Yucky Weekend

This weekend did not turn out as originally planned.  Saturday was booked- 8:30 everyone goes to clean the church, 10:00 I had Stake Women's Conference until 2:00 and Steve & Anna were heading to the gym for an hour.  I needed to pick up our co-op vegetable delivery at 10:45 and Steve had a 'Meet the Candidate' meeting at a friend's house at 7:00.  Of all of that, only the co-op delivery got done.  What happened, do you ask? Stomach Flu happened.  Steve had been up all that night in the bathroom and then he woke me up at 7 being very sick in the bathroom.  I had been fighting a cold all week, and it decided to come on full blown that day.  So, we cancelled everything.

Steve seemed to get better as the day went on.  Hopefully Sunday would be better.  False hopes.  That night, I started doing the same round as Steve.  Luckily, I haven't thrown up.  It's been over 20 years since I've thrown up and I wouldn't know what to do with myself!  So, today, Steve, Anna, & I are staying home from church and cancelling our Home Teachers' visit.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get better as quickly as Steve.  Here's to hoping!

Midway Getaway

Steve and I got away this weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  We found a bed and breakfast in Midway called Johnson's Mill and booked a pretty nice room.  Ken and Kate offered to take Anna for that couple of days.  Thanks guys!

 We got to Johnson's Mill about 5:30pm Sunday night.  It wasn't hard to find even though it's a little secluded.  Everything about it was comfortable.  The lady checked us in then gave us a tour: office, dining room, and sitting area on the main floor- oh, by the way, there's some freshly baked chocolate cake if you want.  Basement- playing area: lots of movies and a TV, fooseball table, fridge with drinks, and microwave popcorn.  Second floor had 4 rooms, one of which was ours- the Waterfall Room.  The very top floor is the Waterfall Terrace (one of the most expensive rooms).


Our room was really nice.  There was a king-sized bed that needed stairs, as well as a gas fireplace and comfy couch.  We had a balcony overlooking a stream.  It's called the Waterfall Room because to one side is a waterfall that you can listen to all night.  In the bathroom, there's a large, 2-person tub and a separate shower.  All in all, one of the nicest places I've stayed.







I brought dinner with us so we wouldn't have to shop on Sunday.  I brought London Broil, a baguette with herb cheese spread, a green salad, fruit, and vanilla brownies.  We ate in front of the fire- very romantic.  Later, we cuddled up on the bed with a bowl of popcorn and played a computer game.

Breakfast comes with the room, so Monday morning we headed down at 9am.  It was a yummy meal of pancakes with strawberries and sausage.  It was kind of fun to be seated with three other couples at a big dining table.  Another couple was there for their anniversary, while the others were there for the nonexistent snow.

We spent most of the day just relaxing, talking, and having fun.  We played some board games, read, and watched a movie.  It snowed in the morning, but we decided to go for a walk exploring the grounds in the afternoon.  We bundled up and headed out.  We only lasted 10 minutes.  It was so cold and windy!!!  We came in and got ourselves some hot cider (cider and hot chocolate are always available).  We were lounging in the sitting area by the fire, listening to music.  The lady in the office came out and said she was going to make some cookies.  When Steve asked what kind, she said double chocolate.  His face fell and I told her that Steve didn't like chocolate.  She then said that she would make peanut butter instead and if we gave her our cell number, she'd text us when the first batch came out of the oven- which she did!  Later, she told us to take all the cookies up because we were the only guests there that night.  She even gave us a tour of some of the rooms so we could look at them.

Tuesday morning, we had french toast, eggs, fruit, and bacon for breakfast- just us. We packed up our stuff and headed out to pick up Anna.  We had hoped to go for a sleigh ride, but it's hard when there's no snow.

It was a really nice weekend.  We got to sleep in, relax, and spend some time just the two of us.  I'm so lucky to have the wonderful husband and daughter that I have.  I am a truly blessed woman.

Melissa's Birthday

 I had a great birthday this year.  It started off with a waffle breakfast in bed!  Yum!  The house also smelled of cake.  Steve was making a cake before he went to work.  Unfortunately, I got to smell and gaze at it all day long.

After work, Steve picked Anna and I up and we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Canton City, in Grantsville.  We had yummy Chinese food: wonton soup, Mandarin combination, and black mushroom beef with rice.  Anna loved the food.  She even tried using the chopsticks.

At home, I blew out my candles and opened my presents.  Steve got me a new book and an ice cream maker; Mom & Dad got me a beautiful necklace; and Mom & Dad Wheeler got me a couple of books.






