The Nutcracker

As a Christmas present I got Emma and Eva tickets to see The Nutcracker performed by Ballet West. I also got a ticket for Grammie but due to the weather she wasn't able to make it down. We missed you, Grammie. But Hannah, the girls good friend, got to come along in her place. We had a great time. They all thought the best part was when the "large lady" appeared on stage and all eight of her children came out from under her skirt and danced. I loved all the costumes and the music was fantastic too. I explained to the girls that if they practiced really hard they too could be up on that stage one day. Thanks for a fun afternoon, girls!

Christmas 2007

Christmas came and went too fast this year, but it sure was nice while it lasted. Grammie and Papa Rex had us over again which was so much fun and we ate up all their yummy food. What would we do without them? One thing we wish could have happened was to be together with our whole family. We really missed our family in Cali. Maybe we will need to make Cali our destination for Christmas 2008.

There were some memorable comments this year. One was when Ella opened one of her presents to find a cardboard box. She was so excited too. She said "Yes, a box!" And then moved on to the next gift. She had no idea that there was something in that box.

Another comment that really tugged on my heart strings was said when I was trying to feel out the kids regarding an idea I had. I was talking about instead of getting gifts next year, giving lots of gifts to a family in need and making a great Christmas for someone else, which would inturn make our Christmas great. I asked the kids what they thought about that idea and there was complete silence, until Eva spoke up. She said "I don't care about presents. I just care about poor people." That made my whole Christmas because, coming from her I knew it was sincere.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. We wish nothing but the best for everyone in the new year too.

Meet Monte

So, we finally caved in and got a kitten. Lee and I decided on getting the kids a kitty for Christmas. We saw this little guy and just knew he had to be part of our family. He is a two month old ball of fluff and very cuddly and playful. We love him already!...wait...actually the kids are kind of scared of him. Whenever I get him out of his little room the kids make a mad dash for the couches. We're hoping that will change soon.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

My friend Marissa put one of these on her blog and we just had to do one too. Thanks for the great laugh Marissa!

7 and 70

Saturday we went to Grammie and Papa Rex's for a little get together celebrating Eva and Papa Rex's birthdays. Grammie made salmon for dinner and testimony cake for dessert which are both Eva's favorites. Thanks Grammie for the yummy food. They also got to decorate sugar cookies which was a big hit with the kids. Except Ella didn't quite understand the less is more concept. She dumped sprinkles on the cookies bottles at a time. While decorating cookies, we were serenaded by Papa Rex on his new harmonica.

How fun for Eva to have her birthday so close to Papa's. She loves it. It makes her birthday that much more special. Happy 70th Birthday Papa!

Brave Emma

Our little Emma had her Piano Recital last night. She got a little case of stage fright but overcame it. We are so proud of her. She played a mean "Jingle Bells" and also "I Saw Three Ships". She played them perfectly and did a fantastic job. Congratulations Emma!

Happy Birthday Eva!!

On December 11, 2000 Eva Belle was born into our family. We were all so happy of course! And she was so tiny and precious. Now, Eva is 7 and it doesn't seem possible. She has grown into such an amazing girl. She is beyond her years in so many ways. Her thoughtfulness and caring nature amaze us all. To think that she was chosen to come to our family makes us feel like the luckiest family in the world. We love you Eva and hope you have a wonderful day!!

My Baby Bumblebee

For whatever reason my "add video" decided to work today so I took advantage of it. This was on Halloween. I thought it was definately blog-worthy. Ella says she wants to be a bumblebee again for Christmas. I know it is annoying to hear parents always say how cute their kids are, but sorry. Ella really is cute!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

The kids enjoying our first snow of the season! It takes an hour to put all the snow gear on them...they play for 1 min (or maybe a little more)....

...and then their done...and then it takes another hour to take the snow gear off! Is it worth it?

It is to them!
We dared Eva to go sit at our back table. What a good sport!

Back To Normal

This picture of Ella pretty much sums up our week. We had sooo much fun with all of our family. I am tearing up just thinking back to how much fun it was. The cousins all played so well with one another. Oh, to have just one ounce of their energy. I loved the outings, but I think I loved kicking back and chatting just as much. I already miss the late nights and early mornings, the loudness of the cousins playing their little hearts out, and even the frustrations of getting them all to go to sleep. Now the house is quiet and peaceful, but it just doesn't seem right. We love our family and want to thank you for visiting. Until next time...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everybody had a terrific Thanksgiving. I was such a slacker hostess. I wanted everybody to think of things they are thankful for during the whole week, write them down, then put them in a jar to be read at dinner. But I forgot. How could I forget such a thing? Anyway, to make me feel a little better, I'd like to say a few things now:

my FAMILY, the church, great friends, happy people, nature, laughter, music, good news, good food, memories, this country, and on and on and on...

