Big news: We’ve planted grass! Hooray! I love having a yard, and I’m very excited to have grass in that yard soon. Last fall we tried growing seed in the back and it came in thick and green and soft. It takes less water than regular grass so it’s water efficient and it grows slower so we don’t need to mow it as often. Since it’s worked so well we finished seeding our yard yesterday (I have to say it was pretty ironic to plant seed in our yard while two of our neighbors worked on pulling their grass out. Sigh. I guess we do live in the desert).

I think the funniest part of the day was just as we’d finished seeding, covering the seeds in compost (steer manure), and watering, when a lady and her little Pomeranian dog walked by. The dog, delighted by the smell, just started rolling in it, covering itself from head to toe. We tried to warn her what her dog was rolling in, but the lady just apologized and laughed at her silly puppy continued to roll in the muck. I hope she thoroughly washed that dog when she got home…

Speaking of animals, we now have a Guinea Pig named Gus. My neighbor found him hiding in her backyard (she thinks someone in the apartments threw him over the wall). After a few calls, she found someone willing to donate a large cage, bedding, food, toenail clippers, and even a Guinea Pig leash, but no one willing to take him in. So we’ve given him a home for the last week. I have a lot of mixed feelings about having a pet. (Aww, he’s cute. Ugh, he’s a lot of work…What, he might have lice?!)  But I guess the next logical step is to take him to a vet and make sure he’s as healthy as he seems. I’ll say this, he sure is cuter than the tarantulas my husband has started raising.

Once upon a Valentine’s Day…many, many years ago I was a little 7th grader. At that school, it was tradition to buy carnations that would be sent to your special someone during the last class of the day. And so, sitting in girls PE I watched as a girl entered the gym carrying an armful of pink, red, and white carnations; each one with a name and note attached. Everyone got a flower in that class (some even got 10), except for me. I felt extremely conspicuous, and a little miserable walking home that day.

Why do I tell you that story? Well, because it always pops into mind on February the 14, and it always makes me laugh because I’ve learned the great secret. Valentine’s day is what you make of it! You don’t need flowers or cards or even chocolates, because sometimes the greatest tokens of love come from small acts of service. And really, since I’ve married my best friend, it seems like every day is Valentine’s Day for us! What did Chris give me for Valentine’s Day? He stayed up late and cleaned the kitchen for me! And that was the most perfect gift he could have given me.

So how did we celebrate? Valentine’s is so much more fun with kids. We started off with heart shaped pancakes and later had heart shaped cheese (cookie cutters are awesome!) on crackers with pink love potions (smoothies). We took a picnic lunch to share with Chris at work with some special cookies. Later that night Chris did temple baptisms with the youth in our ward and I hosted a Valentine party so that some of my friends could have a romantic evening.

During the party we played lots of games (their favorite was to line up my couch cushions and take turns running/rolling/skipping/hopping/somersaulting across them. Seriously entertained them for 45 minutes!). Then we sat around the table and made cards for their parents/Sunday teachers (turns out all you need is a lot of sparkly stickers and glitter glue to make some awesome cards). And then! Oh, and then we had a Valentine treasure hunt. The kids were bursting with excitement and dancing on their tip toes! The trail of hearts led them all over the house and ended at my dryer which was filled with balloons filled with surprises. They had to pop their treasures out! (You’d be amazed at what you can get in a balloon, but do yourself a favor and get the larger sized balloons. Especially if you’re trying to stick a pencil in there). I think the Valentine’s treasure hunt is our new favorite tradition.

Anyway, I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my family and friends. I love life. And I love Christ, who gave us the greatest example of love and makes it possible for us to live forever with those we love most.

Happy Birthday to you!  In honor of your birthday, the kids and I have put together a list of things we love about you!

• I like it when you throw me in the air (Andrea)
• I like it when you let me play with your Ipod (Zach)
• I also like it when you let me ride on your back when you’re chasing us all around the room! (Andrea, and Zach says “Yeah!)
• I like to sit on you (Katie)
• I like it when you’re working in the yard and I get to drive my trucks in the dirt (Josh)
• I like it when you help me take baths (Katie)
• I like it when you help me dance around the room like a princess! (Andrea)
• I like it when you feed me yummy food when mom’s not looking! (Katie)
• I love it when you tell us stories after you put us to bed and you say you’re not going to tell us any, but then you really do ‘cuz you love us that much (Zach)
• I like it when you make popcorn on the kitchen floor so that we can all see (Josh)
• I like it when you pick me up from school and we go eat donuts, just me and you (Zach)
• I like it when you hold me in your arms and carry me all over the house (Katie-and let me just say she’s pretty excited sitting on my lap and looking at your picture)
• I like it when you let me take pictures with your camera (Zach)
• Daddy! (Josh-he also likes looking at your picture!)
• I like going shopping with you and having you buy special treats! (Andrea)
• I like it when you make up silly songs with silly words (Zach)
• I like to blow on your tummy (Josh)
• I like looking at your pet crickets with you (Josh)
• I like having pizza movie night and sometimes you surprise us with a new movie like the Dragon movie or the Car movie when Mater has engines that go really fast (Zach)
• I love how you love inspiring others to reach their goals (like my music, or my writing, or healthy habits, or anything and everything)
• I love how you write me a love letter every week
• I love watching you play with our kids, watching them laugh till they almost cry and also how excited they are when you walk in the door
• I love how you always show gratitude for the little things that I do
• I love that you get up at night to help the kids so I don’t have to get up
• I love that you wanted my popovers for your birthday meal!
• I love being outside and hiking with you
• I love your example
• I LOVE YOU!!

