Christmas Eve Nativity

Twenty-five years ago I made my debut as Mary and we started the Nativity tradition. I remember being disturbed by my brother Bryan having the role of Joseph. I didn't want to be married to my brother, gross! I've been an over thinker from the beginning, girls really are different than boys, we are hoping to find that out for ourselves with this next baby.

We heard the heartbeat yesterday & it is official, we are expecting baby number three (it scares me every time I say it :) February will be the moment of truth. Am I destined to be a mother of boys or will a little girl be sent to add some sweetness and drama to our home.

I've consulted Jessica, the expert Chinese chart reader, and she says girl--we'll cross our fingers.Also, Allen & Alicia we want you to know you are in our prayers and we are thinking about you. And thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas. We thoroughly enjoyed family, great food, activities, and surprises. We love you all!

The Gift of Christmas

We Won't Have a Christmas this Year

by Verna Teeuwissen

We won't have a Christmas this year, you say

For now the children have all gone away;

And the house is so lonely, so quiet and so bare

We couldn't have a Christmas that they didn't share.

We won't have a Christmas this year, you sigh,

Christmas means things that money must buy.

Misfortunes and illness have robbed us we fear

The things that we'd need to make Christmas this year.

We won't have a Christmas this year you weep,

For a loved one is gone, and our grief is too deep;

It will be a long time before our hearts heal,

And the spirit of Christmas again we can feel.

But if you lose Christmas when troubles befall,

You never have really had Christmas at all.

For once you have had it, it cannot depart

When you learn that true Christmas is Christ in your heart.

All ABOARD!!!

A magical evening aboard the Polar Express with grandpa Paul & grandma Kathy. The boys saw Santa's reindeer and Santa himself gave them a bell from his sleigh. We watched the sun set over the beautiful snowy mountians while we sipped our hot chocolate and sang Christmas Carols.

Breakfast with Santa

Jake thought Santa would actually sit at our table & eat breakfast with him, but I think he would take Grams & Poppy over Santa anyday. Josh froze up when Santa asked what he wanted so Jake was sure to fill his order for him. We especially enjoyed the "Grinch", he was a riot.

We love our grandpa's & grandma's, they have a special place in our hearts.

The Gift of Christmas;

a time to draw closer to Christ & our families.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas!

First Big Snow

The boys could not wait to jump into the snow this morning.

And of course every new experience presents a new opportunity to tease.

Gearing up for the holidays. . .

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1135945085

I'm a Disney Princess. . .

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You are part Belle. You are strong, deep, and you are not a slave to petty superficial things. You are independent and allow yourself to see inner beauty without sacrificing your values. You are almost too good of a person.


You are part Cinderella. You are hard-working and never complain, however, your trust is sometimes misplaced and people sometimes take advantage of you. Still, you are beautiful inside and out, and one day you will realize it and find true love.

Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Okay, so I'm 2 disney princesses--I have a split personality I guess.

Speaking of princesses, my sweet little niece turned 1 & had the ultimate princess party. It was my job to get her dressed for the occasion. As I grabbed for the bow to put in her hair Tasha stopped me, "wait I have to flat iron her hair". Really? I guess that's why my cute hair stylin' sister in laws have girls. The party was a success, we had a ball--Happy Birthday Korbyn!

Too much Dancing with the Stars?

Dirty Laundry

So, since my last entry I've done 10 loads of laundry & life is looking much sunnier. Why is laundry so depressing! It is my least favorite job next to scrubbing the toilets in a house full of boys. If anyone has secrets please share.

Here is a glimpse into the last few weeks at our

house from Josh's Elmo birthday to Jake's new smile:

Just wanna squeeze em'

I am such a slacker lately, not only with blogging. Today I am wearing Christmas socks & had to pull a shirt out of my laundry for our date night, thank goodness for perfume. I have been 10 minutes late for everything. . .okay, so that's normal. Is this the reality of motherhood?

My mom has taken the boys for a few days so I can try.

We never stop needing our moms, do we :)

Thank you Gramma Loni!

I had to blog tonight after recieving some pictures from Tammy of Josh & his cute little friend Emmy. Don't these pictures make you smile, they are so sweet!

The boys had fun with their cousins this week too, we appreciate everyone making the trip.

Life from the backseat

Jake had the camera while we were waiting for Josh at pre-school.

I was in hysterics as I glanced through the pictures he took.

