Merry Christmas!

We hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas full of fun, family, and the love of Christ in your hearts and homes.

Here Comes Santa Claus

We're enjoying our Christmas holiday in California. We had a visit from Santa on Saturday night and I wanted to post some pictures from the event. Both kids did well although it took going through almost all of the kids before Elizabeth was willing to get up on his lap. Even then it took a large candy cane to fully entice her.

Natalie being cute with Santa

Santa being cute with Natalie

Elizabeth being shy with Santa, although she did manage to get out that she wanted a slinky and a sticker book.

Our family minus Natalie who was already in bed

The kids all piling on Santa (Elizabeth watched timidly; you can see her in the top, left corner)

Elizabeth sharing Santa's lap with Sam, Grandma and Grandpa's new dog

It was a fun night and Elizabeth especially loved spending time playing with her cousins.

Gingerbread Houses

I invited my CTR 5 class over yesterday for a little Christmas party. I was hoping for more of a turnout but we only had three there. They seemed to have a fun time, though, as we made gingerbread houses. Elizabeth woke up from her nap half way through and "helped" me make ours (she actually knocked ours down so much that we ended up with more of a shack than a house). All the kids enjoyed pigging out on candy and hot chocolate. They are really good kids and it was fun to have them over, if a little hectic and crazy.

Here they are making silly faces: Elizabeth, Colby, Alyssa and Ayndria.

Here's a closer shot of our house and Elizabeth enjoying a candy cane.

Here's a picture I took during our big snowstorm of Natalie. She was very intrigued watching the snow come down.
I also wanted to post another FEM (She's been giving me a lot lately). We were driving somewhere the other day and Elizabeth started singing "Away in a Manger". After she finished she said, "there was no crib for his bed, Momma, because the shepherds were laying on it." The ideas that she comes up sometimes are so hilarious and that one got me laughing pretty hard. I explained to her that the reason the baby Jesus didn't have a crib was because there weren't any around and not because shepherds were hogging it. :)

Christmas Questionnaire

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real tree; I love the whole process of picking one out and bringing it home and the smell, of course.

3.When do you put up the tree? Usually the first Monday night of December for Family Home Evening but it varies.

4. When do you take the tree down? When we get tired of it.

5. Do you like eggnog? I have never actually tasted it but I don't really like the idea of eggnog. Maybe I'll taste it one of these days.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? There are a few: my red wagon, my first set of rollerblades, and a trampoline we got as a family.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Two: one we brought back from Africa and a Willow Tree one my mom gave me, I think the first Christmas after we got married.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Our parents.

9. Easiest person to buy for? The girls.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of any bad ones.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? We've done both but I prefer mailing real ones.

12 . Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life, by far. In fact it could be my favorite movie of all time.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, apple pie, all of the goodies that go on Christmas plates, especially peanut blossoms.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? What Child is This.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Both are nice. I'm sure we'll start staying home when our kids are older or it gets harder to travel.

19. Can you name all of Santa's' reindeer? Yes.

20. Angel on the treetop or a star? Star. I want to find a better one in the future.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning; on rare occasions we would open something Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds at stores, definitely.

23. What I love most about Christmas? The music, thinking of others and the increased faith in my Savior.

24. Favorite Christmas Tradition? Taking Christmas plates around to people on Christmas Eve.

More Singing

Sorry but I had to post more of Elizabeth singing. I can't get enough of it. This one is "Love at Home". She's acting crazy and expressive in it because we had the camera turned so she could see herself sing. Anyway, here it is:

Also, I had to post another FEM. In order to get Elizabeth to finish her dinner, I frequently have to feed her the food myself with her fork. For some reason, she'll eat almost anything this way even if she hasn't touched it by herself. Anyway, I did this tonight (she finished her spinach salad!) and afterwards she said this: "Thank you for feeding me, mom. You're my best hero." I guess it doesn't take much to be a hero. :)

Christmas, etc.

We got our Christmas decorations up on Monday and then that night went and picked out a tree. There wasn't a lot of great ones to choose from but we're happy with the one we found. This was the best picture I could get to show it lit up.