So I read an interesting fact in the Reader’s Digest earlier this month: To succeed at a goal, cut 20 seconds off the start up time. Want to get in shape? Lay out your workout clothes the night before. You’re more likely to just do it if the first step has already been tackled.

It sounds simple, but wow! it works. I’ve been using FLY Lady’s tip to wipe out your sink after each use and it’s been incredibly easier to keep my kitchen under control (we won’t talk about how monstrously-out-of-control it used to get). The first step of clearing out the sink is already done, and so it’s easier to tell myself “this will only take a couple of minutes, so just hurry and do it now.” There’s less mental energy required.

In other news Zach created a book for a school project. He titled it Zach’s Season’s and promptly colored the snow yellow, which from a kindergartner’s perspective I can totally understand; You can’t color it white because the paper’s white, and yellow is the next lightest color in the crayon box. But yellow snow. It makes me laugh.

Andi continues her quest to be a great big sister. She proudly changes Katie’s diaper (with supervision) and sometimes tackles her to change her into a cuter outfit (without supervision usually).

Josh spends a lot of time pretending to cook his wooden blocks and mini books in his little red frying pan.

Katie loves to laugh with us and likes to wave at her daddy in church while he’s sitting up on the stand. Sometimes she’ll even yell at him. I think she’s telling him to stay awake! No falling asleep during the musical speaker!

I sure love my kids.

Last Friday, Chris’s brother and two sisters came down to hang out. We fed them waffles and took them hiking at Red Rock canyon. It was so very nice to get outside!

We stopped at Sammy’s for some great food, and later stopped at a little pet store where I decided that I’d really like a pet rabbit (there was a very cute one there). But I’m also very, very sure that I would stop wanting one the moment I had to clean out its cage. I think right now I’m leaning towards the no pets until the kids are all potty trained rule. Of course this doesn’t include the baby tarantulas that Chris got as an early birthday present. You know how some animals (bunnies, kittens, puppies, etc) are cuter as babies? Definitely not the case with spiders.

Anyway, we had a great time! Thanks for coming to visit!

ps. I don’t know where any of our hiking pictures are, so the picture you see is from worldbestspot.com.

Well I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. Our morning was filled with lots of excited smiles (but with awesome gifts like Ninja Cookie Cutters, how can it not?), but would you believe we didn’t get any pictures? Just too busy enjoying the day I guess. And the fact that we got to go to church Christmas day was just a nice bonus.

For New Years we were back in Vegas, and we welcomed the New Year in very casually. We sent the kids to bed early and sat down with a big bowl of popcorn and a good movie. But, after reading some of my friend’s New Year traditions, I’m inspired for next year. While we wait, we’ll enjoy creating a time capsule with pictures and letters (we helped the kids fill out a 20 question get-to-know-you form for FHE last night); we’ll play games and enjoy a huge ice cream banana split extravaganza, and then when the clock strikes we’ll pop our balloons filled with surprises and noise makers, and see who can get a grape in their mouth for every one of the 12 strikes of midnight. (Whew. Catch that all?) Of course, I may or may not set the clock ahead to celebrate the New Year with a different time zone.

Last year we kind of read Christmas type stories before Christmas. It was a lot of fun. The only problem was that we had a limited variety of stories that were even remotely related to Christmas, Winter, or Holidays.

Looking back it was kind of funny that we never thought of trying to get a few more from the library. I guess you live and you learn.

This year we have been reading a brand new Christmas story each night before we head to bed. The kids have really enjoyed it! We have a lot of stories all in a bag (tied up so there is no peeking ahead of course) and each night the kids in turn get to pick out a new story.

It has been a lot of fun. We have even had the kids try and sneak a peak a few days ahead to see what else was coming!

Tonight we read a story about Santa Duck, by David Milgrim. It was a good story about a duck who tries to find Santa to give his list to but ends up helping out a lot of other people in the process and helps out Santa. He learns a bit more about what Christmas is all about! The favorite line from the story is “Jingle Quack, jingle quack. Jingle all the quack!”

We also made our Christmas tree shaped pancakes with M&M ornaments. I was dubbed the best mom in the world for that one! Of course, later that day I was dubbed the worst mom in the world because I make my kids pick up their toys every day. How mean can you get?

Later this week I hope to cut snowflakes out of tortillas. I can see that being something my kids really enjoy, especially if we brush them with butter and sugar and toast them in the oven. Mmmmm!

