For Emily's birthday this year (October 16), my parents rented our favorite cabin in Sundance. We have even been there with Brian's family. We went up and stayed the weekend, enjoying the gorgeous weather and great company. We rode the lift at Sundance and hiked around for a few hours and then went to Provo where we got to eat Blue Bell ice cream from a shop at the Riverwoods!! The XBox 360 was a big hit and we had time for some games as well. It was a great weekend, so thanks to Mom and Dad and Emily for having a birthday!
While we hiked Brian and the boys jumped out of the bushes to scare us and Lincoln got covered in hundreds of burrs. All the kids had a good time helping him clean off. I am just glad it was not McKinley's hair that ended up in that bush!
Happy Birthday Emily! (And the rest of us!)
Family Picture Time
Brian let me go to Old Navy and pick out matching shirts for our family picture! I assure you the shopping was much more fun then the taking of these pictures. We took about 150 and just a few caught everyone with the fingers out of their nose and their eyes opened. ...Oh the memories.
Just the 5 of them
We tried to get a really good picture of all the kids but McKinley was a complete basket case--which is actually quite unusual for her. In the end, we have a great picture of Reagan and her siblings happen to be around her.
Christmas Morning for the Boys
The kids did not get up until 8:00 on Christmas after an eventful Christmas Eve. The kids "saw" Santa and Rudolph out the window and then rushed to bed at 7:00. They were so good, we did not hear a peep - even when the heard jingle bells outside their window. According to Lincoln, "It was more jingle bells than one person could hold, so it had to be Santa." He also said he heard Santa say "Rudolph, if you hear something, tell me!" By 8:00 Lincoln was the only one still awake, so I turned on Babes in Toyland for him and he eventually fell asleep.
When we opened presents in the morning Jefferson chose one of his gifts from Santa to open and inside was a 9-inch Denver Broncos action figure (it has clothes and joints like a doll, but it is for boys, so I guess that makes it an action figure, right?). Truman saw it, turned around and did a face plant into the couch. He was SO JEALOUS. He folded his arms and walked out of the room while Jefferson oohed and ahhed over it. When he eventually came back and had his turn he ripped into a similarly shaped gift of his own, also from Santa. (Seriously, I have never seen someone unwrap with such vigor and that is saying a lot considering how many presents we open in a year around here!) Sure enough, inside was his very own Denver Broncos football player. Santa got these toys for under $4, so definitely a prize this year!
Chance Encounter with Cosmo
The boys have talked about going to the game for the last several weeks. They were very excited. We got to meet some of the players afterwards and get high fives. On our way out of the stadium we were lucky enough to check off the number one thing on their list: Meeting Cosmo.
Sarah's Mission Call
You need to click on the picture and it will take you to the place where you can watch the video. As you will see, the video and event was UTTER CHAOS
The video isn't short but gives you a feel for how it played out.
Sorry we gave out Jeff's phone number to the world. If you start getting random phone calls then let us know and we can take the video down.
Congratulations Sarah!
October: Birthdays and Conference
We enjoyed a lot of birthday fun and too many birthday treats over the first week of October with my 30th birthday, Lincoln's 7th birthday, and the girls up for Conference weekend. Dad was also here, which was lots of fun - for us at least!
The Rundown
As I upload the pics of McKinley's birthday for a different post, here is the rundown on our house lately.
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| From 2009-08-30 |
Lincoln has been enjoying school. I get him up to read with me for a half hour everyday at 7:30. One of his great pleasures seems to be eating everyone's leftovers at lunch. Almost every day he will come home reporting that so-and-so did not want his apple juice, or chips, or capri sun, or cookie and they passed it to him. I guess I will continue to not put those things in his lunch!
Truman enjoys riding his bike to school since the walk is sooooo far. He is Mr. Independent, so I am choosing my battles. One battle we fight is over homework. He gives up and throws his pencil 10 seconds into whatever he is doing, whether it be writing his name 3 times or a small a. Once we have a 30 second drama about how he can "never do it," the tiger within takes over and he will stop at nothing to get it perfect. His satisfied smile is worth all the heartache.
Jefferson finds great pleasure in dressing himself every morning. He checks to make sure everything is not backwards some days, and on others quite the opposite occurs. He wishes he were old enough to go to the Temple and promises if we take him with us, he "will be weawy quiet and sit stiw".
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| From 2009-08-30 |
McKinley is always carrying a doll or purse or phone or glasses around. She is a great mimic and can be found nursing her baby on the couch next to me - we are working on spoon-feeding cereal these days.
Reagan, or Reagel Bagel as she is known around here, is rolling all over the place. It is her preferred (or only) method of transportation when Truman is not around to haul her from room to room. She is patient as he changes her diapers, McKinley steals her binkies, Jefferson feeds her and Lincoln tries to make her laugh. I love her smile cuddles.
Brian is working hard and has taken on the roll of bread-maker to complement his roll of bread-winner. Inspired by Katherine's K is for Kithen blog, we are tackling the cheaper and more tasty make-your-own-bread way of life. But is it cheaper if I eat 3 times as much? I will have to do the math.
I have tried some new things, like avoiding all housework by canning pears and tomatoes and refinishing a little wooden hutch for McKinley. The laundry is the main casualty, but all in the name of food storage, right? It is chaos, but I love it.
Fun Run
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| From 2009-08-30 |
We participated in a Fun Run service project put on by a Young Women group from a ward in our stake. Lincoln was geared up to run 3 miles, but I was pushing Reagan and McKinley and had Jefferson on his hotwheels bike so we just did the 1 mile race. He and Truman ran the whole way and had a great time. Jefferson was very enthusiastic and was sure we were the winners (I think we were last - or close to it!). All the kids enjoyed the complementary treats after and I won a gift certificate for a free Great Harvest Bread loaf in the raffle.
They had games for the kids when the running was done and a bake sale as well. Exercise and treats - what a great combo!
