b-day weekend

I had a great 25th Birthday! Thanks for all the well wishing & cards :)

We went to the melting pot in salt lake, very yummy & fun

we went to the new Draper temple open house, I have never been to a temple open house. It was very neat & the girls were very excited to be in the temple. It will go through March, so go & see it, the chandeliers are amazing!

I also got a much needed haircut, did some shopping, & took the girls to a movie since everyone had the day off for MLK jr Day. El is feeling much better btw from her bout of strep. I am SO glad no one else in our family got it!

El's favorite things

Here are some questions I asked Eliska, these are her own answers...

What's your favorite color?
Pink!
and purple & blue & red & white too! Lots of colors are pretty!

Who's your best friend?
Rubee & Pheobee (our next door neighbors) Oh and you are (me)!

What's your favorite animal?
penguins, giraffes, elephants, doggies... and um...

What's your favorite book?
Dora ones, Ariel ones, and uh... and that's all!

What do you like about pre-school?
Songs, and that's all.

What do you like about primary?
Singing songs & uh getting one candy cane yesterday & uh watching movies at church. They have a TV show to watch movies!

What's your favorite Holiday?
Valentine's Day & Birthday Day, Summer day, Winter day, Fall day, Christmas day.

Who is Jesus?
Heavenly Father!

What's your favorite song?
maybe my challenger one (starts singing it) That's my favorite song & the alphabet song.

What's your favorite vacation?
Christmas bacation & Grandma's bacation & Disneyland, that's my favorite one too.

What's your favorite dress- up costume?
Minnie Mouse, Cinderella, Snow white, but I didn't get one of that. Mom I need to get a Snow White one, I want one like Emma with the pink rectangle thing (cape)

What's your favorite thing to do?
color & I like the coloring books, like my big Dora one.

What's your favorite thing to eat?
pancakes, like Disneyland we ate there yesterday. Tomorrow we're going to go there again because we have enough tickets left! (she found our old tickets, so she thinks we can reuse them)

What's your favorite toy?
um uh like my bubble machine that we play outside

Where are you going to get married?
at the Temple

Who are you going to marry?
Daddy!

She's getting really into this & is asking me questions now!

Coming soon... Emma's favorite things!

on the subject of motherhood

I am in such a good place right now as a mother. There was a time when I was far from it. I had the girls pretty close together and suffered some major postpartum depression after I had Emma. It wasn't like I was going to hurt my kids or anything like that, but just a hollow emptiness & zombie-like aura, crying all the time, not able to cope with the smallest amount of stress, etc. I basically was not myself at all. It was so confusing because everything in my life was going great & I should've been happy by all means. My dad is actually the one who convinced me to talk to my doctor & get some help. It was really hard for me & I felt embarrassed & uncomfortable, but it turned out to be the best thing for me. I know some of you have had similar experiences because I have heard you talk about it. Thank you for all your love, support, & stories of inspiration, it means a lot to me (especially Dan). I love how things are now & I don't regret having the girls so close because now it is awesome & I wouldn't change it one bit! I am terrified to have another baby though & don't feel quite ready yet. I will give it another year or two probably. It's funny because I love being pregnant & I actually think laboor & delivery is cool & exciting! It's the sleep deprivation of the 1st year that really gets me. Anyway, I just felt like sharing this :)

on the subject of the puppy

Well it has been a little over a month now since we've had Wilby around. I have to say that things are going really well. A lot of people really freaked me out about how crazy puppies are & told me some horror stories! I really don't think having a puppy around is that difficult actually. Wilby seems to just fit really well into our family. He's much easier than having a baby!

He is sleeping great through the night now in his crate downstairs, so we don't have to take him outside during the night anymore. He hardly ever barks and is so playful & friendly. He is really smart and easy to train so far. We used to tap his crate to get him in, but now he just runs right in. He can now go up all the stairs which is nice since we don't have to carry him up to the house from the backyard. He's still scared to go down more than a step or two. We've left him for about 5 hours at the most & he has been fine, just sleeping in his crate. He really isn't destructive at all with things around the house. He's not too hyper & crazy either. He loves to be chased & has been great with the kids.

The only thing is, he nips at everybody, but that is to be expected with puppies, since they are teething. We just have to give him a chew toy instead and he is fine. He does like to chew my hair & loves Barbies, so we have to keep them up high. And he still has accidents every now & then, but hey're pretty easy to clean up.

All in all though, I am really pleased & my fears have been put to rest about having a puppy around. I love having a dog around and didn't realize how much I've missed it. I am definitely a dog person, I realize. If you are ever lonely or depressed, you should totally get a dog, they really are the best companions.

