The Cookie Jar

The State Fair

2010-09-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning Brianna and Anna (and Donna) headed over to the church for a achievement day girls Mommy-daughter breakfast. The stake provided a yummy breakfast of fruit and muffins, cinnamon rolls, and breads. There was a little presentation with stories of girls who had upheld good standards, courage, honor, endurance, etc. What fun time for all the women and girls to be able to get together and spend some girl time.

That afternoon the 4 of us headed downtown for a day of fun at the state fair!! Earlier this summer Brianna received a flyer that said if she read 10 books and mailed a list of them to the fair she would get free admission, a free carnival ride, and a free drink. We were so excited for an excuse to go. Friday as we were visiting Grandma Rosalie at her office a co-worker of hers invited us to park in her driveway since she lived so close to the fairgrounds. We were excited about the thought of not having to pay the $6 for parking, or have to pay for Brianna's ticket, and on top of that we found a $2 off coupon for an adult admission! woohoo!! As we walked up to the ticket booth we were shocked to find out that adult tickets were $9 a piece. No more than 10 seconds after Josh voiced his frustration, an anonymous man approached us, slipped a ticket into Josh's hand, and walked away before we realized what had just happened. What a blessing!!

So after paying our $7 dollars to get in the gate, we set off to explore the fair. our first stop was to see all the animals. Cows, goats, pigs.

After we had our fill seeing and smelling the animals, we decided to try some of the "Fair" food. Josh had been looking forward to trying the chocolate covered bacon, so we made sure we found some to taste.

We also had some deep-fried Oreo cookies. DELICIOUS! Who'd have thought?

After we played at the fair and as we were walking to our car we walked by the fire station. There were a couple of firemen sitting out in their driveway talking to people as they left the fair. Brianna got a chance to talk to the firemen and sit in the drivers seat. She decided that was her absolute favorite part about going to the fair. :)

After not seeing each other all week long it was nice to spend a day of fun together.

September 11, 2010

2010-09-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has been 9 years since the day that changed so much in this country. I'm not sure anyone will ever forget where they were when they saw and heard the shocking news on that tragic day. Josh remembers being at home and seeing it on the news before he headed off to seminary in the morning. Anna remembers watching Good Morning America as she was sitting alone at work at Denny's Dry Cleaning. ... The day that all Americans came together and turned to their families, God, and strangers for support and comfort. And to think that our children will never quite understand the significance of what happened that day.

Anyway, back to the present. The night of September 11th Anna, Brianna, and Josh attended the Colors concert at the Sandy Amplitheater. Donna spent the evening with Grandma Rosalie. We had a great time. Josh was excited to find out that after 7 years his Colors T-shirt still fit.

Pay no attention to the random person in the back ground ;)

It was a lot of fun spending time together, just the three of us, under the stars listening to great music. The most exciting part though was that after 6 years they released a new extended play album with 5 songs. After all those years they still sound great! What a fun night!!

New Adventures

2010-08-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Can't you smell it? Freshly sharpened pencils... chalk... peanut and jelly sandwiches... It's time for SCHOOL!!! And what a crazy semester it's going to be!!!

Josh will be starting off on his second to last semester at the University of Utah. He will be graduating with his Bachelors in Spring of 2011. CAN'T WAIT!! Until then he will be a stranger around this house. ;) Tuesday and Thursday morning classes, an online class, 6 hours working in a advicing/counseling center at the University of Utah, 6 hours working in a research lab, 3 hours volunteering at a counceling center, and 40 hours of work a week.... And the only part of this that he is getting paid for is the 40 hour full time job!!! CRAZY!!! so basically he will be spending 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday working from 2:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. But at least he has Thursday off of work. Although he does have an 1 1/2 hours at the counceling center volunteering that night. Just have to keep reminding ourselves that it will all be worth it and what the end goal is!!!

Brianna starts 3rd grade Wednesday the 25th. I can hardly believe it!! She is getting so grown up. I know she will deffinitely miss her baby sister while she is in school though.

Anna is not working right now and will be trying to hold together this crazy home. And at the same time trying to get things done with a playful 4 month old little girl. Not the easiest of tasks. Donna is just so fun to hold at and play with! She is definitely developing a personality!!

But with all of the craziness in the air, it is so nice for everyone to feel a sense of a accomplishment as we grow and succeed!

Time for Christmas!!!!

2009-11-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season is officially here! We took the time to put up our tree today! It looks beautiful, and makes everything so merry and bright! We had a good Thanksgiving holiday with the family at Uncle Jeff's house. We played a great game of Mad Gab! Such a funny game to play. It had dad going nuts. This holiday season is going to be different, as mom is not here with us. At the same time, this Christmas is going to serve as an extra reminder of those things that are truly important, and as a family we will be looking for more ways to create and preserve more precious memories.

May we all remember this Christmas season those things that are truly important. Let us remember the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us remember the blessings we have at His hands. We know this sounds so cliche and trite, but there are to many times we find ourselves with regrets for not taking advantage of the times we have with those we love.

Merry Christmas all, and may we truly have more Christ in our lives.

Anniversary in Midway!!!

2009-11-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, Josh and Anna have now been married over two years! This past October, we celebrated our anniversary with a little getaway to Midway, Utah! We had a wonderful time. Nothing better than a little rest and relaxation with your eternal companion! We stayed at the Worldmark Resort, and both of us really fell for this little town! Enjoy some pics.

It has been a long time

2009-11-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, and it is the day after Thanksgiving, 2009. I think it is time we try our hand at blogging again. Today, we were watching some home movies, and I could not help but think how sad it is that we have not done much in the way of home videos the last few years. I think blogging is one of those things we can do to make sure we remember the good times. I cannot promise a daily update, but my hope is that we can find something to put up here weekly. So, go ahead and come back to the Cookie Jar! We have a lot of things coming up!

End of Summer Fun!

2008-09-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

We have had a great Summer, and now we are coming up on fall! Of course, we all needed to have a little Summer fun at Lake Powell and at the fair! Enjoy the pics and the videos!

Josh is doing REALLY well on the wake board!!

We are SO proud of him and love to watch him!!

Then there was Anna, who got to
enjoy her first wakeboarding experience!
She even got up for a couple seconds!
She conquered fear and had a great time!

While we were at lake powell over Labor Day

weekend Brianna found a frog. At first you she

was incredibly scared, as you can tell by the

picture. But after a while she got really excited

and didn't want to let it go.

We Went to the Utah State Fair with Grandma

Rosalie and Grandpa Nick. After we saw the

animals we passed the pony ride and Brianna

had to ride since she had never been on a

horse before. I'm not sure if she enjoyed the

ride more or just being able to be so close to

a horse and pet it.

Anna and Josh said goodbye to Summer to the tunes
of their favorite band, "COLORS" it ROCKED of course!
They played an entirely new set of songs, that included
some new tunes we really enjoyed!

Welcome to the COOKIE JAR!!!

2008-09-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

So here we are, getting involved in this whole blogging thing just for the sake of being able to say that we here at The Cookie Jar have a blog. No, really, it's just something new that we wanted to try just to give ourselves our own space to put our comings and goings, then share them with everyone else! It's been one wild Summer, and already, going into fall, we have had some great and grand adventures! So, hang on to your hats folks! In this cookie jar you are going to find all sorts, even macadamia NUTS!!!!! What, with a wild six year old coming into her own, you never know what you are gonna get. Then there is mama and dada, as they strike out on the old road through school. Life is good, and boy, the ingredients in these cookies make them HOT, MOIST, and GOOEY!!!!