Naughty or Nice?

It is Christmas Eve and Guy cannot wait until tomorrow. Everyday he asks me when it will be Christmas and I defer to his advent calendar. Then he cries saying he can't wait. I helped him write a letter to Santa Claus. After all the "I wants" I encouraged him to think of Santa and the elves, so he added, "I want to see the red-nosed reindeer. Are the elves working on my toys? I hope I can ride on Santa's sleigh."

 Festival of Trees

 My kids have the gimmees.

 Jack is in a festive mood. I made this sweater for his work party. The reindeer on his shoulder plays Christmas songs.

 My friend Mary and I worked together to put lights on our houses. Her lights turned out great, but I keep burning out my first strand so they are not currently working.

 Need to hire us? $100 an hour + childcare expenses. Some men were working at the house next door and they sat in their truck and watched to see if I would make it off the roof. I am sure someone lost a bet.

 Naughty or just a kid? Guy wanted a piece of Sloan's birthday brownies. The picture doesn't show how far bits of glass reached.

 We invited 13 kids to our house to watch Toy Story 3 and to decorate gingerbread houses. It was fun! (I cleaned my carpets the next day.)

 Guy did a great job decorating his house. So good, in fact, another kid chose his house to take home and left the one he or she made. He was a little sad, but recovered quickly.

 I am thankful that one glass pan is all the loss I have. It rained for 5 days straight and the rivers overflowed. I took the following 2 pictures Wednesday after the Virgin River went down about 5 feet. It is still so huge. I feel bad for those who lost their houses after the Beaver Dam broke. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas!

Sloan Turns 2!

 December 15th Sloan turned 2 years old. I made chocolate brownies with chocolate frosting because I thought she would like it better than cake.

 Lots of presents.

 The next picture made me laugh so hard. I love her face. Guy got Sloan a purse with a pad of paper and pencils in it. I think it was her favorite gift.

 Thank you to all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents for their wonderful gifts. She loved them all.

 I took the kids out to try to get some cute pictures of them. I put a few on our Christmas card.

 Sloan is a daredevil on her bike. She will go off curbs now. She asks to ride it every day.

I love my little girl. She is a little too attached to me and has separation anxiety, but we are working on it. She yells, "Daddy!" and goes running to Jack every day when he gets home. She follows Guy around and wants to do everything he does. She has just started to show interest in girly things like baby dolls and combing her hair.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for friends and family. Jack's mother visited from Paducah, KY for Thanksgiving and we invited friends to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Guy took the following two pictures.

 Thanksgiving 2010

Back Row: Shannon, Sloan, Guy, Jack

Middle Row: Peggy (Jack's mom), Hoa, Joel, Tim

Front Row: Kim

 The next morning we set up the tree and decorated it with Grandma Peggy.

 That night we went to the Tuacahn amphitheater to see the live nativity, the lights, and to ride the train.

 Even Santa was there.

 On Saturday we took Peggy on a hike in Zion National Park. It was unseasonably cool weather over Thanksgiving. Guy took the following two pictures.

 On Monday, Washington City had a tree lighting ceremony at a nearby park. I decorated the kids' bikes with battery operated lights for the bike parade. It was fun, but hard to take a picture of Sloan on the move. She is fast!

 Here is Santa's elf talking to Guy about what he wants for Christmas: a Star Wars toy and a gun.

 This Santa had a real beard.

I love this time of year!

Guy Turns 4!

Our wonderful friends Megan and Darrick gave us the dress clothes their son has grown out of. Guy was so excited to wear his new suit and tie to church last Sunday. They sang Happy Birthday to him in Primary and he got a 3Musketeers candy bar from the Bishop.

 On Friday, we held Guy's birthday party. Star Wars theme. His invitations invited his friends to come to Jedi training. The kids first went on a treasure hunt with picture clues to find their lighsabers. I wanted to use pool noodles to make the lightsabers, but they are out of season. Instead I used foam pipe insulation with a pvc pipe handle and duct tape. Good thing they were foam.

They trained by hitting balloons.

 Once they had mastered the lightsabers, they had to destroy the Death Star pinata. Colin was the first to go.

 The pinata was so heavy!

 The cake was supposed to look like a lightsaber.

 Guy's best girl-friend is Emma and she dressed up like Princess Leia. Isn't she so cute!

 Star Wars toys! Just what he wanted.

 Guy's actual birthday was Saturday, November 20. We let him open presents after breakfast. His Grandma Barbara send him a green scripture bag and an Obi Wan Kenobi action figure. He was excited to use his scripture bag the next day at church.

 Jack had a BMX bike jersey made with Guy's name on the back from Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane, UT. Now we need to get him a full face helmet.

 Sloan was so good watching Guy open all of his cool presents. Don't you love her bed head.

Guy's Aunt Charlotte sent him this awesome black widow spider remote control toy. It is huge!

 Guy's Grandpa John and Grandma Pam sent him the Bat Cave. He played nonstop for hours.

I can't believe my little boy is already 4 years old. I am a little misty eyed. I only have a year and a half left with him before he starts kindergarten.

Fall Festivities

My sister Jessica just turned 30 last month and my sister Charlotte turned 28 today! Charlotte requested homemade gifts this year, so she gets what she asked for. I made this jewelry holder for her (jewelry not included). Char, if you read this, don't feel obligated to put it up.

I attempted making several pieces of jewelry, but failed. I thought this zipper bracelet was OK, so she got that too. I supplemented her gift with a magazine subscription to "Family Fun." I like all the family activities and crafts in it. 

 Guy's preschool group went to the Staheli Farm today. I love going there. It was cool when we arrived, but we soon stripped off jackets.

 The kids learned about the animals first.

 Then they got to pet them.

 Guy dared to touch the giant potbellied pig, but Sloan only dared to touch a small goat. Guy also petted the chicken and learned that different colored chickens lay different colored eggs.

 Then we took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.

 They are willing to pose with each other, but not with me.

 Cow train ride!

 Horse swing ride.

On the way home we saw Steven Walquist walking along Telegraph Street. Steven lost his leg to cancer as a baby and has been walking from Salt Lake City to St. George, Utah (365 miles) to raise awareness for kids who need help with prosthetics and to show them anything is possible. I honked and waved. What an awesome thing to do.

walkstevewalk.com