What have we been up to?

Okay well if you know me you know that January is my least favorite month of the whole entire year. I think it has alot to do with thinking I could have done better and now I just have to try that much harder for a whole new year. It also has to do with me missing the sunshine and adventures we always go on. Anyway there are only 2 more days of January and I just can't tell you how excited I am about that.

So this month Terry and I have been working our fannies off in the basement. I have wanted a bathroom down there for the preschool kids for a year now. I must say I have been very patient and waited until Terry was ready to dedicate a small part of himself to my project.

Okay so he had to dedicate his wholeself to it but I was there with him for every minute of it. Here are some before and after photos of our little project. I must say my man does it all!

Matia pulled her first tooth out!

So on the 10th this month Matia decided it was time to get that loose tooth out of her way. But she also decided that she could pull it out by herself with less pain then anyone else could do it. So she pulled and pulled and pulled and finally after about an hour of playing and pulling on it she was shocked to see it was sitting in her fingers after a desperate attempt to pull that tooth.

I was just glad that I didn't have to do it. I tell you I hate pulling those teeth. But it bugs me to see them just wiggling away. Anyway good job Tia you are one brave girl I know I never had the guts to pull my own teeth.

Our newest Nephew!

Last week we went to welcome in our newest nephew to this wonderful world. Terry's baby sister Tara just had her second baby. She has a almost 3 year old girl and now a sweet precious boy. I must say my heart goes out to all of you who just have girls or just boys. There is so much difference between the two that it is just not fair if you don't have both. Tara we are so excited for you and we look forward to watching your little boy grow into the wonderful man he will be one day. When we left the hospital Terry looked at me with those darling eyes and said "just one more honey"... and my heart just did like 20 flips.

I mean how can he say that after seeing such a cute kid of course I would agree at that moment when we didn't have our 3 kids with us and life seemed so peaceful at the moment. Of course he doesn't want anymore but neither of us could deny the happiness parenting brings. How special a little one is and how much joy they can bring. Thank you for letting us enjoy your little one if only for a short moment, he is precious.

Ice Skating

So I have never been an Ice Skater first of all we never did it growing up except with young womens. I also have really week ankles that tend to have problems. So I just have never been good at it. When I married Terry I realized how fun it can be. Terry grew up with a bunch of guys that would go play hockey on the shallow ponds by where they lived. So obviously he is very good at it and he LOVES it. If he could do anything that he doesn't it would be to play on a hockey team. Maybe someday!

But I have learned to love watching someone ice skate especially when it is him or my kids. So the other day we took the kids to the adventureland park pond and I kicked back and watched them skate. My hopes are that they will love it and have more of a desire to be better then I am or ever will be. The kids are such great sports none of them wanted to go even though the ice wasn't that great for skating. So here is a small cheer to getting out and watching the kiddos enjoy the ice and brisk fresh winter air.

Ice Fishing

For Christmas we got an Ice Fishing Eskimo Cave and sled from Santa. I have to say when I first found out I was pretty excited. His elves created the COOLEST Ice fishing tent out there and then they made us one. My brother timed Terry and I setting it up and I kid you not it was up in 45 seconds. And it was just our 2nd time setting it up. So I got a little excited about going ice fishing and told Terry we should go buy an underwater fishing camera with our Christmas money from Terrys parents. So off to Cabella's we went to pick us up a camera.

I do love it! I love being all cuddled up in this tent with no where to go and nothing to do but sit there and wish a fish would bite my pole. This year we have taken the kids out twice the first time we didn't catch anything. But the second time Treg caught a 19" fish and was super excited.

Okay so I must admit I didn't go with them the second time. Terry took his brother Troy because it was -5 and I knew Troy would enjoy it so much more then me.

So I stayed home and took the time to clean my house, I am trying to advoid those January blues I always get. It was nice to spend 7 hours cleaning with my radio cranked and no distractions or interuptions. Yes my house sparkled when it was bedtime.

Cindy's and Glenns

Terry's oldest sister lives at Hill Airforce Base. It was 6 months ago that Glenn was sent to the Middle East with the Army. He was allowed a 2 week vacation to come home and enjoy his family. So they invited us up to their house on the base for dinner and visiting. It was so nice to just be with them and be able to talk. Cindy is such a cute girl, we get along so well.

I feel like I can tell her anything. I really look up to the woman that you are Cindy. Happy Birthday and just think it will only be 6 more months until Glenn and you are together again for a very long time. P.S. We are still waiting to hear where you are going to be moving to.

