Prom Night

No, that title is not a typo.  Colby and I went to prom last night.  More well known as the DMU Winter formal. I went with pretty low expectations (honestly, I was picturing a gymnasium with streamers and balloons) and I ended up being very impressed.  The gala was held at the Polk county convention center, it was decorated very nicely with formal tablecloths and chair covers and huge centerpieces on the tables.  (Colby's friend Bryce said, "wow, this is nicer than my wedding.")  The food was wonderful!  They had a chocolate fondue fountain, fancy cheese and crackers, fresh fruit and about fifty different kinds of cheesecakes, cakes and other desserts. The best part about it was it was free!  (well, it came with the small price of paying $25, 000 a year in tuition). We had a great time, and I even got Colby to bust a move on the dance floor.

 

Colby was thrilled that I made him take this picture. These are actually real flowers, not just a cheesy backdrop- so it was one step up from the Junior prom.

Adams and Olsons enjoying the dance.

Just one of my many mad dance moves.

Skye, Celeste, Shauni, Sara, Auprielle, Kelly and Lisa. 

Bryce and Natali Jolley, who we were able to coerce into going out with us before the dance.

Some of the great decorations. 

Shauni, Auprielle and Lisa.

Kelly, Sara, Natali and Shauni

Zack and Lisa Nance.

Bryce and Natali.

Some of you may laugh at the idea of us going to a formal dance (I did at first and so did the lady at the jewelry store and everyone I work with.) But we had a great time and I am really glad we were able to go.  Now if I can just talk Colby into taking me again next year.

Happy Valentines Day

Once again, we have had many fun celebrations for Valentine's day.  The boys both had parties at preschool and we had a party at our house for their friends to come over. The boys were also excited to get presents in the mail from both Grandmas. We now have tons of candy, cookies and other treats at our house!

Carter waiting for his turn to hand out Valentines.

The kids at preschool checking out their Valentine loot.

It's party time! 

I decorated more cookies myself than all the kids put together. 

Decorating cookies.

Totally unrelated to Valentines day, but still funny....   Carter has started getting himself dressed in the morning, it is really nice that he can get dressed without help and he is excited to be independent.  Yesterday, I was in a hurry to go to work in the morning, I rushed the kids out the door and was gone all morning running errands.  We went to the YMCA, Target, Hyvee and Ammon's preschool before I realized that Carter had his pants on backwards.  Luckily, the camouflage made it harder to tell that they were on backwards!

An Icy Weekend

This weekend had an "icy" theme.  Friday night, it was our turn to watch kids for the babysitting exchange. We had an ice age party where the kids made marshmallow igloos, did ice experiments and of course, watched ice age.  Saturday afternoon I commented to Colby that I thought our townhouse was cold, our thermostat was set at 70 degrees and according to the atomic clock, it was 62 degrees inside. I didn't think much of it and I left for work. When I got home from work at 10:30, it was 52 degrees inside.  Colby said, "I think our heater is broken."  Of course, I couldn't find the after hours maintenance phone number and I thought it was too late to harass the neighbors for it, so we went to bed with a space heater in the boy's room and 4  blankets, sweats and slippers on in our room.  When we woke up this morning it was 43 degrees in our townhouse.  I immediately called Nances, who saved the day with the maintenance phone number.  Once I called, the nice maintenance guy came over and promptly fixed our heater. It is now slowly warming up. It is now a balmy 56 degrees and my boys are running around without their shirts on (staying close to the space heater of course!) 

The kids at the ice age party.

Playing dress ups.

Our Marshmallow igloos.

Driving our cars on sheets of ice.

I apologize for yet another weather related post.  After this weekend, I am really ready for Spring and even more ready to move somewhere tropical!

Snow Day

I know I have blogged about the weather a lot lately, but it seems like some days it is the most exciting thing happening around here.  Today was one of those days. We had a busy day planned today including working at the YMCA this morning,  crazy opposites day at preschool this afternoon and a personal progress activity tonight (that I still wasn't totally prepared for) sometime between all of that I had hoped to go to Lisa's and work on my sewing project.  I was actually relieved when I woke up at 6:30 to find that Colby was still in bed (after I know he had  already gotten up showered and told me goodbye at 5:00) and discovered that we had gotten 9 inches of snow overnight.  I wasn't excited about more snowy weather, but I was pumped that Colby's school was closed and he got to spend the whole day with us.  Work, preschool and Young Women's were also cancelled and my stressful day ended up being really nice.  We were able to spend some quality family time, made a big breakfast, cleaned out our closet, ran errands, played games with the kids, let the boys play in the snow and talked to Grandma and Grandpa Frost on the webcam.  I wish more days were like this!

