Sunset

My sister-in-law started a tradition in our family of monthly temple night. I love it because it helps us all keep up on our regular temple attendance. A couple of weeks ago when we pulled up to the Bountiful Temple, we were greeted by this sunset.

An inspiring way to enter the temple!

And here are the happy campers at dinner after.

Ahhhhh . . . Nature

A couple of weekends ago we headed up to the Ingebrigtsen's cabin. It is always so nice to get away. I mean seriously get away (no cell phone service). 
It's so fun to have Heidi back home for a little visit. Erik and I hadn't seen her in over a year. On Monday morning she joined us for a little cross country skiing and it was just as fun as the one time I did it last year :)

Erik was really feeling in touch with his inner cowboy. We're hoping the folks over at Marlboro might come across my blog and offer him the big bucks to be their next Marlboro man. 

It really is so beautiful up there. I mean don't you half expect Mr. Tumnus to come hopping around one of those trees? I know I did :) 

They have this pole with the mileage to places all around the world (each one with significance to a family member). Quite an impressive group of places if you ask me. Here we are pointing to our special places:
Sara - Tokyo (hope you didn't all forget about my awesome days in Japan)

Erik - Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic

Heidi - Wuhan, China (She currently resides in England, quite the world traveler)

They even had a little birthday celebration for yours truly.

It's been a LONG time since we were all together as a family, definitely time for a picture of the whole crew.

It was just the refreshing weekend that I needed! 

Holiday Recap!!!

My oh my, where does the time go? The holidays were so wonderful, but they always come and go so quickly and then they're over and it's back to normal life and yucky January :) I can't complain too much though because I got a nice LONG break from work which was heavenly. So, here are some of the highlights:
Erik and I were in charge of the Monson family Christmas party (adults only). Because our cozy little condo is a just a little too cozy to host 10 people for a full dinner party, we went to Fat Cat's for a little bowling and pizza. Afterwards we came to our condo for dessert and prizes. It was a really fun night. I decided to give everyone a bowling nickname, so this is what they were presented with when they arrived:

And before you go thinking I'm super creative for coming up with these nicknames, they are actually all nicknames of real professional bowlers. Everyone was thinking I was super duper random before I told them that.

My favorite award went to Ger-dawg for his "triple hop" technique. It's pretty sweet and works really well for him - you should check it out sometime.

Here's the whole famdamily enjoying the festivities:

On to the big day - unfortunately I was too busy relaxing to remember my camera so I had to steal from my sister, thanks Em!

Here are the boys showing off their new shirts and ties (what a bunch of cuties):

And here are the girlies showing of new scarves and bracelets. And, I have to explain the bracelet because it was one of my favorite gifts. My mom had them made from spoons that came from my grandma's flatwear. They are SO cute and so sentimental. I love mine!

We are so silly:

The week after Christmas I did alot of relaxing, spending time with friends and family, eating, etc. etc. It was awesome!! 

And then as the grand finale of the holidays and the year, my birthday. I had a good attitude this year and tried to ignore my increasing age. I was spoiled by my cute husband and was able to celebrate with my family. It was great. Here we are at Trio on the big day for dinner:

My husband resembles a lion in the next picture, but a dang cute lion at that! If you are a fan of the super long curly locks, you'll be sad to know that his wife convinced him it was time for a trim. He does still have a mustache, however, for all of you facial hair lovers.

Other notable holiday highlights:

The birth of the first Ingebrigtsen grandchild - Congrats to Stein & Ashleigh!

My husband gave me an awesome new camera for my bday - get ready for amazing pics.

My mom and I literally got snowed in at our house in Midway.

Boxing day dinner prepared by Helen.

2010 - A GREAT YEAR INDEED