Sunday, January 4, 2009

Baby Sarah's Blessing

Sunday January 4th~
My cousin, Lindsey, with her husband David and adorable Baby Sarah.

The kids and I were able to attend the blessing of baby Sarah.  There was a ton of family there.  David did a great job on the blessing and Sarah looked adorable in her blessing dress.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Jack's Baptism

Saturday January 3rd, 2009~

Jack is such a sweet kid.  He's always super friendly to his cousins and treats Evelyn like his best friend.  She loves him SO much.  He's also a super great example to them.  In the car on the way home from Jack's baptism Evelyn said to me very proudly "I want to be baptized like Jack".  I was so touched.  Jack is an awesome kid and a super cousin.  We are all proud of him.

Evelyn and her cousin Charlie were buddy buddy after the baptism, literally inseparable.  They were so cute holding hands and leading each other around the church building.


Friday, January 2, 2009

In the Year Two Thousand... (and Nine)

My Expectations and Resolutions for this year-

I do realize that by posting this you can all see exactly the kind of slacker I really am.  But my theory is that by getting this out in the open it will motivate me to be better and achieve some things.  So without any further explanation.

My 2009 New Years Resolutions-
1. Family prayer and scripture reading.
2. Attend the temple at least 6x this year.
3. Do regular weekly Family Home Evenings.
4. Have more date nights.
5.  Run a 5k in less than 25 minutes.
6. Learn to play the mandolin.
7. Do more day outings with the kids. Broaden their minds to as much good stuff as possible and have tons of fun in the process.
8. Release the inner thrill seeker in me. Learn how to do at least one extreme/outdoor sport.
9. Start playing tennis again.  Time permitting, possibly even enter a tournament.
10. Try every new thing that comes my way.  Never pass up the moment to do something awesome.
11. Finally pay off all our credit cards and get out of debt.
12. As soon as I get a computer blog at least once a week.
13. Be even more supportive of Andy and help him out in any way I can.
14. Be a better house cleaner and not let the housework get the best of me.
15. Become a better cook by trying new recipes and cooking more full meals throughout the week.
16. Plant a garden in the spring.
17. Watch Andy sell his first movie and make his next one this summer.
18. Make it to the top of Mt. Whitney- the highest point in the lower 48 states.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

The news on Preston

Preston recently had his 12 (and 16) month doctors appointment.  It went OK.  Nothing major to report and certainly no talk of Preston's boy parts this time.  He had 7 shots.  Apparently they don't combine them anymore.  But lucky for him he'll never have to experience the chicken pox like the rest of us.  Preston now weighs in at 23 pounds and is 32 1/2 inches tall.  He's above average height, below average weight and surprisingly muscular or in other words "movie star" stature according to the doc. 

 Preston's getting so big and changing so fast.  
Here's the Top New Things about Preston-

1.  He talks!  He can say quite a few words now.  The major ones are mommy, daddy, go, baby, no, bottle, milk, more, down and hot.  He loves to say "hi!" to everyone and even does the cutest little wave.  
2.  He reigns in the affectionate category.  He give the most awesome hugs and kisses.  When he hugs he really clings on tight and squeezes.  And he kisses all the time!  My two favorite of his moves are the "pull me close kiss" and the "surprise kiss".  He always has the sweetest smile afterwards too.  That may be my ultimate favorite.
3.  He's sneaky.  At 16 months he's already figured out how to escape his crib.  He always seems to know the when and how of getting into trouble.  His latest stunt is to get into the bathroom, climb up on the counter and just sit there and chew on his toothbrush.
4.  He needs constant attention... seriously.  When Evelyn was his age she would be fine playing by herself for hours.  But NOT Preston.  Every few minutes he runs back to me for attention.  He insists on knowing where I am at all times and he totally freaks out when he can't find me.
5.  He loves his big sister.  She is great to him and sets such a good example for him.  He constantly follows her around and copies everything she does.  Like Evelyn, he's compassionate and seems to always recognize when others are sad or hurt.  He always gives Evelyn a kiss when she gets hurt.
6.  He's super smart.  He amazes me everyday.  Lately I've been giving him simple commands like "sit in you chair", "give daddy a kiss", and "bring me a diaper", and he always listens and does what I ask.  If there's something he wants he manages to tell me what he wants without saying it.  He'll bring me his bottle to tell me he's thirsty and when I open the fridge he points at what he wants.  I've just started teaching him body parts.  He'll now point to his nose when I ask. 

