Here is the first of many Christmas posts...I promise. I just downloaded a billion photos and these had to go up first. So here is our sweet Lauren opening her presents from Santa Claus. She is very excited about the whole thing as you can tell. She has a toothbrush in her right hand and she LOVES to brush her teeth. Really. She also has a sassy purse and some jewelry. You can also just make out the Barbie. Every time we would go to Target and walk by the toys, she would yell, "I like a Barbie, too!" She thinks she is so grown up. She kept a death grip on these presents while she tried to open her others. Check back for more shenanigans.

A certain friend in California has not updated her blog since OCTOBER! It is so disappointing. She is a world-traveler and we were promised pictures...and what do we have? Nothing. In protest, I will not check her blog for a week. So there!
I was looking at my own blog and I realized I hadn't posted in a while. I'm sorry.
I did get a new camera for Christmas...so look forward to awesome pics all day everyday. Nathan got a camera from Santa. He calls it "the camera that never breaks". Um, let's not see if that is really true. I can just see him throwing it on the ground just to prove it will never break. He has been taking a jillion photos with it...it is digital people!
Enjoy:
As you can see, the resolution on it is excellent...but he loves it and they both love that you can see the pictures right after you take them! I love my new camera and will be catching up on much scrapbooking with it. Hear the angelic choir!

IT TASTES "FINITO"

Mom, this macaroni and cheese tastes finito! That's French. You're the best chef in the house.

Here are the lovelys at their Basque dance program. We taught the kids more festival dances...dances that large groups do at every gathering of Basque people. If you go to one of these functions, people do not let you stay in your chair. The dances are usually pretty easy for adults to pick up and so fun. Anyway, it was kind of nutty merging the groups, but they did it! And, most of the teachers just knelt in the middle to assist and encourage. Since you are all dying to know the names of the costume pieces, I will tell you! The shoes are called abarkak and they are leather and expensive. They both needed new pairs this year. Luckily, they last forever, so hopefully Nathan will be able to wear Riley's and Lauren will wear Nathan's. Nathan's hat is called a txapela. He has a sash around his waist, it is black and called a gerriko. Otherwise, he has a peasant coat and pants on. Riley's costume has no special names. But she has a headscarf, red satin dress, black apron and abarkak. After the dance show, Olentzero came to visit all the children and brought them presents. He came in on a chair carried on the shoulders of 4 men. The kids sing a song to make him come...it is very sweet. This concludes your daily lesson of all things Basque.

This is Nathan at his Christmas program at his preschool. It is a Christian preschool and I love this place! They started with a prayer and every class did something with Jesus in it. And their party on the last day is a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. Love it! Do you love his "handsome hair"?

So...finally! Here are the pictures from one of the best days we've had all year. This is Riley's baptism day!! Is she not the cutest?!?! The big picture is of the family gathered before the actual baptism. From left to right: Harvey, Sharleen, Papa Jim, Amatxi, me, Craig, GRANDPA GARY, George, Tammy and Emily. In the front row: Lauren, Riley, Nathan and Matthew.
We all headed down to the church for the big event. Craig baptized Riley with Grandpa Gary and our home teacher, Brother Hoppins witnessing. As I sat there, I was just overcome with gratitude for all that we have (not material possessions) and for the love that God shows to us EVERYDAY. Riley was happy and excited and a little nervous. She has such faith. She is a very good example to me and to her friends. I can't believe 8 years just whizzed by...but they did. I am enjoying the ride immensely. I am so proud of this little girl!!

Sisters!

