Omi and Poppi with a very sleepy Stephen at the book exchange and dinner at Aunt Gail's. Missed Josh, Linz and family and Jarad!! Best part of the night?? When Zach opened Laura's book--Twilight!
Grandma-Great and Eddie--great to visit with both of them. Time together gets more precious.
Our favorite creations--Sam's is an abominable snow monster.
Christmas is right around the corner and we have a moment to spend making sugary memories.
I got to help at Sharra's class party. Love this shot of Sharra and Ginny waiting their turn at Pin the Nose on Rudolph.
Grandma and Papa got to come up for our Ward's Christmas party and celebrate Ne-ne's birthday with cake, ice cream, and an adorable doll that coos, cries, and breathes when asleep.
Aviendha's birthday, post-presents and pre-cake, celebration at home together.
Family Lazer Tag at the Cache Valley Fun Park--what a blast (yeah, I know, very punny!)!
Ginny and Aviendha in the soft play jungle ready to go down the twisty slide.
Waiting and waiting and waiting in line for our turn to go out and see the elk at Hardware Ranch. Good thing for the cookies and hot chocolate to sustain us while we waited.
Whew! I swear I had posted since the previous one, but I guess not. Well, I am indulging myself this afternoon since I just had to visit the dentist for 2 fillings and a crown (dangit!). I have a sink and counter overflowing with dishes, plus a room full of laundry, not to mention ironing, garbages, etc.. etc. Enough! This is MY time.
So, here are some updates for all of those of you who are far away or out of touch! :) I will have to post January pictures later; the girls are watching home videos through my camera downstairs right now. I'll upload later. One of my new year's resolutions is to post a bit each week here to keep everyone better updated, but...well, I have yet to be successful on keeping that one. Today's the day.
December had three birthdays plus Christmas for us to celebrate. Aviendha, my little Ne-ne, is now THREE! We went to the Fun Park as a family to celebrate and it was a great! We got to visit with both sides of the family over the holidays--it was great to play board games, exchange gifts, and share good food and good memories. Missed those who couldn't join us--a lot! We took our traditional trip up to Hardware Ranch to see the elk and Santa. A day or two before Christmas, Aviendha fell down the last half of the stairs into the basement and landed hard on her thumb. It swelled up like a hot dog and was mottled with white, red and purple. So, we took her to Instacare for an x-ray. Luckily just a sprain, but still quite painful, poor kid! Our kids did awesome in the Christmas program for the Ward Party. Santa
did come to our house, but I think there were some days when he was close to crossing us off his route!
January came quietly at our house, since most of us were sick, again. We spent the beginning of it getting used to the school routine again. Adam finally got roped into a calling at church--building scheduling administrator or some such title. Quite a bit more work than anticipated. We get a lot more phone calls around here now. Adam took the older kids to see Tron and I took the littlest guys to the mall to play on the giant, foam-covered ice creams. I pulled my back out for a few days and then Ginny turned 5 and Sam turned 7. Ginny had one of her little friends over for a tea party and movie on Saturday. Yesterday we took four of Sam's friends to the Fun Park for Lazer Tag and the soft play. I don't know which won out as the best part of the night in Sam's mind--the lazer tag game or playing with Whoopee cushions with all his friends here during dinner afterward (that was his choice of party favors for the boys-hee, hee!).
Sam's actual birthday had a bit of a hiccup, if you will, when he got a hunk of steak stuck down his throat halfway through dinner. It was down far enough that he could breathe, but couldn't get it to go down. A few prayers, a lot of choking and gagging, and about 30 min. later, he was able to half-throw up and got it pushed out! That thing was about 3 in long and about 1/2 in in diameter!! Not really the best part of the day, but something he'll always remember as a testimony to the answer of prayers!! So, new rule here at our house: Take a sip of your drink after each and every bite of food so you can make sure you aren't gonna have something stuck.
Time marches on , as always, too quickly for this Mom. My baby is almost 18 months! I sat in RS the other day with no diaper bag, no baby to hold or keep track of, no little one on my lap--I didn't know what to do with myself. To be completely honest, I HATED it! I know that this is the stage that most envy. No way! I felt so lost, so alone and empty. Before I would at least have a baby-in-the-making to anticipate...but that stage is past and I guess this is another milestone that reminds me of that fact. I don't know if I'll ever get over grieving the loss of being able to to have babies. :( I guess it's just going to take some time and creative thinking to avoid feeling the loss.
Having fun "sledding" around the neighborhood in frigid single digit temps! Thanks, Noah!
Ginny and her castle cake, purple and blue. and, yes, that's Sleeping beauty on top with Cinderella rushing to her aid--Ginny helped decorate, can you tell? ;)
After surprising the kids with a trip to McDonald's playplace we opened presents and had cake. Happy 5th Birthday, Ginny!
Stephen had discovered the camera. This was the face he'd give every time I pulled the camera out on Ginny's birthday. You can see he "helped" with the frosting.
Ginny's birthday tea with siblings and Addy. They watched Barbie's Fashion Fairytale while eating. I'll reserve my comments on that movie.
Sammy is 7! He got to have an early out Friday schedule for his Monday birthday due to the cost-saving measures the district implemented with bus furloughs. he requested steak and mashed potatoes for dinner. He swallowed a huge piece of half-chewed steak half way though dinner that got stuck in his throat. Several prayers, a LOT of discomfort, and about 30min later, it came out. Whew! He told me that he was so worried that we'd have to cancel his birthday that he kept praying and praying for it to come out. A very memorable way to learn about the power of prayer!
Aviendha, Sam, Sharra, and Ginny (Stephen was running around and around the island) by Sam's lightsaber cake.
Sam and friends at the Fun Park ready to go battle it out at Lazer Tag! They played in the huge jungle gym and arcade afterward. We had pizza and cupcakes and presents at home. Sam picked Whoopee cushions to be part of the favor bags and they were a HUGE hit!!
