Guns 'N Hoses Hockey 2009

It's that time of year again -- Guns 'N Hoses Hockey is coming to town!

If you're looking for an after-Christmas charity that keeps on giving, this is a good one! All the proceeds support the Guns 'N Hoses charity fund, which contributes money to many things to help our firefighters and police officers out in times of need: they give surviving family members financial assistance in the event someone is killed in the line of duty or who have died (example: two officers this past year have died of cancer and Guns 'N Hoses has helped their families out); they lend assistance paying medical bills for emergency circumstances: i.e. one of the former players is a young guy who has been diagnosed lung cancer and is in desperate need. Last year, one of the officers had a nephew who had died unexpectedly and they helped cover funeral cost.

This is a benefit to all the public safety officers in the valley, not just those who play. In the past, they have also helped support the University of Utah Burn Camp and the Hunstman Cancer Institute.

There is such an increased interest in playing for the team this year they are doing two charity games. Tickets are $10 each and will get you in the Grizzlies game later the same night. In years past, there have also been various games and a raffle; it hasn't been confirmed formally, but I would imagine there will be things like this around as well.

Alan has told me that this year they've invited the teams from a similar program in Boise, Idaho to come down, so the weekend will be full of tournaments. We can get more information on those for anyone who wants it.

Also, if you have a business interested in making this is a tax-deductible donation, we can get information about who to write a check to.

This is 6th year of Guns 'N Hoses, and the firefighters have prevailed for four of the five games played. Let's see if they can do it again!

Date : Saturday, January 24, 2009

Time: 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm
Location: The E Center in West Valley, UT
Price: $10/ ticket

If you have any further questions, please email us here. You can also get a hold of us on our cell phones at any time. Thanks for your support!

Buried in a White Christmas

On the outside: it was snowing...and snowing... and snowing....

When all was told, before we departed for grandparents' abodes, mom and dad had shoveled our way through snow that was at least 12 inches deep, and as deep as 16 inches in some spots. The dogs had both tripped and been completely buried at least once each, and Mason had gone back inside to play with the toys Santa had brought. He tried to brave the storm and help us, but about 20 minutes outside was enough for him. We were out there for just short of two hours shoveling. We're thinking if this weather keeps up, Santa just might bring up a snow blower a little late.


On the inside: A Merry Christmas to all...

2008

Mason was so excited to see what Santa had brought. In addition to the train table delivered on Christmas morning by the big man, mom and dad pitched in with some Thomas the Tank Engine bedding and pajamas, and dad contributed some trains that Mason carried around the rest of the day in an ever-growing collection. Thank you to the family on both sides who helped make Mason's Christmas and ours very Merry. We hope you and yours had just as much fun as we did, and are now taking the opportunity to rest up for the new year. Happy Holidays from us to you.

2007

2006
(Some things never change, they still look at me like that when I aim the camera.)

A Parent's Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house

I searched for the tools to hand to my spouse.

Instructions were studied and we were inspired,

In hopes we could manage "Some Assembly Required."

The children were quiet (not asleep) in their beds,

While Dad and I faced the evening with dread:

A kitchen, two bikes, Barbie's town house to boot!

And, thanks to Grandpa, a train with a toot!
We opened the boxes, my heart skipped a beat....

Let no parts be missing or parts incomplete!

Too late for last-minute returns or replacement;

If we can't get it right, it goes in the basement!
When what to my worrying eyes should appear,

But 50 sheets of directions, concise, but not clear,

With each part numbered and every slot named,

So if we failed, only we could be blamed.

More rapid than eagles the parts then fell out,

All over the carpet they were scattered about.

"Now bolt it! Now twist it! Attach it right there!

Slide on the seats, and staple the stair!

Hammer the shelves, and nail to the stand."

"Honey," said hubby, "you just glued my hand."

And then in a twinkling,

I knew for a fact

That all the toy dealers had indeed made a pact

To keep parents busy all Christmas Eve night

With "assembly required" till morning's first light.
We spoke not a word, but kept bent at our work,

Till our eyes, they went bleary; our fingers all hurt.

The coffee went cold and the night, it wore thin

Before we attached the last rod and last pin.
Then laying the tools away in the chest,

We fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.

