Baby, It's Cold Outside!

And we thought that winter would NEVER come!

Good effort on the snowmen, gang!  

 (sorry--that snowflake on Davis' face looks like a giant snowball hit him!  

That came later!)

Maren and her pet snowman, Mack.  They're pretty cute together!

Millie, cute as a bug, among our snow friends!

Davis posing for a snowball fight behind his snow fort!

Just a cool (no pun intended!) picture of our snow drenched tree!

Frozen in mid-drip!

Look at our nicely groomed sidewalk (thanks to our most handsome snowblower!)--notice the enormous amount of snow!

As much as I complain about snow clothes on and off and on and off and . . . mud/gravel in, out and on the car. . .shuttling kids to and from sledding excursions (if they're lucky!), I really do enjoy the snow and all its beauty! 

15

The most wonderful 15 years with my #1 love interest, my eternal companion, my best friend. He took my breathe away the first time I saw him (BYU-Gospel Doctrine class-Blue dress shirt (rebel) and polka dot tie--commenting so intelligently throughout the lesson). From our first date to the movie Terminator 2 (actually my idea) to our date up American Fork Canyon to impress me with his fly fishing skills (very impressive!) to rushing back to BYU from the 2 week break between semesters to see him to . . . . . . . . . . . . . to our letters between Provo and France for 1 year (most treasured) to a 4 month engagement (too long!) to one of the happiest days of my life!  

Just some fun/sweet pictures of my honey--so many reasons why I love him so! Without scanning, I only have pictures that go as far back as our first digital camera.  

Look at those sexy legs!

Dad and baby Eli

Sledding with Natalie on our hill in NY

Halloween 2006--Daddy-Daughter Activity

After wishing us a happy anniversary, Maren announced that we have "only 35 more years until we get a party!"  Thanks, cutie!

Who is this youngster holding baby Millie?  He obviously has good taste in schools!

Our family (to date) in the Sacred Grove--one of our most favorite vacations.

Showing off his cannonball skills!

One of Dennis' favorite pastimes in New York--he misses his John Deere. Natalie was his mowing buddy!

Another favorite pastimes--fishing.  It's even better with Davis!  Actually, this is THE favorite pastime.  Another action photo of this hobby here.

Our first attempt to a Christmas card photo this year (it took three completely different photo-shoots!).  We had some participation difficulty. It's not easy to ask 7 people to look great all at the same time!

I am so happy to be his Mrs.  He is the BEST husband.  He is such a fabulous father to our children. He is such a good person.  I feel so blessed.  What a wonderful life!  

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Guess who's 4?

Happy Birthday Millie!  

Millie celebrated her birthday with her preschool friends this morning--a birthday crown and sharing a little treat together.  Her mom even gave in and let her have ice cream for lunch! (Who is her mother, anyway?!) Our family celebrated with her this evening with sweet and sour chicken (one of Millie's favorites), cake and ice cream (she chose bubble gum and mom chose vanilla), balloons and of course, presents!    

I can't believe that it was just 4 years ago that Camille Marie was doing this on her blessing day (it's so much cuter when they are tiny!)--

And looking as cute as ever with those blue eyes--

And being very sneaky--

We are just so happy to have Millie as a part of our family.  She is happy, energetic and NEVER walks anywhere!  As she was waiting and waiting and waiting for her party to "begin" tonight (meaning we had to have dinner before the cake and ice cream), she was whining, "I just can't take it anymore!"  Yes, I am afraid we are in for it with her, too! But for now we will love her little creative mind, her contagious laugh and her "air" hugs and kisses (as well as the real ones)!  Millie adds something very special to our family dynamics and we are so thankful for our little New York baby!  Hope your day was fun!  We love you, Millie!

i think we'll keep him

Yes, he thinks he is all that!  And he is!  This is just one of his many tricks with many more to follow, I'm sure!

Dad and the boy--I think they like each other.  

I think he has those disappearing smiling eyes.  What do you think?

kitchen bliss

Okay--so I do not profess to be a great cook, but I do have to brag.  I make mini muffins often enough to be annoyed with my mini muffin pan. You know the routine--trying to spray Pam in each one of the muffin holes so that they don't stick; and then getting them out can be just as tricky! Our family loves lemon poppyseed muffins (recipe from my darling neighbor and her sister's cooking blog sisterscafe), but this time I borrowed (and will be buying) her Demarle muffin pan. Wow!  They popped right out!  And absolutely NO Pam spray which I love because not knowing what is actually in that stuff makes me nervous! This is not a plug for any product. I am just ecstatic how well these turned out and just so happy when I find something that makes my life easier in the kitchen! 

Fall Fun

The neighborhood kids enjoying the fall leaves!  Our neighbor took these pictures with his great photography and post editing skills.  He did a good job!  I hope that he doesn't mind that I post them!  Cute kids, huh?!

Chef Maren

A wonderful family in our ward just had a baby and Maren was desperately trying to find something to do for them!  (You always want to encourage this behavior when it manifests itself!)  I told her that it is always nice to have extra meals on hand because the meals stop coming in and cooking is the last thing that I want to do when I have a new baby. So freezer meals it is.  She planned, shopped and cooked all on her own--only with a little help from me!  I was amazed at how focused she remained the whole day!  