So, no pics with this one either. I wanted to post a bit about my dad's surgery and all that went on around it. We drove all night to Cali to get there on Saturday afternoon. We hung around with my dad and on Sunday we went to his house and tried to make it comfortable for the visitors that would come after his surgery.
His surgery was on Tuesday and everything went well. A quadruple bypass. Completely routine. We do this all the time. Wow. They were very nonchalant about the whole thing, but to me, heart surgery is a big deal. Anyway, besides my family, my sisters came through like the rocks they have always been.
I am an only child. No siblings. Most of the time, I think this is a fine arrangement. But there are times when it would be nice to have other people to share the load with. Lucky for me, Heavenly Father blessed me with the most amazing friends. I really love these women. To see their names show up on my cell at the hospital was like a bit of sunshine in a gloomy place. The offer of help, prayers and genuine concern for my dad and our family was awesome. I took some of their pictures a while back, but I think they would kill me if I posted them. So ladies, no pics...but tons of love your way for the great examples you are to me and for the wonderful people you are!
Did I get too sappy? Sorry. Moving away was hard, but our ties are just as strong and I love that about us!

Hey y'all! I know I am slow getting the pics up...patience grasshopper! Here are 2 of my dear children outside the Bob's Big Boy in lovely Barstow, CA. Woot. We stopped here on the way back to Idaho after Thanksgiving. I love BBB. I have the best childhood memories of eating at BBB on Euclid in Ontario (sad note, it is now another Mexican restaurant). Anyhow, whenever we would go, I loved to climb all over this statue. I also thought we should call it Bob's Big Girl. That should tell you volumes about me as a wee tot. Craig was still inside waiting for them to give him back our debit card. The kids are happy because we are only 2 hours into a 14 hour odyssey! The tears came in Ely, Nevada! Also, we will not be sending Christmas letters this year because...we made a Christmas blog to add to every year. And we'll have pictures! And it will add to the excitement of Christmas! You can't wait!

I have lots to blog about from our trip to California and my dad's surgery. That will have to wait. We came home from our family trip to Old Navy and Lauren ran straight for the kitchen. She promptly fell and crashed into the cupboards. Then the silent cry. I picked her up and she started to cry and said, "head". The black/blue line on her head is her shiner! This picture is about a minute after she fell. Is this the saddest baby you've ever seen? She is sitting on her daddy's lap right now...poor little thing.

Here is Riley at her super-awesome party at the YMCA. She had chosen "Hula Girl" as her theme. We had a funny-face contest and I took pictures, but most of the funny faces ended up having mouths-open-with-food-inside to accentuate the funniness. So...those pictures will not be here (but you can see them in the scrapbook Riley is making). And the other pictures have other kids in them, and I'm not sure how the parents feel about that. Lucky you! Just my kids!!
Anyway, they went swimming and had cake.
Today is her very special day! If you see her, wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday Riley!
We love you!

For sure there won't be a picture with this post.

Today was kind of rainy and windy, so after I got out of the shower...I just put my hair in two braids. I never, ever do this...but it seemed like a good idea and I am bored with ponytails.

Anyway, Nathan comes in and says, "Mommy, you look really, really pretty today."
"Thanks Honey."
He continues to look at this amazing new hair do and says again, "Mommy, for real you really do look pretty today."

You have to know that I had (and still have) no make up on. Just the wet braids. Nathan tells me all the time he wants to marry me. Whomever he marries will have a low standard for prettiness!!!

Go Cougars! BYU did an amazing job on Saturday! Woot! This was my first BYU game since 1990 when I came with my dad, Katie, Darvel Allred and my roommate Amy. I don't remember much from that trip...long drive. While I was in college at SDSU, Craig and I attended a few BYU-SDSU games, but we didn't even know each other. So, 11 years later we attended our first BYU game as a couple. We had a blast! I will now begin the indoctrination of my children: YOU WILL GO TO BYU. I was having a grand time the minute I heard the marching band as we walked in the gate. The drum line was fantastic.
We saw Cosmo, but he wasn't nearly as good as my Cosmo. We walked around the campus after the game and bought a few things at the bookstore. I can't wait until next season!
***See Joneel? Here is a picture of me!

So how cute are these little people? Here they are on Halloween right before we went out to get candy. I think Riley makes a great Violet. And don't Craig and Nathan look just like Dash and Mr. Incredible? Lauren was so sweet as the kangaroo. She had a death grip on her candy bag. The awesome spider cupcake was made by yours truly for Riley's class. I used chocolate covered Oreos and when those ran out, I used chocolate mini donuts.
Happy Halloween!

