Year in Review

Last year I did a little recap of the previous year so I figured I would do the same thing this year. It was kind of a quiet year for us as far as big changes go. Don't get me wrong...this is a very GOOD thing for once! So here we go, in no particular order.....


1. Dallin started kindergarten. He absolutely loves going to school every day and gets very upset when he doesn't have school. He has been reminding me every day that "My track starts again on January 26th Mom....don't forget." Trust me my dear....I will not forget. That kid would go to school 7 days a week if he could.


2. Parker started Preschool. Parker enjoys going to school and seeing his friends every week. He had fun playing soccer this year as well.


3. Landon turned 1 in May. I can't believe my baby is not a baby anymore. He is such a sweet little guy. He tries and tries to keep up with his older brothers. He started going to nursery a couple of months ago. I am not sure who is enjoying that the most....mom and dad or him, :)


4. Nate started his new job in August. He left Moffat Thomas and headed over to a much smaller firm Powers Thomson. He is very happy with his decision and we feel blessed to have had this opportunity come at such a perfect time.


5. Summer 2008. I can honestly say it was the best summer we have ever had. We had so much fun traveling and spending time with good friends and family. We went to Redfish, Lake Powell, St. George, Salt Lake, the cabin, and spent many days playing by the pool!

6. Nathan completed 3 century rides this year which is amazing especially since he just picked up road biking last May. He also turned the big 3-0! I had so much fun planning his party. He was definitely surprised!

7. I was called to be the Young Women's President. Keeps me busy and is so much fun.

8. Two new cousins were born this year! My sister (Natalie) had her first baby (Carter) and Nate's brother Clay (and Brittany) welcomed baby Brody! We love babies!

9. My brother came home from his mission in Mexico City. It was such a fun experience to see him leave as a boy and return a man. We are so happy to have him home!

10. Christmas with the Starnes family. It's becoming more and more of a challenge to get everyone together at the same time so we really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together.

We've had another great year and we hope that this new year will be as joyous as the last!
Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was wonderful! It is so hard to believe a week has gone by already! We had such a wonderful Christmas with Nate's family this year.

We definately made the most of all the snow that Utah recieved while we were there. We spent the days sledding down the huge hill in the backyard and riding the snowmobile back to the reserved land behind the house. We had fun hooking the sled up to the snowmobile and driving around like crazy. We built a snow family and a few snow caves as well.

Christmas Eve was amazing. Grandma Lee Lee made a delicious dinner (prime rib and twice baked potatoes, homemade rolls....YUM!) Then all of the cousins acted out the nativity. We had just enough actors this year. Dallin was Joseph, Makayla was Mary, the twins were wise men, Parker and Landon were shepards and baby Brody was baby Jesus. It was so precious! Landon wasn't really liking getting all dressed up

Christmas morning was magical. Dallin and Parker were relieved that Santa found them down in Salt Lake. We left a note for Santa up in Boise just to make sure he remembered where we were! The whole downstairs was just covered in gifts. Everyone enjoyed watching the kids get so excited about each and everything.

We did plenty of shopping, eating, Farkle playing (really fun game), and just spending time together. We spent one afternoon up at the Planetarium and the Childrems Museum. The boys were also able to head up to Park City and see where Uncle Clay's fire station is.
We had such a great time and were happy to make it home safely in our car crammed with lots of new toys and goodies! I'm so grateful for this time of year where we can be with the people we love and can share in the spirit of the season. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Ho Ho Ho!

My three little Santas (covered in spaghetti sauce) want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!
We're taking a little blogging break until after Christmas! Have a wonderful holiday everybody!

So you didn't get a Christmas card from us? Too bad so sad!

This morning I was determined to get the last few things checked off my Christmas to do list. One of the items on the list was to head over to Costco to get the last of my Christmas pictures to put in our final group of Christmas cards. Dallin and Parker were both at school so Landon and I headed on over prepared to deal with the crowds.

