What to do Mid January

What to do mid January when the weather is bad, and your kids are sick and YOU are just sick of staying inside?
A: You hold Pre-School in the bathtub..What's better than a bath AND a lesson? (These aren't even incriminating pictures of her in the tub because the camera came out after the fact!)

Just for Journaling purposes- Tianna is getting pretty good at recognizing letters and can sometimes put them in the right order in the alphabet.  She must be more like her Daddy though because she is REALLY good with numbers. She counts beautifully and can recognize any number (well... up to 10 anyway).  A recent development is that she can spell her own name!  While we were learning that, we went through our whole house finding every T we could.  Now we can't watch "T"V or drive anywhere without her exclaiming, "I found "T!" It's so great! She is very bright and a quick learner... I'm really glad Santa Claus brought her these foam letters and numbers so she can practice her skills!

B:  Build a fortress! 

C: Take in a good nap (yeah.. wouldn't that be nice?)

D:  Build houses out of Bristle Blocks. 

Tianna is also very creative. Today she built this house and even added windows and described to me where each room from our real house was on her model. My room was the blue square on the left.

E:  Dance

F:  Learn how to crawl, pull yourself up to a standing postion, and get your first tooth! (it broke through on January 21)

This week was a busy one for Adelia. She learned how to crawl... or the equivalent.  For some reason Luke and I must have some unsaid rule that our children cannot crawl normally. Tianna would always have one leg in a crab-crawl and couldn't really crawl right until well after she could walk, run, jump, etc. NOW that is exactly what Adelia does. I'm still holding out hope for her that she'll learn to crawl correctly and be content with it for awhile.  We'll see.  She enjoys pulling herself up so much that I see walking coming very quickly.

G: Make a SNOWMAN!
Or should I say......... snowWOMAN. Tianna can't have a boy anything, that would just be silly! So we made our chick have long wispy hair.  Isn't she lovely with those BLUE milk lid eyes? 

H: Take lots of pictures and post them on your blog

We have NEW TILE! WOOOO HOOO!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have my sister, Jana, and her family come to stay with us and help us lay tile in our bathroom.  I say "help" when really, Casey pretty much did it all with Luke's assistance.  We appreciate them soooooooooo much!!! The bathroom looked much better after we painted it but NOW it looks finished! Plus now I don't need to try and hide the water damage from the previous owners. I tried to go back through my pictures and find a pic of the hideous floor but couldn't find one.... I was sure I had pictures of it... basically around the wall adjacent to the bathrub was a 2 + foot blackish purple circle where water had leaked under the linoleum and bled the colors together.  Trust me. it was UGLY! But the new tile looks awesome! Thanks boys!!

While they worked, we girls PLAYED! We went shopping and made bead watch bands. We are so spoiled! At least we took care of the kids though.... most of the time! ; )

For Family Home Evening last week went bowling. It was the first time we've been bowling up here in Logan together and possibly the only time we've bowled since we've been married.  Tianna thought it was just about the coolest thing int he world.  She loved the black light and she LOOOOOVED rolling the ball down the lane.  Several times she pushed it so slowly that it didn't even make it down the lane though..... sadly, even with that she STILL BEAT ME! Of course, I didn't get bumpers either. But still, I had pretty much the worse game of my life.  Luke didn't do too shabby though.  Even with losing, it was a very memorable night... mostly because of how excited Tianna got! Every time she rolled her ball she'd jump up and down screaming with delight and giving everyone Hi-Fives!

And just cause I have to put this somewhere, this is what happens when you turn your back... your baby becomes a human sticker book! At least she thought it was funny!

Quarter of a Century!

Upon re-reading my last entry I think it sounded a bit whiny about people only looking at my pictures. I didn't mean it to sound that way... I don't care if that's all you do.  :) There are so many to look at nowadays that I often do that too.  Especially when someone posts 30 + pictures! I really didn't expect anyone to read my whole thing... but thanks for those that did! You're so sweet! Mostly I was just putting in all the details for my own journal purposes.... On that same note though... I do appreciate comments once in awhile. I said that I don't think anyone reads my blog anymore on Facebook and I only say that because my comments have gone down to hardly any these days.  I think that has a lot to do with googlereader and the fact that there are so many to keep up on. I myself don't often leave comments just for the fact that I am holding my baby and can't really type. So I will l try to do better! And if you ever feel the desire, don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Now...
I've always looked forward to being 25.  To me, it seems like the best age! You're old enough to be a woman (or man) but young enough to still be "young."  A lot of my friends freaked out on their birthday's this year but I could not wait! It's gonna be a great year!!!
So far it's lived up to expectations! My birthday was perfect.  It fell on a Saturday (the 9th) so I was able to go to Salt Lake and spend the day with my long time best friend, Janelle. We got mani/pedi's at the mall.  It was my first time and I loved it! They even played one of my favorite movies, "She's the Man" while we got pampered.

