Valentines

We had a great Valentines day. It actually started the day before with class parties. I was in charge of Justin's class party. They painted and decorated cookies and then we went outside and let them play "heart attack" which is sticker tag with heart stickers. The children loved it, but thought it was more fun to get me and Abigail than each other, so by the end we had the most stickers on us.

Emily had a Valentine Mystery Dinner with some of her friends. She thought Friday the 13th was the perfect day to do it. We purchased a mystery packet called "Mancy Crew". They had a wonderful time, and I was surprised at how well they stayed in character. One of the girls ended up being sick so I had to play one of the characters since I knew the one that was missing was the guilty one. They were able to figure out all of the codes and find the missing scroll all by themselves. They enjoyed eating chips and queso, tacos, and fried ice cream while doing it all. They also enjoyed a few rounds of hide and go seek in the dark when it was all over.

On Valentines Day we enjoyed our traditional breakfast of heart waffles. Jeff and I went to the temple and then out to eat later that day, while Emily babysat. We brought the kids home a pizza and their own small cartons of Ben and Jerry ice cream. I think it was a good day for everyone.

A Colorful Personality

Today I made a picture on Funhouse. I picked out a picture, and then inserted Tyson's face into it. I titled it "Colorful Personality." I titled it that because the picture was of a very colorful painting of a person. When my mom walked in, she took one look at it and said, "Wow, that really fits Tyson, he does have a colorful personality!" How true those words are! Tyson unceasingly amazes me! He's is a wonderful brother, but sometimes the things he says makes me wonder what is going through his mind! I love him, and truly belive that his personality is made of many colors!

I Don't Like Fun Dips!

Every Friday morning I help the PTA out at school with their snack shack. Abigail and Ryan go with me and they love to try to get candy from it the whole time. Ryan wanted a Fun Dip. I insisted he could not have one because they are way to messy to eat. He kept bugging me and finally I caved, but told him he would just have to bring it home and eat it outside. The first thing he did when we got home is have me open it so he could go outside and eat it. I let him and Abigail outside to eat it in the back yard while I continued to clean the house. When they started knocking on the door I went to open it for them and I remembered once again why I didn't want him to have a Fun Dip, this is how they looked, and this is after I washed their hands and faces, because it doesn't come off!

January is Over!

January always seems like the longest month for me to get through! This year has been no exception. I started off the month with strept throat, Justin got it the same day as I did and then Abigail got it two days latter and Ryan two days after her. The week after that was all over, I ended up with an upper respiratory infection or sinus infection, one of the two. I felt miserable for about a week, and finally decided to be seen by the doctor since I was there with Justin anyways. Justin ended up with strept again, and I ended up getting a shot and being put on antibiotics. I told the doctor I don't usually get sick, and I don't know if he believed me or not. I have only been to the doctor three other times for sickness in the last 10+ years and I have now been to the doctors twice in three weeks. I don't regret getting that shot, even though it kind of hurt. It was cortisone and an antibiotic, and by the next day I was completely cleared up. I have never had that kind of healing before! Other than being sick, the rest of the month hasn't been too bad. I have stuck to my New Years resolutions even through the sicknesses, which is a first for me. I am not very good at following through with the goals I make, but thanks to an incredible husband, who always follows through with his goals, I have been inspired and have stuck to them. I have read my scriptures every night, and exercised at least four times a week. These two things have helped me to get through everything else much easier!

The kids are all doing well. Emily started violin again (she had a break for a month during Christmas). Tyson is doing indoor soccer, but doesn't have a ton of games and very few practices, so it really doesn't take up too much time. Justin has enjoyed being back in school and has become an excellent reader. Ryan has had the biggest changes. He is now potty trained. This is a job I don't enjoy doing at all so I was putting it off, but when I realized he was starting Sunbeams I decided it can be put off no longer! Because he was older, it only took one day to do it, and it is nice it is done. He still has to have me come in the bathroom with him, which I don't enjoy, but at least I didn't have to clean up a bunch of accidents. Four down, one to go. As I mentioned earlier he also started Sunbeams in January. This has not been a fun thing for him, but today he finally went with out crying. My three older kids always loved the idea of getting older and starting primary, but Ryan did not want any part of it! He would start crying before we even went to church because he didn't want to have to go. Luckily, every time we pick him up he says, "It was great, I loved it." Abigail is starting to get more opinionated and doesn't mind fighting for what ever she wants. I have never seen a one year old that can bring a 6 or 9 year old to tears quicker than her! Everyone in the family still loves her, and they usually give into her.

This is obviously getting way to long, kind of like January! I will go now.

Justin's Christmas Wish List

I am not the greatest at going through my kids backpacks! Before I sent Justin back to school on Wednesday (he had strept throat on Tuesday) I cleaned out his backpack. I found his "Christmas Wish List" he had made at school. I was quite surprised to read what he wanted for Christmas. Keep in mind he is in Kindergarten, and all of the things on the list are the real thing, not a toy.

1. Nintendo DS
2. Laptop Computer
3. Dog
4. Gold Brick
5. School
6. Car
7. Basketball Court
8. Bus
9. House

The only thing he got from his list was his first thing. I don't quite know what to think of his list. When I was in Kindergarten I am sure my list was full of toys, but for some reason my kids don't really play with toys. When I asked him why he would want a house when we already have a nice house to live in he said he thought it would be fun to have one for himself that he didn't have to share!

Tyson's Christmas

The theme for Tyson this Christmas was definitely BYU. He recently got a mural painted on his wall and so he also got a lot of accessories for his room to help complete the BYU theme. Grandma Yardley wanted to contribute and bought him some BYU sweat pants which he would have loved if only they would have fit! I thought I could make them work, but after he held them up we knew there was no fixing them, so I got a new pair of sweats and I had to buy something else for him to have from Grandma (he chose football cards). Tyson also got a BYU book that he loves to read, a BYU rug, and a BYU wallet. He can never have enough BYU stuff. The picture at the top is a picture of his wall. One of the ladies that I visit teach painted it just by looking at a small picture of it. I am so thankful other people's talents! She told me it wasn't very hard and I probably could have done it myself, she obviously has never seen me try to paint!

Merry Christmas; Happy New Year

We hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; I know we all did. Christmas was wonderful for all of us, and despite what Tyson said in our Christmas letter, I really didn't get rid of all of our traditions, we actually added a few new ones. Everyone had a favorite gift... Emily - Guitar Hero; Tyson - Rip Stick; Justin - Nintendo DS; Ryan - Geo Trax (Nicole's favorite too!) Abigail - Dora Backpack; Jeff's - Digital Picture Frame (and everything else that Nicole gave him). We have had beautiful weather, but because of it being so warm it hasn't really seemed too much like the Christmas season. Here is my favorite picture of Justin and Abigail, it is not very often that we have one turn out this cute! The next picture is of the whole family the Sunday before Christmas. I don't know how to make the pictures go where I want them to yet. Maybe I will figure it out sometime this upcoming year!

2008 was a wonderful year for our family, despite everything that is going on around the world, we have been extremely blessed. We are so grateful for all of our blessings. The highlight of 2008 were our two trips this summer; one to Utah and the other to Pennsylvania.

We started the New Year off with a night full of games. We played games until 12:00 with the three oldest kids. It is fun now that they are old enough to really play. We spent New Years day just relaxing and Justin and Tyson played flag football with some friends. Tyson would like this to be a tradition every year.