December in a Gigantic Nutshell

This post will be working backward through the month of December. I thought Asher deserved the recognition first.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHER!!

He has turned 1 year old (Dec. 29th) and the time has flown! It feels like he's always been with us, but I can't believe it's been a whole year since he was born. His name means 'happy' (Genesis 30:13) and happy he is. We are so blessed to have him in our family and he brings joy to all of us. Asher loves to run, climb (he has successfully negotiated the stairs-up and down-today), cuddle, and laugh. We love you Asher. We had friends and family over for a little party the night before his birthday.

He had plenty of help opening presents that night!

Lemon cake and Peppermint ice cream. It's fun having a birthday this time of year. We party all week long starting with Christmas.

Too afriad to dig in at first, he decided to use a no hands approach.

After cake, a fresh set of PJ's and it was time to play with the new toys.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve the kids got jammies from mommy and daddy. We sang songs, read scripture and put out the milk, cookies, and carrots. They all fell asleep really early and we up and going before it was light.

Santa got everything just about right this year and it didn't break the bank! Bubble gum, Build-a-Bear, Webkinz, clothes, $5 DVD's... it was a great morning.

It was Asher's first Christmas but we kept forgetting that fact because he's been with us all year! He wasn't sure what was going on, but the girls' enthusiasm was contagious.

There's nothing like a See's chocolate Santa to make you smile!

All Avanlee asked Santa for this year was a penguin and a sucker. Santa happily obliged.

New paints were a highlight. Within 10 minutes Asher had the red paint spilled all over our very light colored carpet in the livingroom. It caused points of contention throughout the day but we all survived... even if the kitchen was a bit more colorful afterward.

Pixies and webkinz make for great computer fun. I'm very grateful for fun educational PC programs and sites. Check out starfall.com -- it is a great site for preschoolers and beginning readers.

This is one of Asher's favorite and dangerous pass times--hanging out under the sink. we keep a close eye on him while he's in the kitchen. If we don't, all the cupboards are emptied in a matter of mintues.

Asher's aunt made him the cutest rocking chair for Christmas. He and the girls love it and often fight over who will sit in it.

MELANIE'S VISIT

A friend of mine from HS in Cailfornia visited us the week before Christmas. Leaving Asher with a good friend, we took Melanie and the girls to temple square to see the lights. It was beautiful, albeit very cold. We had a good time. Here are my little eskimos.

Coming from Southern California I was fascinated when I first discovered that you can ACTUALLY see the individual snowflake crystals when you catch them on your glove. Who knew they REALLY looked like snowflakes! It sounds silly I know. Icicles were another very fascinating cold weather phenomenon we lacked in Santa Clarita. So when Melanie came it was fun to see that she was in awe of the same things. Here we have Mel holding a very large chunk of a broken icicle up Ogden canyon. Thanks for visiting Mel!

CHRISTMAS PARTY

Kyle's family are all relatively close and we have the opportunity to enjoy annual holiday festivities with them. Here are some pics from one of the events we attended. This first one was in a train were the children heard the Polar Express and had cocoa.

This was the fourth Santa the kids were able to talk with. It was a lot of fun to see and hear their reactions each time.

Sitting on Santa's lap is were Avanlee divulged her Christmas wishes. Good thing I was listening!

Fourth Santa's a charm. It was this Santa that finally persuaded Asher to sit all by himself without crying.

His preference, though, is to sit with Mamma.

H. GUY CHILD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHOIR CONCERT

I've had the priviledge of volunteering and conducting the local elementary school's choir off and on over the last couple of years (when I've been able). It is soooo much fun! I love getting to know the kids and giving them the opportunity to learn music and perform. We don't have a lot of fine arts finding and it's great to give this kind of service to the community. We sing and act and have a good time. My kids come with me and love to participate. We had a holiday concert the beginning of the month and it was a hit! We performed for the school, the parents, and finally at the city tree lighting. It was great!

PRIMARY CHRISTMAS PARTY

At our ward's Christmas party, the primary did a nativity. Scarlett and the other Sunbeams were shepards. It was super cute.

