He's Home!! (and other things too)

Ok, sorry. I accidently lied about getting this up as soon as I wanted. But here it is. The video is of Alex coming down the escalator and then mom running to him nearly knocking him down. He is taller! For those of you who came to his little homecoming you know how much taller he is spiritually as well. He gave an amazing talk and then even sang!!! with Krista and Kayla and me. It was a special moment for us. He learned the tenor part and everything. I'm so proud of him. I've taken well over 200 pics in the last week. So, they are in a slideshow to spare you and me the time of looking at them all. The first set are the pics from the airport when we went to see Uncle Ace come home. My mom had tears in her eyes just waiting for him. Three missionaries got off the plane and came down before the other three did and my mom was FRIEKING OUT! But he came and all was well. The next set are Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning pics. It was really funny when the girls woke up Christmas morning. I don't wrap the presents until the night before because the girls get into them. So when they woke up there were presents under the tree and they were so excited. That's the first thing they noticed. We showed them that Santa had brought them things and they each ran to the other person's side. They stood there looking at them confused because it wasn't what they wanted. Then they figured it out and switched sides. I got it on video...but I'll spare you! So, funny story about Maddie's dog. She has been asking for a dog for as long as I can remember. We found this awesome dog that talks and tells you when they need to be fed and brushed and what not. So we told her that Santa had called and told us that he was giving her this dog first to make sure that she understood how much responsibility and time it takes for a dog. I went on and on about feeding it, bathing it, walking it, and so on and so forth. I finished by telling her that Santa said if she takes really good care of this dog then maybe for her birthday she could get a real one. That won me a "look" from Jason. Maddie said "well, that sounds like way to much work. I'll just have a turtle." So now she's telling everyone that she's getting a turtle for her birthday.

The last set are from Snow Tubing. That was a lot of fun! My parents gave us some new snow tubes for Christmas and they worked Swell. It was really deep snow and hard to get up the hill. The girls cried about that and had to be pulled up the hill in one of the sleds. Maddie jsut couldn't take it anymore and just plopped down and cried. Emma got bowled over by her cousin Zach and scraped her face up a bit. I thought she'd be done but she kept right on going and through a fit when it was time to go. It was perfect weather! Not to cold, no wind and a nice warm sunshine.

It was a very busy week but as you can see from the pictures, a very fun week! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a fun New Year. We are having a Murder Party and so of course there will be pics!

FYI-the header is a Nativity picture that my mother in-law wanted of the kids. There are some funny stories behind that! My nephew Tyler (the one howling in the back) DID NOT want his picture taken or to wear that towel. I extracted my little nephew Ashton out of another photo and made it so he's looking at the star. I made this as a calendar page for my mother in-law and I was quite proud of it. So, that's why it's the header for the next few days.

Traditions!

When I was younger, it was a tradition to go to the Nutcracker. My mom, sisters, aunts, cousins and grandma would all go together on a Saturday afternoon. I looked forward to it every year. Even at that young age I couldn't wait to be a mom and take my girls to the Nutcracker. This was the year that my dream came true! My mom, sisters and my girls and their cousins all got together on a Friday night and went to see the Nutcracker. It wasn't Ballet West but it still brought back memories. The girls were so excited and loved every minute of it. I let Emma wear her Christmas dress and Maddie wore a new dress as well, though not her Christmas one. I wanted it to be a big deal and something really special for them. By the second half they were both dancing and twirling. At the very end as we were walking out to the car they both said to me "I wish I could go up on the stage and be a pretty dancer!" Maddie told me that her favorite dancer was the "Flower Queen" and Emma liked the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince. She told me that she is the princess and her cousin Macin is the prince. Although the day's events leading up to the Nutcracker was one of the worst of my life (well, ok, maybe not that bad) the evening was wonderful and worth every minute to see the awe and wonder on my girls' faces. Maddie was a little confused though. The girls watch Barbie Nutcracker at least once a day and she anxiously awaited the "Rock Giant" to make his appearance. If you've seen the movie then you know what I mean. She was a little disheartened when I told her that there was no rock giant in this Nutcracker.

Jason spent some quality "guy" time with Nathan and went to his mom's house to watch a few games. Unfortunately he also took the diaper bag without my knowledge and had both my camera and my wallet. So I don't have very many pictures to show you right now. (grrrr)

Another family tradition is to go to Temple Square to see the lights and to hear mom sing. This year it was on a Sunday. We left brother with Grandma Childs and rode the "train" and had a fun time seeing all the ######### lights and listening to the Choir sing. I usually don't get a lot of time to look at the lights because I have to rehearse with the choir, but I still enjoy going and being with my family.

Here we are on the train going to the Temple:

Here are some pics at the Temple. Jason wanted his picture with the orange lights and the girls wanted their picture with the red lights. Maddie's favorite part was the Christus and Emma really wanted to see the Baby Jesus (Jason took those pictures).

