Hiking

Almost 2 weeks ago we spent our Saturday afternoon hiking the San Tan Mountains. Here's what we heard on the way up:

(Put on your best whiney voice)

Where is the top?

How much more?

When are we going to be there?

Can we stop for a snack? (2 minutes into the hike)

Can we stop for a snack? (4 minutes into the hike)

Can we stop for a snack? (5 minutes into the hike)

UHH!

I need water

Dramatic Crying (After Shane hiked on Tyler's ankle)

My ankle feels like it's broken! (as he's hiking further up the mountain . . . like that's believable)

More ankle drama

and even more ankle drama

Then, we reached the outlook.

Magically the ankle was healed

Suddenly, nobody needed a snack

AMAZING!

A nice man with his 2 little girls snapped this picture for us.

The hike down was much different

Here's what we heard.

"I'm tired and my knee hurts"

"which knee"

"my elbow hurts and I have to go to the bathroom"

"I asked you about that 5 minutes ago"

"But I didn't have to go then"

"I don't wanna walk any more. . .can we stop"

"Russell, if you don't hurry up the tigers will eat you"

"There's no tigers in South America . . . Zoology"

"Aw for the love of Pete. . Go on into the bushes and do your business"

"OK! Hold my stuff! I've always wanted to try this!"

"Mr. Fredrickson. . . do you dig the hole before. . . or after?"

insert HYSTERICAL laughter

and on and on and on

They've watched "UP" one too many times I'd say.

But, there was no REAL whining or crying or ankle-injury-faking

The trip down is always so worth it. Ty and Paige are best buddies on the way down. Maybe it's all the oranges, bananas and pretzels they ate. Or maybe it's all of the laughing from quoting movies. Who knows. It's worth the hike up, just to watch them on the hike down.

Christmas came and went

The holidays flew by like a whirlwind! Here is a little recap of the festivities!

We visited Santa. Some of us were more excited than others.

We swapped family photos sessions with Keira and Dan.

We enjoyed our first week off of school by watching the grinch and making treats. Peanut Butter balls and rice crispy treats. . . . yummy!

Grandma Barbs and Grandpa Hars arrived Christmas Eve with plenty of time for stories and Christmas Eve Dinner!

Shane carved the roast beast!

Santa came, despite the disbelief of one certain influential person who claimed it would not happen. (Bishop. . We hope you got coal in your stocking!) One very smart ward member left a copy of this on his doorstep:

We papered up the doorway!

We headed to the park to work off all of the holiday treats.

Paige doctored us all with her new medical kit. She told me that I shouldn't be worried because there is a vet in our family now.

On the 28th we went bowling to celebrate Ty and Barb's birthdays.

We were entertained by several great puppet shows

Ty is also working on performing his first gig on video with his new guitar. I'll post that later.

It was such a fun Christmas. We are blessed to have such wonderful family, friends and ward family around us. May 2010 be just as blessed.

9 years

He's 9 years old today. . . she's ** years old. :) They share a birthday and love every minute of it! Happy Birthday Ty and Barb, we love you!

It's a girl day

We woke up early. We dressed, and ate, and fixed our hair, and brushed our teeth. I think I was in grouchy-robot-mom-half-asleep-mode. Tyler kept teasing Paige about some funny eye. I put a stop to the teasing by yelling something from the other room. As we were putting our jackets on, I actually LOOKED at the eye. UMMM. . . ewww! Okay, okay, so he was right.

I called Shane, and he said. . . you better keep her home. And here's the rest of the story:

Paige: I GET to stay home from school!?! . . . . (and in the same breath). . . . . WAAAAAAAA!!!!!We'resuppposedtoOHHHWAAAAAAgbgerbreadWAAAAAawardWAAAAA!!!!
Me: WHAT? Please stop yelling and crying and say it clearly. I'm not sure why you're even crying.
Tyler (translating): They're supposed to make gingerbread houses and get awards in the assembly today.
Me: OH. . . well, what if WE make our own gingerbread house today?
Paige: really? Well, is it going to be BIGGER than the one at school?
Me: sure
Paige: O.K. I'll stay home from school.

It's all about quantity with this one.

We went to Tyler's award ceremony and dropped off some gifts to their teachers, then we headed home to make our gingerbread house from a kit. . . (Yeah, that's right. . . you can call me Martha.)

Paige said it was a "girl's day." We made our gingerbread house, ate chicken nuggets, and played candyland. It was such a nice day, just me and her and some Christmas tunes. (Mo was napping) It reminded me of the good old days before she was in school. We would eat lunch together on the back patio in the sun and she would walk a full circle around the yard in between each and every bite of her blt. She always finished her sandwich, it just took forever!

We're not scared of a little viral conjunctivitis around here. We'll still share some gingerbread and give goodnight kisses. . . but it sure does look nasty!

Christmas music

My absolute favorite part of Christmas is the music. I listen all day while I'm working around the house. I listen in the car on the way to my photo shoots to put me in the Christmas mood. I used to listen to Bing Crosby with my headphones in my bed as I fell asleep when I was younger. My 4 favorite songs are Jingle Bells (Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters), Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (Bing Crosby & the Andrews sisters), The Man With the Bag (Kay Starr) and Sleigh Ride (Andy Williams).

It's all for kicks you know. Puts me in the Christmas mood. But, what really tugs at my heartstrings is my little (but very tall) Paige and 4 of her best little friends singing "Away in a Manger" in church today. Oh, they sounded so sweet!

Then, to top the day off, the senior primary kids (all 18 bazillion of them) sang their little hearts out to "Christmas Bells" and "Stars Were Gleaming" along with the cello and violin. So gorgeous and reverent as can be! I can't wait until next Sunday's program.

What's your favorite Christmas song and artist?

B-day Bash

Paige's b-day was celebrated Webkinz style. We had the party at the park and the day was just gorgeous! They brought their pets with them. We spun the wheel of wow and competed in b-day hat decorating and relay races. We also made little pet collars for their webkins. Throughout the party they had chances to earn their "kinz cash," and at the end, they "brought" prizes out of the treasure box. It was a great party. . . I think I'm still recovering. Man, birthday parties really knock it out of you!

I made webkinz clothes for party favors out of old clothes that we had around the house that were stained. It turned out to be one of those projects that you curse yourself for starting. . . because I ended up making 12 or something ridiculous like that. It would be a great project if you just had 1 or 2 in mind, and something that would be fun to do over a Christmas break, or on a day off of school with your kids. Click on the 3rd picture of the clothes below to get an idea of how to make it. You can make your own pattern depending on what type of webkinz your kids have.