Laker gets Tubes

Laker had to get tubes in his ears a few days after Christmas. Laker got really sick in October and of course that's when the ear infections started. We spent the next few months in and out of the doctor's office for his ear. I am still convinced that we never got rid of the first one, but Dr. Duffy said it was time for tubes. So that's what we did and what a difference it has made. Lake was a happy kid to begin with, but holy cow, there is no more ear pulling, goopy eyes and sleepless nights!!

We had to be at Primary Children's at 7 in the morning for his little surgery. While we were in the waiting room Laker discovered a doll. That's right, not only was this a naked doll, but it was right next to a big tool set and of course we went right past that to the doll. I could not help but snap a picture. Steve tells me that we are going to burn all photos and never speak of this moment again.... Anyways Laker had to wear a little hospital gown but before going into surgery he got to ride around in a car while the Tylenol took effect. He went into surgery at 9 and was out 10 minutes later. I could not believe how fast and easy it was and because all he has was happy gas, he was back to normal after a 4 hour nap!!!

Steve and I got a kick out of all the nurses and anesthesiologist, mostly because English had to have been a 3rd language for all of them. I am not kidding!! His first nurse was hispanic and we could not understand a word she said, luckily she was just checking his vitals and did not need to explain much to us. The next nurse that took us from that room to the surgical waiting room was from Taiwan, she was a hoot but again, we could not make out one word she said. Then to top it off, his Anesthesiologist's name was Dr. Van Geinkle, it might as well of been Hans and Frans coming to "Pump you Up!". He was by far our favorite,but we could not help but laugh the second he left the room with Laker. Steve called him Dr. Haggen Daz, we just hoped our son would return in once piece since we had no clue what he was going to do with him......we could not understand one word!!!!! Incredible!!!! But all turned out just fine and Laker is happy as ever!

Christmas Day

What a day! We spent the night at my parents and had Christmas morning there. All I can say is Laker made a haul! He was spoiled with tons of cloths, toys and of course, his first set of clubs. When I say clubs, I don't mean plastic clubs. We're talking real clubs cut down for his size and a sweet little bag. We decided that we are gonna wrap them up a give them again next year! He won't even know the difference.....right???? Steve got a bunch of golf stuff as well as new clubs. I got Lasik, which I had done after Thanksgiving....the best present ever!!!! and Rachael Ray cookware!!!! It killed Steve to make the purchase because he can't stand her, but oh what a glorious morning!!!

Because of all the snow that had fallen, Steve, my dad and Brady spent the morning pushing cars up the hill in front of their house. the plows never made it and if you did not have 4-wheel drive....forget about leaving the neighborhood!! We had such a fun day but it was even more fun watching Laker experience Christmas. He is so funny, even though he got tons of toys, he was more interested in my mom's tupperware!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve plowing through the snow trying to get to Grandma & Grandpa Machins. We were amazed to see that my brother made it up the hills in his Jetta...in one piece! Once we got there the party started! My dad's sister and her kids were there with all their kids, we ate, played games and opened presents. What a fun night!

Its Party Time!!!

We had quite the day on Friday. Of course we spent the morning relaxing and playing Guitar Hero, you know, the basics. But with Steve home during the winter, it makes for some serious rockin out! Then we packed up the boy because he was gonna spend the rest of the day and night with Brett and Rachel, Steve's business partner. After we ditched the baby Steve and I headed down to the Gateway to meet my brother and parents. My dad works for the Boyer Company and every year they get the imax theater and we get to watch a new release. This year it was "National Treasure - Book of Secrets". But what is a movie with out a big lunch - California Pizza Kitchen - and then a stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolates. It was so good, not to mention the chocolate covered pretzels and caramels!!! The movie was awesome. It was just nice to be child free for the day, although I was missing him only a few hours after we left him.

Once the movie was over we were off the Cedar Hills for the Annual Christmas Party with all the friends. This year it was at Kenny and Tara's, which now that I think about it, it usually is at their house. Anyways it was soo much fun and what is a Christmas party without gift games. This year instead of the hardcore white elephants we did 2 gifts per couple. A good gift and a white elephant. For some reason we always get stuck with the gifts that benefit Steve. He got a warm up shirt and chocolates and I got a Laxative and a blocker...if you know what I mean. Did I mention they were used??? thanks a lot Steve. The Kerekes made off with the best white elephant, the George Forman Grill, although I though the pictures of Steve pulled a close second!

