Happy Valentine's Day!

Jainie wants to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day . . .

and show off her new fancy do - she is excited her hair is so long!

Happy New Year 2012!

I have to admit I am not a big fan of New Year's but it's fun for the kids, so we try to party. :)  We headed over to Mom and Dad's and invited the Henderson's, who came for a bit, and played games and the Wii.  It was great and I was tired but we welcomed in a new year, hopefully less health problematic than 2011 was.  :)

CHRISTMAS!

Well, finally made it to Christmas - which was wonderful!!!  I always love Christmas and especially when it's on Sunday, my favorite.  I love the focus of Christ on Christmas and sometimes when we get wrapped up in the hype it is hard to remember to take a few minutes to really single in on what matters most.  

On Christmas eve we went over to Oldroyd's first and played some really fun "Minute to Win It" games.  And, we had dinner, which was yummy.  Then, we headed to Thalman's where we acted out the nativity.  Jaxon got to read this year, which was great.  Then, it was back home to open our Christmas eve p.j.s.  Which was actually a mess because the kids were all tired and wanted to open something different - they wanted to choose whatever present they wanted, which was not going to fly so after giving them a lecture and threatening them with not opening anything - ever - we all settled down and it ended up just fine. . . 

Well, until pictures and then Jainie got her feelings hurt somehow and Josie was trying to make her smile so we could get pics over with and the boys, well, they are just boys.  (Our pajama theme this year was hot pink and black - which we went with because I found some super comfy pjs for myself that fit my big prego belly that were hot pink and black :)).

The next morning we didn't wake up til 7:30ish.  Baby J woke me up by a good kick in the ribs at about 5:30 and we couldn't fall back asleep but no one else was up so we stayed and waited patiently in bed.  The kids finally came in all excited and ready to go, but Jared wasn't so cooperative and it took him another 1/2 hour to get up.  Then, we headed into the living room to read about the birth of Christ in the scriptures and have family prayer - my favorite part of Christmas.  Then, we headed down to mayhem.  Jared and I had stayed up the night before making breakfast casserole, overnight french toast, & a special scrambled egg thingy so after looking at what Santa brought we headed upstairs to eat our brunch.  It was really good and made me think I should make breakfast more often.  Usually we just have cold cereal on Christmas morning because Santa brings each of the kids their favorite cereal, no matter the cost or sugar content, but this year we decided to switch it up a bit.  Anyway, then, it was time to open a few presents - I had to make sure that all the church clothes got open before we had to go to church!  So, every time it was my turn to choose someone to open a present, I would try to find one of those.  And, we made it!  As soon as the last person opened theirs, we called a break and headed up to get ready for church, which wasn't until 1:00.  It was a wonderful program and I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and enjoying the wonderful music, grateful I wasn't in charge of anything.  :)

Yes, Jake has a monocle in his eye - well, a made up one, at least.  What do you expect?  A decent family picture with three boys, someone always has to be goofing off, right?  

So, back at home, we changed clothes and headed to Gwood to visit the fam.  We went to see Gma Leila, which was nice and took her our present, then visited and enjoyed seeing what she received for Christmas.  Then, we headed up to U. Ralph and A. Alta's and enjoyed visiting with them before heading back to Mom and Dad's.  There we opened more presents and gave our presents out and visited with Stephen's family a little bit.  And, then, it was time to head to Thalman's for dinner and more presents!  We are very spoiled!  It was great fun - one of the best things about Christmas is enjoying all the family we get to see and hang out with.  We are very blessed to be able to live by both families and enjoy everyone.

After this, everyone was pooped so we headed home to bed.  So, the next day, luckily, Jared had off of work so we woke up and finished opening our presents.  We usually take a couple days to do this, not because we get so many presents but because we are really SLOW! - which suits me just fine.  :)  

As you can see, it was a wonderful Christmas and everyone loved it.  We all got to enjoy each other and had fun playing games and building legos and playing on new electronics.  So, thanks to everyone for the fun Christmas cards, gifts and enjoyable company - I can't imagine a better life!

JOSIE'S 12!?!