If you were paying attention to the previous post, you would see that I did not post all the pictures of the trunk or treat! Oops. Totally a mistake. So...here are the Trunk or Treat pictures. Pictures from the actual Trick-or-Treating will be forthcoming.
p.s. I think Riley is doing the Cabbage Patch in this picture.

Happy Halloween! I know I'm early, but look at these smiles! Some of these are from our ward's Trunk or Treat. LG has learned to say, "Tick Teat" and of course, we give her lots of candy. Nathan's school had a fall fun day and since I wasn't the first mom there, I had to run the face-painting booth. Woot. I am not creative...but I always am willing to take one for the team. That awesome spider? Oh yeah, I did that! If I haven't mentioned it here, I LOVE Nathan's school. They are quality people from top to bottom and everything is organized so well. Love that place.
Anyway, the other pictures are of our "punkin" decorating. Aren't they cool? Some of the pumpkins actually came from our garden! Lauren is into yelling (for real) every time she sees a pumpkin..."punkin! punkin! puuuuuuuuuuuuunkin!" It is actually quite cute, but you need to acknowledge said pumpkin sighting or she feels slighted and keeps yelling about it.
I'll have more pics to post tomorrow. Jessie and Buzz are retiring for Violet and Dash!

For reals y'all!
I hate this next thing so much, I just added it my list on the right side of the page.
Once a week, I watch some kids from 2 other families. By doing this, 2 days a week I do not have any little people with me for 3 hours. This enables me to work in the classroom and get some things done that are infinitely more easily done without little people.
Anyway, this is generally a really great set up. Except I don't want to change other kids' gross diapers. I mean I really hate it. I already change my fair share of disgusting diapers...so the least these kids can do is keep that at home.
I think it is very fair to institute a new rule where your kid has to take care of all their pooping with you...then you can bring them over to me. I will gladly change wet diapers...no extra charge.

Check out the awesome font-changing! It makes you want to check back hourly!
(Hi Mom, I predict you won't see this for at least 2 weeks!)

My honey was just in the car with all the kids taking them to practice for the primary program tomorrow at church. They were all listening to the Clash...."Should I stay or should I go now?" Really, who doesn't love the Clash, especially with kids in the car? I digress.
Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I stay there will be trouble, if I go it will be double. X 100.

About mid-way through the song, Nathan says, "I think he should go now".

Love that kid!

Delicious!

I picked up Nathan from school today and he told me that his stomach was hurting.

Here's the conversation. Brace yourself.

M: Your tummy hurts? Did you eat something that didn't agree with you?
N: No. I think it was the potty water.
M: You drank out of the toilet? You put your face in the bowl?
N: No, I licked in the waterfall. (the urinal people!)
M: What!?!?
N: No, mom, there wasn't any pee in the waterfall. And I did it a long time ago.
M: When?
N: Maybe on Monday.

Words fail.

Corn Maze!!!

We took Amatxi and Papa Jim to the Corn Maze for his birthday. We went later in the year than we did last year, so most of the corn was on its way out. We ran all over the maze...it was a pirate ship!
We also went on the jumping pillow, the slides, the corn box, the hay ride, the cow train, the go-carts and we raced rubber duckies. We know how to have a good time. We topped it off with pizza and marble cake.
Lauren thought she was such a big girl, running all over that maze. She got mad on the jumping pillow and kept yelling at it...No! No! No! because she couldn't stay standing. She was not a big fan of the hay ride either.
Riley and Nathan liked it all.

Jackets need names.

Today Nathan told me that he had 2 jackets and they needed names so we could tell them apart.

I give you....Mr. Fluffy Buns for his fluffy jacket and Snowy Snow Snow for his snow jacket.

I will never mix them up again!

Tripling Warrior!

Nathan received this deluxe headband at church today. He learned that he can be a Tripling Warrior. We did convince him that the reason the Tripling Warriors had no shirts on was because they lived in a really warm place. He conceded that it is too cold here for him to go without a shirt, but it took awhile.
Hey...I think he makes a great Tripling Warrior even with his shirt on!

