Review of 2010!

2010 was an amazing fun-filled year for the Roblyer Family! Here's a look back at the highlight's of our year:

In February, Jordan turned 12 years old and was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood! Isn't he a handsome he a handsome young man!!
In March, our family headed to the happiest place on earth- Disneyland! Chloe celebrated her 13th birthday in Disneyland! Our family had a blast!

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In April, Matt had a work conference in Prague, Czech Republic & Chloe accompanied him. A volcano erupted in Iceland and disrupted travel in Europe causing the conference to be canceled, and turning the trip into a full-blown vacation! Luckily, the airports re-opened on the day Matt & Chloe were originally scheduled to fly home so they weren't stranded over there longer than planned!

In June, Jordan attended his first ever MDA (muscular dystrophy association) Camp. He had so much fun and can't wait for camp in 2011! Notice the name on this photo- I always send the kids off to their camps with a camera full of film or batteries, and they always come back empty. Imagine my surprise when I was visiting one of my favorite blogs and came across photos from the MDA Summer Camp and Jordan was in a few!! It truly is a small world. Amy, is the creative genius behind The Idea Room Blog and an amazing person to devote time to the MDA Summer Camp- have a LOOKSEE at her blog http://www.theidearoom.net/

Also in June, Chloe attended Oakcrest Girls Camp for the first time. She said it was one of the most amazing experiences of her life and when she grows up she hopes to be a counselor at Oakcrest!

{will post photos as soon as I find them!}

Matt also returned to Prague in June for the conference that had to be re-schedule from April because of the volcano.

July was our lazy days of summer- except for Matt who was travelling half the month for work. One week in Connecticut & another week in San Diego. The kids had fun hanging out with friends and playing around. There was only one minor speed bump that month - our itty bitty kitty lost her marbles one day (of course while Matt was away) and attacked Jordan. We still don't know what set her off, but thankfully there have been no other incidents and her & Jordan are once again friends





August was Chloe's Hunter-Copperhills Stake Camp. Once again, she had a blast camping and loves her friends and wonderful young women leaders!

We went to Lagoon with our besties in August!

{will post photos as soon as I find them!}

Jordan & Matt went to the Father's and Son's Camp-out, where it rained and rained, and rained! They still managed to have fun & were saved because a friend had already arranged for them to stay in a warm cozy trailer with them!

{will post photos as soon as I find them!}

In September, Jordan went on a Scout Camp-out with his troop (consisting of him and Ammon) to Trial Lake!

Matt did more travelling in September- Stamford, Connecticut once again! Matt & I also celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary on September 9th! We celebrated by going to the Lion King at Capitol Theatre!

November was our annual stay downtown the day after Thanksgiving! We saw the lighting of Temple Square and stayed the night at the Hilton.

December was a month full of the kid's performances: Chloe's Studio Christmas Dance Concert, Jordan's Band Concert, Chloe's Orchestra Performance, and of course topping it all off with a very Merry Christmas!


2010 was filled with many adventures, life-time experiences, and lots of smiles! No doubt that 2011 will be filled with just as many adventures, life-time experiences, and smiles! We feel very blessed and can't wait to see what the New Year brings us!!

December Holiday Fun

December means lots of holiday fun! It also means the end of the year 2010 is just days away!

Here is what we've been doing this holiday season:

To kick off the holiday season we did our traditional day after thanksgiving of seeing a movie. We saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Part 1. Then we head downtown to see the lights at Temple Square and then stayed overnight at a hotel. This time we stayed at the Downtown Hilton & because Matt travelled so much this year we were upgraded to a suite! It was fun! Except for Chloe & Jordan's constant fighting over the bed, the blanket, and basically the air they breathe, we are re-considering that part of the tradition for next year. We will have to see.

Our first holiday party of the season was our Ward party. It was fun! The kids did the Nativity, Chloe & Jordan are too old so they weren't in it, but it was still very cute & spiritual!

We attended the MDA (muscular dystrophy association) Holiday Party. We've only attended this a few times in the past because it has always interfered with other holiday parties, so we were happy it worked out that we could go this year!

Matt & I saw A Christmas Carol at Hale Centre Theatre. This was my first time seeing this production and here's what I thought- I hated the Ghost of Christmas Past, so ANNOYING! I loved Tiny Tim, he was so CUTE! Overall, it was an excellent play! Jordan's Band Concert!

Chloe's Dance Performance!

Chloe's Orchestra Concert!

Christmas is now 2 days away and there is definitely excitement in the air!!

Always an Attitude of Gratitude

I didn't finish my gratitude posts in November & I feel like I can't move on to December happenings with the Roblyer's until I do so......

I was saving the best for last of course, so these last few are things I am eternally grateful for.