Christmas seems to get more stressful every year. I'm glad that we have these few traditions to enjoy the season and spend it with family. The Temple is such a peaceful place and I love to go there. Maddie remembers when she was able to go to the Temple to be sealed to Jason. She thinks we were getting married and she really remembers playing with the toys there. But she remembers that it was a special day and when she gets a little older we will tell her just how special it really was. Emma says that when she grows up she wants to be married in the Temple and she wants me to give her flowers like Maddie did for me when I was married. I think she saw that in a picture somewhere.

Tomorrow my little brother Alex returns from his mission! So, there will be fun pictures and stories for tomorrow. I'm also going to a Christmas party with all of my High School Madrigal friends. I'm really excited to see them again. I missed the 10 year reunion, due to having my baby, so it will be nice to have a quiet time to visit with them. Should be some fun pics and stories from that as well. Well, I guess this post is getting long enough. I have a million things to do anyway. Stay tuned....

Christmas "Weasels"

Here at our house we have a bad case of the "Christmas Weasels." Emma has it the worst. Last night we did one of our family traditions of going to the dollar store to let the girls buy a present for each other. Madalynn picked out first for Emma. When we went to the store next door to get Emma and leave Maddie with Daddy, Emma wanted to know what her present was that was hiding in Maddie's coat. I had made sure that Maddie kept this a secret. So Emma, being the diva she is, through a fantastic fit in the store. I pretty much had to drag her to the dollar store to pick her present for Maddie. Jason promised her that I would show her the toy that Maddie picked for her, winning himself a look of shock and hurt from Madd's and the look of death from me. Of course HE could promise her that. HE didn't have to deal with it when I didn't deliver! So off we went to the store. She kept asking me to show her the toy...I kept trying to distract her by helping her find something for Maddie. Once we found the perfect gift I then had to distract her by giving her the money to pay. When we were standing in line she wanted me to tell her what her present was. I refused and explained several times that she would find out after we wrapped it up and put it under the tree and opened them on Christmas morning. Yet another Oscar winning performance as she threw the toy and flung herself to the ground sobbing. The best part (and the Oscar clencher) was that her pants had slipped down and we had full cheekage showing high up in the air. Classic! Pretty soon I threatened to take her dollar away and bring her toy back. She stood up and waited her turn to pay the lady. The highlight of the night I think. More distractions as I tried to help her hide her present safely in her coat and we walked back to get Maddie and daddy and I kept telling her that it was a secret and she couldn't tell Maddie what she got for her. She tried to "weasel" it out of me by guessing what it was. I told her no on everything. That worked until we actually found Maddie. Then the "weaseling" began. She figured that guessing didn't work with me but it might work with Maddie. Fortunately, Jason and I were both there to influence Maddie not to tell. Then Emma started negotiating saying that she would tell Maddie what her present was if she would tell her. Maddie fought and fought and didn't give in. We packed up in the car and Emma kept trying to look back and see if she could catch a glimpse of her present, all the while trying to trick Maddie into telling what her present was. Pretty soon, Maddie caught the "Christmas Weasels" and SHE tried to get her present out of Emma. Emma held on for a little while and then she held it up for Maddie to see. Fortunately it was dark and Maddie could only see the shape of the box which didn't give her any clues. Maddie told on Emma for showing her the present. And so it has begun. The Christmas epidemic of the "weasels." Jason tried to get out of the girls what he was getting for Christmas. I gave him the look that says "do you really think I'm that stupid to take those two shopping for you? They always tell you the second we get home!" Quite the adventure. Emma has learned at a young age. They're both amateurs. When I was young, Krista and I could trick the other one into telling what our presents were. But we were both smart as well. We would either lie about what we were giving or get the other person to tell us what we got and then not tell them what we got them. Kayla was the easiest to get things out of. There were never any surprises with her! Aahhh, those were the good old days!

4 Mos

Nathan had his 4 month check-up today. He will be four months in a few days. When we weighed him he only weighed in at 11.4 pounds. I was a little worried about that because he hasn't been eating very well. The doctor and I talked for about 20 minutes about the various things to do to bring his weight back up. He wanted to weigh him again in 3 weeks to see if he had gained any weight at all. Then he did his check-up and said "with thighs like that there's no way he can weigh only 11 pounds." So he brought the nurse in to weigh him again. This time he weighed 15.4 pounds. The doctor told the nurse to turn off the machine and weigh him one more time...again 15.4 pounds. The doctor looked at me and said "disregard everything we've talked about for the last 20 minutes. See you in two months." Little Bud had to have shots. The first leg didn't bother him at all. He didn't even flinch. Just smiled at the nurse and kicked his legs. The second one stung a little going in and he cried just a tiny bit. More out of annoyance I think because he calmed right down. Such a brave boy! I always hate it when my babies get shots and they look at you with those big, hurt-filled eyes seeming to ask you "why are you letting them hurt me?" It always makes me cry. Fortunately there were no tears shed on my part! Looks like everything is ok. Incidentally, Maddie weighed about 17 pounds when she was a year old! I hope this little guy doesn't continue packing on the pounds the way he is. Otherwise, we'll have to send him to work with Grandma Newby (she works at Weight Watchers!)

