Our second annual online Christmas letter

Last year we liked the idea of posting our Christmas letter to our blog so much that we've decided to do it again! So, here goes our Christmas letter in which I faun over each member of our family, picking out only the cool things that happened to each of us in the last year.


Dallin

The little man turned three in November. He uses only object pronouns (me, us, him, her), so he basically sounds like a caveman toddler. I've actually never heard him say "I" or "we." At least he's consistent! It's actually kind of cute (Where us going? Me no like that!) and, in a show of solidarity, we will often restrict ourselves to the approved pronouns.

Sadie was never into toys all that much, so Dallin is picking up the slack. For whatever reason, Dallin really, really likes PLAYMOBIL toys. He has a castle set and a pirate set. He's also a very physical kid, which has its pros and cons. It makes him a great snuggler and wrestler, but it can get annoying when he sits on your head.

He doesn't eat after about 3 pm. Seriously. The kid has a solid breakfast (usually oatmeal), nibbles at lunch, has a few snacks, and then usually rips on whatever we're having for dinner (me no like that!). At least he likes fruit.

Sadie

Sadie turned six in September. She's in first grade. She's a fantastic reader (her teachers have all been really impressed) and she has a colossal imagination. She's (usually) a joy to be around and it's always fun to hear what new craziness she comes up with. She's amazingly patient with her rambunctious little brother.

It's fun to think about what she'll do when she's older. Choir or drama or something like that is probably a safe bet. Recently, we've started having guitar sing-alongs, which she thoroughly enjoys. Now if we could just get her to have a better attitude about helping around the house . . .

Carrie

Carrie just got glasses, in case you missed it. Exciting.

She's stepped up her crafty stuff a notch. She opened a shop at etsy.com. Her shop has had a lot of visits, but no sales yet. Fortunately, she's had some requests from friends and family. She makes some killer snowflakes and some nice baby stuff. I think she really enjoys doing it. And it helps that one night a week she bails on us right before bedtime to go do crafty stuff with her friends (in all honesty, though, I'm really glad that she gets at least that one good break every week).

She's pretty involved at Sadie's school, too. She volunteers in the classroom occasionally and helps with Daisy Scouts (which, I hear, Sadie isn't too fond of thus far).

She's been teaching Gospel Doctrine at church for some time now. I always like to hear her recount what crazy comments were offered and how she steered away from disaster. I'm kidding (mostly).

She wanted to make sure I included the fact that she's read over 10,000 pages this year. Um, yeah. She likes to read.

I continue to be amazed at Carrie's dedication to motherhood. And fortunately I'm a heavy sleeper and I sleep on the side of the bed furthest from the door, so I miss all the middle-of-the-night events like nightmares and leaky pull-ups.

Me

I had a pretty nice year. In the spring, I turned in my defended and approved master's thesis. A revised version of that thesis was recently accepted for publication in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. It will probably appear next year sometime. I have a couple co-authored publications in the works, too. I'm aiming to take my comprehensive exam in the spring.

Over the summer, I fulfilled my long-time desire to start playing guitar. I even upgraded to a Martin, which I love (they're made right here in Pennsylvania, too - we toured the factory a couple months ago). I'm not very good yet, but I sure do enjoy it. I'd love to get lessons sometime. Carrie just wants me to finish the song that I started writing for her. Soon, my dear. Soon.

By far the coolest thing I did this year, though, was playing rugby. I happened to catch a replay of the college national championship between BYU and Cal on ESPNU (BYU won!) and I was hooked. I loved it. So, I got on the Google and looked up rugby here in State College. I found a team here and saw on their website that they're always looking for new players. So, I contacted them, even as I could feel my muscles and bones protesting. I'm not very good at rugby, either, but it's a blast. I healed nicely from the obligatory MCL sprain and had a nice season after that. I hope to see more playing time next spring when we have more B-side matches. By the way, go see Invictus. It's great, and you don't need to know anything about rugby.

Well, that's it. The only thing that bugs me about these letters is that they're basically like a promotional pamphlet your family. So let me throw in the fact that we sometimes yell, we often let our kids watch TV so we can go back to sleep, and sometimes it gets old to go to different churches on Sunday. But I'd like to think that we've got a pretty great little family. Love abounds, and I think that's all that really matters.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody.

It's been awhile. . .

