaii. Zak's sister took some pictures at his family's farm with tractors, horses, and beef cows.
Here are some pictures at my family's dairy farm- this is were I grew up and what I did while growing up!

Sicaly saying, "MOOO"

In the milking parlor- my dad and brother

Putting Milkers on the Cows

Going to feed the baby calves

Blyss with the baby calf named after her- Blyss- it is fun that they each have a calf to check up on each time we go to the farm, so they can see how much the calf has grown and what pen she is in know.

Hallee with Hal, the white calf

Sicaly helping stir milk replacer to feed to the calves

When we go to the farm we alway have to see Grandma Bazil

I thought this was funny- Blyss sitting in Grandma's foot stool eating chips- this foot stool is the best toy for a kid!

1st Snow Storm of the Season

About a week ago we had a great big storm- I think about 10 inches of snow. I took Sicaly out in it and she just loved eating the snow. Hallee wanted to make a snowman and boy, she made a big one! All the while being outside the snow just kept coming down.

Hallee and her snowman

The next day we stayed inside trying to keep warm- Blyss and Sicaly were playing in my bedroom, I went in to check on them and Blyss had arranged Sicaly like this, with all her babies and stuffed animals. Sicaly just kept kissing and kissing her babies. It was pretty sweet.

We Are.......

GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!

Zak and I are involved with Farm Bureau- with the Young Farmer and Rancher Program- last Febuary we went to Washington DC with other couples to meet with congress. This past spring (this is our 3rd year doing it) we filled out an application for the excellence in ag award.

Here is a little more about it:

The Young Farmers & Ranchers Excellence in Agriculture Award recognizes young farmers and ranchers who actively contribute and grow through their involvement in agriculture and Farm Bureau. The award is designed for an individual or couple who do not have the majority of their income subject to normal production risk. Competitors are judged on a combination of their:

• Involvement in agriculture.
• Leadership ability.
• Participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations (i.e., civic, service and community).

So anyways last night was the Award Ceremony, there was 13 couples from the state of Utah who had applied for it. They anounced the 2nd runner up for the award, then the 1st runner up, at that point I knew we weren't going to win anything because we never had been runners up, then they called Zak and my name- and we were both totally shocked!!!
Along with the trip to Hawaii (were we will compete nationally with couples from all the other states), we were also rewarded a brand new four wheeler, a helmet, insurance on the four wheeler and $500 for winning this award!
Every year Farm Bureau holds there national meeting in different places- how lucky this year it is to be in Hawaii!

Zak also competed in the Discussion Meet (this is his 4th year doing this), it started Wednesday night in Layton, he did 2 half hour rounds of discussing farm topics with 3 other competerors. He made it to the final 8, that night was another half hour of discussing and coming up with ideas/resolutions to some agricultural concerns. Then they narrow it down to 4, which Zak made it to the final four. On Thursday was anothe half hour discussion. He did so great- it is very nerve racking for both of us- more for him of course- lots of pressure and quick thinking! I really thought he had won.
Last night, they announced the winners at the Awards Ceremony-- the winner was announced after we already won the excellence in ag award. Zak won 1st runner up-- which is totally awesome- he won $300.
It all worked out, because you can't go to Nationals in 2 areas.

Final 4 Discussion Meets

Awards Night- when Zak took 1st runner up

HERE WE COME HAWAII
It will be fun- my parents will be there with Farm Bureau, then some other couples we know from our Washington DC trip will be there!

Blinds are a fun Toy!

I never know day to day what I'm going to find in the blinds- the girls like to hide things in them, use them as a bed for the barbies, or try to scare me with a clay snake wrapped around in the blinds. I'm really glad my girls have great imaginations!

I had to throw these pictures in- Hallee wanted so bad to have lots of leaves to jump in and play in, so I told her to go rake up the leaves and see if she could get a pile- so here is their pile, they had fun for a few minutes, then they let me know it wasn't enough leaves to have fun. I let her know someday we will have lots of leaves!

