My Birthday

Since Byron left for Europe on Dec. 11th - he decided to have my party on Dec. 8th. I tried to convince him that I really didn't need to have one - especially 6 days before my birthday, but he wouldn't listen.

For my party, we had fun playing the new Wii Super Mario Brothers game. Many of the family had never played it before, so it was fun to introduce them to something I love. I am sorry to say that I love playing Super Mario from the nintendo. My kids used to watch me play surprised at how far I could get. So many fun memories of playing this game with Jared and other siblings. Even though this new Wii game is so different, it was just up my alley. I love it and especially like the part where 4 people can play at the same time to help each other. We all took turns. Thanks to all the awesome family who came to support me on that day. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people surrounding me!

For my actual birthday I was lucky enough to be taken out to eat twice - once by my mother-in-law and next by my sister-in-law. I went with Mom Beck to Paradise Bakery and enjoyed a yummy BBQ salad for lunch. She was so awesome to come and treat me like a queen. I then was spoiled again to have dinner provided by Melissa. She took me to Rumbi Island Grill. I had never been before and got some chicken with rice - It was so tasty I had to return in a few days to get it again.

I am not one to let others know that it is my birthday. Since Facebook lets all of your friends know when this special day is, I was getting posts all day from awesome friends and family. They seriously made my day. It was hard to have a birthday while Byron was out of the country, but became a highlight of the month for me.

Since there is such a crazy time difference between here and Europe, I wasn't sure if I would be able to talk with Byron on my birthday. I was so excited to talk with him that afternoon, though. Since everytime he calls from another country, the caller ID says something that I don't recogniz - sometimes don't answer when he calls. That is how it was on this particular day. He had called twice when I hadn't answered due to eating out or just being busy. Luckily I soon started thinking that this phone number must be Byron since it had called me twice already - I was so excited when I saw it appear again on my caller ID and to be able to talk with him.

I was truly spoiled and had such a wonderful week of celebrations. Thanks for all the phone calls, emails, and visits - I truly appreciate all of you!
Opening presents at my family party.

Bradley & Cadan eating the treats at my party - aren't they so cute together?

Jazz Game - Dec. 7, 2009

Byron was the recipient of some amazing Jazz tickets again. Byron was leaving for Europe right before my birthday, so this was an awesome pre-birthday present. We were able to eat at the restaurant on the top before the game started. The food was delicious! After eating we headed down to find our seats. We were row 1 and just behind one of the basketball standards. We weren't the front row since there is actually a row on the floor itself, but sitting on the second row of seats. Saying they were amazing seats doesn't even do them justice. Before the game started, we were able to get a picture on the floor while the players were out practicing. There were about 10 people there from Nu Skin sitting in different areas. I was glad to meet some of the great people the Byron works with.

The Utah Jazz played against the San Antonio Spurs. The game was really close and fun to watch. The ending score was 101-104 - Jazz winning! It came down to the wire at the end and made for a very exciting game.

I am so grateful for these awesome moments I have with Byron. A HUGE thanks to Nu Skin also - we could never have afforded the $704 seats.

While eating before the game started.

Standing on the floor while the players were warming up. Sorry it is blurry - my darn camera!
Some great views of the Jazz players making shots.

I love you Byron - thanks for the fun night out!

Christmas is in the Air

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I look forward to it and love what happens to everyone during this time of year. There is just a feeling of love in the air. As soon as Thanksgiving is past, I love to put up our Christmas decorations so we can enjoy them for one month. Byron is pretty indifference towards decorations, so I end up putting them up without his help. The hardest task is usually lighting the tree. It usually takes about 8-10 strands of lights. I have great kids that are so willing to help, so the process only took about 45 minutes. As I was putting the strands on the tree, Camille & Tanner were plugging in a new strand, checking to make sure everything worked and getting it untangled. After the lights are on, we all have fun decorating the tree. Camille is usually moving ornaments from one branch to another so they aren't all clumped in one area. It really is awesome when your children start taking over the tasks you have always done:). I pretty much sit back, relax & take pictures while they decorate it by themselves. They really do a great job.
Me putting up the lights.

Crazy Bradley waiting for the tree to be lit.

Camille & Parker getting ornaments to put on the tree.

Decorating the tree.

The 4-armed Parker.

Bradley

Camille, Parker, Bradley, Carter, Tanner & Johnathan

Tierra & Viento

Byron's dream came true back in November as we got two water turtles - Tierra & Viento. Byron had spent hours looking on the Internet to find the right kind of filter to purchase, how to set up an aquarium, what size of aquarium would work best, etc. He was so excited to find a used 75 gallon aquarium on KSL classifieds in October. We slowly purchased everything we needed to get the aquarium running. We even got some fish since most aquatic turtles will eat feeder fish as part of their diet.

The aquarium looked so awesome! Now the hard part was finding some turtles that we could put into it. We went to a few pet stores and couldn't find a good selection or any that weren't already huge. Byron was looking at some classifieds when he came across a guy in Layton who had some 3 1/2 month old turtles for sale. We went and purchased 2 of these turtles - they were so small and cute. We named the smallest one that has red next to her face, "Tierra" and the little larger one that has orange and yellow next to his face, "Viento." They were literally the size of a fifty cent coin.

