Christmas Morning

I wanted to make a slide show for all these Christmas picture, but when I went to slide.com they are shutting down March 6th. DUMB! So I wasn't sure how to do a slide show as a post any other way, so here they all are. Sorry about all the scrolling. I widled it down as best as I could.

Also, planning a Christmas for 6 people is no small feat. Food and laundry is a lot less of a stress than Christmas for all of us. Whew! But I think it was a success. Everyone seemed happy.

Which is worse, getting shoes for Christmas, or your mom making you pose for a picture with them?!

Enjoying the show . . . a day in the life of Scarlett

Yay! New banks with spots for missionary funds and tithing!

The weather has been so nice we even got lucky enough for a beach day with the Smiths!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

Count Down to Christmas

I got a little creative with our count down this year. I wanted one advent calendar not one for each person and I wanted something simple that the boys could make as a project.

So here it is, a hybrid of sorts--half paper chain/half Hershey's Kiss.

I kind of like it. It's sparkly, spikey and seems to suit my boys. (this is the chain at the beginning of the month, it's much shorter now! The kisses seem to be the highlight of the bedtime routine these days.)

And I had to make Miss Scarlett a matching stocking all of her own for her first Christmas.

It looks pretty great up there with the whole family. The mantel is looking pretty full, don't you think?

I love that our Christmas mantel feels like Spring a little. I'm so glad to be enjoying sunshine and 60 degree weather again this year.

So there you go Santa. The stocking are hung by the chimney with care. And we are pretty excited for you to visit!

How I Like My Snow

The shops from the historic part of town host a Christmas celebration every year. They close down the street and have a vintage car show, balloon artist, petting zoo, Santa, hot chocolate and cider, barber shop quartet, and all sorts of neat things.

They also truck in some snow and build a snow slide. The boys loved it.

Notice Luke is in his flip flops. I love it.

These two stayed close and weren't too sure about all the snow balls flying. Which was great. Two less kiddos to drag out of the snow pit.

Hope you have some snow to enjoy where you are. Merry Christmas!

A New Tradition

This last Sunday we went to a new kind of Christmas performance. We drove into LA for the 6th Annual Gospel Music Jubilee presented by the LDS African American Affairs Committee.

It was pretty amazing. It was held in the chapel of the LA 1st Ward just behind the LA temple. The chapel had balcony seating. We were lucky enough to get the front row of the balcony so the boys had a perfect view. The choir seats were eye level for them. Their organ was old and had gorgeous old pipes behind the choir. They brought in drums too which was great. The first group was perfectly dressed. The ladies all wore red and the men all black with red ties. It was gorgeous to look at not to mention listen to.

There were several different groups that sang. My two favorites were the quartet of HS age boys that sang acapella and the LA Inner City Mass Choir. The mass choir has such heart and a wonderful rich sound. The boys quartet had beautiful clear harmony. It was heart melting.

Although it was unorthodox to have drums, clap to the beat and sing along with the choir as cued, it was amazingly spiritual. So uplifting and happy. My boys really loved the music and Owen couldn't keep from staring at the man behind us with dreadlocks. (maybe someday Owen.)

Afterwards we went over to see the lights at the temple and tour the visitors center.

Great night. Totally worth the drive. See you next year.

Teacher Gifts

This season we had a plethora of avocados. Mike cleaned out the trees, re-worked the sprinklers and all his work paid off. It's kind of fun to have a mini avocado orchard in our yard. We have two types--Hass and Fuerte.

We also had a plethora of teachers to give gifts to. Ten teachers to be exact. This all due to job-sharing, a multi-age class, student teachers and teaching assistants.

So, to kill 2 birds, three actually--the project kept the boys positively engaged for quite a while, we gave away avocados this year for Christmas.

All laid out and ready for delivery.

Turned out pretty good huh?

It was heartfelt, personal and inexpensive. Genius. Might need to be a tradtion.

I did also send a couple gift cards in too. Especially to Owen's preschool teacher who takes Owen everyday 7:40 - 1:30 for $65 a month. We need to stay on her good side for Scarlett in a few years.

Pretty Much Sums Up the Season

Why My Mortgage is Worth Every Penny

The end of a quiet culdesac. It's perfect for little boys.

As long as you don't go past the fire hydrant, you're good. (Mom has to be able to see you from the front windows.)

And street soccer in flip-flops? Why not?

Look Mom! See how fast I can go?!

Take a picture of me mom!

Sometimes the neighbor kid in Luke's class at school comes down to hang out. It's a party.

Sometimes I think my mortgage is crazy expensive, but it's December. We're in short sleeves and flip-flops, I never shovel or blow snow, and we just play, play, play.

5 Months

The great thing about getting older (not that I'm super old or anything), is that you get better at knowing what to worry about. It seems there is less drama left in me--little dumb things matter less. It seems you get better at knowing what to just enjoy.

With baby no. 4 I am just enjoying her. She'll only be little for a short time. Who cares if she she never rolls over (she did though by the way). She will sleep through the night someday. She'll walk too. So when? Who cares. She's healthy, happy and so dang cute. And that's all that really matters.

Here's some fav's from floor time on Sunday.




She loves her fingers.

She is so happy, so content, so cute. And it's all just SO fun.

Hope your week is off to a good start.

Crazy Hair Day

He was too chicken last year to participate. He thought he would be the only one or something. But this year it was all he could talk about in the days leading up. No hair cut for him . . . gotta grow the mohawk out!

This guy wanted in on the action too, so he was pretty much the coolest kindergartener at school that day. (Except for the kid whose mom actually shaved him a mohawk with writing on the sides, but I'm just not that crazy.)

