Mary Did You Know?....

At this time of the year, I tend to reflect a lot on Mary the Mother of Christ. I love her story, I love her strength and I love the example that she set for all of us mothers. She has always seemed so humble and tender. I can't imagine the maturity it would take to be in her position. Did she have any idea how her gift to the world would literally change the entire world? As she carried her baby through the pregnancy and then cradled her tiny infant in her arms, did she really know that he would one day walk on water or give sight to a blind man? I'm sure that at that moment, as all of us mothers do, she cradled him and reveled in the moment. I'm speculating of course, but she knew what it meant to be a mother and what it felt like to hold a precious gift from heaven. The worth of that gift, however, was immeasurable.

My mom had a picture hanging in our house for as long as I remember. It was a picture of Mary standing in the manger, holding the baby Jesus. It was a little more historically accurate as the manger was more of a cave. She stood there, gazing out the entrance to the cave while a soft yet powerful beam of light shone in on her. Her gaze, if I can remember correctly, was directed up more than it was out. I'm sure that everyone could interpret that differently, but to me, it looked as if she was pleading to the Lord to give her the strength to be the mother that she needed to be. I can say that those thoughts have coursed through my head on many occasions. That painting gave Mary a realness to me. I felt like I could relate to her in some small way. I tried to find that picture on the internet, but I wasn't able to. I did however find an (almost) equally touching and relatable picture.

I love as her eyes are closed in joy as she kisses the forehead of her precious child. It moves me to think of what his birth meant to the world and what it means to me personally. At this time of year, I hope that we all have the chance to reflect upon what this season really means. I know that we have a Savior who came to this Earth to save us all. I also hope that we will not only remember Him at this time of year but, more importantly, that we remember it always.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

Born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be glory given!

Word of the Father,

Now in flesh appearing!

Oh, come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

-O Come All Ye Faithful-

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

My sweet grandma called me right before Thanksgiving and asked me if I wanted the girls to have Christmas dresses this. The answer was of course, yes, but we had been going back and forth as to whether or not we could afford one more thing to add to the growing list of holiday expenses. She had bought the girls matching dresses, but they weren't exactly conducive to being used beyond Christmas time. They were really cute, but not exactly right for the rest of the winter season. So she went on a hunt and found a few other dresses and let me choose which ones I liked the best. She got some great ones and I ended up picking the dress that was Hunter green velvet on top with a crushed taffeta skirt. Super Cute! I was so excited. We got the package in the mail and with permission from Granny, we opened the dresses a little before Christmas (Last Saturday) so they could try them on and then wear them to church on Sunday. We tried them on Saturday morning and they didn't fit. I couldn't understand it. It wouldn't even button around Siobhan's torso. The sizes were technically right according to their age and weight and height, but they were just too small. So by process of elimination, I figured out where they came from and we set out for Park Meadows Mall to exchange the dresses. Alas, we could only find one in Audrey's size. So we went with plan B and exchanged them for completely different dresses. I'm very happy with what we picked and I'm especially grateful to Grandma for buying the dresses in the first place and then being so understanding when the dresses ended up not working. I'm very happy with what we got and the girls looked adorable. As you can see from the pics, Audrey was in no mood for a photo shoot. Oh well. She was a trooper though sleeping in the curlers. Siobhan's used to it by now, but it's still new to Audrey.

Siobhan in front of the Christmas tree. She has the most beautiful smile when she's just running around being her normal self, but when I need her to smile pretty for the camera, she gets all goofy and looks like she's had a hanger surgically implanted into her face. This is our best attempt at a serene sweet smile.

Poor Audrey hated every minute of the photo shoot. She really looked cute though!

A few outtakes which aren't horrible but you can really see how goofy my girls can be sometimes.

Here's two of Siobhan that made the cut after further examination. Both girls got pretty white 'princess' coats to wear which completed their ensembles. They looked beautiful!