Then we just hung out there while Luke and the girls met up with his parents at the Gun Show.  (worked out really well for him I must say!)
After our girlie-time we all went together to CHEESECAKE FACTORY! Soooooooooo yummy and sooooooooooo worth the wait. I've been wanting to go there since it opend since I Luhuv cheesecake.
It was really nice spending time with Janelle and I'm so glad I got to spend some of my birthday with my in-laws. They are so good us!

Gotta love that I look like a dork in all my pictures from my birthday.

One birthday surprise that was extra special was getting a call from my Germany sister, Julia, on the phone! That made a perfect day even better!
On Sunday we did a bit more celebrating.  After church we (mostly Luke) made my favorite kind of cake.  Let me just tell you... Yellow cake, pineapple, cream cheese, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream. There is a reason I call this cake "Heaven on a Plate."   IT IS DIVINE!And to help enjoy our cake, we invited our family friends, The Smith's over.  We forgot to blow out candles while they were here so after they left we made up for it... don't worry. I ate that piece too!

Thank you everyone who celebrated with me or called, texted, or wished me happy birthday.
Now I just realized today is also a special day... Miss Adelia Rose turns 7 months old! She's getting so big and very full of it! She loves to sit up by herself, eat everything she can (well except for baby food, that would just be silly) and she is still just full of smiles and fun!

Twas the Week Before Christmas....Till the End of '09

This is going to be a big update... that no one will read. So just look at the pictures and captions... I know that's all you do anyway and that's okay! : ) Especially when you see how long this puppy is!

The first week Luke had off of school we anticipated spending lots of time together since he was only allowed part time hours. Well that lasted a whole of one day. Then he got bumped up to full-time.... which is good for monetary purposes... sad for all the lost family time.
But we made it through and on the 19th we had a whole day to spend with daddy.  We went to the
American West Heritage Center-- Frontier Days and Holly Fest
We enjoyed this FROSTY day as we rode a cute little train, saw Father Christmas, went into the little shops, rode a horse drawn sleigh, and went into the Live Nativity 4 times! Tianna absolutely LOVED that event!
 It was a barn that had a bunch of straw and a manger in the center.  There were goats, a friendly donkey and a cow.  They supplied costumes and the Nativity story in a binder so you and your family could act out the story to your fullest desires.  It had such a special feeling inside that quiet, warm stable.  When Tianna wanted to return for the 4th time we couldn't exactly deny her when she said "I want to see Baby Jesus again!!" 

 

 Sunday we enjoyed a beautiful musical Sacrament Meeting.  One thought that particularly stuck out to me was when one speaker said his favorite Christmas Hymn is "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and how there were HOSTS of Heavenly Angels singing.... was I there?  I like to think we all were on that precious and sacred night!


Monday we went Christmas Caroling through our neighborhood with a bunch of people. It was so neat! I hope this becomes a tradition because it was so fun.  It was cool collecting people as we went! 

Tuesday was a BIG SAD.  I got released from my favorite calling of all time.  I have been the YW Mia Maid advisor and they released me and called me as Primary Chorister.  Although I'm kind of excited/SCARED TO DEATH about my new calling I've been distraught for weeks about being out of YW.  That was my outlet as a stay-at-home mom.  It was somewhere for me to go with people that I love while we've been here in Logan away from our families.  ... but what do ya do?  The only constant in life is change, I guess. Even when it blindsides us! I just need to remind myself of the saying, "Come what may, and I love it" by Joseph B. Wirthlin.

Anyway.. back to the vacation details.  Wednesday, Luke got off work fairly early and we were able to travel down to Castle Dale where we spent Christmas with his side of the family.  Every one of us were there and even the ones who live in town slept at his parent's house.  It was so fun!

Christmas Eve
We woke up and had a wonderful, lazy morning and finally got around to sledding after lunch.  We had some good times racing down this steep hill.  Tianna was quite the trooper! She got whitewashed a number of times but never complained! Adelia really enjoyed sledding.... from her carseat, fast asleep. It was her best nap of the whole break! 
I'll get sleddibg pics from my SIL soon hopefully! 

