The Lundgren Christmas Party

On Saturday we drove up to Milburn for some family fun. Milburn? (yes this town is in Utah). This is what it looks like on a map:



The town is located just outside of Fairview. Our family has been to Milburn three times, the first two times it was just dirt. However, this time a newly built beautiful custom home now sits on the land.

The ironwork on the front porch was a nice touch:



Grandpa Lundgren taking the grandkids out for a sleigh ride:











We look forward to coming back up for more fun.

Winter Break, Day 1

This morning I went on a 2 mile run in the snow with a friend. It felt amazing to run again -- it's been a while.

The monkeys have been playing well together so far. S and O have invented a game that consists of grasping hands, spinning each other around in circles, and awarding points to the person who is still standing at the end of the "round." There is a lot of crashing into bookshelves, couches, the Christmas tree, etc.

Now they are having lunch and talking to each other, it seems to me, at the top of their lungs. When I say, "You guys are sitting right next to each other. You don't have to talk so loud," they look at me like I'm crazy. Of course they have to talk loudly, Silly Mom!

Friday night at dinner we were giving H sentences to say like, "Want to eat this, I do!" and "Eat my dinner, I will." Hey, if the boy has a squeaky Yoda-voice we best take advantage of it!

More random posting will ensue this week I am sure.

Ski Utah!

This year is set to be an epic year for O and J!

Today we leave the artificial warmth and comfort of the valley floor, venture out of the thick layer of inversion and into the cold crisp air of the Wasatch mountains.

O looks into the distance, picking out the best lines.





After getting all geared up, O starts up the mountain, totally in the zone!



O slows down just a bit so that a few pictures can be taken.







The super hero pose:



Stay tuned, boys and girls! ...until next week, when O shows us how to ski waist deep in perfect Utah powder.

Boo!

Wee ghosties haunted our house this year for Halloween, but the tough biker dude and his biker chick who live here weren't too scared of them.

Belated...

I am privileged to be married to the sweetest and sexiest man on the planet. (To be fair I made him pose like this.) He was out of town for his birthday, working late and being tired and miserable. I save all the sappy embarrassing stuff for his ears only (you're welcome, readers of the blog) but just wanted to alert you to the fact that he is now 36 years old! Somehow 36 is so much closer to 40 than 35 was. Now he's not in his "early- to mid-thirties." No, now he is in his "mid- to late-thirties." Happy Belated Birthday, JP!

Kindergarten! And 4th Grade

That fat little baby with whom I was on bedrest 6 years ago started Kindergarten this year.

Here he is, ready to ride to his first day of school in style:


And here he is starting to get anxious that mommy was going to leave him:


And here he is about to start the terrified clinging and not letting go of my leg for 10 minutes:


But let go he did, and leave I did, only to pick him up from school 3 hours later happy to be a monkey in Mrs. Smiley's Kindergarten class:


Whew!

S began his public school adventures this year. He still tells me sometimes that he likes Reagan Academy better for certain reasons, but I wouldn't give up his teacher this year for anything. She is amazing and he is doing so well!

August

So in reviewing the posts of this blog I realized that J has been doing all the posting lately and I have been on hiatus. Here is August in a nutshell:



In no particular order,
--We tried the candy 'Warheads' for the first (and last) time
--O got a pet dog that looks remarkably like his little brother at the end of a leash
--We finally threw away our 8 1/2 year old stroller. It's the only single stroller we've ever owned and served us well through 3 kids. Farewell, Peg Perego. Rest in peace.
--O learned how to ride his bike without training wheels
--J and I sat on the swing and took funny self-portraits
--H found that riding on the rear pegs of S's bike is a great way to travel around 'the Island of Sodor' (the block) after receiving his assignment from "Sir Toppins-hat" (mom) to do so
--O created a play-doh mock-up of Arches National Park


My mom celebrated her 65th birthday with us in Orem and had 2 cakes. What a lucky lady. I made the "Brown Derby" (and if you don't know what that is, shame on you -- you need to go back East, walk into a bakery, and order one) and we bought another kind of cake from Gloria's in Provo. The boys made picture frames for her and helped her start her 66th year of life off with a bang!

The first of three...

After remodeling two homes I was a little burnt out with the 'fixer uppers'. So when Esther said, "It is time for our home to look nice. You can choose, the kitchen or the three bathrooms." I naturally took the bathroom option thinking that they would just be weekend projects with minimal cost.

...HA HA.

I should know now that remodel projects are never what they appear to be on the outside, especially with the homes that we buy.

Bathroom #1. ( time estimate = 4 days, actual time = 3 months. )

In my defense all was going very well until we ran into the plumbing issue that required rerouting large drain pipes, and then the many weeks of out of town travel for business. Oh yeah, and since the bathroom floor was so uneven right where the pedestal sink was to stand, we ended up redoing the floor. ...which also was connected to the laundry room ...which then expanded the bathroom remodel into and including the laundry room. ...and so it goes like every project we start.

Before:

Looks quick and easy. ...I know, that's what we thought. It is always what you can't see in the beginning that smiles its evil smile later on.







After:

I figured I would add a little twist to the accent wall and see what would happen.