Merry Christmas from The Brindley's

Make a Smilebox greeting

Our Snow Day

As all of you probably heard, the Las Vegas Valley was hit with tons of snow last week. It made news all over and was very exciting for my kids. It really felt like winter was here and with the Christmas holiday looming, it just made the season more merrier for us. I took lots of pictures of Carter playing in the snow. Kamryn happened to be at a friends house and went sledding - of which I have no pictures of. And Mason was down and out with bronchitis. Poor guy... he wanted so much to play outside with Carter and the other neighborhood kids.

Wednesday the kids didn't have school anyway because of conferences at school. The day didn't start off looking like there was going to be much of anything going on. So I was surprised when just before lunch the snow started to fall and didn't stop until after we had gone to bed. It looked so beautiful and peaceful. I love the quiet the snow brings. It reminded me so much of the Utah winters I experienced growing up. I even dared to go out driving. I wasn't worried because I love driving in the snow with my four wheel drive! But Las Vegas and it's residents are sure not experienced with such large amounts of snow. There were stranded cars everywhere and accidents too. Benn and the kids gave a ride to a lady who had left her car and was walking in her high heels home. It was definitely a day for the sorrels and snow pants!

The next day, Thursday, school was closed. A snow day in Vegas! I remember loving snow days in Utah when I was little. As I grew up, they became a pain. My brothers and I would have to shovel snow off the side walks and drive way. We lived on a corner which meant more sidewalks than the usual house. One winter, we had to climb on the roof and remove the snow that was at least knee deep. There had been so much heavy snow that roofs were caving in all over the valley. That day I remember thinking that I wished I would have been in school. For some reason Kamryn felt the same way. She wanted to go to school and didn't want to stay home. It might have something to do with the cute boy in her class that seems to like her (that is a whole different story).

Carter got his taste of a real snowball fight that day. I don't think he's much of a fan. Being that Carter was at least 2 years younger than the most accurate snowball throwers, he seemed to get a fair share of snow balls coming his way. I have to give him some credit though. He did try. When I asked him if he knew how to make snowballs he said, "Yeah, but they [the other boys] make them too fast." So he felt picked on a little bit, actually a lot. I heard him yell to the boys that if anyone of them hit him again with a snowball that he would kill them. Well, what do you think happened next? The snowballs came flying at a rapid rate toward my boy who tries to dish it out, but definitely cannot take his own medicine. So Carter came into the house looking for a gun. When I asked him why he needed a gun, he said, "I'm gonna kill them!" Well, this might be the next kid who finds his father's gun and ends up going ballistic at a shopping mall or school. Let's hope not, but I did ask Benn where his shotgun was being kept at the moment. Good thing he left the guns in Koosharem!


Carter outside around 1:3pm, just when the snow was starting to stick




Carter was being pulled on a boogie board by the neighbors. None of us had any sleds!

The Tooth Fairy Comes... Finally!

Carter lost his first tooth! It has taken quite a while for this day to come and he was very excited! Last year in Kindergarten when all the kids were losing teeth, Carter felt left out and wondered why he wasn't losing any. What can I say? I guess some of us have slow growing teeth. Now that this monumental day has come, I'm sure there will be another lost tooth before the end of the year. His other lower middle tooth is loose and Carter is anxiously awaiting the day that his second tooth comes out. I told Carter to wait until we get to SLC to pull the tooth out. That way, Pa can get his dirty pliers from his tool box and pull the tooth out himself, the way it was done when I was growing up. That doesn't say much about my father who happens to be a dentist!!

The tooth fairy did come that night while Carter slept. I think I heard her rummaging around for money about four in the morning. Must have been a busy night for her or maybe she just forgot to do it earlier. Who knows?

My Weekend

I cannot remember when I stayed up so late both weekend nights. I am so old for saying that, but it is so true. I love my sleep! We had our ward Christmas party this past Friday night. I helped set up for it in the morning and by the time I got home that afternoon, I felt my cold coming back. While setting up, some friends and I talked about going to see the Twilight movie again after the party, hoping to enjoy it better. So off I went, tired and crazy to be going to a 9 o'clock movie. It was just the same as before, but I noticed different things. For instance, Jasper is actually good looking when he's not concentrating on Bella being in the same room as he is. I caught the "olympic size" comment about men on the swim team stuffing their speedo's. And there are the same opinions as before, such as, bad bad bad hair color on Rosalie, Jasper, and Dr. Cullen. Edward still looks funny when Bella comes into Biology for the first time and when she walks into the school's office after class. Hilarious!!! Anyways, I had a good time with my gals, but didn't get to bed before midnight. Serious bummer since I felt my cold coming back.

