All in one shot!

I am going to do my blog catch-up all in one post. So get comfortable; this is going to be a long one!

This is a picture of Ruth at her preschool's Thanksgiving Dinner. She got to dress as a pilgrim. She looked so gosh darn cute!
We had a wonderful Christmas. It was especially exciting because Ruth is finally old enough to anticipate it. She was so excited for all he festivities. Gareth loves his new cars and dump truck and Ruth loves her new 'mechanical puppy' and her books.





These next three pictures are of a random photo shoot that Ruth and Gareth both insisted on having. They're too cute to resist!


Here's some pics from our outing to Santa Land here in Lubbock. It was just a bunch of little displays of lights and characters put up by local buisnesses. The kids look like they're bundled up because it's cold outside...but it really wasn't that cold (we'd just forgotten we live in Texas when we got them ready).


We had a puppy for a day. He jumped into our car one morning while we were putting the kids in. Luckily he had been installed with a little microchip that had his owners information on it. It was a great way to remind me that I'm not ready for the responsibility of owning a dog. He was VERY cute though!

Best of 2008

I had a friend who did a blog of their 'best of 2008' and I loved the idea! So here is OUR best of 2008!

Best Movie: Dark Knight
Best Book: There are too many to name! Some favorites were: The Book Thief, Sorcery and Cecilia, Twilight, and Fruits Basket (Jones had no input on this one..I asked while he was distracted by Futurama...)
Best Place to Live: Out of the two places we lived in 2008 we love Lubbock. We have wonderful friends in Flagstaff but it just wasn't the right place for us.
Best TV Show: Burn Notice. Also, I discovered Gilmore Girls and LOVE it but I'll do a dedicated post for that when I finish the whole show.
Best Video Game: Force Unleashed
Best Home-made Dinner: Pesto and Mozzarella stuffed Pork Chops (recipe created by Jones and it was awesome)
Best Deal: $80 7ft Pre-lit Chrismas tree for $8.
Best New Hobby: Geocaching

Hope ya'll have a happy New Year!

Updating the blog? Nah

I promise to update soon and write all about our holiday adventures. Until then, use your time reading this article.
I'm excited to experience my first (that I know of) leap second during the countdown to 2009!

I guess she doesn't want to be President...

Ruth: "Mom, I don't want to be rich because then I'd have to take over the world."
Mom: "Just because you're rich doesn't mean you have to take over the world."
Ruth: "You don't? Oh, okay."

Aren't they cute??

I just love this picture of my nephew and my niece! Aren't they cute?

Ruth's letter to Santa

A few days ago Ruth wanted to write a letter to Santa so she dictated and I wrote. I figured Santa would get the letter faster if I just posted it here instead of sending it...

Dear Santa,
I love you. I know you are so nice when you give me presents. Everyone knows about you, Santa. So if you want to give me presents you can put twenty-thousand under my tree. And don't forget to wrap them! I want a cub that comes to life, a Christmas ornament, a Wall-E and that's all.
Well, I better go now Santa. I need to eat my dinner.

My house smells BAD

Ruth came out of her room tonight at about 10:30.

Daddy: "What's wrong, Ruth?"
Ruth: "Blllleeeeeehh (puking on the floor). That's what's wrong."

Gareth had the bug a couple days ago so we kinda know what to expect. She'll be feeling better by noon tomorrow. It's just a 12-hour thing. Let's just hope the rest of us don't get it!

Happy Birthday Eddie!

This is a pic of my siblings (minus the niece and the cousin that my parents are raising). I was pregnant with Gareth at the time this picture was taken.

Today is my brother Aric's birthday. (He's the one in the picture standing next to me). Happy birthday Eddie!!

Here are some cool things about my big brother:

1. He lets me call him Eddie, even though I'm sure it's an annoying nickname. (Don't ask how it came to be...it's a long story involving many years and different 'trial' nicknames which included: Arica, Airhead, Addica, etc.)
2. While we were growing up we could always pinpoint where in the house Aric was...he was ALWAYS whistling.
3. Aric is smart. He's been on the Deans' list ever since he started college.
4. He will be graduating soon with a degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Planetary Systems. (if that doesn't convince you how smart he is then I don't know what will).
5. He's great with kids. I know my kids will love him (if they ever get to meet him...)
6. He was a fun older brother to have when I was growing up. He was always coming up with fun games to play. We even designed a computer game together!

