HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE HILLS

THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT

Last evening I wrote out my TO DO LIST for Monday, December 29th, 2008. The day began when I was woken up by Madison yelling "Mommy." So I turned out of bed, onto my knees and said my morning prayers. Then I went in got the twins dressed and fed them breakfast. I took all the videos to Wolf Camera and had them place them onto DVD's, went to the post office, went to the library, went to Sams club, went to Babies R Us and last but not least Hallmark. I got home and took the outside decorations down, cleaned up the garage, hauled more items to Good Will, put all the trash out (which when the garbage man sees it tomorrow he is going to croak.), I took out a hard drive from an old computer and then beat the hard drive with a hammer. Wrote thank you cards for all the christmas gifts received, downloaded all my photos to shutterfly and did scome scrapbooking. I believe the high light of the day was when I was sitting at the table helping Paige with her homework and Parker and Madison were coloring and the thought came to my mind, "this is what life is all about." Sitting here with my children all together, pretty music playing in the background, and the world doing it's own thing outside and not bothering us. Dinner was served, breakfast style, and then we had a wonderful family home evening about the scriptures and the savior. Sitting here now typing this blog, I can't help but thank the Lord for my many blessings. I am grateful to be a stay home mom who has three wonderful, beautiful children, and a husband who loves his job and does a mighty fine job at it.

Christmas Toys

One of three dress up outfits parker received from Santa Claus.

Parkers three play outfits he received from Santa.

It doesn't get any better than this. Guitar Hero.

And the music plays on Parker and Brendon with Cody looking on.

Christmas Eve Baking

Christmas Eve Day Baking

Christmas Eve Day Baking

100 Things

100 Things (AKA - How boring am I?)

You are supposed to copy the list and bold the ones you have done. Let's see how boring I really am~1. Started your own blog. 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise3 3. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone(if a chipped collar bone counts) 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own

LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW LET IT SNOW

A Busy week for Parker and Madison

HELLO POTTY TRAINING amongst other things that twins have been up to. Let's start off by introducing you to the newest underwear in our family. Cars and little mermaid has met Parker and Madison and are fast becoming friends. For the past few weeks I have been unable to keep diapers on the twins. I literally get them dressed in the morning and not even ten or fifteen minutes later they are undressed and diapers are off and they are running around naked. At first it was cute, but now it is not. We have been potty training for about a week and have had great sucess. It's funny that after you have a kid and go through all of this, you seem to forget the little things, like taking their clothes of five times a day.
The next story that brought a chuckle to my face, is last Saturday I was on the phone downstairs with Brendon. Things were quiet and I started to get worried. All of a sudden Madison comes around the corner into the family room and she has chocolate dripping down her face. I told Brendon he would have to hold on. I headed up stairs thinking to myself, Where are they getting this chocolate from? The gate is up in the kitchen so they can't be in there. Well I get to the top of the stairs and there is Parker standing on my Coffee table, leaning into a jar of Chocolate and unwrapping candy as fast as he can and putting it in his mouth. I had two jars of Chocolate for my ladies I visit teach. By the time I got the twins down, there was chocolate all over them, all over the jars and empty wrappers in the jar. No, I didn't get a picture but I thought about it afterwards. Oh the memories we are making. That is what life is about. Don't ya think?

Colti and Paige

BEST FRIENDS

The Faith of a little child.

As a mother I am simply amazed at the faith a little child has. When we had Paige the first few years of her life the Plessmans would watch Paige while Brendon and I worked full time. While being watched their son Colton became fast friends with Paige. Paige could never say his name, so when she began talking she called him Colti. Time arrived when Colton left for a two year mission to Brussells, Belgium. Every night for the past two years she has prayed for Colti. She would always tell us after she prayed that Heavenly Father was watching out for Colti because she was praying for him. Well Colti just returned home on Thanksgiving day and here are some photos of them together for the first time in two years. Paige has such a close relationship with Colti that he brought her home a pair of dutch wooden shoes. He also went to her kindergarten class today and was her VIP person and talked about the Netherlands. We are so grateful for the friendship Colti and Paige have. We are also grateful for Paige's prayers that helped Colti be safe. The faith of a little child is amazing and powerful.

Paige's dream came true when she got to ride her first horse over Thanksgiving Break.