You know what it's like when you look at a pile of ironing? It's pretty big and it needs to be done, but not just now. It just sits there waiting for you. Finally you get to the point that you are ready to do it, but it's just been so darn long that it can wait for awhile longer. Well, I did my ironing today, and it didn't take very long (secretly I kind of like doing it) Now I am tackling my other pile: my blog. I can't believe it's been three months. I think I was waiting for something spectacular to happen . . . but since every day is spectacular, nothing really stuck out. What was the thing that prompted me to finally post? I got new glasses. Wow. Maybe I was just looking for a reason, but it's always hard to break the blogging ice. We don't have babies to announce, or Ph.D. news. We don't have a new job and Sadie hasn't lost any teeth. Dallin is potty trained, but still pees the bed (every night). I still haven't sold anything on Etsy, but Steve does have a paper that was accepted for publication.

So, my news and my great picture is about my glasses. What do you think? It turns out that it wasn't church that was giving me a headache every week, it was my eyes. Now I can watch movies and drive without headaches too. Small miracles that cost us $200. Oh well.

Etsy!

I did it! I started my own site on Etsy! I am really excited, but also a little nervous. For those of you who don't know what Etsy is, it's basically a website where people can sell their homemade items. Since I love making crafty stuff, I decided to try and sell it there. I haven't been particularly successful selling it at craft fairs since most of it is baby stuff. You can check my work out at the side of the blog (it's hard to miss) Check it out often because I'm adding a lot of things since I'm just getting started. You can also register with Etsy and "heart" my shop . . . it would be a great help if you can't buy anything. Let me know if you want email updates of my new items. Send good vibes and (are you allowed to pray for etsy shops?)

Summer at the Merino house

It's been too long since Carrie or I have posted, so I thought I'd share a bit about what we've been up to this summer.

Carrie just got back from a mommy vacation with a friend. No kids, no husbands, just the two of them. They went to West Virginia for the weekend. I think she enjoyed it. They mostly sat around and did crafty stuff and talked. She says that WV looks a lot like central Pennsylvania. I can imagine that. I bet I'd like the mountain biking. Anyway, we managed OK at home. Went swimming, ate pizza, stayed up late.

The kids are enjoying summer. We got Dallin a new bike and he probably spends an hour or two a day just riding in circles around our courtyard. Dallin cracks me up. His desire to speak and learn new words definitely exceeds his actual verbal ability, and some pretty funny things result. He has this funny habit of just repeating the last couple words of whatever you last said, often with a question inflection on the end. It really threw him for a loop when I shaved off my beard recently. For about a week he just kept asking me about it and wanting to touch my face. Alas, I already have about two weeks growth on my face again, and now he just talks about how scratchy it is.

Sadie is looking forward to first grade and her upcoming birthday. She spends most the time outside playing. She's lost a bit of the zeal for reading that she had right after school ended, but she did pick up a newspaper when we were in downtown State College yesterday and took it home and asked me questions about all the articles. It was cute.

We went camping a few weeks ago. It was great. We went to Raystown Lake, which is about an hour or so from us. We went swimming, played, hiked, and so on. They recently finished a new system of trails designed especially for mountain bikers. They were amazing. So fun that a week later I went back for a night by myself.

I've had a busy summer. I finally picked up our guitar that had been gathering dust since we got it a while back. I've been playing a bit every day and having a blast with it. It's amazing how much progress you can make it just a little bit of time. I already have the beginnings of a couple songs (well, some really cool chord progressions). I had a revise and resubmit on a paper (my master's thesis, essentially). I just finished that and I'm waiting for the result. I had an outright rejection (fun!), and a professor and I have finished two papers we're submitting right now. So, busy summer from that perspective.

But by far the coolest thing I've done this summer was starting to play rugby. Yes, rugby. It's a blast. I caught a replay of the college national championship between BYU and Cal a while back and just loved it. I started looking around on the internet and found out that Penn State has a team, and that there is a local rugby club for grad students and non-students. I contacted them and they said that they're always looking for new players. So, I started practicing with them over the summer (well, just touch rugby with a mix of girls, high school students, college students, and so on). We just started our real practices and our first match is on the 29th. It's still a bit overwhelming, but the guys have been really supportive and helpful when I mess up or have questions. Great sport, rugby. Very under-appreciated in the U.S. I love the emphasis on teamwork, equal participation, camaraderie, sportsmanship, and respect. Of course, it's brutal and rough, but not in an American football kind of way. More like in a wrestling with your brothers in the back yard kind of way. And it looks chaotic and crazy when you don't know what's going on, but it's actually very organized and controlled. And it definitely requires a lot of teamwork to score.

