Christmas TIme

Horseback Riding

Shooting Range

Swimming

SUU basketball games and gymnastic meets

Snow Skiing







Jordyn's 2nd birthday

Christmas time really involves the whole month of December so here I am writing down the fun things we did in and around Christmas time. We flew to utah. I flew by myself with the girls. We went right before Jordyn turned 2 so we didn't have to pay for her ticket. I was scared for the long day and flight ahead of us, but it went as well as could've been expected. Mostly entertained by things I brought on the flight and only one meltdown by Miss Jordyn which was right before she finally fell asleep.
We flew to Utah to spend some time with my parents. Jeff came a week later. It was so nice to be with family and miss the huge snow storm that hit Alaska soon after I left. My dad took me on a date which was awesome. We went to dinner and a performance. What can I say, a few hours without my kids and entertainment is bliss and an added bonus was free babysitting (thanks mom). We saw a live navitity at Touchan in St. George and celebrated Jordyn's 2nd birthday. On her birthday she opened a few gifts and we went to see the Disney movie "Princess and a Frog" followed by some ice cream cake to eat. My mom and I drove up to visit my sister in Highland with the girls. The girls slept very little and played very much with their cousins. Jeff took Sydney snow skiing several times at Brianhead. She went last year but being that she had just turned 3 she still wasn't able to follow directions or execute those directions quite as well as she did this year. What a year a difference makes. She got the "pizza wedge" thing down, but prefers to go fast and keep her skis like "french fries." Don't get me wrong, she still need lots of practice, but she did awesome. The girl has no fear, which is the scary part, and even after she fell she got right back up and kept going. Kids 6 and under are free and so are there rentals so when I go back up to Utah, we're in Cali now, my parents will take her a few more times. I would love to go with her, but since I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant, it wouldn't be the best choice to do that. Sydney also loved to go snow tubing at Brianhead too. Christmas came and we set cookies and milk out for santa and wrote a letter. In the morning the girls opened up their presents and santa gave Sydney what she asked for....a blow up princess castle. The girls love playing with it. I gave Jeff the blog book I made, which turned out pretty good for the price I paid (I plan on doing that in the years to come too) and my yearly video I made of each girl and then us as a family that we watch after we open presents. I love that little tradition. It great to look back on the year of all the things we've done and what the girls have accomplished. Santa brought us a new video camera. Brooke and her fmaily came that night for dinner and my brother and his family came the next morning and all of us went skiing at Brianhead again.
Yesterday we drove to San Diego. Today we're going to Seaworld and plan on going to Disneyland next Monday. Jeff's family lives down here and we plan on spending a week with them. Jeff's grandma has a big new year's eve party at her house every year and we always look forward to that. I'll update our california trip when I'm back in utah.

Advice please

I'm seeking some advice from those who have 3 or more kids or come from a family with 3 or more kids, with my 3rd child coming very shortly. How do you or did your moms do it? (staying organized, staying awake and alert even though you're sleep deprived, feeding a family, getting out the door, having a normal conversation w/ your spouse, taking a shower w/o interruption,and any other scenarios I'm missing). Any tips, advice, and/or strategies I would love to hear so please share. PLEASE! I'm becoming nervous and worried here.

Sydney turns 4

I turned my blog into a book (print2blog.com). I can't wait to get it in a couple weeks to see what it looks like. With that being said, I'm sure my blog will be more detailed (and therefore boring to some) and perhaps more frequent since this is the only place I write down what is going on in our life.
Last Saturday Sydney turned 4. My goal was to not throw a party until she started asking for one and this was the year she really started asking for a party. So we had her first party with her friends. She had 15 friends from church, our neighborhood, and preschool that came. It was a Christmas theme. I had 3 stations. The first station was frosting christmas cookies and eating some lunch, the 2nd station was making a christmas ornament, and the last station was playing games: pin the star on the x-mas tree, santa-santa- reindeer (aka duck-duck-goose), and this balloon game. After we ate a princess cake (syd didn't want a snowman cake) and ice cream and opened presents. She had such a fun time playing with all her friends and of course getting some new toys. She was really good about thanking kids for the presents and saying how much she loved the gift she got. She even commented how "beautiful" the wrapping was or bag was that the gift was in. The party ended and Sydney was still on cloud 9 while Jeff and I were beat. The night before we hosted a X-mas party for Jeff and his co-workers and were up late. It was a fun weekend and now we're about to leave for Utah to visit family for a month and celebrate Jordyn's 2nd birthday in two days.
The night we had Jeff's work x-mas party.
Syd and her friend Luke with her first gun. She loves the gun. Not only does it make noises but the end lights up too. I love that my girl can appreciate and enjoy boy toys.
Sydney and her new apron that my friend made and a cook book for moms and kids. Sydney loves wearing her apron (as does Jordyn) around the house all the time and I love when she is shooting her M-16 gun while wearing it. I can't help but laugh.
And of course a party wouldn't be a party without a cake and blowing out a candle.
My big girl and I. It's crazy how fast 4 years have gone by. Sydney is such a good little girl. She is very obedient and very helpful. She is always willing and wanting to help me and help around the house wether I ask her or not. She is a joy in our lives and we love her so much.