The Garner's

Christmas 2011

2012-01-14T14:18:00.006-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with the camera. I love having the memories that pictures provide, but I hate being behind the lens all the time. I feel like I miss out on things. So, I didn't take as many pics this year. I do feel robbed that I didn't get any pics of the kids opening presents with their cousins, but at least I got Christmas morning covered.

Heath wanted to start a new tradition for Christmas 2011. So, we created our first annual hot chocolate bar and "A Christmas Story" movie night. We got all sorts of fun toppings for our hot cocoa and watched the movie together. I surprised the family with cute little mugs to start off our new tradition. It was a lot of fun and I hope it was memorable for Micah and Abby.

Look at all the fun fixins.

It's always been a tradition to open Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. Here are the kids all dressed up in their new pj's.
We also open a gift on Christmas Eve. This year, Micah got a remote control Black Widow. It's so realistic, it actually scared the kids. And, Abby got some really cute, magnetic paper dolls.

Santa filled the kids' stockings to the brim.

He also left them this cute table, chairs, and fun game.

I think he was trying to encourage them to play together more. :)

Micah's gifts from Santa.

He was so excited to see that Santa got the exact orange bike that he wanted. He was really worried that Santa might not be able to find it.

Abby's new kitchen. It even has a phone.

That part was very important to her. :)

The rest of Abby's loot from Santa.

Santa even left stockings for mom and dad.

How did he know that mom loves those jalapeno chips?

Looks like Santa just left!

Christmas morning!

Mom and dad got Abby a cute tea cart.

Micah could not have been happier for this little thing.

Thanks mom and dad!

Abby opening her double stroller.

Later in the day, when we went to Grandma & Grandpa's house, she got a Baby Alive doll from uncle Beau, and a Princess Aurora doll from Uncle Cory, Aunt Danae, Zoey and Colston.

Perfect for her new stroller.

Pop the Pig! This is a really great preschool game.

Well, that's it! That's all the pics I got.
Thank you to Grandma & Grandpa for the plethora of other gifts that didn't get documented in pictures this year. And, thank you to Gammy, and Uncle Josh, Aunt Marcy, Ethan and Hudson for the fun gifts that also didn't get documented.

It was another great Christmas at the Garner's!

Missing Valerie

2011-12-21T11:03:00.003-07:00

Another year has come and gone. Another year that Valerie is missed. Another year of my children not knowing their aunt.

Another year of strengthened testimonies that families are forever. Another year of teaching opportunities. Another year of treasured memories. Another year of counted blessings. Another year closer to reuniting.

Love you, Valerie!

This Guy

2011-12-02T11:31:00.005-07:00

Eleven years ago, something told me that this guy was special. I listened then and know it is even more true today. Not only is this guy handsome, he is also smart, funny, a hard worker, honest, a fantastic father, a valiant Priesthood holder, and my best friend.

I love this guy, and I hope he feels it, not just today, but everyday!

This is What I am Thankful For

2011-11-27T19:37:00.003-07:00

This is what I am thankful for...

And the knowledge that we are a forever family.

Jr Jazz Basketball

2011-11-08T16:31:00.004-07:00

Micah played Jr. Jazz basketball in October. To say he had a blast would be an understatement. He keeps asking when he can play again. The league was for 1st & 2nd graders and was still sort of an instructional league. The would practice for the first 30 minutes and then play another team the last 30 minutes.

Micah's coaches were very patient and extremely nice. The one on the left is John. The one on the right is Robbie.

One of Micah's favorite things to do was to throw the ball in. He would race to the sideline each time, hoping to be the one who got to throw it in.

Practice time. Taking turns shooting.
I'm open! I'm open!
Shoot it!
Micah got pretty good at dribbling and handling the ball.

He was pretty bummed that the season ended so quickly. They only had eight games. He was so excited to learn that he can play again in January.

Abby and I had fun watching Micah play. She would stand on the sidelines and cheer, "Go Micah!"

We can't wait to start another season of Jr. Jazz Basketball!

Dance

2011-09-09T09:57:00.005-06:00

Dance is back in session and Abby couldn't be any happier!

New dance clothes- with "sparklies on it". :)

Showing off some of her moves.

Gettin' down!

Not sure what move this is. :)

This girl LOVES to dance!

Abby's 1st Day of Preschool

2011-09-07T17:46:00.006-06:00

Today was Abby's first day of preschool. To say that she was excited, would be an understatement.

Stylin, in her new school clothes. We painted her fingernails to match her outfit. :)

Abby socializing before class started. She loves kids and loves to talk!

The bulletin board inside Brilliant Beginnings.

The classroom. So bright, cheery, and perfect for learning.

Abby and I attended "Back to Preschool Night" last night. Here she is posing with the fun mural Miss Morgan painted for the kids.

Abby and her teachers.

L to R Miss Lindsay, Miss Morgan, Abby

Seriously, is she cute, or what?

She loves this pose!

Abby's new shoes.

She loves Hello Kitty. Little did she know, but there was a super cute Hello Kitty backpack waiting for her when she got home. :)

When I picked Abby up, she was all smiles, and talking a mile a minute about all the fun things she did at school. When I asked what her favorite part was, she replied, "Playing on the playground!"

I guess she is a typical kid. :)

Ward Party

2011-09-01T08:58:00.007-06:00

Our neighbor serves as the Ward Provident Living Specialist for our church. Last Saturday, she put on a water/Splash party for the ward, to highlight the importance of water in food storage and emergency preparedness. Micah and Abby had an absolute blast and keep asking when we can "do that again?"

Did I mention that my neighbor is also a fabulous photographer? She took every one of these photos...

Thank you, Wheatley's! We had a fantastic time!

Abby

2011-08-28T09:46:00.007-06:00

Anyone that knows Abby, knows that she is always happy, smiling, and that she loves to play with friends! So, in honor of Abby, here she is with three of her besties.

This is Emmy.

I can't believe this is the best pic I have of her. I will fix that ASAP. :)

She gets Abby and thinks like her. When Abby & Emmy are together, it's lot of running, jumping, dancing, and gymnastics. They spend a lot of time on the trampoline or dancing to music on the radio.

This is Abby & Isabelle.

These girls are hilarious! Both are very feisty, and want to be in charge. Neither of them is going to let the other one be the boss. They like to hug each other, play dress up, and play "house" in the Dora doll house.

This is Abby & Maylee.
They both love barbies and playing mommies. They also LOVE to watch "Tangled". Maylee lets Abby do her hair too. She usually leaves with a completely different look then when she came. :)

Here's to good friends and lots of fun!

Micah's First Day of School

2011-08-26T19:11:00.005-06:00

Micah just completed his first week of 1st grade. And, he LOVED it!

Here are a few pics to document his first day...

Micah has become quite concerned about what he wears to school. The problem is, he isn't as fashion savvy as I would like him to be. He wants shirts with weird pictures, and I want him to look like a well-dressed little man. So, we had to compromise this year. I can handle pics on shirts, as long as they look nice. So, we bought every single one that the Gap or Children's Place had to offer. They have the vintage looking ones. Some have old school pics, which I love, and others have current pics, which Micah loves. So, it was a win win. :)

After much contemplation, he settled on this Spiderman tee, denim shorts, and his brand new Puma shoes. He looks adorable (if I do say so myself)!

Micah loves his new backpack!

I actually bought it at Hanna Andersen in Chicago. I had never heard of that store, but can I just say, I'm hooked? Fortunately, my brother lives in Chicago, so I'll be putting in requests every time he comes out to visit.

Getting ready to line up, with friends, Anthony, Levi, and Treddon.

Mrs. Jepsen's 1st Grade class!

Micah was really excited to give his teacher the gift he made for her. Here he is, waiting anxiously to give it to her.

Micah was so nervous to go to the front of the line, when his name was called. But, he did it! I'm a proud mama everyday, but especially when he does something that is so hard for him.

All lined up and ready to enter their new classroom!

See ya later, mom! I'm off to class now!

The week ended today. Now, we'll party it up this weekend because next week, two hours will be added onto the day.

Hope next week is as fabulous as this week!

Micah

2011-08-21T22:11:00.003-06:00

Micah starts 1st grade tomorrow. I always get so excited for him to enter a new stage in life, but I also get a bit sad about him growing out of a stage too. As I sit here tonight, and look at his back pack all packed up, his new clothes laid out, and his lunch money sitting on the counter, I can't help but mourn a bit for my baby.

Being Micah's mom is a blessing. A joy. A pleasure. An honor. The best thing that has ever happened to me. He has taught me more than I could ever teach him. He is loving. Kind. Sweet. Helpful. A good big brother. Smart. Active. A goof-ball. A tease. Hilarious. A good friend. A great playmate. Talented.

I know these qualities will take Micah far in life, but for his new adventure tomorrow, I hope they help him feel confidant. I hope they help him make new friends. I hope they make him feel smart. I hope they make him feel like he can accomplish anything.

Good luck tomorrow, Micah!

This is Micah on his last day of Kindergarten.

Micah made this for his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Jepsen. He's really proud of it and excited to give it to her.

Every night before Micah goes to bed, I ask him, "Why do I love you so much?" To this he replies, "Because I made you a mom!"

Thank you, Micah, for the greatest gift of my life!

Sleep Over

2011-08-12T09:35:00.002-06:00

While I was in Chicago (I'll post on that later), Heath took the kids to Rexburg for a few days. While they were there, Micah and his cousin, Ethan had a sleepover. These boys have been asking for a sleepover since they were three, so their wish was finally granted. To say they had fun would be and understatement. :)

Heath set up the tent in Gammy's living room. It was complete with bedding for each of them, and the opening was facing the tv, so they could watch movies.

Apparently, no movies were watched, as these two little guys, ages 6 (Micah) and 5 (Ethan) stayed up until 2:30 a.m. chasing each other around the house, and stopping in each room of the house to see if the other inhabitants were still awake.

Thank you to Gammy and daddy for being so patient and allowing them to have the time of their lives. Micah hasn't stopped talking about it since.

24th of July

2011-07-27T13:08:00.011-06:00

I love the 24th of July! Growing up, we always had the greatest celebration. Everyone gathered in Monroe, the night before for a giant dinner and children's parade. The next morning, it was back to Monroe for a parade, races, lunch, and tons of fun booths at the park. We finished the day with fireworks at night.

Last year was the first time we stayed in Provo for the 24th. Not really knowing what Provo had to offer, we wandered over to a celebration being held at a local park. So glad we did! We had so much fun! So this year, we did it again, and even invited Heath's mom (Gammy), to come with us.

There are tons of booths set up. Most of them involve activities that Pioneer children would have enjoyed.

Micah & Abby thought it was pretty cool to make their own mustaches. Micah knew exactly what he wanted, but was having a hard time getting it to work out. A super nice Missionary, came to his rescue and made this for him. Thank you, Elder Palmer!

My little jail bird.

I LOVE this pic of Micah!

Micah had a great time riding his own pony.

Abby was a little nervous at first. She warmed up quickly though.

Micah had so much fun on the horses, that he keeps asking for his own. When I asked him where we would put it, he replied, "Just out in the backyard." Ahhh...I love that kid!

Micah trying out the axe throw.

Gammy's turn.

Daddy's turn. He was pretty serious about it.

We didn't get a picture of me doing it, but turns out, I was actually pretty good at it. Must be that Native American blood running through my veins. :)

Gammy helped Abby with the sling shot.

We took a break to sit and watch the Native American dancer. He was amazing! I am a horrible photographer. I only got pics of the back of him.

Another dancer and the drummer.

This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Micah kept asking, "How did he do that?" "How can he do that and not fall down?" I was speechless.

There was a pelt display. Micah thought it was fun to see if he could figure out what each one was (or used to be). :)

At the animal petting area, Micah ran into a friend from school. He was sad to learn that Orien won't be attending Sunset View this year.

Abby was fascinated with the little lambs.

And the tiny horses.

Gammy & Abby. The horse got a little crazy while Abby was on him. She was scared, but Gammy was calm and calmed the horse (and Abby).

We were so happy to have Gammy spend the holiday with us. She lives in Idaho, where the 24th isn't such a big deal. I think we sold her on it though. :)

Apparently, the town Sheriff was lost. The kids got a special prize for finding him.

Here is Micah making a beeswax candle.

Abby wanted in on the action too. She didn't like how the beeswax felt though.

They both loved the duck shooting booth. Micah asked if he could go "hunting ducks" sometime. :)

We had such a fun time! We were exhausted when we left. After lunch at DP Cheesesteaks, we all headed to the swimming pool to finish off our day.

What a great way to celebrate Pioneer Day!

My mom

2011-07-17T21:44:00.005-06:00

My mom is a saint. Really. I joke with her all the time that I'm afraid I will call her one day, and she won't be there, because she has been translated. I honestly believe there is a strong chance that could happen. She literally is the strongest, most loving, kindest, most generous person I know. Not to mention, she IS the best mother a girl could ever have.

I am blessed to have her. She is there for me. All. the. time. As I was going through my pictures, I realized that I don't have very many of her. I'm sure it's because she is always there helping me, do whatever I'm doing, so that I can have a free hand to take my own pics.

So, in honor of my wonderful mother, here are a few pics.

When grandma is around, this smile does not leave Abby's face.

Eating cake (that she made), at one of Micah's birthday parties.

Taking Micah to see the cows.

