The Lives and Times of the Hill Family!

Josh's 100th Day Masterpiece

2012-02-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

For Josh's 100th Day of School Party (a really big deal in kindergarten), he was assigned to wear a shirt with 100 things on it. We batted a few ideas back and forth, and I suggested that he could make 100 fingerprints with fabric paint, and then add arms and legs to make them into monsters. He took that idea and made it about a million times cooler. First, he insisted on doing the fingerprint painting entirely by himself, including opening the bottles and squeezing out the paint. I was a little worried that it would turn into one giant painty mess, but he was all over it. We counted out the colors of paint that we had and figured out how many of each he'd need to make 100, and he meticulously placed each one. After the paint dried, I turned him loose with a very fine tip sharpie. Instead of just adding arms and legs, he turned each one into a unique creature with all sorts of personality. It took him a few different sessions, because it was a very big job, but eventually he decorated about 75 of the 100 fingerprints. Not bad for doing it with zero grown-up guidance! The finished product was so unique and imaginative that I had to get close-up photos to share. You will probably need to click on them and see the large image to get the full effect.

They're just so perfectly Josh! He worked so hard and was so proud of the result. He's come a long way from the kid who tore up every art project because he never thought it was as good as Sam's. Hooray for Josh!

Jokes from the road...

2012-01-15T20:09:00.001-07:00

We're on our way home from baby Elliot's blessing in Idaho, and Sam has been entertaining us with some awesome jokes of his own invention:Q: Where does a crazy caterpillar sleep?A: A CUCKOO-n!Q: What do you call a giant mushroom?A: Hufungus!His sense of humor has definitely reached the next stage of evolution.

Happy New Year's! (a little late...)

2012-01-10T15:12:00.002-07:00

Hello, family and friends! I am solemnly resolving to post more on our family blog this year (probably the same as I did last year, but what can you do), so to start off I am posting videos the interviews we did with Sam, Josh, and Eliza on New Year's Eve. We thought it would be a very fun new tradition to start, so we can see how they change from year to year. And since none of them are particularly camera shy, there was fun to be had all around. Please pardon my annoyed whispering at Eliza throughout...

First up, here's Sam:

And now, Josh:

And finally, Eliza, who didn't even want to wait for Dan to start asking questions before she jumped in. :) I'm not sure if others can understand her very well yet, so let me know if I need to add subtitles. Dan did a great job of repeating everything she said, though.

These kids crack us up! Hope you all are having a great start to your new year -- we love you!

The Binky Fairy

2011-10-16T21:40:00.002-06:00

Now that Eliza has reached the ripe old age of 3 and her attachment to the binky did not seem to be waning, we decided it was time to go cold turkey. I had planned on taking her to the store and letting her pick out something fun that she could trade me for the binky, but we still anticipated that it was going to be a struggle. Probably something along the lines of WWIII + a string of sleepless nights. I mourned that it would probably be the end of naptime. But my brilliant aunt Glynis told me about the "binky fairy" -- an idea from the Super Nanny herself. The gist is this: the kid gathers up all their binkies and puts them in a jar, and then the Binky Fairy comes to get them and give them to the babies who need binkies, leaving a surprise in their place. I didn't know if Eliza would really understand this storyline, but she was all over it. I really shouldn't have been surprised -- two of her favorite things right now are fairies and babies. So she was immediately on board with anything to help babies and completely enchanted by the idea of the Binky Fairy.

Much to our surprise, she felt asleep quickly (after a few more reassurances that the Binky Fairy was indeed going to give her binkies to the poor little babies that didn't have any binkies) and slept almost entirely through the night. She did wake up about a half-hour before the usual time, crying for her binky. We went in and reminded her about the binky fairy scenario and she reluctantly fell back asleep. A little later we could hear her crying it her room and it sure sounded like she was saying "Why? Whyyyyyyy?!"

But when she was finally ready to wake up and she saw that the Binky Fairy had replaced her binkies with a jar full of candy (pink Whoppers, to be exact) and a Princess Tiana doll, she was ecstatic. And she has done terrific ever since. So yay for the Binky Fairy!

That leads, however, to what I think is the funniest part of the whole story. Early Saturday morning, before she had come down to find her treats, Sammy and I were in the kitchen. The following is our conversation:

Sam (hesistantly): "Mom, I don't think there's a Binky Fairy."
Me: "You're right."
Sam: "It's just you, huh?"
Me: "Yup, I just went to Walmart last night after you guys went to bed."
--pause--
Sam: "Is it the same with the tooth fairy?"
Me: "What do you think?"
Sam: "I think it's just you... is that right?"
Me: "Do you want to know?"
--pause--
Sam: "Not until I'm done losing teeth."

He IS a smart kid. :)

Black and white do go together

2011-08-21T16:47:00.013-06:00

I made this with only pencil!!!!

Isn't it amazing? Try it somtime. It's very good

exersize. my favorite section is the one with the veiws at the corners.

I did it at church today.

I hope you like it!!!

Stake Art Show projects!

2011-04-30T14:17:00.001-06:00

As you may know, I'm on the Stake Cultural Arts Committee for our stake. We do projects twice a year, and it's usually been a performance-based project like a play. For instance, last fall I directed My Turn on Earth. This time around, though, we wanted to try something totally different that would get a whole new group of people involved, so we decided to do an art show. It ended up being a huge success! We had a whole cultural hall full of wonderful things from stake members of every age, and lots and lots of people came to see it. There was such a beautiful spirit, too. I am hoping we can make it a regular thing, because it was just awesome.

I wanted to share the projects that Sam and Josh and I did for the art show (you can click on them to see them bigger):

Here is Sam's colored pencil drawing of Jesus, based on the "Christ in the Red Robe" painting:

This is Joshy's watercolor painting of Jesus. He was not happy with the final product because he didn't think it was as good as Sam's, but I think it's wonderful. Josh really loves to paint.

This is my mixed media canvas:

I am taking an online class called "The SheArt Workshop" where I learned these techniques, and I think I'm hooked. I really loved creating this and adding so many layers of color and meaning. Here's what I wrote on my card:

"I love this quote from our prophet. The future’s uncertainty can seem scary sometimes, but our faith in Jesus Christ and His love makes it possible for us to move forward with our families in joy and gratitude and hope!"

One amazing thing that happened -- a man who works as a consultant for an art publishing company came to the art show with his daughter (who lives in our stake) and loved it so much that he wants to show it to a buyer at Deseret Book to possibly sell prints of it! Holy cow. I can't imagine it would actually happen, but it was awfully flattering!

Ctrl I 'o' rama!

2011-02-23T19:54:00.003-07:00

I did this on paint with hardly ever adding colors. Isn't it cool?

I put on so many colors by pressing Ctrl I. Why don't

you try it some time?

Joshy's Conversation Hearts

2011-02-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Today Josh had a little packet of conversation hearts and was happily nibbling away at them. All of a sudden he shouted out:

"This one is from Olivia! It says, "MARRY ME. To Josh, From Olivia!"
Me: "Wow! And what would yours say, if you could make one to give to Olivia?"
Josh: "SOON. To Olivia, From Josh."
Me: "Soon?"
Josh: "Yes, as soon as we're grown-ups... Oh, that one was my favorite! I'm eating all my favorite ones first and leaving the dumb ones for last..."
... a minute or so goes by...
Josh: "Oh, no! This one says: 'DON'T marry Olivia! To Josh, from SAM!' SAM HILL!!!"
Me: "Oh, dear. What will do you about that?"
Josh (with great firmness): "I will marry Olivia, I WILL!"
Me: "But why would Sam not want you to marry Olivia?"
Josh: "I don't know, but I'm afraid to tell him that I WILL marry her. He might hit me..."
Me: "But why? I thought Sam and Olivia were friends. Why would he be mad if you got married?"
Josh: "I don't know! Maybe he wants to become an evil scientist... and KILL Olivia!"

A part of me knows that I really shouldn't encourage such romantic feelings in such a young and tender little heart, but Josh and Olivia are just so darn cute I can't help myself!

On the drive home, Josh said...

2011-02-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight, on the way home from my parents' house, it was just Josh and Eliza and me in the car, which meant I got to be privy to all the imaginings that usually go on between Josh and Sam. Here are a few excerpts of our conversation -- just what I could remember once we got home:

Josh: “Hurry, Mom, hurry! There’s a bad guy car following us!”
Me: “Oh no, what should I do?”
Josh: “Go as fast as you can…. Oh, no, he just ignored the red light!!!”
…
Josh: “Good thing I just switched on the FIVE rockets I put on the back of our car!”
Me: “Oh, good! Now we can go really fast!”
Josh: “Oh, no! The bad guys have EIGHT rockets on their cars!”
Me: “What should we do?!”
Josh: “If our car had wings, then we could fly, but they got hit off yesterday…”
Me: “Darn it.”
Josh: “Yeah, I tried to put them back on yesterday, but it didn’t work. I tried the first time, and it didn’t work. I tried again and it didn’t work. I tried AGAIN with duck tape and it worked a little bit, but then a mean car came up and bumped them off!”
…
Josh: “Actually, that was just a dream I was having. The dreams where I am the bad guy are pretty much my favorite… Did you know I make a list of my okay dreams and my nightmares? That way I can keep track of my dreams…”
…
Me: “Why do you think they call it duck tape?”
Josh: “Well, actually… I don’t really know… but maybe if it was made from cows they would call it cow tape. And then they could make some from sheep and call it sheep tape…”
…
Josh: “Did you know that watching Netflix movies calms me down when I’m mad?”
Me: “Well, it is nice to have something to distract you when you’re mad, huh…”
Josh: “Playing the Wii and watching Netflix is my favorite thing in the world! Even more than playing with Olivia!”
Me: “Oh, that’s not good! People are way more important than watching TV or playing video games.”
Josh: “Actually, Mom, it’s the other way around.”

2010 in Review

2011-01-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I've SO neglecting posting here. 2010 was a great year, but it was pretty much the busiest year we've ever had. We had so many wonderful family happenings -- and of course a few rough spots -- that I can't even begin to summarize it all. So I made this video at PummelVision.com that has most the photos I uploaded to FB last year in about 4 1/2 minutes -- it's mesmerizing!

And then I'm going to paste in our family New Year's letter, since I didn't get it out in time for Christmas and now it's not looking good for January either...

January 1, 2011

Dear Family and Loved Ones,

I know I’m really late with these, but I figure the card does say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” so if I write the letter today and get it mailed this week I’m good, right? Just go with me here...

2010 has been such a busy year, full of all sorts of trips and projects and happenings and milestones. Even though things were a little overwhelming at times, we had lots of fun together as a family! We went to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa Olive and go to Disneyland with Nana and Bapa, we got to be part of two siblings’ weddings, we went to Washington for a nice long summer visit, we had a great Big Family Outing at Bear Lake, and of course we had lots of fun here at home, too! We even put our home up for sale to try to move closer to Dan’s office and all of the family, but that ended up going nowhere and so we’re quite happily staying here in Saratoga Springs.

All about Sam, according to himself:

This year, I learned to ride my bike with no Training wheels, I entered 1st grade. I am a great artist. Thats why my picture on the left has a Graffiti background. I made about 6 great drawings! I have a great teacher, class, family, and friends. I LOVE to dance.

And now, a few words from Mom:

Sam is such a great kid to be around, and he is a huge help in our family. He loves school and says his favorite thing is math. He is so creative with his artwork and stories, too. He just gives his all to everything he does, and we are really proud of him.

weet, funny Joshy... what can we say about this wonderful boy? He makes us laugh every day with the funny and original things he says. He is in his second year of preschool, and also played soccer for the first time in the spring. He has an incredible imagination and tells us such amazing stories. He also has a very tender heart and just seems to know when people need comfort. My favorite Joshy moment of the year was at Grandma Hill's burial, Josh went to Grandpa and put his arms around him and just loved him for the longest time. He is starting to learn to read and write, and he gets so excited to show us all the new things he can do. He can't wait for kindergarten!

Oh, our little Eliza -- so full of personality! This year she has grown from a baby to a sweet little toddler with a funny mix of girly-girl and tomboy traits. For instance, she loves to dress up and carry a purse, but it's sure to be full of trains and cars. She also loves animals, especially ones that roar. With the help of speech therapy, she's also talking more and more, and she really loves being able to communicate better.

According to Dan: The year of 2010 has been a full one for Dan. At work he has overseen a project as it has grown from nothing to a little more than that. At the gym he's seen his muscle-tone grow from average to a little more than that. He's helped the lawn grow from ‘unpleasant to walk barefoot on’ to a little better than that. His writing projects have gone from nowhere to no better than that. Thankfully, these are all as well or better than expected! The most important things have all grown marvelously. The kids are healthy, happy, and learning – and that is the greatest joy of all.

According to Tomi Ann: It has been such a busy year for me -- I was called to be the stake drama specialist and directed two big shows for the stake, helped with two siblings' weddings, was a cub scout leader, worked as a graphic designer, carried out some big home improvement projects to get our house ready to put on the market, all while still trying to give our own three awesome kids the attention they need. Phew! It was a lot of fun, but I need a nap!

