Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful.....

Cole and Macie are delighted with the giant piles of snow around here. Justin and I are not feeling so happy about it, however. But what can you do? I guess tie the sled onto the 4 wheeler and pull the neighborhood around and of course have snowball fights while you wait for your turn!

Future Speed Skaters?

We went to the Utah Olympic Oval to ice skate last weekend and had a blast! Cole was a bit hesitant initially but not Macie! Have you ever seen the cartoons where characters are running or moving so fast it looks like they have a hundred legs? Well, that was Macie on skates! She just held onto Justin's hands or mine and grew a hundred legs that flew all over the place faster than you could imagine. She LOVED it!

Cole was determined and persistant. He wanted to be independant and by the end of our skating time was feeling pretty confident and having a very fun time!

Justin cruised around and complained that his blades were dull. He wished he could practice a few figure skating moves he knows......just kidding of course!

I feel like my thighs look like speed skater thighs, or I guess they probably call them quads and they probably are all muscle. Mine currently are all fudge.

I Forgot...

I was going to put this in my previous posts but forgot. Macie colored a picture of Santa at preschool last week. She was excited to show me her Santa. As she pulled it out of her backpack she said "I colored his hat red and green and then I had to smash those meatballs down, really hard!" I was a bit confused but just for a second, then I saw the meatballs. They are also known as cotton balls :)

Budding Photographer

So Justin was uploading pictures from our camera to our computer a while ago and was hysterically laughing. I had to find out what was so funny so when I asked, he showed me a few pictures and said "Can you guess who took these pictures?" There were 52 pictures and even a few very short movies!


It definitely wasn't me. See if you can figure out who the photographer is......

Clearly...

I am not so good at updating our blog. I always think I will do a monthly post but when the time comes I'm completely overwhelmed and don't know where to start. Sheesh, I'm hopeless! Anyway, here is a lengthy update of a few things that have been happening around here :)

Pre School Program

Macie had her pre school program today and it was super cute. She even had a part which she said right into the microphone - no shyness at all. It must have been a Christmas miracle! Her class sang a few songs and said their parts and that was it. It was short, sweet and perfect!

P.S. It looks like the program took place in a dance studio, and it did :)

More Cute Holiday Pictures -- Fairly Random

Annual Dean Christmas Party

We had our annual Dean family Christmas party which is always fun. The food was yummy and we exchanged gifts which is the highlight for the kids (ok, and the parents too!!). We missed Shalisa, Kirk and Evie but we'll try to get them next year!

It's Christmas Time!

For the past few years we have gone to University Mall to see that well known jolly old elf arrive in a helicopter. This year was a bit wet but not too cold and it was very fun. I would say that getting balloon swords was equally as exciting as seeing Santa climb out of the helicopter!

Reflections

Cole entered Reflections this year and the theme was "Wow." Cole was thrilled to "win" which was actually recieving an award for participating. It was great and his entry wasn't too shabby either :)

How 'bout them Utes!

Being graduates of the U, Adrienne and I are so proud of their win over TCU! It was a close game but TCU "croaked" in the end. RISE AND SHOUT THE UTES ARE OUT!!

Justin

October Fun

We took a drive up American Fork Canyon to see the colors and were amazed at the beauty, unfortunately the pictures can't do it justice!! Fall is my favorite season.....


Justin, Ryan and Derek are not afraid to get dirty, clearly! They went for a little ride one Saturday and three guys that we didn't recognize came back on their 4 wheelers! Talk about scary....and talk about MAJOR cleanup!!!

Dean Halloween '08: This year's party was another success. Everyone looked great and there was delicious food and fun games - Thanks Britnie and Derek for another great party!!

Justin is a "Bag of Leaves" for everyone who can't quite figure it out (his idea, not mine!)

Cole and Macie got to have a picnic with our neighbors and friends the Doney's. It was a perfect day and despite the expression on Cole and Macie's faces, they were excited to eat lunch with their friends Lindsay, Zane and Gavin.

Hee Haw Farms with the Gourleys: Another fun fall festivity (wow, check me out with the illiteration!).......

We are attempting to make our yard nice and comply with the HOA (mostly comply with the HOA) so we bought two trees this summer for our backyard. I love both trees and have become emotionally attached, so they better survive the winter or I will need therapy next year. This is a picture of Cole with my "Autumn Blaze Maple" which the name alone makes me love!

Rich Halloween '08: This was another fun party we attended with more great costumes and yummy treats......

Grandma and Grandpa?!?!?!?

I'm sure Lesa LOVES that I put this picture in, it's just so great!!

Matt spent a lot of time and effort on his costume this year :)

Sarah Palin and her celebrity "friend" Dwight (of "The Office") graced the party with their presence! Too bad Dwight didn't bring any beets.....

This was our attempt at carving pumpkins this year. Justin and I are getting smarter and decided to share a pumpkin this year rather than clean and carve one for each of us. We're working up to pumpkins for kids only!!

Football Season!

Cole is playing flag football this season. It's been really fun to try something different and all of his buddies are on his team-does it get any better?!? We have had two games so far and Cole has had a big cheering section both times. Grandpa Dean, Aunt Shalisa, Ellie and Evie surprised us at the first game. It was perfect football weather and Cole got to kick the ball and hand it off (they don't do passes in flag football) and run around. It was wonderful!

The second game was just as fun. Claire and Avery joined us with some great cheers and lots of energy (and some M&Ms, yum). We had a blast, and Cole almost made a touchdown! We did a few push-ups, summer saults and jumping jacks (not me though, I spared everyone the embarassment!). And Claire totally has a future in flag football.