It's been a long time!!!

Okay Okay… I admit that I am the worst at keeping up on my blog! I find myself reading everyone else’s blogs and then I for some reason don’t take the time to write on mine! I think that it is just like writing in a journal… just as hard is what I am getting at! Still there is no excuse!

So anyway… for Halloween, Grandpa Doug bought Taelin a baby calf costume! She looked adorable. She would get so hot in the whole getup so she went without the hood most of the night! We went to our ward Halloween party at the church. Danny went as a Vet/Doctor, and I went as a Nurse. I hadn’t even thought what I was going to be! So scrubs were something that I owned and had a ton of so I wore that. My costume was far from unique… there were tons of nurses, dental assistants, doctors, etc… Oh well! Taelin however was the only calf there!!! Taelin was sick on Halloween so we were not able to attend Scott and Amanda’s party but it sure sounded fun. We ended up coming home and going to bed! For Danny’s 24th Birthday, I stayed up late to decorate the house for him so that when he got up in the morning to go to work he would be surprised! It was fun there were streamers from the fan to the walls and balloons everywhere. He loved it. I am sorry to say that the only picture I took is of Taelin playing with the balloons. For Danny’s birthday dinner we went to Chili’s. Chili’s is one of our favorite restaurants. Yummm…. Did you know that for your birthday you get a free chocolate molten cake! Oh sooo good….

In November Danny and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary! My brother Michael accompanied us on this trip. Mom and Dad Buckwalter met us in Las Vegas and there treated us to a family vacation in Las Vegas for our Christmas present! We attended the “Phantom of the Opera” and “Stomp Out Loud”. They were both amazing! I loved being there!!! The Opera was amazing!!! I was surprised at how well they were able to set the stage for all of the different scenes. The part with the boat was amazing… it really looked like it was gliding across the water! Afterwards, we wanted to take a picture in front of the chandelier, but they would not let us… I think that my mom might have snapped one before we were caught, but I have not seen it! “Stomp Out Loud” was also amazing! The creativity was so fun. They didn’t talk the whole time, but instead made different sounds with paper, voices, boxes, sand, sticks, playing cards, water, etc… When we walked into the auditorium, it looked as if we were in a glorified junk yard. As each song was performed you were able to realize the purpose for each junk idem… Literally, the walls were covered in trash can lids, old street signs, hub caps etc… It was so fun and entertaining. On this trip, Taelin was watched for the first time by a baby sitter… My mom called her brother in law ahead of time and asked for the young women president for their ward. She called her and asked if she knew of two Beehives that would do a great job watching a baby.. 5 months old.. She did and so that was how it all went down.. Both families loved watching Taelin… She is such a happy baby. I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures with my camera, one of the girls was supposed to send me a picture but hasn’t. Oh well that is what I get for not using my own camera. We had a blast. On Saturday night, Mom and Dad Buckwalter headed back to California to make it in time for their own church. Michael, Danny, Taelin and I, moved hotels to the Tropicana. After getting all settled in, we walked the strip to go inside different hotels to see what they looked like on the inside. They were all unique in design and floor plans. That night was ate dinner at the Rio. Danny’s cousin had told him about how good it was. I have to admit that it was pretty good. My favorite part was the ice cream! We had a great time in Vegas. Thanks Mom and Dad Buckwalter for the fun treat and the good times. We love you.

