<----- See this door. I don't have a spare key to it hidden anywhere. None of our neighbors have one either. And, according to Murphy's Law, that means you're going to get locked out at some point. And that's exactly what happened.

Let me take you back to a cold, winter night that was a little over a month ago (yes, I'm finally getting to the point where this story is almost funny & I feel like I can write it down without breaking out into a nervous sweat.) Our family had gone out to dinner that night. I also had a Relief Society activity at the church that night as well. We were running a little late coming home from dinner, so I just asked Mike to drop me off at the church. He said he was feeling really tired, so he said he would probably just go home, put the kids to bed & then go to sleep himself. I told him that sounded fine & that I would just get a ride home with one of my friends.

After the activity was over, I hitched a ride home with my neighbor, Stephanie. When I got home, I relized that since Mike had just dropped me off, I didn't have any keys to get inside. No worries. I'd just have to wake Mike up for a second to let me in the door. I went up to the front door & knocked. No answer. Mike just probably couldn't hear my knock upstairs. I rang the doorbell. Again, no answer. Stephanie was still waiting on the street for me to get inside. I hollered out to her to go ahead & leave, and I would get in through the garage, using the code on the door. As soon as the garage door started going up, Stephanie took off.

I hurried up the garage stairs & turned the door knob to get inside the house. It wouldn't budge. It was locked too. At this point, I knew that Mike had most likely locked that door out of habit before going to bed. I figured my only option was to go back to the front door & ring the doorbell several times to wake Mike up. I rang the doorbell 5 times in a row. That would surely do the trick. No answer. I rang it 5 more times. No answer. I started ringing it over and over and over again. I must have rung that doorbell over 100 times. I could hear the doorbell myself, so I knew it was working. But, still no answer.

I then started calling. I called the home phone. No answer. I called Mike's cell. No answer. I called Mike's Blackberry. You guessed it, no answer. I walked around to the back of the house & banged on the backdoor. No answer. I started banging on windows. No answer. I went back to the front door & rang it at least 100 more times. Still no answer. At this point, I had been making a racket for at least 10 to 15 minutes with no avail. I was starting to get worried. The Tahoe was in the garage & it was 10:00 at night, so I knew Mike & the kids most likely hadn't gone anywhere. Why weren't any of them waking up? Something had to be wrong.

My mind started thinking of possible situations. It's amazing what your mind can conjure up when you are worried, tired & freezing cold. First, I thought of carbon monoxide poisoning. I frantically rang the doorbell & called all the phones again. Then, I heard a sound from inside the house. Vivvie was crying. In fact, she was crying so loudly that I could hear her out her closed bedroom window that was a floor above where I was standing. This was a good thing, I thought. Vivvie's crying will wake Mike up...it always wakes Mike up. He'll hear her crying & then hear the doorbell and come let me in. But, that didn't happen. Vivvie continued to scream bloody murder & yet no one was responding. At this point, I figured there was no Carbon Monoxide poisoning because it would have affected Vivvie like everyone else, and she was apparently alive & well...and had sufficient lung capacity to continue to scream her guts out.

But, that's when my mind really started going crazy. I started to think of reasons why Vivvie would be okay, but Mike & the boys wouldn't. I thought that maybe there had been a home invasion of some sort & they had shot everyone inside, except Vivvie. Maybe she was asleep in her crib and they didn't know she was there, so they had left her alone. Yes, I think it's obvious that I watch too many crime dramas. But, in the moment, that's the thought that came to my mind & I started to freak out.

By this time, I had been outside for 20-25 minutes trying to wake someone...anyone...up with no luck. Something HAD to be wrong! I called my mom. She was the first person that came to my mind. She answered & I quickly rattled off what had been happening. She said that she & my dad would get there as quickly as they could. But, she also gave me the number for my local police dispatch & told me to call them right away.

I called dispatch. The opereator girl was not exactly helpful. I told her what was going on, and she replied with, "Let me get this straight. You're locked out of your house, and so you're calling the police?" I knew she thought I was one of the many crazy people that call the police for various stupid reasons on a daily basis. I listen to police scanners all the time when I'm at work, so I know there are hundreds of stupid calls every hour of the day. I tried to explain the situation to her again & tried to convince her that I wasn't crazy. I just kept telling her that something HAD to be wrong. I told her how Mike was generally a very light sleeper & that there was no way he would sleep through doorbells, ringing phones & a screaming baby. There was just no way! She said that if there was an available officer, she would send them over. I hung up & started ringing the doorbell again.