We are so grateful for the beautiful life God has given us! There are certainly struggles and trials big and small, but there is so much happiness as well. Through the gift of His son Jesus Christ we can overcome any obstacle. I know that 2010 was a tough one for many of our family and friends, and so we pray that 2011 will bring hope and peace to each of you, wherever you may be.

With much love,

Dan, Tomi Ann, Sam, Josh, and Eliza Hill

Sammy's Halloween Book

2010-11-07T14:30:00.001-07:00

Sam made this book for Halloween, and it's so awesome I couldn't resist scanning it in and sharing it with the world at large. Click on each page to see it bigger.

The 4-year-old DTR

2010-09-23T22:08:00.000-06:00

Joshy and our little next door neighbor Olivia have become the best of friends since they started going to preschool together. Their teacher told me that they have to do EVERYTHING together at school. Last Saturday there was a knock at the door and when Dan answered it, Olivia was standing there, holding up a rose petal that she solemnly informed him was for Josh, then ran away. Every day, Josh wants to go see if "O-Lydia" can play. (He's having a hard time separating her name from Aunt Lydia's, apparently.) Yesterday we were out playing in the front yard and Olivia came out in a white poofy princess dress and Josh immediately ran up and they started dancing together.

So today we were walking to preschool together. As soon as Olivia came out of the house they started holding hands and walking together. I was walking in front of them and overheard the funniest conversation ever -- the 4-year-old DTR*. In order to do this justice, you have to imagine Joshy's cute little no-R-pronouncing voice and Olivia's sweet little marshmallow voice...

Joshy: "I like your hair!"
Olivia: "Thank you!"
Joshy: "I hope we can sit by each other at snack time."
Olivia: "Me too."
Joshy: "Olivia, you're my best friend."
Olivia: "Joshy, I like you, but sometimes I like to be friends with other people, like Grace... you know, girlfriends!"
Joshy: "... Let's run!"

Apparently Olivia isn't ready to make an eternal commitment yet, but Josh didn't seem too crushed. Phew!

*DTR= "Define the Relationship" (an acronym used to describe a "talk" a couple has to ...well, DTR)

Me balini

2010-08-18T14:23:00.004-06:00

I have a friend on my planet, Who`s name is :87095#!$ (Me balini). He looks like this:

Here he is in the %%%^^,)(,^##@; (Flood of doom):

Overheard in the garden...

2010-08-11T17:25:00.000-06:00

Joshy: "Mom, one time I saw a praying mantis!"
Me: "Really? Those are cool!"
Joshy: "And I even heard it talking!"
Me: "Wow, what was it saying?"
Joshy: "Heavenly Father..."

--

Overheard in the car:
Me: "We just need to stop at Payless and see if we can exchange Sam's sandal that broke."
Sam: "Well, you're going to get two sandals, right Mom?"
Me: "Of course! One sandal wouldn't do anybody much good."
Sam: "It would for someone who only had one foot..."

Sam and Josh review Karate Kid...

2010-06-23T22:15:00.000-06:00

Let me start out by saying they thought it was awesome and are now convinced they are destined to be kung fu masters. They demonstrated their moves in the lobby, in the car, and while brushing their teeth. They're supposed to be going to sleep, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're really up there practicing their moves on each other. Here are a couple of funny conversations we've had about it (so far -- I'm sure we'll be talking about this one for a long time...):

Jackie Chan: Everything you do is kung fu...
Josh: Watching a movie is kung fu?

Mommy: What would you do if you had to move to a whole new place where you didn't know anyone or even speak the language?
Sam: Well, if it was China, I would show them my kick and my balance. That's so Chinese.

Happy Father's Day, Dan!

2010-06-20T07:47:00.002-06:00

Dan, you are one amazing father.
I love that you take such an interest in the kids' interests.
I love that you do "daddy school" with the boys.
I love that Eliza thinks that the whole world starts up again when you walk in the door.
I love that you read stories with silly voices.
I love that you have special traditions for "daddy nights." (Fish sticks, anyone?)
I love that you are so willing to work hard to support our family.
I love how much we all have fun spending time together as a family.

I couldn't ask for anyone better to be the father of our precious kiddos. Thank you so much for all you do!

Recently overheard in the Hill family...

2010-06-14T09:59:00.000-06:00

Sam: "Do any people live in the jungle?"
Mom: "Sure! There are whole groups of people who live in the jungle their whole lives."
Sam: "Well, I sure hope they don't have any golf courses."
Mom: "Why?"
Sam: "Because monkeys live in the jungle, and you know what they say -- NEVER play golf with a monkey!"

--

Josh: "I have lots of different kinds of super eyes... telescope eyes, microscope eyes, seeing-around-corners eyes..."
Sam: "My super power is being able to see other people's super powers!"
Mom: "If I was a superhero, what do you think my powers would be?"
Sam: "You'd be Super Scrapbooker! If people couldn't do scrapbooking, you could do it for them!"
Mom (thinking): I'd like to have time just to do it for US, but okay...
Josh: "And you'd have super strength, so you could carry around a whole desk full of that stuff!"

--

(Quick intro note: Joshy HATES helping around the house, and it's usually like pulling teeth to get him to do anything. Last night I was cleaning up in the kitchen at my mom and dad's after Sunday dinner and he spontaneously came in and started helping me.)
Mom: "Thanks for being such an awesome helper! It makes me feel so happy inside when you're such a good helper! Does it make you feel happy inside?"
Josh: "YES! I feel the Holy Ghost!"

School's out!

2010-06-14T09:30:00.001-06:00

The biggest news in the Hill household is that school is OUT FOR SUMMER! Sam and Josh have had all sorts of plans brewing for what they were going to do during summer vacation (thank you, Phineus and Ferb...), so they were counting down the days to the end of school.

Josh finished up first and got to have a super fun luau with his little preschool class. He really loved his teacher, Miss Emily, and we were amazed at how much he learned this year! He is a great counter and is even doing some simple addition and such, and he now knows the sounds of nearly all the letters and is starting to sound things out. He learned lots of fun songs (his favorite is "A Tisket, a Tasket, a Green and Yellow Basket") and got to do lots of art projects. I know he had lots of stubborn days -- this is Josh we're talking about, after all -- but he really loved it and we're so thankful to Emily for making it so fun for him!

The next day was Sam's kindergarten graduation -- I can't believe he's no longer a kindergartner! Nana joined us at the school for their cute little graduation program. The kids sang a bunch of songs and everyone got to say what their favorite thing about kindergarten was (Sam's was the Polar Express party). Then each kid got to walk in from the hallway and get their diploma and a fun little treat from Miss Palmer. Here's a 2-minute version of the highlights!

Sammy did a great job singing all the songs and we could tell he really enjoyed his kindergarten experience and all his friends there. He brought home a report card with straight 4's for the whole year, which I understand is the top mark but no one ever really explained it, so who knows? :) He also brought home his writing journal, which totally cracks us up. He has a very creative and slightly devious little mind -- tomorrow I'll scan in some of those journal entries so you can see what I mean!.

The graduate with his self-portrait:

Sammy and his teacher Miss Palmer:

Sammy and his neighborhood buddies:

Upside Down Eliza

2010-05-29T22:33:00.000-06:00

A few months ago Eliza and Josh were ~~supposed to be~~ taking a nap at Nana's house, when Nana discovered the strangest phenomenon -- Eliza standing on her head in the crib, with her feet hooked over the railing! Over the weeks that followed, we found her doing it quite frequently, but never (of course) when we snuck into her room with the camera. I was starting to feel like some kind of a wildlife photographer, hunting the last of some endangered species. But at last, at the beginning of this month, success! (What a surprise that she finally cooperated for Daddy...)

Why does she do it? Is she trying to escape? Does she just like the feeling of the blood rushing to her head? It's a mystery! She's awfully adorable, though!

A couple of fun little videos...

2010-05-28T22:07:00.000-06:00

Ah, good times! May has been another crazy month, and while I work on a post with all the fun things we did, here are a couple of fun videos for your viewing pleasure.

This one is actually from the end of April, just a typical little conversation we had with the kids while driving to Nana's house:

Here's one of Sammy scoring a goal in soccer!

Our Awesome April

2010-04-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

Whew! I can't believe this month is nearly over -- I really thought our April would be nice and relaxing after the craziness of March, but we ended up with quite a whirlwind of activity this month! Here are the highlights, arranged in a nice bulleted list because my brain is presently very tired:

Easter! We had our traditional enormous egg hunt extravaganza with lots of Pearce and Tarbet-Neves cousins, which was all sorts of fun. Eliza, who is really into picking things up and putting them into other things, thought this was a really great activity. I don't know if she even connected that there was candy involved. It was conference weekend, so we also got to have a wonderful relaxing time listening to the prophet and apostles and just chilling with the family. I could seriously get used to weekends like that. You can see lots of fun Easter weekend pics here.

Spring weather... sometimes. It has been a really cold and snowy month (it has been a blizzard today, in fact), but there have been brief glimpses of the sun, in which we have really enjoyed playing outside, going to the park, making bird feeders, and all that good stuff. Hopefully the sun will come back soon so we can get back out there. At the moment I'm refusing to leave the house and just accepting the mounting overdue fees at the library...

2nd Annual "You're My Favorite" Day -- Can you believe it's already/only been two years since Carissa died? We got together at her grave to bring flowers and sing "You Are My Sunshine." It was special because it was rainy and nasty all morning, but while we were there it was lovely and sunny. Sure do miss you, Rissa Ree!

Soccer! This is Joshy's first year of playing on the city league and he has been SO excited to be on the team. So far he is doing a great job. Sometimes he'll get frustrated or exhausted, but for the most part he is doing really well and showing a lot of team spirit. This is Sammy's third year and he has improved by leaps and bounds. The last two years have gone about like this: run, run, fall, cry, get hugged and cheered on and convinced to get back in the game, repeat. Oh, and some twirling, dancing, and picking dandelions, of course. This year he is running like crazy, getting some really good kicks in, and even scored a goal in the first game! He is getting so grown up!

Penny and Dallas came to visit! My Aunt Penny has always been super special to me, even though she up and moved to Texas a million years ago and the last time she made it up for a visit was when my Grandma Tarbet died about 13 years ago. Thank heavens for email and Facebook -- it really doesn't feel like we're so far apart. But hooray -- her son Dallas graduated from BYU this past weekend and that was at last enough to lure her up our way. We had fun family doings every night they were here to celebrate, and it was so darn fun to be together!

You can see more pictures of all these fun events by clicking here. And now I think I shall go back to my dejunking spree!

Sam and Josh discuss politics...

2010-03-15T10:46:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been neglecting the family blog -- I've been cleaning out all our closets and reorganizing the office (on top of all our normal craziness), so I haven't had a lot of computer time. I did want to take a moment to share a funny conversation from a couple weeks ago, so I wouldn't forget!

Sammy: Mom, if I were the president, I would try to help the economy.
Me: Oh, that would be good. What's the economy?
Sammy (after a long pause): Um... I don't know. But Miss Palmer said President Obama is trying to help the economy.
Josh: Is he in heaven?
Sammy (nodding sadly): Yes...

I think kindergarten social studies may be missing a few key elements...

Where did February go?

2010-03-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe March is here already! Our February was jam-packed with all sorts of doings. So let's see -- I already told you all about our trip to California and Valentine's Day, so what's next?

Ah, yes -- Eliza started nursery! HOORAY! She is such a little busybody, and the last few months of church have been, um... less than spiritual for me. She had no trouble going to nursery at all. I set her down and she took a moment to look around. When she saw the toys on one side and Katie, the nursery leader who she already loves, on the other, she jumped right in and never looked back. Apparently one little boy is already smitten with her -- he was following her around hugging her saying "Cute!" all day. Ah, young love. Here she is on her first day of nursery:

Notice the awesome stripey tights from Auntie Jana and the corduroy skirt made Mommy. I'm definitely getting better at this sewing thing!

We also had fun celebrating Crystal, my dad, and Noah's birthdays this month. We really like to clump birthdays together in this family! Here are a couple of my favorite pics from our cute little Noah's birthday party.

This guy knows how to react to opening a present!

Sammy says he didn't cheat to win pin the tail on the donkey, but the jury's still out on that one...

One of the greatest highlights of the month was hands down a visit from Sarah, Zack, Cole and Laila! (That's Dan's sister and her family, for those who don't know.) They drove down from Washington, going a loooooooooong way out of their way to visit us on their way to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa Olive. It was such a treat to have them here! The kids were all completely smitten with baby Laila and had a great time rousting around with Cole. Uncle Zack was also a favorite wrestling opponent and Aunt Sarah got good and snuggled. (The two of us also snuck in a trip to the quilt shop...) Chad, Esther, and Cody even joined the fun on Sunday, and we had such a great time together. Here are a few of my faves from the weekend, and then you can see all the fun pics in this Facebook album.

During that same weekend we also got to go see a bunch of my little Neves cousins in their elementary school play, Choc-a-block. It was all about a chocolate lovers' club I could totally get behind -- their pledge went something like this: "Chocolate dark or chocolate light, I'll eat chocolate day and night!" Where do I sign up?! I was so proud of all my cousins -- they did a great job! We had a fun family gathering at my parents' house afterward, too.

Phew! March is shaping up to be a very busy month as well -- never a dull moment around these parts! And now, I must go get ready for cub scouts!

Sammy on Google chat...

2010-02-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Any time Sammy goes to check his email while I'm working on the computer, I'm sure to hear the little ding that means he starting up a chat with me. Here's today's chat -- sure brought a smile to my face!

Samuel: Dear mom. I love you. ...

Sent at 2:29 PM on Saturday

me: I love you too! I love you times 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000!

Sent at 2:30 PM on Saturday

Samuel: .

Ochshooellie

My little foot loves you too.

me: My two big feet both love you!

I love you from the tippy top of your head to the very ends of your little toes!

Samuel: Mine loves you more

I love this guy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Ah, Valentine's Day -- how fun to have a day to celebrate all the people you love! And also eat chocolate with no remorse...

Dan and I got up (not even early -- yay 11 o'clock church!) and made a most delicious waffle breakfast for the kiddos, who were delighted to come to the table and find valentines and chocolate boxes just for them. Dan surprised me, not only with roses, but with a Pandora One membership. (Pandora is a music website where you can create your own custom radio stations and listen for free, but only for 40 hours a month. Since I listen pretty much all the time when I'm working, crafting, or just checking Facebook, I'd usually run out a few days shy of the end of the month.) It was such a thoughtful gift -- something I hadn't thought to get for myself, but that I will appreciate every day. Who could ask for more than that! I just love being married to Dan; we just have so darn much fun together!

I just love having these three wonderful kids as my valentines! They fill my life with love and laughter. Thanks, kiddos!

California Adventure

2010-02-14T12:07:00.001-07:00

It all started as a plan to take the kiddos to visit Dan's Grandma and Grandpa Olive down in southern California -- Dan didn't think he could get away from work and I knew I couldn't drive out there by myself, so when my cousin Kiki invited us to a baby shower in Vegas for my other cousin Sarah and my mom asked if I wanted to go, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Mom and I would drive down to California on Sunday, visit for a couple days and take the kids to Disneyland, then head back up and hit the baby shower on the way home. Perfect! It sounded so fun, in fact, that my dad decided to come along, then my sisters Ange and Crystal. Then my dad reminded Dan things were behind at work and he actually has more vacation time than he thought, so Dan ended up being able to come, anyway! By the time we actually got going last Sunday, we had a whole van-full of fun. The kids had had colds the few days before, but they seemed to be getting better. (And given that we were supposed to go to Disneyland back in October but were foiled by swine flu, they'd have had to have bubonic plague for me to cancel again.) We started out by driving down to Fillmore and going to the baby blessings of Roxanna and Ellie Jo (daughters of my cousins Sandy and Joe, respectively), and then hit the road. We pulled into the hotel around 11 p.m. and headed straight to bed so we'd be ready for a nice visit with Grandpa and Grandma in the morning. A good night's rest was just not meant to be -- Sammy's congestion from his cold had, thanks to the pressure changes from going through the mountains, suddenly developed into a whopping middle ear infection that kept him up with intense pain for most of the night. At about 4 in the morning we called Bapa to come and help give him a blessing, and thankfully he was able to go to sleep shortly thereafter. In the morning we headed over to G&G Olive's, and Dan and Eliza and Josh played while I took Sammy to a nearby urgent care. Eliza had fun playing dollies with Grandma!

After G&G had to leave for Grandpa's dialysis, we headed back to the apartment for lunch and then to California Adventure. We had only planned to go for one day, but we found 2-for-1 passes at the grocery store and couldn't resist going for an extra day. The weather was lovely and the lines were short -- perfect!

The next day was going to be our Disneyland day. We woke up early to a sky full of heavy grey clouds but thought, "Hey, what's a little rain?" We stopped at the grocery store for a few more umbrellas and away we went! The first couple of hours at Disneyland were great -- not more than a drip here and there and the longest line we stood in was about 5 minutes. Shortly after lunch, though, the rain began in earnest. The kids were troopers and we hustled from ride to ride for a few more hours until everyone was soaked and the wind started up. At that point, it was definitely time to go -- the streets of Disney were actually flooding! All the kids' teeth were chattering and Josh was in full meltdown mode, so we hustled to the trams (actually the only real line we stood in all day!). So we didn't get in as much Disneyland as we'd hoped, but with no lines we still got to ride plenty of rides, and we still got to meet Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and Tinkerbell, so it was all good. And I mean no lines literally -- on several rides we just walked right up and got into the waiting empty cars. Good times!

This is undoubtedly our favorite picture from the trip. The boys had been SO excited to ride the rollercoasters, and they were incredibly excited that they were both tall enough to go on Space Mountain. They found it a little more scary than they bargained for, though -- "tewifying!" was how Josh put it. This is the picture they take when you zoom past on the ride, and I think it so perfectly shows their personalities, and how Dan and I were hoopin' and hollerin' in a "yay, isn't this fun?!" way to attempt to minimize the scariness.

The next day we were planning to go back to Grandpa and Grandma's house for a few hours before we had to leave for the baby shower, but the kids' coughs were much worse and Eliza was running a fever, so we couldn't risk exposing Grandpa to anything worse. We were so disappointed we couldn't spend more time with them, but hopefully we'll find another time to go out there soon. The weather that day, of course, was absolutely PERFECT. Sigh -- best laid plans...

All in all, it was quite the adventure! We had a really great time despite all the unexpected detours and bumps in the road. We were so glad we got to spend those few days having fun as a family and with Mom and Dad and Ange and Crystal. We will definitely remember this one forever!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our fun adventures, visit the Facebook album here.

Joshy's wedding plans...

2010-01-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

When Josh and I were driving home from bowling today, he told me he had a dream that he was getting married (to Maggie Morris, of course). Here's a little snippet:

Josh: And YOU were there, too, Mom!
Mommy: Oh, I would hope so! I definitely want to come to your wedding.
Josh: Or else you'd miss out on all the fun!... When you get married, the husband carries the wife home. I saw that on Up. But when I get married, I'll just drive in the car. Actually, my wife will drive the car. I will just tell her jokes to make her laugh.

Sounds like a good plan to me, buddy!

Braids!

2010-01-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Eliza's hair is becoming a subject of some urgency in our home. Her hair is so long that we've got to do something with it every day or she's a total ragamuffin, but she hates being wrestled down for me to do something with it. It's also not very thick, which makes styling a bit difficult I thought it might be time for some cute little girly hair cut, but Dan wants me to let it grow. Is it a universal thing that daddies want their little girlies to have long hair? I think my dad still cringes when one of his girls gets a short new 'do. Today I decided to see if it was long and thick enough to give her braids -- aren't they cute? So I guess her long hair gets a stay of execution after all...

Is it a bad sign if...

2010-01-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Is it a bad sign if...

...you walk past the kids' bathroom and water puddles up around your feet through the carpet?

... or if you then try the bathroom door and find it locked?

... or if, in a moment of sudden quiet while your lovely visiting teacher is praying for you, you can hear water running in the ceiling above you?

... or if, when you open said bathroom door and find an inch of standing water covering the whole bathroom, you ask your 4-year-old what happened and he says there was a toilet paper monster trying to escape from the potty?

... It may possibly be a sign that a certain 6-year-old, who shall remain nameless, tried to be helpful and gather up the huge pile of toilet paper spun off the roll by a passing 17-month-old and flush the TP down the toilet. It's also possible that said 6-year-old freaked out when the toilet started flooding, locked the door so his mom would never know, then ran off to school.

Ah, the life. 15 soaking towels, an hour of stomping the wet carpet, and a big bulge in the paint on the wall of the kitchen later, the jury's still out on this one...

My photo-hunt

2010-01-23T19:20:00.006-07:00

Today I went on a photo-hunt. A photo-hunt is when you hunt for photos that are on moms list. I was fast. I took the pictures on MY NEW CAMERA!!!

Item #1:

Somthing green

Item #2:

Somthing that flies

Item #3:

Somthing with bottons

Item #4:

Somthing thats round

Item #5:

Somthing purple

Pencil sharpener

Item #6:
The best smile

Item #7:
Somthing with numbers

Paper with writing; I made it for Josh to learn

Item #8:

Your favorite book

Roald Dahl: The enormous crocadile

Item #9:

Somthing wild and active

Item #10:

What means happiness

Jesus picture

The Universe According to Sam...

2010-01-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sam: "Space is so big it's still being created!"
Mommy: "That's right. Heavenly Father's creations are endless!"
Sam: "Especially faith, love, and numbers."

2010-01-08T16:46:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Just the moment's thought...

2010-01-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment and express my love for my kids. An old friend of mine lost her baby boy today, and my heart is breaking for her. It's made me look at my three wonderful, amazing, sweet, loving, precious children with fresh eyes and I realize all over again what a miracle and a gift it is to be their mom. I treasure every moment I get to hold them in my arms. Sammy, Josh, and Eliza -- I love you more than I could ever express. You are my most precious gifts.

Busy Lizzy

2009-12-29T16:54:00.002-07:00

Just a fun little video to tide you over while I sort through the mountains of fun from December!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we've had! We started the day with Cafe Papa -- Uncle Terry and Aunt Gae's tradition of thin buttermilk pancakes and all the other breakfast fixins. So yummy! We will really miss them next year when they're on their mission. Dan spent the morning doing what he looks forward to every year: playing some fast and furious football in the ward Turkey Bowl! He was very proud to be named defensive player of the game for the second year in a row and came up with three interceptions. We spent the rest of the day at my parents' house, cooking up a storm, then had a most delicious Thanksgiving feast with many loved ones and friends. Is there anything better than that? I can't think of much!

I've really enjoyed blogging each day this month about things that I'm thankful for, so I've decided to cap it off today with a list of just a few of the many blessings in my life that I haven't already mentioned. I'm thankful for:

Hugs
My nieces and nephews
My in-laws (parents-in-law, siblings-in-law, grandparents-in-law, etc.) -- I think I really have the most wonderful family-in-law.
Indoor plumbing
The internet -- without it I wouldn't be able to work from home or keep in touch with the many friends I've met or reconnected with!
Crafting
Service -- other people have helped us in so many ways, and it means so much to me!
A reliable, comfortable car
Dan's good job and how hard he works at it
The ability to be a stay-at-home mom.
Rain
Flowers
Christmas (ooh, I can't wait to start putting up decorations now)
Beautiful things -- God could have made the world bland and boring, but He didn't -- he gave us beautiful things all around to inspire us and make us happy!
Kind strangers
Great teachers
Yard sales and Kid-to-Kid
Living so close to my family
Pictures to record memories
That we were blessed with my sweet sister Carissa, and how she continues to influence our family.
My new mixer
My grandparents and the great example they've all set for me.
Friends
Skype
A nice, comfortable bed and a warm dyne (what are they called in English -- down comforter, I think...)
Cute undershirts (like Shade, ModBod, etc) that make it possible to modestly wear lots of other cute things
Good advice
Good listeners
Smiles
Kind words from anyone, about anything
The ability to change for the better and learn from the past
Grace
Living prophets and apostles
The Gift of the Holy Ghost
The Book of Mormon and Bible
The temple

And most of all, for my Heavenly Father, because without His love and merciful kindness I know that I wouldn't have any of these blessings. He has given me so very much, and I pray that I can in turn bless the lives of those around me. I pray that I may truly "live in thanksgiving daily!"

I am thankful for our extended family!

2009-11-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one because I must get to bed, but I love our family so much! We've had Jana and Grant (Dan's sis and her hubby) here from England for the past couple of days, which has been so fun, and then tonight we had pie night with my mom's side of the family. We always have such a good time together, and I love that all the kiddos love to be together, too. I am thankful to come from such a big, loving, supportive family!

I am thankful for my parents.

2009-11-23T21:10:00.001-07:00

Oh, how can I even begin to describe how thankful I am for my mom and dad? Well, I obviously can't, since I've been sitting here staring at the keyboard for several minutes. My mom and dad are, simply put, amazing. Throughout my life they have always been there for me and have always taught me to do what's right and to love doing it. From my mom I have learned the importance of loving everyone and serving them unselfishly. From my dad I have learned the value of hard work and integrity. They are always there for us, lending a hand in so many ways. I am so grateful that now that I am a grown-up (is it weird that I still feel like I should put that in quotation marks?), I count them as two of my best friends. They are wonderful grandparents to my kiddos, who count Nana and Bapa's house as merely an extension of home. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for being the most amazing parents anyone could ask for. And thank you, Heavenly Father, for blessing me with them as my mommy and daddy!

I am thankful for lots of stuff....

2009-11-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a seriously busy week! I've been thinking a lot every day about what I would post on my thankful list, but I just haven't had a chance to do it, so you're getting them all in one shot.

Wednesday -- I'm thankful for Cub Scouts! I'll be the first to admit that I was more than a little overwhelmed when I was called to be the Bear den leader, but I totally love it. I love the boys in our den and I get so bummed when they move on to Webelos. I have a ton of fun doing the activities with them and I also love the other leaders that I work with. I'm thankful, too, because it helps me prepare for when our boys are a little older.

Thursday -- I'm thankful for essential oils. I woke up sick a couple days ago and immediately started applying various oils to my feet and chest, and as a result I have had very minimal symptoms and haven't been out of commission. I've been able to help Josh, who is usually on breathing treatments by this time of the year, stay cough-free. I'm new to the whole essential oil thing, but I think they really are a gift from Heavenly Father, giving us a natural way to combat the ills that beset us.

On the flip side, I'm also thankful for medicine and doctors when we need them. Eliza had been a little sniffly throughout the day on Wednesday, then as the afternoon progressed she just got worse and worse. By about 4:30 she was running a fever and coughing so hard she could hardly catch her breath and was just generally miserable. (I was out cutting snowflake ornaments in the barn, so thank you Mom for being so on top of things!) I took her in to the Instacare and they said both her ears were really infected. She started on antibiotics and voile! She's already feeling much better -- fever gone, cough much better, and a much happier girl. I'm thankful that we have lots of different options when we or our little ones are sick.

Friday -- I'm thankful for bowling! Not just the game, but the league I bowl on every Friday morning and especially my wonderful teammates Glynis and Caroldean. We have so much fun and it's SO nice to get a little grown-up time in each week. I love that so many of my female family members -- Glynis and Caroldean (my aunts), my mom, my sister and sisters-in-law -- can hang out and bond together.

Saturday -- I'm thankful for date night. Last night (Friday) Dan and I went on a date and ate wonderful Thai food and saw a really great movie (The Blind Side), and it was so nice just to relax and enjoy each other's company. I'm thankful to have a hubby who is fun to be with and is such a looker to boot! :) Thanks, Dan, for taking me out and having such a fun "couple" time with me!

Sunday -- I'm thankful for my siblings. Family dinner is so fun when so many of us can be together, joking around and teasing each other. We always miss the ones who aren't with us. I'm thankful that, despite years of fighting and sibling rivalry, we grew up to be great friends who love to hang out together. I love you guys!

I'm thankful to be able to cook.

2009-11-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

This year I have been getting more and more interested in cooking good, healthy, delicious, creative meals for my family, and I've been having a ton of fun doing it. I've even tried my hand at making up a few recipes that have turned out delicious (and a few that have turned out not so delicious, too...). Tonight I made some really yummy and very healthy chicken and wild rice chowder with whole wheat drop biscuits that was just the perfect meal for fall. I felt like such a good mom putting that on the table for my family! I'm thankful that the Lord created so many wonderful things for us to eat and that I can enjoy cooking them in a way that brings warmth and happiness to my family.

I am thankful for Family Home Evening!

2009-11-16T21:31:00.002-07:00

Family Home Evening is definitely a work in progress in our family. (For those who aren't familiar with it, in our Church we are encouraged to have one night a week where we spend time together as a family and have a gospel-related lesson and, of course, treats!) With three kids 5 and under, trying to corral them for anything structured can be a challenge. Tonight, even though it was a little chaotic, was so fun -- Josh announced that HE was going to teach the lesson, and proceeded to tell us all about an automatic toothbrushing machine that he and Sammy invented. Then we talked about why we have Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful, and each of us said some things we are thankful for. Josh said he was thankful for our family (I was just shocked he gave any kind of real answer, because when you ask Josh any kind of question you're most likely to get a big grin and a string of nonsense words), and Sammy said he was thankful that we have a nice warm home. Then the boys showed us their talents -- Sammy showed us how he could use a rubber bracelet to flip a foam block across the room and Josh did some kind of jump-spin move. I promised the boys they could have the chocolate-chippyest pieces of pumpkin bread if they'd sing the closing song with us, so they both shouted along to "I am a builder." Through all of this they were running around, jumping, wiggling, and climbing all over us. Our family home evenings might not be the everyone-sitting-reverently-enraptured picture from the Church art kit, but I hope we never forget the times like this we have with our little ones. Before we know it they'll be too big and too cool to want to climb on our laps or show us all their little talents and inventions, and I'm so thankful we have time set aside to spend just being together. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for helping us create time to experience sweet family moments without all the hustle and bustle and noise that usually accompanies our lives!

I am thankful for music!

2009-11-15T16:37:00.002-07:00

I don't know if there is anything that affects my spirit more than music -- I love to sing and I love to listen to all sorts of music. Music to dance to, music to soothe, music to worship, music to just plain make you feel happy! Today I was sitting here at the computer and Sammy was next to me playing on his computer, and he started humming "There is Sunshine in My Soul." It was just such a sweet moment, listening to him almost unconsciously express the happiness in his heart through music. Just before that I was at choir practice singing the most beautiful Thanksgiving song, and it all made me so thankful for the gift of music! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us this wonderful way to express our feelings, bear our testimonies, and have our spirits lifted!

I am thankful for a warm and beautiful home.

2009-11-14T21:30:00.005-07:00

Today, as the wind and snow swirled outside the windows, I was especially grateful to have a wonderful home that keeps us safe from the elements and gives us a place to play, relax, learn, and just enjoy being a family. We have so much fun together, chasing each other around for tickle attacks, eating together, reading stories, having bathtime, snuggling, singing, and praying -- and that's just since dinner time! We've lived in this home for just over 5 years now, which is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. It's still a work in progress -- we're always adding or changing things here and there, and I'll be the first to admit it's not always as clean as I'd like it to be (if anyone sees my missing fairy cleaning lady, please send her my way!), but I'm so grateful that we have such a cozy place to build family memories together! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for blessing us with a wonderful, warm, secure, happy home!

I am thankful for creativity.

2009-11-14T13:10:00.002-07:00

I am so thankful that the Lord has shared with us His gift of creativity. You know how much I love to create beautiful things for myself and others to enjoy -- it gives my life a whole new dimension of meaning and fun. I am also grateful for the other ways in which our gift of creativity is manifested in our lives. The ability to create joy and peace and comfort especially are creative gifts for which I strive. I LOVE this video from Elder Uchtdorf (one of the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) -- he expresses exactly what I feel in my heart. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for blessing all of us with the ability to be creative!

I am thankful for health and strength!

2009-11-12T22:22:00.002-07:00

I am so thankful to have a body that is healthy and strong, that does all the things I need it to do. I think I take for granted that I can easily get around, take care of the house, play with the kids, have fun with my hobbies, and anything else I put my mind to, but I know that each day is a blessing. I am striving to get my body fit so that I can take better care of this gift God has given me!

I am thankful for veterans!

2009-11-11T10:27:00.003-07:00

We live in the most privileged, most free, most full-of-opportunity country on earth, but that comes at a high cost -- the lives of many brave men and women, who fight not only to preserve our freedoms but also to help the oppressed across the world. All my grandfathers were veterans of either WWII or the Korean War, as were Dan's grandfathers. Our brother-in-law Zack is a Marine who served 3 tours in Iraq. They are just a very few of the thousands who have given of their time, strength, and even their life's blood for the cause of freedom. Thank you, to all veterans who are willing to sacrifice so much. We do not take your service for granted. Heavenly Father, please bless them with strength and bring them safely home!

Today I am thankful for...

2009-11-10T20:47:00.003-07:00

... my incredible husband Dan. I don't know what I did to deserve the ideal husband, but I'm so thankful for him. He works really hard to support our family and make it possible for me to stay home with the kids, and I don't take that for granted one bit. He's funny and creative and loving. We are united in all the important areas and we work together so well as a team. He supports me in all my crazy creative ideas but is also good and gently keeping me grounded when I get a little too carried away. He doesn't get annoyed with all my quirks. I have complete faith and confidence in him. He is an amazing father to our kids, who absolutely adore him. You should see Eliza's face light up whenever he enters a room. For all this and a thousand other reasons, I thank my Heavenly Father every day for Dan.

Today I am thankful for...

2009-11-09T20:45:00.004-07:00

...my three incredible, funny, sweet, crazy-making, loving, smart, goofy kids! Seriously, my life must have been so boring before I became a mom. We went to the children's museum today (Discovery Gateway up in SLC -- one of our fave places) and I had so much fun watching all three of them running around playing, experimenting, laughing, and just generally being themselves. Sammy built a huge, intricate building out of magnet blocks; Josh "fed" plastic carrots to the stuffed bunnies by throwing them in large quantities; and Eliza, finally liberated from the confines of the stroller, ran from one area to the next with a look of serious concentration on her face, obviously intent on trying every single thing she could get her hands on. They are their own little individuals, and it is an amazing experience to watch them grow and develop and even have a hand in shaping that process.

But even as they become more independent each day, all three of them still love to come to Mommy for a cuddle, for comfort, and to tell me their nonsensical-but-completely-hilarious-to-them jokes. I am trying really hard to cherish each moment I have with these little ones -- I know that all too soon they'll be too big to have Mommy at the center of their world. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for blessing me with these three wonderful little ones and entrusting me with such a responsibility.

Today I am thankful for...

2009-11-08T13:27:00.005-07:00

...Jesus Christ. It's hard to find words to express my gratitude for my Savior, because it's so deeply ingrained into my heart and soul. I know that none of the blessings in my life would be possible without His grace. I am such a fallible, imperfect human being, and yet through Him I can become the strong, faithful woman He sees in me. Feeling His love and knowing His power to save gives me the strength to overcome any hardship. I do not know the future, and I know that anything could happen at any time, but I am kept from anxiety because I know that I can lean on my Savior through any crisis. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the incredible gift of thy Son!

"Living Water," by Simon Dewey, from the Gospel Art Book

I have a lost TOOTH!!!

2009-11-07T20:16:00.003-07:00

First I did'nt have a lost tooth yet.

It looked like this:

Then I DID. It looked like this

Today, I'm thankful for...

2009-11-07T07:46:00.003-07:00

I absolutely love Thanksgiving -- the whole month of November is just full of warm fuzzies as we contemplate the amazing number of blessings the Lord has given us. A few of my friends have been posting different things they are thankful for every day, and I decided to join in the fun!

Today I'm thankful for the wonderful neighborhood in which we live. Yesterday's weather was beautiful, and we spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing out in the front yard with a whole crew of neighbor kids. I'm thankful that my little ones have such great friends to create memories with. I'm thankful that we feel safe here, especially on our little double cul-de-sac which has nothing resembling traffic on the streets. I'm thankful for the grown-ups around here too, because we have some wonderful friends! We are really blessed to live here.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T16:12:00.012-07:00

Halloween was a total blast this year! We had so much fun planning and making our costumes, going to all the different Halloween activities, and (of course!) trick-or-treating!

Sammy and Josh and I chose a space theme for our costumes -- very fitting, since the boys are 100% obsessed with all things space right now. It started when Josh decided that he wanted to be an astronaut, then Sammy decided to be an alien to go along with him. I decided to be the solar system, complete with the sun, all the planets (yes, including Pluto), and the asteroid belt.

I loved how their costumes came out, and we had so much fun making them! Sammy's shirt says "Take me to your leader" and has a little alien and space ship on it. We made the antennae with a headband, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms, and then sprayed his hair green. I made the pants with a cool space print I found. Sammy loved getting to do the Halloween parade and have a fun party at school.

For Joshy's costume I took my cues from a way more expensive astronaut costume I found online. I found the NASA patches online and printed them onto iron-on transfers, then glued some other bits on for fun details. My favorite part is his cool astronaut backpack, which started out life as a Grape Nuts box. I had originally intended to just duct tape it to his back, but it was too heavy and wouldn't stay up. Eventually I ended up cutting slits in the back, then stuffing his regular backpack in and pulling the straps out the slits so he could wear it like a normal backpack, and that worked great! We tried several different things for helmets, but nothing really worked until we found this awesome helmet at DI. Joshy was immediately in love with it. It's so enormous he looks more like an astronaut bobble-head and so heavy he couldn't wear it for more than a few minutes at a time, but he just thought it was SO cool. He felt so grown up going to his preschool Halloween party, too.

I also made them the trick-or-treat bags with their initial on the front. Sammy helped me, and they turned out so cute!

Our cute little Eliza was a Seahawks cheerleader! Grandma Hill sent this adorable costume for Christmas last year, and I made her the cute little pom-pom wristlets out of felt strip. Daddy was a Seahawks player, and they had lots of fun doing "TOUCHDOWN!" together, with Daddy yelling it and both of them raising their arms in the air.

Here are all our little cuties together!

We went trick-or-treating with Taya and Uncle Dan and Aunt Carrie, and the highlight
Nana and Nick and Andy really outdid themselves with the barn this year, including having Bapa's bear skin peering down from the second floor. Awesome!

After trick-or-treating we had a fun party at Dan and Carrie's house, and just had a graet time hanging out with our wonderful family. It doesn't get any better than that!

Sammy's Halloween Card

2009-10-31T14:55:00.002-06:00

My Hallaween card is SO SO SO SO SO great!!!!!!!!!! I used a card sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You, just like my mom!!!

A few wonderful happenings!

2009-10-12T11:35:00.004-06:00

I haven't had a chance to update the blog in a little bit, but we've had some wonderful things happening in our family!

First, Andy came home from his mission! Hooray! It really seemed like he was gone for-ev-er, and we were all counting down the days, then hours, then minutes until his return. He was a truly amazing, 100% dedicated missionary, and we are all so proud of him. We had a huge crowd at the airport to greet him. About the only word I can come up with to describe how he looked is shell-shocked. :) I took a ton of pictures, but here's the best one of him (and the beautiful Ange) -- he was moving around so fast greeting everyone it was hard to get a good pic. He was definitely uncomfortable hugging all the female family members, which we all got quite a kick out of. There are more pictures here.

My favorite part of the night was that Josh refused to believe that Andy was the REAL Uncle Andy. There were several missionaries on the flight, and for some reason Josh had decided that one of the other ones was actually Uncle Andy, and he became more and more upset when we all insisted that he was wrong. The next day when Josh saw him he said, "Oh, you ARE Uncle Andy! I thought you weren't..." Now they're inseparable -- any time we're with the family, Joshy runs right to Andy.

The next day we went to lunch and then Mom and I went to Costco with Andy and tried to talk him into buying some jeans and casual shirts, but nothing doing.

He's having a tough time transitioning. I hear he had a major breakthrough this past week though -- he came home from Institute and said to my mom, "I kind of look like a dork, don't I?" :) Yesterday was his homecoming at Church, and he gave a wonderful and spiritually powerful talk.

Saturday was the most incredible day -- we did Carissa's temple work! Amy, Mom, and I met at the temple early to do her initiatories, and then a huge group from the family met us for the endowment session. It was the most incredible spiritual experience of my life. I was able to do the endowment on her behalf, and I felt her spirit and her love so strongly throughout the experience; I know she was with us, and that there was great rejoicing in heaven. Afterward we went to the cemetary to have a little memorial and do the official unveiling of her headstone, which was installed a couple of months ago. It was really a wonderful day, and we were so happy to have the whole family together, including Eric and Leanne who came all the way from England! You can see lots of pictures from the day here.

Now, I do have something to report that falls in the "major bummer" category -- we've been planning for months to take a family trip together once Andy came home and Eric and Leanne were here, and last week we decided that weather wouldn't be good enough for Lake Powell (our original plan) and that we should go to Disneyland instead. Yippee! So all week we were feverishly preparing for the trip. Well, Josh took the feverishly part a little too seriously, because what we thought was just a cold got worse and worse until Saturday I took him the Urgent Care and he had a fever of 103.9 and he tested positive for swine flu! Argh! So that really stunk, but we REALLY didn't want to miss out on the family trip, so I thought we might still make it happen, but Sunday Sammy and Eliza both woke up sick and by the afternoon I was feeling awful as well, so we had to give it up. There was just no way we could risk getting everyone else in the family sick (not to mention the entire population of Disneyland!). But, on the happy side, everyone is doing much, much better today. None of us have a fever, and the kids are enjoying getting to stay in their jammies and watch Disney movies all day. I really believe that it is the power of prayer and the priesthood that have made all the difference. So many people have given us so much help -- I really appreciate it!

We hope the family has a totally awesome time at Disneyland and takes tons of pictures!

Paintings by me

2009-09-28T15:29:00.006-06:00

Picture of Me and Miss palmer

Cool

grwe

1st day of kindergarten

Defoflfied

Cool (2)

Solar system

Mars

Earth

Penny

Dollar

ALL MY PAINTIGS

ARE DONE.

5 Years

2009-09-28T15:13:00.005-06:00

Last month marked the anniversary of us living in this house for 5 years. It's a big milestone for us as a family, and also a big one for me personally -- this is the longest I've ever lived anywhere! I really, really love where we live. We live on a wonderful little double cul-de-sac where there is no traffic and we have the best neighbors on earth. There are a million little kids for our kids to play with (and I mean that almost literally) and we have great friends that we love. Who could ask for anything better?

Here is a picture of us when we first moved in:

And here is a picture of us now! What a difference 5 years make!

That little baby Sammy in the first picture is a genuine big kid now, and now we've added Josh and Eliza to the gang! Looking back at that first picture it seems like a lot longer than 5 years -- there we were, just getting our feet under us as we tried to be "real" grown-ups. We were so excited to have our own home. We never could have gotten this great start without the help of our parents, so thanks, Dad and Mom!

Some things about our house are still a work in progress -- the landscaping is a project that we are forever working on, because neither of us are very good at it (or very interested in it). We've finished the basement, which gave us a lot more space, and I'm working right now on organizing all the stuff we have stored down there. My favorite thing we've added -- which is part of the basement -- is my craft room/office. I LOVE having my own space to work on projects and do my own thing, so thanks, honey, for letting me totally take it over! :) We've also gone room by room painting and decorating and adding our own personality to the house, which is very fun and makes it feel like OUR home. We still definitely have a ways to go on that project -- our room, for example, is about as boring as it could possibly be. At least Dan took on the project of painting it last summer so it wouldn't be so completely white, but it definitely needs some design help.

Joshy starts preschool!

2009-09-13T14:45:00.002-06:00

This post is about 10 days late in coming, but...

Joshy finally got to start preschool! For the last two years he has been sad every time Sammy went to preschool and he had to stay home, so he has very much been looking forward to starting preschool. A lady in our ward is doing preschool in her house, so Josh is going there (along with several of his little ward friends, which is very nice). He was so excited to get his very own backpack and fill his pencil box with brand new school supplies. But if you know Josh you'll know that he can be a contrary little bugger, so it won't surprise you to know that when the big day finally came he was more than a little reticent to get out the door. As you can see in the picture above, I had to bribe him with string cheese. (Note: if you ever want Joshy to do anything, bribe him with string cheese.)

Once we got to preschool, however, he just jumped right in and started playing. A few of the other kids were crying and clinging to their mommies, but Josh didn't give me a backward glance... Of course, when I came and picked him up a couple hours later and asked if he had fun, his answer was a resounding "NO!" (He never wants to admit he had fun anywhere.) But only a little prodding was necessary before he was telling me all about the toys he had played with, and how he got to paint with his FINGERS, and he painted a roller coaster that went all around, and how they got teddy grahams and applesauce for snacks, and on and on. I could tell he felt very grown up that he could tell me all about his school day, just like Sammy does. His teacher told me that he is very happy and funny during preschool, and that he has a very good memory. Every day when I come to pick him up he tells me had didn't have any fun at all, but then he gets so excited telling me all the fun things they did. Funny Joshy -- he just has to do things his own way and doesn't want anyone dictating his feelings to him. It's so fun to watch him in this new stage of his life -- having some independent from mom time, making friends, feeling so grown up.

Kindergarten

2009-08-31T13:59:00.005-06:00

First day of kindergarten was great! I did not really listen.

BUT... I still liked. My favorite part is RECESS.

Two Big Firsts!

2009-08-28T17:36:00.004-06:00

Well, yesterday was a very big day in our family -- it was Sammy's first day of kindergarten AND Eliza's first birthday!

Sammy has been excited for months and months to start kindergarten, and when the big day arrived he could hardly contain his excitement! We met up with all his little friends who are in his class (there are 5 of them who all got put together - yay!) and the other moms to walk up to the school together, but the boys were in no mood to wait for us stroller pushers and ran the whole way to the school, and they couldn't wait for us to say goodbye and let them get started! I am so excited for him -- it's the start of a whole new stage of life, you know? He now has a whole portion of his life in which I have little involvement and he's responsible for himself. It may just be 2 3/4 hour per day, but it's a big deal! He loved his first day, though he did admit he quit paying attention because he already knew what they were talking about. But he assured us that he sat still and watched the teacher the whole time. Sigh. His teacher, Mrs. Palmer, seems really nice and has some good ideas for how to get him engaged, so hopefully that will go well. I know it's only kindergarten, but I just feel like it will set the stage for how he feels about school for the future. If he goes through yet another year of not learning anything new, is he going to lose his love for learning? I'm trying not to stress about it, and just give it a chance and see how he does. Today he told me that he tried really hard to pay attention. And he loved the "gingerbread man" activity today, where they chased the gingerbread man all over the school -- a pretty clever way to teach the kindergartners all about the school and the staff, I think!

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Yesterday was also Miss Eliza's first birthday! We had the family over for dinner in the evening, and I was running late getting the food and decorations ready, so Eliza was really hungry and cranky by the time we were ready to eat. A little watermelon and quesadilla made a big difference, however, and by the time cake time rolled around she was really getting into it!

She demolished that cupcake in the end and got as chocolatey and pink frosting-y as any one-year-old could wish. The highlight of Eliza's night, however, was definitely the presents! She loved the book with furry puppies and kitties from Taya and Noah, and she had a few kisses for the baby doll from Mommy and Daddy. But none of those could hold a candle to the purple puppy from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Tarbet. If you press its paws it plays music and talks, and she was instantly in love. This video says it all!

If you'd like to see more pictures of these fun events and more, check out this Facebook album.

I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped with the party! Amy came over a few days ago and helped me make gum paste flowers for these fab cupcakes, and then Ange really saved my bacon by coming a few hours early and helping with the cupcakes, the decorations, the cleanup, everything! I was so bummed I didn't get a pic of her with the cupcakes, too, because she was a major contributor to them! Mom brought the ice cream, Em brought Taya and Noah, Dad helped entertain Eliza so I could finish up, and Grandma Tarbet helped me get dinner ready even though her back was killing her. Dan made a side-pilgrimage for tortillas after I completely forgot to make them even though that was pretty much the whole point of the food and then kept everything running smoothly duringthe party. I just have the best family in the whole world, and I really love and appreciate you guys!

Today's funny conversation is brought to you by...

2009-08-17T14:08:00.002-06:00

... Joshua.

Me: "Hmm...maybe we really don't need to go to the craft store today..."
Joshy: "Please oh please! I want to go the craft store!"
Me: "YOU? Why? What would you get there?"
Joshy: "Um...Supplies..."
Me: "What kind of supplies?"
Joshy: "Ya know, designs. Cool designs. Stuff you could glue to the wall!"

Don't worry, hon -- he didn't REALLY want to go to the craft store. He was just afraid I was going to make him eat lunch at home instead of packing his chicken nuggets in a bag to eat on the road. These kids think home-made kids meals are the coolest thing ever.

Whew, what a summer!

2009-08-11T21:11:00.015-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted our doings -- it has been a crazy busy summer around here! I'm going to try to get in the highlights, but be warned: this is going to be a very long post.

Our trip to Washington was so much fun. We got to spend time with some of our favorite people -- the Hill side of the family -- and had all sorts of adventures. During the last ten days of our trip we got to go on the foot ferry to Bremerton to play in the fountains, Dan finally came back to Washington to join us, we went to Northwest Trek (a very cool animal park), we went to a fun ward BBQ at Long Lake, and we got to ride the miniature steam trains in Port Orchard. You can see lots of pictures of all these activities here.

I thought we'd had enough fun to last us all summer, but when we got home we realized things were just revving up! The boys, having proven during our WA trip that they were big enough to handle them, got bunk beds! This was extremely exciting, and I've only had to remind them not to use them as a jungle gym 12 or 20 times.

Then Eliza got a haircut! This was a subject of much discussion and speculation amongst us -- she had these two extra long locks that made her look really scraggly, but we didn't want her not to look like a baby any more. I was so distressed about it I even sprung for the slightly more expensive kids' hair salon, Cookie Cutters, reasoning to myself that they'd have more experience cutting baby hair. Whether or not that is true I cannot say, but she did turn out awfully cute. And it was very helpful that they had all sorts of play equipment and things to keep the boys busy while I was taking care of Eliza. Here are the before and afters, though I really don't think the after does her cute 'do justice:

Then it was 4th of July celebration time! We had a great time doing the slip-and-slide at Nana's house, then went to the big bbq at the Pinegars (my parents' neighbors and friends). The kids really got into the fireworks this year -- even Eliza seemed awestruck rather than scared. You can see lots of pictures of our Independence Day fun here, but here are my favorites:

I just love how these all these little cousins are getting to be such good buddies! We all had even more fun together when we went up to Bear Lake a little later for a few days of camping and boating. The boys got up early to go fishing and had fun even though they didn't catch anything. For my part I was just proud of myself for sleeping in a tent for the first time in years. Since I had my Gel topper, it wasn't too bad! So perhaps it doesn't count as roughing it, but it was certainly a step in that direction.

We've also had some fun times with the Tarbet/Neves side of the family. One Sunday we all got together for a big joint birthday party for Grandma Ann, Donny, and Katie, then the next Saturday we got together again for Donny's baptism. It is always so fun to hang out with everyone and watch all the kids running around together. My youngest cousins are only a little older than my kids -- just old enough to be worshipped and followed around adoringly! The boys are always so excited when they hear that Donny or Jacob are going to be wherever we're going, and I'm glad they have good boys to look up to and follow.

One of our favorite new things to do is play at the new splash pad and fountains in Highland. The kids have a blast running around in the water and it's free! Always a big plus.

The big news from the past couple of weeks was that we had Taya and Noah (my niece and nephew) staying with us for several days while Dan and Carrie went to England. The boys thought they had died and gone to heaven, having such fun playmates for days on end. Eliza just watched Taya adoringly and followed her wherever she went. I think the kids played about 15 different varieties of "House," including "kitty house" and (my least favorite) "potty house."

Me: "What on earth is potty house?"
Sam: "Well, one of us pretends to be the potty, and the other person sits on you and pretends to go potty."
Me: "No more potty house."

Unfortunately, that didn't end the matter. Later that day, as I was making dinner and the kids were playing in the back yard, Taya came in and asked, "Is Josh supposed to be pooping in the yard?"

Me: "Ack, no! Josh, what are you doing? We don't poop in the yard!"
Josh: "But I had a emergency!"
Noah: "Poop-in-a-potty! Poop-in-a-potty!"

Needless to say, that was really the end of potty house. At least, that was the last I heard of it... They also played "Office," which I was glad to find out was acting out a dad taking his son to work and had nothing to do with a mid-level paper company in Scranton. We made cool necklaces out of playdough, and the kids went through quite a stack of construction paper making cards and other projects. We were so happy to have Taya and Noah with us, and the house seems so quiet now that they're gone. The day after Taya left, Joshy was just kind of moping around and said, "We haven't played any kind of house all day!"

My dad took Dan and the boys on a "boys-only" fishing trip to Utah Lake with my uncles Alan and Victor and their boys. This time they had much greater success -- Sammy was the star of the day, catching 5 white bass. Josh caught three, thanks to the fact that Bapa kept getting mysteriously tired and asking Josh to hold his pole. Within moments, Joshy had caught a fish! Amazing coincidence, eh? I told Josh that Bapa must just have bad luck fishing, because the exact same thing used to happen to Bapa when I was a kid.

We also had the immense pleasure of a visit from Rick and Liz, who had come to Utah from Texas for a Families Supporting Adoption conference. They stayed with us for a couple of nights, and the first night we also had Chad and Esther and baby Cody over for a bbq.

That Cody is just getting so big, and cuter every time we see him! Eliza and Cody were quite curious about each other, and I think they'll be very good little buddies as they grow up. I just love it when Rick and Liz are here -- both nights we stayed up way too late just shooting the breeze and had a great time. The kids were once again overjoyed with our visitors, because they just love Uncle Rick and Aunt Liz. My only complaint is that they couldn't stay longer and they live too far away! :)

We were blessed by a miracle during their stay. Sammy started feeling yucky one evening, and at about 2 a.m. woke up with a fever of almost 104 and was shaking and vomiting uncontrollably. I think it was the sickest he's ever been, and he definitely felt that way, at one point wailing "I'm dyyyyyyyyyyyying!" So, so sad. But Dan and Rick were able to give him a priesthood blessing and promised him that he would be healed. We put him back to bed and he was able to sleep soundly through the night, and woke up fever and throw up free. What a great blessing it is to have the power of the priesthood in our home! I am very thankful to a loving Heavenly Father, to know he is always watching over us.

Whew, we're into the home stretch. This past weekend was Alpine Days, so we went to watch the parade with Ann and Toby and their families. Nana was riding Misty in the parade, and Sammy was SO excited when she rode up and invited him up with her. He got to ride the rest of the parade on the horse with Nana. The other kids were feeling a little left out, but that awesome Nana came back around with Misty and gave them each their own ride. Joshy was totally into the parade this year, and even more excited about the multitude of giant inflatables in the park after the parade. Eliza decided that the parade was a great time to start standing on her own! She suddenly started pushing off Dan's legs and standing for big chunks of time all by herself -- by the look on her face you could see that she was aware of just what an achievement that was!

We think this girlie is going to be walking any day now!

These are just a few of the goings-on of the past 6 or 7 weeks. In other news, my sister Amy started an awesome cake business, my sister Emily has a new boyfriend, my brother Nick and his wife Crystal moved to Oregon, Nick got appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery, and they decided it stunk to be so far from family in an emergency and came home. Dan and I went to the Peter Breinholt concert, which was awesome as always, and the next weekend Dan was kind enough to stay home so I could have a girls night out with my sisters and Mom and Dad (so I guess it was more of a Daddy-Mommy-Daughter date at that point). I love my family so darn much -- what would life be without them? My wonderful husband, my amazing kids, my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends -- you are what makes our life crazy but truly wonderful. We love you!

P.S. If you'd like to see more pictures, please check out more online albums here and here.

More from Washington...

2009-06-18T22:00:00.004-06:00

Ah, more good times! Over the past week we've had all sorts of adventures. We went to Manchester State Park beach with the Serads (everything's more fun with Uncle Zack!) last Thursday and we've hit the park here in Strawberry Hill a couple of times. On Saturday we spent the day at Great-Grandpa and Grandma Hill's house, helping with a little yard work and mostly just enjoying each other's company. Sammy was fascinated by Great-Grandpa's stories about his ancestor Erastus Snow. On Monday we were going to go se UP! but we were derailed by Sammy developing a bad infection in his big toe, I think from a hangnail he pulled out. I hadn't thought much of it, even though it looked pretty gross -- just cleaned it well and neosporined and bandaged it -- but I called our pediatrician to see what they recommended and they said we should have him seen right away. Doh! So Sammy and I spent the afternoon at the Urgent Care. He was a trooper, too. The nurses were very impressed with how brave he was as they gave him shots to numb his toe and then went to work on it. He's on a stiff antibiotic now and has had to soak his foot in Epson salt three times a day, but his toe is looking much better. As a result, though, we didn't get to go see UP! that night at all.

We finally did get to go last night, which was good because I thought Josh might have a nervous breakdown if we put it off any longer. It was such a sweet movie; we all really enjoyed it (though Josh was not a fan of the scary parts and even Sammy had to duck his head a few times).

Today we went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, which was so cool. There was a cool preschooler planetarium show and all sorts of fun things to see and do. Joshy's favorite was the big live insect exhibit. He just ran from one tank to the next, totally enthralled by all the creepy crawlies. They also had a really neat butterfly house with hundreds of huge, colorful butterflies. Sammy told me what his favorite part was but it's totally slipping my mind right now -- I think I'll have to add that in tomorrow (or maybe he'll blog about it himself). Eliza had fun crawling around in the little kid's section, and she especially loved playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa in the little play treehouse. In fact, she pretty much commandeered Grandpa the entire day. She loved riding up on his shoulders, using fistfuls of hair as reins, and late in the day she nuzzled in for a nap.

We've got lots and lots of pictures to see, so if you'd like to see more just click here.

Greetings from Washington!

2009-06-10T12:09:00.010-06:00

Hello from warm and sunny Western Washington! (No, really, it is!) The kids and I are in the middle of a lovely 3 1/2 week visit with the Hill side of the family, and so far the weather's been better here than it is at home. We've been having so much fun hanging out with everyone. Eliza loves being spoiled by everyone, especially Grandpa. You know she's got him wrapped around her little finger when he comes to give her a kiss on the head before he goes to work and she bats her eyes at him and he picks her up and lets her snuggle her applesauce-y face all over his suit. Yup, that's love. The boys are having a great time being the "big" cousins for a change, keeping Cole entertained and running all over the place. They're also enjoying sleeping on a bunk bed, and no one's gotten a concussion yet, so that's promising. They're sleeping there with the strict understanding that this is their trial, and if they acquit themselves well we'll see about getting them one for their room at home.

Yesterday we went to the Point Defiance zoo and had a grand old time. Joshy says his favorite part was the walruses. They were totally my favorite too!

Here's Sammy's report on the day:

My favorite part was the WILD WONDERS OUTDOOR THEATER that had a wild animal show. I loved it! There were (I don't know, I didn't count). 90 seconds for it.

Eliza was not a huge fan of being stuck in the stroller most of the day, but she did love watching the animals and even got her hands on one. She was a little sweetheart, as always! She's also gotten big into clapping over the past few days, and she was really rockin' out during the wild animal show:

Here are pictures of some of our favorite moments:

May Merriment

2009-05-24T21:27:00.015-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long -- it's been a busy month! Hopefully Sammy's kept you all entertained and informed in the mean time. Beware, this is going to be a loooooooooong post. Let's see, what's the biggest news? Dan has finished his website and book one in his Mutant Ranch series is now available for free download. He's worked so hard on it and has really done an amazing job. I can't wait to see what kind of feedback he gets from it. If you haven't seen it yet, it's www.mutantranch.com -- make sure you check it out!

Sammy graduated from preschool! He was so excited to show us where he's been going to preschool and show off some of the things he's learned. The kids all sang songs, and Sammy's individual part was singing Hey Diddle Diddle. He did such a great job, as you can see here:

Now there's just a loooooooong summer stretched out before him until he can start kindergarten! He's so very excited. Sammy's also been doing soccer, and has been much braver this year. He has gotten some good kicks in, and when he falls down he jumps right back up instead of bursting into tears and running off the field. His favorite things to do, though, are definitely painting and blogging on the computer (but I'm sure you had an idea of that if you've visited our blog before).

Josh is getting very interested in letters. He tries to identify them everywhere I go, and is getting more of them right every day. He was very excited yesterday when we were down in Provo and he saw the big Y up on the mountain. Josh is such an individual -- he has to do things his own way -- but he's also so loving and sweet. He went with me on a Mommy-Joshy date yesterday to run some errands, and he just kept up a constant stream of chatter the entire time, informing me that he saw a guy sitting on a roof, some cows eating stuff, that it was "raining dogs and cats," and that he was going to get 3 dogs, 3 cats, and 4 horses.

Eliza is growing by leaps and bounds these days! This past Monday she started cruising, as you can see here:

She is no longer content to stay in one place -- she crawls and she cruises all over the house. She even started climbing up the stairs to follow me while I was vacuuming. She only got up one step before I scooped her up, but she was quite determined. As a result of all this exploring she has bruises all over her forehead, but she seems to be holding together alright. She pitched herself out of the stroller (which her mother had stupidly not buckled her into -- sheesh, send that lady back to mommy school) and landed face-first on the Costco parking lot, giving herself a huge goose-egg on the forehead, a couple of little scrapes, and cutting her gums, but thankfully she didn't have a concussion. She babbles all the time, especially when she's mad, and even says "DADA!" quite emphatically, definitely meaning her Daddy. She's definitely figured out that Daddy and her brothers exist to entertain and adore her, and she's not shy about making her demands known. She has the sweetest toothy grin, and just gets to be more and more fun every day.

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of joining my parents, Uncle Terry, and Emily on the maiden voyage of the new pontoon boat! It was a blast, and I can foresee many happy hours of fishing and cruising around and Bapa's Party Boat. Even the boys got a chance to drive the boat, which they loved. (Sammy was grinning from ear to ear, yelling "I'm so going to blog about this!")

Then on Monday Nana invited all the grandkids over for Nana's Cooking Camp, where they made a menu and shopping list, then went to lunch and shopping for ingredients (all 5 little people pushing little carts down the aisles of Smith's Marketplace -- that Nana is a brave woman!), then made dinner for all the Mommies and Daddies. Oh, and they also decorated aprons. The kids had such a wonderful time and felt so special and grown-up. You can see lots more pictures in my mom's Facebook album.

On Friday Nana and I took the kiddos to the Discovery Gateway, which is always a big hit. This time around Eliza even got to get out and play. They have an area that is perfect for tiny tots and it was much less crowded and crazy than usual, and Eliza had a blast crawling around exploring. Sammy and Josh got to go to a class about plants and got to plant flower seeds to bring home, and later Sammy did a found-objects-mosaic class. Joshy wasn't much interested in that, but we had a great time playing with blocks and magnetic gears and all sorts of other goodies while Nana went to the art class with Sam. Man, I love that place! So much better than having them sitting around watching cartoons.

All this month, Dan and I have been doing a lowest-net-calorie contest with my brother Dan and his wife Carrie and my sister Emily. Dan P. worked up a nifty Excel spreadsheet that helps you figure out and track how many calories you burn from exercise and various life activities, and the five of us worked really hard all month to eat right and exercise. Since Dan and Carrie were leaving yesterday for California, we decided to end the contest Friday night at midnight and have our celebration on Saturday night -- the losers of the contest had to buy dinner for the winners (and pay for the babysitter, so this was bigtime). The suspense was driving us all crazy, because none of us had any idea if we were 50,000 calories ahead or behind or if we were neck and neck. But, drum roll please -- Dan and I won! Yippee! Not by too much, though -- this was a fierce competition. And really, we all won. Between the 5 of us we lost 60 lbs! The contest was such a good motivation to get back into the habit of tracking my calories, which is the best method I've found for myself for losing weight. I've been having great fun digging out my skinny clothes! Dan is looking really great, and he's discovered a hidden talent for running. Friday night he ran 10 miles straight! He really enjoys pushing himself to accomplish new things, and I'm so proud of him.

