Farewell 2008

Here is our card if we didn't quite get one out to you:





















(you can enlarge it if you are bored enough and actually want to read what i wrote).

Let's see what 2009 will bring. . .

Christmas '08

A good Christmas, indeed. And would you believe it when I say that Ben and I actually woke our boys up?! Ha. Especially my boys that usually wake up before the sun? Well we did. Ben and I didn't sleep too great (due to colds) and so we just woke up at 6:30. Emmy woke up shortly after. By about 6:55 we wanted to get the party started and so we got the boys up. I just love how the parents woke the children up at our house.



Here are the pictures showcasing our Christmas:


The fish tank was Santa's present to the kids. We will put real fish in there soon (but, as Santa's letter said, he couldn't bring the fish because it's too cold in the North Pole), but I am growing quite attached to the cute paper-fish we have now. Plus, they are real easy to take care of and don't even require water.

Emmy digging down deep for Santa's stocking gifts.




Jonas doing the same.



Miles playing with a jet he got from his stocking.

I had to put this picture in because this is basically how Emmy spent her 2nd Christmas - stuffing her face with candy. It was pretty awful, actually (Of course Ben and I were the enablers - bad, bad, bad). I've never seen a kid so enamored, addicted, and drawn to candy. She's crazy. And the result of waaaaay too much candy and overtiredness? Ugly, ugly, ugly. Not Emmy, just her resulting breakdown and crash.



Emmy and her cute homemade doll from Aunt-e. She also got an adorable skirt to match. I'm sure you'll be seeing pictures of that in another post soon.

Emmy in her cute fleece and talking on her phone.



And another one of Emmy. No, she is not my favorite (moms can't have favorites). But she sure is good at letting me take pictures of her - and being cute in them. She loved all her toys AND all her brothers' toys, too. She played and played on the scooter, as well as with Miles' car-carrier truck. She's hilarious. When not overdosed on candy, of course.



Jonas loved his scooter, too, of course.



This was the present I was so excited about. I just knew it would be perfect for Miles - he's the kid who can spend hours and hours with playdough and a single knife. What you see in the picture is about 1/10 of the "collection" we got. I found this dandy on Ebay - it came with about 7-8 "sets," including the barber set (MY favorite), a dentist set, cooking set, racing set, monster set (not sure about that one), fun-center set, etc. The old-school sets. Miles loved it.


Jonas (and Emmy) loved the playdough stuff, too. Jonas enjoyed being a barber - and later a dentist. I love playdough.

Perhaps my favorite picture of Christmas.


I hope everybody else had a good Christmas too.

'Twas

the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, (or on the couch)

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there. (He's definitely been here)

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, (cutie)

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. (or visions of gummy-fish)

And mamma in her ‘kerchief, (i wanted to wear my cute apron instead of a kerchief)and I in my cap,

Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap. . . (in our new pajamas. . .)

Good night and a Merry Christmas in the morn.

Dear Santa

Miles wants a titanic and an iceberg. Miles and Jonas want a dinosaur. Miles also wants a sting-ray and a rainbow trout. Jonas also wants a rainbow trout. Miles wants some swedish fish. Jonas wants some gummy-worms and gummy-fish.

Thank you.

P.S. Emmy would probably like a doll and a cookie.

Saturday - Happy Birthday Ben

Saturday was Ben's birthday. So that morning Ben and I went on a little date - cross-country skiing. The place we were planning on going was closed, the other place (Soldier Hollow) had a big racing event going on, so we found a trail off the road on skied on the train-tracks. It was fun and pretty.

Then that afternoon we decorated our gingerbread houses. Emmy was napping during this time. The boys went first and loved it.

Ohhhh, the excitement!

Jonas hard at work.

Miles hard at work, too.

Jonas' end-result - isn't he quite please with himself? So cute - the house and the kid.

Miles (aka the "elf" as he referred to himself all that day) was pretty pleased, too. The kids love their houses. Last year I had to get the houses down (we "showcase" them on top of our fridge - we have no other place for them) every single today. And it's already starting. As soon as we got home today, Jonas was begging us to get out his house - Miles, too, of course. How fun.

After they finished up, it was our turn. We enjoy it just as much as the kids.

My barnish gingerbread house.

Ben's lovely home, too. (The sides are decorated quite nicely, too.)

That evening we went out to dinner and then came home for Ben's favorite cake: cherry chocolate.

Here we are singing "Happy Birthday" to the big-birthday-boy.

And blowing out the candles. I love these 2 pictures. Such cute boys I have! I wonder what he wished for?

And that's The End of Saturday (we won't mention the bummer BYU game we watched that night) and The End of our Vacation. Because today (Sunday) was just spent at sacrament meeting, then packing up, driving home, fixing dinner, unpacking, and blogging.

