All my Nativities

One of my good friends, Debbie, said she doesn't have a Nativity because she's too picky. Well I'm living proof that I am not too picky. Actually I collect Nativities, 12 in all so far. And I'm always on the look out for another.

This one's my favorite, it's from Egypt and it's one of a kind.

A little ornament, that's too heavy for the tree, that Jared got me last year.

This one's for the kids. $15 ladies, add this one to your home. London's 8 and he still plays with it.

This was my first, Hallmark.

Also from Egypt, some type of ceramic. Not the prettiest but unique all the same.

I love the Rainbow affect in the wood.

These figures are only about 3 inches tall.

My bestest music box, plays "Silent Night" of course.

Katy, my sister-in-law, got this for us from Hawaii.

I made this at a Super Saturday when I was 17.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I love my Jared. He was such a good sport to put up Christmas Lights. He even climbed a 20 ft ladder to get the "icicles" up on the roof. And had to figure out my mess up with the Snowflakes, cause I did the plug part backwards.

Yes I did help decorate the tree, but since Jared seems to not know how to use the camera I am not in the shot. The kids love doing the tree. No matter the time of year we buy an ornament where ever we go, I love to see where we've been.

This is Phoenix's favorite ornament. He plays with it all day. I'm always finding it in odd places in the house: the stairs, book case, on his pillow...etc.

Health Kick

Being raised in a family where eating was life I luckily never had to deal with my weight, ever. I was a naturally fit person who ran and played all day. Now....you'd think with 4 kids I continue to run all day, but that is not the case. I do run, but it's to the grocery store, piano lessons, and gymnastics (for my kids that is). Take all that "running" and add Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs and Buckets of Jello....let's just say my fitness level is not where it used to be.

So I am making my New Years Resolution a bit early this year. Being the Holidays, this is not the best idea, too much good food out there. So I will have that pie, I will drink that Hot Chocolate but I'll have 1 slice not 5, 1 glass not 3. It all comes down to moderation. Throw in a bit of exercise and as soon as January 1, 2009 hits I hope to have a head start on the weight loss. :) And a healthy routine already in place.

I want that ME back. The active, eats whatever she wants, ME. That's the goal.

Belly Button Surgery

When Sicily was first born I noticed how cute her belly button was, kind of like a little question mark. But as she's grown and gotten more mobile we've noticed a change. Her belly button had a bit of a bubble on top. Nothing drastic, but obviously something was there. I mentioned it to the Pediatrician who sent me to a Pediatric Surgeon. I only talked to the man for about 3 mins and he said, "Yep, that's a hernia." So day after Christmas, Dec 26th, Sicily is having surgery on her belly button. It's a quick procedure I guess. The Dr said it's usually harder on the Mom than the babe, I'm already sure of that. So keep our little Sicily in your prayers that everything will go alright.

Who's the Boss?

No really...my kids do love each other most of the time. Notice the big smile. Wrestling is definitely one of our favorite past times when the big kids are at school

Daddy's Little Girl

So if you ever wonder why your baby girl loves Daddy so much more than you...Here's why!

Absolute Bribery!!! Chex Muddies Buddies make the best Buddies of all Daddies and Daughters.

Regular Occurance

It only ever happens on the one foot. The other shoe must just be too hard to take off. Honestly though I think she just likes to suck on her toes.

Bye Bye Bum

This shot's for Marlene. We love you Marlene!! Thanks so much for letting us crash your house and torture your cats. The kids were ever so sad to come home.

Though I'm not sure if that was cause they had to have a normal bed time again or cause they had to go back to school the next day. :) We had so much fun and are looking forward to the next time. Love you!!

Actual Thanksgiving

So much fun to be had and so little time. We had Thanksgiving dinner with some of Marlenes friends. 2 Grandmas and another family with kids the same age as ours, perfect! The home we were at is in a National Park, so it was beautiful. There were more leaves to jump in than we knew what to do with. And yes, that little blue blur is Phoenix rolling down the hill.

