The Haps Yo!

Ya so the lack of blogging has come from a few things but I thought I'd make it up to you all by a plethora of collageie type goodiness brought to you by my good friends and latest obsession of photoscape. Here's what we've been up to besides like having birthdays and holidays and what not


Collage 1: One day I went to check on Abby during her afternoon nap and she was not to be found in her bed. I freaked! I ran all around the house and she didn't answer to her name. I went back to her room and saw a little foot under her bed. And that is where I found this collage.
Sorry to wake you hun but for reals you scared mommy beyond words!

Collage 2: I'm really trying to summon my inner photographer. ( I know she's there because she critiques every single photo ever!) And thought I'd be all artistic or whatever and show a glimpse of our view from our house. They're pretty cool. If I can just learn how to make light my friend.

These Mountains are pretty special to me whereas 70 years ago my Grandpa was a sheepherder in those very same mountains and has so many amazing stories of his adolecent years in them.

Collage 3: Lizzie has taken advantage of the warmer snowless weather and strapped on her roller skates. She is hilarious to watch skating but determined to conquer any slightly sloping hill.
Yes the bum shot is my favorite because right after that she asked for gloves just in case she fell again.


K so the next section of this amazing photo tour is during our Christmas Holiday we went to my SIL Stacey's new house and took advantage of the ample untouched snow that surrounded her amazing home. And thus Sledding had to be ensued. So here a ton of pics.


Jeremy making the maiden voyage down the slopes. I realize now that I need a better lens for these long range action shots (See I know she's there inner photographer picky lady)


BIL curt letting me get a close up of his snow covered face before I was kind enough to brush off the cold. I love the fact that Curt is currently attending UNLV and his UNLV hat is soaked with snow.

Princess Natalie riding with uncle Curt. She wasn't too sure about her first trip time down the slope so Lizzie decided to give her some seasoned love and comfort.


Seriously such cute cousins!

Ethan and Savanah were lucky enough to have a Grandpa Drawn Sled over the feilds and through the snow. Once again (Inner photgrapher won't shut up) the lighting needs work.

I love this little pic of Lizzie just because you can't really tell but she's trying to give a "thumbs up" but her gloves are too big so instead it looks like a shaking fist. She loves the snow and loves even more going quickly in the snow thus sledding is an all time favorite with her.

Collage # ok so I've lost count and if you're still here seriously gold star: We all got wiggle carts from Jeremy's parents as Christmas gifts for the "kids" and had so much fun racing them everywhere. Stacey's giant garage made an awesome place to race them. Or derby them, or is it bumpering....

The men had to take a ride around two. Which honestly cracks me for the fact alone that so many of the men were way too tall for the machines and consequently had legs hugging their ears.
Favorite picture is of FIL Dave taking a cold rest on the concrete after being bumpered a little too roughly.



After being sufficently chilled we went inside and warmed up in Stacey's (at that time) almost finished house. We had hot cocoa and rice krispie treats and plenty of rosie cheeks.



....Really? You're still here? Wow! You deserve some sort of prize.... HMMMMM I can't think of anything really great right now. Why don't you leave me a comment and give me a few recommendations. But for now know that you are a C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N!

How Super Baby turned into Super Man

29 years and 3 days ago a super baby was born. The baby had super powers just waiting to be unleashed but they had to wait to be developed as he grew.

The super baby grew. He grew and he grew until he was two year's old and ready to take on the world.

The super boy continued to grow and became a mighty 3 year old and had mastered the power of the tricycle.
He knew he was ready to go faster and ready for bigger and better things so the super boy grew some more
The super boy soon learned that when he ran it felt like flying. He was faster than a speeding bullet and had mastered running 3 miles in super fast speedy times. The townsfolk were in awe of his super speed.

The super boy had also developed making super friends. Who also made super decisions and had super fun all the time.

But Super boy would soon leave his friends to serve a super mission in a super country.

