Whitney: A Holiday Trip

Whitney came back to inhabit her basement space at our house for one whole week. We jam-packed her visit with Christmas cheer. It started the moment we picked her up from the airport with Elf playing in the car. When we got home I put the kids to bed and Whitney got to work wrapping Christmas presents.

The next day we put up the felt tree Whitney made for the girls. It works out perfectly because they can pull them off and replace them by themselves. Later on Sadie took a bunch of close-ups of her felt tree.

That afternoon we dragged Whitney to gymnastics so Sadie could show off all her moves at her last gymnastics class.

Look at that form! She is, indeed, holding herself up with no help. I am very proud of the progress Sadie made in this class and we'll probably return to gymnastics class in the summer. The other milestone recorded in this photo is Sadie's french braids.

Pike jump

Anxiously watching Sadie- wanting to play too

Obediently sitting criss-cross applesauce on her purple square

After gymnastics we put on warmer clothes and rushed over to the Riverwoods to see Santa.

Sadie was very excited and told me many times that she was going to ask him for a princess castle with lots of princesses.

She got a little shy when it came time to tell him, but she actually did it and told him her favorite princess was Cinderella.

Elise's interaction with Santa was not so positive. But that's pretty much her reaction when anyone holds her if her parents are around, never mind the strange clothes and facial hair, so overall, a smashing success.

The Riverwoods does a great job at Christmas time. The lights are beautiful, a visit and photo with Santa is free (take your own photo), heaters are set up outside, and it is close to our house. 

Sadie took photos of everything she could find as I was finishing up dinner preparations. I deleted most of them, but I enjoyed this one of Whit.

 

And this one of Daniel reading one of Elise's favorite books, Charlie the Ranch Dog.

Thursday was another busy day, but with less pictures. I got home from work and we took the girls up to IKEA because I needed to get a Christmas present for Elise and IKEA is always fun with kids. Not. The girls were both fairly well-behaved and we made it out of store alive. Unfortunately, I realized when I got home that I stole a bunch of table legs. I thought I needed 4 boxes to go with the table top. Nope, just one. Oops. My only defense is that an IKEA employee watched me check out and didn't say a word.

The girls both took naps so we went to Daniel's game that night.

The girls lasted about 2/3 of the game until they started playing on the stairs and running around the courts up behind the arena. It confirmed my choice to not attend night games this year as correct. They weren't terrible, but by myself it would have been.

Both girls were rewarded after the game (a tough loss for UVU) with running around on the big court. They could care less who won. Although, for the first time ever Sadie realized that she actually knew the people playing in the game. She shouted, "It's Casey! Hi Casey! Mom! It's Casey!" Funny that it took her 3 years to realize that. I just assumed she recognized the players last year.

On Friday morning we went to open gym at Sadie's gymnastics place. We spent the whole time playing in areas Sadie doesn't get to go to during class: the big foam pit and the trampolines.

Elise was excited to be participating instead of spectating.

*it's really hard to get out of a foam pit while holding a 1 1/2 year old.

We came home and Sadie helped/hindered Whitney in wrapping more presents.

I want to mention how proud of myself I am for taking apart/putting together a new frame on our stroller. I waited 4 months for Daniel to put it together until I got a surge of girl power and realized it really wasn't very tough- just required non-laziness and someone who is actually home more than 2 hours a day.

Whit got roped into making a gingerbread house with Sadie.

Nielson square heads unite.

That night Whitney and I put the girls to bed and had some Cafe Rio as we watched Elf.

Saturday Whitney and I went to the new outlets in Lehi while Hillary watched the girls at home.

I am so happy I can now get to outlets in 15 minutes. 

We also returned the stolen IKEA table legs. We waited at customer service for a while, but the line was very long. So we just walked over to where the table legs were and put them back. We figured no harm done. It had only been a day and a half since I accidentally stole them and they were totally unopened. Maybe I shouldn't be admitting this on my blog. Can I be prosecuted for that?

We also visited Hobby Lobby for some Christmas season needs, namely, wrapping paper. They have the best in-store prices on wrapping paper (non-ugly wrapping paper) I have seen.

Sunday was a generally quiet day with church and dinner at the Blood's.

Sadie had a great time with second-cousin Jack and slept well that night after running, jumping, screaming with him.

The next day it actually snowed a decent amount in the afternoon. Whitney generously played outside with Sadie as I watched from inside.

Whitney made snowballs and Sadie threw them.

That night we went to Temple Square to see the lights.

Sadie was distraught that we couldn't actually go inside the temple. And she didn't believe me that we were in the temple when we went to the visitor's center. Too smart for her own good.

Both girls did enjoy running around in some warmth, even if it wasn't the temple.

Look- a picture of all of us!

In case you couldn't tell, we love Whitney a lot and we want her to come back to Utah and live with us.

Please?

Christmas Comes This Time Each Year

The Christmas season is well under way in our house, but I've been slow to post about it. Here's what our house is looking like for the holidays. 

The tree was the first thing to go up and this year we went to a lot just around the corner from our house. Sadie was excited about their life-size Mater and I was excited about my coupon. Win-win.

Are you confused by the extreme difference in outfit choice? Daniel in shorts and the girls in coats, hats, and gloves? Yeah, it was like 35 degrees. 

Daniel had to leave for a church meeting when we got home with the tree so Sadie and I hung a few ornaments and called it good.

 

The Big Dance

Not the NCAA tournament big dance, literally THE big dance. The performance in Sadie's dance recital that she practiced for months in class.

The week before the recital I was very skeptical that her class would be able to get through it, but 3 and 4 year-olds up on a stage would be cute no matter what happened.

I had to capture Elise and Quinn snacking through class for the last time.

