After Christmas picture...

Okay, so I didn't take a single picture on Christmas.  Mikayla came down with croup on Christmas day and had that really sad "I'm sick so hold me" face.  But the day after Christmas, she was so much better already and Juliet wanted to show off her footie pajamas with her.

Juliet requested footie pajamas for her Christmas jammies, in part I think, because she's feeling out of place with Mikayla.  Juliet had been the baby for a long time and as much as she loves Mikayla, I think she misses being the baby.

Christmas was awesome for us.  I got a bungee jumping trip to Boise, ID!  I've wanted to bungee jump forever and Merril scheduled it for us!  There aren't any places that do bungee jumping anymore and so he found a company that schedules bungee jumping off bridges at several bridges around the west during the year.  He also scheduled Boise because the kids have been wanting to take a vacation on an airplane.  Tickets to Boise for the whole family, roundtrip was $450.  That's the total for all of us!  I'm so excited!

A white Christmas for us!

Before I talk about the snow, Mikayla has awesome hair and loves to pull up on things.  Yeah!

Normally our part of the country rarely sees snow, maybe once or twice in February or March.  But last night we were fortunate enough to get some snow in time for Christmas!  We hadn't noticed the snow until after the kids were asleep.

I can't even remember a time that we got snow before Christmas!  So this morning the kids got up and wanted to play in it soooo bad!  I thought they might even cancel school but it didn't happen.  So I agreed to let them play and just be a little late for school.   There were snowballs!

There were snow angels!

Lots of fun was had on the trampoline!

Juliet made a "snowman"...or just a pile of snow with some sticks in it.

Mikayla and I watched from the window.

 The kids had fun waving to her.

I really thought they'd last for about 10 minutes but played around outside for an hour.  Brrrr....it's still so cold out there!  Here's to Christmas!

Mikayla's first picture with Santa...

Our ward Christmas party was on Saturday and the Young Women were in charge.  It was a lot of work but turned out so great!  I cut about 100 snowflakes for the decorations and the room looked amazing.  I wish I'd take a picture of the room.  Woops!

My Dad played Santa and so I snapped a few pics.

I love this one of Mikayla!  All my other kids screamed on Santa's lap at this age.  She looks like she couldn't be more excited to be there!

On a side note, our neighbors, Dana and Carson, went through the temple and were sealed with their family earlier in the day.  It was a great experience to see them sealed with their kids!

Holy pastrami Batman!

December is the slow season for our business and so Merril took me to lunch yesterday to a yummy deli.  He ordered a pastrami on rye and I ordered turkey, swiss and bacon on marble rye.  Look at my sandwich fantasticness!

That thing's as big as Mikayla's head!!!  It was kind of pricey for a sandwich but that's only half of it.  There was another half, just as big, and a pickle, and chips.  I ate the whole thing, except for the bites Mikayla took.  :)

Juliet's Peanutcracker Recital...

Juliet was in ballet this Fall and had a blast.  She loved the shoes and the leotards, which she initially called "onesies", and all the girly things that go with it.  Her recital was Friday and Saturday and she did great.

She has some natural grace that goes a long way.

This is Juliet's friend, Naomi, who was in her ballet class too.

She says she might want to try gymnastics in the Spring.  She practices handstands a lot in the afternoons so it doesn't really surprise me.

Ohhhhh we ran out of gas...

I drove into town today and went past the Maverick.  As I passed, I thought to myself, "I should probably stop and get gas."  I ignored it and continued on my errand.  Two miles later, the Tahoe sputtered.  We coasted down big hill towards another gas station and I thought we might make it.  We didn't.  We were very close though!  I pulled out Juliet and Mikayla to walk to the gas station and noticed Mikayla was poopy.  Digging through the bag, I also noticed I was out of diapers.  Luckily, I coasted into the Walgreens parking lot.  Diapers were purchased in minutes, Mikayla was changed and we were on our way across the street to the gas station for a gas can, gas, and Nacho Cheese Doritos.

Mikayla was good and luckily is too young to be bothered by running all over in her pajamas.

And luckily the gas station sold gas cans.  The whole thing set me back about 30 minutes.  But at least everything worked out in the end!

I feel fortunate that even though I was a bonehead, I was still okay.

Temple Nativity...

Yeah!  We went to see the temple lights!  It wasn't even that cold but I bundled up Mikayla anyway.  Merril said she's looking at me like that because she's annoyed by the hat I put on her.

Apparently Julie was annoyed with me too.

Merril still likes me!

Mikayla cheered up in time for hot chocolate.  She really liked playing with the empty hot chocolate container.

Honestly, we had a great time.  I love family home evening at the Temple at Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas things are going up at our house and I did 2 new things this year.  I put my Christmas village on top of my kitchen cabinets and made a stable for the baby Jesus.

Merril drilled holes into the top of the cabinet so lights could be run up there from the microwave plug.

