"Poor Mr. T" or "Lucky Mr. T" Depending on Your Perspective

All of these little cuties are Ari's Brownie troop in our neighborhood. I helped chaperone their group to "Hannah Montana 3D Movie". Having already been there and done that in person last fall - I tried to enjoy listening to Lelu & the little girls all sing along. That was very cute. Ari has 12 girls and Mr. T has 2 boys to play with. Good thing she's the social one.

AND THE SNOW JUST KEEPS FALLING!

This is not news to you Utahans, but to you CAs & AZns...................

Appreciate not having to shovel or drive in this stuff! The kids aren't complaining too loudly - they spent Sunday afternoon with the neighbors building this cool igloo because Church was cancelled. That's definitely never happened in 14 years either. Big B & I went off to an 'adults only Super Bowl party' without guilt of leaving church early. I had no idea who was even in the Super Bowl until that day - but I chose my team to root for based on tabloid gossip. I read that Tom Brady was a big cheater and left his girlfriend of 5 years, 7 months pregnant, for a supermodel - So I didn't think he deserved to win! I was happy for Eli Manning too, not having to walk in his brother's shadow. Plus the last quarter was really fun to watch. More SNOW COMING TODAY! Ahhhhhhhhh SPRING WILL BE BLISS THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!

D gets a little taste of 'Broadway' Playing Otto Frank for 4 days

D's theatre teacher is VERY DRAMATIC and wrote a play 10 years ago using "The Diary of Anne Frank & the book "Night". Every other year the school allows her to put on "Voices of the Holocaust", and they require all students to see it. So there were two casts - D was a Prisoner #4 in the 2nd cast & Otto Frank in the 1st cast. The kids put this on 4 times a day for 4 days. And as you can imagine - it is a very heavy subject matter. He was very happy to get it over with and start working on the end of the year play, which is student's choice. Of course, my critique is that he did an awesome job, esp. considering he was playing a mature level-headed man - and what's exciting to me is I know he's got it in him, even if it is just a character! I didn't see the play with him as Prisoner #4 - but I'll bet he did that one great too. He finished out the week with Friday & Saturday night all night filming for "Lair Lords" (the BYU film). Big B picked him up at 4 am both nights. I am so grateful he's a morning person! Needless to say, D spent Super Bowl sunday sleeping. He is loving every minute of it which makes all the driving worth it to me.

THE REAL BEAUTY OF UTAH!

B & D had a busy morning last Monday shoveling a total of 4 times. This is how much snow fell from 5 am until about 1 pm. I do believe this is the most snow in the shortest amount of time we've had in 14 years of living here. My neighbor informed me that there was more in 1993 - the year before our arrival. Thank Heavens for 4 wheel drive!

D gets a fun part!

To add to his exciting b-day weekend, D got a part in a BYU film festival film. He's one of the main 3 parts - a goofy 14-15 yr old obsessed with Pop Rocks. He is thrilled because he is the only 15 yr old cast. The rest of the cast are 19 to 21 yr olds who look really young. Pop Rocks is sponsoring this film & want to get in Sundance next year. How cool would that be? Anyway he doesn't get paid & he films from 3 pm to 3 am Friday nights & 5 pm to 5 am Saturdays nights for the next 3 weeks. Fun driving time for mom & dad. Only 1 more year until he can drive himself! That will be a happy b-day for me too.

D turns 15, Eats Cake, Cheats at Bowling & FINALLY gets a suit coat!

Like a typical computer savvy teenager, he quickly figured out how to change his score in order to save face from his mom kicking his butt. Mr. T I think has some talent, he bowled a 96 with 2 strikes! Big B is still trying perfect his curveball. (without a lot of luck)

D has been complaining for the last couple of years that he's the only one at church who doesn't have a suit jacket. So we went shopping and got him this very dapper coat & tie. The tie was a compromise - the first 20 he showed us looked very much like he was going for the clown look - so I used my veto power. Did you all know paisley is back in? This one happens to be paisley & bright but not bozoish. Doesn't he look spiffy? ( And a very cute girl noticed and complemented him on his new clothes)

D gets properly embarassed at the Cheesecake Factory with Choc Tuxedo Cheescake to wipe away his discomfort.

Mr. T & Ari Are Now Experts in Crop Dusting & Worm Farming!

The twins are learning about farming & every child was assigned a topic. We lucked out and got the extremely interesting topics of Crop Dusting & Worm Farming! This is one aspect of twin mommying that isn't that fun - I get to do 2 reports. I brought in a surgical mask as a visual aid for crop dusting and Ari emphasized how poisonous the chemicals are.