As soon as we put them into their new environment Tierra immediately swam behind a large bush and stayed for pretty much the whole day. Viento didn't seem to have any issues at all as he swam around and tried to see every square inch of his new home. We all got a good laugh seeing him try to eat the small guppies. Of course he wasn't fast enough to get them, but was pretty persistent. We feed them small pellets that Byron began giving hand feeding them. They will come right up to us in the water and grab it out of our hand. It is pretty cool. Once they are ready for some more food they will come back and grab another one out of our hand. They also love to eat dried worms. These are like a treat! Another fun thing to watch them eat is romaine lettuce. We have a rock where they an come out of the water to bask in the heat. We put some of the food on it once in a while. They will never eat on top of this rock, but will immediately dive into the water to eat.

We have enjoyed learning about turtles in observing them. They are pretty entertaining. Every afternoon is when they eat. If I come down to the aquarium when they are ready to eat, they will both dart right in front of me as if to say they are hungry. I think this is so fun to watch and I enjoy telling my children that the turtles are more obedient than they are. They have definitely grown accustomed to us and don't seem scared when we come by them like they did in the beginning. They have grown a little and their coloring on their shell is also changing.
After Byron put the initial water into the tank it took about 24 hours for the filter to get everything looking great. Bradley looking cute.

The dark green plants are the only live plants in our aquarium. Byron knew that the turtles would eat some of the plants so he wanted to provide some for their diet. These plants are supposed to grow back quickly, so we ended up purchasing 3 of them. Little did we know that these darn turtles can devour the entire plant in 24 hours. Pretty soon all we saw left of these plants were a few floating leaves. We decided pretty quickly that it probably isn't worth our time and money to put them into the tank.

The finished product without the turtles.

Here are cute little Tierra & Viento the day we brought them home. They were in a tiny bowl and were so cute and small.

Byron holding up Viento.
After putting the turtles into the tank for the first time - we all sat and watched them for hours.
Byron enjoying his new tank.
The cute turtles.

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break was much anticipated. Byron had been gone so much that I was excited to have him home with us for a few days. Not to mention the amazing food and company present at Thanksgiving time also. We got up to Byron's parents house in time to help with the last minute preparations. This is the first year I can remember when it was only our immediate family. It was a small group, but so nice to not have such a huge production.

THURSDAY - The food was delicious. There is nothing quite like the taste of Thanksgiving dinner. Everything tasted so good! We ate downstairs on two large tables.

After lunch we went over to the church to play in the gym to help the kids relieve some of their excess energy:). They had fun playing basketball speed, jump rope speed, and Eric taught some of us a cool line dance. My kids are quite the jump ropers. They do very well and some of them usually stay in till the end of the game beating out the adults.

That evening was filled with looking through ads to see where some of the adults would head for the sales. Byron is always so willing to go wherever we find some great deals. He loves getting up early the next morning and heading out with his siblings and mom.

Games, games and more games is always part of every holiday up at the Beck's house. My kids really love this part and can't wait to play games all day and night:).
Eric, Mom Beck and Byron

Everybody is busy with last minute preparations in the kitchen.

Melissa making her salad with Bradley close by.

Camille decorating the tables.

Bradley & Timothy were having fun going up and down the stairs together.

Cute Timothy!

The eating has begun!

Tricia, Carter, Johnathan, Tanner, Eric, Parker, Byron & Bradley

Camille, Melissa, Genevieve, Timothy, Michael, Mom & Dad Beck

Michael & Genevieve announced they were expecting - so exciting to have another little baby added to our family.

Speed basketball

Bradley with his Grandma

Pie at last! Parker, Johnathan, Carter & Bradley waiting patiently.

Bradley & Timothy playing downstairs.

Card games - so intense!

Crazy Carter & Bradley

Looking through the ads.

More games - Camille & Johnathan playing Connect 4.

We ended up spending the night so that Byron could go shopping the next morning.

FRIDAY - The morning came way too early. I actually tried to do some of the online sales available around midnight. The website for Kohl's was so slow and frustrating. I finally had all of my order ready when it totally logged me out. I was so frustrated after fighting with it for about 2 hours that I headed to bed. I think I fell asleep just in time for Byron to get out of bed. Byron ended up going onto the Kohl's website when he woke up and got our order placed in 10 minutes. I guess Kohl's isn't set up for such a huge amount of people all at once.

Byron came back with most everything we had talked about. He saves us so much money every year being willing to shop these sales.

We headed to the movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox." The ratings were really high for this movie, but I wasn't impressed at all. It was pretty weird actually. The kids loved it though - I guess it was just at their level.

The rest of the day we hung out with the Becks then headed back home that evening.

SATURDAY - The long awaited BYU vs. UTAH game was this afternoon. Camille, Tanner, and Johnathan were lucky enough to go with their dad. The game was pretty intense and luckily BYU came out ahead in the end winning - 26 to 23. Byron was even nice enough to let the kids go onto the field at the end of the game.

Camille, Byron, Tanner & Johnathan all ready to leave.

During the game.

After the game when the fans were swarming the field.

Jeff & Emily went to the game also.

Wow - what a crowd down on the field!

Ending score.

Kids on the field after the awesome win!

This game was a great way to end the Thanksgiving weekend.