Our Christmas in Utah. The pictures and events are all out of order. Also, DON'T talk to Dave about all the snow we got here in Virginia while we were gone. Dave is very upset that we missed it all. We flew in to Regan airport and there was absolutely no snow. He was so mad. All he wants is to have a couple of days where we don't have to go anywhere because we are all trapped inside the house from snow. Too bad for him.

Polar Express. Siena was so excited for this. We have been reading the book all December to get her prepared for it. She loved it and was so excited to go. I was excited to get rid of the kids for the night. Siena woke up that day sick but was feeling better by the time they left for the train. Nana and Papa took everyone up the canyon to the train. Apparently Siena was so excited she fell asleep. I think she was so terrified of Santa that she fell asleep. Ben as you can see didn't like Santa either but only cried for a couple minutes. I kind of wish I was there to see them have so much fun but am glad Nana and Papa had time alone with the kids.

the Nativity

Siena was so excited about having her Belle bear as baby Jesus, then she decided she didn't want to hold it, so Cayden held it the whole time. Ben was a cute wise man and then was very attentive during the reading of Luke 2.

Shane being the cow that carried in the sheperd and then a hungry angel.

pajamas! can you tell how much Siena loved them. Ben loves pointing to the Santa all over his pajamas.

the Santa party

I was terrified that our kids would HATE this. They weren't too fond of it until they realized they got a gift out of it. When Santa came through the door Ben started crying and Siena wouldn't get off my lap the whole time. They were excited to break the pinata and for the candy.

Christmas morning. The racecar set wasn't for them but they loved it till they found their own toys.

Some of our favorite gifts. I told Nana not to buy us a lot because we had to take them back home. That didn't really work. Siena was done opening her presents as soon as the princess castle came out. She had three princess's to dress up and dance around with. She loved them and even got the boys to play with her.

Ben got a little people carnival. He has a great time with it. The basketball hoop that hooks on to the door was a favorite. We hooked it on to the back of a chair and he goes back to it all day long. I think he has every type of ball possible now.

Dave is hard to shop for. I know that anything I don't get him he will just go out and buy himself. He also is addicted to electronics and just wants the newest and greates thing. He got an iPod touch. It has kept him very busy and entertained.

Dave gave me a shopping spree. The day after Christmas I went out with my mom and went crazy. It was great. I got to shop without kids and find some fun new things. Siena wanted me to have new shoes so I got to go out and shop for those too. I also got lots of gift cards to all my favorite places. I am easy to shop for.

fun with the cousins. Amy pushing Ella. Christian, Cayden and Siena in the wagon. Little Evan leading the way. I don't know where Ben was.

Siena was always trying to dance with Cayden. Poor boy.

taking the car ride to the sleding hill.

Going to temple square. It was a crowded night but we got to walk around and see all the lights. The kids loved the reflecting pool.

Christmas in Utah

Ben sneaking the candy off the gingerbread houses

Siena ready to go and see the Princess and the Frog. Loved the movie!!!Nana getting her all decked out for the princess movie.

We had so much fun with my family in Utah. The kids were really good on the flight (thank goodness). The kids loved playing with the cousins. We kept cousin Cayden over another night because we didn't want to have to entertain our kids. They played so nicely together. We must have brought some sickness with us. It was awful. The second night we were there Siena threw up but we thought it was just because she ate candy all day. She was fine the whole next day then threw up all night and the next day. Ben got it, then I got it. Somehow it seemed to pass right by Dave. He never got sick. It is so sad when kids are sick so we quaratined ourselves to the basement but it still got to other people. Sorry guys. We still got to do a lot of things there and had a good time. Thanks Nana and Papa.

Happy Holidays!

(picture at the outer banks Thanksgiving 09)

We are off! We are attempting to go to Utah for Christmas. We are excited and hope that the kids will enjoy it. I am jut dreading the airplane ride but am excited to play with my family. I hope there are other crazy kids on the plane that are louder than mine. We have done a minimal job of decorating the house since we are leaving. The kids have had fun making gifts for their friends and candy. Tonight we went out and looked at lights all over town. They seemed to really like it. They are so easilly amused. It was fun though. So here we come Utah. Bring on the cold and snow.

Here is our Christmas card if one didn't seem to make it to you. We are leaving so early in Dec that it seems like there wasn't enough time to do much. We didn't get to go to any of the Christmas things in D.C. this year. The year has just flown by.

Happy Holiday!

Our Thanksgiving

Ben enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner after all of us were done. Luckily he slept throught the dinner so it was a little more peaceful for everyone else.

My cute boys enjoying the beach

having fun at the beach.

Enjoying a swim in the hot tub

Grandma and Siena decorating for Thanksgiving.

