Good Bye 2007!

Wow, what a year!! Here are a few of our "sugar-coated" pictures from 2007. We have LOTS of pictures, but these are a few of my favorites.

I'm so glad that I started this blog. It's been our family journal and it's been fun to do. It's nice to have a way to keep in touch with friends and family all over.

It's been a big year for T, who started preschool, and for N, who started Middle School. J had to adjust to going to school for a full day. B settled easily into 4th grade with the teacher he wanted.

We've been busy, healthy (usually) and happy. We love having FHE and our weekly Friday Night movie night, where we project a movie onto our wall (so it's HUGE). We love sharing our "happies" during our dinner time (and "sads" if we have them). We may squabble, but we love being a family and being together ... most of the time!! ha-

We look forward to 2008 and all that it brings.

Happy New Year!!

Get me OUT of the house

I just HAD to get out of the house today. I'd been pretty sick over the weekend, as well as J & B. We were a fun bunch for sure!! Even though it was only @ 40 degrees outside, I needed to be outside. I grabbed some cardboard, the boys and we headed to the cement slides. We took a few runs and then ran back to the van -- too cold. Plus, the slides weren't as slippery. I guess there was some residual water or something. We stopped by McDonald's for lunch and headed home. Wasn't much, but it sure felt good to go somewhere and do something outside.

Happy 15th Anniversary!

Can you believe it's been 15 years? Amazing. It's hard to believe that we've known each other for more than 22 years. It's been a great ride and I look forward to many, many more years together. Love you tons! -- S

Our Day @ Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Mom took the 3 older boys and spent the afternoon/evening @ Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We had free tickets to use by the 31st. Dad wasn't feeling well, so T stayed home with him. It was SO cold, but so much fun. It wasn't too crowded. We got to ride just about everything. J was so excited when he found out that he could ride one of the bigger roller coasters, called the Boomerang. He rode it twice! There were lots of Looney Toon characters, plus Christmas characters, at the park. It was cool to see all of the lights and decorations around the park. It started to sprinkle just as we were deciding to call it a night. Good timing! We were chilled to the core, but no one complained. We were having too much fun. We just warmed up in the van on the ride home. Oh, since Dad & T didn't come with us, we surprised someone in the ticket line with 2 free tickets. The woman we gave the tickets to was so stunned, that she could hardly speak. That felt really good.

Christmas Eve Celebrations

Christmas Eve began with B putting the final piece on the Advent Calendar, which is ALWAYS Santa.

N with his cousins

B with Ashley

N with Mason

T & J with cousin Sean

Kayla & B

Leslie with her Gingerbread Houses ... one for EACH child

Construction on the Ginger Bread houses begins!

Santa dropped by for a QUICK visit. He brought a small gift for each child. Here, T
gets a quick word to Santa.

Mom with her brothers and sisters

Christmas Eve was so much fun! We met at my sister's home and had so much fun just being together. The kids just played and played and played. The kids LOVED decorating their own Gingerbread house. What a treat that was! Then, Santa made a surprise visit and the kids went wild! It was fun to watch. Our parents called us from overseas to wish us a Merry Christmas. There was SO much great food and we topped that off with a Honey Baked Ham dinner. We were stuffed. We sang songs and had a small gift exchange. The boys got their traditional new PJ's from Mom & Dad, too. Mom even bought Dad a pair like the boys. We left late, and were really tired, but we had a great time and enjoyed being with family.

Merry Christmas!

HOW did Santa get one of these?!?!

T was excited to get anything from "Kachow" (i.e. Cars)

J with his new bike

B quickly put together one of his Lego creations

Chef G cooking the Ebelskivers, a family Christmas tradition

J with his cousin P, enjoying Ebelskivers

We had a great day today. The boys didn't wake up TOO early for one thing. Santa came and surprised the boys with many nice things. They were very excited about a new WII. After gifts, Mom's brother & sister and their families came over for our traditional Christmas breakfast of Ebelskivers, a Danish pancake. We visited all day long, with a small break for a much-needed Quiet-Time. Then we had a nice dinner together. The cousins just played and played. The men played several rounds of games on the new WII. Fun to watch. My favorite part was being with my family. All 5 of Mom's siblings were together for Christmas Eve.

Another lost tooth ...

FINALLY!!

J lost another tooth. It was bothering him so badly for the last few days, so we were ALL glad that it came out. A tradition in our family is that once you lose a tooth, you put it into a glass of water, and it "grows" money. It takes about 3 days. THEN, you get to put the tooth under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy to take. Yes, my boys make a haul, but it's sure fun to watch their delight when they check the glass.

