Snow Day

On Saturday we went out sledding with Shan and the Redd clan. We went out to Holliday's gravel pit. It was a pretty nice hill. Ethan went down once with Javan and didn't like it very much, he thought it went too fast. So I finally talked him into going down the hill with me. Which proved to be worse. We wrecked half way down the hill and Ethan got a face full of snow. So he was done sledding down the hill.He did enjoy riding the 4-wheeler with Javan and seeing if they could make it up the steep hills in the snow.
Ally loves to ride on the 4-wheeler too.

Ally loved going down the hill on Grandma Shannie's lap.

Harper, Lincoln, Ella, Ally and Ethan taking a break to warm up with some hot chocolate.

A family photo (minus Ryan) out in the snow.

Ethan and Harper taking a ride on an old broken down snowmobile.

The whole group!After sledding we went to check out the biggest snowman ever. Some people from Blanding built it with their tractor. It is huge. Look at the truck to the side of it. The snowman is almost twice as tall. Ethan was amazed at it's grandeur, look at him staring up at it.

Ally, Ethan, Harper, and Lincoln with the giant snowman.My little snow princess.

Merry Christmas 2008

We had a really great Christmas this year. Ethan and Ally were old enough that they knew what was going on and were so excited for Christmas to come. They asked everyday if they could open their presents yet. I'll give a rundown of our happenings from the past week or so. This is a long post, I'll warn you now.

We started off decorating a gingerbread house. Thanks to Grandma Shannie for giving us the kit. The kids loved it, even Ryan. (Can't you tell.)

Here's the finished product. Looks pretty good.

We had the Shumway Christmas party at Grandma Patsy's. We were actually supposed to go over to Monticello for it but it snowed so much and the roads were so bad that the family from Blanding stayed home and celebrated together. Here's Ethan, Ashlynn, Ally and Ella.

Here's a picture of the snow. It just slides down our metal roof and makes these crazy overhangs of snow. Brrrrrrr.... it's so cold. And slick.
Our next Christmas party was at Grandma Heather's. We played in the snow and then had a yummy dinner, and let the kids open their cousin presents. Here's Ally, Kamron, and Ashlynn (and Carter) doing some dancing, feeling the Christmas spirit.
We even had pinata, you know that was a hit. (No pun intended.) Here's Ethan taking a whack at it.
Then we went over to visit Grandpa Kelly and Grandma Lucinda. The kids are always sure to have a good time here.
Here's Grandpa Kelly and Ryan.

On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's house for our traditional soup and scones. Yum Yum! My brother Michael and his family are here for Christmas and my Uncle Rick and his family came down too. The kids got to open their cousin gifts. Here's Ethan, Ally, Carson, Davis, Payton, and Ryan.
Ryan loved his little caterpillar.

Another tradition, that I think a lot of people have, is jammies for Christmas Eve. Here are the kids just before bed and anxious for Santa. It was so fun to see how excited Ethan and Ally were. We set out cookies for Santa and Ethan made sure that we also set out some milk. He insisted on milk even though Javan told him that Santa liked Pepsi with his cookies.

This is the before picture, everything in its place. This is after Santa had come of course.

The kids were so excited on Christmas Eve that I thought they would be up early and ready to go. They didn't get up until almost 8:00. Which was nice for Javan and I. I guess we have few more years until they want to get up at the crack of dawn, and that's fine with me. My Mom and Dad came down to watch the kids open their presents. I think everyone had a good time.

Looks like Ryan sure did.

Ally was really into the opening phase this year. She didn't care much what was inside the package, she just kept saying "what else, mom?" So she got through her presents rather quickly.

Ethan on the other hand was very interested in what each package contained. He wanted to open each one after he had unwrapped it, take it out of the packaging and play with it for awhile before moving on to the next present. His Christmas lasted a little longer.

After we opened presents at our house we went up to my Mom and Dad's for our traditional Christmas breakfast, and to open presents up there. All of us siblings got together and bought my dad some new golf clubs and we got my mom the coolest thing . . . .

. . . . . a leopard tortoise! She has been wanting one since Davis got one several years ago. It is so awesome. Here's the kids and Grandma with her new pet. You can tell Davis -our resident reptile expert-was a little nervous that Grandma was going to drop the tortoise.

Here he/she is. You don't find out the sex for a few years. It is so dang cute.Ethan even got to hold it.

Javan started his own little tradition a few years ago where he gives me the ugliest Christmas sweater he can find. You know the type, with snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer, flashing lights, and all sorts of Christmas decor. And I have to wear it on Christmas day. (Sorry to all of you who really have this type of sweater and love it.) It's actually pretty funny. So I dicided I would also participate this year and found Javan this gem. (Sorry to all of you who have or want a sweater like this.) Unfortunately, Javan didn't get me a sweater this year, he felt I was a poor sport last year and had decided to discontinue the Christmas sweater tradition, but now that he knows I am fighting back, we'll see what happens. Watch for next year's Christmas sweater.P.S. He said the sweater (vest, no less) was actually quite comfy and we might see it on him again.

Here's my little Christmas reindeer.

On Christmas morning Ethan kept saying "This is the best Christmas ever!" Which of course I loved to hear. I am happy that he had a good one. Then after my parents left and we were just home alone he said "This Christmas isn't so fun." When I asked him why such a sudden change of heart he said "Well, there's no people" Ethan is just like me in that we love to be surrounded by people and family. I hate to be left out of anything, and I love spending time with family and friends. That's hard for Javan sometimes. Anyway, I think everyone had a good Christmas. I know I did.