New Year's

So we rang in the New Year at home with the kids. There is just no other way to do it. We first of all had our traditional fondue dinner on New Years Eve.
Then we played cards with the kids and games to help the time go by. Just 15 minutes before midnight we noticed Treg went missing. I went and checked in my room and there he was fast asleep on my bed. We tried to wake him up for the fun but he didn't want any part of it.
So back to bed he went and we all banged pans, let off fire crackers, danced and of course got our first kiss of the New Year! I love the fact that my kids want to be with us still and they are still young enough that we are still cool in their eyes.

Day after Christmas

Treg was just dieing to test out his new snowboard. He wanted to know if it could do all the tricks that the Snowboard on SSX Tricky does on the Xbox. So we headed to the park with a good hill and let them have at it. He did amazing for his first shot at it and he even got a little air when he hit the jump at the bottom of the hill.
Matia even got up the guts to give it a go. She was simply amazed when she got to the bottom of the hill to find out she actually really enjoyed the ride. She even went the extra step to learn how to get out of the bindings and carry the board up the hill herself. Good goin girl!

Bowdee on the other hand is a old pro at this boarding stuff so he showed the younger ones how it was done. He didn't bother with locking the bindings in because of the short hill. But he sure had some fun when he hit the jump.
I have so much fun watching the kids, especially when they end up loving something that I love so much. Terry of course is all over teaching them and I have to hand it to him he is the best teacher possible. He is so patient with them and he has the muscles to do it. Love ya babe!

Christmas 2008

Wow, where does the time go? Last thing I knew I was recovering from an all nighter with the girls and then Whammo it is now January! Crazy, I guess I will never get used to how the time flies when you get older. Well our Christmas came and went just like all the others. We got to stay home and just have a good time with our family and not plan to go anywhere. We stayed home and played with games and new toys.
Bowdee got the Animal Crossing on the WII that he asked Santa for.

Matia got the D.S. and Pet shops she asked for.
Treg asked for a Snowboard and I was completely suprised when Santa actually brought my baby a real snowboard. I love these days of Christmas with children. There is nothing that even compares to the excitement a child has a Christmas time. Truely Magical!

Matia's Christmas Dance

I love Matia being the girl that she is. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I love to watch her dance, sing and play. She is so funny and dramatic. Saturday was her dance performance, yes this was the Saturday after the Friday that I had no sleep. Troy and his girls and grandma and grandpa came to cheer on Matia. Matia did wonderful. She just loves being up on stage and dancing. It was really short and sweet and we loved every mintue of it.After her dance we went to DelTaco to eat dinner and then up to Temple Square to see the lights. I was a little delusional and don't remember to much.Although Terry thought it was great because I was too tired to complain or argue about anything. I always love going to see the lights up on Temple Square there is just something special that touches me. Then we came home and I don't remember anything else just dark peace. I guess everyone stayed up until midnight and thought it was wonderful because I wasn't there nagging at them to go to sleep. Well it was one long day full of good memories even if I don't remember everything that went on.

Girls all nighter!

So me and a few of my friends decided to finish up our Christmas loose ends all in one night. So we kicked Terry & the kids out of the house (yes they went to Uncle Troys) then me and the girls busted out all our projects and tried to complete them. We had a great time and we talked and projected. Some made quilts while others made pillow cases, cards, bags, frogs, you name it we were doing it. We have been getting together now each month for almost 5 years. It has been nice to have some girl time to look forward to. These girls mean alot to me. I can say just about anything around them and know they will still love me. I thought we would crash at 3 or 4 but no we stayed up all through the night. Anyway it was fun and I survived the next day all the way until 10:30pm. You will see on my next post what I did the following day. Thanks girls you ROCK!

Gingerbread Houses

So we have made a gingerbread house for many years with Troy and his family. It has been a tradition for 7 years now. We have also learned that the best way for our family is to buy a kit at Costco for 9 bucks and hot glue the sucker together. You see we have had so many gingerbread houses fall apart and quarls caused by those gingerbread houses that we just think it is better safe then sorry. So here is our gingerbread experience this year. Nice and simple.

I love Christmas!

