Christmas 2008

You are probably wondering why my son is outside "nakey" in the snow on Christmas?  I don't really know!  You'll have to ask him.  He was originally found out on the patio with no shoes, when shoes were suggested, he ran inside and put on his boots.  For those of you who are wanting to turn me into social services, it was nearly 55 degrees or something warm like that.  No threat of frost bite and he was quickly clothed, following the photo session...with a sweat shirt, no pants!  Parents of the year you are thinking?!  Yup!
So, Christmas was the best this year, due to the excitement of both of our children.  Kedzie was most excited about the fact that Santa did in fact eat all the cookies and drink all of the milk left for him.  What a wonderful thing to be excited about it.  She was also thrilled with her Sleeping Beauty's and her horses the he brought her.  

Ethan could not have been more excited about receiving a full sized basketball and soccer ball.  Wow that kid loves balls.  It was so fun to see their reactions on Christmas morning.  Travis and I were up at 5:30am just waiting for them...they woke at 7am!  What's the deal?!  It's Christmas.  
We had the opportunity to have my mom here for Christmas this year.  She and the kids were in Heaven.  It was a lot of fun.  Constant attention provided to the kids.  They missed that after she went home.  She brought a lot of joy to our Christmas Holiday.  
As a side note, Kedzie and her friends Reagan and Lindie had their "tap" dance recital the weekend before Christmas.  They were fantastic!  Big smiles, no tears and constant dancing whether it was the routine or not.  Moms were proud!  It was a great show...all three minutes of their portion!  

Wishing everyone a happy and joyous New Year!  We have a lot to remember from this year and a lot to look forward too in 2009.  May it be wonderful for all.  

Introducing...

Another bouncing baby boy due in May!  

What shock we were in this morning to find out that we are having another boy! Kedzie had us so convinced that we were having a girl, that we are still adjusting!  However, we are thrilled by the news and actually think it's quite perfect.  Ethan has very few little boys his age, and is in need of a little buddy, so bring on another boy!  

The ultrasound went well, every thing looks good and we're still due in early May.  Only 20 weeks to go.  It's been long and hard getting through the first 20...shoot, we have 20 left!  Oh well, it's inevitable.  

We look forward to a continuation of broken teeth, medication inhalation attempts, bags of flour spilled on the floor, presents opened way before Christmas...the list can go on and on.  Bring on the boy!  Travis and I have got to learn to play sports!

The Caribbean Cruise

We're back and so grateful to be home in the -degree temperatures!  We were rather sick of the 70-80 degree temps we experienced down south.  (sarcasm)!  

What a nice trip we had.  We visited Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, Cozumel, Mexico and Key West Florida.  It was all beautiful.  Again, we're grateful to Grandma Mary for taking us on such an adventure. Merry Christmas to us!  

Ethan's favorite part was his daily basketball practice.  It didn't matter where this kid was on the ship, he could find his way to the court and was sad until he did!  Where did this kid come from?!

Travis and my favorite was Tabyana Beach in Honduras.  Peaceful, warm, beautiful and fun.  We swam, Ethan ate sand, Kedzie saw all sorts of fish and Travis snorkeled.  It was paradise.  
My mom and Karen, her dear friend, accompanied us on the cruise.  My mom's favorite part was not being on oxygen and being with her grandkids.  Karen's favorite part was Honduras as well as holding millions of dollars of sunken treasure in a pirate museum in Key West.  They were great help with the kids.  We're glad we could be together on such an adventure.  

My kids have a brave streak.  They both held these huge cobras around their necks and legs.  In addition, they had a spider monkey crawl all over them.  What a fun memory and experience for them.  I touched the snake, but didn't let it touch me!  This yellow one wound itself up on Kedzie's leg and she loved every moment.  

As you can tell by Ethan's face he wasn't quite sure he was loving these animals all over him, but he managed them just fine.  What a kid!  

Here are my fish, swimming in the Caribbean.  We had a great time.  And, we are now eager to continue our Christmas holiday celebrations!  Happy holidays everyone.  

A Utah Thanksgiving

We had a great time visiting Grandma Mary, Grandma Kathy, Grandma Wood, Panka Joe and Uncle Reggie along with the Miller's over Thanksgiving.  We were grateful we could be with family.  And, just so you are aware, there were only 40 people on our 6:30am flight on Thanksgiving, so we had rows and rows to ourselves!  What a way to travel.  

We are grateful for friends and family all year around, but especially this time of year when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior.  We are truly blessed.  Again, Happy Holidays!  

Kedzie, Ethan, Miranda and Morgan at Temple Square where we saw the Christmas Lights.  

Grandma Mary had a motorcycle for Ethan and a pink jeep for Kedzie to ride around her driveway.  Boy did they have fun.  Kedzie cried when her car couldn't come home with us in the car or the airplane.  Space...it's an issue you know!  

