New Years!

Our whole family! My brothers came into town and our family was together for New Years. It was awesome. It was renewing and cathartic, and that is all I will say about that. We had fun with cousins. Rich made a sledding hill and every time Garrett went on it, he just kept saying to himself, "This is vewy vewy good." That is his way of screaming, "Thank you Uncle Rich, this is the best thing of my life!" Jump On It was a hit. Even for Hansen, the kid was born to jump.

We got to ski...which was very nostalgic. We got to get a pic of our old cabin where many a days were spent playing pool, in the sauna, and jumping of balconies into snow forts. We had plenty of time to take the picture, because traffic going down the canyon on New Year's Eve day was incredible. Standstill is an understatement.
It was great teaching the kiddos to ski though. Very fun. Horrible at first...then very fun. :-)
Molly and Lola EZ bakin it up. Ridiculous toy. You work really hard to have three bites of dessert. Ridiculous. Molly of course, loves it and wants to do it all the time. Today was Peanut butter fudge.

Hansen loves these drums as much as anyone...and I still love that it has volume control. Good toy.
Sleepover with her cousins. It was heaven for Molly. She loved it. We had a great time, and were sad to see them leave. We got a Christmas card from Aaron's fam and Molly had to put it up in her room to "think about them." :-) Highlights: Seafood bash at Russ and Mary's. MMMM. Steelhead, huge shrimp, mussels, and yellowtail(caught by my nephew). Being at Alta skiing. Temple. Watching the kids sled on all of the uncle's crazy trails(even if it meant hitting a rock), Singing. I'm probably forgetting something, but that is what I get for waiting so long. :-) Good good times. I am and forever will be grateful for my family.

Welcome 2010

I came downstairs after Hansen woke up to find Garrett watching a little morning show in his new(actually very used) ski boots. If that isn't the cutest thing...

We'll head up to Alta today, partially to get out of this inversion. Some guy(probably someone with a PhD in air quality or something) on the news, let us know that the air we are breathing is like smoking a pack of cigarettes. Awesome. Doesn't that just make you feel great? It is so gross. When I drove into the Salt Lake Valley yesterday it was even worse than here. (so maybe that is like two packs a day) Sooooooo bad. To top it off, it also makes it COLDER! Oh Spring...where art thou? I will anxiously await you...until then I will ski.

Christmas 2009

What a wonderful year we have had. With SO many changes. New job, new house, new car, new baby, new schools, etc...It has been a little too eventful, but we are grateful.

What a great Christmas we had! We had a few classic meltdowns...but I choose to ignore those and try to just remember the good. :-) Needless to say, Garrett won't be getting pj's without a pj top next year late on Christmas Eve. Highlights: Passing out caramels and caroling to our ward friends. Some of the older people couldn't get enough of the little people in their Santa hats singing(and Garrett jumping up and down and singing all at the same time). I was running out of songs that I had taught them. Note to self for next year, learn more songs. Our repertoire will have to be much larger for our older friends. Caroling to Sam's patients on Christmas Eve. When loneliness is seen so close up, my crazy children don't seem quite so crazy anymore. Christmas Eve and while doing Luke 2 we didn't think that Hansen would cooperate at all by laying still in the "manger" but he spent a couple still minutes(which is Christmas miracle 2009) just looking up at his sister(Mary) and his brother(the shepherd). Singing Silent Night and watching him be so still was memorable and priceless.

25th---Having Garrett sneak down to see if Santa came and running back up and whispering so excitedly, "Mom, Dad....Santa brought me CHEETOS!" Molly after opening a few presents looked up and said, "Mom, look(pointing at her stuff), are those ALL for me?" and after she opened them saying, "Thank you mom and dad." It was a highlight too as she was able to read all of our tags, my personal favorite, that even got her laughing, "To: The one who threw up on the way to the temple open house...From: the one who took you" She was so cute as she was guessing who each present was to and from. Garrett being scared of the robot dinosaur, not daring to get to close. Hansen wandering around breaking stuff. :-) Molly making me smell the empty milk cup that was left for Santa, "Look mom, Santa smells like nothing!" Eating Christmas eggs(then having Garrett pretend he liked them so he wouldn't ruin my Christmas with a fit). Watching them watch our family video while they waited for their next turn to open a present. It was crazy to see how much they have grown in just a year.

26th---Sam's birthday was pretty fun as well. Family came and celebrated with us as we did a cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue. It was fun...and the kids had a great time with cousins. They just kept asking where the cake was, and I kept telling them I didn't make one b/c daddy doesn't like cake. They kept coming up and asking thinking that I was kidding. I wasn't. :-) He'd rather just have a milkshake...and that is so much less work. He is so wonderful in every way.

So all in all it was a Happy Christmas and a Happy Birthday. This was a year where it was a different Christmas spirit for me personally. As there have been challenges in the lives of those so close to me. I came to the horrible realization that SO MANY people are struggling in so many ways. And life is hard. This changed me a bit this Christmas but reminded me that we are so blessed and need to be grateful every single day.