But I said to my husband just before I passed out,

"This will be the best Christmas, without any doubt.
Tomorrow we'll cheer, let the holiday ring,

And not have to run to the store for a thing!

We did it! We did it! The toys are all set

For the perfect, most perfect, Christmas, I bet!"
Then off to dreamland and sweet repose I gratefully went,

Though I suppose there's something to say for those self-deluded...

I'd forgotten that BATTERIES are never included!

-Author Unknown

Merry Christmas Eve to you all!

Baking Frenzy Continued

There's no better way to spread some holiday "Joy" (that's what the plate says--ha!) than with Sicilian Christmas Cookies, Cappuccino Truffles, and some really yummy local coffee from an awesome place called The Coffee Club. For these and more holiday recipes, visit my recipe blog, The Unpampered Chef

Dad is totally the fun parent at our house

Mason was so excited that it finally snowed! He could hardly wait to get outside and play in it, which was a drastic change in attitude from this time last year. Alan contributed to the excitement by providing a sledding opportunity at a little park by our house. Not being such a snow-friendly mom, I was grateful for his effort to pick a park with relatively small hills and absolutely no trees for this first tubing trip; Mason is half mine after all, so he's genetically predisposed to run into things when he shouldn't.

After breakfast, we headed outside to shovel the snow. While we were outside, our neighbor across the street and her kids came out to tackle the same chore. She has a plow on their 4-wheeler, so we borrowed her two older children while she plowed the driveway. EmmaLee was a great help with the snowman building (I haven't done it in 20-some-odd years), but even with her help the head was a little small and had some trouble staying on. Carter helped Alan shovel for most of the time, but also took time to teach Mason how to eat snow. EmmaLee had fun initiating a snowball fight with Alan.

Post-shoveling, EmmaLee had to go to school but Carter went to the park with us. Wouldn't you know, even with the new inner tube, Mason's favorite thing was to roll down the hills himself. He just wasn't such a huge fan of having snow on his face, and would periodically stop and ask me or his dad to clean him off. When Mason started asking for a drink, we headed home and Mason got one of his first piggy back rides from Dad; his initial protest of "I don't see any piggies!" was pretty funny, but it only took him a second to figure out what was happening.

The first snow of the year brought back a couple of things for me: first is my favorite thing about winter. We love to throw snowballs for Rio and Samson almost as much as they like to eat them. The catch is they often lose the snowball in the snow and will track back to Alan and stare him down as if they don't believe he really threw it. The second thing is the simple joy involved in a snowstorm when you're a little kid. Mason didn't have to worry about things like extended commute times, driver safety, and how much ibuprofen is required to alleviate an after-shoveling backache. All he had to do was sit back and enjoy being a kid, and it was so fun to be caught up in that for a little while. Also, now every time I ask him to put on his coat, he asks if we're building a snowman. I think he liked that part.

Thanks for letting us borrow your kids, Melissa! You guys are great neighbors and I look forward to many more snowstorms with you guys. It isn't the same as us three ladies tackling as many driveways as our shovels will handle, but it's still fun!

Baking Frenzy

In the past few days, I've been on a roll with baking. I have made banana bread (not pictured), about 6 dozen rolled/cutout sugar cookies, English Toffee Bars (bottom left in top picture), and No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars (top right in top picture). I spent five solid hours baking on Sunday. I have yet to frost most of the sugar cookies (I only did the ones we're giving Alan's brother for his birthday treat) and I still have apple butter to make. Also, notice the picture Mason wanted me to take of him "looking at Paul's cookies." For these recipes and others, check out my recipe blog, The Unpampered Chef. Happy Holidays!

Lost in 8:15

This is both hilarious with the deadpan delivery and a great way to catch up on the first three seasons of Lost if you are a fan.

More Nights of Lights

Heather and I took the kiddos, plus her nephew, to see Zoo Lights last week. As you can tell from the overbearing number of pictures, everywhere we looked was a fantastic creation. I definitely recommend it! It wasn't too cold if we kept moving or paused at the heating spots. We tried deep fried s'mores--it wasn't even on a dare-- and decided they aren't our fave. They cool off too fast and don't have enough graham cracker-y-ness. It was almost like paying $2.00 for a greasy candy bar. Mason wasn't a fan and stuck to the usual mess--a churro. I'm not sure what it is about this boy and cinnamon-sugar, but there is a definite love affair there.