Then I had the idea to try to set our security alarm off. If Mike had locked all the doors out of habit, then he had probably set the alarm as well. That alarm is loud enough that my neighbors can probably hear it. That would surely wake Mike up. I started trying to wiggle the door as hard as I could. We've learned from personal experience that if you wiggle the door hard enough like you're trying to break through the lock, then the alarm will go off. I tried & tried & tried to bang it as hard as I could. I was literally throwing all 100 pounds of myself as hard as I could at the door, but I couldn't set the alarm off.

I decided to call my mom again. She answered & said that she and my dad were on their way. She also said that she had called my sister & her husband, Kristin & Dan, since they only live a few minutes away from me & they were on their way over as well.

Just a few seconds later, Kristin & Dan pulled up. Kristin jumped out of her car, and after seeing the look of terror on my face, just gave me a big hug & told me everything would be okay. Dan went to work trying to find a way to get into the house. By this point, Viv had stopped crying and had apparently gone back to sleep, or been killed by the intruders for all I knew. Yes, my mind was still going crazy with very unlikely scenarios that seemed totally plausible in that moment.

Kristin had the idea to throw something at the master bedroom window to try to wake Mike up if he was in there. We started with snowballs, but they weren't making enough noise...and lets be honest, we couldn't get any of them up high enough to hit the window. So we started chucking little rocks up there. They made a lot of noise. They would smack the window and then roll down the roof below it. They were making so much noise that I was scared we were going to break the window, but I just didn't care at that point. There was no way Mike could sleep through that. But, no response from inside.

I kept ringing the doorbell and calling the phones. It had been over 45 minutes at this point. Dan came around the corner of the house & told us that he had decided we should break a window to get inside. He had found a basement window that he thought would be the easiest to break & get into. I agreed to it, but decided to call the home phone one last time. After the second ring, I heard a very groggy, "Hello?"

It was Mike. I screamed into the phone, "Mike?!? You're alive!!!!"

He responded with, "Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be alive?"

I then went into the whole narrative of the previous 45 minutes. He said that he had no idea any of this had been going on and had apparently slept through the whole thing. So had the boys. The doorbell, the phones ringing, the banging on the windows and doors, the rocks being thrown at the window...they had all slept through it. I told him to just come open the door because after 45+ minutes of being in 15 degree temperatures, I was frozen to the bone.

And then, guess who showed up. The police. So, when Mike opened the door, he was greeted with his traumatized wife, his sister-in-law & brother-in-law, and two cops. Needless to say, he was a little shocked to see & hear about everything that had gone on while he was asleep. He was really surprised (I think we all were) that he had slept through the whole thing. We chalked it up to Mike's crazy sleep schedule. He usually doesn't go to bed until around 11:00 pm every night and then wakes up at 5:00 am every weekday. He always seems to function quite well on only six hours of sleep, but it had apparently gotten to him & it turned a normally light sleeper into Sleeping Beauty.

After that, everyone left. I walked upstairs and checked in on my soundly-sleeping kids. I was so relieved that they were all okay. After that, I gave Mike a really long hug, and then I punched him in the shoulder for putting me through one of the worst hours of my life.

Needless to say, our neighbors now have a spare key. I just hope they're a little bit easier to wake up. --Lindsay

We're always "watching our kid's back." We are constantly on the look out for anything that may hurt them, or make them sick. But when was the last time you *literally* watched your kids back? As in watch what their back...particularly their spine...does when they bend over. For me the answer was um....never. Why would I? None of my kids have ever complained of back problems & nothing looked out of the ordinary...


So, you can imagine my surprise when I took Connor in for a regular checkup last month, and the doctor noticed something funny when Connor bent over to pick something up. He said, "Ummm...Connor, can you bend over again?" The doctor took a long look at his back as he bent over. I asked if something was wrong. He told me to watch what Connor's spine did as he leaned over to touch his toes. Do you see the problem?


Connor's spine arches slightly to the left when he bends over. This is a condition known as Scoliosis. It's when there is a sideways curvature of the spine. It usually occurs most often during the growth spurt just before puberty, and can get worse as the child goes through puberty. The severity of Scoliosis is determined by how much the spine curves. Anything below 20 percent is considered minimal & usually doesn't cause very many problems. A 20-40 percent curvature usually requires a brace. And, anything above 40 percent requires major back surgery.

