Happy Birthday, Amber!

Amber holding the Easter bunny.

Craaaaazy hair!

3rd birthday. So cute!

Wha's up, bro?

Tomorrow is my Amber's 6th birthday. I can't believe it. Of all my children, I really feel that her life is the one slipping through my fingers. She was born in Bullhead at about 8:30 p.m. She came out with so much red hair--we were shocked. And she was such a calm baby. The nurses ran out of the room after she was born to take care of another delivery and left her under the lights naked and dirty for about 45 minutes. She just laid there and looked around. She hardly even cried.

She is such a joy to our family. She is my most social kid and loves to be with friends. She is probably also the most girly, although that may be tough to tell. She lived in her princess dressup clothes for a couple years. People actually mentioned that they wondered if she had any real clothes. I hope the next few years will slow down so I can enjoy them a little more. I love you, Bubba!

I get to go!

I got a call from the bishopric asking to meet with me so I went in and was totally shocked when they asked me to be the assistant Girls Camp director! I am so excited! Especially as Scott said he will support me (after commenting what choice did he have and I said he could choose to be grouchy or happy about it). This is good because he has a strong dislike for Girls Camp. When we got engaged I was the leader and wanted to postpone our wedding until afterwards. He didn't like that. So instead I took off 2 weeks after we got married and left him. He wasn't too happy about that either. But he said this time he's happy about it because he's going to take a week off work and play computer --with the kids of course. Anyway, it will be great.

Amber was student of the month for February. That was NOT such a big surprise as Grandma sent out an email at the beginning of the year listing what order her granddaughters would be the student of the month. But she was really excited and got a TON of free kids meal tickets.

Alivia is starting to talk so much. The other day she was trying to talk to me and Christian was talking to her at the same time and she turned around and said, "be quite, trying to talk to mom." It was so funny. Christian is my toothless goon right now. I went into his room in the dark and started taking pictures which is why his face is so weird.

Soran, on the other hand, finally got a tooth! Last week her first tooth came through. I hope the other one will come soon as she isn't sleeping very well.

Tomorrow is my last doctor appointment for my kidney! Yeah! Although I am grateful for feeling good every morning I wake up.

Pairs

Alyssa and Aunt Anna singing a duet (Kayla dancing)

Soran and Amanda

Since it's almost Valentines day, I thought a "couple" post was due. I need to get a picture of my valentine, but he is just never around these days. Last year I was home schooling my 13-year-old sister, which was a lot more work than I thought it would be. My hats off to all who can home school, especially more than one grade! I had a hard enough time keeping track of one. This year I am baby-sitting my adorable niece. She is actually supposed to be a month younger than Soran but was born 2 months early and so is a month older. She is so much fun. Soran and her get so excited when they see each other. But it definitely keeps my hands full.

As mentioned earlier, I have taken up running with my mom. My running shoes (if you can call them that) were 11 years old. Scott bought them for me the year we were married. So while we were in St. George I picked up a new pair. I can run faster, leap higher, and go for miles. Almost.
Hope everyone has a happy pair day!

Stuff

I HATED the first snowfall, but now that it's (hopefully) almost the end of winter I think it's kind of pretty. I love the white against the blue background.


I gave Alivia a mini candy bar for going to the potty before putting her down for a nap. I thought she would eat it before going to sleep. She didn't.

Today is Scott's birthday. He is 33. Strange. I remember my parents being this age and they were old but now it seems so young. We went to St. George for the weekend where he broke in (from a long winter of disuse) his golf clubs. We had a good time, although it wasn't quite the sunshine-soaking-up trip I was hoping it would be. It was kind of cold. So nice to have a day to ourselves. We talked the whole drive down without any interruptions. I love this man. In April we will have been together for 16 years. I don't know what life is like without him.

The kids get bigger every day. Amber lost both of her bottom teeth within a week. She keeps telling me how hard it is to eat now. She was also in the science fair last week and won a trophy (thanks to Grandma). Alivia is pretty much done potty training. She rarely has accidents anymore. So nice! And a small fortune saved in diapers. Christian continus to be addicted to all things electronic. Alyssa and I joined a mother-daughter book club at the library and went last week for the first time. It was a lot of fun. We read a book on Helen Keller. She was a fascinating woman. I just thought her life kind of ended after she learned how to sign in her hand, but she lived until she was 88 and accomplished some amazing things! A local man brought some of her letters and books she had written in (can you believe she could write?) and we got to hold them. It was neat. Alyssa also made me a cookie and a birdfeeder. I love that she loves to read. Soran started crawling last week and is all over! She has already learned how to get up the stairs. She is still the happiest baby on earth. She is constantly smiling.

