Visit from Brinkmans

We had a wonderful 10 days with my parents! They came to visit the 10th-20th and we had a blast! Didn't want to let them go home. :(

We hung out, played games and watched the Olympics in our cozy living room. It was nice to relax a bit.

My dad and I went to yoga twice a week and Mom tried it out a couple of times, too.

My dad and I also went skiing I think the only day it was sunny outside. It was really fun!


Throughout the ten days we walked around downtown, did a little window shopping, and enjoyed the sites. We stopped in a shop that had HUGE mountain dogs. I snapped a photo of the kids sitting with two of them. There were "4" total sprawled out in a very small space.









To the left is a picture of my mom with OUR dogs...certainly dwarfed by the huge dogs to the right. Our dogs think they're "lap dogs", as you can tell by the photo. But, my mom enjoyed snuggling with them. They're just too sweet to resist. '-)


We celebrated my parents anniversary on the 13th at Bistro Toujours (a pre-Valentines' Day for Tim and I).

The restaurant was quite a ways away from our house and the snow conditions were worsening as we headed into the mountains toward Deer Valley. The snow was amazing! We made it safely and had a spectacular dinner.






We also had the pleasure of celebrating my dad's birthday on the 19th at our house. Tim made ribs, which was quite the treat for everyone but Emily and I (we don't eat ribs).

Quite the festivities!






Our last "hoorah" was a farewell at the "No Name Saloon" (my dad's favorite place). We enjoyed some drinks and appetizers (and a little snow) before taking my parents to the airport for a tearful departure back to Arizona.

My book is on Amazon!

Hello Friends and Family!

I'm excited to report that my new book "I'd Rather Scrub Toilets than Cook!" is on Amazon.com now!!! Feel free to go to Amazon and order your copy and/or pass this along to someone else. You can also write a review on the Amazon page.

This book is a simple cooking guide to help people get in and out of the kitchen quickly, while still creating delicious, healthy meals. I had a great time putting it together! You can learn more about it on my website.

Also, if your on FACEBOOK, please be sure to become a fan (even if you haven't read the book). It will really help me in promoting it!

Thank you so much for your support!!! :)

Love,
Gina

Kids and Friends!



Luckily, both Emily and Turner are pretty social. They both made friends right away at school; but it’s taken it little longer to develop “activities” for them to do with their friends after school and on weekends. Em was quicker to do this and spent the past two Fridays downtown with a group of kids trying to spot celebrities at Sundance (to no avail). Turner, however, has taken a little longer to get integrated. Fortunately, there is a neighbor boy his age that he finally was able to connect with for some weekend fun! The boy’s sister is Emily’s age and they have been friends since school started; so it’s nice to have a family in our neighborhood that has kids the same age as ours.



Today was the first day all four (Emily, Turner and their friends Maddie and Zach) went skiing together. They had chaperones (Tim and the other dad, Brian). It’s really nice to see them getting out and doing some things!



Emily is taking a babysitting class tonight (Friday) and tomorrow. Turner is checking out a Boy Scout troop next week. So, they should have even more connections to keep them busy. I’m looking forward to it! They both love having social connections, and I’m glad to finally see them getting connected here.



Tim and I are off to the Wilson’s tonight for some birthday fun. We are definitely not lacking in social activity, which is good. We’ve been keeping busy with work and finding time to relax in the evenings…a nice change from 2009.



Next week we’ll be visited by my parents. I’m so excited!!! They’ll be here for about a week and a half. The kids have winter break for a week during their visit; so we should have lots to report in a couple of weeks!



Stay tuned!



Love,
Gina