Celtic Fling

Recently, we went to the Celtic Fling at the Renaissance Festival grounds. The kids loved the music (if it wasn't too loud) they loved looking at all the shops and they loved dressing up.

This is in front of the band "Enter the Haggis" I don't really know how to describe their music . . . you'll have to ask Steve. He has really been into the smaller groups lately and loves to travel around to listen to them. His next goal is to go to the Philly Folk Festival next month.

This ride was great. It was powered by a pirate. As you can see, Dallin lost the thrill once it got going too fast. But the pirate was great and stopped the ride for him. It was a great 3 dollar ride! Although we didn't get any pictures, we also saw some Irish dancers. My next goal is to get Sadie involved with Celtic dancing. I think she would do great. They just reminded me of her with all the bouncing and jumping.

Little Women

With the last Scholastic book order, I ordered some Junie B. books. Sadie has been asking me when they are coming for quite awhile. She keeps telling me that she is ready to read chapter books because she is a really good reader. I just told her they would come soon. Yesterday she picked up a Great Classics for Children version of Little Women. The girl read 54 pages yesterday! There are pictures on about every other page, and the print is large, but still . . . 54 pages. She was really proud of herself. I don't think we were impressed enough for her though, because she kept telling us how hard it was and how good of a reader she was. It was really cute. I let her read a couple of chapters to me before she went to bed. It reminds me of myself when I was younger. It's nice to have her be entertained so quietly too! I am really proud of my girl!

For Mother's Day, Steve took the family to a place that he likes to go mountain biking. Shingletown Gap. I think the name is cool enough to warrant going. It's not very far from where we live, and yet it felt like we were out in the wilderness (not quite, but you get my point) That's one of the reasons why I love State College -- you don't have to go very far to get away. It was great to be out in the woods. We let the kids take their time walking because the terrain was pretty rough. At first Dallin was a little afraid of the fast moving creek, but after he got over it, there was nothing else that he would talk about. I think he said the word "water" about 500 times. Maybe more.

Sadie kept creating photo opportunities by finding a rock to sit on or a tree to stand by. It was kind of funny because it seemed like she was doing it on purpose because she knew I would take a picture. I don't think she was aware of that though. There is a romantic soul in that girl.

Steve would show me the trails he would have to carry his bike up in order to find the trail to ride. I don't know how he rides on those trails. They are extremely rocky and rooty (is that a word?) It all seems a little dangerous to me, especially when I see how steep they are. Maybe he shouldn't have shown me, because now I will worry even more. Oh, well, he loves it. He's also in an incredible mood after a bike ride. It's worth it.

The whole outing was very relaxing and fun. We didn't have a destination or a goal, we just walked and explored. It reminded me of outings into the forest as a kid. One in particular, Dad led us to some old beaver dams. We collected some salamander eggs and even caught some. I tried to drink some water just coming out of the pond and was instructed about all the things that could be living in that water. There's something to be said about connecting with nature. It makes you appreciate life in all it's forms. For me, my testimony of God's existence and His love for us is strengthened. I miss wandering through the woods and can't wait to go camping this year.

Tribute to Sadie

I haven't posted in quite some time. Mostly it's due to my laziness in uploading pictures to the computer. I finally did it and I have a lot of awesome pictures, but one really stood out, and so I thought that Sadie deserves a post all to herself.

She has been doing awesome in school. She is always amazing me by her ability to read, do math, count money, tell time, write (sometimes her handwriting is better than mine). Not only does she do well in all these things, she loves doing it. Every Friday she brings home a packet of all the things she did that week and she can't wait to show me.

Even though we still have some troubles with her emotions getting the better of her, we have seen a shift in her maturity. We see some remorse for doing something wrong and we occasionally see her take responsibility for those mistakes. The other night, we were really having a hard time getting her to clean her room and Steve and I both got upset. We informed her of a new rule that she wouldn't be able to play with friends unless her room was clean. (She didn't like it very much) After a lot of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (on both sides) we agreed that she would either help clean her room or she would have to pay me to do it. She doesn't have have any money, so she would have to do chores to pay for it. Steve didn't really like the idea and tried to explain to her that it would easier to just clean it. She wouldn't listen to reason. We sent her to bed. As I was saying good night, she started crying and said, "You don't like me." I informed her that I like her very much and that I even love her. As I gave her a reassuring hug, she said, "I'll help clean the room after school tomorrow."

