Christmas in Wyoming

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year at Mitch's parents' house in Wyoming! Since it is an 8 hour drive to get there, Santa came a little early and brought Marin a new portable DVD player so she wouldn't go nuts in the car. She was so thrilled and calls it her "DVeedio player" (cross between "video" and "DVD"). We had to trek through some snow, ice, and heavy wind but we made it there Saturday, December 20th. Mitch's brother and sister's families and their combined 8 kids also stayed at Mitch's parents' house so it was a full house! His other sister lives up the road with her 6 kids so with Marin there were 15 grandkids running around, playing, screaming, laughing, eating candy, opening presents, sometimes fighting, but mostly having a blast all week!


We went to Mitch's grandma's house for a large (I'm talking 65 people) Christmas Eve dinner and little program. Mitch's oldest sister EmRee asked Marin to come up and lead the music for the program. She got pretty into it... here is a little video I took with my camera (sorry no sound, I told you I need a new camera!)


Here are a couple of pictures in case you didn't feel the urge to watch the movie...


Then, as tradition goes in the Moncur family, we headed home and Santa had already come (he likes them best I think)! This is what it looks like when Santa comes to 15 kids in one room!

Marin was so excited for Santa to come (because her parents totally psyched her up for the whole affair) and really enjoyed opening her presents, as you can see! Thanks to my mom, we really didn't have to buy Marin much this year!


Okay, I shouldn't have, but I just had to post this picture because these horrible candid shots are the story of my life! Whenever I go through our pictures after an event like this, without fail there are several pictures like this of me! I believe I am trying to get a Tinkerbell doll out of it's box. By the way, what is the deal with dolls being secured to their boxes so thoroughly that it takes an hour to finally get them out!?


Marin's favorite presents came in her stocking...candy, chips, Cheetos! All the junk food I don't normally buy. She had to take a break mid present-opening to eat her Cheetos and Doritos at the same time...


Well, Marin really cleaned up this year. This is the toy box that Mitch built for Marin and I painted. It turned into quite the project, but it matches her room perfectly and is so cute!
Okay, I know this is the longest posting ever, and has been mostly about presents and Santa, but I really didn't forget the true meaning of Christmas I promise. My favorite part about Christmas was getting to spend time with Mitch's wonderful family, who are such good examples to Marin. We missed JaDee and Nicole's family who recently moved clear to ALASKA, and JanaLee's family who were in Texas this year. And I can't let this post be done without listing some of the things I am so grateful for this year...

1. Both Mitch's and my families. Our kids get amazing grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins-- and we get amazing parents, sisters, brothers, and nieces and nephews!
2. For my 2 red-heads-- Mitch and Marin!
3. That our little nephew Bridger survived a very scary, lengthy pediatric ICU stay for an infection that almost took his life this year. We are still praying for him and his complete recovery!
4. For Mitch's secure job that makes it so I can stay home to raise my little Marin.
5. For the chance to add another little girl to our family!
6. For my primary calling that has taught me a lot this year (especially patience!)
7. That my sister Avree moved to Logan this year... woo hoo!
8. That my brother Jaren served a mission in Brazil and came home this year!

This is not an exhaustive list of course, I have many, many more things to be grateful for. These are just the big ones coming to my head at the moment. I hope next year my list will include "Marin being potty trained!" and "That I lost all my baby weight." Here's hoping! I hope everyone else had as merry of a Christmas as we Moncurs did!

Gingerbread House

Tonight for family night we made a gingerbread house with Marin. We were going to make gingerbread houseES, but as we got going, we decided one would be plenty! Of course, Marin enjoyed eating the candy much more than actually decorating the house. I made the "glue" (seriously though, royal icing is pretty much sugar glue) and Mitch piped it all over everything while Marin and I told him where to put it. Marin actually did have the attention span to get into decorating it as long as I told her what we were making (i.e. the fence, the door, the sidewalk, etc.). I think we'll make it a tradition. Maybe someday our houses will not have a gaping hole through the roof and be made out of actual gingerbread!