We decided to try something new this year. We love love love the beach. We love our yearly trip down to North Carolina outer banks. We decided to try it for Thanksgiving time. When we came back from our trip down there in August Dave's parents said that they would like to try it with us one year. It seemed like we should try it on the off season. It was reasonably warm and just nice and peaceful there, just what we needed this Thanksgiving. We had a beautiful house right on the beach. Then the week before we went a tropical storm, I think, named Ida came and totally drenched the outer banks. Most of the homes right on the beach had water damage. We didn't find out until we were about and hour away from our beach house that we couldn't stay in the one that we rented. So they found us another one a block away from the beach. It was nice and had a good view of the ocean. We went to our first booked house just to look at it and the deck that connects the house to the beach had fallen off and was hanging off the dunes and the first floor was flooded. Definately would not have been fun to stay in. We had pretty good weather. Mostly 50's to 60's. We went to the beach daily and our young nephews thought it was perfect weather to get into the ocean, so they did. We weren't that crazy. The water was freezing! We visited a lighthouse and went and saw the Wright Brothers museum. That was actually really cool. But mostly we had awesome food and played games and puzzles and talked. It was a much needed break after the funeral. The second night Dave and Joseph made homemade past and Italian dinner. It was delicious and lasted until we had our Thanksgiving dinner. We had the whole Thanksgiving dinner there. It was delicious food and I am so grateful for all the people that cooked there. They are wonderful cooks. I hate to cook. The only thing that went wrong witht the Thanksgiving dinner at a different house that you aren't used to is that they didn't have a potatoe peeler. So Grandma and I peeled maybe 10 potatoes with sharp knives. Very tricky. Otherwise the house was good. The 5 cousins had a good time together causing trouble, collecting shells, learning how to play pool and swimming in the hot tub. Ben learned how to climb to the top bunk and scared us when we found him there all by himself. Siena taught all the boys a little too much about princesses and they are probably glad they are back home where they don't have to hear about it anymore. Brendan was very nice and would play princess and knight with her. We learned that the little crabs that we like to catch at night on the beach hibernate in the winter deep in the sand so we weren't able to catch any of those. We were excited to try it and even bought flashlights but we had fun doing the other things. It was a nice enjoyable week so thank you Grandma for taking us to the beach house. We really enjoyed it.

Families are Forever

Dave's dad passed away Friday Nov. 13th. We are so sad to have him leave us but are greatful for the knowledge that we can see him again. He had prostate cancer and then multiple myeloma. He seemed to be doing well and then got sick and couldn't fight off the flu. He went into a coma and that is when we went to visit him. He never came out of it and it was hard to see him there in the hospital but we are so glad that we got to see him and say our goodbyes. We are grateful for his great example and love. There were so many people that came to his funeral and it was good to see all the people that he knew and helped. We are grateful that we could be there eventhough our kids didn't understand what was going on. Grandpa was a great man and are grateful that he could come down when our kids were born and blessed and other fun day trips. We met grandma and grandpa at the temple sometimes and were able to have picnics and ice cream trips. I know Siena always enjoyed them. We love him and hope our kids will remember all the good visits we had with him. We were able to have a big family reunion this past summer with everyone there and we had a great time. We love you Grandpa.

things to do during nap time!

make a princess castle out of an old Huggies diaper box. We have plenty of them sitting around the house. It even has carpet and a dance floor inside. Also heart widows on the side, windows that open and close and a drawbridge door. She likes it so I am happy. We will see how long it lasts. They got all the dinosaurs out and started attacking it. Ben was the brave night that fought them off.

Our ice cream family night chart died so here is a new one.

Siena learning to ice cookies. It was a big mess, but yummy.

Ben after he enjoyed the cookies.

Our Halloween spider web cookies. The frosting is really good. Mine was too runny but still tasted good and I didn't have black food coloring. Here is the link if you want to try. lots of sugar!

I love my free time. Siena doesn't always take a long nap/quiet time but I love the time I have to myself. I have become addicted to blogs especially craft blogs. There are so many crafty people out there. I am also cheap and am always saying I could make something like that, why would I spend money on it. So I have tried a few things lately.

the Princess and her brave Knight

The kids loved trick o treating. Siena was really good and knocked on the door and said trick o treat and thank you. Ben was really just cute and kept filling up his bowl until we told him to stop. He wanted to take all the candy. Then after each house he would have to open one of the candies to eat. They had a lot of sugar running through them. Ben loved the houses with dogs and would stay there forever if we let him. They had fun and we were back in the house right before the big downpour of rain so it was perfect. We came back and dumped all our candy out and sorted through all of it and put the stuff we didn't like in the bowl to give away. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of trick o treaters so we still have tons of candy. It was a really fun night and the kids were cute!

the one time Ben would put the hat on.

