Home for Sale

Well, this is for real now. Dave has got some real good leads for a new job, and our home is for sale. Even though nothing is for sure now, I don't want him to get a job, have to move, and be stuck with a house. So, sad as I am, I have decided that we can make home anywhere, and we love our house, but it is just a building. Tanner and Colty are very sad that we are selling, and talk about how much they don't want to move because they will miss their friends, but I think once we have something new to look forward to, it won't seem so bad. I just hope that Dave finds a job he loves. So far he has interviewed with 2 companies in Nebraska, he flies out Sunday to meet for a 2nd interview in Oregon, he has had 2 interviews with John Deere in Idaho Falls, has a 3rd interview in Pocatello next week, and another phone interview with a company in TX. Basically, we are all over the board. The future is a little uncertain right now, but I do know that no matter what, it is going to be okay. Heavenly Father has a way of comforting us through little tender mercies. I am so grateful for that.

The Best Mom in the World

Sadly, the best mom in the world is our dad. Since Mom has gone back to work, Dad is the new Mom. And he is wonderful!! When I get home from work, the house is spotless, dinner is on the table, the dishes are done, the kids are sitting at the table waiting for me, and life is under control. Better so than it is when Dave goes to work and I am home with the kids. And you should see some of the AWESOME things he builds with the boys and their legos. So, that is why the Dad at our house is the Best Mom in the World!

A New Kid

Brady is growing up.

He has gone from using this as his preferred mode of transportation (next to sitting on mom's hip)...(notice the stink-bug style crawl which he has done from day 1)...To this....And, he now has a mouthful of these....
And, the best news of all....his clogged tear ducts have unclogged themselves and we have bright, happy, sparkling, and goop free eyes!! Yippee!!
And, he is no longer nursing, has decided a sippy cup is okay, drinks regular milk, goes to bed at a decent hour and is sleeping through the night. We just may keep him afterall!

Christmas

cAbiN
bino

This is the letter that Tanner left at our fireplace for Santa to find. He was being really stubborn about the way he wanted to write his letter D for Dino, so, it said bino. Santa knew, though.

After have a long discussion about how Santa can't bring everything to everyone, the boys decided they really wanted dinosaurs for Christmas. It was a big improvement from the driveable car that Tanner wanted, but we felt like they were still getting a lot for Christmas. So, I told the boys one morning that Santa had called and said that he was going to bring dinosaurs to the boys, but then another little boy wanted a dinosaur and he wasn't going to get anything, so Santa was going to give the dinosaurs to the other little boys, but that he would bring some other really neat things to them. They thought a lot about it and decided that would be okay. But, when you asked what they were getting, they said, we want a dinosaur, but another little boy is going to get it. It almost broke your heart how good they were being about it. So, Santa decided they had been good boys and just got the dinosaurs too. The looks on their faces make it so worth it!

Christmas is HUGE for our family. It always has been, even when I was growing up. I decided it is because we never buy stuff for each other or ourselves. Starting in like June we stop buying anything we need or want, and start making mental Christmas lists. So, although we get nice things we want, there are also lots of wrapped shoes, crockpots, body wash, socks, etc. It makes Christmas morning a whole lot of fun though. And, hard to wait for! We all sit in the room together and wait for everyone to be ready at the same time. It isn't too early of a morning, as we all wake up about 8. Why get up early, it is Christmas all day long! Then we open presents and then have breakfast together. Then there is usually a fashion show or a movie or something and we lounge around and play Mario Kart all day. It is very fun. Dave and the boys played with their new legos too and built some pretty cool things. The truth is, I'm not really sure who Santa brought the Legos for.

There's no place like the cabin, for the holidays....

We talked about it as a family, and the final decision was that most of our favorite holiday memories happen in Island Park. After more discussion, the reasons why is that we are secluded to being a family. Nobody calls, nobody shows up, nobody leaves, nobody spends all their time on the computer or texting or being a loner. We are all together. And it looks like a post card. And that makes it wonderful. Dad borrowed a friends snowmobile this year, so we had one snowmobile the whole time. The kids had a great time being pulled in the snow, playing and just being outside. It was COLD, but who cares....we brought enough snow stuff to keep a small army warm. And, it did. But, the truth is, no matter how long you spend getting each kids bundled, they really only want to go out for a few minutes, then they come back in. Certainly not because they were cold, just because they want to. We had lots of fun playing with cousin Madolyn too.And Braden just couldn't get enough of Baby Avery. He loved her so much. Braden spent most of the time getting into messes in the cabin, but his favorite thing was the hochi sweeper vacuum thing. He loved it, and was perfectly content to play with that all day long. His other favorite things was going up the stairs, then screaming at the top that he wanted to come back down. Mom called it the "greener grass syndrome". He is a funny boy. It is just so fun to spend time together doing crazy things and playing games, and reading books, and watching movies, and napping, and doing whatever we want, because that is all there is to do.

Happy Birthday Kate

To me, birthdays should be a HUGE celebration. It is a time to let someone know how much they mean to you, how grateful you are for them in your life. And, having a December birthday, I have always been quite disappointed because there is so much other stuff going on that nobody has time or makes effort to remember or recognize my birthday. I know, I am now 28, and it is time to get over it. But that is how I feel. I am happy to say, that this is the first year in a long time that I felt like my friends wanted me to feel special. (Maybe it is because they hear me boob about it all the time.) And, Dave, is such a good sport and is willing to do anything for me. I have a really good friend with a December birthday that feels the same way I do, so we threw ourselves a little birthday bash, and although most everyone we invited was too busy to come and or stay long, it was fun to at least have each other. Then my girlfriends gave me a lunch party and it was nice to just visit and enjoy the afternoon. We went to the cabin for the Christmas holiday on my birthday, so Dave got up early and made us waffles with ice-cream for our birthday breakfast tradition, and then we opened presents. He did good this year....I love everything I got! My mom and dad got me a juicer too, so now I won't have to keep borrowing mom's. It was a nice day. I had lots of friends call and leave messages, and send emails. I even had a nice card or two in the mail or left on the doorstep. So, thanks to everyone. It was a great birthday!

Santa

What a fun last month we have had. December was of course spent shopping and enjoying the busyness the holidays bring.
One of the first Mondays in December we went to the college to see Christmas Tree lane for FHE. We also got to see Santa for the first time. We had talked about how we would get to sit on his lap, etc, and the boys were so excited. When we asked them what they were going to tell Santa that they wanted, it would change each time. At first Tanner said that he wanted a car that you drive in, just like in the Walmart ad. Colty wanted a dinosaur to sleep with. Then his changed to be a dino that was remote control that would roar. Tanner took the Walmart ad book with him to see Santa, and we thought that he would just show him the picture of the fancy red car that he could drive. We waited in line for a while, and then it was our turn. And, it was the REAL Santa. It is the same one that was there last year, and he is REAL....hair, belly full of jelly, beard so white, suit so red, etc. And he was so jolly and cheery. He talked to the boys about what they would want, and of course the boys wouldn't say anything, just stare. Then we reminded Tanner of his magazine, so he pulled it out and went page by page showing Santa what he wanted. There was something on EVERY page. What a good sport Santa is, to listen to the greedy desires of each little boy and girl. Then Colty nodded his head when we told Santa that he wanted a dinosaur. We took family pictures and then had free hot chocolate.