Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas Day. We spent the morning at our house opening presents and enjoying them. We then went to my parents house and spent the afternoon with them, my siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces, and nephews. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here's our Christmas card in case you didn't get one because I don't have your e-mail address and I'm too tired to find it. I just added the family picture that you see here in the blog at the top of the card. Try to imagine my amazing creativity :).

Merry Christmas! We love this time of year to reflect on the birth of the Savior. He has brought so many blessings to our lives and to our family. We're grateful for the knowledge of the gospel.

Our family is doing well. We love living in Spanish Fork, UT and have wonderful neighbors and beautiful surroundings.

We have had a fun year. We went on a small trip with the family to attractions in SLC. We joined Lucille’s family for fun at her parent’s cabin. Scott and Lucille were able to go to Disney World just the two of them thanks to her mom. Scott also went on a couple of trips to Houston.

Scott continues to be successful as an engineer at Novatek and has received many opportunities for growth and increased responsibility. He now serves as the first counselor in the Young Men's presidency for our ward.

Lucille takes care of the children and the household responsibilities. She works in the ICU at the local hospital once a week. She continues to serve as the secretary in the Primary.

Richard adores preschool and is learning how to read and write. He's doing very well. He's very inquisitive and creative. He is very sweet and loves to be with the family.

Audrey has started dance lessons which is helping her gain confidence around people. She's a bundle of energy and has so much to say when she's at home. You'll be lucky to hear her speak if she's out of her comfort zone.

Marie has said her first word and signs a few things. She loves to be tossed around and play! She is our “tiny one.”

Peter also signs a few things. He loves to open cupboards and drawers so he can close them. If he sees something open he can't help but close it. He loves to laugh, play, and climb.

Christmas Program

Richard had a program for preschool just before the Christmas break. Unlike at the end of preschool last year, he actually sang and did the actions and everything! Yea for confidence!

I"m melting... melting!

We decorated a gingerbread house for family night last night. I always loved doing that when I was growing up. However, I'm lazy and don't make the house like my mom did. I didn't want to buy the house from Costco this year, like I did last year, because I didn't like the candy that came in the kit. I saw a kit at Wal-mart that was cheaper. I figured it was because it had less candy. That was OK, because I was going to supplement with different candy anyway.

Well, apparently, the frosting is sub-par. It would not set and the candy kept sliding off the house! Oh, well. At least we had fun! The kids weren't going for a masterpiece anyway.

Even the roof starting sliding off! So much for their "let it sit for 15 minutes" rule for the stabilization of the house!
By morning, quite a few pieces were sitting on the plastic tray instead of on the house. Lesson: Don't buy the Wal-mart kit!

Disney World pictures

Water baths

Here is the website. Scroll through the recipe to find out the info on water baths

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/11/white-chocolate-pumpkin-cheesecake-with.html

My sweet boy

Richard has his moments of being a 5-year-old boy. All kids do. Then, he comes out and says things that melt my heart. When we got home on Sunday he said, "Tomorrow for family night, we need to draw pictures of why we love each other because now we're back together as a family."

Then, my Mom told me that he noticed Audrey's candy was almost all gone. He gets a lot more these days as he goes to preschool and friend's birthday parties. So, he said, "I can share my candy with Audrey since she doesn't have any." He said this without any prompting! He voluntarily said that! What a sweetie!

He loves to cuddle in bed with me. He often asks for me to stay longer on his bed and gets upset that I wake up earlier than he does in the morning. He'll ask me to "pet" him, which means to stroke his head.

I love my little boy and hope he is always this sweet!

cheesecake

I LOVE cheesecake. I have made several. However, this past week, I had a revelation. I read on a blog that you should cook them in a water bath. What?! Why had I never heard this before?! I tried it and I LOVE the results! No dry, crumbly cheesecake. It's moist, yummy, pretty, and slices beautifully. Yummmm....

