The other day I was getting into my cedar chest for something and I noticed my porcelain dolls from when I was a little girl.  Santa Clause used to bring us one every Christmas.  I looked at them sitting there getting dusty and called Laura and Eden in.  For Laura it was love at first sight.  They both loved taking off their little shoes and stockings and feeling their smooth porcelain faces.  Laura slept with my favorite, the one that has a yellow dress and ringlets that I tried to comb out as a little girl.  She named her Theresa and she is now sitting happily on their book shelf.  The others went back into my cedar chest for another day.

"RETREAT 2009"

I love our annual retreat.  This year was wonderful too, even though it almost didn't happen!  About an hour after Maren and my Mom left Rexburg to meet Sarah and I up at Wolf Creek Maren's kids got the stomach flu.  They almost turned around halfway.  I'm so glad they didn't!

It seems like each year we spend a little less time scrapbooking and being productive and more time just relaxing.  Pride and Prejudice, the 6 hr. A&E version, Sarah's first time watching it, Nerts, exercising at the gym, hot tubbing, eating delicious food, laughing so hard we couldn't stop, and listening to great music about sums it up.

Even though Sarah slept half the time to catch up from her overworked schedule, Maren was wishing she was helping poor Mike with the kids, we missed Ellen not being with us, and Mom got hurt in an ill-advised game of racketball, it was still a blast. 

 

November 11th, 2009

A Day in our Life:

*Woke up late, we're getting sick again

*Ryan has another cough-we just got better and here we go again

*Cleaned and did laundry

*Forgot to have Morning Devotional, rats

*Got L off to school after doing homework

*Showered and played with R and E

*Lunch-doing great eating healthy today:)

*Picked up L from school and went and bought a rake

*Came home and the kids and I played in the leaves and

put them on the garden in the back

*Preschool Music Class- L tried to take over the class and E spent

most of the time in timeout on the stairs, but oh well. You win some, you loose some.

*Girls watched Tinkerbell while I taught Jennifer violin.  She's such a great girl, we talked

about college and music majors.

*Everyone cried and fussed while I made dinner.

*Ryan has diaper rash and is getting into everything.  Good thing he's so cute.

*Brent did the dishes while I played piano. What a sweetie

*Laura and Brent went on a date to the movie theater because L filled up her entire

bedtime chart.  They saw UP and got popcorn.

*While they were gone I folded 6 loads of laundry while E and R played on the bunkbeds.

*Read stories to just Eden.  She needs to go to bed earlier if she's not going to

take naps anymore.

*Ryan kept coming up to me during prayers to give me hugs.  Melted my heart.

 Last Saturday Lanna and Scott and co. met us at the Treehouse Childrens' Museum. We went to their annual Enchanted Woods event.  Basically the kids got to walk around in a group and listen to a story from fairy tale characters.  There was Puss in Boots, Belle, the Lion from Aesop's Fable, the Pied Piper, and many others.  My favorite was the last stop: the little pig and the big bad wolf.  It was in the theater and the kids got to help the little pig 'build' a house to withstand the wolf.  Happily the wolf ended up sharing a rice crispy treat instead of pork chops, and all was well.  The kids also got a little toy or treat at each stop.  Ryan ran all over the place, but the girls sat and listened very intently to each story.  They loved it, and afterward the Whetsels came over for donuts and hot chocolate.

We spent most of October sick.  The first year that we moved here to Utah we spent the whole month of October sick inside.  We thought maybe it had to do with the apartment we were staying in, but this year the same thing happened.  It wasn't the H1N1 thank goodness, maybe that's still coming, but rather an upper respiratory cold and cough combo.  Laura got it first and it spread to Eden then to Brent and I and finally Ryan is just getting over it.  Today, Nov. 1, is the first day we've been to church together as a family in about a month and a half!  I'm starting to crack down on hand washing and sanitizing and we've also decided to not take the kids to any unnecessary public places, like the grocery store or the library.  My labors might be in vain, but I'm hoping we can stay healthy for a little while longer!

We've also been enjoying the last few days of beautiful weather.  After the snow from the last weekend we're back up into the 60's.  Love it! 

This little guy is becoming a little tornado.  Into everything and running around. His absolute favorite thing is to be outside.  He'll stay content in the stroller for hours as long as he's out of doors.  Just like his daddy.  Except the stroller bit:)

On Saturday, the 17th, we headed up the Fernwood Trails above Layton with our friends the Kings and took family pictures.
This is the trail Brent goes mountain biking, and where he saw 3 rattlesnakes a few weeks ago. Thankfully there weren't any around while we there, although we did see about 5 other families out taking pictures as well.
The fall colors were gorgeous and the kids did fairly well considering all the dirt, rocks and other neat things distracting them. The one that turned out the best is, of course, the very first picture we took!
These are a few of my favorites, I got some prints on 'professional paper' for free from a Kodak promotion. We'll see how they turn out.

Me and my little ladies.

I think this one looks like an engagement picture:)

October 9th
Blessings from this week...

*Brent's doing well at work
*That I could be here this morning when the kids woke up.
*Personal revelation to teach myself, my kids and my students
to enjoy music, not just how.
*Getting a good price on pants and shoes.
*My homemade bread actually turned out and was delicious.
*A wonderful date with Brent paid for my Boeing.


October 11th
Today was awesome. I went with Rosemary, Lexi, Lesha, Lanna, Aunt Janice and friends Alyssa and Cary to the Witchapalooza festival at Gardner Village. Before hand we all got dressed up like witches and took pictures around the shops. We had little kids staring and people asking to take pictures with us. It was a lot of fun.

October 12th,

Little Cameron Jesse Whetsel was blessed today. We went down to Sandy and Brent stood in the circle while this sweet little baby was blessed by his father Scott. I love baby blessings. So much love and hope wrapped up in this special prayer. Afterward we had yummy food and visited with Brent's family at the Whetsels. I am so grateful for the wonderful women that helped raise my husband. I was thinking today about how lucky I am to have been accepted and loved by them.

The Annual Zoo Trip

October 7th, 2009
Perfect fall weather
Sarah, Allie and Kylie Schwartz
Abby, Laura, Eden and Ryan
Baby Elephant and the Baby Giraffe
The little birdies eating crumbs at the lunch table
Big statues to climb all over
Watching the giraffes get fed
Being roared at by the huge tiger
No tantrums, accidents or bolting
Exciting carousel rides and Eden tears when the ride was over
Treats, treats, treats