Painting!

I know we haven't blogged in a while, but there hasn't been any big stuff (or funny) to blog about. Since it was Papa's birthday on Monday, the kids decided to make him something extra special, so they painted him pictures! It was so cute to see them working so hard to get it just perfect. Andrew is over in the crib because he was a little too excited about all this fun paint. If you look at picture #1 and picture #2 he is doing peek-a-boo, which is his all time favorite game at the moment. He plays peek-a-boo with anything and everything he can put up to his face. He laughs and laughs and thinks it is so funny (which it is) Kallie working on her masterpiece.

Benjamin painting his gift to Papa, a wooden truck. He picked it out all by himself :)

Andrew saying "Boo!"

Andrew and I zonked out on Sunday. Don't you love how completely out this little man is? He is so dang adorable!

Fun at Church

A couple of Sundays ago I had to go to church early to practice with the choir before the meeting started. Both Ben and Kallie decided it would be fun to go with me and promised that they would sit very quietly and not goof around or cause any trouble while I was practicing. Not only did Ben do that, he also critiqued the choir. While Kallie flirted with the always jovial Bro. Stokes, Ben would give me a big thumbs up while smiling and nodding his head every time I glanced down to check on them.

Later, after the meeting had started, Kallie leaned over to me and said something very softly. I said, "what?" She repeated her statement. "WHAT?" I said. A third time she calmly told me something very seriously. "KALLIE, speak up! I can hardly hear you!" I said, in a little-too-loud-for-church voice. "At church we talk very softly! That's what I said!" she shot back in a little-louder-than-I-was voice.

Sore Back in forecast

Yesterday was Sunday. I like Sundays...but I LOVE snowy, rainy, cold Sundays. Yesterday was one of those Sundays. We woke up to snow falling and white grass again, which I also love. After church and choir practice we headed up to Alpine for dinner with the family. We thought, "oh, it is just raining a little bit...maybe a little snow mixed in, but nothing our van can't handle"....so we took the van (front wheel drive...not 4 wheel drive). We had a great dinner with the family, visited, played, funny stories....and didn't really give the weather another thought. We discovered how busy the weather had been when my father-in-law had to leave to go to a meeting. A little dusting of snow turned into inches in just a few hours. So no big deal you're thinking right? WRONG! My in-laws have a very steep driveway. Without a four wheel drive car you really can't get out of it in the snow. Luckily for us they have a monster of a truck that can pull just about anything. So Chris and his dad hooked up our little mini van and pulled it out of the driveway like it was pulling a sled. We decided if it was this bad (snowing in those big beautiful flakes) we should probably get on the road and get home ASAP.

The drive home was slow, but relaxing and beautiful with all the snow falling down. I think Chris got a little too comfortable with the road conditions and took a turn a little too fast (15 mph) and we did a complete 360! The whole time I was grabbing onto my door handle yelling "BRAKE! BRAKE!" (I'm not sure if I was yelling that in my head or out loud...I should ask Chris) He didn't brake, which probably saved us from getting suck in the ditch or going off the side of the road into a little gully. He is so much more level headed then I am....thank goodness! We made it home with only a few more slips and slides.

When we got home, and after getting kids to bed, I started to shovel off our flat top (which is not an easy chore). Chris came and helped me finish if off, and then we started on clearing all that snow off our driveway and walkway beneath. I thought we were so smart getting a jump on the snow removal I would have to do today. I went to bed sore, but so glad I wouldn't have to shovel snow this morning with the kids. I woke up with a VERY sore back and my stomach sank when I looked out the window to see this.....

Half the Flat top...
The other half...

Our Neighborhood....

and under all that snow is our driveway....

So back outside, with Kallie and Ben as "helpers" so move more snow. I really can't complain....what better place to have to work then outside in this beautiful winter wonderland. If you want to see what I mean you are more than welcome to come on over....just bring a shovel and gloves!!!