The "fence" was my idea. Isn't it lovely? Oh, and this is Mitch's creepy little snowman (or penguin?). I think Mitch should quit taxes and become a full time sculptor.


Remember I am 6 months pregnant and pardon my chipmunk cheeks!

Little cheeser! It is tough for me to get a good, non-fake-looking smile from Marin these days! And I do believe I have a pretty dang good-looking husband, even if he is pushing 30!

Christmas!

For my whole life I have been SO into the Christmas season and this year is no different. It has been even better because I have my own child who, for the first time, actually understands Santa Claus and presents and gets so absolutely thrilled over trees and lights that you can't help but feel the Christmas spirit! Seriously, wherever we go Marin practically screams how "boootiful" the lights on houses are and in the stores she'll scream "Mom, look at the boootiful Christmas trees!" Even in Walmart, where the tree is less than beautiful. I have been much anticipating Christmas morning when Marin gets to open her presents and have really had to hold back not getting her too many things (kids toys are inexpensive you can really get carried away I think). Anyway, my mom gave Marin this darling Christmas outfit, complete with little black sparkley Mary Janes and a cute little black pea coat (not pictured, but I will definitely get some professional pics taken soon). We made a Christmas paper chain today to count down the days until Christmas just like we used to do with my family when I was young. And we have many more Christmas activities planned. Ahhh, I love Christmas traditions so much and, well, I am just thoroughly enjoying myself this Christmas season!! Hope it's the same for the rest of you!

Thanksgiving update

Better late than never...

Well, I only set off the smoke alarms once while cooking my Thanksgiving dinner so I'll consider it a success! Actually it was for the recipe below and the veggies weren't even burnt, just a little dark on the bottoms. They were so yummy! Thanks Martha, seriously I am going to make them a bunch this winter because it's a really healthy recipe too. You all should really try it. I have a whole bunch of butternut squash from my garden and that was my favorite. Avree's little baby Spencer was right in the middle of his nap when all the alarms in my house went off! Poor little guy was probably scared to death! I also found another Martha recipe for the turkey that turned out yummy. I made some herb butter (just mix butter and fresh herbs) and rubbed it underneath the skin of the turkey (side note: it was pretty dang disgusting to reach my whole arm up inside the skin, but not as disgusting as sticking my hand up the turkey's butt and cleaning it out. In the middle of getting it all ready I had the thought, "wow I can't believe what I'm actually doing right now.") But... it really made the turkey really yummy and browned it nicely. I forgot to charge my camera batteries so Avree took a bunch of pictures for me, I'll post a few when she gets them to me (don't let the suspense kill you). I have the coolest family, it was great spending time with all of them, especially in my own house! It's the first time I haven't had to travel at least 6 hours for a Thanksgiving in the past 8 years. It was a whole lot smaller than I'm used to-- only 8 adults, but it was one of my favorites yet. And the best part-- we had SIX pies for only 8 of us. Yeah, that's right! My mom makes the best pies ever!

I'm no Martha Stewart...

... but I do visit her website frequently for some awesome recipes. This year I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. By Wednesday all of my siblings will officially live in the same town! Avree's family is moving here on Wednesday-- (I am so thrilled about this, it is too good to be true! Avree's husband got a job at the CPA firm where Mitch works just recently)--and my brothers are here for school. Anyway, since we are all here, my parents are coming to us. Of course, my mom will be making the pies, homemade rolls, and funding the whole event, but I did get to decide the menu and do all the shopping. So I turned to my trusty friend Martha for some yummy ideas for side dishes and some tips on how one goes about cooking a turkey (I was a little ambitious and bought a 21-pounder). Anyway, Martha didn't fail me. Here is one of the side dishes I will attempt on Thursday:


Here is the link to the recipe: Roasted Vegetables

So no one in my family likes yams (including me), but Mitch does. I found this awesome recipe in place of mashed up yams with marshmallows or brown sugar or whatever the heck people usually put on those things that make them look like orange puke. Anyway, here's the recipe. Doesn't it look yummy? I even bought shallots for the first time! Happy happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm just wondering...