I also finally finished our stockings. So...here they are. Some of the little pictures didn't turn out as cute as I would have liked but at least they're done and that's one less thing weighing over my head. Warning: they are much less cute when you enlarge the picture. Do so at your own risk :). Halfway through the lettering I also started wondering why on earth we picked such long names for our kids. So, that's something for you expecting mothers to consider. :)

My poor deprived child didn't get to play in the snow until today. She has been asking ever since it snowed and after she got over her cold I didn't really have an excuse. I wasn't sure how to handle it with Natalie so we just went out when she was sleeping. The snow was all hard and crunchy and she didn't last very long but I think she had fun and we got to try out her new snow clothes.


I'm hesitant to mention it so as to jinx myself in some way but we are currently in the process of potty training Elizabeth and things are going fairly well. She has still had accidents but not too many. We are implementing a carefully regimented program of candy bribery. Hopefully her teeth won't be rotten by the end of this. What I've been impressed with is that we've gone out the last couple of days and she has stayed dry and gone potty wherever we've been. Her hardest time seems to be in the evening so we'll have to work on that. Today we went to the McDonald's playland and she stopped playing and went while we were there so to reward her we picked up "Ratatouille" from the red box. As much as I've dreaded potty training, I suppose I'll make it out of this alive and hopefully mentally intact. :)

She's 1!

It's hard to believe that my little baby Natalie is 1 now. This past year has gone by so fast. She had a rough start with her prematurity and then RSV that landed her back in the hospital but she worked and ate hard and its been basically smooth sailing ever since. When I first saw her I just remember thinking that she was such a pretty baby. I loved her little, slightly upturned nose (I still don't know where that came from). She was such an easy baby and Joe and I started thinking that she was going to be our calm, easygoing child. Well, we soon discovered that Natalie is actually quite stubborn and determined. Maybe more so than Elizabeth. She is very driven and hates to be deterred from her course or to have something taken away from her. We love our little determined girl and know that this quality will serve her well throughout her life. Natalie has brought so much joy into our lives. I especially love that she is a mama's girl since Elizabeth was always a daddy's girl. I love when she says "mama" and reaches out to me. Happy Birthday Natalie!

Natalie enjoyed her cake but loved her ice cream. We've ruined her already! (That black stuff on her face is the black icing, by the way)

Natalie got some fun presents, which Elizabeth was more than willing to help her open and then play with. :)

The biggest hit was a set of fake keys that I picked out for her. She's even still playing with them two days after so that's a good sign.

I also wanted to post some video of Natalie that's been a long time coming. The first one is Natalie playing peek-a-boo and the second is of her tickling herself.

Events of the Week

This past week was another challenging one. On Monday night, we started noticing Natalie had a lot of gunk in her eyes. By the next day, she had full blown pink eye. Of course, around Wednesday night Elizabeth had a bad case of it herself, probably worse than Natalie's. Joe also ended up getting it, too, but I was lucky enough to avoid it. This, in combination with the fact that we've all had cough/colds as well and that Joe was very busy in school made it a difficult week. The only time the kids and I got out of the house was to see the doctor. It's been frustrating to be through our second round of sickness before December. I would just like to wake up in the morning feeling healthy again. I was strengthened a lot this week, though. I specifically remember one moment in particular where Natalie had refused to sleep and was cranky and not wanting anything I was giving her and sure to wake up Elizabeth from her nap with her screaming. I just wanted to lay down and take a nap. It was one of those moments where you think "I don't know if I can handle this." Somehow, very soon after this, Natalie calmed down and I realized that night that the rest of the day had gone pretty well. What a blessing! I'm so thankful for the little blessings during the day and I want to try to record these more and follow President Eyring's example.

Anyway, things seem to be turning around, especially for Natalie. She was very happy today which was a good thing since today is her first birthday! We are going to celebrate tomorrow since today was very busy. Joe had school stuff all morning and then he had to go to our ward Christmas party tonight since he was both singing in a musical number and the narrator for the reading of the Christmas story. I was sad that I didn't get to go watch him and see the party. It was a "Night in Bethlehem" complete with authentic costumes, food, etc., from the time period when Jesus was born. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Joe but he looked pretty good considering his costume was made up of things we could find in our house. Joe came home right after his part was done to avoid contaminating others. Anyway, that is why our daughter's birthday celebration will be delayed a day this year. I will devote my next post to Natalie's birthday.