The kids enjoyed the singing and the narration before Santa came to visit them.

This was santa #1. They were so excited! It was pretty chaotic with all the kids there, but they didn't seem to mind!

Being so shy last year, I was very excited when Avanlee couldn't wait to talk with Santa (being allowed to use a micorphone helped!).

Our neighbor Morgan had to help Asher out.

Last and least I chopped my hair a good 8-10 inches the first of the month. I've been promising a picture so here it is.

We are so grateful this time of year to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am who I am and my life is wonderful and blessed because of His love for us and His sacrifice for all. I love my savior, I love my family and I'm blessed everyday to have both in my life. I couldn't ask for more.

Finally Some New Pictures!

I have finally posted pictures!!!! I'm sorry that I didn't have time to browse for any with more clarity. Thanks to Janessa I'm staying up later than I should to do this quickly. First, this little lady just celebrated her 3rd birthday. I haven't put the pics from her bday party on the computer yet. She's such a sweet girl! She definitely has a mind of her own (in a good way!) and has had a gigantic growth spurt. She measured 41 1/2 inches at her check up (Scarlett measured 41 3/4 inches at her 3 year check up. I didn't know Avanlee was that tall too!). We're so blessed to have her sweet spirit in our home! We hosted a mystery dinner Halloween night. We had a blast! It was set in 1928 chicago and I ended up being the culprit!

Here are my cute kids Halloween night. Avanlee is wearing one of three costumes she picked out (spur of the moment) for this season. Here she is a princess witch.

This is just prior to our neighborhood Trunk or Treat. We pulled out the old Tigger outfit after we discovered her dragon costume was too small (growth spurt!)

These are at Cochran's Produce where they have a celebration each year. Kyle made his famous Spudnuts and we nearly froze to death but had a blast! (There's the elusive dragon that I needlessly purchased!)

These are Asher's 9 month pictures that Kyle snapped in our yard and around the house. Kyle does a very good job considering we don't have the kind of camera for this sort of thing. Asher tries to eat the camera when I get close to him with it.

I took Asher and his cousin running when we watched the kids. They were so cute sleeping in the stroller!

More of Asher from his shoot with Daddy. Isn't he handsome?

Long Time No Blog

So things have been pretty crazy us. Kyle was working a ton of overtime and between Preschool, sports, choir, church and Halloween, we have been running and running! With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up we're pretty much booked through the end of the year. I'll try to post when I can, but I may be fairly absent from the blogging scene for a while. I'm hoping to post pictures this week. We had a number of Halloween celebrations we attended--for which Avanlee had a different costume each time. We had a murder mystery dinner at our house Halloween night (super fun, set in 1928). I ended up being the culprit. I held solo auditions for the upcoming elementary school holiday concert, and our preschool group had a field trip to the fire station. We attended Stacey Larsen (Ryan)'s wedding and had a good time catching up with some old friends from CA (especially the Larsens, Wallaces, Petrovitches, and Cowdens). We have regional volleyball (co-ed and women's) tournaments, Avanlee's birthday, cutting down our Christmas tree, meetings, visits, writing a choir script, and a doctor's appointment all before Thanksgiving week. We are enjoying every minute of our crazy, exciting, wonderful life together as a family. The kids are growing and learning and we love to watch them as they progress. Kyle's doing very well at work and we're grateful to be in a good position job-wise during turbulent economic times. We are blessed with faith in a God who knows us and in whom we can trust, a loving family, a beautiful home, freedom from fear, safety, transportation, sustinance, good friends and support, among many other things. we give thanks to God who supports and sustains us. We thank our family and friends for their love, support and patience. (I'll post pics soon!)

He Walks!

He're's our sweet little one walking for the first time! He had taken a step or two here and there before, but this is his first real stroll . The first video's lighting is terrible, but you'll get the idea. As you'll be able to tell, we were all quite excited!

We are still super busy with sports, music, school, work, canning, getting over flu/colds, scouts, etc. (and now Kyle's planning on making 500 doughnuts for Cochran's holiday event Monday night. Yes, he's crazy). Hopefully we'll be able to slow down a bit in November!

