Yesterday we went to our traditional family PIG-OUT as it's called. My Grandpa Terry's birthday is on New Years so every year my Grandpa's whole family (80+ people--aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, great-grandchildren) gets together and go out to eat then play a roaring game of BINGO. Every family brings a few presents and we play Bingo until all the presents are gone. These presents are usually from the dollar store, but sometimes there are a few nice things. We came home with a few key chains, a big spool of string, a candle, some stuffed animals and some other high quality gifts :). Most of the stuff we will just store until 
next year so we can re-gift them. The family is getting so big that we can't find a restaurant to hold us anymore so they just order a ton of pizzas and go to my grandparent's church in Provo. My grandmother was even able to come from the nursing home to join us. My Grandpa will be turning 89 and is still in pretty great shape. I hope I can be like that at that age! This picture is just part of my family. We are missing you in Ohio Rasmussen family!!
exciting so we didn't stay for too long.
--we were up until 12:30 am. Since Aaron had been up since 5 am he was a little tired to say the least. To show how tired he was, right before we went to bed he asked me a question and two words into my answer he was literally snoring. We did find out we had to make an early morning run to the store because the youngest member of our family didn't have much for Christmas so we had to go to try and even things out a bit we also needed a few batteries as well. Aaron braved the early morning run to Walmart for the family--what a nice guy!
took them
sledding at a park by our house with a nice hill. Aaron and I took turns holding a bundled up Sarah at the top of the hill while the other went down and ran back up multiple times with the boys. We had two sleds--one we inherited on our lawn at the end of winter last year. Someone left a really beat up metal saucer on our lawn and I left it there for a few weeks, but when it went unclaimed we snatched it up. Anyway, that one didn't work as well, but what do you expect for free, right?!? Daniel didn't last as long as Matthew and Josh because he insisted on wearing these thin, red rain boots with only lone pair of socks on. His feet were pretty cold so he wanted to go home sooner then the other two--ah, life with a fashionista. When we were finished we came back home, showered and cleaned up. We then baked cookies and Rice Krispie treats for Santa--all Daniel friendly of course. While
making them I turned around 
to find Daniel was dipping his fingers in the margarine tub and licking them. If you look closely he also has it all over his mouth. Santa must have one mighty immune system. After that we then fixed a yummy ham dinner--minus the Daniel dipped margarine--for my sister and her family, my brother and his family and my parents. I was a little nervous since this was the second ham I had ever cooked before in my life. I tried to make it a knock-off Honeybaked Ham by trying to torch the top of the ham and crystallize the glaze with a food torch, but it didn't turn out quite like a Honeybaked Ham. It did taste good, anyway--at least if it didn't everyone was polite enough to 
eat it and not say anything. I guess you never know... After dinner the kids got to open their traditional Christmas pajamas to wear for the night. We had Matthew read the nativity story from the scriptures this year and he did quite well. 
Grandma and Grandpa Terry got to have a sleep over at our house to see the kids open their presents the next morning at 6 something. We left out the yummy Soy milk, cookies, Rice Krispie treats and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. 
were very excited to see what Santa had left. Josh was excited to see his skateboard--no ER visits, yet, knock on wood, Matthew got his watch (from Grandma and Grandpa Terry), Daniel got his only wish--a lollipop (I wish all kids were that easy to please), and Sarah got an exciting rattle. I remember how I loved to unwrap presents when I was little so I like to wrap EVERYTHING including their matchbox cars. This backfired a little this year because even though the kids didn't get that much, they lost interest in opening their
presents after getting their favorite present and their battery powered light sabers. I think we will take whatever didn't get opened and reuse it at a later date :). Sarah was a little less enthused about watching her brothers open her presents for her--she just wanted to eat for some reason. That left me one handed for part of the morning. When I finally got use of both my arms I opened what Aaron got me--a brain exercise game. I guess I have been a little spacey lately so he is just trying to help me out. I tried it out and it told me my brain was pretty 
old. Hopefully, I can exercise it back into shape soon. I also got a nice food processor that I can't wait to use. I will have to wait until Matthew goes back to school, however, because he gets quite upset if I ever turn anything on like that at home while he's 
there. I will have to try and find some good recipe so I can use it:). We are also excited that we don't have to hide Mario Kart anymore. Aaron and I won't have to hide the wheels after we play every night which will be nice. We accidentally forgot to put them back a few nights in which the boys saw them sitting out the next morning. We had to then make that present be from Mom and Dad instead of Santa--oops. After opening presents we had a yummy breakfast casserole. We then spent the rest of the day having a quiet day at home playing with toys and such. All in all it was a pretty good Christmas. 