When making comments on others' blogs, do the rest of you struggle with those scrambled letters you have to type in before you can comment? I seriously have an impairment when it comes to this process. I have been known to try 5 times before I was actually able to make my comment, and it is pretty standard that I'll have to try at least twice. It shouldn't be this difficult, and yet, every stinkin' time I mess it up!

P.S. I know, I know-- I have this on my own blog (I got some weird spam-like comments so I had to add the feature).

P.P.S. And I'm posting a few pictures of Marin just to "cuten" up this post!

Drumroll please....

.... AND, it's another girl! We just found out today that we are having another little girl. For some reason, both Mitch and I kind of expected another girl-- although we would have been thrilled either way. The 4-D ultrasounds are so amazing. Now I will have 2 girls who are 3 years apart, just like Avree and I-- and since Avree is my best friend, I'm excited for Marin's new little best friend to arrive!

October fun

I must admit, I am a little sad to see October go. I really have enjoyed the Fall season since I've moved to Logan (almost 8 years ago!), because in St. George where I grew up, there's just really not much of a Fall. I enjoy the crispness of the air and the amazing fall colors on the trees. Now that it's November, it means the cold and snow are coming soon and I have to say, winters here are a trial for me. They're just so LONG... well anyway, here are some cute pictures taken of Marin over the past few weeks. Goodbye October!

This is our family's attempt at pumpkin carving. I know, we should go pro. I'm the one who carved the retarded "Boo" pumpkin. I truly expected the middle of the letters "B", and "O" to float magically inside the hole I carved out. No such luck.


This is Marin as a ladybug and Spencer (Avree's little guy) as a hotdog. I apologize the picture's a little fuzzy, but it's the only one Marin is even attempting to smile. Spencer kept trying to touch Marin's hair and face during the pictures and she kept swatting him away and getting mad.


Doesn't she just look thrilled for trick-or-treating? I couldn't get her to smile in these pictures either. She really did LOVE trick-or-treating though. At one point in the night she said to Avree, "People just keep giving me lots of candy!"


We had a little Halloween party with our friends. We ate pumpkin-shaped pizza from Papa Murphys and caramel apples (made by me, not pictured because I don't generally take pictures of food, and because they looked disgusting. They did taste really good though). Here is a picture of the kids. This was the best picture I got! I am in desperate need of a new camera with a faster shutter speed! Lately all of my pictures have been blurry like this! But we had to document the cute costumes Scott and Allie were wearing!

First Haircut

Well I know this little red-head doesn't have much hair to cut, but it was time for a trim. I busted out my hair-cutting scissors (used for the purpose of cutting my bangs that grow like weeds) and with 2 swipes, it was done. Marin was pretty excited about the whole thing. We talked for a long time about how only moms can cut hair and never never little 2-year-olds. Don't be surprised if my next post is a picture of Marin's hair chopped to the scalp though. Anyway, I love this cheesy picture!

Sweet, sweet appetite!

I just have to announce that my appetite has returned! After 18 long weeks of absence, my appetite has made its appearance once again-- along with my sanity! I am vomit-free for 2 weeks! I've always enjoyed a healthy appreciation of food and eating (I went to college and studied food, for heaven's sake!) and I was really beginning to miss it! Now if I could get a little more energy (to do such things as organize my disaster of a basement) my life would be complete!

I don't have pictures to prove it, but Marin and I have been doing all kinds of activities in the past week. We are doing art projects, Halloween projects/decorating, dancing like crazy, pretending all sorts of fun games, and we even made Halloween cookies and invited friends to come over to help decorate them. Marin was not interested at all, but hey, I tried! I am trying to make up for the lost brain activity Marin may have experienced from having had such a deadbeat mom for the past few months! Seriously, I didn't realize just how crappy I felt until now when I am feeling back to myself. I think I may even venture back to the gym after my LONG absence. I'm sure there will be more gym stories to come-- oh, can you imagine if I was clutzy at the gym when I wasn't pregnant how clutzy I will be now? I'll have to be careful! Well I think I will now go and enjoy a nice bowl of my favorite ice cream! :)

The Joy of Motherhood...