Sicily's bib says it all. We ate more food in 1 day than I think we normally eat in a week. This was our first Southern Style Thanksgiving. No deep fried Turkey. :( But the Corn Bread Stuffing will be added to my regular Thanksgiving menu. :) YUM!!All things said and done 4 kids were passed out in the car by the time we got home. Aspen rode with Marlene and the conversation when like this:

"Aunt Marlene can we listen to some nice calming music," requests Aspen.

"Sure!" turning to some quiet Christmas music.

"That's perfect," Aspen smiles.

She was OUT before the end of the song.

Another Alligator Park

We found this cutest little Petting Zoo / Alligator Park by Marlenes. The kids were a bit disappointed that they didn't get to actually pet the alligators. :) J/K Phoenix didn't want to go in cause he thought he's HAVE to pet the alligators. :)
Much to our delight they had Deer, Llama, Goats and Sheep. We even got to feed them some bread. At which the goats nipped our pants when we didn't feed them fast enough, little buggers.

It is an absolute must that you listen to Phoenix's commentary on this video. So turn up your sound and love it.

Thanksgiving Week

We had a most wonderful Thanksgiving at my sister, Marlene's house in Arkansas. Drove 9 hours (one way) in Jareds Truck and had so much fun. We totally invited ourselves over so Jared could work on her house for her. And I must say, he did an absolutely amazing job.

The kids and I got to rake leaves. After we had our fill of leaf rolling.....

We got to BURN them!! Which is WAY more fun than stuffing them into bags.

Marlene owns 2 beautiful little Kitty's. This is Cosmo, she's about 15 years old and the sweetest thing ever. Sicily LOVED the cats, the cats were none too fond of her. :)


On the other hand both my boys are extremely allergic to cats. So they spent the week drugged up on Claritin, and slept in a tent that remained closed all day so the cats could not get in.

And last but not least London learned how to build a fire. Aunt Marlene is a good teacher. Notice London in the background practicing the finer arts of chopping wood.

Loved It!

So this has been a long time coming. I went on Opening Night with about 20 girlfriends. I have never been part of an audience like that. The Theater was packed, I think there were only 5 guys, if that. The screaming was the absolute best, it was like an amusement park of excitement. So much fun!

Dogs all Around

You know, I love dogs. Every time a friend tells me they're getting a dog, I just get so excited for them. Now, don't get me wrong, we've had some horrid dogs in our time. Bark all night, hop the 6 ft fence, etc. But you still gotta love em. I don't know what it is, but they just make me happy.

Sicily was rolling all over the house this afternoon and ended up in this position. That Charlie stance usually indicates, "Open the Door! Let me in!" Obviously Sicily is just not getting it. And if it wasn't for the glass door she would not be happy to be this close to Charlie, he kind of freaks her out sometimes.

Bugs Bugs Bugs

You know, it doesn't matter where we live, there are always disgusting bugs. I wouldn't mind so much as long as they stayed outside, thank goodness this one was out doors. But every now and again we get something big and nasty in the house. I especially hate that when Jared's not home, I've had to catch about 10 too many on my own. Counting the 3, 6 inch poisonous Trap Door Spiders I caught in my house in Australia, my least favorite bug by far the Cockroach. Those things are disgusting, especially if they can fly. EWWWW!

Top Ramen

Oh the Joys of Tap Ramen. I used to crush up all the noodles before I cooked it, but when you've got little ones you just have to keep em long. Phoenix is still in the process of mastering the finer arts of slurping.

Sicily loved noodles in any shape or form, but long ones are the funnest to watch her eat.

Twilight

So excited. Can't decide if I'm going to take Jared or go out with the girls. Either way I am totally there Friday night. How many are going?

Temple Success

We thought we weren't going to make it there on time, due to Friday night Rush Hour. But when we got into the parking lot and saw the rather OLD couples coming in behind us we knew we had time to spare. :) What a wonderful place the Temple is. I am so grateful to our awesome babysitter, who somehow managed to put the Sicily's diaper on backwards but otherwise did an awesome job looking after our kids. I just love the Temple. I haven't been in so long I'd forgotten how much I loved it and missed it. So if you haven't been in a while GO! It'll do you a world of good. :)

Thanks Ladies!!

