Fun to Reconnect!

So here is a picture of my very first date with my very best friends! Donny Seamons, Linda Schvaneveldt, me and Byron Winward circa February 1988.

Thanks to Facebook, I was able to reconnect with a bunch of "old" friends. I met Linda for lunch in Salt Lake. Three hours FLEW by and it was just not enough!! So fun!!!!!!

And Byron came down to dinner with his family.

We used to live across the street from one another back in the 80's. My mom and Bonnie used to go walking every morning.

Bonnie and Alma. WONDERFUL people!

Bonnie and mom

Ryan and Byron

My Mom...

So how cute is my mom? She needed some pictures taken for work. She was the subject of a magazine article in a national Accounts Payable magazine. (I'll post it when it comes out) This one was my favorite.

Utah Food!

So apparently, although DC is the capital of our country, it is not the capital of good food. Sam said that there are mainly boutiquey type restaurants that are really expensive and a few fast food chains like McDonalds. So when she was here there was a strict plan in place to eat at certain restaurants....

Marleys in Lindon. They are part of the new Harley Davidson place. SUPER YUMMY sliders!!


Breakfast at Magelby's Fresh in Provo.

The remnants of the sent from heaven syrup for the all you can eat pancakes and french toast. if my trainer is reading this, I had two bites!!

Costa Vida!! So Yummy is the half salad!

This picture just cracks me up. It was taken just before the above picture. Not everyone was ready and Sam looks really concerned! She was asking if I was taking a picture of the whole table or just one side.

Chinese Buffet in Orem. We went to lunch with Shawn's family. It was so great to see all of them again!

Sam's Birthday Visit to Utah!

So Sam flew out here to Utah for a WEEK! So we could celebrate her 30th birthday with her. Every minute was planned so she could pack everything in. It was so FUN having her here and I was WAY sad to see her go!

This is the stack of scrapbook pages that she finished. She did over 300 pictures while she was here and filled two albums.

Sam in action!

Sam and Tay

Mom took us out on Friday for both of our birthdays (three days apart). Of course we chose to spend our birthday money at Archivers!!! BTW....I look like a giant in this picture! Sam has started wearing flats of all things!

I love this picture because it looks like I have really long hair!

This is the first picture of getting mom to do kissy lips! We went to see "New in Town." Really cute show!


Sam and Ben

The deer and the driver

This is my mom's car after an early morning "run-in" {pun intended} with a BIG deer. She said it had quite the rack on it. (No joke necessary...it's too obvious!)

Happy New Year!!

New Years Eve is usually a quiet time for the Weiland's. We don't stay up too late. In the past we have had a "New Years Noon" party. When the clock strikes 12:00 (noon) we celebrate and ring in the new year! That way we can go to bed! It worked really well when the kids were younger, but even Cooper proved his stamina this year!

Cooper was invited over to the Collier's home for a New Years Eve party. Here he is with his friends Porter and Peyton at 11pm!! I was a bit of a party pooper and took him home, but he'll have something to look forward to next year when he's 8!


Ben and Grandma and I played a rousing game of Scrabble!! Watch out!

The Greatest Burger in the Wasatch Front Challenge!

So we went to Marley's, which is the restaurant inside the Timpanogos Harley Davidson store in Lindon, for dinner the other night. (Thanks Grandma!) And upon sampling the DELISH sliders they have we have instituted the First Annual Greatest Burger in the Wasatch Front Challenge! We are making it our mission to taste all the Burgers, Fries and Shakes that are NOT fast food and come up with our top five or ten list. This will be our great contribution to society.



So far, Marley's and Five Guys have made the list for Burgers and fries and JCW is on the list for their shakes.

If you have a recommendation, please let us know and we will add it to our quest.

My brother Ben lived with our mom for a while and then came to live with us. It was really great having him around. He is now back in the hospital for some needed care. He's doing alright, and I will update you when I have more news.

This is a picture of Tim and mom laying new carpet in the spare room at her house. The funniest part for me was when they finished (I was sick, but supportive! I laid on her couch the whole time.) Tim came out and said I should go look at it, it was done, then mom followed up with "And I helped" with a southern accent just like the little girl said it on the Shake n bake commercials from a million years ago. FUNNY! Guess you had to be there.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So here's my crazy family posing for our non-traditional happy thanksgiving shot! We have entirely too much fun together!

The MENU...


We took this delicious and healthy mountain o fruit and turned it into....



...this delicious whipped cream fruit salad. YUMMY YUMMY!



And these nutritious YAMS into this brown sugar/marshmallow candy side dish.



And of course we had to take the ever so good for you green beans and dip them in batter then FRY them, yes I said FRY them. This was a DIET COKE batter...does that make it healthier because it's Diet?



Oh yeah, then the turkey. We didn't carmelize it or anything! We just ate it like this! Except of course the fat drippings gravy I made. Hmmmm....How many pounds to people gain over the holidays?

Coop and Grandma

Grandma is a great reader and story teller. Coop loves to have her read to him. I loved this scene though, because the title of the book is Junk Food and Coop is munching away on Cheetos! oh the irony...