So, It's Been A While

A few holidays have come and gone:

Abi as a princess for Halloween...Carly was a princess too, but she was too busy running around to get a clear shot of her as Cinderella.

Todd played the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow...eyeliner and all!

And Baby Boone was the ever famous Giraffe

(all three kids have suffered through this bizarre costume their first Halloween).

I just now realized that I will have to add a picture or two from Christmas another day, as I don't have the proper equipment to transfer them from my camera...but we did have a Christmas...and a New Year's (I was sick and we were all asleep and in bed by 9:30pm).

Do you wonder why I failed to mention Thanksgiving? Because I feel as though it fits into a totally different category that deserves its own name.

One word.

DISNEYLAND!!!!!

Oh no....I put the wrong pictures on this thumb drive (someday we will have the internet at our own home and I will have access to the pictures where they are all saved)! No pics of Disneyland, but plenty of Newport Beach and one of Medieval Times:

Poor Connor, he developed a brutal bug the first day of the trip and spent

most of the time feverish, tired and lethargic.

He fell asleep DURING the show!

Carly had to bury herself in the sand.

Abigail...she worries me sometimes.

She is only four and already has some pretty racy poses down.

Here is the fam...minus the photographer. I failed to mention that we went with the ENTIRETY of Todd's immediate family and it was a blast! We could never have managed a trip like that on our own, as it took one adult per child (thanks to all those sibs who took one of our kids). I spent a lot of the time counting to make sure that our four little ones were close at hand and someone in the family always had a grip or eye on a child. I am so grateful for Ken & Tonya making this trip possible. It was such fun for us all to be together and a truly memorable Christmas present that our kids talk about daily.

I had to take a pause in writing for a moment and kiss this little baby:

Happy, Mellow, Sweet, Tender, Small, Loving, Cuddly.

Those are all words that can describe this amazing little boy. You may be questioning the whole "small" thing, but he is the smallest of all of our babies! Weighing in at only 25 lbs right now (he is 8 months and the others weighed that at 7 months) he has yet to master consistently sleeping through the night. He has two very sharp bottom teeth and those top teeth are peeking through the gums, just waiting to burst through and bite anything that they can. This child has been such a blessing to our family and he loves everyone he meets.

Speaking of teeth, there is another boy in our family with teeth peeking through the gums:

We are forbidden to wiggle the bottom teeth. He refuses to wiggle them himself. I sure hope he eats something that gets that tooth out of there, cause if it is up to this "tough" little boy to wiggle it out, it may never happen. Connor is excelling in school and loves to read. He has read the owners manuals to both vehicles (informs us regularly of the standard features they are equipped with) and keeps the little instruction papers for every toy he ever gets, including the ones from McDonald's. This near-perfect boy makes his bed every day, without being asked and usually makes his sister's (Abi) bed too.

His sister, Abi, she is all girl.

Girlfriend is learning her letters and has mastered her numbers up to 10. This teeny little thing loves to sing and dance almost as much as her sister, Carly. Abs is a ring-leader. If something in the house has gone awry, she can usually be found pushing someone to take the fall or whispering something in someone's ear to tell me, like "go tell mom you are hungry." She did make the very adult decision to have her hair cut like Carly's and I think she looks fabulous with the shorter bob. That girl has the thickest hair. I think it is the age (no...it's just her) but there is a lot of drama and breakdowns over little things. I am learning to work through them with her, but I am open to any suggestions on how to cope or help her through this challenging phase of life.

Carly Belle is a TEASE!!!

Life is a game and to her, she is the winner as longs as she is smiling, laughing, dancing, singing or playing. With that said, she is a sore loser and when she loses, the world knows it...kind of like her angry phase when she was a baby. However, she did celebrate her 3rd birthday in November and is so glad to finally be three. She graduated nursery and entered primary and we are also beginning the potty training thing...Abi has more success with Carly than I do, so I am just letting Abi take the reigns on this one. Besides, it as seemed to bring the girls closer together than ever before.

As for myself, I helped a little bit with a few small touches of my sisters recent wedding (and maybe ruined a picture or two, just by being in them):

Helped with a little production at Christmas Time for our ward's Relief Society doing "Women at the Well." Developed three sinus infections this winter and been working out at the gym when I am not sick trying to get rid of all the baby weight. For Christmas Todd got us cell phones! Yeah! I feel so up with the times, almost (I am totally lacking in the whole wardrobe department, but that could be my fault seeing as how I lack a sense of fashion...note the gloves in the wedding picture).

Todd (last the best of all the game) has FINALLY accomplished the last feat of this long and bumpy road to "architect."

He passed his final licensing exam, so if you know of someone who wants to do an addition, or build a home and they need something done by a licensed architect, Todd is available. He also was recently placed as the Young Men's President in our ward and seems to be keeping up with those very sporty boys. We will see what this summer does to him with all the camp-outs and hikes and such.

So as you can see life is just what it is supposed to be and we are living it. We hope you all have a very prosperous new year and that you will try to cling to those tender mercies of the Lord that are always so apparent in our lives when we just look for them. They will always help us get through those tough times that each of us will face.