He was a super missionary dodging bullets and saving those in need. But his superness could only last a couple of years with the super people of Uruguay. The Super almost man needed to finish his super schooling at Utah State University. So he could develop his super skills and improve his super brain but most importantly so he could meet this super girl


And fall in super love with her and eventually ask a super big question to which she replied with a super big YES! And they continued on life being super together.

The super Man put his super speedy power and his ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound together to do super fun things. He continued his education learning super hard stuff so that he could be a super cool, super smart, super employable engineer and eventually landed a super awesome job working for a super amazing company so that he could continue to live his super sweet life.


And now this super man can instead of being faster than a speeding train can watch them go by with his super cute girls.


And instead of leaping tall buildings in a single bound he can cause cases of giggles from his super cute son. We love our super man and are so grateful for all the wonderful things that he does for all of us. Thanks for always making life SUPER for all of us! Happy Birthday Jeremy!!

cake and balloons

I just wanted to post a couple of pix from Will's birthday party and give some general info. Will had his dr. appointment on Friday and I'm proud to say he is measuring in the 90th percentile for his height. (A big deal to his 5'4" mom) I'm sure he'll even out eventually but he was above average on everything. He's is officially done nursing (hip hip hooray! I'm slightly excited to have my body back.) And is looking more and more like a big boy.
Will had a fantastic birthday party despite the lame gift his parents gave him (a car seat) (We just couldn't handle another truck, car or train). It didn't matter though his balloon was his all time favorite present. He's still playing with it almost a week later (a good sign of a good present). And I just had to post his reaction to the cake. It was so fun to have a fast camera to take pictures of his face as he watched his cake come to him and then be taken away only to come back to him. Priceless.

And what is a first birthday party without pictures of a messy cakey face. Adorable.

3...2..1....Happy Birthday Will

Today is Will's first birthday. It's so amazing how fast this year has blown by. As I was looking through the pictures of the year it truly is amazing at how fast this little guy has grown. Will is an amazing little guy and really puts the joy in boy. Will is fully walking and has now mastered bending down to pick something up and standing from a seated position. He loves all things boy like including chasing his sisters around just to hear them scream. Will has grown faster than his sisters and is getting bigger each day. He has a total of 10 teeth including two back molars needless to say he's on the fast track of weening and he is drinking milk from a sippy cup like a champ. I've been trying to get a picture of it but when you ask Will how old he is he'll hold up one little finger. I'll keep trying to get it but it really is so stinking cute. Anyhow happy new year to you all and happy birthday to our little buddy.
Will started out at 7.5 lbs. He was born just before 2 and came out screaming.

Will a couple of days after he was born. Check out that dark hair. I forgot how dark it was.
Will at 4 weeks. I don't know if I should be posting these it's making me miss my baby.

Will is still such a cute little sleeper. He's a really good sleeper still.
Will on his blessing day at just over 3 months.

Will at 4 months posing like a pro.
Ahhh the thumb sucker. Will has since sucked his thumb hard enough to cause blisters but I think he's weening himself I rarely see him with his thumb in his mouth.

Will around when he started taking his first steps. 9 months.



What a cute little boy. It's so fun to be a part of his life. I wonder what the next year will bring.

Christmas

A very Merry Christmas hit our house pretty hard. The best of all was the gift Santa left me. A Nikon D60! I can now stop coveting people with fancy pants cameras and stop cursing my old camera. I have over 350 pictures that I took just over the weekend. I am so in love with it. I have so much to learn. The kids had a great Christmas and thankfully are really easy to please. I'll have more post later on our adventures in the land of winter a.k.a. Cache Valley. Till then enjoy these from our Christmas morning.

This is Abby's Sleeping Beauty Barbie. She has since not let go of it. It is now her constant companion. It's so cute.

Lizzie was excited that Santa left her presents this year and have every day promised to be good so he'll come again next year.
Lizzie got her Roller Skates and is just dying to get outside to try them out. Too bad there's just mountains of snow all over our sidewalks.