Apparently I never knew how to boil eggs properly. So on a second attempt for breakfast this morning we had a winner. Beautiful yellow gold yolks, they do look much more appetizing, don't they? I guess it all comes down to not boiling them for too long. Who knew? Apparently everyone but me. :)

I Love to Laugh!

My London has this amazing talent of getting babies just a squealing! It is the funniest thing ever! There is absolutely nothing better than a babies laugh. So enjoy the show.

What the Heck!

I'd always thought eggs were white and yellow. So why is it when you boil them the yolk turns and nasty grey color? In my opinion food should look good and taste good. Well ... that just does not look good.

Temple Journey

There are only a few things I miss about UT. I miss my family, I desperately miss the Mountains. But I mostly miss the fact that from where I grew up, Bountiful UT, there will soon be 8 Temples with in a 1 hour drive. 8!!!!


I now have 1 with in that distance. I seriously think Utahns take that way too much for granted. At one point in our families life the closest Temple was about a 6 hour FLIGHT away!! We're going to the Temple this weekend for the first time in almost 14 months (notice that's how old Sicily is). For those of you with a Temple near by, take advantage of it. You never know how long you'll be living so close to one of the Houses of the Lord.

Almost There!!

She is so close I can feel it. At 13 1/2 months Sicily is FINALLY getting up on her knees. There's never been much need to move when you have 3 older siblings that do everything for you. She's currently doing a crazy kind of army crawl, which mostly involves her toes. So this pose is HUGE progress. She sits like this for ages and rocks back and forth. I just love seeing her cute little bum in the air.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

I know there's a million and one crafts you can make every holiday, but I have always been a fan of Stained Glass. So London, Aspen and I spent a wonderful afternoon making these fun little things. And the nice thing about little Indians is their clothes don't necessarily have to match, so they can be as creative as they want and it still looks awesome. :)

Sick Sunday

I took Phoenix and Sicily to Story Time at the library last Wednesday, and we brought home a very nasty bug. By Sunday everyone was vomiting and had diarrhea. No one's been getting enough sleep and we did not want to pass this on, it's horrid, so no Church on Sunday. The only highlight was we finally got to watch Music and the Spoken Word, even if the kids did complain the entire time.

This is Daddy and Sicily just chilling after a long nap. Sick days are never good days, but it was nice to be as a family.

Cool Kid

The kids found Jareds old CD player and had to have a go. Doen't he just look like he's about 16 in a 3 year old body?

"NEW" Clothes

Well I finally did it. Jared dug out all Londons old clothes we had boxed up, I dug through it all and Phoenix now has an OVERFLOWING closet of "new" clothes. And with so many things to choose, from he got himself dressed this morning in this very well matching outfit. Don't you love it? He was so proud of himself. He especially liked his "slippery socks," which are actually mine, but as they're blue I thought I'd share.

My Little Hobbit

But what about 2nd Breakfast?
Every morning we have breakfast as a family before London and Aspen catch the bus. Then Phoenix, Sicily, Charlie (the dog) and I take our walk. Guaranteed when we get home Phoenix is ready for his 2nd Breakfast. Sometimes we have 11ese, on and on and on. Gotta love Lord of the Rings and how much kids are just like those little Hobbits.

Butter Face

I'm a "horrible" Mother that loves to play tricks on my kids. Aspen was being rather obnoxious at dinner last night, so when she took a bite out of her very buttered bread I smooshed it in her face. :) We all had a good laugh at her beautifully decorated Butter Face.

Day Light Savings

Gotta Love Day Light Savings. Normally the kids would be in bed when it's this dark, but not tonight.
Church for us goes from 11-2. We got there right on time this morning...or so we thought. We neglected to remember it was Day Light Savings weekend. So really we got to church at 10 am. Aspen laughed out loud and told us that her KINDERGARTEN teacher had told them to tell their parents. Obviously she forgot and obviously we can't read our calendar. So we wandered around the park and watched some turtles in the pond till it actually was time to go to church. I think I'll pay closer attention to those little notes on my calendar next time. :)