Good Times, Noodle Salad

Another Christmas has come and gone. The girls were as funny as usual about their presents. When they got really excited about something they would say things like "just what I have always wanted!" and "this is the best day of my life!".

Marti has been asking for twinkle toes (shoes that light up) for a few months and she finally got them, she was thrilled. Emersyn got a boom box that she can carry around with her so she can groove out anytime the mood strikes, which is a lot. They were both overjoyed with their zhu zhu track and their special present from Daddy, a Princess Wii game. I was super elated to get a Kindle. And we all loved our snowman band figurines from Jon and Michelle, as Emersyn would say they are "rockin".

We had a great Christmas season, which included Emersyn's and Marti's Christmas programs (Emersyn does the funniest Feliz Navidad dance), ice skating, seeing the lights downtown, going tubing at Soldier Hollow and eating (lots and lots of eating) among many other things.

Pictures of the season....

If you look closely at this awful picture you will see Marti sitting behind a little boy with a mohawk. This was taken during her Christmas Program at school, I couldn't get any good pictures because I was too far away.

During the program the little boy with the mohawk started goofing around with the kid he was sitting next to. Marti was not going to put up with that so she tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around she didn't say anything she just shook her head no and gave him a look that said if you don't cut it out there's gonna be trouble. He must have gotten the point because he turned back around and hung his head like he had just gone to the principal's office. The entire audience was laughing and Marti just carried on singing unaware of how incredibly funny it was.



These are some pictures I took after Marti's program. Just for the record I would like it to be noted that I did not dress Marti and Emersyn in the same outfits, they did that themselves.

I thought this picture really summed up Marti and Emy's relationship, they are so sweet and caring with each other.

I remember when I was little and I LOVED Halloween just for the candy. When I went trick or treating I wouldn't use a bag, bags were for lightweights, I took a pillow case and filled it with as much junk as I could manage. Then I would gorge myself for weeks on nothing but the most unhealthy crap you can find. I would hide it, eat it and then when it was gone I would scavenge the house for anything else I could find (that's one time when it is nice to have 5 brothers and sisters).

I think this might be a sign of getting old but I HATE Halloween candy. I am so sick of it, Marti and Emersyn are completely obsessed with it and they spend hours going through their bags to survey their plunder. It drives me CRAZY! I am trying to only give them 2 pieces a day but at that rate we will have candy hanging around here until next year. So here is the question, is it better to let them pork out on it for a few days to get rid of the stuff or spread it out and have them annoy me about it every day for the next 3 months?

My personal preference is to throw it away or find a homeless person to give it too, but I am pretty sure that is the kind of stuff that makes adults go to therapy to recount the many ways their parents wronged them when they were children and that's the reason they can't keep a relationship, or a job, and they always kill plants and fish.

I know I sound like a party pooper but I really don't mind the other parts of Halloween. I like carving or painting pumpkins and it's always fun for the girls to pick out their costumes, Marti was a witch and Emersyn was a butterfly. They were really excited this year because I let them wear makeup, I think they will probably expect that every year so we'll have to see how it goes.

Here's some pictures of the Halloween festivities.....

P.S. Do not have a pumpkin pie eating contest wearing vampire teeth, it is totally disgusting and near impossible.

It's happened. Emersyn, my baby, my sweet little girl is now in preschool. She was so excited, we went to her meet the teacher night and she was mad that we weren't going to leave her there.

On her first day I picked her up after class and she was hanging her head, upset that she had to go home. She loves to sit at the counter and show me the papers she brought home in her bag. She is such a big girl. Maybe not literally, she is the smallest in her class, but she makes up for it with her charming and sweet personality.

I love going with the family up to Snowbird for Oktoberfest, we always have such a good time. This year we went on the Monday after Labor Day so it was busier than usual, I think next year we will go later in the month.

We took the tram up to the top of the mountain, it was freezing, about 40 degrees but it was sure beautiful. We walked through the tunnel to Mineral Basin and then rode the chairlift back down. I am never doing that again, I hate chairlifts.

The girls got their faces painted and played in the jump house. We didn't have time to do the Alpine Slide this year so Kory doesn't have any battle wounds from this trip.

The day that I had been dreading for 5 years has happened, Marti has started Kindergarten. I know that lots of parents look forward to the day that their kids go to school but I am not one of those people. I miss Marti, she has been going to school for less than a week and it is only 3 hours a day but it feels like an eternity. I did pretty good the first day, dropped her off with no problems, but when she got home she was sitting having a treat and she looked up at me with her big beautiful face and said "Mommy I missed you a hundred million" the flood gates opened and I started blubbering like a baby.

Luckily my bad attitude hasn't rubbed off on her and she is having a really good time, she was really excited when she found out they have recess (uh oh).

In our house summer is for birthdays, Marti turned 5 on July 1st and Emy turned 4 on August 7th (Kory and Tawnia's birthdays are in the summer too, but who cares about that when you have little kids their birthdays are way more fun).

Marti kept telling me that she wanted a surprise birthday so that is what she got. Kory brought her home and she was really mad until she walked outside and we all yelled then she got embarrassed and hid by mommy. She asked for a camera and got a cute little pink lego camera, she still really loves it. She also got a new backpack for Kindergarten.

Emersyn wanted to go to the movies on her birthday so we invited some friends and went to see Despicable Me, it was pretty funny. Then we went home and had pizza and Spongebob cupcakes. She loves the baby polar bear that makes noise and her My Little Pony. She also got a bike that she is not too sure about yet, she has fallen off about 4 times but she keeps getting back on so that's a good sign.

Here's some pics of the festivities.

We spent the 4th at Bear Lake with all of Kory's family, we had a great time eating, playing at the beach, watching fireworks, going to the park and most of all just catching up (very interesting, especially about the brothers and sisters in law).

We were able to get all the grand kids together for a few minutes to take a picture with Grandma and Grandpa, so fun to see them all together for the first time in a few years. Can't wait til our next adventure.

Marti graduated from preschool last night, she loved her class and her teachers and learned so much from them. They had a program where they sang Broadway songs, so cute, and then they gave each of the kids an award and their diploma. Marti got the Most Likely to be a Teacher award. I could see that happening, and now she has added it to her list of future careers, which includes teacher, painter, pilot, dentist and doctor (but not the kind where you cut into people like Uncle Jason, in Marti's words that's yucky).


Now it is onward and upward to kindergarten, I thought about holding her back since she will be so young, but I think if I tried she would freak. She is such a smart, sweet, awesome little lady and we are so proud of her.

It's been a while since my last blog, I really am going to make more of an effort and to start with here are some Easter pics of the girls. Don't they just look like sunshine wrapped in rainbows?