A Death and A Birth...

A Death...

It didn't really hit me until today that President Hinckley had died. I heard on Sunday and honestly, my first thought was 'yeah, he is finally with his wife, he's so happy!' Is that bad? And since Sunday I have read various articles, seen video montages of his life etc... and it has finally sunken in that President Hinckley is gone. I still feel more happiness than sorrow, only because I know that a new prophet will be called and he will also be someone to lead us and guide us, but I will definitley miss President Hinckley, and his sense of humor and his down to earthness. But as the cycle of life always continues, the same exact day, there was some Great news in the Pyper family.

For those of you who don't watch or listen to Glenn Beck, he is a Political Commentator who was converted to the church a few years ago. We really like him in our household, and I thought that this was touching.

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

A Birth...

Everett Aaron Albritton was born! Yeah!

We are so happy for the Albritton Family! He's a cutie, and I can't believe all of that dark hair! I'm sure Lukas and Teddy will be great older brothers, and Terra will have her hands full with 3 little boys!!! We can't wait to meet the little one and are excited about this new addition to our family!

Life is amazing to me. I remember when Tucker was first born, I was amazed at how this little creature could even be a human, and his own little individual! And now that he has so much personality, I can't even imagine life without him. It is so precious!

Cats and Dogs...

Well, we are in the midst of a Winter storm here, and there are apparently more coming. Bens school has even been cancelled! I had never heard of a University having a snow day, but I'm not complaining! It has been snowing for three days straight and I'm beginning to think that it will never end. Another storm is coming through on Thursday and Saturday, so we will be getting dumped on even more. Ben and his good friend Jason have spent countless hours shoveling snow for people in our ward over the past few days, and somehow our driveway has been overlooked. We have at least a foot of snow over about 3 inches of ice in our driveway right now, and its still coming down hard! This time of year I always ask myself,

WHY THE HECK DO WE LIVE IN SPOKANE???

I have had this vision of taking Tucker out for his first romp in the snow and how much fun it would be and how he would love it and we would frolic in the snow for a little while, and when done come inside to some nice big mugs of hot chocolate. Why can't my life be a fairy tale??? :) Tucker didn't enjoy his first outing in the snow as much as I had imagined. We have spent a few days now on our couch looking out our big picture window at all the snow falling and he loves to do that, so I thought surely, he would love to play in it. He seems to love to get into everything else these days. As you can see from the pictures below, our romp in the snow was short lived as Tucker didn't even make it past the bottom step of our porch. He had to figure things out before he would attempt to 'play' in it. After a few minutes, he did what he does with most things these days, he put a little in his mouth. What is a winter without eating a little snow, right? And after tasting the goodness (maybe he got a bad piece since that does happen from time to time) he was ready to go back inside to where it was nice and warm!

He did however to manage to lose one of his gloves in the 3.5 minutes we were out there. I'm hoping to find it when the snow melts.

I just spoke to my mother in law, who lives in Alabama. They actually got snow down there this year. She said it was just enough to skim the yards, maybe an inch or so. The last time they got snow was in 1993, and it is famously known as the blizzard of '93 and Ben had told me that just three days after the now melted, people were already walking around Montgomery with shirts that said, 'I survived the blizzard of '93'. My mother in law has already started calling this the blizzard of '08. Maybe I'll get a shirt.

One of our favorite things to do this winter has been to take some late night dips in the hot tub. We didn't even realize what we were missing out by not having a hot tub until we bought this house. We love it. It has been especially fun this winter, with all the snow. We usually go out pretty late, after Tucks in bed and we finally have a minute or two to relax. The other night we went out and it was so cool. It was beautiful. The snow had just stopped falling. Everything was quiet and still, and it was just beautiful. Everything was lit up from the snow, and for a second I forgot about how bitter cold and dirty the snow was and just soaked up the beauty of it. I tried to capture it on film, but obviously wasn't sucsessful at capturing the beauty of it! :) Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination.

Like Father, Like Son...

Tucker is turning into quite the little daddys boy. It kind of makes me sad. :(

He no longer reaches out for me, but for his daddy when its the two of us. ( Although he does want me when its just him and I, or when hes hungry or crying...) Anyway, these two are like two peas in a pod and it is so much fun watching them together. These are just a few moments I've captured over the last few weeks. I love my two boys...

Need I say more?

true color...

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

Take this test >

Thats right, TWO pairs of shoes!

Look! Two pairs of shoes.... I've been meaning to defend myself on this one for a while now, and you know who you are who have been pestering me about getting Tucker some new shoes, and Look-- Two pairs of shoes. That is all I have to say, Two pairs of shoes! You shall remain nameless, but after I got home from visiting you in New York (does that give it away?) :) and being accused of being a neglegent mother, for jamming Tuckers chubby little feet into his oh so small shoes,I found myself at Wal-mart looking for some new ones for him and lo and behold, the exact same pair of shoes that Tucker already had, were on sale in exactly a size bigger. I couldn't resist since the smaller of the two had served me so well. So for the past month and a half in all of Tuckers pictures, it was actually the bigger pair he was wearing! :) I now need to go back and see if they have next size up! :) Just joking, would that be wierd if I just kept on getting him the same shoes over and over again? He does have other pairs by the way. Even those that I purched while in New York, although those are still just a little too big. :) Anwyay, here it is, proof that I am taking very good care of my son! :)

Ok, so I was going to be done there, but I wanted to prove to myself (and to you) that Tucker does have other shoes, and I've just spent the last 10 minutes looking through all of our pictures from the past two months, and these were the ONLY two that I could find where Tucker wasn't barefoot, in his socks or in those dang white shoes. (does he really wear them that often ?) Anyway, proof. So, there are only two pictures, that doesn't mean anything! :)

Pyper family Christmas = Food,Infirmities, Lost Luggage, and most importantly FUN!

