6 month Stats

Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz (75%)
Length: 26 1/2 in (50%)
Head Circumference: 44 in (50%)

Healthy kid, doesn't like peas, isn't enthusiastic about apple sauce either.
So the picture...I was going for a focus on the eyes look. I don't know what I think yet.

Thanksgiving

Dear Mark,
As always, we missed you this holiday but we wouldn't want you to be anywhere but where you are (serving and LDS mission in Brazil). You being a missionary is one of the things we were all grateful for. Don't be homesick for us. Yes, the kids are all changing at lightning speed, and you have missed some things but nothing you have missed can compare to what you have gained these past months.

Here are some nieces and nephews enjoying our feast. The food was great, it always is. Mom knows how to cook a great bird. We put 3 M&M's on everyone's plate and had everyone say 3 things they were grateful for before eating (thanks for the idea Kristi). The girls said sweet things like cousins, and family. The boys said silly things like peanuts, spider man, and their thumbs...but those are things to be grateful for too. Grandpa gave a very tender little speech about his blessings. He mentioned Grandma, his kids and grand kids, somewhere to work, and all the guys at the B&K. He became emotional while listing his blessings, it will be a memory I will cherish. Mom too became quite emotional and told us all how much she loved us. It was very nice.

Sarah made an amazing pumpkin roll, I think she has pumpkin roll duty from here on out.

The men, then took all the kids to the farm to shoot guns and ride 4-wheelers. This is a WONDERFUL tradition to start and I say from here on out the men have entertainment duty every year after dinner. So next year, plan on it. They say they had a good time, there are no pictures because Darin was busy shooting guns and watching out for the kids to get the camera out.

Bub had his first Mom sanctioned meal of mushed up organic peas. They were eaten enthusiastically at the time but as Sarah can attest they didn't digest so easily. Sarah and the kids slept over Friday night to Saturday to do some Christmas shopping and swim in our fun community pool.

We love you so much!
Us

Sarah's Better Late than NEVER Post

I have been blessed with two wonderful sisters whom I both admire and enjoy hanging out with. One of them had a birthday 2 days ago and I have been turkey-brained about posting. So here it is 29 things I love about my sister Sarah.

1. She has the Rasmussen sapphire eyes.

2. and the Housten(is that where they came from??) Freckles.

3. She is sooo hilarious, side cramping, loss of breath funny.

4. She is very sarcastic. I warn her sometimes that her sarcasm might be misunderstood by people who don't know her very well...

5. she couldn't care less about that and says/writes what she wants to. (but just so you know, if you have ever been shocked by her, it was sarcasm).

6. She is fiercely loyal

7. Just fierce in general, she once punched a guy for me...and chewed out another one.

8. She keeps her kids toys all together and in order. Her daughters tiny Barbie things are in zip lock bags and she rubber bands her My Little Pony's hair to their legs so it won't get snarly.

9. She teachers her kids to take good care of their toys as well.

10. She plays the piano beautifully. She can accompany like the best of them but her real talent is in performance...she has a good touch and such wonderful rhythm.

11. She has a beautiful voice and a good ear for harmony.

12. Not a lot of people know she has a good voice because she is usually accompanying since no one else in our family can do it.

13. She is a tomboy.

14. She gets SOOO excited about her 4 year old's transformers.

15. She sacrifices everything to give her children opportunities (Zoo Camp, Dance Attack, Piano/Dance/Swim/Gymnastic lessons).

16. She is organized.

17. She is cyclone cleaner, she gets in and gets it done.

18. She is an energetic dancer. We did Hip Hop Abs together and I got to say, she still has the moves.

19. She knows just about everything there is to know about Harry Potter, and the Twilight Books.

20. She loves Edward Cullin

21. She puts herself through the ringer for the safety and well being of her children. I won't go into detail but she has put up with a lot to keep them emotionally safe and happy.

22. She throws lots of sales parties (like Lia Sophia...her next one is for purses, contact her if you are interested).

23. She has the best food at those parties.

24. Both she and her daughter always have darling hair cuts.

25. She loves animals, especially dogs.

26. She is book smart without really trying.

27. She will trick-or treat with her daughter for hours and hours and hours....she LOVES Halloween and LOVES to be scared.

28. She is a great Aunt, but she doesn't let Miriam walk all over her which I appreciate.

29. I wasn't very nice to her from 4th grade through 9th because I was TOTALLY INSANELY jealous of her. But she forgave me, and then in high school I loved hanging out with her, we even had Choir together and sat by each other.

Want to get to know this amazing woman more?? Check out Julia's blog.

LOVE YOU SARAH!!!

Just 2 more days!!

Our thankful Turkey named "Beautiful the Turkey Ray" from Family Home Evening last night.

Just 2 more days...actually 1 & 1/2, until one of the best holidays of the year! Thanksgiving is so much more relaxing than Christmas or Halloween...so much time to talk and laugh and eat. I write this never having cooked an actual Thanksgiving meal by myself, so maybe my opinion will change when that time comes. For now, it's a lovely day of gabbing in the kitchen with the ladies, snackin' on cheese and cracker appetizers, a meal dedicated to good thoughts and fun memories and then.....PIE!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Gleeful

When we arrived back from Price last weekend, our mail consisted of 2 birth announcements and a thank you card. How happy is that?? No ads, no bills, just happy thoughts and cute pictures of sweet babies.

