Preference 2013

On January 26, 2013 0 Talbie and a group of friends went to the 

Preference dance at OHS.  They had a lot of fun!

For the day date, they went to Classic Skating and roller skated

and play at their new fun center.

That night, they went to La Jolla Groves for dinner, to the dance,

and then back to our house for ice cream sundaes!

I was nominated to be their group's photographer.

I have a nice camera, but that doesn't mean that I know how to use it!

The other dilemma was that we didn't know where to go for pictures.

Talbie decided that we should go to my office because it has a nice lobby.

I think it worked out great!

Here is Talbie and Preston

 The guys...

 The girls...

 The whole group.

 When Preston answered Talbie, he came to school with a big

bouquet of yellow daisies and gave them to her.  It was so pretty!

 

 This is how Talbie asked Preston.  They have a sign language class together.

Talbie wore one of Maddie's dresses to Preference

CLICK HERE to see Maddie wear it originally :)

George Strait!

Remember how Maddie got a George Strait ticket for Christmas

from my parents and Dave gave me one???

Well, the concert was last night!

Dave and Brittany got lucky too because my parents were originally going to go with us

but they ended up not going - so they got to :).  My parents have been at their Vegas house during the month of January because it is so cold and the air quality in Utah County is the worse in the 

nation - possibly the world!

We had so much fun last night!

 Maddie looked the part with her concert t-shirt and matching cowboy boots!

If we could all look as cute as she does all the time, we'd have it made!!

 Here we are - getting ready to leave :)

 Martina McBride opened the concert.  We had great seats!  

Rows 19 and 20!

 Such a great concert! 

Happy 20th Birthday Maddie!

 I'm a bit behind on blogging so I'm going to play catch up!

On January 17th - Maddie turned 20!

I don't know about her, but the day made me feel really old.

We took her to Happy Sumo for dinner and gave her some

new clippers for her future career and some new business cards.  

For her birthday - she bought herself her first gun (yikes!)

With her dad's help, they picked out a gun as an "investment."

Dave took her shooting for the first time too.  They had a lot of fun together!

Christmas Day

We had a magical Christmas.  I love being with my family all day!
Before I go any further, I just noticed that this is my 1,000th post on
my blog!  This blog is a treasure to me because I've stuck with it for nearly 6 years!!

 Emmie loved her teepee.  I'm so glad!

 Look what Santa left for mommy!  Wonder what it is...?

 We got a fun karoke game for the wii

 Maddie and her loot.  She got money this year as her main gift.

 Talbie - with her new Kindle Fire HD :)

 I don't know why this kid can't open his eyes for pictures - but

he scored this year - got a Kindle too.

 And the baby... got all sporting goods and arrows.  She also got a Kindle :)

 And my surprise is I'm going to George Strait with Maddie

and my parents next month!  Can't wait!!

 After we opened presents, we went to see Les Miserables on opening day.

 I don't like reading what other people say about this movie.  Most love it,

some hate it.  I'm one of the biggest Les Mis fans out there.  I saw it on Broadway

the year it opened and have never stopped listening to it or seeing it.

I bawled my way through the entire movie.  I loved it!

Christmas Eve (the real one!)

Since my mom was so sick on Christmas Eve, we hosted a little party

at our house.  My brother Cody and his family were going to come down too

but it snowed hard all day and it was too scary coming down from Salt Lake so

it was just us and the Heals!  We had a great time!!

We played games and ate until we were sick.  They left to go home around 7:00 because,

even though we were tracking Santa on the internet, Dallin was afraid he was going to

miss him so he had to get home to bed!!

Thanks for partying with us Heal family!

Santa!

Santa made his annual appearance at the Heal's house this year!

This is our favorite thing to do!

About 4 years ago, Dave bought a Santa costume at Halloween time and that

was the first year we did this.  Now it's something we look forward to every year.  He

even tries to hit a few of the neighbor's houses too.

 Boston wouldn't get off Santa's lap the whole time.  He had to share it with

everyone else who wanted a turn :)

 Always hard to see Santa leave ;)

 Next year we decided that we will invest in a more

realistic suit and "stuffing."  We also need a more reliable beard :)

More Presents...

On Sunday (the day before Christmas Eve) the kids were getting ansy

and wanted to open the presents that they had gotten for each other.

Next year we will have to draw names because Maddie and Talbie spent

too much money on everyone this year by buying a present for everyone!

 Talbie got darling boots from Maddie

 Soccer gear from Maddie

 DS game from Maddie

 Maddie gave me Season 1 of Downton Abbey.  I already own Season 2 :)

 Maddie got Dave some awesome boots but they were on back order.

Talbie gave Dave a gift card to Tucanos ;)

 Talbie gave Maddie some cute leggings

 An Iguana leash for Bronson :)

 Look at the cute coat I got from Talbie

 Notepads and pencil box from Bronson

 Cute charm necklace from Emmie

 And the mess...

Bronson gave Talbie and Emmie some lotion and made Maddie a pen like

he made my dad in his woodworking class.

I got an awesome snowflake from Emmie too :)