We had a fun time as usual and we did not make it home till 2:30 am. It would not be that bad but Steve had to get up at 7 to head down to Vegas for the BYU Bowl game. Did I mention that Laker woke up with a croupy cough and a faucet for a nose? that's right - were teething again.... and running on NO SLEEP. Steve owes me one!

The many adventures of Bubs and Maisy

So I was reading my friends blog and she was sharing the many wonderful things that happen to you when you share your home with mans best friend and it got me thinking.....we have 2 dogs so does that mean double the fun? So here are some of the many adventures we have had with Bubs - a lab-pitbull mix and Maisy - a boxer.

Maisy-
* We have lost 1.5 couches to her. Apparently de-stuffing a couch is a lot of fun
* She has eaten the following in her 3 years of life: 2 bags of hershey kisses - with tinfoil, a cheese wheel, 1lb of butter, 3 bags of apple crumble cake mix, a loaf of bread and many sandwiches Steve has made and left on the counter to get a drink.
* Both have had encounters with rat poison (christmas eve 3 years ago)
* She is allergic to everything including some kinds of grass (which makes for interesting camping stories)
* Breaks the same toenail every 3-4 months
* Jumps our fence every other day (but comes back every night at the same time)
* Has an extremely sensitive stomach.....probably due to the earlier comment
* She attempts to swim, but looks like she is drowning
* Brings us her dog bowls when he have forgotten to fill them
* She love balls and any kind of toy that squeaks! She can sit, stay, give hi-fives, lay down and fetch.

Bubs-
* Swims like a fish and could fetch balls in the lake ALL day long!
* Love to hunt birds and other creatures in the backyard...including Maisy
* Buries every bone you give him in the backyard for a later date in time
* Loves to help me give Laker his bath...he is a great supervisor
* The best dog ever! He listens, does all the dog tricks, does not get into mischief and puts up with the boxer.

They both love to play with Laker or should I say "take his abuse", go running with me in the summers and wrestle with each other. Even though I want to ship Maisy off to a funny farm every other day we love our dogs and the endless amounts of entertainment they provide!

Day at the Mall

Steve, Laker and I spent the day at University Mall to finish up a little Christmas shopping, but what is Christmas shopping without a stop at Cold Stone? Laker took over my shake because his dad inhaled his strawberry cheesecake surprise! Then on the way home we snatched a pic of Laker in his favorite position while in his car seat. He loves to put his leg up on the door....you know so he can sit back and enjoy the ride in comfort!!!! Later that night we went over to Clayton and Annalisa's house to watch the football game, don't ask me which one. Anyways, no night is complete with out a jam session on Guitar Hero. This is what Annalisa and saw the rest of the night, the back of our husbands heads! What nerds!!!

7 Things I love About Christmas

This one is for Anika....she tagged me about 2 weeks ago and she called to remind me that I have yet to return the favor. So here they are, the 7 things I love about Christmas!

1. It only takes me 2-3 hours to get ALL my christmas decorations up! thats right, I have got a the system down. This year I hit the 3 hour mark only because the middle section of lights went out on my tree. I know it does not sound that bad, but if you know my mom you must decorate your tree like so: for every foot tall your tree is you must have 100 lights. I had a 7 foot tree and about 5 feet of the tree was dark....you do the math. So this year I got a new tree, but I had to light the thing and did I mention it is a 9 foot tree????? Let me tell you it is a ton easier to light a new tree than take the lights off a tree and then re-light it.


2. Last Christmas I had a brand new baby. Laker was born on the 1st of December and I did not get much sleep, not to mention recovering from giving birth! This Christmas is gonna be tons of fun because Laker is walking, babbling and getting into mischief! I am so excited to share Christmas with him this year!



3. Family Traditions!!! I love being with family and celebrating Christmas. Steve's family always does a live version of the Nativity Scene. All the grandkids dress up and we sing carols.

4. Yankee Swap! This is the greatest game ever created....thanks Michael Scott! I love all gift games but Steve's family really knows how to do this game. Everyone has to bring a present if they want to play and there is no crying allowed...thats right I am talking about the adults!!! In Steve's family it is every man for himself! The gifts in this particular game are extremely good gifts...and then there was one. I don't know where it came from but someone decided to give this ugly stuffed snowman and counts down from 10 and then says the following while shaking and vibrating, " Welcome to the year 2000!" and then giggles. Did I mention that it does all this in what sounds like an Australian accent. This little gem has ended up with either Steve or I 3 times. Thats right out of 25+ excellent gifts we have picked the dud 3 times. Not this years, we'll be on the lookout!!!