Not Quite 8 Inches

So Katie has been asking for sometime when I'm going to cut my hair. I love having long wavy hair that I have to brush out of my eyes, she doesn't. I'm not sure why, it's not like she has to brush it out of my eyes. I told her I would cut it when I was done with an experiment at school, thinking I had just bought myself another 3-4 months. Well, by a strange twist of fate I was done much sooner than planned and admittedly had to cut my hair. It was long enough that I actually toyed growing it out long enough to donate it like Katie did (Rogain doesn't work on all men). But the other morning I just decided I would cut my hair myself. Now this is nothing new. I have cut my own hair many times before. However, I usually let Katie take care of the blending and the very back as I don't have a double set of mirrors. Well, this time I thought I'd just do it myself anyway. Needless to say that after about 15 minutes of messing around with that (or messing that up or whatever), the rest of the haircut took just 30 seconds. By the way, Ethan and Josh, this is a #3. Lets just say I'm not sure Auntie Katie would have left me alive had I been brave enough to do a #1 as you do. It sure "accents" my cheekbones, don't you think?

Bowling in Heber

On New Year's Eve we went bowling in Heber. Katie and the kids all beat me both games... I think I'm done writing about this day.

Well, that is, except to mention what happened BEFORE bowling. As we are walking into the bowling alley Katie turns to me and says, "I think there is a hole in my pants. Can you see it?" And though I swear there had not been anything there when she said that, suddenly I could SEE it. In fact I could see all 8 inches of it. Despite possibly being the kinkiest pair of jeans she has ever owned, it was very clear she could not go bowling in these pants. The solution: Kings.

For those of you who don't know, Kings is a store in Heber has got to be something like what Walmart must of been like in its inception. Anything and everything from manufacturers you have never heard of for almost nothing. Sometimes its easy to tell that the quality of a product is truly lacking. Other times the quality is amazing but the fashion sense of its designer fortells the end of that person's career. And every once in a while you find something in there that makes you scratch your head and think, "How did this thing find it's way into Kings? How is it possibly so cheap? How do I get it to the register without the three middle-aged women in mullets wrestling it from me?" (If you have ever been to Heber you darn well know that the last question is a completely valid one.) Well, it just so happened that between the pairs of pants made from rice paper, the pairs with bungee waist bands and no pockets, and the pairs that tapered at the ankels and flared at the hips, Katie found an amazingly good pair of jeans that looked just about right in size for $9. The next challenge: trying them on.

The only place to try on clothing at Kings is the public restroom. The good news is that it is a one person restroom with a door. The bad news is, it is just as clean as any public restroom you have ever been in. The really bad news was that some really heavy lady who had eaten some really bad food had just had a really bad experince in there right as Katie needed to try on some pants. The pants, however, fit perfectly and Katie simply left the old ones in the bathroom. Wearing the pants to the register also helped ensure we weren't going to get tackled on the way there.

The lady at the checkout register had a look on her face that was just priceless when Katie simply handed her a pair of tags to ring up. It took about two minutes to get her to understand that Katie was actually wearing the pants and that this wasn't a scam. The woman could not resist the obvious question, "but where are your OTHER pants?" I couldn't help but respond with a question of my own, "didn't you see her walk in here without any pants on?" Her cheeks went deep purple, "NOoooooooo...." She said slowly. Katie quickly reassured her of the truth and then we went through the usually Kings ritual of taking 15 minutes to check out 1 item.

Ben Learns to Cross Country Ski and other Holiday Fun

This Christmas was definitely marked with firsts... aside from being Andrew's first Christmas, Kallie and Hailey finally found someone willing to watch to their babies for them.

Ava suddenly realized this was not the job the girls had made it out to be.
Kallie and Ben got to grind their first wheat to help make a healthy breakfast.

Kallie shows how easy and fun it is to grind your own wheat!

Ben finds the chore a little more exerting... Ben also learned how to cross country ski! He was so excited and couldn't wait to go. He wore the cross country skis that I learned on when I was his age and I have to admit it was a tender moment for me. He was a real pro and even managed some small hills. A natural to say the least, he begged to go out again every day after. Not to mention that Katie also went cross country skiing for the first time and LOVED it.

Another first was "P.J.'s Sleigh". Thanks to the artistic and thoughtful efforts of Uncle Alex, Papa Joe got a heavy duty sport sled for Christmas. As you can tell its just big enough to hold three kids and Katie while being pulled behind a machine. And the lip is just tall enough to give you back pain for a week...

And since Ben got a cool tent for Christmas we of course had to find out how many people could possibly fit inside at one time. Somehow we got Aunty Amy to think it was a good idea to be the first one in.