Tis the season to be JOLLY!

Merry Christmas to you from the ORME KIDS! And....Have a JOYOUS NEW YEAR!

P.S. My photographer is not only super talented and fun to work with, but is also one of my best friends here in Indianapolis. I'm talking about you Hannah Schopmeyer! I highly recommend her to anyone in the area!

Merry Christmas Tyler!

Merry Christmas Josh!

Merry Christmas Maddie!

We can hardly wait for Christmas!!!

Maddie and Natalie Reed were dancing around being Rudolph together. And here is the first snowfall in Indiana from last week.
Maddie wants to build a snowman SO BAD, but we might just have to wait for Utah to do that.

The snowflakes are coming!

I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming. This will be my very first Christmas outside of Utah. It is so fun being in our own home, having lights on the house, a Christmas tree up, and everything looking festive! Tonight Dave wanted to get in the Christmas spirit, so we all made gingerbread men and turned them into Christmas tree ornaments. It brought back happy memories of baking in the kitchen with my mom at Christmastime.

This weekend we went to Cincinnati for a fun birthday party for Scotty Skidmore. It was a birthday breakfast with all kinds of Christmas games. Later that day we all walked around downtown. For about an hour I felt like I was in a Christmas movie. Emily, Scotty, Maddie and I got to ice skate outside in the center of downtown. Right above our heads they were playing the movie with loud speakers, "Miracle on 34th street." I have not seen that movie forever, at least 15-20 years. I think I started to believe in Santa Claus again as I skated around while watching it! All I can say is, "I LOVE CHRISTMAS!"

Do you ever just need a change?

A BIG CHANGE!??

I finally did it.

I have wanted to go dark for a LONG time and last night I was brave enough to go

through with it. Yes, there is a hint of red, but it will most likely fade in the next few weeks.

And now I am just being a "poser". (My specialty!) Ok, so seriously, what do you think? I didn't tell a soul that I was going to do this.
Dave, Josh and Maddie think it is cool. Tyler has been looking at me weird all day and is very hesitant to come to me. And a few of the people I have bumped into today just ask, "Why?"

I say, "Why not." It's just for fun!

Ward Christmas Party!

Last night was a big night for the Eagle Creek Ward! We had an awesome Christmas party. As part of the musical program, we had the "Guitar Girls" along with many of the ladies in the ward sing, "Oh, Come all Ye Faithful," "Feliz Navidad," and "Deck the Halls."

Jessica Bischoff, Amelia Pearce, Joanna Dickson and I have had a blast at our late night guitar practices! Thanks guys.

At the end of the program, Santa joined us on stage to talk with the kids.

Maddie told Santa that she wanted more princess dress ups.
Here is Tyler, moments before he ripped off Santa's glasses.

At least Tyler wasn't scared of Santa like most of the little babies.

Thanks for the candy cane Santa

And here we have Josh telling Santa that he wants "Star Wars Lego's" for Christmas.

It was a great night all the way around. I sang, "Oh Holy Night" and there were many other GORGEOUS musical numbers. This ward has so much talent- I was amazed!

Happy Thanksgiving Yo!

I hope everyone eats a lot of Turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie! I just practiced my first two homemade pumpkin pies tonight for a party and they were a success!! We are going to be with Dave's younger brother and sister in Ohio, and Lynnette and Geoff are flying out too. It is going to be a wild weekend...I can feel it. Jessie is hitting the big 30 on Friday, so we are going to live it up with some Black Friday shopping.

As a side note, I want to say that one of the best things about being a mom with kids getting a little older is to watch some of my all time favorite movies from my childhood with them. For example, tonight we checked out, "The Parent Trap." That movie is classic and Josh and Maddie loved it. I haven't seen it in over 15 years at least, and I still know every line. However, it is amazing how much more you pick up and understand as an adult. I was laughing the whole way through. Go rent it!

Hotels...

I have a fascination that I want to share, but you may think I am weird. I know I am weird about a lot of things and this is one of them. I have a LOVE and FASCINATION for HOTELS. I think this goes back very very far. For example, I remember being about 10 years old and going on a road trip all over Yellowstone National Park with my family. When we would get to a new motel or hotel I would run into the bathroom to check out if they do that cool thing with the toilet paper. You know, where they fold it into a little point. One time my brother caught me. He said, "Kristine, why in the world did you just RUN in to the bathroom to examine the toilet paper??!" I was checking to see if they fold the paper the same way in every motel, or if they do it in different styles. Ok, I am now laughing out loud at how ridiculous that sounds.