I love you Eddie! I hope you have a great day!

Christmas Video

With Christmas only a few days away, I've been thinking a lot more about what Christmas is all about. This movie is a perfect way to express that. A friend of mine in my ward here in Lubbock wrote the words and music for the song in this video. I always tear up when I hear it, I love it so much. (The crying is probably because of the pregnancy...but the movie really is good).



Merry Christmas!

Chapter Books

Ruth has discovered the wonders of reading (or being read to). We decided to start reading chapter books to her at night before bed. I wasn't sure if she was quite ready to graduate to listening to a story without pictures but I was happily surprised. I should have known she'd love it because everyday in the car she insists on listening to stories from my ipod. (check out storynory.com for free podcasts of all kinds of stories!)

Anyway so now she's (read: we're) hooked! We've been reading mostly Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne. Ruth wants chapter books for Christmas and I think we're ready to branch out and find more chapter books to read. Any suggestions??

The floor is not a book shelf...

Our poor bookshelf is always full. But never has any books on it.

Guinea Pig

When Ruth and Gareth play together it usually isn't long before one of them get's hurt (Ruth more often than you'd expect...Gareth is vicious). So when they went into their room and closed the door the other day I was expecting to have to run in there in only a few minutes. After about 20 minutes, I began to worry. Maybe they had somehow rendered each other unconscious?! Since I usually don't freak out very easily, and I figured that if they were unconscious at least they were breathing and not fighting, I decided to enjoy my peace and quiet. Soon after Ruth proudly paraded Gareth out into the living room and presented to me her newest artistic endeavor.


I later asked Ruth how she got Gareth to sit still for her to be able to do his hair and she explained to me the trick. "He didn't sit still, Mom. I just followed him around while he played." This explains why it took so long for the hairdo to be completed AND why I didn't hear any screaming. Ruth was entertaining herself with Gareth who was entertaining himself with toys.

Keeping the carpet clean? No Way!

What is that boy doing??

Eating a peanut butter sandwich of course!
I wonder if he got any in his mouth...

In Case You Didn't Know

This video is a great representation of how Ruth acts EARLY in the morning (also a good representation of how I act...you'll notice it in the sound of my voice). She woke me up this morning asking if she could make a new video for the blog. I'm starting to wonder if that was a good idea or not...

Anyway. Here she is talking about babies, taking care of your pet, and measuring.




Our little four-year-old has started asking "those" questions and we feel fairly comfortable about teaching her correct terminology (while keeping the answer simple). A few days ago she asked how babies get out of their mommies tummies and we answered. What do YOU think??

Starting off the season

I got this fun little survey in the mail (email, that is) from my friend Kate. I thought it was a cute way to start the holiday season.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Honestly? It's usually newspaper or an old walmart shopping bag. But this year we're stocked with wrapping paper because we bought it cheap last February.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Fake all the way. We used to have a cute little 5-foot tree but last February we hit Walmart during their 90% off Christmas clearance sale and got an 80-dollar tree for 8 bucks! (it's 7.5 feet and pre-lit).
3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving. I would do it sooner but I have a 'bah-humbuggy' husband.
4. When do you take the tree down? Never!! Actually, I'm pretty much sick of it by the time Christmas is over. I don't think it's ever made it all the way to New Year's.

5. Do you like eggnog? Jones likes it a whole lot more than I do. We like to dilute it with milk.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? The first Christmas present I can remember was when we got our very first VCR. We also got the movie The Boy Who Could Fly. I loved that movie. Jonesy's favorite gift was Sir Rusty. He's our little suit of armor we have in our living room (come over and take a look if you haven't met him). Jones got him when he was about 17.

7. Hardest person to buy for? That is an unfair question. I find it hard to buy presents for everyone (mostly because I have no money).

