Tennis, Party, Tree Climbing, and Demo...not neccessarily in that order

Wow it's been a crazy month! Between attempting to get settled and everything else I feel like I've been running around...but not.... I think what happened first was my little brother coming to town so I'll start there.

BYU invited the UNCW Tennis team to come play against them at BYU and coincidentally my brother Michael is on the UNCW tennis team so I got to see him! I thought we would be spending a bit of time together, but that was not quite the case. Mostly it was me watching a lot of tennis...which is ok...better than watching golf, fishing, or any other slow sport. I tried to get a few awesome pictures of him playing since he plans of becoming pro...although it appears I didn't get one of us together. Oops. I mostly talked with my older brother and his family as we were watching him play.

Ok so then, or somewhere in the month of April...Victoria started climbing trees...with NO shoes! She is quite the climber, but I figured since she's up there I better get a few pics before I yell at her for climbing the tree (jk...i didn't yell at her...just told her to be careful).

I think pretty much a week or so after we moved in John started "demo-ing" the old rooms in the house that are to become our office and library. It has been a lot of work. Right now it's just three old bedrooms that now is one HUGE one and boards and dust and old nails. It's blocked off thankfully. But he's been working hard and it should look awesome when he's done (as most things that he works on do end up looking awesome). So here's the hole in our new house...and actually since taking this picture the hole has gotten larger...and the room messier. Save me!

So now the fun part, we had our first housewarming party this past Saturday. It was a great turn out and I believe most people had fun. :) We had a taco bar and drinks and then most of the time everyone chatted instead of playing rock band. There were probably 10 or more kids in the house...and then the adults. But since our house is so big I think I hardly noticed. It wasn't cramped at all. At one point a "ball war" broke out. Lots of plastic balls were being tossed from the third floor to the second floor. And it was mostly the adults playing because we are SO mature! I had a blast! And that's our most recent update...lots of stuff going on in our lives right now...mostly fun. Keep looking for more updates. :)

And we're home!

We recently moved to Sandy, UT to our "final" home. By that, we mean the home our kids will grow up in and perhaps even John and I will get old in. It's a beautiful 8,000 sq ft (approx) home at the end of a quiet lane. It's got a two-car garage so we no longer have to shovel snow off our vehicles before heading out in the morning (yay!). It also has 3 kitchens (1 of which we converted into a craft room so it could pass FHA), 3 laundry rooms, 10 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and a very nice patio. It really is an incredible home that we had to jump through a few hoops to get to, but it's totally worth it. We are currently having trouble filling it since we're broke from the purchase. lol. It's alright though. We've got everything we need and more. Still getting adjusted to our new life, but things are ok.

I recently had a miscarriage...we were planning on a third child this year, but it's ok. There's always next year. Perhaps we aren't really ready like we thought. Besides, I have a huge place to clean now. I should get a good schedule going before I start throwing up. :) And I suppose Sheldon is like our third child. ha ha. Here's Sheldon...our tortoise. And Mikayla pointing to him...she likes him a lot. Below, is Lady GaGa's inspiration...Victoria. We hope things are going well for all of you guys.

Oh, is it February already?

As usual, it should come to no one as a surprise that I'm not keeping up with updates. So, here's some Christmas fun we had in California with John's parents...

Victoria's Birthday

Victoria is 4!! This year we held a celebration for her at Jungle Jim's Playland. We invited about 15 kids and 10 showed up so it was quite busy. It was a Tinkerbell party so she had Tinkerbell cake and received some Tinkerbell related gifts. It was so nice to have it somewhere besides our house because we couldn't have had such a big party if that were the case. This way, all the other kids were able to have a great time too and I didn't have to clean up afterwards. :)

Victoria on one of the many rides at Jungle Jim's.

Later on that evening Victoria had her first dance performance at the Festival of Trees. She did incredible! We are so proud of her. I would post the video of her performance but it would take too long to upload. Just take my word for it. She's a good dancer. Here she is with some of her dance friends (Kennady and Kennedy, lol).

Top 10 Reasons why Winter is the best season

10. It's beautiful outside. The snow really brightens up outside. In fact, the other day I thought our front porch light was still on bc the snow just brightened everything up! There's nothing like snow, especially because of...

9. Snowball fights! For some reason, even though it's extremely cold and all you can think about when you're outside is getting back inside you simply cannot resist when a ball of powdered ice comes flinging at you. Who wouldn't want revenge?! Not to mention, once you get started you forget all about being cold. No other season can you play with the weather...ever heard of a rain ball fight? Or a sunshine fight? Not gonna happen.

8. No Yardwork. It might not seem like such a big deal to you, but I hate doing yardwork out in a blazing sun. So when the ground is covered with snow and everything else is died off and I don't have to go outside to make my yard look nice (because it already does due to snow), I am one happy camper. Though, not literally a camper...camping in the snow is just insane.

7. Hot Chocolate. There is nothing like waking up and realizing your cold and then realizing you have the perfect drink to warm and wake you up. Hot chocolate. Speaks for itself.

6. Food. Not just food in general...but you know food you normally eat around the holidays. I'm talking about cookies, breads, hams, and all those other baked goods we put together. Makes a good excuse for heating up the house with your oven too...and you get a treat for doing it. :)

5. Hot Tubs. Yet another way to warm up and relax.

4. Snowboarding. Ok, I've only been twice, but I really do enjoy it. And I've learned to appreciate the fact that Utah really does have the best snow on earth. I used to play with snow (that was really just packed ice) and it is nothing like the snow here. And riding it down a mountain is incredible.

3. Christmas is coming. Once the snow hits I immediately start thinking of my preparations for Christmas, which is the best holiday as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. People are kinder and you can feel the spirit. People really stop thinking so much about themselves and start to realize the needs of others around them. It's a great feeling.

2. Football! I just love it when football season comes around. As if we needed an excuse to stay inside from the cold it just encourages us even more. Football is so fun to watch. And once February arrives, it's time for the Super Bowl, which means, even more good food and comforts of friends and family hooting and hollering.

1. And finally, the number one reason why Winter is the best season... Snuggling! I anxiously look forward to Winter every year for this very reason. Sitting with family around and big blankets covering us. It's just...WARM! And comforting. And great!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my list. And even if you don't like Winter (did you not read my list?), have a good one. :)
P.S. Don't eat yellow snow.

What happens when your kids no longer nap...

Creativity begins.

A Ghoulish Halloween and a Puppy Birthday

For Halloween this year Victoria was a witch (shown here with my vampire teeth): and Mikayla was a puppy. John and I were vampires (not shown) Our batteries died so we couldn't get a pic. Anyway, for breakfast I made them "ghost," which is what we call French toast in my house. It only seemed fitting to cut them into ghost shapes as well. :)
In today's news: Mikayla is two! My puppy is all grown up and actually has taken it upon herself to be potty trained! That's right! One day she just hopped up on the toilet and starting going and has been doing so ever since. She's great! Easiest potty training EVER! We held a birthday celebration for her at our place. She received lots of awesome fun gifts that she is enjoying very much. It's hard to keep Victoria away from them actually. We got her a puppy...which she loves! (Fake of course). But don't worry...she's spending lots of time with her other gifts too. Thanks everyone!

"Every dog has his day."