This is my, "How am I going to do that?" face.  Jack makes the same face when he's thinking.

Maxine was on the ready with the glue gun.  The roof would've been pretty impossible without her.

Coming together.

All finished!  Merril joked and said I could make them and sell them on Etsy for $100 a pop.

I cut some weeds by the side of the road for straw.

This part of the stable is for the animals, of course.  It's my favorite part.

I made the nativity pieces the Christmas I met Merril, 13 years ago.  I'm glad there's finally a stable for the baby Jesus!

A greenhouse for ME!

Merril has a friend that was selling a greenhouse because he was moving.  So Merril bought it for me.  It goes back to a long-time ambition of mine to grow things in a greenhouse.  It's just one of those things I've always wanted way in the back of my mind.  Merril also said that he's seen me toil with the weeds, heat and wind and wanted to make gardening easier for me.  First task:  Soil prep.  The soil in my backyard is mostly rocks, gravel, and clay.  So my garden is all outside soil.  The greenhouse was going to be too close to the trees so the garden was moved a little from it's previous location.  I'm digging out some nasty weeds, something like a morning glory, that won't pull up.  They break off and leave the roots.  Super annoying.  I've tried killing it with Roundup and that doesn't seem to kill it either.  Urg.  

Mikayla was cheery and ate her meals outside while I was digging.

Here's Merril with the greenhouse on a trailer.  It's a baby one, 8 ft x 12 ft, but it's a good beginner greenhouse.  I'm hoping to grow some amazing veggies.  Fingers crossed!

Jack's 7th Birthday...

Jack's birthday was at Anti-Gravity Trampoline Arena and we had a blast.  The kids jumped and jumped and got tired and jumped some more.

I love how blurry Juliet is as she flies through the air.

There were big couches for the lazy parents to hang out on.  There was also an arcade and pool tables.  Merril and I ended up playing a round.

Then we went out for pizza!  Wahoo!

Maxine turns 10, time for ear piercings...

We told Maxine when she was 10 that she could get her ears pierced.  I had to wait until I was 12 and I figured 10 was old enough to take care of her ears herself.  I wanted her to be responsible for keeping them clean and spinning them for 6 weeks.  Maxine's birthday was yesterday and so we took off to a local salon to get them pierced.  Maxine was excited and nervous, as you can tell from the picture.

During the piercing, Maxine did great and sat really still.  They look great and she was elated!

Her cake request involved red velvet and white cakes marbled together.  I tried to marble the frosting but it kind of just looked pink to me in the end.

I can't believe she's 10.  I don't feel old enough to have a 10-year old.  She's growing up into a great kid and she's a great example, even for me.

The stuff I find on my camera...

I was trying to get EVERYTHING cleaned off my cameras, the nice SLR and the little point and shoot.  I found a couple of funnies.

These are the gems.  Pretty much everything's fuzzy, overexposed or the same shot over and over.  Seriously Juliet, how many pictures of you pulling goofy faces do I need?

Fall Bike Ride...

I don't especially like to exercise.  I DO NOT like to run.  However, I do like to ride my bicycle.  It's not about the speed, because I don't go fast; it's about the ride.  I still feel like it's fun.  Fall is perfect bike riding weather.  It was about an hour until Mikayla was supposed to go to bed and she was kind of grumpy.  (She's cutting a tooth.)  Merril was working late so I loaded her up in the bike trailer and we went for a ride!  The blankets and pillows were supposed to help keep her upright, but being close to bedtime, she started to slump over towards the end of the ride.  She happily sucked her thumb.

 Maxine and Jack had a good time.

Juliet was good for the first half of the ride but then started to fade.

We ended up putting her bike on mine and walked/pushed the bikes and trailer home.

Even with Juliet kind of throwing a fit, I still had a good time.  And then everyone was ready for bed.  :)

Happy Halloween 2012...

Wahoo Halloween!  I like Halloween.  I've dressed up like a guy for the last 2 Halloweens.  This year, I decided to be a girl.  An awesome girl from the Avengers, Black Widow.  Merril was The Hulk.  Jack was a lego figure, Juliet was a cowgirl, Maxine was Hermione from Harry Potter and Mikayla was a cheetah.  This is right before the ward Halloween party.  

The school had a Halloween parade and Julie decided to ride a pony.

Jack was fun.

Maxine looked great!

This is Halloween night, right before trick-or-treating.

Maxine's costume was the hardest, mainly because I borrowed stuff for Jack's and Juliet's costumes and Mikayla's came out of the Halloween box.  I made Maxine's robe and tie.  I thought they turned out fine.  This year, Maxine wanted to trick-or-treat the neighborhood with friends, instead of the family.  So I gave her a cell and off she went.  I was out with Jack and Juliet.  When we would bump into each other, Maxine kept going on her own way.  She turns 10 on Monday!  WOW!