8. Easiest person to buy for? Gareth. We bought him a sand bucket and shovel from the dollar store. (don't tell him! It's a surprise!)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. The angel's head keeps falling off though so we don't have it out...
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? We mail them (if you want one this year send me your address!!). We need to get started on that!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Jones once got a Ken doll from his grandmother....he still hasn't recovered.
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually make my fabric purchases during the after Thanksgiving sale at JoAnn Fabrics. Then I wait until the week of Christmas to buy the rest (I'm lazy..and I hate spending money).
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, but I traded a present with my sister once. (Why would you need driving gloves when you don't own a car???)
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Jonesy likes to have a relish tray to snack on for Christmas day. Other than that we don't have any traditional Christmasy food.
15. Lights on the tree? Our tree comes pre-lit with beautiful colorful lights. When our kids are older, we'll probably switch to clear lights (clear lights seem more mature).
16. Favorite Christmas song? Jonesy has a special rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" that is pretty entertaining. "The restroom door said gentlemen so I just walked inside / I took three steps and realized I'd been taken for a ride / I heard high voices, turned and found the place was occupied/ by two nuns, three old ladies and a nurse/ what could be worse?/ than a nun, three old ladies and a nurse." There's more maybe I'll make a video of him singing it if enough people request it.
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We would LOVE to travel.. but alas we live too far from anyone for it to be economically feasable.
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudoulph (Ruth still hasn't noticed that I repeat Donner and Blitzen..I always forget Prancer and Vixen.)
19. Angel on the tree-top or a star? We have a star but it's not on top..it fell about halfway down and we are waiting for our neighbor to come over and fix it for us (she has the habit of straightening our star every time she comes over. Thanks Kristina!!)
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open pj's on Christmas eve and wait for the rest for Christmas morning.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Well I probably would have put the cold weather in this spot last year, but here in Lubbock it's actually deal-with-able. So now I have nothing that annoys me. Jonesy says the thing that annoys him the most is the fact that his wife is allowed to sing Christmas carols. (what'd I tell you about him being 'bah-humbuggy'?)

22. Favorite ornament theme or color? We always like to make special ornaments each year to put on our tree. Still thinking of ideas for this year if you have any suggestions!!
23. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Spaghetti (in other words, we have yet to have a special Christmas dinner...once the presents are opened, Christmas is over!)
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? A salary increase!! A trip home to see family would be nice too. We'll probably wait until tax return season before we get anything special for ourselves.

Hope this was fun! I'd love to see everyone do this on their blog so I can read your answers too!

The Curse of November and Ruth is Thankful

We are not that busy for the holidays. We aren't going out of town. We're not in charge of making a huge feast for Thanksgiving (only contributing a few dishes to one). And yet, I have been feeling the rush of the holidays and have been neglecting my blogging duties. Sorry!

On a completely different note, we've been telling Ruth about how we spend our time around Thanksgiving thinking about all the things we're thankful for. She wanted to compile a list of the things she's thankful for and put it here on the blog for all the world to see. So here it is:

The sun,
Food I have.
I like everything so you might as well hear the rest.
I love my mommy so much so I'm thankful for her.
I'm thankful for the stores
and lemonade stands,
beautiful winter,
squirrels,
gazelles,
turkey we eat at thanksgiving,
beautiful sheep at the farm,
mice,
the things on TV,
things that make me happy like cats, dogs, puppy dogs and lots more
so don't go away until I'm done.
I'm thankful for stories,
my friends,
my grandmas,
my grandpas,
my little cousins,
and thats all!

Ruth has an announcement...

Dreams

Today while driving in the car a love song came on on the radio. Ruth got this very dreamy look in her eyes. After a minute or so of the song she said this:

"Guess what I'm going to do tomorrow. I am going to start looking at all the men that are grown-ups and if I find a handsome one I'm going to marry him when I grow up. As long as he's not already married."

So watch out men! Ruth is on the hunt!

What About Bob?

This is a picture of my dad when he was on his mission (for the LDS church) in Taiwan (back in 1977-ish). Ain't he handsome?

Today is my dad's birthday. He is turning 27 years old. My dad is an amazing person. If you don't know him then you should do all in your power to get to know him because he's cool.

Here are some memories I have of my dad (in no particular order):

• We used to play 'tickle monster' after dinner. He'd tickle us and we'd do our best to (not) get away.
• We had a dog named Wicket. Whenever we'd take him camping, my dad would always let him off his leash. I would freak out and worry that he would run away or get lost and my dad would always be so calm and unworried.
• All my cousins call my dad "Uncle Bob." It makes sense that they call him that because that's his name, but I'd always get jealous that I couldn't call him that too.
• When I was a kid my dad knew EVERYTHING. Even after I got married I'd always say to my husband "Let's call my dad, he'd know the answer."
• Dad always has good advice.
  
