Thirty, flirty and thriving.

I had one of the best birthdays in a long time. Let me tell you why my birthday week was so great, which by the way everyone should celebrate the entire week like I do:

• I achieved my first small weight loss goal. I set it for myself to get to by my 30th birthday.


• Some of my girlfriends kidnapped me and took me out to dinner at The Olive Garden (one of my favorites) and then shopping at Ross. (So much fun.)


• I had a fun lunch at Old Grist Mill with friends the day before my b-day.


• I got to celebrate the entire weekend with my hubby, kid-free thanks to our parents, in Las Vegas with a bunch of friends. Shopping, German food, and lots of good times.


• I got an awesome Bissell steam mop from my in-laws, it cleans my tile faster and better than being on my knees scrubbing by hand. (Which by the way, was the best way to clean my tile.)


• My parents took Colby and I to dinner at Paradise Cafe & Bakery and added some spending cash to my card. Thanks!

So, it turns out that this age is not so intimidating. Thank you to all who made it so great; the surprises, gifts, cards, well wishes and time spent with me. I love you all.

I have to give myself some credit for all the things I have accomplished by 30:

• Married my best friend.
• Lived out of Utah for 6 years and loved it.
• Given birth to 3 beautiful boys.
• Bought a condo, sold a condo.
• Have no car payments.
• Bought a home, maintaining a home. (Phew!)
• Finally got my ears pierced.

If you are finally at the end of this post, I apologize for the self-congratulations. I had a bad Wednesday and needed to post something positive. Kind of my gratitude journal.

January Stamping Class

It's a new year and we are going to get started on some fun projects. My next class is this coming Saturday, January 9th 8pm-midnight. For a $15 fee you get to make 6 cards. I provide the paper already cut, all embellishments, envelopes, adhesive and the ideas. You just come and enjoy your girl's night out. I am not selling anything, so there is no pressure. We will be working on birthday cards and Valentine's cards.

Here is who I have attending so far:

Rachel L.
Ashley L.
Laura W.
Stacie S.
Ila Rae M.

If your name should be on this list, email me. I will be cutting paper on Thursday(so, I need a head count), and have limited seating, so reserve your spot today!

Our December...in a nutshell...

So...December is usually crazy for us: Christmas and a birthday. But, this year we added more for some reason. Here's what we've been up to:

Colby, Gabe and Tristan made a lot of Mac n Cheese; since they all like to eat it so much.

We did our fair share of shoveling the driveway, though I'm sure there's more to come.

Found more moments of Skitterz napping on napping boys.

Visited Christmas Village for the first time, and last. It was boring!

But, had fun playing on the playground there.

We all drank a lot of hot chocolate.

And made sure we had clean teeth, since December brings so many wonderful treats from neighbors and friends.

Gabe's preschool class celebrated his 1/2 birthday, since he's out for summer break during his actual birthday.

Tristan wore jingle antlers that he insisted on owning from Shopko all the way to the Koch side family Christmas party. He jingled the whole way down to Bountiful.

(He called them his "ho-ho-ho"s)

Most of us got new fancy holiday clothing to wear to church the Sunday before Christmas.

Braxton turned 8 years old on the 21st.

RaeAnne actually cooked breakfast for Christmas. This usually only happens on Christmas, and only because we eat at about 10am.

For Christmas Tristan got a much coveted Wall-E toy.

(He has watched the movie daily for the last 6 weeks; I don't know why, but he loves it!)

Colby helped the boys put together Lego sets from Santa.

Colby received a miter saw to continue home projects he has in mind.

Colby, his brother Ty, and her boys all got RaeAnne new earrings.

(My escapade in June paid off big time at Christmas.)

She also got the amazing BodyBugg to help in the never ending goal to lose weight, yeah!

It was a year for Nerf guns.

It was also the year to give the Snuggie as a gag gift. Here is my sister, Heidi, modeling hers. All of my siblings and I got one. I gave Colby one as a joke. And Colby's nephew received one as well.

Here are all of my parents' grandchildren on Christmas: Tristan, Gabe, Caitlin, Shaila, Grant, Taryn, Gracee, Braxton, Carson, Jed, Wyatt and baby Blakely in the carrier.

Braxton was baptized on December 27th.

The boys had fun playing outside and sledding down the deck stairs.