The Christmas Sing!

Ethan

Bradon

& Carsten

All sang in the school Christmas sing! 

 

This is something that they all look forward to every year!

They sing some really fun Christmas songs. Up until the sing they were all singing throughout the house in preparation!  David took the day off work to see the kids preform.  Before we drove the kids to school we took them to Walgreens and bought them all  fun Christmas sing hats!  That elf hat on Carsten couldn't be cuter on him or fit his personality better!  Anyways, it was a lot of fun seeing them perform and they did great!

A visit with Santa.

A few weeks ago we went to Cabelas to have a little visit with Santa.

 The best part about it was that it's totally free!  You get to sit on Santa's lap, tell him all the things you hope for, and then they take your picture that you get to take home for free!  We did this Cabelas gig last year and it was so much fun that we decided we would do it again this year! 

So we waited in line and as we waited Reagan did her best to try and convince me to tell Santa for her what she wants for Christmas.  She was afraid to talk to him herself, but it was real important that he knew what she wanted.  I told her that if I told him that she wanted a laptop for Christmas then there would be a chance that Santa would get confused and give her laptop to me.  She said, "that would be alright because then you could just give it to me!"  She's got it all figured out!  So it's settled, I'll do the talking and if Santa screws up the order, then we will just fix it!  So finally we get to the front of the line and we have Talan go first.  He did a good job!  He wasn't totally sure what to think of Santa but... he didn't cry!

   Then the boys decided that they would all go together.  So we decided to have a group picture with all 5 kids.  Reagan freaked out when we told her to go sit on Santa's lap!  We did our best to drag her to Santa for a picture but the scene we were making was all more than I could take and so we setteled for a picture with the 4 boys instead.  Then all of a sudden Talan started to freak out and cry!  He must have thought that Reagan was all too smart and if she wasn't going for this Santa crap then he wasn't going to go for it either!   

So we got a picture of our 3 brave boys!

Things never seem to go as planned.  I was a bit irritated with Reagan for not letting them take her picture but oh well, that's how it goes!

She has since then promised me that next year she is going to sit on Santa's lap for sure!  ...There is always next year!

Ethan is a blue belt.

It was a lot of L O N G hard work but Ethan has finally received his blue belt!  We are all very excited about his karate accomplishments!  Ethan is excited because his favorite color is blue! For Christmas Ethan  is asking for a new blue karate gee.  If he gets it, his belt and his gee will match!  David and I are excited because it felt like Ethan was a purple belt for forever and a day and we were beginning to wonder what we were paying for exactly!  It got to where every time we would drop Ethan off for karate we would tell him that he had better earn a tip or we were going to take him out of karate.  Our threats seemed to help the progress along.  Hey, whatever works!  We are proud of Ethan for sticking with it and accomplishing his goal.  Now on to the green belt!   

WAY TO GO ETHAN!

My heart speaks to me.

Today Reagan told me that her heart speaks to her.  She said, "My heart is telling me something." As she held her hand to her chest.  I asked her what it was telling her.  She said, "It's telling me that I'm a Child of God."

Isn't that cute?  I love my little Reagan.  She has been saying some pretty cute things lately.  

Look what I can do!

I am 11 months old and I am learning all sorts of new tricks!  I can play in the toilet and open up cabinets and drawers.  I know how to make big messes!  I am learning new tricks everyday!  I even know how to climb up the stairs really fast.  I have to go fast or else they catch me!  The other day I learned that I can put bowls on my head!  Isn't that fun?  I love learning and exploring all the things around me each new day!

  I'm a big boy!

ASU baby!

On December 6th it was ASU and UofA's rivalry game day.  

We all wore our ASU gear with pride!  

It was a little cold outside so we had to layer our little Talan up.

Isn't he adorable?

Go SUN DEVILS!

And then... the sun devils forgot to show up for the game.  It was very sad!  We all morned together!  Sorry Talan, we'll get em next year!

Bradon earned his wolf!

Bradon earned his wolf before his 9th birthday but because he was in football he wasn't able to attend a pack meeting to receive his award and face painting.  So finally on December 3rd it was official.

Way to go Bradon!  

We are proud of you and your cub scout accomplishments!

What's the difference really?

Reagan has been saying some pretty cute things lately.

The other day we went shopping together and she had a dollar of her very own.  She decided to buy some silly putty with it.  After she bought it she asked me what it was called.  I told her, "Silly putty."  A little later she asked me again, "What's this stuff called?"  I once again told her, "Silly putty."  Later on in the afternoon we were on our way to a neighbors house for a cookie exchange party.  All of a sudden Reagan remembered that she forgot something.  She said, "Mom, I forgot my funny putty at home!"  I thought that this was so cute!  