Saturday - woke up to fighting. My favorite way to wake up, especially when I wasn't able to sleep in. Packed to leave for Anaheim. Benn and I were off to attend the KHS&S annual holiday party. This company Benn works for flew us down to So. Cal, put us up for the night and flew us home the next day. It was a quick trip, but nice to be with Benn. We decided to rent a car once we flew into Ontario so that we could go and visit some of Benn's friends. Benn grew up not too far from the airport and so we had lunch at "his" In & Out. He sat down and was just smiling remembering all the good times he had there. While we were driving around, I was getting an ear full about what happened at this place and that place. Although it wasn't my first time in Benn's old stompin' ground and I had heard most of the guided tour, I sat and listened to him reminisce. It was fun to see him get excited about the fond memories he had growing up.

That night we got all dressed up for the party. We showed up just after six, just in time for cocktails and mingling. This was not so much fun. Especially when we don't know anybody and don't drink. What was fun though, was the people watching! I wish I could have just stayed in the corner and had the room slowly circle so I could see all that was going on. I loved seeing all the choices of clothing chosen for this eventful night. The Mormons were easily spotted. We were the only ones with sleeves and no cleavage and we all looked to be more reserved than the rest, I'm sure. When we finally sat down for dinner, we managed to sit on the "Mormon" table as we were informed. So we visited with a couple that Benn already knew and met some other nice people as well.

At last when the dinner and awards were over, we were able to leave. We didn't want to stay for the long-haired-wanna-be-Van Halen band that set up after the program was over. We decided instead to meet some of Benn's old friends for more food at Friday's. It was fun to catch up and talk, although by this point I was drained and had that delayed courtesy laugh when there was something funny to laugh at.

Again another late night, which made for a very exhausted Sunday. I managed to sleep in, but it didn't help. I felt hung-over and looked worse than that. We managed to get cleaned up and drive back to Ontario to catch our flight. On the way we stopped at another friend's house to kill some time before we had to leave. I wish I would have taken some pictures of our friends whom we haven't seen for several years, but being as tired as I was I was proud of myself for not falling asleep at their kitchen table. And by this point my cold, was in full swing again. What's with the never ending smoker's voice and congestion?

I had a great time being with Benn and actually having time to talk without being interrupted. And we have some great friends who watched our kids and entertained them more than we ever do in a 24 hour period. Now it's back to the pre-christmas grind.


Love these fries!


What's better than a double double with grilled onions?

Mason

Mason is the funniest kid. I can't get enough of him sometimes. All I have to do is look at him and I melt - unless he's telling me "no." We were decorating the house for Christmas and I pulled out the singing Santa and friends. Mason must have listened to "Jingle Bells" at least twenty times before I sent him in a room by himself to play the jolly tune. He now has the song down and loves to sing along with this decor item. When I snapped this picture, he was singing and dancing on the chair. I wished I would have got him on the video camera, but we are out of tape (no we don't have a digital one, but that would be a good Xmas present) and my camera doesn't capture good videos on it. They turn out really grainy.


This next picture, Benn was cleaning out the garage and Mason was having a good 'ole time using the power drill. Benn got out some old scraps of wood and let him go nuts making holes. It was so funny! He thought he was doing some serious work, as you can tell by his facial expression. Hopefully he will turn out like his dad and be good with the power tools and fix things around the house.

Out of the mouth of Carter

Carter is an easy kid to be around and always has been - until that is you give him a chore to do or ask him to do something he doesn't want to, then it gets ugly! He was always so quiet as a baby and toddler. Carter was slow to speak when he was little so I feel like we never got that fun phase around age three when the craziest things come out of his mouth, like it is with Mason right now. Well, he has been making up for it lately.

The other night we told Carter that we couldn't put up the Christmas tree until he and Mason had cleaned up the playroom. Carter hates cleaning up. He will complain and ask for help. He will tell us he doesn't know how. Every excuse in the book comes out when it's time to clean up. Benn was getting frustrated with his delays in cleaning and told Carter that he was to shut the playroom door and not come out until everything was cleaned up. Soon after Carter shut the door, we heard this muffled voice call out from the playroom, "Dad! If you don't come and help me, I'm gonna call the police!" How could we not laugh? That was so funny to us, but it did not get us to help him clean up!

The next thing happened at a neighbor's house without our knowledge until we got an email the next day explaining. Here is what our neighbor wrote:

"It was so funny last night when Carter was over. He asked me how old that girl on the couch was (that being my mom who is resting on the couch with no TV on, just laying there). I say, 'Well how old do you think she is?' He says, 'Ummm 150 years old.' We about died laughing. My mom needed that. Then off Carter ran to play. We love talking to him. he is sooooo cute. Glad you guys are our neighbors."