Will was so excited to get some boy toys. Our house tends to be in the princess department so when he started gathering trucks and trains for Christmas he was way excited. (Total truck count when all was said and done 10!) This really sums up how Will felt about Christmas.
Look a picture of Abby actually looking at the camera! A Christmas Miracle.
This is Lizzie's Christmas Dress. I think I was more excited to give these to the girls but they looked so cute at Church in them.
Posing like a pro.

Abby wouldn't let me take a picture of her in her dress but she looks so pretty in it. I love girls in fancy dresses.



This is my own attempt at a self portrait. I'll get the hang of this whole picture thing eventually. If any of you have tips please leave me a comment. Merry Christmas.

One Last Please

Lizzie said tonight that she had something she wanted to say to Santa Claus and asked if I would put it on our blog so that he could see it. I'm just glad that I have it so when she's 13 and starts being all bratty teenage like I'll pull this out and remind her that this is what she said. Sorry it's turned sideways I can't figure how to get it right ways. She wrote the whole note out phonetically it's pretty cute. Anyhow Santa I hope you hear her and will officially take her off the naughty list. Enjoy.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,
I'm so sorry but I'm afraid I've been more than likely put on the naughty list this year and I would like to at least have the opportunity to plead my case. You see today started out as any normal Thursday would. Breakfast for the kids on the table minor debates of which cereal really has the most sugar in it versus which cereal the kids will actually eat. Small compromises were made and both sides felt satisfied. We hurried along our morning to prepare our house for visiting friends and fellow yoga-goers. Lizzie was especially excited for the opportunity to play with other kids. You know how much she loves other children. When the guests arrived along with the small army of children we were more than grateful for the basement and the toys to keep them entertained while we the "mommys" worked on getting our non-mommy bodies back. The hour seemed to flit by seamlessly so much so that when time was up and a plea from Lizzie to prolong her playing time at a friends house with the mother's approval was unavoidable. I took the opportunity of quiet time to catch up on my latest read and play a little more with Abby. Will was slumbering quite peacefully and would be doing so for at least another couple of hours. I know I should have been cleaning, putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations and tidying up my finances but all those things didn't seem nearly as pertinent as reading and mothering my child. I guess now seeing what was to happen I should have listend to my mother's advice of work then play. My hour of relaxation was suddenly whipped to an abrupt hault by a phone call placed by one of my fellow mommy yoga-goers. It seems that while we were trying so desperatly to cut our weight upstairs Lizzie had found a way to cut things much faster down in the basement. It appears that Lizzie in attempts to appease everyone had stolen a pair of scissors from the craft box (set on top of the fridge) and some paper to make snowflakes with everyone. No one was interested in making snowflakes so what is a 5 year old girl with a pair of scissors to do? Well they started with the stuffed animals. After apropiately trimming as many pets as she could it was time to give a hair cut in her hair cut hut otherwise known as an igloo tent bought from IKEA. She started with her first victim. Lizzie knew she couldn't cut her own hair. We've been down that road before. So Audrey asked for her braided pigtails to be trimmed up a bit. Then I guess Audrey being satisfied with her own trim recommended her little sister (19 months old) to Lizzie the barber. Audrey was pretty sure that something short would be really cute on her. Short and Sassy were her exact words and thus Lizzie took some off the top. Amazingly enough in the hustle and bustle of cleaning up and getting out no one noticed the hair or the scissors or the lack of hair on one adorable 19 month old girl. When the mother called me my relaxed peace melted away into a serious red rage. Thankfully enough the little hairdress would be was at her friend's house. A phone call from me to the mother of said friend's house was placed and a short conversation with Lizzie on the phone revealed the full truth. I knew what needed to be done and the best plan was set in place. I worried dear Santa that use of your image may be considered hanous or even blaphmaous but it needed to be done. When I picked Lizzie up I let her know how disappointed I was in her. She was put in her room for a serious time out. At the end of the time out I told Lizzie I was expecting a call from your office to inform me of her move from the good list to the naughty list. Her pleas were intense and I said if she would throw away the scissors and accept her consequences that I might be able to barter her back on to the good list. She accepted the terms. I then umm "recieved" the phone call and played the conversation easily within hearing range of Lizzie and her little ears. Once again there were pleas when I mentioned the naughty list and a deal was made. Throw away the scissors, no friends for 3 days, and a very very good girl till Christmas day and she would be put back on the Good list. We went and found the scissors and then with so many tears and gnashing of teeth the scissors were thrown in the dumpster outside. More gnashing of teeth and the cursing of your name along with endless screams of what a mean Santa you had become. Again I appolagize. The tantrum continued and then eventually melted into sleep. And here I sit asking for my own forgivness I'm sorry I had to make you into the bad guy. You know sometimes on Christmas morning I feel a little cheated anyhow where as you get so much credit so maybe instead of placing me on your own naughty list we can call it a mutual understanding. If not I guess I'll expect nothing more from you this Christmas other than a toothbrush and underwear. Really I'm okay with it. I need them both.
Respectfully yours,
Andrea


