St. George Style Christmas

I didn't take many pictures of our trip to St. George, but it was great. And the weather was beautiful. The kids loved playing at Pioneer Park.

Quinn thinks she is old enough to run around on the red rocks too.

You Say It's Your Birthday

It is kind of sad to be born in December because your birthday seems to get a tad overlooked. Especially when it is just days before Christmas and life is crazy with other parties and things. But, my Mom (who also has a December birthday) pulled through and made a wonderful dinner and TWO yummy cakes (chocolate mint and raspberry). Kenyon is feeling much better this year on his birthday then he was last year. We are grateful for that.

This is what happens...

When you try and keep a baby happy and entertained on a road trip. It worked. But what a mess!

Our Little Walking Disaster

So after our neighborhood food drive, my wood floors were a disaster. It isn't a big deal. It is just what happens when lots of people walk through after walking to our house in the snow. So that night I mopped. It was looking unusually good. But then Quinn woke up. Let the fun begin. Gavin had just got home from kindergarten and was so hungry he was going to DIE. So I made him hot dogs (the standard request for lunch). They were cut up on a plate with ketchup and a glass of apple juice. On a place mat. I go to the laundry room to fold clothes. In walks Quinn. Who LOVES hot dogs and ketchup. So she pulls off the place mat.

I heard noise but didn't realize what was happening. After a minute, I come to check on her. This is what I found. Her cheeks full of hot dogs, her feet sopping wet in apple juice, and my feshly mopped floor - no longer looking so good. As I try to clean it up, she toddles off. I hear splashing. She is in the toilet in the laundry room. Seriously? Enough already.

So I put her in her high chair with her own plate. And as always, she goes straight for the ketchup. She had already had enough hot dogs off the floor, anyway.

What happened to my sweet little baby?

The Neighbor Gift

Instead of neighbor gifts (which are fun), we decided to give to the Utah Food Bank. We invited all our neighbors to our home for hot chocolate and treats. All they have to do is bring a donation for the Utah Food Bank. We collected 800lbs of food. It was a great but very cold night.

Gavin was so helpful. No surprise. He wanted to be involved in all the details. The heat lamp in the garage, loading the food, the mechanics of the trailer, passing out hot chocolate.

A little blast from the past

Don't laugh.
Ok. Go ahead.
It is pretty dang funny. These are some of the best friends, roommates, moms, women that I know. This picture was taken back in 1993 (?) when we were living in the Raintree Apts in Provo. We were all students at BYU and they were all brainiacs. Seriously. They are really smart ladies. It was a lot of pressure. They studied like crazy. It really kept me motivated and challenged. But we also had a LOT of fun.

I know you are wondering - why did you get a posed photo taken? We don't know. We don't know who bought the Olin Mills package from the salesman. We don't know how we found the time to go all together in matching clothes. Go figure. It is pretty hilarious. And don't you love my hand down there. Random pose. Yikes.

Four of us are still in Utah (none of us were from Utah) but for some reason we haven't gotten together. Until Leah came to town. Bless her. She made it happen. And it was so great.

It was a happy night for me to be with these friends (Candice and Wendy - we missed you). I loved every minute of it. It was so good for me to just sit around and visit and remember those good old days.

Let's do it again soon! (I propose we all go to Israel to visit Julianne and family).

Holiday Confusion

No offense to the amazing host of our Thanksgiving dinner - who likes the tradition of dressing the part for the holiday. And no offense to the amazing seamstress - my mother-in-law - who most of have sewed for hours to make these elaborate costumes.

But honestly - I hate dressing up. Really I do. I know that makes me a party pooper. Sorry. I wasn't too thrilled (understatement) to wear pilgrim clothes to my favorite meal of the year.

The costumes were great, though. And it makes for some fun pictures.

I just know that many of you are thankful that you weren't me this year. :) Good thing is that I don't need to worry about Halloween costumes for next year.

Thanks!

Lots to be thankful for. Here are 5 of many...
1 - kenyon is home and feeling much better!
2 - lots of answered prayers
3 - modern medicine and huntsman hospital
4 - my kiddos
5 - so many good friends who are so willing to help me

Dang it!

It's true. He is back in the hospital. Seriously not cool. But the truth is they are better equipped to get him better than we are at home. So I hope it happens quickly and he comes home soon.

He has been sick for a week now. We were pretty afraid the GVHD was back. That would not be so good. But, the tests seem to indicated that it is NOT GVHD. It seems like he may have caught a cold (probably from Quinn - his best friend). Because his immune-system is so weak or non-existent it has been hard for him to fight it. The result is that he has been miserable and is now dehydrated.

Thanks for all the love and concern. I really wish that 2010 does not bring any more posts about Kenyon being sick. Please.

Oh - and please get rid of all the germs out there or at least keep them away from my kids. Yuck! If this is what a dumb little snotty cold does than I am SCARED.

Ungrateful?

Yesterday I had a several bad moments of being very ungrateful. It's embarrassing really. I knew it at the time too but it just seems like some things are too much sometimes. Right? But watch this. Please. Don't be afraid by the "Mormon Message" title if you are not Mormon. It's only 4+ minutes. This is about being grateful even in adversity. So perfect for the coming week and the whole feeling of the season.
Isn't this video cool? I love the music and the fun people they picked. Don't you feel bad for that kid with the skateboard. I wanted to give him a ticket home to his bed. And I love that guy who is thankful for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would like to be walking on the streets of NYC. Perfect place to watch people. I know my niece (in-law) Angie can't wait to come home from NYC but I would trade her in a heartbeat. But - see - that is kind of ungrateful. I should be happy where I am. Working on that. But really if Kenyon wanted to take a job in NYC - I would go.