Halloween 2011

What a fun Halloween we had. The girls had a couple of parties before Halloween, one at the Elementary School and one at Dance. Blyss dressed up as something different everytime.
This Halloween I even dressed up as a witch- thought I better since I was doing the preschool Halloween party with Blyss's preschool group. It was fun!
Sicaly was even excited over Halloween this year, she felt very special getting dressed up and makeup on. She even carried her Halloween bucket with her every where she went- she would not let me or Zak hold it while trick or treating. It was fun to have all the kids enjoy it this year.

Hallee and Blyss ready for their Dance Party-Hallee was a hip hop dance- she thought she was pretty cool stuff! Hallee really likes Rocky off of Shake It Up- so that is who she is!

Blyss is a Fairy and Sicaly just wanted to be in the picture.

The Back of the Costumes- so you can see Sicaly's butterfly wings and Blyss' cat tail

Our pumpkins this year- top step is Sicaly's- a happy face. Middle step is Blyss'- a cat face. Hallee's is bottom stip- a vampire face.

The Halloween Preschool Party:

The frosted sugar cookies- and every inch of those cookies were covered in candy.

The Pumpkin Walk

For Blyss' preschool we went to the Pumpkin Walk, it is so fun to see people's creativity and what they can come up with and to do to pumpkins. Here are a few of our favorites:

Angry Birds- Sicaly, Blyss, Collin and Josh Miller

Blyss and Sicaly with Ms. Spider Sunny Patch

Blyss and Sicaly with Despicable Me

Blyss and the Zoo

Blyss and Sicaly in Zombie Land

The Crew

Blyss, Maziy, Josh, and Caleb- our preschool group

What They Do.....

This is what Sicaly and Blyss did to keep themselves entertained the other day while I cleaned bathrooms......

They pretty much drug everything out from Sicaly's room and brought it into the front room. Then Sicaly was was laying on all the pillow pets! They had so much fun, they were giggling and they worked very hard. But then they weren't to happy about cleaning it up.

Here are the girls and I ready to go to Church- Hallee and Blyss in their new church clothes- they looked so stinkin cute!

Cruise

Zak won us a free cruise to Ensanada Mexico, Zak won this by being in the top 5 for sales in Poultry Feed in his company- the whole United States! We boarded our ship in Long Beach, CA. It was overwhelming at first- the ship was HUGE!!! Their was alot to figure! On Friday we ate lunch on the boat, we walked around the boat-trying to figure out where things were, we had a meeting with all the Cargill people who also won this trip- the Utah State BYU football game was on, we watched that- I was not to happy about this- there was so much to do, and we ended up watching TV. We had the late dinner every night at 8:15. But on Friday night I was feeling a little sick- motion sickness- so we went right to bed and after that I was fine!
On Saturday we got to Ensanada- so we went and walked around downtown, watched the funny seals. Then later we went on a tour to the Blow hole- there is only 3 in the world- it was pretty cool. Where the Blow Hole was their was the flea market- I felt like I was being attacked by purianas- Holy Cow- those mexicans wanted to make us a deal on everything! On Saturday night we went to the family friendly comic show- the guy was so funny we decided we would check out his adult comedy show to- he was very good and funny! We also went to the main show- dancing and singing- it was really good to- some awesome talent. Then we decided we would go to one of the clubs as a group and go dancing- the band was great and we had so much fun dancing- it had been in forever since we danced! We stayed out unitl 1:30am!
On sunday we slept in had breakfast, then the chocolate bar, then we thought we better burn some of those calories off, so we went and played minature golf with some of our friends- that was so much fun! Then we played cards with Zak's boss and his wife. Then we had the Cargill award ceremony were Zak and others were recognized and given an award for their hard work! That night we went to a different comedian and out dancing again.
On Monday we headed back home- we swayed like we were on the ship for 2 more days! We had such a blast, we saw lots of intersting people and things- I think one of the fun things was people watching- I could not believe how much alcohol was consumed- we were definatley on a party cruise- so that made for some intersting encounters!
My mom watched the girls, they had lots of fun- and Sicaly became very attached to my mom and did not want me, she cried and cried when my mom left and did not want Zak or me.

Me in front of our boat

Zak with Ensadada behind him

The Blow Hole

Zak and I at the Blow Hole

One of the World's largest flags

The Seal's- they were fun to watch!

Who knew what you could do with towels

Zak at the awards night

At the dance club- having a great time