To finish off the night, Steve and I headed over to the Atamanczyks to play games and talk.  It was Preston's birthday, too, but he's a year older than me.

Happy 2012!!!

Welcome to the New Year!  I'm a little late getting this posted.  There just seems to always be one more thing that needs to be done, and blogging is not near the top of the list in importance.

This New Year's Eve was spent with the same family as last year's, but we had it at our house.  Brian & Michelle Ricks and their 5 kids came over around 6:30.  They wanted to be sure to see their favorite person, Anna, before she went to bed.  Anna is just adored by the entire family and she soaks up all the attention.

Soon after Anna went to bed, we broke up into smaller groups to play games.  Steve headed off with Brian, Talmage, and Angela to play Risk.  Michelle and I played The Amazing Labyrinth, Zeus on the Loose, and other easier games with the younger kids.  After games, we watched The Incredibles and played the candybar game.

If you're not familiar with the candybar game, you're not alone.  I never heard of it until New Year's.  What you need: a pair of dice, two oven mitts, two table spoons, 1 candybar wrapped in multiple layers of paper.  The point is to unwrap the candybar with the spoons while wearing oven mitts.  Everyone sits in a circle and you take turns rolling the dice.  When a person rolls doubles, he gets to work on the candybar until the next person rolls doubles.  We had a lot of fun.


At midnight, we broke out the sparkling cider and rootbeer floats (the floats are a Ricks tradition).  We also blew our noise makers outside and yelled, "Happy New Year!" while our neighbors were banging pots.  Finally, we each popped a fortune balloon.  Each balloon had some candy and a slip of paper with a fortune on it.  It was the first time we'd done the balloons and it was fun.  Maybe it will be a new tradition.

Christmas Fun

What a great Christmas it has been for us this year!  I have loved being home for the holidays, though I do miss all our family out there.  There's something to be said about not rushing through airports or worrying if the presents will fit!

This year, we were all about relaxing.  We made sure that all the presents were bought and the Christmas cards mailed by the end of November.  We also set up the tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving.  We were set!

Steve's the 'wise guy' in the middle

Over the next few weeks, we watched a lot of Christmas movies (It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Frosty, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, The Christmas Story).  Thanks Netflix!  We watched the First Presidency Devotional and listened to the Tooele County Choir's Christmas concert.  At our ward party, Steve played one of the wise men with the bishop and first councellor.  We didn't stay for Santa, it was too crazy.  Later, Steve and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet put on by the Utah Regional Ballet in Orem.  They did a great job!  This was our first year of doing Advent.  It was nice to have the candles going, but we kept forgetting to light them until the evening!  I hope next year to tweak some things and do better.

On Christmas Eve, we had a surprise!  Santa must have heard that Anna didn't get to visit at the ward party, so he came by the house.  Anna was a little unsure of him, so she sat on my lap while she talked with him.  We gave him some goodies to take back to the North Pole and he gave Anna a candy cane.  She liked that the best!  During the day, we watched Christmas on Sesame Street, a present from Daddy to Anna.  She enjoys Sesame Street so much.  This was our first fondue on our own and we did pretty well.  The food was yummy, even though Anna only ate a little.  Steve and I stuffed ourselves on meat, veggies and dip, crackers and cheese, and sparkling cider.  After getting Anna to bed, it was time to get the presents out and assemble Anna's table and chairs.  Good job, Daddy!

We had church the next day at 9am.  We decided to open presents after church.  It was quite the trick to keep Anna out of the living room!  When we got back, we all changed back into our pajamas and opened presents.  Anna enjoyed getting things out of her stocking (utensils, socks, hair bows, play dishes, and candy) and ripping the wrapping paper off of her gifts.  Once the MegaBlocks were spotted, though, we had a hard time getting her to focus on opening the rest of her gifts!  Her favorites seem to be the MegaBlocks as well as her table and chairs set.  Steve got some Super Soakers, CDs, a computer game, and books.  I got CDs, computer games, Yahtzee, and several gift cards.  It was a nice morning.

After opening presents, Steve went to bed.  He had been battling a cold all week and felt terrible that day.  He ended up sleeping for 9 hours during Christmas day as well as all that night!  We took him to the Urgent Care on Monday and discovered he had strep.  No wonder he felt terrible!

Steve took the following week off.  We spent our time shopping, watching movies, and sleeping in.  It was great!

We had such a great Christmas season and are looking forward to many more!