Last night I looked through all of Marin's baby pictures... not necessarily because I was feeling nostalgic (although that has happened a lot since I've been pregnant), but because I needed a friendly reminder of the end result of pregnancy. Yesterday was not my best day. It actually started the night before, when I had to wake up FOUR times to use the restroom. My kidneys must be working overtime at night, and I'm positive my uterus is squished up against my bladder-- well, the combination keeps me up at night. Then in the morning I woke up feeling sicker than usual--geez, I'm 17 weeks along, don't you think the nausea should be letting up? Anyway, I tried to hurry and eat, but it didn't last long in my stomach. I went to a doctor's appointment and realized I had gained 9 pounds! I busted out my first pair of stretchy pants and noted that my arms and face are looking quite a bit fatter than usual...

So, I broke out my journal and read about when Marin was born and looked at baby pictures and remembered that the end result of these 9 months will be something like this:



And I felt OH so much better!

The time has come...

Woo hoo! I tried to think of a clever way to announce this, but I'm fresh out of clever ways to announce that I am expecting baby number two. I am completely and utterly ecstatic, thrilled, elated, keyed up, eager, animated, energized, wound up-- well those are all of the synonyms offered in Microsoft Word when you look up "excited." And that is what I am! This has taken a bit longer than expected with a few minor bumps along the way so I appreciate the blessing all the more! I am 16 weeks along and still puking my guts out every day... well, that is, when I forget to take my Zofran (anti-nausea pill from HEAVEN). I love my Zofran and will probably be naming my child after it. How do you all like the name "Zofran?" Maybe "Zofi" for short? I think anyone who has spent 5 or more months of their life feeling like they have a horrible case of food poisoning would understand the name completely. Well I'll be letting y'all know when I find out if it's a boy or girl!

Cakewrecks...

Okay, I was reading on my friend Ashlee's blog and her friend posted a comment that mentioned this blog. I checked it out and it's the funniest site I've seen in a long time! Many of you have probably seen it before, but if not, it's totally worth checking out. It's a blog dedicated to spotlighting horrible cakes. I was dying! Mitch and I were looking at them and I seriously laughed until I cried! (it's late) You have to read the descriptions under the cakes, the author is seriously clever. I could spend all day looking at these horrible cakes, but these 2 are my personal favorites:

If you need a good laugh, PLEASE visit this site: cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Talking with myself...

First of all, I am offended that no one commented about my fancy peanut butter site! I guess others must not get as excited about peanut butter as I do. In fact, I was showing Mitch my amazing new find and he said "You put that on your blog? You're a nerd!"

Then I did a few more things this weekend to let him know that indeed, he married a nerd. Sometimes I do something that's a little weird-- when I have an important conversation coming up (i.e. speaking with my boss) or if I have recently had an important conversation I go over it in my head... out loud. Okay, I talk to myself. On Saturday I was busily loading our dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen and all of the sudden I look up and Mitch is just standing above me staring at me. He asked who I had been talking to and I had no choice but to fess up that I am crazy and I mumble to myself frequently. He said I may need to get out more!

Then the next day I showed up to church (Mitch was there many hours earlier attending meetings and was saving Marin and me a seat) and sat down next to Mitch. He started looking at my face funny and asked what the bumps were on my face. I rubbed them a little and realized that it was peanut butter from the sandwich I had frantically downed in the car on the way to the church (which is about 3 blocks away). It was smeared all over my cheek! When I told him he just busted up laughing, and then of course pretended to be me eating a gigantic sandwich and fake chewing and smacking his lips.

One of the nice things about being home all day with very little adult interaction is that Marin does not care if I talk to myself or get food all over my face! But I really may have to get out more before I become socially unacceptable!

P.B. Loco!

I found the yummiest food store highlighted in The Reader's Digest (yes, I have been an avid reader of this publication since high school). It is called P.B. loco and they have gourmet peanut butter you can order online! It's not just regular peanut butter, there are all kinds of yummy flavors like white chocolate raspberry and coco banana. I love peanut butter, so if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas, please see this site!


