Excited for Tonight

Any LOST fans out there? I can hardly wait for the new episode of Lost tonight. The "catch up" episode last night was fun to watch and get ready for tonight's two hour episode. Even Damon was getting into it. I bet he'll even watch it with me tonight. :)

Some Favorite Pictures

I think these pictures show the spirit that these two carried with them all the time. I'm so happy they got to be reunited.






I grew to LOVE both President and Sister Hinckley after reading this book many years ago. I learned so much about each of them as parents to their children and spouses to each other. I recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it, or needs a little uplifting in their life.

January 27, 2008

I spent my birthday doing exactly what I do every other Sunday. Church, primary, kids, dinner, etc. Then Kaylie had YW New Beginnings. (We got to hear a wonderful story from a speaker I knew in high school...small world.) As soon as we got home we heard the news that President Hinckley had passed away. What a great man! A giant in so many ways. It is sad to think he won't be speaking to us in conference again, but it is such a comfort to know that he is with his sweet wife again. He was such a wonderful servant to our Heavenly Father on this earth. What an example we have to follow. I marvel at all he brought to this gospel. The church has been blessed to have had him as President for so long. I will always remember my birthday for this.

Emma's New Locks

Well, she finally did it. Emma has been asking for a year if she could get her hair cut. I gave in and took her to get it chopped off. She got about 12" cut off. She is loving her new hair, and can't get enough glances at herself. I think it makes her look really different. Older. UGH! Like that's not coming fast enough. I am really glad that she is happy with it. We will be sending it off to Locks of Love to hopefully benefit someone else.

Thomas Legos

Ryan has been loving the Thomas and Friends Legos. They keep him busy for hours. In fact, we've been playing them this morning for quite awhile now. He is making me be Sir Topham Hat, the conductor, the freight cars, and Cranky the crane. Go figure! He gets to be all the trains. He is really enjoying the fact that he can put them together himself. (and so am I.) We're still trying to find the Thomas train, but so far no luck.

One of those layouts

You know those layouts that you just love to look at...no matter how long it's been since you've done them? This is one of those layouts. I love that the paper and the pictures were "made" for each other and it wasn't even planned. And even though it is Halloween pictures of Emma from 2005, I couldn't really picture them on an orange and spooky layout. So, this worked for me. And thanks to Kris for such an awesome layout. (I know it's a crumby picture, sorry.)

Emma's Fieldtrips

Emma got to go on TWO fieldtrips in one day yesterday. The 2nd grade got to go to the Standard Examiner to see the process of making a newspaper. (She was not impressed with this one..."I already know the primary colors, Mom.") Then it was off to the Ogden Nature Center, in full winter gear, to check out the "Animal Autographs". I think they all enjoyed this one a little bit more. It is so fun to hear her talk about her classmates and things that they all do. She sure is getting big.

10 things to do with $1000

10. New couch
9. Paint my house.
8. Sprinkling system.
7. New cement pad in backyard.
6. New fence in yard.
5. New deck.
4. New front door.
3. Tile downstairs.
2. New carpet.
1. REPAIR THE VAN!!!

Can you believe it? I can think of soooo many other things I would rather do with $1000 than dump it into the van, but you have to do what you have to do, right? Guess it's cheaper than buying a new vehicle. (Although that is what the kids would like to do.)

U of U Gymnastics

Last weekend, Damon took the kids to see the open "meet and greet" of the U of U gymnists. They LOVED it. The each got a poster of all the gymnists and then got to meet and receive each of their autographs. They talk about it all the time. I think they were very impressed. And many thanks to Dad who always takes them to fun places and gives me some "ME" time.

Congratulations Kaylie!

Kaylie (and Mom) had to do the science fair for Jr. High this year. She chose to do it on "Do colored candles melt faster than white candles?" She found out last week that she made it on to the district level. We are very proud of her and how well she is doing in school. She is talented in so many things, it is fun to see her grow into such an amazing young lady. Go Kaylie! (I forgot to take pictures of the finished science project board, so these are a couple of pics of just the candles. I will take some of the board whenever she gets it back.)

Ryan at 1

I know I already posted Ryan's new photos, but I was going through some pictures and found this one when he had just turned ONE!! I can't even believe the time has gone so quickly. Now I drop him off at school and he tells me to "be happy because you get to come and pick me up!" What a kid! We have his check-up tomorrow morning with Dr. Merkley, which he is excited about, so I will post more on how that goes...hopefully tomorrow.

