Happy Santa

I think Santa is the only happy one in this pic! It reminds me of this picture from my childhood where my brothers and I are all on Santa's lap and hating his guts.

Tessa's favorite activity

We have to monitor the bathroom at ALL times, or this is what we find! I love how she is so proud of herself!!

Siena's pearly whites

Siena had her first visit to the dentist. She did awesome the whole time! She watched mommy go first, and then got to do it herself. They even took x-rays, and she is cavity-free aka "No Tooth Buggies", Yay!
Her favorite part was getting the flossers in her gift bag (our dentist is awesome and gives every new patient a whole gift bag- totally great!)

Happy Thanksgiving and early Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, with all of my siblings coming to town to celebrate. We had an ugly sweater photo shoot, the guys went shooting, we went rock climbing, ate at India Palace, made some fabulous meals, and had really fun, artistic activities, including making gyosa, fingerpainting, painting crystaline leaves, pumpkin shooting, rock climbing (I made it all the way to the top of this super scary, tricky wall!) and the guys all went snowboarding (and Thad ran into a tree and bruised his ribs, but that's a different story).
Since we only see them about once a year, we decided to celebrate an early Christmas together the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And this year we decided to do a home-made Christmas... so for the last month and a half, I have been going crazy making crafty gifts for the family members. Here is my list of things I have made so far:

• a Baby Sling
• Christmas tree ornaments made from cookie cutters, glitter and acrylic
• Spy bottles for the kids (my girls helped me make them with colored sand)
• Healthy Kettle Corn (popcorn with melted coconut oil, agave and salt) mmmm!
• Dried Apples (worked around the clock to dry enough apples)
• Hoodie Towels for all the kids, with their names embroidered and an iron-on patch
• Framed name letters for each family
• crocheted beards for all the guys and boys (they double as face warmers)
• 4 hoodies from scratch (by far my biggest feat!
• The girls even helped me make our own gift bags by using brown paper bags and potato stamping Christmas Trees, stars and presents on them!

Whew! I am exhausted even thinking about it! More crafts to come for real Christmas with my sister who will be back up to celebrate in December!

Siena's bangs

Siena first cut her hair a couple of weeks ago at my aunt's house in Las Vegas. Then yesterday I was working on a sewing project, and Siena got ahold of the scissors and too a big chunk out of the front, so I had to cut the rest of the front to make bangs. She was very upset by this at first, but seemed to be adjusting pretty quickly. The only problem with Siena having bangs is that she has a huge cowlick in the front of her hair, so the bangs won't ever lie straight. Oh well, right?

Happy Halloween!

This year we decided to do a Peter Pan theme for Halloween. Thad was Peter Pan (of course), and all the girls were fairies. The grandparents were supposed to be Captain hook and Wendy, but they decided to take a Caribbean Cruise instead....
Anyhow, the weather was perfect, and we all had a great time!

Riding Horses with Aunt Mush

Siena loves horses! And more than that, she loves riding horses, especially Aunt Mushy's horse "Jackpot" in Vegas. She loved feeding them and riding with her sister and cousin Jairus. Michelle was so good and patient with all the kids too!

Pumpkin Festival

We went to the Pumpkin Festival in Cedar city! For $5, each kid can play countless games with prizes, including fishing, basketball throwing bean bag toss, etc, cookie decorating, pumpkin painting (Siena painted her entire pumpkin blue. It was really cool! Face painting - Siena was a butterfly and building a project from Home Depot (Siena chose a bug catcher because of her affinity to the little leggy creatures). We had a fabulous time!

Tessa's 18 month Vocab inventory

MOM!
DAD!
shoe
hi
hello (ewo)
bye-bye (aye-aye)
dog (gog)
MINE!
NO!
NO, DON'T!
No way! (no-wee)
uh-uh
eww!
That (dat), as in 'I want "dat"'
more (moy)
banana (nana)
water (wawa)
juice
book
up (bup)
done
go go
on
balloon (ba'oon)
please (pease)
Eat!
baby (bee-bee)
bubbles (bubu)
Siena (Se'a)
Tess

and Tessa's favorite word: "POOP!" (She says it very loudly anytime someone checks her diaper. Or sometimes just for fun.)