P.B. Loco

My Little Joy

I love the way she made me feel the very first time I held her. Her little wrinkled, puffy face with the skiff of flaming red hair was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I love how she thinks I'm the most important person in the world. When I walk in the door, after only being gone a short while, she runs and greets me with a huge smile on her face. I wish that would never change.

I love how she gets so excited over the little things... purple silk flowers, dress-ups, lady-bugs, pudding.

I love to hear her little feet pitter-patter down our wood hallway.

I love how she mixes up "L" sound and "R" sound so we get new words like "sreep", "brankie", and "prayhouse".

I love how she's just a little mischievous and quite a lot stubborn.

I love to watch how she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.

I love the way her voice gets higher and higher as she gets excited when she's telling a story.

I love to hear her pray.. she has not once in her last 30 prayers left out the phrase "thanks for ogurt" (yogurt)

I love to hear her sing.. mostly made-up songs that make no sense.. but to hear her sing every word to "I am a Child of God" melts my heart.

I had no idea what a little joy was entering my life just 2 1/2 years ago!

Congratulations Val....

.... You have successfully taken the first decent Sandberg Family Picture ever! I have to say, besides Avree, the Sandberg family is the most UN-photogenic family in the world. My mom has tried multiple times to get professional family pictures taken and either someone is closing their eyes half-way looking like a mutant (me, usually), or Blake was making a stupid face on purpose, or whatever (Avree always looked perfect in every single picture)... but these pictures actually look good. In fact, we're a pretty dang good-looking family, don't you think!?




Here's just the Moncur fam. Marin was being such a stinker, I'm surprised we actually got one we are all smiling in. Again, props to Val the photographer!


Marin looks like such an angel in this picture, you would never know the trauma we had trying to get her to hold still and SMILE!


When Marin saw this next picture she said, "Where's Marin?"


And last, this picture is of my dad and Avree's little boy Spencer. I think it is just precious!

Football Night

We had a Sandberg family get-together tonight minus my parents (so sad) and it was way fun. Avree and Matt were returning from a vacation in Yellowstone so Mitch invited them to dinner. I figured I might as well invite Jaren and Blake too (since they're both up here for college now) and we had a fun night. After some Mexican and specialty Aggie ice cream the boys played a little football. Marin was hilarious! She totally thought she was one of the boys. She ran around the whole time with them. Mitch showed her how to lean down and put her hands on her knees waiting for the ball, so after that she had to keep telling them "Do like this!" if they weren't properly leaning down. Marin had quite a blast. If my parents would have been here it would have been a perfect night!

Stephenie Meyer Critique

I know this is a little late, the frenzy happened about a month ago, but it has taken me a little longer to decide what I think. I was a little wary of the whole "Twilight" thing from the beginning, I had a few friends telling me about the books but I didn't think they were for me. I've never been into fantasy-fiction. I once tried reading "Lord of the Rings" and got past about 1 chapter before I thought I'd DIE of boredom. But after every one of my neighbors and friends told me to read the book, and partly so I could keep up on their conversation, I started reading Twilight. Against all components of my personality, I LOVED the series. I devoured all 3 books in like 3 days. Then, I hate to admit this, but I went back and re-read my favorite parts and thought about them all the time for at least a week! I felt like such a little high school girl, almost guilty, for liking these dumb books so much. Then I got my sister to read them (she was a skeptic at first too) and she loved them too! So with much anticipation, I awaited the release of "Breaking Dawn" (on my birthday, no less)! My sister got the book first, then gave it to me and I read the whole thing in 2 days! I will admit, it was entertaining, and with a little skimming over the too mushy parts (I'm very good at this) it was pretty good actually. But I have to agree with many of you out there-- I couldn't help but picture myself reading this at 16 or 17 years old or younger (the age the books were actually intended for) and I was pretty disappointed. I won't be recommending this series to my teenage daughter (in about 11 years). That's enough about that, I'm not going to repeat what everyone has been saying in this regard.