Christmas was a fun and busy time. Between our two families and family parties, games, dinners, movie nights etc… it was a busy time! It was blast though. Jennie and Christian were here with Xander and Emma from D.C. and then Mom and Dad Buckwalter were also here from California. We had family dinners and games at Aunties house. We had a lot of fun all being together. One Saturday I think that it was the 22nd, Michael, Mom and Dad Buckwalter, Danny and I went skiing. We went up to Alta. This was the first time that Danny has been since elementary school. Since he played sports all through his schooling, he was not allowed to go. It was a lot of fun. Usually people fall getting off the lift for the first time… when you don’t really know how to ski. Danny didn’t, I was so proud. Then I asked Mom to teach him how to turn and stop etc… As she was teaching Danny how to turn while snow plowing, all of the sudden Danny was gone! He zipped down the mountain flying past everyone. One by one all of us skied after him to tell him to fall down to stop. Luckily he beat us all to the punch. We met up to him where he was smiling from ear to ear like, wow that was exciting! From then on we all kind of went a little slower. Danny caught on quickly and was enjoying everything. Briant and Danny decided to go down a blue run at their own pace while Mom, Michael and Me went down a black diamond bowl that had fresh powder. The powder was wonderful. Mom and I were both a little anxious to go through it since if you fall you are pretty much on your own. We both fell once; luckily it wasn’t too difficult to get up. After getting out of the powder my brother Michael wanted to go through some more. My legs were tired and so were moms, we hesitated… but then followed since Michael had made it look sooo easy! Well needless to say tired legs and powder do not mix well. I fell and then so did mom. With Michael well out of sight we were out of luck for help. We spent a good twenty minutes trying to get out. First we got Mom back on her skis and then it was my turn. With powder up to my mid thigh I was having a difficult time getting up. I finally got one ski on but to snap in the other one seemed impossible. I tried to ski on one leg but didn’t get too far. Then I tried lying on my stomach on top of my skis and army crawling out, but that didn’t work to well either. It was inevitable we were stuck! Mom and I were laughing so hard about our situation, then all of the sudden came a frustrated Michael around the corner. He had hiked the fifty yards back to us, up hills and through the trees. And with his luck my ski popped in, it was a perfect fit. Michael was our lucky charm. He had been yelling our names at the top of his lungs hoping that we were still alive! Then some men passed him and he asked if they had seen us which they had. One man said that we had fallen in the same place he did a few days back and it was hard to get out! Anyway… It was quite the day… I think that Briant fell in powder a couple of times in the powder. Michael fell while doing this cool trick off of a cliff. It wasn’t his fault though, we failed to communicate that there were rocks, causing the back of his skis to touch just a little bit. His fall looked way cool though. Don’t worry he didn’t get hurt. Then, for the coolest fall of the day, Danny followed after Michael and went through a little corner of powder between cat tracks. We had not taken the time to teach him how to ski through powder yet. Danny had bombed the hill before anyone could say anything and with that… the next thing you saw were flying skis and Danny face planted in the hard pack. He cracked his goggles and had snow behind them… He handled it very well. Luckily his knees did not get stuck and twisted in the hard pack…. That is how a lot of knee injuries happen while skiing. He smiled and said wow! I wasn’t expecting that and then laughed at the situation. He still says that he didn’t hurt at all from it. Michael, Danny and I slept the whole way home, and when we got to Auntie’s house she had dinner waiting for us. She made her yummy Corn chowder and for dessert we had cake! (Or was it brownies?) It was an amazing day!

Then For New Years we celebrated my birthday. The big 24!!! Our good friends Vaughn and Kayla invited us over to have dinner and play games while we stayed up late. We played, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” which I am not!!! Then we played tennis Wii!! Then Pool. Lots of fun! Then we had cake and ice cream for my birthday and opened presents! Taelin had a hard time going to sleep but finally did! Logan was a trooper and stayed up the whole night with us. We got home at about 1:45 a.m. and were exhausted! We sure had a great time though. For my Birthday dinner Danny wanted to take me out to eat. So needless to say we went to Chili’s even though we had an awesome coupon to Tuconos. The Chocolate molten cake was amazing…. Our favorite part of the meal though is the chips and salsa…. Bottomless baby!! Yea!

January has been a sick month for us. Taelin seemed to get a cold right before Christmas and it never really went away. When I finally took her to the Doctor, they said that she had developed Bronchiolitis. They said that is was not caused by RSV, which we are thankful for. Then she seemed to develop some flu like symptoms and today I can say that they are all gone!!! I am so grateful.

Taelin had pancakes for the first time this past Tuesday. She loved them. Most of it ended up in her lap or on the floor but she sure enjoyed the few pieces that made it into her mouth.

Well I think that we are all up to date for now! Danny is playing Basketball with the ward and with BYU intramurals. He loves it! I love the winter but can’t wait for the warm weather so that I can go outside again. With how cold it has been and no car, I seem to be stuck inside the house a lot! It’s all good though. Taelin keeps me company and we love to sit in the window and watch all of the cars go by.

It’s amazing how fast time flies by. Taelin is seven months old now and has learned so many new things. It seems that every morning when she wakes up she has something new to show me. I love being a mother and would not trade it for anything in the world. Have a wonderful day and I hope you enjoyed reading.

I hope to write again soon.
Natalie

P.S. Sorry about the slide show! I put one together but blogger won’t accept it, so I am going to send it to my sister and see if she can’t make it compatible with their web site!