Monte L. Bean Museum

The Bean Museum always reminds me of my Grandpa Felt. He LOVED BYU and would often take us grandchildren to the "Monte the Bean" Museum to look around. He was such an amazing Grandpa... I miss him. It's always great to remember back and think about him. I can't wait to see him on the other side...

Michael and I took Lance and Afton to the Monte L. Bean Museum for Family Home Evening and Lance LOVED it! He was so brave and touched all of the reptiles in the "Reptile Show" and especially loved touching the snake and tarantula! Ah!

Aunt Becca

Reading and playing with Aunt Becca!





Afton just loves that little chair. She will climb up in it, sit down, and "read" a book... so cute! It always makes me nervous when she decides to stand on it because she always feels the need to "dance" and bounce around with no fear! Just laughing and smiling the whole time... funny girl!



Lance loves his "Reading Area" (or Era as Lance says) and will snuggle up with a blanket and a book every day.

FASHION of 1999-2002

My sister Collette asked me a few questions regarding the fashion of my high school days and it was so fun thinking back to it! Here is what I can remember. Anyone near my age can probably relate!

BOTTOMS
Silver Tab jeans (boys)
Silvers jeans (girls)
Lucky jeans (boys and girls)
Short, shorts (girs)
Knee length shorts jeans/khaki (never striped or "golf" style) (boys)
Overalls (usually only Silvers) (girls)

TOPS
Roxy shirts (girls)
Quicksilver (boys)
Regular length shirts (would now be considered short) (girls)
Solids and Stripes for shirts (never floral or modern print)
Abercrombie & Fitch (just came to Utah at the Riverwoods)
"Inside-out" style sweat shirts
Pea coats

BELTS
Belts were usually part of every outfit (boys and girls).
Belts were never worn over a shirt or dress. (girls)
Bottle cap belts (boys and girls)
"Seat belt" style (boys and girls)
Fabric D-ring belts (boys and girls)

SHOES
Chunky shoes (girls)
Chunky, strappy sandals (Bakers Brand in the University Mall)
Platform tennis shoes
(never wear kitten heals, stilettos, or flats)
Sketchers (boys and girls)
Dr. Martins
Dr. Martins brown, leather sandals for boys.
Dr. Martins Mary Jane (girls)

HAIR
3-barrel roller (basically a larger version of a crimper)
Curling iron
Round brush
(never "stick straight" with a flat iron- the idea of straightening hair just came out. The fashion-forward girls would try to literally iron their hair on an ironing board with a towel between the iron and their hair. CHI wasn't invented yet.)
Short hair (boys - either spiky or combed over, never long or past their ears)
Long or short (girls, basic hairstyles were popular - hair styles from the show "Friends" were popular)

SYLES
Skater - baggier pants, t-shirts, longer, air-dried hair (not round-brushed/curled), bottle cap belts - (boys and girls)
Preppy/Rich Kids - regular fit pants, polo shirts, short, spiky hair (boys), round brushed, curled hair (girls), leather belt, Dr. Martins shoes -(boys and girls)
Jocks - Nike, Addidas apparel, baseball caps (never trucker, newsies, or any other style), tennis shoes.
Everyone Else - a mix between everything.

COLORS/PRINTS
Blue, Grey, Black, White, Pink, Red, Yellow, Green... never Orange!
Solids or Stripes... never any floral print, modern design, or anything like that. It was kept simple.

Stay-cation 2009

The Covey Family "Stay-cation"

My parents are seriously the best! They decided to host all of us kids, our spouces and children for a few days after Christmas so we could all get together and party! Instead of going somewhere far away, we all slept at their house and made it a "staycation" instead of a "vacation"! It was so much fun!

Here are the two who made it all happen! They are always so sweet and affectionate to each other. I love it. What a good example they are to their children and grandchildren.





For 2 days in a row we decided to go snowmobiling and it was AWESOME! The first day we left all the kids with a sitter, and on the second day we took Lance with us (he was such a trooper!).

Lance LOVES playing in the snow and when he spotted Michael's little shovel he simply picked it up, found a bunch of snow, and started shoveling... cute kid!







Michael and Kyle decided to build a snow-ramp and pull a each other on a sled behind the snowmobile with a rope and jump it! It was quite entertaining to watch!





We had 3 sets of snowshoes and had a fun time roaming through the trees and going on little hikes.


Camille and Collette


Camille and Katie


Michael, Camille, and Kyle

As soon as we got to our "camp" on the second day of snowmobiling I went right to work on the snowcave that I wanted to build Lance. I had never built a snowcave before, but had heard plenty of horror storries (thank you Michael and your crazy Scouting days) so I went to work to built a very small and safe cave for my boy (even Michael was impressed).

