New Family Pics - FINALLY!!!!!

The Original Recipe Covey Kids 2009

Oh, my, how we've changed over the years!

And finally, after 10 years......and 4 additions to the family...

The Covey Clan 2009

(Including Wisers, Duncans, and Reeses)

It has taken us 10 years to take a FULL family picture - our last one, although one of my favorites, was before any of Emily's kids were even born and the 'girls' were less than 10 years old. I guess it was time for an updated one! Thanks to my bro-in-law's (Corey) great camera and tripod, were were able to accomplish the impossible without a professional.

My gorgeous, talented, funny, loving, amazing, and awesome nieces...all of them!
(The nephews wouldn't pose...)

The Wisers - realizing they forgot Sarah and Joel!

Christmas Memories 2009

Let's see...where to begin... After Thanksgiving, I put up my tree and brought out my Nativity set and that was it. I left 4 whole boxes of decor up in the garage shelves, never to be touched this season. One tires of changing out the whole decor of the house for one month, for only a handful of visitors to see. This year, I went simple all the way around. But I love my tree, especially at night when it glows opposite the fire place.

It was GREAT having my brother, Steven, home for Christmas this year - last year he got snowed in at home in Oregon. It just wasn't the same! The week before Christmas we had our traditional extended family parties - the Ballards and then the Hardys. The "Hardy Party" carries it's own traditions, complete with "crackers" to pop and wear silly paper hats and the always fun white elephant gift exchange. I actually found this chicken watering can and thought "perfect white elephant gift" and by the time I made it to the checkout register, I decided that I was going to FIGHT to get that chicken back -I love it and it now sits on my front porch welcoming my guests with a smile. Some of the other funny gifts were a pimp hat and boxers (go Alli!) and my 4 year old niece getting a pink "Control Your Man" remote control. We heard funny phrases all night long and she loved it Typically and historically, everyone in my family since the beginning of time has gone to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house (mom and dad) for Christmas Eve. We blow up beds, crowd gifts around the tree after the kiddos have gone to sleep in the other room, and wake up to "Santa" and stockings, tons of wrapping paper and boxes, and lots of toys to play with. This year, my little sister's family went to Utah for Christmas and so it was just all of us oldies. I went home to sleep in my comfy warm bed and so did Sarah and Joel to their NEW house and headed back over there about 9am. Around 10am we decided to open presents (although we missed the little kiddy toys) and had breakfast around noon. It was a nice, lazy, quiet morning! We all got a new Shark Mop - the one I've been wanting for some time now, but was too lazy to ever go buy it. My sister, Kristi, made me this creative pillow where she embroidered all the countries I've visited and found (painstakingly) charms to represent each country. It was amazing and so clever! My nieces put together another CD of spiritual songs which is amazing. They're so talented! My mom did a lot of family history over the past few years and presented us all with a book of history, letters, stories, and pictures from 4 families. It was cool. I had designed a necklace and pair of earrings for each of my sisters, nieces, and mom. They all seemed to like them! (Of course they'll kill me when they find out I've posted their "just woke up" pictures on the internet!!)

We spent the afternoon playing Quirkle and May I before enjoying some snacky foods for dinner. The 'crem de la crem' of the evening was when they broke out the Wii Fit and we all had to do the different games. It was sooooo funny! Check out Gary, my bro-in-law on the hula-hoop game. This is a representation of the many laughs we enjoyed that night! I've been blessed with a good family and am very thankful for them all.

Merry Christmas!

The Covey Clan

2009

hopefully this one came out better than in the other post

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Snow bunnies...not so much!

I took a road trip up to northern Utah this weekend - into the snow, cold, and freeway road closures. We had good driving weather and arrived in time to walk around temple square to see the lights. I enjoyed staying with Paula - a mission comp - and playing with her kiddos. The main purpose of the trip was to surprise Mandi (my former laurel) at the Logan temple. BUT as we (Benfields and I) tried to drive up there Saturday afternoon, the snow was too hard and the roads were to slushy/slippery to enter the mountain pass and canyon. We felt bad that we had to turn around and miss her session (AND miss seeing my friend Deanna!!!!). As if that wasn't enough, we got caught in road closures on the freeway and it took a whole hour to go 4 miles into Salt Lake, in the snow. The next morning we met at the conference center and enjoyed the Mo-tab concert with Natalie Cole. The coolest was when Pres. Monson walked in and within 30 seconds, 20,000 people stood and hushed.

Upon leaving, it was snowing quite hard and we wondered if we should try and drive in it. We looked up the highway conditions and it said snow until Cedar. Deciding we should just take our chances and attempt it, we dropped Mikelle back off at BYU and started home. An amazing thing happened. It was like Moses had parted the Red Sea (or in our case, the winter storm). On both sides of us, the mountain ranges were being pelted with snow, but the roads were clear - all the way through. With the exceptions of 2 minutes of rain around Nephi and 1 minute of small hail in Cedar, we had perfect driving conditions while

all around us was experiencing winter storms. It was awesome! I enjoyed visiting with Wendy and it made the trip go much faster. Once we even saw a congregation of about 15-20 deer at the side of the road (alive!) The mountains were beautiful glistening in white and the fields were equally magestic. I really enjoyed going out to see winter, even though many of our plans were thwarted. And many thanks to Paula for her hospitality (and Tasha for the pictures)!

Ever think about.....

Since life is quite boring right now - (seminary, work, workout, sleep), there's nothing quite exciting to blog about. But I want my fans and stalkers to know that I'm still alive, so here are some random thoughts I've been pondering lately:

1. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

2. There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

3. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

4. Was learning to write in cursive really necessary?

5. How many times is it appropriate to say "what?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

6. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in the front.

7. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything more productive for the rest of the day.

8. Can we just all agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

9. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring, but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer...drop the phone and run away?

and finally.....

10. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. (you know you do it, too!)

Happy 20-18th birthday to me!

I enjoyed celebrating my birthday beginning Saturday night with my entire family (minus brother in Portland) at Ricardos - a family favorite. We were serenaded by a skinnier latino version of Little Richard who enjoyed his job very much! Later on we went back to my sister Emily's for some fun cards and presents. I wasn't feeling 100% that night, but it was a great evening with the fam - I'm lucky to have a good one!

Monday morning, my fellow specialist teachers had whipped up a small 'fiesta' complete with cake, balloons, and a gift full of hiking treats (Linda, of course!) I've never had such a surprise at work before, so it was very nice! They'd hung up a big sign over the literacy lab door and every one of the 230 kids who entered/exited that day kept asking "who's Robyn? or Ruben? or Raven?" That's probably why they "get" to go to the literacy lab for reading help!

Last night, my friend Carolyn took me to LOVE - The Beatles Circ de Soleil show after dinner at a fun burger place in the Mirage (a fortune to eat!!!) It was a great show with acrobatics, dancing, and lots of special effects. I only recognized about 1/2 of the songs, though.

I really don't enjoy birthdays - don't enjoy the attention and who-ha about me. But I appreciate everyone making me feel special!!!!!!