A Very Merry Christmas

We had a really good Christmas. We started out Christmas Eve with Savannah's 1st birthday party. She is such a cutie! We went all out on the Christmas Eve program this year. The costumes were awesome.

When I got the costumes, Gavin really liked the Star costume.
So he got to be the star in the pageant. He was pretty happy with himself. We were able to find Dylan's grave marker really easily this year and sang some songs there.
It was really nice. The girls got a HUGE doll house from Santa (that took Santa 3 1/2 hours to put together and the elevator is still backwards!), and Gavin got a train set that took Santa a very long time to figure out as well! I don't know who keeps buying these toys that are impossible to put together because the instructions have no words!
They really enjoyed all their gifts. It was nice to just have a break from work and school. We went to Ihop for breakfast with everyone on Christmas morning.
It was really good! Nice not to have to do the dishes. We went over to Great Grandpa Bullock's house to sing carols with him. It was a crazy busy time! Then, to top it all off, my sister Natalie moved into her first home.
It was finally done, so we moved them in over the Christmas break as well.

Not one, but two!!

She didn't just lose A tooth, she lost two of them! One of her teeth was a little loose about a week ago, and then the second tooth came loose shortly thereafter. We noticed that the one tooth was coming in behind, so we needed it out. We had a dentist appointment anyway, so it was convenient. He agreed that the one tooth needed to come out, but I asked him to take both out. It was a good thing to, because the other tooth was coming in behind as well. Maya has been asking for months when her teeth will be falling out. "Everyone has lost their teeth but me!" She was not excited about the dentist pulling them out either. Can I just say that it was DRAMA at the dentist. She was screaming and crying before he actually even did anything. He told her to raise her arm if it was painful and he would stop. Her arm was raised before he even touched her mouth! So Maya is screaming, then Gavin starts to scream and cry because he doesn't know what is going on, and Kaitlyn is standing over the dentist yelling, "EWWWW that's gross!" It was a very fun trip to the dentist needless to say. Then all the way home Kaitlyn is singing, "All Maya wants for Christmas is her two front teeth, her two front teeth, so she can wish you Merry Chrisssssmas!" It was the lower teeth that were missing, but Kaitlyn didn't care. She must have sang that over and over for an hour. Maya wouldn't close her mouth or talk normal for several hours either. She just let drool fall out of her mouth. I sure hope the next teeth fall out on their own!

Born Clown!

This kid was born to entertain! He lives to make people laugh. His new thing is putting on Maya's swim goggles. He is so stinkin hilarious. He looks like the young Carl Fredrickson (from UP). He is constantly looking for something funny he could do to make his family laugh. He continues to keep our spirits light no matter what!

It's Fun to Get Dressed Up Sometimes!

Brian's company Christmas party was on Friday night at The Grand America. It is a more formal event so I got all dressed up. I decided to have my hair done for the occasion since I am not good at doing my hair up. The girls were ecstactic about all of it. They went around telling everyone that I was going on a date for two days! (We decided to stay the night since it was our anniversary week.) When we got all dressed up, we both felt like we were going to the prom (especially since he had a room for after!). The girls wanted to take lots of pictures of us. They gathered up their friends so they could see me all dressed up "like Cinderella!"
It was a fun party. They had Kurt Bestor as the entertainment. We got to sit by my brother and sister-in-law because Sara works with Brian! The company always does a good job on their parties. It helps that it is an amazing dinner, plus we get our Christmas bonus and a gift. You don't want to miss it! It was fun to get dressed up and go out with my husband for the weekend. We really needed the time away together. Especially since he has been working lots of hours at work!

Seeing Santa: a success!

We went to the Muscular Dystrophy Association Christmas party on Saturday. It is always a fun party for the families. We had a good Christmas dinner and got to visit with some other families. We were discussing with another family about their's and Brian's types of Muscular Dystrophy, and Kaitlyn chimed in with her own description. She described Brian's limitations as him falling over if he runs, and not being able to run. Then when she was all done describing him, she looked very intently at the man and said, "My Daddy is very special!" He smiled and agreed with her while Brian and I just laughed. It was pretty cute!
They all got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Even Gavin thought it was pretty cool!

He didn't even cry. I fully expected him to be afraid of Santa, but he was actually excited about it. It was fun!

The Return of Flat Stanley

We got him back a few days ago, but I forgot to put it on the blog! For those who are unaware, Flat Stanley was from a book they read in Maya's class. The story is about Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur who are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for putting pictures and posters on. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed, but during the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and has one special advantage which is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. So Maya's class mailed Flat Stanley to loved ones and that person is supposed to take Stanley places and take pictures of their adventures. Maya chose her Uncle Logan and Aunt Shalee.