We found a bike for Miriam at the DI the other day. It was $8 and I have high hopes that it will be darling when we are finished refurbishing it. It's for her birthday so we have a wee bit of time to get working on it. Miriam has requested a basket and a bell.

I also found this delightful Sweet Potatoes dress. It is PERFECT for flouncing, swishing, and strutting. When Miriam tried it on she said "do I look glamorous? Fashionable?" Oh yes Miriam, peter pan colors are very glamorous indeed. It is so hard to keep little girls little.

I also found a cute Christmas outfit for Bubbers. A little velor number with embroidered soldiers. Darin isn't excited about those embroidered teddy bear soldiers. I have said it before and I will say it again. I only have a few precious years (like 1) to dress Bub the way I like and then I am sure the men in my family will start calling him a pansy boy.

My heart breaks when Bub cries, but others have also told me that he has an especially sad cry. I think it's because he doesn't scream, or yell. His lower lip quivers and then he makes these moaning sounds. Oh, he can get up to the screams...but he moans for a long time before that happens. And check out that nose. It's from me, my nose tingles when I cry and I know I look like Rudolph.

So I got tagged...by Sarah and Louise

So I got tagged...

Here's the rules:

A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.


1. I like foreign films. A couple good ones off the top of my head are Children of Heaven, Waking Ned of course Life is Beautiful and Shadow magic If anyone has any good recommendations leave me a comment about them (nothing over PG-13 rating please). Funny, I don't consider British movies to be foreign but Waking Ned is Irish.....what is up with that?


2. I think soda pop is Satan's elixir. Sadly, I again drink a Diet Coke once a day.

3. I called it "soda pop" in the above fact to include those who say "soda" and those who say "Pop". To me, a "soda" is an sweet Italian drink we would get at an old drug store in Helper Utah before running across the old swinging bridge. Unfortunately, the drug store is gone, but the bridge is still there...along with the sign saying you are not suppose to run or jump across.

4. I love my husband, I think he gets better looking every year.

5. I am a fish. I love the water, and love water sports. Miriam is afraid of water, and it blows my mind. I am not sure what to do about that. I don't remember not being able to swim.


6. I had this conversation with my family last weekend but I am out of things to write about so here goes... I don't enjoy playing group sports like basketball, baseball, volleyball and such. I don't enjoy having people chase me, trying to grab me, or take things from me. It seems rather like a nightmare actually. I also don't enjoy the pressure of teammates....I don't want to let anyone down, or disappoint anyone. I DO like playing individual sports like swimming, tennis, ice skating, running and the like.

okay tagging Erin, Nanci, Allyson....and everyone else on my friends and family list.

Chocolate Pudding!!

Bub had his first solid food today! I think rice cereal is recommended but he got Chocolate pudding. ....heres how it all went down. Bub is in his bouncer, Miriam is eating chocolate pudding, a gift from G'ma C and G'pa B who always remember to bring her some of her favorite treat. The doorbell rings, and I go to answer it (I should have known something was up when Miriam didn't run to get the door). It was our neighbor seeing if we wanted to go for a walk. I called to Miriam, I can't remember exactly what she said to make me wonder if she was feeding Bub the pudding but I said "You aren't feeding Bub are you??!" Miriam's answer: "Yes, Mom he is IN LOVE with it! He likes it just like I do, we are such brother and sister". My neighbor starts laughing and says "grab your camera!" So I did....what else could I do??

Proof that M loves Chocolate Pudding

Oh, and yes, Bub is now sucking his fingers. I think its awfully cute, but my sister says "yea $20,000 of dental work is REAL cute". I will worry about that later, because he is a cinch to put to sleep. I just lay him down and the fingers do the rest!

Giving Thanks

"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend.... "

That is part of a quote my in-laws shared in our monthly family newsletter. I am not sure who the quote is from, but it has given me a lot to mull over as this month of Thanks has begun. The night before I had read the quote I had been doing some mindless blog reading, clicking from here to there, lurking if you will. Two different blogs caught my attention. Both of them had titles something to the effect of "isn't it great to be me" and they wrote about expensive, nice, wonderful things and exotic, fun, vacations. One blog talked in detail about a marvelous private school they had chosen, and why it was soooo great. I was in awe and just kept reading and reading. Afterwards, my life felt lacking. I wasn't jealous exactly, I didn't want to be them, I didn't want their husbands, or kids, or homes but I did yearn for the opportunities they had so easily in reach. I felt lack. I was tending my garden of lack. The quote made me realize that I need to be more careful about where I spend my blog time. There are so many wonderful, inspiring blogs out there, I need to be selective. So thank you inspirational blog writers!!

On Monday we had our kick-off to Thanksgiving Family Home Evening. We talked about the story of the Nine Lepers from the Bible and then read "Nine Lepers and a Thank-you Note" from the Nov. 2007 Friend. The kids and I had been on a nature walk to find leaves and such to spell out Thanksgiving. Miriam and I made the sign today (picture at beginning of post). We got the idea from this months Family Fun magazine.