Here's a picture of the living room after all was said and done. Man, where's the cleaning lady?

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. I wish everyone was here with us to celebrate this holiday season. We love you. Merry Christmas!!

It's Christmas Time!

I love this time of year. Except for the cold, maybe we should trade Amber places, they are missing the snow. I love the friendliness, and spirit of giving among everyone. I love all the heart wrenching stories and experiences that people have. I love Christmas music, even though Javan will only allow a song or two. I love the lights and decorations. My kids have been all upset as we drive around town that lots of people have their lights and decorations up and we didn't have ours up yet. At preschool they were talking about Christmas and making ornaments to hang on the tree and Ally raised her hand and said "we don't have a Christmas tree". The teacher was sure to tell me when I went to pick her up. Geez, it's the first week of December, give me some time. Anyway, we got up some decorations this morning inside the house. It will be a true Christmas miracle if we get any lights put up outside this year.

We went to the annual Tree for All last night to see Santa Clause. I told Ethan and Ally about it that morning and they were excited all day long to go see Santa and sit on his lap. I kept asking them what they were going to tell him that they wanted and they wouldn't tell me. Ethan kept saying it was "a surprise" and Ally said, "it's special, we can't tell." I think she meant a secret. So as we stood in line I kept asking Ally if she was going to sit on his lap. She gets really shy and won't do lots of things (like play the games at the Halloween carnival). But she said she was going to . . . until it got to our turn. Here they are on Santa's lap. Ally wouldn't say a word, or even look at him. Ethan told him he just wanted "toys". He said he doesn't care who gives him what toys, that's good for "Santa" to know.

I didn't think about taking pictures until the tree was pretty much done.

The "kids" tree. This is the one they can hang all the ornaments on that they make at school and whatnot. The big tree just has to be pretty (not that it's really that pretty).

The finished product.

The stocking where hung from the old '70's fireplace, and I wouldn't really say with care. There was a plentiful amount of fighting, yelling, and scolding that went along with the decorating. I was just glad to have it done. How's that for Christmas spirit?

3 Months Old

I can't believe how quickly 3 months has past already. I am sad that Ryan's little life is just whizzing by. He gets bigger by the day. He is such a sweet boy (if you ask me, Javan might tell you something different). He's pretty happy most of the time, and loves to smile when you look at him. Unless I'm trying to get a picture of it. He is cooing more and more. Nothing is more precious than the sweet sounds of babies. I love it. He does have one downfall, and that's the blowouts. This started in Hawaii and has not let up. I have to pack one or two extra outfits everywhere we go because inevitably he will poop all up his back. Oh the frustration, and the laundry. We have all become pretty efficient at removing his clothes without getting poop all over his head. Yes, that's a skill.
Here's my little fat man. I don't take him in for a well baby check this month but I'm sure he's up to 15 lbs by now.

All strapped in and ready to go.
His hair is really coming in fast, and boy is it thick. Here's a little clip of Ryan talking tonight.

Ryan's Blessing

Since we had most of my family home for Thanksgiving I thought it would be a perfect time to bless Ryan. And I was right. We had the blessing at my Mom and Dad's house on Thanksgiving evening. Ryan was such a good little boy. He didn't make a peep during the blessing and then he was a good sport and let everyone pass him around the rest of the evening. Javan did an amazing job on the blessing, it was beautiful. They just keep getting better and better. Thanks to everyone who participated, the circle included, Javan, Grandpa Craig, Grandpa Glade, my brothers Michael, David, and Nathan, Uncle Mike, and Brother DeWitt (from the bishopric). Also in attendance was Grandma Debra, Grandma Heather, Tif, Adalia, Grandma Shan, Grandma Patsy, Jody, Cory, Pat, and lots of nieces and nephews. Thanks everyone for coming. We love you. (We missed you Jensens, you were there in my heart. :) )

Ryan looked so handsome in his little white suit. We couldn't have waited much longer, it was getting pretty tight.





All tuckered out. It's a lot of pressure for such a little man.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we ate over at Javan's mom's house. As usual the spread was amazing and delicious. We all stuffed ourselves to the brim (or more). We had a good time until we were so full we couldn't move. It actually snowed on Thanksgiving day, much to the delight of the children. They couldn't wait for dinner to be over so they could go out and play.

Ethan scrounged up some old winter gear from Grandma Heather and went out with the boys to build a snowman. Here's Ethan, Reed, Max, and Daniel.


Poor Ally and Carter were just watching from the window, wishing they could join in on the fun.


Here's the snowman. A little dirty, but quite the snowman for Thanksgiving.


Ally finally mustered up the courage to go out and play, sadly the boys had moved on to something else and she was left all alone to play in the snow.


A little afternoon nap to help the food digest. (This picture was actually at my mom's the next day, after Thanksgiving Round II, "the leftovers")


Since it's Thanksgiving, here are a few of the things I am thankful for.
*Javan - He loves me back.
*Beautiful, healthy children
*Extended families
*The Gospel
*My job
*My friends
*My "stuff"

I know these are the typical answers and my list is pretty much all encompassing but when I really start to think of what I am thankful for, really it's everything. I wouldn't want to live without any of it. So thank you, all of you for being a part of my life, you only make it better.