Baby's Laugh

I've been trying to get a good video of Nathan laughing and so far this is the best that I can come up with. What he really likes is when Jason puts him on my shoulders and does a little drumming on my head. Nathan thinks that is hilarious! In the movie Tinkerbell we learn that when a baby first laughs a fairy's life takes flight. There was a binkie on the arm of the couch right next to me that caught his attention, but then he focuses on the task at hand.

Emma gave Nathan her Cinderella Barbie doll to play with. He hugged and talked to it. It was so cute. I'm afraid that he will be playing with Barbie dolls for a little while. As soon as he can sit up I know Jason will have a car in one hand and a baseball in the other!

Finally!

I finally got around to changing my background! I hope you like it. The picture was taken when Nathan was two weeks old. I'm in the process of making a slide show of all the pictures from that photo shoot. (Yay for you-you get to look at another slide show!) Anyway, this will be just a recap of what has happened since my last post. Thanksgiving was fabulous! We went to my parents house and had a delicious dinner. The pies were the best part...I wonder who brought those? My mother did a lovely pole dance for us. It's true! She'll deny it if you ask her but she did it. During my brother Bryan's performance on his Bass Guitar rendition of Mr. Grinch (select Gary Hoey's Mr. Grinch on my playlist) my mother started pole dancing! It was quite hilarious. My mother is getting a little more risque in her old age. Since then I have had choir concerts and piano recitals. My students played in their recital on Saturday. They all did such a good job! I was very proud of them. I played "We Three Kings" in the style of Beethoven's Feur Elise. One of my students asked me if it was from Harry Potter. Looks like I need to spend a few lessons on the classics! Now I get a break from piano lessons for the rest of the month. What will I do with my time...? Well, I'll keep this relatively short. I'll have some cute pictures of my baby and girls coming up soon. I have been so crazy busy with Vinyl Lettering orders. If anybody wants anything get your order in now! I'm not too backed up yet, but it's getting there. Jason got in a little bit of hunting over Thanksgiving weekend. Fortunately (or unfortunately in his case) he didn't kill anything. Well, I've got to get working on my christmas projects. Until next time....

Movie Review

Ok...time's up! If you haven't seen the movie then don't read any further because I am ready to dish! I absolutely loved, loved, loved, loooooooved the movie! I am truly addicted. I went and saw it again with my sister in-law Nicole who couldn't make it to the first showing. I am so addicted that it gives me a stomach ache just thinking about it. Sad, I know. I've been reading the books and listening to the soundtrack 24/7 which doesn't help the addiction. So, tomorrow I will have a new header and background. I think I just need to quit this cold turkey! (ya right!) Anyway, back to the review. Jacob was exactly as I pictured him from the books. I was very impressed with him and I look forward to seeing him in New Moon. Carlisle was very hot!! They cast him very well and I was very pleased with Esme as well. Rosalie was gorgeous and Emmett was pretty much as I pictured him as well. Alice's hair could have been shorter and darker, but I was still pleased with her. Jasper was dang cute and my sisters in-law and I were thinking that he wouldn't have made a bad Edward. But let's get on to Edward.....WOOOO! He was totally doin it for me in the movie. He was starting to grow on me leading up to the movie and then when I saw him in action....Oh Baby! The only thing I didn't like about him was that he was way too serious for me. You didn't see hardly any of the fun side of Edward and that's my favorite side. Bella, on the other hand, is a different story. I did not like her the first time I saw the movie. I thought that she was very monotone and unemotional and as we all know, Bella is very emotional! My mom thought that she did a great job because her perception of Bella was someone who really didn't care about life. Which I agree to a certain point. Once Edward comes into her life (which is at the very beginning) she suddenly has emotions and she has a hard time controlling them. Some of the passionate lines were said without passion and they sounded like she was just reading them or saying them to be said. But that's just me. When I watched it the second time I liked her a little better, but I hope she gets better as time goes on. I totally would have made a better Bella! The part where he shows her what he looks like in the sunlight was a bit of a disappointment to me to because that is one of my favorite parts in the book. In the book it's a romantic thing and a relief to him to finally be himself and show her who he is. In the movie he's trying to scare her and I didn't like that approach. If Edward hadn't done such a great job during that part I would have poo-pooed the whole thing. However, I felt the adaptation from book to screen was done very well. Even better than the Harry Potter books. Other than the casting of Eric (what's up with that?) The casting was done very well. James was scary and Victoria was beautiful. Her hair could have been a bit brighter, but overall I think she will do just fine. Most people were shocked about Laurent, but I wasn't. My sister in-law and I were trying to decide how they will make the other movies. Do you think they will combine books or make a separate movie for each one? As always, the books are sooooo much better than the movies. At first I was glad that I wasn't sitting by my sister Kayla at the movie because she kept making comments like, "He doesn't say that," or " that's not the way it happens in the book," and so forth. After awhile though, I felt bad for my mom who was sitting in between us because then I kept talking to Kayla during the movie with book comparisons. I really don't have that much to complain about though. Like I said, I'm truly addicted. I just go home, read the book and lose myself in that world the way I want to see it. It's my own little escape and it's perfect! I loooooooooooved the music, as is evident of my playlist, and one of my most favorite parts of the movie was the baseball scene. I love the song during that time and I thought it was very well done. I told Jason that he should have come. He didn't want to see a chick flick...even after I told him there was sports, action, and fast cars. That's ok. I wouldn't have been able to oogle and drool over Edward if he was there. All in all, this is my favorite movie. If I had the time and money I would go and watch it every day. So, what did you ladies think? I'd love to hear your comments! Oh, at the theater there were a lot of T-shirts with clever sayings on them. My favorite one that I saw was, " I choose Edward...but I'll keep Jacob as a pet." So true.

