Holiday Fun

The holidays have been quite relaxing and fun with the exception of getting things ready for the new Primary year plus a quick trip to both the dermatologist and the dentist.  We've had fun just hanging out with family and friends.  We did go ice skating with the Burbanks and skiing.  The skiing was awful as anticipated but the kids had fun.  I took Luke up for a half day Jer patrolled and then Luke, Seth, and I went up for another half day to meet Jer in the sagebrush.  Seriously no snow, but we had fun.  Seth took a few major eggbeaters, but he was a great sport.  I took no pictures of any of the above mentioned activities, but I did catch this one.

This is my cousin Troy with the boys.  He is such a good buddy to them--like a surrogate uncle.  The whole Pickett family really has taken my boys under their wing, and we appreciate them so much.  We have had so much fun the past few years attending Troy's sporting events and cheering him on.  The boys really do look up to him so much, and they think he's the best.  He had his mission farewell a few weeks ago, and he leaves Wednesday!  We will miss him, but I'm so excited for him.  I really appreciate the good example he's setting for my kids.  We went to his dad's gym and the kids/guys played basketball and then topped it off with some frozen yogurt.  Luke is already talking about how he will miss Troy and wants to send him some "postcards."  Good luck Troy.  You will be great!

It's the Best Time of the Year

I will mostly let these pictures speak for themselves.  We had a great Christmas this year.  For the first time ever we didn't go to a big family Christmas Eve party.  That whole tradition has been changing and evolving over the years, and I decided it was time to start some of my own Christmas traditions.  We had Christmas Eve at our house and both sets of grandparents were there.  It was different but fun, and I think everyone had a good time.  We ate, played games, and had a little program then ate some more.

Ian enjoyed playing with the sherbet more than eating it.

Luke treated us to a great rendition of Jingle Bells.

Seth sang his S-A-N-T-A song from preschool.

All the kids sang some Christmas carols.  Ian was their echo.  They also placed some nativity figures as Jer read from the Bible and Luke read us a neat Christmas poem.

It was so fun to have all grandparents there.  The kids loved it, and we got a rare picture of each group!

This next set of pictures should be an outtake set but unfortunately there were no intakes.

What are Jer and I on?

Jer looks asleep and I look overly awake...then we gave up.

One of few pictures from Christmas morning.

Seth got these "real tools"--they are just kid sized and has been working with Jer in the basement the entire break.  He loves them and looks so cute in his little tool belt.

Luke got an ipod.  It is the only thing he asked for and Santa reluctantly brought it.  He has had lots of fun face timing his cousin K'Lee who also got one.  I have to admit that has been fun because they don't get to see each other as often as they would like.

Seth got this LeapPad too.  The kids had a great Christmas and have had a great time driving their remote control cars and playing basketball on the arcade style hoop game we got.  It's in the garage waiting for a spot in the basement.

After this all ambition to take pictures was gone.  I just hate being inside and using the flash...oh and I was lazy.  We ate a yummy breakfast, went to church, and had a fun afternoon in Preston opening more presents...including the news that we're going to Disneyland with Jer's family in June.  The kids are stoked.

Jr. Mustang Basketball

I'm trying to quickly cover the rest of December so I can slurp this thing into a 2011 blog book.  It's actually 2012 already, but I'm fudging the dates a bit.  Luke had a fun season with his team the Heat.  Jer coached, and they had a great time with two wins, two ties, and two losses.  I was a very sad photographer.  Gyms are awful for pictures, and I slacked in general!

On the way home from the last game we saw this chicken standing on a goat's back and it cracked us all up.  I've since seen it doing this more times I've passed this same little farm.  Random I know.

Seth's Preschool Party

Seth had a cute preschool pajama party for Christmas.  Ian and I went and watched him sing his heart out on all of the songs.  I only had my phone camera!  Bad.  He also got to sit on Santa's knee and decorate a sugar cookie.