Here are my dancing ladies at the Harnival. They had a great DJ that played kid-friendly music. LG does the bounce and Riley loves to shake it. We also went on a hay ride, painted pumpkins, jumped in a bounce house, ate cotton candy, played games, danced, and had a hot dog lunch. The best part was doing all this together. The second best part is that it was all free! The people who fix our computers held a totally free Harnival to celebrate 5 years in business. We had a fantastic time and capped off our partying with a long nap for the girls and Tom and Jerry watching for the boys.

This is the one! Nathan's preschool class went to the Pumpkin Patch today and here is the coveted pumpkin. He didn't want a "handle" and they could only pick a pumpkin they could carry. We went on a hay ride, searched for pumpkins and ran our legs off in the straw maze. Nathan had a marvelous time. He even got to ride the bus! I took many other pictures of him...but they all show the name of his preschool on his shirt. I think it was a great idea to all have them wear a school shirt, but it does cut down on my posting abilities. Nathan is a treat! I love this kid!

Look! I went to Disneyland and California Adventure! And I'm sitting in the "C" of the word California! Get it?! And they painted the letters to look like candy corn. I love Disneyland. I've wanted to live there since I was little girl. We used to walk down Main Street and I imagined I lived above the stores.
I was there without my kids (so sad) and we rode all the rides you can't ride with little people.
It was fun!

This is our tomato! We grew this one and it is huge. It was yummy!
But, now I am looking at my hand. It looks a little weird.
Anyway, this is really the only red one we harvested. We pulled off a lot of green ones and they are sitting in the garage window sill.

Tom and Jerry!
No picture for this one. Today, Nathan and I were helping some sisters pick grapes for juice and jelly. Nate and I ended up on the canal side of this project in the brambles and stickers. Nathan found a used firecracker. It was a long one with the tube-like thing at one end.
He runs over to me and says, "This is one of those things you tie a mouse to". Seriously I had to think about it for a second and then I remembered that Tom ties Jerry to the firecracker! Nathan is a genius!
Also, today Nathan told me he wished our family all had pointy heads. I asked him why he wanted us to have pointy heads. "So we can spin balls on our heads actually". I could not make this stuff up if I tried.

Here is a picture of my grandpa and his family in 1916. My grandpa, Berkeley is seated in the front row in front of the little girl in the checkered dress (click on picture to enlarge). My great-grandfather, great-great grandfather and my great-great grandmother are also in this picture.
I love family history and actually getting to see the faces of the family that went before me. I like to imagine them looking down on me and my family. I hope to meet them someday for an awesome family reunion. On my dad's side we will partake of fried okra and pie. On my mom's side, it will be bread, cheese and fried potatoes. And we'll dance.

Isn't this picture cool? Craig and I spent some time on Monday night scanning a bunch of old pictures. This picture is my Amatxi and Aitaxti. There were attending a wedding in Spain and were part of a large group photo. I love how dapper they look.

Here is what you get when you make Riley mad during Sacrament Meeting. Also, she will stick her tongue out at you. Very nice. Nathan can't read so when he showed it to me, I told him it said "Nate is awesome". Yes, technically it does not say that. But, he is awesome.
Riley likes to write notes. Sometimes they say things like, "Mom, use this magazine to kill the bug on the stairs". She'll leave the magazine and the note at the bottom of the stairs. Since she was supposed to be in bed, she kept updating the note. "Now its getting higher". "Now its getting lower". She is all about information. Just ask her.

Peaches!

I spent Friday night bottling these peaches. Aren't they awesome? It was really fun and I love learning new things.
I hope our peach tree gives us peaches next year...because then we will really be in business.
Idaho rocks!

Nathan and Craig went to a Fathers and Sons outing with church. They slept in the back of the van. Nate loves spending time by himself with daddy. He had his own chair and I bought him a "Lightmeem McQueen" flashlight. He spent lots of time looking in the cracks of the bark on trees. If you want to party, you need Nate.