Starting with my favorite boy/manchild - Jordan. He is at that age where he is not quite a man, yet he is so tall that he's not really classified as a child. He is my baby and even though it drives him crazy, I still call him JordiBear! He will always be my JordiBear! I am thankful for Jordan because he brings so much laughter and fun to our family. I am thankful for Jordan's amazing attitude as he goes through all of his physical challenges. He always has such a great attitude with everything he has to deal with & I know it can't be easy for him dealing with all of these challenges and not having the normal 12 year-old boy life. Jordan is a great kid and our family is blessed to have him!

Next up is my sweet daughter, even though she is not always sweet to me (teenage-angst against mom, type of stuff!) Chloe is an amazing young woman. She is always doing some kind of service, whether it's baby-sitting for free in the neighborhood, or helping out around the house, she is always busy helping out with something. Chloe has an amazing spirit about her and is always showing a righteous example. When we aren't clashing, we are ROFL-ing (rolling on the floor laughing!) We always make each other laugh and it is fun. She is the best daughter a mom could hope for & I am thankful for all she brings to our family!
Matt is as amazing as ever! I am thankful for his dedication to his job and his desire to provide the very best for our family. I am thankful to his dedication to our Heavenly Father and his example of service within our home and outside. He is the best husband a girl could hope to have & I consider myself very lucky!

Last, but not least, Princess Fuzzyboots. I am thankful we have a kitty cat, and that she is so sweet and snuggly, for the most part, anyways! She did have a few psychotic episodes in the summer where she attacked Jordan & attempted to attack kids that were visiting us. She earned the name Princess Psychoboots, and I was sure we were going to have to get rid of her. But her and Jordan made peace and she is back to her sweet self, plus she is a cutie!
There are so many other things I am grateful for, but those were main things that I couldn't leave out of my gratitude posts!

Atitude of Gratitude: Many, Many Things!

Life kind of got in the way of blogging the past 9 days. Here are 9 things I am grateful for:

-My Home: it may not be my dream home or even the house I want to live in, but I am ever so grateful to have a roof over my head!

-My Ramp: it's so nice not being a prisoner in my house!

-My Friends: I have been blessed with many wonderful friends!

-My Brother: I don't get to see my brother much, but I am thankful to have a sibling that loves my kids!

-Veteran's: I am thankful for those that have fought in wars and helped secure our freedom & I am thankful to those soldiers who continue to fight for that freedom today!

-Beautiful Earth: We just finished with the beautiful fall season with all the changing colors of leaves, and as much as I hate the snow and the cold that accompanies it, I love it when the ground and surrounding mountains are blanketed in white. It is absolutely gorgeous!

-My Body: It may not be the body I wish I had. In fact I am often frustrated with its limitations, but aside from the frustration I am so very thankful for each and every day I get to be on this earth.

-Scrapbooks: I love working on scrapbooks, looking at scrapbooks, and I love shopping for scrapbook supplies!! It brings me much happiness!!

-Inventions: This is a weird one, but one I am thankful for all the same. When I think about life 10 years ago, cell phones were not an every person must have one kind of thing. There were no iPods! Gasp!! I am always so amazed with the things that are invented! (also thankful for those medical inventions as well!)

I am so crafty :)

:) For my English class my teacher decided we weren't going to use certain verbs in our writing anymore so.... we killed them. Not literally! :) We just had to make a coffin or tombstone, Obituary, and Eulogy for a verb of our choosing. Let me just say.... my coffin was amazing!!!! :) I put black construction paper all over a shoe box and filled it with red, black, and white pipe cleaners with the little fuzzy ball things as pillows. :) It looked awesome so of course I had to tell the world about it. :)

Halloween stuff :)

Honestly, I am not a big fan of Halloween. There's the ALOT of immodest costumes and just all the creepy feelings that come with the holiday. However, this year I had a little more fun just thinking about fun things to do for the holiday.
Two weeks before Halloween we had a young women/young men Halloween activity. We wore our costumes and played games. I went as a taco and got 2nd place in the costume contest :) hahahaha It was awesome!!! :)
This year, our school did a Halloween dance. Well it's not really a dance, more of a stomp and it was lots of fun this year! If you didn't already know I made dance team and at the Halloween dance the team preformed thriller! It was soooooo much fun!!! :D the rest of the dance was awesome too. They had a haunted maze which was really funny and the music was even pretty good. :) It was a fun night.
On the actual night of a Halloween (Well Saturday which was Halloween for me) I went to my friends house. We went trick-or-treating and had lots of laughs! :) It was awesome! :)
Then on real real Halloween :) my family just hung out watching movies and taking candy to some friends. :) It was a good Halloween this year. :)

Attitude of Gratitude: MuSiC!!