Okay I know I have been slacking on the blogging stories in my life. I have been so busy with filling the Christmas season with joy that some things have to take a back seat. Last weekend Terry went to a B-ball game with his friend. I really wanted to go to the Quilted Bear to see the live reindeer and Santa. I have never done this before and thought it would be fun. And heck while I am in the area I might as well go see the elves at Gardner Village. So I drug Troy (who seems to be my second husband lately), Terrys brother with me to go have fun. The thing I didn't mention til he got here was that I had my 3 kids, his 3 girls, my brothers 3 girls and my sisters 2 kids to go with us. Well off we went to have a good time, yes that is 2 adults and 11 kids. Quilted bear was fun there was no line which was a blessing because it had been crazy all day. And with 11 kids I don't think that would have been fun. The reindeer were cool, which I have never seen, I think they said it was Dasher! SOO CoolThen Gardner Village was fun and not very busy. We walked around counting all the elves to see who could find the most. Troy is such a sweet guy, he is so easy and fun to be with that we had a great time. It was funny because on the way out we were walking past a family and he says (loud enough they could hear) "So honey do you think we should have another?" then I reply "I think it would be great you know Aunt Dixie has 12 kids and they all seem so happy." The lady stopped in her tracks and said you want another here you can have this one right now and you can have your dozen just like that. I laughed all the way home. Then we came home and had pizza and made popcorn balls and watched Rudolf. Yes the house full of my neices and one nephew. It was wonderful. Then Troy took his kids home and the rest stayed for a fun cousin sleepover. I just love being an aunt, I don't think it gets any better then this baby!

Christmas Tree

Usually I love the whole experience of putting up the tree. However, this year I accidently dropped my box of ordaments and broke some precious ones. I should have known right then and there that it wasn't going to be a good Christmas tree year. That night we spent 2&1/2 hours trying to fix the lights on our tree (we leave it strung for the next year). Well to make a long story short we didn't fix the lights and we ended up buying a new prelit christmas tree and decorated it the next night. It turned out to be perfect for us.

Post Thanksgiving

So the day after Thanksgiving I always go shopping. This year I drug out my sister Kami to go with me. She is not a crowd person so I didn't think she would follow through with it. But she did and we had a wonderful time. We stayed out from 4:00am until 5:00pm and got so much accomplished. Terry stayed home with the kids and if you know Terry by the end of the day he was going stir crazy. So on Saturday he worked all day to fix my jeep heater and front seat for Bowdee and we took our jeep out that afternoon for her maiden voyage. Yes we called my bro and told him where we were going just incase we didn't return at a decent hour. Then we headed for the hills. It was great but with the doors and hard top off it was cold. We were all bundled up so it wasn't too bad though. Terry and Bowdee went off on a walk hunting for rabbits. Tia, Treg and I stayed back to tend the campfire, which was fine by me. This was the first time Matia was allowed to be the fire master. Bowdee usually has that position so when I handed it to her she was all SMILES!Treg on the other hand was just not up for much so he just laid in the back of the jeep all bundled up in our super warm jeep blanket and was content on doing just that.Dash did great until the moment we pulled out the guns. He gets to frightened by the sounds. It was kinda sad and I felt bad for him. But we had a great time and we made it without any misshapps! These are the things in life that make us feel alive. These are the moments we treasure the most. Just us together as a family, talking, laughing and living in the moment.

Thanksgiving Feast

This year we had Thanksgiving with my family at my house. I have done this before but this year I was touched by the true meaning of Thanksgiving and felt a desire to go up and beyond. I wanted to show my family just how much they mean to me and tried to make it as nice as possible. So for the adults table I got a nice table cloth with chair bows then I put candles on the table with my Grandma Bennions china. I also went to DI and got as many different kinds of wine goblets as their were people. Then I made some platers that stand on candle sticks to hold some food. I also gathered pinecones to hold the name placetags. It looked amazing. Then for the mostly single adults table I had the same kind of set up. We had 15 adults and 7 children so it worked out on two tables. I think they were all impressed but I am not sure they relized the true meaning behind it all. To me my family is above royalty and I wanted them to truely feel important. The childrens table I covered in white paper so they could draw on it with markers during dinner and when they were finished or waiting for the adults. They thought this was ultra cool and it really did keep them busy. After the dinner the little kids skipped off to the basement to prepare a play for the adults. And we just hung out for a while. We looked at the newspaper, talked, looke through grandma b's jewlery, and we played a little rockband. It was the best just to be together and laugh and love. My whole family is amazing and of course I missed my 2 older brothers with their darling families. I know they would have been there if they could. But it is just sad without them. This year I am truely thankful for my parents I don't know what I would do without them. I am thankful for my husband and children they are my life and keep me going strong. I am thankful for my siblings they give me a feeling of belonging. I am thankful for all of my families good health! I am thankful for all the many miracles that happen to us daily. I am thankful that I love my life! Happy Thanksgiving.