5. "The Friend Party". Every year we get together with all our friends for the Christmas Party. It is hilarious to watch Steve and all his friends rem-inis about their glory days in high school. Also we always do the White Elephant game and with this group, it is a riot!! Were talking about a box full of wire hangers, a used breast pump and one muddy boot. You never know what to expect and every year tops the last! I can't wait till this coming Friday!

6. Charlie the Elf. When I was little we had an Elf named Charlie that would come around after Thanksgiving and watch us till Christmas. If we were bad we would get black marks on our bedroom window. We had to be on our best behavior to get those marks erased before Christmas. If they were still there on Christmas morning we would not get any presents. My dad would always "see" Charlie when were not looking! My dad was so convincing that even when I found out that Santa was not real, I still believed that Charlie was around. For some reason my dad always knew when we were being good or bad!


7. Christmas Morning!!! I love Christmas morning, We spend the night at my parents house on Christmas Eve and have Christmas morning with my parents and Brady. It is soo much fun. Then the rest of our family comes over and we have a huge breakfast and open more gifts. When we were little Brady and I would always get Legos. So we would spend all day putting them together! I really hope I get Legos this year!!!!!

My bright-eyed boy!!!

I was playing around with my camera that is not digital and got this shot of the Lake Man. Look at those eyes!

Our little Family

It's that time again, the dreaded family pics.

Laker's First Birthday

Our little monkey turned the Big 1 on the 1st of December. Steve's parents and my parents came out to help celebrate. We had cake and opened gifts, but Laker was more interested in the wrapping paper and loading up on the cake! There was one thing that he loved......his Bob the Builder Tractor!!! He was cruising all over the place - plowing the garbage and the dogs - and this of course made his dad proud!

Eric Smiley Clinic

I had the chance to ride in the Eric Smiley Clinic held at Lynnleigh Farm during the first weekend in November. It was a blast!

6 Things You Don't Know About Me....

So Annalisa, one of my good friends was telling me about this "6 Things You Don't Know" game and she put it on her blog. It is hilarious and she told me that I had to do the same, the catch is the six things can't be lame. So here they are in no particular order....

1. I secretly want to be a CSI - Crime Scene Investigator - Thanks to CSI:Las Vegas

2. My parents live by Hidden Valley Country Club so their backyard has lots of trees, like a mini forest. The windows in the basement never had blinds on them and when it gets dark, you can see in from outside, but not out from inside. When I was little I was sure that there was some one out there ready to get me and when I would go upstairs I would run as fast as I could because I was sure he was right behind me at the bottom of the stairs. Now that I am 24, I still think there is a guy at the bottom of the staris everytime I go up!

3. I had star stickers on my ceiling that spelled out the names of the boys I liked in middle school. I had to read them every night before I went to bed. Just to ensure that if I looked at them, they would for sure like me too!

4. I have been pulled over twice in my life, both times for speeding (like 8 over). Once on Memorial Day and the other on Labor Day, of the same year, on the same road - one in each direction, by the same cop. I thought for sure I could talk my way out of a ticket, but when he came to my window, I said, " I know, I know..." gave him my license and registration and recieved a ticket - both times. I could not cry my way out of it! No tears!!!!

5. I worked for an eye doctor for 2 weeks. I got new contacts for cheap and then quit.

5.5. I will time myself when I do a Suduko puzzle and then try to beat it on the next one. Steve calls me a major nerd for that, but I love it!

6. If I had no morals and values I would be a hard core coffee drinker. Not coffee straight up, but like live at Star Bucks and indulge on all the magical goodness they create! No smoking or drinking, just the coffee.

Air Time

Laker loves being thrown in the air by his dad! You know, quality time.....

BYU - TCU Game

What a view!!!! I mean what a game!!! Steve's family has a Loge at Lavell Edwards Stadium and let me tell you, this is the only way to watch a game. All the food you can eat and best of all, 3rd Quarter Ice Cream, made to order and did I mention exceptional parking!!!! We'll be back at the Loge to enjoy the BYU - Utah Game on the 24th. That is going to be a blast!! Thanks for the good times Mom and Dad!

For Sale

Well....we have decided it is time to uproot our little family and head to a new town. Lehi....that is. In 2005 we built our first house in Eagle Mountain. What a place!!! We love it out here - the summers are awsome and we have family right down the street. But as Steve's company is growing, that means that our family too will be growing. NO we are not announcing anything, but that time will come and we want to be in a home that we can grow in to.