Grandma Kathy provided us with an amazing Turkey Dinner with every side dish imaginable.  Thank you!  She also found a horse for the kids to ride.  What a fun Thanksgiving vacation we had.  

"Makin' a list..."

It's almost Christmas right?!  Okay, so it's still November, but our family is ready for the Christmas holiday season.  We're ready for the Turkey and stuffing too, don't get us wrong.  

Here's the thing: we leave for Utah for Thanksgiving in Cache Valley at 6:30AM on Thursday morning.  Hoping for good weather.  Then, we get back on the 2nd.  Only to turn around...if you get jealous, don't read the next sentence, cuz I can't take it...and leave for a Western Carribbean Cruise on the 7th for a week.  So, Christmas just HAD to go up this weekend.  And, we are darn excited about it. 

In addition to the tree and all the nativity's and crazy nick-nacks (is that with an n or a k?) we had to go see Santa.  Kedzie would NOT stop talking about it for three days. Intially she just wanted to go to the mall to see the dogs and kitties, but then when she found out Santa was already there...!  Enough Said. Kedzie was in love with Santa while Ethan gave the guy a high five, that's all he could muster this year.  Kedzie asked for a Pink Sleeping Beauty Horse and Sleeping Beauty and Ethan asked for a "Ba(ll)."  We shall see if they could ever get so lucky. 

So, here's to you, our friends and family...Happy Holidays!  Beginning with Thanksgiving of course, followed by a magical Christmas and an exceedingly happy New Year!  

See the snow?!

This is a picture of my children at 7:15 AM...this morning!  Kedzie could hardly contain herself for that long...after all, it finally snowed!  That means today is Christmas right?!  At least she doesn't remember that last week she decided when it snowed, we get to put the Christmas tree up.  Hopefully we can wait another week or so.  Anyway, all bundled up with a skiff of snow to play with.  My kids could not have been happier in the moment.  It was great.  They were a little confused as to why I didn't want to join them?!  Anyway, happy start to winter.  Bring on the snow.  

Happy Halloween!

We hope ya'll had a happy and profitable halloween.  Love, Kedzie aka Sleeping Beauty and Ethan our "good?" little monkey!  

We love Halloween!

We painted and carved pumpkins on Sunday evening with the Holland and Vehar families.  Such a fun and entertaining activity.  Paint and seeds just a flyin'.  We had a great time.  

As you can see, Ethan won the prize for most creative pumpkin painting!  He had it in his hair as well...thanks Dana!  He was thrilled with the opportunity he found himself in; to paint his body as well as his pumkin!  He did a great job.  

And Kedzie, well she had to paint one pumpkin and carve another!  She was a busy girl.  Rather, mom did the gutting and dad the carving.  Awesome.  Both kids are so proud of our pumpkins out on the front step.  They check on them a number of times a day to make sure all is well.  I love this Halloween Season.  The craziest holiday if you think about it.  But, we just love the candy, the pumpkins and the dressing up.  What could be better?!  

We love the pumpkin patch!

The Pumpkin Patch this year was awesome!  Miles and miles of HUGE pumpkins.  "Which ones will we pick?" 

Kedzie was adamant about finding "Cinderella's carriage."  Which we found.  Everyone left the pumpkin patch happy.  Now the painting/carving begins (in a few weeks!)

The gift of life

It's been an interesting week for me.  I've come to truly appreciate the gift of life on a higher level.  

I don't have a lot to say in words, but my heart is full of gratitude for life as a whole.  Whether the day has been difficult or perfect.  Whether I become sick or feel well.  Whether my kids are acting in sane or angelic.  I am grateful for life.

This week my close friend Tosha had a new baby girl on the same day that another close friend Heather (33yrs) began her first chemo-therapy treatment after being diagnosed the week earlier with breast cancer.  (She has three beautiful children, one is only ten weeks old).  Then there are my children with the one on the way.  And my husband and family and friends.  How grateful that I am that we are all alive at this time of life.  That we get to experience the ups and downs of our existence.  That we get to beat the odds and start over the next day.  

I'm simply grateful for my life and for the lives of those who have impacted and/or are a part of my life.  I'm truly blessed and really, aren't we all?!  

It's a...a...a...

According to my sweet Kedzie, it's a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes just like her!  "She is so cute and darling." 

We proudly introduce our newest family member Dah...dah...dah!  Cute and darling?!  

Although the baby (who looks like an alien) is only nine weeks old, Kedzie has announced that she will be born in three weeks!  It is sooo much fun to have a child that is interested and excited about a new arrival. Also she burst into tears the day we told her that it just might be a boy! Wow!

So, we are expecting a spring baby...May 11, 2009 is the due date and we are so excited and happy.  I've been more nauseated this round, but I'm doing just fine.  If I can just continue being a good mom, that's all that really counts.  So...here's to the next seven months of crazy hormones, fatigue and growing belly.  Bring it on!  

