White Christmas!

We made it to Wyoming. My sister Katie was able to come with us at the last minute and surprised my family-all of us were here together for the first time in several years! It was really nice!

Christmas eve was especially nice for me. We sat around the tree singing Christmas carols (we would call out the name of one and my grandpa would play it on the piano-no music, no practice, just feel it out and play it) then we read the traditional story, did a silly play with plenty of bath towels, and opened a few presents. We all felt a good spirit that evening.

The next day was a flurry of unwrapping presents at Gina's house (that's where we stayed the night) then back to my parent's home for another gift exchange. Mom and dad gave all of the grandchildren stocking caps that my mother had knitted-multicolored for the girls and pastels for the boys. The grown up children got slippers and chocolate!

During the melée my sister Gina stood up and whispered to me "Bek, come here" I obediently stood up to follow her and was promptly tackled from behind by Jennifer. They wrestled me to the ground and joined by Katie, David and Trenton proceded to thump on my chest, lick my face and tickle me until I named 10 candy bars! Evidently they had planned this coup for several months to try and get back at me for the years of torture I had rained down upon them (I'm an oldest, what do you expect?). This was suppose to teach me a lesson...I'm not sure it stuck I still enjoy torturing them!

We have had some fun times on the sleds and playing in the snow I'm sure there will be more of that to come!

Hope you all had a joyous Christmas!

Barenaked for the Holidays!!!

Monday night we went to Tucson with Christian and Leslie to the Barenaked Ladies concert! Thanks to Hattie and April for watching our kids so we could go-it was a fun time!

Their concert was a holiday themed one with a group called the "LeeVees" opening for them. The LeeVees are a Jewish band that played Hannauka (How do you spell that? hee hee-that's the name of one of their songs) songs-what a riot!!



I think this is the fourth concert we've been to see BNL together! We will go again when they come! We had such a great time. Thanks to Leslie for snagging tickets for us!

They played some old songs from their "Born on a Pirate Ship" album and also from "Shoebox" and some from their Holiday album. Many of the songs were old and we hadn't heard them in concert before! It was a blast!





The highlight of the evening for Adam was meeting Steven Page!!! What a nice guy-willing to pose and sign autographs. We also got autographs from the other members of the band, but sadly no pictures!

Poor sick boys...

I'ts never fun to have sick kids... or hubbies for that matter, but when they are all sick at the same time it makes for a miserable week!

The good thing about sick boys is that they will let you snuggle them! Dallin and Garrett are such busy-bodies I can't often hold them down long enough to get a good snuggle, but when they are sick that's all they want to do. By the time they feel better I've had about all the snuggling I can stand!

Daddy and Dallin were sick buddies while mom took care of Garrett. Adam is such a great daddy to his sick boys they always want him to hold them and make them feel better.

Two-year-old-speak translation:

Garrett, the two year old, is kinda' tough to understand. We have taught him some sign language that has helped tremendously, but there are still some things we have had to decipher with regards to his speech. Dallin was the same way at his age and grew into language by the time he was 3 1/2. It makes me a little nervous when I compare their speech to other toddlers in the neighborhood, (like Niah next door who is barely two and says complete sentences) but I have to remind myself that every kid is different!

So, friends and family around the world, in the event you want to talk to Garrett on the phone, this will help:

ma-ma-da-da: Daddy
ma-ma: Mommy
da-bo: Doggie or Parker (our dog)
wee-oh: Dallin or any other person that is not mom or dad.
na-nee: Blankie, his favorite blanket that Aunt Lisa made for him
num-num: Candy, or any other treat
na-na: Banana
it: Sit
ot: Off
da-bo bit: Parker bit me
ma-ma-da-da bit: Daddy bit me
bat: Bath
uh-uh: no
baa-baa: Back pack
oot: Shoes
oot-ot: Shoes off
lot: Locked
uck: stuck
[slurp]: drink of juice
pee: Please
pee-peet: messy diaper
pee-peet da-bo: I stepped in doggie doo
buh-bye: Goodbye!

Garrett's speaking ability may be a little slow, but his gross motor skills are highly developed! How many two year olds do you know that can scale the back fence to throw balls in the neighbor's pool? Yeah, that's my boy!