Baptisms, Birthdays, Oh My!

My brother's family
All of the cousins ready to celebrate the twins' birthday

Happy 8th Birthday!!

What a great day! My niece & nephew turned 8 today. They were baptized this morning and then the family all came over to my house for a yummy lunch (thanks, T). All my siblings were here today. It was so much fun to see everyone. It's been a while since we 5 were all together. Our parents, traveling abroad, called over to wish them a happy birthday.

While You Were Cooking ...

Game anyone?

100 Card pick-up

This is what T does while I'm preparing dinner. He never slows down. Toss in homework help for the other boys and it's a recipe for exhaustion!

Pennies TO Heaven

J was very excited to bring his dollar to tithing settlement on Sunday. We met with the Bishop as a family, and the boys were excited to get some M&M's. J was more perplexed, and he asked, "How does all of our money get to Heavenly Father??" Good question! I think he was interested in getting a direct mailing address himself!

FHE @ the Sacramento Temple

We drove up to the Sacramento Temple last night, hoping to see some Christmas lights. Though there was only the modest Nativity Scene, we still enjoyed being on the temple grounds and walking around. It was very cold. What better way to top off the evening than a small ice cream cone?!!

Rain or Shine

T just LOVES riding his bike

He'll even take out the red trike for a spin

Almost any time the garage door opens, T is already on his bike and tries to zoom down the driveway. He does this even when we are trying to get into the car to go somewhere. He did this on Sunday morning dressed in his church clothes, too. I let him take his bike and trike out for a little while today after school, then tried to bribe him back into the house-- it was freezing!! It could be pitch black, pouring rain, and he'd still want to be on his bike. He's really happy as he's peddling down the sidewalk, usually singing or counting. I dread the day when he doesn't turn his bike around to come back to the house ... when he keeps going and going. I know it's just a matter of time!

PS: Yes, I had to replace my camera. I really like it and I'm so glad to have it.

Student of the Week

J was the Student of the Week this week. He got to keep the class' bear all week, and write a little about himself in the notebook. He brought in some banana bread to share with his class on Friday. We thought cupcakes wouldn't work because the class spent the afternoon decorating graham cracker gingerbread houses ... so they were eating frosting and candy already. Oh, it was also Pajama Day at school. I seem to only remember wearing pj's to school in my nightmares?!! Anyway, the boys really like pajama day. Go figure.

T's Adventures ....

T likes to play in the van. We forgot to lock it!

Thank goodness for the overflow!!

T helping Dad turn the van around

.... all before 9:30 AM. Oh, he aslo went up and down the street on his bike for a while. Let's just say that it is very challenging to get things done with T. I was picking up things in the playroom at the exact moment that T emptied a big bin of large legos and dumped them down the stairs. The irony was completely lost on him. I made sure to take him out on his bike for a while later, to burn off some of that energy.

Cookie Elves

I took B, J, & T out last night to deliver plates of cookies and a few small gifts to close friends. They loved going up to the door and handing the cookies to our friends. I took part of a cookie exchange. I brought 6 dozen of the same cookie, and then I received 6 plates of various cookies, a dozen of each. I, in turn, placed a couple of each cookie on a new plate and we delived them. I kept a couple of each so that we could taste the delicious selection of cookies. The bonus was that I got the recipes for all of the cookies from the exchange party. Yeah! It was fun to be out and see all of the Christmas lights, too. It was so much fun.

Last Comic Standing

S with John Reep -- the winner of "Last Comic Standing"
G with Gerry Dee -- Runner-up on Last Comic Standing
(Our favorite of the bunch)

G & I went to see 5 of the top comedians from the NBC show "Last Comic Standing" on Saturday night. We drove an hour to the casino. We'd never been there before -- no surprises there. It was literally out in the middle of NO WHERE!! We had a great booth seat in this small theater. It was nice that it was small because we could see the Comics really well. Plus, they had several large screens all over to help. We really liked Gerry Dee, then Matt, then John. One of the others wasn't so great due to all of the F-bombs he tossed out there. I guess you could say we were quite used to the NBC censors. So, that was a huge disappointment there. Amy was pretty funny too, but I really like it when Comics tell a story rather than several small abrupt jokes. Just my personal preference. We got to meet them after the show. I was kicking myself for leaving my camera in the car! We used our cell phones to get a few pictures. Not the best, but good enough. (Oh, and I don't know if it would have made a difference -- we're pretty sure that T got to the camera and it's a gonner. Uggh!) Anyway, other than smelling like an ash tray after the show, we enjoyed our date and had several, several good laughs. Yes, our babysitter made a truckload, but it was worth it.