Owen asked for for a style too, but the brothers told him he has crzy hair everyday. !!! I told him they just wished they had his hair everyday. He'll be at their school next year. Maybe we'll have to pick it out and poof it for crazy hair day.

Good times.

In case you were wondering

How many bbq ribs do a couple hungry missionaries from Texas and his Missouri eat after fasting for 24 hours?


Love those guys. When I told them at church we were having ribs the smiles on their faces were priceless. Glad I went ahead and baked all 7 lbs that I had. They were sure hungry and grateful.

The Constant

This is my view every morning from my bedroom window.


I love it. I smile everytime I take a minute to look at it. Sometimes I'm too busy to stop for a minute and soak it in, but it's always there.

I just have to remember to look and then my morning is a little bit brighter, a little bit happier.

This last week has been a little interesting. I've learned a lot about people and what makes people great or not so great. Life is what you make of it. It's your perspective, your attitude and how you choose to treat others. When faced with a hard situation what do you do? When the chips are down, how do you play your hand? By watching the poor behavior of other(s), I've more deeply committed myself to being kind, grateful, generous, and thoughtful. I would never want to be the person who hurts or humiliates another, even if I don't particularly like them.

I want say I'm very grateful this holiday season for the things that matter. My beautiful children, my faith, my husband who takes such good care of me and loves me more than anything, for my parents who have not only provided life's necessities growing up, but taught me how to love others, for all the love others have shown me, and for all the special miracles in my life. I'm truly blessed.

And each night, good or bad day, I know the sun will come up the next morning and it will be pretty spectacular.

One Thing I'm Grateful For

This is my only sister and I at Thanksgiving with our cute babies born 12 days part.


I remember an aunt telling us once she thought we were so much alike at a baby shower. Julia and I said nothing and just looked at each other, like really? I've never thought I was anything like my sister at all. She's taller and thinner. She has thick long dark hair. She is super talented--she sings, writes songs and magically picks out melodies on the piano. She is a great athlete--a full ride division 1 volleyball scholarship to Texas A&M. She also paints--I have a couple pieces of her art hanging in my house. She is sweet, intuitive, creative, kind, graciously competitive and a hard worker.

She's heart and I'm head. She's soft and I'm sturdy. She's outside the box and I'm in it. She's spontaneous--wait and see, I'm a committed planner/organizer. It's not that we disagree, it's just our approach is always different.

I love her. She's wonderful. At times I have been a little sad that my whole life she's been several life steps behind me. (she's 6 years younger.) When I went to college she was starting jr. high. She was 15 when I got married. When we bought our first house she was in college. When I was having kids, she was in grad school and dating.

But you know what? Something pretty great and unexpected happened this year. Somehow we both ended up with babies at the same time--12 days apart. It was totally unplanned by us and very unexpected. A pleasant surprise for us and especially for the grandparents! So now for the next 18 years we will have one thing in common, a child doing the exact same things, all the same milestones, birthdays, etc.

This Thanksgiving she came down from Utah and we just played dress up and mommy.
We made matching fat turkey shirts for the babies. (I guess if you can't eat turkey you should at least wear it?!) We talked about feedings, sleep deprivation, height and weight charts, clothing sizes, rice cereal and binky preferences. It was really fun. It was really fun to be doing the same thing and the same time. Our life experiences are so different, as well as personalities, it's refreshing, helpful and fun.

Later I'll post some pics from our Santa suit dress up photo shoot. SOOO fun and so cute! I think Julia might use one for her Christmas card, so I don't want to spoil that.

Needless to say . . .

I did NOT go black Friday shopping.




I'm a little more of a cyber Monday kind of girl. ( =

Hope your holiday shopping is off to a good start. Wishing I were done!

We Named Her

The social workers have been really positive about us being able to keep her. The clock has run out for the great aunt. We signed the adoption information sharing release forms and parental rights are set to be terminated December 21st. Things are on track and going well. Thanks so much to all of you who have been thinking of us and praying for good things to happen. They are happening and it's wonderful. Thanks so much.

So we felt safe about claiming her as one of us and giving her a name. It it likely to be official late Spring/early Summer. It's a big deal to name your child. You have to both agree on it. You have to like it and think it suits the baby. And it's what parents get to do. They name their children. It feels really good to feel good about naming her. It's like reality has synced with my heart.

I'm a little sentimetal or cerimonial or something. I couldn't just start telling people her name. It was just too anticlamatic. To me it was a big deal, so it needed something. So we had a special naming ceremony. We had a delicious drizzled chocolate bundt cake. It's a ring symbolizing the forever nature of our family. Then each family member chose a candle to represent them out of the recycled birthday candle baggie. (yes, they have all been licked by different people multiple times and all put back into the same bag) Next each member of the family put their candle in the cake one at a time. As they put their candle in the cake we talked about when they were named, what their names are, what they mean, where their name came from, all their nicknames and former birth names, etc. After we did this for all of us, we added one cute little pink candle to the cake for our newest member and talked about her new name, where it came from and why we chose it.

It was a special night. I'm hoping that the fire and sugar help the boys remember it. Owen was a little sad, he said he still wanted to call her Sissy. We told him he could, it was really cute. Many of the nicknames we used started with S (Sissy, Sweetie, even Snickerdoodle, etc.) and the name her birth mother gave her also started with S, so it feels good that the name we gave her also starts with S.

That said, we named her Scarlett Jane.

This is my 400th post! Can you believe that?! And what a great thing to be posting. I think I need a give-a-way or something. I'll have to think on that today and see what I can come up with.