These little people

I know I am going to miss Garrett J when he goes off to school. I was out shoveling snow, and it was good exercise as my positive mind says...but when my fingers started to ache from the 24 degree weather(even with Sam's good ski gloves on), I was getting a little sick of it. Then, the front door opens and Garrett through the storm door gives me a big thumbs up. I am not sure if he just has fortunate timing, or he can sense when his mom is feeling a bit discouraged...but every one needs a Garrett in their lives.

Then earlier in the week, I was moving the kids beds and found a cup...yes a CUP in between the mattress and the box spring of Molly's bed. Upon questioning, she said, "I wanted to see if I was a real princess like princess and the pea." Oh yes, my sweets, you are a princess...a real one. :-)

The last few weeks...

Carnival games a la Molly and Logan. We spent an evening at my mom's participating in the carnival. From the backpack race(logan says mine wasn't heavy enough and it didn't matter that I had to hold Hansen and run...just the backpack needed to be heavier), to the bottle squeeze, the coloring contest, the scooter race, and the obstacle course...all to be finished off by the salt shaking contest...Sam won, I was so proud. He won an original "color by number" piece by Logan as his prize. Fantastic. A little pizza for dinner and it was a success. They also charged us to participate...lucky Grandma had some cash.
We had a play date with some old friends, and we ended up in Grandma's leaves. It was so fun.
This is Garrett watching VERY closely as Molly is in the dental chair. He was SO excited to get his turn(when they said, "Garrett you are up" he dropped everything he was holding and walked very intently to that chair), and then told me afterwards that he didn't really want to go back again. :-)
Thanksgiving with the Baxter's was great. Sam's sister Andi hosted and we just brought in some food. I did home made rolls...and was very proud of myself cause I didn't mess them up and I only called my mom 4 or 5 times. I also did creamed corn and stuffing. My new discovery this year was buttermilk pie, which I will be making next year, no matter what. It was great day filled with Bingo, prizes, peanut hiding, and crafty Thanksgiving treats. Garrett slipped and split his lip(I figure it wouldn't be a real day without one of my boys injuring something)...but then right after Hansen threw up ALL of his stomach contents(6-8 oz of milk) all over Garrett. He just looked at me with these big blue sad sad eyes and his bloody fat lip and said so despondently, "Dat's it, I'm just a big big mess!" It was one of those moments that you have to try not to laugh because it was that sad.

The kids had a fantastic time getting Christmas decorations put up. As we were setting up one of the trees Garrett just kept saying, "This is going to be hugmongous" :-) They are so excited. As we put up the nativities, and I was talking to Molly about how this is the real reason for Christmas, she looked at me with the biggest "I'm not buying it" look ever and said, "It's like on one day the whole world has a birthday party! We will have to work on that. She then asked me this morning if Santa was real or if he was just a "story." I didn't know what to say, so I said what I always say, "Ask your dad when he gets home" She is only 6! How is she already figuring that out!

Kiddos being kiddos...

We are excited for the upcoming holiday season. We were talking about Giving Thanks tonight and Sam was giving FHE lesson, "Have you ever heard of the the ten lepers?" Molly, "You mean the ten leper-chauns?" Awesome. Then while we were eating dinner, we asked what they wished they could get for Christmas, Molly says, "A new chiuaua puppy." Sam, "You mean a new rat?" Garrett, "Yes! I want a rat for christmas! yea! a new rat!!!!" I love these little people.

The last little bit...

We've been enjoying fall with all our might! I keep forcing the kids to go play outside, "Cause this might be our last day of good weather." They are starting to catch on, and I am pretty sure they think San Diego weather might miraculously appear this winter. We are supposed to have a beautiful week too...so i'm not sure they will listen to me anymore.

We have been jumping and raking in leaves(Garrett did a full lay out dive on his first couple of dives...his cousin thought he was a bit crazy...we all do).

Halloween was really fun, with home made pizza's shaped like pumpkins at my mom's and trick or treating with cousins, and my fiasco of home made doughnuts. I don't even have a pic of what Molly dressed up as for the actual night of Halloween. She was a witch for some parties, a ballerina for the school parade, and a star for trick or treating. Hallo-week. Insane.

We had a couple of celebrations for Molly's birthday. My mom and dad did one with all of her cousins. She got "dollars" in her card...and she was pretty pumped. She is in the pic with her Grandpa O and Hansen. Doesn't she just look 6? :-) We then threw a surprise party because her Great Grandpa and Grandma just happened to be coming into town. She was so excited. She walked in and had a pretty stunned look on her face, and then just started hugging everyone. It was cute. I think she was sort of embarrassed so she just kept walking around hugging everyone. Garrett walked in right behind her and immediately started to cry and walk backwards. He was scared to death.(note to self, he is too little for surprise parties). I didn't post a pic, because all I had was video. But the first pic is of Hansen playing while I prepared for the party. :-) I made a little "sleepover" cake for her that was shaped like a little bed with little people in it...complete with little teddy gummy bears. She is the big 6, and we are so proud of her. She is the girl that already memorized her part for the primary program(three weeks away), and all her teachers love her...but she is only concerned about friends, friends, friends. She came at the end of the party and says, "Hey I didn't get cake"(we had cut and eaten it long before, but she was just TOO busy playing with all of her cousins. It is fun to watch her grow up.