Christmas Fun

We had a great Christmas at home this year. Here's the pics:



Santa must have been on a Wii fix this year because along with everyone else, we also got a Wii. Here's the boys playing it. I also got a Wii Fit from Santa- he's one nice jolly man!

Carly in her new clothes with her doll on her back and her bracelets and hair stuff... fun Christmas girl stuff.

The kids mid-action opening some gifts.

Another action shot :)

Christmas Eve in their Christmas Eve pj's

Christmas morning we woke up to check out the stash that Santa left and we found that Santa had left his footprints. The kids were SO excited about it!


Anyway, it was a good Christmas here. Hope everyone else had a great one!

Durango... you mean "BURR" ango.

We went on a quick excursion to Durango, Colorado to catch the Polar Express. It was really fun and really cold! One more reason we like it here - it is mild, mild. Love it!
Anyway, we drove up to Durango, checked into our hotel (they gave us warm chocolate chip cookies at check in- seriously why don't other hotels catch on?) and then we went and caught the train. It was so magical. That's the only way to describe it. The kids loved it and were SO excited! So, here are the pics:




Kyle and Carly sitting on the train as it was heading to the North Pole.

On our way back to Durango, Santa Claus came on the train and gave us all bells. The kids loved it and the first thing Spencer did was listen to see if he could hear his bell. He could and he looked at me and said, "I believe!" So funny, but I tried to contain myself because he was pretty serious.

Us on the way to the North Pole

Waiting for the Polar Express to come so we could board. It was so fun! They had chefs that sang and danced, they read us the story the Polar Express, we had hot chocolate and cookies, and then we got to the North Pole and Santa was there with his elves waiting for us! On our way back, the whole train sang Christmas carols.

Thursday it rained pretty good here and the kids wanted to play out in it, so they did. They paused for a second so I could take this cute pic. (The green on Spencer's head is from a chalk painting he did and he leaned it up against his head afterwards...)

Our ward Christmas party was last week. The primary did a program and then Santa came. Carly wasn't sure about him and so Santa came down to her- so we snapped this cute pic.

Comparison of days

Yesterday: Parker woke up at 4:30 am and decided he was up for the day (he had woken up 3 times during the night too)

Today: Parker woke up his average 3 times, but at 5:30 went back to sleep and slept until 9. (Gasp!)

Yesterday: Helped out at Spencer's school for art and poetry night, took the other kids and so I didn't help at all... I held crying Parker the entire time while the other parents did all the work. Lame!

Today: Snow 3 inches on the ground- School is cancelled! I don't have to try and help today at all! YAY!!!

Yesterday: Our heater mysteriously stopped working (on the coldest day/night of the year with snow coming down. The coils were frozen and after multiple attempts at trying to fix it and 4 hours later, still not working.

Today: After multiple prayers offered and doing all that we could do (okay, all that Kyle could do) we have a warm house and the heater is working... no more ice. Weird, but we don't question miracles around here.


So, it's only 10 am and it's already looking like a much better day!! The kids are outside playing in the snow and Kyle should be home earlier than usual because some people canceled their surgeries due to the snow.

I love snow today!

Hope your day is as good as ours is looking!

Food, Fun, Family, and Fans

Parker had his first taste of "food" (if rice cereal counts as food-Yuck) and he didn't like it.

We had Kyle's parents down for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun with them.

We had a little party for the big Utah-BYU game and the kids all played while the parents were watching the game.

Except for Parker who fell asleep... I guess it wasn't THAT exciting of a game since we WERE ahead by so much. Go Utes!

The male fans (the girls must have been hiding in the kitchen). Brian you are a brave man for showing up in your BYU shirt... HA!

Thanksgiving again.... the kids LOVED seeing their grandparents!

On Saturday we decorated our house for Christmas.

This was a visitor we had in our backyard for Thanksgiving. He enjoyed his bird and we enjoyed ours... I think ours was WAY better! Yum!

The crew right after we ate the goods. (Everyone even enjoyed the sweet potato casserole that didn't taste like Grandma's closet! HA!)

Putting the star on our new fake tree... we finally decided to buy an artificial tree this year. It WAS nice not to have to string lights on it!

Carly loved decorating the tree.

And this poor kid.... Carly and Spencer decided he'd make a cute present. I agree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe it's almost here! This year is flying by. We are waiting for Kyle's parents to come down today to spend the weekend with us. It should be fun.

I just wish we were closer to all of our family so that we could all be together for the holidays... there is definitely something to be said for living close to family. Maybe someday!

On another note, my sister does this cool thing on her blog where she interviews people on Fridays and last week was Kyle's turn. So check it out if you want
http://mynameisjodie.blogspot.com/2008/11/friday-faces_21.html

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just reflecting...

on how old Spencer's getting!



Spencer at 9 months

And his school picture for this year... 5 years old!

A long post, but taking a stand.

