Joe's walking

Joseph is walking before his first birthday. He's still real unsteady and prefers to crawl, but he'll be running with his siblings in no time. The girls wore one of their many Christmas dresses tonight. Somehow they got switched and wore each others dress. Joe wasn't in the mood for pictures. He threw up his birthday cake and had a fever the day after we celebrated. Not sure what brought that on. He's doing much better today, but is still not eating much. Guess he had a little too much cake.

Birthday celebration

We celebrated Joseph's 1st birthday with family. He has just started walking and was showing off for everyone. He loved opening some of the gifts, but was more interested in the camera. He ate every last piece of his cake and was begging for more.

Festival of trees

Our Thanksgiving tradition has been to go to the Festival of Trees. We enjoyed storybook characters,pretty trees, crafts,dancers, and fishing, but our favorite this year was the magic show that captivated the children. It was amusing to watch for us adults.

Thanksgiving time

First, Unfortunately I did not win the Harvest, but they were on sale, so my loving husband got me one for Christmas anyway - yeah! Can't wait to put it to use. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving at Stacey's dad's house this year. We didn't eat as much as we wanted too and didn't stay long enough for seconds, but I'm sure our stomachs thanked us. Black Friday treated us well. We were able to get what we wanted online so there was no early morning craziness for us. Hope you all got what you wanted and that it ended up being worth it.

Christmas present

We're not big on getting expensive Christmas gifts for each other. This year, however, there is only one thing I want (within reason) called the Harvest. It's a great product to conveniently store and rotate your canned goods. I dread putting my groceries away and I believe this would take the frustration out of it. Mark thinks he wants to get this for me, but I don't think he needs to spend the money. I'm posting this in hopes to win myself one instead. You can try to win too (or other great items)by going to www.shelfreliance.com. Good luck, and Merry Christmas.

Monkey Buziness again

The kids earned a trip to Monkey Business again. This time the rock wall was open and even Mark and I gave it a try. The climbing isn't bad, it's the repelling that's scary.

Halloween 2009

I don't think the costumes were a surprise this year. Taylor as Hannah Montana, Dani as Snow White, Sam as Spiderman, and Joe as a lion, long enough for the picture.

Our 7 year old

Changes

At least one child in our family has been sick everyday of this month thus far. We are hoping for changes in our health. Hopefully since we've paid our dues, we'll be healthy for the rest of the winter (at least through the holidays would be nice). Although we weren't tested, the doctor mentioned it was highly likely that Taylor had the H1N1 Influenza and the rest had similar symptoms. We will be glad to have it behind us.
Another change was in our hair. The girls all got haircuts. The most drastic being Taylor's. She had wanted to donate it, but it just wasn't quite long enough and she was getting tired of it. She loves how much lighter it feels. I forgot to get an after picture, but we are getting pictures tomorrow and they will be posted soon.
Last of all, our ward boundaries were changed today and we were a part of the few who were changed to a new ward. We're excited for the changes and new opportunities to serve (while enjoying being without callings for the brief moment), but sad to leave our friends. Luckily we still live close, so we hope to stay in contact.

Taylor's day

Taylor celebrated her 7th year of life this past week. We tried to make the day special for her. We started a new tradition of putting a poster up with her picture in the living room with her favoritie things listed. This year she said:
Favorite Book: Hannah Montana Series
Food: Popcorn
Color: Light Blue
Movie: Princess Diaries
Friends: Daphney/Sophia
Thing: Soft Blankey
To do: Sing
She got a happy meal from McDonald's at school, choose dinner (which was Breakfast items) and chose an activity to do with the family. Taylor wanted to put on a Hannah Montana concert for us. This had to include popcorn, spotlights, etc. The video is hard to see because it was dark, but I think you'll enjoy what you can see. Taylor wanted a guitar cake and I'm getting sloppier as time goes on, but she loved it. Overall, I think she had a great birthday. Thanks to all who supported her.

Church Carnival

I helped put on our church chili cookoff and carnival. The kids had fun - especially putting people in jail and getting put in jail. Daddy dressed little Sam up and the mustache wouldn't come off for church. Unfortunately Daddy, Dani, and Joseph couldn't come due to illness.

Priesthood Session

We decided as the women in the family that we would start a new tradition while the boys went to the Priesthood session of general conference. It would be our makeover night. So I got the "real" makeup out and did up the girls and then they posed for me. We figured although there were still boys in the house, we could make it as miserable for them as possible so that by the time they were 12, they would be begging to go to conference. Sam still got done over, however.

Slime and Vets

The Discovery Center put on a story time where the kids got to make their own slime. They also enjoyed pretending to be veterinarians. We need spent too much time looking at the actual scientific displays. Maybe they will enjoy that more when they are older.