Silly...Funny...What's the difference really?

Yesterday Reagan was wanting some paper to color on.  She came in and told me that she needed some blind paper.  I asked her what "blind" paper was.  She said, "You know the kind without any lines on it."  Too cute!  Blind...Blank...What's the difference really?

ALIVE?

So I got a phone call from my dad today asking me if I was still alive or had the boot camp killed me?  So I would like to announce to whomever is interested, I AM STILL ALIVE!  The boot camp is hard and very tiring however it hasn't killed me yet!  Sorry for the lack of posts.  I'll work harder to post more!

Boot Camp

I started Boot Camp yesterday!  

Boot camp is a place where you can go everyday for 1 hour while someone stands there with a clip board telling you what to do.  It's a way to reduce the size of your 

"BOOTY"!  

It's a killer workout and when you are as out of shape as me, it's a double killer!  I'm going with some of my neighbors.  I am only 2 days into it and I can hardly walk right now however I think I'm going to love it!  It's exactly what I need!  

I told my kids about it and they think it's pretty funny that their mom is doing exercises like they do in football.  Do they not realize that I use to be an athlete?  I use to be cool!  I use to be in shape!  And I use to be all that and a bag of chips!

Last night Reagan asked me, "Mom, you know that thing that you are going to?  Well, when is it going to make your booty smaller?"  Nice!  I told her that it's a long slow process but it WILL get smaller!

So wish me luck to a thinner, stronger, more healthy me!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we thought that we were going to be spending it all by ourselves.  I told David that we should put the word out and see if there was anyone else who didn't have family to spend Thanksgiving with and we should get together.  You know me, I love a good party/get together and I was having a hard time thinking that we would be doing Thanksgiving all alone.

From left to right:  Stephanie, David, Garrett, Page, Beth and Gary

Then about a week before Thanksgiving I got a phone call from Beth Turley saying that they were going to be in Utah for Thanksgiving but didn't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving day with.  We were thrilled!  

Gary Turley and David have been friends since they were little boys.  David met Beth while Gary was on his mission and then when Gary got home David set them up on a blind date.  And the rest was history, so they say!  David let all of Gary and Beth's kids know that they owed their lives to him!

From left to right:  Keri, Reed, Bradon, Kyle, Carsten, Ethan, Heidi, and Reagan.

So on Wednesday night Gary and Beth came with all 7 of their kids to have a sleep over and Thanksgiving feast.  The kids had a blast together!  I love how kids can become buddy old chums within minuets of meeting each other.

Their little baby Lewis and our little baby Talan.

The Turleys are a fabulous family and we are so THANKFUL that they came to spend Thanksgiving with us!  Beth is a great cook and she helped with so much!  It was fun working and learning from her in the kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The tenderest tough kid that I know.

Our sweet little Carsten is so tough yet so tender. 

Today at school they were having their Thanksgiving feast.  The teacher told the kids that they could dress like pilgrims and indians if they wanted to.  Carsten decided that he was going to wear indian war paint to school.  He told his teacher his plans and she said that it sounded great.  He came home and told me about his plan and I told him that that was just fine.  He woke up this morning and the first thing he said was, "Don't forget about my indian paint today mom!"  I told him that I hadn't forgotten and that I would figure something out.  So I went around the house looking for something I could use as indian paint.  I found washable ink in a variety of colors and used that.  

He was thrilled!

However when it was time to go to the bus stop he didn't want to walk with the boys.  I started to worry that maybe he was worried about being teased and so I gave him a few baby wipes in a zip lock bag that he could put in his backpack just incase he wanted to take the ink off.  I drove him to school and dropped him off.  Then I remembered that Bradon had left the house without grabbing a sweatshirt so I parked the car and went to find Bradon out on the playground.  On my way to the playground I passed Carsten's class and saw Carsten huddled on the ground with his backpack over his face with 3 or 4 boys standing over him teasing him about his indian paint.  I was immediately irritated!  I walked over to the boys and asked them why they didn't have COOL indian paint on their faces.  I mean, it is the day of the Thanksgiving feast and indian paint IS totally cool, why didn't they have it on?  The one little boy looked at me and said, "Are you Carsten's mother?"  I said, "Yes I am and his indian paint is cool!"  I think that this was all just a little more than Carsten could take.  He continued to be huddled in his little ball on the ground covering his face.  I took him into the class mud room and got his teachers attention.  I explained what was going on and she then did her best to make Carsten feel good about the situation.  She then told her AM students about Carsten's really cool paint and the kids all came to the mud room to take a look.  Carsten was doubly embarrassed and I... I was failing as a mother!  His teacher then said that she was pretty sure that all the kids would love to have cool face paint on but she just didn't have any.  I told her that I could go get some if she would like.  She said she thought that that was a good idea.  I ran the idea past Carsten and he thought that it was a good idea too.  So off I went on my quest to find face paint so that my sweet tender boy wouldn't feel so different from all the other kids.  I found some at partyland and then went back to Carsten's class and applied face paint to over half the class including the little mean kids that were making fun of him.