How did this happen?  I mean, really? How did she get so grown-up?  How did she get old enough for Young Women's?  Where has the time gone?  Jared and I had a talk about this just yesterday - how we need to freeze time for just, oh, a year or so, so we can get caught up on all the things we are supposed to be doing but the day-to-day gets in the way and slows us down.  On the other hand, it seems Jos has been with us forever - she was such a beautiful, petite, bronzed baby (thanks to the bilibed).  And, she still is - well, beautiful and petite.  :)  I honestly can't imagine life without her.  

So, her birthday dawned and Josie is our early riser - our alarm clock, but I had to get up and make breakfast in bed, before she woke up.  What a challenge!  As I have mentioned, I am a sleeper.  However, since pregnant, less of a sleeper, unfortunately.  Anyway, I beat her up and got her breakfast ready - her request biscuits and gravy.  (She is definitely not my daughter in the eating department - she is not picky at all!  She will eat anything, really, she is the BEST eater in our family).  

She was pleased as punch with her breakfast, which is always nice.  And, somehow, she lucked out - she is pretty lucky - and didn't have school on her birthday!!!  It just happened to be a parent-teacher conference day!  But, just for her and Jaxon, all the other three still had school.  It made it pretty fun.  After opening her present - clothes - we got ready for the day, I had a big day planned.  :)  I decided to take her to get her first pedicure.  We had so much fun - we got pedicures and then splurged and got gel toes.  A first for both of us.  It did take a LONG time - hours!  Josie got to choose her colors first and decided to go festive - with french tips.  But, hers took quite awhile so I decided to go full color - we both LOVED the way it turned out.  However, I had my pedicure first so my nails were soft and 3 of them only stayed on for 1 week - they were supposed to stay on at least a month.  Josie's stayed on much longer - a month or so.  So, if you go to get yours done, don't let them fool you into thinking it doesn't matter if you have the pedicure first or after the gel toes - definitely better to happen before the pedicure.  :)  Either way, they were definitely cute and festive.  And, Josie LOVED her first pedicure!

As you can see, another thing Josie got from her daddy, his toes!  :)  Jared says having the 2nd toe longer than the big toe is a sign of royalty - I say, whatever it takes to make him feel better.  :)

As soon as we got done, Jared and Jaxon were waiting for us.  Josie had decided that for her birthday she wanted to go to the temple and participate in baptisms.  So, off we went to Manti - it was so awesome.  We have never gone just as a family before but I had called a bit before to set up an appointment and off we went.  Jared got to baptize both Jaxon and Josie and I got to hold towels and mop the floor up.  It was such a special experience, one I know I will never forget and I don't think Jos will either.  It was actually pretty funny because Jaxon was about 5'9" at the time and Josie is, well, I will have to check, substantially shorter so Jaxon was a lot more challenging to baptize, whereas, the water went up to Josie's chest, almost, just standing in the water.  The temple workers even commented on it, how all she would have to do is bend her knees a bit.  Anyway, they both also got to have some confirmations and, although, a bit overwhelming for Josie, I know she loved it.  I can't imagine something better you could do on your 12th birthday!  And, neither could she.  :)

Well, how could we top that?  We couldn't so we didn't even try, but we did stop for a treat at the candy store - I got fudge and we shared it.  But, we were in a hurry to get home because both Josh & Jaxon had basketball games that night. 

So, in between the two games we went out to dinner - Josie chose "Pepperbelly's" and it was just the 3 of us.  It was delightful - she is such a fun girl!  This pic is of her ready to go out - in her new birthday outfit.  I don't think it is her favorite, luckily, she can pull off anything.  :)

  

 After Jaxon's game we finally got to have the rest of her party - you can see she was thrilled with her present.  She really wanted a flip camera so she could make diaries for the new baby "J" - like on "Good Luck, Charlie" - it is a wonderful idea and I hope she will make at least a couple - she would give great advice as she is a wonderful older sister.

Some facts about Josie:

                     Favorite color: brown, pink, & purple

                     Favorite animal:  horse

                     Favorite subject in school:  Reading & Spelling

                     Favorite hobby:  Dancing & gymnastics

                     Favorite thing about turning 12:  going to Young Women's & going to

                            temple

                     What she wants to be when she "grows up":  disneyland dancer, disney 

                            princess or elementary teacher

                      Favorite food:  chicken pillows & biscuits and gravy & dad's cooked 

                            salmon

                      Loved being 11 cause she was the oldest in Primary

                      Favorite movie:  "Phantom of the Opera"

                      Favorite actress:  Audrey Hepburn