The fascination grew in high school when my friends and I realized that there were many pools that were super easy and fun to sneak into. The University Park Hotel was a favorite, but the best were the hotels up at Snowbird. We would ski all day and head to a pool/hot tube to finish off a perfect day in the mountains. There were many times when we (usually Grace and I) didn't have swim suits and we would just hop in with our sports bra's and long johns. We looked ridiculous sitting next to the rich touristy beer drinkers in the hot tub, but we didn't care. It felt soooo good! (I think I have a lot to repent from.)

Then, when I moved to the Caribbean, I honestly would not have survived those two years with out all the perks of the hotels. Because tourism was down, the hotels would allow us to use their facilities if we would purchase food from their restaurants. We also had a lot of special arrangements through the medical school. I can not tell you how many hours a week I spent at some of the most amazing hotels I have ever seen! Some of these hotels were $1000.00 per night and as I walked through them I thought I was in a movie. It was my only escape from facing the third world conditions, the poverty, the filth, the abused animals, and malnourished children. When I layed out on those lounge chairs in that hot Caribbean sun, sipping my coke, dipping my feet in the pool, with an amazing view of the ocean, all of a sudden I felt like a millionaire. (For my own personal enjoyment, I am going to see how many names I can remember. La Luna, True Blue, The Calabash hotel, Beachcombers, The Beach House, Grand Anse Hotel, Aquarium...hmmm...help me out Bettina/Tiffany or Natalie)

Ok, so why am I talking about this? Friday night I knew I needed to do something fun with the kids because it had been a very long week and I had talked to Dave....maybe once. My mom called me at about 7:00. She could hear the kids having a great time in the back ground and she said, "Where are you Kristine?" I told her I was hanging out at a hotel. She thought I was crazy. This was not any normal hotel, this was a Holiday Inn with an indoor water park. We were there to "check it out. " Have people in the west ever been to these? They are amazing! 5 story slides, lazy rivers, jungle gyms, everything you can imagine. They have them all over in the Midwest. Well, the kids and I didn't swim, but we did get permission to play video games in their game room, and they also had indoor miniature golf, ping pong, pool, etc.. We got some yummy food and ice cream and my kids were in heaven. It made me think of Grenada and all the time I used to spend in hotels.

I actually could say a lot more about other reasons I love hotels but I am sure you have heard enough. So, if I am ever having a really bad day, you may just find me sitting in the lobby of a beautiful grand hotel.

Just wanted to say...

I LOVE MY KIDS!

Why did I love October so much?

Because of this...

And these....
And spending a weekend with these beautiful ladies...

And these beautiful ladies...

And this beautiful couple...

(My sister's husband and my brother's wife.)

And my two favorite siblings...

Honestly, what could be better than a hot beautiful day in St. George, eating Cafe Rio in the greatest of company?!

October 2009 could not have been better!

Now I have another funny story for you...

It was a sunny Halloween day in Indiana. My husband working day and night. A lonely mother trying to make this Halloween special for her three little children. What to do? After a morning of making pumpkin squares, I headed to Boston Market for a $1.00 special chicken lunch. Now what? For the last 4 weeks I had been eyeing this pumpkin patch less than 5 minutes from our home. Everyday I would see the tractor go out to gather pumpkins. I was intrigued by this pumpkin patch. For weeks I had wanted to go check it out, and finally I decided to seize the moment.

It was Halloween day, surely all the good pumpkins had been picked. No one would care if I wandered through the field of pumpkins that were left to rot. As I pulled onto the dirt road in our mini van, Josh said, "Mom, I don't think you should be doing this. Is this illegal?" You know it is a bad sign when your 5 year old is more responsible than you. Anyway, Josh and Maddie thought it was great running around in the pumpkin patch looking at some pretty deformed pumpkins. We came back to the car, but the fun wasn't over yet.

This is where the old Kristine; the more spirited, less conservative, more adventurous, and less responsible Kristine came out of her shell. I told the kids, "We can't go home yet! Let's drive through the pumpkin patch. This will be fun!" Josh again warned me that this was clearly not legal.