It was a fun project. Miriam enjoyed doing the bird seed letters the best. I don't know why these lines are being underlined but I can't seem to make it shut off.

A Halloween Story

The kids and I left Darin home to keep our pumpkins lit while we traveled to my hometown for the Halloween extravaganza. My sisters, mom, and I all LOVE Halloween so it's fun to be with them during the holiday. We all enjoy dressing up, and all have the chocoholic gene but Sarah and Julia enjoy the scary parts as well. Sarah had all the scary music downloaded, and was so excited to see a creepy guy dressed up as Mike Meyers walking around. That is NOT my favorite part of Halloween. I am especially glad we don't have a TV at this time of year, I hate all the spook alley, and movie advertisements...they creep me out!

Monday night was the dress rehearsal. We ran out to my grandpa's house to show him the costumes so we had a little photo shoot, just in case Halloween night was too crazy.

I think Tatum looks like her daddy in these pictures.

Wednesday afternoon was the parade at Madison's school. They are the Castle Heights Knights, when I was in elementary we use to say "Castle Height Knights wear pink tights" (we were Durrant Dragons) I believe it was my big brother Erik who came up with that saying.

I think this picture looks like an illustration for a children's fantasy book.

Miriam and Marcus were VERY excited and acted like the above photos until the parade started.

We started off the night with pumpkin stew and this cute spider bread Sarah threw together. We were going to make scones but due to a freak course of magnetic events the timer started on fire and blew ash all over our scone dough and oil.

The first door of the night was Grandma's house.

The trick or treaters.
These guys wore Miriam out! Josh and Marcus kept doing their Chevy Chase routines, falling down, rolling down lawns etc. Miriam would report the candy at each house "Mom! Its another candy bar!". Madison and Sarah stayed out an hour later than the rest of us and came home with 8 1/2 lbs of candy!

the Loot!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRISTIN (yesterday).

The Halloween report will be delayed because we are still visiting my family! Stay tuned, it was quite the party the guest list was amazing....

beautiful Belle was there,

a teeny tiny Broncos cheerleader

a fierce yet pretty lady pirate

a very happy tiger

Darth Vader who really isn't that scary

a snuggle monkey

magical Glinda (I have no idea why there is a fish on her wand...i didn't notice it until the picture was uploaded)

and scary Jaws

What a night!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things!

Here are just a few things I am in to at the moment.

I took a class to learn how to make these flowers. They fit so many occasions, are inexpensive, and can be in any color....only one problem, I am not proficient enough to make them fast. Hopefully as I practice they won't take me so loooong to make.

I keep seeing these cute banners made out of felt, but since I don't sew that well I made one out of paper. This one was made to welcome my niece Tatum. I really should make a happy birthday one to match so she can get some more use out of it. It's on my "to do" list, hopefully I will get to it before her 1st birthday (next October).

I love my subscription to this magazine!

I was sent a trial issue of this one and loved it even more. I am interested in the information they present, enjoy the articles, and appreciate the smut-less advertising they have.

Last year I was an Ugly Betty fan and although I still enjoy the show I am getting a little tired of the gender bending storyline. My NEW favorite is Pushing Daisies. It's quick like Gilmore Girls with quirky filming. I have only seen 3 episodes but so far I love it!

Fall Fun

I was in charge of the craft for our combined Activity Day (name of the group of girls 8-12 in the LDS church) Halloween party. I brought the kids because Miriam LOVES Activity Days and Bub is just kind of tied to me since he doesn't eat solid food. We were suppose to dress in costume but I hadn't finished them so we just dressed festively Halloweenish.

We made these spider pumpkins which turned out very cute. By the way, the title of this post is referring to Miriam's "Fall Fun" because this was actually a very stressful activity. The spiders were easy to make, but imagine having a tired baby strapped on you while you monitor 15 girls using a glue gun, and have a 3 year old running around...oh and you forgot to feed that 3 year old dinner so she has eaten 2 iced cookies and a donut. Luckily, I had casually asked a friend to come with us. She ended up being a lifesaver (Thanks Jaymie!)

Friday night I stayed up late to finished Miriam's costume for her Halloween party at a local children's bookstore. At the party, Miriam sat on the back row so her Galinda crown wouldn't impair anyone else's view. A very funny magician performed and Miriam laughed like crazy! She loved every minute of it and at one point shouted out "You are crackin' me up!" which made everyone in the store laugh.
I had planned on going all out with the costume - curling Miriam's hair, glitter make-up, and all but Darin reminded me that it was raining so hard, her hair and make-up wouldn't last walking from the car to the store. I worked too hard, and am too proud of my finished product to take pictures without her being completely done up, so the costume unveiling will have to wait until Halloween! I really did nothing more than cut fabric, use wonder-under, and fabric glue but it was a stretch for me, and I am proud nonetheless.


I can't forget our good Halloween mail this week. Grandma C sent some very fun books and the cutest vintage coloring book I have every seen! Thank you!!