That is Carter for you. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth these days.

Koosharem Thanksgiving

For all of you wondering if my husband has a family, the answer is, Yes. We don't get to see them very often and pictures are scarce. This weekend we traveled up to Koosharem for Thanksgiving. Benn's parents have lived here for the last several years. I took several pictures to show you Benn's side of the family. His sister, Melissa, came down from Salt Lake and joined us. She is the youngest of five siblings. Benn is the next youngest with three older brothers. Bryan, the oldest, lives in Minnesota. Brent - southern Utah, and Bowen - South Dakota. Benn grew up in So. California and about nine years ago, his parents uprooted and moved to Koosharem, Utah. This is where Benn's Dad, Wayne, was raised. Our kids love to visit and look forward to riding the 4-wheelers, seeing all the animals that grandpa is taking care of, making fires and roasting marshmallows and just running around outside without parents watchful eyes.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with lots of good fun and good company. It was very cold and a little windy, but that didn't stop the kids from spending most of the day time outside. I was surprised that they didn't freeze their fingers off! Kamryn and I did some Christmas shopping at the local Walmart thirty minutes away in Richfield. It was fun to people watch and be around friendly sales people, not like the Walmart workers here in Vegas!!! It was a good weekend, but we could have done without the sickness that followed us home.

Melissa and Mason

Me and Carter

Carter in Grandpa's garage. Yes, Grandpa's garage. This place is amazing! This is where all the tools, off-road toys and food storage to feed at least a hundred is kept. And there is even a t.v. with satallite so Grandpa can relax in his own environment.

Kamryn

Mason playing with the shot gun shells

Amy shooting a 20-gauge shotgun. I thought that I would never ever shoot a gun in my life - that and ride a horse. I have made it this far in my life without doing either and when I married into Benn's family, I almost became stubborn about it. Well, I shot the guns and I have to admit it was pretty fun. I didn't like the shot-gun. There was too much kick for me and I didn't feel like I was in control when I pulled the trigger. But the semi-automatic pistol was too much fun!!!

Carter and Kam with the muffs on. Didn't want them going deaf with the loud guns.

Benn helping Carter shoot the .22 rifle.

Mason and Grandma with her curlers in. In Koosharem, there is nobody you need to impress!

Grandpa helping Kam with the 22 semi-automatic pistol

Wayne, Benn, Melissa and Nancy Brindley

Grandma and Kamryn showing off their creation

We finished ours first but it didn't look as good. We were going for quick and painless!


NAP TIME! Too much turkey

Ever since Mason found out we were going to Koosharem for Thanksgiving, he has wanted to see Amish, the horse. While visiting during the summer, Mason fell in love with this horse. He never rode it, but he loves horses and was so excited to see his friend again.




These last pictures give you an idea of how it is to be in Koosharem and why the kids love it so much. They can run free and not be bothered by cars or other people. Although it was cold, it was still beautiful. The mountians and the storms rolling in made for some good pictures, at least I thought so.



These last pictures are of the old Brindley homestead. George and Jane Brindley and their six kids were the first Brindley's to settle in Grass Valley during the late 1800's. They came over from England where George was a silversmith. Here in Grass Valley they tried their hand at farming potatoes among other things. Benn's dad, Wayne, says that they nearly starved to death that first winter. I guess that means they weren't so good at working the land. The first picture is of the fireplace from George and Jane's home. The second is of the foundation. If you look closely there is a line of rocks that make up the eastern foundation. Benn and Wayne figured that the home was roughly 270 square feet! That is smaller than my bedroom! It was very cool to see a part of Benn's heritage and hear their story. I can see why Wayne wanted to move back when he retired from being a veterinarian in southern California. Koosharem and it's surrounding areas are a part of who he is and I think it's common to want to be where you once grew up, especially if you loved your childhood. Wayne must have had a pretty good one!

Mason's New Favorite Toy

This is a hand me down from Carter. We recently pulled it down from the garage racks, put a new battery in it and there you have it! Mason's cool new jeep!!

Great Expectations

One morning while Benn was leaving for work Carter asked, "Dad when you go to work can you make me a motorcycle? One that's real for me?" This was funny to me since Benn really does think he can make anything. Usually when I tell Benn I want something his usual response is, "I'll make you one."

