A Very BUSY Week

So here is a quick update of our past week via photos....we were all so exhuasted by the time Sunday came around that everyone took NAPS at the same time, including the parents! That has never happened before!

MONDAY - went to see lights with friends for FHE

TUESDAY - made gingerbread houses

WEDNESDAY - Malia got a haircut

Friday - Helped at our old ward's Christmas party that my parents and sisters were in charge of

SATURDAY - Our ward's Christmas Party that I was in charge of...A Night in Zarahemla, lots of work, fun, and I must say it was an AWESOME night but boy am I glad it is over!

It's here!

I just heard the rain and had to let the dog into the garage. We have been hearing all week now that a huge storm is coming, I wonder if it will really live up to everything they say it's going to be. They were certainly right about the waves on Wednesday.

A huge swell came in on Wednesday and we went to the beach with about half the town, to watch the waves. We even got to see a lifeguard jump off the pier to save some "brave" or should we say "stupid" soul who thought it would be fun to try and surf in it. It was pretty cool to see the waves come one right after another and to see them so big. Apparently my brother in law even tried to brave them in an area where the surf is generally milder and "saw his life flash before him" or at least that is what I was told. Most of the pier was closed off and the waves literally were hitting the top of the pier. I have never seen them that high that I can remember. Here is a photo from that day, I need to get my mom's pictures as her's are much better. Along with all the people at the beach there were also several news stations and helicopters hoovering over the beach that morning.

She did it!

Today Lyndie took 4 steps all on her own! And I even have a witness. We were at school today and she was standing by me and I just had this feeling that she was going to do it, and very quietly I whispered to my sister, "Chels watch" and she took 4 steps before her wobbly little legs gave out on her! I am not sure I am ready for three runners, he already crawls fast enough!

I survived!

Today I watched my friend's two kids who are 3 and 1 along with my own 3! Talk about busy! I even took all 5 of them to our parent/child preschool class we go to, there was a substitute today and when I walked in she looked at me with this crazy, perplexed look on her face and said, "Are they all yours?" It was a great moment. I should have just humored the poor lady and said, "Why of course!" She was a very cool sub and brought her guitar to play while we sang. It inspired me to get mine out and call up my old neighbor and see if she could teach me to play it, I almost made the call tonight even but thought it might be too late. I don't need to know how to do anything fancy, just strum a few chords so we can sing Ensey Weensy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, BINGO, etc...together! My kids would love it! Besides it would help me sound better when I sang! Back to the 5 children they were all so good that I can't complain. They came at 6:30am and I had them until 2pm. Their mom got to go to a taping of the Ellen Show and it was one of the 12 days of Christmas Giveaway Days....lucky her, she got $1200 worth of new clothes! We played on the trampoline, went to the park after school and did no housework! Which is why I am still up! But Lainey only had one very "little" meltdown today so I am happy!

This is a picture of Maggie, the one year old, feeding Lyndie, it was so cute to watch her sharing cheerios with her. Lyndie was in heaven, although she did have a bit of a confused look on her face when she saw someone else in her chair!

Doesn't Santa come to your house on the first too?

Conversation between Justin and I the other night regarding the girls and Christmas:

Me: Well here are the things we have for the girls, that we've picked up over the year as well as the stuff you got from Shelley (a woman he was working for that gave us bags full of things that her 3 girls had outgrown)

Justin: Okay, but I really want to get the girls a trampoline.

Me: A trampoline? (with a shocked look on my face since I know there is no money for a trampoline) Uh...we don't have money for a trampoline.

Justin: Well, let's just look on craigs list, I have seen them for free.

Me: Free? Are you sure? I don't believe you, but I'll look.

At which point I get on the computer and look, and did actually see some that were free, somewhat shocked. I email about 8 people not really expecting any responses, since all the posts were over a week old and I got no responses.

But a few days later I decide to look again and a post has just been added, call after 3:30pm it says. And guess what? I was the lucky first caller!!!!

So Santa made an early stop at our house since it was just way too heavy for his sleigh, i.e. Daddy's work truck and Daddy even saw his sleigh fly over our house or at least that's what he told the girls when we were out on Saturday afternoon.

Santa left a Santa stuffed toy of himself as well as a note right inside our front door and the girls were so excited to find it. They ran all over the house looking for the "thing" he had left him and finally Lainey spotted it in the backyard. We have had so much fun on it already. Lyndie even loves to go on it with us. We've had another warm streak which makes it nice to be outside on it but they say the rain is coming this weekend which I don't mind as it come so infrequently here and the girls are at that perfect age to go for walks in the rain.

Last time it rained Lainey decided to ride her bike in the rain, I think she was a little surprised when I told her to go ahead and play in it...

Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture? Somedays I can't believe that I have an almost 4 year old...where do my days and weeks and months go? And she is such a determined child!!!We are having really serious clothes issues these days....definitely another post!

My luck doesn't stop with the trampoline, on Sunday I got an email saying that I had won the free certificate to a Love and Logic parenting seminar that I really wanted to attend that was being given away. I was so excited! And then last night I talked to the man that is presenting the seminar and he said we don't even have to pay the difference so that Justin can come too!

Lyndie has just about got the whole walking thing down! She stands on her own now and holds onto furniture and gets wherever she wants to be.

Malia has been honing in on her mothering skills lately, oh how she loves her baby dolls. I love to watch her play with them. The other night she got out one of Lyndie's bottles for them and some of Lyndie's food, at least she said it was for her babies...I think she ate it instead. My poor daughter thinks that every store is a thrift store....does that tell you where we spend our time and buy things at....the other day when we were there she found a baby and a stroller and proceed to push it around the whole store trying to convince me that that she needed them. When I told her we already had a stroller and baby at home she said to me, "But not this color stroller and not this baby."

I have stayed up much later than I planned...I need to get to sleep before my sleeping baby wakes me up!

Good old summer days...

oh wait, it's November isn't it? Today at 8am I heard that it was already 77 degrees outside so we decided a trip to the pool was definitely in order. My sister has a membership to this pool and we feel like it is "our" pool as there is never anyone else there, it's great! We had so much fun, it sure is nice to have everyone feeling better! The 2 big girls are finally over their colds, Lyndie's bladder infection cleared right up with the right medicine however just as she was finishing her medicine another fever came on, we thought it was back but after a few days and a nice little rash and a few more trips to the doctor we discovered she now had roseola. She is back to her normal little self, which means she is finally sleeping again, and is trying desperately to stand without holding onto things! Hope you are all enjoying your fall and that you are not freezing!!! We sure aren't.

We are still here...

in case anyone ever happens to look at this page, we are ALIVE, just been away and busy for the last few weeks. And I should be in bed but I am up...we had an eventful week in Utah for Justin's sister's wedding and enjoyed being with family although I think that we have sworn off traveling forever...or at least a few years or at least until we forget what it was like to be in the car with the kids for hours on end!
On the way to the wedding we spent a day in Zion, we had fun looking around and exploring, although Malia was quite certain that the ram we saw on the hillside was going to come after her...it didn't help that Daddy was making rustling noises with the bushes!

Wedding photos...it was so cold we didn't get any pictures outside with our camera and then I was so busy at the reception I forgot to get any pictures of the kids with the bride and groom...thay's how it goes sometimes!

A few halloween photos...we went for the family theme again this year!

More exciting photos to come!