I didn't take very many pictures. I was too preoccupied with the movie. This is my Mother In-law, My sister in-law Amy and my sister in-law Kristy.

This is my Mom and my sister Kayla and of course my little Edward...Nathan. He was sooo good during the movie!

Just Got Back From The Movie

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all I'm going to say for now. (oh, and, does anybody have a light? :) )

The Long Awaited Day is Here!

Well Ladies, I'm getting ready to head out the door to go to the TWILIGHT MOVIE!!! Yes, that's right I get to see it the DAY BEFORE it comes out. No, it's not the midnight showing. It's the 8pm showing. I wanted to go to the 5 pm showing but I am being nice and waiting for the rest of the ladies in my group to get off work. Yes, I am bragging that I get to go see it before it officially comes out. ( Hey, I usually don't have anything to brag about. ) Thank you to Jason's work for getting these incredible tickets for us! My mom and sister Kayla and my mother in-law and all of my sisters in-law are coming with me. Thanks to Jason for sacrificing his ticket and finding a few others so the "chicks" could go out. I won't spoil it for you tomorrow, but come Monday I will be dishing so see it by then!

Funny...but Not

Ok, so , I'm at the Sunflower Market and we had quite an exciting shopping experience. As soon as we walked in the door the girls had balloons tied around their wrists. They were so excited you would have thought it was Christmas. The girls grabbed onto the cart and we started for the produce section. Emma has one hand on the cart and she is walking right next to the produce stand when POP! There goes her balloon and a very Loud and Shrill scream. I look over at her to console her and she is holding her eye. I immediately start frieking out (inside myself) and pick her up to look at her. She's fine other than a red welt around her eye and cheek area. The balloon had popped on her face! Then I notice that Maddie is also crying because she was scared by what happened. So, there I am with two girls sobbing in the middle of the produce section. Anyway, so an employee comes over with a brand new balloon for Emma. Emma shies away from it. I explain to the employee that the balloon had popped on her face and that Emma is a little scared of balloons right now. The lady has this horrified look on her face to which I quickly assure her that Emma is ok. Shortly after another employee comes over with a banana for each of the girls. I enjoyed that as much as they did because they were quiet and occupied! So, now we are almost done shopping and we start heading out of the aisle and there is another POP! followed by yet another Loud and Shrill scream...this time from Maddie who is holding her forehead. I pull her hand away and see a large red welt on her head. HER balloon had popped on her face. I look up to see a man walking towards us just shaking his head and laughing. Apparently he had seen the other incident as well. He walks past us and mumbles "this is when I'd file a complaint." Yet another employee rushes over and asks Maddie if she would like a pink balloon this time and quickly proceeds to get one for her. I remind Maddie to keep the balloon away from her face as we head to check out. I think the balloons had been blown up too much therefore making it very easy to brush by something and POP! But wait...it gets better. On the way home I had to stop by at a friends house to drop something off and Emma had unbuckled her seatbelt. Unfortunately she has recently discovered how to do this. She comes running out holding herself telling me she needs to go potty. So I say goodbye to my friend and get back in the car. Maddie tells on Emma about getting out of her seatbelt. I remind Emma to buckle up so that she is safe in case we get into a car accident. The girls have this habit of asking "what will happen if I don't..." in this case if Emma doesn't buckle up and we get into an accident. I have to be pretty graphic in my explanations with my children for the message to sink in. So I told them that she could get hurt very badly or even die. So, Maddie says to me , "Mom. Remember what happened to Sleeping Beauty? Remember when the prince kisses her and what happens?" I say, "What happens?" She responds thinking pretty confidently that she has the answer to all of our problems "She comes alive again. So, if Emma dies then the prince can just kiss her." Well, of course we all know that this is not the way it works and I had to explain to Maddie that once someone dies it takes a little more than just a kiss to wake them up. She asked how long they have to be in Heaven for before they could come back to life and more difficult to answer questions. Once I had answered them sufficiently she sniffed back a few tears and exclaimed "I don't want my baby sister to die!" To which I said, "I know! That's why we have to buckle up!" So, a pretty exciting day!

