More from Utah

Here are a few more pictures of our vacation in Utah. My mother-in-law has a friend who takes pictures as a hobby. She let us come over and have a little mini photo-shoot while we were out there. Here are some of my favorite pictures!

22 Photos - You can click on the speaker for bonus music!

Goodbye, Old Year

~
As I sit here staring at my Christmas decorations, I think to myself, "I really should take those down now that we're back..." And yet I sit here. And I stare at them. And I think.

I feel sad when I take my Christmas tree down. My first memory of feeling the Spirit happened while I was staring at my family's Christmas tree 15 Christmases ago. And even though my dinky little tree with cheap ornaments resembles almost nothing of that family tree, it still has the ability to rekindle those warm memories.

But I suppose it's time.

So, with fondness, I'll share bits and pieces of my vacation with you, take my decorations down, and gently tuck Christmas away for the next ten and a half months.

----------------------------------------

Flying to Utah
Have you ever had the privilege to ride on a plane with a service dog? Well. On the first leg of our flight, we were accompanied by a dog so big, it seriously looked like a bear. It's white hair was shiny, beautiful and at least three inches long. After about 20 minutes of our hour long flight, we hit some turbulence which was soon accompanied by a sharp, eye-watering, nose crinkling smell...and I knew before I looked...dog poo. "EWWWWWWWW!!!!!" McKenzie yelled, "What is that yucky, yucky smell?!!!" I slowly tilted my head into the isle to see the hairy beast pacing back and forth and squirting diarrhea all over the front of the plane. Thick tufts of long, white hair were floating in the air, covering the floor, and sticking in the runny, stinky mess. We were lucky enough to be sitting just 2 rows behind this fiasco. The row in front of us evacuated their seats - the smell made one poor lady lose her lunch once...and almost again. The flight attendants did their best to clean it up and spray air freshener in their wake - but the smell was unmaskable.

Brian had an optimistic attitude, however. When our kids were slightly fussy and loud, he smiled and said, "Well, at least we're not the most hated people on the plane anymore!"


It's Beginning To FEEL a lot Like Christmas!
Carson couldn't get enough of the snow. Every time he stuck his finger in it, he'd stomp his feet in excitement and laugh uncontrollably. Each time we walked outside, he'd point and grunt with enthusiasm until we said, "Yeah, Carson. Snow!" He'd look at us with wide eyes as if to say, "Have you ever seen this stuff?!! This is awesome!!"

When we first arrived, we stepped out into the 28 degree Fahrenheit airport parking lot and after a short minute we heard McKenzie exclaim, "LOOK, Dad! I can do it TOO!!!!" We turned around and saw McKenzie's thrilled face. "WATCH!!" she said. She blew out a puff of air and said, "I CAN BLOW SMOKE!!!!!"



























McKenzie didn't like the cold much (as you can see from her face in the snowman picture), but she still helped build a stellar snowman!


Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Enjoy these 21 pictures of our celebrations!

Bear Lake
















After Christmas, we took a little family vacation up to Bear Lake where we'd rented a cabin for two nights. McKenzie had her first sledding experience... in -2 degree F! The cold bit our faces and froze our nose goobers, but it was well worth it!

Brian's parents took the kids back to Farmington with them and let Brian and I have a couple days to ourselves. It was so good to reconnect and catch up on each others lives a little bit since Brian's been gone so much this month. We went snowshoeing, got our car stuck in the snow, watched movies, went out to eat and saw Enchanted - cute show!





























Happy New Year!
And finally, we brought in the new year with the kids at about 6:00 - Grandma had poppers and noise makers that the kids loved! (Well, McKenzie didn't much like the noise makers...every time her cousin Samuel would pop one she'd cover her ears...) Then we played Don't Eat Pete, and I Spy - what a great new year's eve!

Here are 11 pictures of us all ringing in the new year!

Happy 2008!
~

Merry Christmas

~
What is it about December? How does it bring out the best and worst in people all at the same time? I will be the first to admit that December brings a high amount of stress to my life...the worry that I'm forgetting someone's present; the chaos of shopping among a zillion other moms whose children are all screaming in different pitches - creating quite a dissonant chorus playing in the background (and sometimes the foreground) of my shopping trip; the guilt I feel when my bank account plainly shows me that I cannot buy what my husband really wants for Christmas; the frustration when half of my window lights go out; the pain of burning my fingers over and over with matches (but I love my candles so much!); the pressure to make the toffee and the fudge and the cakes and the cookies; the list could go on and on.

HOWEVER, I must also be the first to admit that I smile more, think of others more, pray more, and hug my kids more in December than any other month. This Christmas season has been the hardest (for the single fact that Brian has been gone on interviews for the better part of it) and the best I've ever had. Two Christmases ago, I was touched to a new depth by our Savior's love for us...and each Christmas since, I have been blessed to remember those feelings. Those feelings this year have been no different - however, a wonderful new element has been added: the magic has returned.

