Thanks, Aunt Laura

I found some costumes on clearance for Jenny's twins and was talking to her about them and she was worried that they were too small. I tried them on Seth and decided that they might not last until next Halloween and pulled them out of storage for him to use as dress ups. If they still fit ~ great! He loved being a fighter. He now has the black and white ninja from G.I. Joe to add to his bucket of costumes!

Chloe and I made some snowflakes today after my family's Christmas Party last night. Aunt Laura brought us the old 2009 desk calendars to use as coloring pages. She made a Christmas scene and hung it in her window for everyone to see! We also made a huge snowflake with one of the sheets. She thinks Auntie Laura is the Ultimate Best!!!!!

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Grandparents Week

Chloe's school is celebrating Grandparents week and both of her Grandma's were able to come and take her to lunch. She took Grandma Thomson to lunch in the cafeteria on Tuesday. I packed them both a lunch, to Chloe's specifications and she loved taking her through her kindergarten classroom. Today Grandma Davis picked Chloe up and after visiting the book fair she took her to Artic Circle. Afterwards, she tickled and teased Seth. He asked me to rock him just like Grandma all night long... {She sang rock a bye baby and swung him back and forth then when the cradle falls she pretended to drop him!} All Night Long!

I am so grateful for all of the support. She was so happy to have both of her grandma's come!!!

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Finally

I only started putting this blasted tree up two, that's right, two weeks ago!!! Between running out of lights and melting the cords we finally have our Christmas Tree up and working without any fire hazard! Beautiful!!!

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The Princess & The Pea

Front Row: Felicity, Hannah, Chloe and Seth:

Princess Picklerella, who picks pickles:

The Queen and her son Prince Lamy:

Princess Dimondella, who failed the princess test:

The queen stacking the mattresses and pillows on top of the pea:
Princess Picklerella getting into her bed clothes:

Trying to get comfortable:

True Love:

The kids loved this wonderfully crazy puppet show. We all liked when the princess couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep and she pushed all of the pillows off of the bed. We had so much fun at the Clearfield Library tonight. I hope we will be able to find other family activities that are free or cheap through out the holidays!!! {This will be coming to the Bountiful Library soon}

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Saturday in Kanab

This boy love, love, loves Grandpa's Rhino. If we stopped to hike or explore the indian ruins he was usually in this spot ~ the drivers seat! Why do boys have to have their own soundtrack, that is playing All Of The Time???

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How the West Was Lost!

We had so much fun at Tony's Dutch Oven Cookout and Western Movie Set. There was a tour bus of tourists from San Fransisco and Hong Kong that were so fun to act along with. We made a pretend movie with Saloon girls, Coyotes, Soldiers and Indians. Seth really got into shooting his dad, the chief!

Tony is the cowboy on the far left in the back row of the picture above. He is so awesome! There are so many trails and with Tony as our fearless leader, we were always safe and in good hands. {I also took comfort in the fact that his wife Linda was riding on the back of his four wheeler!} I wonder how he knows which path to take and which turn to bypass ~ it must be his love for this beautiful part of Utah!

Chloe's favorite part of the trip was the peek-a-boo slot canyon that ended in a dead end ~ she has never seen one before, go figure!

Seth's favorite part of the trip was riding and seeing the Indian Petra Glyphs. He was so psyched about being given the responsibility to shoot his daddy, the Indian Chief, but he got a little too excited and shot some of his fellow soldiers ~ sorry Grandpa...

My favorite part of the trip was riding through the berms, there were some very tight and twisty turns on the way to the dinosaur prints. I thought for sure the rhino I was driving wasn't going to fit or that my left side would be bruised up and down from the branches and bushes we whipped past!

We made it back to the truck and trailer just as an amazing thunderstorm came over the mountains. I was so glad not to be caught in the rain. But the storm did bring a bit of snow and there was something beautiful about the stark white snow against the red rocks!

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Thanksgiving Weekend in Kanab

We have been on so many trails that I find it hard to keep them all strait. We saw Cowboy Springs, Table in the Sky, Inch Worm Arch, an Indian village called Bicycle Ruins, many Indian petra glyphs, Pink Canyon, the best Dinosaur Tracks in Kanab, an underground lake and so much more!

