Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone is doing well this Christmas season. As I reflect back about the year, there are so many great memories. I was asking the kids things that they remembered the most, these are the things we all came up with. I also listed their favorite saying for the year.

Sarah "What can I help you with?"
1. Going water skiing with the cousins, and being able to water ski around the lake.
2. Being able to go off jumps at Brighton ski resort (and actually land them).
3. Boogie Boarding and crabbing with Grandpa in Hawaii.
4. Going to the Nutcracker Ballet with mom and Nana, and covering her eyes because the Arabian dance didn't have very modest costumes.
5. Getting baptized.
6. Having her first pet. Pearl, her baby chick.

Joshua "I was thinking that..."
1. Having his two broken feet healed.
2. Kissing Isabella, "because he says she is the cutest baby in the whole world".
3. Learning to read. And teaching himself addition, subtraction and multiplication (not bad for kindergarten).
4. Wall E, Kung fu Panda, Madagascar 2, and Bolt(he loves to be able to watch movies. Maybe it is because he doesn't get to do it very often).
5. When Lizzy and Bella as napping, coloring, puzzles, and playing the memory game with mom.
6. Riding his bike.

Lizzy "Absolutely I do"
1. Swimming with her goggles in the hot tub
2. Putting on makeup (mommy and Sarah are never happy when she gets into it).
3. Talking on the phone (every day she brings the phone and will request a phone call with a different person).
4. Waking up around 5 or 5:30 every morning and getting dressed all by herself in the dark, so she won't wake up everyone else. Then going into mommy's room saying she is hungry and needs dinner now.
5. Kissing and hugging Bella all day long.
6. Ballet with Elle

Bella "Waaaaaaa"
1. Smiled on her first day, and has never stopped smiling.
2. Breaking her collar bone when she was born. No one discovered it until I noticed her bump on her collarbone at 7 days. I took her into the doctor and just by chance asked them to test her biliruben. It was 22, 26 is the dangerous level that you don't want to get above. They had her sleeping in a bili bed within 2 hours.
3. Having the most loving brother and sisters. Never has enough kisses.
4. Hair that sticks straight up, nothing can keep it down.

Shane
(these are only guesses, he wasn't around when we were thinking of things)
1. Decorating is done in the house (he doesn't have to come home to new things every day).
2. The hot tub
3. Skiing, biking, basketball (although he does feel he doesn't get to do any of them enough).
4. Completing his first olympic size Triathalon.

Kim
1. Having a new baby.
2. Being able to go to Europe twice this summer. Once with my Mom, and the second time with Shane, all of my siblings and their spouses, and my Dad and his wife.
3. Biking the SLC Marathon while 5 months pregnant.
4. Bella sleeping through the night at 5 weeks.
5. Spending time with Shane and the kids (any moment is a treat).
6. The internet: shopping, blogging, facebook

It's been another great year. We can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us. We wish everyone a healthy and happy new year.

Happy Thanksgiving

Bella woke me up at 6 AM, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I was laying in bed thinking of what I needed to get done today, and hoping that we will be playing our annual dodgeball game after Thanksgiving. Then I started thinking of all of the things I am most thankful for. Here is my top 10 for the year. I'm sure I will have missed things, but this is what came to mind.

10. I am thankful for mornings. When I wake up in the mornings, I always think that it is another day without any mistakes. I can choose my mood and what I'm going to do. I love to eat breakfast with my kids and hear their thoughts about life, their laughter, and their kind words. Not a morning goes by, that they don't tell me that I'm the best mom in the world (I definitely don't feel that way at times), and how much they love me. Everyone is in good moods in the morning and it just seems peaceful. I love driving the carpool in the mornings, because we always pick out something that makes the day unique and beautiful. How can you not be happy when you get to spend time with some of your favorite people.

9. I am thankful for all of my senses and that they all work. I can see the beautiful sunrises, I can hear my children's giggles and their cute songs, I can smell the roses that my children pick for me every time we go to my mom's house in the summer, I can taste the pancakes that my children make me make every morning, and I can feel the hugs and kisses that my kids and husband give me every day.

8. I am thankful for a warm house, food to eat, and clothes. As I was starting up the fire last night, playing games with my family. I was thinking how cozy it all felt. We are so blessed.

7. I'm thankful for the internet. I've been able to blog, facebook, e-mail, and Skype to keep in touch with loved ones. I also love the easy access to information and shopping. It sure makes life easier.

6. I'm thankful to live in a country where we are free and relatively safe. My friend Mahiar travels for his job. He was talking about how scared they were until they reached the safe house in Taj. It made me think that I really take our country for granted. I'm thankful for the soldiers who have provided us that freedom. I always cry when I see the soldiers, when I see the famlies at the airport sending them off, and when I think of the sacrifices that they have made in our behalf.

