Haylee loves Ranch!

So, no pictures to post with this one--only a story. A really, really gross story.... Ok, it could be worse, but still!!!!

We went bowling again last night. This time with Graden, Valerie, Jayson and their kids, Ella and Clayton. The girls loved it as usual. This time Kate discovered the little fan thing where you can dry your fingers before you bowl. She discovered that she could stand in front of it and let her hair blow in the wind. It made her feel very beautiful, she told me. She was way more interested in that than in bowling last night!

Haylee on the other hand was way more interested in the food. We ordered a pizza and soda and the kids all went to town! They were starving! Once it was all gone we went back to bowling...all but Haylee that is. At one point I caught Haylee taking plates out of the garbage can--community garbage can--and picking the remains off of them. Gross!!! It gets worse though. After being scolded for that, Jayson caught her LICKING RANCH off the top of the garbage can. Full on, tongue, plastered to the top of the bowling alley garbage can licking every last drop of the ranch from the can. YUCK!!!! I don't think I'll be able to kiss her for several days. ;)

Kate's Art

Kate is turning into quite the little artist! The detail in her pictures is impressive for a 3 year old! This is a picture of my hand....ring and all. That's a huge rock!!!

Don't my nails look pretty? ;)

Above is our family. Only Adam got a body...the rest of us are just heads!

This is her latest drawing. I'm calling it "Cow Standing On Grass"

She is totally into hand/Turkey drawings.

I've saved my favorite for last.....

Introducing, "Mommy"

Gorgeous!!!!

Cheating...

So I know it's kind of cheating, but I just posted a ton of pictures that I took on Christmas Day--and marked them as 12/31/08. Hee! Hee! My plan is to turn this blog into a book at the end of each year, so I didn't want the post to be out of order for the book some day....if I ever actually get around to making it....

Kate is in Primary!

I can't believe it, but Kate went into Primary today! It was so much fun to see her sitting on her "big girl chair" with her class. She was so good today. She gave the opening prayer--which was hilarious! She got as far as "Heavenly Father" and then she realized that her voice was really loud in the microphone and that she was standing in front of everyone with a booming voice...and that was it. The End. JennyLynn (my friend in the primary presidency) ended up finishing the prayer for her. It was adorable! How is she old enough to be in PRIMARY???? The bigger question though, how is she in Primary and still wearing DIAPERS??!!! Arghhh! The day will come....but hopefully before she gets married... When we got home we decided to take some photos since that's what we do on all the big days! Kate gave me all the usual poses and faces...all her choice, not mine. ;) It cracks me up because both the girls get so silly in front of the camera. So, below, we have "peering into the camera" photo x2, devil horns(???) maybe they're rabbit ears?? photo, the always classic "stick out your tongue" photo, and "look at how pretty my dress is" photo.

Christmas 2008

Ok, so I know this is a TON of pictures, but I've already cut most of them out. I promise!!! But hey, it's my blog so I decided to put them on even if it's an insane amount! We had a Christmas break that was NEEDED!!!! We took 7 days off from real life and it was amazing! I haven't taken a true vacation in over a year and a half! That said, I did do two photo shoots on my vacation, but still, that's better than two a day on my working days! Meg and Aaron came from Virginia for the week so we decided to go to Deadford for a visit. They will be leaving for South Africa for 2 years, so we didn't want to miss a chance to see them! While we were all together we decided to go bowling with the kids. All the kids loved it! It was nice and empty since it was Chrismas Eve day.

Peeking in on the camera. ;)







This was on Christmas Eve. The traditional Christmas Eve gift.......PJ's!!!!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun since the girls more or less "got it" this year. I say more or less because for the next several days they woke up wondering if Santa had come again!

The girls got dress up dolls from Santa this year. We had to open them right then and there! I swear the packaging was insane! It was almost impossible to get them out of the packages. They were taped and wired everywhere. Of course, the whole time we were trying to get the dolls out, the girls were right there saying, "Can I have it yet? Now can I? Now can I?"

The girls got a little bling for Christmas!

They also got a creepy doll head with lots of hair to style. They loved it. I still think it's creepy.

Pom Poms! They gave us a little cheer. Meg took a video of it and emailed it to me the other day. If I can figure out how to do it I'll post it here. Meg? Help??!!

Kate got a backpack and new boots and she didn't take either of them off for the rest of the day!

Kate was convinced that it was time for her to go to school. So Adam (such a great sport) walked down to the curb with her to wait for the bus. And wait. And wait. Finally she was able to be convinced that it was a holiday and so the bus wouldn't be coming so "why don't we go eat some breakfast."

When Ava got there she showed the girls the makeup that Santa brought her. WOW!!! REAL makeup!!! She had their full attention!

Ava put her makeup artist skills to work right away and the girls were in awe!

Backpack and boots still on!

Cade got a really cool Wall E toy.

Having worked her magic with my girls she moved on to the creepy head.

Now for the big gift from Gram and Papa....

Yay!!!! Babies with their own doll beds!

Cade got a Ninja Turtle set--way cooler than a doll bed!

We got to talk to Hunka Bry early in the afternoon. We all crowded into Papa's office to hear him talk on speaker phone! We were all excited and emotional, but the kids were the cutest! They were sooooooooo excited to talk to him! Nobody beats Hunka Bry! Not even the backpack!

Cute little cousins!

Kate sat for quite a while painting with the new paints that Gram got for the kids.

She is such an artist! More on that in a later post....

All the kids lined up waiting for ice cream! Gram's tradition!

Magic knows where to hang out in order to get some human food!

Later that night Gram lit a fire. She needed lots of help to get it going! How lucky for her that there were so many helpers available!

It must have been a really bright fire! Probably because of all those helpers!!!

Later, we all just sat around the fire and relaxed. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day!

Except Kate, she was ready to go to her photo shoot like Mommy. ;)