Christmas Parties 2010

This year because we didn't make it to San Diego, we got to go to Rupert for the annual Whitesides Family Christmas Party. It is so fun to play with cousins, and see Aunts and Uncles. Santa even came!! We love our family!! Another fun Christmas party was our the annual Church Christmas party. It was very memorable with a visit from the Grinch, and Kayla and Britt singing, where are you Christmas. Both were fun memorable parties. Here are some pictures from the kids with the Grinch, and a video of Kayla and Britt singing.

Christmas 2010

Well this year has been the year of the Christmas's like no other, we counted up how many times we opened presents and it was 5!!! Crazy, no one is complaining and we hope it continues!!!:) The season started out with the annual ski swap, we decided to buy ski passes this year and we need some supplies. Off we went and found some great ski boots for Emily, who said ski boots so cute that we couldn't resist; she is very excited to ski like the big kids. Britt got some new skies, and we got some other fun misc. like wool socks, hats and gloves and ski pants. Then our second Christmas took place before Thanksgiving when we decided it was time for some electronic upgrading, so we got some new TV's, blue ray players and gasp-satellite TV. The kids are asking what happened to their parents, but they aren't pushing the subject too much. The Third Christmas came with the grandparents when they came to Britt's baptism, (see grandparent Christmas blog posting). The fourth came on the Thursday before we were suppose to San Diego, instead of bringing presents we opened the presents leaving the stockings for San Diego. All the kids loved the xbox360 and kinetic from dad. The little girls loved their barbie castle, Britt loved her new chef outfit, Nathan loved this new games for the xbox and the Kayla loved her new clothes, (I know pretty original, but she is 15 and that is what she asked for). The Fifth Christmas came on Christmas morning. It was a good thing that people sent presents to us after we were suppose to be in San Diego so the kids felt like some what of a normal Christmas. The kids got to open their stockings from Santa and stockings from Grandpa & Grandma Mc Nett, and some presents from Aunts and Uncles. On Christmas Eve, the kids tracked Santa on the internet and were so excited for Santa to come that all we had to say was it was time for bed and the kids in their beds and a sleep in record time. Britt was a little anxious, any noise she heard was Santa coming. The funny thing is, is that last year she asked so some many times about Santa that we finally told her the fun story of Santa. So when she got so nervous I reminded her and she calmed down a bit, but was still very excited for Santa to come.

An Idaho Christmas

This is a view of our beautiful Mountains on a beautiful day and up at the ski resort the girls asked me to bury them in the snow, I thought how ironic it was that I was burying them in the snow and not SAND!!


Laser tag and Miniature golf at one of favorite places in town.

We were suppose to go to San Diego for Christmas leaving on December 21st, but the snow was so bad this year that we had to cancel. We were all very sad, we looked forward to the museums and Science Center at Balboa park, the beach, Sea World, and the Sun! But all that will have to wait until another time. It was a hard decision not to go, but after we found out that on the morning we were suppose to leave it snowed 18!!! inches in Provo, UT. We were glad at that moment that we had made the decision to stay home. We have been enjoying ourselves by playing Laser Tag and miniature golf, playing with our new Christmas toys, enjoying some beautiful days of skiing, watching movies, and playing games. It has been nice to be home and relax and enjoy the season. After calculating we have been here for 5 Christmas's and we have only stayed home 1 other time so this has been a nice for a change.

Grandparent Christmas

The weekend of Brittany's baptism, we decided that since our grandma's and grandpa's never get to see the kids open their Christmas presents we would have an early Christmas. It was a lot fun and the kids were of course very excited. Grandma wanted to savor the moment by having each child open one present at a time, well that lasted all of about 2 min.

Britt's Baptism Weekend December 4, 2010

This weekend was very special for Brittany. She was baptized and confirmed by dad. Lots of people came ALONG ways just to be apart of her special day. Grandpa and Grandma Kelly, Aunt Laura and Uncle Joe and Grandpa Mc Nett. Casey and Rachel(Flynn) joined us at the church and after for brunch. It was a very special weekend for Brittany and a fun weekend visiting with family. We played games, bowled, swam, went out for pizza, and just caught up. We have great family- we love you!