He Sees You When You're Sleeping, He Knows When You're Awake...He Knows How to Make Small Kids Cry

We weren't able to go to our ward's Christmas Party because of things that came up at work for Carson. So in liu of not being to see the ward Santa, we took the girls to see Santa at the mall. Siobhan made sure to ask Santa for a Reindeer and a Kitchen (both small requests and I'm sure Santa will be able to come up with 50% of that order) and Audrey hated it. It's the age, to be expected of course!

Waiting in line (really wasn't very long) and dinner at Chick-fil-A afterwards in the food court.

Okay, they're pretty much the same picture, but can you see the terror in Audrey's eyes? At least her cowgirl boots are cute! They didn't make us buy their over priced picture packages and said that we could take a few of our own.

It Turns Out I Can't Fly a Plane * Edited To Include a Picture*

There's kind of an unspoken rule in the dance world that goes something like this: If a director asks you if you know how to do something, you always say yes. If you don't know how to do those 8 counts of Fouette Turns or that Switch leap, you figure out how to do it before your next rehearsal. It could mean the difference between getting a certain role or certain placement in the company or just being in the good graces of the director or choreographer. Its completely prideful and you inevitably run the risk of making yourself look like a fool if you can't figure out how to do the Fouette turns. But I've gotten a lot of good teaching jobs by saying, 'yes, I can of course teach hip hop.' It's just something that us dancers do. Unfortunately, at least in my case, that mindset tends to spill over into real life.

And as it turns out, I cannot cut my husbands hair.

We bought a set of clippers in hopes that we could save a little bit of time and money by having me cut his hair at home. I know a ton of wives who do it and my mom actually did it for a long time as well. Although, I'm inclined to think that those other husbands have normal hair that grows in normal patterns and I don't think that it would have been to hard to screw up my dad's hair. Carson has really thick hair (although it's receding in front, don't tell him that though), it's really coarse (like, Asian coarse, seriously) and grows in the weirdest pattern. Some of the hair is even able to defy gravity and grow straight up off the back of his neck. Even professionals have a hard time cutting his hair and he repeatedly comes home from Super Cuts (We're big spenders when it comes to hair styling) with a totally botched hair cut. Maybe that's why I thought I could do it better. But alas, my wonderful husband sat through the butcher job that eventually became a military buzz cut as it was the only way to fix the growing problems that I was creating with the follicles. I actually like it because think it makes him look younger, he doesn't like it because it emphasizes the size of his noggin. Not to be rude, but it's kind of 'like an orange on a toothpick.' He's very self conscious about it, and I'm probably not helping the situation. So when I get home from teaching tonight, I will take a picture and post it. Luckily he's very understanding and won't hold it against me.

He might get upset that I put such a large picture up on the blog of just his face, but you can actually really see just how short it is. Oops.

P.S. Maybe Meredith will actually find this post useful....now that it has a picture.

Indecision...I'm Reaching Out

This is a post for all moms who currently or will soon begin to follow/stalk my blog on a regular basis. It's also for anyone who will choose to read it and then comment. I need some help with this one. It's not a huge problem. Maybe not even a problem, but something that is 'more of a general wondering...ment.' (For all of you Friends fans out there, quick what episode is that from?)
Anyway, today we had Siobhan's 3 year old well check and they did her first eye exam. It was really cute. She had to stand on this piece of tape and was very concerned about being right on the tape the whole time. And instead of saying letters, she had to tell them what the pictures were that were arranged just like a an eye exam chart. She had fun getting to cover her eye, but she couldn't always remember to do that. Anyway, the results of the exam were slightly disappointing. Her eyesight is 20/50 in each eye and 20/40 for both eyes together. They gave me the number for a pediatric opthamologist and told me that I could call if I wanted because it's not where they would like but they didn't say that HAVE to call. I hate it when these decisions are up to me.
So the big question that I pose to all of you in blog world is this...what would you do?

