Christmas Morning...

Here, Dasher, here Dancer...

This is G and the girls putting some oats and sprinkles in the front yard, just to make sure that the reindeer knew where to go, a landing strip of sorts.

and more...

Gracie was singing "round young version, mother and child" and I laughed, she used to say so many funny things when she was little, "Mommy, can I watch 101 dogmations?"

kids say...ctd...

Today Sophie was singing "Join to the World" She also asked if she could turn the lights on the Christmas "Wrath"...gotta love that child.

kids say...

I have been meaning to write down some cute things my kids have said. So, in no particular order...
Dial- Mom did you dial your hair blond?-Sophie
Descrive- How would you descrive that tree?-Kes
Turch- Is that our turch we just drove by?-Kes
reward- Can we go to Grammies church reward today?-Sophie
my two favorites are oldies and are perpetuated since I think they are so cute: hopstigal, popstical. Love it.

a visit to Santa

The girls all wrote letters to Santa this year and we decided to take them to the mall to give them to him. This year they had a Rudolph theme and that was lucky, because Sophie has been wanting to ask Santa if Rudolph is real. (He said he is) Gracie wants Girls Gourmet ("Mom, it's candy you make, and wear, and eat!!") Kes just asked for a happy Christmas, but then decided to write a ps that she likes scooters and comfy pants and pretty dresses. Sophie wants a dress that goes past her toes (I'm not sure even Santa can find one of those in her size) and a scooter.

About a decade ago...

It’s hard to believe we have been married for ten years. I still feel like I’m in my early twenties sometimes. We decided to go big since this is a landmark anniversary. So we went on a cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. It was way too short, and so much fun. It was different to go without kids; there were times I wished they could have been there. But it was really nice to close my eyes and relax by the pool, and not worry if my children were drowning.
The best part was that G and I got to spend some quality time together. With his work and school schedule, it’s hard to find time to be a couple, but this was great, and I have some stored up since I wont see him for most of December. (Most people say Santa uses a sleigh, but I think it’s mostly FedEx)
So here are some pictures of the happy couple, we didn’t want to ask strangers to take pictures so, for the most part, they are really close up, with cool things behind us.

Can't help loving that man...

It's G's bday and I just want to tell everyone I know how lucky I am to have him. No matter how crazy life is and how little we get to see each other lately, I am blessed with the knowledge that we're in this together. I love our relationship and that I know we are a team in every aspect, I can't imagine my life without my love. Thanks for marrying me G!

The night we all took the prize...

This Halloween has been fun in the costume department. The girls all knew for sure what they wanted to be. Gracie wanted to be Stein's wife, Helen Stein. So she became a very hair sprayed bride of Frankenstein. Kes started out wanting to be a mummy but then saw the pretty clothes Julie gave them from Taiwan and so she wanted to be a China Doll. Sophie has fallen in love with the show wonder woman, all the girls love it. My cute niece let us borrow her DVD collection of the TV series, so she even knows her theme song as she jumps from high places and spins around a lot. I intended to be Elizabeth Bennett, but soon realized that it was shorter to say "I'm Jane Austen" than, "I'm the girl in Pride and Prejudice who finally humbles Mr. Darcy" and it's pretty much the same costume, unfortunately it is also similar to other historical characters and I won best costume at my church party for being Emma Smith. Hee hee. Gracie won best costume, and Kes and Sophie also won great costume awards. The Harding family really smoked the competition on that night. It probably won't happen again so we are going to be singing "We are the Champions" a little more throughout the house.

gearing up for halloween...

This is Wonder-Woman saving the China Doll from the Bride of Frankenstien.

look how cool these swings are...

This is a park we went to during a break in Gracie's play practice. These swings were a hit.

new halloween tradition...

The girls and I like to do crafts, but my door is full of Halloween artwork, so I wanted to do something that wouldn't have to be displayed, so I hard-boiled some eggs, made some orange egg dye, and we were set to go. We thought it would be fun to make jack-o-lantern boiled eggs, and it kind of grew from there, the kids wanted to make Frankensteins and witches so green seemed to be the next appropriate color. It was fun, I just wished I had boiled more eggs.

Sophie's field trip to the Dino Park

Sophie got to go to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden for her field trip. She kept asking me to take pictures...I love it, and hope it doesn't stop for a long time. I know eventually all my girls will want me to stop taking pictures of them, but for now they are great posers.

glow in the dark mini-golf

Since Garrett is going to school full time and working full time, we try to make the most of his days off. A few weeks ago we went to Sparetime Family Fun Center in Syracuse to play mini golf. The girls had so much fun, there were a lot of fantastic neon colored paintings of mermaids and Unicorns, and the black lights made the atmosphere quite exciting.

no school=tea party for breakfast

Today is UEA so the girls wanted to do something fun, this is what they came up with.

long time no blog...

So I have become a blog slacker, but I have many cute pictures to share of the kids this summer. This seems to have been the summer of mini-trips we went for a few day trips with friends to Antelope Island and Bear Lake. We took a spontaneous vacations to Seattle where my brother's family lives. We had some fun family reunions and we played at the Treehouse museum and zoo a lot. So here are a few pictures of our summer,I will be blogging more now, since it will get cold and I wont want to go outside, more in depth posts to come.