Connor inherited this condition from his Daddy. Mike was diagnosed with Scoliosis when he was about Connor's age. After going through puberty, his scoliosis topped out at about 12-14 percent. Since Mike's scoliosis is in the minimal category, it's never really bothered him much at all. He can still do all the normal things that any other guy can do. But, every once in awhile, he'll tweak his back just right & will have to lay on the heating pad for awhile to relax the muscles.

So, Connor has this condition too now, and it was time to figure out how curved Connor's spine had become. We went to the hospital for X-Rays. It was late on a Friday afternoon, and the doctor said that he would probably get the results from the X-Ray sometime Monday morning. Well, later that night at around 9:00 pm, I got a call from the pediatrician. (On a side note, how awesome is my Pediatrician for calling me with results at 9:00 on a Friday night???) Connor's scoliosis was at about an 8 or 9 percent...making it very minimal. What a relief!

The doctor said that we will still need to watch his spine very closely though as Connor goes through puberty (On another side note, can I tell you how freaked out I am to have to deal with boys going through puberty???) because his scoliosis will most likely get worse as he goes through the multiple growth spurts boys go through in their teenage years. He will need to have X-Rays at least once a year until he is 18, so they can see how quickly his Scoliosis is progressing.

Another thing that concerns the doctor is that Connor's Scoliosis is in his lumbar spine (toward the bottom of his back). Most people get Scoliosis in toward the top or in the middle of their back. It's apparently very unusual for someone to have Scoliosis in their lumbar spine, and the doctor wanted to do some research on it to figure out how that can affect the condition. Leave it to Connor to try to be different than everyone else!

So, now time will tell as to how severe of a problem this becomes for Connor. I'm hopeful that it will be similar to Mike's Scoliosis & top out somewhere in the 12-14 percent range, and won't ever give him any problems.

I feel really grateful that we were able to discover this right now, so that we can closely monitor it for the next few years. It's funny because Connor didn't need to go in for a physical this year, but he needed his flu shot, so I decided to have the doctor do a physical at the same time...and the doctor just happened to notice Connor's spine as he was bending down to pick something up. Talk about right time, right place! I honestly can say that I've never once paid attention to my kids' spines as the bent over. Why would I? But, I've now learned that it's important to not only "watch our kids backs" for sharp objects, germs & anything else that can hurt them, but REALLY watch their backs as well because this condition often goes undiagnosed for a long time. --Lindsay

...And you then take that nine-year-old to the International Auto Expo, with his siblings, cousins & uncle, you won't get many pictures of the actual cars. But, you will get lots of "awesome" other shots.

Like, the Just-Starting-The-Day-And-Everyone's-Happy Shot...


The No-Officer-I'm-Not-Intoxicated Shot...


The I-Can't-Believe-The-Cop-Bought-It Shot...

The I'm-Too-Sexy-For-This-Car Shot...

The Okay-Maybe-I-Really-Was-A-Little-Intoxicated Shot...

The Guy-Who-Wore-A-Pink-Striped-Shirt-To-A-Car-Show Shot...

The Sweet-Sister Shot...

The Diva-Sister Shot...

The Oh-Crap-Mike-Just-Lost-Cohen-Again Shot...

The Look-Mom-No-Hands! Shot...

The Oh-Good-We-Finally-Found-Cohen Shot...

The Hey-Baby-Want-To-Take-A-Ride-In-My-Pimped-Out-Car? Shot...

The I'm-trying-to-look-tough shot...

The I'm-Secretly-Plotting-My-Next-Escape-From-Dad Shot...

The Let-Me-Demonstrate-How-To-Put-On-A-Seatbeat Shot...

The If-You-Don't-Get-That-Camera-Out-Of-My-Face-I'm-Going-To-Kill-You Shot...

They did get a few pictures of the actual cars. Like the Oh-How-Mike-Wishes-He-Were-Rich-And-Could-Buy-This-$112,000-Car Shot...

The This-Car-Is-Worth-More-Than-Your-Life-So-We'll-Only-Let-You-Within-Ten-Feet-Of-It Shot...