Disney World

Yes, I caved in and we went to Disney World over Disneyland. My mom demonstrated her need for sainthood again and VOLUNTEERED to watch our kids. So, off to Florida we went. We had a great time having adult conversation and going on rides that require you to be taller than 42 inches. Of course, by the end, I missed my kids and was tired of walking all day. However, I'm so glad we got to go on this vacation.

I've tried to upload pictures a few times and it's not working. I can't get facebook to upload pictures either. Grumble. I'll figure it out later.

Recycling

Yesterday, Richard and Audrey were cleaning up and Richard found one of his cars in Audrey's room. However, Marie and Peter were already asleep and Richard shares a room with those two. So, we didn't want him to go in to put the car away. Scott kept telling him to put it outside his door and we'd worry about it later. Richard kept insisting he go in to put it away.
Scott finally said, "Richard, if you don't put it by your door, I'm going to throw it in the garbage can!"
Richard's response was, "But it's made of plastic!"
Scott said, "Well, then I'll put it in the recycle bin."
Guess I've taught him well.

Mail, it was called mail

If you knew me at all during the last ten years of my life, you'll know that Scott and I wrote letters to each other for over two years while he was on his mission. (On that note, never say you'll never do something. I thought it was the dumbest idea to write a missionary. I did it. Never say never.) I loved getting letters. I ran to the mailbox every day in hopes that I might have a letter from him. I loved the things we would talk about in letters, because obviously communication is much different via written form than verbal form. I told him about school, being a Relief Society president, nursing clinicals, and my family. He told me about preaching the gospel, sweltering heat, mosquitos, and less than sanity conditions.

I have been thinking about the lost art of keeping in touch with people. I read a lot of blogs. I read people's status updates on facebook. Do people know I read about their lives and care about how they are doing? Not likely. I don't often comment, because I don't feel I have anything worthwhile to say. So, I read about them. I confess I have a very if-you-don't-talk-to-me-than-I-won't-talk-to-you attitude. If someone comments to me, I make an effort to comment to them. If you don't, than I don't. I am trying to be better. I try to comment or at least "like" what people say on facebook. Who reads my blog? I know where they come from, but I don't know who reads about us. Scott and I were thousands of miles apart and yet somehow managed to keep in contact. Yet, I haven't been very successful at keeping in touch with people from the past that I thought I was close to.

I have one dear friend that I actually have kept in touch with. She moved away a couple of years ago. We wrote e-mails for a while until I couldn't type because I was nursing two babies 75% of my awake time. Now, we talk on the phone. Everyone else has drifted into non-contact-keeping-in-touch. I lament the loss of the real friendships.

So, in this season of celebrating Christ and his love, let us reach out to others. I challenge you to actually write (via real mail or e-mail or commenting on a blog or SOMETHING) to a friend. Let's actually communicate instead of just reading about each other. Now, I'm not just fishing for comments. I'm not that emotionally insecure that I want to beg for comments. I was just thinking about how little I actually communicate with people and think we could all do better.

Nothing

Sorry. We've got nothing to talk about at our house. Life is about the same.

I was reading an article in a magazine that I've already decided is not worth my time. It's a good thing it was free or I would have felt I really wasted my money. The article was about a woman who had twins (I think those were her only children) and how when she was pregnant, she was appalled to find out a friend of hers who had twins had a favorite. The point of the article is that after she had twins she realized she had a favorite and that it was just the way it is. She talked about how "this is my baby and that one is my husbands."

What?!! OK, I can see how you might like one child better one day but to love one better overall? Can that be healthy to a parent/child relationship? What happened to the idea of "love you equally but differently?" Perhaps I am naive, but I do my best to spend time with each of my children. I make it a goal to work on keeping/developing a strong, loving relationship with each of them.

Some things I'm thankful for

Here I sit in the wee hours of the morning listening to the mild dinging of the cardiac monitors next to where I sit. My profession causes me to sit back and think on things at times. Partly that is because I'm up at odd hours of the morning and I begin to think.

