We're Going to Freeze

We're off to Sundance to see some snow, hug some family, and freeze our little Texan bottoms off. Will blog upon returning!

Happy 2007!

To all my bloggy friends . . .

Merry Christmas

from my family to yours!

In the Country

Last night, we had some good old fashioned Christmas-time fun with some friends of ours. They rigged up a trailer on the back of their cush new Suburban, filled the trailer with hay bales and about 30 friends and went on a ride through the crazy Christmas light neighborhood down south a bit. We did it last year, too. It's becoming quite the fun tradition!

We started the night at a yummy Texas BBQ place "out in the country." This is the menu, which I thought oozed Texas charm. The food is delish. Nothin' like a big plate of meat with jalapenos and white bread on the side. (You've gotta try it, seriously.)

Here is everyone loaded up in the trailer with their hot chocolate. Luckily, there was room in the warm car for Miles and me. He happily nursed his way through all the lights.

We had to get out at one house, famous every year for its insane displays of electric Christmas. Actually, none of their displays ever have anything to do with Christmas, but it's quite the spectacle, nonetheless.

Here's the Happy Feet portion of that house's display. Those penguins on the stage were dancing in rhythm to the music. Crazy. We were trying to figure out which would be higher, their electric/AC bill during our humid summers, or their electric/light bill during the month of December. It's pretty insane.

We had a great night, can't wait until next year!

The Sillies Today

We don't have a whole lot going on today: a few friends coming to play, and later we're going on a hayride to look at Christmas lights. In the meantime, I thought I'd post some pictures, mostly so the fam can see the little Moo. But these guys are cute, too.

For some reason, Audrey reminds me of Nora from Pete's Dragon today. I think it's the frizz halo.

Parker accidentally put on pink socks today. Check it out, Oliver!

And a little series of our little Miles.

Hi Bramma and Pa! See you soon!

Happiness is a Warm Trampoline

I'm not asking for comments regarding the safety or hazards of trampolines. I don't want to hear stories about all the broken arms and necks you know. All I'm saying is, my kids had a really fun day yesterday on our new trampoline. A little early Merry Christmas to them!

And me.

The Gingerbread Man

Last night we met at our friends' house for tacos and gingerbread house construction. We had a lot of fun. Audrey and Callie, their daughter are the best of friends and Parker absolutely worships their 7 year old son, Cater. After some delicious tacos, we cleared the table and got to the gingerbread. My friend, Rebecca, thought it would be fun to make it a friendly contest. Luckily, since Miles was needy of some arms, Neal, H* team captain, was ready and willing to make the house.

Parker wanted to be front and center for the decoration part.

After a while, the kids got tired of it (surprise, surprise) and went off to play. It was up to the men to finish the job.

Our team successfully attempted the Frosted Mini Wheat roof. After a cave-in, we found a few roof props and it all stayed together. With the Hershey's kiss trim, it reminded us a bit of one of these. Nice job, baby!

The "helpers."

Reading Material & 6 more days!

Ok, I'm finally ready for Christmas. I panicked when I realized that there was only one week to Christmas and that one mail day was knocked out by Christmas Eve being on Sunday. I hurriedly mailed out our Christmas cards yesterday. (I went for this look [left] for the handmade half of my 90 [!] cards. That's what happens when you move a lot.) Quite late for me, but I was comforted knowing that Stephanie, who is very on top of things, was addressing hers at the same time. I finished up the last gift yesterday and sent it off, and now I feel like I'm ready to go. Of course, I'm not ready for our post-Christmas trip to the snowy mountains of Sundance, but I'll wait until Christmas is over to think about that.

I had to make mention of the to-die-for gift that Natalie gave me the other night. We had discussed getting these fabulous Anne Taintor bags (which say, "I love not camping") for each other, since, like so many other things, we share a deep aversion to sleeping outside with bugs. "We" had decided to go for something a bit lower in price for each other this year, and maybe next year we could splurge and get the bags. Well, she ignored our agreement, much to my surprise and excitement. I can't wait to use it! It's the perfect size for primary, the library, and of course, Hawaii in June.

My Audrey will read anything. She's been reading since she was three years old, and has no prejudice in her reading material. I've always said that it's almost as though she remembered how to read, instead of learning. She just picked it up so quickly, and can sight read almost anything. She'll read chapter books, magazines, the Sunday comics, and has even been known to get a stack of baby board books for her reading pleasure. Well, yesterday, I was finishing up a few little handmade gifts on the sewing machine, and didn't have a chance to put it away. This morning while she ate her Frosted Mini Wheats, she read my sewing machine instruction manual. See picture for evidence. (I was in bed with sick Parker, thanks to my very sweet husband, who gets Audrey off to school each morning.)

