I've decided TWO things....

the first being: WAIT until AFTER you shovel the driveway and sidewalks to take your shower!

See how the snow is starting to pile up....just like last year! It's almost over my head. So the tossing of the snow is getting harder. And since we face North, it won't be melting anytime soon!

The second thing I've decided: You don't need to exercise if you own one of these!!!!

Jillian Michaels needs to spend a winter in Utah shoveling snow! She'd never have you lay on the floor to do a crunch....ever....again!

Sorry for another weather related post, I'll try and keep them to a minimum!

My next project is to paint Carissa's room and take the crib down and switch her to her big bed!

Sledding adventure!

Last Saturday we decided that Carissa's ear had healed enough that we could take her sledding for the first time. We've taken her out in the front yard to play, but never down a big hill! So we bundled up (which I always forget how long that takes to do!) and off we went!

At first she was so excited to get out there. Then realized how deep the snow was, and how hard it is to walk in.

Then Andrew took her down the hill. The first attempt was pretty sad. He chose a less populated area of the hill. Well we soon learned why no one wanted to go down that part, it just wasn't steep enough to really get going, so they had to "scoot" down the hill. So the next attempt was much better. But maybe a bit too frightening for my cautious little girl.

Because she immediately had had enough of sledding and wanted to go check out the little playground. And she spent the remainder of the time on the swings. She was thrilled to be on that swing, and got quite upset when we needed to go. (because like always....I was cold!)

And Nikelle was perfectly happy laying in the snow, and eating it!

And on a completly unrelated note. I wanted to share a fun little picture of Carissa when she was playing dress up the other day. This is what the "pretty outfit" is made up of:

1 flapper dress, 2 tutu's, some of my socks, a mismatched pair of princess shoes, a little red riding hood cape, a summer time bucket hat (that's a bit too big) and a bridal veil (do you LOVE how it sticks straight up?) and she had to look at herself in the mirror and sing a little song and give a little wave! Just check out that cute face in the mirror!! (She got REALLY upset when she realized that I was taking her picture!) But I still love to see her using her imagination and playing dress up! It just makes me happy!!

Christmas- a bit late

I tried to get this post done before the end of the year, but it just didn't happen. So here is our Christmas in a nut-shell.

We have a tradition of receiving new PJ's for Christmas eve. And usually a couple of games we can play as a family. This year it was games geared for Carissa. One is called "Bees in the Tree", and it is played like Keplunk. But with little bumble bees instead of marbles, and sticks with little leaves on the end instead of the straight sticks. Turns out she LOVED it! She was pretending to be a bee and "sting" us! OK, after a while, it wasn't so fun for us, but she was happy, so we tried to enjoy it too!

In the morning, the big kids had to wait for Carissa to wake up. Nikelle painted her nails and toenails while waiting! They all had fun going through the treasures in the stockings! Santa brought Carissa a HUGE box full of dress up stuff, and eventually she got down to the bottom of it. Where she found a box of 7 pairs of Princess shoes! What girl wouldn't love to have princess shoes! Thanks Santa...you da' BEST! My favorites were the Tinkerbell ones! (Believe it or not, I did not line these up for the shot.....it was all her!)

The big kids had to wait patiently while they tried to convince Carissa to give them a chance to open something. But they lost that one really quick. So we let her get through her gifts and then the big kids got their chance.

Donavan got some Wii games that he wanted. He also got a hair straightener (hey he asked for it!!) and some clothes.

Nikelle got a cool "Team Jacob" bookmark! Look how excited she was to figure out what it was. She also got lots of jewelry and clothes. She also received both the DVD and CD from the Mama Mia movie, which the two of us loved, but the boys....not so much! They had a hard time sitting through it!

Since Andrew was forbidden to do any shopping for the gifts except for mine, and with strict supervision (LONG story......) with the big kids, we decided that we would give him the food gifts this year! Problem is.....HE LOVED ALL OF THEM!

Almond Roca: I was trying to figure out which one he should get to open first (cause once they are wrapped, I forget what they are. Does that happen to anyone else?) And I knew by the shape what this one was. He told me after opening it that that would probably be his favorite of them all! (I think I can do better than that hon!)

A package of the *delicious* processed meat/cheese grossness! But look....he wants to eat right through the box!

