Christmas Humor

While in Sacrament Lana was looking at a picture book, of Jesus's stories, belonging to our friends. She would occasionally make a comment here or there about what she recognized. Then she came to the picture of the Angle appearing to the shepherds in the field to tell of the baby Jesus coming. She turns to me  and says "Mama, are these the wise guys?"

                                                I love children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ward Christmas Party

Can you believe it Christmas is next week!!! 

This year our ward did a Mexican Fiesta. It was fun but more than anything it was yummy.

 They had pinatas for all ages. Not going to lie if Brother Mattson had not moved the pinata Emma would have been the one to break it open. Which really was for the better that she didn't because she was the second person to go, Maddy was the first. Lana was so sad though. She had looked forward to this part the whole night and didn't get to hit it. It broke from a little boy younger than Lana. He was sooo cute. When he hit it and it broke the bottom off he was so worried that it was broken with no care that candy was spilling out and kids where going in like wolfs. He went with worried eyes to the closest person to tell them he broke it.

 I have the girls hitting it on video! I was cheering Maddy on then it was Emma's turn and I began to holler at the kids to move or they would be impaled. The whole night was pretty good. I was expecting the worst since Randall had a final and I had to do it "solo". That was the second Christmas Party this month that Randall missed because of a final. The nice part is that we had something to do while he was gone.

Thanksgivchristmas

That's what it seems like now adays eh? We have a little Thanksgiving and shoot right into Christmas, that is if we even stop for thanksgiving...we did, but not for the whole day. I even went out at midnight to shop. Usually I am a stickler about tradition and it being done on the "right day". This year I learned from last year! I had to decorate alone with the kids and it was fun...but lets face it it was hard. Then add on top of that to have a mobile baby around, yeah no thanks. Randall had a deck to build so we did it sooner rather than later.

So here we have finished our thanksgiving feast had desert at the neighbors and on to decorating! I held the baby and Randall had "help" from the girls.  :)   It wasn't to bad...

Foretelling?

I was doing laundry and noticed a squeaky sound. Lo and behold Lana had left her "cell phone" in her pocket and it got washed. Lets be grateful this time it had no batteries!

Huskies vs. Buffaloes

This is the front of Folsom Field, where the University of Colorado Buffaloes play their home football games. We had to park off-campus since any parking at the University was a flat $20 ... besides, CU is a green campus, so walking is better for the planet, right?

That trailer is for Ralphie, the school mascot. She's a 1,300 pound buffalo who runs around the stadium before the games start, and also before the second half starts. You can see her running with her "runners" if you look really close.

This is the football field just as the Huskies were coming into the stadium pregame. The seats eventually filled up, though the CU student section stayed pretty bare.

Here's the Husky football team just before the second half started, waiting to get on the field.

This is a section of Husky football fans. There was a lot of purple in the stadium at this game.

This is towards the end of the game, when the Huskies were up 31 - 3, and the majority of the CU fans had been filtering out of the stadium. Even when the CU fans were gone, there were still a bunch of Husky fans left.

Here's a kickoff late in the fourth quarter after the Huskies scored another touchdown.

This is a picture of the barren CU student section. The stands looked like this the entire game.

Here, the Huskies are driving for their final touchdown to go up 38 - 3, which ended up being the final score.

Dinner conversations

The older our kids get the more I'm convinced that the Prophet told us to have family dinner/time so we could hear things like this from our kids:
 Conversation #1- Maddy-- "Mommy can I have that?" (That being the Parmesan cheese I was using.)              
                             Daddy--" Maddy use the P word :)"
                              Maddy--" (looking clueless yet in deep thought) Cream Cheese?"
      We know what our words start with I promise. When hunger gets in the way its hard to think clearly!

Conversation #2- Daddy--"If your happy and you know it chew on a toy flag"(singing to our foster baby in    his lap)
                            Emma--(realist voice of all seriousness, and the dry facial expression to go with it.)"Well I'm happy and I'm not going to chew on a flag because that's yucky."


I love times like these. They offer a great laugh and remind you why you do it all.

The Child Whisperer, Carol Tuttle's new book

The Child Whisperer, by Carol Tuttle

For those of you who are familiar with energy profiling, and Dressing Your Truth, The Child Whisperer will build on the knowledge you have, and help you make more sense than ever on how to help your children be true to their nature.

For everyone else, if you have kids, you need to read this book. Have you ever wondered if there was a “way” to raise your children? Well, as you already know, each of your kids is different. The tricks or methods you used to help teach, or discipline, one of them rarely, if ever, works the same way on different children. Each child comes with different quirks and personalities, and each one of those things makes them wonderful and unique. But at the exact same time, each one of your children comes with unique and perplexing difficulties.

The Child Whisperer is a unique book. It takes what you know about your children, and helps you create a roadmap for each one. It allows you to get inside each child’s head, or rather their nature. 