I think a lot of it is that we picked a really good, reputable breeder whose only goal is to improve the breed. He was expensive, but everything I've read says that it will be worth it in the long run because he will have an excellent temperment & health.

P.S. If you're a dog lover or have ever owned a dog, you have to see "Marley & Me"! I was crying my eyes out, thinking about my childhood dog, Duff (we didn't pick his name btw!). I was here in Utah during his late years & when he had to be put to sleep, so it made me picture what my parents had to go through.

back to work...

& school & being productive...
We have had the laziest holiday season ever! Dan had work off since the 18th of December & we have just been so content to laze around & neglect all cooking, cleaning, & responsibility. I'm actually ready to get back to the normal schedule of school & actually getting out of my pj's! It has been fun though & a much needed break for all of us to spend some time together. We sure will miss having our daddy around all day!

Happy New Year!

Here are some pics from our 4th annual new year's eve game night...

G & G K. got us a really cool domino train station, we are all really into dominoes now! I've never even played before, I always thought dominoes was stacking the tiles around & knocking them over!

we meant to do gingerbread houses on Christmas, but not everyone was able to come because of the snow storm, this is Katie's...

this is mine, not exactly what I pictured in my mind! Next year I'm doing real gingerbread

So we did it on new year's eve, it was really fun. Even if everybody's fell apart!

Here's Katie pretending to spray the cheese whiz in her mouth, then Kari started squirting it in Katie's mouth for real! I didn't get a picture unfortunately because I was laughing so hard!

Here are some of my goals & hopes for 2009...
Dan will tell me that most of these are hopeful thinking...

*finish the molding/wainscot (it's halfway done right now, thanks to Dan & his dad. You can kind of see it in the picture on the left)
*put up crown molding
*spruce up the backyard w/ some more sod (for the extra land that was added to our yard from the school behind us)
*cement curbing along flowerbeds & bark
*extend patio & get a patio set
*build & get a nice swingset area
*take Wilby through the 8 week training course @ petsmart
*get a 2nd car for the family that is bigger
*read a lot of books (I've been wanting to read 'Les Miserables' forever, even though it's ginormous! This is the year I think!)
*potty-train Emma (I'm actually really looking forward to this, we start Monday!)
*Disney World Bond family reunion!
*Dan & I are planning the Kondel family reunion in July at a cabin near Logan
* maybe Hawaii, we'll see...

Notice a theme here? This is the year for home improvements apparently! I'm really into that sort of thing right now. Notice that I have no goals for losing weight or exercising? Yeah, I have no desire to do any of that. And Kass, stop asking me when I'm gonna have another baby!!

The lights at Temple Square

Tonight we took the girls to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square for the first time. It was beautiful as always. The last time we saw the lights there was when Dan proposed to me, which was 6 years ago (Dec. 8, 2002). We were also married there in the Salt Lake temple (June 03'). So it definitely holds a special place in my heart. I'm feeling nostalgic now, so let me share the story of when Dan proposed...


My parents & I went to a Family Christmas party that night, which Dan couldn't attend because of a "church meeting" he had to be at. He was supposed to meet us at the square afterward to see the lights, but he called me to say that the meeting was running over & he wouldn't be able to meet us after all. I was disappointed, especially because he sounded so bummed on the phone.Of course the whole meeting thing was a complete rouse. Nevertheless, I believed everything he told me, I didn't suspect a single thing. I am still amazed by that to this day because it is SO hard to surprise me for anything! So I arrived at the square with my parents & apparently some sort of Spanish Conference had just finished & the place was SO crowded. Meanwhile, my dad is on the phone saying, "Yeah, I'm wearing a red jacket. We're coming around the corner now..." I was like, "Who are you talking to?" He just said we were going to meet up with my uncle & cousins (who were at the party earlier). Again, I had no clue whatsoever, I totally believed everything. All of a sudden Dan walked out from behind a statue, wearing a tuxedo & carrying a dozen roses. I honestly still did not realize what was going on! I just thought, "Oh good, he was able to meet us after all!" and I asked him,"What are you doing here! I thought you couldn't make it." Then he got down on his knee, pulled out the ring, said some really sweet stuff & "Michelle, will you marry me?" I answered, "Of course!" At this point, a huge crowd of people had gathered round & started clapping & cheering. They shouted, "Kiss, kiss!" It was very funny & I could not believe that Dan had actually truly surprised me like that. It was amazing, definitely the most romantic thing ever!

this is right where Dan proposed 6 years ago (unfortunately I can't find any pictures from that night!)

sledding

Yesterday we went sledding in Elk Ridge with my best friend Lora & her husband Mark. We got to see her new baby too, Porter (SO cute!). She was in town for the Holidays, visiting her parents. It was great to see them again, I hope they move closer after they finish school in California!