New England Cruise

New York City is now a favorite of Kedzie's as well as Travis's and mine.  We started our trip with two days in the city where we stayed at the Grand Marquis in Times Square.  Wow!  
Travis was kind enough to push my mom around in her wheelchair so she could see the city as well.  The kids had a ball in the over sized Toys R Us store where we rode the indoor carousel and picked out a toy each.  
A highlight for everyone was visiting the Central Park Zoo.  My kids are animal lovers and can't get enough of animals no matter where they are.  I'll admit, this was a unique visit to NYC...a kid focused visit...and it was great.  
We even went on a carriage ride through Central Park, led by Duke, who then attended the cruise with us.  Everywhere we went on the cruise, Duke was leading Kedzie along!  Travis and I did have three hours of free time!  We ran to the subway, cuz you've gotta do that, found the Apple store, walked through Central Park, did some shopping at H&M, saw the Manhatten Temple and ate hotdogs and pizza.  We can't wait to go back some day.  

So, we hit the following ports on our cruise.  First was Halifax, Nova Scotia. We saw this beautiful light house as well as the Europeon influences all over the place.  We got to ride on a double decker bus as well.  It was beautiful.  We also touched and met our first of many lobsters in Halifax.  Next we hit St. John's which was a small town with lots of old buildings.  Not a lot to see.  Travis and I ended up putting the kids down for naps and went and got massages!  

  
Next was  Bar Harbor Maine and Acadia National Park.  BEAUTIFUL!  The leaves were turning deep colors of red and orange and there is a forest next to the Ocean!  Wow!  Kedzie, dressed as a pig, was the assistant lobster lady at an oceanarium.  She was able to help put the elastics on the lobster claws and didn't even get pinched!  She loved it.  Bar Harbor was a quaint, wonderful town.  We were able to get Lobster Rolls for lunch.  Yummy.  

After Maine, (why is the font now blue?) we went to Boston, Mass.  It was pouring rain, so we weren't able to do the things that we'd planned, but we still had a wonderful day.  We rented a car and drove to Salem.  On the way, we saw MIT and Harvard.  Both educational options for Ethan!  We also saw crazy drivers and big buildings, rivers, beautiful bridges and Fenway Park.  On our way to Salem, we stopped at the Boston, Mass Temple.  Took a picture and continued on to see witches! Where, per previous post, we never made it to see any witches, other than ourselves.  Couldn't have been a better day.  Although, I guess we'll have to go back to enjoy Boston with out rain someday!  

 This is my picture of Rhode Island.  It poured!  While everyone else toured the Mansions of Newport, I watched Ethan have the time of his life playing in puddles and with pebbles.  He was soaked head to toe.  He had a great day.  I just laughed a lot watching the kid and filtering peoples comments, positive and negative, about his play!  What a day.  

After Rhode Island, we headed back to NYC and back on a plane to Colorado.  The cruise was such a great way to experience the New England area.  It truly is a beautiful place.  

Our kids slept soundly each night as the boat rocked and I think enjoyed all being together in such close quarters!  Also, can you see "Super Kedzie's" face mask? ...
Each night, Kedzie would go to kids club for a few hours and she LOVED it!  She loved having her face painted, loved playing with other kids, painting, drawing, the kid toilets...loved it all.  They had a pajama party the last night and one night all the kids went to one of the shows the ship puts on.  She couldn't stop talking about it.  We only wished they could have taken Ethan.  He's not quite two, so we had to find other things to do with him.  

One of those things was shuffle board.  He got pretty good.  We don't know where his athleticism comes from...any ideas?!  Anyway, the kids enjoyed the cruise, just as much as we did.  
Thanks Grandma Mary for the memories.  We love you and we're grateful for your generosity and your talent of spending our inheritance money!  We wouldn't want it any other way.  We love you!  

Happy Halloween from the Salem Witches and Warlocks

Happy Halloween!

So, while in Salem Massachusetts instead of braving the rain and visiting the Witch Museum, we decided to becomes Witches and Warlocks ourselves.  What a fun hour we had getting all dressed up.  Much better than a museum.  (More trip pictures to come).  

Just a quick update

Ethan as a squirrel at the Children's Museum

Kedzie as a bird at the museum 

Ethan eating?  I'm not really sure what he's doing.  He's a boy!  

Kedzie posing at the Zoo.  Wow!  

So, just to update for the sake of updating...nothing better to do?!  I don't even have much to report, other than all is well and we are heading on our North-Easterly Cruise on Friday.  Here we come NYC!  I won't mention that our hotel is in Times Square.  Nope, won't mention it.  

We have two days in NYC and then head North through Boston, Maine, Halifax, St. John's and back to Rhode Island.  I'm excited to see all the fall trees in the North and to simply be on vacation, although kids will be present.  My mom will be present too, so we have a built in babysitter at any time of day.  Couldn't be better.  

Ethan is still very, very busy being a total boy and Kedzie has just found Strawberry Shortcake and I'm Blueberry, in case you were wondering.  Things are great.  See you at the end of the month.