Temple Square

Saturday we made the annual trek to Temple Square. The kids were pretty good and interested until they got too cold. In their defense it was very cold that night. All the lights were just as beautiful as always.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning I remember just waiting until the clock turned to 6 am and running in to wake up Mom and Dad to go and see our loot. I thought my kids would do the same thing, but when they woke up they just stayed and played in their room until we went in and got them about 6 am. What crazy kids! When we went in and told them it was ok to go downstairs the kids were excited to see what Santa had brought. I made them wait at the top of the stairs for a picture, but this is not what they wanted to do. Matthew got his much loved Camp Rock CD as well as a few other things. Josh got his aquarium with three fish along with other stuff. Santa was a little worried that Josh's fish wouldn't make it because they had to sit in their bag of water from the store for about 10 hours before they were freed into the aquarium. The next obstacle was he didn't have time to let the aquarium acclimate for 24 hours beforehand to have it ready for fish so the fish had to take quite a bit, but luckily they were all still alive the next morning or else we would have had a very sad Josh. I am also happy to say they are all still alive today, too. Daniel got his Skechers and "something that could fly" among other things. Sarah was just happy to be there. She got a few books and a cell phone, but just preferred her old monkey instead of anything else. We all had a pretty good Christmas. When all the presents were opened we had a yummy baked french toast breakfast thanks to Grandma T. Later that afternoon after all the excitement had worn off and G&G T had left the kids were hungry. In the previous two years we had gone to Burger King for a no fuss easy Christmas dinner and this year wasn't any different. This let the kids get some energy out while Aaron and I could have some peace and quiet for ourselves. All in all it was a good day. Hopefully the kids got enough toys to keep them busy until school starts again in a very long week and a half...:) Our family room after Santa had come and before the kids got to it.

The kids excitedly waiting to come downstairs to see what Santa had left for them.

Let the present opening fury begin:

I think the kids were and still are excited about what they got. My family room still looks like a big mess, but the kids are loving it.

Christmas Eve Dinner and Activities

Christmas Eve stayed pretty busy for us this year. We hosted the big dinner at our house. We had two yummy hams, funeral potatoes, rolls, veggie and fruit trays as well as some apple pies (the first pies I have ever made.) Thanks everyone for your help! We had an early dinner with G&G T, my brother Bryan's family (we did miss you Michonne, Miles, Jennifer, Tom and family) and my sister Johanna and her family. After dinner we sat around and talked for awhile then everyone was off to their own family's Christmas Eve activities. Our family decided to head over to the Ogden Downtown Christmas Village. It is a big city park that is lit up with all sorts of decorations and lights. After we were so cold we couldn't take much more we came home and had some hot chocolate (or cider in Daniel and Grandma's case) to warm up. Then we let the kids open their token present of pajamas. After that Matthew and Aaron took turns reading the nativity story from the scriptures. Then we tried to send the boys to bed, but they just went up to their bedroom and played since all the boys were sharing a bedroom for the night. Santa had to wait a while before coming to our house because they just wanted to play--not that I minded because they were all getting along together which doesn't always happen. Josh also sat and read Matthew and Daniel a few books and that kept everyone happy until they finally fell asleep.

Our Christmas Letter or Year in Review

I never got around to sending out Christmas cards this year so you will all have to settle with our year in review.

This year seems to have flown by really fast. I just got used to writing 2009 and now I will have another whole year to get 2010 in my head. To catch everyone up on our family's doings we will start with Matthew.

Matthew turned eight this year and was really excited to get baptized by Aaron in August. He is in third grade and loves it. He loves riding the bus every day and seeing his friends at school. He stays busy with piano lessons and even had his first piano recital a few weeks ago. We had a small scare with him back in April when he had an asthma exacerbation and had to be taken by ambulance from the pediatrician's office to the hospital. Thankfully, we have had no other problems like that since. He always keeps things interesting at our house.

Josh is in first grade and loves it. He loves having lunch at school every day. He also is keeping busy with piano lessons and had his first recital a couple weeks ago with Matthew. He did try out karate for a bit, but it just wasn't a good fit. He did get up to a yellow belt before he decided he'd had enough. He loves playing with friends and continues to be very thoughtful and helpful to me and his brothers. He's a sweet guy.

Daniel is my buddy throughout the day. He is patiently waiting until it is his turn to start school which won't happen until the fall. In the fall he will start with preschool because he missed the cutoff of for kindergarten since he has such a late birthday. He keeps me company throughout the day and chatters to me about anything and everything all day long. He loves playing with friends and stays busy with karate. Daniel likes karate and is all the way up to an orange belt. He loves playing with and making Sarah laugh. He is our comic relief. He keeps things exciting.

Sarah has had lots of firsts this year. She took her first step and she said her first word "Uh-Oh". She doesn't have much else to say at the moment, but she is definitely strong willed. She loves to climb. She has had a few falls because of the climbing, but even if she falls she climbs right back up again. She loves taking showers, being part of the action and playing with Daniel during the day.

As for Aaron he still continues working up on base as an Electrical Engineer. He really enjoys working on an Amphibious Assault Vehicle for the Marines. He believes he has the best calling at church as the Membership Clerk. He loves spending time together as a family and between work and family he stays pretty busy.

