Thanksgiving

on the road








fiona's new photo
"smile"









this year we spent thanksgiving with my family, which i haven't done for years. we went to st. george and really had a good time with all the kids playing on the red rocks. unfortunately, my camera batteries died before we got to play on the rocks so i have to rely on josh who was smart enough to bring his camera phone for the fun pics.
we also made reindeer shirts for all the kids. we used their foot print for the face and their hand prints for the antlers. it was a lot of fun, a great mess and turned out really cute. Ian loves his and wants to wear it everywhere. i did get a picture of all the cousins in their shirts (it was quite the trial of patience to get all those kids sitting down together, not picking their noses and most looking at the camera).

Lil' Lady Lyds

If you feel like I just did this, well I feel the same way. Having two children with birthdays 10 days apart sure makes for a continually festive atmosphere at our home. I got a little break from posting this because a virus tore through our computer (it was ugly!), fortunately, we have super mark who saved all the important stuff for us and cleaned up the mess.
Lydia turned 1 on Friday the 13th. It was a very unfortunate day for me as the mother, I'm just not ready for her to not be my baby anymore. I tell everyone that it feels like she's only about 6 months old and that's where I want her to stay.
She has quite the personality and we enjoy her so much. She's not walking yet, thank heavens. She has found the drawers and as she opens them she shakes her head 'no' and laughs because she knows that she's not supposed to. When she's excited she points, grunts and kicks her legs. Just like Austin & Wesley she can curl her tongue (Ian, Fiona & I are genetically blessed with that talent) and when she's concentrating it's usually twisted. She 'kisses' everyone goodnight with me and she loves to drop things and say 'uh-oh'. She reminds me how fun and how wonderful my other babies were, too. I miss them and I know that I'll miss her and find it incredible that I could ever forget.

Create

I have always loved to create and make things, to learn how to, to share ideas about creating. I LOVED this talk when I first heard it; it spoke to my spirit and clearly pointed out to me that this truly is a divine quality that has been passed down to each of us from an "endlessly creative" Heavenly Father.
Create

Ee-Bee

I don't know how we came up with that nickname for Ian, but it's what I've always called him. Elections remind me of Ian. It was a big election year (Bush vs. Gore) when Ian arrived. The spot where the amniocentesis had been done was feeling a little weird, not really painful just not right. Austin and I took baby Wesley (10 months old), down to Mt. Loafer Elementary to vote. The line was insanely long, it seemed like everyone was there to make sure that Gore did not get into office. We stood in line with our baby for over an hour. I fortunately was offered a chair to scoot in line with me so I could sit every once in a while and rest my swollen legs. That night, well actually early the next morning, I wasn't sleeping well and I got up for a moment. Suddenly my water broke, just like in the movies, and I was glad that it wasn't in a cab or the supermarket or on a crowded street where it's usually scripted to occur. Ian arrived November 3rd shortly after. We gave him the middle name of Harold and he reminded me of Grandpa Harry in little ways. We've heard that he looks just like a Davis ever since.
Ian is my buddy, my momma's boy with muscles, a love of wrestling & accessories (like ugly cowboy boots, and goggles) and my determination (or stubbornness, depending on what the situation is). He's his daddy's little clone, though with mom's brown eyes.
Ian means 'Gift from God' and after all I went through emotionally and physically to get him here (his stubbornness to only arrive after his brother miraculously came to our home) he truly is my gift from a very loving Heavenly Father.
HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY EE-BEE!!!

sick baby

our little lydia has had a horrible fever since early Sunday morning (2am) and just hasn't been herself. we canceled Ian's family birthday party. i've been up every night trying to keep up on the tylenol and ibuprofen. her fever was always up around 102 or 103 and she just wasn't herself. she's a great baby and doesn't complain or cry much, but she just wasn't the same. she didn't want to play or interact much, just snuggle. it's so sad.
this morning i woke to find her back to her engaging and happy self, fever gone. it's so nice to have our sweet, silly and talkative lydia back; i really missed her.

BOO!

our halloween was wonderful. we had a great time hosting a party that filled our home with fabulous people and energetic kids. we loaded up on candy and scared the kiddies at our ward's trunk or treat (i feel trunk or treats are the way to go). and we were able to visit grandma davis (i LOVE her caramal popcorn balls), grandma johna (she knows my weakness for caramel apples) and grandpa and grandma denie (the kids each got their own special box of capt'n crunch, yummy). austin's costume by far outshown the rest and amazed all our friends. he went as darth maul, full makeup and all.
it was a great costume! he even wore it to school when they had parent teacher conference (our district did some crazy scheduling this year) and i think it helped the parents realize that they shouldn't mess with this guy;) i hurriedly threw together a spider web costume (which may make many of you snicker if you read my previous post; it was really fun, easy and i got a lot of positive reviews from it. wesley this year wanted to be a ghastly drooling graveyard ghoul (it's from the book 'by the light of the halloween moon' which we have been reading to our children for years each october). he carried around some bones (made from tinfoil and masking tape), smeared dirt on his face and had a shovel, he was in heaven. ian was a gargoyle (his new fascination, and the theme of his birthday party to come). we found some great wings at taylor maid, scary teeth, pointy ears and a loin clothe belt (look up the cartoon gargoyles) and he was a great gargoyle. fiona refused to have anything to do with the costume that my mom had bought last year (a very cute red&black butterfly) so we had to improvise quickly. i was able to put together a cute and simple princess outfit that she loved and now resides in the dress-up box for play. lydia let me dress her up as a butterfly, hat and all.