This year we went to Alabama for Christmas, as we do every year, but this year was extra special, because we were actually all able to be there on Christmas day. Usually we have to work around so many peoples schedules, Pyper family Christmas usually ends up being on some random day about a week or so after Christmas, when the kids excitment has died down a little. It was SO much fun! Its always fun with the Pyper family, but this year I think was extra special, because I had forgotten about how much fun Christmas is with little kids who are still SO excited about santa and leaving him cookies, and reindeer, and presents under the tree. It was a blast.

With Aunt Meg going on her mission in August of 2005 and getting home this past Feburary right when Aunt Laura had morning sickness and couldn't make it down for her homecoming, I figured it out that we hadn't all been together since Christmas of 2004. All in all, there are now 23 of us, and 10 of them little kids! (soon to be 24 in Feburary) So you can imagine the craziness and excitment and pure joy that was the Pyper Christmas. Anyway, Tucker had so much fun with his cousins, it was so much fun just to be with everyone and relax and hang out and do the things that little kids love doing at Christmas time. We did not want to leave! Now it wouldn't be a Pyper family Christmas without at least these Four things:

• Food, Check. Some good southern cooking by my mother AND father-in-law is ALWAYS a treat! :) I wish I had a picture of the dining room table all week, seriously plates and platters of everything that your heart desired, from homemade chocolates, to deliciously cooked lamb to homemade spinach artichoke dip.... And why am I not loosing any weight? Is 13 months too long to still blame Tucker?



• Infirmities, Check. Tucker came home with what my dad calls the Alabama plague. As what happens when you have 23 people under one roof, 10 of which are small children, the sickness spreads like wildfire. Bens mom was the only one who actually threw up while we were there, and luckily none of us got sick while there, so we thoroughly enjoyed our time, but let me tell you, since we have been home, all three of us have been throwing up and since all of my family was in town for Kaylas wedding, my cousins are all sick and throwing up, their kids are sick, my dad was throwing up in Alaska all week, my sister was throwing up in Mexico all week, on her honeymoon, my nephew... its gone around. Oh, and not only the sicknesses happen in Alabama, but the accidents and surgeries and ER visits always come up: my sister-in-law had to have knee surgery last week, my mother-in-law broke 4 bones in her hand and her two front teeth while playing catch with my other sister-in-law. There was also Pink-eye going around, which we luckily missed, and a case of Molluscum. I promise we are clean and hygenic people, but its a family curse, I tell you!



• Lost Luggage, Check. Another family curse, I'm afraid! It absolutley wouldn't be a normal visit if someones luggage wasn't lost. All of ours got lost on the way to Alabama. Somehow when we landed in Nashville, our luggage was still in Seattle. We were lucky and got all of ours the next day. My brother and sister-in-law flying in from the Virgin Islands had their luggage lost, they weren't so lucky and didn't get their luggage for about 4-5 days. Since we were the only two families who actually had to fly in, I'd say we didn't fare to well being 0 for 2. Since we have been married, I seriously don't think that there has been one time that we've flown down or one of the Pypers have flown up that luggage hasn't been lost. I'm amazed every time, I should just start to expect it, I suppose.

• And last but not least: FUN! It is always so much fun with the Pyper family and we always have a great time with every single one of them! We feel so blessed to have such great families who are not only our families, but our friends, whom we just love to death!

Here are some highlights of our time in Alabama:

Noah taking Tucker for a ride on the John Deere around Grandmas porch. Grandma and Grandpa have the perfect house for pure fun for little boys!

Aunt Meg and I getting in on the action, I wasn't as sucsessful as Meg at riding this tiny thing. My jeans didn't permit the range of motion that I needed! :)


Snuggling with Uncle Jeremy and Uncle David (Tucker, not me)

Listening to Grandpa read 'Twas the Night before Christmas' on Christmas eve.

Getting ready to go to bed on Christmas eve to wait for Santa

Getting a Family Picture taken (Finally)


Doing the nativity story with Grandma before opening presents

And last, but certainly not least-Opening the Presents! All the kids got brand new bikes, or trikes, or some sort of riding mobile for Grandmas house, and they had a blast with them all week. It was so nice to be somewhere where the weather permitted outside play.

Tucker opening his stocking, I'm not sure who's more excited, Ben or Tuck.

Anyway, I didn't mean to post such a mammoth post, but we just had such a great time and are so sad to be so far away from Bens family. But we certainly cherish every moment we do have with them!