Christmas Morning

Santa must have been smiling down on Ryan and me this year...The kids slept until 7:45 Christmas morning. Merry Christmas to us! We must have also done all the shopping right this year for there was not one complaint after opening gifts. In fact our ever optimistic Simon, after opening each gift would shout "This is just what I always wanted!" Grandpa Landon arrived about halfway through the opening and seemed happy to watch the festivities. We had a great morning lounging around and being together as a family. Uncle Clark, Aunt Morag, Jason, Jim, Kelly, and kids arrived around 1:00 for a very informal lunch. It is wonderful having Uncle Clark and Aunt Morag near. The kids have really taken to them and love them so much. I am grateful to have this holiday season to ponder the meaning of Christmas. I am grateful for the sacrifices made by our Savior for me. I am grateful for the constant example I have of Jesus Christ, and feel extremely blessed to have this knowledge. It brings so much peace and hope to me. I pray that as my children grow they to will find happiness in the knowledge that the gospel brings. I love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and joy in 2008!

Christmas Eve

We were blessed this year to spend Christmas Eve with several of our neighbors. We had a soup potluck at our house with four of the families that live directly around us (We missed you Sorensen's! :( ). It was nice getting to know each one of them a little better. I hope everyone enjoyed the evening as much as we did! After everyone left the kids got to open there Christmas Eve gift (p.j.'s). They even got robes this year, which they were thrilled about. (Simon has slept in his every night since).

Sunday Best!

Last Sunday, I had to be to church early for choir practice. I helped Ryan get the kids into their new Christmas clothes and then asked him to take pictures of them before he brought them to church. When I got home these were the pictures I discovered...

I later found out that it wasn't the kids who were not cooperating but their dad being silly! I guess that's what I get for leaving the job up to my fourth child.

Our little Mother

Yesterday, Simon and I stayed home sick all day. The only time we went out was to run up to Shally's to sit with her girls while she ran to school to pick up a sick Jaxon. By the time Ryan got home the house was in less than great shape, no one had done any homework yet, and of course there was no dinner to eat. We decided to run to Arctic Circle (a shake is the best medicine for a sore throat). So we all pile into the car
(Olivia 's purse full of things to do, just in case she eats all her food and gets bored) and head to Arctic Circle. Andrew finished eating and Olivia pulled out her wallet and taking money out said "great job Drew, now you can have ice cream". The way she said it was so cute! Olivia has always been such a great mom to all her dolls and stuffed animals and now she wants to be Drew's mom too!

Happy Anniversary, Babe!

I can't believe it has been 11 years already! I still remember what we both wore on our first date, I remember the song we first listened to on the radio (Dave Matthew's Crash-Ryan must have planned that), I can still feel our first kiss, they all seem like yesterday. Ryan, you are my best friend, the one I love to hang out with, review books with, work outside with, watch you do crosswords. I am still amazed that you know almost all the answers on Jeopardy. I don't think I will ever get tired of listening to you play the piano. You have brought out my inner nerd (I think that's a good thing!). You treat me like gold even when I stay mad at you for days. I appreciate all you do with the kids and that I never have to do the dished after dinner. I love the gentle way you treat me. Thanks for the backrubs, heating my hot pad every night, tucking me in every night, and all the small things you think about. I could not ask for a better husband or friend. I am excited for the adventers that will come in the next 11 years. I love you!

My baby is five

Simon turned five today and it has been an emotional day as I have looked back on the last five years. Simon has taught us more than he could imagine in his short little life. He began by teaching us absolute love. He then quickly taught us patience and endurance. He has taught us how to hope, to care, to trust, to laugh, to cry, and most of all that miracles do happen. He is everything to his Brother and Sister, they love him more than anything. He has taught us all that love and family is more important than anything. I am thankful that we were trusted with his sweet and special little spirit. He has enriched our lives so much. Here are some of my favorite things about Simon...His squishy kisses and hugs, his vivid imagination, his hearty laugh, he has no fear, his ability to ride a two wheeler at age 3, his sense of humor, his furrowed brow, his ability to be happy with what he has, he never expects anything, he never complains about doing his therapy, he can always make us laugh, he still at 5 wants more than anything to be with his mom, his tenderness, he hasn't hit his terrible two's yet, he has swallowed his pills since he was two, his fat belly, those are just a few. I am so grateful for all the things this little boy has taught me in the last 5 years. Happy Birthday, little man! Mommy loves you so much.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Santa Claus on Main Street. We all had a fabulous time listening to all of Santas stories.

Andrew and Ryan also went to Las Vegas to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I don't see the draw, but they certainly love going and being with each other.

Traditions

We started a family tradition a couple of years ago (thanks to our friends the Arnolds) to make Gingerbread housed Thanksgiving night. Ryan's brother Jim and family came over after dinner to join in the fun. This is the product of all our hard work.

