Merry Christmas!

December 15, 2011

Merry Christmas Friends and Family!

I can hardly believe that 2011 is almost gone- didn't it just start? This has been another busy but good year for the Wycoff clan.

This year Roxann turned 14 and started high school. Where has the time gone? It was only yesterday she was 2 and now she is a beautiful young woman. And I mean BEAUTIFUL! In fact, I have been blessed to have 4 beautiful children and I am so not biased. J  But I digress. Roxy participated in her first musical this year. The high school did Alice in Wonderland and she had several supporting roles and was in almost every scene. It was fun to go watch her as this has been a big dream of hers! She has also been attending early morning Seminary at our church which means she is up by 4:30 each morning. You would think this would make her grumpy but she is ALWAYS so happy and cheerful in the mornings! She has been a great example to her friends and siblings and we are so proud of her!

Ashlie is in 8th grade and loves being the "queen of the school". She is still taking dance and it is definitely one of her great loves in life. She has been getting excellent grades for which we are very proud of her. She has lots of friends and is very social. She loves harassing her brother and is looking forward to going to high school next year.

Tyler is in the 7th grade and has truly discovered his musical talent this year. He loves playing the trumpet and recently auditioned for the jazz band and was accepted into the group. He is a member of MESA (focusing on math, engineering and science), the National Junior Honor Society and Boy Scouts. At 12 years old he is 5'10" and wears a size 13 shoe!!

Baylie is in the 4th grade and says she loves being the only kid in the family at her school. J  This year she auditioned and made it into the All State Choir. She was 1 of only 6 kids chosen from her school and the highlight will be in January when they go to Colorado Springs and perform at the Colorado Music Educators Convention at the Broadmore Hotel. She is also still taking dance and seems to enjoy it almost as much as Ashlie.

In November Shawn finally got a job transfer to the State Patrol Office in Boulder County. He REALLY needed this and has absolutely LOVED it. The change has been great and has helped him to get excited about his work once again. He works with some amazing people and it is exactly where he needed to be. He was also recently called to be in the Elders Quorum Presidency at church, which is over the men's organization. It is a great opportunity for him to get to know more people and to gain even more spirituality.

As for me, I am still doing medical transcription and massage therapy out of my home. I love that I am able to be there whenever my kids need me and am so thankful to have not just one but two jobs that keep me at home! I am still in the Young Women's program at church working with the 16-18 year old girls. I love it and hope I get to stay in there for a while longer.

For vacation this year we made our last pilgrimage to Disneyland. While I love California I am not a huge fan of Disneyland because I get motion sick but Shawn really wanted to take the kids there one more time before they don't want to go with us anymore. Haha. We had a good time visiting lots of places we hadn't been before including the Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Blvd Walk of Stars, Hard Rock Café, Bubba Gump's and the Los Angeles Temple visitor's center. One of the highlights of our summer though was River Rafting down the Arkansas River in Salida, Colorado. We had a blast and hope to be able to go again next year!  We are still avid campers and try to go as often as we can as long as there is no snow on the ground.

So there you have it, you are now up to date with the Wycoff's. J  We think of all of you often and wish we could see you more, but we are thankful to know that you will always be a part of our lives. We wish you the best at this Christmas Season and upcoming New Year.

                                           

                                         With Much Love -- Shawn, Shelly, Roxann, Ashlie, Tyler and Baylie

Family Photos - September 2011

More fun photos from our camping/rafting trip

End of Summer Rafting Trip

What do you get when you add an awesome family, a great state park and a full day rafting trip? THE BEST DAY EVER!! Seriously, this was probably the most fun we have ever had collectively- no whining, no arguing, just fun, fun, fun!

A few years ago we went on a half-day rafting trip in Yellowstone and everyone had such a good time that we have wanted to go again. The problem is that it can be really expensive so back in March when I found a deal on living social for a full-day rafting trip down Brown's Canyon for the price of a half-day we just couldn't pass it up! The trip was through Kokapelli Rating Company located in Salida, Co.