RIP Banjo

End of a Banjo

Husband (to "Pinkie"), and martyr to Siena, Siena's "lovey" is officially retiring. After 2 overly-loving years of being slowly eaten to death (Siena's comfort has been to pick off small bits of fur and eat them....), and after countless warnings, Banjo was officially taken out of circulation.
He was a good, faithful stuffed dog.
Banjo is survived by his wife "Pinkie" and his replacement, "Back-up-Banjo," who is intentionally and significantly less furry than his predecessor.

BYU Homecoming

Some pics that were taken at the BYU Homecoming School of Education event. The girls had a great time, with all of the planned games for kids. And I even won a CD in a drawing! Yay! The only thing better than a sale is FREE STUFF!!

Parade Parody

This picture pretty much sums up the morning, trying to get the girls ready.

We went to the BYU Homecoming parade this morning and had the best time ever! We were behind the ROTC, which would let off an occasional
cannon fire, which set off car alarms. Very entertaining!"Grandpa John" was in charge of the floats in the parade this year. He was in the class of '71, so we were on the 40th anniversary alumni "float", which happened to be on my mom's '54 blue Chevy pick-up that she inherited from her Dad. There was
just enough room for the girls and I to squeeze into the cab. The truck has had a lot of work done on it, but needs a lot more work done on it now! With all the stopping and slow-going, the clutch completely burned out (there was smoke coming out of the hood, and it reeked! Some passers-by put their shirts over their noses to try not to inhale. The truck died on us 18 times during the 2 miles or so of the parade route. My favorite quote from one of the '71 graduates riding in the back of the truck "Don't get too close to that [brand new] Mercedes in front of us. The exhaust on it really stinks!" (No sir, that's us!!)

The best part of the parade: Tessa waving hi and Siena yelling out the window "BYU, BYU, BYU BOOGERS!!!" Only one guy in the crowd even noticed she was yelling "Boogers" instead of "Cougars." That look was worth $1,000,000. She really got the crowds going, and everybody loved it! Especially with Tess waving too and waving her pom-pom. Siena was working so hard to keep the chant going the whole time, she siged a big relief "fffffewwwfffffff!" when it was over! I don't remember the last time I have laughted/cried that hard!

Grass Helpers

Siena loves bugs especially "grass helpers". She was so excited when grandma found a grasshopper, and she could keep it as a pet. We now have 4 pet "grass helpers": 2 alive, 2 dead.

Hello Hello Hello!!!

So... my grandma is kind of a big deal. She raised 12 kids, was on the Letterman show like 12 times as well as Wayne Brady and Donny & Marie. AKA "Mad Baking Lady." She is best known for her grandiose "Hello Hello Hello!!!!" when walking into a room, her famous orange rolls, and scolding David L for not kneading the dough the right way (as well as throwing hard taffy at her grandchildren and showering them with $2 bills). I think she is on a previous post from the reunion this summer.
She is at a care facility now, as dementia is setting in. She just turned 90 years old this year, and her ticker is still going strong. Unfortunately, as dementia sets in, her mind is not so firm. We visited her last weekend. The kids had a grand time eating her treats, jumping on her bed, winding up her dancing ballerina and crawling on her chair. Try as we might, we were also dealing with a major D blow-out of the newborn variety (most intense), while I was attempting to repair some of grandma's over-sized gaudy clip-on earrings (a staple in any ensemble of hers). Well, the blow-out got cleaned up, but unfortunately, my trying to repair the earrings caused them to fall apart completely, so I discretely slipped the pieces into my pocket to fix later. I made her an extra pair. So in this pic, the orange ones are her originals, and her fav color pink are the ones I made from scratch. Definitely not a style I have ever made before, but considering... I think she will love them. Afterall, as grandma Bev always says, "Pink is the new red!" (Growing up, she only ever wore red. As you can tell from the pic, she truly lives this mantra.)

Perfect Dinner Everywhere!

When I went raw (raw vegan) and sugar-free last Fall, I wasn't sure how the family would take it. It only lasted about 6 weeks. I ate raw 1 or 2 meals a day, and lost about 20 pounds, and miraculously kept most of it off, even during the holidays, when I couldn't resist the treats that came along with the season.
I think they are starting to warm up to the idea this time around. I am re-starting my raw Fall genesis. We will see if I can make it past the holidays this time. I am not sugar-free yet, but trying to get back into the raw swing. Tonight I made a yummy spaghetti with zucchini for noodles and a spinach pesto sauce and tomatoes, a nice green salad and a green smoothie (my staple).
I was delighted when my 3 year-old said, "Mommy, this is the Perfect dinner everywhere!" very enthusiastically.

I Pledge Allegiance

Siena's 2nd Homework assignment: Practice the Pledge of Allegiance, read a book about it and make a flag. This is the flag Siena made. I am really proud of her!
In just a couple of weeks, she has memorized the pledge. At 3 years old. she already has such an incredible memory! It was so funny, on one of her practices, I was prompting her for "Republic" and I quietly said "Rep.." and she filled in with "Rapunzel??"

gymnast

Last month I took Siena to a dance class. Good think it was a trial run, because ll she wanted to do was hang on the bars! So we decided to try gymnastics instead, and she absolutely loves it! Tessa tries to get in on the action too, climbing on the bars.

How are you Peeling?

Siena is loving her preschool! She gets a new homework assignment every week. Last week, the assignment was to talk about feelings, make a feeling spinner game, write a journal entry and draw a picture with a specific feeling, make a die with different emotion pictures on them, and read the book "How are you Peeling" with the optional assignment to carve emotions into fruit. I don't know if you have read the book, but it is pretty much the cutest thing EVER!!
We had a GREAT time doing her first homework assignment ever. Hopefully it stays that way!

The wheels on the car

One of Siena's favorite songs is The Wheels on the Bus, she I think she was pretty thrilled when the family ordered dog collars to put around the trees in the yard so the raccoons couldn't climb up (long story)...
so that she could use the box as a car! The girls have had a grand time, practically living in this car! We put in 2 booster seats so they could both be comfortable. They colored it with crayons and decorated it with stickers (which Tessa has pulled off). They love the steering wheel and wheels made with plates and thumb tacks.

Big helper

Tessa loves pushing a stroller or a cart or her sister on the trike. In fact, Tessa pushes Siena much more often than the other way around. Hmmm.... Siena always says, "Push me, Tessa!" and Tess happily complies.

Princess Party

A neighbor friend was turning 3 and had a princess birthday party. Siena was invited. All the girls dressed up like princesses. There was a princess cake walk, a princess pinata, a princess cake, and even a dragon slaying activity. Here are a couples pictures of her at the party.

Improv

Siena has always been a creative singer. She just thinks words and puts them to her own music. I think it is a wonderful talent (she gets it from her dad). In one of these videos, she is putting scripture to music.

riding the 4-wheeler

We went to Grandpa Jay's yesterday, where they have all kinds of fun toys and things. We got out the 4-wheeler and took a little ride. The girls loved it!

Messy Tessy and Camping

Tessa after taking a faceplant in the dirt

Tessa is SOOO my daughter! If there is 1 thing she really loves, it's food! This girl can pack it in like none other. Literally! When we went camping this weekend, she ate 2 1/2 granola bars - (Siena ate the other 1/2) on the way to the campsite, about 30 minutes away, then 3 hot dogs, 1 roll, 1/2 cup of beans, 1/2 cup fried potatoes, then 11 Big-sized marshmallows cooked over the fire for dessert. And she is 17 months old. I constantly marvel at how she is able to pack it all in. People usually don't believe me when I tell them she can eat more than Siena & I combined... until they see it for themselves. It is quite a site! One of these days, I will set up the video camera to record an entire meal. And this girl ENJOYS her food! She often says "mmm!" after each bite, and like to get messy with it.

I love how the girls look utterly exhausted, like they just set up their own tent!