Blinkies

Ok, so I went a little overboard with the Twilight blinkies. But there were so many good ones and I didn't even put all of them on! If you like them and you want them too, then please go to the blog http://www.grahamlikethecracker.blogspot.com/ and download them from her and leave her some love (for those of you who don't know what that means it means leave her a comment thanking her for her hard work!). I just loved all of them. I am a Twilight Freak! and I can't wait for the movie tomorrow!!! So, obviously I am Team Edward but I also put on a Team Jacob for the few of you who are out there. I like Jacob...he just doesn't "do it for me" like Edward!!! You'll notice that I put Jacob last. I also have some Team Alice on there. She is one of my favorite Cullens. There weren't any Carlisle or Esme blinkies on this site, otherwise I would have them on there too. Who are your favorites?

Tagged! Times 6

I guess I got tagged by my Aunt. I think you are supposed to go into your pictures from the 6th month and show the 6th picture in that folder. So here it is:This is a picture from my front door of a double rainbow. It was so cool. This is not the best picture of it though so I am going to cheat a little bit and show you the other pics I took as well.

And now I am going to tag Nic, Amy, Heather, Linda, Meg and Jenny U. So I think it's the 6th picture that you took in June 2008. Can't wait to see them!

Had to Happen Sometime!

It finally happened! The classic "let's play barber shop!" Maddie decided to pretend that she was Aunt Amy and cut Emma's hair. When I went into the room Emma (very proudly I might add) exclaimed "Look Mommy. Maddie cut my hair!" At first I couldn't really tell and I started to breathe normal again. Then, I got a closer look and realized that Emma has some very short pieces sticking up where her bangs normally are. A few hairs on the top layer also got severed. I told Maddie that she was grounded from scissors (in a surprisingly calm voice) and sent her down to her room. On her way down she informed me that her school has scissors. Fortunately this was not a "shave Emma's head so it all looks even" incident. In fact, I think we'll get by without any plastic surgery at all. Em will just look "not all there" for a week or two until the hair grows back. With girls and scissors it had to happen sometime! I remember when my sister and I did it. That did result in heading down to the neighbors house for a reconstructing haircut!

**Anybody besides me think that those are Krista's eyes looking at you?**

Twilight!

AAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!! That's me squealing in delight about the upcoming movie Twilight! I can't wait for it to come out. Jason's work buys out the theater so I am trying to get enough tickets for me and my mom and sister and Jason's mom and sisters and my sister in-law. It is going to be really exciting. I'm trying to get some of the music to play instead of the Halloween music so please be patient. I'm not totally satisfied with the header so I will probably change that in a wee bit, but for now it'll have to do. Visit www.stepheniemeyer.com for lots of exciting news and tidbits about the movie. Anybody else as excited as me? **NOTE** The first 4 songs on my playlist are from the Twilight soundtrack. I love the music!

History in the Making

Well, we were all a part of history last night. The first black President! I have mixed feelings about it. I'm glad that we as a nation have matured enough to get past the racial slurs...but I don't know how I feel about Obama. I wrote about this experience in a special journal that I have specifically for my kids. I write about special occassions like my wedding, the day of their births, the deaths of my grandparents and family members that they never knew, etc. etc. So, this was definitely journal worthy. Other than 9/11 this is one of the first moments that I will remember when people ask me "Do you know where you were when the first black President was elected?" And I'll say yep, at home on my couch feeling elated and deflated all at the same time. Jason keeps reminding me that we just have to "survive" for 4 years and then hope that we will be a part of history again when Mitt Romney becomes the first Mormon President. It's the "surviving" part that I'm worried about. What are your thoughts and feelings? I'd love anybody to comment to either soothe my soul or add fuel to the fire!

Halloween

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. Emma had dance class on Halloween and so they went dressed in their costumes, did their class and then had a party. Maddie had her school parade outside. I love these moments! When I was growing up I would think about these moments and I couldn't wait to be a mom and do all the fun things with them, like school parades and trick-or-treating. Grandma and Grandpa Newby came to see Maddie in her parade. Emma went in her costume and so did Nathan. He was a little vampire. I called him my little Edward. I fixed his hair so he would have that widow's peak and he just looks so dang cute. There's a pic of him with my dad and they look so good together. Trick or treating was a blast. We went to one of the local dealerships and did a trunk or treat, then we went around the neighborhoods and then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Childs and did a little bit of trick or treating there to. The kids came home with a lot of loot. Jason took some great pics of the girls trick or treating. Thanks babe! I'm sad that it's all over and I'm already thinking about next year's costumes! Be sure to check out the slideshow for all of the fun pics.

Ain't She Cute!

I just have to brag about my sister Krista. Isn't she clever and creative to think of this? She won the costume contest at work! In case the picture is too small to see, she's the game "Operation." I wish I had her creative juices flowing in my blood! And a big "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" shout out to Krista and Jeremiah. Today they celebrate 9 years!!! Way to go guys!