My New Best Friend

I had the funniest dream the other night, that I just had to share. Now of course it makes no sense but I really didn't want to wake up from this dream. I was shopping by myself at what appeared to be something like a Victoria's Secret. One of the sales ladies was taking me through the store, giving me a tour. Then she led me back through a secret door and we were in a very fancy Victorian restaurant. She then introduces me to Jerry Seinfeld! We hit it off and became fast friends!! We ate and talked. I told him how much I loved his sitcom and we talked of our favorite episodes. Then I told him that I really wanted tickets to see his show at Caesar's Palace. Well, guess what? We were in Caesar's Place and he introduces me to the owner of the hotel and casino and his wife and we become friends. I was now rubbing shoulders with the elite class of Vegas. And I am now able to ask for tickets to the show!

We then go back to Jerry's apartment and meet his wife and kids who are so fun and very friendly. I'm telling you we were best friends at this point! Then we plan the next day to go shopping at Caesar's and Jerry is going to treat!!! I think this is why I didn't want to wake up, but of course we didn't make it to the next day or the shopping spree at Caesar's. I don't remember how I woke up or where this fun dream ended, but I would be interested in knowing what this dream means. So for all those who can interpret dreams, give it to me!

This could happen to you if...

...if you don't have parental controls on your computer. We came across some disturbing news the other day which caused us to immediately put more strict controls on our computer, preventing our kids from going to websites they have no business going to. Basically, if your child can spell and knows how to type into google or any other search engine, the possibility of them going to a website just out of curiosity is huge. My kids use potty words all the time, much to my dismay, so whose to say that they won't just type one in and see what happens. If you go to K9webprotection.com there is a free download that will instantly filter out the inappropriate websites. I am sure there are other web-sites out there, this is just the one we found. It is just disgusting what's out there on the world wide web and I don't need that finding it's way into my home!

Soccer comes to an end... Again!

Another season of soccer and the Mighty Ducks has come to a close for Carter. We only had one other returning player this year, other than Carter, and that was the coach's son. Carter has been playing with the same group of kids and the same coach for two years. We were sad to find out that we had five new players this season, but it turned out well. One player we happend to know. We lived in their neighborhood and Carter and Daxton used to play together regularly, so that made it fun and very helpful with car-pooling. And the other players really gave it their all and I think we won most of our games. With Carter being a returning player he had to step up his game a little bit and I was surprised to find him running more and playing the positions well. He still put on quite the show when he scored, which is my favorite. Good thing his average is only about two goals per game or else he might seem like he is showing off! His coach hands out certificates at the end of season party and Carter got the GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL! Award for showing exhuberance while scoring goals during the game. He was super excited to get his trophy and have the party in honor of the team. Now he wants to try his hand at basketball. This should be very interesting and lots of fun as well!

Most used word

Hands down, the most used word in all languages across the board has to be MOM or some form of that word. Mother, Mommie, Momma, etc. You get the point. I am just making a simple observation and at the moment I wish this endearing name would make me melt. But right now... IT'S NOT!

Kauai

Yes, we again had a great opportunity to go to Kauai, thanks to my parents and their ability to hook us up with some fabulous accommodations. Our friends, the Herleans, went with us and made the trip much more exciting. We had lots of fun, eating until we were stuffed and then making oreo shakes and eating those until we literally wanted to puke. We watched many episodes of TheOffice, had a tetris competition, of which I came in last place, played tennis, kayaked, did a rope swing and relaxed. Aaaaahhh! We explored some new parts of the island that we had not seen before and we managed to come back with a decent tan, despite several days of clouds and rain. It was a great trip and we saw my parents there too. What a coincidence! No, we knew they were going to be there. We had dinner with them one night and visited them at their resort one day before we all went on the river. It was great to be away for a couple days and leave our stressful lives at home. I would love to spend an extended stay there and live for a year there, just to get into that island life. My kids would love it, and I would go so far to say that I would even dare home school them for that year, while we explored the island, became beach bums and learned to surf. We would have to live in a complete dive because it is so expensive to live over there, but we would make it work. Enough of my day dream... but it is sure fun to think about!
Note: If you put the cursor over the side-slow a caption will come up.

My Dirty Boys!

A week ago as Benn and I were off to vote, Martin E. pulled up to our house with kids in his SUV and some fun toys being towed behind. He asked Benn if he wanted to go out riding with them, so off went Carter and Benn. I am so glad they went because they had a blast! Carter was able to ride a little 50 by himself and do the buggy, although I think his legs were too short to push the gas pedal so he steered while Benn pushed the pedal. I think this is the start of a new passion, at least for Carter. Dirt bikes have Benn's thing since he was young riding the mountain trails behind his So-Cal home. Maybe someday we will have our own trailer full of dirt bikes for the kids and a boat behind that for ME!