Just the fact that she would say that surprised me. I was stunned when she actually followed through this afternoon. She didn't even ask if she could play. In fact, after dinner she asked if she could do more chores to earn some money for a doll. I think I may have blacked out for a second out of shock. She is able to think and plan a little further into her future. I think that's a great developmental milestone. It makes it a little easier for us too.

Sadie is really emotional, especially when she is tired. With the change in the weather, she has been wearing herself out and we have been privy to quite a few more meltdowns. But even among her meltdowns, I can see remorse for poor decisions and less than good behavior. She is still excellent with Dallin (usually) and she loves to "take care of" our neighbors baby. She is a lot of fun to be with, especially one-on-one. We love our beautiful daughter and are amazed by her every day. (Sometimes we are amazed by how difficult she can be, but usually we are amazed by her growth, kindness, and beauty)

#&*!

Dallin's rate of vocabulary acquisition is amazing. He is repeats just about everything we say. Sometimes is sounds right, and sometimes it doesn't. For example:

In his attempt to solidify the words in his mind, Dallin will say things about 50 times over and over again. The other day we were driving home and pointing to things like car, house, tree, truck. Dallin would repeat each one while pointing -- he loves this game. Well, he was playing this game with Sadie and he started saying truck over and over. He said it several times before Steve and I realized what he was doing. His version starts with "f" and rhymes with "uck". Yeah. After asking him to repeat truck several times to verify the situation, we busted up laughing. Not the smartest thing to do to a 2-year-old, but hey, we are first time parents right?

We tried to do the responsible thing by teaching him "t-r-" Then we tried other words that begin with tr. He can trash and tricycle and truncated (just kidding, but he can say trash) but when we got back to truck . . . more explicit language. My neighbor was even on the lookout the next day, and she said that he was successful in his truck language, but when I asked you can guess what I heard. I decided to give up because it was clearly a losing battle.

Fast forward to Sunday. (I'm sure you can see where this is going) I have become pretty good at entertaining both my kids during sacrament meetings. They are both pretty awesome about being quiet and whispering. At some point I pulled out a car and a truck for Dallin to play with. Did he decide to quietly make car and truck noises? Did he decide to say the word car over and over again? No. He decided to give the sacrament an "R" rating. He dropped the f-bomb more times than on the Sopranos. I tried to ignore it, hoping that no one would notice or he would stop talking about his truck. But he just got louder and more excited about his new truck. At one point a woman in front of me just turned and said with a smile, "I'm so sorry".

I eventually got the truck away from him without a tantrum, but the damage was done. He's known as "the kid who swears during sacrament meeting" I doubt anyone besides the people right around me even noticed. It's a good thing I have a good sense of humor because I thought it was pretty funny. I pretended I was mortified though, just in case someone thought it was bad that my sweet 2-year-old had a potty mouth.

Tree Huggers

I recently was asked if I was one of "those tree-huggers." I proudly answered, "Yes, I am." Although I don't think I have ever actually hugged a tree, my kids take a more literal approach to the expression.

Steve was sick today, so I took the kids to Shaver's Creek which is an environmental center. It has a lot of trails, an interpretive center, and a bird conservatory. We were the only ones there for awhile so the kids got a little more attention and got to touch a rat snake and a turtle. Sadie didn't really want anything to do with the snake and Dallin called the snake "nase" and the turtle "terse." He really loved looking at the turtles. In fact, there was turtle shell on the touch table and he kept wanting to return it to the turtles in the cages.

Then we went on a short hike. Dallin walked most of the way, but was getting slower and slower so I had to hoist him up on my shoulders. They both had a lot of fun. I can't wait for spring . . . I'll bring them back up there to see all the wild flowers. Here are some pictures from the hike.