Tinkerbell!

Jason thinks that the Newbold side of the family likes to make up occassions for parties, as well as, have a party for every occassion. That's only because his family doesn't celebrate holidays...they celebrate sporting events! (they really do celebrate holidays...they just have parties for the sporting events.) Anyway, today I proved him right!

The new Tinkerbell movie came out today and we celebrated! Emma had her own party and Maddie had hers. Emma invited a couple of her little friends over while Maddie was at school and we made a Tinkerbell bookmark (complete with pixie dust!) and watched the movie. The girls dressed up in their dresses and wings. The great thing about 3 year olds is they are so easy to please. You put the word "fairy" in front of anything and they squeal in delight. For instance, pretzels taste so much better if you call them fairy pretzels and water is no longer when you call it "Fairy Juice." Maddie only had one friend that was able to join us and we made Fairy Fortune Tellers. The girls had a lot of fun watching the new movie and being with their friends. I can't wait for the next Tinkerbell movie to come out so we can celebrate all over again! Nathan partied in his Mets onesie in honor of the World Series. See, I told you we party for sporting events.

Hee Haw Farm

Maddie had a field trip today and I was lucky enough to go with her. We went to the Hee Haw Farm in Lindon. The corn maze is confusing even in the daylight! The kids kept saying "we're never going to get out of here." The hayride was a 3 minute circle in the fields. I wanted to put some of the other moms in time out for making negative comments about it. The kids were listening and started following suit. IT'S A HAYRIDE and there were TWO OTHER SCHOOLS there! What do you expect? Anyway, my little group enjoyed it. They went down a really big slide on a sack and played in a "corn" box that was filled with corn kernels. They were able to pick out a small pumpkin and take it home and we learned about all of the things that have corn in them...like make-up. Weird! We sw Leroy the pig. He weighs 1200 pounds! No, that's not a typ-o. We went through the little haunted house and then just played around at all the activities they had. It was a fun time. Maddie said that her favorite part was feeding the piglets. They ate right out of her hand. A big THANK YOU! shout out to my sister in-law Nicole who watched Emma and Nathan for me so I could go.

Halloween Parties

On Friday, 1800 Contacts had their annual trunk-or-treat party for the families. The girls were so excited to finally put on their Halloween costumes and get some candy. Emma is Sleeping Beauty and I finally talked Maddie into being a Witch. She couldn't decide between a robot, werewolf or candle. Nathan is a little pumpkin. We had one of our neighbor girls with us that we were babysitting and she was a flower fairy. We had so much fun. They had someone taking pictures of the kids and then we went upstairs for cookies and brownies. They each made a few crafts and brought home a lot of candy. Saturday night was the DC's party. (Jason works at the Distribution Center). We went bowling at Fat Cat's. I haven't been bowling since Jason and I dated 5 years ago!! Let's just say that I was a little rusty. Fortunately I was on the wives team so I didn't feel too bad. A few nights before the party I did some bowling on my parents Wii and bowled a 202!! At Fat Cat's it was a different story...I was terrible up until the last frame. I bowled 3 strikes in a row on the 10th frame and I was so excited and I looked up at my score and my face fell...I had a 99. Even after a turkey I didn't even break 100!! The second game was bad for all of us. I bowled a 76 and the high score was a 79. The third game didn't count and we didn't even finish it because our time had expired. But, as usual, the game that doesn't count is the one that we all did really well in. The time expired on about the 4th or 5th frame and I was already at a 79. Oh well. On Sunday we went to grandma Childs house and made chocolate cupcakes. The kids started out frosting with their knives, then eating the frosting with their knife, then eating the frosting with their fingers, then just shoving the sprinkles in their mouths. It was pretty funny. They did eventually eat the actual cupcake that had a little frosting and a few sprinkles. They were so gooey by the end of the night. Maddie asked if she could take a bath and I told her no because she was only messy on her hands and face. She said, I can make myself messy and proceeded to rub her frosting covered hands all over herself. Needless to say she still did not get the bath she wanted. Check out all of the fun pics in the slideshow above!

