Ice Skating

Last night we went ice skating with Lindsey, Brett, Annie, and Josh. We met Annie and Josh at the Gateway and had a bite to eat at SkyBox then we road Trax over to the Gallivan Center where we met up with Linz and Brett. Although it was a freezing 10 degrees, we had tons of fun. We all had some pretty sweet moves!! There was also moment when I truly thought I had gotten frostbite on my toes, but I guess I was overreacting, imagine that. :)

Christmas Times

We have had a fun filled Christmas/Winter break this year as always. We feel so blessed to live close to family and spend lots of our time with them over the holidays.
I know my mom took tons of pictures, but I guess my few will have to do.

Halloween Madness

Spencer and I decided to have a "little" Halloween get together a few weeks ago, but my plans just keep getting bigger and bigger. I kept wondering to myself...what do people do at Halloween parties besides sit in their costumes and talk? So I decided to come up with some festivities to occupy people's time: we decorated carmel apples, made spider cupcakes, and played pin the heart of the skeleton. Haha. Oh and ate a lot of good foot provided by everyone. Spencer also made some pretty impressive homemade root beer.

We ended up having an awesome turn out. I think we counted about 30 people. That is definitely the max amount of people we have ever had in our house at one time. It was so fun though and everyone's costumes were awesome. It was a party, that's for sure.
I'm not sure how pumped Spencer was to wear a 'dress' for Halloween, but when he came home from school on Thursday night and I had sewed him a Fred Flintstone outfit he couldn't really burst my bubble, so he wore it with a smile. :)

Heaven on Earth

We got an early Christmas present this year from my mom and dad and were able to go to Lake Powell for a long weekend as a WHOLE family. It was so fun to have everyone there now that Dan is back. I think Lake Powell is one of the best places on earth, but sadly I never seem to be able to get enough of it.

We stayed at the super comfy and convenient Wahweap Resort. We boated, jet skied, cliff dove, swam, and did all of my favorite things in this world!! We found some really nice beaches and were able to relax and have an awesome time together. Oh and I can't forget to mention the hot tub at the resort- that was the way we ended each day. The trip ended too soon and we were welcomed home by the snow, but hey... I'm not complaining. Thanks Mom and Dad for planning another successful family trip!!

I am still waiting to get the 100's of pictures my mom and Emily took, but for now my poor photography efforts will have to do.

Four Years

That's right, on the 21st we celebrated four years since the day we got married! It's crazy to think that we've known each other for less that one fifth of our lives, but having said that, I can't imagine another day of my life without Spencer. (mushy I know, but it's true).

This year was my year to plan our anniversary and from the beginning I have always said that when it was my year to plan it we would go on a TRIP, but that didn't quite happen because we got a better offer... Lake Powell with my whole family for a week!!

So instead of planning another big trip along with Lake Powell, I decided to do a mini trip to The Homestead. It was a blast. The leaves were beautiful and it was a perfect, relaxing, quiet getaway. We were able to do lots of stuff including swimming and snorkeling in the 96 degree water at the crater and golfing, of course!

The Missing Link

He's back!

Yup... Dan is finally home from his mission in Denmark! He served an awesome 2 years there and we're so glad to have him back. I can tell he was a great missionary and really put everything he had into the Lord's work. He is a great example to all of us. Love ya Dan!

Missionary Madness

Last Wednesday we all gathered at my mom's house for David to open his mission call when out of the blue Brian says, "Hey Dave- someone's on the phone for you."

Dave: "Who is it?"

Brian: "I don't know..."

David takes the call and it's DAN!! He got permission from his mission president to call home to be part of Dave opening his mission call. It was so fun to have him on the phone to support Dave during this time. Brian and Dan set the whole thing up secretively :)

So- Dave peeked inside the envelope without reading it or anything and then sat there hyperventilating- not being able to get the words out of his mouth. Of course my mom was about to have a heart attack- she was just as nervous as Dave was. Finally his said:

Moscow, RUSSIA... how awesome is that!

We are so excited for Dave- he leaves February 12th, so luckily we still has some time with him.

That now makes four Bitner missionaries speaking: Hungarian, Polish, Danish, and now Russian... ha ha. Quite the group.

And to top it all off... My parents and Dave fly out to Denmark to pick up Dan on Tuesday. I can't wait to see Dan again. We have all missed him so much. He has been an awesome missionary and we are so proud of him.

I AM SO PROUD OF MY TWO LITTLE BROTHERS!

Summer... It's Over

I know, I know, I haven't blogged for almost the entire summer! (my favorite time of year) But there's really no excuse, so here is a recap of all the fun things we did this summer. Sorry it's kinda long.

June
June was when I decided to go back to teaching and leave all my good friends at Gibbs Smith- where my job was stress free. Since then, school has started and I am asking myself WHY?!... I'll let you know when I find my answer.

Here I am working really hard...

And here we are making and eating pancakes in our office. Tough life, I know. (I miss you MEGAN!)

July

Spencer's sister, Katie came out with her family to visit from NY for almost the entire summer, so I got to spend some fun time with her girls. We went to the pool and I helped them each sew their own pillow cases. It was really fun having them around.

Eliza

Hannah and Rachel

Then we headed up to Bear Lake over the 24th for the long awaited Bitner Family Reunion. It was a blast and just like every other year it went by way too quickly. We boated tons, swam, played tennis, four-wheeled, and golfed. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for another great year up there.

87 years old and still boating!!

August

Spencer and I had the chance to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and it was beautiful. I am so glad we were able to make it.

Kim was also in town for about a week in August so we did tons of stuff together including Cherry Hill!! We also had a fondue party at my house with a few close friends from high school. I don't see any of them nearly enough. It was so fun to see everyone. I miss ya Kim!

Then the Bitner family took another annual trip up to Island Park. We floated the river, went up into Yellowstone to the Fire Hole, four-wheeled, made sweet tye-dyed shirts, hung out as a family (and missed Dan as usual), fished, golfed, worked out our abs :), took walks, and just enjoyed the outdoors. Thanks Mom and Dad!

That is one giant ant hill!

I started setting up my classroom a few weeks into August and it was a bit stressful, but that's ok. The school I am at is celebrating its 140th year this year, so it's not new to say the least, but I did the best I could with what I was given. I also had tons of help from so many people: Spencer, Mom, Dad, Lucas, and Grandma & Grandpa Egan. Thanks everyone! School started August 24th (Dan's b-day) and now I am two weeks into it. I have 30 kids in my class and most of them are great, but I'm working on whipping a few of them into shape. :)

These are the before pictures...obviously.

After pictures still to come.

The weekend before school started we decided to have one last big hurrah. So we went up to Henefer and camped out on the Divide. (in the back of our car) Mandi, Ryan, Aubree, and Karter took a house trailer up and the four-wheelers. It was really fun though and our car was suprisingly really comfy.