I so , so, sooooo, so wish that I had some kind of musical talent, either singing or playing a musical instrument. But I have not been blessed in this area. :(

However, I have been blessed with an iPod full of music! I love all kinds of music- except for most country music. I love riding in the car listening to music. I love doing housework with music blaring. And most of all I love listening to my kids play the piano. They have been playing for a couple of years now and are improving every year.

Yet we find ourselves at a crossroads with the kids, because they are dragging their feet when it comes to practicing and putting up such a fight that I am beginning to question if it's worth it???
Chloe is pretty busy with the multiple activities she is currently in, but Jordan doesn't have many activities because of the muscular dystrophy and I like to see him involved in at least one activity and piano is something he can do.

For now I am leaving them in piano lessons, hoping that one day in the future they will both thank me for making them stick with it! After all, I am thankful that they have this opportunity to develop a musical talent and I enjoy hearing them play!!

Attitude of Gratitude: America

I am so thankful to live in America, where it's all about democracy. I am thankful for the freedoms I am given. I am thankful for the soldiers that continue to fight for our freedoms and keep our country safe.
I am thankful for the opportunity to vote and have my voice heard. Even though my voice is more of a whisper here in the state of Utah. I consider myself Independent, but I lean more towards Democratic views- which is rare in the Beehive state. I am still very grateful that I get a chance to play my part in the political process.

Attitude of Gratitude

I can't believe it is November!

November & December always fly by, so in no time at all I am going to be saying, "I can't believe it is January 2011!!"

Aside from the fact that we sometimes get snow in November, YUCK! And radio stations start playing Christmas music way, WAY to soon! I actually enjoy November. It is the month that I get to focus on my own "Attitude of Gratitude."

I have so much to be thankful for and until Thanksgiving I will post something I am thankful for every day! My life is very blessed and I think this will be a fun way to really focus on those important things in my life.

Fall Break

Last weekend was Fall Break for the kids. It was a very long weekend as they had both Thursday and Friday off of school. Thursday was chore day so we could have fun on the other days of vacation, plus, I had a huge migraine and did not want to do much.

Friday we got to have our friend's three kids overnight. We decided to take the whole gaggle of kids bowling. We went to Fat Cats, a local bowling and pizza place. The kids had a great time and the scores were pretty even. Matt did not win the first round - but he would tell you that you should subtract some points from the kids that used bumpers. Chloe was an adult and went bumper-less, so her score was not quite as high as the others, but she got better as time went on. Everyone got at least one strike, and most of them got more than one.

Livi, who is three, loved bowling and stayed engaged in the activity for almost the entire two hours! When she first got her shoes, she said that she couldn't wait to show them to her Mom. That could have been a problem, but we got them off her and back to the desk.

The boys had a blast dancing and jumping around to the music. About half-way through, the aisles went dark and they turned on the glow lights, which the boys liked even more. The balls kind of glowed and the shoes glowed - it was pretty cool.

We played a second round and Matt was awesome - through 6 frames (we ran out of time to finish) he scored a 111! He did choke on his chance for a turkey and I made fun of him. I almost thought I saw a tear, but he quickly wiped it away. Needless to say, if I still bowled, I would have crushed them all! You can see bowling pictures below.

On the drive home we were rocking out to the radio and Soul Sister (by Train) came on. This is Livi's favorite song, and she sang as much as she could. Afterwards, she asked for Soul Sister to be played again, so we pulled out Chloe's iPod and plugged it into the car. As Soul Sister came back on, Josh, Matt, and Olivia started a trio of singers, until Livi stopped them and said that Matt should not sing anymore (I was very grateful that I was not the one that had to tell Matt to stop). I restarted the song and this time Matt was quiet as Livi and Josh sang almost the whole song together. Very cute!

After that long Friday (the kids got to bed pretty late) we had a Saturday family pizza and movie night. It was a great weekend - but I was still happy to send the kids back to school this morning.

Jordan and Tanner waiting for their turn to bowl.
Jordan and Josh dancing to the music.
Livi actually got a strike on this turn.

Livi really liked the shoes. I thought there would be a problem getting them back.

My World Is Nuts

Matt was printing out some of his Prague pictures for my scrapbooking project, and, as Matt usually does, he decided to do something different while I was in the middle of a task. As Matt printed out the above photograph he also translated what the sign said - especially the phrase below my name. Matt was all full of chuckles as the translation came back as "World Is Nuts." He said that fit me perfectly.

