Doing the laundry is exhausting...

But somebody's gotta do it!

27

In honor of the big day, here are 27 great moments/memories from my life:
1.First is the day I was born. Of course I don't remember it, but I'd like to point out 2 things in this picture: my dad has a sweet 'stache and Ryan-this picture is proof that that teddy bear was mine before it was yours.

2.camping with my family-growing up we got to go camping a lot. My favorite things were s'mores, swinging on this swing made from the seat of my dad's hang glider, the mountain man that lived next door to where we'd camp-he entertained us with his guitar and stories about hunting bears, and the pink outhouse my dad & grandpa built.

3.Going to the mountains to get our Christmas tree & play in the snow (that's me at the top) I've deprived my children of such memories...maybe I need to rethink my priorities.

4.The Christmas my dad built me my very own kitchen set and doll cradle. I also loved those purple Rainbow Brite pajamas I have on.

5.Being the flower girl in both my sisters' weddings. If this isn't the perfect picture of a 1980's wedding, I don't know what is.

6.The year that my cousin & I both dressed as Christmas Candles for the school music program. Funny story-I lost my shoe between the stage and the bleachers. It fell down on the floor and, not wanting anyone to see that I only had one shoe on, I stood on one foot and tucked the other up behind my candle costume. My aunt said I looked like a little flamingo.

7.The long bikerides we used to go on as a family.

8.Being baptized.

9.Seeing the ocean for the first time.

10.Graduating High School! I remember counting down the days before we were even halfway through the school year...I thought I'd never make it and now I don't know where the time has gone.

11.Going to college-the things I learned about life, myself, and the friends I made. Stacey got me through a lot-we went to San Francisco together & walked too many miles to count, visited just about every art museum in the city, I ate a disgusting portabello mushroom sandwich, and had the time of our lives.

12.Finding an amazing man to spend my life with.

13.Going to Puerto Rico with Shannon-hiking in the rain forest, nearly getting killed driving in that crazy traffic, riding horses on the beach and wondering if I was going to survive...my horse had a mind of his own, that's for sure.

14.Seeing Ground Zero and getting a glimpse of the reality and devestation of that day.

15. Getting married!

16.Sailing the Caribbean with my new hubby...remember those crazy Canadians we ate dinner with every night? Watching the sunset on the ocean, the wild horses that ran through that little village where we went to see the Myan ruins. And our waiter with those funny songs he'd sing us? Then we came home and had 2 receptions in 2 nights-standing in the receiving line feeling like we were swaying back and forth on the boat.

17.Our first home-a 1 bedroom apartment-and the simplicity of newlywed life.

18.The first time I felt life growing inside of me and the hellish 9 months it took to get him here.

19.Realizing that I'd relive every moment of those 9 months if it meant having him.

20.The trip we took to Florida-you know the one, Jeff, where we almost didn't make it back for Ethan's first Christmas because someone looked at our seat number on our plane tickets, thought it was the gate number, and we ended up on the wrong side of the airport and missed our flight home? Good times, good times.

21.Welcoming another sweet spirit into our home-and learning the hard way that modern medicine (epidurals) are given to us for a reason.

24.Adding another happy, healthy little boy to our family. (This time with the aid of an epidural!)

23.Moments like this, watching my husband teach our children and be involved in their lives.

24.Getting to dance with my husband.

25.Seeing the boys play together, watching them become the best of friends, and how much they love each other and their baby brother.

26Our family trip to Utah last summer, taking the boys to Lagoon and watching their excitment. I didn't ride a single ride but it was the best trip.

27.Realizing what true happiness is.

Owen looked so cute all bundled up in his car seat tonight...

My dad gave the boys a box of candy canes to put on the tree...

Christmas Goodies

Tomorrow is Ethan's turn to bring treats and celebrate his birthday in preschool. He wanted to take "tree and snowmen" cookies so we (and by "we" I mostly mean "I") took on the daunting task of making sugar cookies. The dough was mixed yesterday and left in the fridge to chill (also to help cut down the workload for today-sugar cookies are so much work-I remember why I hardly ever make them). There's also a lot more work involved when there are 2 pairs of little hands trying hard to help-but by the time the cookies were ready to frost, the boys had lost interest so at least that part went fairly quick.
We also made a few other Christmas goodies and tonight for FHE we are going to deliver them while looking at the lights around town. Here's to a productive (and exhausting) Monday!

