Happy Birthday Brook!!

Brook had his 35th birthday today. He may not be happy that I'm putting his age in here? It's not how I wanted his birthday to go. I've been sick this week and haven't been out to do any preparations. So I told him that we will celebrate it this weekend. I did (with some help) get his favorite dessert made. So at least it wasn't a total loss!!!

A classic picture of Brook

The kids can't wait for dessert either

Retreat

This is one of my favorite times of the year. This was our 6th annual "Scrapaway" neighborhood retreat. It started out as a scrapaway with only scrapbookers, but now it is for anyone in our neighborhood to come and do what ever they want (e.g. play games, eat, facials, eat, rock band, eat, scrapbook, eat, watch movies, eat) notice I didn't put in sleep!!! We stay in a huge cabin for 2 nights. We take turns cooking or cleaning up one meal. It is really easy and we eat wonderful food the whole weekend. I'm sad it's over, but I had a blast and I got a lot done!

Palatal Expanders

This week Melissa went to the orthodontist. Her baby teeth were so tight and perfect and now that her permanent teeth are coming in, there is no room. So she had Palatal Expanders put in for her top and bottom jaw. The nice thing is that I don't have to turn a screw on them each day. They make them with springs in them that are constantly pushing. Right after they were put on, she wouldn't talk. They told her to read a book outloud to me that night so she'd be able to talk at school the next day. She had a hard time talking that day!! It was so sad when it came time to eat. She had a hard time swallowing, and she was in a lot of pain. She just sat at the table and cried. I mashed up her food and had her swallow without chewing. She's had them on for a couple of days now and thank goodness she is getting better!! I thought it was going to be a long year.

Skiing

For the new year we went skiing as a family up at Brighton. The night before we went there was a storm and that morning we had 9" of new snow. It was BITTER cold in the morning, but by the afternoon we thawed out. It was so beautiful up in the mountains!!! I thought the trees looked amazing with all the new snow on them, so I had Brook stop so I could take a few pictures.