Friday

We mainly spent Friday just playing at the house. We didn't do much else. That afternoon we did go to the clubhouse for a bit and shot some hoops:

That night Ben and I made gingerbread for the houses we would decorate on Saturday. It took us forever. . .

The End of Friday.

Thursday

Today was another big day. We took the family and went skiing. Well 3 of us went skiing - the boys. We rented skis for Ben, Miles, and Jonas last nite and then today headed up, with my dad, to Park City. It turned out to be a really good time! Except for Emmy perhaps. Poor girl. She was stuck with me and Grandpa at the bottom of the slope while the boys took turns with Ben going up the lift and down the hill. She survived, though, and even took at 20-minute nap bundled with me inside my coat. Cute.

Here are Jonas' adventures:

All ready to go.

Jonas had to hang out with me, Emmy, and my dad while Ben took Miles up. But Jonas didn't mind the Grandpa-Ski-Lift.



He had fun skiing down the side of the hill while awaiting his turn on the Big Mountain Hill.


Ahhh, finally his turn with Dad came. Yea!


And there they are - wheeeee.

Our batteries started dying and so I hardly have any of Miles. But here he is:

Miles getting on the lift for his first time ever.

It was snowing while we were there. Thankfully the boys had goggles.

Both boys did great - but, most importantly, had fun. We had fun watching them, too.

Later that day Christian, one of Ben's best-friends, came to visit. Our boys always talk about Christian. "What is Christian's middle name?" "What is Christian's favorite color?" "Is Christian coming?" I don't know where this came from. Frankly, I don't even think they really even knew who Christian was. But, oh, they were So Excited to see him when he came! Especially Jonas. He couldn't stop talking to Christian. It was so cute. My favorite question that Jonas asked Christian was, "Where's your girl?" I am sure I will here more about him in the next few months.

The End of Thursday.

Wednesday

The big activity for Wednesday was going swimming. We had to shower before we headed into the pool and, frankly, I think that was a big mistake. The shower was hot - but 5 of us had to quickly shower. So 1 would shower and then stand around waiting for the other 4. Getting cold. Then we all had to run to the pool - and, thus, get colder. Now the pool water was warm - but any part of our body that was sticking out of the water? Cold.

Emmy, once again hated it. But, lucky for Grandma, she decided that being held by someone other than Mommy was preferable to the water.

A lifeguard came over to us at one point to ask us if Miles was okay - due to his extremely purple lips. :) But the boys had a fabulous time. It was really fun - until we had to get out of the warm water. Brrrrrrrr.

The End of Wednesday.

Tuesday

Another storm hit Tuesday - much bigger than Saturday's storm. We probably got 8-10 inches? So, once again, we headed out to "hit the slopes." Or sled on the hill next to the house. Ben created a "jump" and that was ever so exciting.

The first jump. We had to tweek it a little as it tended to propel Jonas off his sled. Ben then made a new-and-improved jump:

Jonas going off - and staying on.

And Miles' turn. Fun, fun.

Emmy? Once again, she didn't like it.

The End of Tuesday.

Monday

Monday was fun and busy. Our first activity was going to the aquarium:



Ohhh, ahhhh, neat.

Emmy hasn't been a fan of a lot of what we've done on this trip. But the aquarium? She loved it.

Love this picture.

After that we went and visited Great-Grandpa Marlin. Lamely I didn't get a picture of him. But here is a cute photo of a still-slightly sick boy with his Daddy (taken at G-G Marlin's). A Daddy more-than-pleased that he was constantly being asked by Jonas to "hold me?" Yes, I was jealous.

Then it was off the an "authentic" Italian pizza place downtown. Ben loved it. My parents will never go back.


Then we braved the cold and walked around Temple Square. When we got to the tabernacle Miles was so interested in it and just had to go in. As soon as we were in he asked the Sister Missionary where the hot air balloon crashed (ha, he learned this story about 1 1/2 years ago from his sunbeam's teacher). The Sister didn't know and so a gentleman (another missionary??? an old man) was asked and he didn't know either. So Miles surmissed the balloon crashed on the top. Probably. So we enjoyed it until my headache got so bad I thought I was going to puke. Then I became Mrs. Grouchy and didn't want the kids to take more than 1.2 seconds to look at any more lights. But we've never done that as a family and so we did enjoy it.

We then drove home, put Emmy to bed, and then put in a movie for the rest of his - some old-school "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Claymation, I think. Then Ben, Jonas, Miles, and I slept under the tree. We got to sleep on soft carpet this year - as opposed to our awful carpet in our home - yeah. But everbody was so tired that we didn't have much trouble getting to sleep - especially Ben, who fell asleep first.

The End of Monday.