Happy Birthday William!

Yesterday was William's birthday. It is hard to believe that my little boy is two years old. He is growing up so fast. We had a busy day trying to get ready for the big "birthday bash," amidst going to church, cleaning up from visiting family, and tending to Marie (who really likes to be held), so our celebration was later then we would have liked. It was worth the work and the wait though. William loved his cake (we haven't actually gotten around to eating it, but he did get to blow out the candles) and he has been in heaven with all of his new toys. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Becca!

So, remember my post, Marie's photo shoot, well, these two pictures are the best I could do in regards to a photo shoot with William. He just wanted to play with his car. Gotta love my two year old.

The cake. Definitely not professional quality, but Brandon and I had fun making it. Brandon's contribution was the color choices and the license plate. He did a good job, didn't he?

This picture made all the work worth it. This is a classic William face when he is excited about something.




This is an empty bottle of Fresca, you wouldn't know it though, the way William thinks he's chugging it.


Just wanted to show off the Cars tablecloth. William absolutely loved it. It was so worth the $1.67. (Look, Mom, he's playing with his crayons and lunch box)





William opening his present from Aunt Becca.





OK, I have a couple of other videos to post, but those will have to wait. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Marie's Photo Shoot

After Marie woke up we were able to take some pictures of her. I can't get over how cute she is. In the past two days we have made some changes in regards to feeding her (that is a story for another day) and she has been so much happier and has finally started to smile! What a doll.

Christmas Sunday

One of the many things I have always looked forward to, in regards to being a mom, was dressing my kids up for Christmas Sunday. I had so much fun this year finding a cute shirt and vest for William, and sewing a dress for Marie. They both looked adorable and were a hit with all of the people at church. On our way home from church I told Brandon that before we ate lunch and changed I wanted to get some family pictures in front of the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, our kids had other plans . . . sleeping. So, here is our version of family pictures on Christmas Sunday. After all, parenthood is all about being flexible, right?

Why Bother?

One thing I just don't get into at Christmas time is going to visit Santa. I don't know if I will ever take my kids to the mall to see him until it is per their request. As a little girl I always felt like I should like sitting on his lap and all that, but really it always just scared me. Besides, he never brought me what I asked him for. Somehow, he always brought me what I asked my parents for. To this day, still can't figure that one out. (ha, ha)

Gingerbread Housing!

Since about 85 B.C. my family has taken a night in December to make a Gingerbread Village. It has become a favorite tradition among all of us, and my mom has even roped in friends and neighbors to join along. Being in Utah this year for Christmas meant that I would need to take care of the Gingerbread Village tradition. First off, I realize that these houses are made of graham crackers, but we say gingerbread, I don't know why. I guess because they are wanna-be gingerbread houses. Whatever. Anyway, I knew that this tradition just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have a houseful so I decided to invite a family from our ward to make houses with us. The mom, Michelle, was the art teacher at Thomas Edison, where I taught music and her kids were students there. She is so much fun and her kids are as cute as can be. They were so excited to come and play and I was excited to have them!

They came over for Family Home Evening, so after a yummy dinner of homemade pizza we had a quick lesson and then started our creations. It is always so much fun to see the ideas that everybody comes up with.

I have discovered that it might take years for me to master the art of making Royal Frosting (aka glue) so it is a good thing that this is a tradition, I will get a lot of practice. In the meantime, I am grateful for cell phones because I think I called my mom about 10 times that night asking for tips and advice. "How warm do the eggs need to be?" "Do I use the whisk or the flat beater?" "What is the recipe?" "How many batches should I plan for?" For those of you that have ever made a gingerbread house, you can appreciate my stress because a batch of frosting will either make or break (literally) the evening. So, despite the fact that I am a novice, we had a lot of fun, made a huge mess, and only had one house collapse . . . mine!

Amber is in kindergarten and she is such a doll! I helped her with the walls of her house, but after that she was on her own. I was very impressed by her skills.

Jessica is about to start her second house and Logan is waiting patiently while Michelle works on his.

Behind that smile I am thinking, "Oh man, this frosting had better work!"


Hyrum was smart, he opted for the flat roof style house and he left his starbursts wrapped so he can eat them later!

Under construction . . .

William was our human vacuum. He walked around eating all the little pieces that fell on the floor. Can you say sugar high? In the picture he just tried a peppermint stick, it wasn't his favorite, but Michelle was!

The cute family displaying their masterpieces. They are such a great family!

Brooke finished her house fast so that she could hold the baby, which was great for me, I needed to tend to the frosting!


Brandon's Masterpiece. Notice his entryway, gate thingy. That is his point of pride.


The kids all thought that it was cool that my house fell, so I left it as is. Great, isn't it? I like the pretzels that Michelle found, they made a great fence.

Lullaby

Not long after her oldest son Christian was born, my sister-in-law, Tanya, gave me the endearing nickname "Baby Snatcher" . It was well deserved because I have always loved holding babies. They are so cute and cuddly and it is so relaxing. Christian was especially vulnerable to my baby holding needs. He was born during my senior year of high school and in my mind there was nothing better after coming home from a tiring day at school and water polo, then to snatch Christian and fall asleep on the couch with him. So relaxing. I bring this up because I have some recent pictures that prove that I am not the only one that feels this way. There is something magically relaxing about holding a baby. So, if you are an insomniac, have a baby! :)

Arms

As you look at these pictures and adore my sweet baby girl, I also want you to notice her arms. It isn't hard to catch her in this position because she always has her arms folded like that, unless, of course, she is crying, then she is clawing at her face. One can imagine why I like it a lot better when she is content.

Snapshots

Playing cards is a standard at William's gatherings.

Rachel and Cory. Aren't they cute? They spent a lot of time on the phone during the weekend. It reminded me of when Brandon and I were engaged.

Everybody is ready to nap after stuffing their tummies. They look comfy, don't they?

Gobble, Gobble

Mom and Nancy decided to support the locals and buy a turkey from someone nearby. They didn't get to specify the size, so you can imagine their surprise when they picked up a 36 pound turkey! Mom and her siblings put their brilliant minds together and constructed a special pan for that big bird and determined that it needed to be put in the oven at 2am so that it would be done by 2pm on Thanksgiving day. Here are some pictures of the massive bird. It isn't much to look at, but it sure did taste good and needless to say, we had a lot of leftovers.