Our Newest Sunbeam

Logan is officially a Sunbeam at Church. Logan walked right into Primary with Kaya and sat down with his class next to his best friend Gavin. That was it. Just like that. I don't even think he said "Bye!". He had a good time and is looking forward to going back. Logan even let me take his picture before church. He What a cute boy!

Kaya's First Lost Tooth

On Christmas morning, Kaya woke up with her first loose tooth. Tonight while eating dinner, it came out on it's own. She was pretty surprised and excited! I was extremely glad it came out on it's own. Kaya is a little on the dramatic side and I was worried what would happen if we had to pull it out. I was the only one who got teary eyed. This means that my little girl is growing up.

Wrapping Up 2009

We just got back from spending 2 weeks in California. Being "home", spending time with family & friends, and enjoying beautiful weather was heavenly. We had a very nice Christmas with both families and enjoyed some quality time together. (Logan, Kaya, & Great Grandma Serr)

Before heading to CA we took the kids up to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was a VERY cold and enjoyable evening out. The kids loved to see all the lights.The kids were surprised with a personal visit from Santa Claus at our home. We are lucky to have such a great friend. Emily didn't want anywhere near Santa, but by the time he left, she could say, "Ho, Ho, Ho!"For Christmas this year, I made all the grandkids matching pajamas. There are 7 of them with Kaya being the oldest at 5 1/2 years old. It was so cute to see them all dressed up. (Kaya, Logan, Preston, Ettoile, Emily, Damien, & Wyatt)

Christmas morning was pretty crazy with 7 little kids. It was also a lot of FUN! My parents had a total of 15 people in their house for about 3 full days.The one thing we did a lot of while in So Cal was to eat a TON of GOOD Mexican food. I'm sorry Utah, but you just don't know how to do good Mexican food. It was SO yummy. We hit some of our other favorite places to eat and I'm sure we all came home a few pounds heavier.

The kids enjoyed an afternoon at the beach. Emily LOVED the water. She had no fear of the waves or getting wet. The water was pretty chilly but it didn't bother the kids. They laughed and laughed. It was so much fun to see their excitement.

Recognize this house?? Go back about 15 years to the WONDER YEARS. This is the house where the show was filmed from the outside. It's located in Burbank. The Wonder Years is one of Aaron's favorite shows and he was stoked to be able to see the home in person.We had the chance to spend a few days in San Diego. We visited more family, took the kids to the San Diego Zoo and the Model Railroad Train Museum. We also took some time to go visit Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery where my grandparents are interred. My grandma passed away just over a year ago and my papa passed away almost 3 years ago. This was the first time I have been able to visit their final resting place. It was very special for me to be there.On our way back to Utah, we made a detour to visit Aaron's grandma out in Palm Desert, CA. She really enjoyed seeing the kids and they got a kick out of getting to ride in grandma's Ford Mustang Golf Cart. What a treat!!

We drove over 2,600 miles in the 2 weeks we were gone. We still consider California "home" but Utah welcomed us back with a beautiful sunset over Mt. Timpanogos.

Oh Boy, I've Got Joy!!

This year I joined a mother's co-op with Logan called "Joy School". It's kind of like preschool but it's values based learning. We talk about honesty, sharing, the earth, obedience, trust, etc. There are 6 boys in the group with TWO sets of twins. So there are 4 moms total and we teach 2 times a week alternating weeks. Logan has REALLY enjoyed spending time with the 5 other boys and he likes going to Joy School. On the other hand, I'm not real crazy about when it's my time to teach. It takes a special person with LOTS of patience. 6 3-year old boys for 2 1/2 hours can be pretty hectic. They are good for the most part but it can be kind of stressful. You can learn more at: http://valuesparenting.com

Tonight we had our Joy School Christmas party. The boys put on a little re-enactment of the nativity. Then they sang a few Christmas songs. It was cute. Logan was an inn keeper and then one of the three kings. The boys performed their program last week at an assisted living facility for the residents. One of the little boy's big sister played Mary for us. And one of the mom's helped out by being the angel. Here are a few pictures from our evening: Logan telling Joseph & Mary, "No Room" The whole group. The Three Kings. (Luke, Logan, & Mark)

Sledding

Our first significant snowfall provided us with awesome sledding conditions today. This was Emily's first time sledding and she LOVED it. She would sit on the sled at the top of the hill and say, "One, GO!" This year we picked up a couple of smaller single rider sleds which gave Kaya and Logan the opportunity to haul their own sleds up the hill and ride to their hearts content. It was a lot of fun!Emily ready to ride! There's only one way to get up the hill. Emily would laugh out loud the whole way down. Kaya Logan

Fish Kisses

What's Happening??

Here are a few pictures of what's been going on with our family:

Our first snow of the season. Isn't it beautiful? It didn't last long but it was sure a pretty sight. The kids and I (Mostly ME) made homemade applesauce. We borrowed this fantastic contraption from our friends and bottled I don't even know how many jars of homemade sauce. It is SOOOOOO Yummy!! (And Healthy too!) The annual carving of the pumpkins and a fun family photo. Here is a picture of the kids ready to go trick or treating. Logan was pirate, Kaya was a black cat, and Emily was a Viking's Cheerleader. This picture was taken on Kaya's second day of having H1N1 (Swine Flu). The poor girl was totally wiped out for day 1 and started feeling better on day 2. (Halloween). For the next 5 days she would be fine ALL day and then get a fever every night. She couldn't go back to school until the fever was gone. Luckily no one else in the house got sick with what she had. However, Emily did get sick with something else on the day Kaya went back to school. She woke up late one night with a really high fever, rapid heartbeat, and shallow breathing. I ended up taking her into the ER since Kaya had just gotten over the swine flu. It turns out she had some other virus that only lasted for about 2 days. Thank goodness!

Emily is now 15 months old. She doesn't walk...she RUNS. She climbs, sings, talks, picks on Logan, and is such a sweet girl. She's getting in 4 molars right now and boy has she been grumpy. But the sweetness surely outweighs the grumps. She knows more than 2 dozen words and surprises us with new ones every day. On a sad note, Aaron's grandfather passed away on November 12th. It is always difficult to lose a loved one, but we are happy that he has been relieved of his earthly body and the pains associated with it. Grandpa James Stanford will be dearly missed. Here is a picture of Aaron's grandparents on their 60th wedding anniversary. We recently decided we wanted to upgrade our minivan to something bigger with more power for towing. We don't do car payments so we decided to sell both our vehicles in order to get what we wanted. Aaron's truck sold in 24 hours. WOW!! We ended up trading in the minivan to the dealership where we bought our new family ride. It's a 2003 Chevrolet Express 3500 Van. It's a 12 passenger van but we'll take out the very last row for extra storage when camping and on long trips. We got a GREAT deal and best of all...paid CASH. Aaron has a company vehicle which made this possible too. We'll save our money now so that Aaron can buy a 4 wheel drive "beater" vehicle to take exploring and geocaching.