Here is life from the back seat, Jake's point of view:

Boo!

Holy Halloween! The decorations, the parties, dressing up for school, neighborhood events, carving pumpkins, buying treats & more treats, sugar highs, and belly aches. We've had a riot, but by last night my boys were done, they had no desire to dress up. . .again. So we had a jammy night, watched Harry Potter, & answered the door.

Boring, I know, but it sometime boring works :)

Now we are gearing up for the holidays, is it too early to set up my Christmas tree?

Here's Jake in his Dino costume. When Josh came home Sunday he said "Shea ask me what I going to be for Halloween, I say--oh, nothing". I assumed he'd be fine wearing a costume we already had, I felt so bad I hadn't asked him. So monday we spend the day searching for Sponge Bob, we found a shirt and that worked for him. So here is Sponge Bob Josh in his cute little program at school.

Favorite Fall Recipes

Here are a few of my favorite recipes for October/November.

They are easy & will get you pumped--or plumped for the holidays, enjoy :)

Pumpkin Cake
2 Cups Pumpkin
4 Eggs
1 cup Oil
1 2/3 cup Sugar
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon

Beat pumpkin, eggs, oil & sugar together then add dry ingredients. Grease and flour cookie sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Top of cake will start to brown lightly when done. Cool completely & frost with cream cheese frosting.

Frosting: 1/2 cube margarine, 3 oz cream cheese, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients together & spread on cake

Caramel Sauce (dip for apples or pour on icecream or pie, etc.)
1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan. Stirring constantly, bring to a full boil & boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; add milk & vanilla.

Cinnamon Almonds
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups whole raw almonds

Sed aside an ungreased baking sheet. In a heavy 2-quart skillet, pour in water & dump sugar and cinnamon into the middle of the water. Place over high heat & stir until mixture comes to a boil. Add almonts & stir continuously. Reduce heat to medium high & stir almonds until mixture foams & turns to sugar. Continue stirring as almonds become coated with sugar; sugar will begin to re-melt & carmelize on the almonds. Remove from heat and turn out onto baking sheet. Using 2 forks, seperate almonds into sincle nuts & cool. Makes about 250 glazed nuts, store in airtight container.

Super Easy Queso Dip
1 can Nalley Original Chili
1 jar Tostitos Salsa Con Queso (cheese) dip
Mix & heat on stove over medium heat. Tastes like the queso dip from Chili's. Great quick fix for parties. People are always blown away when they find out how easy it is to make.

Halloween Fun

Finally, a night out for all of the witches! Mom, Jody, Tasha, & I had a delightful time at Witchapalooza. We had wacky manicures, stuffed our faces with yummy fall food, and could not stop giggling. Next time we definitley need to make more time for shopping, we had a riot. Thank you mom for a fantastic evening!

We also had our first pumpkin carving event of the season, this year Josh was all for getting goey.

Fun at the Farm

The boys hammed it up with Talmage, Wilson, & Leeroy at the farm. Leeroy, by the way, is an enormous pig with some enormous, well anyways--you'll see.

I love fall! Thanks Jonessa for inviting us, we had a great time.

The family marathon

So usually Jesse & I are spoiled during these race events because my mom takes the boys, this time we brought them along. They were mostly good & after adjusting our expectations of having any relaxed or personal time, we had some great family fun. Paul & Kathy came out to help us and observe the event. We all witnessed a new PR for Jes, way to go babe!!!

Surprise!!!

We couldn't have asked for a better victim for a surprise birthday party. Jesse's dad even ran into guests in the parking lot. They cleverly said they had just eaten dinner & were leaving (thanks mom & dad). When Paul reached the top of the stairs he glanced at all of us & I still don't think it registered until we all started to sing Happy Birthday.

Jesse read a cowboy poem to his dad he called "hard to chew" & Jake White really made the evening memorable, wowing us on his guitar. I had to laugh when Kristan leaned over & said wow it would be nice to have a talent you could share with people. Shortly after her comment Jake started to sing & play the guitar & she said "okay, 2 talents" :)

Thank you to everyone who helped pull it off, I know you went the extra mile to make it a special night. Phil we missed you, I don't think we could get you to your own birthday party though. Hopefully eventually that will change--it's a rare occassion, but we do like having you around.