Thanksgiving with the Whitesides Family 2010

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Whitesides in Grand Junction, CO. We had to leave a day late becuase of bad weather through the passes but we finally arrived and we had a great time. When we get together we always love visiting, eating, hiking and playing games. Uncle Justin and Aunt Jenni came all the way from Chicago and we got to find out the gender of their new baby ( A girl!!!). It was a great time and we are reminded all the time how much we love our family, and how many GIRLS there are in the Whitesides family now:)

Brittany's Baptism Invitation

This digital invite generated with Smilebox

Nathan the 6th grade chess champion

Today at 11:30a Nathan was crowned the 6th grade class chess champion of Madison Middle School. We are so proud of him and he is so excited. This morning he was very excited and a little nervous but I put some "liquid luck" in his cocoa and he was off never looking back. Dad was there to cheer him on to victory and according to dad and Nate he won pretty handily. We celebrated tonight with a black and white dinner, chicken fetticine alfredo with olives, salad with raisins and almonds, white cheese french bread and milk in black cups. Dinner was served on black plates and a white table cloth . We went to BRC's a favorite ice cream restaurant for desert.

We hail the king of chess, Nathan Whitesides!!!

Zeitgeist Half Marathon 2010

Crossing the finish line


Nate and Me after the race



Mike ran a 1:29-Amazing!! It was fun to train and do an event together.

The crew: Grandpa Mc Nett, Robin, Mike, Me, Meredith, and Grady. This race didn't provide medals so I took care of the medals and of course they had pink ribbons:)

This past weekend Mike and I accomplished the Zeitgeist half marathon (13.1) in Boise Idaho. The race consisted of three major uphill climbs and some steep hill descents for the first 10miles. The last three miles consisted of some down hill or flat areas but also some crazy little steep climbs. The race directors must have been trying to make this race pretty challenging . I had a friend tell me that once you have completed Zeitgeist you are considered a "Zeitgeister" a term of great respect.Mike and I finished the race strong and feeling really good. Mikes time was 1:29 and my time was 2 hrs and 19min. Mike did amazing and place 19th overall. I feel really good about my race and my time. My goal time was between 2:15 and 2:30. I was really excited that it was closer to 2:15 with all the hills we did. Because this race was really considered a "a come back" race for me there were a few emotional moments for me on the course as I contemplated the last two years of my health and recovery. I wore my Livestrong shorts and running shirt with my "cancer sucks" pink socks. When I crossed the line I started to cry and the people around didn't know if I was going to pass out or if I was OK. I went through the "shut" and saws the kids run towards me the first thought I had was this is why I did what I did, then Mike met me at the end and gave me a big hug we were both in tears and I said " I did it" he said you kicked that cancer's but. We just savored the moment as our/personal victory. It was really great to cross the finish line feeling so good. Dad, Robin, Meredith and Grady ran with us. It was so great to have them all there and share in the fun day. Robin, dad, and Melinda were so great to come all that way and give up time and work days off to race a race that they weren't quite ready, for but did it with me as a support- I appreciate and love them so much! I love that we have gotten to know Meredith and Grady more the past couple of years. They are really great people and I feel very lucky to have them as family. Meredith was sick and Grady just ran his first half the weekend before.

