To catch up

I really need to catch up with everything... I feel like I'm behind on it all!  Isn't that normal though?  I remember a time in my life when everything was done quickly and efficiently... oh well... Jer was amazing on Saturday though.  He got our carpet put back down, and the furniture back in the right place, the Christmas lights on the house, and cleaned the garage to boot... Ada's had the flu, Sammy's doctor says that he's not gaining weight... (not really worried, but it is weird... he was in the 54% when he was born... now he's in the 5%...), we got to see the amazing Christmas lights at Temple Square with my parents, McKay and Sophie's family, and my Uncle Reid.  We also went to visit the neatest store ever... "10,000 villages" in Sugarhouse.  McKay's back east again... we were hoping he'd be here for Christmas, but at least he's not in Afghanistan anymore.  We went to Becca's super fun Christmas party.  We celebrated my mom's birthday at the Texas Roadhouse.  And tonight we're celebrating Sharon's birthday... and wishing McKay a good one long distance style.  We have all our Christmas decorations up.  Ada says that it makes the house happy.  And we're in the midst of planning for Jer's birthday/chocolate party.  And I got to go with the YW to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU... AMAZING!  I loved it and I'm excited to go again. All that plus the RS Christmas party, YW Christmas party, Jer doing tithing settlement, the Ward Christmas breakfast, crocheting group, play group, Ada's school nativity and the normal activities like cleaning the house, babysitting, piano lessons, Mightyauthors work, Ada's joy school, being preggers, etc... and we're tired... and the holidays haven't even started yet...

Isn't it ironic?

Isn't it ironic that one of Jer's favorite meals is one that the kids won't eat?  Sammy paints with the Beef Stew and Ada only wants bread if that's an option...

Birthday present...

Jer, like the last 5 years has asked for a chocolate dipping party for his birthday.  Do you know anyone else (besides Jim of course) that would be happy with a couple hundred dollars worth of dipping chocolate for his birthday?

Monumental firsts

So... we had a couple of changes in our kids lives lately... it's fun, but a little frustrating too... Neither of my kids like major changes... Ada was moved into a bunk bed.  She loved it until she discovered that she was afraid to climb down on her own... I'm trying to teach her, but she gets scared about physical things easily.  Sammy was moved into a toddler bed and when he's used to that we'll move him into the bottom bunk in Ada's room.  He likes the freedom to get out and play when he wakes up and he's getting better about not crying when I put him down for a nap.  And last but not least... Sammy started Nursery yesterday.  We were really scared because Sammy is clingy... but for the first hour when they played with toys he was happy and more than willing to go in there without a parent.  For the second hour he wanted Jer in there with him... even though he did enjoy snack time quite a bit.  It's funny... Ada was in Nursery at 16 months because we were helping out in there.  She seemed old enough to handle it... but Sammy seems so young!  Maybe because he's a boy and he's not the oldest... it's funny though isn't it?

Zuzu pets... not a fan

So, I never really knew what a zuzu pet was until last night... we went to a family dinner at Jer's uncles house... and all the kids were chasing this zuzu pet around.  I thought it was cute and Ada liked playing with it... I thought, "Maybe I'll get one of these for her sometime..." Then one of my neices put it in my hair while the wheels were going... and of course my hair just wrapped right up around the thing and I couldn't get it out.  I let her know that this was something that you don't put it people's hair because it gets stuck and hurts... Jer's cousin had to help me get it out because I couldn't.  Not two hours later... a different neice did the same thing to me.  I told this neice that we don't put things like that in hair because it gets stuck... luckily I could get this one out myself... but I don't know why I'm such a target but I don't think I want to buy Ada zuzu pets any time soon.

Snow post

Of course when you get this much snow dumped on you in one day you need to write a post about it!  We went to bed Saturday night with no snow and woke up Sunday morning with 6-8 inches of it... After church I let the kids go out and play in it... I took a couple of pictures but for the most part I was out tromping around it in after the kids...  the other pictures are of the aquarium trip we took with the kids the day after Thanksgiving.

My favorite cell phone fotos...

So... here are my favorite pictures off Jer's cell phone.  I found them when we were cleaning off his card the other day.

Temple Trip

We just had the funnest temple trip.  We took the day and went up to play games and hang out with Jer's brother's family in SL (John and Diane).  Which... I haven't played that fun a game of Mafia for years!  After the kids were fed and in jammies we headed off to do sealings at the SL temple.  There's something special about kneeling across the altar from your spouse and listening to those promises that were given to you at your own wedding and knowing that you're making it possible for others to have those blessings.  Then we went to eat dinner together at a restaurant in the Joseph Smith building... It's called The Garden and I'd never eaten there before.  I got the vegitarian lasagna and YUM. Thanks John and Diane for the night out and Thanks Ruth and Kate for tolerating our kids!

Thanksgiving....

What can I say?  It was fun and we ate a lot!  First we went to my parents house to help cook and set up because my mom and sisters were working or out of town... so it was my dad, Uncle Reid, and me... I will say that I love Reid's cooking.  Yummy stuffing!  My mom got home in time for good food and for Uncle Lee and his family (Trista, Braxton and Davin) to come.  Grandma Wilcox was there too.  (I think she would have preferred to be at home.  She was tired and rather bewildered at whatever was going on.  She even told me not to take pictures of her because they were just pictures of someone that was happier where they were.)  Then we cleaned up our big mess and talked for hours... before I took a small nap and we left for the Robertson's.  We had Jay, Becca and her fam, John and his fam, Emily and her fam, Amy and her fam, and Jim and Judy all there... it was fun and the kids were noisily content to be with each other.  I do have to admit that after all the work and noise of the day I was really ticked off when Jer's sister came into the room... tells everyone off for not helping mom and dad with the dishes... and then promptly leaves to plan her black Friday all night shopping trip and leaving her two brothers and their two pregnant wives to clean up after the 30 some odd people that had eaten.  I wouldn't have minded as much her just coming in and saying, "Hey guys, help out..." if she had helped out too... oh well.  And I usually don't mind cleaning up at the Robertsons... but I had just cooked and cleaned up Thanksgiving at the Wilcox's... I was kind of tired of it.  So I got grumpy.  But all in all... it was fun to hang out with the families that are our dear friends and remember all the things that we are thankful for... including dishwashers and not having to cook over camp fires.  Thanks all for a great Thanksgiving!

The grass is greener...

I got Sammy out of bed.  He was smilely and happy... but when I went to change his diaper he started struggling and pouting... and said, "Daddy... Please!"

A little late...

Here are some pre-Halloween pictures that I wanted to post but never did.