Back to School, Back on the Slopes

It's January and we're back in Provo! I started up school again on Monday-- it's my last semester! I'm only taking 3 classes, but they are all intense reading & writing classes. In fact as of this afternoon, I've already read around 400 pages! They should all be really good classes though so I'm excited for them.

Grant also started an internship on Monday. However, he was informed Tuesday that they only budgeted him to work 8 hours a week instead of the 8 hours a DAY we were originally told.... (I was NOT very happy about that). So Grant has been on the job hunt which is quite interesting. Needless to say, not many people want to hire someone with the economic scare, especially someone who will only be around a few months.

We've also gotten to go skiing lately so that has been great!! Last weekend my whole family was in town so we went skiing up at Brighton. It has been quite some time since all the Peterson's have been up on the slopes together and the first time in Utah! Everyone did great-- Dad & Grant braved some scary double-blacks and Robbie and I attempted a few incredibly difficult runs on our own. Of course, I had a few good tumbles, including one that involved sliding about 20 feet down the mountain not knowing which direction was up... I'm a work in progress...

Today we went up to Snowbird (we bought passes for 10 days there this season) and the snow was GREAT! It was a beautiful day all except for one run when we took the tram up to the top of the mountain. The wind was blowing SO hard-- you could barely see a person in front of you with the blowing snow and when we finally got off the top we had big wind burn lines on our faces. However, I did about 6 black diamonds and I was quite proud. I think I only lost a ski twice and always knew which direction was up :) However, we did have one incident where I couldn't get my ski on for 20 minutes or so because the binding moved when my ski popped off... I don't seem to be the luckiest... But you can't deny that I'm pretty daring! Or was that reckless? hmmm Maybe next time to be lucky I should deck out with these...

Welcome Christmas, Christmas Day!!

It was our 1st Christmas as the Tanners! After finishing some grueling finals (and Grant's very LAST finals!) we packed up and drove to Denver to spend the holidays with the rest of the Tanners! All of Grant's siblings and their respective spouses and child (Kate's the spoiled lone grandchild) were able to make it so it was big party! We did lots of fun things and spent lots of time talking and playing Rock Band and Mariokart. It was great :)

First, we went on a tour of the Celestial Seasonings factory.We got a cool tour of the factory including seeing all of the automated machines. It was a bit like Willy Wonka, but it wasn't smooth and chocolate-y :) We didn't get to take pictures inside so that was a bummer.

But we did get this great shot of Clint & Andrea in their lovely hair nets!

Christmas Eve was Rachel's Birthday. We all went out to dinner and then went light seeing. We saw some pretty intense houses:It took between five and ten minutes just to get down the street to see this house because of all the cars and people walking around! I really liked the ornaments in the trees- fun!

We also had cake for Rachel's Birthday! The big 22!

We spent a lot of our time over Christmas playing with not-so-baby "Baby Kate." She got lots of attention being the only grandkid and we took lots of pictures of her adventures as well:


We had lots of fun playing with our Christmas presents as well! We got an iPod touch from the Tanners and we have had lots of fun figuring that out. We've been sporting our new clothes and I've been attempting to make a new skirt with my new sewing machine-- except I'm quite bad... so Leslie redoes the stuff I totally botch :)

For Christmas Grant also got me tickets to an Avalanche game! I was the envy of all the Peterson family-- to see the Avs in the actual Pepsi Center!!It was a great game AND they won. What a perfect present-- Good job Grant!!


Outside the Pepsi Center-- in some of our new Christmas clothes!

It was a wonderful break and it was great see everyone again. Now it's back to Provo for school and work-- Wahoo!

The end as I know it....

So I am now only two finals away from my undergraduate degree. The last 16-year period of my life is soon-to-be over. It feels...great, wonderful, soo good, liberating, refreshing, fantastic. It also feels...weird, scary, new and unknown. Well, here I go. Wish me luck!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

We've been getting into the Christmas spirit lately! We listen pretty much only to Christmas music, besides a little HSM3 every now and then... Our favorite song this year is "Mistletoe" by Colbie Caillat though Grant also has another favorite which he has threatened to put on the blog... keep your eyes and ears out...

One our of first Christmas-y activities was reindeer making! We made some pretty fun ones-- ones with halos and cross eyes and mohawks. Here is Grant showing off a few of our faves.


We also got a little tree!! It's a bit of a secret and a bit of a scandal because we're technically not supposed to have live trees, but like Grant put it, "What's gonna happen, we burn the cinderblock down?!" So we got a little "pree" for ten dollars and called it "Baby Shrimp."
We only had a few issues getting it to stand up because the trunk was more like a branch, but eventually he stood and we decorated him! Pretty much all we had was the reindeer we had made so those make up most of our ornaments. He's small but he's our first Christmas tree!!
This is the finished product complete with a fake tree skirt and approximately 8 real ornaments :)

And here's how he looks all lit up. Not too shabby for ten bucks!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Moving up in the World...

I am proud to say that I have graduated (at least in part) from my popsicle diet and I have consumed 1/2 of an entire turkey sandwich! Woohoo!! It's true folks, I'm moving up in the world :) I think Grant is happy that I'm no longer a couch blob as well. What a great husband to pull my weight while I was under the weather! Now.... back to school!!

Christmas Time!

Poor Kelsey has been sick all day with the stomach flu. :( The Sprite and Saltine crackers can only do so much. So while she's been resting, I have had some time to think about this Christmas season.

How grateful I am for Christmas time: the garlands and wreaths, the peppermint sticks, the hot apple cider, the sparkling lights, the crisp air, the fresh scent of pine, and the skiing! I am excited that the whole Tanner family will be back in Denver for Christmas. That, in itself, is a wonderful Christmas gift. How grateful I am from Christmas. What a wonderful season it is, as we celebrate the birth of the Savior and His precious gift to all mankind. Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving in Boise

We were originally supposed to spend Thanksgiving in Sun Valley. However, because of lack of snow the slopes didn't open and we drove home to Boise instead! Here are some of the highlights of our adventures:

• Playing with Bryce and "the babies." We had lots of fun dancing to "Soulja Boy," playing Guess Who, and using Bryce as a human leaf compactor as we raked and bagged leaves in the backyard.
  
• Reminiscing about the good 'ole days. "Aunt Bof" made sure we had plenty to reminisce over. We watched Pippi Longstocking movies as well as the Christmas Classic movies. In addition to that the men bought the original Zelda and succeeded in beating the game in nearly 24 hours, a feat only the gods could imagine ten or fifteen years ago :)
• Lots of food! We did two turkeys this year. I did the deep fried one and Lindsay did the stuffed one, with the help of Dad, of course. They both turned out great! However, somehow in all of our years of turkey training, Linds missed the part about taking the neck out of the turkey... so it got cooked as well. Suffice it to say the stuffing wasn't the best... but Robbie's pumpkin pies and Grant & Bof's rolls were both tremendous.
• A double date with Lindsay and Dan to the Garden-a-Glow at the Botanical Gardens. It was really cool and a great way to get in the holiday spirit to see all the lights!
• A haircut! We're still getting used to the bangs idea... but it was time for a change so I took a chance.

We had a great long weekend. There was no homework involved and though we are paying dearly now, it was great to relax and enjoy some family time.

Now we're all ready for our "Welcome Christmas" Party!! It's a new tradition for the new Tanner family. Tonight is the night and we're going to get all decked out for Christmas. What a wonderful exciting season! We can't wait for Grant to graduate and for our Christmas trip to Denver to spend time with more family!!!