A Quarter of a Century Down

Sadly another post with no pictures. Can you tell that I'm getting tired by the way? If you want to see cute pictures, scroll through this post and the next and you'll get a treat with two picture including posts. If you skip this one and the next, I won't be offended.
So Saturday was my 25th birthday. I woke up that morning and I told Carson that I wasn't going to turn 25. I would be turning 23. He told me that was unacceptable because 23 was a hard year. So I decided to turn 24. He reminded me that there was no point in only going back one year. I saw his point so I reluctantly accepted his invitation to join the mid-twenty clan. Ugh.
At midnight on Friday morning /Thursday night I woke up barfing. Not barking, barfing. I had the same bug that Siobhan and Audrey had earlier in the week. It was awesome? As a result I started having pretty regular and strong contractions and that scared me. So while I was planning on rescheduling my already scheduled doctor's appointment, I decided that I would ask them what they wanted me to do. They actually wanted me to come in as soon as I could and not wait until my appointed time. So I went and they checked me and I was fine and the baby was fine. They figured that it was a combination of dehydration and using my muscles more than usual. So what does this have to do with my birthday on Saturday? It's the reason that we kept it mellow. I decided that I shouldn't dance on Saturday and rehearsal ended up getting cancelled anyway. So Carson let me sleep in and then made me rolled up pancakes. We did some straightening and then put up our Christmas tree. That made me very happy. Then Carson took me to see Twilight. I might be obsessed with that movie. Carson really liked it and actually told me on Sunday that he's mad at me because he actually might want to see it again. After the movie, we got the kids from the babysitter and then got Red Robin to go. It was a very nice birthday and Carson took great care of me. My birthday present/Christmas present was a new iPod. It's so cool and its yellow! I think that if you shake it, it shuffles for you-but I haven't gotten that far yet. And by the way, if you knew that it was my birthday and didn't call, you're forgiven, but it's not necessarily forgotten. I'm watching you.

Giving Thanks

This year we decided that we would treck over to S to the L C for Thanksgiving. We left the day before and the drive could not have been better. Anyone who has ever driven through Wyoming for an extended length will know that regardless of the time of year, you are bound to hit snow, wind, rain, and road closures.....sometimes all at the same time, most times all at the same time. I think that we drove on the one day on record where none of those things happened. Yippee! Really, we've driven through there in the summer and have had worse weather. So that made it all very pleasant.
The meal plan was going to be prime rib instead of turkey and really none of the traditional Thanksgiving fixins'. I was a little sad, but whose going to shake a stick at prime rib? Well, it was decided while we were en route that a turkey would still make an appearance on the Thanksgiving table in the form of a deep fried turkey. Cason took care of that and it was, how you say?, AMAZING! Hands down, best non-traditional turkey I've ever had! I haven't had a lot of 'non-traditional' turkey in my life, but if I had, I would bet that this one was better than the other hypotheticals. I made some delicious Rosemary bread that was a big hit and awesome creamed corn.
Friday Carson and I did some black Friday shopping and only came home with one thing that we actually set out looking for. Disappointing. Time wasted. Oh Well. But that afternoon, Sheena, Allison and I went to see Twilight. Of, course, that made my day. But what made it even better was later on while I was taking a nap, Sheena and Allison tackled Carson and forced him into vampire make-up. Don't ask me how they won the fight, but when I woke up, he was pale with bright lips and sparkles. Oh the things that my husband goes through to make me happy.
Saturday was Carson's birthday. Yea! The big 2-9! We spent some time with old friends and then made a pilgrimage to Ikea-we could have spent thousands-where we were able to get all the bedding for Will and Audrey as well as some various sundry items. Great fun! Later we went to dinner at the Garden Room in the JSM building. Delicious food as usual. We got some great birthday presents (we celebrated for me also) including some new pants for Carson and awesome Wii games and then the Twilight soundtrack for me (awesome!) and a huge, awesome pressure canner. I'm so excited!
Sunday morning, when we were planning on leaving, we were woken up to the sound of barfing. Not barking, barfing (you would think that I wouldn't have to qualify that, but I wouldn't put it past Siobhan to wake us up in the form of barking-strange kid). Siobhan had some sort of bug and couldn't keep anything down. Sad. We also heard that there was bad weather so we were debating whether or not to even leave, and after much prayer and internet searches, we decided to chance it and hardly had any problems. Siobhan did throw up a few more times in the car, but soon had it out of her system and we made it home quicker than we anticipated and hardley hit any bad weather. We were definitely being watched over. We had a great time and I didn't take any pictures. Sorry. Just Give Thanks to the fact that we made it to and from in safety and had a great time. Use your imagination to fill in the rest. :)

