{Karate Kids}

A few weeks ago, Brock and Kaleb had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake to compete in a Karate Tournament.

Derrick and I waited patiently for their turns ;)

Mr. Brock
KK

They both decided to compete in Kata's and Sparring.

It always cracks me up to see the kids with all their sparring gear on. I looks hard to walk, let alone fight. In addition to the helmet they have a mouth guard, plus feet and hand things....Yep, feet and hand things are the technical name in my world. But, despite all the gear, they get some pretty good hits and punches in.

Brock looked so serious as he listened to the instructions they were given.....

and also as he received his scores for the Kata he preformed. We had a good day and it was fun to see how much the boys had improved over the last year.

{Holy Mess of a Craft Room and a Little Project}

I keep seeing all of ya'll bloggin about your organizing ventures, and honestly, I need to be organizing, but I just wasn't feeling it. One of the worst area's in my house? My craft room/office...PATHETIC! Seriously it was embarrassing. I had to step over piles to get to my computer many times daily. Did I care? Not enough to do anything about it..... until today! Why today? A few things. First, I needed to sew up a birthday gift for one of my preschoolers, and well, you can't sew if you can't get to the machine and the chair to sit your butt down to sew. Second, third and fourth..... I had a friend call and want to borrow some punches and there was NO way I was letting her see that room, I still haven't finished Ann's Christmas banner, yes Christmas (I'm a slacker friend) and lastly I've had some requests to make and sell my banners, can't even consider that when you can't find the table to make them!

Told you it was BAD!!!

and the closet was pretty sad too!
During the process..... I think that's the first time there has been nothing on the table for years. I took out 3 full bags of garbage! Unfortunately when I clean, the mess spills out of the room into the hall, so that was one more mess that I had to deal with!

Ready for after pictures???

Yippie! You can see the floor, and the table and the computer desk! That pile next to the sewing machine is mending/projects. There are also a few projects on the stamping table.

The closet.... I still have some things to go through, but it's MUCH better!

Remember the gift I needed to sew? It was clean enough in my room that I got it done tonight! I've been making these crayon rolls for each of my preschool kids birthday's, plus the nieces and nephews too. There is a great step by step tutorial for them here. They aren't very hard (just don't look too close at my lack of sewing skills). I changed things up a bit and used a button and elastic loop closure on the last few. I thought it might be easier for little hands than tying the ribbon. I also made a little one inch card stock template (show in the top picture) to help me measure where to sew my lines easier!

I really should just move on to the next room and keep organizing/cleaning till I get the entire house done, but now that I have a clean space, I'd much rather play in the crafty room!

{Snow Much Fun}

FINALLY! I get to blog about recent events!

A few weekends ago, we headed to Beaver for our annual snowmobiling weekend...... I can officially call it an annual event since we've done it twice now, and plan to go next year too, right?

James and Kami were planning to come with us, but unfortunately they all got influenza, so they couldn't join us. We had invited our friends, the Cummings family to come and lined up 2 condos (from generous friends). Derrick took the day off on Friday, and after sleeping in a bit, we loaded up and headed down.

After unloading everything, and getting semi-settled, we decided to head out for some snowmobiling fun. We headed over to a flat area to play a bit. Derrick and I kicked the kids off to play in the snow, while we played on the sleds. I was feeling like a pretty good driver, until I made a turn and tipped the sled on it's side and sunk it! When we finally got it unstuck I jumped on with Derrick to play for a minute. I had just thought to myself how much I liked riding with my honey every once in a while, when he started carving and threw me right off the back of the sled! We headed back and I ducked to miss a branch and ended up tipping the sled over again..... I guess that's what I get for thinking I had snowmobiling skills...... 3 times in 2 hours!

Brandon and Christy and 3 of their cute kids got there that night, they left their baby with Brandon's mom. We spent Saturday playing in the snow and eating!

My cute Brock!

Kabers
Carlie Girl

Monica, Colby, Carlie, Paige, Brock, Kaleb, Derrick, Brandon, Christie, and Kyle

My man hanging out watching the sledding action!

He can only hang out for so long before he needs to move on to something else. I think he took the girls up and down the hill 30 times. I love the grins on their faces (Derrick included)....they were having some much fun!

Kaleb decided he wanted in on the fun too...... I not even sure how he stayed on!?!

Can you find Kaleb in this picture? He's way down at the bottom to the left of the truck on the mound of snow. So, the sledding hill by the condo was a pretty long hill. The kids really never made it quite all the way to the bottom. Brock kept begging me to go with him. You should all know I'm not a sporty/athletic girl, but I sucked it up and decided I better be a good mom and go with him...... next time, I'll just stick with being the mean mommy! We hopped on the tube and headed down. I guess the extra weight added speed. Somehow we ended up backwards, then we bounced off the side of the shed (with the pile of snow on the top) and dropped off a 6-7 foot drop to the ROAD! My head smacked the road, my glasses flew, Brock dropped on top of me, we broke the snow depth marker in half and we popped the tube! Laugh, come on I know you want to! Even better, there were 2 guys walking their dog.... imagine their surprise when we dropped out of nowhere!

This would be the ledge we dropped off...... someone stuck the marker stick back together. I think Brock must have cracked or broken one of my ribs when he fell on top of me..... It's been 20 days and I'm still hurting!

The Eagle Point Ski resort (formerly Elk Meadows) just opened back up this year. We decided to go check out their sledding hill. Paige, Colby and Kaleb were all sorts of excited about going and the dad's got voted into going with them!

Kaleb's first time on the lift!

Carlie and Kyle watching.

Brock decided after watching for a bit that he wanted to go too!

Brock on the lift with dad!

In the end Carlie was the only kid that didn't end up going, even little Kyle tried it. Not me..... I'm pretty sure sledding will forevermore be a spectator sport for me!