The kids each got a little light up spin toy that may very well be the best $6 I have ever spent. The only problem was when they would let the lights flash in the backseat on the way home, because I totally thought I was being pulled over.

Mason kept wanting to go back and see the monkeys (I maintain it takes one to know one). He was so sweet being upset they were sleeping in the trees. He wanted them to "go down and sleep in their beds."

Overall, Mason swore he had so much fun that he wants to do it again, and that is what counts! Although, I think next year he will be way too big for the stroller and we'll have to find another way to bundle up.

The only place Thanksgiving should meet Christmas

In my opinion, that is. I think Christmas is a post-December 1st sort of thing. Except for some reason this year, we were all over it the day after Thanksgiving. I can totally see that; I'm not the girl who starts Christmas around Halloween time, though, and I never will be.

Anyway, we took Mason to see the holiday lights at Thanksgiving Point on Friday night. He said his favorites were the "red trees". As seems to be the case with children, he liked the parking lot decorations the best out of the whole display! Alan's favorite was a solider lighting a cannon; the cannonball shot in an arch over the roadway and was synced to lights of a small explosion on the other side. I really liked that one, but I think my favorite was the gingerbread man flipping through the archway over the trail. I couldn't capture a very good picture of either of our favorites. And the camera didn't do the red trees much justice, but I tried! (Also, please excuse our car antenna in the picture. If it wasn't there, it would mean I was the driver instead of the passenger, so that's probably a good thing.)

Mason's whole focus of the evening was feeding the "Bambis" so they could "have a popsicle after dinner." He determined that reindeer (we have tried to explain the difference between Bambi and reindeer, but the red nose is the only thing that seems to register, and we have since given up) like brown or yellow popsicles the best. I tried not to think about that too much and I was much relieved when he changed his mind and decided they like blue popsicles instead.

Naturally, Mason was the most interested in trying to climb inside the reindeer's pen. I have a picture of him being stopped by his daddy as he tried to climb over the top, but I was on stroller guard on the other side, so it's really dark. And the picture posted does not accurately show the amount of climbing that was going on...need I say again that he's a monkey?

We had hamburgers and fries (all the better to feed my new, relatively bottomless craving for red meat-- I'm sensing a prescription for iron supplements in my future!) for dinner at a place across the way and then shared a peach cobbler milkshake. I found a chunk of peppermint candy cane in my milkshake. I'm choosing to look at that as a bonus!

Decking the Halls

Mason is starting to recognize some of the elements of Christmas this year, and it has been so much fun. We asked him if he was excited for Christmastime, and the answer was a resounding yes. We asked him what Christmas means, and his first answer was "Lights!" We're working on the actual meaning of Christmas now! However, his excitement prompted us to take first things first-- and put up our lights. As you can see, we aren't too elaborate with it; we put up something simple and then drive around to see the more elaborate displays.

We also invested in a 7 1/2 foot tall pre-lit Christmas tree. This was only a disadvantage after we started decking the tree out and I realized I only had enough decor for a 4 1/2 foot tree. We're making it work! I have scaled back on my Christmas decorations a bit. I used to do the whole living room, but Mason loves to play in there, so we seem to have reached a truce whereby I get my space to decorate if he gets his space to play. As a result, I have the tree and the one table ready to go. My mom purchased a train that is meant to circle the bottom of the tree for Mason; we might put it up if he'll stop playing with it long enough. But his other newfound love is The Polar Express, which is also the name he's bestowed on the new train; I'm thinking this love will carry him through the new year.

Little Chicken Pot Pies

This is what we had for dinner. For this and some of my other brave attempts, check out my recipe blog, The Unpampered Chef. Because we had most of the items on hand, this cost me less than $5 to make, and I was so very excited about that.

Wordless Wednesday: This Time Last Year

Mason was so excited to help dad shovel snow. We'll beat the chore-related excitement out of him yet (okay, not really because chores are necessary and we will benefit when he does them). 2Dec07 For more Wordless Wednesdays, see Nicol's blog when she has a chance to start posting again or 5 Minutes for Mom.