Family Christmas party. This is my little brother, Beau, Santa (aka my dad), and my mom (aka Mrs. Clause).

With both kids, my mom has been there to help me. I could never have done it without her. Either time. :)

I can only hope to be half as good a person as she is.

I love you, mom!

Friends

2011-07-12T22:12:00.002-06:00

Micah loves his friends! He is fortunate to have several friends to play with each week. Here are a few pics of Micah and Noah. Noah is three days older than Micah. They both like to play the Wii, ride bikes, play with cars and legos, and are just really cute, happy, little boys.

Can't you just see the mischievousness in their eyes

They were chest bumping each other, but I never did get that money shot.

Cute!

We're lucky to live in such a fun neighborhood, where both Micah and Abby have great friends to play with.

Cute

2011-07-06T15:59:00.002-06:00

I had some of the Primary girls over for an activity, at my house, today. We made these! Aren't they cute?

I made these ones for my niece, Zoey. I couldn't find flip flops small enough for Abby, but once I do, she's getting her own pair.

Blessed

2011-07-05T20:02:00.003-06:00

Sometimes, I look at my kids, and feel so overwhelmingly blessed. Today is one of those days. So, in honor or my little man, Micah, and my munchkin, Abby, here are a few, previously unposted pics of them.

I like to buy them new outfits for the 4th of July. Here they are modeling this year's wardrobe. Pretty cute, huh? Micah wasn't really in the mood for pics. This frown quickly turned to a smile when we got to the Richfield City parade. Can I just say that Micah quickly turned into a candy chasing aficionado? He ended up with half a grocery bag of candy. Abby didn't catch on as quickly, and even after she did, she picked and chose exactly which pieces of candy she wanted. If it didn't look good to her, she just left it in the road for the other kids to gather. She ended up with about 12, carefully chosen pieces of (mostly pink) candy.

I love these moments! Notice how Abby is looking up at her big brother? You can just tell how much she adores him, can't you?

Abby insisted on telling Micah a secret. To this day, I don't know what the secret is. I'm not too worried though. How much could a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old have to hide anyway?

My favorite!

Freshly dressed in their new Christmas outfits. Yes, I buy them new outfits for every holiday. :)

All ready for an early morning Easter Egg Hunt. Heath's work opened their annual one up to the community this year. It's always a lot of fun and the kids look forward to it each year.

Last night, after doing a very few fireworks, I put the kids in bed and went to clean the kitchen. When I turned around, Micah was standing there. I said, "Micah, what are you doing? You're supposed to be in bed?" He said, "I just wanted to give you a hug."

Like I said, I am blessed.

Easter

2011-06-14T16:05:00.005-06:00

Easter may just be Micah's favorite holiday (well, maybe Halloween, or Christmas, or his birthday). Coloring eggs is something Micah would do everyday, if I would let him. He is always bringing me an egg and asking if he can paint it, or draw on it, or just break it open. So, when I brought out all the Easter egg coloring supplies, he was in heaven!

After doing the typical colors, Micah set out on a mission to make his own colors. He's a smart kid and knew the mixing certain colors would make certain colors, but what he didn't know was that if you dipped the egg into every color, it would come out brown. He thought that was the coolest thing!Needless to say, we had a plethora of brown Easter eggs. :)

Abby just wanted nice, little pastel colored eggs. Micah kept telling her how to make brown, but she wasn't interested. :)

Micah liked that his hands got colored too.

The finished product! 36 eggs! It wasn't even close to being enough. The kids could have colored all night.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought!

I love shopping for their annual Easter outfits. I always want them to match. This year- that was a challenge. I looked everywhere! No joke- everywhere! I almost gave up and then found these. I love them! And, the kids wearing them!

Notice how Micah put his arm around Abby?

My handsome little man!

My pretty, blue-eyed girl!

Abby was really into posing in her new dress.

We had a fantastic Easter! We hope you did too!

What Has Abby Been Up to Lately?

2011-06-12T17:06:00.005-06:00

We are normally extremely busy, but decided to take it easy over the summer. Life got way to hectic and even though we were having fun, we needed to take a step back (especially me), and simplify. Having said, I have time to blog now!

Here are some pics of the things Abby has been up to in recent months. They are in no particular order. Just pics of her life and the fun things she does. Abby is a happy and just about everything makes her smile.

Dance...

Abby finished up her dance class in May. To say that she loved it, would be an understatement. This is her class, well some of it. There are a few missing.

Abby loved it when the photographer told them to make silly faces.

She was in the Tiny Tots class at the Front & Center Dance Academy. I can't say enough positive things about the studio and her teacher, Alexis. Abby also loved the assistants- Ashlyn (especially Ashlyn) & Sami.

Too cute!

Too cute too!

My fave! I tell ya- you never see Abby w/o a smile. This girl LOVES life!

Abby finished her old preschool and started a new one. This is a different one. It is called Brilliant Beginnings. This is her summer class. They made pudding pops on their first day. Abby thought it was great. Chocloate and friends..... two of Abby's favorite things!

Painting, on her first day. She kept telling me that "she painted around and around." Not sure what she was trying to create, but whatever it was, she was sure proud of it!

Abby had a tea party awhile back.

Top row, L to R- Kiera, Isabelle, Emmy

Bottm row, L to R- Abby, Hadley, Kami

We made Fruit Loop necklaces.

Hadley & Isabelle showing off their finished products.

We ate fun little tea party snacks- strawberries, teddy bear shaped cheese, pretzels, and tiny donuts. Some girls even snacked on their necklaces. :)

They also played "Limbo" but I didn't get any pics of that. I was too busy laughing my head off. Imagine six, 3-year-olds bending over backwards and sliding on their stomachs, trying to get under the Limbo bar. Hilarious!

Abby had her second dance recital in May. This time, the assistants to her class, danced with them. Abby is the one bending over slightly. She thinks it's great to be up on stage.

Isn't this cute?

I didn't get many pics this time because I hate watching things from behind the lens.

Even though her dance class is over, for the summer, she still finds every reason she can to dance. The other day, her friend Emmy was over. They both dressed up in dance clothes and Abby taught Emmy her dance. It was so cute! Abby kept saying, "Watch me first!" "Now you do it!" Emmy was a fantastic student too!

This picture cracks me up!

My dad was playing with Abby on the couch one day, and he summonds me in, to see this. Abby had fallen asleep! She must have been very comfortable because she slept like this, for 2 1/2 hours. Never moved a muscle. I kept checking on her, to make sure she was okay. Poor girl was just exhausted.

As you can see, Abby has a lot of things that make her happy!

She makes our family just as happy!

Micah's 6th Birthday (Gargantuan Post)

2011-06-10T22:03:00.011-06:00

Micah turned six on April 15, 2011. He was so excited because he said that "Six-year-old's go to first grade." It took quite awhile to convince him that while that was true, he would still have to finish out Kindergarten first. :)

The kids and I spent the week leading up to Micah's birthday, in Mesquite, NV, with my parents. It was Spring Break, so while Heath slaved away at Trinity, we vacationed. :) The day before we left, we had a little party for Micah's birthday. Can you say spoiled? He got a brand new scooter and "Lego Harry Potter" for his DSi XL. And, Uncle Beau sent him "Kirby's Epic Yarn" and "Lego Indiana Jones" for the Wii. We went to dinner, where Micah had a gigantic stack of pancakes, and then went back to the condo and had brownies and ice cream. It was a pretty great day for an almost-6 year old.

We came back to Provo the day before Micah's birthday because none of us liked the thought of not being with daddy that day. So, even though daddy had to work, we still partied hard- knowing that later that night, he would get to join us.

First thing in the morning, Micah came knocking on our bedroom door to see if he could open a present. Gammy was coming down that night, so we told him he should wait for her. We finally agreed to one present, to hold him over.

Micah is always good about letting Abby share in the present-opening fun.

New basketball shorts! Not exactly what he was hoping for. He was trying to be excited, but I could see a bit of disappointment on his face, so we let him open another one.

Snorkeling gear! For those of you that know Micah, you know that this was something he was super excited about!

While daddy was at work, and while we waited for Gammy to get there, we spent the day at a couple of Micah's favorite places. Here he is at the "Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum". It is on the BYU campus, and we know the place by heart. Micah is fascinated with every. single. thing. there. :) Here he is by the "stick bug". You know, like the one on "A Bug's Life"?

Abby had to get in on the action too. While not a fan of bugs, she does love the butterflies.

Micah's new favorite thing at the museum. A giant squid! It looks like it was made out of clay, but the sign on it assures the viewers that it was indeed, alive and well, at one point. Btw....Micah is fascinated with sea creatures. Ask the kid about Sharks sometime....he can talk your ear right off. Go check his facts too....he's a virtual Shark-aficionado.

My two cuties.

We were lucky enough to catch a live animal show while we were there. Abby was fascinated with the turtle. Here she was "petting" it.

This was more Micah's style. A snake! We did learn a little saying to help determine if a snake is poisonous. "If it's black and red, get back Fred! If it's black and yellow, you're a dead fellow!"

After the museum, we grabbed lunch at McDonald's. Micah actually was happy to be there. He was just tired of having his picture taken over and over and over. :)

After lunch, it was off to "Toys R Us" for a mini shopping spree. What did Micah pick out? A Star Wars Lego set and a........

Mowqui. Remember this little guy from "Gremlins"? It looks and sounds just like the movie. Don't worry though- it does not multiply if it gets wet.

Micah reminded us several times that day that he was six now. He even told me that he had to use "two hands now to show how old I am".

Mom and dad got Micah a "real" wallet. It even had money in it. $6.00 to be exact!

If you can't tell by now, Micah loves Star Wars and Lego's. He was thrilled for this book from Abby. He had his eye on it, at the school book fair, several weeks earlier.

While we were in Mesquite, Grandpa and Micah played, "Fish", over and over again. So, even though Grandma and Grandpa had already given Micah his gifts, they sent this up as a little surprise.

Lego's, from mom and dad. Micah's favorite character from Star Wars is "Anakin Skywalker". So, he was quite thrilled when he got Anakin's ship.

One of the best things I have ever bought for my kids. Not only is it a fun game that we all can play together, but Micah and Abby can play it with each other too. No help from mom or dad is required. It's also a great counting game.

And, the gift that he was hoping for, more than any other- "Lego Star Wars III". Gammy came through big time!

A bug catching kit and binoculars. Abby was thrilled that Gammy got her one too.

The cake! Yes, it is a Ronald McDonald cake. Micah absolutely LOVES McDonald's. Our good friend, Emily, works for the owner of a local McDonald's, so she arranged to have this cake waiting for us, when we got there for lunch, earlier in the day. Micah thought that was the coolest thing ever! So did all the other kids in the Play Land. :)

Make a wish and blow!

As if all that partying wasn't enough, Micah wanted a Star Wars party for his friends. So, this was my feeble attempt at making a "Light Saber" out of a Laffy Taffy stick. The little tag attached to it read, "Thanks for coming to my party! May the force be with you! From, Micah" Although I felt like they were an utter failure, Micah and his friends thought they were, "Way cool!"

Usually, I go a bit overboard and spend hundreds of dollars on my kids' birthday parties. Heath begged me to scale back a bit this year. So, instead of a grand cake- I made these little lovelies. :) While not beautiful in any way, they were color coded to match the colors of the Light Sabers we utilized at the party. Did you know that the bad guys have red ones and the good guys have blue and green? Every little boy at the party knew that. Which color would you guess was most popular?.... Red!

In my quest to create a memorable party for under $100, instead of buying Light Sabers, we made our own. We cut swimming noodles in half and stuck them on dowels (that Micah and his friend, Noah painted black, the night before). Then, the boys got to use cool, foam, letter stickers to decorate their saber, with their name. I gave them each a balloon and they decorated their own "bad guy". Their task was to then "Use the force" to get rid of that bad guy. While this game sounded fun in my head, it quickly turned into this....

A bunch of six-year-olds, beating each other, with hand-made Light Sabers. Fortunately, no one got hurt.

When all the bad guys had been properly vanquished, we sat down and opened presents. Here is Micah with his first "Ninjago" Lego set. Thanks, Andrew!

Star Wars action figures! Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, to be exact. Thanks, Caden L.!

Micah's very first $10 bill! Thanks, Brock!

Lego Hero Factory! The green one! The one he had been eyeing! Thanks, Caden B.!

Star Wars Mighty Beanz! Micah finally got Yoda! Thanks, Levi!

A super cool Toy Story gun (that doubles as a video game)! Thanks, James!

Oooooooh! Beyblades! Two of them! Thanks, Noah!

$6 more! This kid seriously got rich! Thanks, Treddon!

The whole group of Jedi Knights!

And, what kind of party would it be w/o cake and ice cream? So, these boys sat down to some cupcakes and ice cream. These boys can eat! They finished off 20 cupcakes, an entire gallon of vanilla, and an entire galloon of chocolate! Growing boys. :)

Micah had a fantastic birthday! He is a fantastic kid, so he deserved every bit of it.

Oh yeah, I finished the party off for only $35.00 My husband was so proud. Did it suffer because of the limited budget? I don't think so.... As the party ended, Micah gave me a hug and said, "This was my best party, mom." That alone was worth more money than I could ever count. :)

Love you, Micah! Here's to many, many, many, many, many more birthday's!

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-10T15:16:00.003-06:00

Micah graduated from Kindergarten on May 20, 2011 (yes, I am behind on my blogging). I can't believe my little guy is so grown up. I keep asking him to stop, but he just smiles and says, "I want to get bigger!"