Ben getting in on the goods.

off to the next house! Dave dressed up as a baseball fan/player.

trunk o treat

We had lots of opportunities to wear our costumes this year. Siena has been wearing her cotume for the whole month of October and I doubt we will put it away anytime soon. Our princess Siena has been with us everywhere! We had to bribe Ben with candy to put his costume on. But he sure did look cute when we got the whole thing on him. He wouldn't wear the helmet or boots for very long. We went to our trunk o treat party at the church where we had chili and a costume parade and then off to get candy. We decorated the car trunk with ghosts and spiders and pumpkins. We used Siena's hand print for the spider and her foot print for the ghosts. She was pretty excited about it and had fun hanging them up in the trunk. Trunk o treat was lots of fun and we got TONS of candy.

this is of the little parade. No one really knew what they were doing so it was funny.

halloween work party

Daves work had a Halloween party. It was really fun and the kids had a good time collecting candy from everyone. They got to practice their trick o treating skills.

one more pumpkin patch

I love pumpkin patches and I love how tired it makes the kids. So we got to go to one more. It was a little muddy from all the rain that we were having but they had a lot of fun. There were tunnels to go through and slides and trucks and trains to climb on. We did it all. We arrived and I was so excited because there were no schools there. By the time we got out of the car tons of busses had come so it was going to be crowded. Luckily we outlasted the schools that had to be back at 12 and we had a really good time once they left and it was not crowded. We didn't have to wait for anyone and we got another awesome hay ride. It amazes me what kids are scared of. I was worried that the kids would be scared of the hayride because it has ghosts and goblins hanging all around the trees you go under and tombstones all around it. They loved it and pointed at them and laughed. Then at the entrance of the pumpkin patch there is one little statue of a goblin type guy holding out a bowl that is filled with candy and they are terrified of it. You never know. We had a good time and I am glad they had fun and outlasted all the schools so we could do more.

fun things

Siena has become very picky in what she wears. We went through her clothes and she told me if she would wear it or not. I have made her some things and then she says she doesn't want to wear it. So Sat was a yucky rainy day so Siena and I went to the fabric store while the boys stayed home. I let her pick out a fabric she wanted for a dress. It was a little risky but we came back with something that wasn't pink and sparkly. That was a big accomplishment. I was actually pretty happy with her choice. I think it turned out cute and she loves the pockets. I am sure I will find all sorts of toys in them come laundry time. (there are 2 pockets in the front) She is sad that she has to wear a shirt under it but maybe it will fit in the spring so she can wear it without a shirt then.
Ben sporting his Halloween shirt and because he is cute, and he says cheese when you get the camera out.
Daddy made brownies with the kids. They enjoyed the beaters.

We made pine cone feeders with peanut butter and bird seed. We put them out on the front tree so the kids spent a good portion of the day looking out the window trying to find the squirrels and birds eating them. It was quite exciting!

Birthday time!

I celebrated my big 30th birthday! It was a great day. Siena kept asking me what I wanted. I told her I wanted her to be nice and no whining that day. She said, no what do you want in the present. She really didn't understand that all I wanted was for a good happy day with no fits. The kids were good though and I got a good date with Dave to end the day. We went in to D.C. and ate at a Brazilian Steak house. It was delicious and wonderful not having the kids with us. Then we celebrated Sunday with some friends and played guiar hero Beatles. The kids loved playing along. Life is good and I can't believe I am so old. Siena and Dave made a cake and realized that they didn't have any 30 candles so we had a 2 a 1 and a 1 and 3 little candles. good yummy cake.

pumpkin patch

Saturday afternoon we met up with some friends at Homestead farm. We went there a couple weeks ago to go apple picking. This time we were taking a hay ride and picking pumpkins. The kids had so much fun and it was the most perfect fall day. Siena was so excited for the hay ride and loved it. She loved running around in the field and climbing on all the pumpkins. Ben hated the hay ride. I think he didn't like the feel of the hay. He liked the pumpkin patch and would run to a pumpkin, pick it up and throw it. He thought they were all balls. We finally found two good ones that the kids could carry. They have a little petting zoo. They were both really brave, much braver than last time. They wanted to feed the cow and the goats. The goats really like to be fed the clovers and Siena and Ben were very brave in holding the clovers out so the goat would take it from them. There was also this huge pile of hay to climb on and Siena didn't want to do it last time but she loved it this time. What a difference 3 weeks make I guess. She could climb up the tire and jump in the hay. She was quite adventerous today. It's such a fun tradition and we had an awesome time with our friends. Of course we all went out and took over this little restaraunt Nielsen's Frozen Custard. It was delicious!

Ben the fireman

We started off Saturday morning with a visit to the firestation. It was the yearly open house. I was excited and I thought the kids would like it. Siena hated it. She wanted to stay on the sidewalk the whole time and didn't want to go into the sheds where the trucks were. I think she thought they were going to take off with her in them. She happily ate the free cake and popcorn they were handing out and then she wanted to leave. Ben loved it!

obviously Ben loved the dog. He goes crazy whenever he sees a dog.

the firestation with all the trucks out to climb on.

you had to practice stop, drop and roll to get a fire hat. Dave pushed Benny through it the first time, then he wanted to do it himself.

exploring the fire truck.

His favorite part was driving the fire truck. I thought it was so cool to climb around on all the trucks and I was sad the kids didn't like it as much as I hoped. There was this part that had a real fire fighter with a hose hooked up to a hydrant and you could go and squirt out this pretend fire with a real working hose. It was a long line and I didn't think the kids would actually do it. So cool though. So hopefully next year we will be more cooperative.