Those of you who know me back from high school know that I used to get in a lot of trouble with cars. I won't go into detail, but I have had my fair share of off roading in all conditions. Never in a pumpkin patch though. After 5 minutes of playing around, completely to ourselves without another person in sight, I decided it was time to turn around. I must have decided to turn around in an area where the ground was too soft because all of a sudden we were stuck in the mud. I tried rolling forward and back. I tried putting sticks and smashed pumpkins under my tires for some traction, but we were really truly stuck.

I guess there were three options. (A) Push the car out by myself. (B) Go find help somewhere. (C) Start crying and call someone to come rescue me. I decided on plan A. However, I needed a driver. Josh was the man! I explained how to pump the pedal, and kept the windows down so that I could scream harder or softer or STOP. You should have seen the way he stepped up to the plate. He was awesome and did it perfectly. After getting my feet and legs covered in mud, we rolled backwards out of the swampy mud. I did have to yell "Stop!" because we came about 5 feet from hitting a tree. (I should probably leave the details out so that my in laws don't scold me.)

I was so proud of Josh for saving the day. When I told my friend this story she said, "Didn't your husband kill you?!" Dave was actually just as proud of Josh for being so brave and probably just shook his head at me. Being married to a first year intern, I have learned he has little energy or concern about anything outside of his demanding schedule.

So that is the story about the first time Josh has driven a car all by himself. Don't worry, I won't be doing that again any time soon.

Lizard (funny story below)

One of my mother's nick names is "lizard". In case you don't know, her name is Liz. I just got off the phone with my mom, and it sure is great talking with her. It is so easy to laugh with her about anything. We all had the greatest time when she came to visit a few weeks ago. Maddie was her special buddy that wouldn't leave her side. (Thus, all the picture's with Maddie!)

What a wonderful mom and grandma! We love you Foo Foo! (Another nickname....a little embarrassing to be calling her this in public, but my kids love it.) Come back to Indiana soon!

After I wrote that post, I went to one of my favorite blogs, my sister-in-law Jessie's. I know that Jessie's blog is NEVER going to be boring, so I am always fascinated by what she will write. Also, Jessie is really good at making her blogs funny. Funny and DRAMATIC on MANY levels. Well, I have a story to share, and I might have to dramatize it up a bit, but it is true! That is what is so amazing about it!!!

Last night at 10:00 I realized that I had two movies due back at Blockbuster. I said to Dave, "I am going to run to Blockbuster, I'll be back in 15." For some reason I was in a better mood than normal, and I know I walked into the store smiling for no reason. Sometimes when I am in "one of those moods" I like to put my hair in a high pony tail. Much higher than normal, the kind of pony tail that you don't care because no one is going to see you at Blockbuster at 10:00 at night. I also had on a bright blue Roxy sweat shirt and some tight jeans. Does that sound hot to you?
I headed straight to the "drama" section because I know that if I am getting a movie just for me, I want drama! Anyway, this is where it gets good. Within 30 seconds, this good looking 20-24 year old, African American kid holding a stack of movies with a Blockbuster vest approaches me. He asks in a respectable manner, "Can I help you find anything?" "No, thanks, I'm just looking." Then, with COMPLETE confidence he asks, "Do you have a boyfriend?" He is totally smiling at me and checking me out! He has completely caught me off guard, but I quickly say, "Yes, I have a boyfriend! I actually have a husband!" He took one step back and still using that charming smile says, "Wow, he is one lucky guy! Good for you. Sorry to bother you."
So I think, "Hmmm, that was a little awkward, but I guess I do look pretty good tonight!" Then, as I move towards the check out line, and this is where it gets good, he says, "Hey, is that your mini van parked out there?" I say, "Yes it is." All of a sudden his head drops into his hands and he just shakes his head a few times." I am still pretty clueless and I ask, "Why?" He replies, "Oh my gosh this is so embarrassing, I just picked up on my NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR!" All of a sudden I do recognize him, and he finally recognizes me. He is literally my next door neighbor. I am good friends with his little sister, and I talk to his parents on occasion, but I have only spoken with him once. I say, "Oh yea, you are the guy I borrowed some cinnamon from two weeks ago! Remember that?" I still feel a little uncomfortable but I decide, "Why not strike up a friendly conversation with my neighbor...who apparently thinks I am hot!" We chat about our neighbors and my annoying dog and then he gives me my movie for free. Wow! That was strange.
I get home and tell Dave a minute after I walk through the door. He thought it was pretty hilarious and then says, "Well Kristine, You stiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllll got it!"
I guess he's right.