Scenic Photos

I have taken many photos over the years and I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with you . (To view them you can click on the link to the right.)

We are very blessed to live in such a beautiful state and I enjoy visiting new places to photograph (even if its a little scary to get to sometimes, the pictures make it all worth it!) Adam is very patient with my persitance to stop and take pictures when I see the opportunity. I developed a love for photography at a young age from my Dad. One of my favorite memories was setting up a tripod on top of the plateau near the mouth of American Fork Canyon while a thunder storm approached from the West. We were trying to get a picture of the lightning. I dont know if we got a good picture that day but I loved being out with my Dad watching the storm come in. To this day I love thunderstorms - especially lightning.

Today we took a ride up American Fork Canyon and had the great privelege of seeing a MAMA MOOSE AND HER BABY! Wow! They moved very quickly and I was very lucky to be able to grab my camera in time to get these pictures before they disappeared into the trees. It is always exciting to see animals in the wild but to see a moose was especially exciting!

Yummy Christmas Fudge!

Well this is a picture of my yummy Christmas Fudge. In case you want the recipe here it is. Put chocolate chips, broken up hershey's candy bars and marshmallows in a bowl & set aside for later. (The kids can easily do this part while burn the sugar and evaporated milk on the stove.) When the sugar & milk starts to boil over PANIC! Burn & blister your fingers trying to frantically scrap the boiling, gooey substance off your brand new glass top stove. When the house starts to fill up with smoke and the reality of the damage starts to set in, stop everything your doing and.... pray, pray, pray that your new stove top is not ruined. Anxiously wait 30 minutes for it too cool then scrape, scrub & wipe over and over again for approx. 60-70 minutes to restore the glass. It was truly an answered prayer that my new stove top was not ruined! I considered taking a picture of the original damage but couldnt bring myself to do it. I really thought that I was going to have to look at it like that forever. Suprisingly, my fudge (more like chocolate trail mix) was a hit and it all got eaten within a couple of days! AJ & Mike even set it out for Santa on Christmas eve.

Our Christmas morning began at 6:30am with a loud wake up call from AJ. He yelled down the stairs as loud as he possibly could, informing us that it was Christmas morning. There is nothing like being woken up from a dead sleep with one of your kids yelling at the top of their lungs. My first reaction was that something was wrong (like the house was on fire or something terrible). It took me awhile to calm my heart rate down. Needless to say (very politly of course), I later told AJ to never do that again!

Funny Animal Videos!

Have you ever heard of a cat that likes to play in the snow? He likes to pounce in it and swat it around.

Watch how the dog gets the cat off the top of the table.

Jeep'n in th Snow
Today we got our first snow! Adam has been waiting for any sort of storm for months so we could take the jeep out and "cause some trouble" as he says. Luckily we didnt get stuck and I survived another Jeep'n experience (I am such a wimp, I dont know how much more I can take!)

Ankle Injury

On Thursday I got a call at work from AJ. He said that he had hurt is ankle in PE playing basketball. When I got to the school the teachers were very concerned and recommended that we go get an x-ray. The x-ray didnt show any breaks but he was in a lot of pain. They gave him crutches and a brace to wear. AJ says the best part is that he gets to miss PE for a couple weeks and he get to get out of class early so he can get to his next class on time.

Party in Provo
Last Saturday we went to the first ever "Party in Provo". The U of U rented the Provo high parking lot for Ute fans to tailgate before the game. It was cold but alot of fun. Afterwords we went home and ate hot wings and watched the game. Unfortunalty the Utes didnt win but it was an exciting game to watch regardless.

Football is Finally Over!
Well, football is finally over! Both kids had winning seasons. It will be nice to eat as a family again now that football season is over. We have lived on quick meals and fast food the past 2 months. Getting everyone back into a routine and eating together as a family will be a nice change.

AJ's team did really well this season. They made it into the playoffs which was a huge accomplishment for their team. AJ improved tremendeously and is looking forward to playing 9th grade football next year. He is currently 5'11" & 210 lbs!

Adam & Lee coached Michaels flag football team this year and Michael played very well. He wants to try tackle football next year so Adam is going to work with him over the winter to help get him ready. He is getting taller & taller everyday. He has grown 3 1/4 inches in 7 months and is finally eating everything on his plate plus some. It wont be long before he passes me up!

Halloween was fun this year. AJ dressed up as a pimp, Mike as a zombie and I as a spider witch. I have to admit that I dont miss going out in the cold to take the kids trick or treating. The kids are old enough now that we just send them out with a cell phone and tell them not to stay out too late. I am enjoying the benefits of having older children. No more worrying all the time if they are going to run out in front of a car, no more bundling them up to the point of unrecognition, and I feel ok about letting them eat all the candy they want the next day because I know that they are old enough to know that they will probably get a stomach ache if they do (which by the way they did). We also carved pumpkins this year which we usually do but we have never used the stencils before. They turned out pretty good and they were fun to do!

Welcome to the Medina Family Blog!
Journaling is something that I wish I would have done when my kids were younger. Kids do the funniest things when they are litte and unless you write them down, I have found that the memories fade quickly. Although my kids are past the "cute" stage and have entered the notorious pre-teen and teenager stages, I thought it would still be fun to keep a record of what is going on in our lives. Every year we do new and exciting things and I dont want to look back on my life in 10 years from now and wish I would have recorded all the fun things that we did together as a family. So this starts the beginning of our Medina Family Blog. I am excited to begin posting notes & photos about what is going on in our lives and sharing them with our friends & family. Enjoy!