Christmas Joys

CHRISTMAS EVE SINGING SONGS











CHRISTMAS MORNING OPENING STOCKINGS










WE ARE FAMILY









DELIVERING FOOD TO MEXICAN ORPHANAGE

Make a Smilebox greeting

We are still here

I feel like I fell off the blogging planet, but we are here and all doing well. The main reason I haven't been on the computer is that Bryan's two brothers, who live in our basement, have been on the computer most of the time.
Bryan has been super busy at work saving the planet one patent at a time. He loves being at his new office, though dislikes the commute time. His business is going extremely well and he likes his coworkers. He enjoys spending time with the young men at church. He is still the best car-ride-giver, all time prince, and our most favorite guy in the whole world.
Maegan has been busy growing a new baby. We are going to find out the baby's gender on Bryan's birthday on Jan. 13th. I taught the last few lessons for Joyschool preschool and got to teach the story of Jesus' birth to the kids. I helped coordinate the nativity program the kids put on at our house. Last month I stopped running and took up my new hobby of napping. I love it, but totally miss the talking/counseling sessions with my girlfriends.
Emily and Ashley are very busy creating and playing in their own world. Most days they live in polly-pocket world, followed by Barbieland, Mary & Joseph-ville, pet-shop place, mom & sweetsy-pie, restuarant chef, cat & mouse, mom & baby dolls, teacher & student, etc. Sometimes they come meet with reality and we eat or go shopping, then they go back to fantasy with books, kid TV shows, playdough.
The girls are the best of friends most all of the time. Emily's specialty is being imaginative. She loves you to read her a book and loves asking questions. Ashley is opinionated and insistent. She loves princesses, pink, purses, and girly everything. Here they are with their new haircuts.
We are headed to AZ to spend Christmas with Maegan's family. We had Thanksgiving with the Hanks and enjoyed having 4 out of the 6 siblings together.

Baby News

I went to the doctor last week and found out I am farther along than I thought! I am now 12 weeks along (I thought 9) and Bryan and I got to hear the heartbeat at the appointment. It was in that minute that the baby became real to me and the information I knew in my brain went into my heart and I loved my baby through that sound. We have a due date of June 3rd. Emily was very disappointed that she won't be getting a baby for her birthday present at the end of July. But I am feeling good that I will have the baby before the summer heat. We will find out the baby gender at 20 weeks which will be around the 15th of January.
Today we went on a tour of Mrs. Cavenaugh's Chocolate Factory. I ate 4 chocolates and bought 3 other bags of candy. I loved every bite and got excited for Christmas treats. For anyone asking- milk, not dark. :)
Thanksgiving plans for next week are to have Bryan's parents, his sister & her husband, possibly his 2 brothers and our friend Kadia from Iowa. Should be good times. In our church primary class we've been talking about being thankful- seriously we are so blessed!

Halloween

We made our second annual trek to the Barnyard Boo in Lehi. Emily went on 4 pony rides and we made bead bracelets, frosted cookies, got balloons made and watched a spooky movie. We all had a good time. Here's our spider ring collection. Emily picked out the white bride spider for me and the black groom spider for dad.


We carved our pumpkins on Monday night. The girls each carved one of their own design and Bryan carved his monster pumpkin into a surprised face. Emily got brave and reached her hand into the pulp-seed goosh. Ashley didn't want anything to do with gooey guts and was mad they were in her pumpkin.

For Halloween night Ashley dressed as a princess with a crown, a pink hat, one glove, a magic wand, pink dress and tights. Emily was a black cat with whiskers, a tail and ears that could light up. Dad was a pirate and I was an M&M. We went out trick-or-treating for an hour and let the kids eat 15 candies and then we were done with candy. The girls got out dress-up clothes 2 weeks ago and have made this their new game every day. So I am guessing it will seem like Halloween every day in my house for a while.

Exciting News

We are expecting baby #3! We just found out and are excited to share our happiness with everyone. We told Emily and Ashley first. We thought Emily would freak out with excitement but instead got serious and said, "okay, I have an idea for a plan." Ashley said she's going to share her crib with the baby since she's in her toddler ("toller") bed now. She's also going to share her high chair and help change diapers. Emily is very interested in the baby process and asks- "What is the baby doing in there?, Is the baby putting on its Pjs?, Is the baby hungry for dinner too?" and she loves to pat my tummy and say, "go to sleep baby".Emily thinks the baby is a girl and we should name her Alice. Ashley thinks it's a boy and we should name it Shakena; to which Emily replies Shekeno for a boy. We think the due date is July 2009, but we will be confirming that at a doctor's visit next month. We plan to find out the gender if possible.
I am feeling more nauceous than with my previous two. I found myself taking 2 naps today at 9am and 3pm- awesome! (I did get up early and go running, but still makes me laugh). My other complaint is I think everything is so stinky! Here are the girls as we told them the news.

Tagged

8 things I did yesterday:
Ran 3 miles
Took a nap
Did laundry
Ate
Took another nap
Talked to my mom
Cooked dinner
Attended a wedding reception

8 things I look forward to:
Book Club
Taking naps
Sunshine spots on the carpet
Holidays
Dates with husband
The day I am organized
Desserts
Zion

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Cafe Rio (sweet pork burrito, pinto beans, mild, not smothered)
Olive Garden (all you can eat salad)
Little Caesars (Hawaiian for $7)
China Platter ( sweet & sour chkn)
Royal India (a yummy adventure)
Costco (convenient, cheap, kids love it)
Great Harvest (huge slices for $.50)
Wendy's (not my favorite but I sure eat here the most)

8 things on my wish list:
warm wheat muffins
a miracle for Spencer (selfish and unselfish reasons)
hire a maid
decorating skills
nobody gets the flu this year
girl's hair to not be a daily ordeal
help people
desire to serve more