The photo line was backed up all the way over into the electronics department. I tried to keep Landon occupied which is becoming more and more difficult as he is really DISLIKING carts lately. Twenty minutes later we get up to the counter and I pick up the pictures.

Landon and I dash to the car (it is absolutely FREEZING outside) and as we approach the car I drop the pictures. The pavement is wet and then a truck proceeds to RUN OVER the pictures.

I get in the car and peel open the wet, tire tracked pictures. Lo and behold.....THEY ARE NOT EVEN MY PICTURES!!! They are all pictures of some random woman standing in a doorway.

I have no time and no patience to go back and in figure out what happened to my family pictures. SO...for those of you who I haven't sent a card to yet...........

Parker's 4th BUG BIRTHDAY (with a witch on the cake)

For MONTHS now Parker has been saying over and over again that he wants a BUG birthday party but insisted that there needs to be a WITCH on the cake. Strange? YES Random? YES

Do I have any idea WHY? Nope! I guess as parents we just zip it and do these strange things to keep our kids happy.

So...here is Parker with his "dream come true" as he put it:

Parker had 10 friends (plus Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Yamo) come over for the celebration. We played some bug games, went on a bug hunt, and ate some caterpillar cake! They had a great time!

He was thrilled with all of his action figures and nerf guns. He literally hasn't stopped playing with them ever since everyone left.

I can't believe my 2nd born is 4! I feel like I was just barely posting about his tractor birthday last year! Parker packs a lot of personality in that little body. He definitely has bit of a mischievous side but he is so darn cute it is (usually) always easy to forgive him. He is so sweet and silly and I am so grateful that he is apart of our family.

Parker's favorites at 4:

favorite toys: nerf guns, superheros, anything sports related

favorite movies: Incredibles, Toy Story, Wall E, Kung Fu Panda

favorite games: Memory, "I Spy" Flipping Frogs, Don't break the Ice

favorite foods: pizza, tacos, oatmeal, cereal, swedish pancakes

joys- playing outside at the park, riding his bike, playing tennis, golf, soccer and baseball, swimming, doing anything Dallin is doing.

Happy Birthday my P-man! Mommy loves you SOOOOO much!

Brown paper packages tied up with string....

Some of my favorite winter time things:

Fireplaces- There are 2 things you can spend hours and hours gazing at. The first is a newborn baby and the second is fire in a fireplace. As soon as there is crispness in the air...the fire is on.

SNOW- I love waking up to freshly fallen snow..especially on a Saturday morning when no one has to be anywhere. It is so majestic and beautiful. I love taking the kids outside to make a snowman or heading over to the huge dirt piles behind our neighborhood to go sledding. Disclaimer-I hated snow when we lived in Washington. I think this was due to the fact that the roads were always SO horrible and no one knows how to drive. That is the great thing about living in Boise. If it snows overnight, 9 times out of 10 the snow is gone by the afternoon!
Starbucks Carmel Apple Cider- My sister in law introduced me to this delicacy a few years ago. It is definitely a treat in a cup. It is made from warmed apple juice, cinnamon syrup and whipped cream with butter carmel sauce on top....salivating yet??

Christmas Music- I just love Christmas music. As soon as Thanksgiving is over I listen to it everywhere. When we're home its on...when we're in the car its on. I love that the majority of the songs touch on the true meaning of Christmas. They invite the wonderful spirit of Christmas into our lives. I think it's sad that we only have one month to appreciate them. It is so nice to not have to worry about what song is on the radio when we have the station set to Light 108 for the entire month of December!
My Swedish Candles- We always throw the people off when we put our Swedish candles up in the window. One neighbor was like, "I thought you guys were Mormon...why do you have Hanukkah candles in your window?"

My candles represent many things to me....family, heritage, traditions, religion and sacrifice. I am so grateful for my ancestors, my grandparents, family of origin, and my family today. I am truly blessed.