{Brandon Flowers Concert}

This post is a MUCH delayed post, but it was a super fun and much awaited night, and therefore, I must blog about it!

In August, as I was sitting at Bunko, I faintly hear a cell phone playing the Golden Girls theme song, but in all the Bunko excitement I didn't think anything of it. Until it happened again and then it hit me, "HEY, that's Ann's ring tone!" Why the heck is she calling me on a weeknight? We really usually only talk during the day when our menfolk and chillin's aren't home. As soon as we were done, I called her back, only to have her answer the phone screaming "BRANDON FLOWERS IS COMING IN CONCERT..... WE HAVE TO GO!" Yep, I agree....we must go! I didn't even consult Derrick, as soon as tickets went on sale the next day, I snatched up two for us and two for Lis and Jer. Then I waited anxiously on the phone with Ann as she waited to hear if her brother got theirs!

Fast forward to Oct. 20th, the much awaited night! SO EXCITED! It had been so long since Derrick and I had been to a concert together, I think the last one may have been Stone Temple Pilots, before Brock was born?!?

I just have to say, if you don't have this album, or haven't head it..... check it out, I personally love it. I'd also recommend the Deluxe edition, which has four bonus songs.
We met up with Ann and Chad, but they wanted to be down on the floor, and we scored seats with a great view in the balcony, right behind the VIP section! I know the private club atmosphere isn't for everyone, but I LOVED it! I felt like no matter where you were at, it would have been a great spot, it was cozy and intimate. It was nice to be able to just sit back and enjoy the show. I was excited that I got to see my friend Andrea from Santaquin, who just happens to be Brandon Flower's sister in law! Yep, true story.... the crazy thing, we've always been Killers fans, but I'd known Andrea for a few years before I even realized the connection there?!?

The set list included most of my favorites; On the Floor, Crossfire, Magdalena, a cover of Bette Davis Eyes (loved it....check it out on YouTube), Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts, Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Was It Something I Said, Hard Enough, Losing Touch (The Killers), Swallow It, Only the Young, Playing with Fire, The Clock was Tickin', and When You Were Young with Ronnie from the Killers. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute!

Really, what could be better? Enjoying some great music (not to mention eye candy) with my man, my sister and my bestest friend?

{Christmas-2010}

Christmas 2010....can we say I'm a bit behind on blogging? To keep this simple and thus make it more likely that I'll catch up BEFORE Christmas 2011, this is going to be a post of many pictures and few words!

Looks like Santa may have found the Dearden kids and left them just what they asked for.....despite their occasional naughty-ness!

Carlie was thrilled with her Zoobles and their play lands!
Brock was impressed that Santa listened to his repeated instructions about the speed, scale and shocks on his remote control car. (it could have helped that his Dad may or may not have fed all that important information to him, and Dad and Santa are tight!)
Lizard boy looks pretty happy too!

We decided to try something new at our house this year and simplify a bit. We told the kids ahead of time to only expect three gifts from us. We talked to them about the Wise Men bringing the Savior three gifts and that we'd like that to be our new family tradition. They all agreed, but I don't think they really thought we'd stick to it. I have to admit, it was hard not to throw in a few extra things here and there, but we stuck to it.
New shoes for everyone..... including mom, guess I didn't get a picture of myself. Is it just me or do Brock's shoes look huge..... well, my 10 year old wears the same size shoe as me now, and my feet aren't tiny!
The STAR of the day...... FURIOUS DRAGON (quite the name Kaleb came up with), Fury for short.

This picture cracks.me.up.!! Does Kaleb not look a tad bit concerned. Apparently when bearded dragons get mad/agitated, their beard not only puffs out, it can also turn a dark grey/black color. Kaleb was sure something was VERY wrong with his new pet and I think he was wondering if maybe he should have asked for something else!

Is there anything better than Christmas smiles?

After the festivities at home and letting the kids enjoy gifts for a bit, we ventured (the whole 1/2 a block) to my mom and dad's for breakfast. I look forward to Christmas breakfast all year. My dad makes omelets.... only on Christmas, and they are YUMMERS! The kids all got personalized plates and Derrick and I scored the steam cleaned that I'd been coveting. After visiting and hanging out a bit, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Dearden's where I took NOT ONE PICTURE? I never seem to remember. Ted and Sheri spoiled all of us, and Christmas dinner was fantastic!
Derrick's mom came and stayed a few weeks after Christmas and we had fun visiting and spending some time with her also! (once again NO pictures)

{Catch-Up~ Christmas Eve}

Christmas Eve is always a busy tradition filled day! We always go to my parents for a candlelight dinner. None of us really remembers when or why we started eating by candlelight, but it's been a tradition almost as long as I can remember. You would think candlelight=fancy, right? Not for the Beckstrand clan, we feast on pizza!
We always have to hurry and eat, so we can make it to the Ward Christmas Eve Program. I love that our ward party is still on Christmas Eve. I know some people would like to see it changed, but I LOVE it! That's what we've always done, the same thing year after year, it's our tradition. A quick program, a few fun Christmas songs, a special visitor and some goodies. Quick, easy and fun! This year was a bit more stressful for me as I happened to end up in charge of the program (one of the "perks" of being in the Primary Presidency). I tried to keep it simple and thought it turned out pretty well.
The kids each got one last chance to tell Santa what they hope he'll bring them, (like the poor guy could really do much about it if they change their minds at that point) and he gives them a bag filled with goodies.
We headed home to decorate cookies for Santa. No milk for Santa round these parts, it's Coke all the way!
Then we open one gift..... Jammies! (can't be wearin' old Jammies on Christmas morning) This year Santa emailed each of the kids a special video from the North Pole, so we watched each of those and then it was off to bed to try and get some sleep!