My 22nd Birthday

Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday, but it was too jammed packed that I decided to have my family celebration on Sunday when things were less crazy. On my birthday, Saturday, I had to take a defensive driving class in the morning - had to take work off to go, registration started at 7:15 a.m. and class went till a little before 1 p.m. so not too bad. Afterwards Mom and I went shopping and I got some great work clothes, and a nice spring skirt to wear for church- not the one I am wearing in the pictures although that one is kind of new too. Twilight came out on DVD for my birthday so I got that to watch, Mom and I made caramel popcorn to eat with the movie. I went to my boyfriend Jeff's apartment and made him watch Twilight with me and I beat him in a game of boggle - with a new boggle set that he got me for my birthday!

On Sunday I went to my singles ward at 10:30, had a great time, and came home to find that Dad had fixed my light fixture! It has been broken for a couple of months now, but official died 3 days ago and it has been horrible having no ceiling light or fan. However, Dad fixed it by taking one of the controls in his and Mom's room so now one of their ceiling lights/fan does not work. Mom made an amazing birthday dinner for me, steak, fresh fruit, and for dessert a marscapone cheesecake I picked out. Everything was delicious!



Dad was the one who took charge of my birthday presents this year, because of my new hobby snowboarding he got me my own board which was so cute, a pretty cream on one side and a beautiful lavender on the other. He also bought me a Spyder snow jacket, and snowboarding pants which fit perfectly and was really warm. He even got me my boot harness for my board, the only thing left is boots, but that would have been too tricky to get because of size variations. It was amazing!




The board is a great length, Dad had to base all the lengths from boards we had rented in the past, I never got the same size so it was a challenge but I think my board is perfect.


Behr and Brenlie were excited by all the boxes and commotion. They wanted in on the action and so Behr had to come investigate my board and make sure that everything was okay before he could lie back down again.


I know I look kind of silly now, but the boots will make a huge difference, mostly we were just trying to see where the harnesses were going to be placed. I still have not figured out if I ride the board normal or goofy, I am terribly inconsistent in that regard and it is really frustrating. I am determined in two weeks to make stick with one direction, I cannot wait for Park City now!

Grandpa Banks Birthday

For Dad's Birthday this year we went to his choice of restaurant, On the Border, which even Brian found something he could mostly eat. Mom and Dad had to work so we went Thursday night after work and once Dad had called Grandma Banks.



Mom and I spent most of the morning in the mall trying to find snowboard brands in shirts that we thought dad would maybe like. Mom settled on a blue quiksilver shirt, and I got him a brown hurley shirt, we wanted a burton shirt but we couldn't find any.



This year I think our gifts were a little more exciting than last years. The previous year we got him supplies for his camper: plastic spoons, bowls, cups, napkins, hot chocolate. Basically silly stuff that we knew he took from the house to go hiking with, this way he has his own and won't take ours. The shirts this year I think are more exciting - I would personally prefer to have something to wear over something to eat anyday.

Brian's Ordination

Grandpa and Grandma Sumner had come down from Utah to be here for Brian's ordination in the Priest Quorum. Brian had specifically asked Grandpa to perform the ordination himself and it was very special and perfect. This picture is of Me, Mom, and Brian waiting for Grandpa to change back into his nice church clothes.



This picture we got everyone to pose but the coordination took too long and Grandpa's glasses darkened already so they look kind of goofy. Brian was supposed to have a hair cut the Friday before the ordination but it had to be postponed so his hair couldn't be helped.



We decided to move the picture posing indoors so that we could see Grandpa's eyes without a darkened tint from the sun. At this point I opted out of the scene to go change out of my church clothes and into my lounge/comfortable clothes.



The cake was Mom's idea, she thought it was the best way to meet everyone's taste, I think I was the only person who didn't eat it. However I heard it was good, there was only one piece left which we took home to my Dad. It was a great day, the following week Brian was able to bless the sacrament (which he did an awesome job) and give a talk on honoring the priesthood (which he also rocked).

Brian's Sixteenth Birthday

Brian's Birthday was December 30th which in 2008 was on a Tuesday. We went to Landmark with the family that evening, which has always been a tradition for us. However, this year we realized that the experience is not as awesome as it used to be, and Brian has the challenge to find a new venue for his Birthday dinner for 2009. This picture was taken by Mother of us eating in the restaurant perhaps for the last time.



Brian is on of the few people in our family who likes cakes so Mother makes sure to get him a buttercream white cake. This year Brian even got to help light the candles, however the picture of him blowing them out is too blurring so I opted not to post it.



I don't know if you can tell but his presents consist entirely of Bionocle sets. Whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys" I could not tell you, but Brian seemed pleased.



