Grandma Weber's Visit

We received a Big Top Cupcake set for a present. Sam and alina begged me to make a cake. Here's the first one my mom and I made. We had a huge snowstorm while my mom was here. We had alot of fun playing in the snow. It wasn't good snow for making snowmen, but it was great for snow angels and throwing. My grandma (my mom's mom) stayed overnight at our house one night during my mom's stay. I found Danny talking to granny in the morning on the guest bed. Granny later said, "He sure does talk alot." I know. I KNOW. During my mom's visit, we also went to the Gateway children's museum where we spent hours exploring and playing. My aunt and her family in Wellsville were gracious enough to let us invade their home for a couple of days. We went snow tubing in 0 degree weather at the base of the mountain where they live. (I don't have any pictures of our stay in Wellsville.) We rounded up the week with a visit to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU's Museum of Fine Arts, a stop for Kara mint chocolates, some Cold Stone ice cream, and a get-together with my uncle's family at my house.

Christmas Morning

Aubrey with Grandma Zimmerman in the first photo. I cannot believe these are the only photos I have from Christmas morning! Not even a single one with Alina. I hope Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman were taking pictures.

Christmas Decorations

With the exception of the garland, my kids decorated the tree all by themselves. This year, they even put some ornaments toward the top of the tree! They also helped with decorations throughout the house. This is just some of them.

First Attempt at Ice Skating

We showed up to a K12 school event: gingerbread gala event. I had had no idea that it would be at the ice skating arena. When we showed up, we learned that the ice skating was included in the event along with pizza and drinks. Unfortunately, none of my kids had ever skated, I had Aubrey and Alina with me (so I could not help them skate), and we had arrived toward the end of the ice skating scheduled time. After I finally convinced Danny and Sam to try it, they were able to get on the ice for about 5 minutes. They enjoyed it and want to go back for more.

Halloween

Elmo Alina, Astronaut Sam, Scarecrow Danny, Miss Piggy Aubrey. We went to our ward's Trunk-or-treat, which was held in the gym due to snowy/rainy weather. Sam won a prize for his costume. This was the 2nd year in a row he has won a costume prize. Aubrey could not stand the snout I made for her costume.

Aubrey's 1st Birthday

Aubrey loved eating her cake: chocolate zucchini with cream cheese icing. She also loved presents. Her first birthday was somewhat of a letdown for me, because most of JD's family could not come for her party. Only JD's mom and brother came. Sad. I should have invited my extended family who lives in Utah County. I think that this being the 3rd birthday in the month of September, I was slightly lazy with her party.

JD's Birthday Ice Cream Cake

My first attempt at making an ice cream cake. It had 4 layers of chocolate cake and 3 layers of butterfinger ice cream. It was covered in chocolate icing and decorated with peanut butter cups. It was delicious and decadent. My next attempt will be better now that I have a better idea of what I am doing.

Sam's Birthday

Dinosaur themed birthday party for my big 5-year old.

Wow, it has been a really, really long time since I last posted. I just always feel like I have to post with pictures, and since I haven't loaded pictures onto the computer in a long time, I haven't posted. I will try to get on the computer tonight after the kids are in bed. Now that Aubrey sleeps through the night, I could stay up a little later in the evenings to update this blog.

Our summer has been busy and has gone by all too fast. Each week we go out on a playdate with some neighbors to a local attraction. With them, we've visited the Hill Air Force Base Museum, Kennecot Copper mine, Gardner Village, the zoo, Sweets Candy factory, and Antelope Island. Still to come is a local fire station tour and the Bean museum in Provo. I've also taken the kids to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden on my own a few times. And up to the in-laws cabin with friends for fun times on the tarzan swing, hiking, riding on the bikes, playing board games and outside games.

We went to Lagoon for JD's work Lagoon Day. Can I just say the kids had the most amazing time there? all of them enjoyed whatever ride we put them on. Danny went around with JD on the bigger rides and was a little daredevil. Even Sam and alina went on some of the bigger rides (with me along for the ride as their adult supervision) and loved them. Wanted to do them again. Aubrey was in love with the lazy river at the pool area. Danny went on the waterslide 3 times. That was his first time ever on a waterslide. My only regret? That we didn't purchase the bounceback pass for only $10 per person. I just thought we wouldn't have time to go back again, but really, what was I thinking?