Lee and the kids were our entertainment for the day. The kids together wrote a song and Lee put it to music. It was adorable. Here are the words:

Parents are so Der, they make us go to bed.

They take our toys away, And ground us for a day.

They make us eat our veggies, And make us brush our teeth.

They make us do our chores, but never give us smores.

Parents, parents, parents, parents are so Der.

Parents, parents, parents, never let us burp.

Parents, parents, parents, listen up.

We're your kids and we've had enough!

I can sense future musicians in the family! Very creative! If I can figure out how to add a video (I did it once, but can't do it again) I will put it on the blog.

Brave Kids

After Spag, we all went to Dick's to try some rock climbing.
Tayli, Gavin, Tess, and Cordin all gave it a try.Tess (below right) made it to the top, which is 70 feet high!
Cordin, who chose the more difficult side, was just a hair shy of making it to the top.

You all did such an impressive job. Congrats to all of you. Next I want to see Emma and Eva give it a shot.

Families Are Forever!

Today we went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and spotted Santa. Of course we had to go say hi. Ella was unsure of him so she kept her distance. Eric, being the photographer that he is, snapped this photo. I thought it was so sweet. Thanks Eric!!

We all went to Temple Square and had a great time even though it was like minus 50 degrees (or something like that). We also saw the Joseph Smith movie which was fantastic. While we were waiting to go in, Lee took Ella over to the statue of Joseph Smith and asked her if she knew who he was. She said "Oseph Mith". Lee asked her how she knew that and she said "Baby Church" (aka nursery). What a sweatheart! And props to her nursery leaders. And I can't forget props to Eric and Julie. Our camera died and we had no backup batteries so Eric and Julie stepped up and took pictures for everyone. Thank you so much. They all turned out great!

Spag

We all went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner last night, all 17 1/2 of us! I am sure the staff was excited to see us. But it was so much fun. The kids all had a blast. It is not often all of us are together at the same time.

Eric and I both worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach eons ago and all who worked there called it "Spag" for short, hence the title of this post.

Julie was so sweet to record Ella. Then she helped me figure out what I was doing wrong because I couldn't add video to the blog. Now I will be adding so much video that you will get sick of it. But you can blame Julie for that!

Ahhh Cousins!

Today we had the whole clan at our house. And boy, do we love our cousins! They just have so much fun together. I love watching them play. The whole morning and majority of the day was spent making fun doohickies out of Perler Beads which are a favorite activity among our house. Aren't they just so cute together? The only thing that could have made this picture better is if Beau were in it. He was at the dentist getting cavaties filled. But he was definately there in spirit. These kids are quite talented as well. They made some really cool doohickies!

Wrestlemania

We are so excited to have Ryan and Cheryl and fam and also Eric and Julie and fam in town this week for Thanksgiving. Sunday, we went to Grammie and Papa Rex's house and Ryan and Cheryl and fam were staying there. It was so fun to see how easily all the cousins picked up right where they left off from the last time they visited. It was also sooo cute to see how Ben and Ella took to Uncle Ryan. They love wrestling with him!

Ben was giving Ryan some good punches in the face, then Beau joined in to tag team him. Ella just couldn't resist and took a leap into the mosh pit. The best was when Ben started getting air off of Ryan. What a good sport Ryan was!! Thanks for the entertainment!!

Lara's Sharing Time

I just wanted to put this on the blog for display. It was a turkey Lara made for sharing time today in Primary. Each one of the feathers was written on by one of the Primary children. They wrote some things they were thankful for. One of them says: I'm grateful for Lamborghini's and BYU. Beautifully put my friend - I think that about sums it up!

Date Night

For date night last night, Lee and I went to see "Savior of the World". It was performed in the Conference Center Theater. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be in the area during the holiday season. It is a reenactment of the times leading up to the birth of Christ and then also the Resurrection. It is one thing to read about these two events and a whole other thing to see them (at least the reenactment of them).

What made it so special to me was that it made me realize even more that these people that lived then, were just like us living now. They all had bad days and good days and struggles just like you and me. For example, Mary was just a young girl, striving to do her best in the world, and wondering if marrying Joseph was the right thing or not. And then she had the miracle of all miracles happen to her.

