Merry Christmas

I sort of skipped over our Thanksgiving Vacation. I have some fun pics of that though so i'll come back to it. Wanted to post this before Christmas was OVER though :)

We are doing really well lately. We've ALMOST gotten over our colds, the kids still have coughs but the dr. said those would be around for awhile.

Adele is excited for Santa and has been loving all the fun Holiday activity's we've been doing. I think the Gingerbread house has been her favorite.

Elaine isn't crazy about Santa Claus. She refused to sit on his lap at the ward party and announced that Adele could have all the presents Santa brings because she didn't want his presents. Later after explaining she wasn't going to SEE Santa and that he only snuck into the house and left presents did she agree to accept them. Adele was very dissapointed.

Seth is happily oblivious to anything Christmas related. He's his normal happy stinkery self, although he DOES love to attack the tree atleast 10 times a day. Our tree is in a sorry state.

I'm the class mom for Adele's class so I "get" to throw the Christmas Party, thats today. I also get to throw the Christmas Party for Elaine's preschool class. Also today. I'm keeping it simple and i'm sure will be fun for everyone :) (except whoever cleans it all up :P )

Matt is looking forward to this semester being over in school. (he's getting his MPA at BYU) His last class is today and we are ALL looking forward to a small break from his school. He's gotten over his pneumonia and has finally gotten his energy back.

Thats just a SHORT update on our little family. Merry Christmas and i'll try to blog more often! PROMISE! :)

Seth is 18 months now. In this picture he was really mad at me because I made him come out of the bathroom since Adele was using it. AND because he has a bad habit of brushing his teeth with the toilet water. When he saw the camera though he went into autopilot and smiled for me. He's getting so big! He's trying to learn how to communicate better, is QUITE stubborn about not using real words but ones he makes up instead. He understands SO SO much but doesn't feel the need to learn english yet. He loves going to Nursery and lately has slowly learned how to play with Elaine and not make her scream so much. His favorite buddy is still Adele and they just "get" eachother so well, its truly fun to watch.

Elaine is almost 3.5 now. In this picture she's modeling her best little buddies hat we got her. She wasn't too happy when I made her take it off so I could give it to her friend. She really loved that hat. She's such a sweet calming (most of the time) influence on our home. She absolutely LOVES preschool that we're doing with 3 other moms in our ward and loves her new friends. She has gotten better at talking to others and isn't as shy as she once was. She can get REALLY silly actually and loves to make us laugh. She does a KILLER cookie monster impersonation. She loves playing with her stuffed animals and building Salt Lake City out of blocks.

Adele is almost 5.5! She loves Kindergarten, loves going to church, and loves playing with her friends. She's pretty social as always and not afraid to make new friends and hates when everyone doesn't get along. She is such a big helper to me and is a great big sister. She's great at sharing with Elaine and always tries to be like Jesus. She bore her testimony in sacrament meeting all by herself this month, Matt and I were SO SO proud. She truly is such a wonderful little spirit and has such a pure love of Christ. In this picture she's getting her hair done for Halloween. She and Elaine were such troopers. I made them sit through long hair sessions atleast 4 times each to have their hair just right for all the different halloween events we went too!

CA meets UT

Growing up in CA I fell in love with my neighbors Mexican Sage bush. Its a very pretty bush with velvety purple flowers. I've always kept my eye out for one of my own but haven't found one in the last 4 years since buying our house. Last spring I did find one and excitedly planted it in the front of my home. FINALLY it flowered about a month ago, SO excited to finally have my own mexican sage bush that reminds me so much of my home in CA. A couple weeks after the flowers came out it snowed in my new home in UT. Looking out my window it made me smile to see the snow cover my mexican sage bush. It was very symbolic to me of the two coming together. Since they will both always be my "home" now it seemed like a perfect picture for this time in my life.

I love him

Because he's delicious. Because when he laughs out comes this throaty teenage boy chuckle. Because when he wakes up, he lays his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms around my neck and just hugs me, for a really long time. Because he's very possesive of his Mommy and even his sisters better watch their backs if they are giving me hugs. Because he fits into our family so perfectly. Because he gives the best slobbery kisses of any little baby boy I know.

OH and because he can make a Bat darn right ADORABLE. And get totally into it and chase his laughing sister around the house for WAY too long. :)

3 reasons why I rock this week

I made Elaine this rockin' button belt for her and her preschool class (that I also TAUGHT this week, oh yes indeed, I do rock)

I cut Seth's hair ALL BY MYSELF. Wellll Matt held him for me, but I still claim all the credit

Well this is kinda how Elaine rocked but I taught her how to make beef stroganoff. She's on her own now. lol

Kindergarten!

I have been SO excited yet SO dreading this day. And it has come, and I was surprisingly good. I still feel the urge to break down in tears but so far I've been able to hold it in. Adele started Kindergarten today! And I couldn't be MORE proud of her.

I only bit my lip once not to cry on the walk to school, and thats because she didn't want to hold my hand. She wanted to hold onto her backpack straps like she saw the big kids do.