Fun Filled Weekend

Wow! We did a lot this weekend. There are so many fun pictures and they are all in the slideshow above. We started our weekend by going to the Wee Witches at Gardner Village on Friday with some of our friends. It was fun to see all of the cute witches and walk around. It was very crowded!! On Saturday Jason went hunting with his brother Todd and his Dad. So my sister in-law Kristy (Todd's wife) and I decided to take the kids to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo. The kids had a ton of fun! Maddie and Emma had their faces painted. Maddie wanted a spider w/web and sparkles and Emma of course wanted a princess crown with sparkles. They played fun games and won candy, got tattoos and frosted cookies. Of course you have to pet the animals while you are there. Maddie's favorite part was the pony ride. She selected the largest one (which was actually a horse) and was just in 7th Heaven! Emma rode on the little pony all by herself! Zachary and Tyler had fun. Zack was a little nervous to ride on the pony without his mom, but then I wounded his pride a little bit when I told him that even the girls were riding by themselves. He felt like he was pretty hot stuff on the horse all by himself after that. Emma's favorite part was getting fairy wings made out of balloons! Maddie chose to have a balloon cat. The boys of course wanted swords. Nathan slept the whole time in his snuggly. Thanks Nate! Afterwards, the girls and I took a drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to see the colors. It was a perfect day and so beautiful! We found the cave that my friends and I found when we were in Jr. High and walked the trails and played in the leaves. The girls had fun throwing rocks into the stream and finding all sorts of treasures. On Sunday we went to my mom's house for dinner and pumpkin carving. Maddie and Emma were just beside themselves creating their pumpkins. They've been bugging me about it since last Monday when we got the pumpkins! They've played with them all day today and are quite proud of them. We dressed Nathan up in a little Michael Jordan basketball outfit that we gave to my sister in-law Nicole when Ashton was born. He even has on little Jordan shoes! He was so cute and just so you know...those aren't fat rolls they're muscles! All in all it was a pretty fun filled weekend! I'm so glad that Maddie doesn't have school today so I can recoup!

Prince(ss) Nathan

Despite Jason's valiant efforts to protect his son from Princess stuff, Emma managed to sneak a Cinderella crown on Nathan while he was sleeping. He just looked too precious to pass it up!But have no fear! Mommy is here! I remembered seeing a baseball cap in a sack of clothes that my sister in-law Nicole had given me.Now there's a son that any father could be proud of! When I first put the hat on him it reminded me of the remark that Tom Hanks says to the umpire in the movie "A League of their Own." Because this is a family blog I won't say the quote, but I think you get the picture....

At the blessing a lot of people asked me how much this little chub-chubs weighed and I didn't know the answer. He had his two month check-up a few days ago and he weighs....12 pounds 15.5 ounces!!! So basically 13 pounds and 23 1/2 inches. He's gained 5 pounds since his two week check-up. I know that he was almost a full 2 pounds bigger than Maddie but I looked in Maddie's book and she weighed 13 pounds and was 23 inches when she was 4 months old!! My he's a chunker. But a cute one at that. He's happy and healthy and just look at how well he holds his head up!

Hey, he's not doin a whole lot right now so I've got to be the proud mother about something! well, there you have it... my son...slugger by day...princess by night!

Credits

Ok. So as you can tell, I am revamping by blog a little bit. It has some issues and it's not quite how I want it, but I'm too tired to fiddle-fart around with it right now. Maybe I'll fix...maybe not. Either way, I've had fun creating it and I will be able to correct my mistakes next month when I inevitably change it.

Aren't those pictures cute? Those are from Halloween last year. Maddie (for whatever reason) wanted to be Spiderman. The only Spiderman costume I could find was the one with the muscles. So, on a girl...it looks like Spiderman with boobs. Emma, of course, wanted to be a princess. So, for trunk or treating purposes that's what they were. I, on the other hand, wanted them to be Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat. So, for school and trick or treating purposes that's what they were. My sister in-law Amy gave me some stuff to make their hair blue but you can't really tell that in the pics. They were so cute!!!

Ok, so on to the credits. While I was the one who designed the background and header (should I really be admitting that?) I used some scrapbooking kits. Here they are:

Background: Ellie Lash Halloween Kit

Header (various elements from several kits): Candy's Treats- Halloween Blog Train

Man in the Moon-Witch's Warts

Leslie Emery-Trick or treat

Creations by Jess-Spooktacular

Anyway, like I said it was fun to create, even if it looks like a mess. Hopefully they'll get better as time goes by. Make sure you listen to the music! It's Mannheim Steamroller Halloween. Spooky!

Tag-Memories

I got this from my sister in-law Amy. I thought it would be fun to see what you remember about me. Be nice!! 1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you!

Nathan's Blessing

Sunday was Nathan's Blessing day. He was two months old exactly on that day. It's amazing how time flies when you're busy! It was such a special day despite the snowy weather. We had so many friends and family members there. It was wonderful. Jason did a great job on the blessing even though I didn't write his prayer out for him like he wanted. I told him to have his dad whisper it into his ear like a child. Nathan was such a good boy. He started crying towards the end of the prayer but what do you expect? I was just glad that he didn't poop all over his nice white outfit! Isn't the onsie so cute?!? I loved the little tie and that's why he was blessed in a onesie. Thanks to Nic for letting us borrow the white pants. They are near impossible to find and I didn't have the time to make a pair of white pants. We had some delicious soups and desserts following the blessing and I want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who brought goodies to share. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family around me! I'm also blessed to have a husband who is a worthy priesthood holder who utilizes that power to bless our family. Thanks J! You're the best! The girls were well behaved and that made me very happy! Maddie had a little friend in Eagle Mountain and they moved out to Clearfield so we don't get to see them very much. So she sat with them in church and I think I need Addison to come every week. I don't know that Maddie has ever been that reverent in church without being asleep! Thanks Sari and Brett for coming down and letting Maddie sit with you. Even though the blessing isn't a saving ordinance, it's still such a sacred thing to present your child to our Father in Heaven. To thank Him for the opportunity to raise and teach one of his Spirit Children and bless them with the things they will need to be able to return back to Him. I only hope that my family will return in better condition than when we left, though I don't think that is really possible! Oh well, we strive for perfectness and pray that we will be perfect enough!