They were awesome and did fun things with Flat Stanley. It is a pretty creative project and it was fun for Maya to send and get mail.

Teaching Common Sense

I guess I forget what it's like to be a kid. You try to set an example for your kids, teach them right from wrong, and then let them experience life. Somewhere in there we forget to pass on common sense. There are certain things you just can't plan for because it's not even possible for you to imagine all the possible retarded things your children will come up with. Maya was playing in the basement with a friend. There was lots of giggling going on, but if you know Maya, that pretty normal. The next thing I hear is her screaming and coming up the stairs crying. She is holding her ribs and crying that she can't breathe. I asked her what happened and she said she fell on her chest on the chair. She was ok so I told her to not fool around and be careful. Later on Kaitlyn asked her what she was doing downstairs when she got hurt. Maya proceeded to tell her the following story.
"This if very serious Kaitlyn." "We tied the ends of my jump rope to the princess chairs." "Then I got up on the chair to walk across the rope."
The look on my face must have been classic. "YOU DID WHAT?!" I couldn't believe what she was saying. Common sense would tell you that if your arm can bend the rope surely it would not hold up the weight of your body! So naturally everything came tumbling down, thus the injury. SERIOUSLY?! How do you teach your kids that this kind of stuff is not smart? She thought it was a completely awesome and an original idea. At this point, if she makes it to adulthood, it will be a shock to me!

A Happy Thanksgiving

We have been so busy since we got back from Thanksgiving, that I haven't had a chance to post. We went up to Brian's parent's house in Idaho for Thanksgiving. We had a really good time. Thanksgiving dinner was yummy and it was good to see some family. We got to visit with Brian's grandparents during dinner. Grandpa Jack is really a very awesome guy. It is always fun to hear stories about Brian's dad when he was growing up and stories of Grandma and Grandpa.
Gavin absolutely loves the dog Mickey.
He loves to follow him around. Here he is trying to get into Mickey's secret hiding place!
Gavin got braver the longer we stayed. He was petting Mickey and letting Mickey kiss him on the cheek before we left. They got to be pretty good pals. Gavin was really nice to him which was a very good thing!
He really enjoyed that chocolate pie!
I can't blame him. I love chocolate!
We even got a little guitar hero in.
I have played Rock Band a few times with my family, so I was able to figure it out pretty easily. They are a little different, but basically the same. It was fun watching everyone concentrate so hard to play the songs! It was Rod's first time and he rocked it!

This is Maya on time-out AGAIN!
Our kids were really bad at Grandma's house this trip. I don't know what got into them. It might be awhile before we are invited back!
We finished out the week with a little shopping. Brian got to experience his first Black Friday! We went to Walmart at 4:30 in the morning! We got a lot of good stuff and even saw some friends from home! He says he'll never go again, but secretly he had a really good time and didn't really miss out on that much sleep! Plus, he got to go to Burger King for breakfast. It was a crazy, but fun weekend!

A Night with Guys and Dolls

We made it kind of a tradition a couple of years ago to go to the fall musical put on by the high school. This year we went to see "Guys and Dolls". It was well done. The girls enjoy going a lot, but we probably should have explained to Kaitlyn what a doll was. About halfway through the production she yelled out, "When are the dolls going to come out?!" After we explained that they call women "dolls" she was much happier. She has been telling anyone she sees today that she and her mom are "dolls". She's so proud of herself!
We saw the musical at Mountain View High School, my Alma mater. We usually go to Lehi High School, but they were doing "Aida" this year. I love "Aida", but it is a little much for the kids. The last couple of scenes are pretty intense and they cry when Charlotte dies in Charlotte's web, so I figured funny would be a better bet. They really like to meet the characters after the show is over. Here they are meeting the character Nathan Detroit. According to Kaitlyn, "he is very cute and has a mooostache!"

Canning Catastrophe

I have been trying to can a few things lately. We had been successful several times so we decided to do some more canning. Well, I managed to set my mom's kitchen on fire this time! It's really not all that surprising if you know me. These kind of things always happen to me. When I was in college, I had Organic Chemistry lab. The building and everything in it was relatively old. My bunsen burner had a leak in the hose. I was already really fearful of lighting my burner anyway, but when I lit it this time, there had been gas leaking out from the hose and the entire countertop went up in flames! Everyone's papers for their lab were burned, which if you have O-chem, the labs take hours to do and your paperwork is kind of important! No one was very happy! Luckily no one was hurt. Needless to say this was not my first catastrophe in chem lab, nor was it my last. It was kind of difficult for me to get a lab partner. You had to be brave (stupid) to pair up with me!
I was trying to help my nephew in the kitchen and I put the canner on the stove with a hot pad stuck to the bottom of it. Neither my mom or I were paying attention because we were trying to clean up a mess. Next thing I know my mom is yelling, "Something's on fire!" as smoke comes billowing towards me! It was bad! Of course I panicked and started throwing things off of the stove to contain the burn. We all had smoke inhalation for sure. We went around opening doors and windows. It was very hard to breathe. I got a real sense of what it would be like to have even more smoke with a huge fire. I can see the danger in the smoke!
Everything worked out though. There was no damage, just a few melted dishes. We got everything cleaned up and went on with the canning. To think I was just trying to do some food storage!

