some things i don't want to forget

Charley had a sleepover at grama's. after she left, reese said "mom, where is charley?"  "at grama's for a sleepover"  "ugh (whine whine whine).....she said that she would play with me (whine whine whine)."  evb pipes up "i can pretend to be charley!"

when charley comes home from her sleepover, she throws open the front door "THE CHA-CHA IS HERE!".  I guess she decided that she needed a new nickname.  Mabel can say "eeeeese" & "bbb" but no charley. so, she must have thought cha-cha would be easy.

while charley was at grama's, we took reese out with us on a date. we went to our new favorite restaurant, el habenaro's. then took a tour of a rc willey just for fun. as we were walking into rc willey, reese turned to me with a huge smile "mom, i love going on dates with you guys!"

Mabel started talking overnight. literally.

at the cabin aaron grabbed me andx gave me a nice long passionate kiss....not realizing we had an audience, evb pipes up "nice one dad!"

Charley was saying family prayer, "thank you for my aunt and uncle who buy me the things that I don't need".

Evb to Mabel "Hi Mabel, it's your big sister Evb!"

Evb was mad at uncle Neal and said "Uncle Neal, you're ugly!"

Mabel was sitting on my phone when it starting vibrating. She looked at me and said "pooter".

Aaron taught FHE from the Book of Mormon and told the story of Nehor and Gideon. To liven things up, every time he said Nehor the girls had to say "Nehor, oo-hahahaha" because he was the bad guy. When he said Gideon it was "Gideon, awwwwww" (in a high pitch voice, like angels) because Gideon was the good guy. Mabel now just randomly says "Nehor, oo-hahahaha" or "Gideon, awwww" and she is not the only one. I don't think they will ever forget that lesson.

Evb at the playground "Oh Christmas nuts!"

At the mall waiting in line, Mabel walks right up to a lady that was probably eighty. She stopped and looked up at her for a long time. Then all of a sudden she just threw her arms around her legs and squeezed. Totally made that lady's day.

best new year's ever

new years is always crummy with kids...but this year was AWESOME. we collectively thought it was the best new years ever. we started with a schmorgasborg during which we were entertained by evb's amazing ability to balance a spoon on her nose. after our stomach's settled we headed out to the hot-tub with our glow sticks.  mei mei did not want to get out. don't blame her either because it was FREEZING.  got into our jammies & we dance partied it up on the Wii.  talk about a work-out. rounded out the evening with a rousing game of disney 'headbands'. it was all great. hope we have a good formula for next year.

christmas eve/christmas

christmas eve was spent out at the other utley's. as stated before, our house had been plagued with sickness for the whole month & christmas eve was a victim as well. charley was not feeling well but we decided to go anyway thinking that they festivities would help distract her from her illness. however, the minute we walked in the door, she ended up in the sitting room on the couch. she feel asleep for a while during which we ate & visited. by the time we started doing the fun stuff she had woken & was in a state of a near anxiety attack. i could not get her calmed down. it was weird. so i took her home & aaron & the other girls would get a ride. she feel asleep on the car ride home & when we got home & got mabel to bed i told her i would watch "white christmas" with her. i guess "bing" fixes everything because by that point you would never have know she had been wigging out a hour earlier. christmas morn she was fine. phew.

christmas eve tree#1

#2

#3

loved this guy & would let him put her down.

best christmas present ever, haven't laughed so hard in a LONG time. aaron was a good sport. :)

on our way to grama's house christmas day

december activities

love this one

our house was infected with sickness for the whole month of december with evb & meimei getting hit the hardest. i still got her to smile on one of her sick days. for the most part she was a great sick kid but after 10 days she really started to get tired of taking medicine & begin to backlash. thank goodness by that time we were mostly done. little did we know that it would hit us again two weeks later, thankfully not as hard. what a pain.

making sugar cookies was so much fun

this was this first year that i noticed that reese was really starting to take pride in what her cookies looked like. and she is quite creative too. they all looked great.

utley family christmas party!

first time meeting santa.....

was not a go.

yea, BINGO TIME!!!

charley's birthday

a bit behind but trying to catch up....

reese & charley pooled their fundraising efforts in order to get a ride in a limo & lunch. the ride happened to take place on charley's actual birthday, she was thrilled.

 She wanted to go to Leatherby's, love that place. Reese found some clip-on earrings that were a big hit with her after her botched try for her birthday last year to get them pierced.

Got them on!

A cupcake game from the Knight's. Has been a real hit with ALL the girls

Fairy book from Mom & Dad

Bracelet kit from the Knights, look at Reese. She is so mad because the kit states that it was for 8 & up. Charley is not 8. I think she thought that that statement would result in a passing on of gifts.

Still pouting

Basketball shorts! She was getting ready for her first year playing

She wanted rainbow cupcakes. These were so easy & cute

Party girls!