We had a lot of sweet moments this past week, too. One day, Joe surprised me with this beautiful purple rose. What a wonderful husband I have! It's so nice to know that you are appreciated and loved, especially when you feel sick and gross and completely out of patience. I'm so thankful for Joe and how he's always so thoughtful and loving.


The next day, Elizabeth was talking about the flower and I said, "That was nice of Daddy, wasn't it?" She said "Yeah...that was a good choice" :). Can you tell we use that phrase a lot in our house?

We also made some brownies one day and Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed cleaning up afterwards.

She looks like she belongs in a Zorro movie and the whisk is her sword.
"Just call me Lizzie de la Vega!"

We also awoke this morning to a winter wonderland! This is the view from our front door. The snow came down pretty much the whole day so hopefully it will stick around. Elizabeth was sad she couldn't go play in it today but we did manage to get some snow for her to eat which is the main reason she wants to go outside anyway :). Hopefully she'll feel well enough on Monday.

I also need to say...Go Cougars! They are now undefeated in conference play for two straight seasons. If only they could get things going a little earlier in the season. It's not looking like a BCS bowl is in the future this year but next year for sure!

Recent Milestones

I wanted to catch up on some things and post a few milestones that have taken place in our home over the past week or so. Natalie has now learned to pull herself up to standing and also (unfortunately) to climb the stairs. This means...the baby gate has returned! However, we can only put the gate up on the second step so Natalie spends her time inventing new ways to injure herself from two steps up.

Natalie also recently experimented with eating with a spoon. I gave her some yogurt in a bowl and she actually did fairly well. There was still yogurt in every imaginable place afterwards, of course.

Just the other day, Elizabeth wrote her first word! The only two letters she knows how to write are H and I and it finally occurred to me that if she wrote them together she would write a word: "Hi". I don't have a scanner so I just took a picture of it. She wrote the I in orange and then again in black over it. She also traced her hand all by herself in the corner. I thought she'd never learn how to draw anything more than scribbles and then all of a sudden she's writing letters and words. She is getting much too old.

I'll finish with another FEM (Funny Elizabeth Moment): We were at the grocery store the other day and Elizabeth was hearing the voice over the loudspeaker. Normally she enjoys talking back to it, which is funny in and of itself, by saying things like "I can't come right now, I'm shopping" or something along those lines. She was doing this again until she suddenly sat up and said "Heavenly Father is talking to us!" The people around us enjoyed this and I thought it was hilarious how the thought suddenly occurred to her. I love moments like these that make me laugh out loud and melt my heart completely, no matter how much she had been whining or throwing tantrums a few minutes before. Motherhood is worth it. I'm thankful for the everyday reminders of that.

Thanksgiving Fun

We had a great holiday weekend up in Twin Falls, ID, at Joe's mom's house. We were there with Joe's brother Tom and his family, his younger brother Richard and our friend Simon from Tanzania who is in Utah going to school. We ate great food, played games and got to watch two great BYU wins (football vs. Utah and basketball vs. Louisville). Joe even got to play in a turkey bowl on his old high school football field. Warning: This post will be picture-heavy.

Hallie & Elizabeth playing with Polly Pockets and Natalie & Christine playing with cups

We also celebrated Richard's birthday over the weekend. Here is his cake, a team effort from Joe and his mom (mostly his mom).

Richard reading to T.J. & Elizabeth

Cute Matt and his bright blue eyes

Christine & Simon (who is taking a break from playing with the kids)

Grandma Marsha & the kids

Thank you, Grandma, for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

When we finally made it home, we realized that we had forgotten to turn our heat on before we left and the house was freezing! This is me and the girls snuggling under blankets to keep warm. Elizabeth's hair is wet because she had a major blow-out at the end of the car trip and needed a bath. I thought we'd outgrown those with her but I guess not (blow-outs, not baths :).

It was great to spend time with family and friends and take time to remember all that I am grateful for. I am truly blessed in so many ways. I'm so grateful for a kind, loving husband and for two sweet daughters who bring me so much joy. I'm grateful for our extended family who love and support us and set such good examples. I'm grateful for all the physical blessings I've been given and I hope that I can always remember that they come from my Heavenly Father and to be generous with those who are in need. I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope it gives me each day of my life. Life is good and I'm so thankful for that. :)

Family Resemblances

This was fun... I don't know if it's really true.