Why is it so hard for me to accept that Micah is growing up? I love watching every new stage, and I love seeing him experience new things, but at the same time, I wish time would slow down a little. It seems like just yesterday, I was crying as I dropped him off for his first day of school. Now, here I was crying again as he graduated.

Here is Micah just before we left for his last day of school. I had actually bought him a super cute shirt to wear for his graduation, but he insisted on wearing this one instead. It's his favorite and he says it's, "Super cool!" He was so nervous that I decided it was best for him to wear something that made him feel good about himself.

Here is Micah as they are getting ready for the program to start. He was so nervous. Nervous doesn't even cover it. Micah does not like attention, and when he feels like all the eyes are on him, it is really hard. Micah was literally scared to death. When the kids came walking into the room, I really wasn't sure if Micah would be with them. But, he was! And, as hard as it was for him to stand up there, with tons of people watching, HE DID IT!!!!!

The whole class!

When it came time to "graduate", Mrs. Anglesey called out each child's name, and they were to stand. When it was Micah's turn, he shook his head, "no". Mrs. Anglesey knew how hard this was on Micah, so she didn't force it.

The whole program was so hard for Micah. This is him right after his name was called. He just couldn't stand up. He wanted too, so badly. I was silently praying that he would have the courage. So, even though he wasn't able to stand for his name, he did get up there. He stood still while the other kids sang, but he was there, with his class- silently struggling the whole time. As I watched him, my heart ached. I really thought about going up there and sitting with him. But, I held myself back and just watched. Hard as it was, I knew he had to do this on his own.

And, can I just tell you how PROUD of him I was? I've had proud moments as a mother, but this one was way up there! My little guy got up there and did something that was so hard for him. There is still progress to be made, but this was HUGE!

This is Mrs. Kitchen (the class aide) and Mrs. Anglesey (Micah's teacher). Micah adores both of them. I think he even had a little crush on Mrs. Anglesey. I found her name, with a heart around it, drawn on several papers.

Micah learned so much in Kindergarten. So much in fact, that at his end of year testing, he scored 100%!

Water

2011-04-18T16:44:00.002-06:00

Last night, after Micah's bath, he ran into the kitchen and exclaimed, "Phew! That was a close one, mom!" I said, "Why?" He replied, "I almost died!" To this, I got a bit more concerned and said, "What? What happened?" Micah's response? "You need a lot of water to survive, and I don't think I've had enough today."

Holding back the giggles, I looked down and noticed that he was holding a 48 oz. water bottle. :)

Fairy Tea Party

2011-04-07T09:38:00.006-06:00

Abby and I attended a Fairy Tea Party, at the Provo City Library, in March. It was so much fun! We had a blast shopping for the perfect fairy costume, and then getting all dressed up for the night. Abby was a beautiful red & pink fairy. I wore a pretty red shirt that (kinda) matched Abby. :)

Here is Abby right before we left for the tea party. I didn't love the pink leotard with her red skirt and wings. I will definitely get a red one for Halloween. Her costume is way too cute to put in the dress up bin, so we're going to use it as her Halloween costume.

Guess what Abby's favorite part of her costume was? The wings? Nope! The magic wand!

Doesn't she look adorable?

The wings!

Here we are right before entering the ballroom. Abby was so excited. She really could not stand the excitement.

She was thrilled to see "real fairies" there. Is there anything better than these kinds of smiles?

The table setting. Abby insisted on the pink napkin.

Each place setting had a souvenir fairy necklace and a little vile of "fairy dust".

A quick note about the fairy dust. I didn't want her to open it and spill it all over the place, so I kept telling her that only real fairies could open it. When we got home, Micah wanted to open it. I was trying to think of an answer as to why he couldn't open it, but didn't come up with anything before Heath piped in and said, "Don't open it! The dust will make you disappear!" Well, that only made Micah more curious. Later that night, he came up to me and whispered, "Can I dump the fairy dust on myself? I want to see if I disappear." :)

Abby still wears her necklace a couple times a week.

The group of neighborhood friends that we attended with.

L to R: Audrey, Abby, Peyton, Ava, Reghan

The Fairy Princess

The Fairy King and Queen

I love my little fairy!

Abby fell in love with the purple ballerina fairy. She was in awe of everything this fairy did.

We had so much fun, we are already looking forward to next year!

Kindergarten Soccer

2011-04-03T19:59:00.006-06:00

Micah started Kindergarten soccer this past week. It is a soccer league just for kids in Kindergarten. It is wonderful! They meet each Thursday and practice for the first 25 mins, and then play a game for the next 24 mins (two 12 min halves). Each team plays four players at a time. Micah's team has eight kids on it, so they are rotating kids in and out regularly.

Micah played soccer two years ago and absolutely hated it. He didn't even want to play last year, so I was surprised when he asked to play this year. I am so glad I put him in it though. He has had an absolute blast! It is so fun to see him running around and just having genuine fun. Here are some pics from his first game.

The entire team, with their coach, Jon.

Micah & Daxon. He is the coach's son.

I just love this shot of my little #6. He was so excited to get this number because he is turning six in a couple weeks.

This is Micah as he was coming out of the game. All the kids were great about taking their turn in the game.

This pic cracks me up. This is Micah and Drew. I'm not sure what they were talking about, but it must have been pretty interesting. My guess is, "Lego Star Wars". Part III just came out and that is tops on Micah's birthday wish list.

This is a picture of Micah and Britton practicing before the game.

Britton's dad is the assistant coach.

The team cheer at the end of the game.

Notice Coach Jon in this pic? This was his reaction when our team scored a goal for the opposing team. :)

Micah's favorite part of the whole game was throwing the ball back in when it went out of bounds. I don't think anyone else really cared about it, so I think Micah got to do it about every time.

Look at that awesome soccer form!

Getting in and playing hard!

If game #1 is any indication, this is going to be a fantastic season and tons of fun, for eight adorable kids and their families!

Go #6!

CTR

2011-03-14T10:18:00.003-06:00

Micah and Abby were drawing last night, while I was cleaning the kitchen. I wasn't paying much attention to their work. I didn't even stop to ask Micah why he wanted to know how to spell "choose" and "wrong". This morning, I was cleaning things up, and this is what I found.

Maybe Micah really is listening in Primary. :)

Guess What I Got for Valentine's Day?

2011-02-16T12:07:00.001-07:00

This.... And it smells divine!

Over all, Bad day!

2011-02-01T22:17:00.003-07:00

Today was just a bad day.

It started @ 5:30 a.m. when my husband's alarm went off. He's been having to be at work by 6:00 a.m. the last few days. Abby is the lightest sleeper in the world, so every little creek and peep awakens her. So, she decided to get up at that horrible hour. I haven't even mentioned yet that she had already woken up twice during the night anyway. So, the fact that I have literally not slept an entire night in three years, already makes me a bit cranky in the mornings. Anyway, by 9:30 a.m. I had dropped Abby off at a friend's house while I went to volunteer in Micah's classroom. Volunteering was fun- always is. But, Micah's teacher is not one to communicate with parent's. In fact, she takes great pains to avoid parents. Needing to talk to her today, I tried to approach her a couple different times. Each time, she created something to get in the way so she would not have to talk to me. I stayed with Micah because he wanted me to have lunch with him. That was great too, except that I had forgotten I had planned lunch with a friend. So, I had two lunches today. Both were awesome! In the meantime though, I locked my keys in my car, was running late to pick up Abby from her friend's house, which made us late for preschool. On the way to preschool, Abby fell asleep and was not in a good mood when I woke her. Usually, she adores going to school, but she did not want to go today. She kept saying that she was tired and wanted her bed. I should have just taken her home and crawled in bed with her. But no, I convinced her to go to school, then went to meet my friend for lunch. As I drove to the restaurant, my mom called to tell me that a friend from high school had committed suicide earlier in the day. My heart sank and I felt horrible as I remembered several stories of this person. Lunch was very nice, as my friend, Jeanine and I can always chat for hours and have such a good time. But, today, I only had one hour before I had to return to get Abby from preschool. So, as our lunch came to an end and we wandered out to the parking lot, I could not remember where I had parked. I know that sounds super spacey, but for some reason, I am just like that. I have no sense of direction and getting lost is not a new thing for me. Today though, I could not find it. Finally, Jeanine and I drove up and down each lane of the gigantic parking lot until we found my car. This made me late to pick up Abby. Did I mention that there is a fee at her preschool for late pick-up? Oh yeah, and somewhere in all of this, I ran around doing errands for my church calling, wrote and responded to about 100 emails concerning said calling, and had a personal issue (which I will not reveal). By this time, Abby had fallen asleep in the car again, but I couldn't just take her home and put her in her own bed (which she begged for the entire way home until she fell asleep), because it was now time to pick up Micah from school. So, I go to the school, pick him up, find out that he too had a rough day, get home just in time to run in the house and get Micah ready for swim lessons. During this time, Abby is crying uncontrollably (poor girl is so tired) and Micah is having a meltdown as he tells me about his day. We finally get to swim lessons, five minutes late, go to the balcony to watch and a little boy walks past Abby. Abby is the friendliest, most loving little girl ever, so she thinks he's a friend there to play with her. She looks at me and says, "Look mom. It's a friend." Unfortunately, this little boy did not want to be friends and immediately went up to Abby and grabbed her toy. Abby is loving, but not a pushover. She will defend herself and her property, so she grabbed it back. Then, the little boy tried to push her. Not gonna happen with mama bear around. I gently went over to the situation and removed Abby before anything happened. A few minutes later, Abby wanted to try to play with this little boy again, so she walked up to him and handed him her toy. What did he do? He took it and then yelled right in her face. It seriously scared her to death. She started crying- the kind of broken hearted cry that just kills me. So, I picked her up again, and we just left the balcony.

By this time, Micah's lesson is over, so I take him into the locker room and hastily inform him that he just needs to get dressed and forgo a shower because I have to be at a church function at 5:30 p.m. It is now 5:05 p.m . Micah didn't really like that because he enjoys taking a shower at the pool. I think the novelty is fun for him, and normally, I indulge him that. So, he's resisting, Abby is still tired and quite fussy, and quite frankly, I am exhausted. We rush home to find that Heath can't leave work at the expected time, which makes me totally late for the church function that I had been asked to help with. So, here I am trying to track down my friend to let her know that I can't be there to help her set up for this function. She was counting on me and I felt like the worst person ever to have to call her. Finally, Heath got home and I left for the function. Fortunately, for this day, the church function was great! It was actually a Young Women's event, but six of our Primary girls were involved because they will enter YW this year. It was truly a blessing to see them get excited about this important step in their lives.

Feeling a little better, I get home to.......kids still not in bed, kids fighting, and a bedroom wall written upon with a black Sharpie.

Seriously, is this the worst day ever or what?

Swimming

2011-01-29T15:19:00.002-07:00

Micah is taking swim lessons right now. It's been tons of fun for him, and for Abby and I watch. On Thursday, it was review day. All the kids were reviewing the things they had learned thus far. One of the things was to stand on the side of the pool and show correct diving form. They haven't actually learned to dive, they are just working on form right now. After they had shown the correct form, they were allowed to jump in the water. To be honest, Micah is a little advanced for this class. So, he decided that instead of jumping in, he was going to dive in. I could see it in his face, that this idea was going through his mind, and I wasn't sure how things would end up. So, when it was his turn, he stood up, showed perfect form, and then.....belly flopped. That "SPLAT" sound has never sounded so loud or painful than it did right then. But, Micah just got up, smiled, and clapped for the next kid. After the lesson was over, I asked him if his chest was okay. His reply, "It hurt really bad at first, but I didn't want to be a wimp, so I didn't cry."

I'm always proud of my little guy, but the fact that he "gets it". He gets that sometimes you have to be tough and not let the pain get to you. He's only five and probably way ahead of me in that game. :)

Abby's Dance Recital

2011-01-16T14:24:00.003-07:00

Ever since I can remember, I've dreamed of the day that I would have a little girl of my own who would dance in a dance recital. I danced when I was a child and loved it. I hoped that would be the case with my own daughter, so I put Abby in dance lessons in August. She has loved every minute of it.

Her very first dance recital was last week and she stole the show! She started off really paying attention to her teacher (who was standing in front of the stage so the girls could watch her do the moves), but about half way through the dance, she decided that it would be more fun to do a dance of her own creation. So, she finished the routine with something of her own creation. It was adorable!

Just before her dance began (her class was the second dance of the show), they turned the lights off so the audience couldn't see the kids going on and off the stage. As Abby's class was coming on, I heard her say, "I can't see my mommy!" I don't think she was too worried though, because when the curtains came up, she was in full Abby form.

Our beautiful little dancer.

One of Abby's favorite moves (which was choreographed by the teacher) was the one where they sit down and tap their heels on the floor. Anything that makes a lot of noise is fun for Abby.

Paying attention to Alexis (her teacher). Isn't that costume just the cutest?

After her dance was over, we were all laughing and clapping so hard. I even found myself crying. Just tears of happiness from a very proud mommy.