He is such a cute kid and I love him with all my heart.  That's not new but it is definitely true.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas 2008 Finally

Dec. 24 & Dec. 25~

Christmas Eve Evelyn helped me make sugar cookies for Santa because "Santa LOVES cookies" (As she reminded me every few minutes before, during, and after the cookie making process).  They turned out being the worst cookies I have ever eaten but luckily for us Santa's not picky.Oh yeah, don't tell Santa but Evelyn may have dropped them on the floor.  Oops...

We also left him a note with a picture and a list (in case he doesn't read scribble) of everything she wanted for Christmas.  It was a fun little project. Did I mention I might have hyped up the whole Christmas thing just a little?

Christmas Eve night a pretty good chunk of Andy's family came over to their mom and pops for some DE-licious dinner.  A few of the more talented members of the group impressed us all with their super mad performance skills.  My 3 nephews showed off their multi-talentedness by playing piano, trumpet, guitar and a solo singing performance by Char Char.  Amazing!  I am now seriously counting the days until Evelyn can start to learn an instrument and masters the Mario Brothers theme song.  THAT will be the day.  We also played charades.  The group even got me to play which doesn't always happen and I really did have a lot of fun.  We opened up a few special gifts- ALL of which I thoroughly enjoyed and we gave all our gifts out.  Andy was most excited about his gifts to his parents.  For his dad he found all his mission slides and scanned them into the computer and for his mom he did the same for her childhood photos.  We ended the night out with a competitive little game of Trivial Pursuit. 

Christmas morning was nice.  Admittedly it did start out a bit rough though.  Before we even got to the presents both the kids had already had meltdowns.  Evelyn's stopped the second she noticed the presents and she started ripping off the paper of the first present she saw.  It was SO much fun watching Preston & Evelyn open their gifts this year.  All in all I think the kids really liked their new toys.  Evelyn's hot ticket gift was a camera.  She actually surprised both Andy and I just by knowing what it was.  She was such a cutie.  The first thing she said was "I want to take a picture of Grandma!".  Before we even left the house she had already taken between 50-100 photos of everything and anything in our house.


Next we headed out to the main house for round 2, Andy's parents.  They totally spoiled the kids and got them way better toys than we did.  Evelyn got a new and improved baby and the cutest little baby bed.  And Preston got the coolest big truck that he really loves.


After that we headed up for round 3 in Tehachapi, my parents house.  My entire family was there waiting and we opened even more awesome presents.  

The kids got several gifts; one of which was new Sunday outfits from my parents. The cousins all wore their matching outfits for a picture with Grandma and Grandpa.  Starting on the left it's Eliza (3), Preston (1), Aubrey (2), Evelyn (2) and Joshua (4).

The kids got to decorate a gingerbread house with the assistance of their Uncle Scott.  I'm not entirely sure what percentages of candy got ON the house as opposed to IN their mouths, they certainly had fun though.

We had a really nice feast of food, Mmmm.  Then it started snowing/ sloshing about mid-day and a few hours later it managed to stick a little.  A few of us played a game of pool, I lost.  The storm picked up and cut the power out which unfortunately ended the party a little earlier than planned.  
It was a great day!  One of the best Christmas's EVER!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The perfect gift for the perfect girl

Princess Unicorn
**UPDATE: Sorry, the link didn't work.  Here's a direct link instead.

Yeah, I'd totally pay at least $200 for this.  Very much worth it.  
Where's Dwight when you need him?

This is the "official" website by the way in case you want one too.  
Don't be jealous, it's not to late, YOU can get your very own.  Click on the picture and make sure to read the small print.  STILL worth it.