Mud

While I welcome the warmer weather, there is something I wish I could banish . . . MUD! We had a lot of ice this winter and not a lot of good drainage in our courtyard. Someone was smart enough to drive their little truck through the grass and got stuck. The result was this mud pit. At first it was a lot of fun. All the kids were outside playing in the mud and having a great time. As you can see, Sadie was covered in mud. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Dallin (He's already in the bath with mud in his ear even) They had so much fun, but please, I'm ready for some warmer weather and some grass replacement. Last week the same guy drove on the grass and got stuck again! Unbelievable! And yet, it's true. Maybe he's trying to screw up the lawn so bad that they will be forced to redo the entire thing.
Anyway, I we can't go outside now without Dallin running for the mud pit and then falling once he gets there. I'm ready for warmer days like these!

Before and After

This Valentine's Day a tradition was created with Steve taking Sadie to a Daddy/Daughter Dance sponsored by the YMCA. This is last year's picture. She doesn't look too excited but I think she had an excellent time because she has been looking forward to it all year. Every time we drove by the Ramada, she would yell out, "Daddy-Daughter Dance." Sometimes she would ask when Valentines Day was or, "Is it February yet?" So as the day came closer, she became more and more excited.

The big day arrived, it was a little hard for her because the dance was the day after Valentines Day, but she was able to handle it with grace. She had her outfit picked out days before but changed her mind at the last minute. She even helped Steve pick out what he wore. She wanted him to wear a tie, but he didn't. They compromised.




I think she looks beautiful. And she has grown up so much. But wait . . . could that handsome man possibly be her father? Is that my hubby? Wow. The change has been amazing. Steve has lost about 100 pounds. But looking at these pictures really shows how hard he has been working. We thought everyone would like to see the before and after pictures. It's too bad he wasn't on some weight loss program because we could be making big bucks with some endorsement. Maybe not big bucks, but at least some little bucks.

Most people who don't see Steve too often have to do double takes or don't recognize him at all. For someone who doesn't like change very much, he sure has changed a lot in the last few years. (We even had to resize his wedding band!)

Interest or Obsession?

Recently Sadie has taken a keen interest in dogs; puppies to be more specific. Since we cannot have a dog, or any pet for that matter, she has bestowed her love on stuffed animals. For Christmas she got a cute puppy that she named Chocolaty. She sleeps with it every night and not too many days go by without her telling me how much she loves her puppy. After Chocolaty joined our family she also renewed some interest in her other stuffed dogs (4 total). She talks about dogs and she draws and writes about them all the time. We've even looked up different breeds to decide what kind of dog Chocolaty is and what kind of dog we would get if we could get a dog.

The other day Sadie and I were at the store and she wanted to buy another stuffed puppy. I told her she could earn money to buy it herself. She didn't like the idea very much. She proceeded to complain about how she doesn't have enough puppies and stuffed animals. It made me wonder exactly how many she has. We did an inventory. . .

We have 50 Stuffed Animals

So now, whenever Sadie complains about not getting a new stuffed animal, I can just pull out this photo to remind her what a lucky girl she is!!
Judging by the look on her face, I would say that she agrees! By the way, the beloved Chocolaty is the one on her head.

If you are ever wondering what gift to give Sadie, you can never, ever go wrong with a stuffed animal . . . especially a puppy.

Our Mornings

Every morning at about 6:30 Dallin wakes up. I can almost set my clock to his wake-up time. He will usually go and find a toy and play for awhile (I think this is usually his 'poop' time too) Then he comes and finds me. I don't know how he knows it, but he whispers in the morning. He'll come into our room and whisper to me or he will play with my toes if they are sticking out. Then he climbs into bed with me . . . I realize that he is poopy, so I make him get out because the pull-ups he wears at night are not the best protection. I'll usually have him go wake up Sadie because for some reason she responds better to him waking her up.

This morning was a little different. Yes, it was still 6:30 and we still had the poop, but Sadie woke up earlier, so Dallin and I went into their room and Dallin said, "Good Morning" It was so cute. I know it's not that amazing, but it is for me. It's so fun to listen to him develop his language skills. It can also be quite frustrating at times when I can't figure out that "ous" means outside or "nosssse" means snow instead of nose. And lots of other things that I really haven't figured out yet.