These pictures I decided to add for fun, these are Brian and I playing Guitar Hero World Tour together. Brian plays "expert" level on the base and I play "easy" level on guitar. Mother thought the moment was too special not to get on picture and so here you are: Brian and I playing together without needing a mediator.



Brian has been playing this game with his friend for the past 2 years and has achieved some levels of skill that I do not have, yet. He is often patient with me but sometimes struggles when I complain that my part is too hard. However, I only just started playing after Christmas when he got it, we play for about an hour on Sundays and that is it. We have to sit on opposite ends of the couch but at least we can play the same game together.

Christmas Day!

So Christmas Day at the Banks house starts around 7 a.m. when Brian and the dogs wake everyone else up. I admittedly am the last person to get up and ready for Christmas, Brian hates that I insist on brushing my hair, putting contacts and make-up on. I personally wish Brian would be less worried about going downstairs to the Christmas tree area, and more interested in looking pretty for the pictures.



Brian's Christmas was pretty exciting, he got an awesome television from Santa Claus and Guitar Hero World Tour, tons of Bionacles, and Wii games. I didn't find his presents as interesting as he did, but I imagine he felt the same about mine.



The dogs were really good sports in the beginning but once we started unwrapping presents that got pretty rambunctious. Dad decided it was time to get their stocking down and let them pick out their own treat. They were good dogs.



My Christmas was very fun, I got two of my cross-stitches custom framed which turned out beautifully. I was even there picking out the matte colors, frames, and even the detailed matte cut and I was still so surprised how amazing they looked. From Santa Claus I got a GPS that I absolutely love, Dad had shown me how his worked the other day and even then I thought I should get myself a GPS. The one he got is great, the picture is great, the sound is audible, I should never get lost again!



Our Christmas was amazing if you cannot tell, we had a fun day together figuring out the GPS Mom and I got, and setting up Brian's Guitar Hero. It was a perfect day!

Snowboarding Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve Dad gave Brian and I the opportunity to go Snowboarding with him up in Sunrise, Arizona. We had to rent the boards, boots, and snow-gear for it the night before so we could just leave without worrying about getting to the shops early. It was a little less than 4 hours to get there so we left about 5:30 a.m. and got there a little after 9 a.m.



The whole area was not busy, we were able to walk right into the building and register for morning and afternoon lessons for Brian and I. It was nice it was so slow because our group lessons became private lessons, Dallas our instructor, worked it out so that he was our instructor not only for the morning session but also the afternoon too. I needed more one-on-one assistance than Brian did, but he had already gone once with Dad and had a lesson then. Dallas was great, in the picture he is strapping my boot into the board because I had no idea how to.



The whole morning session we stayed on the "bunny hill" learning balance on the board and different turn styles. I learned that it doesn't matter which way I want to go I will inevitably fall down anyway. It was amazing though, the weather was perfect, the snow was soft and beautiful, and even falling down didn't hurt that much. By the afternoon session Dallas took us down the "mid-way hill" which is the next level after the "bunny hill" which I loved. But I had a lot of fun down Mid-Way, probably the most fun I had was going down Mid-Way because I could tell how much I had improved since that morning. I could go sets without falling down, Brian unfortunately had a bad fall on this hill and hurt his wrist.



We had to leave by 3:30 p.m. to make it home for the family Christmas Eve dinner, but it was so much fun. I cannot wait to go again, it was a great experience. Hopefully next time I will not be so sore though, waking up Christmas morning was painful, everything hurt!

More Payson Pictures

Here are some more pictures from our family trip to Payson.

First is Dad and his infamous Tote-Gote, he has made some changes to it in the last couple of years, resewed the seat, added a new motor engine to it and also finished it with a glossy red paint. Dad admitted that it is well over 30 years old, he has spent a lot of time getting it ready for this trip. Mostly I was suprised how well he has fixed it up, he can pick up some really good speed on it.



At this point Dad just wanted to take it for a quick spin before we had to head back home, he even tried to get Brian and I to drive on it, you can guess how we responded.



While Dad was driving around in the snow, wearing shorts if you cannot tell, Brenlie and I look on from the comfort of the camper.



Brenlie and Behr were so funny the whole trip, for as much as they loved the snow, and played in it they would always head back to the camper and sit there until someone got their interest. During one of our rides Brenlie refused to budge from the front seat of the 4-Wheeler and so Dad had to stand in the back because Brenlie could not be moved. I wish we had a picture of that to show.



One really cool thing about this trip was that it was my first experience with falling snow. I have been in snow before, but I have never actually seen it fall and it was so pretty and amazing. Mom thought I was dumb, but I was just so awestruck by how pretty it looked, I wish we could have stayed longer. We however were not expecting snow and were not dressed accordingly, and so we were all were pretty cold at this point.