Fun around the house--cause it is too cold outside!

Daddy and Gabriella dancing on the table. You should see her tiny feet move! Love the sunglasses baby girl!

Another chocolate lover in the family! Aunt Nanna sent us each a little box of See's candy for Valentine's day. I thought I would get to eat her chocolates too, but she found them and enjoyed them all at once. Little stinker, I have many chocolate finger smudges all over the house to remind me how much she likes chocolate!
Snow, snow, go away! Just when we began to have little patches of grass poking through the snow, it dumped on us again. Another 2 feet over the weekend! It is getting really, really old. We didn't get a chance to take down the trampoline this fall and tried to get Mariah to bounce it off, it didn't go so well. Hope it has some spring left in it after the great thaw!

"This is too much fun for Joshua!"

Those were Joshua's words as he played in "magic goo" yesterday. I guess in his little mind if something can be that fun and messy he probably shouldn't be doing it! Joshua has been really stir crazy the past few days (winter will never end) and I found this recipe for magic goo on familyfun.com. It is really cool. When you press it into a ball it goes hard, but when you release pressure it turns into a liquid. It was messy, but wiped up easily! Here is the recipe:

1 cup corn starch
3/4 cup warm water
Add water a little at a time and stir as you go. Add more water if it is too hard and more cornstarch if you can't make it press into a ball. It takes a little mushing to figure out what it feels like.

Have fun, but in Joshy's words--not too much fun!

Ever since we went to Utah Joshua has been asking me to make him some capes. Aunt Katie's kids had one and he loved it. Well, we finally got around to it and he has hardly taken it off since. You can't tell in the piture, but he has about 8 things tucked into his belt. They are his weapons. There are pencils, kabob sticks, a pez dispenser, and a I think the pen his Grandpa made him. I don't know what kind of villian will be scared away by this collection of weapons, but you can tell he is very serious about his toughness by the look on his face. I love this kid!
This season is our first attempt at soccer. Joshua has been begging to play for awhile now. He was excited about it the first day until he realized that some of the other teams had blue uniforms. Now he is grumpy about going because he thinks his uniform is ugly. Should I be concerned about his fashion desires? It's pathetic to hear him whine in front of all the other players that his shirt is not cool. He is trying to learn the rules of soccer, but tells me it is much easier to stop the ball with his hands than with his feet. I understand Josh, it makes more sense to me too:)

Pictures from Utah

I love this picture of Gabriella. I kept telling her to smile and she kept doing this serious face. The fact that I am posting this picture goes against all I believe in. I DO NOT think that kids and guns are a good combination. Anyway, Kris and his Dad set up a target practice (Crazy!!!) in the living room and Bree was a natural. Kris was very proud!
This is Jamie and her 2 sisters (Katie and Christy). It is so fun to be together with them.
Sweet Samantha on her baptism day! She looked so precious all in white. You could tell she was very excited to be baptized. They grow up too fast...

Samantha's Baptism and a Quick Trip to Utah

I have not updated our blog in quite a few weeks and there is so much I want to post. Unfortunately, I am having difficulty getting the pictures to upload so I will just have to add them later.

We took a very quick trip to Utah at the end of January to have Samantha be baptized with her cousin Sydney. It was so fun to have our family there to celebrate this special occasion with her. We are so lucky to have such supportive families! We spent a few days with each side of our families and could not have had a better time. It really made me homesick. I loved watching all the cousins play and I loved being with my sisters and sister in laws. Kris was able to come with us this time. It is amazing what difference an extra set of hands makes on such a long airplane ride:)

There were many fun moments on the trip, but one that I will not forget for a long time is celebrating Samantha's birthday with all my family. We went to my Grandma's house and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there. It was so fun to see Samantha celebrate her birthday with the same crazy bunch that I celebrated with all growing up. I don't know when it started but somewhere along the way we all realized what a pathetic group of singers we were, so instead of trying to sing "Happy Birthday" to the special person we try to sing it horribly. I don't know if it makes us feel better to know that we are not trying to do it well, and so we don't feel like failures when it comes out the way or what. Whatever the reason it is quite the sound to behold. Now, you have to remember that the last time Sam had it sung to her by this group of people she was 1. You can imagine her surprise, (shock) when a group of about 25 people begin yelling (I have to admit it was one of the best performances I have ever heard)the Happy Birthday song at her. The poor girl looked at me as if to say,"who are these people, and why are they doing this to me?!?" That is the joy of extended family, they just grow on you over the years and they do not seem that strange, but you look on as a newcomer and wonder what planet you have been thrust into:) I love my family and I am so grateful that they make the effort to visit with us when we come to Utah. I am sure you made an impression on poor Samantha that is not going to be forgotten. She loved it!

It was also a great treat to visit the Draper Temple open house. My in-laws live within 1/2 a mile of the temple and we have watched the process step by step through my father-in-laws blog (see Dad's blog to the right). He was the stake historian for the project and got to know the builders and contractors very well. He has some great shots and it was fun to see the process through his eyes. The building is beautiful and it was fun to share it with my kids.

As always, we appreciate our families willingness to drop their busy lives and entertain us when we come to town. We wish it was more often. Come visit on the east coast anytime, we would love to show off our snow!