We left Thursday afternoon and headed to Mueller State Park west of Colorado Springs. Of course just as we got there it started to pour rain. Why is it that every camping trip we have taken this year we have had to set up in rain?? But I digress...  Anyhoo, we got set up and decided rather than try to start a fire in the rain we just cooked our dinner inside the trailer- thank goodness for the comforts of the trailer!! :)  After it finally stopped raining we took a little walk around the campground- it was an amazingly beautiful place!! It is our new favorite state park, I just wish it wasn't so far away and that you didn't have to drive through Denver to get there. Friday morning we decided that we wanted to go on a hike (they have MANY great hiking spots with trailheads right inside the state park). Now anybody who heard my rant earlier this summer about the hike from h*** that Shawn took us on will wonder how in the world he got me to even go on a hike when I swore I never would go with him again. Well, he let ME pick the hike so I picked one that I felt comfortable with. :)  It was a really nice hike that led to a couple of ridges where you could take pictures of the beautiful view. The first ridge with a piece of cake. The second ridge ended up going down a really steep hill- which was ok until it was time to go back up the really steep hill. It was quite the hike but since I picked it I really couldn't complain. haha. After we returned to camp and had a little snack we decided to go into the town of Woodlawn park and see what they had to offer (we had seen a Sonic on the way through). It really wan't much of a touristy town but we did get our Sonic Happy Hour drinks and some donuts. We called it an early night that night since we had to get up early for our 1 1/2 hour drive to Salida.

It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful drive. Everyone was excited for the day ahead. When we got there the rafting office was a little bit not what we expected (tiny parking lot, run-down building) and Shawn and I just kind of looked at each other and thought "Oh no, what have we gotten us into?" But as we walked up to the office the guides came out and greeted us and everyone was very friendly so we felt better about it and figured it would be an adventure if nothing else. lol. They loaded us up in a van and took us to the put in spot up the river. Out guides name was Brennan and we later found out that he had only been in CO for a week!! Argh! LOL- he was a lot of fun though and a total adrenaline junky. He knew all kinds of fun facts about the scenery and he was a great guide. The first class IV rapid (zoom flume) that we hit had a camera mounted on a rock above so we got some fun pics from that. You can seen in one of them that Roxy about fell out of the raft, Tyler and I also about got dumped also but I kept myself in and grabbed his life vest to keep him in also. Ashlie and Baylie said our guide (and his girlfriend that came with us) had to grab them a couple of time along the way to keep them in also. :) 

This was us going through Zoom Flume-

Notice that we are all smiling and laughing!

After the zoom we had the toilet bowl and the widowmaker to go through. At the Toilet Bowl was where I really though we were toast! As I'm staring down into this swirling massive hole I just sure we were all going to end up in the river but with some slick maneuvering from our guide and some great navigation we made it though wet but unscathed! Whew! Even the guide told us he thought we were gonners! LOL After that I was not looking forward to the Widowmaker but it seemed pretty tame after the TB. Then it was time to stop for lunch. We totally thought they would just give us all sacks with PB&J but we were wrong! We found a great place to stop right next to the river and the guides (there was 1 other boat along with ours) started pulling out tables and coolers full of fresh pinapples, oranges, apples, cookies and all of the fixings for a yummy heathy sandwich. It was wonderful and so yummy!

After lunch we stopped at a rock outcropping so that everyone who wanted to could jump off into the river. Shawn and Tyler each did it a couple of times but the girls and I were perfectly happing watching and staying relative dry (haha).

I got Tyler just as he splashed into the river.

Then we still had two more class IV rapids to hit. We stopped before the first one called something like Siddel's Sucker or something like that and watched a few other rafts and kayakers go through it so we could plan our strategy. You know it's bad when the guides have to make a plan before they go through. haha. A couple of the Kayakers totally crashed going through and took out a few others along the way. Not really what you want to see when you are getting ready to go through... Here is a little video of the river we were about to traverse. It doesn't look like that big of a deal until you realize we were about 100 feet above it and the rocks are GINORMOUS and the waterfall drop was about 15 feet...