Where has the time gone?

Wow what a month! (and it's not even over yet!) We've had a lot of firsts this month that I've been just plain too busy to post about! Earlier in the month Scarlett had her first day of pre-school, then her first soccer game. She's also riding her two-wheeler without training wheels, though I think she started that last month. I had my first day ever teaching pre-school (a separate occassion from Scarlett's first) and had my first day (this year) of directing the elementary school choir. Next year I'll actually do the choir AND have a child going to the school! Asher cut his first tooth and took his first steps! (I've got to tell ya, that child is growing up WAY too fast, and no he's not even 9 month old yet!). We bottled pears from our own tree for the first time (along with the salsa, grape juice, peaches, etc. that we normally do). I think poor Avanlee is feeling a little left out. She's growing up so fast and is sounding so grown up, but the things she's developing don't have any visible milestones. She'll get her chance at some more 'firsts' soon. She and her sister DID participate in their first talent show this month. Avanlee did a summersault (woohoo!). Kyle has officially been made the Scout Master over the regional Special Needs Scout Troop in our area. It's been a crazy end to a fabulous summer. On top of all of our 'firsts' we've been playing church volleyball, Kyle's been working on some side jobs, and I've been put in charge of our neighborhood's collections for the Pennies by the Inch organization for Primary Children's Hospital. It's funny how busy you can get and at the same time think things will let up soon...because in reality it never really lets up at all. It's amazing how the longer someone lives and the more experience a person gains, the greater their capacity to do things becomes. With each new job accomplished comes an expansion of self. One year you think you can't possibly do one more thing and the next year you find yourself doing three times as much. I'm in awe of humankind's ability to progress and adapt and credit a loving Heavenly Father and Savior for this miracle of life.

Here are a few quick pics of some of what's been going on:

Scarlett's first day of preschool. Three other mothers, along with myself, are taking turns teaching preschool to our daughters this year and they're having a blast! Scarlett asks almost everyday when her next day of preschool will be.
Here's Scarlett (complete with pink soccer ball and pink cleats) on her first day of soccer. She was so excited.

Guess who was a TOTAL natural...?

It was amazing to watch her play for the first time. With no real prior practice or experience she got out there and scored 5 or 6 goals...even when her own teammate decided to start playing goalie!

This was just a super cute picture I had to post. They both kept making faces while I took pictures and played so well together, I just had to capture the moment. It isn't everyday that you see them playing without it ending in one of them crying.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We had a great/busy weekend and were able to sqeeze in a date for our anniversary. Here's the cute man I married 6 years ago. He and the kids are the best things that have ever happened to me and the best choices I've ever made. He's an amazing husband, father, provider, and friend. He's spiritual, a hard worker, loving, loyal, and a lot of fun. Everyday that we're married, I feel more and more blessed to be with this man.
Here I am in my happy place. My life couldn't get any better.

For those of you who don't know, Kyle has givien up quite a bit to be with us during the difficult and time consuming period of life that is having young children. He doesn't rock climb, backpack, hike, fish, golf, ski, or much of anything else quite as much as he used to because he wants to be around to help. He understands that this season of our lives and the lives of our children is short and he wants to be around for it.

Our date stared out with dinner downtown at the best Macaroni Grill in the state. Yum! Then we drove over the Ensign Peak monument. We hadn't been there since July 5, 2002...the night Kyle proposed.

We hiked to the monument at the top of the hill at almost the exact same time we did more than six years ago. The flat place next to us in this pic is where Kyle had a blanket laid out with a cooler full of fresh fruit, Martinelli's cider, and the biggest rose I'd ever seen waiting for me. He'd hidden the ring in the rose, and this is where he asked me to marry him at sunset.
This picture is dedicated to Lara Deppe who is a little obsessed with taking pictures of feet.

Here we are with a view overlooking the city.

Awwww, aren't we cute?

We hiked down just after sunset (very trecherous...I'm considerably night blind). We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dessert, picked up the kids, went home and watched 27 Dresses (a cute movie for an anniversary date). We had a great time revisiting those memories. I love you Kyle!