Star Wars for the Win!

The girls both wanted to be Princess Leia for Halloween. (This is influenced by their father!) They have seen the movies quite a few times with their dad. I then got an Ewok costume for Gavin. He made an awesome ewok. He looked just like one. When he walked or tilted his head he completely resembled them. Complete strangers were taking pictures of him with their cameras and cell phones because he looked so strikingly similar. He loves having his picture taken so the attention was welcome. The girls insisted on light sabers, even though technically Leia doesn't have one. It was better than trying to figure out how to make them both Luke Skywalker!
I had to get up extra early on Friday to get them both dressed up for school. At school, many of the children did not know who Kaitlyn or Maya were dressed up as. More of the kids at Maya's school were familiar with Star Wars. So when we went trick-or-treating, Kaitlyn made sure to tell people "I'm princess Leia, from Star Wars" Of course, most of the parents handing out the candy could figure it out from the famous buns over the ears!
We like to go to my parent's neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. I always went to my grandma's house to trick-or-treat and it was fun. I know all the people in the neighborhood so I feel safe taking my kids there. We saw C3P0 and R2D2 while trick-or-treating. (if you don't know who those people are, you really need to get out more! :) ) They were excited to see our Star Wars characters, so they took some photos. I left my camera at home, but hopefully I can track down the picture because it was priceless! The girls were stoked that they saw other people from Star Wars.
Gavin did quite well considering it was his first time trick-or-treating. He wanted to go inside everyone's home. He would take a piece of candy and then crawl up the step to go inside! He got a little confused because some people let him choose a candy and other people handed him one. That's just too much confusion for a 1-year-old. He didn't know what to do at each door! I got tired of taking him around so I tried to leave him at my mom's house, but he just followed us back out the door to do more trick-or-treating!
It wasn't too cold, and we got done reasonably early so I think overall it was a success. Thankfully we have a whole year before we've got to do that again!

Cornbelly's

We finally made it to Cornbelly's Corn Maze last night. It is out at Thanksgiving Point. They have several little mazes, haunted mazes, jump houses, slides, etc. for the family to enjoy. I took just the girls by myself. It was a good thing too because it was seriously cold! I was grateful we had dressed pretty warm.
We got a little lost in one of the corn mazes, but I am pretty tall so I can see the beginning fairly easily, and we made it back out. (We pretty much cheated, hence the picture!)
They loved the princess part of the activity. They had a big pumpkin shaped carriage with lights all over it. They loved getting in and pretending to ride to the ball.
They had a big pillow (that's what it was called) that we could all jump on. It was actually quite fun.
I didn't jump too long because I hadn't used to restroom before we came! They ran around like crazy until their faces were red!
They wanted to try one of the haunted things. Here we are at the mouth of it.
It was an inflated beast of some kind that you enter and then there are people inside that scare you. I told the girls it was going to be scary, but they wanted to go anyway. We made it until about the third person, and then I thought they might cry so I took them out. Luckily they have exits all along the way so you can leave at any time. I, of course, was scared too. They startled me a couple of times, so I screamed, which only made things worse for the girls! When we got out, I explained to them that it was just people dressed up that were scaring people. They wanted to try again, but I was sure it was not going to work so we moved on.
In the car ride home they asked me about the haunted maze. Maya- why were those people scaring other people? Me-That's what their supposed to do. People go to haunted things around Halloween. Maya-Why Me-It's fun Kait-It is not fun to be scared mom Me-Well it's supposed to be fun, people like to be scared Kait-why would people want to be scared? I was not having fun Me-Well I can't really explain it, it's just what people do for fun during Halloween time Maya-I wish I was like you mom Me-Why? Maya-Cause then I wouldn't be scared and I would think it was fun.
It is kind of weird that we pay people to scare us. As if we don't have enough things in this world that are truly scary and are not fun. I have enjoyed many a scary movie and haunted house myself. I don't know if we just are taught it's fun or if somewhere deep inside we love the thrill. Who knows?!
We were like ice cubes when we finally left. We made sure to get a picture in the "Cornbelly's Rocks" huge rocking chair!