Even though I wasn't there, I believe I can accurately sum up the day with a mathematical equation: 2 guys + 6 kids = PURE CRAZINESS! --Lindsay

I usually don't have a problem making decisions. I just go with my gut, and never look back. But, it's different when it involves your kids, and it's a decision that will affect them for the rest of their childhood. I made one of those decisions last week. I decided to hold Cohen back a year in school. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. I can not tell you how much I have agonized over this decision. It has consumed my thoughts for the past several months. It's one of the those decisions that will affect not only his school life, but almost every other aspect of his life as well...like who his friends will be, and who he'll play sports with, and who he'll date in high school, etc. Those things can make or break an adolescence, so I knew it was important to make the right decision. After weighing the pros & cons of each, and asking his Heavenly Father to help me figure out what would be best for him, I finally came to the conclusion that holding him back was the right thing to do.

My only concern in making this decision was that Cohen may someday hate me for it. What happens in May 2026 when all the kids his age are graduating from high school & he still has a year left? Will he be mad at me? What happens when he graduates from high school in May 2027 & then turns 19 only two months later and basically goes straight from high school to being a missionary? Can a kid who just graduated from high school possibly be ready to take care of himself for two years in places like Bolivia, Russia, or Mexico? It seems like it would be a smoother transition if he moved away to college for a few months first before he moved halfway around the world, doesn't it? Those are the things I worried about. (Yes, I know I'm crazy to worry about things that are 15+ years down the road. But that's what I do! I'm a worrier...and proud of it, thank you very much.) So, someday...because I know the day will come...when Cohen asks me why Mike & I decided to hold him back a year, I'll just pull up this post & let him read the thoughts that went into making this decision.

First of all, Cohen's birthday is July 26th, so he's one of the youngest kids in his class. In fact, I believe he really IS the youngest in his current preschool class. When he walked into his classroom on that first day of school, I noticed that he was about 4-6 inches shorter than all the other kids in his class. I thought, "Wow! I knew Cohen was little, but I didn't realize he was THAT little." I also thought, "These kids look so much older than him! There's no way he's old enough to go to school with them!" I wondered why I hadn't felt this way with Connor & Aiden when they started school. They were as tall as the other kids & they looked just as old as the other kids too. After thinking for a few seconds, the answer was simple...Connor & Aiden both had fall birthdays, so they were almost four-years-old when they started preschool. Cohen had barely turned three only one month earlier. There's a BIG difference between an almost-four-year-old and a barely-three-year-old!

As Cohen has gone through the first half of the school year, I've noticed that he hasn't been picking up on some of the concepts they were learning. When they were learning about colors, I would show him the worksheet that he had done in school earlier that day about the "color of the day" and ask him "What color is this?" He would reply excitedly with "Blue!!!" Unfortunately, it was an apple that was beautifully colored...eh, scribbled...with red crayon. The next day, he would bring home a picture of a sunshine colored a bright yellow. "Cohen, what color is this?" I would ask. "Blue!!!" he would reply again. Everything was blue. I worked and worked and worked with him on colors, but nothing helped. Everything was blue! His brothers understood colors when they were in preschool, why didn't he? I thought maybe he was possibly colorblind or something. There had to be SOME reason why he wasn't learning and understanding his colors. But, when they moved on to shapes, the same thing happened. Every shape was a triangle. We worked and worked on it, but same thing...everything was a triangle. What was wrong? Something HAD to be wrong! But, then I remembered an experience I had had a few years earlier when Aiden was Cohen's same age.

Aiden's birthday is September 7th, which means he missed the school year deadline by six days...SIX DAYS!!! When he was only a week away from turning three, and all his friends were starting preschool, I felt bad for him that he had to wait another year. I heard about a group of moms in my neighborhood that were doing a Joy School for their three-year-olds, rather than sending them to an actual preschool. I asked them if they would mind if Aiden & I joined, even though he was technically in the grade under the rest of the kids. They agreed. One of the moms made up a curriculum of things that kids usually learn during their first year of preschool...letters, numbers through 10, animals, shapes, colors, etc. We decided which moms would teach school on which days, and we were off. When it was my turn to teach the kids, I definitely noticed that the other kids picked up on the concepts much quicker than Aiden did. In fact, in many instances, I could see that things were going right over the top of his head. His barely-three-year-old brain couldn't handle many of the abstract concepts. I really didn't care much though because he was going to be in the grade under all the other kids, so I held him to a different standard.