CONTEST!

For those of you who like to cook or collect recipes like I do, there is a fabulous blog called Tonia Cooks. She is having a contest right now and all you have to do is leave her a comment with your e-mail address. The prize is a basket full of foods and items from West Virginia where she is from. Go to this link www.toniacooks.blogspot.com/2008/09/fall-contest.html and enter to win. But hurry! It ends on Sunday the 12th. Good Luck!

Breast Cancer Awareness

Tomorrow my family and I will be participating in a walk for breast cancer awareness. My mom works for Weight Watchers and has her own team participating. We did it last year and it was really fun. If any of you would like to donate even just $5 to help support my mom's team, as well as, the many Men and Women who suffer from Breast Cancer I would be forever grateful. You can just click on the donate button on the right. You can also join her team and join us on the walk if you want. Just go to http://www.makingstridesinutah.com/ and find Lynda Newbold's team. A month or so ago, my mom had to have a cyst removed and have it checked for cancer. Fortunately it was benign, but this is the closest that I have come to being associated with breast cancer in my family. I used to work for Bryner Medical in the radiology department and we did hundreds of mammograms. I also worked for Alta View Hospital in their Radiology department and we did MRI's for breast cancer patients. It was kind of experimental but it's amazing what medical technology can do. Unfortunately, there are too many women and MEN who are affected by this horrible disease. I am walking tomorrow in gratitude to my Heavenly Father that my mom is ok and that I am ok and that if in the future something does happen to either me or my mom, or even my two daughters, I will know that I did my part to try and fight this dragon of cancer! Call me the DRAGON SLAYER!! (Maddie is really into killing dragons right now that's why it's also on my mind.) Anyway, click the button and do your part in this fight or put on your tenny's and come walk a 5K with us. It will be fun even though it's in the rain and cold. But Cancer does not take a break for bad weather. If that were the case then I would move to Antarctica and swim with the penguins and cuddle with the polar bears. Do it for you, your mom, or little girls who (heaven forbid) just may one day have a cancer scare. Women stick together and help each other out. Join the team "BUSTIN" A MOVE FOR THE CURE today!

Emma's in the paper!

http://www.heraldextra.com/component/option,com_dharchive/Itemid,180/?s=1&q=american+fork+fitness+center&task=query Click on the link and it will take you to the little community paper where Emma's picture is. While we were there a lady kept taking pictures of us for some newspaper. I guess this was it. I was really surprised to see a picture of Emma in there and not one of Maddie because she took pretty dang near to a hundred of Maddie. Oh well, I guess Jason's and Maddie's legs made it too.

Dentist

Emma had her second dentist appointment today. She was very brave! Her mouth is still too small for x-rays but she held very still while they cleaned her teeth. She enjoyed watching the new Barbie movie on the t.v. in the ceiling. The best part about today was the new toothbrush they gave her...PRINCESS!! She is so very proud of her toothbrush and sparkle toothpaste. They let her pick a prize and she chose the princess wand this time. Her teeth look good so far and now we have to start the flouride supplements. Maddie has her appointment in a few weeks so we'll see what he says this time about her teeth. She has lost two teeth since her last exam and her mouth is too small to make room for the new ones. He had mentioned last time that they might need to pull some teeth. We'll just have to see what surprises are in store for us in a few weeks!

Fun Family Fitness

We had a really fun weekend! The American Fork Fitness Center had a free day and a mini decathalon to celebrate the Worldwide Day of Play. They gave us each a card with different "events". We started off by stretching and then jumproping. The girls have never jumproped before so it was a little difficult for them to get the hang of it. We moved on to some yoga positions (they took a picture of us posed in yoga but they haven't sent it to me yet) and then off to do some push-ups. Madalynn said that the push-ups were her least favorite thing to do. We ended this event with some stair-stepping. Maddie really liked this.

Afterwards we went down to the track and sprinted a lap. Then headed off to the Gym to do some Hula-Hoops. I wish I would have had some videos of Emma doing the Hula-Hoops. It was hilarious. As you can see I'm a pretty good hula-hooper! Maddie caught on to this really quickly and she said that this was her favorite part. We had to do sit-ups and then chin-ups. We did the long jump and I think that this part was Emma's favorite.

Afterwards we went outside to do the shot-put. That was actually really fun. Then we were finished and we handed in our cards for an otter-pop and some fun play on the inflatable toys they had. When we were all done playing and exercising we each received a gold medal! The family that plays together stays together!!