If you’ve ever wondered why one of your children seems more reserved, or willing to obey you, while the next one seems to bounce off the walls, exuding enough energy to arm a nuclear bomb, you are most definitely not alone. The wonderful thing about Carol Tuttle’s book is that is equips you with the ability to identify your child’s nature, what makes them tick, and how to help them live true to who they are. 

There are four basic types of energy, and each person predominantly lives their live, whether they know it or not, around one of these types. Each type of energy processes thoughts differently, reacts differently to any given situation, and even loves differently. The Child Whisperer will first help you identify which energy type your child is, and then it will give you suggestions and tips on how to help that child learn and act in ways that honor who he or she is.

This book is so helpful you can’t not read it. I read it, and already I have been able to see a difference in my children. They are happier, and I am happier.

Follow this link and check out the website … and the book. You’ll be glad you did.

DU Hockey - Opening Night

Welcome to Magness Arena. That's the DU goalie. He had a solid night, only letting one goal get in. This was our (Gwen and I), first ever live hockey game.

We had a grand old time. A co-worker of mine said her father, who has season tickets, gave her a couple of hockey tickets, but she was not going to use them. She asked if I wanted them and I gave her a tentative yes, and promptly called Gwen ... who promptly said yes.

I texted the babysitter ... who promptly said yes.

SCORE!

Notice the goalie in this picture is a little bit smaller than the one above? Well, this is pee-wee hockey. It was really fun. No goals were scored, but that little goalie did make a nice save. The kids followed the puck like a bunch of little bees. It was great.

 We didn't know what to expect, our only real hockey experience coming from Disney "Mighty Ducks" movies ... needless to say, this is a fun spectator sport. People were getting slammed into the walls, punched, pushed around ... I'm just going to be frank with you: I was only disapointed about one thing ... that both benches didn't clear in a fight. That would have capped off an otherwise awesome night.

We even learned stuff about hockey.

You can just make out the scoreboard here. At the time it was 1-0, DU was up. The final score was 5-1. DU won.

The highlight of the night was really just unsportsmanlike conduct ... but hey, it was ESPN worthy.

DU was flying down the ice with the puck, a four on three advantage. The center whipped the puck to the wing, drawing one defender to the side. The wing faked a shot, getting his defender to hesitate a little bit, and the shot a pass up the middle to his charging teammate who secured the puck and shot it in one fluid motion, to the goalie's stick side.

Deflected.

The puck shot back and another DU forward shot it, as all three defenders, and all four DU players converged ... the goalie reached out and caught the puck. The whistle blew.

As the scrum was getting cleaned up, a DU player shoved one of his opponents forward. He tripped over the goalie, and flew, face first in to his own goal. It was a thing of beauty.

Foster care!

We got our first placement on Friday. He is an adorable 5 month old, really easy going, talkative, and giggly. We haven't determined yet if he is type one or type two...Carol Tuttle we need your help! The girls have been loving him over the top. Emma said she would like two babies now. I believe it's because I don't let her do literally everything for him. They have all been great helpers though!

Red Robin

                                                                       Beautiful I know!

 One of our favorite treats from Red Robin is the root beer floats! I had never been to Red Robin till I met Randall's family in Washington. And now it is one of my favorite places to go. This too was a while ago, but its never to late to post!

Camping

              I totally for got to put these pictures up from this summer when we went camping!
We had some yummy food as you can see! above is what is called a pocket pie, Yummo.

 Lana found some charcoal and was coloring with it, and as any artist gets involved in their work she neglected to not touch her face.

 Maddy hard at work tearing down camp. It was worth it to them, b/c the reward was a ride in the wheelbarrow when you unloaded it!

                         Randall getting some horseshoes in with the youngish men before we leave.

Sweating to the 80's?

Family Fun Time

Ballet

This is a picture I got of Emma doing ballet. I love the whole composition of this picture! We have cute little girls doing ballet with a great teacher, lots of Mom's saying ahhh and waiting a peek at their princesses, and then Maddy completely board to be there when its not her turn.

FALL

            For FHE this past Monday we painted our pumpkins that was got from last FHE. 

                                                Our pumpkins started out with faces but then....

                                       We left the paint in front of them and they kept going!

                                                       This is just because he is funny. :)

Yeehaw!

 We spent the evening on Diana's farm, she is a friend from Randall's work. I was so fun. We had "snacks"(it was really dinner!) and horse rides an plain old rughin' around! most everyone in the office came with some family members too.

 Lana was really nervous at first. She had the death grip on Diana's hand and it was hard to transfer it to my hand, but after a few rounds she let go of me all together!

                                                    By this point she was saying yeehaw.

                                                  We were all prepared for our photo ops.

 Cain was perfect for Emma he tugged and chased and pulled on Emma. It was a dream come true for her. Her sisters play with her but not as rough as he did, ah heaven!

 Not going to lie this was one of my most favorites! Nadine chasing the kids around the yard. The best one I didn't have my camera ready, but one of the kids told Bev to get Nadine and so she did. It was hilarious to watch two grandmas playing like the kids!

                                      We plan on going with Diana to the Westernairs show this fall too!