As I saw Cohen struggling with different concepts, I remembered that experience with Aiden. Aiden was technically in the grade under the kids in his class, so I didn't care that he wasn't reaching the set standard. But I was FORCING Cohen, who was really only a month & a half older than Aiden was when he did Joy School, to reach the same standards as kids that were older than him. His little barely-three-years-old brain wasn't ready for things like this.

It all made sense! That's when I sort of started thinking about holding him back. At first, I was against it. You send your kid to school when they're supposed to go to school...that's just what you do. I didn't want him to be the kid that "got held back." He would catch on eventually & if I had to work extra hard with him, I was willing to do that. But, as time went on, I had some serious anxiety about it. The preschool that my kids go to is very academically-accelerated. They teach the kids how to read in the four-year-old class. By the time the kids are done, many of the kids (like Connor) are reading at a 1st grade benchmark. Other kids (like Aiden) are at almost a 2nd grade benchmark. It is an amazing program, and I love it! But, the thought of Cohen starting that program a little over six months from now made me physically ill! If he wasn't understanding simple things like shapes & colors, how was he going to learn reading in just six months?!? I worried that it would go over the top of his head & he would hate reading because of it. That's when I seriously started thinking about holding him back a year.

So, I started doing research. I talked to a lot of people about it. I talked to his teacher. I talked to the director of the preschool. I talked to the principal at the Elementary School. They all told me that generally summer boys tend to struggle. Their minds develop slower than girls & they have a hard time keeping up with the kids that are older than them. I talked to a friend of mine that is a therapist. He told me that boys have this need to be bigger & stronger & better & smarter than other boys around them. It's their natural need to figure out who the "leader of the pack" is. He said that Cohen would most likely have a much better self-esteem being the oldest in his class, as compared to the youngest. After that, I talked to a lot of moms that had boys with summer birthdays. Many of them had sent their kids to school when it was their time to go, but I also found quite a few that had chosen to hold their boys back...way more than I expected, in fact! I heard pros & cons from both sides, but I must say that I heard way more pros from the moms that had held their summer boys back. Only one of the 9 women I talked to that had held their boys back was unhappy about it (she ended up getting her child tested out of a grade so that he could get back up to where he was originally supposed to be.) The boys who were held back were really excelling. The summer boys that weren't held back were, for the most part, doing okay but had struggles in some areas. That wasn't the case with all of them though, there were some summer boys that were thriving & keeping up with the rest of the kids in the class. So, it really depended on the child. Most of the moms just said to follow my heart. They told me that no one knows Cohen better than me, so I just needed to do what my heart told me to do. By this point, my heart was definitely telling me to hold him back. He just seemed to fit in so much better with the kids that were going to be a year younger than him in school. Academically, physically, socially, emotionally, etc...he just seemed to be on the same level as them. It just felt right.

Mike & I prayed about it. Many times in my life, when I have had a huge decision to make, I got an extremely strong answer...almost like I heard a voice in my head telling me what to do (Yes, you can make fun of me for "hearing voices." Haha!) Deciding to marry Mike was one of those moments. Deciding to leave the TV business & move back to SLC to be a stay-at-home mom was one of those moments. (By the way, if you haven't heard that story before, have me tell it to you. It is a really amazing story that proves that God has His hand in all things.) This time however...wasn't one of those moments. I didn't get a really strong answer or hear a voice telling me what to do. But, every time I thought about pushing Cohen along, I got a horrible pit in my stomach. Every time I thought about holding him back, I got a very calm, relaxed feeling. That was my answer. He was supposed to be held back a year.

So, when I went to preschool registration last week, I signed him up to repeat the three-year-old class. It felt so great! I know that if I had checked the four-year-old box instead of the three-year-old box, it would have felt horrible & totally wrong. This is going to be such a good thing for him! Now I just hope he doesn't hate me for it. Go Class of '27! --Lindsay

p.s. On a side note, Cohen is my kid that has some serious natural ability at sports. He has always loved to play sports & is actually better at some sports than his brothers who are three and six years older than him. I'm not even kidding! If he continues to show natural abilities in sports, and wants to play on a team when he's in Jr. High & High School, I want him to have a fighting chance. Now that he won't be one of the youngest & smallest in his grade, he may actually stand a chance of making it. Just something we thought of after the fact.