Ryan's 4-year-old Pictures

We went to Kiddie Kandids a couple of weeks ago for Ryan's 4-year-old pictures. I was a little apprehensive to go because Ryan has never cooperated in the photo shoots, but I bit the bullet and went. We got there at 11:00 and walked out with pictures in hand at 11:30. He was perfect! Couldn't have been better. I think they turned out really cute and, more importantly, so did he.

Our New Years Celebration

We spent New Year's Eve with our ENTIRE family. Leslie and family came down from Rexburg and we all went to a hotel in Layton. We had tons of food, Disney Channel, Xbox, food, games, swimming, and food. It was fun to spend time all together. They kept opening the doors to the outside in the swimming pool and laying in the snow, then the pool room filled up with fog. Visibility was...none.

Fun in the pool!!

What a fish!

Nice legs!! (Landon, Chelsea, Jeremy, & Adam)

Foggy Swimming Pool

Disney Channel

Ryan (waiting for midnight)

Ryan...New Year's Day

Ryan's New Addiction

Ryan is ADDICTED to this movie. We rented it when it first came out on DVD, and then Target had it on sale a few weeks ago and Ryan kept saying..."Mom, we need to buy that Stick It movie for me and Emma." He wants to watch it all the time, and even has some lines memorized. When he plays with his action figures he has them named after the characters in the movie. It cracks me up how much he likes it. The only reason I've come up with is because he really LOVES his tumbling class. (I'm hoping it's not the girls in their leotards, not yet anyway...LOL) He is always practicing the "buttahara" (sp).

Christmas Luncheon

Every December my mom takes all the girls out to lunch at the country club. It is something that the little girls look forward to all year (the big girls too for that matter). We all had a good time and Grandma gave all the girls a picture with the meaning of their name, and their very own bottle of lotion. Lunch was so yummy, and the "Sinful 7-layer" dessert was delicious. Can't wait to do it again next year. I'm thinking we should make this a bi-annual event. (hint hint Mom) :)

Maren and Emma

Cassey and Elyssa

Cassey, Maren, Emma, and Elyssa

Lyndsey, Chelsea, and Kaylie

Wise Guys

I just had to share this picture of the wise guys, I mean wisemen, in the nativity we did. My brothers are definitely goofy! I think maybe Tim was supposed to be Joseph, but still......way goofy!

Santa was good to us!

Santa was good to all of us. Kaylie's favorite was her blue iPod with iDog and clothes, Emma's favorite was her doll and clothes, and Ryan's favorite was, well, everything. He got a digital camera and is NOT a good picture taker, but that doesn't stop him. LOL He really loves his train track and car stuff.
Ryan's Haul

Kaylie's Haul

Emma's Haul

Christmas

We had a wonderful relaxed Christmas. We always have a Christmas Eve dinner at our house with our parents. We had a delicious dinner and then the kids couldn't wait any longer to open their PJs.
Christmas Eve Dinner

New Jammies

Slippers/Socks

The kids were anxious to go to bed, around 10:30. When I checked in on them at 2:00 a.m., they were STILL awake. STINKERS!! They came upstairs and woke us up at 6:00 ready to see what Santa brought. How fun! I just love the excitement that comes with kids and Christmas morning. They were just beaming.
Ready to see what Santa brought

Treat for Santa and ALL of the reindeer

Fun with the Johnson's

Leslie, John, and her kids came down from Rexburg in the middle of December and we were excited to do some fun things with them. Friday, we went to the Voicemale concert up at Weber State. They are always so entertaining...Kaylie and Chelsea were almost as fun to watch. We ate pizza at The Pie and shakes afterward. Then Saturday we went out to dinner at El Matador in Bountiful and then to Temple Square to see the lights and watch the Joseph Smith movie. It is so much fun to spend time with them, especially since we don't see them as often as we'd like.

Ryan and Alex

At Temple Square

Ryan's Birthday

I'm a bit late on this one, but we celebrated Ryan's 4th birthday almost a month ago now. Better late than never, right? Well, we had our family over and after the party, we acted out the nativity while Grandpa read the scripture story. It was so fun. Ryan was a donkey, and Brandon was a camel. Ryan went around saying "mooo" and Brandon went around say "Hee Haw". So funny!
We had a fun party, but I cannot believe that Ryan is already 4 years old. It really does seem like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. He has moved up to the CTR 5 class and is no longer the youngest in primary. (Though I think he might still be the smallest.)
Ryan Opening Presents

Ryan's Cake

Cute Donkey and Camel