5. I'm thankful for my family. They are all over: The Netherlands, Boston, Boise, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, and of course Utah. They may drive me crazy at times, but it is amazing to know that they always love me no matter what, and support me like crazy. My family is my bestfriends. I love you all so much. Of course I need to spotlight my mom. I tease her so much, but she is such a backbone to my family. No matter what, she supports me in everything, and is always the first person to help me out.

4. I am so thankful for my health. After feeling sick for 9 whole months 24/7. I am thankful to have a body that functions as it should.

3. I am thankful for my children. They are the best. I'm thankful for the daily lessons that they teach me. We have a family in our ward who's son recently died. Every day as I hug my children, I am just grateful that I can. I am thankful for the time I have with them, and I love them more then they will ever know.

2. I am thankful for my dear husband. Who works so hard for us, is the most amazing father, and he loves and supports me in all that I do. He is my best friend, and I am so blessed to have him.

1. I am thankful for my knowledge of the gospel, and for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his love for me, I have felt it at different times throughout my life. His life of service is such an inspiration too me. I hope to do more in the following year. I hope that I can implement it in my children how important it is to always help others.

Yes, I have definitely been blessed. I love my life.

Pumpkin carving for Thanksgiving

OK, so I know I'm a little behind. Realizing that Thanksgiving is only a few days away, Joshua suggested that we carve our pumpkins. I have been telling them for 2 months now that we would carve our pumpkins, but something always came up. Since Halloween has long since past, we decided to make them into Indians and pilgrims. Pilgrims were too hard, so then it just became Indians. Yes, they are sitting outside of the house as we speak. We carved them for FHE last night.

Tea Party

So for activity days, Sarah's advisor organized a tea party. She had a lady in the ward come over and teach the girls about the etiquette of going to a tea party. Mothers were invited, so we were able to learn along with them. It was so much fun. The girls wore their white gloves. We ate cucumber sandwiches and crumpets. We learned the proper way to drink our tea, not with your pinky up. And of course we learned the proper way to dab our mouths after each sip of tea. The joy of womanhood. It was fun to experience this with my little Sarah.

Yeah, it's the start of another week.

Well today I was thinking how glad I was that it was Monday, the start of a fresh week. Last week was really rough. Shane worked really long hours, Joshua was sick all week long, Lizzy was really whiney, and I had no patients. Then I started thinking about what good came out of last week, and my blessings were plentiful. Here are a few: 1. The one day that Shane got home before 9 PM was on Thursday, I actually got to go to book club. 2. Joshua who started last week with a 102.9 degree temperature, a headache, and a tummy ache had strep throat. And even though he felt terrible from Monday until Saturday, getting up multiple times every night with a high temperature, had the optimism to say, "being sick is still better then having two broken feet". 3. Isabella still sleeping about 9 hours a night since she was 5 weeks. 4. I actually had enough energy to wake up on my own at 5 AM to work out twice last week. 5. After Shane had worked from 7AM Friday morning getting home at 8PM on Saturday night, he still had the energy to run to Home Depot to get the necessary parts and replace our water heaters that had died earlier in the day. Since it was so late, they didn't have the right size water heaters, so he had to get the next bigger size and completely rebuild the plumbing so that they would fit. He finished at 9 AM (12 hours later) so we could shower with warm water for church. 6.Sarah and Joshua enjoying piano lessons so much that they fight over who gets to play first. That is how my skeleton Halloween decoration was knocked off of the piano and shattered into many pieces. 7.Steve and Jenny are having a girl, so Isabella will have another girl cousin close to her age. 8.Sarah loving reading so much that I have a hard time having her let me read to her at night. She wants to read her Lizzy McGuire books that her cool older cousin Sydney gave to her. 9. Sarah's fish died that she has had since my brother Matt and Natalie gave them fish as a distraction after Elizabeth had her seizer while Shane and I were out of the country. It was sad, but I think it was dead for a few days before I even noticed it was dead. It actually was floating at the bottom of the bowl. I guess I don't have to change the water and feed it anymore, since she always seemed to forget. It doesn't sound like a blessing, but it is. 10. Lizzy has another favorite thing to say instead of always saying, "one more minute", now she likes to say, "absolutely". That is much better. Now that I look back, I guess last week wasn't so bad.

Bella's Blessing

We had Bella's blessing about a week ago. It was such a sweet day to have so many loved ones there to see our little Bella blessed. We definitely missed those of you who are far away and couldn't come. The blessing was beautiful. She looked tiny in Shane's big hands (and she didn't cry). The part of the blessing that really stood out to me was the part for her to remember that her Heavenly Father is always there for her and loves her so much. It was a great day.

Joshua's birthday

Joshua had a birthday with his cousin Dayton. They are both very much boys, and decided it would be fun to do something fun to boys. We hired a company called Scales and Tails to come and put on a show for the kids.





My Joshua is such a cutie. Can't wait for another year with him to see what funny things he will do. He is always the first to give me a hug every morning and tells me that I am the best mom in the world. I love him so much. Happy Birthday sweetheart.