For the shows finale, all the dancer came out on stage for their finally bows. Abby was holding the hand of one of the assistants, when she noticed a little girl in her class, that was sitting at the front of the stage (her mom was trying to get her to go up on stage). Abby kept pointing to this little girl and looking at the assistant like, "Can't you see her? Aren't you going to get her?" After pointing and looking at her several times, Abby decided to take the matter into her own hands. So, she broke away and ran to this little girl. She tried to get the little girl to come with her, but the little girl wasn't having it. And then, Abby noticed that the curtains were closing, so she ran back to her class and spot on the stage, just as the curtains closed on the night.

Ahhhh...we love this girl!

Impromptu Tea Party

2011-01-10T17:31:00.004-07:00

I hate to admit it, but I was not a very good mom yesterday. I lacked patience and understanding, with Abby, completely. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, and felt extremely guilty. So, I vowed that today would be better and I would try to make up for it by making today a fun, happy day for Abby (and me).

Her bestie, Isabelle, was coming over today, so I told Abby that we could have a "Tea Party" with her. So, once Isabelle got here, the girls played while I prepared our little tea party. They were so excited to find out that not only were we going to eat fun things, but we were going to dress up in all of Abby's costume jewelry.

They were so excited. It was absolutely adorable to see them "get ready" for the tea party.

All dressed up and ready for the party.

Tea party sandwiches & cheese. This menu was customized to each girl's liking. Abby had turkey sandwiches, while Isabelle chose pb&j. When they ran out of cheese, they each asked for more. I went to the kitchen and brought them each a slice of cheese. Isabelle very sweetly asked, "Can we please have the heart cheese?"

Our apple flower. Couldn't quite think of anything cute or yellow for the center, so we settle for pepperoni.

They enjoyed their food quite a bit.

Ahhhh! It's quite cute to see these girls play together.

I had the girls pose for pictures. Abby in all her glory.

Strike a pose, Isabelle!

During the party, they discovered this fun game.

It went on...
and on and on...... until we stopped to tell Princess stories.

Our story was all about how Princess Abby and Princess Isabelle were playing in the royal parlor when a fire-breathing dragon stole them. They were being kept in the dragon's dungeon until Prince Micah came to their rescue and returned them safely, to the royal parlor where they played with their beautiful babies and lived happily ever after.

Yes, today was a much better day. :)

Micah's New Year's Eve Party

2011-01-05T14:27:00.002-07:00

Micah has been dying to have a party lately, so we decided to have a New Year's Eve Eve Party. Normally, I would make invitations for a party and let Micah deliver them, but this was a bit last minute, so I just called all the mom's of the little boys in town and invited them over. Micah was very specific that this party should be a pajama party, be only for boys, have donuts, and that it must be at night so they could "stay up late". I tried to be as accommodating as possible. :)

Noah, Fischer, James, Brock, Micah, Treddon all dressed up in their cute jammies.

Micah graciously agreed to let Abby come to the party. While there, she developed a bit of a crush on Jake. She did not leave his side all night. She even kissed him! Jake was a very good sport and just kind of went along with it.

Since this party was held at night (6-8:00 p.m.), the basement was dark, so we turned it into a "real" movie theater. We watched, "Despicable Me", which also happens to be one of our family's new favorite movies.

To fulfil Micah's requests, we had pizza, Capri Sun, and donuts. This boys can really eat! By the end of the night they had finished off 7 pizzas, 2 1/2 boxes of Capri Sun, and 2 dozen donuts.

These boys are great kids. Micah is very lucky to have so many kids to play with.

The whole group.

I love throwing parties for my kids! Next up, Abby's pink party. She's been asking for this one ever since her birthday party, in October. We'll do it in February. Seems appropriate. :)

My Baby is in Preschool

2011-01-04T20:58:00.002-07:00

Abby started preschool today. She was so excited and asked several times when it was time for "my cool". She did great too! She was a bit nervous when I left, but Mrs. Stephanie said she warmed up in no time and fit right in. She said that Abby followed directions really well and made friends very quickly. I am so excited for this new adventure in Abby's life, but I would be lying if I said it didn't choke me up a bit. She is my baby and the last one to do these things. I guess I just got a first (Micah) and a last (Abby), no in-between to get used to.

Abby picked out what she wanted to wear. We keep her "good" clothes in the closet and she knew, without me telling her, that that was where her school clothes would be. Doesn't she look cute?

I took her shopping this past weekend, for a new backpack. Every kid needs a backpack when they start any sort of school. At first, Abby picked a giant, yellow, Spongebob backpack. I was freaking out a little about that. Then, she saw this one and was trying to decide between the two. I was so relieved when she chose this one. It's adorable and unique.

Here is Abby with her teacher, Mrs. Stephanie. She's great! Micah went to this preschool when he was 3 too. Abby got a little nervous when I turned her over to Stephanie, but by the time I picked her up (2 hours later), she was hugging Stephanie and telling her, "I see you ater". Preschool wiped her out though, because less than a minute into our drive home, she zonked out in the car.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

2011-01-03T08:29:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was the first Sunday in January, which meant a new Primary class for Micah and Abby coming into Primary officially. She was really excited to be a Sunbeam. So, on our way out the door, I snapped these pics.

As you can see, Micah wasn't quite as excited about having his picture taken. He warmed up though. And yes, we still have our Christmas tree up. :)

Seriously, could they be any cuter?

Abby insisted on telling Micah "somsing". Micah said it was a secret.

Neither of them would tell me what it was.

It must have been a good secret, because this hug is what happened right after.

Primary was a bit chaotic, with the transition to new teachers and new classrooms, but it went better than I had expected. Micah was great! He gets reverence and tries really hard. Abby on the other hand, well, that will unboubtedly be a work in progress. :)

Recent Funnies from Micah & Abby

2011-01-01T21:48:00.004-07:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. Life has just been busy, but I vow to do better with my blog. I really do enjoy having a record of the things my kids do and say.

Micah and Abby are growing like crazy and they say the funniest things. Yesterday, we took the kids to lunch at "Red Robin". As we were eating, I noticed that Abby's shirt was wet. I said, "Abby, how did your shirt get wet?" She just looked at me and said, "Oh! The water did it." Duh, mom. :)

Micah is a quiet kid, but make no mistake, he likes to be the one in charge. The other day, he reinforced that when he said to me, "Mom, I like being in charge." I said, "What do you like to be in charge of?" I was expecting him to say something like, "picking out the movie", or "which shirt I wear", or "what game to play", etc., but he surprised me with his answer. So, what does Micah like to be in charge of? "The things Abby does." That's a direct quote. :)

Micah is also super sweet. Last night, he and I were laying on the couch, watching, "Santa Buddies". Out of nowhere, he asked, "Mom, who is your best friend?" I said, "I have three best friends- you, Abby, and Daddy." He said, "No. I mean, who do you like to play with?" I explained to him that if I could play with anyone in the world, it would still be him, Abby, and daddy. I then turned the question on him and asked, "Who is your best friend? Who is the person you like to be around the most?" He replied, "You." The kid melts my heart.

My kids are the best! I count myself blessed on a daily basis. :)

UPDATE: I forgot one.

A few weeks ago, Heath took Micah to the store. It took Heath by surprise when he realized that Micah had been filling the shopping cart with snack items he wanted. When Heath asked him about it, Micah said, "How about you buy your stuff and I'll use my own money for my stuff?" So, when the time came to pay, did Micah pony up? "Oh no! I forgot! I left my money at home," were his exact words. Uncle Jeremy is famous for that very same trick. Kid learns fast. :)

Made My Day- No, Made My Life!

2010-09-19T22:04:00.004-06:00

This is a conversation Micah and I had tonight.

"Mom, I love someone."

"That's great, Micah. How do you know that you love someone?"

"I just know, because it's you!"

After giving him a gigantic hug, telling him that I love him too, kissing him and tucking him in, I left, only to break down crying. My tears were tears of joy, tears of appreciation, and tears of... that feeling that you only feel by being a mom.

I love you too, Micah.

Micah's Back-to-School Party

2010-09-14T15:59:00.003-06:00

Micah had a "Back-to-School" party the day before school started. He invited all the kids his age, plus a couple of kids that were older and younger, that he has played with for years. We tried to set things up as if we were at a movie theater. I closed the blinds, turned off the light, and fixed a bunch of movie theater type food.

The whole gang.

With this many kids, you would think it would have been total chaos. It wasn't. The kids were soooooo good and took the movie theater concept very seriously. When Abby got a little too noisy, they promptly asked that she be removed from the party.

We had candy, Capri Sun, popcorn, and pizza. I cooked 5 pizzas and we did not have one scrap left. Five-year-olds can really put it away. :)

We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". It was so cute to see the kids following the storyline so well and laughing in all the right places. :)

I've thrown many parties for my kids and this was probably the funnest, easiest one so far. The kids were great and cute as can be. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic summer and the perfect beginning to a new chapter in most of these kids' lives.

Some "Firsts" for Abby

2010-09-07T11:49:00.002-06:00

Abby has really missed having Micah at home during the day. She wanders around, checking his room, to see if he has magically returned since the last time she checked. To fill her time, I put her in a dance class and a Waterford computer class.

Here is Abby all dressed up and ready for her first day of dance class. She could not wait to get there. She was literally bouncing off the walls, she was so excited.

Abby picked this leotard all by herself. When she saw this one, she knew it was the one. She twirled around in it so many times, she actually fell down from being so dizzy.

Abby is very social. So, first thing she did when we got to class, was go introduce herself to a new friend. This little girl's leotard had a pretty, sparkly heart on the front of it. Abby admired it.

The teacher handed out a dance schedule. Abby is studying it hard. She doesn't want to miss a thing.

Here she is giving me that look, like, "Oh mom! Would you just leave already?"

And here is Abby just before we left for the computer class. I've been telling her that we are going to "her school". She was so excited and kept telling me that she is "big" now.

It's so true too. Abby is getting so big. She can do so many things and definitely has her own opinions. She is happy, loving, a social butterfly, and tons of fun to be around. She can he feisty and even naughty at times, but we love her so much and wouldn't change anything about her.

Scary Experience

2010-09-05T17:23:00.002-06:00

Last night, we were in Saratoga Springs for my nephews 2nd birthday. While we were there, Micah learned to ride a bike w/o training wheels. He was so excited and took off riding it. As he rode down the sidewalk, the sidewalk became steeper and steeper, and he started to go faster and faster. I could see that he didn't know what to do to stop himself and that he was panicking. I didn't know what to do myself, so I started running down the sidewalk after him. All I could do was run and say a silent prayer, asking for that he wipe-out in the vacant field off to the left of the sidewalk, other than keep going and hit a mailbox or a car. As Micah was screaming, I was running behind him, as fast as I could go. Just then, his bike slipped out from under him and threw him into the vacant field. He landed right in a giant bush. When I got to him, he was screaming, mostly because he was scared. His right leg was twisted a bit, and Micah said that he thought his ankle was broken. So, I proceeded cautiously as I removed him from the bush. Quickly, I could see that his ankle was not broken. In fact, there was very minimal blood (mainly from scratches). The only real injury was that his little legs were covered in small, super fine, thorns. Once I removed them, they didn't even leave a mark.

After things had calmed down from the excitement of this situation, I sat on the grass and realized just how lucky we were. Micah could have easily been seriously hurt, but he wasn't. He was watched over last night by someone much more powerful than me. :)

More Pics from Micah's First Day

2010-09-01T20:34:00.003-06:00

Here are some more pictures of Micah's first day of Kindergarten. I forgot my camera (who does that on the very first day), so I had to take my pictures with my phone. My friend, Melissa was kind enough to share her photos with me.

Miss Mook's class

Micah tends to put his fingers in his mouth when he gets nervous.

Micah, Levi, Caden. All three of these adorable boys are in Miss Mook's class. It's so fun to have your neighbors as classmates.

It makes me want to cry all over, to see him so nervous.

Micah's super cool backpack. He LOVES this thing.

Thanks, grandma!

When I picked Micah up from school, I got to talk to his teacher for a quick minute. I asked her how Micah had done and she said, "He was an angel."

Yeah, day #1 is down and it was a success.

Micah's 1st Day of Kindergarten

2010-09-01T10:46:00.005-06:00

Micah started school today. He was so excited! He got right out of bed this morning, picked out his clothes, and was ready to leave before I was even dressed. He is ready to be a "big kid" and wanted to ride his scooter to school by himself. Unfortunately, mom has to tag along. :)

Here he is, all dressed up and ready to go.

I can not believe my baby is in school. He's ready. I'm not. :)

This is Miss Mook. Micah was so excited to be in her class. She has a strong science background and believes in incorporating that into the Kindergarten classroom. Micah wants to be a "Scientist" when he grows up, so I think she is the perfect teacher for him.

This is where Micah will be sitting.

His locker. He loves his new backpack. It's the silver, black, and lime green one. He thought it was cool that his locker is right next to his friend, Levi.

Micah's cubby.

Micah's classroom. Doesn't it look like a fun place to be?

The kids line up, outside their classroom in the morning. Here is Miss Mook putting Micah's name sticker on him.

All line up and ready to go.

I was so impressed with Miss Mook this morning. She handled the kids (and parents) so well. I'm not sure I would want a gazillion parents watching me on the first day of work. But, she was prepared, kind, and oh so patient.

Micah handled things really well until it was time to leave the classroom and go visit the lunchroom. For some reason, that made him nervous, and instead of getting in line, he ran over to me and clinged to my leg. He kept saying, "I want to go with you" over and over. It was breaking my heart to see him that nervous about something. I reassured him (several times) and finally got him back in the line. As they left the classroom, I took that as my cue to exit. So, as Micah faded into the hallway, I left.

Fortunately, I ran into one of my friends (who was dropping her son off in another classroom), so I walked home with her. It was a good thing, because I was choking back the tears the whole way. As soon as I left her house, the tears started coming. I keep thinking of Micah and hoping he is okay. I keep hoping he feels more comfortable and that he will open up so Miss Mook and all the other kids can see what a wonderful kid he is. I know he will, I just hope it happens soon.

I can't quite figure out why this is such an emotional experience for me. I guess it's just the realization that he's not my little guy any more. He's growing up and it has happened so fast. In five short years he has grown into such a sweet, kind, handsome, smart, active, curious boy. No longer is he the baby that needed to hold my hand each step of the way. This is a step he has to take on his own. I can't be there with him, but you can bet, I will be there waiting to hear all about it.

Can't wait....

Missing Jared

2010-08-21T15:50:00.003-06:00

Last weekend was the one-year anniversary of Jared's death. We went to Rexburg to be with Heath's mom and Jared's girlfriend, Stephanie. Stephanie brought Jared's dog, Bubba with her. It was so fun to see him. We hadn't seen him since he was a brand new puppy, and now he is huge!

This is Jared's headstone. I took Micah and Abby there. Micah remembers Jared very well. He remembers spending time with him and he remembers how great Jared was with him.

Even though Jared isn't with us, we still think of him often and miss him so much. We love you, Jared!

Quick Funny

2010-08-19T11:09:00.002-06:00

The past few days, Micah and Abby have been playing so well together. It's been super cute. Yesterday, they asked if they could jump on the trampoline with the sprinklers on underneath it. I told them to go put their swimsuits on while I set up the sprinklers. When they came outside, Micah had a lime green, silver, white and black swim shirt on, with red, blue, orange, and yellow Lightning McQueen swim trunks. It was quite the ensemble, so I told him to go change because he didn't match. I could tell this didn't sit well with him. He just kind of looked at me all disgusted like and said, "Only girls care if they match."

Enough said. :)

Happy Birthday, Valerie!

2010-08-07T18:26:00.003-06:00

Today would be my sister's 34th birthday. I still miss her like crazy. Last night, I was thinking that if Valerie were here right now, I'm sure she would have a family of her own and our kids would play together. I'm sure Valerie would still be running- probably marathon's. I'm sure she would be a college graduate, but probably a stay-at-home mom. She would be a wonderful mother. I am sure of that. She would probably be involved in church leadership, community service, and just making a great life for her family. Plus, I know she and I would be having tons of fun. We had lots of plans for things that sisters do together. That's probably what I miss the most. When my friends tell me about the things they do with their sisters, I have to admit, that I do get a bit sad, and although I try to fight it, I get a bit jealous too.

I remember one time, it was actually my birthday, probably my 14th or 15th. Valerie gave me a travel size bottle of Jergen's lotion. I always thought that was sweet because she was only 10 at the time, and didn't have any money of her own. But, she found a way to get me something. That's how she was. She always looked for ways to make other people happy.

The week before Valerie died, she came to Provo and we spent the day together doing some Christmas shopping. We had so much fun! We laughed constantly and just really enjoyed the day. I remember when it was time for her to leave, I thought how great it was going to be when she started college the next year, and we were in the same place again. That was not to be, and to this day, I believe that Heavenly Father gave us that day so I would always have that memory. The memory of my little sister.

I still miss her so much. I wish she was here to get to know my kids. Abby's full name is "Abigail Valerie". She looks a lot like Valerie too. But, I know we will be with her again. That I know, just as sure as I know of my love for my own children. I guess for her birthday this year, I will remember what a blessing the Plan of Salvation is and how grateful I am to know that even though Valerie is not here with us, she is a huge part of our family, and always will be.

I love you, Valerie! Happy Birthday!

"I Want To"

2010-07-16T12:40:00.002-06:00

Last night, we took the kids to Trafalga to do some miniature golfing. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a good time just doing their own thing. They didn't really like it when we tried to show them how to hold the golf club correctly or when we tried to keep score, so we basically just let them do it their way. After about the 10th hole though, Abby started to tire of golf. She was wandering and exploring things a bit too much, so I had to stop her and let her know that she could still do what she wanted, as long as it was within the boundaries of the hole we were on at the time. Abby agreed to those rules and then proceeded over to the lights that lined the hole. She kept pulling them down and then put her face up to them. Curious, I walked closer to see what exactly she was doing. When I got to where I could see her clearly, but without her knowing I was spying on her, I realized that she was using the light as a microphone and was singing into it. Her song went something like this, "I want to! I want to! I want to....."

No one has or ever will accuse Abby of not knowing what she wants. :)

4th of July & Poor Abby

2010-07-08T16:20:00.002-06:00

We always go to my hometown, Annabella, Utah for the 4th of July. It's a small town with a big-time 4th of July celebration. This year though, it was proving to be difficult for everyone to get down there, so we decided to stay here and see what Provo has to offer.

We got up super early and headed over to my cousin's house to watch the parade. We have lived in Provo for almost 6 years, and I did not know that the 4th of July parade here is the largest in the nation. We had great seats, and the kids enjoyed it. I asked Micah which one he liked best and he said, "The one at MaMa and PaPA's house." When I asked him why, his reply did not surprise me, "Because they throw lots of candy there."

After the parade, we had breakfast with about 45 relatives on my dad's side of the family. Lynda made some of the best scrambled eggs I have ever tasted. Not sure what she did to them, other than tons of fresh herbs, but they were to-die-for. :)

After breakfast we took the kids to the park. They got super excited about the bounce houses. After watching Abby "almost" get trampled by bigger kids one too many times, we decided to end that part of our day early. So, we headed to McDonald's and ate lunch while Micah and Abby played on the Play Land.

To end the day, we headed to the Gateway to meet more cousins and play in the fountains. To say Micah loved it would be an understatement. He ran around, splashed, jumped, to his little hearts content. Abby was a bit more restrained in her enthusiasm. She held back and just ventured in when the fountains were low. It was tons of fun though and we all returned home exhausted.

This is the only picture I got of the entire day. I had my camera with me, but wasn't able to snap any shots.

Abby has been sick the last couple weeks. She's been coughing on and off, had a runny nose, and had a fever a few nights in a row. We actually thought she had a UTI, but the symptoms went away, so we thought she was fine. Last night, she woke up screaming in pain. This morning, she was still in pain so I took her to the doctor. Come to find out, she had a severe ear infection and her ear drum had ruptured. No sign of that, so I was pretty surprised. To make it worse, yesterday, she reached up and touched the hot stove with her bare hand and burned all of her little fingers. So, the poor girl has been laying on the couch, or my lap, all day long with a sore ear and fingers wrapped up in gauze.

There is nothing worse as a mom knowing that you missed the signs of an ear infection, which led to a rupture, and didn't protect your child from a hot stove. Mother of the Year award potential, I am not.

Abby's Swim Party

2010-06-30T12:20:00.005-06:00

Micah has a friend over every single day. Most of the time, he is really good about letting Abby follow him and his friends around. I've been feeling extremely guilty though because Abby doesn't seem to have formed the same kinds of friendships that Micah had formed at this age. I think, in large part, it's just because we are so busy going from one thing to the next, and usually, Abby just gets taken along for the ride. So, I decided it was time for Abby to have her own party, with little girls her own age. We decided we would do a swim party. There are only three girls her age, so we made invitations and invited them to come over for a water party.

Let's just say, it was less than successful. :)

Here are Micah and Abby before the party started. High hopes.

Micah showing Abby how the Slip-n-Slide is done.

Abby, Micah, Riley

We had pb & j sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, cheese sticks, watermelon, and baby carrots for lunch. Isabelle was the only one that ate. Abby threw a fit because all she wanted was dessert- popsicles. When I wouldn't give her a popsicle, she threw a fit, which pretty much lasted the duration of the party (which was only a little over an hour).

Riley didn't like the Slip-n-Slide. In fact, no one did.

This is probably the one time that Abby was happy.

Isabelle and her mom were troopers. They tried to make the best of it and have fun despite the fact that no one seemed to like the pool or the Slip-n-Slide.

I had put together little goody bags with funky sunglasses and bubbles, that were meant to be given out at the end of the party, but in a desperate attempt to save the party from complete and utter failure, I pulled them out a bit early. It worked! For about 15 minutes, the kids played, somewhat interacted, and Abby stopped her fit. That only lasted until I told Abby she could not have another bottle of bubbles (she had already just dumped out three entire bottles), and she resumed the crying, fit throwing, no-matter-what-you-do-you-can't-make-me-happy behavior. Let's just say, the party ended pretty quickly thereafter. :)

I guess you win some and you lose some. Will it stop me from having more parties? Absolutely not! We love friends and we love having fun, so we will keep on keeping on.

Abby's Stolen Bike

2010-06-29T01:15:00.001-06:00

My brother captured this cute little video the other night when he and his friend were watching Abby. That's my little girl!

Our Little Munchkin

2010-06-12T18:46:00.002-06:00

Abby is known as "Munchkin" at our house. Not quite sure why, but the nickname has stuck. She is sweet, oh so feisty, dramatic, loving, full of energy, silly, smart as a whip, and an angel in our lives. Here are some pics of the things Abby does, on a daily basis, that bless our lives.

Abby loves to eat. Anything. Especially sweets. Here she is with chocolate cupcake all over herself. Let's just say she really knows how to enjoy her food.

Abby loves to play outside. If it's the slightest bit windy though, she insists on wearing a winter hat. Once she has it on, she runs back outside. I've tried to convince her that she doesn't need it, but changing her mind, is like changing the weather. :)

Abby fell asleep eating lunch the other day. So cute!

Abby is very sweet and is always bringing me flowers. I apologize to any neighbors that may have pink flowers in their yards, as I am having a hard time keeping her away from them. I tell her that she can pick all the yellow ones (Dandelions) she wants, but she has to leave the pink ones alone.

Best Day Ever

2010-06-11T11:35:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday, Micah spent most of the day at his friend, Noah's house. Noah's extremely nice mother took them to Mickey Dee's and the park. When Micah got home later that day, I asked him how his day was. His reply? "It was the best day ever!"

Yesterday, Micah had his friend Brock over. Brock is a friend Micah met in preschool and this was the first time they had gotten to have a play day together. After several hours of playing Wii and jumping on the trampoline, it was time for Brock to go home. Micah was sad about Brock leaving and I said, "Did you just have so much fun?" Micah replied, "It was the best day ever!" Jokingly, I said, "I thought you had the best day ever the other day." Micah's response? "Oh yeah, today was the other best day ever!"

Preschool

2010-06-03T17:39:00.005-06:00

Micah's last day of preschool was last Wednesday. It was a sad day for him. He has LOVED every minute of his school. He is sad that he won't get to ride the bus anymore. He is sad that he won't get to see his friends anymore. And most of all, he is sad that he won't get to see Mrs. Jo anymore.

Micah & Mrs. Jo. He adores her. I promised him we will visit her this summer.

/ Nichelle. She is one of the helpers in Micah's class. She was so cute about helping Micah find bugs out on the playground.

Ms. Marie. She was just like a grandma to Micah. She was the one Micah would go to when he needed TLC.

Sheila. She was Micah's SLP. She was incredible and made so much progress with Micah. We're lucky because this summer, she will be working with Abby. Micah can't wait to see her again soon.

For their "End of Year" program/party, each child got to show a page from the scrapbook they had worked on all year. Micah chose to show the "P" page. Getting up in front of everyone is incredibly hard for Micah, but he did it! I was so proud of him. I could see his little lips quivering and he covered his little eyes, but he did it! Way to go, Micah!

They played tambourines as they sang one of their favorite songs. Micah was not thrilled at all the eyes there. I tried to tell him that the other parents were only watching their children, and not him, but he didn't buy it.

Micah, Brock, Colton. Their friendship earned them the nickname, "The Three Amigos".

Micah had such a great experience at his preschool. We will never forget his teachers and the positive influence they had on Micah. He loves school and can not wait to start Kindergarten.

I, on the other hand, am so not ready for Micah to be old enough to go to Kindergarten. He is still my little boy. He still likes to snuggle up close when he is tired or sad. He still gives me the best hugs and kisses. He still tells me that he knows I love him because "I made you a mom".

I know, I know, he's not graduating, he's just going to Kindergarten. But, it's a big step for both Micah and me.

How Does Micah Feel about T-Ball?

2010-06-01T16:50:00.007-06:00

This picture says it all....

He could care less. :)

Playing catcher. Um Micah, I think you should be facing the other direction. :)

Playing first base (or stomping out the dirt clods).

Casually running the bases. Did I mention that Micah has been passed up by the runner behind him, twice? He really is in no hurry to get around the bases. :)

Scoring! Love that helmet!

Almost! How could he possibly hit the ball, when he can't even see it?

Coach Cody has some amazing patience.

Some of Micah's fellow teammates. Having good friends on his team makes it all worth while for him.

A parting shot. Micah playing first base. :)

Tomorrow is game #4.
Micah can't wait...

because it's his turn to bring treats. :)

I love my litte guy!

Micah Wants to Be a Doctor When He Grows Up

2010-05-18T17:45:00.002-06:00

Micah wiped out pretty good on his scooter last week. He was about 10 yards in front of me when it happened. When I got up to him, he said he had "smashed" his finger. When he showed it to me, the nail was already black about half way up. As the next few days went by, his fingernail got completely black and blue, and was quite swollen. It looked like the blood was building up underneath the nail. Micah didn't complain, but I noticed that he was favoring that finger quite a bit. By Saturday, his finger looked like it was ready to fall off. So, I took him over to my neighbor, who is a nurse, and asked her to look at it. She looked it over and felt it would be best to take him to the doctor. So, off we went to InstaCare on a Saturday afternoon.

To make a long story short, the doctor was the cutest little man ever and had an amazing bed-side manner. He spoke to Micah in terms that his little 5-year-old mind could comprehend and was able to poke a hole in his nail to allow the blood to escape. Micah was absolutely fascinated by the tool the doctor used. It looked like a big pen. The tip was very fine and heated up enough to burn a hole right into his fingernail. Micah was so intrigued with the tool that he forgot to notice that he was bleeding all over. We finished the visit with the doctor telling Micah how cool it was the he could ride his scooter so well and not to worry when his fingernail fell off because that was just a sign of a little boy who is really tough.

As we walked to the car, Micah told me that he wanted to be a "real doctor too." I said, "That would be great, Micah. I think you would be a wonderful doctor. Doctor's help a lot of people." His reply? "Yeah, I want to make holes in people's fingers."

Not quite sure how to feel about that. :)

Micah's First T-Ball Game

2010-05-08T12:36:00.003-06:00

Micah had his first T-Ball game today. He was awesome! I didn't get any pictures though because I was trying to keep Abby off the playing field and keep the players lined up and ready for their turns at bat. But, Micah was great and better yet, he had a ball (literally)!

Micah actually hit a home run his first time at bat. He was the last batter on his team and little did we know, but the last batter always gets a home run. They let all the kids bat and run all the bases. That's a great rule for these sweet little kids that are just learning the game. Micah was so proud of himself and had the biggest smile on his face as he ran home.

Micah also had the play of the day when he was in the field. He was playing "pitcher" and when a ball was hit right to him, he stopped it and picked it up. The coach and all the parents in the stands were yelling, "Go to first! Go to first!" So, Micah promptly put the ball on the ground and ran to first base. He and his teammate (who was actually playing first base), stood there with the runner from the other team, having absolutely no clue as to how funny this play truly was. I guess next time, we need to be more specific in our instructions. :)

Way to go, Micah! Go Bees!

Made my Day!

2010-05-06T14:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, when Micah got off the bus, he ran in the house, and anxiously pulled this out of his backpack. He handed it to me, with a HUGE smile on his face, and said, "This is for you, mom! I made it all by mydelps.'" (He can't say "myself" correctly. :) He then said, "this spells 'Mom'', as he pointed to the word he had written at the top of the card.

This little card completely made my day. I could not have received a more beautiful Mother's Day gift.

Aren't I a lucky mom?

Uncle Beau's Graduation

2010-05-04T08:35:00.005-06:00

Uncle Beau (my little brother) graduated from BYU last week. His degree is in Information Systems and in August, he will be moving to Chicago to work for Kellogg's. We will miss him, but it's a great opportunity. I truly believe that someday, Beau will be the President of Kellogg's.

Proud parents of another BYU graduate. Go Cougars!

Beau, with the Dean of the business school.

Perspective shot

Heath, me, my dad, Beau, my mom, Cory, Danae

We all went to Tucanos before the graduation and feasted. It was a nice way to celebrate Beau's accomplishment and get to chat with family and good friends.

The Dunn men

We are so proud of you, Beau!

Happy Birthday, Micah!

2010-04-24T22:31:00.020-06:00

It was Micah's 5th birthday last week (April 15th). Can I just say that time has flown by so quickly? I really can not believe my little boy is 5-years-old. I honestly can't even remember what life was like before Micah existed.

The whole week leading up to Micah's birthday, he would wake up each morning and ask me is he was five yet. When Thursday finally arrived, he could not wait to get to school because he knew that I was bringing treats to his class that day. He was so excited to share his cookies and Capri Sun's with all his friends at preschool. Plus, his class has a tradition where the mother of the birthday child comes in and reads the entire class, the birthday child's favorite book. Micah picked a really cool book all about sea creatures.

Here is Micah the morning of his birthday. He's all dressed up in his new birthday clothes. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of his little party with his preschool class. It was too hard trying to put together treats, read, and chat with his teachers. But, it was so fun and Micah loved every second of it. When it was time to pass out the cookies, Micah came up to me and said, "Do we each get three or four?" I said, "I think one will be enough." I could tell he didn't really like that answer, but he obliged and only put one cookie on each child's napkin. That was until he got to his own napkin. He then proceeded to put two cookies on his spot. :)

That night, we had a small family party. It was Pirate themed, so I sent the kids on a little treasure hunt. Here are Abby and Colston filling their bags full of pirate goodies (well, just gold coins, candy and suckers).

They all had a blast!

Our sweet little Abby had a great time!

Colston really enjoyed his sucker. I wasn't thinking too clearly when I organized the treasure hunt, because I did it before dinner. The kids weren't too hungry when it came time to eat dinner.

Micah really wanted a Wii for his birthday. So, we got him one and Heath set it up on the tv downstairs. We told everyone that it was time to open presents, so we headed downstairs. Micah was so excited when he saw the Wii menu on the tv. He looked at me and exclaimed, "Mom, I got a Wii!"

"Rock Band"

Practicing his moves for "Guitar Hero".

Micah got "Mack" from the "Cars" movie from Uncle Cory, Aunt Danae, Zoey & Colston. He was so excited! That was something he has wanted for a long time.

A Razor scooter from grandma & grandpa.

A Bumblebee Transformer. Apparently, he is the "coolest" Transformer. :)

Water guns from Abby. Right after he opened these, he informed Abby that he was "going to get you really wet".

A "How to Train Your Dragon" play set from uncle Beau.

Games fro the Wii. Thanks grandma & grandpa!

Micah, the mighty dragon slayer!

Aunt Danae

Uncle Beau

Grandpa & Grandma

Uncle Cory

Proud mommy, of an AMAZING 5-year-old boy!

Funny story about this cake. I was originally going to just do cup cakes for the party, but we went to McDonald's earlier in the day, and Beau knew the Manager there. He told him it was Micah's birthday and the next thing we knew, he brought us an entire cake. Micah thought it was the coolest thing ever. None of us are huge cake fans, but this was a really good cake.

Zoey, waiting for some yummy cake.

Daddy led us in singing, "Happy Birthday", to the excited birthday boy.

Micah's wish is sure to come true, because he got the candle out in one try. :)

I'm not sure if they ate more, or played in more, of their cake and ice cream. :)

Here are Micah and Abby, all dressed up and ready to go to Micah's friend birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Micah and his good friend, Micah.

Abby had a lot of fun because there were things that she could play on too.

Micah, Micah, and Jake.

Levi

Kara & Noah

The whole bunch. They were all so good.

Abby, dancing to the music.

She even got Colston to dance with her.

The birthday boy! He thought this crown was so cool. He still wears it everyday. :)

Blowing out the candles! He did it again! I asked him what he wished for and he said, "For the real Chuck-E Cheese to come to my party".

His wish came true. :)

Dancing with Chuck-E-Cheese.

Micah could not have been happier that the "real" Chuck-E was there.

Abby really wanted to be the birthday girl. :)

Micah's favorite kind of cake- chocolate with chocolate icing.

Caden, Treddon, Noah

Kara & James

Levi

Zoey, Aunt Danae, and Grandma

Jake and the other Micah.

An awesome "Cars" truck! Thanks, Levi!

Hot Wheels that change color in different water temperatures. These are Micah's new favorite bath toys. Thanks, Jake!

A new watch and a cool poster that Micah got to color himself. Thanks, Kara!

A sweet Hot Wheels motorcycle. Thanks, Caden!

A full on water gun assault weapon. Thanks, Treddon!

A super cool Iron Man dart gun. Thanks, Micah!

Way fun water guns! Thanks, James!

A super fun Crayon Town coloring project. Abby is super jealous of this one. Fortunately, Micah has been nice and lets her color with him when we get it out. Thanks, Noah!

All in all, Micah had a GREAT 5th birthday!

I hope he knows how much we love him. Our lives have been extremely blessed because of Micah. He taught me how to be a mom, and unfortunately, I've made mistakes, but he is resiliant and so forgiving. He is a sweetheart, a great big brother, loving, kind, generous, active, so smart, a good friend, and most of all, my little boy, who I will love forever.

Happy Birthday, Micah!

Beautiful

2010-04-13T09:54:00.002-06:00

Abby insisted on painting her nails by herself yesterday. Can't you just see how beautiful she feels?

Needless to say, she was very upset when I had to wash it off.

Puppets

2010-04-08T21:11:00.002-06:00

Tonight, we made puppets. Micah has been wanting to for awhile now. Here are our family works of art. I'm sure we'll be playing with these things for hours and hours and hours tomorrow.

A vampire. This was our first puppet. When we sat down to work on our puppets, Micah knew exactly what he wanted to do. I started it, and he added the details like the buttons, arms and teeth. He is so proud of this.

A Wild Thing. It started out as a monster and then when we made the horns, Micah thought it looked just like one of the Wild Things from the book, "Where the Wild Things Are".

A bug. I thought it was quite creative of Micah to make one that stands up.

A butterfly. Abby added the beautiful color to the face and body, while Micah decorated the wings.

A clown. I had much greater expectations for this one, in my mind. The curls on top just didn't turn out right. Nor did the hat. Oh well, Micah and Abby think it's great. :)

Charlotte, from "Charlotte's Web". This is the one daddy made. I'm not going to tell him it looks more like a dead spider. :)

Abby didn't like just being a contributor to the puppet making project. She wanted to make her own. She did not want anything to do with the glue, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, or colored paper. She just wanted to color to her little heart's content with the markers (things she normally does not get to use).

Puppet making is not something we have ever done together, but we all had a blast doing it. Next up, a puppet show! Stay tuned....

Science Palooza

2010-04-05T22:30:00.009-06:00

I took Micah to the Science Palooza a few weeks ago. Apparently, it's a big event and is held every year. We didn't know about it until this year though. It a blast, so we will definitely be attending every year.

Science stuff is right up Micah's alley. He loves experiments and learning. His preschool teacher even calls him, "The Little Scientist".

This is Micah in front of the building where the Science Palooza was held. He got so excited when he saw this giant air sack. He just knew that great things were in store for him that day.

This experiment was called "Screaming Balloon". You put a washer in a balloon, blew it up, and then if you held it just right, and wiggled it, it would scream. Micah thought it was great and only popped three balloons in the process. :)

I know this isn't a very good picture, but you can see how much fun Micah is having.

The electricity ball didn't really work on Micah's hair. It was crazy though to see some of the little girls that had long hair. Their hair literally stood on end.

Making Root Beer

This was Micah's favorite spot. We actually ended up making Root Beer twice. :)

The Mad Scientist show. Micah wanted to know if he was a "real" mad scientist.

Making homemade bubbles.

The only thing better than making bubbles, is getting to blow them. :)

Micah LOVES rocks, so imaging his excitement when we found an entire table of them.

He was absolutely fascinated. He and this sweet, BYU student, had a conversation about each and every rock. She was very patient and explained to Micah where each rock was found, what it's name was, how it was formed, etc. I actually think she liked that he was so interested.

Micah loved the rocks so much, he asked if he could take this one home.

There was an entire room dedicated to learning about "Our Bodies in Motion".

Micah had a blast running up and down, around, up and over, inside and out....

Not sure how he did it, but he was able to balance this ring all by himself. He was the only kid in there that could do it.

He loved this tunnel. He crawled through it at least 10 times.

Probably his favorite part of the room was this ramp. He especially loved rolling down it. He got good use out of it and even tried his own experiment with it. He tried to roll up it. He quickly figured out that it doesn't work as easily and rolling down.

There were so many more experiments, but my camera died. We will definitely visit the Science Palooza again next year. In fact, we drove by the building today, and Micah reminded me that I told him we could go next year. I'm sure he will remind me frequently too. :)

Fun-filled Easter Weekend

2010-04-05T12:52:00.012-06:00

Wow! Did we ever have a fun-filled, busy Easter weekend. It actually started on Thursday, when Gammy came to town. She is out on Spring Break and we were so excited she spent her vacation with us. Since Gammy was in town, and would not be able to be with us on Micah's birthday (4/15), we decided to have an early "pretend" birthday party.

We got balloons and Gammy brought Micah some awesome birthday gifts.

We asked Micah what he wanted to do for his "pretend" birthday party and he said, "Eat pizza, color eggs, and make puppets."

Gammy got Micah a super cool play-doh set. It has a pocket-knife thing that allows you to cut the dough in all sorts of fun shapes, a spaghetti maker, scissors, and tons of cool shape cutters. Micah and Abby have played with this thing non-stop.

Abby was so excited to help with the gift opening.

Micah also got a gorilla and a dinosaur. They really walk and make neat noises, just like the real things.

In addition to the play-doh, gorilla and dinosaur, Micah got the cute orange shirt he is wearing, and a pair of jean shorts.

I call this picture, "Present Envy."

Ahhhh..... Abby finally got to play. :)

After presents, we colored Easter eggs. The shirts definitely had to come off for this activity.

The finished products! I boiled 2 dozen eggs, thinking that would be plenty. Next year, I'll do twice that many. Micah and Abby had a blast and would have colored for hours, had we had more eggs.

Gammy let Micah pick out what he wanted for his "pretend" birthday cake. He chose some cute purple and pink cupcakes with dinosaurs on top.

He couldn't wait to blow out the candles.

Abby certainly enjoyed the cupcakes. She likes anything pink right now, so of course, she dug right into a pink one.

Micah enjoyed a purple one.

He thought it was so funny that he got icing on his tummy.

We ended up playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" instead of making puppets.

Daddy's turn.

On Saturday morning, while Micah, Abby and I were taking uncle Beau to the airport, Gammy and daddy set up an Easter egg hunt for us.

Notice the blue egg hiding in the corner, next to the door. Abby purposefully ignored any egg that was not pink.

She finally decided that it was fun to pick up any colored egg. I think she just realized that Micah was getting much more candy.

Abby found the last egg. It was a pink one, hiding in her princess castle.

Examining the loot- Hershey's kisses, miniature candy bars, and even some money! Micah ended up with $.75 and Abby scored $1.60.

After the Easter egg hunt, we came upstairs to find that the Easter Bunny had left baskets full of goodies.

Micah loved his Easter basket!

Heath's work sponsors and annual Easter egg hunt, so we went over there that afternoon. Here is Micah looking for eggs and candy.

After finding all the eggs and candy scattered over the lawn, Micah and Abby took a few minutes to pose for a picture and play on the grass, before heading inside.

Fun on the flag pole.

Abby will do anything Micah does.

Inside, there were lots of fun things to do- like cookie decorating. Of course, Abby colored hers pink. :)

Micah loves to color, so he thought the coloring contest was a great idea. I think he ended up with 3 pictures in the contest.

When Micah sat down to get his face painted, the lady asked him what he wanted. Most kids were bunnies and kitties, but not Micah- he wanted to be Bat Man! The lady was super nice and did her best to accommodate him.

The finished product! Micah was very pleased. :)

Heath works at a nursing home, so one of the residents there dressed up like the Easter Bunny.

Micah was so excited to see the Easter Bunny. He ran up to him, gave him a hug, and said, "Thank you for all the candy." Micah is such a sweet, little boy. He truly loves Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc. It's so cute to see the belief in his eyes.

Abby found a little friend and they tried and tried to figure out how to hoola hoop.

The residents at the facility seemed to really enjoy watching all the children. I think Micah and Abby entertained the entire bunch, all by themselves, as they tried to figure out those darn hoola hoops. It was hilarious!

Micah was so funny to watch. He would put the hoola hoop around his hips and then wiggle his little head. I'm not sure why he thought that would work, but it was so entertaining to watch. :)

We finished off the weekend with conference Sunday and a nice Easter dinner.

Basketball

2010-04-02T11:49:00.005-06:00

On of the things our family has really enjoyed recently is watching Heath play basketball. He just finished up playing with our ward team and now he is playing on a city league team. Micah especially, has loved going to the games. He loves to get out on the court, during time-outs and half time, to shoot some hoops and run around.

I think it's funny to see how little Micah is compared to all the dad's.

Look at that natural dribbling ability. :)

"Mom, when I have to stop for pictures, I can't concentrate on my basketball skills. Look, you made me lose the ball." (Yes, that is a direct quote.)

Shoot it, honey!

Heath is an awesome basketball player. He can shoot 3's like no other.

He plays defense too.

These pics were all from ward basketball. I'll post some from the city league team soon. That team is lots of fun too because Heath gets to play with his cousin, Tyson, and my brother, Cory. So, not only do the boys get to play ball together, the wives and cousins get to see each other and chat during the games.

Crazy Hat Day

2010-03-30T14:31:00.003-06:00

Micah's preschool class celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday today by having "Crazy Hat Day". Micah knew exactly what hat he wanted to wear. But, when he got dressed, we quickly realized that the hat would not stay up, over his eyes, so we had to get creative. We ended up pulling his ears down and using them to hold up the hat. Micah thought that was so funny.

So, in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday, here is Micah paying homage in his crazy hat. :)

Abby Funny

2010-03-09T08:54:00.003-07:00

Yesterday, Abby and I were grocery shopping at WalMart. She was misbehaving, so I told her to sit down and then I started counting, "one, two...." It rarely gets past two, because she knows that she will get in trouble if I say "three!" So, she sat down and was being pretty good. As we continued our shopping, we turned down an aisle where a mother was trying to get her small son to sit down and behave. Abby saw this, leaned over her cart and started yelling,"Hey! Uh, you....one....two" (with fingers held up in appropriate positions). I, being a bit embarrassed that my 2-year-old felt the need to try to discipline someone else's child, apologized to the mother. The mother started laughing and said, "Hey, maybe he will listen to her. Her certainly won't listen to me."

So, what happened? The little boy promptly sat back down in the cart and they continued their shopping.

Abby's going to be a great mother. :)

Abby's Best Friend

2010-03-06T15:01:00.003-07:00

This is how I found Abby yesterday. She was snuggling on the couch with best friend, Dora. They were watching, "Dora" on tv, and Abby was drinking from her favorite Dora water bottle. You can't tell, but underneath the blanket is her Dora blankie and Dora baby.

Ahhhh...best friends!

Bowling

2010-03-06T11:19:00.005-07:00

We took the kids bowling last night. I don't think I've ever seen Micah have so much fun. The kid was seriously in heaven. He loved every single second of it. He had so much fun in fact that once that he bowled several of my frames for me. And, as you can see, he's actually a pretty good bowler. In Heath's defense, I must point out that he was having an especially off bowling night. He typically scores around 190-200.

That is a legitimate score for Micah too. He did that all on his own.

Spare!

Micah tried out many, many balls- the 6 lb one, the 10 lb one, the 13 lb one...

I think he finally realized that he liked the 6 pounder best.

Abby didn't think bowling was that fun. She did however, enjoy jumping, dancing, and running around the lanes.

Dancing!

Micah discovered that the chairs swiveled. That was a fun activity to do while he was not-so-patiently awaiting his next turn.

I think Micah may have found his passion- bowling!

Micah's last frame (actually, it was my last frame, but Micah kind of took it over). :)

My "Big Kid"

2010-03-03T10:55:00.005-07:00

This is my "big kid"...

The other day, Micah brought home a paper with information regarding Kindergarten registration. While I am excited for him to start school, I am also a bit sad about it. How is it possible that my baby, my first-born, is old enough to go to "big kid school"?

Micah is a wonderful kid and such a blessing. He is funny, and smart, and curious, and sweet, and feisty, and active, and loving, and creative, and happy, and full of life, and giving....I could go on and on and on.

He adores his preschool and has done so well. He works hard and wants to be a good student. Micah has had to work really hard on his speech and it is amazing to see how far he has come. It has not been easy, and oh so frustrating, but how wonderful it is to know that all that work has paid off. Micah can communicate with pretty much anyone now. His trepidation about not being understood is fading away and his confidence is building.

Micah and I have a little thing we say to each other everyday. I say, "Micah, why do I love you so much?" And he exclaims, "Because I made you a mom!" I know he doesn't understand the full magnitude of my love for him, but I hope he feels it in some way, and I hope he will always feel it, because even though he's a "big kid" and will be going to "big kid school" very soon, he will always be my baby.

Sickness Has Been Upon Us

2010-02-28T15:02:00.005-07:00

We have all been sick with the stomach flu, but poor Abby seemed to have gotten the worst of it. Not only has she been throwing up, on and off, for the past 2-weeks, but she also got a severe ear infection. So bad in fact, that we thought her ear drum had ruptured.

This is Abby and how she looked for several straight days. She was so lethargic and just not up to her usual playful self. Here she is watching Dora on nickjr.com. So sad. :(

And here is what she woke up to this past Friday. Yuck! Not only was it all over her bed, but it was dried and crusted on the inside of her ear, the outside of her ear, her neck and her hair. I immediately took her to the doctor and discovered that not only did she have a very bad ear infection, she also had a pretty bad back-up of wax going on inside her ear. No wonder the poor girl hasn't felt well.

Abby is on an antibiotic now, and for the first time in several days, I can say with some level of confidence, that I think she is on the upswing.

Random

2010-02-25T22:48:00.006-07:00

Micah LOVES the Bean Museum. It is probably one of his top 3 things to do (the other two being going to basketball with daddy and going to Mickey Dee's). Here are a few photos from our last trip there. We're going again tomorrow.

Look at the gigantic elephant behind them. Micah honestly believed it was alive. I could not convince him otherwise.

The crocodile. Micah's absolute favorite. That and the stick bug.

The stick bug. He keeps asking for a shirt with a picture of a stick bug on it. If anyone ever sees one, please pick it up for me. :)

Micah and Abby love hot chocolate. They love to stir it themselves. It cracks me up that they eat it with huge chunks of undissolved chocolate floating around on top. Don't their faces show exactly how much they love the stuff? :)

Abby's hair is finally getting long enough to do a few things with. She loves to wear "piggies" right now.

This style is a "pony".

For Valentine's Day, I decorated the kids' bedroom doors. They loved it and just barely let me take the decorations down.

Micah loves to play with his friends. Just about every day, he has someone over, or is over at someone else's house. The other day, Caden, Micah and Treddon (pictured above) were downstairs playing Batman. They were making up their own characters to go along with Batman and Robin. Micah's character was "Gogo Giki." When I asked him what kind of character that was, he replied, "He's a bad guy monkey."

Okay then. :)

So Sweet

2010-02-24T08:23:00.004-07:00

This morning, I asked Micah to be especially quiet as he was getting ready for school. I told him that Abby still was not feeling well and I didn't want her to get woken up. I told him that sleep was very good for Abby and would help her feel better. To that, our sweet little Micah then said, "Mom, I don't want anything to happen to our baby."

I'm still wiping the tears away.

Micah Wants a Dog

2010-02-19T14:27:00.002-07:00

Micah really wants a dog. I DO NOT. NOT AT ALL.

Yesterday, we were driving on center street and passed the pet store. Micah promptly shouted, "Mom! Let's go there. I want a dog!" I told him that dog's are a lot of responsibility and someone has to take care of them. He calmly told me that he would be glad to do that. I said, "What would you do if the dog went poopie on the grass?" His reply? "I would just scoop it up with the shovel and put it in the mud."

Unfortunately, he's still not getting a dog. :)

Abby's Princess Tea Party

2010-02-17T15:41:00.006-07:00

I've been wanting to have a Princess Tea Party for Abby and her little friends for awhile now. We finally did it today and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Here is Abby all dressed up, waiting for her guests to arrive. She absolutely loved dressing up as Cinderella. She would spin around and watch her pretty dress flare out. She tapped her shoes on the floor and jumped up and down with excitement as she waited for her friends to get here.

Abby dancing around in her princess dress. It was so cute to see her so excited and to know that she felt so beautiful.

Cinderella (Abby), Snow White (Riley), and the beautiful Renaissance princess (Isabelle).

Playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"

Sleeping Beauty (Kierra)

All the beautiful princesses. All of these girls are 2-years-old and within just a few months of each other. It's so fun to have friends so close by.

Abby liked this game so much, she played it again and again and again after she woke up from her nap this afternoon.

Their prizes for being so good at "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" were their own finger nail polishes. As you can see, they were pretty independent and wanted to do it themselves. Abby chose the blue Cinderella polish and not only painted her nails blue, but she also painted an entire finger blue.

Kierra had pretty yellow nails.

Isabelle had beautiful pink nails.

And Riley had gorgeous hot pink fingernails.

I had never painted Abby's nails before this. She loved it! I'm sure it was the start of something we will be doing quite frequently.

The Princesses in their castle.

Awaiting their royal food. The mommies stayed and played too, so the princesses waited while they were served by their respected mommy.

The girls really worked up an appetite. We munched on heart shaped pb&j sandwiches, bananas, strawberries, string cheese, chocolate teddy grahams, and yummy chicken salad.

After eating, the little princesses played while the mommies enjoyed good conversation and watching.

The beautiful Renaissance princess, Isabelle.

Abby was so tired nearing the end of her big party. Do you recognize the tired stare? She crashed about an hour after the party ended. I think she would have gone to sleep earlier, but Micah came home from school, and she had a blast showing him all her fun party stuff.

Princess Riley munching on her candy necklace.

Getting a group picture proved to be very difficult.

Princess Kierra

Apparently, Princesses also like to play Foosball. :)

All in all, I would say that the party was a smashing success. Abby had a blast and I think her friends did too. They all played together very well and no one got hurt. In my book, those are definitely the success indicators.

This party will definitely be followed up by many more. Next up is Micah's turn. His 5th birthday is in April and he wants a Chuck-E-Cheese party.

He Just Says the Funniest Things

2010-02-15T16:22:00.002-07:00

So the other day, Micah got into Heath's office and came out wearing daddy's swim goggles and swim fins. My parents were here, and knowing that daddy doesn't like the kids getting into the things in his office, my dad told Micah that he should probably take them off. In response, Micah said, "Just worry about yourself. Don't worry about me, grandpa."

The kids and I were watching a dvd the other day and one of the previews looked really cute. I said, "Have you ever seen that at the Redbox?" Micah said, "No, it's not there because it's coming soon to a theater near you."

Have I mentioned that I have the cutest kids ever?

Thoughts

2010-02-12T15:40:00.004-07:00

Late last night, my good friend called and asked if I had seen the news. They were reporting that the man who invented the frisbee had passed away. She knew that this news would have impact on me and just wanted to know if I was okay. That man, was the man who, with alcohol in his system, ran a stop sign and hit and killed my sister.

For years, I have been bitter because I felt that he had never fully paid for what he did. I was bitter that he never apologized for what he did. I was bitter that the whole world knew that he had invented the frisbee, but they would never get the chance to know Valerie.

This morning, I was watching ESPN and they covered his death. Again, bitterness consumed me and has taken over my day a bit. But, something happened this afternoon that has left me with a softened heart. I laid down and took a nap with Micah and Abby. As they were sleeping, I looked at them and thought how sad I was that they never knew their aunt. And how mad I still was that I don't have a sister here. And then another thought creeped into my mind and heart. It was time to forgive. I'm sure he didn't mean to kill anyone that day. I'm sure he was just like any other person who has gotten careless at times. I'm sure that he is sorry and I'm sure he had feelings about this that I never knew about. For me to carry this bitterness inside for all these years was wrong. I need to forgive and now I think I can.

How Cute is This?

2010-01-28T10:35:00.002-07:00

Last time Gammy was in town....

We are so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents.

Micahisms

2010-01-18T14:00:00.008-07:00

A few funnies from Micah...

"Mom, you have two choices. We can go to the movie theater, or we can buy toys at Walmart."

Micah's explanation of what it means to be resurrected: "You go to heaven and live with Jesus. Jesus makes you happy. You come back down. Then, Jesus will give us a bunch of money and we can go to Disneyland!"

One day, Micah was going on and on about sharks. He was telling me all about the beach and what sharks eat and how we have to be careful around sharks. I hadn't taught him anything about sharks, so I said, "Wow, Micah! Where did you hear all that?"

His reply, "I didn't hear it anywhere. I just made it up in my own brain."

Micah talking to Abby: "Abby, you can't go to school because you're not big. When you're four, you will be big and you can go to school, ride the bus, and fly."

We laugh a lot around here. :)

P.S. Anyone know why I can't get the spacing on my posts right? When I type out my posts, they are spaced so you can tell where one funny ends and where the next one begins, but when I hit the publish post button, they all run together. UGHHH!

Called to Serve

2010-01-16T21:45:00.004-07:00

On Wednesday, Uncle Ian went into the MTC. He is going to the Rapid City, South Dakota mission. We are so proud of Ian for making the decision to serve the Lord. We will certainly miss him for the next two years, but we look forward to the blessings of having a missionary in the family.

Micah was a bit confused about Ian being gone for so long. He understood that we would not be able to see Ian for quite awhile, but was having a hard time understanding what being gone on a mission meant. After many failed attempts at trying to explain just exactly what being gone on a mission means, I finally told him that he would get to see Uncle Ian again when he is six years old. His response, "Oh, okay." Why didn't I think of that in the first place?

Ian is a great uncle and a great example.

Ian and his mom. Ian is the baby of the Garner family. It was hard for Jean Ann to let him go.

Just minutes before they left for the MTC.

The last picture with Uncle Ian before he went into the MTC. His brothers and mother were so proud of him.

See you in two years, Ian.

Until then, we will be thinking of you, praying for you, and anxiously awaiting your emails. We can't wait to hear how the Lord's work is coming along in South Dakota.

We love you!

Playing in the Snow

2010-01-16T10:42:00.006-07:00

The other day was especially stressful, so I decided that we needed to get out of the house and do something fun. The kids had been wanting to go outside, so we bundled up and played in the snow. It was a blast! We played outside for about an hour and a half. Abby was yawning and rubbing her eyes, so I decided it was time to come in and put her down for a nap. That was soooo not the right thing to do! She threw the biggest fit she has ever thrown. She did not want to come in. She fell on the floor, screaming "No mommy!" over and over again. Getting her boots off her was a nightmare. She kicked and screamed like crazy. I finally just let her wander the house in her full snow garb, thinking she would eventually get hot and want out of it on her own. No such luck. She was determined to keep it on until she could go outside again.

Anyway, here are some pics of our fun little snow outing.

All ready to go!

I pulled Abby in the sled first. She loved it!

Micah's turn on the sled. I think this picture speaks volumes as to how much fun he was having.

Micah was obsessed with making snow angels. I think he made at least 10 of them.

A perspective shot. :)

Abby thought it would be fun to dig in the snow with Micah's golf club.

Micah got stuck. He was confused as to how to get himself out.

Abby thought it would be fun to stick her face in the snow. She quickly discovered she did not like it. :)

Can you see the look of disgust on her face?

Abby looked so small sometimes.

I asked Micah if he was making yet another snow angel and he said, "No, I just need a little rest."

We finished our fun in the back yard. The kids had a blast jumping on the snow covered trampoline. Micah laughed hysterically as the snow came loose and fell on the ground when they jumped.

The 2 Sides of Abby

2010-01-14T09:34:00.003-07:00

Abby has two very distinctive sides. One is a girly girl who loves to dress up in pretty dresses, put bows in her hair, accessorize with bracelets, necklaces, make-up and shoes (her favorite).

And the other side, looks like this. :)

Sometimes she likes to wear her sunglasses upside down, her Dora pajamas all day, her beloved pink backpack, and just one of Micah's shoes.

The best part about Abby's two sides is that she thinks she looks equally beautiful both ways.

I think so too. :)

Christmas

2010-01-11T11:14:00.014-07:00

This may be my longest post ever. :)

We had a great Christmas. It started off with all of us on the Dunn side, getting together at Cory and Danae's house for dinner and the exchanging of gifts. Here are Colston, Abby, Zoey and Micah after they had opened their Christmas jammies. It's a tradition that kids get new ones every Christmas Eve. Micah and Abby had matching Spongebob MerryPants ones. Zoey had Princess ones and Colston had Pluto ones.

Here is Abby with one of her gifts from Christmas Eve. It was a little microphone that played Disney Princess songs. She was singing into it all night.

Here is Grandpa with his gift from Beau. It's a giant remote control. Grandpa is always complaining that he can't find the remote, so Beau found this one. It actually works too.

Danae had Heath's name and got him this shirt. Heath is a HUGE Boston Celtics fan.

Sorry for the messed up pic. I can't figure out how to straighten it out. Here is Micah opening his present from Beau. It was the dvd "G-Force." Micah had never seen it and wanted to rent it at the Rexbox just that morning.

Grandma and Uncle Beau

Cory and Danae

This is Micah with his gift from Cory, Danae, Zoey and Colston. It's a full on Nerf assault weapon. He and daddy have had tons of fun shooting each other with this thing.

Micah and Zoey

We spent Christmas day in our own house. Micah was so excited to find his very own Hershey's kisses in his stocking.

Helping Abby discover what was in her stocking.

A video game! With every present, Micah would cheerfully exclaim, "This is what I wanted for Christmas!"

The cutest pair of shoes ever. However, they have turned out to be the biggest pieces of junk ever. The detail around the souls have completely fallen off, even after gorilla gluing them back on several times. UGH!!!!

The #1 thing Micah wanted- a Lightning McQueen track.

The Mystery Machine van from Scooby Doo. It came with all the Scooby Doo action figures.

Abby with her very own bag of M & M's (probably her favorite thing all day), and her Cheetah Snugglekins. This is the cutest toy I've ever seen. The Cheetah makes the cutest cooing sounds and the stroller plays the cutest music. Abby loves pushing it around all day.

Putting her Cheetah to bed. Isn't that bed adorable?

A robot that walks and talks. Thanks grandma and grandpa!

Abby and her Snap -n- Style doll. It's really cute and I definitely think we will get her more toys from this set.

Night at the Museum 2. Micah loves this movie. Unfortunately, we left in in Idaho when we went there the day after Christmas, so Micah hasn't been able to watch it much. Gammy is coming tomorrow though, and she said she would be sure to bring it.

Helping Abby unwrap her gift.

Not sure what Abby is unwrapping here.

Daddy helping Abby open her Snow White dvd.

Grandma made this adorable Dora blanket for Abby. When she opened it, she immediately wrapped it around herself and said, "Brrrr..." Abby loves Dora, so grandma and grandpa got her the SleepyTime Dora doll, and made her this blanket, as well as a matching one for her doll. So cute!

The day after Christmas we headed up to Rexburg for Christmas #2. Here is Micah with his very cool Matchbox cars set. Thanks, Gammy!

Abby opening her gift from gammy.

A Cabbage Patch doll. It was one of those that comes wrapped up in a cabbage leaf and you don't know if it's a boy or girl. It came with a surprise package that told you what it was. Surprise- it was a girl! Aline Kathaleen is her name and she was born on October 17, 2009. That is actually the same day cousin Hudson was born.

The main reason for going to Idaho was for Uncle Ian's mission farewell. He is going to Rapid City, South Dakota. Here is Ian at the luncheon after his farewell. He gave a great talk is going to be an awesome missionary. He goes into the MTC on January 13th.

Josh and Marcy arranged it so they could bless Hudson on the same day as Ian's farewell. He is the cutest little baby and so good. I don't think I've ever heard him cry.

Mark Garner, Kim and Spence Geddes. Mark and Kim and Heath's uncle and aunt. They came for Ian's farewell and Hudson's blessing.

John Garner and Rachel Lovejoy. Heath's uncle and aunt on the Garner side. John owns the "Black Tie Tuxedo" shops in Utah county and Salt Lake, so if you ever are in the market for a tuxedo, look them up.

Ruth Johnson, Tom Garner, Gammy. Tom is partner's with John in the Tuxedo business.

Grandpa Garner. He's looking better and better every time we see him.

Gammy and baby Hudson. I wish I had a better picture of him. You'll just have to take my word for how cute he really is. :)

Micah had brought along some of the Matchbox cars that Gammy gave him for Christmas. He quickly discovered they worked best on the bathroom floor of uncle Josh's office. The luncheon after the farewell/blessing was held there. I had seen the outside of the office before, but had never been inside. It is a beautiful building and it is decorated so nice.

Ethan joined in on the bathroom floor fun.

Here is Abby with Marcy's niece, Jane. She is older than Abby, but they latched onto each other and had a blast playing together. Abby absolutely adored her.

All of them playing in the bathroom. Can you see Ethan hiding behind the sink?

Heath and Josh. It's good to see them smiling. It's been a rough year for all of them.

Well, I guess this blog caps off our wonderful holiday season. I'm so glad the year ended with a happy occassion. In fact, it's starting off with a happy occassion too. Everyone is coming down tomorrow because Ian is going into the MTC on Wednesday. We're definitely going to miss him, but we're so proud of him and the decision he had made to serve a mission.

Christmas Festivities

2009-12-22T19:46:00.005-07:00

We promised the kids we would take them bowling a couple weeks ago, but life got in the way and we weren't able to go, so I pulled out one of the Christmas presents I was going to give them, and we set up our own bowling alley, in the hallway of our house! Micah and Abby had an absolute blast. It was good the set came with two balls, because neither one of them was good about waiting their turn. I took the pics while Heath was in charge of re-setting the pins. Funny, I don't remember either one of us getting a turn. :)

Micah was pretty good at it. He understood the concept, but Abby decided that she liked it better to just run up to the pins and hit them with the ball. It worked in her mind. :)

Micah and Abby love their boots. They insist on wearing them everyday. We couldn't even get them to take them off for bowling.

Here is a close-up of the Christmas count down chain we made. Micah and Abby decorated each link. They were so proud of it.

Micah loves to tear off a link everyday as he leaves for school. Abby is content with watching.

One of our traditions is to have a Christmas party for all of Micah and Abby's friends. This was the first year that we had invited Abby's little friends. By the end of the 2-hour party, we had 32 kids come over to sit on Santa's lap, decorate cupcakes, and just run around.

This is my brother, Cory sitting on Santa's lap. He was trying to show his 1-year-old son, Colston, that Santa really isn't scary. :)

Micah adores Santa. It was so cute to see the belief in his eyes as he asked Santa for a "Lightning McQueen Track, a video game, and a camera."

Abby didn't want anything to do with Santa, so I got in the picture hoping to ease her fears. It didn't work. Not even a candy cane worked (and for those of you who know Abby, you know how much she loves candy). Maybe next year. :)

The real Santa (aka my dad).

Micah's preschool had a pajama party on December 16th. The kids got to wear their pj's and bring their favorite stuffed animal. Micah took his big "Sully" (the blue monster from "Monsters, Inc.) Parents were also invited to go and help their child tell the class about a family Christmas tradition. Micah and I told the class about how every year, we buy a new ornament and put a picture in it, so we can see how much we have grown during the year. We took all five of Micah's ornaments and even though he got a little shy, standing in front of the whole class, he was really proud to show them off.

The lady in the blue pj's is Mrs. Jo. She is Micah's teacher and he absolutely adores her. The other day he asked if he had school and I told him that he was out on Christmas break. He said that he didn't want "to have a break." I asked him why and he said, "Because I love my teacher." No wonder he is learning so much. :)

Micah in his striped pj's. He thought it was really neat that he could wear them to school.

Mrs. Jo helping Micah find his presents. There was a present to each of the kids under the tree, as well as a present to the parents that the kids had made. Mine was an adorable white vase with cute little lady bug stickers all over it. Micah was so excited to give it to me, he made me open it as soon as we got home. I love it and I can't imagine getting a gift that I would love any more.