Halloween 2011

We had a great halloween this year. Everyone enjoyed the traditional halloween party at G'ma and G'pa Jensen's house. They always go to so much work to make it special and memorable for everyone. There were many games and lots of food.

On the home front, I gave the kids the chance to experience pumpkin carving first hand. I think the photos speak for themselves. Yes, that is a genuine dry heave I captured on Sarah's face (Yes, I'm an awesome mom like that). Even though Josh is past trick or treating :( I still had to include him in the obligatory front porch photo. This year, Andrew was all big and cool and went out with friends. I took the girls around the neighborhood with the Scott's. They had a great time. Jenna almost made it around the whole neighborhood, but pooped out w/ a couple streets to go. The neighborhood was extra busy this year (and I'm sure for years to come). We have several house that go all out and I mean ALL OUT as in graveyards and Thriller performances. Chad joked that we should have them pay for all the extra candy we have to buy to accomodate all the people that drive into the neighborhood.

September tradition

Each September brings our annual visit to the Utah State Fair with Grammy. The kids always look forward to a few rides that make mom worry if lunch will stay down or not. We always love seeing the animals and each year we are surprised by what we see and learn. This year we loved seeing all the chickens. I thought I'd never say a chicken could be beautiful, but there really was some pretty poultry! I had no idea there was such a variety in colors, sizes and feathers! No fair experience is complete without some food. Moochies meatball subs, shaved ice and kettle corn were on the menu for this year. Maybe next year we will try a fried twinki (or not).

Bittersweet

"Through tears and trials, through fears and sorrows,
through the heartache and loneliness of losing loved ones,
there is assurance that life is everlasting. Our Lord and
Savior is the living witness that such is so."

-Thomas S. Monson

 And in the words of Herodotus...

"Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men." Grandpa, enjoy hiding from your weary body and we look forward seeing you again. We will miss the teasing.  We will miss the stories. We will miss the honor of having one who lived such an amazing life in our presence. We love you.

A wonderful Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful day yesterday. I hope you did, too. It was rather low-key, but equally enjoyable. We had Chad's parents over. We spent the day watching movies, playing games, putting up the tree and talking. Always a bit of Medeiros humor(notice the picture of turkey). I think I've found the key to the perfect, low stress Thanksgiving dinner: part homemade....and part, well, not homemade! Seriously, if you can find delicious rolls and potatoes made by someone else, why not? Cuts my time and stress way down! I did however, make the turkey, stuffing, apple pie and appetizers. Chad's mom helped with the yams, cranberry sauce and other treats. It was a delicious dinner. This year, my friend suggested I add sausage to the stuffing. Have you tried that? Mmm...very good! We really had a great time just hanging out together. At the end of the night, Peggy and I made a pact to go two weeks without sugar (I have to take baby steps!). I have never, ever committed to something like this...please wish me luck!

PS...Can anyone help with Photoshop? I went to to my normal canvas/photo collage and after cropping the photos and trying to move them to the new canvas, they are huge! I checked the crop and canvas size and everything looks right...any suggestions?? I hate not being able to do the photo collages.

Congratulations Tammi and Shep!

On Saturday, we had the honor of attending the wedding of Chad's sister, Tammi to Shep Bailey. What a beautiful ceremony it was. They were married in the Newport Beach temple. Have you seen this temple? It's amazing. It's very small and intimate...gorgeous details. We are just thrilled for the both of them...what an awesome couple. They celebrated that night with a beautiful garden reception and dinner at the Marriott. The flowers, the food, the view and of course the people were incredible. What a fun night celebrating Tammi and Shep. Congratulations....we love you both!

It was a whirlwind trip, but we did manage to squeeze in some fun. We stayed with Rick and Suzanne in San Diego. What a beautiful place to live. While we were there, we played lots of Rock Star/Band (is that what's it's called?), went to the beach (loooved it), visited La Jolla (beautiful!) and saw the San Diego temple (beautiful, too!). Sarah and Gabrielle even got to have pedicures done with the moms...they loved that and thought they were so grown up. The cousins had such a wonderful time hanging out. Although we don't get to see the Medeiros cousins as often as we'd like, the kids have no problem picking up right where they left off!

Good times with the "Mead-e-air-os" family ;)

The last week of June, we were lucky to have visits from some of Chad's family. Chad's granparents came into town to celebrate G'ma Ginger's 90th birthday! Yep, NINETY years, isn't that amazing? We met for dinner at Magelby's where she was personally serenaded by the restaurant's manager. She just loved the attention. We were also able to have them over for dinner. We love having the opportunity to have them in our home. G'ma Ginger even played some of her songs on the piano. It's so fun to see her play and to hear her personality come out through the music. The music she plays is so telling of the time in which she grew up. She did lots of singing and dancing in the Pre-WWII era.