Holiday Open House

I read this girl Nettie's fun blog sometimes. She's having a Christmas open house. You post pictures of your house all decked out for the holidays and then link to it on her blog. Loads of fun! Despite the fact that it is 77 degrees here today, and we are wearing flipflops and eating popsicles, it kind of feels like Christmas inside our house. Here are some of our simple decorations. The fireplace, above.

Welcome to our humble abode.

The entry way

Christmas tree #1, the small tree with presents for friends underneath.

Neal's sister Martha started a Nativity collection for us when she gave us this Fontanini set as a wedding gift.

Last year, I added this modern-ish silver one to the collection.

This one's for the kids.

The bigger tree, complete with presents! Luckily, most of them are books (my kids won't read this), so they fit under the very low bottom branches! We just added the tinsel yesterday.

We added a little holiday touch to Audrey and Parker's room, too. The garland lights are pretty bright at night, but they love it! These are the big green curtains I made in October. Ginger, I remember you wanted to see a picture of them.

Post some pictures of your holiday house, too! I'm always on the lookout for good decorating ideas, and you all have such good taste.

Photos from the Week

Here is a quick photo recap of our week, just for fun, and since I don't have a whole lot to say.

I braided Audrey's hair the other night for the Church Christmas party. She wanted it to look like Genevieve from the Barbie movie. I did my best. I had to take a picture so I could show her what it looked like. She couldn't quite get the hand-held mirror concept down. :) What I wouldn't give for that hair!

Miles would like some of it, too. His hair has gone missing, but he has plenty of drool to spare, as you can see.

Our old friend, Keith came into town from Iowa this week. He and Neal met their freshman year at BYU and then Keith ended up being companions with my brother during their missions in France. Keith is "the man without whom Neal and I would not have met." We had a lot of fun seeing him and reminiscing about old times.

This is one of those old times. I can't believe I'm posting this, but if Rachel (who went as a Hooters waitress that year [haha Rach!]) can pass this picture around at my wedding reception, I suppose I should have no shame posting it here. We're Bo, Daisy and Luke Duke, Halloween 1998. I won a prize for this costume. I can't believe I wore that! I was young and stupid. Anyway, Keith is such a fun guy, and we hadn't seen him in seven years! We miss you already, Keith!

I finally put something up behind the glider in Miles' room. Natalie gave me a great idea for a cheap wall piece. Ribbon, thumbtacks, and some Ikea postcards I got on Ebay when I was building the sailboat theme for Miles' room. See the rest of his cute room here!

I Wanna Go Somewhere

Last night, I dreamed that Neal and I were in Paris (sans les enfants) and I was showing him the sites. He's never been. I've had this dream probably three other times. We were on a boat on the Seine, and I remember saying in my dream, "Should we go see the Arc de Triomphe?" as we emerged from a Metro station, then "There's Notre Dame. Oh, they've turned off the lights. (huh?) And over there is Rue de Rivoli."

I haven't been to Paris in 10 years (!), but oh, how I want to go back! Anyway, as one of Neal's favorite songs says, "Nice Dream." Instead I get to take Miles for his 4 month immunizations today. :(

Thanks for the picture, Jooj. She has other pretty pictures here.

Christmassy Questions

My little Joojie tagged me. Here goes:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate with whipped cream. Did I ever tell you about the time Neal drank egg substitute, thinking it was egg nog? Oh man, that was funny.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He puts them next to your stocking (in your spot on the couch), some wrapped, some unwrapped for shock value.

3. Colored lights or white lights? I love white lights everywhere, mixed in with garlands, preferably, but our house has colored lights. Very retro chic.


4. Do you hang mistletoe? I made a kissing ball last year.

5. When do you put your decorations up? As soon as I can after Thanksgiving. Growing up, my mom always waited until after my birthday, which was so considerate.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? The yummy ham sandwiches Neal's family eats on Christmas Eve.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Going to my Grammy's house and acting out the Nativity, then waiting for the sleigh bells to magically ring so we could see what Santa left in our adorable little stockings.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I can't remember.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Neal's family always opened ALL of theirs on Christmas Eve. I just can't convert to that Southern way. We'll open one of our choosing.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights, star on top, ornaments collected over the years from travels and experiences that I want to remember.