The Crane No-Bum

Okay I have some other posts I need to get on here like our trip to St. George, a fun fall outing the other day with Jonessa & her boys to see a massive pig named Leroy, and Paul's surprise birthday party--but I had to get this one out of the way.

The other day we had family pictures. A train came by and as we all watched it pass the photographer felt inspired to take a picture. When viewing this picture I could not stop laughing at the Crane no-bum, can you find them? (there are four of us). I was a bit dissappointed, I've been on the "build a bum" pilates program with Tammy, I guess I need to talk less & work harder.

TAG i'M IT

Alright, I've been tagged before & haven't followed through so I figure it's about time. So here is the deal. When you are tagged you must share 6 facts/habits about yourself. Then tag someone(or many) and leave a comment on their blog to notify them and then they get to leave info about themselves and proceed to tag someone else. This process has been coined as the"gift that keeps on giving".

1- My favorite meal is dessert, skip the meals
2- I love how well my husband understands me
3- I sleep in every morning
4- I wish I had the memory of an elephant, but it's more like a squirrel
5- Motherhood overwhelmes me
6- I overthink everything.
Bonus--my feet stink, I can smell them right now :)

Nothing exciting or super revealing I know, but thanks for reading it anyways.
I am tagging anyone who reads this!

Happy Birthday!

We want to wish Grandpa Paul a very happy birthday. We looked for a special card to help you celebrate the big 6-0 but they don't exist, they only go up to 50, not sure what that means :)

We hope you have an awesome day!

What matters most. . .

Our hearts and prayers go out to the Roberts family & the Pugmire family.

We are concerned about them and love them.

Fletcher (Roberts) was injured at work, his wife is a long time friend of mine.

Darin (Pugmire) was in a motorcyle accident and has been Jesse's

partner in crime since he was Jake's age.

Both daddy's are in the ICU,

they are wonderful dad's & their families need them.

The greatest gift I ever had

Came from God;

I call him Dad!~Author Unknown

Date Night!

For more information go to www.jakewhite.com

Plan your escape now for an evening of entertainment, you know you need a date night!

New PB for Jes 3:38:45

Jesse had a new Personal Best today, he ran in the St. George Marathon. Okay, I know it's PR, but PB sounds yummier (pb&j's) and we haven't eaten anything yet because we are patiently waiting in the hotel room for Jesse to wake up from his nap :)

He finished strong and is doing surprising well, we are very proud of him.

Way to go Jes!

Time with the Greats

Today the boys had the opportunity to play with two sets of great grandparents, what a treat! Watching my boys play with my grandpa's brought me back 25 years when it was me riding on their backs and being teased relentlessly. It was nice to have an excuse to skip out on housework & the regular daily stresses of life. We definitely enjoyed our day!

Why we love grandparents

The boys love to call & talk to their grandma's & grandpa's. They're getting old enough that most of it makes sense, I just love to watch them trying to be so big. Here is footage of Josh talking to his grandpa Paul tonight:

Jake also played an amazing soccer game in freezing cold. He didn't want to go out until he saw his audience was complete. Thank you Poppy & Gramma Loni for cheering him on. I thought I had pictures, but they must be on your camera mom...bummer, I may never get to see those :) We love and appreciate all of our grandparents,

life would be so much less fun without them.

"People watching" strikes another victim

Last night we had icecream for dinner :) We went to a little parlor down the street. I was busy getting drinks when the lady next to me tapped her husband and said, "oh my heck, look at that guy, he could be Johnny Depp". Her husband took a glance and said "yeah, maybe before the earings & dread locks." I couldn't help but look, Johnny here? Wow! My eyes searched in the direction they were looking and all I could see was Jesse. "Really?" I told her "Someone just told me that last week, but I don't see it, usually people think he's an Osmond." They were so embarassed they'd been talking about my husband with me right there, kind of makes you wonder what people say about you when you are being "people watched", eh?

So which one is it, Donny or Johnny--Take a look:

Dancing with the Stars 2nd Night - Albert Reed

Dancing with the Stars New Season

Albert & Anna had my vote this week! I am excited about this season of Dancing with the Stars, the group is fun & has a lot of potential. Albert had me at the "Sprinkler" this week, I laughed hysterically when he pulled out his own moves in practice . He almost does them as well as Blake, but don't worry Blake he didn't do your signature "Q-tip" or "Shopping cart" dance moves. I would love to go to Hollywood to a live show, that would be the ultimate date night!