Dear Vivvie,

I won't even give you excuses for why this letter is late...again. I'm pretty sure you're just used to them coming late by now. You are now 10 (and a half) months old. I don't know where those months went. It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home. It's hard for me to believe that you'll be one-year-old next month! The time is flying by way too fast!


This has been such a fun month! You have started doing so many cute things. My favorite new thing is to watch you dance! You love to dance. You shift your weight back and forth from your left foot to your right foot, & you kick your hip out as you do it so that you get this swaying motion going on. But it doesn't stop there. You move your head back-and-forth, a la Stevie Wonder. It makes us laugh like crazy! You dance anytime you hear music...in your highchair, in the car, and even standing up on the pew at church. I've tried to record you doing it, but you won't dance as soon as a camera is pointed at you. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to capture it without your knowing.

In addition to your dancing, you love to sing as well, especially in church...and especially after the song has ended & a prayer is being said. When everyone else around you starts singing, you let out a big short A sound over and over and over again. "Aaaaaaaaaa....Aaaaaaaaaa...Aaaaaaaaa!" It really funny. Eventually, everyone around us starts laughing at you & we have to plug you up with a binkie. It does definately make church a little more enjoyable.

You've also recently started waving at people. You won't wave on your own. Someone must wave to you first. But then you always return the wave with a big smile on your face. You've also started to clap, but not much sound comes from your cute chubby hands. They're too squishy, I guess.

You pull up on things all the time now, and (horray!) you've finally started walking along them as well...rather than what you were doing last month--screaming for whatever it is that you want but is out of reach.

You're also getting really good at feeding yourself little bite-sized foods. You still only have bottom teeth, so you can't chew very well. But, you can gum food up like nobody's business!

Unfortunately, the feeding yourself thing also works when you're crawling on the floor & happen to run across one of your brothers' "leftovers" from lunch (several hours earlier) that I haven't swept up yet. Nasty!

Your favorite place in the whole world to play is now the dishwasher, and knives seem to be your favorite toys. It's like Pavlov's dogs. The second you hear water running in the sink, you crawl to the kitchen as fast as you can, pull up on the dishwasher & promptly pull out a knife. Baby girl, why must it always be a knife? What's wrong with a spoon???

Your new words for the month are Nana (which your Nana is quite happy about) & Uh-oh. You say Uh-oh more than anything else. It's the cutest thing. Everything is Uh-oh. Getting dressed...uh-oh. Taking a bath...uh-oh. Playing with toys...uh-oh. We love it!

Another develpment (much to my dismay) to happen this month is that you've started to fight me on the bows that I insist you wear. Not only do you pull them off, but you destroy them if given the chance. I've learned with kids that you have to pick your battles. But little miss, this is one I'm picking! I have lived through nine-years of Star Wars, Spiderman & Transformer shirts. My daughter WILL wear a big, gaudy bow. You will not win this war sister! Don't even try. Resistance is futile.

I think your "new-ness" has worn off with your brothers. They used to be pretty dainty with you. Not so anymore. You are just one of the boys, in their minds...despite the girly bow I force you to wear. You have become a wrestling buddy on more than one occation, been poked in the eye several times, and have been pushed of the couch once (by a certain three-year-old brother who shall remain nameless). But, you handle the abuse with ease. You are one tough cookie, and you're going to need that living in this rough & tumble household.

So, happy (belated) 10-month birthday Viv! We love everything about you...your cute little laugh, your buddha belly, your adorable smile, your chubby cheeks, your crazy hair, your squeezable fat rolls, your cute little turned-up nose, your chunky baby feet, your huge smiley eyes, and especially your darling personality! Love, love, love you! --Mom

2011 was a wonderful year for us! Here are our Top 11 of 2011:

11-BASEBALL SEASON

Both Connor & Aiden played baseball this year. Connor did Machine Pitch...


And Aiden played T-Ball...


Both of them had a great time, and learned a lot. Connor really improved this year & even hit two home runs late in the season. Aiden enjoyed talking with his teammates (and the teammates on the other team too) and picking grass, but also had a fun time playing & did great.

10-ART DAY CAMP

One of my neighbors put on an Art Day Camp for some of the kids in our neighborhood. It was for kids ages 5+, so both Connor & Aiden attended. They painted, sketched, made Chinese Lanterns out of paper mache, learned how to make candles & even did some body paint...