Later in the week, we had another special visit. Chad's twin, Marc and his boys came to visit. We absolutely enjoyed every minute we got to spend with them. In the past, we've only gotten to see him and his boys about once a year...a record we hope will soon improve! :) I can't believe Chase is going to be a senior; it seems like only yesterday day he was clinging onto my wedding dress as we came out of the temple! We had fun teasing Chase about his girlfriend and we loved hearing about all his plans for college and the future. It was so cute to see how much Jenna took to him. She is very selective to whom she gives her attention. Even after they left, she continued to ask, "Where's Chase?" The boys also loved spending time with Chandler. This cutie has the most gorgeous blue eyes and awesome blond hair...look out girls! Josh and Andrew loved hanging out him....playing the Wii, basketball, swimming, the computer...they just had a great time!

I'm so glad Chad was able to spend time with Marc. It's been a tough several months for him and I know there is no better healing and strengthening power than that of family. They share a bond that few can understand. There are the inside jokes, the music, the memories, the sports and so much more. More importantly, they had the opportunity to be together and just talk.

*

PS...Lest you think you've been saying our last name wrong, I should mention that the name pronunciation in the title is not really how you say our name (just the way the temple sealer decided to say it, so we always joke about it)

So exciting...

to watch and help with the wedding preparations for Chad's sister Tammi! We are all so thrilled for her and we can't wait to meet Shep. He sounds so wonderful and we are so glad they've found each other! She will be coming to Utah for a shower in June (she lives in CA). It was fun to make these invitations for her shower...I don't get to play with paper nearly often as I used to. My sister, Heather took the most amazing engagement photos and I couldn't resist using one on the invitations. I can't wait to celebrate with Tammi when she comes out for the shower!

Easter Highlights

*COLORING EGGS*DINNER AND EGG HUNT WITH BOTH GRANPARENTS*HAM & POTATOES*TOO
MUCH CANDY*LOTS OF FUN!!

Sugar cookies and more snow

Grammy came over this afternoon to make Valentine cookies

with the kids. As always, they are thrilled to have time with any

of their g'parents. Unfortunately, an afternoon snowstorm made

for a record-breaking frosting session

(Yes, more snow).

The kids had a great time making a mess and eating cookies...thank you so much Grammy! :)

ETA: Wow, what a snowstorm. We got blasted. It was so much the amount of snow that was a problem, it was the WIND and the timing (afternoon rush hour) that it hit. It literally took Chad 4 hours to get home from work last night. He left Orem at 5 and got home at 9! In Alpine, there were 3 bus loads of kids that couldn't get home and had to spend the night at the school. People were even spending the night at gas stations. Craziness, pure craziness.

Early Christmas

Grammy and Papa are heading to California next week for Christmas, so we got to celebrate with them tonight! Each year, the kids look forward to decorating a gingerbread house with grammy. This year was no different...it turned out just as creative and messy as always. Such a fun tradition! Grammy and Papa also came bearing gifts tonight. Webkins, books, jerseys, a doll, a bike and Pixel Chix were among the gifts. (and a Costco membership for Chad and I....looks like I'm in trouble!). Thank you so much Grammy and Papa...we had a wonderful time with you tonight. We love you and appreciate all you do for us.

Celebrating 65 Years!

This last weekend, the Medeiros family celebrated the 65th wedding anniversary of Pat and Ginger. Wow...now, that's worth celebrating! Rick had arranged for all the kids to surprise them at "The Roof" restaurant at the Joseph Smith building. (gorgeous roof-top view of the temple and downtown SLC...and a yummy buffet) It was so fun to surprise them as they got off the elevator. Unfortunately, G'pa felt too sick at dinner and had to leave early. He didn't feel well all weekend, but put on a brave face for the rest of us. We really had a great time hanging out all weekend. This was the first time Marc had ever been to our home. We absolutely loved having him here and can't wait for him to visit again. It was so fun to visit with Tammi about her new home and to talk home decor with her! On Sunday, everyone came to church with us. They got to see all of us "perform" in some way or another...it was the primary program, Chad was conducting, Josh passed the sacrament and I taught the relief society lesson. Sunday night, G'pa felt especially sick. He spent tues-wed in the hospital. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and it was determined he had likely suffered a mild heart attack sunday night. Although he wasn't feeling well all weekend, it was sure special to have the Medeiros family together...great time...great memories! G'pa we love you and hope you feel better soon!