Spooky!

Halloween ghouls are out in full force! Jake found these masks in an Oriental Trading magazine and persuaded Jesse to order them. He had them circled and carried the magazine around with him everywhere for 3 days., needless to say he was very convincing. We checked the mail everyday for two weeks (next time we'll choose to express ship :) Jake had some neighbors over to play and was thrilled to share his masks. Even though they could hardly see, the kids were determined to keep them on, snack time was hilarious.
.
We'll have to work with Josh on his scary face, he looks like a monster in a daze.
I absolutely love this time of year!

New Hobby

Jesse's picked up, yet again, another hobby. He of course had to buy the gear & he's been practicing day & night. His dad took an interest in it too. Click play and wait a few moments for actual footage of this duo at work.

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

One lonely cricket. . .

is all it takes to drive me mad. At first I thought I had an intruder in the house, he was so loud! However, the high pitched screaching accelerated when I opened the front door & the little devil stops if he hears you so there is no hope of termination. So if you can't sleep why not blog, right? And seeing since it's been a while, here are some pictures of the boys:

Jesse did awesome in his race, check out his running blog & Jessica's "totally eh?" blog for pictures and comments. He was 17th in his age group, Jessica & I were proud spectators. Thank you to Bryan & Tasha for watching the boys so I didn't have to hassle with them.

Also thank you to Tash & Jody for blogging Lake Powell, we really had an amazing time, the boys can't stop talking about it. I don't want to re-post pictures, but I do have to put this little video clip of Korbyn when she fell asleep eating twizzlers on the boat.

And last, my mom surprised me this morning, when I stepped out of the shower I could hear chaos and there she was "Gramma Loni", the boys were wild with excitement. She was glowing, she looked like an angel to me, she had come to help and sometimes that's all you need to continue on.

Thank you Mom!!!

Eclipse

Fan videos, a new addiction for Twilight lovers out there. We enjoyed a few of these at book club.

Eclipse Book Club

We were were captivated by Twilight, turmoil stirred within us during New Moon, and Eclipse left us mistified, craving more. Is it possible to have an ordinary evening when the supernatural is the topic of conversation? Not at this book club! Every member had an item to discuss they were passionate about. . .from the great debate "vampire" or "werewolf" to choosing life or death for forbidden love, it was an enthralling evening.

Thanks to all who attended, I had a fabulous time and hope you did too!

Here's a peak at our evening. . .

Date Night

There is nothing like a great "Rob" story, we've been telling them for 10 years now! From remote control tumbleweed to freeze dried sacrament, these are a few of the greats. This afternoon we met new little Nicole who was born on Monday and visited with our friends Rob & Delynn. If I hadn't been so ridiculously forgetful, I might not have forgotten my camera and could have posted some of the darling pictures I took of her. Jake informed me on the way home "You always forget something mom", nice! Okay, Jes & I were talking about our fun date-night this weekend. Our thoughtful neighbor and friend Jonessa told us to send our boys over to play and take the evening off. Her hubby was out of town and she claimed she needed something to keep her boys busy. So we enjoyed a delicious and peaceful dinner at Magelby's and a stroll around the book store. I glanced through a picture book with "greatest celeb photos ever" & Jesse lost himself in the business section, he really is amazing! The only time his marathon mind takes a rest is when his head hits the pillow. Back to Rob---Delynn loved hearing about our evening out and said she would love to have date night's but Rob won't take her out. Rob got a funny look in his eyes and said "I've already dated her". I can see his "male" thinking in that, there has to be a specific reason, purpose, outcome to any and everything they (the male species) put any effort into. They also just had their 3rd baby so I'll give him a break, they are gauranteed a date night soon though, it's time for a paradigm shift!!!

Jesse thank you for continuing to date me and love me even though I am already yours, I absolutely love our time together. You understand me better than I understand myself. You really are a gift!

On the road again. . .

Three little boys after almost 10 hours of "are we there yet?". We made our last potty break and were finally only 45 minutes away from our destination. They really were little troopers.

Happy Birthday Debbie!

If you have not indulged in breakfast at Kneaders, I highly recommend it. We took Debbie out to breakfast for her birthday there last week. The next morning I drug my boys out of bed to experience the yumminess, as we kicked off our long drive to our next vacation destination, it was a hit all around.

Debbie I hope you had a wonderful birthday, we had fun celebrating it with you!