Christmas Day

We thought we'd share some of our photo highlights from Christmas this year. We had a great time and were so happy to share it with family . We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house, eating, doing a gift exchange, a little program and singing the 12 pains of Christmas. Here are the kids all ready to start the party! It was a bit of a treacherous drive there...snow everywhere! But, it made for a beautiful white Christmas. Whenever we asked Grant what he wanted Santa to bring him, he always said "a fire truck." He was so happy to find that grandma and grandpa had one for him! It was really cute...but it was difficult the next morning because he wouldn't open any of his presents, he only wanted his fire truck. We had to hide it for a little bit to get his attention averted to the other gifts.
After our Christmas party, we came home and put a plate of cookies out for Santa. I thought this would be an appropriate tradition to start with Grant...he would be a good age to show his appreciation to Mr Claus for all of his effort. Well, maybe Grant was not ready because in the morning, he was very, very upset that the cookies were gone. Grant said, "HE ATE ALL MY COOKIES!" We tried to explain that he laid them there to share and say thank you, but that didn't fly. Hopefully next year, he will not be so upset!

The highlight for Grant was his official waste management garbage truck...yes, his occupational aspirations consist of trash disposal. This truck lifts up the dumpster, and even comes with a ball of garbage...the sound is strikingly similar to a life size garbage truck. All day Grant said he was a garbage man and he drove his little fire engine and garbage truck all over. Good job Santa!

Dave's brother Brian came over for our quiche and orange roll coffee cake. We were so happy to spend Christmas morning with him. We lounged around all day and then went to play games with my brother and sisters.

Katelee was just thrilled to get new binkies....and climb through the table chairs while we opened our stuff. She received some adorable clothes. Here she is sporting the hat that goes to her new coat from her Aunt Anna.


We had a great time and are so grateful for the gifts we receive everyday...like love and support from our friends and family! Hope you have all enjoyed your festivities as well!

Happy Holidays

It's that holiday feeling floating around and we are high on Christmas spirit at our house. Everyday Grant wants to whisper in my ear, "Santa Claus comes tonight." I am pretty sure he got that from the song, but he still is anxiously awaiting the big man's arrival. We are enjoying the spirit of love and giving and extra sense of friendliness amidst strangers. We hope you are all savoring the feelings and events and thought we would share a few of our pictures from our freezing venture to see the lights at Temple Square. Dave's dad was in town so we froze his Florida blood and made him walk around with us. With the thought of hot chocolate motivating his stroll, he endured it...and loved it!
Our mismatched glove bandit and mini-eskimo:

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas tree battle...

This has not been our best week. We have been battling a stomach bug for the past few days, but I am happy to report that while the sickness left some battle wounds, we have (almost) overcome it! So now, I can share the fun pictures that we took on Saturday.


We started our weekend festivities with a breakfast with Santa (notice that Grant is in his pajamas.) Grant told Santa that he wanted a fire truck, so we will see if he remembers to bring him that! Katelee was not too fond of Santa, can you blame her?!

After breakfast, I had a baptism to attend and it was agreed that we would decorate our Christmas tree after. Now, Dave and I have had live trees the past Christmases, and while I may be called a Scrooge, or even dare I say, the Grinch...I have been begging for an artificial tree, but to no avail! This year I actually convinced Dave that an artificial tree is a necessity for our family. Some of you may remember the Charlie Brown Christmas tree incident a few years ago, or the lack of a saw that we have, or the near nervous breakdown I have every year stringing up the lights...it has never been a jolly time for our family. I talked to a lady at the baptism who picked up her live tree to have wasps fly out at her and spiders everywhere. I could only picture a flying squirrel next. Needless to say, a serious deliberation took place at our house...and we have an artificial tree!!! Dave said not to plan on it every year, but lets see what happens 2008! While he had a difficult time realizing his days of live Christmas trees may have passed, he has admitted our tree is really pretty! It was pre-lit, so we had a great time decorating!
The kids loved it too as you can tell!

Katelee was doing a jedi impression when we got her up from her nap!

Do you get a box to play in with a live tree?!!! I think not! So, if any of you wish to comment on the artificial vs. live tree dilemma at your house, I am very interested to know what you think!