The things a mother will do to try to protect her children from the mean cruelties of the world!  I just wish that kids wouldn't be so mean!  And I wonder, how do you teach your children to have confidence.  To have a high self esteem.  To not let other people bother them.  How?

Talan's first big boy bath.

With all of my kids I have transitioned them into the big bath tub as soon as they could sit up on their own.  All except for Talan.  The tubs in this house are really deep and it's hard to bathe a small child in them.  So I have been bathing Talan in the sink up until yesterday when he had his first big boy bath.  He loved it!  And Reagan loved it too!  

Indian Hair!

I just get the biggest kick out of having a little girl!

I love to dress her up cute and to do her hair.  However now that she is 4 1/2 she is very opinionated!  She knows just what she wants and that ALWAYS includes getting her way!

  Yesterday at preschool they were having their Thanksgiving feast and they were going to be wearing their Indian feathers.  I told Reagan that Indians always braid their hair and that she should go to school with her hair in french braids.  She went for it!

Didn't it turn out so cute!  Her hair is really starting to get long and fun to do!

That's my girl... my indian girl!

A Pink Pirate Party!

Reagan's cousin Elise had a 

Pink Pirate Party on Saturday.

The kids all dressed like pink pirates.  They went on the cutest little treasure hunt, played games, and ate the cutest little pink pirate cake.  

Reagan had a lot of fun!  

She was the youngest girl there and a little intimidated by the 24 eight year old girls she didn't know but Elise made sure that Reagan felt special and welcomed.  Reagan absolutely loves her cousin Elise and looks up to her.

And YES, the party was a success!  Reagan came away wanting her next birthday party to be a Pink Pirate Party!

A couple of Chalk Artists!

In spirit of the BYU/UTAH rivalry game 

Carsten and his friend Tanner 

worked for hours on this masterpiece!  

A Big Huge Y in a rainbow of colors.  

This is an upside down picture of it.  Pretty good huh?

UTAH kicked BYU's trash!

UTAH 48 BYU 24

The game started out pretty good. BYU and UTAH were neck and neck until just before halftime. And then it was all down hill from there. Unfortunately our precious Arizona Mountain View High school graduate Max Hall struggled!

I think we owe it to the Gledhills (well... Tom and Max) to say...

UTAH UTES ROCKED THE HOUSE!

So I whipped up a batch of rice krispy treats in UTE like fashion and we delivered our peace offering!!! They accepted gladly and then gave us a little Cougar treat of our own, Cougar Craze ice cream! Of course Max had to add a Y to the end of Craze to let us know he still thinks we're a little CRAZY!

We'll get em next year!

Rivalry Week!

BYU vs UTAH

It's rivalry week!  

A very important week in the year!  It's the week that BYU takes on UofU!  In Utah this is a big thing!  The first few weeks of going to school in Utah we found out that even all the elementary school students pick a side and stick with it.  My kids were coming home from school chanting B... Y... U!  So this year we are jumping into this with both feet and we are going to rival like champs!

Our neighbors in which our children are nearly inseparable are big UTE fans.  Well the dad and the oldest son are big UTE fans, but the mom and the rest of the kids like BYU.  Tom graduated from UofU and Michele graduated from BYU.  So I guess you can say that they are a house divided!     

 

Tom came over last weekend to watch the UTAH game and we got talking about rivalry.  He was pretty much asking us to rival with him in a round about way.  We can take a hint!  And take a hint we did!

Every night this week we either put a sign on their house or gave them a BYU treat.  Our kids have had a blast helping out with this!  On monday night we went to a neighbors house for dinner and family night games.  When it was over I got all 12 boys together (the Adair's, Gregory's and Harley's) to ding dong ditched the Gledhills house leaving them a treat.  I then gave all the kids the 'importance of rivalry' talk and the 'importance of secrecy' talk and sent them home.  They all had a blast!  

