Thanksgiving, of course

The family gathered together for last week's holiday (well, except for the family that DIDN'T gather together) and we enjoyed our time and turkey. We stayed at grandma and grandpa's house for five days and really infiltrated. Life is a little more chaotic like that but you gotta love it. So, I decided to post some grandparent boastings lest you think that I am the only one who thinks my kids are amazing. These come from an email to my missionary brother.

From Grandma:
Nicolas is getting so big! He slept in your bed. He was so cute. (Now you need to remember he now lives in Santa Clara). When I tucked him in the one night I put him to bed he said, "How come Uncle David has so many blankets on his bed?". Not wanting to burst his bubble that it was me who had decided how many blankets were on the bed I simply said, "It's because it's getting so cold outside now." Nicolas is especially fond of Grandpa and they have games that Nicolas has made up that dad is willing to play.
Alisa is a crack-up. She is lots of fun. She loves her "baby" and her blanket (which is very pink). Her little legs spend a lot of time running, but she's also enjoys sitting on laps - which I love the best. She too loves grandpa and often walks about calling "ganpa". She is very busy often opening and shutting cupboards and can navigate a full flight of stairs carrying her "baby" (doll).

From Grandpa:
I also really enjoyed having Staci, Diego, Nicolas and Alisa here this week. What a blast! The kids are very cute and very fun. I love being Grandpa. As Mom said, Alisa ("Ali") walks around the house yelling "Ganpa" . . . just for the fun of it. Of course, I love it and make her laugh every time she does it.
Nicolas is getting so mature in his attitude about life. He and I went on hike on Friday afternoon, after I got back from work. We went up the Giles Ranch trial to sheepherder's flat. (Well we actually made it to the Fourth creek crossing, but he was too tired to go on.) It was cold and the creek had ice on portions of it. There was also snow in the higher mountains, so it was very pretty. On the way back, he was tired so I carried him on my shoulders until we got to the ambulance (my Bronco). We talked the whole time. Sometimes it was typical 4 year old stuff like about monsters, but other times it was very interesting to see how he understands and REMEMBERS things that are going on around him. For example, we were talking about his new house in Santa Clara and he said: "The green house (their first house in Santa Clara) was very old and not much fun, but we were only renting it before my Mom and Dad bought the new house in Santa Clara." Yes, a four year old said that. No kidding. I am not even sure I knew was renting was when I was four.

Hope no one minds me sharing with the world. Oh also, last night for the first time in my life, Nicolas liked something that I made for dinner. I'm not kidding! It was those chicken/cream cheese croquettes. His comment was "oh, this is soooo good that I can't even TRY my rice and peas." Wait a minute . . . . was it a ploy?

Blogger Help!

Does anyone know how to fix my picture to the right? And yes, I did already try the "shrink to fit." Anyone . . . anyone . . .

Halloween in So. Utah

Just downloaded these Halloween pictures to share. Alisa was very afraid of our neighbor boy's painted face. It was very warm here. The kids didn't even have to wear jackets.

Grievances

A blog isn't anything if it isn't my own personal gripe session.

Grievance #1 Gasoline
I have figured out part of the world's fixation with gasoline prices. (Besides, middle-eastern control, save the world blah, blah, blah) This week I filled up my aforementioned Toyota Sienna for the first time. I have been driving around for two weeks revving that beautiful engine and it was finally time to fill 'er up. I pulled into the gas station, swiped my credit card, and started filling. I was merrily humming my favorite bee-bop as I watched money being drained from my card . . . penny . . . by . . . penny. Suddenly I was standing there transfixed. I could not avert my eyes. It looked exactly like those calculators that follow the national debt. It just kept going and going and going. It wasn't necessarily that the total was $50 but that I had to watch every cent deducted from my checking account.

Grievance #2 Voting
I really, really, hate it when people talk and complain about gov'ment but then don't vote. I swear to you, at 29 I am always 20 years younger than everyone else at the polls. Please friends, take the time to vote. (I guess I should have said that last week, eh?)

Grievance #3 What I do is undone
All the work that I put into my children and house becomes undone in much less time than it takes to get it done. Do they really need to eat that often? I can't even get the dishes done before people are asking me for more food.

Five Things About Me

So I have been asked to create a "5 things" list. I love these things as we all learn so much about each other (in my case that is more than you ever wanted to know.) But I am a little slow on the uptake as Rachael gave me this idea more than two weeks ago. Here we go, oh boy.

5 things I was doing ten years ago:
1. Starting sophomore year at BYU
2. Running my very first step (which is a big deal to me considering I have run nearly every day since then--minus the second half of two pregnancies)
3. Wondering what to do with my life
4. Working at my dad's law firm as the court gopher (to rabidrunner: that's where I met Running Bruce's wife)
5. Still living with my parents!

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Take a shower and do my hair (no really, that's on the list)
2. Do the laundry
3. Not yell at Nicolas (can a "not do" be on a "do" list?)
4. Buy Alisa some shoes
5. Finally talk to AG who I have been playing phone tag with for almost a week.
Incidentally, the only thing accomplished on this list was number one. Hey, at least I'm hygenic.

5 things I would do if I had a million dollars:
1. Pay off JRV's school debt
2. Pay for VC's schooling
3. A shopping spree for clothes (for myself only)
4. Buy something for the bare walls in my house . . . and maybe something that didn't come from TJ Maxx
5. Pay for a cleaning service for my house for ten years. That is, until I no longer have little kids
Would a million dollars even cover all that?

5 thing I will never wear again:
Whoa never say never--I'm not sure I can do this one.
1. Size 6 jeans
2. big hair-sprayed bangs
3. puffy-paint shirts
4. black and flourescent pink biker shorts (excluding maybe really for biking instead of fash-i-on)
5. ballet pointe shoes

Alisa is 18 months old. Yeah for the nursery.

We have enjoyed visits from two sets of grandparents and celebrated Halloween within the last two weeks. So our kids are definitely spoiled. They are going to have to put up with boring me until Thanksgiving. Nicolas was a dragon for Halloween and Alisa was a fairy princess. Alisa's wings stuck out about a foot from each side of her. That made walking through a crowd a little hard for her but it was the cutest little thing I've ever seen.

Alisa is 18 months old this week. She really thinks she is a big girl! You know, copying everything that big brother does. She is bursting with personality, that's for sure. One her more annoying habits is "washing" things in the toilet water. Nicolas never got into that and it freaked me out. She also likes to eat more than Nicolas and will run to the table yelling, "Eeeeaat!" whenever we starting putting food on it. Not that she eats a ton. In fact, I am giving up on cooking because I am tired of untouched food. I don't make this stuff for myself you know. Alisa is getting into her babies (dolls) and really likes to feed them and wrap them in blankets. Her very favorite things are shoes, slides, cars, cookies, balls, and blankies. She can't get enough of them.