We finally got up the nerve and just trusted our guide to get us through alive. Of course he did a great job and we made it though without it feeling like it was that big of a deal. The next and last one we had was the Twin Falls- now this was my personal favorite. It was just exactly like it sounds, you go down one fall and then paddle directly towards/down a second fall. It was such a rush!! So much Fun!!! After that it's pretty much a scenic ride back to the rafting office. By this time we were all pretty tired and ready to get off the river but everyone had such a great time! We can't wait to go again!!

It was a beautiful night that night and after we all got showered and ate dinner we sat around a campfire for awhile. The ranger came by and told us a bear had been spotted trying to get in a tent at the other end of the campground and to make sure we put all out food in the hard side so it didn't come back. Kinda wish we could have seen it but not up too close. All in all a very adventursome, wonderful weekend for the Wycoff's! 

Red Tail Ridge

The Ridge

The view from our campground.

Ahem...

Ok, so there's no way around it- I AM A SLACKER!! No really good excuses I just haven't made time to keep up with this. I will TRY and do better. I know that the wise Yoda once said that there is no TRY only DO or DO NOT but again, I will TRY. :) 

I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone! Only a few more weeks and school will be starting, along with our first year of early morning Seminary. I am NOT ready for school to start. I enjoy having my kids all to myself to do what we want when we want to. There was a time that I was really happy when school started again but my kids have reached the ages where they are fun to be around (most of the time anyway) and I am quickly realizing that my time with them is getting shorter and shorter. It makes me sad if I think about it so I'm going to stop. :)

Since I have been so bad at this I had better start where school ended... All of the kids did OUTSTANDING this year in school, we were so proud of them!  Tyler seriously kicked butt getting A's and A+'s with only 1 B+. Shawn had told the kids that if they got ALL A's he would give them $100 and Tyler was SO CLOSE!! The girls also did well with Ashlie and Roxy both getting on the honor roll twice last year. Baylie doesn't get letter grades yet but she received a PRIDE award at school for being such a great student. It was a great way to end the school year for sure. Since they all did so well we did give them each a small reward as well as taking them to the MadCap theater to see some good, clean improv comedy. They all really enjoyed it and hopefully we can take them again soon. Shawn has encouraged them all to MAKE him pay them $100 this year so hopefully they will all keep up the EXCELLENT work! (and hopefully he'll get enough overtime to pay up). :) lol

We also vacationed in So Cal which I will (hopefully) blog about later with photos. We are looking forward to our last big hoorah trip this weekend. We will be heading down past the Springs and doing some whitewater rafting!! We love this stuff and are really excited about it. I was able to get some great deals through living social and we will be doing a FULL day rafting trip. :)  WOOHOO!

The big FOUR-OH (40)

In February was my big 4.0. I can hardly believe it! I certainly don't feel 40- whatever that feels like. And for the first time in YEARS I actually enjoyed my birthday. In fact the whole month of February was simply wonderful! It may have to do with the fact that in January I had surgery and spent most of the month recovering so in February I felt MUCH better, or it could be because I have had a change in attitude, or it could be because I have such an amazing husband and kids and such wonderful friends- it probably has something to do with all of those things, I guess what really matters is that life is good! :) 

We started off my birthday celebration on the Thursday before my birthday when Shawn threw me a surprise party. If you know him at all you know that it was a MIRACLE that he pulled it off without me knowing anything about it! He does not do well keeping secrets- but he kept this one! At the beginning of the week he told me not to schedule anything for Thursday night because he wanted us to just veg that night with nothing to do. That's not too unusual of a request so I didn't think much of it. Then on Thurs morning he told me we needed to be done eating by 5:00 so we could go get some cookies to take to my friend Stefanie for the upcoming Stake Valentine Dance. I thought it was funny that he was being so rigid about the time frame that things needed to be done in. He told me SEVERAL times during the day to keep me on schedule. Usually this is my job, keeping everyone and everything on schedule so it was kind of weird that he was the one being the nazi instead of me (lol). BUT, I followed his orders ;) and we were done eating and out the door to run by the store to get some cookies to drop off to Stef. When we got there he wanted me to take them to the door, I told him that he should take them to the door since she called him and asked for the cookies- he made me go anyway. When I got to the door he jumped out of the car and said "Fine, I'll come with you". I thought "He is acting so WEIRD tonight!" Just then Stef answered the door and told me to come in and see everything she had gotten for the dance- when I walked in I got a great big SURPRISE! There was a cake, balloons and several of my friends. I had NO IDEA!! Now, I'm not really one for surprise parties but I REALLY enjoyed this one! It was just so sweet of my friends and my wonderful husband to do this for me! Shawn also made me a video of our life together and we all watched that. Some of the pics he put in there were hilarious. I really must work on not pulling so many faces when the camera is around. LOL That was the beginning of my wonderful birthday week and I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband and great friends!