But what this post was really intended for is to say that I was pleasantly surprised by her other book, The Host. I actually didn't read it until last week because everyone I talked to said it was just "so so." My sister-in-law gave me her copy and said it was good so I started reading it, expecting it to drag and be boring. I actually liked it! I thought it was really good actually. I know Stephenie Meyer isn't the greatest, most eloquent writer in the world, but she really knows how to spin a good story! I will be reading the next books in this series. If any of you haven't read it, I encourage you to give it a try. You just might like it!

The Homecoming Trip

My brother Jaren returned home from his mission in Brazil a few weeks ago and it was a great reunion! He has adjusted to civilian life quite well and has already been on a few dates! We are lucky because he and my brother Blake are starting college here in a few weeks. Jaren is staying with me until school starts and is working on getting a job (and meeting cute girls). Here are a few pictures from the trip to St. George.


The Sandberg siblings (and their kids)


Walking in my parents' front door for the first time in 2 years!


Blake took Mitch and Matt skim boarding for the first time. Mitch LOVED it! He enjoys anything that involves a board. We came once and let Marin play in the river (well, mud). She really enjoyed herself, as you can see.


Blake took Mitch and Matt on a few mountain biking trips. Now that Mitch has his sweet new bike rack, he is able to fit a little mountain biking in practically everywhere we go.

More reasons why I am a nerd!

I was looking in my old journal (well, my ONLY journal because I've had the same one since 4th grade) and I found the greatest entry from 7th grade. I was looking for something completely different but this entry stood out because I wrote it in green pen. I believe it was in the year 1995 when I had glasses, was chubby, wore a size 8 1/2 shoe (my same size today), dorky clothes, and was just an all-out, complete nerd. Side note: it's very hard for an oldest child to be very cool. The 4 kids in my family have gotten progressively cooler ending with Blake who is the king of coolness. There were so many things that I just didn't get that everyone around me was talking about. Having an older sibling would have really helped out. Poor Marin.

Anyway, this journal entry is as follows:

"Today was kind of a bad day. I got in trouble, I got a 69/100 on my math test (but I can retake it), and the button fell off my pants in 2nd period. Don't worry I can handle it!"

I wonder how I handled the button falling off my pants with very much grace and dignity. I'm sure I didn't....

Food Storage

Warning: this contains information that jumps me up several notches on the nerdiness scale. I like to be organized about things and I like math. Just thought I would get that out there before you read on.

I was given the coolest little website by the home storage specialist in my ward. It is a pdf workbook (put out by USU Extension) on how to build up your food storage using foods you commonly eat. It has guidelines for 1 year, but I chose to try this for 6 months instead. I have been trying to get all my wheat, etc. for long term storage, all the while wondering how I was ever really going to use it and what the heck we would make it into that resembled anything we commonly eat now. So on top of those longer term food storage items (most of them store for 30 years!) that are important, it is also important to store food your kids will actually eat! Let's face it, I'm not using my hard red wheat unless there is a natural disaster (or Val comes to my house to bake her delicious wheat bread)!

So the gist of this workbook is that you take 10-20 meals that you commonly eat and you assume you are going to eat these meals 80% of the time. I actually did 24 meals and assigned them a number we eat per 6 months, because there are 3 or 4 meals we eat about once every 2 weeks, and some we eat less often but still are favorites. You take the number of days in your time period, in my case 6 months, or 180 days, and get 80% (or 150) and figure out breakfast, lunch, dinner and sides for that amount of days. What is nice about this, is it gives you about once per week to cook whatever you want and try new things. I used to do this way more often, but kids really limit your cooking creativity! Then, I took it a step further and created an 8 week cycling menu (yes, I have actually used one thing from all my food service classes in college!) that uses each of my dinners at least once. The plan is to build up my 6 month supply, then use this menu to grocery shop and continue rotating it. Here is the link. I'll let you know how I progress in this endeavor. Woo hoo!

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_500.pdf

Husband Tag

Okay okay, I'll do this tag because it's fun. Well, mostly because Avree tagged me and not only is she my favorite sister, but she let me borrow a TON of her clothes while she was pregnant-- practically her whole wardrobe. Too bad she's getting skinny so fast and I'll be giving those back shortly!