 I promise he really did smile and sing!

 Seth with Jeff in the background.

Later that day I helped Luke and his school class wrap the presents they made for their parents.  Fun, fun.

December Happenings

I post in spurts so here we go.  We've had lots of fun this month decorating, making Snoopy gingerbread houses, going to see the lights with friends, touring our neighborhood lights with hot chocolate, looking for our elf, shopping, our annual trip to SLC, and caroling with neighbors.  I've only taken pictures of a few of them!  The boys were all so excited to decorate and get ready for the holidays this year.  We started while Ian was napping and when he got up he was so amazed and asked, "Is this Christmas?"  Cute!  The boys have their own tree which is decorated with old ornaments from my childhood and a few of Jer's as well as the new ornaments they get each year from grandparents.  It is getting quite full.  This year Luke and Seth did the whole thing by themselves, and I could hear them in there almost every time they opened a box saying "look at this one" or something like that.  They were at it for over an hour, and it looks great.  No pictures though.  Oops.  They have also had fun looking for their "elf on the shelf" each day.

After a great Thanksgiving with my family this year I braved the Black Friday shopping with my mom again.  It has become a fun tradition.  The only time I really enjoy shopping is at Christmas.  I don't like big crowds or pushy people, but I do like to people watch and be entertained.  We decided on a whim to go check out Walmart at 10 pm.  I thought I might buy a Wii game that was on a good sale.  Fat chance! I had no clue what I was getting into.  It was pandemonium at the games.  People were yelling, including the F word from the teenagers I might add, and shoving!  Some people walked away with like 15 games and guess how many I got--big fat zero.  That's right I had nothing to show for that experience except major violations of my personal space.  I will not be hitting the game section again.

At the beginning of December we headed down to SLC with the Liechtys.  We drove to Ogden and then rode the Front Runner train down.  The kids thought it was awesome.  I have to admit it was a pretty smooth, nice ride.  We ate at the Gateway and rode Trax to Temple Square to see the lights.  Seth was Steve's little buddy all night and did not want anything to do with holding our hands.  Steve ended up with the job of keeping track of him in the crowd which is no small feat.  It was a great night with good friends and really got me excited about the holidays.

 We teased Seth about being "Elmer Fudd" quite a bit in this hat.

This past weekend we headed back down to SLC for our annual shopping trip with my family.  Luke had a basketball game at 8 am and then we hit the road.  After a stop at Einsteins in Ogden where Ian drank tons of chocolate milk but would not eat a thing we headed on again.  As we were cruising down the freeway, with Jer on his cell phone trying to work out a sale of a KSL item we had, I hear Ian whining that he's messy.  I looked back to find the understatement of the year.  He had puked big time and there was curdled milk everywhere.  I was telling Jer he threw up only to see him upchuck about a gallon of fresh chocolate milk that seriously filled up his car seat.  At this point, while Jer is still trying to have a phone conversation, he told me to "clean it up."  Um, with what?  The inside of our car needed a car wash.  It was a rocky start to the weekend, but we were able to check in early and send the laundry out.  Jer also gave the car seat a thorough hosing down in the hotel shower.  Poor Ian had the runs so bad the whole weekend, but he was a good sport and no more puking.

We shopped, ate out, the kids and guys swam, we went to the Little America brunch with Santa, and went to Sacrament at my parent's ward on the way home.  It was a great weekend.  One of the boy's favorite parts was shopping for the person they drew in our little family.  We draw names and do $5 gifts just with the five of us, and the kids have so much fun shopping and spending their own money on a little present.  I was once again slacking with the pictures, but I did take a few at the brunch.

 Seth was singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and sang the whole thing for Santa while sitting on his lap.  He then gave Santa a five and "pounded" Mrs. Claus.

 

Giving Thanks a Lot Late

Wow, where did the last month go?  I am way behind, but I do have so much to be grateful for I really need to do a quick post and give thanks for my blessings!  I do feel so blessed to live in the USA, have the gospel in my life, be in good health, and of course have my family.  So here's a quick note about some of my best blessings.