When I take a minute to think about my favorite Christmas sights I've seen this year, the first one that pops into my head is that of McKenzie's bright, wide eyes, cocked head full of curls, and big smile as she hears bells from 'Santa's sleigh' or learns that "Rudolph wants a CARROT?" Her excitement is contagious for Carson who, though he might not fully understand why things are so exciting, is full of energy and laughter. And I am happier, too. Small things give me greater joy (for example: I was running on a treadmill at the gym earlier today watching an Andy Griffith rerun with closed captions, and as the opening music started, the captions read 'whistling sprightly tune'. I broke out in a huge smile when I read the word 'sprightly' and looked around at my running neighbors to see if anyone was accompanying me in my joy. They weren't... so I enjoyed the moment alone).

This is a wonderful season. Full of stress and angry people, yes; but as long as I don't become one of those angry people, there is so much joy to be felt, so much laughter to hear, so much good to see.

Merry Christmas, everyone!
~

Alder Updates

Time keeps getting away from me - it's been much too long since I've posted! The nastiest part of the human mind is that it forgets too quickly, and all the wonderful thoughts, funny kid sayings and stories I've had in the past couple of weeks have soaked through the 'retaining' barrier into the 'I'll never remember that again' darkness. This is why I write in my journal...this is why I take so many pictures to scrapbook...this is why I blog. What I write, I remember. And I want to remember everything.

So - on to remembering!

* Brian flew out to Miami earlier today for another interview, and while we were all in the car on our way to the airport, McKenzie asked, "Where are you going again, Daddy?" To which Daddy replied, "You remember. Where am I going?"
"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, "You're going to your Ami.........but Daddy, what's an Ami?"

* Carson's new trick: he has learned where his belly button is! This is a major thing for us - we've been trying to teach him body parts for a while now...and he seems to finally be getting it. :) The belly button is, by far, my favorite part of the body to teach to kids. His face is so excited when he lifts up his shirt - but the best thing about it is that he can't really see his own belly button very well because of his big, round tummy...so he pulls up on his belly, trying to catch a glimpse! And both of my kids have insisted on finding everyone else's belly button after their own............what a funny thing! McKenzie used to call hers her "Bee-bupt". Carson also knows where his nose is. But we're having a hard time distinguishing between the 'eye' and the 'ear' - so many things to learn!

* Carson's first word: "Tickle" Could there be a cuter first word? And everything else is a "Da" or a grunt. We have a long way to go. :)

* McKenzie's new favorite animal: flamingo. She constantly calls her brother a 'little flamingo'. I'm not sure where she even learned about flamingo's, but once she found out there was such thing as a pink animal, it was bound to be her favorite. Our new library book has a page with flamingo's - it took a while to calm her down after she saw the picture.

* McKenzie's new favorite game: Charades. This mixed with her new favorite animal is quite entertaining. Here's a slide show of us playing Charades with her aunt Michelle while she was out visiting.

CHARADES

Crazy Christmastime!

~
The day after Thanksgiving the Christmas decorations break through their boxes! Here's a little slide show of us all decorating for Christmas.

Dang Dishes part 2

Well, I finally did the dishes the morning after my last post. I recruited McKenzie's help to unload the first load from the dishwasher (yes, I had two full loads...), and as she was putting the clean silverware into the drawer, she said, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! Now we can eat with whatever we want, whenever we want!"

Maybe having clean dishes is more important to her than I realized..... :)

Dang Dishes

Okay, it's no secret: I hate doing the dishes. That is why, on days like today when my husband has been gone for two days, the cupboards are empty and the sink is full. There are two reasons that Brian's absence makes this so - number one: he does a fair amount of the dishes, and number two: I try to do better keeping them clean when he's around because he cares a little more than I do about whether we're eating green beans with knives, or soup with baby spoons.

The utensils drawer has been empty now for over a day, so we've been making do with what we can. We have a plethora of baby spoons that are saved for such occasions (because Carson will never succumb to eating only one mouthful of food at a time), so I whipped out the last three of those to eat our pancakes with tonight. About halfway through the dinner, McKenzie gave a frustrated little grunt and said, "Mom, this is just not working." I looked over at her trying to balance a normal piece of pancake on the tiny spoon and realized that she's probably right.

"Ummmm...." I tried to think of a solution..... "OH!" I said. We could stab our pancakes with toothpicks! "I have a great idea!" And I jumped to my feet.
I heard an excited little gasp come from McKenzie that made me turn and look at her. Her eyes were wide with excitement, and her mouth was open in a big smile as she said, "You could do the dishes!"

I laughed out loud for about twenty minutes after that. And even now, remembering her face, I'm typing through bursts of giggles. Maybe she's right... Maybe I should just do the dang dishes.
~