1. What is his name? Mitchell Rodney Moncur
2. Who eats more? He does definitely. He doesn't eat quite as much as Avree's husband can pack down, but when it comes to random specific foods (such as taco salad and any type of meat) I find myself wondering how he can eat that much and not gain a pound!
3. Who said I love you first? He did.
4. Who is taller? He is. He's 6'1'' and I'm 5'6''.
5. Who is smarter? Me! Not really, but I'm definitely a faster reader and he's definitely better at directions.
6. Who is more sensitive? Definitely me.
7.Who does the laundry? I do. Despite doing his own laundry from age 19 to 25, he won't do laundry now until he runs out of underwear. He has more underwear than me, so you can see how this presents a dilemma for me. Thus, I crack and do laundry first!
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. I don't know about the rest of you, but Mitch and I have our designated sides that started when we first got married. I feel all weird on Mitch's side of the bed if I ever have to sleep there.
9. Who pays the bills? We both do.
10. Who cooks more? I do. I love to cook. Mitch can actually cook really well, it just takes him twice as long as me to make the same meal. He can even bake bread.
11. What meals do you cook together? Fish tacos. I know this sounds gross, but it's an authentic Mexican dish that is AMAZING. We cook it together because the fish is grilled. Mitch is usually king of the grill, but since about 3 weeks ago when he finally showed me how to turn on our grill, I have been a grilling maniac!
12. Who is more stubborn? It's a toss-up! We're both a little stubborn, and sadly we passed this on to our child.
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Me, I'm wrong way more often. As Mitch will say, he's only been wrong once, and that was when he thought he was wrong.
14. Who has more siblings? Mitch, he has 5, I have 3.
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I don't really know. I am pretty bossy by nature, but Mitch doesn't take any crap. I guess we both wear the pants.
16. What do you like to do together? Fly fishing, hiking, playing tennis, going to dinner. We tended to do a lot more exciting things together when I was trying to impress Mitch before we were married. He said I turned into a wuss after we got married... thing is, I always was. I just hid it really well.
17. Who eats more sweets? Oh definitely me.
18. Guilty pleasures? Weird question. I would have to say golfing at least twice a week.
19. How did you meet? (see right side of blog main page)
20. Who asked who out first? He asked me out. He called me on the phone and surprised me by asking me on a real date. I think he even used the word "date" in the conversation. I thought it was going to be a big group date and that he had asked me because he couldn't find anyone else. I was pleasantly surprised when it was just him at my door-- AND he was wearing cologne and a nice sweater.
21. Who kissed who first? He kissed me on my front porch, during which I uttered my SO un-romantic fateful line (that I still get brutally teased about to this day), "Well, if you're going to kiss me you might as well give me some chapstick."
22. Who proposed? Mitch did, while we were fly-fishing up Logan canyon. I have to tell how he did it because it was a bit unique. The day he got my ring we went fly-fishing and he took me to a spot where a huge tree branch hangs over the river. He knew I'd get my fly stuck in it (which of course I did) and when we stopped to untangle it we sat down in this pretty grassy area next to the river and he proposed-- on one knee and everything. Then he busted out some sparkling cider and Subway sandwiches and we ate lunch.
23. His best features? His pretty blue eyes, his red hair, and of course, his manly physique.
24. What is his greatest quality? He is very steady. That sounds weird, but it's so nice to have a husband who never loses his temper, who never gets ornery (well, hardly ever), who is just very calm, works hard, is disciplined, and is very patient.
25. Tag? Nicole, Christine, Ashlee, Melinda, Melissa, and anyone else who would like to do this. I'd love it if all my friends did this tag because I don't know many of your husbands!

Wow, what a week!

Well we have piled most of our summer vacations into the past 10 days. We've had a blast, but I'm so happy to be home and back to my routine. I am going to attempt to document our trips in chronological order, but I'm still trying to get the hang of moving pictures around after they're downloaded, so we'll see how it goes.

