Jonah the Photographer

Yesterday I went to download some pictures off my camera and to my surprise what did I find?  Over EIGHTY pictures taken by my dear little photographer, Jonah!  I usually think I have a pretty good handle on what my kids are doing at any given time where ever they may be in our house . . . but apparently NOT!  This in combination with the pile of dented canned food and shattered canning jars I found on the floor in my food storage room the other day lead me to believe I'm not doing such a great job on the monitoring the kids thing.  Brandon's going to wonder what his at-home wife is doing if she's not watching the kids while he's at work.  Oh well, here's a sampling of Jonah's work.  Holding the camera upside down seemed to be the way to go!

One of the Banes of Motherhood

Guess what we're doing this week?  This is truly one of my least favorite parts of motherhood.  It's a blur of Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, and Superman underoos around here!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  We have so much to be grateful for.

 The past several years we have loved going to Benihana for Christmas Eve dinner.  But as circumstances would be we just had an expensive car repair and have at least 2 more repairs needing to be done.  Don't cars just have the worst timing?  So we decided it would be wise to save where we could and dinner at Benihana was one of those areas to save.  Instead I made a simple dinner made fancy by busting out my china, tablecloth and candles.  The kids thought they were eating like kings and queens.  A dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, beans, french bread and 6-layered jello was yummy and easy.  I couldn't even bring myself to make a dessert with all of the treats we had lying around and the kids were all to glad to choose from them.  Brandon declared the dinner a success and something we should continue every year instead of Benihana.  We'll see  . . .

 After dinner it was time to open Christmas jammies from Mom!  This could very well be the last year I can get matching pj's for the boys.  It makes me a little sad because they're so cute.  Why do they have to grow up?  Sarah, of course, got to match her doll since she's deprived of sisters.  After the kids were snug in their jammies we played a couple of games, watched a short DVD about the birth of Christ, read a few Christmas stories, and set out cookies and egg nog for Santa.  I think Sarah was up for most of the night half terrified that a strange man would be coming in her home and half excited to see what Santa would bring!

 Lucky for us Santa DID come!  Jacob got a Ripstick Ripster, new towel and scripture case from Santa.  Dad gave him a basketball hoop to hang in his room.  Nathan gave him a little safe to keep his money in thinking he'd outgrown his Lighting McQueen piggy bank (Jonah was all too happy to take that off his hands).  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a really nice sleeping bag with thoughts of beginning to accumulate Scouting stuff.  And Jacob received 2 books from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series from Nanny and Papa, along with a certificate to choose an experience sometime this next year with them.  We LOVE those experiences!

 Sarah received a new bike with gears, a towel and a little make up from Santa.  Sarah said, "Dad, now you don't have to BUY me a new bike.  You can save your money because Santa brought me one!"  Whew!  Good thing Santa's around to help us save money!  Dad gave her Mom's old Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.  Jacob gave her a Furr Real puppy.  Grandma and Grandpa gave her a long awaited American Girl Doll, Rebecca!  And Nanny and Papa gave her some Amelia Bedelia books with her certificate for an experience of her choice!

 Jonah received a super cool big wheel bike (that tall flag isn't just by chance, Santa knew that Mom and Dad need a little help sometimes tracking Jonah down when he takes off through the neighborhood), a towel and a sensory toy.  Dad gave him a pillow pet.  Sarah gave him a Buzz Lightyear Nerf gun (complete with sound effects - can't wait for THOSE batteries to run out).  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a new CD player to play his nightly music on.  He's been using my old boom box from college.  We have to jimmy-rig that thing regularly to get it to work.  Nice to have a new one!  And Jonah received an alphabet book with a certificate for a circus experience with Nanny and Papa!

 Nathan got a bucket of instruments, a towel and a Doodle Pro from Santa.  Dad gave him a sensory ball.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a CD player too for his bedtime music (he was using Brandon's old CD player which also had to be jimmy-rigged).  And from Nanny and Papa he received a fun animal book and a certificate for an experience at the zoo.

Santa was generous enough to bring a family gift this year:  a Foosball table!  Luckily Santa knows how to use KSL classifieds for used stuff!  Santa got a great deal!  That added with Nanny's spit 'n polish and detail for cleaning, it looked new enough to fool the kids!  We look forward to lots of fun time with our kids and their friends on this.

We had our traditional breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon and oranges with Nanny and Papa who slept over to join in the morning's excitement.  It was lovely to go to church, hear the choir sing and be reminded of the Savior's birth.  Later that night we joined the rest of Brandon's family at Shauna's house for a pot luck dinner while the kids and cousins played with their new toys.  I love Christmas!  

Christmastime

I know Christmas is a favorite time of year for most people, and I'm no exception.  I LOVE Christmas!  It's so magical and full of anticipation.  I think it's even more fun now with kids of my own, especially MY kids because they're so excitable and a little high-strung.  It makes for really low lows, but also really high highs.  Our house literally vibrates with excitement this time of year.

Last year we didn't do ANY lights because we were so overwhelmed with our house and having a new baby.  Unless we hire the job done it's way too dangerous to string lights along our roof line, and there's no way I'm spending the money to hire someone to put up lights.  Brandon whipped up a star and put lights around our pillars this year.  I though it looked pretty good, the kids loved it, and now we feel like we're at least contributing to the Christmas spirit in the neighborhood.  Good job, Honey!



 Gumballs.com shorted us 72 gumballs on our order.  I needed every one of those 850 gumballs for neighbor gifts.  So I called and complained.  Unfortunately they don't just send out 72 gumballs, so instead they sent us 850 MORE for FREE!  Now THAT'S a lot of gumballs.  My kids think they've gone to heaven.  We'll be eating gumballs for a LONG time.  If I were a little more organized I'd set aside red and white ones for Valentines.  Oh well.  Chew up, kids!