Some salt water taffy. The good stuff from Trolley Square! I BEG him to not rub them on his face, but it seems to happen EVERY time, so of course, the rule is.......you do it, I SNAP it....then blog it! Serves ya right!!

Some gum balls for his machine at work. It's the only time of year he get the refills!

So this year he did pretty good (OK REALLY good) on my gifts. The kids picked out some books for me from a series I've started. Some clothes. And a REALLY cute coat! We had been out shopping together back in September looking for a volleyball for Nikelle, and went into the Sport Chalet. We started looking at some clearance racks and he found this coat and had me try it on. he really liked it but I wasn't sold. Even with it being on the clearance rack, it was WAY MORE than I would have ever spent on a coat for me! EVER! So I picked out another one that was a bit more practical. Well apparently, he REALLY wanted me to have that coat. So he snuck out of the house the next day, and bought it, and had it hiding in his office for the past 4 months! (I really need to be better at snooping around here!) So that was a HUGE surprise!

But that wasn't the BEST one! He knew I wanted a new lens for my camera, but I figured I would just order it after Christmas. Well that wasn't good enough for him, so he snooped around my phone until he found my friend Jen's phone number. Got me out of the house so he could call her up and ask which lens I would want. And then he had to make sure he was home (and not me) when the package arrived! I almost was home, but somehow he managed to get me out of the house knowing it was going to be delivered on Christmas Eve!! So now I have a new lens and I LOVE it! Thanks hon and JEN!

(Sorry for the cheesy smile.....I never get a do-over when Andrew's clickin'!)

So here is one of the first shots with my new lens. I just have a thing for pet-shops! I just think they are SO cute! Here are the few that the girls got this year. There were a few more that Nikelle refused to let Carissa touch, but this is most of them. (the ones missing are a cute little seal and penguin!)

Then we spent the rest of the day watching the snow, picking up the mess. Opening new things for Carissa, and spending the entire day in our new jammies! I love spending the day with my family and especially love when Carissa still wants to read the Christmas story in the scriptures and other books even now, almost 2 weeks later!

This picture just captures the magic of our Christmas morning! Carissa in some of her dress up stuff (including a pair of Christmas socks that are mine!) and doing the everyday things that make her happy! Just look at that face! (Andrew's about had it with the horsey ride though!)

All right...all right....all RIGHT!

That's how Carissa says it! The snow can S.T.O.P. anytime NOW!! Christmas day was nice cause we knew we weren't going anywhere.

But after 2 days of Carissa having green goo coming out her nose, a cough, and finally a flaming red eardrum, I had to go out today to brave the roads for a doctor visit. So even though the boys cleared the driveway last night. We got even more today. And then the very NICE snowplow driver (that usually doesn't come down our street!) decided to clear off the street, and in the process of doing so, made a new mountain of snow about 2.5 feet at the end of the driveway! THANKS! So back out we went and shoveled some more so I could get the van out. Usually when the weather is like this, the roads are worse where we are and once you get out on the main roads, they are better. NOT TODAY! The further I went East, the worse it got. Not because they got more snow, but because it was still snowing and the roads were compact snow! But we managed to get there (a bit late) and to the pharmacy (even though the cashier was an idiot) and made it home without incident! And now that Carissa has some medication in her, she is SO much BETTER!

So here are some pictures from yesterday's snow. Today would look pretty much the same, so I didn't bother taking any more.

Here's what the porch looked like at around 3:00!

We thought we were SO smart to bring the garbage can up to the porch to make it easier to take stuff out, but soon realized we couldn't even open the door. So we waited until the wind died down.

Now can we have a few days to catch up and get the sun out to melt this all away! PLEASE???

Merry Christmas

After a brief power outage this morning, we now have computer access and heat again! Not so good timing for it...oven was just done preheating for the cinnamon rolls, and got a little crispy due to the amount of time they were in there! But they were still YUMMY!

We want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

More pictures coming soon!

A star, a House & a HUG!

Carissa has been bugging us to get a star on top of our tree. I had an old one that after many years of use, it just finally fell apart! So I broke down and bought a new topper. She insisted on letting Andrew lift her up to "do it myself"! She waited all afternoon while I ran a few last minute errands, and when I walked in the door she got so excited and before I even had my coat off, she was hauling a chair over to the tree!

She was thrilled to place it on the top...but then bummed when Andrew had to take it down to fiddle with the branches to get it to stay!

The other fun thing we did today was whip up a gingerbread house! By "whip" up I mean, I went to Wal-mart and purchased the kit, where the house is already glued together and all we need to do is mix the frosting (aka...spackle!!) and place the candy. I have never made one on my own and I admire people who take on the entire process and are still smiling afterward! Carissa was so excited to see the candy on the table. She placed a few candies and then asked if she could eat some!

Here is a picture of me concentrating to make a window!

I wish I had thought (or Andrew) to take a picture of Donavan "creating" stuff for the house. he is responsible for the wreath over the door,

the stained glass in the round little window on the back side,

and the cute trees and hedges, and the chimney on the roof. Please note the "smoke" coming out of the top!

Nikelle thought up the "reindeer" on the roof!

And Andrew crafted the little snowman on the front corner!

The we had fun opening our christmas eve jammies! And I got the sweetest hug from Carissa ever! And trust me....I NEEDED it after a super whiny day from her because she is getting a cold and I REALLY hope it doesn't get worse tomorrow!!!

Have a wonderful christmas eve! And a merry Christmas!

Busy few days!

So the last 4 days were pretty busy here. But I can finally check off my list my cards/letter and neighbor gifts. Now just need to make a batch of cookies, decorate a gingerbread house, and finish wrapping!

On thursday night, Nikelle had a choir concert. The songs were beautiful! The last song they sang with all 4 choirs combined was an African song. One of the teachers provided authentic African clothes and props. Unfortunatley I didn't get a picture of the whole group because Nikelle was nowhere to be seen from my seat, and frankly I couldn't get the whole group in the picture to do it justice, so you'll just have to imagine it!

Then Saturday the ward had a breakfast. The food was being cooked when I arrived with our sweet (and awesome!) bishop flippin' the cakes! Unfortunately (again) I forgot to charge the batteries (yup...both of them), so the batteries died! Only got 3 pictures before I realized it! It was fun to get together and enjoy some yummy food! Thanks guys!

Here's Amy checkin' the time, to see how long we have before people start arriving!

Then on Sunday we went to my sister's for my absolute favorite tradition! Family dinner, games and acting out the Nativity story. My family, when we were growing up attempted to do this when we were little. We quit when we were older. But when I moved here to Utah, Sonya was doing it with her kids, Nikelle was 5, and Donavan was 7 & we got together and started doing it together. After all with more people it was easier to have all the essential parts. It's fun to look back at the different years, and see how much they've changed!

I thought I would throw in this picture. We had all finished a roudy game of "split-second" in which the little ones didn't particpate. But that didn't stop them from playing as soon as we had all moved onto another game! Aren't they so cute together! Carissa was all excited to play with Hannah and Camille's ponies! When Nathan had enough of the "girl play" he told her, "let's play weapons now"! Carissa looked at him like he had 5 heads! We were all laughing pretty hard with that one!

The getting ready is the funnest part! Nathan wanted to be a wise man, but insisted on wearing the shepherd's robe and belt. You just argue with a 5 year old!

Josh (her oldest) doesn't like to have his picture taken, so it's nice to get one with his eyes open and a big sincere smile on his face! (He really didn't want to play Joseph---again---so he finally conceded to "donkey". Small part....no talking....perfect!

The girls love to trade off on who is Mary. This year was Camille's turn.

Hannah was a shepherd, so Carissa was our first "sheep"! She will do anything with Hannah and they are so cute together!

Nikelle was the angel/narrator

Mary and Joseph! Do you like the stable?

Here are the 3 wise "guys"!

Isn't Nathan pretty adorable!


Look at tough guy Donavan! Hard to look tough when you have spaghetti noodles for arms!!!!

This is a picture of "real life" at my house! Me under a blanket reading a book (trying to finish it..without much luck!) Carissa has to be close to me, with her feet in my face! And of course Spooky can't be very far from me either! And in this case ON ME! Never a moment of peace for me here......and I LOVE IT!!

Now if the snow would quit coming down....I'd be even happier! The bright side, is at least we have snow plows in this city, unlike where my parents live!