Our first destination was Vail, Colorado. Mitch's sister EmRee lives there and her 2 twin girls were getting baptized. The whole family (all 6 kids, spouses, and 19 grandkids) made the trek to Vail to hold the first Moncur family reunion. It was a HUGE success!

We made a little stop in Moab on our way to Vail. Having grown up in St. George, I cannot believe I have never been to Moab, it's super cool! Now I know why my roommate Christine is obsessed with Moab! We stayed at this little cabin/RV park where we swam (Marin's favorite parts of our trips all revolve around water... she's obsessed with swimming we have found and she's not a bit afraid of the water. Scary, I know). We hiked to the delicate arch, ate at Zac's Pizza, and then left at 5 a.m. the next morning for Vail.

As a teenager, I probably would have thought this was lame. Now that I am older (and MUCH more mature) I appreciated how amazing this phenomenon of nature is. It is HUGE!


We arrived in Vail Sunday morning, made it through church, and then we got to see where we'd be staying. A man in EmRee's ward was able to get us some condos up at Beaver Creek to stay in and they were LUXURIOUS! Vail, Colorado is a pretty upscale ski resort town. It's very much like Aspen, as in "A little place called Asssspen...where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of Capastrana..." (from "Dumb and Dumber" if you're not familiar with one of my favorite lines). Anyway, we were right up at the ski resort and it was amazing. There were pools, spas, gyms, shops, and my personal favorite-- free hot chocolate stations. Here is a picture of our lodgings for the week:


And one of the best things was seeing the wildlife right outside our window every day!

Yes, that is a black bear with her 2 tiny cubs!

Vail really is a neat town. You have to park in a parking garage and then walk into the town. There are a ton of amazing shops and the landscaping is so beautiful. This is Marin's grandma, Marin, and me walking around the shops.


There were a bunch of little fountains for Marin to play in. Right after I took this picture, she face planted and got her clothes sopping wet. Luckily, I found a restroom with a hand dryer and was able to dry her clothes!


We walked to this fun park that was just a big pirate ship. The kids had a blast and we even managed to get all 19 of them in a picture. Marin is the one in the stroller. She wouldn't get out of the stroller for anything.








We went to another little park that Marin loved. She had a blast!



We went on some paddle boats


And floated sticks and dandelions down the river


The adults (or the girls, I should say) got some great shopping in too. We also had access to the Park Hyatt's gym and spa. Nicole, Jana, and I kicked some butt at the nicest gym I have ever been to!

Anna and Allie's (my two twin nieces) baptism was so nice. They are the cutest little happy girls you'll ever meet. Mitch's sister EmRee (3rd from the left on the back row) made the whole event so fun and the fact that she prepared awesome meals for all 33 of us all week was amazing. It was so fun to have the whole family together. Here is a picture of Mitch's cute red-headed family at the baptism.


Would my husband let us just drive home after all this excitement? No way! Since he (and his brothers) are the ultimate sportsmen and love to play more than anyone I know, Mitch planned to head back to Moab with his brother and bike the slickrock trail. They left after the baptism, arrived in Moab at 1:00 a.m., then woke up at 5:00 a.m. to bike. His brother's wife Alisa and I stayed behind in Vail for the night, then picked them up in Moab and proceeded to drive back to Utah. Marin was a champion in the car, driving for 9 hours in 1 day! Here are a few pictures of the bikers:


At 6:00 p.m. on Thursday night, we finally got home! Did we kick back and relax at that point? No! Mitch and I had a cruise to pack for! We drove to the airport Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. It was Mitch's firm's 60th anniversary, so they took all 50 employees and their spouses on a cruise to Mexico! We had an absolute blast! Mitch works with wonderful people so we couldn't have picked a greater group to go with. We took a total of 7 pictures of the whole event (you're probably thinking that's great because this has been the longest posting ever). We're not used to taking pictures without Marin in them! Anyway, we did tons of fun things, ate lots (way too much!) good food, and got a lot of sun. Thanks mom for watching Marin the whole time for us! We had a blast! Here is a sampling of the few pictures we did take:


All in all it was a great 10 days!