Comic Relief

Things were a little tense tonight at dinner. Annie spilled Brian's milk all over the table and his plate, Leah spilled her milk, and the parents were both on the tired side. Just as we were finishing up, Annie sticks her fork in between her toes and props her foot up on the table. We all just busted up laughing. At least I know that if she ever loses her arms she will still be able to feed herself.

Cruella DeVil

A teacher who works with Brian has a daughter a year older than Leah and she gave him 2 garbage bags and a huge box full of clothes for Leah. We only peeked in one of the bags and Leah found a black fur (fake) coat. She has worn it all day long. First of all, who buys something like that for a four year old little girl? Secondly, why in Las Vegas would a coat like this be needed? Maybe in Russia it would be useful, but Vegas, please. Needless to say, it is crazy, but I think I will have a hard time getting Leah to take off to go to bed.
Strike a pose

She was singing the Cruella song here
Leah was gracious enough to let Annie have a go
Annie singing the song

Watching a movie while wearing the coat

3 months

Lucy is 3 months old today. She is moving into a fun stage. She is starting to grab and hold onto things. She will visit with you and loves it when you visit with her. She is still a great eater and an even greater sleeper. We sure love her lots!

Don't Eat Pete!!

While going through some old boxes I came across an old game that I played growing up. My mom made it and it is called "Don't eat Pete." It is just a file folder game, but my siblings and I loved playing it. I dusted it off, grabbed some M&M's, and called my girls over for a rousing game. This is how the game is played. There are nine squares featuring a picture of different types of candies. A piece of candy is placed in each square. One player leaves the room and the others designate a "Pete" for that round. When the player returns he/she starts grabbing candies one by one. When the designated Pete is reached for, the rest of the players yell out, "Don't eat Pete!" (my girls started crying the first time I yelled out, and Leah told me not to yell at them). They quickly recovered and had a good time grabbing up the candies. It was Annie's turn for family home evening tonight and she picked to play the "M&M" game. It was great fun. I'm glad that I found this old treasure. If you want to play, come on over, but you might have to bring your own M&M's.:-)

Waiting to play

Annie showing off the game board

Leah running in for her turn
She got lucky and got to eat a piece
Carefully picking
Annie running back in (this was the funniest part of the whole night)

Annie taking a turn

Back to Real Life

The holidays are over and it's time to get back to real life. We had fun visitng family and traveling all over the state of Utah, but it is time to buckle down and get back on schedule. Brian and Leah go back to school this week (which I'm secretly glad about-2 weeks is long enough. Brian will need to find something to occupy his time this summer or I might have to be committed-Oh the joys of being a teacher:-)). It is nice to look back on the year and look forward to what is to come. Here are some of my memories and things I am looking forward to.

2008 Reflections
10. Spending another crazy summer between Las Vegas and Ogden
9. Surving Girl's Camp
8. Being told by one of my students that I was one of his favorite teachers
7. Witnessing Annie receive free french fries from Arby's.
6. Watching Leah learn how to write her name
5. Brian finally getting hired on with the school district
4. Watching my mom graduate from the LPN program at the DATC.
3. Selling our house in Utah in 9 days, so we could buy a house in Vegas.
2. Finding a house in Las Vegas for an awesome deal!
1. Welcoming Lucy into our family and enjoying her sweet spirit and contagious grin

2009 Anticipations
10. A fun family vacation-who knows where or when
9. Getting into shape (anyone who would like to participate with this, let me know, it might be less painful with a group:-))
8. Book club-we have a great list of books to read
7. Figuring out how to sell my crazy pillowcases
6. Getting down to writing my book
5. Annie going to preschool
4. Leah going to kindergarten
3. Lucy growing up and doing all the things that babies do their first year of life.
2. Applying for the PhD in Public Health at UNLV.
1. Finally being able to paint the walls in my house!

p.s. Thanks Alison for the idea for this post.

Free french fries

We went to St. George for New Year's Eve. One of Leah and Annie's favorite things to do in St. George is go to the feed yard and see the cows and the horses. Annie thinks it's hilarious when the cows poop and Leah loves to give the horses apples. When Clayton (Brian's grandpa) was alive he would always go to Dutchman's (a gas station) for a Pepsi after a visit to the feed yard. We weren't going to break tradition, so we headed over after we had our fill of poop and the apples were gone. There is an Arby's in this particular gas station. Upon entering, Annie walks over to the Arby's counter and says, "Fries?" The workers laugh, but I manage to get her attention and she comes over to me and I am helping her pick out a drink. The next thing I know, an Arby's employee walks over and hands Annie a bag with french fries inside. I give her a puzzled look and she says, "That's what she ordered." I said, "She's two." The lady replied that she was aware of this, but since she was so cute she was giving her free french fries. Unbelievable. Annie thought it was the greatest thing ever and enjoyed sharing her fries on the ride back to the house. Later that same day she got free pudding at the deli in the grocery store. What is going on? If she is going to continue getting free stuff, I hope that she will move on to bigger and better things.

Showing off her free goods

Snow days

Since it snowed almost everyday we were in Utah, Brian took the girls sledding to take advantage of the white stuff (I graciously agreed to stay home with Lucy:-)). They had a great time. Annie could have been Randy's twin (the Christmas story), but Leah did pretty good walking around in all the snow gear.

Leah kept losing her boot in the deep snow.

Brian was proud of this shot.
Annie and papa

Annie and grandma

All the kids done sledding and ready for some cocoa

Christmas

We made the decision to stay in Utah for Christmas and we were glad that we did. There was lots fun activities, time with family, and snow! It was fun to experience a white Christmas. We had a good time, so thanks to all those who helped us have a great Christmas!

Christmas dresses

New jammies for Christmas Eve

Stocking fun

Leah reading through her photo book
Annie looking at her ABC book
Lucy modeling a new shirt
Annie perched upon her new potty (hopefully Santa brought her the will to use it)
Annie girl showing another fun gift
Lucy wearing her first pair of blue jeans-super cute!