My Children and The WOODY Doll

It is funny to me how different children of mine
can exert the same behavior.

This is our second son

who, at the age of two,
carried around this Woody doll
with him every where he went.


Now our little Miss M, who is two,
saw Toy Story 3, found a Woody doll
and has been carrying him around with her.

Woody has been taken by Miss M to Preschool,
to many stores, he almost made it to church
and of course Woody has to be taken to bed with her,
every night.

This First Part of December

For this first part of December we have...

Played in the snow

Enjoyed eating the snow

Participated in a Nativity scene

As a Wiseman

Talked with Brother Clause aka "SANTA"

Visited Temple Square

Where we saw and heard the Nativity Story

And where he wanted his picture taken in front of the Temple

And where he insisted on wearing his Jedi Cape over his winter coat

And where little Miss M only wanted to do this, all evening long.

You Know Your Kids Are Growing Up When...

they start shaving.


This morning he work up looking like Pedro from "Napoleon"
as my hubby would say,
and by the time he left for school,
he was clean shaven.

Okay, it wasn't that bad,
but it had grown very noticeable to me over the last month,
and I guess it finally got to him.

He probably wouldn't want me to be sharing such personal stuff
on a blog, but it is through him that I experience
my many FIRSTS as a mother.

Welcome to a lifetime of shaving, son.

Hello Teenage Years

My oldest is now a Teenager.
What a fine young man he has become.

His SPECIAL day went something like this (poor kid)-

Wake up at 4:00am to throw up.
Continue throwing up every 20 or so minutes
until there is nothing left inside.

Go back to sleep at about 5:30am.
Breakfast with Dad-CANCELED because of the throwing up.
School-NO WAY, not in this condition.

Instead, sleep and relax most of the day.
Late Lunch with mom to get a Jamba Juice.
He keeps it down - YAY.
After school a friend comes over to see why he didn't go to school
and "hangs out" with the Birthday Boy for a while.

He helps his younger brother build a Lego.
Dinner - a couple slices of Pizza.
8:15pm - his yearly interview with the Bishop.

Back home for a small bowl of his favorite ice cream,
and Happy Birthday sung in Spanish-
per his request.

Unfortunately, not much of a birthday celebration,
welcoming him into the TEEN years.
Nonetheless,
Happy Birthday
I'm the lucky one because I got to spend the whole day with you.
Just like 13 years ago.

Halloween Scene

As much as I like this time of year,
I am glad we are done with the Halloween Scene.
It really isn't just one day around here,
It starts with the kids figuring out what they will be
And ends with candy and candy wrappers all over the house.

Plus, at our house we throw in a Birthday before Halloween
And a Birthday after.
It makes for a couple of crazy weeks.

So here is a taste of the madness.

Wednesday - Well I already blogged about that day here.
Thursday - You can read about that here.
Friday - In the morning we attended the elementary school Halloween Parade and in the evening a ward Halloween Dinner and Carnival.
Saturday - First we went to a soccer game. Then we made a few costume adjustments and at 6:00pm while it was pouring outside I tried to take pictures of our Halloween Characters. Half hour later when the rain stopped, the trick or treating began.
Sunday - In sharing time we had a few Dads dress up as the prophets from the "Follow the Prophets" song and they talked about who they were and the primary sang to them. Nothing to do with Halloween but it felt a little like it with all the dressing up. Anyway, later that evening we had a family birthday party for my two oldest boys. So we made mummy pizzas, and cookies that looked like spiders and witches' hats.
Monday - I had to help prepare payroll taxes because like Halloween they come around this time of year too.
Tuesday - We tried to celebrate the birth day of my now teenage son. You can read more of that in my next post.


Anyway, needless to say I am glad
That the Halloween Scene at our house is over.
As I take down the Halloween Decor,
My four-year old proclaims to me again and again,
"Halloween is NOT over!!" -everyday is Halloween to him.
I know that I will look forward to doing all this again next year
When October comes around.

5 Little Pumpkins

A few weeks ago

we took a field trip with Miss C's Preschool class
to the Pumpkin Patch.

We explored the field for just the right pumpkins
and even had a few photo ops.

We came back in from the field to have a snack and
to enjoy a book reading.
Do you recognize the reader who is in disguise?

We hauled the pumpkins,
and a few kids
to the car.