For the rest of you still reading here are a few pix from decorating our Christmas tree.

Abby loved decorating the tree this year. So much so that every day she redecorates the tree.

The closest shot we'll get of all five of us around the tree. Notice the grip Jeremy had to have on Abby to get her to sit for the picture.

It's hard fro me to remember that this is Will's 1st Christmas. It seems like he's been here longer than that. We'll do an update on Will our almost 1 year old later on this month.

Tooth-hurty

Lizzie and I had our bi-annual dental check-up last month and on that check-up they found out that Lizzie and I had matching cavities. Isn't that so cute? Anyhow today we both had them filled. I was so nervous for Lizzie. She's never had a cavity and I was a little worried as to how she would react to things like Novocaine and drills. We scheduled the appointments so Lizzie could watch me first and then I would sit by her side during her turn.
Well, when they finally got me in my room it was 20 minutes late, thus they were running behind. They put the topical on my tooth and then the dentist came in with the Novocaine. Lizzie watched as he stuck me and I hoped that she wasn't freaking out on the inside. Then the dentist said he'd be back in just a minute to take care of me. Lizzie and I were reading books together when the hygienist came in and said they'd get Lizzie's topical on while they were working on me. So they took her to a different room and I could hear Lizzie charming everyone in her path. Before I knew it I had been sitting in the same chair for 30 minutes without the dentist even coming back in. I thought they would have come for me to check on Lizzie but they just left me there. I could hear her chatting it up with everyone. When the dentist and hygienist came in they were talking about how impressed they were with Lizzie and how she didn't even flinch during the shot! I was so mad. I had wanted to be there for her in case she freaked out or something. But I guess I didn't need to be mad she did great. They worked on my tooth for like 5 minutes and I was done. When I went to Lizzie's room she had like 3 hygienist gathered around her and I thought for sure there was something wrong. Then they all started laughing. She was reading them all one of her books. I watched as the dentist talked to her and showed her the drill and then he told her that if anything started to hurt she just needed to put her left hand up. I held my breath as he started the drill just anticipating some sort of scream of agony when she raised her left hand. The dentist pulled back and asked if she was OK and she said yes. Then he started working again and she lifted her hand once more. I started to get concerned then I saw the twinkle in her eye. She was totally messing with them. Just seeing if they really would do what she wanted them to do. Anyhow she let them finish up the work and then we were on our way. I was proud of the brave little girl. And glad to have that particular first under my parenting belt. Anyhow I guess we'll have to work on better brushing ethics so we don't have to do that again. Even though I know she can totally handle it.
It was the far (your left) back molar and ironically enough my cavity was in the same place.

We made it. Pretty smiles still intact.