We spent a couple days in southern Utah near Kanab for a family reunion. We visited Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon. It snowed in the Grand Canyon the day we drove down there to visit it. We were not dressed for that at all, so we didn't get much hiking in. More like run from this building to that building. Had to keep the kids warm. I'd love to go back soon. The kids handled the 6-hour drive down to Kanab very well, so I am thinking more road trips are possible. Too bad JD's Fall semester at the U resumes in another 2 weeks!!

I've also been busy trying to get JD's office area more appealing and organized. I had to set up a workspace in there for Danny to do his homeschooling with his computer this coming school year. I feel pretty good about the progress I've made. The room looks a lot better now. I moved all sorts of things around between the guest bedroom and the basement. I feel more organized now. I installed a coat rod in the basement closet, too.

Of course there's always yardwork to do, and we've been busy with that. I definitely do NOT have a green thumb. Our pumpkins and squash never sprouted! and a beautiful strawberry plant that was given to me for my birthday is not doing well. I tried some various tips I found online about killing aphids and keeping them away. Hmm....don't know.

We've entered the birthday season in our house. Alina just turned 3 last week, and there are 3 more birthdays to come within the next month. Danny and I already had ours within the last 2 months.

Family Photo

Photo taken after Aubrey's blessing on Dec. 6th 2009. From left: Alina, John-David, Danny, Aubrey, Jessica, Sam

Aubrey Anne

The kids rarely see JD anymore because of his demanding school and work schedules. He's gone in the morning by the time they wake up and usually gets home at night long after they've been put in bed. I thought the kids would get a kick out of this picture of their daddy being silly eating his breakfast (early in the morning).

Fort-Making

The boys in their fort. Later that night, the fort-making evolved into a bigger fort with more blankets, which I would frequently have to fix anytime Alina got near it.

Cowgirl Hat

Alina likes wearing hats. Grandma Zimmerman gave her this one for the rodeo in Pleasant Grove a couple weeks before this picture was taken (in Lowe's). Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera at the rodeo. I had packed it in the diaper bag, so we would be able to take pictures there, but when we arrived at the rodeo, we didn't have our diaper bag. (JD thought I had put the diaper bag in the minivan, and I had thought he did!)

Bath Fun

They're all covered, so I think it's okay to post this picture. They love, love, love to play in this bathtub. Sometimes, when I can't think of any ways to entertain them after dinner (or I'm too tired to play with them), I'll throw them in the tub.

Let Us Eat Cake!

After Sam saw (and enjoyed eating) Danny's birthday cake, he became obsessed with our cake pans and birthday cakes in general. He begged me to make him a dinosaur cake for his birthday, not realizing that his birthday wasn't until September. A week after Danny's birthday, an opportunity arose for me to take a treat to a play date, so I decided I should make the dinosaur cake. You wouldn't believe how excited Sam was that I had made this cake for him. He told anyone who would listen that it was his party cake. Luckily, he didn't have a problem sharing it with everyone at the play date.

Alina's Dolls

Alina likes to carry her dolls around the house. She often puts them on a chair with a blanket and then asks them, "Bubbles?" So then I blow bubbles for her and her dolls.

Danny's Birthday

I hadn't planned to make an elephant cake until the morning of Danny's birthday when he changed his mind from wanting a double layer circle cake to an elephant. I had to make do with what candy I had on hand to decorate it. He also changed his mind about the flavor of the cake from chocolate to carrot with cream cheese frosting. Luckily, I had some shredded carrots in the freezer.







Alina is having fun playing in the arcades at Boondocks.






We took a break from Boondocks to go to Danny's soccer game.

















The kids loved the go-karts and bumper boats. Alina and I weren't allowed to go on either one. She being short and I being pregnant. For awhile in the morning, Danny got to have the kiddie go-kart track all to himself, and the workers just let him stay on the kart for a very long time.