The next night we went to the local dinner theater with our friends the Steins. In December I had scored some cheap tickets on Groupon to see the show "Bye, Bye Birdie" and we really had an enjoyable time. If you have never been to the Candlelight Dinner Theater it was well worth it!

Then on Saturday (my actual birthday) Tyler made me breakfast- what a great way to start the day. That night we attended the annual Stake Valentine Dance. We didn't stay very long because the music was pretty lame this year. It was somewhat of a disappointment but just the fact that Shawn went with me because that's what I wanted to do was very nice. We had a good time together even if all we got was one slow dance. Probably the highlight of this day were the chocolate covered strawberries my celestial sis Marni sent me- they, like her, were the BEST! :)

The following weekend my love took me away to Westminster. It wasn't very far away from home but it was just so nice to get away! The hotel we stayed in was a suite and the first night we were there the compressor was going out on the fridge and it was so LOUD! Every time it clicked on it was like an alarm clock going off! The following morning they moved us across the hall where it was much quieter- needless to say we got better sleep the second night than we did the first! :)  During our weekend away we went to the MadCap comedy club and laughed our guts out. It was so much fun and very clean. It's something the whole family could go to and you wouldn't have to worry about the content. It's kind of pricey but for a fun weekend away it was worth it. We also went and saw a couple of movies (Just go with it- SO FUNNY! and I am number 4) and just walked around the mall, stuff we don't usually get to do. We got to eat at a couple of places we have been wanting to try (Saltgrass Steak House- YUMMY! and Five guys burgers and fries- also yummy!) It was a very nice relaxing weekend to top off my celebration week!

So let's just say that 40 IS FABULOUS!! :)  And I sincerely hope that the rest of my 40's can be as good as the beginning was!

(They had this picture board at the movie theater and so we couldn't resist another dorky picture of Shelly)

Thank you

Today as I am so thankful to have my wonderful husband home with me to celebrate Valentine's day I realize that not everyone has this wonderful gift. My dear friend posted on her blog about what her life is like as a military wife and it really made me think how much more I need to appreciate the sacrifices that are made by our military and also their families for the freedom that I so enjoy. So thank you Buffy for the reminder and thank you for your sacrifice!! (Click on the link above to read her story and be grateful you are with your sweetheart this day)

Thought of the day

I saw this on another blog today and it really felt like a message for me, especially because of some personal things I have been dealing with lately:

Those who's opinions really matter are the people who love you despite your struggles or success.

Amen.

FHE

Tonight for Family Home Evening Baylie was in charge. For the opening song Baylie made Shawn and John (his BFF) sing Book of Mormon stories and do the actions. They were good sports and did it (even though neither one of them are singers) while the rest of us laughed our heads off. I really wanted to video tape it but they strongly disagreed so out of love and respect I didn't but I promise you it was HILARIOUS! If you don't believe me just as Cathy- we really enjoyed their version of gangsta B of M Stories!! lol

Baylie's olden days

Last night we were watching "Better Off Dead", a classic 80's movie that cracks me up every time. Anway, at one point in the movie Baylie turns to me and says "I'm glad I didn't live in the olden days". OMG- I started laughing as hard as I could without causing pain since the hysterectomy. I said- "Those weren't the olden days!"  But then to her they obviously are. LOL  Seriously, THE OLDEN DAYS!!  Never would I have thought as the 80's as the olden days but yep, I'm almost 40 so I guess they were...