Jer is first even though he doesn't get much face time on the blog!  He is the one that works his guts out to take care of our family while still being a great dad, fulfilling his church calling, being our handyman, etc. etc...the list goes on!  I am so thankful to be married for 13 years now to my best friend who continues to crack me up and make me happy.  He has a lot on his plate right now because all fall we did major yard projects and then we moved right into finishing our basement...that's a whole other post.

Alright, here goes everyone else in no particular order.  Seth has got to be the sweetest (and just about the tallest) four-year-old out there.  He is smart, funny, and kind.  He loves preschool and is learning a ton.  We are working on "reading lessons" together, and he has a great attitude and is picking it right up.  He loves junk food although not ice cream or fries, but he will eat just about any fruit or veggie out there too.   Whenever anyone talks about anything big right now he will ask if it's "from the sky to the ground."  I'm not sure where he got that, but it's really cute when he says it.  We are still working on his articulation, and he's improving a lot.  He finally mastered the "th" at the end of his name, so he's no longer Seff!  We are still working on it in the middle of a word like brother is still "brudder," but we're making progress.  He sounds out everything he sees, and it has helped his speech a lot.  He can be entertained for quite a while with some paper and a pencil just writing letters...so unlike his older brother who about had to be hog tied to get a pencil in his hand!  He currently loves finding our elf daily and is always the first one to spot it.

Luke has been an amazing kid the last few months.  It seems like he and Seth go in cycles in terms of fighting like crazy and then getting along great.  We've been in a great cycle of brotherly love since about the beginning of November.  There have been so few fights, and they play great together.  Luke continues to do really well in school--his test scores are amazing, he can read so well, and his teacher loves him.  He is having a great year.  I can't keep this kid in books.  He currently loves The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and every time I get him one he has it read in a day.  He is such a witty kid that really gets stuff, and he keeps us entertained.  There's no putting one over on him.  He started piano lessons in September and although he grumbles a bit he's really picking it up.  He wants to eventually play something "cool" like the guitar, but I told him he needs to get the basics from piano first.  He had his first recital the other night and played The Snowman like a champ.  He also signed up to play Jingle Bells at his school music party.  I'm proud of him for being willing to go out on a limb a little...that's new for him.  He was really nervous beforehand but so proud after!  He also bore his testimony for the first time in November.  He talked about it for at least a week before, then all morning, and then went right up there on his own.  That is very unlike his personality, so I was so proud of him for choosing to do that and going for it.  He still loves sports and playing with friends and just being a kid!  He still plays outside almost everyday even though it's freezing and there's no new snow.

And then there's Ian.  His personality is larger than life, and he keeps us all busy and happy.  He really is irresistible despite the fact that he can be quite naughty at times.  He's super loving and often tells us we're "so very nice."  He went through an Irish phase where he was going to do everything "meself" but now he's moved on to talking about himself in the third person.  He is a chatterbox with a lispy way of talking that's so cute (Jer likes to remind me it won't be so cute if it's still that way in 1st grade)!  He has Jer hook, line, and sinker though.  He knows all the words he shouldn't say...so he will tell you "we don't say stupid, dumb, or hate."  If he gets really mad he will just proceed to say, "mom yours stupid."  (You're is always yours.)  That sends him straight to a timeout after which he is so loving and remorseful.  He really is a good kid, but he has not a shy bone in his body and a will of iron.  He will make crazy faces and perform on command and could probably be earning us some money if we wanted to market him!  We're also pretty sure he's got braces is his future.  His brothers compare his front teeth to Tow Maters.  He's also a little smarty and already knows most of his letters and sounds and is into Cars everything right now.  He loves "Yuke" and "Seffy" even when trashing their lego guys and eating their gum stash....again.

I'm lucky to share my life with these four crazy boys!