Go Grease Lightning

Apparently my children have decided to start their own "tradition" in our family. Dallin started this tradition back when he was 3 years old. He was supposed to be upstairs taking a nap. When I found him upstairs with Vaseline all over this hair he said, "Look Mom....I'm like Daddy!" He thought it was hilarious...as you can see by his reflection in the mirror.

Parker carried on the tradition when he was 2 years old. Of course...this is something that Parker WOULD do anyway so it really didn't surprise me Parker and mischief go hand in hand. It took me 3 days to get the Vaseline out of his hair. You can see by his facial expression that he knew mom was pretty upset at him.

Yesterday Landon (setting a new record for youngest) decided to join his brothers in this tradition He put a whole jar....the large jar mind you all over his head and clothes. All day he would point up to his hair and say "Ahh Ohhh Mama!" After 2 washes with Dawn it still isn't out.

All of these boys are obviously cut from the same cloth.

Great gift idea

I feel like I have been busy doing a million different things and going a million different directions. I am happy though that today I finished the Christmas gifts for our Young Women. I am not taking credit for the great idea (I found it online) but I thought it was so cute that I'd post it on the blog as an idea out there for any of you looking for a cheap yet thoughtful gift for neighbors, v-teaching or whatever.

I got some clear balls at a craft store for 1/2 off (woo hoo!) and made some black and white copies of Christ's face on some transparency paper. I put the pictures in the clear balls and tied a white ribbon on the top. The picture I took of the finished product didn't turn out so great with the reflection I was getting off the glass but it really did turn out cool. It looks like Christ's face is "floating" in the center of the ornament.

I put them in clear bags with red tinsel and tied quotes to the bags about remembering what is most important at Christmas time.

Off to tackle the next project........................

Cookies...YUM!

Tonight we spent some time making festive sugar cookies before we watched the Christmas Devotional. Let me just say I LOVE having Dish. Nothing compares to watching the devotional in your own house, in your jammies, cozy on the couch, eating cookies! It especially comes in handy when the kids are all running around like crazy so we just blast the volume to hear over all the noise. (By the time it was over, they were all asleep!) This past week was a busy one! We had the Kids giving to Kids event. The boys loved seeing the fire trucks and it was fun to make a craft and give to a good cause at the same time! The boys were also able to see Santa there. Landon DID NOT like Santa very much. I will post the picture as soon as I get it back.
We had our ward Christmas party Saturday night (no pictures...sorry!) and on Saturday the boys had a birthday party. It was a cowboy party and Dallin and Parker were thrilled to ride real horses! They also received cowboy hats. Lets just say, one little boy is loving his hat so much that he has only taken it off to go to bed:
Its such a fun time of year. I am sure this week will be just as crazy or even more so!

Our Halls are Decked!

We've been busy the past few days getting the house all ready for Christmas. The boys were a great help with the tree. They were literally THROWING the ball shaped ornaments on the tree trying to see if any of them would catch in the higher branches. Luckily we only had one gold ball casualty.
Nate did a great job with the lights this year. We actually hung lights on the second level of the house...this is a big step for us!

Our 7 year old $30 Christmas tree from our first Christmas is still going strong. Every year as Nate puts it together he says, "Thats it......this is the LAST year we are using this dumb tree!" It isn't prelit...and he has to manually put each branch in. He has been saying that for the past 3 years though. I'm sure I will be hearing the exact same line next Christmas. Hey...I still like it! We jazzed it up this year with a new star and we got a bunch of new bright red ornaments.

Hooray for Christmas!

Before and After

We just got some of Nathan's new work pictures back. Wanna see the difference 1 year and 40 pounds can make?????

Before:

After:

Hooray for lifestyle changes! He is definitely my inspiration (especially during the holiday season!) I love you hon!

Festival of Trees

You KNOW the holidays are upon us when the Festival of Trees is here! We enjoyed going down town last night to see all of the beautiful trees and the performances.

Notice Landon....no shoes. The kid absolutely HATES shoes! (Must have some of his Daddy's California blood!)