Mr. T was totally stoked about bringing in real earthworms. (Thank you Walmart for providing year round earthworms.) He was in all his glory holding them and showing them around. He also baked some worms in his 'Bug Maker', think Easy Bake Oven for gross looking bugs. Of course, then his teacher decided to keep the worms and extra day and that did not go over well for Mr. T. He was angry, sad, distraught and about as emotional as a 6 yr old can manage. She let him bring them home Friday and he literally spent 4 hours playing with them. Poor little disgusting, but oh so helpful, creatures. They now reside happily a foot under our compost pile.

I do wish we would have been assigned "Where does Chocolate come from?" (the report between their reports)

BIG B TURNS 45!!!

Yikes, how can I be married to a man that's 45? Why does that sound so old? We enjoyed a night out with all of us including Aub & Michelle T. at a "hoity toity" little place, that just may have been a little too nice for kids that just may be a little too young to go to it. I guess it was french because it was called "Francks" with a french pronunciation. And we had fondue with stinky cheese. I managed to pick out 3 gifts that B didn't want to return, so it was all good.

A Visit to A Friends Cabin - and Fun with Cousins

Tallon didn't want to leave sledding & snowmobiling fun with our friends.

Big B giving "torture" and "persheda's" to poor little B-Wyatt.

We also had the fun of having Jeff, Christina & the boys for New Years. It was a quick visit with 2 days of skiing for dad's and kids and 2 days of mom's fun. Ringing in 2008 with pretty much the same resolutions as every year...........

I am sorry to have been offline for 2 months but I had a computer nightmare & said more than my share of swear words - contemplated driving my car into the front windows of PC laptops. In the end - B saved me from drilling in foul language to my little ones and a stint in prison. I have a new PC and he found all my info. WooHoo and an renewed appreciation of my addiction to a computer.

I have no photos of Christmas - only video & I haven't figured out how to load video

Our Christmas this year was great. Thanks to Michelle T and D's ability to argue about what he wants for Christmas. D was telling me how if he did not get the new X-box 360 that he'd be really mad. I was saying how we are done with gaming systems and Michelle started telling us about families she works with that are refugees who've lost everything. I told her I'd rather spend the $400 on one of those families. She sent me a list that included things like blankets, diapers, warm clothes and food. So I decided to take full advantage of my calling as compassionate service leader and asked my Relief Society president if I could open up the sub- for- santa to our ward. I was emotional everyday because I saw the absolute generosity of people who I didn't know could even afford it, or I didn't like (shame on me I KNOW). It took away all of my usual holiday anxiety and replaced it with strong feelings of being blessed with Michelle T. and so much love from so many people. It made my year and honestly was the best Christmas ever. Our family delivered everything and I hope it made an impression on my children - I want to be a part of that every year and throughout the year. And I never heard another word about an X-box 360!

'Fancy Nancy' -The smallest tree since 1995-Cute X-mas Clothes - BYU beats UCLA boys trip

Ari has a style all her own, especially loving the books called "Fancy Nancy". Do you think I need to worry about her style choices in the future? This looks cute as a 6 yr old - but what will we get from her at 16?

My piano now takes up my x-mas tree room - so the ceiling is low in the new spot - B thought it was fabulous to have such a tiny tree this year and it lived through New Years. I think it cost us $25. A record low for us.

B, D and Mr T. flew to Vegas on the Saturday before X-mas to meet B's friend since he was 5, Grant. As many of you are aware - they enjoyed the last "miracle" play of the game - and enjoyed some drunk Y fans creating a not very great example of BYU fans.

Me & the girls enjoyed the nutcracker at the Capital theatre while they were gone. It only took (I think) 6 times going to the Nutcracker for Aub to really enjoy it! Thank heavens for small miracles.

Just a quick note about Turkey Day.

I am officially the class photographer for the kindergarteners. This was a very cute party. They made friendship soup. All the kids brought a can of some vegetable & they poured it into crockpots & made bread in a breadmaker. It smelled heavenly! And Ari ate 3 bowls of the soup. Our Thanksgiving day was very quiet. No snow -so no skiing this year. Just a movie day to see Enchanted & then we spent the evening with Mom & Dad eating pie. It was a perfect day & still my favorite holiday.

Ari Finally gets a Visit From the Tooth Fairy

She's just caught up with Tallon. As of today - B was in all his glory pulling out the second tooth. This was the first pull. My kids don't have the time to lose teeth before Dad gets his hands on them.

Just Some of my Favorite Photos (and notsofavorite, but Odd)

Self Portrait of D - I'm not sure what he's going for - Investigator? Studious? Skeptical?
B in his most disgusting face - the twins used to cry when he did this. I think I might cry too.
So this is last year's halloween costume - but I am most proud because of Captain Hook - Doesn't he look just like Dustin Hoffman's Hook just shrunken?
Lelu finishing the Moab 5 miler in 2nd place - under 45 minutes - look at her go!

