Why 2008 Was Great...

I have seen this on a few blogs, and I thought I would do it too. 2008 has been a fun year for our family. Here is why, in no particular order...

I ran my first marathon. This has been a goal for me since I was about 12. I hope to do it again some day.

I started my own business, dimples n' daisies, with Deidre.

Brad got his Master's Degree. So we are done with school FOREVER... (that is unless I ever decide to go back again...)

I still get to stay at home with the 2 most wonderful kids in the world. I love being a mom and I just don't know what I would do without those little stinkers.

We bought our very first house and we love it.

I got a few chances to see my family this year and those are some of my very favorite memories. I cherish the time I get to spend with them and only wish I could see them more. I am also thankful to have Brad's family so close to us. They are great!

Brad and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. He is my very best friend and I love him and appreciate all that he does for me and our little family.

My goal for the year was "no babies in 2008"...and I successfully achieved this goal (this really was my goal...haha)...I'm thinking this goal may continue on through 2009.

I got to go on a few trips...Washington a few times, South Dakota, and all around Utah!

I have the Gospel in my life which is the greatest gift of all.

Why was 2008 great for you???

I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year!

Funny Kids...

This is how I found Grayden today. I don't even know how he climbed in there. Once he was in, he decided to throw everything else on the floor...

Karleigh got a little karaoke machine from Grandma Wheeler for Christmas. She is quite the singing diva these days...
These two kids keep me entertained all day! I love them!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

On December 18th, 3 babies and 4 adults piled into our Tahoe to head to Washington with all of our bags and presents in a U-haul trailer behind us. What usually is a 16 hour drive, turned into a 21 hour drive on the way there and a 27 hour drive on the way home. Did I mention that I HATE SNOW!!! These are pictures from our drive on the way to Washington. The kids were pretty good with only a few mental breakdowns. Luckily we had Shrek and Elmo to keep them entertained!

The bad drive was totally worth it! I love being in Washington. There is no place like home!

On Christmas Eve day we spent the day getting ready for our Christmas Eve party. We got some cute pictures of the kiddies.

Because of the snow, church was cancelled on Sunday, so we made them wear their Christmas outfits that grandma and grandpa got them on Christmas Eve. They looked so CUTE!

This is our attempt at a family picture!

Santa came to visit us.

We had a yummy Ham dinner! My mom always makes it look so beautiful!

We read the Christmas story. At the beginning of the nativity Karleigh was the angel, Grayden was Joseph, and Savannah was Mary. By the end, Karleigh was Joseph, Grayden was baby Jesus, and Savannah was still Mary (she was just missing a few articles of clothing).

On Christmas Eve my mom and dad gave the kids these adorable rocking chairs and cute Christmas PJs.

Every Christmas we all get matching jammies and take lots of pictures.

The boys....

The girls...

My entire family...

When I was little, my grandpa made all of the granddaughters these beautiful cradles. My mom and dad fixed them up and we gave them to the Karleigh and Savannah. They thought it was bedtime...

Christmas morning was tons of fun! The kids got spoiled with all sorts of toys. I wasn't a very good photographer on Christmas morning. I guess there was just too much going on!

The drive home was every bit as eventful as the drive there. We got to Pendleton and the roads were closed. After hours at McDonald's, a trip to Walmart, and one very questionable motel, the roads reopened and we headed home going about 40 miles an hour the entire way! 27 hours later, we made it back home to little Monroe.

I hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas too! Thanks mom and dad for everything you did to make our Christmas great! We love you guys and miss you every day!

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Can you tell we are excited for Christmas at your house?? She usually sings the entire song, but she got distracted in the middle because I was singing with her...and she did not like that!

Curlers, Earrings, and Vomit

As a child, my hair spent a lot of time in sponge curlers. I don't think there was ever a Sunday that my hair wasn't incredibly curly and poofy. When I saw some sponge curlers at Walmart, I just couldn't resist. Karleigh was really excited about the idea of putting curlers in her hair too...until she found out that she had to sleep in them...But after much convincing, she was a good sport about it. We were planning on going to SLC the next day to see Katie and Steve and Heather and Jason. Karleigh loves her aunt Katie, and I told her that if she slept in her curlers, we could go and see Katie when she woke up. That sealed the deal for her...she went right to sleep. As soon as she got up in the morning, the first thing she said was...I want to go see Katie...