Here is my favorite tree...the UPSIDE DOWN tree!

The best part were the actors intermixed with the trees. They were pretending to be wind up toys. There was Robin Hood, Snow White, the Wicked Queen, the Wizard of Oz...just to name a few. Fun fun!

Thankful

Last night we made our traditional "thankful turkey." We've been so blessed this year. We each took turns writing down something we were thankful for and then we taped it to our turkey.

Dallin was thankful for: everyone, love, Grandma and Grandpa, and our house.

Parker was thankful for: corn (???-he doesn't even really like corn), our park by our house, and family

I was thankful for: Daddy, the gospel, family, temples, and good friends

Nate was thankful for: Mom, Dal, Parker and Landon, good health, and QUIET.

Landon just ran around screaming a laughing.

Hope everyone has a HAPPY and SAFE Thanksgiving!!!!

Trip to Utah

Even though Celine stood us up...we decided it would still be fun to head on down to UT anyway. The boys and I took off on Wed. and we came home last night. We had a great time! Here are some of the highlights:

1. First off....babies, babies, babies!! My newest nephew Brody was born while I was down there....too cute! Such a sweet little face! Congrats to Clay and Brit! My sister still came down and she brought baby Carter with her. (Parker says he loves baby Carter...but ONLY because he is a boy!) AND I was able to meet my best friend Ashley's sweet little girl, Emmalee. FUN for me!

2. My sister and I were able to go to Body Worlds. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It is a traveling exhibit of preserved human bodies and body parts. I know it sounds a little creepy but it was such a neat thing to see in person. Seeing the actual development of the fetus was fascinating. I also liked the differences between a smokers lung vs. and non smoker. If you live in UT...GO SEE IT! Its only around until January! It makes you really want to do a better job of taking care of your body and especially your heart!

3. Going to Leatherby's. Its probably a good thing that I live in Boise, otherwise I would frequent this place WAY too often! The boys love to go there with Grandpa Tom!

4. Spending time with people we love! We love being able to see our friends, cousins, grandmas and grandpas! Its always fun to catch up, stay up late playing games, or watch all the kids put on a "program." So hilarious.

We had a fun time but we MISSED our daddy way too much! We were happy to see him when we got back home! (And I was thrilled to arrive home to a clean house AND some beautiful flowers!) It is nice to know he missed us too!

Spirit of Giving

I've probably said it a thousand times before but I really have the most amazing friends. This year a few of them were talking about how their kids have really started in with the "I want this and I want that" already. They came up with this amazing idea so I just thought I would pass the idea along in case any of you out there were trying to help your kids get into the spirit of giving this Christmas season.

They have reserved the fire station, sponsors have chipped in so the kids can have fun making a craft, there will be a book drive, they get to sit on Santa's knee (for a $5.00 donation to charity) and all we have to do is donate a toy to toys for tots. O yeah...and the children are running the whole program. The kids will take the pictures, teach the craft...etc. Of course, the adults will be watching over their shoulders to make sure they are doing everything right. :)

Here is the blog link: http://www.kidsgivingtokids.blogspot.com/

Great idea! Can't wait to go!

Letter to Celine

Dear Celine,

I understand that you have strained vocal chords and have an infection but I am still VERY irritated with you postponing your show until February.

I've been looking forward to attending your show in Salt Lake for 4 months now.

I have spent many hours packing (for myself and my kids) and getting my car prepared for the drive.

I've had made arrangements for my job, my calling, and childcare while I was going to be at the show.

My sister was planning on flying from Moscow, Idaho to Salt Lake with her brand newborn for the concert.

My Grandma has been looking forward to attending the concert with her granddaughters for over a year now.

AND you have rescheduled your concert to be on a SUNDAY so now we can't even go at all.

You suck.

Sincerely,

Staci

Bunch of nuts!