We did not get around to sending formal Christmas cards this year so I thought a year in review might suffice. We have had a fun, but crazy year to say the least. To start out:
Aaron continues to work at Hill Air Force Base as an Electrical Engineer designing and building 
an amphibious assault vehicle for the marines. He loves it and loves the people he works with. He is also the membership clerk for our ward and doesn't want to ever get released from that calling.
I continue to be a stay-at-home mom and love it most days. I have gone from being in the Young Women organization to starting in nursery this week. I continue to scrapbook and read when I get the time.
Matthew is in second grade and LOVES school. He was the peace-builder for the month of December (student of the month)--something I had to find out from another Mom since Matthew is not forthcoming with the going-ons at school. He continues to be in the learning center part of the special education program and his teachers love 
him.
Joshua has had some ups and downs this year. After 3 1/2 years on medication and a clear EEG (electroencephalogram) at the beginning of the year we weaned him off his seizure medication as per doctors instructions. Unfortunately, he started having seizures again. Thankfully, once we started him on the seizure medication again they have been well controlled. He is currently in kindergarten and loves it. He has long been jealous of Matthew going to school so he finally got his turn this year. He loves homework--something I hope will continue through his school career and he also loves helping me cook and do chores.
Daniel is doing great. The beginning of the year 
started out somewhat rough with a five day hospital stay for RSV. He also continues to be greatly allergic to nuts and dairy products, but it looks like the egg allergy is starting to disappear. He broke his collar bone this summer, but luckily, for all of us, he only had to wear a sling for two weeks. He did start a playgroup this fall and calls it his "school". He is a pretty happy child and is quite the comedian.
Sarah was probably the most excitement for us this year. She came about in a most unconventional way. She decided early August 16 that she was ready to join this world and did not wait for the hospital. She was born at home--in the bathroom of all places. We even made the front page story of our local newspaper! We were also able to get a 
copy of the 911 call which was interesting to hear. She continues to bring joy to our home along with the color pink. We are thankful she is part of our family. Click here for her original birth story if you are interested.
That is our year in review. We are excited to see what next year brings!
We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Saturday. This Christmas all J
osh wanted was a skateboard. Josh is somewhat accident prone and to us parents this didn't sound like a very good idea. However, that is all he asked Santa for. To try and dissuade Josh, Aaron received a phone call from Santa via his cell phone in front of Josh with Santa saying Josh was too little for a skateboard. We thought Josh would take it in stride and want something else. We were WAY off. He just broke down and started to cry that brokenhearted cry that made us both feel about 2 inches tall. We felt AWFUL. To try and make things better we had a talk with Santa and he has reconsidered. We took all the kids to see Santa again yesterday and encouraged Josh to ask for his beloved skateboard again. Who knows we may end up at the emergency room Christmas day, but at least his heart won't be broken just his arm or leg... 
Yesterday Aaron helped my brother move for the majority of the day which left me home alone with the kids. I am not adventurous enough to take them all out by myself yet so we had a lazy day at home. We played some weed (Wii) and then we went outside and played in the snow. Josh has wanted to make a snowman for awhile so we attempted it yesterday. It has been so cold that the snow didn't pack very well. Our snowman isn't very daunting, but at least we got one made--and good thing is it is not a 'special' boy snowman ;) like the one last year which is another story in itself. We also made some snow angels. Then we had a snowball fight. It was the boys vs Mom. I lost. Sarah even was 
outside with us. I bundled her up and put her in the bouncer outside. She was the Abominable Sarah.