This week is Thanksgiving. By far it is my most favorite holiday. I love to turn on Christmas music the day before, clean my house and bake rolls & pies. And then I just love to go to movies and hang out with my family - ahhhh, music, food, movies & family - the best holiday ever!

Hope you all enjoy it too.

The Real Birthday Day

Holding their favorite gifts-cuddly pillows-barbie laptop-and below a huge Pirates of the Caribbean Boat "the black pearl"(from D and Lelu). We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner with Michelle T. which was so nice to see her after her trip to Italy and back to New Mexico. Big B is in Florida at back to back conventions. It was a nice mellow day....and my favorite part: they were all in bed by 8:30.

THE FINAL GAME...a little boohoo and a little woohoo

D is number 27 going in for the tackle - he got the guy in purple on the left. While I was handling the party - D and Big B were at D's playoff game. They lost which was a total bummer for D because it's the last game of the last year he will play football. He could play once more in Little League - but he wants to run track and the seasons overlap. I made it for the second half and snapped a few final photos. But I must say, D is very very very happy to not ever deal with Coach Evil again.

The "Bee Movie" Birthday Party

Boy/Girl twin parties are a problem - I have to invite the same amount of boys & girls - in order to get an even number I had to invite their whole school class and primary class (School - Boys 17 Girls 7) and (Primary - Girls 10 Boys 3) So we had 32 show up to see the Bee Movie. What a fun crowd;) They polarized into the boy row & the girl row - with the boys glued to the movie and the girls wiggly and needed potty breaks. One girl asked to go 3 times until I figured out she was pocketing the peppermints from a bowl on the counter-she must REALLY like them.

I have a new rule: Parties only on even birthdays. I am off the hook for 2 years because they all have evens and odds the same year. WooHoo The photo in the top middle is Kenzie (Cherie's daughter) Ari and Trey (her boyfriend). They start dating younger and younger! I think Kenzie doesn't approve.

The Good News - I Still Have My Hearing!

Lelu & "bff" Morgan got tickets for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus for their birthday's last August - it sold out in 3 minutes! We were very lucky to get these tickets. So Sharon (Morgan's mom) and I took the girls and literally plugged our ears 90% of the time. Just imagine 20,000+ little girls between 6 and 13 screaming their heads off for an hour and a half. Lelu thought it was awesome and jumped up and down the whole time. All in all, a great first concert for two 10 year olds. And I really hope Miley Cyrus stays wholesome and doesn't go down the Brittany road.

We're Off To See The Wizard.............

I have a lot to post for the last couple weeks, but I'm waiting on some photos of D's big stage performance from the drama teacher. (We videoed, but since I was on my deathbed, I forgot the camera) So coming soon..... "Sludge Slyskull"

Okay, so I live in the past with movie characters - most kids didn't even know who Edward Scissorhands was! How sad! I think it's one of Johnny Depp's best. And yes I had a little say in 3 of the costumes this year. Okay I had all the say in the twins costumes BUT AREN'T THEY THE CUTEST!!! D's was a little persuasion - but all the teenagers at school loved it and what a cool wig to add to our ever expanding collection. Lelu was the hugely popular for all tweens "Hannah Montana" (If you don't know who she is - watch Disney Channel and she's on there like 12 hours a day) So we are loaded up on candy - B originally offered to give them a dollar a piece (not so he could eat it;), but they've each got about 80 pieces. So we may be dipping in to the college funds to prevent future dental costs. Mr. T asked when he gets to pick his own costume and I explained to him that until mom has got her fill of fun that she paid for in NO SLEEP for 18 months taking care of twins - mom gets to choose. I get sooooo much fun out of it. So far we've had "Twin Pumpkins", "A bee & flower", "football player & cheerleader", "Tinkerbell & Captain Hook" and now "Dorothy & The Tin Man". I could go on for years!!!!! I seriously doubt they will accept that excuse much longer :( cry a tear for me.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.........

I remember when Aub was in preschool in CA and they took field trips to the pumpkin patch and I thought, "why on earth would you spend a field trip at a pumpkin patch?" Over the years as I've become wiser and more observant: It's like searching for the Holy Grail. Which one is the perfect one? And there has to be hundreds of them to inspect and to make such an important decision takes TIME!!! To add to the fun, this year the owner (who must be about 100) sat grumpily telling the kids "don't pick them up, if you drop it, you pay for it", "don't pull those wagons too fast or down that little incline", "don't step on them" and other encouraging phrases. In past years, there's been teenagers sitting bored and not even acknowledging our existence until it's time to pay. I prefer the teenagers myself. We are now officially decorated for Halloween. And we look forward to the marathon carving and decision making for the perfect Jack O'lantern face.