Though I am pretty removed from it here in NM, I am still aware of what is going on with the whole Prop 8 thing in CA. I have seen on the news, many different LDS temples with protestors outside, against our stand on the issue (yeah, like we're the only ones). It has disturbed me and irritated me. I find it ironic that they are protesting with THEIR free speech OUR right to free speech against it.... so whatever. And while I realize that this blog only reaches a few of my close friends and relatives, I have to speak up.

When I first heard of Prop 8, not really knowing all the details, I just rolled my eyes and thought "Who cares? Let whoever wants to get married just get married. Big deal. I don't agree with same-sex marriage but if homosexuals marry, it really doesn't affect anything I do or believe, so why not?" What I didn't realize is that it does affect me. What I believe marriage should be-- a union between a man and woman--is no longer being protected. I was given an example of a fertility doctor who was approached by a same-sex couple wanting fertility treatments. The doctor said that because of his beliefs, he would not treat him but referred them to his business partner, who shared the same office, staff, billing, etc. The couple sued the doctor and won. Excuse me? What happened to protecting the doctor's rights? What about his beliefs? After hearing this and many other examples such as this, I stopped rolling my eyes and started to listen. This isn't an issue dealing with homosexuality vs. heterosexuality. It's about protecting the right and freedom to believe that marriage between a man and woman is something worth protecting.

So where do you stand?

Neal A. Maxwell stated:
Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat." --- Elder Neal A. Maxwell, BYU Devotional 1978

Our weekend

We had a fun weekend. Here's the pics to prove it:


We took the family bowling. It was the first time our kids have ever been so it was probably time.

We also went to the International Hot Air Balloon Museum here. It was a free day and we didn't even know it- sweet!

The kids have been playing in a big box all weekend. They love it.

At the park- making faces as usual.

And I wish I had taken pictures, but we went over to some friends house on Friday night and played Guitar Hero World Tour. You should have seen all of us "adults" singing and playing the drums and guitars. I gave quite the rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama" and I think Kyle was a drummer in another life... if he could just hold onto those drum sticks!

Trick-or-treats and Go Utes!

We've had a fun weekend. The grandparents came down to spend Halloween with us and to catch the U of U vs UNM game. Pictures of the weekend:



Parker smiling.

At the ward trunk or treat.

So, it's impossible to find University of Utah anything here... and Spencer wanted a Utah shirt to wear to the game so bad.... Kyle decided to make him one. Kyle did a great job don't you think? - and Spencer was happy.

Grandpa and Parker- all smiles

At our wards trunk or treat. Yes, he's a banana.

The cutest kids ever.

And the Ute fans before heading down to the stadium for the big game. Go Utes!

soccer and spooks

Spencer on the move- chasing after the soccer ball.

Kyle, I mean Leroy, the exterminator. He designed his costume.

We went to a Halloween party on Saturday night- got a babysitter and everything. It was fun. We went to the wrong house at first...in our costumes. The lady laughed at us and said that we were at the wrong house... HA fun times.

I'm a blackwidow if you can't tell. I had to wear some maternity clothes because they were the only black things I own... how sad.

Spencer had his last soccer game for the season on Saturday. They start up again in the spring.

Parker is lifting his head up pretty good now.

And our Spencer being himself.

Tag I'm it

My friend Jacque tagged me a while ago and I'm just now getting to it.
http://www.crazyscrapper.com/
The rules:

1.) Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2.) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3.) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names
4.) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 facts about me:

1. We have a projector alarm clock so that the time is projected on our ceiling. It drives me nuts when it's not on because I actually have to lift my head from my pillow to look at the clock....

2. I am a dabbler. I like to dabble into things like crafts, sports, photography, scrapbooking, sewing, quilting, etc. etc. This means I like a lot of things, but I'm just not really good at any of them because I don't devote my time to just one thing. Oh well.

3. I love to dance. (Just not in public anymore)

4. I actually seriously contemplated becoming vegan... for about an hour.

5. I went one whole year without chocolate when I was a freshman in college.

6. I also went a whole year without eating candy or sweets (no sugar). Where is that motivation now when I really need it?

7. I am so glad that I'm a stay-at-home mom! It's a TON harder than I ever imagined and makes me respect my own mother so much more. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

Okay, that's it.
I tag:

Kami, Katie, Kelli, Jodie, Katie, Lara, and my mom...

"lead me, guide me, help me find the way!"

This is Carly singing to Grandpa Daniels on the phone. She has been learning "I am a Child of God" and apparently needs to work on the full verse. At least she isn't shy to sing the words she knows. She is so cute.

Just a preview

So we are lucky enough to have a friend that takes pictures for a living. That is what she gave me for a welcoming-Parker-into-the-world present. How fun is that? So we headed to her house a few weeks ago and she was so nice to take pictures of the kids. Here is just a preview of the ton of pics she took for us. Thanks Scharese!
Also thanks for all the advice from the previous post- we are going to use a lot of the ideas we received. Now I'm off to make cinnamon rolls- Kyle said he'd give me 5 dollars if I make some for him. Who could pass that up :)