Thanksgiving Day

This year we had a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Even though it was just the five of us we had a great time. We relaxed all morning and then went to see the movie Enchanted. We had our Thanksgiving dinner out in our new backyard (it was a little chilly, but we loved being out there). We missed our family this year and felt like our neighborhood was a ghost town. We are glad to have all our neighbors home!

Thanksgiving preparation

On Monday, before Thanksgiving, we made preparations for our Thanksgiving feast. All of the kids had fun making Indian headbands, vests, Pilgram hats, and collars (for some reason we only took these two pictures). Stay tune for Thanksgiving day pictures and our exciting breakfast with Santa!

Great Grandpa Hilton

We had Grandpa Hilton over to my mom's for dinner Saturday night. I am so blessed to have such a fabulous man as my grandpa. He is such a sweet, caring, compassinate man. Even at the age of 92 he is gentlemanly to his "ladies". My grandpa has led a full and very busy life and has made a great impact on many people he has come in contact with. When I went to pick him up for dinner even Simon commented that "great grandpa is the best great grandpa in the entire world!" I agree with Simon. I have greatly been blessed to have had such a gentle and spiritual and great man in my life for the last 34 years! I love you grandpa!

Nov. 9 2007

Ryan enjoys almost more than anything, being able to have a close relationship with his siblings.

It was nearly impossible to get these four to behave!

The proud parents of the groom.

Congratulations Tyler and Ann!

This weekend our nephew (and now niece) were married in Salt Lake City. It was a sweet ceremony and we enjoyed visiting with all of our family!

Happy Halloween

Simon is Pikachu and Drew is his Pokemon trainer, Ash. Olivia needs no introduction.

Fun in the Backyard

October in Zion

We have been trying ever since we moved to St. George to get my dad and Pat to go see Zion's National Park. We finally succeeded this past weekend (I don't think we could have picked a more beautiful time to take them). We drove up Friday after the kids got home from school and hiked up to the lower Emerald Pool and also walked a ways on the Riverwalk. It was absolutely stunning! We were so happy to experience this trip with dad and Pat. They were the last of a string of 5 weeks of company and although we are tired from being forced out of our routine, we are glad we had the time with them. We also got to see Katy for just less than a day, which I was glad for. I miss my sisters! Thanks, Steve and Linda, Bryce Dursteler, Chris Britton, Mom and Jim, Dad, Pat and Katy for making the last 5 weekends interesting and fun! We love you all.

The Corpse Bride

 

It was hard to convince Olivia to be something scary, but given the opportunity to be both girlie and scary, we won out.

(By the way, we don't celebrate Halloween super early here. Olivia had a Halloween party with her dance team.)

Happy Ninth (!) Birthday, Drewbie

Warner Valley in the Fall

Simon Says!

Sometimes we don't know where Simon came from. Sometimes he says the darnedest things...

Last night while watching The Pink Panther, Simon asked if they were speaking England. My response was that they speak English just like us. Simon looked at me really seriously and said No I speak "Fronsh"!(the accent was even there)

Later that night saying prayers, Simon thanked Heavenly Father for Jesus because he eats eyeballs. He immediately apologized to Jesus and continued his prayer.

Stretch It Like Simon

What? I don't know what Bend It Like Beckham means either.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Ryan celebrated his 36th (can you believe it) birthday on the 8th of September. The kids were so excited to give their presents to dad. These were presents I had never seen and they had wrapped themselves! They were very generous, Andrew gave his old gameboy game of Frogger (he doesn't really like it he informed his dad), Olivia gave him 2 very used pens (as far as Olivia's concerned, it's all you need), and Simon gave dad one of his oldest least loved stuffies. These kids really must love their dad. To make matters worse, Ryan's mom sent him a book that I have been wanting to read. So of course I stole it from him! By the way it was a fabulous book, Twilight. But that's for another time.

The new Beckham!

Simon had his first Soccer game last weekend. I was a little worried about him since he is such a mama's boy. I had nothing to worry about, He was an animal. He never lost track of the ball and scored 3 goals! Papou may get his wish of another of his babies loving soccer.

Move over there's a new blogger in town?

I thought I would update Ryan's blog for him seeing that it has been months since anything has been change. I will give it my best shot but please don't compare me to my perfect husband. I realize I don't quite have the same eye for this kind of thing as Ryan does!

Olivia realized that a pirate birthday party can be fun for a girly-girl. It was her and 7 little boys and boy did they have a blast.

Life is still good after almost 11 years of marriage.

Shamu really does get you wet (we were in the 3rd row).

We discovered that Simon can act fine and still run a fever of 103.

What a handsome guy.

We learned that you can get what you want, you just have to know the right way to ask.

Emergency Rooms really are terrible places.