Halloween

Laker was dressed up like a horse this year. Later that night Steve got the lucky job of staying home and "manning" down the fort while providing treats for the "trick or treaters". Laker and I went to the family Halloween party at Aunt Jo's house out at Daybreak. I dressed up like a horse rider and took Laker around the neighborhood with all his cousins!! For his fisrt Halloween, the kid amde a haul!!!!

2007 Mortensen Family Reunion

Every three years Steve family gathers for one heck of a reunion. This year we went to "Rockin' R Ranch" in Antimony, Ut. It was a working cattle ranch with plenty to do. Two hours after we got there our nephew, Zac managed to fall 20 feet from the zip line breaking his arm between his shoulder and elbow. One hour after that, my sister-in-law's husband, who is not a small guy took a ride on the bungee swing. This swing is inteneded for you to "lightly bounce" up and down, while someone is pulling on the bungee cord with a rope. Sure it sounds harmless, but when you have 8 Mortensen boys coaxing you to saddle up a 2X4 and "let" them launch you into the air, you know something is bound to go wrong....and of course, the force of being launched sideways on a ginormous bungee cord left old Matt behind. The force was so great that the swing Matt was sitting on flew out of his hands resulting in a full on back flip, landing on his head. In all fairness, all the brothers told him to "hold on tight!!!"

Along with near death expriences hours after arriving, we got to do a little "bull riding" on calves, mutton bustin for the kids and trial rides. It was so much fun.....it's a good thing they make you sign your life away before getting out of the car or we'd all be rich!!!!

Red Sox Game

Steve and I were able to take in the last home game for the Red Sox last October, two months before I was due! What a blast!! You really have not lived until you expierence the thrill of "Sweet Caroline" durring the 7th Inning Stretch. Boston really loves thier Sox!!!

Our little Laker!

What can we say about Laker?? Well to start with, I had to have him the natural way!!! I know, but I did not really have a choice. Because of my spinal fusion my doc was not sure if an epihdural would be effective on me. I figured I had 9 months to get set to the idea, but when we had to go to Lamaze classes, I had some serious doubt!! But thank heaven my labor went the way it did or Laker would be an only child! I went into Labor on the last day of November, we got to the hospitol at midnight, but not before stopping for gas.... I did not have time to think about anything, he just came fast and all was well!!! Laker Thomas joined us at 2:56am on the 1st of December!

He has been nothing but fun!!! He has been such a great baby and now 10 months later, every day is a new and exciting adventure! He is crawling, babbling, tormenting the dogs and trying to walk on his own, yet we still have no teeth! Laker loves his dad and loves his toys. His first birthday should be tons of fun!!!

A little about Katie....

Unlike Steve, I came from a very small family. Brother Brady is all I have, not to mention my loving mother and father! I had back surgery after high school due to Scoliosis. As for my working history after marriage, I worked for Back to Basics for 4 years and in that 4 years I made alot of progress. I started in Customer Service, 6 months later I joined the Product Management Team and as Admin. Assitant. This was one of my favorite stops because of the wonderful friends I made. But it does not stop there, a few years or so later I moved the the Planning and Inventory Department, met a very interesting individual and finished out my time as a Traffic Coordinator at the Distribution Center. That's when Laker came along and I never went back! I still find time to ride my horse although I am not competeing at the moment. There will be time for that later. As for now, I am enjoying my time with Laker and being a stay at home mom! Oh and entertaining Steve and the dogs too!

A Little about Steve....

What can we say about Steve? Well, besides being a wonderful husband and loving father, he is still just a big kid at heart. He works his butt off 8 months out of the year shaping Utah one yard and one development at a time!! He still manages to find time to play basketball every Tuesday and Wednesday night, golf when ever he gets the chance and spend time with his little family! He loves playing with and watching Sunday football with Laker...or should I say "napping".... All in all, Steve is just a fun guy to be around and we are glad to have all winter with him! Did I mention that he is one of 11...kids?? Thats right! Steve has 7 brothers and 3 sisters. Even though he is the baby boy, he still claims he is the baby over his little sister.

Your probably wondering if I can name all of them, well you better believe it! Not only can I name them, I can attach the 35 or so children that belong to them! His family is so awsome and we love each one of them!!

Mortensen History 101

So here is a little history lesson on the Mortensen's. I won't bore you with all the details, but enough to catch you up to speed. Steve and I have been married for a little over 5 years. In that 5 years Steve graduated from UVSC with a BA in Business and started Morty's Landscaping. I came close to getting my BA....I guess there is always time for "finishing" later... We built our first house, got a few dogs, went on a cruise and had a baby. Don't worry, there won't be a pop quiz or anything.