This holiday season I am really going to do my best to recognize the miracles that happen in my life, and honor the miracles of long ago. I challenge you all to do the same.

Primary Program

Today was our wards Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. Of course, it went off without a hitch like they always do, even considering the fact that there are 230 kids in the Primary. Yes 230! Emma, Eva, and Ben all did great. Emma and Ben had their speaking parts perfectly memorized and Eva sang a song beautifully with her class. These were their parts:

Ben: I am trying to be like Jesus when I listen to my family.

Eva sang: "This is My Beloved Son" with her class.

Emma: A covenant is a special agreement or promise that two people make together. Covenant means come together or to be bound together by promises.

They all loved their parts but the hit of the program was a part that a little sunbeam said: "I am trying to be like Jesus when I go fishing and eat fish." It was just so random that it made everybody laugh! :0

You kids did great! We are so very proud of you!

Reflections

Every year Emma's and Eva's school puts on something called a Reflections Contest. They can submit entries in different catagories based on the theme. This year the theme was "I can make a difference by..." Eva chose to recycle some items from around the house like paper clips, straws, and juice lid thingamajiggers, and make a necklace out of them. Emma chose to write a little somethin about Debbie. And you can read that one for yourself. (If you cannot read it, you can click on the picture to make it bigger.) All the entries will get judged and various awards will be presented. Good Job girls and GOOD LUCK!

6 Things About Lee-Lee

Grammie tagged me so here are 6 things about me:

• My dad called me Lee-lee when I was little


• I'm taking Math right now in college. I don't like it one bit. BUT, if I can suffer thru it and a few more classes I will have my Bachelor's in Marketing and Business Management in April!!!


• I like to call my littlest girl Ella either Gal or Cal-Feefers


• For some reason, Orange is becoming a new favorite color of mine


• I like to play the guitar, cook, tickle my kids, discover new things, eat lots of candy corn, and many more things - I like to like things....


• I have a really big crush on my wife, Lara!

So...that's me in a nut shell. Now I need to tag 6 people. Looking through my Romper Room looking glass I see Tess, Cordin, Tayli, Beau, Gavin, Livia, & Shea - so that's 7...But I want to hear 6 things from each of them!

I've Been Tagged

On her blog, Julie my sister in law, tagged me. This means that I have to tell 6 things about myself and then tag 6 people who have to tell 6 things about themselves and so on. Julie, what did I ever do to you? ;) Anyway, here goes...

• What makes me happiest is laughing with my kids. It's during those moments that I remember "Life Is Good".
• I just finished reading "A Walk To Remember" by Nicholas Sparks. Loved It! It's a teer jerker but so worth it.
• One of my lifelong goals is to run a marathon. I am currently dealing with an old injury and am contemplating surgery but have not given up hope. As soon as I can fix that dilemma, look out world!
• One of the hardest things I ever had to do was sing in Sacrament Meeting. We were asked to sing as a family as part of the Primary Program. Most of you know, I CANNOT SING! I endured it and afterwards thought, "If I can do that, I can do most anything!"
• I am laying on a deserted island with a hot bod and a stack of good books... That daydream is what gets me through most hard days.
• Lara's Favorite Things: My Swiffer Vac, the Twilight series books, all Jack Johnson CDs, hot chocolate, yummy smelling lotion, flowers, my Ugg slippers, photographs, and sleeping in.

Ok, so there are my 6 things. Now because I can only think of a few of my peeps who blog I will only tag 4... Cheryl, Chrissie, Marissa and Mom. And as for the rest of you, start a blog. It's not as hard as it may seem.

Happy Halloween!

This year we had so much fun carving our pumpkins. I think it was nice that everyone helped out. It wasn't just me doing everything for once. Even Lee got in on the action this year!

And this is after...

Jack The Pumpkin King, Mummy, Cat, and Spider and then our BOO!

As far as costumes are concerned, Ella was a Bumble Bee Princess and Ben was a Mummy. He new he wanted to be a mummy for quite a while and I found a cute idea online. It was so easy and so cheap to make. And when Emma and Eva saw their costumes (U.S. Divas) at the store they "just had to have them". They all turned out great and so cute! The Vampire was a friend of Emma's that went Trick or Treating with them.

The kids all had a great time and they got lots of candy! They went to bed really late but were such good sports about getting up for school. And they were even early!! Way to go guys! I am so happy that you had a Happy Halloween!