Another cute thing that Dallin has been doing for awhile calling himself the baby. It started one time when Steve and I were hugging and Dallin didn't think that was very cool, so he came to me and indicated that he wanted to be picked up. Then he pointed to himself and said,"Baby, baby." So I hugged him and said, "Of course you are my baby." Now he does the same thing if he wants some attention. Although, now he is being a little selective because the other day he pointed to himself and said, "baby. no. dallin." I think the translation is, "I'm not a baby, I'm Dallin." I told him that he will always be my baby and I explained that Sadie was my baby too. He seemed to get a kick out of that because he pointed to Sadie and said, "Ga-ga. baby." And as you know, Ga-ga means Sadie.

I never thought I would be one of those parents who thinks that their child is the absolute greatest, but I have to to admit it. My kids are better than all of your kids combined. They are the smartest, cutest, healthiest, strongest, bestest kids in the world. I guess if I claim that, I would also have to admit that they can be the most obnoxious, clingy, whiny, and brattiest kids in the world. I have some days where I feel that way. On those days I try to take a little extra time at the end of the day and watch them while they sleep. It doesn't take very long for me to remember that they really are the bestest in the world. I think that is my best piece of advice: Watch you kids while they sleep. Everything seems to slip into perspective while you do that.

This blog post got a little off focus, sorry . . . the rest of our mornings usually include breakfast, cartoons, getting Sadie off to school, and going to the YMCA, but this morning I went back to bed after a little passive-aggressive behavior and I let Steve take care of everything else. Thanks sweetie for taking the wheel this morning. I love you.

Ga-Ga

I was thinking about weird things about our family and this is one that I think is kind of funny. Dallin calls Sadie "Ga-ga". We think it started because he couldn't do s-sounds, but now he does, in fact he puts and s at the end of almost every word. He has been calling Sadie "Ga-ga" since about the time he turned 2. That's not the weird thing. . . Sadie decided that she likes that, so she calls him "Ga-ga". So now it's kind a nickname for eachother. Confusing, right? Well, even though I think it's kind of weird, I go with it.

Now it gets really strange. . . Sometimes Steve and I forget ourselves and refer to one of the kids as "Ga-ga". It can all be very confusing because "Ga-ga" can mean either child. (It usually means Sadie) Does anyone else find this strange?

Bunk beds

Although this may not change the course of anyone else's life, it has been a big deal to our family. We are now officially crib free. We were able to get some new/used bunk beds from someone and all together only spent about $300 on the entire thing! We were stoked about the deal. Dallin and Sadie both love it. They especially love it when we climb on the top bunk with them. Dallin is really good about climbing up and down. I think he likes to show off. What do you think?

Soo, it's still winter here in PA. We laughed at the fact that Groundhog's Day is in the beginning of February, because I do not look forward to spring until the end of April or May. Last year my kids hunted for Easter eggs in the snow. So, since we don't have anything exciting going on and no cute pictures, I decided to blog about totally random things that makes our family unique.

(These are in no particular order)
1. We have an "L" shaped stick that we picked up in Central Park in New York 2 years ago. A toy that we bought for Sadie didn't make it home, but L-stick did. Sadie recently took it to school for show-and-tell.
2. Dallin loves to burp. He even changes the pitch of it if he has a particularly long one. Steve and I can't help but laugh.
3. Whenever something is particularly gross, we call it "wood-shed-nasty". It doesn't make any sense unless you've seen the movie Cold Comfort Farm
4. I can't help but laugh at potty humor. Steve often tells me that I am a 12-year-old boy trapped in a 30-year-old body.
5. Both of my kids are the size of a kid who is one year older. Sadie looks like a 6-year-old and Dallin looks like a 3-year-old. I didn't mind until Sadie was almost 4 and threw a huge fit in public. I got a lot of looks because people thought she was too old to act like that.
6. She still throws huge tantrums in public . . . she's getting better though.
7. Steve has recently lost 90 pounds and I have lost 30. It's the major topic of a lot of our discussions and our activities.
8. I love going to craft stores. It rejuvenates my soul. I don't even have to buy anything.
9. Dallin is in the "no" stage. But he is taking it to a whole new level. Sometimes we find him saying it over and over just to himself.
10. Sadie is an excellent reader. Everytime we sit down with her, we are amazed by what she can do.
11. I used to mock scrapbookers who had their supplies in a special case on wheels. I have become one of those kind of scrapbookers.
12. We are the kind of parents who let our kids fall. We warn them once and if they continue to do the stupid thing, we let them suffer the consequence. We've only gone to the emergency room once .
13. I love the Twilight series ( don't mock until you read them)
14. Steve and I both love the Firefly series. We are really sad that it isn't on TV anymore.
15. We have a huge library of movies . . . mostly thanks to Steve.
16. Dallin loves to watch movies too. He usually goes into sort of a trance. Sadie noticed this the other day and said, "He really likes movies, I think he's going to be like his Daddy"
17. Steve says that I have a reading addiction. I really do like to read. I go through phases. In the middle of my last really intense reading phase I got a note from Sadie one night that said "no reating allowd" Translation: You are spending too much time reading -- it is time to pay attention to me.
18. Steve mountain bikes in the middle of winter. You people from Oregon may be thinking, "So what?" Well, it's really, really cold. Apparently, he's not the only winter mountain biker though.
19. Steve and I go to different churches. It's not always easy, but we are making it work.
20. Sadie's main journal topic it about how much we all love eachother. It makes me feel good that she is so confident in our love for her and how much she loves all of us. It's one of my few validations that I am doing a good job.