At the end of the day, she made 4 meals and a bag of frozen cookie dough balls! We even had a couple of meals for our family freezer!  

Maren was so proud of herself--as was I!  She was SO excited to make the delivery!  It is so wonderful to witness those moments when your children "get it"--when they really enjoy serving other people and seeing how happy it makes others feel.  Great job, Maren!

thanksgiving 2008

Where did November go?!  Wasn't it just Halloween?  This year we enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday in Nevada with our wonderful family--and lots of sunshine!  Unfortunately, I was sick and was not much use--it was all kind of a blur to me.  The kids had a fantastic time with their cousins!  And we enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner together!  

Just a few highlights. . . 

Maren and Ian created these cute turkeys--thanks to Grammy!

And pretzel salad is always a must!!  YUM!

The day ended with a few playing a mean game of Scrabble!

Many thanks to our fabulous photographer, Maren!  She always comes through for us! And a big THANK YOU to the Nisbet family for hosting the weekend!  We are so thankful for our family and the opportunity we have to create memories together.  Wish it could be more often!  We love you! 

More of this little guy

Eli is attracted to our entry table and is constantly banging on it and standing up to it. One day several weeks ago, I heard all of these noises from the next room and then it was silent.  I went to check on him and found him here!  He surprised himself by climbing onto the shelf and didn't quite know what to do next!  He was stuck and couldn't figure out how to get off.  Notice it is only a few inches off the ground!  I could just watch him all day (of course, I literally have to watch him all day or he'd be in the toilet or into dad's computer cords!).

And here is our little concert pianist!  LOVES, LOVES the piano! 

Oh so serious!!

halloween 2008

This is what we saw while driving the kids to school Halloween morning. I think that the temperature gauge said 38 degrees!  What a beautiful, brisk fall morning!  

A few days prior, we were pumpkin hunting for Family Home Evening! Not quite sure about the "night" button on the camera--it made it a bit blurry. But you get the idea!

Off to school Halloween morning!  Notice how dark it is outside--UHG! We have a cat, a skeleton, and a little witch!  They had a school-wide parade followed by a lot of partying. 

Just before the trick-or-treating began--just look at these blondies! Davis had already taken his pillow case for the loot and headed out with friends!  

funny boy

So one day I was watching Eli as he was very interested in Roxy's dog toy. And for about 10 minutes they went back and forth "playing" with this toy. Eli would try to retrieve the toy from Roxy's grasp.

And he would try to escape with the toy.

You can see that he became quite frustrated with Roxy.  Look at that face!  This went on and on.

So a compromise was made. . . "you get one end and I get the other!"  It was hilarious!

And yes, this boy is becoming a busy body!  He races to the fridge when it opens and empties the bottom shelf of dressings and chocolate sauce! Too funny!

nothing cuter than school uniforms

We now have all 3 school-aged children in the same school! Davis and Natalie have been attending for 6 weeks and Maren just began today. And so far. . . they love it! We have been so happy with our decision. Just thought we would show just how cute these kids are in uniform!

a teenager at our house!

Happy Birthday Maren! 

She is an official teenager!  What a beautiful girl she is!  We are so grateful to have her as a part of our family.  Being the oldest, she tends be to "overworked and underpaid" --according to Maren--oh, the life of the oldest!  She is a great example for her younger siblings (and parents). She is persistent, cheerful, and very witty.  She has a great smile, makes friends easily, and loves to bake. Maren is an awesome swimmer (year round team), an outstanding singer (completely on key and has been since she was 2 years old), and enjoys photography.  We are so proud of Maren--the good choices that she makes and the young woman she is becoming.  We hope you have had a great day, princess! We love you! 

FAMILY

I usually don't include videos in our blog, but this one really hit my soul. How grateful I am for the Proclamation that was given to the world by our Heavenly Father through a latter-day prophet. We live in such prosperous times--we are blessed with so much. Yet, in the end, the family--our family is what matters--ALL that matters. The world tries so hard (and is very successful) in tearing the family unit apart--literally. And now we are witnessing an attempt to try to redefine the family unit altogether. This video is a beautiful reminder of our Heavenly Father's plan--He is mindful of us and will bless us--I know this.

Birthday fun

Just thought that I should document Davis' birthday party since it was a few weeks ago. A few days before his birthday, Maren attended a youth fireside by the BYU Football team and coach. Gooooo Cougars!!  Maren took Davis' football without him knowing and had the team members sign it--Max Hall #15 and all!  She gave it to him that night as an early birthday present.  He was so surprised and loves to show all his friends his prized possession. Wasn't that so thoughtful?!  Love that girl!  Love this boy, too!  

This year Davis got to have a friend birthday party (an every other year thing).  So we loaded up 5 of his friends and had a fun filled evening at Boondocks!  They all had a great time!  We were sorry that one of his friends got a bit sick towards the end, but the evening began with huge smiles on their faces, as you can see!

We're so glad that you had a great 10th, Davis!  We are so thankful to have you as part of our family!  We love you!