General Conferance!!! :)

I know it's a little late and that my mom already blogged about it but I really wanted to blog about it and I'm sure I have some different stuff then my mom. So.... General Conference!! It was last Saturday and Sunday and was totally amazing!!!! The Saturday morning Session was awesome! My favorite talks from that session were Jeffery R. Hollands and Dieter F. Uchtdorfs. Jeffery R. Hollands talk was about Individual Worth and kindness. It was very good. Dieter F. Uchtdorfs was about focusing on the necessities in your life and mastering the fundamentals. This one really spoke to me because I have been very much off the wagon for practicing the violin which I feel should be a necessity in my life.
My favorite talk in the second session was Robert D. Hales. He talked about agency. I loved some of the quotes he had in his talk like "If we make the same choice to follow Christ and Heavenly Father here, like we did in Heaven, we will be able to return to him." and also " Returning to the Lord isn't easy, but it's worth it."
In the third session my favorite talks were by Henry B. Eyring, Boyd K. Packer, and Thomas S. Monsan. Henry B. Eyring talked about trusting in the Lord and that the Lord would take care of us. Boyd K. Packer talked about being sexually clean. My favorite quote from him was "Wickedness never brings happiness.". He also said that part of repentance was forgiving yourself and that we shouldn't look back. President Monson talked about service and gratitude. My favorite quote from him was "You never now when it will be too late."
Finally, in the fourth session my favorite talks were by Per G. Malm who talked about staying in the now. My favorite quote from him was "How we choose to act and react will not only affect us but also others." I also liked Mervin B. Arnold who talked about commandments and how they keep us safe. My favorite quote from him was "The grass is never greener on the other side." (You stupid cow! :)) And last but not least I liked M. Russell Ballards talk. He talked about not getting caught in Satan's traps, that prayer could always help us, and that we should set aside all our pride.
So that's my favorite talks from conference!!!! It was amazing! Oh and I forgot to mention that we actually went to the conference center for the Sunday morning session! It has always been a huge dream of mine and was an amazing experience! I loved it! :)
Love,
Chloe

Scrapbooking

After getting 400+ photos off the digital camera of Matt & Chloe's trip to Prague from this past April, I thought I was all set to get them into the scrapbook. Turns out it's a lot harder to scrapbook a journey I did not partake in.

Needless to say, I did not get a lot accomplished during my scrappin' get together with my friend Jenny, today. I did have a blast chatting & checking out her fancy gadget (The Gypsy), which is currently on my wish list!!

Chloe did save me and helped me organize and jot down names of buildings and places her & her dad visited while on the other side of the world when she got home from school. This is what the 400+ photos now look like all organized and ready to be put into the scrapbook!

I will post pictures of my progress as I get pages finished. I am giving myself ONE WEEK to complete this project. (Maybe posting this goal on here will keep me motivated with the project ;))

Fall Sunflowers

I finished another craft today with the help of Matt. Matt gets all the credit for sewing the twine into the middle of the button on one of the sunflowers. What a HERO! I have been doing a lot of crafts lately. I buy them from Heartland Paper in kits and I finish them at the house. Usually I do not have to have Matt help, but occasionally I need him (like with the sewing). Just don't tell Matt that I actually need him, that would make his head even bigger - it barely fits through the door now.

Now that I got Matt helping with crafts, my next job is to get him to take me up in the canyons this weekend to see the leaves changing colors. I am laying down a lot of hints, I hope he picks up on them.

Here is the picture of today's craft.

Conference Weekend

It's that time of year again when we recharge our spiritual batteries by watching the semi-annual LDS General Conference. The Saturday morning and afternoon session we watched at our house. We went to dinner with the Roblyer Clan. We usually go to El Farol's but this time we tried a different Mexican place called Salsa Leedos. It wasn't bad. They seemed a little short staffed, but other than the amount of time it took to get our food, I have no complaints. The guys headed off to the Priesthood session and the ladies & munchkins headed back to play games at Grandma and Grandpa's. *Not that it's important, but I won the first game (I don't know the name of it but it's kind of like Sorry!) & I was dominating our second game, phase 10!! Yay me!!!!

The Sunday session was a new experience for our family. Our Bishop gave us tickets for the morning session, so we headed downtown to the Conference Center. The kids were so excited to be in the same room as the Prophet. And my favorite quote from Chloe this week leading up to conference, "Can you imagine the spirit in the room being with so many of our fellow saints?!?!" Such a wise girl!

Here's some pictures of us waiting for conference to start!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Conference, "Love is spelled T-I-M-E!" ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

HARVEST GREETINGS

I lOvE the fall season. The trees begin to change into beautiful colors, the air is just the right crispness & did I mention the yummy chocolate chip cookies I make!!!

This is the craft I finished just in time for the season! I bought the kit from Heartland Paper and made it at home. The only difference is I did not use the dorky looking polka dot paper on the birdhouse. Other than that mine looks about the same.

I've been working on a few other crafts and I will post pictures of those in the coming days.