What Christmas traditions do you have?

The last couple days have a been a whirlwind! I’d like to share some of the highlights:

• The Elder’s Quorum Family Party. Chris is the Elder’s Quorum President, and a Christmas party was in order, so he set a date and we made up a bunch of yummy food (bread, grilled chicken, pomegranate salad, and a pumpkin trifle that was so delicious it got me a marriage proposal). The party was a huge success (or so I heard from several sources; I actually had to stay home with a sick kid). Lots of friends who just relaxed and chatted while the kids ran amok on the other side of the gym.
• A Night on the Town. Chris’s parents came to Vegas so we showed them the sights! We visited the cactus gardens all decorated with Christmas lights (now there’s a job I don’t envy-wrapping cacti with lights!) We toured the chocolate factory and watched the chocolate assembly line (it was fun watching them pour gallons of chocolate into the machine). We enjoyed a Smash Burger and then went to the last bit of our ward Christmas party, just in time to see Santa and help clean up. After that we went to the Bellagio fountains and botanical garden. The holiday display is my absolute favorite of all the Bellagio seasons! Christmas trees, poinsettias, penguins; They even have enormous polar bears made out of carnations (18,000 carnations!).
• Sunday. Chris was sustained to his new calling. 1st councilor in the Bishopric.  Wish us luck on our new adventure. Anyone have good tips for keeping four kids reverent during sacrament meeting?
• Spontaneous Library Time. Today the kids and I visited the library and checked out armloads of books. Then we came home and had a pizza party and a read-a-thon. Is there anything better than three snuggly kids and a stack of new books to read? I love hearing my kids laugh at the silly stories! Zach’s favorite today was The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. No surprise there! What little boy doesn’t love pure mess and chaos unleashed through the house?

Happy December all! I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the Christmas devotional.

The weather’s gotten a little colder here, and unfortunately some evil ice nymphs broke our heater. But we’re keeping warm with some space heaters. It’s actually kind of nice having different temperatures for different rooms. Now I know my kids are nice and warm.

Warm heaters don’t solve all the problems of getting out of bed in the morning. The other day I was getting Zach up and he rolled over and smiled like he’d had a nice dream and announced with a happy smile that “I think I’ll just stay in bed and snuggle with my warm blankie instead of going to school today.” Such politeness! Wouldn’t it be great if the world worked like this? Cold mornings everyone gets an extra hour for warm-blanket snuggles!

In other news Katie walks! Okay, she has for awhile, but it has solidified in her mind that she is a big person, just like all the other kids running around here. The other day we were laughing at this Draw a Stickman website and she came laughing up behind us with a loud “Ha HA HA!” I swear she was thinking “I don’t know what’s so funny, but it sure is fun to be doing what everyone else is doing!”

Speaking of laughing, we rented Cars 2 for Zach’s birthday and Wow! I’ve never heard that kid laugh so lard!

Other side note: We’ve been trying to do better at family home evening. Usually we start with the lessons, because that’s the most important part, right? …along with some weeping, and wailing and nashing of teeth….Anyway, inspired by some talks from conference we decided to restructure. We start with games and treats (you know, hoping to get our kids excited and BEGGING to have FHE), and then shift into song and prayer and lesson. This way, if we don’t get past the games and treats, at least we connected as a family and made some memories! The last two weeks have gone well. Chutes and ladders one week and then yesterday we took homemade bread around to several families (one of our favorite Christmas traditions…). I have to say, there was considerably less screaming from everyone involved.

Anyway, I know there’s all sorts of great websites out there with FHE ideas, but I was wondering, what are some of your favorite family home evening memories?

When we moved to Las Vegas, we started celebrating my birthday at Zion’s National Park so I could enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Isn’t my husband awesome?

We found some wild turkeys (just weeks before Thanksgiving…)

and some more crazy turkeys…I mean, my kids….

We spent some time playing by the river. One place we built some awesome rock cairns, and in this picture, this is moments before Zach fell in the water. He says it was very cold.

We also enjoyed some nice hikes! Look at the gorgeous fall leaves.

Can you see the emerald pools behind the red leaves?

Katie says lets go play! and food is yummy!

Josh says, I’m cute, and I’m glad that I didn’t fall and crack my head open this trip. (Me too, Josh. Me too.) Overall, my kids are just happier outside.

Here we are in a cozy little nook we discovered just off the beaten track.

Nice little romantic spot with waterfalls.

More leisurely walks through the colorful canopies.

My kids are checking out the water skeeters. They were quite amazed at the bugs ability to walk on water.

Happy kids! Happy trip! Can’t wait to go again!

And what is a birthday without a cake? This was Zach’s cake. He asked for a blue castle (he was more than a little jealous of Andi’s pink castle for her birthday), so we gave him a blue castle, with a little something extra! Dragon!! Zach’s really in to dragons right now, as you could probably tell by his Halloween costume. He got a toy dragon and we also watched How to Train Your Dragon (and Cars 2).

The cake was thoroughly devoured.