It's a Saturday afternoon (yesterday). The high temperature for the day is 55 degrees. The water temperature at Lucky Peak is 43 degrees. My crazy husband, brothers and father are out doing this:

And I stayed home and turned my fire on. BRRR!!!

(Although..I will say, I USED to be this crazy! I even went waterskiing on New Years one year....now I have come to my senses and realized that the brain freeze isn't all that worth it!)

I'm so angry....I'm seeing RED.

Sigh. What an afternoon.

Today, while I am busy upstairs doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, basically trying to keep up with everything, I hear, "Mom....Parker got BLOOD all over the TV."

I don't think I have ever made it down the stairs so fast. I am thinking, "Crap, I am not hearing any crying, what in the world is going on?"

I look over at the TV and see this:

And THIS all over my carpet: Parker decided to THROW a bottle of RED PAINT into the family room today. The bottle broke open and paint splattered ALL over the entire room....walls, speakers, couches, and ESPECIALLY the carpet. I was surprisingly calm when I realized no one was in fact bleeding. Then I started scrubbing......and scrubbing. The carpet is looking worse and worse. The paint wasn't coming out at all. My carpet was just turning a lovely shade of pink.

Then I start getting VERY upset. Even my good old trusted Spot Shot isn't doing a darn thing. (I heard later on...Spot Shot is the WORST thing to use on carpet.....news to me) Then I pull out the Bissell...I'm sure that will do the trick. NOTHING.

I call Nate in tears....he tells me I need to chill out and just call someone. I call a couple carpet cleaners and I hire the one who tells me he can come over RIGHT NOW.

30 minutes later my knight in a shining armor arrives. (Or the scary man in the carpet cleaning truck) 15 minutes and $65 later.......the paint is GONE and my blood pressure returns back to normal.

Luckily the man told Parker that he can't do things like this or Santa won't come. Good thing Santa is so nice....Parker has been on the naughty list for a long time now.

Best Buddies

I wanted to write down my favorite conversation this week between the boys. It was so sweet and I know I won't remember it for very long unless I record it. We were in the car driving home and this is what Nate and I heard:

Dallin: "I love you Parker."

Parker: "Yeah...I know, I love you too."

Dallin: "Ya know, most guys don't say things like that....but I do."

Parker: "Thanks Dallin."

Isn't if amazing that some of lifes greatest truths are voiced by children? I'm hopeful that "most guys" in this house never stop saying they love each other....no matter how big they get.

A NEW day!

I went to bed last night at 8:30. That has to be a record for me (without being sick anyway). I was just so exhausted from hearing about the election ALL DAY LONG. I voted, talked about it with Nate, and watched it on tv for hours on end and then as soon as the boys were all in bed...I decided to join them.

My husband is thrilled with the results...as you can all imagine. I think Mayor Giuliani put it best last night when he said, "Tomorrow morning we can all become AMERICANS again. We all need to stand behind our new President whoever it may be because if HE fails then that means that we ALL fail."

So welcome new day and here's to hoping for the best!

A Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday we decided to take up some of the afternoon driving up to Table Rock. If you have ever lived in Boise or have ever driven through Boise (especially at night) then you right where it is. Nate and his riding buddies rode up there on Saturday and he wanted to take the boys up to see all of the fall colors below.

Table Rock is a flat topped outcropping of sandstone with the white “B”, a large cross that is lit up at night and dozens of communication antennae that overlooks the city and the entire valley. From Table Rock you can easily see in excess of 100 miles into Oregon and Owyhee County.

The sunset was spectacular, the forested mountains at Bogus Basin seem close enough to touch. You can look DOWN on airplanes landing at Gowen Field and it is fun trying to find all of the Boise landmarks from being up so high. I haven't been up there since the night I graduated from high school. It was a fun way to kill a few hours on a Sunday afternoon....especially with everyone trying to adjust to the time change! One funny story: We had to quickly ESCORT Dallin away from the big bench up there because its covered in graffiti and Dallin was reading it out loud to Parker. YIKES!