My nephew Matt turned 8 a couple weeks ago and had a huge birthday party at a bounce place. The kids had a blast running around and jumping on everything. It's a good thing they don't weight much, though. I think the slides were half duct tape.

I continue to be amazed at how good I feel. We have been so blessed. I feel grateful to be able to take care of my kids and am grateful for every day that I am able to get up and have energy and go. My mom and I have been going running at 6 a.m. (who knew that time existed?) and I am slowly getting better. I am so out of shape!

So that's us in a page. Life is good. Hope it is so for all of you.

And that's how it's done!

Livi, happy to be a big girl

I had to get down that ALIVIA'S POTTY TRAINED. Well, mostly. But we've gone all day today without any accidents, which I think is a major milestone. I kind of started in December just in the mornings. I was usually done by noon. But this week with the kids at school it was full-time, and isn't it a full-time job? Asking every 10 minutes, putting them on the toilet every 20 and then cleaning up the messes. But it's so good to know that we've completed (kind of) a major milestone. Although it will be a few months before she'll be "finished."

We had a great New Years holiday. We were able to catch up with a lot of old friends. I saw one of my old friends from high school and Scott got together with his best friend from high school and he and his son played Wii with my boys until 1:00 am. They had a good time and Christian wasn't even too hung over the next day. Then our dear friends the Henlines came over for dinner and games. Made us miss Arizona. And then the Jeppsons and their new twins came over later that week. It's amazing how friendships can survive over the years with so little contact.

We spent New Years Eve with Mike and Nicole and it was a lot of fun. We stayed up playing games until 12:00 (all the kids made it except Soran--Alivia was still going strong) and then rushed to bed. The next day we went tubing which was a lot of fun and then Nicole and I went shopping which was a much needed break for me. With Scott being gone so much I have dragged 5 children everywhere getting ready for Christmas. It's been nice to stay home. We were so glad to kiss 2009 good-bye and welcome 2010 with open arms!

Christmas

Time flies when it's crazy. We had a really good Christmas. It was nice to be with family and spend time with our own kids (and Scott who disappeared for a couple weeks due to working in retail). Highlights: Alyssa doing a hip-hop dance at her Christmas concert. She did well, it surprised me, I guess because I have no rhythm. FHE at the nursing home--always a good experience. Christian losing his other front tooth 2 days before Christmas. Christmas day the girls went to see The Princess and the Frog and the boys went to Avatar in 3D. Somehow the division of children just didn't seem fair, but we made it through. The grandmas spoiled us all, of course. And it was nice to spend a few moments in reflection on the year and the reason for the season. Hope everyone was as blessed as we were.

Waiting for Santa. We checked in on him and he had pulled up the shades and was asleep looking out the window. Aaaww.

New jammies and blankets from Grandma on Christmas Eve. So cute!

Cousin Kylee helping Soran open a present. I love the tongue!

Amber performed at her first Christmas concert (with her cousins, of course). They sang "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" and "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth." She knew all the words and it was so cute.

Christmas season begins

Soran enjoying her piece of the gingerbread

10 seconds after completion

Completed gingerbread house

I must be feeling better. I think this is my fifth post in a month. I have been amazed how much better I feel now than I did a few weeks ago. Scott told me that they actually took part of my kidney out because it was so infected and what a difference. I haven't had this much energy in months. So now I get to get ready for the holidays!
We made our gingerbread house for home evening this week. It went much better than last year. The kids were excited to do their piece. It turned out pretty cute. And after enjoying it for about 5 seconds they tore it apart and ate it. The sugar rush begins!
We went out and got our Christmas tree last night and decorated it so now it really does feel like the Christmas season has started. I haven't gotten any shopping done, so it hadn't really hit me yet. But I love having a tree that smells so good in the house. 22 more days!