It turned out pretty well and Lance LOVED it! He said while crawling in it for the first time, "Mommy! It's just my size!"







Even Uncle Jacob liked it and used it to keep warm... while Uncle Kyle decided to see how much snow he could use to cover his entire legs while sitting in a camping chair (usually people do that in the summer with sand on a beach... but in the winter with snow on a mountian works too). =)





Michael was riding behind Uncle Johnny on a little, on-man, red sled, so I thought it would be a good idea to hop on (which is pretty out of character for me because I usually try to stay away from anything remotely dangerous)! So, while he was being pulled, I hopped on and we didn't even fall! Johnny took us back to "camp" whith snow flying in our faces the whole way, and we got these photos.





After a fun-filled day of snowmobiling (and eating sandwaches, chips, treats, and drinking hot chocolate) we all decieded to head back to Mom and Dad's warm house. We had 11 people, 2 coolers and plenty of gear... and only 3 snowmobiles. For this reason we had to get creative, and pretty adventerous, in order to get back to the cars!

Michael rode like a cowboy on the food and drink coolers with me pulling him with the snowmobile.



Katie, Jacob, and Lance rode on a sleigh that we borrowed from a total stranger (who saw that we had more people than room on the snowmobiles and offered to let us borrow it for the day) with Dad and Mom pulling them.







Lance was so exausted from a fun day in the snow that he fell into a deep sleep while sitting on Katie's lap. Katie was so nervous that he was not moving or waking up through all the uncomfortable bumps and jolts, that she started to panic and began checking his breathing and pluse (what a good Ocupational Therapist you'll make in a few months!). =) I am grateful for a sister who would actaully know what to do in a circumstance like that! =)



Kyle and Collette were excited for some quiet time and cuddled/rode in peace.



And Johnny and Christine (hardly recognizable) bundled up as if they were going on a 3 day ride through the Artic.



Thanks Dad and Mom for the fun memories, great food, amazing company, and for being so FUN! We love you! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy 1st Birthday Afton!

ONE YEAR OLD





Our sweet little Afton Esperance (Hope) turned ONE! I can't believe it has already been a year!

Afton has been such a blessing in our lives. I really can't imagine my life without her and feel so blessed that she is a part of our family.

Getting her here was scary, and we could have easily lost her, but through the grace of God she is healthy, happy, funny, beautiful, cheerful, and simply wonderful!



Now, here is a little note to you, my sweet Afton, on your birthday:

Dear Afton,

Oh how I love you, my cute girl! I feel so blessed to be your mother and can not imagine my life without you.

Every morning when I come to get you out of your crib I am so excited to be with you! I kiss your cute, soft cheeks and love to just hold and squeeze you!

You are my little Hope. I feel such a strong bond to you. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and believe with all my heart that families are eternal.

I can imagine us in the preexistence walking side by side, being best of friends. I truly feel that you and I have loved each other much longer than just this short year that you have been my daughter here on this earth.

I love you more than words can express. I thank God everyday for you.

With love,

Mommy



We celebrated her birthday with Michael's little 6 year old cousin, Margo, because these 2 cute girls share the same birthday! We had a lot of fun decorating the Barbie Birthday cake (which has given me lots of fun ideas for cakes to come)!


The Barbie Cake!


The Birthday Girls


Silly kids! We had a lot of fun!

We ate gourmet Macaroni and Cheese, cut into Barbies deliciously edible cake-dress, listened to customized piano and vocals from Carl, and watched interpretive Spider-man dancing from Lance. =)


Stella and Afton eating the yummy birthday cake!


Carl creating a custom Spider-man Lance song on the Piano (notice Lance "shooting webs").


Lance doing his interpretive Spider-man dancing!

We opened gifts and sang "You've Had A Birthday" in a round as well as the traditional "Happy Birthday" songs. It was so much fun! Thank you Christopher and Hailey for making Afton's birthday so special!

More Christmas Celebrating!

We Celbrated Christmas with Kathy on Christmas evening, then with John and Debbie the day after Christmas.

We love each member of our family and feel so lucky to be so close to them!

Kathy made a wonderful Christmas dinner for us and then we opened presents. She got Afton Twin Baby Dolls and Lance GI Joe figurines with helicopters and trucks! She got Michael and I a wonderful book and is always so generous. Thanks Grandma!









John and Debbie reserved 2 tennis courts at Liberty Park, where John teaches, and we all played tennis together! I even got a mini private lesson from John and learned a lot about the basics of tennis! We then went to their home in Salt Lake and opened lots of nice clothes and books that they got for us! While we were there Afton showed off her new "walking skills" and took a lot of steps all by herself!











Thank you to everyone for your generousity and love towards Michael and I and our children. We feel so spoiled and love you so much!