I’m Back!

It’s been 7 long months, but I’m back! My blog strike started out as just lack of motivation to update, but then our computer got some nasty virus, which killed the hard drive. We had to send our computer into the manufacturer. We were on pins and needles, waiting to see if they would be able to fix our hard drive instead of replacing it, as we had thousands and thousands of pictures which we hadn’t transferred to our external hard drive. Sadly, they weren’t able to fix it. So- I am grieving for the pictures and Joe is grieving for our tons and tons of music which was also lost. :( Thankfully, I still have all the pictures from on my blog, so not all is lost!

I’m just going to be doing a little bit of catch-up… no significance in the order of the pictures I put on here.

12/7/11 Haylie at her Christmas program. After this night, I am about 99% sure she was made for the stage… She was totally in her element and took it very seriously! At one point, she was giving the kids next to her some irritated looks because they weren’t standing still and singing the songs.

She got to be a bell ringer for one of the songs and she was SO excited!

The kids’ cousin Lucy got to come and watch Haylie’s program. I think Haylie liked being the center of attention…

The day after the kids got out of school for Christmas break, our family and Rachel’s family, as well as his parents, and other brother and sister and their families all headed to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. They’d all seen the lights before, but it was my first time and I have to say, I wasn’t expecting every single tree and bush to be covered in lights. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard someone say they start putting up lights in August! Can’t you imagine that being your job!?! Sheesh… Before walking around the temple grounds, we took the kids into the church History Museum. The kids loved it and all cried when it was time to go. After we went got home and were looking at the pictures, Haylie came across this next one and said to me, “Oh I LOVE this picture Mom. It’s my favorite!” So funny! She was totally into the dancing, if you couldn’t tell.

Haylie, Naomi and Lucy all doing some flamenco dancing!

Connor was totally into this touch screen computer. There were a bunch of different puzzles and to put it together, you use your finger to drag the pieces and put it together. He sat there almost the entire time we were there!

Maggie having fun with the chalkboard!

Pretty picture of the Salt Lake Temple, all lit up.

There was a Nativity there and a man telling the story of Jesus’ birth. Very impressive!

Haylie and Lucy watching the Nativity.

We brought our wagon with us and the little girls rode in that, all bundled up in blankets. But after a while, they got restless and so we let them out when we lost half of our group. Bad picture, but they were so excited to get out and “ooh and ahh” at the lights.

 

Christmas Eve tradition of opening up Christmas jammies. Haylie has been begging for a nightgown so she can be like Wendy on Peter Pan. They had one Maggie’s size too, so I got each of them one. They aren’t the cutest nightgowns, but the girls love wearing them! And Connor, of course, got camouflage jammies.

The kids on Christmas morning, getting ready for Church.

After church, we went over to Joe’s parents’ house to exchange gifts with them. Haylie got a cute dress with necklace and a super cute hair tie. She doesn’t look it, but she was SO excited!

You wouldn’t know it but 5 minutes before this picture was taken, Connor was opening that camo beanie towards the bottom of the picture. He thought that’s all he was getting (spoiled stinker) and he started throwing a fit. Needless to say, he got in big trouble by his dad. When he came back out, and apologized, there was another present for him- new cowboy boots (which he’s OBSESSED with) and some undies.

Santa got confused and put Maggie’s gifts under our bed.. whoops! So she had a couple more gifts to open when we got home that night- her own purse with cell phone, lipstick, credit cards, etc. included, and a little toy piano. Silly Santa… ;)

A few days after Christmas, we drove to Malad, Idaho to spend some time with Joe’s grandparents and Aunt and Uncle. On the way, Haylie’s other front tooth came out! Unfortunately, the tooth got lost in the car so the Tooth Fairy never came… whoops.

We stayed at Joe’s uncle and aunt’s house- we love going there. His Uncle Brett has become someone of an idol in this family… our kids just hang on him, they love him so much. Most of the time, they call him “The Brett,” but during this trip, they started calling him Grandpa. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of him! His head is cut off in this next picture.
Brett owns a bird farm, so we took our dog Lucy. Brett took us out to some of his land and let some of his birds out for Lucy to hunt. The kids loved helping round up the birds!

Lucy’s first time out in the field was near perfection! I can’t believe at almost 2 years old, she is a natural. After this trial run we went back and gathered some more birds and the rest of the family (and all their dogs) and went back out for a  real hunt. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of yelling at dogs during a hunt, and because Lucy was abused before we got her, she got really scared of the yelling and went and hid in the back of the truck.
Here she is on the trial run, on point.

Haylie with the rooster Joe got. She carried it around like a baby… (sigh).

Apparently there weren’t enough birds to go around, so Connor and Lucy co-carried this rooster back in together.

Joe’s sister and her new husband came to visit! The guys, of course, had to go out and shoot guns and bows and arrows- a must when the family gets together! Connor was glued to Lis’s hip, almost the entire time they were there. At one point, he asked her if he could sleep in their bed with them.

Everyone got a turn shooting Grandpa’s new pellet gun. Lucy shot this one with her eyes closed- good thing her momma was right there! haha

Who let this child wear shorts in January?

We basically have to hold Naomi down in order get a picture of her, so when I snagged this one, I was pretty proud of myself! She got really mad at me after she realized what had happened… Sorry Nome, but you’re cute!

OK. I feel better now that I’m a little updated. Hopefully I can keep my posts coming!