2010 Here we come...

Yeah, 2010 is almost here! It's not that I want time to fly, but I am looking forward to a new year. With a new year comes new goals and is always somehow refreshing. It is fun to see everyone's New Year's resolutions and how long they last. I hope mine last until they are accomplished. These are my two BIGGEST resolutions this year. I think I am going to try and run a half marathon and maybe even a full marathon. My friend Crystal and I want to run a half marathon together and J and I want to run the St. George Marathon together in October. He says if I run it then I can have another baby. :) I must accomplish this one!!!

Okay, now I am going backwards for a second...I know, I know, I was just looking forward to the new year and now I am going backwards? I don't make sense. Just wanted to update on the Christmas holiday. The kids had a blast and loved ALL of their presents. I hope they are always this easy to please. Yeah, right! Jakson even cried he was so happy. It was so funny. Madison couldn't get enough of opening her presents. Christmas is a wonderful holiday with a great meaning, but it is the most exhausting time of the year! It is so nice when it is all done. I just wish the spirit of the season could last all year. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

Temple Square and Michigan Baskteball

Temple and Michigan...

Last week was crazy busy! It started out with going to the Old Spaghetti Factory on Monday night with the Howlands and then to beautiful Temple Square to see the lights. It amazes me every year how beautiful that place is and I love the feeling there. While walking through Temple Square Justin brushed shoulders with Pres. Uchtdorf. He was walking arm in arm with his cute wife. That was definitely the highlight of our night!!! He is one of my favorites. We love Germans!!! :)

On Tuesday we had the season finale of Biggest Loser. Congrats to Danny! He is the guy we wanted to win. He seems like a really nice family guy. LOL

On Wednesday night Justin and I went to the Hunstman Center to watch his beloved Michigan basketball team play. To be honset I was so excited I couldn't stand it!!! Justin has definitely converted me as a Michigan fan. It was so AWESOME!!!! Michigan did lose but it was so awesome to finally see them play live in person. We had a blast and we got to meet 4 very interesting guys from Michigan. They flew in that morning to go to the game and then skiing at Solitude for a couple of days. Hopefully one of these days we'll be able to go to the Big House and see the football team play and maybe they'll win for us. :-)

On Friday night we had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Natalie Cole Christmas concert. Justin, Jakson and I went to dinner and then headed over to the concert. Madison had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Powells. By the time we got through security and got to our section where our tickets were reserved all the seats were taken by stand by. It didn't matter that we had tickets and we ended up getting kicked out. There were a good 50 or so of us that had to leave because of lack of seats. I saw 3 different women crying. I wanted to cry too. Oh well, we always have next year. The biggest bummer was there were several seats available in the lower section but they wouldn't let any of us down there.

On Saturday night we had the Howland Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and my parents and Aunt Lori did a great job! Merry Christmas!!!

BuSy BuSy BuSy...

I can not believe it! College football season is coming to an end. :( Makes us so sad. We love the fall and college football at our house. Our Saturdays, during the fall, consist of watching or going to football games. After all of the bowl games are over next month I don't know what we are going to do with all of our spare time. Maybe catch up on some much needed sleep. :)

So, a couple of weeks ago Madison, Jewl, Shelly, Judy, my mom, and I went to the Christmas Gift Expo. Santa Claus was there too. Madison begged and begged to see him. Two weeks prior to that she had freaked out in the car because she hadn't written her letter to Santa yet and she wanted me to pull over so we could write it right then. So back to the story...she kept begging Jewl and I to take her to see Santa. We hurried over right at the time he was supposed to show up and ended up about 6th in line. (by the time we were done there were about 40 kids behind us) As Santa reached to pick her up she started to back up saying, "Don't you dare touch me!" It was hysterical! She ended up giving him a hug in the end but never sat on his lap.

Madison has been going on and on about this dream she had last week. It was about pigs! And there was a pink one and a black one and they kept chasing her. They were trying to bite her and she screamed and they snorted at her. She will tell anyone the story that will listen. And her story is consistent every time.

Jakson was off track pretty much the entire month of October. He went off the second week in Oct and went back the second week in Nov. Yep. He was off for 4 weeks straight! Whoever thought that was a good idea... Think again. He was so bored by the end. He is loving being back in school. So are we!!! He is looking forward to getting baptized. Two months from today he will be 8.

Justin has just been enjoying the football season and BYU's big win over Utah. :) He is also looking for a new job. Anyone with any ideas please let us know.

I started a new job about 3 weeks ago. I am now working at Praxair Healthcare Services. I just can't seem to get out of the healthcare field. I just like that I am no longer dealing face to face with patients. I loved drawing blood but I was losing my patience with patients. I needed to get out. I got sick of being coughed on, spit on, yelled at, and told how to do my job. Thanks for letting me vent.

Sorry, I know I've been all over the place. We have had so much going on this fall and I haven't updated our blog forever. I was trying to get a lot in and it kind of came out in a jumbled mess and I am lazy and don't feel like re-doing it. So there. Believe it or not I left a lot out. :) Merry Christmas!