Christmas 2008

As always, it was a really wonderful Christmas. I enjoy being with both my husbands family and my own family so much, which is fortunate. Sunday after church we headed to Idaho Falls. The roads were actually great which is rare this time of year. We got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa and also Jon's 4 brothers and 1 sister and all of their families. My kids have cousins their ages so it's non-stop fun with a bit of tiredness/crankiness, but not too bad. We got to eat great food and play lots of games. We traveled home on Christmas Eve so we didn't have to haul all of our stuff up there and could be with my family for the holidays also.

This morning we got up at 6:30 (not too bad) and drove over to my parents house 1/2 block away. The kids all spent the night over at grandmas so they were anxiously waiting for us to get there. We also ate more great food and played more fun games. My 92-year-old Grandma Dewey came from St. George plus Grandma Barbara and my mom were all there so if you said grandma you had to specify which one.


I'll journal about all these pictures but it won't be in order because I can't figure out how to do that with my blog--sorry! Maddie matches her American Girl Doll pjs and Joshua (cousin) is holding her other doll dressed as a soccer player, she even has cute little shin guards and a tiny soccer ball!
Our Christmas Family picture that wasn't really planned but at least they all look happy.

Libby (our outside dog) laying on the Love sac while the kids all pet her, it's just too cold out there!!
Seth with one of his favorite books. I always read it to him in the Dr.s office but couldn't find it. Yay!
Tanner and Devin in their Slumber Sacs, one of Tanner's best presents (his words).
Max playing a Wii game, he wasn't posing for a picture he really was smiling like that as he played.
Tanner and neighbor Austin at his Band concert, it was great!
Our neighbor made belt racks for Maddie, Max, and Seth to hold all their karate belts. It's great because now they're off the floor and the kids were really excited about it.
This morning the deer came to eat out of the bird feeders. It snowed all day!!

The Festival of Trees

Maddie and I went to the Festival of Trees on Saturday. We took 14 girls from our church between the ages of 8-11. All the trees are donated and sold and all the proceeds go to the Children's Hospital. The trees are so amazing!

We took some time to look at the gingerbread houses that are also donated.

This was most of the girls favorite tree. It had 15 American Girl dolls on and around it, so cute!

This tree is made out of blown glass and sold for thousands of dollars. It was so beautiful!

This is an origami tree. Maddie loves origami so we had to take a picture of it.

The BYU tree, Go cougars!

I think this is the Jazz tree. I took a picture of it for my mom and Grandma.

Maddie and Marissa played soccer together so I took their picture by the soccer tree!

That was the last day of the Festival of Trees. Next year I'm going to take my whole family because I think the boys would really like it too.

Karate Kids

I didn't think we'd ever be a "karate family" but that's what we're turning into. I like everything about karate except it's a bit pricey. Max started karate first because he kept begging and I finally relented. After we went to his first belt test Maddie said, "I want to be in karate." She's already tried gymnastics and dance which she just didn't get into. I tried a little harder to talk her into gymnastics because that was my great love growing up but she didn't like it. She is amazing in karate also. Now, Seth started in October. He likes it when he's there, but he does complain to me when he has to stop playing to go to karate so I may take him out and let him try again later if he's interested. Tanner thinks it's cool to watch but doesn't want to be in it. It is a lot of time so it's probably good he's not interested. Right now, Max is a purple belt, Maddie is an orange belt, and Seth is a gold belt which I sometimes call "yellow" and am quickly corrected.

Brace Face (said endearingly)

Last month Maddie was so excited to get braces. She only has six right now. When I first glanced at her with her big braces smile she looked older. My eyes teared up a little. She looks so cute and hasn't minded them at all. I know it's always fun to get them on but then they get old pretty fast and you can't wait until the day comes when you get them off!






I had to take a picture of both Tanner and Maddie together because they only overlap having braces together by one month. My cute little brace faces!

Yesterday Tanner got his braces off. He was so excited. I remember it being one of the happiest days of my life! Of course I had my braces on for 8 years (major teeth problems). He turns 13 in two months. He looks like a teenager.

San Antonio, Yee haw!

So, Jon had to go to San Antonio for an English teacher conference and my mother-in-law offered to drive down and be with the kids for three days if I wanted to go with him. I don't think I really had to think about it too long. At the airport we realized we hadn't flown together by ourselves since our honeymoon, it was pretty fun to not have kids to hassle with. We got there, ate lunch/dinner since it was about 3:30 and then walked around the city and relaxed in the motel room. The next day, Jon went to his conference and I scrapbooked, watched Season 1 of Heroes, which I love now, and read my book. Quite the life. Jon and I would meet for meals. It was so enjoyable and I thank my in-laws for doing ALL my motherly duties so I could play and be lazy. The kids never called so I finally gave in and called them. They all did great. There was one "mishap" on Saturday that involved throwing rocks at each other which I couldn't believe (I could believe it but wished it didn't happen), but other than that, great.

Jon and I walked to The Alamo which was about 10 minutes away. It was smaller than I thought and in the middle of a busy city which I didn't picture, but it was cool. We also spent most of the time walking the "River Walk" which was beautiful. The city has all these shops and restaurants right on the river. They had boat tours on the river too that we decided to do on the last day since we had some time before the shuttle came to get us for the airport. It was a great trip and fun to be with Jon.