Midway through the week Max came through my front door before school and said, "Stop putting those signs on my house!" I asked him how he was so sure that it was me putting the signs up.  He said, "Because the person who put the signs on our house last year weren't as artistic!"  I thought that was pretty funny!  I told Max that this was nothing to get upset over but that he should probably figure out who's doing it and rival back.  Rival with the big boys!  So they began to rival! 

I'll give them an E for effort but next year they need to step up their game a bit!

So friday night was our GRAND FINALLY!  We hit em hard!  We recruited a few neighbors (thanks Laurie and Dallin) to help us out.  It was pretty cold out there but well worth it!  My favorite part is the BYU yard signs I made.  I love them!

Thanks Gledhills! 

You guys are great sports and it's been a fun week rivaling with you!  

May the best team win!

GO COUGARS!

2008 football season is officially over!

Last Saturday Bradon's team had their end of the season party at Utah Flash.  He recieved a trophy and a certificate for being the INSTIGATOR of the team!  This is a picture of him with his coach Dave.  When we got home from the party Bradon asked us what it meant to be an instigator.  They got online and googled instigator.  Once he understood what it meant he felt pretty proud to be 

THE INSTIGATOR!

David put together a DVD of pictures put to music for all the families.  It turned out being a much bigger project than he was expecting but the video turned out great!  At the party they showed the video up against the wall and then the coach gave each player one with his trophy and certificate.

They had a turf field for the kids to play on.  Bradon and Carsten had a blast!  However Bradon did come home with his very first indoor football rug burn.  Ouch!

I of course decorated another cake!  

What you do for one child you must do for the others....I guess!  

It turned out much like the other football cakes I've done.  I lack creativity to change things up!

Congratulations Bradon 

on a great season!  

We are proud of all your hard work and dedication.  Way to go!

He's cute even when he's crying!

We just love this boy so much!  

Talan has been so much fun to have.  He is a wonderful addition to our family.  He is happy almost always and he has been a really good baby!  

He walks all over the place now.  He is short for his age and so it looks pretty unbelievable.  There is just about nothing cuter!  And along with learning to walk there are lots of little bumps in the road.  Just after snapping this picture he took off walking.  The road was slopped just enough that he couldn't catch his balance and...

Kaboom!  

Down he went doing a face plant on the asphalt!  But even when he's crying he's cute!  Now what kind of awful parents snap pictures of their kids while they're crying?  I'm sorry I just couldn't resist, he's just too cute!

This is the Place!

On Ethan's birthday I packed lunches, checked the kids out of school, drove to Salt Lake to pick up David and then we all went to 'This is the Place' per Ethan's birthday request.  He loves that place!  The weather was wet and cold and I am pretty sure that we were the only guests they had all day!  When we got there the lady told us that during winter hours nothing was open but there was a train ride that we could take around the park and we were more than welcome to just walk around.  Since we brought our own lunches we decided to eat our lunch and then take the train ride.  We were a little disappointed that everything wasn't open but decided that it was okay.  After the train ride we would just go across the street to the zoo instead.

So we met up with Richard the train driver and it turns out that yes, we were the only customers all day.  Who else would be so stupid to go to a pioneer village on a wet and cold day like it was?  He asked us what brought us there and we explained to him that our son Ethan loved 'This is the Place' and it was his birthday and this is what he really wanted to do.  

Richard couldn't have been nicer.  He told Ethan that he was to sit up front with him and wear the engineer hat.  He brought us out blankets to sit on and then we were ready to go.  Over the loud speaker we heard Ethan say, "All aboard!"  David and I thought that that was cute.  Then Ethan proceeded to give us the whole tour!  I couldn't have been cuter!  Then as we approached Brigham Young's house he said "Now lets go inside and check it out!"

It turns out that Richard the train driver had keys to the whole village.  He gave us a private tour of whatever we wanted to see.  Ethan was absolutely beaming and couldn't have been happier!  It was the perfect birthday for Ethan!

This picture above is us coming out of the blacksmith shop, Ethan's #1 favorite spot.

Richard even fired up the little train and gave us a ride around the pond 3 times.  It was a lot of fun!  He told the kids that every time we went through the tunnel we were to all scream like little girls.  The boys thought that was great!

Thanks Richard for an awesome birthday at 'This is the Place'!