It takes a really cute kid to make snow boots look this good.

Ammon was excited to go out and play in the snow.

Oakley, Ashlyn and Ammon playing in the snow (poor little Carter missed out again.  He hasn't taken a nap in 6 months and he was napping today when the kids went outside.)

We're so grateful for good friends!  Thank you Lisa for letting Ammon come over and play while I was stressing (unnecessarily) over my YW activity.

Our Robot Creation

Last week, the boys and I started cleaning out the garage.  The kids were great helpers and had a great time climbing and hiding in the little nooks and crannies of all our "stuff."  Ammon claimed these boxes that I was ready to throw away and made a robot out of them.  I love how creative kids are!

I must add that this huge "robot" is still in the boys' bedroom.  I haven't figured out how to get rid of it without breaking Ammon's little heart. 

January Thaw

Monday we had some great weather! The temperatures here raised 60 degrees from what they were last week.  We took advantage of the nice weather (51 degrees!) and took the kids to ride bikes and scooters. Unfortunately the "January Thaw" lasted just over 24 hours.  Last night we were back down to negative 24 (with the windchill).  I am grateful for the little miracles in life like one nice day to play outside in the middle of January. 

 

As I was taking this picture of Cannon and Ammon, I told them to smile and say "buddies."  Right after I snapped the picture, Carter ran over and stood by Ammon saying, "BUDDDDIIIES."  It was so cute I had to take another picture.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Natali

The rules are as follows:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)

2. Open the book to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence

4. Post the next 5 sentences

5. Tag 5 people

As soon as she said it, Mike did his best to project his thanks to Singer telepathically.

"Maybe he's trying to tell you something"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, Maybe that he hasn't been getting enough attention lately."

"Oh, he gets plenty of attention."

From Nicholas Sparks, The Guardian.  For curiosities sake, I am tagging members of my book club- Lisa, Skye, Sara and Auprielle (I know that's only four people, but the rest of them don't have blogs)

Glass half full

I was tempted to title this post, "Is this hell... no, it's Iowa,"  but after reading my friend Tanya's blog

about finding joy, even in January, I was inspired to be a little more optimistic. For those of you who are not currently living in Iowa, may I advise you not to visit in the winter.  It is currently negative 11 degrees outside with a windchill of negative 21 degrees. When I checked weather.com, I also found this windchill advisory.  Apparently we are living in the Arctic...

WEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO DIMINISH THIS MORNING BUT CONTINUE AROUND 10 MPH THROUGH MID MORNING. THE COMBINATION OF THESE WINDS AND VERY COLD AIR TEMPERATURES WILL LEAD TO WIND CHILLS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE AFTER SUNRISE AS TEMPERATURES SLOWLY WARM AND WINDS CONTINUE TO WEAKEN.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS... MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.

I would like to tell you that today I will be staying inside, sitting with a cup of hot chocolate, but instead I will be bundling my kids and going to preschool registration and swimming lessons.  Here is the glass half full part: even though we are freezing and homesick from our recent visit to Utah, I am so grateful for all of the blessings in my life.  I have a wonderful husband and two great kids. (Let's just pray they don't turn into little popsicles this morning). Colby is getting a good education and I have a job that allows me to be with my kids during the day. 

I would love to hear from all of you your reasons why January is NOT the worst month of the year!!

The ABC's of me

I got tagged by my friend Skye, so you get to hear from me once again. This is the ABC's of you. Each player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

A- Attached or single: Attached.

B- Best Friend: Colby all the time, Kami, Lisa Harward and Jen in Utah, Lisa Nance and Celeste in Iowa, Ammon and     Carter when I want to laugh. 

C-Cake or Pie: Cake definitely. Especially chocolate.

D- Day of Choice: Thursdays for TV. Friday nights for social activities and Sundays because that's the only time Colby is home. (I would say Sundays all around but I'm really not loving this 9 am church)

E- Essential Item: Cute jeans to wear, icecream to eat, a sippy cup and fruit snacks if I'm going shopping with my boys.

F- Favorite Color:  Purple or brown to wear, red for my house.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms.

H- Hometown: Layton, Utah 

I- Indulgence(s): reading, taking time for myself to go running, eating gooey icecream, shopping

J- January or July: July for sure. FYI last night it was negative 5 degrees, negative 19 with the wind chill factor. 

