our christmas

Ian got a pirate kit book and this is his Pirate Face




We've had a great Christmas. We tried to keep gifts and traditions simpler and it really seemed to help us enjoy the time together as a family more. Tuesday we went to Temple Square. We got there pretty early in the evening so there were fewer people and we only stayed for about half an hour or so. It was just right and we left before the kids got too cold or cranky. We then went to the Training Table restaurant and introduced the children to their new favorite food: cheese fries. Wesley and Fiona were in absolute heaven!
Christmas Eve we got the great news that Austin's parents would be able to make it back from Portland after all. They had been caught there in the snow storm that hit over the weekend. All flights had been canceled and we thought we wouldn't be seeing them until the Sunday after Christmas. But Jon's determination and Nadene's patience found them home to celebrate with us. So we went first to Grandma Davis' home for dinner and visiting with the Davis cousins. Then we went to Grandpa and Grandma Dee Nee's to reenact the nativity with Mark and Amberlee's family. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car and the wind was so strong and cold I decided not to go back out to fetch it. I'm hoping Amberlee or Alli will take pity on me and send me copies of their pics (hint, hint).
Christmas morning came at 8am (I'm sure we're getting close to not being able to sleep in on Christmas morning any more; this is probably one of our last years.) The children had a great time and absolutely LOVED their gifts. Wesley got a garbage truck, Ian a rescue helicopter, Fiona a baby and stroller of her own, and Lydia got a lullaby glowworm (I know she had know idea, but I felt horrible not getting her something.) They also each got a book, candy, and other fun things from us and family.
We had brunch that morning at Tina's house. She is an excellent cook and everything was so yummy. I took my camera in that time, but never took a picture. I just totally dropped the photo-op ball on that one.
We've enjoyed the snow and have spent a lot of time playing games and having fun with the kids.
We hope that all of you have had a wonderful Christmas as well. We are looking forward to celebrating the New Year and Wesley's birthday in the days to come. It seems like this time of year the fun just never ends.

hair cut

i just got the best haircut. i just love it(good job amberlee, you're amazing.) it's really similar to a cut that i had the year before we got wesley and it's so easy and fun.
this is the pic i took into her for reference

our tree tradition

we have a tree tradition that we've been doing since Austin & i started dating. it's been really fun and every year adds another great memory to our tree. like the one from the year we went to Hawaii. and the one that Dawnelle gave us when we found out we were being given the special gift of parenthood. each year everyone in the family gets to pick out a new ornament of their own. the first one was a Harley Davidson ball that i gave to Austin the Christmas he proposed. my favorite is the one we bought our first married Christmas together. we found it in a cool little store in lehi with lots of fun knick knacks and such. it's a golden frog with a crown. i fell in love with it the moment i saw it.
well, now we've included the children in this tradition and it's always interesting to see what they choose. One year Wesley chose a red ornament with glitter that looks like a corkscrew. he says it's his drill ornament.
that same year Ian chose the biggest ornament he could find. it's an old fashioned looking glass ball that is about 10 inches long (it's the first thing that catches your eye when you look at the tree).
this year we found the childrens' ornaments at Kmart and they are so darling. the boys both picked little wooden airplanes and Fiona found a crocheted teddy bear. we chose a wooden pull-toy penguin for Lydia and modgepodged her pic onto it (for each child on their first Christmas i like to put up an ornament with their picture). Austin and i are still looking for an ornament; i think it will be goal of our date night this weekend and I'll keep you updated as soon as we find the perfect one. here's the pics of this year picks. enjoy.

lots of pics

we finally got all the pics from the camera to the computer (i'm slowly catching up on everything). so here are more pics of our adorable family, i know you just can't get enough.

lydia the tattooed lady

The Muppet Show Lidia the Tattooed Lady - Funny blooper videos are here
the doctor that helped deliver Lydia sang this to us during the c-section. he even had it as a ring tone on his phone. so we wanted to share one of our favorite version of it. enjoy

Lydia Nadene 11.13.08

she's finally here and she's beautiful & healthy. her brothers & sister are very glad to have her & mom home.
7 lbs 6 oz
21 1/2 inches

first snow fun

The excitement of the first snow get better every year with the boys. As soon as breakfast was done, I ran downstairs to dig out the snow clothes. The first thing they asked me as they ran out the door was, "can we eat the snow?".
the boys devouring the snow off the slide
ian making a snow angel



fiona was mystified by the weird behavior of her brothers and all their excitement.

dress up fun

we bought the boys some halloween costumes yesterday for their dress up box. i love getting them on sale. we got a knight and a firefighter. fiona got a hold of the knight helmut and i got quite a laugh out of these pics.

what a weekend!!!

okay, this is going to be quick. I want to get our Halloween photos and Ian's birthday pics up.
Halloween was lots of fun, I love the idea of trunk or treat. It makes trick or treating so fast and easy. And the kids get a TON of candy. Then we have plenty of time to visit all the grandparents, one of our favorite parts. Austin was Marvin the Martian. Most of his 5th grade class had no idea who he was (the same thing happened when he went as Sloth from Goonies last year and Mr. T 3 years ago.) What child hasn't seen Loony Tunes!? I was a queen bee. I thought it was the most appropriate costume for me this year. And some days I feel like a queen bee with lots of little ones buzzing around. Ian said I wasn't a queen bee, I was a princess bee because I'm a cute girl. So Sweet. Wesley was a slice of pizza.
It was all his own idea. We were as surprised as everyone else. It turned out great and was a lot of fun. He got lots of comments, and he'd tell anyone that said they wanted to eat him that he'd throw pepperoni at them. Ian was a robot. Most of his costume fell apart by the end of the night, but he loved it and had a lot of fun. He practiced talking like a robot for days (he got really good at it, too.) Fiona really loves sheep right now. So she was very excited to be a lamb. She even kept her hat on for most of the night (especially, if we kept her distracted with candy.) She looked darling and is very good at saying "BAA!"
The day after Halloween, Ian had a little birthday party with some of his friends. I wanted to invite his whole sunbeam class, but their was no way could do a party that big. Maybe next year. He wanted a medieval theme: Castle cake (I hate cake decorating and cussed the darn thing all morning, but the boys thought it was great so it was all worth it), shield decorating, an obstacle course for the brave knights which included riding a stick horse, climbing the rock wall to kill an ogre (Austin was such a great sport, some of those boys were relentless with a sword), and saving the damsels (Fiona's baby doll and a fuzzy green monkey) from the dragons. We really had a lot of fun and the weather was wonderful. Sunny and warm, it was so nice to have the whole party outside. I never thought any of our kids (who all have winter birthdays) would ever have an outdoor party. We got pretty lucky.