The day of the recital came and Sadie could not wait to get on stage. Total opposite of me as a kid. I wonder if she was just too young to get nervous or if she really does love it.

My recording of the dance number is super blurry, but feel free to check out it below. Sadie is in the back, second from the right. It's basically impossible to see her.

The recital recording is much clearer, since the lights were on. And I was standing next to the stage.

When I went to pick up Sadie afterwards she was thrilled. She asks every day if she can dance on the stage. 

She frequently turns off the lights in the living room, stands on a stool, and does her whole performance. She also insists that I say "bravo" at the end, which must be something she heard the day of her recital because I've never said that to her. 

Sadie got some special flowers from her dad since he had to be out of town for her performance. I am a little freaked out by this picture because it looks like Elise is the same size as Sadie. Isn't she still a baby?

Hillary came to the recital and our attempts at getting a photo of her with the girls make me laugh.

 

 We are trying a different dance class starting in January. Hopefully Sadie enjoys it just as much.

Second Born

The goobs. 

Thinks the fact that she can take off her own sweater is awesome.

Have I mentioned how much of a menace she is?

Eating Daniel's dinner off the counter after not finishing her own dinner. 

At my wedding- 2005

I am so proud of and excited for my brother Matt. He has been called to serve as a missionary in the Boise, Idaho mission. He will go to the MTC on January 30th, 2013. We'll see ya out here in January!

Gratitude

I am grateful for these 3 goofballs. 

My family is everything on this Earth that matters. My marriage is the most important relationship. And Daniel is pretty cool, so it works out well. We're coming up on the 10 year anniversary of us dating, which makes me feel old. I am grateful for the way Daniel and I and our relationship have changed over those 10 years. At the moment it kind of feels like we are co-parenting from different households since we are rarely together with all 4 of us.  My girls are my two most impressive and amazing accomplishments. I'm proud those two crazy girls are all mine. I am so blessed and grateful to have them. My family is what gives my life real depth. The day to day is not too profound, but the overarching task of raising children is remarkable (and daunting). I recognize not everyone has the chance to have a fulfilling marriage and/or children and there is nothing I have done to deserve this more than them. 

I am just humbly grateful.

Boston 3/3

Here we are at the end of our trip. Wednesday was a lazy day. We hung out around the house until people started getting home from work.

We went for an early dinner where my girls were terrors. Then we went over to the local mall so we could get some energy out. Luckily, there happened to be random rides sprinkled around the mall and we happened to have doting grandparents who paid for rides.

Elise absolutely loves Bryce. She most definitely remembered him immediately. She was happy to play whenever he was around.

And I forced him to take this picture with Lou.

This car ride was really just the car making noises and tipping to the left over and over. Elise got somewhat smashed. Oops.

After the mall we headed home and I let other people watch my kids some more.

Sadie called this game on the blanket "camping". Her friend Hyrum went camping with his dad once and she saw an episode of Max & Ruby about camping and she insists she is going to go camping soon.

Elise supervised the camping with Nana.

And later that night we returned to Friendly's for round 2 of Reese's sundaes. They are the best.

 We kicked Thanksgiving off right with some high school football. I layered up the girls with clothes, but it turned out to be almost 60 degrees and sunny. We were all sweating. My girls weren't too interested. They wanted snacks and bottled water. Belmont High School lost by a lot and I felt right at home.

*This pic is for the TAJ family. Something to aspire to, Will! 

Some annoying middle school kids spilled their popcorn and Elise started eating it. Eh, it's good for you to eat other people's food off the ground sometimes.

Sadie was thrilled to find out Alicia was baking a pie. She got right to work bossing Alicia around as much as possible.

We ate dinner mid-afternoon and Sadie was pants-less. She was also pants-less while baking with Alicia (above). She is frequently found without pants when she is inside. Haven't figured out how to make her keep pants on yet.

Elise was being hilarious after dinner. She wrestled with some stuffed animals, got to Papa's reading glasses, and then played in the powder room. 

It's a mini-Doug John!

She loved that bathroom all week.

Thanksgiving was a great day. I was most grateful for my little family and the fact that I got to be in Boston with extended family for the holiday. 

On Friday I slept in (again) while my family watched my kids. Have I mentioned how great that was? I was totally spoiled. And my kids slept really well at night, so I was just getting bonus sleep.

Alicia and Bryce were wonderful with my kids, just like they were when they lived in Utah.

Louie finally started understanding ring around the rosie.

They spent a lot of time in the basement playroom during our trip as well. My mom mentioned that the guest bed was great so in the early morning she could doze off a bit as she was "playing" with my kids.

Where do you think Sadie is hiding?

We walked up to my elementary school playground with 5 adults and 2 kids. Love that ratio. 

Unfortunately all the slides were soaking wet because of the frost from the night before. Sadie happily went down this slide and flew about 3 feet off the end before my dad caught her. Bryce spent a while trying to convince Elise to go down, but she was not having it.

Sadie designated my mom as the mean crocodile and giddily screamed as she was chased. 

Where's Elise? This picture makes it look like the peak of fall. 

On Friday afternoon we boarded the plane to come back to Utah. Unfortunately, we sat on the plane for 2 hours before being cleared for takeoff. The girls were very curious about the planes around us. 

Everything went decently well until the last 90 minutes of the flight. Then all hell broke loose and I tried not to join my children in crying. We were all happy/relieved to see Daniel waiting for us in the airport. 

I am so thankful to have a wonderful family that I love visiting. We had a great time. 

Thanks for making it an awesome week, Mom & Dad, Alicia & Bryce, and Matt. Matt may be the real hero of the trip, as he gave up his room for Elise and slept in the basement, so my kids and I could have the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. And we all know how much my happiness revolves around sleep. 

Until next time, or actually, until February, when my parents will be here next!