Danny went to the temple, so I have the laptop for a little bit to update the blog. Here is what we have been up to:

We have been so blessed to have the MBA Spouse Association (MBASA for short) during our MBA experience. Every week there is at least one activity for the kids and one activity for me. We had Cosmo come and visit and play games with us one day. Andrew somehow thinks that Cosmo is his cousin, so he was happy to see him.

Cosmo with all the kids.

Danny played intramural basketball with some of his MBA friends. They went undefeated and lost in the 2nd round of the tournament. Danny actually missed the game were they were beaten, so he likes to think that he had an undefeated season.



This is me finishing the Rex Lee 5k. I finished with time of 25:45 and was 7th out of 188 for females in the 25 to 29 age division. It was fun but really cold that day. The next week I ran in the Marriott School's Corporate climb where I ran up 7 flights of stairs 7 times, but I try to not remember that experience as it was not very fun and I was very sore for a couple days afterwards.



Andrew and Anna at the Rex Lee Run getting ready to cheer me on.



Andrew with the Easter Bunny at the MBASA Easter egg hunt.



A family picture for Easter morning.



We went to farm country at Thanksgiving Point, the highlight was getting to ride the horses. Here is Anna with Andrew right behind. I don't know how but Andrew got to ride the biggest horse, he was so happy.

Okay, so it has been forever since I last wrote. I have somewhat of an excuse. I can only upload pictures on Danny's laptop and he rarely is not using it when I think to add some pictures to the blog, so that is my excuse.

Anyways, here are some pictures from Christmas which was almost 3 months ago.

The tree with all the goods



Anna with her stocking



Getting ready to open presents



Andrew and all he wanted for Christmas - a trumpet



Danny enjoying Christmas breakfast, or we think he is



Showing off my Chargers sweatshirt and doing a dance maybe, I really can't remember



Grandma making some yummy Christmas breakfast



And finally, Craig and Papa

Christmas Eve!

We had a great Christmas Eve. We had some homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. Then we did a Christmas program about the symbols of Christmas and sang some carols. We then did a gift exchange where everyone bought a present for $10. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Giving Andrew haircuts has always been a challenge. He screams and cries the whole time, and we have to have 3 people hold him down. Yesterday was our most successful, thanks to candy canes.

Craig got his haircut first to show Andrew that it didn't hurt.

Even though the haircut went well, Andrew is still a little bit unsure about papa and the clippers.

I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. The month of December has flown by. We have been busy with parties, service, trips, etc. Here are some pictures and stories of our recent events:

Danny and I went to a great MBAA Christmas Party. The theme for the party was Ham for the Holidays. We had a great dinner, a funny show, and dancing! The guys were not to thrilled about dancing, but thankfully Lindsey Ramage convinced them their wives would love it.

Danny as soon as we got home went straight to his laptop. I joke that his laptop is his "baby". He really does not like to be away from it for too long!

For our ward Christmas party, we did a Return to Bethlehem theme. Anna and Andrew were also in a live nativity, Anna was an angel and Andrew was a sheep.

Danny and I attempted to dress as shepherds at the last minute. It really was a last minute attempt and not really successful. :)

Anna and Andrew (really Anna) wanted to have a Christmas party, after we hosted an ugly sweater Christmas party. So we invited her friends and played games, made a jingle bell necklace, decorated sugar cookies, and watched a Christmas movie. It was fun, but I'll have to remember to have some help next time - I was ready for a nap after the party.

We also went with our good friends the Ramages to the Las Vegas Bowl while Anna and Andrew stayed in Provo and played with grandma. We left Friday night and stayed in New Harmony (Cory's family has a house there). We then woke up on Saturday and went to Vegas. On the way, the brakes were really grinding and it was decided they should probably be replaced. We took the van to the brake shop, where they were fixed during the game. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the game (sorry Lindsey) because I left the camera in the van while it was being fixed. The game was awesome even though it was a bit chilly. I think we should make it a yearly tradition it was so much fun.

I've been tagged........

The rules: List 6 facts about yourself, then tag others to do the same. I'm not going to send out a formal tag, so if you read this and have not been tagged then do it!

1. Never call me on my cell phone, I hardly ever use it. It basically just sits in my car in case of an emergency. I feel bad when I do need to make a call and see I have messages from weeks ago. I just hate lugging things around with me. I guess that is why I don't like purses either. :)

2. I love to exercise. I would definitely say that exercising is my hobby. I love looking up exercise programs on the Internet and then in books and trying them out. I can't remember the last time I missed a work out.