Totally Random - but speaking of jobs made me think of it. One of my FAVORITE podcasts is "This American Life" on NPR. You can subscribe to it for free on iTunes. I think this particular episode called "Rest Stop" was one of my favorites and I thought - what a fun job. Someone I know should go work for Ira Glass (maybe Jane) so that you can tell me all about it.

Oh - and a few things I am grateful for -
1 - M&Ms - plain or mint, please.
2 - Diet Pompegranate 7up (holiday edition - try it today!) Thanks Amy!
3 - Going to Twilight - New Moon tonight!!
4 - nap times - for the baby
5 - Cool things to watch and listen to on my ipod or youtube.
6 - Reading the Book of Mormon with my kids each morning
7 - Good friends

driving me crazy!

He is driving me crazy! It is a good thing I have a couple hour break each day while he is at school. Aghhhh. But seriously - why does he have to be so cute? He was trying to direct this photo shoot with Heidi. He insisted that he needed his picture taken with her green chair. It turned out pretty dang cute.

Yum!

My friend Heidi is AMAZING! For lots of reasons. But her photography is wonderful. Check her out here at Heidilynnphotography. Go look at the rest of our family photos. They turned out wonderful.

Don't you just want to eat her up? I do.

A few things we love about Quinn:

• She still growls. She has been doing that for a long time.
• She loves to wave and say "hi." Especially to Kenyon.
• She loves her Dad and says "daddy."
• She loves to throws her food. And she tries to be sneaky about it. Well, we don't love it but at moments it makes us laugh.
• She says "uh-oh."
• She can climb the stairs - up and down. Finally.
• She can stand on her own. So close to taking a step.
• Totally comforted by her binky and blanket.
• LOVES candy and ice cream.

Quinn's First Birthday Party

This party was completely inspired by a really cool blog - Blonde Designs. They do some great things that are worth copying. In fact, I couldn't do parties if I didn't have inspiration like blogs and my sisters (Twin 1 and Twin 2) - who always know how to through a party. My sister, Egan, designed her birthday invitations that were also inspired by Blonde Design.

Check this out - I totally copied them. But really - why be creative when someone else is so brilliant?

Here it is - Quinn's Party - I Scream for Ice Cream. (she really loves ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sno cones)

The gift bag toppers were also from Blonde Design.

Regular chocolate cake mix with Billy's Bakery Vanilla Buttercream Frosting - SO GOOD!

I am often inspired by another blog, Stephmodo. She had these cute pom poms as decorations for a shower. So I copied using Martha's directions and hung them for this party. I love them.

The damage.

The birthday present was a hit! I think it might actually be Gavin's favorite gift ever. (no surprise from a kid who has wanted a vacuum and wheelbarrow for gifts)

One Year Ago Today...

Can you guess what happened?

My little tiny baby has grown up and turned one. It is so fun and so sad at the same time. I miss that sweet little bundle. She is naught now. But she is full of personality and it cracks us all up. She makes things entertaining around here.

We are missing a few months. I think they got lost on my computer that crashed. (Kenyon please retrieve those files.)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Southern California is pretty much the happiest place on earth. How can you not be happy when it is perfectly gorgeous all the time? I was so happy to be there and not here in the dreadful snow. The sad thing is that everytime we go, I get really antsy to move. I start begging Kenyon to look for a different job.
We scored a pretty good deal on KSL classifieds and made for a pretty affordable trip to Disneyland. It was an early Christmas present. Hopefully the kids will remember how much fun they had when Christmas comes and there are no presents under the tree.

I think the highlight for Teague was getting to participate in Jedi Training.

Quinn loved just about everything. Except that she couldn't get down and crawl around. Elise's favorite was Screamin'. And Gavin's favorite - you'll love this - the Merry-Go-Round. Yep. He is a funny kid. He also loved walking up to strangers and trading pins. (Little hint - by the pins ahead of time off ebay. saves you tons of money.)

We tried a few new things. The Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island. We had NEVER been over there. It was fun. My kids LOVED it and begged to go back. Another thing we enjoyed was the Enchanted Tiki Lounge and the Pineapple Whip Float. Yum!

Another highlight - staying with my sister, Jen, and her family. And taking two of their kids with us to Disneyland one day while Jen kept Quinn. It is always fun to be with family.

You're My Only Hope

Princess Leia - costume and wig created by her Grandma Porter

We were SHOCKED that she kept the wig on the whole night.

Star Wars meets the Mummy (our cousin Max)

Check out Darth Vader's eyes.

Star Wars meets a Vampire
If I could only get my act together. If I had a little more time. If if if...Kenyon would have been Obi Wan or Jedi. Acutally he wanted to be yoda. But, I am just not that clever and way too cheap this year. Other than Quinn's (which was made) the costumes were borrowed or purchased at yard sale.

Happy?

So my sister Egan asked the family to respond to the question - List 5 things that make you happy every day. It has been fun to see the responses from my family (they are still coming in). Egan's was HILARIOUS. But I don't know if I can tell you. Kenyon said that one of the things that makes him happy is eating a bowl of ice cream while watching the Biggest Loser (that only happens once a week but apparently he looks forward to it all week).

Can you guess what makes me happy? Breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. Thanks to my super cute and talented niece-in-law for letting me steal this picture from her blog and her recipes!

So what 5 things make you happy every day?

A little trip up the canyon

I LOVE FALL! The leaves are amazing right now. We made a stop at Sliver Lake by Brighton Ski Resort. That is one of our favorite places to take a little walk. It was a little chilly though.