It was such a great activity for the middle of summer, when life gets a tad boring. The kids got to do something fun everyday for a week & I didn't have to hear, "Mom, what can we do?" Win-win.

9-ALL OF THE BOYS IN SCHOOL

Connor started 3rd grade...

Aiden started Kindergarten...

And Cohen started Preschool...

All of them are doing so well! Connor is still excelling at Math & his reading fluency is improving awesomely! Aiden is just excelling in everything...math, reading, writing, etc. In addition to that, he's also excelling at being one of the class clowns too. And, Cohen is enjoying learning about shapes, colors, letters & numbers. Because all the boys are in school now, that means that Vivvie & I get some "girl time" two mornings a week. I think she enjoys some quiet time around the house.

8-CHRISTMAS

Christmas is always one of my favorite parts of the year. Sure, it can be stressful with everything that needs to get done, but it's a fun kind of stress. And, I love seeing these looks on Christmas morning...

7-MY DAD'S 10th LOTOJA

My Dad completed his 10th LOTOJA this year. It's a 206 mile bike race that goes through 3 states and over 2 steep mountain passes. This year, he got a horrible leg cramp about 1/4 of the way through the race. It was so bad that he couldn't use that leg very much & basically had to do the rest of the race with one good leg. He finished like a champ & then promptly swore he'd never do it again. But, the next day, he sort of changed his mind & decided that he would still do it in a relay team. Guess who his relay partner is going to be? Yep, Mike. Guess I won't be seeing much of my husband this summer as he trains for this monstrous race...

6-TRIP TO ST. GEORGE

Thanks to some bad weather, we switched our annual fall trip from Moab to St. George. We stayed in a condo & had a great weekend full of swimming, shopping, biking & hiking. It was awesome & we've decided to now switch back and forth between Moab & St. George because we had such a great time...

5-BEING QUOTED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Back in the early-summer, a reporter from the New York Times interviewed me for a story on why Utah had received so much snowfall that year. And, the story ended up on the FRONT PAGE...

I have to admit, it was pretty fun to see my name of the front page of the NYT...

It's kind of ironic that last year was a record snowfall & this winter has been one of the driest on record so far. It's always feast or famine here in Utah. Got to love it.

4-VACATION TO CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

Back in July, we (my whole family...parents & siblings' families) were able to stay in a beach house in Carlsbad, CA. Here's the house we rented from some friends of my parents. Sooooooo awesome...

We didn't plan much for the entire week, except to go to Legoland for a few days (I don't recommend wasting your money). The rest of the time was just spent hanging out at the beach. It was heavenly!

3-MIKE'S NEW POSITION

A little over a month ago, Mike was offered two different positions by two different groups within his company. One of the positions was to be the Program Manager over one of the company's army projects. The other was to be the Program Manager over one of the company's drone projects. After several weeks of the two different directors trying to convince Mike to work his their specific projects, Mike finally chose the drone project. All he can really tell me about it is that it has something to do with the surveillance & communication devices that go on the drones the government uses to spy on terrorists, hostile countries, etc. So far, he is loving it. He is over the entire project, so his blackberry goes crazy for what seems like 93% of all waking hours, but it is a huge opportunity for him & we feel very blessed that it was offered to him.

2-OUR WRESTLING CHAMPS

Connor & Aiden proved that constant fighting does amount to some good when they both won their wrestling tournaments in their weight divisions...twice! Connor didn't lose a single match the entire season & Aiden only lost once. Connor's coach recommended that we start him with a private coach at some point because he is so talented at it. Both the boys absolutely love wrestling! Who knew it could be so fun to wear a unitard & stick your face in another guy's armpit???

1--OUR VIVVIE GIRL

But, our #1 event of 2011, without question, is the addition of our "Grand Finale" to our family...

Our little Vivienne was born on February 21, 2011 at 4:38 am. After a quick 90 minute labor, full of constant pain & a spinal headache to boot, Miss Viv came into the world. I've said it before, but it is amazing to me how much she has completed our family. She is just the icing on the chocolate cake. We love everything about her! She was definitely the best thing to happen to us in 2011.

So, there's our Top 11 of 2011. We feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful year! We hope your 2011 was just as great. Here's to 2012 being even better! --Lindsay

This year's Christmas was awesome! We started it out with the annual Christmas Eve party at my parents' house. This year, we decided to do our little bingo game in the afternoon because the evening gets a little too busy. This year, my parents had bought over 70 Bingo presents...