First Haircut

It's finally that time! His cute little curls are making him look too much like a little girl. I love the curls and I have held out as long as I feel good about! He needs to have his haircut. I took all the kids to Cookie Cutters. It is fun for them to watch movies and play while getting a haircut. It made it not so miserable for Gavin as well. He watched Backyardigans and played with bubbles while she cut his hair. Then at the end he got a certificate, locks of his hair, a balloon, and his favorite; a sucker! This was not cheap mind you, but it was fun and it was a moment! Everbody looks good. No longer straggly! Although, this last picture of his beautiful curls is timeless!

Homemade Marinara

I decided to use the tomatoes from our garden to make my own marinara sauce. We eat lots of pasta, as I have stated before, so it seemed like a good idea. I am a Ragu fan myself, so I definitely had my doubts as to whether I could make one from scratch that would be good. Plus, I would be making it out of real tomatoes. I made a huge pot of it to freeze for later. When I first put all the ingredients in (consisting of peppers and other veggies from the garden) it looked really gross. Don't taste test it at this point! It is nasty! After it simmered for 4-5 hours, it was awesome! The house smelled amazing. Brian and I were trying to find anything and everything to dip in it so we could have some more. I was very happy that my first batch out turned out well. I will definitely be making more!

Hold on to your valuables!

That's right, Gavin is our resident klepto! In fact, that's what Brian and I refer to him as. The kid takes everything he can get his hands on! You know when you are wandering around the house looking for something and you ask yourself, "where could I have put that?" That is my life story as of late, and typically the answer is Gavin the kleptomaniac! The other day I opened the cupboard under the sink and out fell all the of the girls' missing flip flops. A couple of weeks ago, neither of us could find our cell phones. We found them at the bottom of the stuffed animal bin in the basement. The scary thing is that he swipes things in total silence, hides them, and can't tell us where he hid them because he can't talk! He doesn't have a particular place that he hoards things either. So it is a guessing game everytime something goes missing. Most of the time it still takes us forever to realize that he took it and we didn't misplace it!
Last night Brian was tripping around in the dark and said, "where are all the nightlights?". We have about 5-6 nightlights in the hallways, bedrooms, and bathrooms so that the kids can get up and use the bathroom without tripping. You guessed it! All of the nightlights are missing! So my answer to him is that he will have to ask the klepto! All of the little doorstop rubber things are missing too!Today Brian's cell phone is missing again. I don't know how Gavin is so stealth! The kid is only 16 months old! I would say don't leave anything where he can get it, but he will find a way to sneak it away from you, and you will spend a lot of time looking for it!

Lagoon '09

Every year in September we go to Lagoon with Brian's extended family. We camp at the campground next to the amusement park. It is a lot of fun and we look forward to it every year. The girls love riding all the rides.
Maya is tall enough to go on a lot of the bigger rides now, so she loves to go on the more exciting rides with her dad and Grandpa Hughes. The girls get to ride on all the kiddie rides with their cousins. There are 4 little girls.
Maya is the oldest and then the other three are all about the same age. It goes Macy, then Kaitlyn, then Riley. They had a good time riding the rides together. It will be fun to watch those girls grow up and see them be friends. I enjoyed having lots of cousins that were my age.
This picture is of two grown guys sitting in a car together on Puff.
It is Brian's brother-in-law Mark, and his friend John (who is married to Brian's cousin). They got in line on the ride to ride with their daughters, but then their daughters chose to ride together, so the attendant person told them to get in the car together! Kaitlyn and I were right behind them, and I was hysterically laughing. The attendant asked if everyone was ready, and everyone yelled except the two boys, so she said,"Are the two gentlemen sitting together back there ready?!" I thought for sure I would wet my pants. They were totally squished into that seat and both trying to pull to the side as to not touch each other as much as possible. It probably is a 'had to be there' moment, but it was definitely a memorable one for all of us!
It was frightmares at Lagoon also. The kids got to go trick-or-treating, and there were lots of people dressed up that had candy around the park.
We didn't make it to any of the haunted houses, but they looked like they would be fun. I hadn't ever been to frightmares before, and it was actually really fun. I wouldn't mind going to Lagoon at that time every year. It was kind of cold in the tent at night though! Who goes camping in Utah at the end of September anyway?!
Later that night, the older adults watched the kids for us so we could all go back into the park and ride some rides with our spouses. Many of you know Brian has muscular dystrophy, so getting on and off the rides is always a challenge. I think he was more tired this time around because it was bad. We finally got a pretty good system down though. John and Shandel were with us so John lifted Brian out of the rides and placed him over by the rail so that Brian could then stand up. I lifted him out once or twice too. It was quicker than letting him try to get out and hold up all the cars behind us. But we created such a scene by carrying him out of the car that all the attendants and riders stopped everything to watch, so everything was held up anyway. I couldn't help but laugh a lot at the two of them because it was hilarious. Bri was a good sport though! Only Tyler and Hillary can truly appreciate what we went through!