Halloween

Since Seth doesn't have kinder-
garten until 11:23, he has a lot of time on his hands in the morning. Here he is watching Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D. Please disregard the unmade bed in the background. I have to say he has a pretty good life. He gets a lot of alone time with me although he doesn't see how lucky he is. He'll usually ask everyday, "How many more hours until the kids get home?"







Here's a picture of Seth at his Halloween party. I'm not sure why he's raising his hand while playing a game of Bingo but I think he thinks he's still in school so he needs to raise his hand. He's so cute and so serious about school.

For Halloween this year both Seth and Max decided to be Karate kids. That's easy since they go to karate already. They put their gi on and were ready to go. I almost felt guilty it was so easy.








Tanner's costume on the other hand took some prep time. He decide to be Edward Scissor-hands (sp?) He bought the belts and clothes at a second-hand store and made some fingernail type things for his hands. He got the idea from watching the Disney movie Flight 29 Down, because Edward Scissor-hands was way before his time. He's lookin good. He also had to wear his costume for his Halloween band concert. It was a fun concert and the beginning band is sounding good.






Maddie decided to be Nancy Drew. That's a little tricky since she's just a girl. We tried to find clothes that matched really well, flipped her hair up, and gave her a magnifying glass. Viola!
I helped in Maddie's class for her party. Here they're playing "Fear Factor," they had to roll numbers which corresponded to a food that they blended up and drank. It was a hit with the 5th graders. Tasty!

B.Y.U. game in Provo, Utah

Last year we figured the kids were old enough to sit through a whole B.Y.U. game. It turned out to be a good experience over all so we decided to do it again this year. The weather was so perfect, which you never know this time of year. It was a very close game and we beat U.N.L.V. so it was exciting to be there. Go Cougars!!!


By the 3rd quarter Max and Seth lost interest. Luckily Jon's phone had fun games to play. They each got to pick out a snack. Seth chose cotton candy and Max chose ice cream...it's all about the food.
Maddie chose cotton candy but then decided to buy a "cougar tail" (long john donut) with her own money. She didn't even feel sick afterward.

Tanner enjoying his cookie dough ice cream. Tanner also fulfilled a homework assignment by watching the percussion playing in the band during half time, yes!


The very full stadium. You can kind of see the "Y" on the mountain.

Trip to Hogle Zoo

This year for fall break we got Thurs-Monday off of school. It was nice just being home. We had a little bit of boredom and fighting, but not much. The last day we decided to go to the zoo with our neighbors the Westwoods. I don't think Max and Seth remembered Hogle Zoo because it's been a while. It was a nice day and not too crowded, I'm glad we did it.




Each time I took a picture of Tanner he would make a face. This is the least funny face I could find of him in front of the bear. Max and Seth loved this gorilla statue. They climbed and swung all over him...my little monkeys.


What do you know, Tanner is the same body shape as a gorilla! They put in a new carousel last summer. Maddie had a lot of fun riding an elephant.




At the end of the day we went and played on the play ground. There were some pelicans near by so we fed them some stale crackers. It was amazing how big they opened their mouths!



I had to get the kids to pose in front of my FAVORITE animal, the giraffe.

All about Fieldtrips

I got to go on two fieldtrips within a week, it was fun and oh so energetic! The first was with Maddie. All of the 5th graders get to go to spend two days in Clear Creek which is two hours up in the mountains. The colors are so beautiful right now and there were deer everywhere. It was nice to have lots of time talking with Maddie. We rotated in stations with our 14 girls that included a rope course, a rope swing, making a lizard out of beads and a treasure hunt using a compass. That night we did skits, watched a movie and gazed at the stars. You would think after that the girls would be tired, but nope! We fianlly went to sleep around midnight. Other than that it was great!!

Seth and 80 other kindergarteners went to Hee Haw's Farm. We went on a wagon ride, saw some farm animals, and picked out a pumpkin. Seth is still happy to sit in my lap and hold my hand, I know that won't last much longer. He sometimes doesn't want to go but once he's there, he loves kindergarten.

All about our family

I am married to Jon, who must love education because he's in like 24th grade. He's actually working on his doctorate right now and said he may be done in the next year or two, YAY! His goal was to be done by the time Tanner was a teenager, thinking I might really need help then, but he's not going to quite make it. He's usually gone just two nights a week for that and then works all day teaching, so it's not too bad. I do feel sorry for myself sometimes, usually in the evenings when everyone is cranky. This year he got hired at B.Y.U. so it's already kind of paying off. He loves it there. He is a great husband and a very loving father--although, sometimes he has to get those kids in line. Tanner is 12, Maddie is 10, Maxwell is 8, and Seth is 5. They are so cute and so funny. I enjoy almost every minute with them. I love to scrapbook, read when I have time and am not too tired, watch movies, and be with my family. I look forward to weekends, so we can take a big breath and relax and enjoy each other. We have two dogs, a dalmatian and a mut. We did have two cute kittens, but I was too allergic and could barely breathe around them. It broke the kids hearts to take them back, so we got the dalmatian. The other dog found us and after trying to find its owner, is still with us. The two dogs play hard and they're both pretty hyper, so it's a good thing they have each other.