11. Snow: love it or dread it? Don't ever have to deal with it, but when I did, I loved it. As long as I (or anyone I loved) didn't have to drive in it.

12. Can you ice skate? Let's put it this way: I can ice skate better than I can roller skate. That's not saying much. At all.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Probably my Degas dancer statue my parents gave me when I was about 18.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being happy with my family doing memorable things, and teaching my kids about Christ's birth.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Gingerbread men. I have sustained myself on them for 4 days now. Neal's planning an intervention.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to look at Christmas lights, wrapping presents and looking at them all pretty under the tree.

17. What tops your tree? I have 2 trees this year! Our big tree has a star on top, the little one has an angel.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Come on, people, receiving. Of course. But I do like giving my kids things they never expected.

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? With Wondering Awe or Silent Night

20. Candy canes: yuck or yum? I prefer Peppermint Ice Cream, the kind with the little bits of candy cane swirled in. Yummy.

Let's see, who hasn't played? I tag Annie and Heather.

Our Little Thinker

My little Parker talks. A lot. I love that he does that; it's so fun to get a little insight into how his brain is forming itself. The other day, he and I were in the car for about 20 minutes. He asked me so many questions, and so many of them were funny, that I decided to write them down. I'm so glad I have this blog or I would never have done something like that.

Here they are, in the order in which he asked them. And I quote:

"Is toothpaste sticky?
What does "gang up" mean? Do some girls "gang up" on boys? When me and Miles grow up, we're gonna do nice ganging.
Why do you have to wash off owies?
Are there any grocery stores in Egypt?
When can we go to a hotel and go swimming?
Why isn't it good to push on your eyeballs?
What's inside your bones? (I said blood-ish stuff) What's inside your blood? (me: cells) What are cells? What's inside those?
When will I be six?
How old will you be when I'm 73?
How many legs do you have to have to touch a cloud?
Can a birdie fly as high as a cloud?"

A couple more of his most recent questions, that I want to save for posterity:

"Why doesn't it ever rain or get cold in Egypt, but it gets cold at Mabel's house?" (in AZ, since both are deserts, this is confusing, obviously)
"Do Heavenly Father and Jesus have an age?"
"Mommy, where did Jesus go on his mission?"

Silly boy, what a little thinker he's turning out to be.



*photo credits: Natalie, again. :)

I Heart Miles

I thought I would do a little update post about our sweet little Miles, since he's turning the big 4 months old this week.

He's perfect, truth be told. We're all absolutely crazy over him and we're pretty sure he "hung the moon," as Neal's mama always said. He smiles all the time, even when I have to wake him to up to get kids from school; he's kind of starting to roll from back to tummy; he has the slightest little tufts of red hair that stick up in the front. Well, they sort of stick up. If you're looking at him with a light behind his head. :)

He sucks on his thumb and forefinger all the time.

His little legs kick uncontrollably whenever he's talked to. He absolutely LOVES attention. I spend a lot of time laying next to him on the bed just cooing and singing little songs while he tries to mimic the sounds. Now I know all babies do these things, but he's MY baby. And probably my last baby, so I'm revelling in it. Plus, it's freakin' cute, people.

Here in our house, no one is called by their real name. My husband is a nick-namer, always has been. He has nicknames for my friends' kids, for heaven's sake. Audrey is Auda, Parker is Parkie or Parks, I won't divulge mine and Neal's completely nonsensical names for each other, but here is the evolution of Miles' nicknames:

Miles begat Mooiss.
Mooiss begat Moo.
Moo begat Moozycooge.
Moozycooge begat Moezie.
Moezie begat Moe.

He is currently called MOE, poor kid. This is just the beginning.

Anyway, little Moe has the craziest little sense of humor. The first time he laughed, we were sitting at the dinner table and I had just twisted the pepper grinder onto Neal's dinner. Miles giggled. We don't know why. I ran to get the camera and we couldn't replicate whatever the heck was so funny.

The next time he laughed at Parker while he jumped in the air trying to hit something with his gamenent dote. That one we have been able to replicate. Then he laughed at Parker freaking out over a toy he saw on TV. Today, I ticked his little ribs and he laughed.

But tonight, we caught it on camera. I was telling the kids to hush so I could say the family prayer. I said to them, "Pssst Pssst," to get their attention. Oh man, did Miles ever think THAT was funny! We got it on tape. Click here if you want to see it.