Christmas stuff.

December 23rd we had dinner with my Dad's side of the family. Lots of soup with lots of cousins. It was fun. I finally saw and held Stella, she is beautiful and still so tiny! I got to see Abbie and her little family and so many others. We all ate and visited and Grandma Donna gave all the grandkids gifts of stuffed animals, flashlights and little purses. What a great time!
Adam and Moqui cheesing it.

Christmas Eve we had a wonderful ham dinner with Trent's family and my MIL read the story she reads every Christmas eve, I Believe in Santa Claus which likens Santa to Christ. I love it. Then we all exchanged gifts, which was so fun. I love seeing all the reactions and the excitement of the kids. I made Jennifer a cool calendar on Costco.com with personalized photos and dates which turned out really great. All the kids got jammies and gifts.
Charlotte was loving on Ashlyn a lot. And trying to steal her toys.
Christmas morning is all on video, but I didn't take still photos until later. I'll post video later. The kids got bikes and a play cottage, which we'll keep inside for now. They have been the biggest hits. Tucker was pleased to get the binoculars ("bee-noculars") that he had requested from several Santas.

That afternoon we spent a couple hours at Bart and Dusti's hanging out with family and then went to my parents to exchange gifts which was great. Trent enjoyed trying out Spencer's Wii. I got some very cute and much needed clothes. Not to mention that my dad got us a fantastic present of beautiful tall baseboards! Can't wait to get those installed! It was a wonderful Christmas all around, and I'm not talking about the gifts, although they were great. We had so much fun with so many family members and I loved all of it!

Busy

For whatever reason, I haven't been blogging much. I've been finishing up Christmas shopping, I still have a couple small things to get, and I don't even know what else has been making me feel like I have no time. Monday night we went to the temple lights with Blake, Andrea, and Ashlyn. Tuesday was a huge day. I picked out the best Christmas present for myself ever. I've been wanting a headboard ever since we got married-over 6 years ago, and Tuesday we bought it! I can't wait to get it home and all set up. Pictures later. That night Karen babysat all the kids while we went to Trent's company dinner at a fancy steakhouse in phoenix! It was a fantastic night out, complete with white elephant gift exchange. Wednesday we went to my mom's and hung out with her and Chandler and Jackson and Sarah and Karen and Mark and Claire and Spence and Gabe. Thursday Jill and Jordyn visited us. Jill was completely entertained when Charlotte began feeding her baby doll "boo boo milk". Tucker had his school program and treats. We went to a very crowded Target and home again. Today is Trent's work's family lunch party and tonight is the ward party. Tomorrow Tucker has a make-up soccer game for one of the ones that was rained out and then the season will really be over. We finally got Christmas pictures taken and cards ordered, I'll be happy if I get them to our friends by new year! Whew!

All he wants for Christmas is a ?

Imagine you are a man. A very handsome, athletic 29 year old man named Trent. You have 3 kids who climb all over you from the second you walk in the door. You are a workaholic. When you are not working at your actual work, you are fixing our cars or doing some project in the garage or doing yard work. You love Lake Powell. You like guns. You like to snowboard. You like to watch Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Man vs. Wild, and pretty much anything on Discovery or the History Channel. You are not sentimental. You don't care much about music or movies. Now tell me, what is it that you want for Christmas?

mugs

She just does this to get a reaction.

FHE

We actually had a family home evening this week, even on Monday night! We made a gingerbread house, sang songs and read the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2.






Charlotte loved helping (eating candy).

sock puppet?

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Santa

Friday night we had a fun family night. We went to the mall and had some dinner and visited Santa. I got a couple of bracelets and necklaces at Claire's to put in Charlotte's stocking.

Saturday I got a little more Christmas shopping done with Tucker and Henry along for the ride. Tucker's soccer game was canceled due to the rain! I loved watching the rain out the window and smelling it through the screen door. I t rained most of the day Friday and half of Saturday.

Sunday night we had a great dinner with Trent's family and celebrated Jennifer's birthday. Overall, it was a very nice weekend. Although, Henry woke up about a million times. He was literally up every 2 hours or so for the last 3 nights. I can't take this much longer. Let's hope we get it right tonight!

Henry 4 month letter

My darling Henry, or as we sometimes call you, Little Hank,
It's hard to believe you are already 4 months old! Although it seems you've been a part of our family forever. What tremendous joy you bring us. You are such an "easy baby". Almost always happy and content wherever you are. You entertain yourself well and smile contantly-usually with your tongue out. You have been able to soothe yourself for weeks now. I can lay you down swaddled up when you are tired and you will simply go to sleep. You are doing this earlier than your older siblings ever did. That might be simply that I have learned from experience, but whatever it is, it is nice. You are pretty consistent in your sleep patterns and usually wake up twice during the night. I love nursing you and you seem to love it just as much. There is nothing better than seeing you look up with a big smile and a milky chin. You look so much like your older brother, but you're unique as well. Your brother and sister simply adore you and love to touch you and make you smile and laugh. Oh that laugh, it is music to my ears. You are very ticklish and you laugh at all the silly faces we throw at you. How fun it is to see you recognize me from across a room now. You're eyes follow me everywhere. You have the strongest grip and grab at anything in your reach: hair, earrings, fingers, and toys. You pull everything to your mouth now and suck on your finger often. You are entering the drooly stage and your chest is usually wet. You are very strong and test your stomach muscles by pulling your body up to a sitting position while you are strapped into your car seat. Yesterday it seemed as if you didn't want to let your four month birthday go by uneventfully and you rolled from your back to your stomach and back again several times, as if you had known how for ages.
Henry we are so blessed to have your sweet spirit in our home. What greatness I sense in you! I am so grateful for the opportunity to watch you grow. I love you more than you'll probably ever know and I pray I can always show you that love through my actions. Thank you so much for coming to live with us, you enrich our lives so much.
All my love,
Your Mother