Dancing with the Stars...

Some of you may know this, and some of you may mock- I returned today from my excursion to Dancing With the Stars!! Dave knows that I am a fan of said show, and has been putting my name in the ticket lottery. He got tickets for me and surprised me with a trip to California to view the taping of the semi-final results show. My sister, Shannon, the original Dancing With the Stars fan, accompanied me on the trip. Dave swapped skymiles, sold items on e-bay, took a day off work to stay with the kids, and handed me a folder with every mapquest printout I required! Way to go Dave! I think he is the greatest.

After Shannon and I stood in line to get into the studio, we were given seats on the front row! Michael Flatley, yes folks, the Lord of the Dance himself, then performed with his entourage. I saw the legs flailing about, feet flying, toes tapping-all of it, within an arm's reach. So, if you have the episode ti-voed or recorded, you can see a very blurry Kara right by the stage. After he danced, the VIPs started arriving for the live show and we were kicked out of the front and taken to the balcony corner. Of course, we were disappointed at first, but we soon realized we could see the backstage from there and we watched the celebrities getting ready. Avril Lavigne sang...the professionals did a dance...we saw David Spade, Donny Osmond, Mrs. Brady (aka Florence Henderson), Gloria Allred, and of course all the performing stars. It was fantastic! Thanks Dave for such a memorable trip! These are photos of Shannon and I after the taping at the Grove shopping center.

The kids are doing great...Katelee cut her first teeth. Grant is finally treating her with some kindness. I love it. He does get rough, showing his Grantzilla side at times, but those instances are fewer than before. Last week he hurt her and his apology went something like this..."I sorry Kate..I didn't mean to...I just a boy."


Side note, Grant's eye is fully healed. I know people have been concerned. He remembers that when he got hurt he had to go see his pediatrician, Dr. Bean. So, the other day he comes out of the closet with the johnny jump up pushing into his head saying, " Look mom, I doctor Bean." I think having a jumbo stethoscope is a brilliant idea.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all! We hope the holiday is full of family, friends and good times for everyone. We are grateful for all of you! Til next time!

Game Day

Today Dave took Grant to the Utah vs. Wyoming football game. Dave has been looking forward to this all season..the first annual football extravaganza with Grant. I asked Grant what happened at the game and how he liked it; he said, "It was great. I say go go go Utes!" Then he talked about the popcorn, so it's a toss up as to what the true highlight of the day was, but fun was had by all!

As you can tell, Grant's eye is looking much better than last week!
The Utes are #1!!

Dave thought Katelee and I needed a picture taken today too. We went to a baby shower and then hit the mall while the boys were gone; but alas, we were unsuccessful in our shopping. Guess we will just have to try again next week!



This last pictures show how lovely and colorful Grant's eye got, it still just isn't the same as in person. We got a lot of questioning looks when all we could say is he ran into a chair!! You may notice Grant is wearing gloves in this photo. All week he has been putting these gloves on his hands and when I first asked him what he was doing his reply was, " I crazy man mom, I crazy man." Then he proceeded to run 100 mph around the house. He has been doing it day after day, sometimes quietly chanting "crazy man, crazy man." At least he has come to a realization of his true self, I guess!

Welcome, Welcome!

We'd like to take a minute and welcome everyone to our new blog! We can't promise a lot, but we will try to keep it updated now and then. I thought Halloween would be a great time to start sharing photos. We've had lots of Halloween festivities this month. We are stocked up on candy from the two trunk or treats we attended, as well as the candy Grant got while trick or treating the other night. We took the kids to Gardner Village earlier this month. Grant really liked it, despite his expression in these pictures.
























Halloween Day we saw a magic show and had a neighborhood dinner in our driveway. We had lots of fun with our street peeps...Grant was loving it, Katelee was happy, then, later that night there was a run in with a chair and Grant's face! The chair obviously won. The doctor said there is no fracture of any sort, so he will be okay; however, it keeps getting blacker and grosser. The dangers of being a two year old boy, especially when running around on a sugar high. So, that is what we are up to this week...continuing the potty training, working on getting Katelee to sleep through the night, and trying to convince people that Grant really has a self-inflicted injury.