There are a lot of other strange but true things that I could add, but I think I need to go and see what Dallin is up to.

Family Picture

Want to know why we don't get our family picture done very often?



We got one in the end!!

Continuing the delicious tradition

On Christmas Eve growing up we ate tamales, rice, beans, and tortillas while everybody else was having ham and potatoes or whatever. Seriously, which would you rather be having? It's no contest.

Carrie and I have always had a Mexican dinner on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't until last year that we made our own tamales. Every year the meal gets a little better as we add more pieces, improve on the recipes, and do more homemade. This time it was the best we've ever done. Tamales, rice, refried beans, red chile sauce, and flour tortillas, all homemade and from scratch. It was awesome. The best part: eating leftovers for another week.



And it looks like it might live on another generation - Sadie loved it. Dallin's not quite there yet, but he doesn't like anything that's not sweet.

Why wait until Christmas Eve to do it again? Other than the fact that it literally takes all day to prepare this meal, I can't think of any reasons.

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year . . .

So, it's been a while and we need to play a little catch up. . . Shortly before Christmas we took a little family trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Do you know what is in Hershey? I'll give you one guess. Yep, the Hershey factory. And what better place to have a huge amusement park? Right next to it. We normally wouldn't be able to afford a whole family trip to the park, but in the winter they have it open for fun holiday festivities.





All the rides are operating except the big roller coasters and there are some pretty Christmas lights all over. They have shows and I think you can even visit Santa. The best part is that it only costs about $10 to get in. The worst part : it's cold! We didn't get very many pictures because neither one of us wanted to take off our gloves to operate the camera!

But as you can tell, the kids had a blast! Dallin was really good about staying with us and Sadie was good about not throwing any fits (she tends to do that) even when it was time to leave. Dallin loved the trains and Sadie loved everything. She really liked being the one to take Dallin on a ride. I even took the kids on a Tilt-a-Whirl. Dallin loved it. When it got too scary he would just snuggle up next to me and wait until that part was over. It was so much fun. I think it will become a family tradition.
Another family tradition that I would like to continue is Christmas pajamas. (I know it's kind of silly) I had a roommate whose family did this and I liked the idea. And who wouldn't? Look at how cute my Monkeydoodles are! Sadie especially loves matching with Dallin.


This was the only shot I got of Christmas morning! Sorry! I just got so caught up in the moment. I think the favorite gift has been Dallin's train set. Sadie plays with it almost more than Dallin . . . if he would let her. I think Steve likes it just as much as the two kids. After opening presents and stockings, we had crepes for breakfast. But even with all the new toys and clothes and movies, both of our beautiful children threw fits and cried and fought all day long. Why didn't anyone tell us that this kind of thing happens on Christmas? Children are supposed to be perfectly happy and well behaved on Christmas, right? I mean they did just get everything their heart desired. Maybe it's just our kids who do that. Aside from that, I can still look at the day with fondness. I guess that's a mother's gift . . . we can forget all the miserable times and just remember their looks of delight when they wake up on Christmas morning.

We also celebrated my birthday (not much to report) and New Year's (again, not much to report) Steve will blog later about our Christmas Eve tradition. And I made rice porridge for the first time. It was yummy, but for some reason the kids didn't eat any of it. We thought they would love it. Oh well.