more from last week

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Thanksgiving weekend

Every year we go repelling thanksgiving morning with Trent's family. My camera's battery was charging, so I don't have pictures. We all got in on the fun though. Trent harnessed Tucker up and rigged him to himself and took him down with him. Charlotte got to swing on the rope too and had a good time playing in the dirt and pushing her dump truck.

This year I hosted Thanksgiving at my house with my siblings and their families. We had a tasty spread. It was really fun to have everyone together hanging out and eating.


The day after Thanksgiving I got up for "Black Friday" and scored some deals at ToysRUs (after waiting 2 hours). Then we put up the Christmas tree. While I was in the attic, I got down the baby saucer.
After that I picked up 2 of Lindy's girls to spend the afternoon with us. They were great and Tucker spent the whole day playing outside with "girlfriends". Then we headed to a get together with my Dad's side of the family at a church.
Saturday was mostly cleaning and hanging out with Henry and Charlotte while Tucker played outside again Trent worked on various projects and then when shooting with his brother Blake. Then we joined Blake and Andrea and Ashlyn for dinner at Red Robin.

It was a nice, exhausting holiday weekend.

Keepin busy

Friday we went to the zoo. Lauren came with us! We had lots of fun.

We stopped at my mom's on the way home.

Saturday Henry tried the johnny-jump-up for the first time.

Tucker had a soccer game. He did great again.

We went straight from the game to our nephew Kolbe's 7th birthday party. The "Reptile Guy" came and showed some really cool reptile's. I thought Tori would've liked it. Tucker was fascinated. Look here for pictures.

Sunday was my first time as a Primary teacher. i am now teacher of the CTR-5 class. Cool.

Fridge Art

This is my favorite drawing of Tucker's. It is our family. From left to right-Charlotte, Tucker, Mom, "a messed up Dad",pumpkin, Dad, and Henry on the bottom.

Also, right now I am enjoying the most delicious scent of my Spiced Eggnog Gold Canyon candle. I love it!

wacky week.

so, it has been quite a week. charlotte sick wednesday, tucker sick on thursday ( although it was not even close to the severity of charlotte's), and then saturday tucker woke up with a painful earache right before we should've been going to his soccer game. then saturday night (technically sunday morning) at 1 am our electricity went out. tucker woke up scared saying his room was too dark. after getting him a flashlight and going back to bed, henry woke up vomiting. i spent the remainder of the night with him on the couch with lots of towels close by and trying to sleep. it was nice sleeping with him right against me, even under the circumstances. although sleeping may not be the correct term, since very little sleep was had. sunday day was much better and he was being especially cute after his bath. we are all feeling well today, but staying home just to be safe.

i am very excited for the upcoming holidays! i love this time of year. i can't wait to get our tree up and to go looking at lights and to smell the smells and eat all the yummy food. does anyone have any suggestions what to send my little brother on his mission in madagascar for christmas?

Blah Blah

Saturday Tucker did awesome at his soccer game. No, he didn't score any goals or even touch the ball. However he played soccer! That was the awesome part. No pouting, crying, or whining. He played in his new cleats and new shin guards. He even got to play goalie for a little stretch. Nobody scored on him either (or even came close).

Our hot tub is now fixed. All of us but henry had a nice little soak Saturday night. It was fun.
Monday we had fun at playgroup and Jill and Jordyn even came over afterward.

Tuesday night Charlotte puked pretty much all night. Between her and Henry I maybe got 3 hours of sleep. So yesterday was a lot of resting and a few more vomit episodes. It seems like a lot of people have been sick lately. I am just sick of this stinkin' heat. 6 record highs in the last 2 weeks. I find it difficult to get in the holiday spirit this way.
Well Charlotte is feeling much better today. Tucker has school pictures. I can't wait to see how that turns out.

henry laughing

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Spidey, Chicken,and Bumble

This year we did the same thing as last year. We went to Queen Creek to Bart and Dusti's. We ate delicious food. Chili, cornbread, fried chicken, Cowboy caviar (corn, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes, and some other yummy stuff that goes on tortilla chips), and I brought the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that Stephanie gave the recipe for on her blog. They were really tasty and not too heavy.

Anyway, on with Halloween. Charlotte the chicken would not look at the camera or smile unfortunately, but she was adorable!

Tucker wore his mask only for pictures.

Henry got to wear the bee costume that Aunt Sarah bought for baby Tucker. He was darling, as usual.

Uncle Bart pulled the kids around the neighborhood on a trailer of hay bails. We had tons of fun. I thought the kids would tire out pretty fast, but they were loving the ride and the trick-or-treating. I decided not to wear my make-up stitching, cause I didn't want to freak Charlotte or Henry out and Tucker kept saying he didn't want me too. Maybe when they're older I'll do it again.

We had a great time!