As for me we are expecting baby #5 around the end of April or beginning of May. I still can't believe it, but my tummy is getting bigger to let me know it is happening sooner than later. I still am a stay-at-home mom and things stay pretty busy for me at home with four and a half children. I continue to be the nursery leader at church and am one of those weird people that actually enjoy that calling. I have been able to take a few classes to get out of the house throughout the year including and interesting Belly Dancing class. I was able to update my house with the help of my sister-in-law Jill during the summer. It was a big project, but I am glad it finally got done.

One of the big highlights of our year was our trip to Disneyland and the beach earlier in the summer. It was a very fun family vacation and hopefully gave our kids some fun and lasting memories. We hope 2010 will be as good as 2009. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

All I Want For Christmas Is...a Black Eye

This morning I was getting ready to get in the shower. I had turned on the shower and was waiting for it to warm up while I was looking for clothes. Sarah heard the shower and came running. She wouldn't take no for an answer so I undressed her and put her in while I was looking for some clothes for her, too. That's when I heard her start screaming and crying. I thought she was just mad because she was in there alone so I finished finding clothes and then I got in. Afterwards Aaron was getting her dressed when she looked at me and I saw some blood on her eyelid. I looked closer and she has a nice cut on the top of her eye that was starting to swell. It has gotten progressively worse as the day has gone on. It looks like Sarah will have a nice black eye for Christmas--poor thing. She must have slipped and fallen in the shower. If she would only sit in the shower instead of insisting on standing she probably wouldn't have fallen and cut her eye, but try telling that to a stubborn 16 month old!

Things You Don't Quite Want to Hear

Well I just got back from the doctor's office and baby #5 is officially a boy. You can see everything boy partish between his legs on the ultrasound picture so my holding out for a girl hopes are now dashed. That's ok I have been warming up to the idea since the last visit. Now we just have to start coming up with boy's names from the bible to keep our biblical name theme going. He is growing great and is even measuring about a week bigger than normal. I am also starting to feel him move more and more. What is even more crazy that in a few days I will be over half way done with this pregnancy since they will be inducing me a few weeks early. That is a scary thought!! We still haven't figured out sleeping arrangements yet. Oh what to do? If only we had one more bedroom!

Anyway, yesterday I got to hear a few things I would have preferred not to have heard. First off it was the boys' bedtime and Josh and Daniel ran downstairs to jump in bed. They left the basement door open and Sarah ever being the opportunist went downstairs. It wasn't until a few minutes later I heard Daniel yell, "Mom. Mom!! MOM! Sarah is playing in the water in the toilet while I am going potty!" YUCK!! She had her hands scrubbed with antibacterial anything I could find, but that is still disgusting.

Later on I also got to hear this whisper, "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom." When I finally came to consciousness I happened to glance at the clock and see it was 1:30 am and Daniel couldn't sleep again. He came upstairs to wake me up so we could watch TV together like we did the other night. Too bad I was TIRED and not in the mood to have bonding time at 1:30 am. I sent an unhappy Daniel back downstairs to, hopefully, go back to sleep. Too bad I was awake and couldn't go back to sleep. Grrrr.

Another thing I got to hear but preferred not to was Daniel was using the bathroom upstairs. I failed to hear the toilet flush or the sink turn on showing me he was washing his hands. I sent him back to flush, but he refused to wash his hands saying he had already done it. After a few minutes of arguing I gave up and sent him over to get some hanitizer instead. He cried and told me if he used that he can't suck his thumb because it tastes hanitizer tastes yucky. He ended up using the hanitizer anyway because he refused to go back upstairs and rewash his hands. He is pretty stubborn. This, however, has given me an idea to help him stop sucking his thumb (evil laugh hahahahaha).

Mother and Son Bonding Time at 3 am

Last night I couldn't sleep. I was laying awake in bed about 2:30 am deciding whether to get up or not when I heard the pitter patter of little feet up the stairs. I got up to check things out and found Daniel just sitting on Matthew's bottom bunk. I guess he couldn't sleep either. He kept saying his bed downstairs was uncomfortable. That is something I have never heard before nor do I believe it since he is sleeping in mine and Aaron's old bed which is way comfortable. Anyway with both of us wide awake we headed downstairs and turned on the TV. Luckily we have a DVR so we didn't have to suffer through any infomercials. We watched a few shows and finally about 4:30 am I was starting to get tired so I sent a very unhappy Daniel back downstairs to try and get some sleep. The next morning at 6:30 am, only a few hours later than the last show we had watched, he was wide eyed, bushy tailed and eating his breakfast. I don't know if he ever got back to sleep, but did I know this Happy Daniel wouldn't last on no sleep. I just waited until Chuckles (aka ornery) Daniel appeared which was this afternoon. After Daniel got home from karate everything turned into a tragedy and was tantrum worthy in Daniel's eyes. After dinner Aaron and I had both had enough and ended up sending him to bed early. This was after multiple attempts on his part not to be whiny and not to cry which proved to be too difficult on that much lack of sleep. I am crossing my fingers for a better night for both of us so we can have better days tomorrow. Here is a picture of the Chuckles Daniel: