Staycation

We decided to make to most of President's Day weekend. Johnny took Friday off and we played as a family. Grandma Jean sent the kids valentine money and they decided to use it to go to the new Aquatic Center in town. We added a few bucks to the mix and bought a month long family pass. They kids had a BLAST!!!! We spent 3 of the last 4 days swimming. Samantha likes to run off and play by herself so I missed getting a picture of her the day I took my camera along. Here are some shots of the other kids though.

Princess Addie

Addie is loving eating. She'll eat just about anything...okay she'll eat anything, including cheetos. Johnny compares eating cheetos to drinking your own bathwater, which I'm sure she'd drink if I let her.

"This is not funny," says Addie.

Oh wait, it IS funny!!! She blows raspberries as she eats. By the end of each meal my clothes are usually spotted with whatever she was eating.

This is the ballarina swimming suit that Grandma Darlene bought her. Size 12 MONTHS!
Yes she is very petite! (she's only 5 months)


We gave all of our baby stuff away but Aunt Maryn has been very generous lending us hers. Addie loves the saucer.

She is our beautiful princess...one of 4 anyway!

911

So I got to call 911 for the second time today because I had a lost child! Johnny went to church while I stayed home with a sick one today. When church was over...they didn't come home. Finally I got a call from Johnny asking if Samantha was home with me because he couldn't find her at church. I went outside to see if she was walking home of something but didn't see her. Not long later Johnny came home with the kids, but still no Samantha. He went back to church to look for her again. Meanwhile I started calling the primary presidency to see when she was last seen... I could only get a hold of one of them and she called the teacher for me. Samantha was in class right up to the end of primary. I finally gave in and called 911. Johnny had checked the building and had people look in the bathrooms... no luck. It's a bit hard to talk on the phone when you are just barely holding it together, not knowing where or what has happened to your child... When I got off the phone with 911, police were on their way, I got a call from Johnny saying he had found her. She had been at the church the whole time. We parked somewhere different today and after church she went to the spot we usually parked. Somehow she managed to walk around looking for Daddy just opposite him so they never ran into each other. She was missing for over half an hour!!!! About 40 minutes! Not a fun moment. Glad she is safe.

Late Nate Bday Post

This is "Battle Clops". Note the eye in the middle of his forehead. Nate had a gathering of superheroes and villains for his birthday.
You can't see it well in this picture, but Johnny has gray sideburns that remind me of Mr. Fantastic. He is pretty fantastic if you ask me! Johnny said that he and Addison were actually Pinkie and the Brain.....

This is Pirate Jane... a villain.

Buzz Lightyear made another appearance....note all the men in our family are heroes and the girls...well what can I say!

The beautiful but dangerous Poison Ivy.

Syndrome, aka Aunt Alaina and Maleficent, aka Olivia.

The Joker... she can really ham it up!

Underdog!!!!!!!!!!!!

Captain America...

Owen...not from the Birthday party, but he just looked Oh So Cool!!!

Ten Years And Counting

Elizabeth celebrated her 10th birthday party this week. She invited a couple of friends to go with her to the local beauty college to have their hair and nails done. They seem to have had a lot of fun and they all looked cute! Megan has been begging for a girls spa visit so this killed two birds with one stone.

In other news we are officially homeless or at least homefree! Our house in Alaska sold. We are so grateful to be relieved of this debt. Now I spend a lot of time looking for homes. I had a realtor take me looking pretty much every day this week. We thought we had found the one but then found out someone else had a contract on it already.... the listing agent hadn't told anyone. My heart was broken but we are moving on. We may end up building on a lot just out of town instead.

We spent a good deal of time outside yesterday. It was sunny and warm!!!! After three years in Alaska it felt like summer to us. Johnny cleaned his bikes while the kids rode their scooters around the neighborhood. It really was nice.

Megan felt beautiful. You could tell by the way she held her head....

Lizzie seems to have graduated from toys... Here is a watch....

and a pair of shoes she bought with money from Grandma. She really loves shoes!

For Christmas Santa brought a bunch of musical instruments. Drums, a mini piano, paperjams etc.... The kids really have a good time with them!

Party at Grandma's House!

This past weekend we yet again made the trek to Grandma's house. Our niece Olivia was dancing in the IBT presentation of The Nutcracker. It was wonderful if not uneventful. Olivia truly is a beautiful dancer. It has been a long time since I saw her dance. Unfortunately after intermission, or "half time" as Owen puts it, Addison and myself were escorted out of the main room and then allowed to view the remainder of the show from one of the boxes. Apparently babes in arms are not allowed.... neither are pictures so I can't share any.

The following day was grandma's Christmas party. Always so much fun. This year we made reindeer cupcakes, decorated sweat pants with fabric markers and paint, recited the story of Christ's birth, and had a surprise visit from Santa. The funny of the night was Benjamin. Santa calls each child up one at a time to get a present he brought them. Ben was so excited for each new name to be called until the name wasn't his. Then he would furrow his brow and pout until the next present was taken out of the bag. Finally his Uncle Michael told him to cross his fingers and......voila! Finally Ben's name was called. Oh the faith of a child! We had a great time and look forward to heading back to grandma's house for Christmas.

Rudolph the red nose reindeer???? Okay, so that is just the song we were singing.

Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way...

Reindeer cupcakes, YUMMY!

Nate didn't have to wait long for his present.

Ben was not a happy camper as he waited for his turn...

The Santa that visited their school brought them these hats. She looks cute in just about anything.

Here is Samantha whispering what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas. She laughed as she told me she asks for something different everytime!

Ben is crossing his fingers or at least trying to.....

Finally it was Ben's turn! He didn't hold any hard feelings towards Santa over the long wait.

I'm not sure what she asked him for whatever it was I hope she is more satisfied this year than last year...

Even Addison got to sit on Santa's lap. No screaming...impressive. Thanks Grandma for an excellent party as always!

Surprise Visit

We got a call from Uncle Jeremia on Friday afternoon asking for our address. On a whim he had flown into Salt Lake for the weekend and so he came to visit us on Saturday. The kids were so excited to have him here!!! They totally mauled him all day long! I did tell him that the cure for that is to bring his kids with him. We love family!!!! As for the rest of our siblings, our door is open!!!!! Come and see us!