Shocking, huh? I hardly ever get that she looks more like me.



This one seems about right I guess.

Christmas is Coming

I am officially getting into the Christmas spirit (hence the Christmas songs in our playlist). This is probably because I've been working on making our stockings. Yes, I'm finally doing it. My mom made our stockings when I was growing up. They were pretty simple and made out of felt and I loved them. Since it's what I grew up on, in my mind they are just what stockings should be. So, I am creating some homemade felt stockings for our family. You probably never thought you'd hear my name and the word "homemade" in the same sentence :). I will post pictures when they're finished (as long as they turn out somewhat cute). Wish me luck! Also, there were people wondering about how to post a comment without a Google account and I've finally changed the settings so this should be possible.

I'll add a quick funny Elizabeth story, too. Yesterday, we all went to DI while running errands and as we were entering the store Joe was talking about how great DI is and how when we were in Stockton over the summer the thrift stores there weren't very good (he had been looking for clothes for his African trip). He said "they were terrible". Elizabeth heard this and proceeded to yell out "these clothes are terrible!" in the middle of DI. We both shushed her and then looked at each other and burst out laughing. Never a dull moment with a 2 year old! As a side note, I found some cute shiny-black mary janes for Elizabeth in great condition for $2!

A Little Helper and a Gymnast

The other day I was folding laundry and Elizabeth wanted to come help me. I told her that she could fold the socks. I showed her how to find matches and then how to fold them together. Of course that was a little beyond her ability and I figured she would just play with the socks. She ended up doing really well at finding matches and then proceeded to fold each of the socks in half and made little piles. She would also shake out the socks before she folded them (like I was shaking out the shirts). I thought it was very cute and she was so excited to help. I was excited to find a way to keep her busy while I folded so she wouldn't unfold everything like she normally does :). I hope you can see this from the picture; some of the piles had gotten messed up by this time. For some reason she insisted on folding them on top of a blanket.

Folded socks (literally!)

Natalie's favorite place to be these days is at the bottom steps of the stairs. She tries to climb up but she's still pretty far from figuring it out so she mainly just hangs out. She can use the steps to pull herself up to sitting although sometimes she gets in tricky situations like below.

The splits

Cute sisters

Funny Video

I had seen this video before but I recently rediscovered it. It makes me laugh hard and gives me a happy feeling in my heart every time I watch it. Joe can watch it over and over. We decided it is definitely blog-worthy. Hopefully no one will be offended. :)

Watch this video

Sickness and Teething

These last few days have been kind of difficult around here. Elizabeth and I have had cough/colds since last Wednesday which are being stubborn and sticking around. Natalie is teething and not very happy right now. We've been staying in for almost a week now to avoid contaminating others and to rest. The combination of all of this is not good. Elizabeth and Natalie are especially having a hard time together since Natalie gets upset over little things and this in turn upsets Elizabeth and both end up screaming. Yesterday, Natalie was just being fussy and Elizabeth yelled at her to stop screaming and tried to kick her! I think Natalie barely felt it but I saw Elizabeth's intent and she went straight to her room. It's been a long time since she's done anything like that to Natalie. Basically, I think we all need to get out of the house and back to normal life. We're going to attempt a trip to the grocery store today. Hopefully it will go OK (you never know with shopping trips) and hopefully we'll be over these colds soon.

I am actually very grateful that we're not more sick than we are. It's been a long time since Elizabeth's had problems breathing and I can't help but hope that she is growing out of her problems. Natalie, so far, hasn't really gotten sick and hopefully there will be nothing major this winter.

The kids have actually been doing some cute things lately, too. Here is the non-whiney part of this post. I guess you could have skipped down here to avoid listening to me complain but it's good to vent. Anyway, Natalie has been playing peek-a-boo lately and it's really cute to watch. She doesn't put her hands over her eyes, though, she puts them on the sides of her head. (I hope to get a video of this up soon) She is doing this all of the time lately and even started doing it one-handed while I was feeding her. I thought it was pretty hilarious. She is also folding her arms (for a few microseconds) when we start our prayers. She is such a cutie.