I am working on a project that involves reading my journal. So, on to things I am thankful for.

1. I am SO glad it's November 2009 and not November 2008. What a hard time of life that was. I would not have survived that without the willingness of so many to serve me.

2. I am grateful to have my mother. A friend from my single days at college just lost his mother to an aggressive form of cancer. What a difficult experience! My heart aches for him. So, on that note, I am so grateful for the knowledge that I can be with my family forever.

3. I am grateful for health. It would be so overwhelming to see a family member in the position my patients are in.

My beautiful grandma

We had a surprise birthday party for my grandma. She is now 92 years old and doing great! She lives in an assisted living center but is still relatively healthy. I am so glad my children have the opportunity to get to know her a little bit.

She's the one looking at the camera. She's sitting with her sister.

Happy Halloween!

Here are the kids in their costumes. Marie is a monster. Audrey is a fairy princess. Richard is a pirate. Peter is a monster. I'm a mean mom and only brought the kids to the trunk-or-treat. I figure it's easier and we get enough candy (as far as I'm concerned). However, once we got home, Richard asked, "Mom, why do other kids go to people's houses? How come I don't get to go to other people's houses?" Alas, I guess next year I'll have to at least bring Richard and Audrey, because I know Audrey won't let me bring just Richard. My days of laziness are over.

Marie and Peter just hung out in the stroller at the trunk-or-treat. They don't need candy (meaning I don't need the candy) and don't know the difference. I made sure we had left-over M&Ms for them. Marie loved them. Peter didn't. As I learned from his birthday, he doesn't care much for sweets.

Carving Pumpkins

We had a fun time carving pumpkins. Scott carved Audrey's. I carved Richard's. We purposely picked small pumpkins so it would go faster. The kids seemed to have a fun time.

She Dances!

The word on the street is that Audrey did EVERYTHING at dance today! I didn't hear it for myself, because I was at a class today and so Scott picked her up. However, he says the teacher excitedly came up to announce that Audrey participated! Yea!

Second try

We tried again to have Peter perform with his birthday cake. As you can see, he's still not excited. Marie can't wait to dive in.After attempts to feed him myself and help him realize the yumminess of the cake, I gave up. You can see he's not too excited about the whole event.

Marie was very excited. At least she likes my cakes! I think Peter doesn't care much for sweets. I tried giving him a cookie the next day and he wouldn't eat that either. Marie finished her cookie and then saw his cookie on his tray and started reaching for it and grunting. She apparently got my sweet tooth.

Haircut

Peter got his first haircut. He's the youngest of my children at their first haircut. Granted, his hair is still pretty thin compared to other children. Alas. He did much better than Richard did with his first haircut. Richard kept ducking from the clippers and whining. Scott held Peter so he wouldn't fall off the stool. Scott says Peter kept smiling. I guess he thought the clippers tickled or something.

lopsided

Marie has four teeth. They're all on the bottom. She has molars coming in. On the bottom. Where, oh where, are her top teeth?!

So, you can definitely see three of the bottom teeth. If you look closely, there is another that's cut through on the right side of her mouth.

The only way I can prove she doesn't have teeth on the top is to just show a picture of her wide mouthed smile. That's the best I can do!

Shy

Audrey is so shy. She hardly talks when she's with people she's unfamiliar with. She's been in nursery with the same leaders for 15 months, and they told me she's just barely starting to say a few words. On Sunday, they weren't there. The subs told me she wouldn't say a word. She still needs time to warm up to my parents and my sister's family that live 30 minutes away. She's a spazz and little chatterbox here at home. So, I know she has it in her. Does anyone have any tricks to help her confidence other than to just give her time?

