A Very, Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so fun with the kids this year!  I think it was our funnest yet!  We were super busy going from place-to-place (5 Christmas parties in 3 days, plus our own Christmas morning & church), but we all had fun... 

Laron surprised me with this homemade pie holder 2 days before Christmas, because he said I'd be needing it for the next day... I make a lot of pies for family parties & things, and am always stressing out about how we're going to transport them all safely (we've had a couple bad experiences!), so this was a fabulously thoughtful Christmas gift!  I tried it out the next day to take pies to the Pace Party & it worked wonderfully!  The only problem with it was that it weighs 51 pounds!  It's a good thing I'll usually have Laron around to carry it for me.  Thanks again honey!

We started out our celebrations by eating breakfast at my parent's house on Christmas Eve.  After breakfast we all did our "string" & openned presents.  They spoiled us all, as usual!



That afternoon we headed to Laron's Mom's in Provo.  However, we experienced some unexpected car problems on the way down, making us a couple hours late.  Sorry everyone!  But at least we were able to pick up one last-minute present on the way down: a chicken for Grandma!  That made quite a reaction at the party!  But she was thankful nonetheless.

This year was our first Christmas morning we've had at our own house, just with our family... And it was SO fun!  I only wish we could've had a little more time do enjoy it before rushing off to get to church & then on up to Evanston.  I think we'd only openned up like 3 presents before church, because the kids had been so excited to play with their new presents, which we were fine with encouraging.  But we experienced a few tears over leaving our unopenned presents behind, so Laron let them each bring an additional present with them to open up on the way to Church...

And then we were off to Evanston, Wyoming to go visit Laron's Dad.  The kids always like going up there and seeing the animals, so it was a good way to end the day.  After so much rushing from place-to-place over the last few days, it was nice not to have to hurry off to anywhere else that day & just relax... I'm already looking forward to the kids openning up Christmas presents next year!

Kimberly's 2nd Birthday!

Well, our little Kimberly just turned 2 this last week!

What a fun age! (MOST of the time!)

She wanted to start off the day by openning presents... She LOVES dogs!

These two kids might be smiling now, but they sure fought a lot today over who got to play with the new toys... I'm hoping Christmas will be better.

After dinner we headed to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. When we got there & saw all the people, Skyler said, "Wow! Did all these people come for Kimberly's birthday?!"  Then we headed over to the Church History Museum, to get a little warmed up & to check out the new kid-friendly Book of Mormon exhibit. Super fun!

And then back out for a few more lights. Our favorite part of the night was racing each other back to the car... Kimberly especially loved that I was racing too & kept telling Laron, "Race Mommy! Race Mommy!" She also really loved seeing all the horses around pulling carriages. She loves animals!

Then we headed over to Grandma & Papa's house for more presents & cake and ice-cream (and to pick up Bailey!).

Kimberly did well at TRYING to blow out her candles, but we had to hold up the cake a little closer to her for her blows to accomplish anything...

And like usual, she was SPOILED with presents!  Happy Birthday Kimberly!  We can't wait for another year of fun with you!

6 months old!

Well, Bailey is officially 6 months old now! Some days I still can't believe she's already this old & then other days it feels like we've had her forever!

At her 6 month appointment, Bailey weighed 17 lbs, 1 oz & was 26 inches long, so she's doing well! In fact, Kimberly had her 2 year appointment on the same day & I was surprised to realize that Bailey's only got another 8 pounds to be caught up with Kimberly in weight! But Kimberly has always been in about the 25th percentile & Bailey's been in the 75th percentile...

Over the last month, Bailey has made TONS of progress developmentally... And I think the Christmas tree may have helped her progression! I can't believe how well she can maneuver herself around! It's been fun to watch what just a couple of weeks can do for a little baby...

She now is rocking on her hands & knees,  going up on her tip-toes (or doing push-ups),

& sitting REALLY well!  Even the doctor was extremely impressed with her abilities for being only 6 months old!  So Bailey's new favorite is Kimberly.  She pretty much just starts laughing as soon as she sees her lately!

I've also started putting a few headbands on Bailey lately, contrary to Laron's no-headbands rule. I never used them with Kimberly, but I'm getting tired of the stuck-on bows falling off & we got a few headbands passed down to us in the last batch of hand-me-downs, so I decided to try them out (without asking for permission, I might add!).

She brings fun to the room everytime she starts bounching herself on my lap, everytime she grabs a handful of Kimberly's hair when she gets too close, everytime she pushes herself backwards across the room, & she brings a yell of excitement from the kids everytime she wakes up. Well, we feel super blessed to have Miss Bailey in our lives & can't imagine our lives without her!

"All is Calm, All is Bright"

A week & a half ago, we experienced some pretty crazy hurricane-speed (100mph+) winds around here. WE didn’t really get too much damage, but many of the surrounding cities had power outages for days, trees falling on top of houses, school buses’ windows shattering merely from the wind speeds & houses de-roofed. Between several phone-calls checking on my family’s condition throughout the day & watching the news updates that night, I found myself a little anxious that night after I put the older two kids to bed. So as I nursed Bailey to sleep that night on the couch, in only the glow of our Christmas tree lights, the phrase came to my mind, “All is calm, All is bright.” And I couldn’t help but sing the lyrics aloud as a simple, tingling peace swept over my whole body. Isn’t it amazing how, even when chaos & calamity are rampant out in the world, we can feel that “heavenly peace” in our own homes?

And so, almost every night since that night, before I’ve put the kids to bed, we turn off all the other lights in the house besides the Christmas tree & we sing Christmas songs together. And even if we’re singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or something, it still is such a great way to end the day. Together & singing Christmas songs. What a spirit of peace it brings into our home. I’m hoping this can become a holiday tradition for us. Too bad we can‘t leave up the tree all year long…

Skyler-isms

-“Mom! We have a dragonfly in the bathroom! That’s GREAT! Now it can eat all our bugs for us!”

-“Dad, I feel the Holy Ghost in my heart whenever I look at you.”

-“I hope those women in your women’s class [Relief Society] like your cute toenails!”

-“Mom, this will make you proud in your heart… I’m getting in my pajamas!”

-“Dad, can I go watch a movie so you & Mom can talk & I won’t bother you or be too noisy?”


-"Kimberly, don't bite me because my body is a temple."

-Once when I asked Skyler what some of his “favorite things” were, his first response was, “Going to the bank & getting a sucker.”

-Skyler also likes to type up his “Home Teaching” on the computer at home like Daddy, likes to get his arms tickled & he likes to fall asleep while looking out his bedroom window at night (up on the top bunk).

-Skyler is SUCH a great older brother! He takes such good care of his sisters!


-He’s a really smart thinker & went and put on these goggles one time after getting a little juice sprayed in his eye while he was peeling an orange.

-He got his first bee sting this year (no fun!) & learned how to change the roll of toilet paper all by himself (wahoo!).  He's also finally outgrown taking naps (I guess he is 4-years-old now!) which I'm okay with.  Kimberly & him also love to pretend to "go camping" in the front room lately.

-He’s also in this weird destructive stage lately where he seems to like to break things or cut things, just to see what happens. I’ll be really glad when he outgrows this stage!

-Sometimes he calls our snacks “smakerels” (from Winnie-the-Pooh).

LOVE YOU BUD!