K-Kids: Ammon- almost 5, Carter-almost 3

L-Life is incomplete without: My sweet husband and two little boys.

M- Marriage Date: February 15, 2001

N- Number of Siblings: Four, two brothers Scott and Daniel and two sisters Jen and Leslee

O- Oranges or Apples: Apples, right now I am on a honeycrisp apple kick.

P- Phobias or Fears: rodents and reptiles.

Q- Quote(s): "It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly."  This is on the wall above my computer, it will be my mantra for the next 5 1/2 years.

R- Reason To Smile: Only one more semester of "book work."  Almost seven years of marriage and I am still totally in love. After 5 days off the boys go back to preschool tomorrow. Colby's parents are coming to visit in March. The kids are in bed and Colb is studying and I am sitting in complete silence.

 S- Season: Fall, although right now I am really looking forward to Spring. 

T- Tag Six: Marcie, Karin, Emily, Leslee, Aleese, Crystal, anyone else who will!

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I have been tagged so many times I don't know if I have any secrets anymore. When I was little I had a pet hamster that I liked to dress up in Barbie clothes. His short life ended tragically when he hung himself by the blind cord. (I swear, this is true)

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Neither, I really like vegetables and chicken- but not many other meats.

W- Worst Habit: Hands down being late. I am always at least 4 minutes late to everything.

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I've never broken a bone so I guess ultrasounds.

Y- Your Favorite Food: Chicken, Ice cream, breakfast food for dinner.

Z: Zodiac: Aries

Third times the charm

Ammon is taking swimming lessons (for the third time), but this time he is actually participating!  We are so excited that he is willingly getting in the water and listening to his teachers and he hasn't even whined about the water being too cold.  

Once again, Carter has to sit on the sidelines because he's not 3 yet.  I help ease the disappointment with some bribery from the vending machine.

Hopefully our persistance will pay off and Ammon will learn more about swimming and have a good experinece this time!

Not a waste after all...

My cousin Emily had this posted on her blog and I thought it was interesting. It is good to know that my college education is being put to good use for something!

Fast Payday Loans

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The Frost Family by Daniel Stewart

After we received a couple of compliments on our family picture at the temple I decided I need to give credit where credit is due.  While we were in Utah my little brother Daniel and his girlfriend Beccah took some family pictures for us. He did a great job.  Daniel has been taking some photography classes in college and just got a new camera for Christmas, we were more than willing to let him practice on us.  For any of you who have ever attempted to take a picture of my kids you will know what a daunting task this is.  My boys refuse to look at the camera and rarely smile for a picture. I was really pleased with how well these pictures turned out.  Thanks again Daniel and Beccah!

Christmas vacation

For Christmas we went to Utah and had a great vacation.  We spent the week visiting with family, going to our favorite Utah restaurants, playing games going to lunch with friends and eating a lot of Christmas goodies. It was so good to see our families and friends. Ammon and Carter had so much fun playing with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.  Ammon told me that we need to just move to Utah. Thanks to my mom and dad and Ron and Susan for being so generous and taking us to dinner and movies.  Thank you Brianna and Susan for babysitting so we could go on a couple of dates without our little kiddos.  Thanks to Dan and Crystal for coining the phrase "Bingo-Bango" that spiced up our game nights. We had a great time and hopefully we will see everyone this Summer.   I have so many pictures I decided to do a slide show, hope you enjoy it!

The Greatest Snow on Earth

One of our favorite things about Utah is all the great SNOW !!  Sure, it snows in Iowa but it is icy and we don't have any mountains.  It doesn't come close to the "greatest snow on earth." We took advantage of the great snow by going skiing and sledding during our trip.  

We went sledding with Grandma Stewart and it was a beautiful day.

The boys had a great time with their cousins Baylee and Natalee. 

They got in a snowball fight with Grandma and were covered with snow. 

 Good thing it was a nice day!

We went skiing with the Frost family and had a blast!  Ron, Jared, Dan, Logan, Crystal, Taylor, Colby and I went up to Brighton and it was frigid.  Despite the cold, it was a great day. Nothing can compare to a good day of skiing. 

The gang at the top of the ski hill.

Colby and I warming up at the end of the day.

Our day was almost thwarted by some missing ski equipment, thanks to Carolee,

 Crystal and Susan for lending me theirs !!

Crystal, Colby and Jared.