Marie and Peter's Birthday

We made it through the first year! We were told that was the hardest time period with twins. Well, I would say definitely the first 9 months are hard. It seemed to get easier after that. I have grown personally and spiritually so much this year. I am grateful to everyone who made this year sane. I have so many people that I look up to ever so much more now.

The day started out at 3:00 in the morning. Marie woke and had a hard time going back to sleep. Then, Peter woke and had a hard time. Marie eventually went back to sleep. Peter didn't. I tried feeding him, nursing him, cuddling him, putting him back in his crib, and then cuddling him so more. He finally ended up in the play pen in the basement where he cried more. I don't know when he went to sleep but I finally woke him up at 9:50 this morning. The rest of the day was not that noteworthy. Since they don't know the difference, we didn't really do much to recognize the day.

Many of my family members came over in the evening for cake and presents. This is what Peter thought of everything.
We didn't really give exciting presents, because they don't need anything and I don't like to spend money for the sake of spending money when they don't even care. We have a tradition in my family where everyone says why they like the birthday person. So, we did that even though we didn't really give presents.They each got bears in suitcases from Scott's parents.My parents gave them a carseat since we only have one. My Mom was able to get Peter to smile. I made a chocolate cheesecake stuffed cake for the masses to share. I thought it was delicious! The babies got the same cake, but it only had a chocolate frosting.Peter wasn't feeling well. He hasn't really felt well for a couple of weeks. He doesn't eat well these days. This is what he thought of his cake.Scott stuck Peter's finger in the cake. Peter wasn't happy. We finally just got him up. We'll try again another day.Marie was much more interested.My Dad gave her a spoon to help her get a taste. She wouldn't let go of the spoon and seemed to try and eat with the spoon. I finally took it from her to encourage messy eating.

She didn't get really messy or really dig into her cake. However, she made a valiant effort and ate some. She was getting tired and probably wasn't hungry enough to eat more.

Happy birthday Marie and Peter! We are so glad BOTH of you are part of the family!

LDS General Conference

I love general conference! I love the spiritual upliftment. I love the promptings to be better. I love the reminders of how I'm blessed. I love that Elder Holland can so boldy declare the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
During both the Relief Society General Broadcast and one of the general sessions, we sang the hymn "How Firm a Foundation." I love this hymn and its message.
Recently, I was deeply touched by the phrase, "As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be." Tears came to my eyes as I realized how true this phrase is. I have felt a huge amount of help this past year. I have felt an outpouring of love and service from my family and my neighbors. People have been such an example to me. I have so many people that I look up to and admire for their willingness to serve me and my family. I have felt the Lord blessing me with the ability to handle situations that seem overwhelming. I know he has sustained me through the difficulties of my life.
I know the Lord blesses us "as [our] days my demand." I am grateful for the knowledge of the Gospel. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so blessed.

Walking!

Peter and Marie are both walking some. Peter walks about 50% of the time. However, if he wants to get someplace at a decent speed, he'll crawl. Marie walks about 25% of the time. Richard and Audrey both have fun helping them walk. I was able to catch Richard helping Peter while we were at my parent's cabin.

Audrey's birthday

We celebrated Audrey's 3rd birthday! She was very nervous about her birthday. She got so she would say she didn't want to have a birthday and wanted it to be Richard's birthday. She wanted us to give Richard her presents. I think the problem was that she remembered we had a lot of family come for Richard's birthday. Crowds overwhelm her and she easily gets shy. So, it worked out that not many people were able to come to her birthday.

We went to McDonald's for lunch. We did presents at our house when Scott got home from work.
She received a flashlight, sidewalk crayons, squirt guns, and doll accessories. I think she was excited about all of them.We then joined my parents at their cabin. My parents gave Audrey some shoes and mega blocks.I made her a peanut butter chocolate cake. I thought it was most delicious. I'm glad my kids let me steer them towards cake recipes I want to try.Here she is with her loot! The bag is her winter wardrobe. She needs new clothes every season. I figure a birthday is a good time to get them.