I took Josh, Daniel and Sarah to have lunch with Aaron today. Aaron picked up our food and as he was sitting down Josh said really loudly, "HEY MOM, I FARTED!!" That is a nice appetizing start to some good lunchtime conversation. I am sure all the people around us really appreciated that. That got me thinking to some other funny things my kids have said and are saying at this time. When Josh was younger he had a hard time pronouncing the letter "C" sound and would replace it with a "P" sound; however, some of his favorite food was corn. He loved it when we had some porn for dinner :). Josh also thinks the Nintendo Wii is actually the Nintendo Weed. So if you hear him say he likes porn and the weed--IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! Daniel loves wearing his Dajamas for bed while eating some Easter Canes (candy canes). I have tried to correct him, but he is a very stubborn 3 year old who KNOWS he is right. The other day I needed to use the computer while Daniel was playing on it. I asked if I could get on and he said, "OK Mom, because I am a sharing kind of guy." Matthew's first word was UH-OH and that is the only thing he said for everything for a very long time. If you wanted to know where he was you just had to say UH-OH and he would repeat it letting you know where he was. He also makes up his own phrases for things. For morning, or sunrise, he would (and still does) refer to it as the clouds turning on. So when the clouds turn on while we are still in our dajamas we like our porn, Easter canes and weed as well as being sharing kind of guys. 
had me fill out some information on each child and she sent the letters for Santa. In reading each letter, each kids' face just lit up. I am hoping they take Santa's advice to heart because he specifically told each one something they needed to work on as well as what they were doing well. It was pretty fun to see. 
of these as of late. I guess it is Sarah's way of having multiple wardrobe changes involving baths each day. That's what girls do, right?!? They like changing clothes many times a day I hear. I guess we will see if it continues as she gets older--hopefully, without the code brown accompanying it. She looks so innocent in the first picture, but she wasn't! The bottom picture doesn't quite show how bad it was! This is just one example of her many daily code browns. I know it's gross, but I felt the need to share for my posterity's benefit.Sarah laughed for the first time yesterday. I just so happened to be by the camera so I caught a little on video. I was also holding a very unhappy Daniel on my lap as well as Sarah at the time so it isn't the best cinematography, but it still is cute. I think babies coos and giggles are some of the sweetest sounds. Matthew was the one who got her to laugh the most.
This one is of the front of the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles in France. 
These are of the Tower of London, Stonehenge, and Loch Lomond in Scotland (just south of Loch Ness where Nessie the Loch Ness monster supposedly lives.) 
This is where I lived on Palace Court Road in downtown London. 
The last two are of Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum in London. The figures are of Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt and in the other picture it is the Beatles.
This weekend we went with our neighbor on a hayride to see the Layton City lights. The kids all had fun riding on the hay bales and seeing the many different lights. It was cold so we all bundled up. Sarah even had on warm clothes--she looked like the kid in the Christmas story who says, "I can't put my a
rms down." We had a really good time. Despite the cold the kids enjoyed seeing all the lights with their friends.
perimenting with many recipes with no complaints from my family. I am looking for a recipe that is easy, but looks fancy. It is harder than it looks. I haven't found that 
perfect combination yet so I will have to experiment some more. I don't think I will have too many complaints. Although, if anyone has a recipe that is EASY and yummy, but looks fancy let me know I am open for suggestions.
Daniel is very accident prone. He was running up the wooden stairs in his socks, yesterday, and he slipped and fell. He hit his front tooth as well as getting a huge gash on the inside of his lip--had the cut been on the outside of his mouth he probably would have needed stitches. I am hoping his tooth doesn't turn dark and die because that is what happened to Matthew and he ended up getting the top two teeth pulled. Daniel woke up with a swollen lip and a black bruise on his bottom lip this morning--poor kid. The pictures don't quite do it justice, however. 
orse with each pregnancy. It's so icky--there is hair everywhere in our house and I don't have another girl in the house to blame it on, either. I was combing Josh's hair this morning when he was picking my hair off of his shirt. He said, "Mom, stop dripping hair all over me!!" I do have a few bald spots right now, but hopefully it will come back. I am just hoping it doesn't come back gray!! Oh the joys of pregnancy/having kids!