Once we got back and thawed from our adventure we started working on Christmas dinner.  Before we ate, we had the best darn Nativity ever! Mary (Tianna) was REALLY into her role and was so frusterated at Joseph (Aden) for being more intersted in eating Skittles than performing.  The little lamb (Adelia) could care less what was going on but made a darn cute little sheep...until her major diaper blow-out!! And as for the star of the show, well, he was just a bit older than the real Baby Jesus (Raleigh) so he was in total character.  

 Since we were working with 3 and under we told the Christmas story by reading a little set of books that told the story and after each topic we sang a corresponding song.... and shoved Skittles into the kids mouths so they would act out each phase of the story.   It was short and sweet.

Then we ate a yummy dinner and got the kids in their jammies and went to see the local Christmas lights. 

 

This was my favorite part of the entire holiday.  We wanted them to fall asleep so Santa could make his debut, and since we were going like 10 miles an hour, I held Adelia in my arms and Tianna wasn't in a car seat either.  After a few minutes she came and sat in the front between Luke and I. It was just such a magical experience nestling together with Christmas songs softly playing in the background, enjoying Tianna's awe-struck expression as we passed each display, and holding my sweet, angel baby in my arms, and watching her peacefully sleep. It was the perfect ending to our Christmas Eve.  Or rather, the perfect beginning for a great Christmas day!


Christmas Morning

We actually had to wake up Tianna, but once we said, "Tianna, do you think Santa Claus came?" Her eyes popped open and she lept out of bed.  

Tianna got a light-up drawing desk and coloring stuff, a little Ariel doll, food for her play kitchen,  movies, a ukalele, and some other little things. 

Adelia got a ball popper, other toys, and a COLD!  She woke up Christmas morning with a terrible cold and her poor little nose ran and ran.  She did enjoy each of her new toys with a good TASTE TEST! No wonder we all ended up sick later in the week! :)  I think she liked her first Christmas though.  

Christmas morning was so fun!  You never fully experience Christmas after like age 10 until you experience it though your children's eyes!  It's so cool to see how excited they are about each gift, how exciting it is for them to OPEN a gift.... and the best, seeing how much they love GIVING gifts! Even if gifts weren't in the formula though, Christmas would still be the best day of the year. 

Luke and I weren't left out either.  Santa brought a picture of our new dishwasher (for some reason he decided not to drop it off in Castle Dale... go figure!)  and Utah State paraphernalia.  Luke got a Fossil watch, the movie UP and our own Adventure Book (scrapbook of our major events together)and I got a new snow coat, bead watches, and some clothese.  We also got wonderful gifts from family and friends. Thank you everyone for your generosity and LOVE! 

 After opening presents and watching UP we made our way to the Grandparent's houses. It always makes me miss my own grandparetns but I'm so grateful to have 2 other sets.  I'm so grateful that my children get to enjoy not only my parents and Luke's parents, but both of his grandparents! At one time Tianna had 4 grandparents, 5 living great grandparents and 1 great great grandma! How lucky we are for family?!

 

 Saturday was the annual Peacock Christmas Party.  Like always it was a good time!

 

 

Later that night we went to the cabin and spent Sunday there with my family.  
That night Luke had to go back to Logan so he could work until New Years Eve.  :( He was very missed.

Monday thru Thursday the girls and I stayed at the cabin and played in the snow, played a lot of card and board games and had a good time with family and ate lots of food! Yep, there went all my hard weight loss work!  

 

 

My Grandma's sister and her husband (Kathryn and Ken) recently returned home from a mission in Hong Kong and they came to spend New Years with us at the cabin.  It was crazy how much Kathryn looks like my grandma did and it almost felt like Grandma was there with us.  That was really special! 

 All of my family was together for New Years except for James and Val who were in Italy.  Uncle Ken started playing song on his guitar and before long there were lots of solos, group numbers, and duets sung or played on the piano and even dance performances by the kids.  Another person besides my Grandma who was really missed was Vittoria.  It felt somewhat hallow having all the girls up dancing and singing without her. We miss her so much and it just seems unreal that she's gone and has been for nearly 5 months now.  
After the music peetered out we played a few games and then it was midnight!  We got New Years kisses, drank some bubbly (non alchoholic of course) and went to bed.  Welcome 2010... hope you are fully of joy, health, and happiness! And hope you don't bring as much heartache and sorrow as 2009 did.  
I can't say the whole year was bad though... after all, we welcomed our sweet angel into our home and one more on each side of our families. 

Now it's back to real life. The tree and lights are down, school started today (bleh) and January is nearly half over. At this rate I'll be writing my Christmas 2010 update in no time!