And then these pumpkins sat on our front porch until...


Tonight when we carved them into five beautiful
NO, original Jack-O-Lanterns.

Snow, A Birthday and An Arrow of Light

This morning we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground
and after stepping outside I decided
I am NOT ready for winter!

I guess I will have to come up with some ideas
over these next few winter months
for exploring places that DON'T have snow.

And tonight our now ELEVEN year old
was presented with his Arrow of Light in cub scouts.
What a great accomplishment.

His SPECIAL day went something like this-

a Breakfast Date with just him and his dad,
a special treat delivered to school to share with his classmates,
a new LEGO masterpiece (birthday present) to build,
the dinner of his choice,
and recognition of earning cub scouting's highest award.

Happy Birthday Son.

5 Things Making Me Smile...

1 - This little cutie calling me Mama Mia.
2 - The smell of Autumn in the air.
3 - Clearing out the house from too much stuff.
4 - A lot of items checked off the Primary to-do list.
5 - An upcoming trip out west to visit a few GREAT friends.

What we have been UP to...

But first a warning.
Back up your hard drive.
So that if it crashes - like mine did,
you don't lose everything!

About a month ago the hard drive on my Mac crashed.
The Apple people we able to recover NOTHING.
This whole experience has caused me to...

not want to blog
not want to read blogs
not want to download any pictures
pretty much not use the computer unless I have to.

After avoiding the computer for most of the month,
I have decided I need to jump back in.
And of course start BACKING UP.

So don't do what I did.
Back up your hard drive.
Regularly.
And then you will not grieve over
lost pictures and documents.

Now this is what we have been up to...

We said GOODBYE to my sister and her family from California,
it was so good to have them not only visit with us,
but to be able to stay with us.


Then, a few weeks later we said GOODBYE
to our live in summer resident,
my other sister who returned to Hawaii for college.


Every Saturday for the past 5 weeks
we have enjoyed watching this young man
up his game in soccer.


Our oldest got to fly in a small airplane
with his dad and our Bishop (the pilot)
to earn his aviation merit badge.


We visited the "Healing Field"
in remembrance of 9/11.
It is such an AWESOME tribute.

My two youngest started preschool
with one of the greatest people we know,
Miss Cindy.

The hubby and I had a getaway where we spent one night
at Daniel's Summit Lodge and...

drove around where we got to see Utah
in all its autumn splendor. I love this time of year.

I got to visit son number two in his classroom at school.
That is his teacher sitting next to him,
I secretly think she is still in High School :).

Last Friday the two youngsters and I
spent a lovely day at Thanksgiving Point
with Nanna and Papa,
feeding the animals and

viewing and exploring the fabulous gardens there.

And Finally,
on Sunday evening we went for a drive up the canyon
with my Brother's family,
to once again enjoy the beauty of
Autumn.

Sisters Then and Now

20 Years Ago
this was my role in our family.

I was a big sister to six siblings
but with these two youngest sisters,
(and the brother who was between them),
it was almost as if I played their mother at times.

Times have changed, although only recently.

Over the past week we have all been living under the same roof again.
The youngest is living with us for the summer
and our other sister brought her young family up from California
to visit us for a few days.

It has been wonderful for me.

This has been the first time that I have looked upon these two
not just as younger sisters to take care of and look after
but as real friends.

I have seen in other families
and have often admired sisters that are just that,
best friends that spend a lot of time together,
share personal triumphs and heartaches
but I have never experienced that for myself.

We stayed up a couple of nights into the wee hours of the morning
just talking and sharing and laughing,
and I could not help but think I want more.

I wish we could all be in the same place,
raising our families in the same city,
sharing on a weekly basis the highs and lows
or what works and what doesn't.

But it is not that way.
And it will probably never be.
Nonetheless, I do hope for more reunions in the future
where we can pick up from where we left off and
just be friends and sisters.

Camping at Lava

This past weekend we took a mini-vacation
with the extended family to
LAVA HOT SPRINGS.

Where we played in the water


and on the slides

for many hours.

We also paraded around with our floaties

napped from exhaustion

and got a little too much sun.

Later, a few of us ran the RIVER

and learned to carry tubes twice our size.

At night we retired to the campground


hung out in the bed of the truck

played family friendly games


and of coarse had a campfire.

Good Times.