A good time was had by all...


After dinner, it was time for the feast...

There was ham, turkey & all our favorite appetizer foods: bean dip, shrimp with cocktail sauce, spinach-artichoke dip, a relish tray, baked brie, meatballs, little smokies, etc. So yummy...

After dinner, it was time for the "talent show," which is really more of a "comedy show" in our family's case. We had to start with the girls singing "Jing a Ling" in our "special voices." Ashlee sings in her opera voice, Kristin sings in her British-monotone voice, & I sing in my baby voice. We couldn't keep straight faces this year...

Then the kiddos did some singing...

And some AWESOME dancing...

And then told some Christmas-themed jokes...

Next, it was on to the presents. First the kids opened their Christmas PJs & then they did their cousin gift exchange...

After that, we did our sibling exchange. We gave Kristin & Dan a clock & an Eagles shirt and hat...

Kristin & Dan gave Ashlee & Greg an electric skillet and Wits & Wagers (I love that game)...

And Ashlee & Greg gave us this doormat & a Brian Regan DVD...

Then we opened all our gifts from Nana & Poppy. They spoiled all of us rotten...

At the very end of the night, my parents & I gave Mike a joint gift. Back in the fall, my dad got a new mountain bike. Because he had a new one, he put his old bike up for sale. One day, Mike was telling me that he wished there was a way he could by my Dad's old bike. It's a really nice bike & my dad hasn't ridden it that much (he rides his street bike way more than his mountain bike). Mike's bike has been having some major issues lately and needed a $250 repair after an accident that happened when we were in St. George. So, I called my parents & asked them if they would sell the bike to me for a good deal, as a joint gift. They agreed. My dad then hid the bike & told Mike that "some lady had bought it for her husband as a Christmas present" which was, technically, the truth. So, we gave it to him that night. I didn't take any pictures, but he was shocked...and very happy!

After that, we took four very tired kiddos home & put them to bed. It was a great Christmas Eve! A huge thank you to my parents for always putting this fun party together & for being so good to us!

The next morning, the kids woke up at about 8:15. We took our annual "picture on the bridge" as the kids got their first glimpse of what Santa brought them...

Both Connor & Aiden were super excited to see that they had made Santa's nice list (there was some question this year). Everyone was spoiled by the man with the bag. Cohen got his Buzz Lightyear Spaceship that he's been wanting...

Connor got a Nintendo DS...

Aiden got some Super Mario Bros. plush turtles & question mark boxes that he's been DYING for...

And Vivvie got a baby doll & stroller...

Next, it was on to opening presents...

Viv wasn't really into opening presents. In fact, she was terrified by the sound of the wrapping paper being ripped...

Eventually, she got bored of unwrapping presents, so her brothers opened her presents for her while she played with her reflection in the fireplace...

Here's a picture of Mike with his "Christmas socks." If you like Mr. Bean, you'll get this reference...

And here's me with my new cordless phones (since mine barely work anymore, and everyone who calls me on them thinks I randomly hang up on them)...

And my new alarm clock. It's pretty fancy, and probably smarter than me too. I still have yet to figure out how to turn it off. It wakes me up to my favorite Pandora station & gives me the latest Facebook updates when I wake up. I'm pretty sure it's not going to do a very good job of getting me out of bed on time, since I'll be tempted to surf Facebook while listening to my favorite tunes, but oh well...

Throughout the morning, the boys kept unwrapping Wii games. They were a little surprised because our Wii has been broken for several months. Whenever you stick a disk in, it gives us some error about how it can't read the disk. The boys have still been able to play some of the "Old Fashioned" games that Mike downloaded to the Wii, but they haven't been able to play any actual Wii games. So, as the kept opening up Wii games, we would say, "Oh, well I guess you can play that when we get our Wii fixed someday." But, what they didn't know was their last present under the tree was this...

A brand new Wii! They were shocked! And there was much rejoicing...

And even some hugging...

It was a "Christmaskah Miracle" (fans of The O. C. will get that one).

Once we were done, I took a picture of the "final product" before cleaning up a little bit. What a disaster...

It was a great Christmas! We hope yours was too! We are so grateful for our Savior, who this day is really all about. --Lindsay