When we got to her class there was a line of kids. I told her that all the kids with backpacks were in her class. She got all excited and ran to EVERY SINGLE KID and said, "Hi! I'm Adele whats your name!" She's completely fearless.

I was happy to see my good friend is the teachers aide for her class, and her teacher is our bishops wife...so I'll definately know whats happening in the class. LOL But she was the only kid I saw that seriously had no use for their Mom. All the other kids were clinging to their moms. But no, not Adele. She bolted into the class, sat down at a crowded table and just started chatting away. Anyway for the important part! Pics!

This is her buddy Skyler she's taking off with. They were SO excited to get to their class!At this point she was OVER me being there and OOOOVER pictures LOL

This is how excited Elaine is about not getting to stay at Kindergarten with Adele.

Virginia Creeper Trail

my absolute favorite part of the trip (besides seeing all my wonderful family) was our bike ride down White Top Mountain. All of my immediate family (sans parents who were stuck at the airport) who were in VA decided to rent some bikes and take a shuttle up to the top of White Top Mtn then basically coast down it on the Creeper Trail. The Virginia Creeper Trail is a old train track that housed the "Virginia Creeper." Years ago they ripped out the track and made it this gorgeous trail for horses/bikes/runners etc.

It took us about 3 hours to get down the mtn barely pedaling at all. We did stop and have a snack at the Creeper Trail Cafe, to have their "famous" cake. Which trust me is NOT famous, unless they haven't heard of Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting back in VA. Because that was EXACTLY what the cake was made of. We were all very dissapointed. BUT I had some yummy chili fries. And my brother has made a shrine in his home to their tater tots. So it wasn't a wasted stop.

Matt and I stayed mainly ahead of the pack mostly because my brothers think that their singing is enjoyable for all to hear...and I must say...I do love them, but they are mistaken. So we had a peaceful ride down. Well mostly peaceful. Matt biffed it on his bike and cut up his knee pretty bad. Was insisting he didn't need a bandaid even though he had blood running down his leg. And since he's very manly and i'm SURE didn't really need one I INSISTED for the sake of his socks. Because he would of ruined them. And I can't have stained stocks my friends. I just can't.

Later on in the trail I was feeling left out that Matt was getting all the attention from his bloody leg so I figured a good fall off the bike would bring some my way. It did indeed. I didn't hurt my knee though, oh no. I got two palms full of gravel and dirt. Yeah they were quite cut up actually, and thankfully I did not pass out. It was a close call but i pulled myself out of the foggy world and snapped out of it. My forearm got pretty cut up too so it wasn't a very comfortable ride down since I couldn't grip my handlebars right the rest of the way. But even then, I would of done it all over again, even if I knew i'd fall off my bike. It was that fun.

SO here are some lovely pictures of the trail, Matt, Me (please ignore the back fat), and in one of them my adorable neice Mary while I try to wash out the dirt imbedded in my skin :)

2-3 yrs

1-2 yrs

ELAINE through the years :)

Windy Hill Farm

Matt and I went to a family reunion last week. Yes, I went to family reunion and did not bring the kids. Sounds kind of strange but seriously it was a very wise decision. The main reason we didn't bring them was $$$$. Then the more we thought of it, we decided to make it our 10 year anniversary trip (10 yr wedding anniversary is in Jan). We were gone for 6 days and had A BLAST! I'll have a couple more posts about this, I took a TON of pictures and did A TON of fun stuff so this is Part 1 of our fantastic vacation.

Windy Hill Farm has been in my mothers family for generations. It was always something I was VERY proud about as a child and still am really. We were there precivil war and my Great Aunt told me we were awarded the land because of our fighting in the revolutionary war. So its been in our family for some time. :) It is the most beautiful piece of land I have ever seen. Before we got there Matt (who had never been there) said he was worried to see it because I had built it up SO much that he had a hard time believing it would live up to his expectations. He said I had made it this "magical place" and he was worried. :)

He didn't have to be worried. Because of course I NEVER exaggerate and it is truly a magical place. He absolutely fell in love with our Windy Hill Farm on Duff Lane. I'm so glad he did, i'm so glad he feels the same way I do, its really hard not too. I have such amazing family out there and its in such a gorgeous place you seriously CANNOT stop yourself from being totally smitten. We had fantastic weather and did a ton of fun stuff (blogs on that fun stuff to follow). We do plan on bringing the kids out when they get older so they can fall in love as we have. Most of the pictures are taken off the farm road, some are taken while we were on the creeper trail which runs on the border of the farm. It is the most beautiful trail ever, and we had some FUN times on it. The river you see if the Holston River, the creeper trail used to be a traintrack but they took out the track and made it this gorgeous trail. WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA! :) Thanks to whoever thought that up! :)

We also got re-acquainted with some family. What a fun group they are! They are all such beautiful kind people and so fun to be around. I had such a blast and can't wait to see them again. I definately plan on keeping in touch with them much more than I have been. I was so excited to talk to my Great Aunt Margaret too, she is our family historian and what a legacy she has! She is seriously incredible, and I really look up to her. So here is my first post, i have a TON more to show you so keep a lookout! :)