3. I love my parents. I seriously have an awesome mom and dad. I remember thinking in high school how they were my best friends. I am so glad that I get to see them more since we have been in Utah. They are so much fun and are always so willing to help me.

4. I am tough. When I was in 9th grade I hurt my knee playing basketball. At the time everyone thought I just sprained my knee really bad. Throughout the rest of my high school playing sports career (volleyball, basketball, and track) I would occasionally tweak my knee, but always would still be able to play on it. During my senior year right before the state semi-final basketball game, I hurt my knee pretty bad (I was able to play in the game, which is an amazing story that maybe I will tell another time). Anyways, the trainers decided I should get my knee scoped to see if there was a problem. Well, they did the surgery and saw that my ACL was torn and had been since I was in 9th grade. They were amazed that I was able to play that long without an ACL.

5. I had to hurry up and graduate from BYU in 3 years. Danny majored in Economics which is the shortest major at BYU (35 credits), probably because it is so hard and that is the only way they could get people to major in it - hard, but you are done fast. Anyways, he knew was going to be done in three years, so I had to load up the schedule and get all my classes in the first year we were married. I was super busy, but I got all my classes in and graduated in 2000 in Fitness and Wellness Management.

6. I love songs from musicals. I just love a good story with great songs. I would love to go to NY some day and go to a show.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We used my mom's camera to take pictures, so as soon as I get them from her I will post some of them.

Today we had our first big snow storm. The kids were really excited and wanted to go play outside. Anna however does not think you need to wear socks ever. I told her she need to wear socks or she wouldn't be able to go outside. She decided to she would rather stay inside, so here are some pictures of Anna sulking because she can't go outside and Andrew playing in the snow.

Anna being sad.

Okay, so much for being a good blogger and updating this blog regularly. We have been busy this fall. Anna is loving kindergarten. She is in an all day program and has a great teacher. Andrew has turned into my little buddy. Thankfully, we are busy with MBASA activities and Relief Society stuff so he does not get bored. Danny is busy with school and figuring out where he will get a job. Hopefully, we will know soon where we will be next year. Here are some pictures that show what we have been up to:

Anna and Andrew ran the cougar kids fun run. I thought it would be 50 meters or so, it turned out to be 1/2 mile! Andrew stopped and said it was too far, but had to finish the race at the end. Anna ran the whole way!

Andrew doing his monkey face.

Anna wearing accessories from her favorite game - Pretty, Pretty Princess

Also, check out our slide show from Halloween.

Check out my Slide Show!

This is a picture of Anna with the cup/fork person she made for me when I was sick. She came up with the idea all by herself and put it together all by herself too. She made it to help me feel better.

Anna and I with cup person

The boys after church

Anna posing with an angel


We had a great garden this year. We grew corn, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, cantaloupe, and of course zucchini! Her is a picture of Anna and Andrew with our monster zucchini.

Anna turned 5 on August 25th, just in time to start kindergarten. She had a fun day. She went to kangaroo zoo with her friends Katelynn and Ashley Ramage, she went bowling with her dad, and then had a party with grandma and papa Despain, Uncle Craig, Uncle Brandon, Aunt Amy, Mom, Dad, and of course Andrew!

Having fun at Kangaroo Zoo!

Andrew with the proper party attire.

Danny playing pin the purse on the girl.

Anna with presents, she loved this game from Aunt Ashley.

Here is what we have been up to since our last post:

Anna and Andrew love using sidewalk chalk. The above picture shows their experiment of grinding the chalk, Anna said she loved how is was so soft.

This is a picture Anna took of Brandon and I on June 27th when we went out to eat to celebrate our birthdays. We went to the Mayan up in Sandy. The entertainment was great, the food and service not so great. We also went to SubZero Ice Cream in Orem. It was great!

Anna and Andrew at the Provo Children's Parade on June 30th.

Anna enjoying a popsicle after walking the whole parade route and back.


Andrew showing me his popsicle. He loved the parade, but I had to carry him most of the time because he just wanted to chase after all the candy being thrown.



Anna demonstrating her sparkler skills.


Andrew was afraid a firework would burn his head, so he kept his hands on his head the whole time!










We convinced Andrew to wear a hat, so he was a lot happier.