Dear Santa,

I had to throw this picture in simply because Kamden's face says exactly how he felt at first about Santa. Neither of the boys wanted to go near him. So I, being the wonderful mother I am (I didn't spend the better part of an hour bundling my kids up for a trip to see Santa only to have them refuse to get within 6 feet of him) I sat myself down next to Jolly Old Saint Nick and pulled the kids right along with me.You can tell Kamden is beyond annoyed and Ethan could really care less.

But, after some coaxing (and maybe a little bribery) the boys posed quickly for a picture-but not before they each received a coveted candy cane (see how Owen is just staring at Kamden's)and shouted from a distance their Christmas wishes. I'm not sure if Santa got it down but Kamden requested Chick Hicks and Mr. King while Ethan asked for a Transformer. Funny how their lists were much longer than that but when they found themselves face to face with Santa himself I think they were a little awestruck and suddenly forgot their hearts' desires.


Meanwhile, we've enjoyed the beauty of the snow mostly from inside the warmth of the house-although Ethan is itching to get outside and build a snowman. The Christmas shopping is done, the presents are wrapped and under the tree. Ethan suggested we open "just one" today after church-a good suggestion but he's going to have to endure the next twelve days (TWELVE DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS?!) with the shiny paper and ribbons taunting him beneath the tree.
We hope you had a fun and safe weekend!

Preschool Field Trip To The...

Do you know what the back of the post office looks like? Well I do! This week was my turn to teach and one of the subjects was 'service'. I racked my brain for ideas on how to teach the kids about that so on Tuesday we made little 'Service Coupons' for the kids to take home. They came up with thier own ideas on things they could do to help around their house. Some ideas were to help with laundry, empty the dishwasher, be nice to brothers and sisters, and my favorite-help make sandwiches.
I couldn't come up with much for our second day of preschool to reinforce the things we'd talked about, so I figured what better way to teach the kids about service than to show them some occupations of people who serve our community?
First we went to the post office where the kids got to pretend to be letters. The mail arrives and is unloaded from the back of the mailtruck by using an elevator lift-probably the kids' favorite part of the whole day was getting a ride on this!

They also got to meet a real mailman-our family actually went to church with Bob before we moved here 3 years ago...

The "letters" were taken from the elevator lifs on these big carts before they are sorted so they end up at their destinations. Every address in the city has their own little slot where the mail is sorted-there were over 6,000 slots in our local post office!

Then the mail is loaded back into the mail carrier's vehicles before they are delivered to our mailboxes!

Here is Postmaster Kevin explaining how the postal system works and that every letter needs a stamp, an address, and a postmark before it can be delivered.

This is a machine that is a smaller version of the ones used today. It counts the letters while cancelling out the stamp that was used. The kids tried and tried to count as fast as the machine, but they proved how machines deffinitley make our lives easier!

We also learned that mail carriers can be asked to carry up to 70 pounds in their bag-just like the one Kade is wearing in the first picture. Our mailman delivers all the mail here in town and the postmaster said he walks about 10 miles every day bringing us our letters. We are grateful for our mailman-especially out there in this cold weather!

Next we walked over to the Emergency Medical Services building to learn a little about what EMT's do and to see the ambulances.

The kids got to go inside while Miss Joanna showed them where everything is kept that helps the EMT's save people's lives.



One of the moms was such a good sport to volunteer to get strapped down and show the kids how a neck brace works-it was so cute when her little girl leaned over and kissed her mommy's forehead!

Each of the kids got a chance to sit in the drivers seat and Miss Joanna demonstrated the lights and the loud sirens for us.

Hopefully we never need an EMT, but we sure are thankful that they are there, serving our community!

Prayers to Santa

Ethan: "Mom, I know what I'm getting for Christmas."
Mom: "Oh, really? What?"
Ethan: "Chick Hicks, Mr.King, and Ice Age."
Mom: "How do you know that's what you're getting?"
Ethan: "I told Santa."
Mom: "But you haven't seen Santa..."
Ethan:"Well, I talked to him. You know, like in a prayer but to Santa."

I guess we'll see if Santa heard him!

~Chocolate Kisses~

The boys and I just finished making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. This includes the boys licking the beaters and devouring as many chocolate chips as possible without mom catching them and giving Owen plenty of 'chocolate kisses'.

Hersheys, eat your heart out.