We took a trip to see the lights at Temple Square.  Poor Nathan got put in a PINK hat and gloves.  Its all the hand-me-downs I had left.  We didn't get many pictures because it was SO cold and the crowds were a little overwhelming for Jonah.

 Sarah's 1st grade class did a darling Christmas program.  Her teacher is wonderful!  All the kids had little elf costumes!  So cute!

 Take kids to see Santa?  Check!  Santa's got to know what they want!

 And last, but not least, the family nativity!  Jonah was Joseph this year with Annie who was Mary.  Aren't they precious?

 Sarah & Naomi were the excited angels!

 Eli & Jacob were the happy shepherds with some pretty cute . . . ummm . . . maybe they're sheep, or squirrels, or maybe even dogs.  I'm sure all kinds of animals were happy that Baby Jesus was born.

 Ruth, Bethany & Emma were the wise women, I mean men.  Bethany pulled her long hair in front for a beard.  It was pretty funny and creative!

 And here's the whole group minus a couple of older cousins who have outgrown acting out the nativity.

I couldn't resist this picture of Nathan.  He was NOT happy to be a stable animal.

Sigh.  I just LOVE Christmas!  Why does it have to be over?

Thanksgiving!

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year at our house!  We were supposed to be with my family, but my darling sister Kristen was in the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  They all went off to New York to join in the hub bub of the parade!  We missed you this year!  So we picked up the family members that were without Thanksgiving plans:  my brother and his family, Brandon's parents since it was their off year, and Shauna's family since her in-law's were on a trip for their Thanksgiving year.  It's always nice to have extra helping hands to make food and clean up.  It was a fun, relaxing day full of visiting, eating, playing games, eating, looking through the newspaper for Black Friday deals, oh, and more eating of course!

 Here's Jonah all ready for dinner to start!

 Sarah getting a little snuggle time with cousin Caleb and Uncle Justin.

 Daddy & Jonah patiently waiting for everyone to sit down!

I'm not very crafty or good at decorating the perfect Thanksgiving table, but making these little turkeys were my attempt at name cards for place settings.  Jacob wrote and decorated the names for me.  While they weren't perfect, I thought they were pretty cute and the kids loved eating them!

I should have taken more pictures, but you know, I was too busy eating!  Happy VERY late Thanksgiving!!!

More Reunions

I never got around to blogging about MY family's reunion . . . our first one ever!  We copied Brandon's family and went to Heber.  Justin, my brother, had a great connection for an AMAZING cabin.  We had so much fun!  Thanks, Mom and Dad for giving us the opportunity for creating such great memories!

 Brittany's family stayed with us before and after the reunion.  The kids had fun playing with cousins.  Here's Jacob with Aaron and Anson.

 Right before our reunion Justin & Amy blessed their new little Caleb.  While we were waiting for them to change clothes the natives got a little restless and piled on Ashley and Aunt Kristen!

 There was barely room for Kristen in the car with all of the stuff Mom hauled for everyone!

 Ashley did several fun crafts with the kids!  Thanks, Ash!

 We love being with our cousins, especially when we don't get to see these cousins very often.  Here's Maddie, Megan, Sarah, Jacob, Aaron & Anson.

 Mom, of course, took advantage of everyone being together to get a family photo!  Grandma single handedly keeps Gymboree in business so that all her grandchildren can match.  Just don't show Grandpa the receipt!

 And here's just my family.  Some of my favorite people in the world!  How blessed I am!

Oh, and Kristen wanted a picture with just her nieces!  Cute, huh?

Early Morning Run In With the Law

On my way home from the gym early this morning I got pulled over by the police!  Can you guess what my very evil and naughty offense was?  That's exactly what I was wondering as I pulled over and waited for the officer to come to my window.  What did I do?  Did I not stop long enough at a red light before I turned right?  Was I unknowingly speeding?  Did I forget to signal before I changed lanes?  Nope!  It was none of those things.  I got pulled over because one of my front headlights was burned out.  Now I can see that the police might see the need to inform citizens about the fact that their headlights are burned out because it's sometimes hard to tell when you don't often see the front of your car.  The information would be helpful and keep everyone safe on the road.  But not Officer I Haven't Met My Coda For My Shift, or Officer I'm Miserable Working So Early In The Morning And Everyone Else Should Be Miserable Too, or Officer I'm Really Bored And Have Nothing Else To Do.  That's right.  He took my license, registration and proof of insurance and issued me a citation!  Can you believe that?  I've been pulled over speeding and gotten off with a warning.  I've been pulled over for rolling through a stop sign and been given a warning.  But getting written up over a headlight?  What gives?  And what do the police do in their cars once you give them all your documents?  Run a full background check on you?  Do I look dangerous (granted, I probably looked pretty scary without make up and after a workout)?  I sat there waiting for TEN MINUTES watching my plans for my carefully planned out morning go down the drain.  That's right.  I planned my morning to the minute so that I didn't have to wake up one minute earlier than I absolutely needed to and still get everything done.  It took me until almost 2:00 p.m. to recover that precious 10 minutes.

So I guess I'm off to get my headlight changed and then to hunt down a police officer to verify that it has indeed been changed and sign my citation so that I don't have a fine.  It's not a huge deal, but right now it's just one more thing to do and more importantly one more thing to REMEMBER to do.  I wonder when I find an officer to sign my citation if he'll just laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, which was what I wanted to do this morning to the officer that pulled me over.  But I'll be honest, I'm scared of policemen.  I didn't want additional citations for being rude or disrespectful.  What would you have done?