• Whenever we were driving in the car my dad would always reach over and slap my mom on the leg. (it was a love slap, don't worry). I always knew that that was his way of saying 'I love you' to her.
• We used to always walk hand-in-hand. Then I went to college and decided I was too old for that so we graduated to walking arm-in-arm.
• Dad has always worked so hard for our family. He's pretty smart too. Just ask me someday what he does for a living and you'll be impressed!

I love you, Dad! Hope you had a great day!

History

Say what you will, but history has been made.

Spontaneous Saturday--Picture OVERLOAD!

Today was our first annual Spontaneous Saturday. We woke up and said: "Let's go to Amarillo today." Then we said: "What are we going to do in Amarillo?" Our reply to each other was: "I don't know, I guess we'll find out when we get there." So we went. We had adventures!

The first thing we found when we got to Amarillo (a 2 hour drive north of Lubbock) was a Discovery Center!

The kids loved the silly little fake letter things they had out front. If you can't tell, this is a letter 'D'

Gareth's FAVORITE toy these days are balls. When he saw these huge balls out front of the Discovery Center he took off running. "Balls!" was all he could say.

Boy in a bubble...

Girl in a bubble...
Putting a dead body together...
Discovering a dead body...
Ruth learns what clouds feel like. "It doesn't feel like anything!" (I think she was disappointed)
Our next stop was The Big Texan. This is a place we've seen on the Food Network. They are the home of the free 72 0z steak (if you eat it ALL plus a salad, baked potato and three shrimps in one hour). No, we didn't take up that challenge but it was fun to watch two other people take it up.
The guy is holding his spatula above a 72 oz steak. You can only see half of it because of the spatula.
The guy in the green has been at it for 45 minutes. He's looking a little green. The other guy just started. Makes me sick just thinking about it.
I loved the HUGE rocking chair so I took many pictures of it.

Everything's bigger in Texas
We were rushing to get home in time to watch the Tech vs. Texas game and we had a blow-out. Luckily we survived!

A very nice State Trooper came and parked his car behind us and put his lights on to keep us safe. Since Jonesy had the changing of the tire under control the only thing the officer could do was stand there and listen to Ruth tell him scary stories from Halloween. He was a real trooper (hahaha! I made a pun!). Let's hope this tire is covered under warranty...can't afford a new one!
We finally made it home just in time for the second half of the big game. WoW! That was a great game! If you missed it, I feel sorry for you. The last minute and a half was so intense. I am a little annoyed at the crowd for being silly and forgetting that it's not smart to jump onto the field and tear down the goal posts BEFORE THE GAME IS ACTUALLY OVER! Some people don't realize that after a touchdown the scoring team gets to try for an extra point. Even if there is only one second left in the game.

And thus ends our Spontaneous Saturday. We are cured of all spontaneity for at least another 6 months. Unless we decide to be spontaneous.

Oh, check the next post for some videos of our day!

Spontaneous Saturday--Videos!

Nose-blowing

Halloween Week

Halloween has turned into a week-long holiday. With parties here and festivals there, by the time Halloween actually rolled around, I was spent.

Monday was our Ward Halloween party. We had a chili cook-off and trunk-or-treating. Ruth was so excited for this event (and so were the rest of us). Of course we didn't take very many pictures but we got a couple good ones.

Thursday was Ruth's Fall Festival at her school. Gareth and I went and helped out with some of the games. The kids had a great time. Ruth's really pretty popular. Right when we walked into the classroom there were a dozen students surrounding her showing her their costumes. The part that made me most nervous was when Ruth said to me: "Mom, this is Noah. Noah, meet my mom." Just the way she said it gave me a glimpse into her teenagehood when she brings her first boyfriend home. Not looking forward to that.

Ruth insisted on having jewels in between her eyes and on her chin...can't argue with a fairy princess.

We had to take a dozen of these shots. There was so much going on around them they couldn't keep their eyes on the camera. Can you see Ruth's deep concentration on the camera in this picture? She's trying so hard not to move her eyes.

Gareth was dressed as Darth Vader. He had a cool helmet-type thing but he kept taking it off. The only pictures I got of him wearing the thing were blurry. This kid won't sit still.
Here is our Fairy Princess
Back view.

Another successful Halloween. It's time to get started on next year's costumes! If you want to be reminded of last year's costumes just click here.