Sunday, since Mom and Dad and Dan and Carrie were all gone to San Diego (sniff!), we had Emily and Amy and Chad and Esther over to our house for Sunday dinner, which was great fun. I just love hanging out with family. Who'd have ever thunk, when we were teenagers and at each other's throats, that we'd grow up to be the bestest of friends?

Whew, you made it to the end! As you can see, there's never a dull moment in these parts. If you'd like to see more pictures, you can see them here in my Facebook album. We're counting down the days now until we leave for our big trip to Washington -- the kids and I will be staying at Grandma and Grandpa Hill's house for 3 1/2 weeks! Onlyl 10 days left til we leave -- should be tons of fun!

Camping

2009-05-16T10:57:00.007-06:00

I love camping. The picture for that day is right here:

So...I really love camping. Its really fun & neat. I sleep without beds! But with air beds. YOU should try it to. The 3 of us (Me, My brother and my dad) went. And YES it was fun, like I said. We went about 40 miles or so.

Mothers Day

2009-05-10T15:04:00.002-06:00

Today is mothers day. Here is a painting for today:

I even made a mothers day painting for nana (My grandmother) Its right here:

Joshy's 1st painting!

2009-05-08T16:26:00.002-06:00

Joshy made his 1st painting! The song for his painting is: Bugu-Bugeegee, I made a painting! His painting is right here:

A Beuteful Day.

2009-05-07T14:31:00.002-06:00

It's a beuteful day, Outside. I feel like playing outside rightnow. Speaking of playing outside, Here is a painting of outside!

Sammy's 1st day of making a newspaper!

2009-05-05T13:36:00.004-06:00

I made a news paper! It's about shopping. It's name is "The shopping news". It's right here.

Shopping

All stores have lots and lots of stuff, That’s on sale. Some things are $1.23(Low prices). There are stores everywhere there is people, wichmeans there are a lot of stores. People need stores, Because they need stuff and food and cookbooks. If we didn’t have stores we would DIE, Wich we don’t want to do. We can buy lots of stuff! We can buy stuff till there is no-more stuff!

How to email

1. Write: Dear, who it’s for
2. Write: I love you
3. Ask questions
4. Write: Love who it’s from
5. Send it
6. Write more emails

Code game

1 = I 2 = l 3 = o 4 = v 5 = e 6 = y 7 = o 8 = u 9 = .

Sammy's Soccer Game

2009-05-03T15:26:00.002-06:00

I havent had a soccer game in a long long long time! I'll miss my last game. I'll miss my last game, becase I hafe to go to washington in thirty-three days. And then I think I'll be all done with soccer. BOOHOO SO SAD!

Goo Goo Ga Ga!

2009-04-26T11:59:00.002-06:00

My baby thinks the word "Gotommy" is really funny. She crawlls all over the place. She can roll over alot. She loves me alot.

Hard math

2009-04-23T14:56:00.001-06:00

This is VERY VERY HARD MATH. I figured it out in my head. And I am a...

WHIZ KID!

Samuel Glenn Hill

2009-04-22T09:58:00.002-06:00

I LOVE to paint!

My name is samuel. I am 5 year's old. I am a whiz kid! I love to write story's, Tell jokes, Read and go to bed.

Sammy's new moniter, Computer, Keybord and mouse!

2009-04-21T16:59:00.002-06:00

I got my own moniter, Computer, Keybord and mouse last week on satarday. I even got 2 pare's of flip-flop's! I was SO SO SO SO SO exited to use them! My mom gave them to my, when she was helping uncle dan and aunt carrie move.

Everday Life

2009-04-19T10:55:00.006-06:00

Life is fun, you know? These three kids keep us so entertained as their little personalities and talents develop. We've been having fun times over the past few weeks. We've taken a couple of trips to the childrens' museum, which is SO fun. The boys love all the different outlets for creativity there. They've done some really cool classes, like exercise, learning about eyes, and "action painting." (Thanks again for the membership, Grandma and Grandpa! Best present ever!) Eliza loves to watch all the big running around and occasionally gets to get out and play, too. Last time we went with Aunt Carrie and Taya and Noah, which was a blast.

I snapped this one a few Sundays ago -- my daddy is such a great Bapa! The kids love piling on for story time.

The weather around here has not been very spring-like -- the other day we woke up to 2" of snow, and even when it's been sunny it's been chilly and windy. We made the most of it the other day, though, and got out the kites Grandma Hill sent for the boys. They were SO excited. It took some doing, but we got both kites up! We couldn't get Joshy's to stay up for very long, but he had a great time watch it swoop around and crash and go up again close to the ground. We were trying to do it in the front yard, and I think the air currents were too swirly in the cul-de-sac.

Oh, I have to share a funny, sweet story. Last Monday, when we were getting ready for "You're My Favorite" Day, Sammy wanted to make cards for my mom and dad. This is the card he made for my mom:

I thought it was very sweet. On our way to my parents' house that morning, Sam was holding the card in his lap and Josh said, "Jesus's hair looks funny!" Sam fixed him with a stern eye and said, "Josh, how do you think Jesus would feel if He heard you say that about him?" Glad to know the lessons are getting in there somewhere...

Josh is feeling very conflicted about whether he wants to be a baby or a big boy. He sees Eliza and Sam and kind of wants the best of both worlds. He is hilarious, too – always looking for ways to make people laugh. He’s gotten very friendly, too. He’ll walk right up to people and start a conversation, almost always starting with “Do you know my name?!” I’m trying to teach him that it’s only okay to talk to strangers if Mommy is with you. He’s pretty independent and likes to do things his own way.

Eliza is getting SO big! She’s almost 8 months old. Her big thing right now is pulling herself up to standing, which she’ll do using anything she can get her hands on. She hasn’t figured out how to move her feet yet, though, so we’re in no immediate danger of walking. She’s also trying very, very hard to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks and rocks and then pushes up on to her toes and fingertips, but (just like with walking) she can’t figure out how to move her feet, so she mostly pushes herself backwards if she goes anywhere at all. It’s very frustrating for her to be trying to get a toy but only getting further and further away! Between rolling and just generally squirming around, she can cover a lot of ground, and I think she’s pretty proud of herself. Here's a cute video of her trying to make her move:

Eliza has her boys wrapped around her little finger -- this is just a small sample of the lengths to which they'll go to entertain her. It may not always be successful on her, but I sure found it entertaining...

Dragon and Microsoft

2009-04-17T14:07:00.002-06:00

This is a crazy looking dragon. I drew it myself. Iam an ARTIST! Well I do have "Microsoft".

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

2009-04-14T17:12:00.002-06:00

Why is eliza crying? I don't know, Mabe it's because she is geting tooth #7.

Easter Doings and "You're My Favorite" Day

2009-04-14T16:50:00.012-06:00

This Easter was so wonderful. I don't think I've ever felt a greater appreciation for our Savior and the promise of the Resurrection than I did this year. Add that to three days of wonderful family time, and I am one happy camper. Not to mention the joy of adorable Easter outfits for the kiddos! :)

On Saturday we got up early and the kids found the Easter baskets the Easter Bunny had filled the night before, then we headed over to Mom and Dad's house early to try to take pictures of the grandkids in their super cute Easter outfits. (Thank you, Children's Place -- I am such a sucker for coordination.) The weather was not cooperating and neither were the kids, though they sure were good sports. Dan (my brother) took the pictures while Dan (my husband) pulled out all the stops trying to get the kids to look in the same direction and all smile at the same time. Such cute kiddos we have in this family. The only grandkid missing was Amelia -- Eric and Leanne, we're still waiting for picturs!

Afterwards we had our annual extended family Easter egg hunt inside Mom and Dad's house due to the constant drizzle, but it was just as fun as ever. This year we were joined by my aunt Caroldean's family and some of our Bhutanese friends, who had no problem grasping the concept of the candy free-for-all. It always amazes me how fast kids can scour a large area carpeted in candy and eggs, leaving no morsel behind. Mom was the hero of the day -- after the egg hunt she saddled up her new horse Misty and took all the kids on rides around the arena. By the end of the night the boys were on a sugar meltdown the likes of which we had never seen before -- thank goodness they don't get much sugar in regular life!

After a lovely Easter Sunday at church we headed back over to the folks' house for Easter dinner. I was in charge of dessert and made lemonade pie for all the low-carbers and brownie-toffee-cheesecake trifle, which was not low anything. YUM! We had such a great time hanging out with the family, laughing and telling stories. I've uploaded all the Easter photos into an album here.

Yesterday was the one-year anniverary of Carissa's passing, and Amy declared it "You're My Favorite" Day. Carissa always told everyone "You're my favorite!" and she meant it every time! The kids and I spent the day with my mom, helping with some fun projects, then we all gathered at Carissa's grave to share some happy memories and then went bowling (Carissa's favorite activity). I was so happy that we could spend that time together being happy in each other's company, and we sure missed Eric, Leanne, Amelia, Andy, and Lydia. You can see all the pictures from the evening here. I thought it was very fitting that yesterday was sunny and warm even though the weather has been so cold and drizzly lately and today it's raining steadily. That was Carissa -- a burst of sunshine wherever she went! I hope I can in some way fill that spot in the world.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T16:04:00.003-06:00

Happy Easter from all of us Hills. I am so thankful for this day and for the opportunity to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. We would have nothing without him, but through His grace we are blessed beyond measure. My heart is really full today as I think about all that we have because of Him, especially since tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Carissa's death. We're so blessed that, through His atonement and resurrection, we KNOW that we can be with Carissa, and with all our loved ones, forever. I'll have lots of cute pictures to post (hopefully tomorrow, but you know how THAT goes), but for now Sammy really wanted to share a song with you:

(If it doesn't work, check back in a little while -- it may still be processing.)

Sammy holding his picture of the temple.

2009-04-09T15:10:00.003-06:00

I am holding my picture of the temple, From general conforens on saturday.

General conforens is about heavenly father and the temple.

Whiz Kid

2009-04-03T21:58:00.004-06:00

Well, if you follow our family blog at all I'm sure you've noticed that Sammy has gotten REALLY into blogging. He loves to put his paintings up on our blog. Such a funny kid! He's been making some incredible leaps in the math arena lately. One Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago he was drawing on his magnetic drawing board and started writing out the times table from memory -- you know the grid style? He got up to the 5's before he ran out of room. We had no idea he had them memorized! I gave him a composition book to draw in during church and it has a times table in the back. Needless to say, we were pretty blown away by that. He really understands the concept, too. The other day he brought me a brush and asked me what 7x19 was. I figured it out and he said, "Oh, that's how many bristles are on this brush!" It had 7 rows with 19 bristles each.

So shortly after we found out he had the times tables memorized Dan decided to probe a little and asked him "How many times could two fit into four?" and other basic division questions. Well, he grabbed right on to that, and in no time he was doing more complicated things, including remainders, all in his head. Dan showed him how to write that down, and he's been going like gangbusters ever since trying to figure out different problems. About 25 times a day he starts a conversation with "Okay, now I have a REALLY tricky problem for you!"

Dan's mom sent some multiplication flash card post-its, and Sammy couldn't wait to bust them out. (Seriously -- he bugged me every 3 minutes until I opened them.) I wasn't sure how he'd do, since getting random questions thrown at you is different from rewriting the times table in a nice orderly fashion. I said, "Okay, here's the game we'll play. I'll ask you the question. If you get it right, I'll give you the card and you can put it up on the wall. If you get it wrong, I get to keep the card." Final score: Sammy 25, Mommy 0. I helped him think through a few of them, but most of them he just spit right out. I am astounded.

Which brings me to our quandry. Sammy doesn't even start kindergarten until the fall. What should we do be doing for him? Our plan has always been to send him to regular classes with kids his own age, and then get him into Spanish immersion when it's offered (2nd grade in our school). But he continues to make these incredible leaps in reading and in math, and we have to wonder if he needs more. We don't want him to be skipping grades and end up not being comfortable anywhere, but we're also worried that school will get boring and that he'll start to hate it. We don't want to push him too much, but we also want to help him reach his potential. He's very much a typical 5-year-old in so many ways -- silly, energetic, likes to play with his friends, etc. He's also loving and creative and tender-hearted. Where do I even go to find out the options? I plan to call the school and see if there's someone I can meet with, but I'd hate to come off as an obnoxious parent who thinks their child is better than everyone else. Argh. I'm kind of at a loss right now as to which direction we should go. I'm so proud of him and so happy that he loves learning and creativity -- I just want to make sure he has a rich childhood AND continues to learn and grow. Anyone with thoughts?

Oh, and I just have to show you the card he made for me today. He is so into making cards (that's my boy!), and this one really warmed my heart:

So that's what's on my mind tonight. I have some fun things to post about Eliza and Josh tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Cheese

2009-04-03T15:51:00.002-06:00

Num-Num-Num. This is delicious cheese. Just kiding, it's not really cheese, It is just a painting. But it is pelicious. Pelicious is delicious and painting mixed together. I feel really good.