We stayed at a hotel in Boise and played with Grandma and Grandpa and Robin for the weekend. The kids absolutely love playing with Grandma and Grandpa and crazy Aunt Robin. We swam and swam and swam. The first night we checked out the course and then went for Pizza of course. Saturday was race day, after the race we went for Grandpa and Robin's traditional ice cream and soda run at Iceberg a family favorite ice cream place ( I think I like that tradition! ). Then off to after race fiesta dinner with Meredith, Grady and Family at On the Border. Thanks to Alise we got to go have birthday cake at Grandma and Grandpa Sager's house. We really enjoyed our visit and laughed and shared fun memories. Sunday was said our goodbyes and made plans for next time hoping that the future plans would make the pain of saying goodbye a little less. After everyone left we took off for a little bit of shopping (We need some coats and fast!!) and then we went to our family favorite PF Changs for lunch and bought cheesecake from cheesecake factory for on the way home.

All in all we had a great weekend and made some great memories which is what life is all about:)

October 2010

October 2010 was filled with lots of celebrations.

We celebrated three big birthdays: Emily turned 3 on the 3rd, her lucky birthday, and we went to our favorite ice cream shop-Sundeas in Idaho Falls.

It was like Christmas morning, the girls were so excited for Emily to open her presents.


Daddy got Emily a pretty princess dress.


The kids on Emily's birthday morning. (I think it is funny that almost all of the kids in this picture have on race shirts:) )


Emily wanted cupcakes for her birthday and she even helped decorate them.



A few days later was Britt's Bday. Brittany turned the big '8' and celebrated with a pajama birthday party. Her friends were so cute and all had a great time making their cake and playing games, especially the pillow fight at the end. Britt will be baptized on December 4th, she is very excited.



Girls just wanna have fun! Emma, Allie, Livia, Eliza, Lilly, Brittany, Cami, and Savannah



The best pillow fight ever!! We also played musical pillowcase (like musical chairs, and painted fingernails)

Brittany got a pinata for her birthday and she named it "Penny". It seemed funny to me that she named her and planned on waking her head off:)



The sleepover cake consisted of decorated Twinkies with vanilla wafers and marshmallows for pillows. The girls had a lot of fun decorating their little cakes.

Last but not least for sure!!

Mike turned 39, he's not very excited for the big '4-0'. I was able to surprise him with some wireless headphones that he loves, and I have to say are pretty cool. We had ribs for dinner and had the scouts over for cupcakes.

Swimming, swimming swimming. Nathan and Kayla participated in a swim meet in Idaho falls called the spook splash. They did great with times better than last year and a few DQ's but nothing that can't be fixed for next time. They have really come a long ways in their strokes it is fun to see their increased confidence and skills progressing. Nathan race the breaststroke and was thinking that he was going to be blown away by the rest of the kids in the heat since he was racing against some of the older, faster kids, but to his surprise he actually did really well and didn't let the kids get to far away from him. He went after it and did amazing, we were all so proud of him. Kayla swam her strokes and actually blew the whole crowed away with her butterfly stroke in the IM, she didn't know she could do that!! Britt is hoping to race in December in Pocatello.



Halloween was fun it lasted for a couple of days as we went to a school Halloween party and church party in the same night and then went trick-or-treating the next night on Saturday. We had a great time on Friday night, Brittany was Aubrey Hepburn, Nathan was a Ninja, Cami was a princess, and Emily was a ballerina. On Saturday that all changed as Mike came down with a pre-bronchial infection and Emily had a double ear infection. Mom took care of the sick kids while Kayla and Neighbors took the kids around trick or treating. I think the kids had fun and came home with too much candy:)

Nate and Football

Nathan gave football a try this year, and we were so proud of him for trying something new and it wasn't easy either!! Nathan was pretty taken back on the first tackling practice but stuck with it. He really learned a lot and made some fun friends. It was really cute to watch him at the games get into the excitement of the game.

His team lost one game during regular season and then they lost their first game in single elimination to last years champions. The game was great, the boys fought so hard and played such an amazing game. Nathan didn't get to play at all but was so fun to watch and hear his commentary from the sidelines. The weather was absolutely foul. It was rainy and windy and very cold. I couldn't even imagine playing in that weather it was horrible enough just sitting in it. We had to call the game at one point for lightening and then resumed a few minutes later.

Here are some fun pictures from the season: