Snowy Days

Last Night during the snow storm Jared took Mallory out with him while he shoveled the walks. She had so much fun making a snow man with her dad. Lily has been sick with just about everything the last two weeks and now she has two eye infections. She wasn't able to go out with them last night. She was so sad, she stood at the living room window and said "me too mommy, me too." After about 10 minutes Mallory came and started throwing snowballs at the window, Lily giggled every time Mal came near. I think after that Lily felt like she had been involved because she didn't stand at the window and watch anymore.

Dinner with the Girls

Monday night I was able to go to dinner with a few of my friends from college. It was so fun to see them. There were a few there that I hadn't seen or talked to for years. It is really nice to have good friends that you can just pick up where you left off and not feel like any time has passed. Thanks girls for a fun night!

Santa Came Knocking

During the month of December, like a lot of parents, we tell our girls that Santa is watching them so they better be good. Jared's family has a really fun tradition of Santa knocking on the window to remind you he is watching, we started doing this with our girls last year. When Santa knocks then you run as fast as you can to see if you can catch him. If you catch him then he gives you a present. Well Mallory and Lily didn't catch him this year but as he was running away he dropped two presents in the snow. Jared carried Mallory outside and they got the presents. Both Mallory and Lily were so excited. Mallory got Clarice, the girl reindeer from build a bear, and Lily got the Leap Frog Letter Factory Magnet. When Mallory opened her present she squealed with excitement and Clarice hasn't left her side since. Mallory is even teaching Clarice to say her prays (it is so dang cute). Lily has also loved the Letter Factory she will sit in front of the fridge and play with it for quite a while. This has to be the funnest Christmas season for me that I can remember, I think I am more excited for Christmas morning than Mallory.

The Nutcracker

Mallory had her dance recital last Saturday. It is so funny to watch 3& 4 year olds try and do the dance they have been learning for the last month. Sometimes they remember what they are suppose to be doing and if not they just do their own move. Mallory has really enjoyed dance and loves going and being with her friends.

Mallory's Letter to Santa

Last night Mallory wanted to write a letter to Santa so Jared wrote exactly what she said:
Dear Santa,
I have tried really hard to be happy. I would like a princess Jasmine and a unicorn so it can be it's pet. And maybe an Aladdin so it can be it's Dad. I want a just size table with just size chairs. Maybe some soup so we can eat. I want Clarice so it can have a ride. Ha Huh. and I want a Santa too. I want all these things. I am going to be a princess. I am going to be good Santa.
Love,
Mallory




It is so fun to have kids around they seem to make everything so magical. By the way Mallory's list changes everytime she goes to the store. We happened to see a princess Jasmine at Smith's today when we were doing our grocery shopping.
About the pictures. Yes Mallory is wearing a sun dress with boots in the freezing cold as she is putting her letter in the mailbox. This girl is mourning the loss of Summer, yes even after 2 snow storms. Every day we have a fight about wearing long sleeves and how it isn't summer anymore. Is this normal????

"Mom, just love the Butterflies"

This morning I was busy cleaning the house and Mallory found some funny looking butterfly clips that she wanted in her hair. I didn't want to take my rubber gloves off to put them in her hair so I told her that I didn't really like them. A few minutes later she came back with the clips in her hair, I gave her half a smile and she looked at me with the biggest grin and said, "Mom just love the Butterflies". I laughed out loud at the look on her face and the comment that followed. She has worn the clips all day and even made sure that her dance teacher noticed that she was wearing butterflies in her hair. On our way to dance she did something and I called her a turkey. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Mom I am not a turkey, I am a butterfly princess." Some days she seriously cracks me up. She comes up with the darndest things to say.

This Holiday Season

I know I have been missing from the blogging world for a while now. I don't know what happens to the days and weeks but time has gone by so quickly. We have done so many fun things and I haven't taken the time to post about them.

We went with Erin and her kids to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. I was suprised how much Mallory liked riding the horses. I thought she would be scared of them but she loved it. Lily wasn't ready to try, maybe next year.


We had a really fun Thanksgiving Day with Jared's Family. It was so nice and relaxing. Then of course there was the BYU , Utah game which I opted out of going to because I really didn't feel like sitting in the freezing cold for 4 hours, so I very willingly gave my ticket up to Bump (I was glad to hear that Jared still had someone to hug in the very tense and exciting moments of the game). I was so glad that BYU won because that meant a happy husband for the rest of the Thanksgiving Weekend.


My mom had brought a gingerbread house down for the Mal and Lil to make while everyone watched the game. Mal had a blast putting the house together and Lil had a blast taking all the candy off the house and eating it. Thanks Nana for entertaining the little peeps.

Thanks to Lee and Tricia for getting our tree for us this year. Without you we still would not have a tree to decorate. It is a lot bigger than we normally get and looks great in our family room, you guys really know how to pick a perfect tree. It took us 3 days to get the tree strung with lights and decorated, I think we are still lacking in the decoration area but Jared said it is just fine the way it is, at least until next year. Mal was determined to have a little tree in her room, luckily Nana had an extra one and let her take it and decorate it. She loves it and can't wait to plug it in each night.

For Co-op Friday night we let all the kids, even the little one that were interested, frost and decorate sugar cookies. They had fun frosting but I think they had even more fun eating. Who knew sprinkles could make such a mess. I really is funny to me how watching these kids once or twice in a month you can grow to care about them so much.


Tuesday night was the Enrichment Christmas dinner. I can't tell you how much a awesome committee means to a leader. They are so great to just do everything that needs to be done. I know I can count on them. We had an awesome program and it was nice to sit and feel the spirit even if it was for just a few moments.


Last night I went to see Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols with Jared and my mom and dad. It was so refreshing to sit there for a couple of hours and enjoy the true spirit of Christmas. Since Thanksgiving I have been thinking about how blessed I am and about all of the things that I have to be grateful for, the list is endless, but at this time of the year I am most grateful for my little family and the love that we have for each other.


The other day I was driving with the girls and Mallory and I were talking about how Christmas is Jesus' birthday and how the wise men brought him gifts and she was so interested in the Christmas story. When we were almost to our stop she said to me "Mommy you are a genius." (It is amazing how being told by a 3 year old that you are a genius can make you feel so good) It is so fun to see her get so excited about Christmas, not only about Santa coming, the snow, the hot chocolate, and the tree, but also about the baby Jesus and his mommy Mary. Everyday she asks me if it is Christmas yet, I can't wait to be able to tell her it is and to see the excitement in her eyes.

There is so much to be excited about this year for Christmas, one of the biggest things is Jared's Graduation from school. He has been going since we were married almost five years ago. It has been such a sacrifice for us, one that I know has been well worth it. He has worked so hard to give us everything we have needed. I know that we have been blessed more than we will ever know during this time and may even look back and wonder how we made it through as we did. I have gained a testimony of many basic gospel principles we are taught in primary and consider myself very blessed to be in the situation were I am today.


Some of what I have written today may just be thoughts and feelings I have had so far this Christmas season more for myself than others that will read this. It has been good to take time to remember the reason for the season and hope that I can continually teach my girls this.

Jared got Tagged

I have never blogged before so if you get bored with my post feel free to close out of our blog.

1. I am a football homer. Especially BYU football. It's my only true hobby. Casi supports me in it 100%. I love everything about football season.

2. I married above me. Casi is the greatest. I don't know how she puts up with me. She's so neat and classy and I am not. I'm glad I tricked her into marrying me.

3. I will graduate in 3 Weeks from BYU with a bachelors in Construction Management. Then I plan on building roads for Geneva Rock. Maybe, I'll go back and get an MBA. Maybe.

4. I talk too much. My teachers, fellow students, wife, and friends all know it. I'm just glad they put up with it because sometimes I can't just shut up.

5. When I got off my mission, my mom told me I should start some kind of diet. I thought she was crazy but now I have gained 30-40 lbs since then. I guess I'm getting fat, but at least I'm enjoying it.

6. I have to drive a truck. I feel like I am half naked without a truck. I can't throw stuff in the back, haul stuff, or even go off road. I would rather drive an 1983 rusted out S-10 pickup than a sweet sports car.

7. I can't wait to lose my hair. I have always planned on going bald and actually am looking forward to it. I constantly ask Casi to shave my head but she hates it. We made a deal that I can shave my head once a year and when I start to go bald I can keep it shaved.

TAGGED

Seven interesting facts about me is not an easy thing for me to come up with. I have been thinking and here goes it. . .

1. Jared is my very best friend! I don't think I have ever met someone that cares so much about me and my happiness. There are days that he can tell I just need him and he will stop what he is doing and just help me. The other day I was taking Lily to the doctor (it seems like we have been doing that a lot lately) and he was on his way to work from school. I was really worried about Lily and needed him there with me. Without me even asking he said he would meet me there. He will never know how much that meant to me but everything seemed a little better once he was there. I love our Friday nights, even if we are just at home hanging out, I love being able to spend that time with him.

2. I love Diet Coke! I especially love the first swallow when it actually burns a little on the way down. Call me crazy but I love the stuff.

3. I love to Shop! Target, Interior Elements, Nordstrom, Tai Pan, Gap, Baby Gap, Walmart, DSW, you name it I love it. Even if I don't have the money to spend I love to go and window shop. I love to be in the mall and just watch people. It is so interesting to me to watch all the different types of people that make the world go round.

4. I love MY GIRLS! They have brought more joy into my life than I thought possible while at the same time testing my patience and encouraging me to be a little more crabby than I have ever believed I could be. For the most part we have a lot of fun together and need to remember to enjoy them more. They are growing up so quickly.

5. I love getting together with Friends and Family! It is so fun to get together with old friends from college or friends from the neighborhood or family just to hang out. Food is usually involved, which may explain why I can't lose the weight that I want, it has been and I am pretty sure will be a life long battle for me. But at least we are having a good time!

6. I am and have always been painfully shy with new people, I was quite often mistaken for snobby. Once I get to know someone then I don't have any problems but it takes me longer than most to get to that point. Jared has really helped me in this area, more like pushed me out of this, Jared likes to joke around and often this brings attention to me. When we were first dating this was really hard for me because I was the one who in a crowd of people could sit and not say much but really have a good time. I soon learned that this was something I had to get use to and now it is a lot easier for me to talk to strangers. I am hoping the girls get Jared's ability to talk to anyone and be friends with everyone and not have to deal with the shy card.

7. I love to Exercise! It is such a release for me. I enjoy most anything, I recently learned that I even like to run. My sister-in-law, Tracy, asked me to train for a marathon and run it with her, I didn't get done with my training in time to run it with her but plan to do the Salt Lake Marathon in April.

I tag Erin, Tera, Hanna, Amy, Kim, Tracy and Jamie. Have fun, the rules are post seven interesting things about you, tag 7 more people and let those who you tagged know by commenting on their blog. I hope this is easier for you than it was for me.

Friday Co-op

Lily, Mallory, Macy, Jack, and Raegan. We missed you Kenlie and Afton!

Friday was our turn to watch the kids. We really had a lot of fun and the night seemeed to go by really quick. I guess that is easy for me to say since I just took the pictures, I didn't get down on the floor and play with the kids. We have a really fun bunch of kids and love to have them come, just not quite as much as we love the other 3 Friday nights off.

HALLOWEEN

My Little princess and Cheerleader

For the first time since I have been a parent, Halloween was a nice relaxing day. Usually I try to do too much and see too many people so by the end of the day the girls are too tired to go Trick-or-Treating.
This year we went to our playgroup Halloween party. The girls got to wear their costume, make spiders out of pipe cleaner, eat cupcakes (Mal's favorite part, that girl loves her cake), and play with their friends.
The girls then had a great nap that made the rest of the day so much fun. When Jared got home from work Mallory was sooo ready to go trick-or-treating and I was sooo ready for her to go. This was the first year Jared hasn't had class on Halloween night since we had kids so it was fun for him to be here and be able to take the girls out. They went with the Duncan's and had a great time. Lily came home a little early because it was too cold for her but I knew she had a great time when she came in saying "TREATS. TREATS, TREATS!" She couldn't get her little hands on the candy fast enough. She carried her pumpkin basket around with her the rest of the night just happy to have as many treats as she possibly could handle. By 9:00 when it was time to go to bed she was on a sugar high. It just occured to me that may be the reason she didn't sleep well that night.

Trick or Treating with the Duncans

Carving Pumpkins

Lily's 1st time feeling inside a pumpkin. I am not sure she loved the experience

Mal's diggin' right in

Jared and Mal designing her pumpkin face

I think Lily preferred the spoon with the really long handle to clean out her pumpkin

It took us a while to get around to carving the pumpkin but we finally did it last night. The girls had a lot of fun. Mal told Jared that she wanted to name her pumpkin "Jack O' Lantern" Jared told her that was a great idea and he is sure no one had ever thought of that before.

Pumpkins and Ghosts and WITCHES, Oh My

Every year I take my girls to Gardener Village to see the witches. Mallory has always had fun looking at the witches from a distance but will not get close to them for a picture unless my mom, Marianne, Amy, or myself is in the picture with her. This year she made a huge leap forward. There is one particular witch sitting on a bench with her arm out so when the kids sit down it is like her arm is around them. Every year we go and sit by this witch and this year Mallory sat down next to her (after her 3 month old cousin Logan showed her it was okay) and had her picture taken all by herself. Lily is in the stage where she is not sure what to think of any stranger much less a witch with a green face and funny teeth. She wanted nothing to do with them. She was happy just walking around and holding her Nana's hand. There was a witch that had a cat and mouse running around under her dress and Mallory asked me "Mommy are you sure that cat is not real?" before she would even go near the witch for the picture. The girls were also able to feed the ducks and fish while we were there. I think this was Lily's favorite part. She kept asking for more bread to throw in the water. There was one thing missing this year from our annual trip to see the witches and that was Amy, Tanner and Bryn. We miss you guys! This is a fun tradition for me and the girls, one day they will love to go there with me to go in all the fun shops but for now we will enjoy the witches.