So we took all of the curlers out. At first, she looked like a really old lady because the curls were really tight to her head. I let her look in the mirror and she started CRYING!!! She kept saying "Fix it". It was truly funny. So I fixed it, and I think it turned out quite cute. From the look on her face, I am not sure that she agreed...

So we headed up to Salt Lake to see our friends....but because of the bad weather....we didn't even get to see them. We were super, super sad!!! We still had a fun family day. We went shopping ALL day. The kids were surprisingly good!! We even ran into Brad's parents at the mall and ate lunch with them. While we were shopping, we decided that it would be fun to get Karleigh's ears pierced. She has been telling us for a while now that she wants "pink earrings".
She was really excited to get her ears pierced. Grayden was excited too because, he got a sucker out of the event. We got it on video. It is kind of sad to watch. It looks like I am a really mean mom because I am not doing much to console her, but the ladies were teaching me how to clean her ears...I really did feel bad for Karleigh...What this video doesn't show is that as soon as we held up a mirror in front of her face, she started smiling really big. She loves her earrings. Later on in the day, we went to Target and she just stood in front of the mirror and looked at her beautiful pink earrings. She is so proud and I thinks she looks pretty dang cute.

So overall it was a fun day. We got lots of Christmas shopping done and we are so, so , so close to being done. We stopped in Manti on the way home to say hi to great grandma and grandpa Wheeler...It was good to see them and wish them a Merry Christmas...

We were about 10 minutes away from home and Gradyen threw up...4 TIMES...in 10 minutes. It was so sad. Once we were home, we cleaned him up and he just laid in the bath for 20 minutes and then he got to have a sleepover in mom and dad's room. He seems to be feeling a little better today. He isn't throwing up, but he is still having some other issues that are really not fun to clean up!!!

Look What Gray Can Do...

So little Gray is on the go! He has been walking for a few days now. Don't mind the no shirt situation...he spilled his dinner all over it! He is really sad because he wanted me to pick him up, and I wanted to get a video of him walking. I am such a mean mom.

Christmas Weekend

We had a fun-filled, Christmas weekend!!! On Saturday, we went to the Mortensen Christmas Party!

I never knew that Karleigh was such a performer! She took this microphone and sang Jingle Bells and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in front of everyone...I couldn't believe it!!!

Karleigh could not hold back her excitement when Santa came. As soon as he came through the door she ran up to him and said "Santa, I need presents". It was quite hard to hold her back while all of the other kids got their presents. She was very happy when it was her turn!

Grayden wasn't too sure about the whole Santa thing! But at least he didn't cry...

Baby Mackenzie sat on Santa's lap too...

And JaLeigh...

Then it was off to Christmas Party #2...Feliz Navida. It was our ward's Christmas party. The kids got to see Santa again...and one of his reindeer.

I can't wait for Christmas!!! I get to see my family (I can't wait...seriously I feel like it is never going to come), and Karleigh is really excited this year, so it makes things a little more exciting for us!

Also...a funny little note about Sunday. We were at tithing settlement and Karleigh announced to the bishop, "my bum hurts really, really bad"...I was so embarrassed! She has quite the diaper rash...and thought she should share with the bishop. You would think this would motivate her to go in the big girl potty...NOPE!!

Way To Go Brad!

Brad officially has his Master's degree!!! He started his MBA in August of 2007...and finished up everything as of today and with flying colors!!! I am so proud of him. He is such a hard worker and I am so grateful for his ambition in life. It seems like school has been such a big part of our lives for SO LONG...and now it is finally over! YEAH!!! Now we can do fun things at night and on the weekends, instead of homework!

Way to go Brad! I love you!

Twinners

I thought Karleigh and Gray looked cute in their matching vests this morning, so I thought I would take a picture of them...But Gray was so not into it...And of course the glare from the sun didn't help either!