Gmail

2009-04-02T08:50:00.004-06:00

I love to email people at this website. The people that I send emails to love my emails for them. They send emails to me to.

Speaking of emails, after I am done with my blog, I will send a cople emails.

April Fools

2009-04-01T09:13:00.003-06:00

I feel so good Because it is April and I get to say "April Fools" And that makes me feel so good. My mom pretended that she didn't have a leg, I pretended to sleep, I preteded eliza grew so fast, We have a big joke for my dad, and I will tell it to you tomorrow.

Galooba

2009-03-31T09:56:00.007-06:00

I feel so great because I am bloging a book about galooba. Galooba is A fride egg, Sweet potato fri's, sausage's, and corn in a bowl.

Monday

2009-03-30T09:09:00.004-06:00

I feel so good inside because it is school day. I like school because I have friends like Natile, Camiale, Mialie, Emma, Boyd, Jacob, Connor and Micah. I also like school because We do things like do an art progect and stuff.

Sunday

2009-03-29T10:42:00.005-06:00

I feel happy because it is a family day and a church day. And a family and church day is sunday. Today I bore my testemony. My favorite thing of baring my testemony is the words I say. I said: I like to bare my testemony and I know this church is true, I am thankful for all the people who are wacthing and I am thankful for the church. In the name of jesus crist Amen.

Sammy's fifth birthday!

2009-03-24T16:03:00.005-06:00

My fifth birthday was a blast of fun! Because we Decorated cupcakes, Got freinds like Matty, Donny, Boyd, Leslie and marry. And we, Played lots of games. My favorite thing of being 5 years old, Is having a cute baby sister.

I am a little raindrop.

2009-03-24T15:51:00.003-06:00

I am a little raindrop falling from the sky, Ouch I fell on a window, Ouch I am going to cry.

2009-03-24T15:46:00.002-06:00

Do andrea & jen look so suprised? I do.

5 of sammy's paintings

2009-03-24T15:30:00.007-06:00

I am showing you 5 of my paintings, That I made by myself.

Eh loves eliza

2009-03-24T15:22:00.001-06:00

Eliza loves me, so I am bloging a painting of a message about her.

Buster, a spider web, Joshua, Face and a flag.

2009-03-19T15:07:00.002-06:00

These are 5 of my painting's.

4 paintings in 1

2009-03-12T13:46:00.004-06:00

This painting has 4 paintings in it.

Sammy gives a talk...

2009-03-09T21:54:00.005-06:00

Saturday afternoon the Primary secretary called and said, "I just wanted to double-check with you about Sammy's talk tomorrow..." And I said, "Sammy's supposed to give a talk tomorrow?!" Apparently his teacher was supposed to bring over the little assignment slip -- oops. But no worries, Sammy was totally excited for it. The topic he was given was "Mothers nurture the family," so he got a pen and paper and started brainstorming. We looked up the meaning of "nurture" (to take care of and to teach), and then he made a list of how his mom does those things:

I have to admit, the ones about being like Jesus and reading the Book of Mormon required a little coaching from Dad. It would have been extremely gratifying had he said, "My mom teaches me to believe in Heavenly Father and to have faith and love others and..." (insert all the other things I really am trying to teach him), but I guess not picking your nose is important, too. I just keep telling myself that he is learning all those things, even if he can't quite put his finger on it. Of course, I had to wonder when I asked, "What about the plan of salvation?" And he replied, "Never heard of it." Sigh.

But I digress. Sammy did an amazing job with his talk. I took the ideas from his brainstorm and put it into talk form, mostly because we ran out of time for him to finish it up himself. He was so excited to sit in the "TALK" chair at the front of the Primary room, and jumped right up to the mike when it was his turn. We had him give his talk for the family at Sunday dinner so I could record it for the benefit of all y'all. This is pretty much exactly how he delivered his talk in Primary, to the great amusement of the teachers, especially.

Here's the text of the talk, just in case there are any parts that are hard to understand:

Heavenly Father gave mothers a special job. That job is to nurture the family. To nurture means to take care of and to teach. My mom takes care of us by feeding us and making us take a nap after lunch. She teaches us important things, too, like how to eat, how to draw, to share, and to not pick our noses. She also teaches us about Heavenly Father, and to try to be like Jesus, and to say our prayers.

In the Book of Mormon there is a great story about how mothers nurture the family. The Lamanites were attacking the Nephites, and 2,000 young men from the people of Ammon made an army to protect their families. The prophet Helaman was their leader. Their mother’s had taught them that if they trusted in the Lord, he would protect them. After the battle, none of them had been killed. It was a miracle! The young warriors had been very brave, and they said it was because they believed the words of their mothers.

It is important for us to believe the words of our mothers, too. They teach us important things that help us be happy and healthy and stay close to Heavenly Father.

(Bear your testimony)

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Big happenings for the Hills!

2009-03-08T11:39:00.012-06:00

Last week we had the great pleasure of a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hill! They came to Utah for baby Cody's blessing, but they stayed with us for a few days first, which was delightful. We went to the Draper Temple Open House, and Sammy was so excited to get to go inside a temple for the first time. Joshy was mostly excited about the cookies in the stake center at the end, and getting to ride the bus from the parking lot up to the temple.

The next day we went up to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, which was a blast. I think Sammy and Joshy would happily move in if they could. (See Sammy's post about it below.) It was a great place, and thanks very much to Grandpa and Grandma, we got a year-long membership, so we'll be spending many happy hours there in the future. Sammy loved the story factory, where he made a comic strip story about his 90th birthday. He also discovered some really cool magnetic blocks and spent all the rest of his birthday and christmas money to buy himself a set in the gift shop. Money well spent, since he's been playing with them non-stop ever since and has designed some really cool stuff. So if anyone is ever wondering what to get Sammy for a present, I'm sure he'd love to add to his Magformer collection. :) Joshy's favorite part was the cool water play area, which had all sorts of contraptions that could be manipulated to move water around. They also both really loved the helicopter. Eliza was just an angel the whole time, just enjoying watching all the big kids run around.

It was also Eliza's 6-month birthday! She is getting so big. During the few days that Grandpa and Grandma Hill were here she made some serious developmental leaps -- she finally starting rolling over and sitting unsupported! Now that she can do those things I think she feels so big. She wants to be sitting up in the middle of the action all the time now, and she loves giving everyone big slobbery kisses.

On Sunday we headed up to Chad and Esther's house for Cody's baby blessing. The blessing was beautiful, of course, and I was very proud of Sammy for bearing his testimony in Sacrament Meeting and then going to primary even though he was scared of all the people he didn't know. Joshy was having a hard time sitting still. During the Sacrament, he was wiggly and I whispered, "Joshy, it's time for us to be quiet and think about Jesus," and then I started singing very quietly, "I'm trying to be like Jesus..." And Joshy said in growing volume, "But I don't want to, because I hate bad guys and I PUT SPIT ON THEM!!!" Joshy's very big into being a superhero and fighting bad guys right now, so I guess it didn't go over very well when we talked about how Jesus wants us to love everyone...

This past Friday was the big day we've all been waiting for -- Dan and Carrie's wedding! We started out the day with a fun family breakfast at Kneaders (yum-o!), then spent the better part of the day getting things all set up. Poor Mom tore something in her knee while hopping on one foot with Sammy at Kneaders, but she was a trooper! It was fun to hang out and work together with my family and Carrie's family. The ceremony was so funny and sweet -- Noah refused to let go of Dan or even be put down next to him, so Dan held him the whole way through, even for the "You may kiss the bride" part. Good memories! I am SO happy for Dan and Carrie both. They are just wonderful, and wonderful together!

After the ceremony we had a kickin' dance party. Dan and Carrie did an awesome first dance -- it started out with a lovely foxtrot, then they busted out some serious moves. Here's a video of the second part (when they encored it for us later in the evening):

Joshy really didn't like the loud music and lights -- we could barely get him to stay in the cultural hall -- until he saw Uncle Eric breakdancing. Then he couldn't wait to get out on the floor! Here are some of his moves:

Dad also got in on the action, sacrificing his bad back to get out on the dance floor. You can check out the video here.

Dan and I had a blast with what few cha-cha, foxtrot, and swing steps we remember. Once again I wish I was a better dancer for Dan's sake, but we had a great time anyway. It definitely renewed my desire for us to take some classes together. I didn't get any pictures of us, but I know Eric did so I'm hoping to have some to post once he gets settled back in in England. It was so very nice to have him here for the wedding!

Phew! What a crazy couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to a little break in the big activities, though in this family, you never know what fun is in store...

Children's museum

2009-03-05T14:42:00.004-07:00

In 2009 we went to the children's museum. We played in water, with balls, built stuff, go to amazing me, made stories, went on a helicopter & more! My favorite part was making a story about Birthdays. Joshys favorite part was the helicopter. We went with grandma & grandpa.

This is my story.

What we've been up to...

2009-02-23T09:58:00.007-07:00

Hey, family and friends -- sorry I've been remiss in updating our blog! We haven't had any major events lately, just lots of everyday fun stuff. Here's a very cute pic of the kids we took to send out as Valentines for the grandparents. Sammy helped me make the sign, and he was very proud of it. I was very proud of the fact that I took it myself -- the kids are sitting on the bed in our guest room!

Here are some other fun recent pics:

"My, what big eyes you have!"

Sammy and Dan building the cool ferris wheel and swing rides Grandma sent for Christmas:

The rest of these are from the last couple of days when Leanne and Amelia were here -- we got to spend some fun time hanging out at our house, and then the last day we went shopping with Nana and the boys had SO much fun on the merry-go-round with Nana.

Another very exciting happening in the family was the arrival of baby Cody! We went over to Chad and Esther's house to meet him, and he is just the cutest little guy. Here are a few pictures from our visit:

Eliza's first hichiar!

2009-01-22T15:55:00.004-07:00

Eliza I love you

Eliza tries solid food -- SO not impressed...

2009-01-22T12:00:00.004-07:00

Oh, how can it be? My baby girl is old enough for solid foods! Well, as solid as rice cereal in a whole lot of formula gets... Eliza was very happy about sitting in the high chair. I think she liked being up with all the big people. Here she is, pre-food. Doesn't this look say, "Sure! I'm game for anything - bring on the pasty goo!"?

Once Daddy put said pasty goo in her mouth, however, she was not at all interested. In fact, the only word to describe her reaction is disgust, together with disbelief that we would subject her to such a thing. We got a couple of bites in before we gave up, but she promptly spit all that up. Oh, the fun.

Video coming as soon as it's done processing on YouTube!

Make sure you notice how cute her highchair is. Our highchair had lasted well through 4 kids (the Neves' twins and our boys), but the cushion was in really bad shaped when I hauled it in from the garage. So I decided to be brave and make a slipcover for it! I had a bunch of really cute fabric on hand that I ordered to make goodies to sell on etsy, and I was really happy that it turned out so well. It was kind of complicated! :)

And here's a little blast from the past...

My siblings gave me an awesome digital photo frame for my birthday, and I've had a ton of fun going through all our old pics and loading them on the frame. I found this old video of Sammy singing "You Are My Sunshine," just a few days shy of his 2nd birthday. What a little cutie pie!

Tomi Ann turns the big 3-0!

2009-01-18T22:05:00.005-07:00

As of this past Thursday, I am in very fact 30 years old. Hard to believe! I feel like I'm embarking on a whole new period in my life. The 20s were big for me, you know? During my twenties I:

- went on study abroad in England
- discovered new talents (graphic design and paper crafting)
- got my heart broken (or so I thought at the time)
- went on a mission
- fell in love for really real
- got married to the most amazing man
- had a baby
- graduated from BYU
- became a homeowner
- had another baby
- bought a mini-van
- had another baby

Obviously some of those events are bigger than others, but all those things had a major impact on my life. There were also some sad events, like losing my Grandpa Neves, Grandpa Pearce, Grandma Pearce, and hardest of all, my sister Carissa. The blessings, however, far outweigh the trials, and I really, truly love my life! I know I still have a long way to go to become the person I want to be -- a true disciple of my Savior Jesus Christ -- but I'm working on it.

What will the next 10 years bring? There's no way to even know what tomorrow will bring, but I know that I welcome the future with open arms.

I celebrated my birthday with a wonderful party with my brothers and sisters, parents, and a few aunts and uncles and friends, all arranged and put together by my sweet hubby Dan. That meant a lot to me, and it was so fun! I was especially touched that my siblings all went in together on a huge digital picture frame. I can't wait to get it going! Thanks, guys! Oh, and my mom also took Leanne and I to a most delicious lunch at Olive Garden for our birthdays. We also had a birthday dinner for me at Sunday dinner at my parents' house, at which we ate waffles and eggs and bacon. YUM. My mom sculpted an impressive cake for me from heart waffles and managed to get 30 candles going, and I managed to pull every square centimeter of air from my lungs and blow out all the candles in one shot. You know what that means -- my wish is totally coming true! I wished for... oh, come on -- you thought I'd tell?!

Here are some fun pictures from this week!