Snow Angels and Men Made out of Snow

On November 14th, it finally snowed! We were so excited. Oh and by 'snowed', I mean that it was actually measurable. We've had light dustings, but nothing to speak of. While Audrey was napping, Siobhan and I put on our hats and gloves and actually played in the snow. It's the first time that we've really played in the snow. Last year, everytime it snowed, it was just too dang cold to go out and the year before, well, lets just sayt that the five foot snow banks terrified her. She was the perfect size this year and the temperature was awesome! We made snow angels, which Siobhan thinks is hilarious, and made a snowman and a snowman mommy. Named Shark and Pink Shark respectively. Don't ask me about the choice of names. All I know is that anything in our house that needs a name these days, it either ends up being Shark or Tinker Bell. Anyway, we had great fun!

All bundled up. It wasn't very cold by the time we got out there, so the light jacket was perfect.
Siobhan enjoying the snow. It was so fun to watch her fun around and jump and roll. Sometimes I just can't get over how cute she is.

The birth of Shark. Having grown up in Never Snowsville, USA (Portland, Oregon), I realize that I am at a serious disadvantage when it comes to building a charming Frostie. For instance, I learned the hard way that when you are making the snowballs, you have to roll them in a concentrated area, not all the way accress the lawn. Also, we did a carrot for the nose, but it looked slightly (and by slightly, I mean very) inappropriate so I tried to take the picture just so. Sorry if it's offensive in anyway. Unfortunately, the battery died before I could get a picture of Pink Shark, the mommy snowman. By the time I got around to changing the battery and going to take the pic, she had tragically succumbed to the sunshine and was no longer. It was brutal, but quick.

Anyone Can Cook

This is going to be a quick post because I have a lot of posts to do and I don't want to bore everyone with like 8 marathon posts. Bare Essentials is what you're getting. Need to know stuff. And some pictures.

For Siobhan's third birthday party, we decided to go with a theme of Ratatouille. Most 3 year olds would probably want fairies or princesses or something, which is awesome. But I'd been planning this party for like a year in my brain, so we did it. And it was AWESOME! My awesome sisters made adorable aprons for all of our Little Chefs and they all got to make their own pizzas. The kids played a bunch, we opened presents (Siobhan got some awesome stuff by the way) and had some delicious cake. I went against my grain and, gasp, got a store bought cake. It was a little spendier than I would normally do, but totally worth it as I wasn't stressing the whole day about making and decorating a cake that wouldn't turn out nearly as good as the picture in my head. So mad props to Wal Mart for an awsome and delicious Ratatouille cake. For party favors all of the kids got cute wooden spoons and got to keep their aprons. In keeping with the theme of the movie, the invites were in French as well as the tags on the party favors and everything was done in red, white and black and white gingham. We put the movie on to set the mood and everyone relaxed and had a good time. Hands down, best kid party I've ever thrown!

The Little Chefs making their pizzas. Of course Siobhan was snacking on the toppings!

Siobhan opening presents. She got some great stuff. She has awesome friends!

The cake. I don't have any pics of her blowing our her candles because our battery died and the other wasn't charged. That's also why we don't have a ton of pictures in the first place.