The Christmas Card Picture

We find getting the perfect Christmas card picture to be nearly impossible. If only it were as simple as just taking a picture.

Couldn't find the coordinating outfits to have it done in Utah at Thanksgiving, then the boys all desperately needed haircuts, then mom and dad needed haircuts...and the list goes on. So it's Christmas Eve and we still haven't taken a picture for those Christmas cards that still aren't quite finished. Good thing they are more "wintery" than "Christmasey". So by default it is going to be a picture of the kids, which is against the rules because it's JUST the kids, but we are getting desperate here!

I put the blanket out and Paige is running over to be photographed, but the boys won't come.








Then we finally get the boys to come over...and what handsome young men they are too, I might add.








But when we tried to mix the boys and the girl, she would have nothing to do with it.









So there you have it. The story behind the Christmas, I mean Happy New Year card photo.

Good Help is Hard to Find...We Got Lucky

Thanks to Paige, our kitchen floor is sparkling clean tonight. Now we are ready to host the first part of the R.S. Progressive Dinner on Tuesday.

What is it about Friday?

Friday. The end of the school week. The end of the work week. The beginning of the weekend. Something inside of me always feels like somehow Friday night should be different from the previous four other nights. For me it's similar to what would be described as spring fever, but in this case we'll call it "weekend fever". It's an urge to just leave all responsibility behind and just be spontaneous. Problem is that just isn't realistic when you have a small brood to care for, a husband who of course works a full day on Fridays and a budget. So get a babysitter and go out you say. Despite its obvious lack of spontaneity, I often do go through the process of hiring a babysitter because I know the trauma of it all will be worth the few hours away from the house with my hubby. (I use the word trauma because if anybody knows me really well they know how much I "love" to call people on the phone--yes, even 13 and 14 year old girls. Ask me to call and order a pizza in my younger years? I would rather go hungry. I vividly remember sitting in the kitchen with one of my guy friends the summer after high school graduation, my dad's credit card in hand and begging him to call and place a catalog order for me because I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It literally terrified me.)



So back to Fridays. I usually spend the first 2/3rds of the day with some excited anticipation running through my blood. Then the end of the week exhaustion hits late afternoon and all of my hopeful ideas begin to fizzle. Even though I've vowed that I'm actually going to make dinner like I have all of the other nights or at least make the pizza myself, more often than not by dinner time it just becomes a question of which kind of pizza. Costco? Papa Murphy's? Rivercity?



I think there will always be a part of me that gets that "weekend fever" on Fridays. So thanks to my family that puts up with me, especially on Friday evenings. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with you!

Party Animal

Sunday evening we had our good friends, the Merrills, over for dinner. They have three boys that closely line up in age with our three boys and they are all best of friends. This picture was taken a couple of months ago when they were all over and decided to do crazy hair.



So anyway, the boys are all running around and having a very reverent sabbath evening when I realize I haven't seen Caleb for a while. After some brief investigation, I find some of the boys down in the play room/guest room with about every single toy we own strewn across the floor. They are jumping off the cedar chest and climbing on the bed and in the midst of all this chaos is Caleb, fast asleep on the bed with his blanket.


Ahh, to be a kid again and be able to sleep through anything, anytime, anywhere.

There's a First Time for Everything

In honor of our first blog, we thought we would include a few of our "firsts" from the past year (in no particular order of course).

Our family trip to the Oregon Coast.

8.31-9.3.2007

Cameron's baptism

4.15.2007

Cade and Caleb's 1st pie eating contest

7.28.2007

Paige's 1st Birthday!

8.11.2007

Kara's 1/2 Marathon (2:12:?)

(I've never claimed to be fast at the distances,

but at least I get out there and do it.)

The Colbert Autumn Classic
10.6.2007

Taking home the Green Jacket for the 1st time.

(I should clarify that this was not the first time Blake has brought home the croquet championship, just the first time he has won since the jacket was introduced.)

Way to make us proud, Blake!

7.2007

Silverwood Theme Park

Cameron and Cade earned free tickets through

a reading program at school.
8.15.2007

The 1st day of school

9.6.2007

(These weren't really taken on the actual 1st day, but don't tell anyone.)

Consider this the short list, as we truly have experienced more firsts than these this past year. These are, however, the ones for which we have pictures.