One day, after Elizabeth had been in her room for something, she said that Heavenly Father and Jesus were sad because of what she did. Then, she looked up at the ceiling and said "Sorry, Heavenly Father and Jesus" and then looked at me and said "they didn't hear me". I tried not to laugh and to explain that they did hear her but it's better to speak to them in our prayers. So, we said a prayer and I thought she understood but now she's been doing it a lot. One time she said "come and see me Heavenly Father and Jesus" but she's been mostly looking up and saying sorry after she does something wrong. I think it's pretty cute although I've been trying to reemphasize praying. Also, I recently came across what a friend had written down for us of Elizabeth's baby blessing and was surprised to see that Joe had blessed her to have a "loving heart". That definitely describes her. She is a good example to me already.

Sorry for rambling. Thanks for listening! This has been therapeutic. :)

Halloween

For Halloween this year, we actually cheated and went to the dorms to trick-or-treat even though I think it's technically reserved for people who currently live in Wymount. They needed people to come, though, since they had more then enough candy and not very many kids. It was good for Elizabeth, who got sick that morning, since we could stay inside and cover a lot of doors quickly. She had a great time and refused to let me hold her candy even when it got so heavy it was weighing her down. All in all, it was a very fun night (despite the many people who thought Elizabeth was a pumpkin; come on, vertical ribs=pumpkin, horizontal ribs=carrot, right?).

Ready to party

This is the best picture I got of Elizabeth and cute Libbi who was a cowgirl

Yummy carrot...

Farm Country

On Tuesday, the girls and I went with Luci, Stephanie, Cindy & kids (we are getting to be quite a large group with all these kids) to see some animals and have some Halloween fun.

Ride 'em cowboy

Natalie and Camden being good sports in the strollers while their big sisters have all the fun on the jumping pillow

Elizabeth absolutely loved the pony ride and practically refused to get off

All of us

Elizabeth & Maddie posing

The girls were fast asleep when we got home. Luckily they both stayed asleep while I carried them to bed.

Tagged Again

I was tagged by Jackie and this time I am supposed to list just 6 interesting/uninteresting facts about myself. After coming up with 101 things this may be difficult...


1. I am definitely a reader. I've always loved reading. This is largely due to my mom who read to me a lot and help me gain a love for good books. Ever since I was a kid, the epitome of relaxation for me has been to be sitting outside reading. In fact I remember one time when I wasn't very old being so absorbed reading a Babysitter's Club book by the pool (I still remember which one, too: it was Logan likes Mary Anne :) that I got one of the worst sunburns I've ever had. Right now, I am reading Bonds That Makes Us Free by C. Terry Warner, upon Luci's recommendation. I would definitely recommend it.


2. I have a very random taste in music. I like a little bit of everything. I especially love Oldies and classic R&B but I also like some rock, hip hop, jazz, opera, classical, and even country now because of Joe's influence. I also know a lot of random music trivia. This is because of my dad always quizzing me on who was singing every song we'd hear during our long trips to different places (he knows a lot of music trivia). Joe also knows quite a bit of music trivia and I was able to impress him with my knowledge on one of our first dates.


3. When I'm pregnant I have to give myself shots twice a day as a precaution against blood clots. I've never had a huge fear of needles like some people but I was never able to watch as the needle went in. That is of course difficult when you're giving yourself a shot so I've had to overcome it. It wasn't easy when I first started doing it. I even sat on my bed for almost a half hour once trying to psyche myself up to give one (Joe was willing to do it for me but I had to get over the mental block myself). I still refuse to watch when they are taking my blood, though. I hate watching blood come out. (Shiver)

4. Joe and I are big fans of The Office. It's pretty much the only show we watch consistently and we think it's hilarious. Elizabeth's favorite show is The Backyardigans and I must admit that I actually really love that show, too. In fact Joe and I probably like it more than Elizabeth. We especially love the music.

5. If I could wave a magic wand and be really good at one particular style of dance I would pick break dancing. I've always thought break dancing was so cool. I guess that's an advantage of growing up in Stockton, CA--even in elementary school there would be kids break dancing during recess and everyone would form a circle around them and cheer. Ah, those were the days.

6. I really, really love guacamole. So much so that I am going to make some right now. :)

As for people who are tagged, let's try Kelli, Stephanie, Lisa, Cindy & Mitzi. Sorry, if you've already done it.