Dan scaring the kids in the slot canyons:
I was there:
Seth kept finding the perfect sticks,
the one that kept slowing him down was this log!

Dan, tormenting the locals:

Jared & Echo:

Drake, the climber:

Harlie & Chloe:

Slayder, Echo, Jared, Dan, Seth, Liz, Chloe, Grandpa, Drake, Harlie & Nate

Dirty Dan:

Underground Lake:

My very dirty face or my extremely white teeth:

The Motley Crew:

Loved these cool tree roots:

We had so much fun exploring and following Tony all over! He is the greatest guide ever. We have been visiting Tony and Linda for years over either Thanksgiving break or New Years. Although it is a long drive, it is always fun!!!

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The dunes before the dunes

Um, Dan, how do you work this thing?Some of the Handsome Davis Boys:

The girls on Grandpa's new bike: Slayder is emptying his shoes of sand:
This is the pile from Seth's shoes:

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Seth's Turkey

I love helping in Chloe's class. I have a neighbor all lined up but Seth always chooses to come to school with me if I give him the option. He thinks he is so cool being with the big kids and loves to play on the playground. Today he got to make this turkey with Chloe's class. I love how great her teacher is and she appreciates my help enough to let Seth sit with Chloe and participate in both the learning and the fun. He fits right in from his attitude and attention to his size and skill.

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Happy Birthday Mom!

My Mother is the GREATEST mother in the world. You might think yours compares but you'd be wrong. Unless of course you are Laura, Wendy, Jeanette, Becky, Krista, Tom or Erin ~ then it would be a tie!

She is one of my best friends and I love her for many reasons but mostly for just always, and I mean always being there for me. She is such a great teacher, thanks for all of the help with my homework! She has been retired for years as the beautician of the family but did pass on the desire to three of her daughters, thanks for all of the home perms! She is a wonderful cook and I love to make many of her recipes ~ I hope she knows how good it makes me feel when she calls me and asks me a cooking question, I ask her so, so many! She is such a good listener. I call her on a daily basis and she commiserates with me about the woes of potty training, raising a question queen, and finger sucking complaints ~ she has been through it all! She is so fabulous at finding a good deal. I love using the grocery smart web site and try saving money but she was the original coupon lady. I don't know how she kept us all fed and clothed but I never, ever thought she worried about putting food on the table. There was the dinner of liver she served that I still question but I like to try a new recipe every once in a while!

There are many more reasons why my mom is the greatest mother but none more important to me today than that she takes such good care of my dad. I know it is hard but I am so grateful that she is my mother and my children's grandmother! I love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

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Holiday Auction 2009

We had so much fun getting together with Dan's family at the Great Salt Lake Council - Boy Scouts of America Holiday Auction. We have been once before and it was a great dinner, but this year Bry wanted to donate to the scouts but he let us pick what we wanted to bid on!!! It was such a blast spending someone elses money!!! The live auction was a hoot and the auctioneer was so funny. We won the following at the silent auction:

~ 2 piece hamburg luggage set

~ kodiak 10 x 10 deluxe tent

~ family christmas package

~ martha stewart queen feather bed comforter

~ champion speedway 600

~ computer printer canon mp470

~ tonka off road adventure set

~ wrought iron serving set

~ family feathers print

Thanks again, Mom & Dad!!!

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Thanksgiving Feast

Chloe got to have school lunch today! She has been so excited for days. They even made their own place mat for the Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast.

Kindergarten is so much fun!

We were at Walmart today buying even more lights!!! and a new extension cord for the tree. This morning while I was trying to finish the lights they kept turning off. I would jiggle the cord but it kept flicking off. I finally shimmied under the tree and the cord was so hot and starting to get melty... Hopefully we will be able to post a new picture of a slightly sane mommy with her decorated tree ~ with lights!

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Merry Christmas

We are having some holiday difficulties at our house. It seems we are skipping over Thanksgiving and moving on towards bigger and better holidays! Last night the Madagascar Christmas special was on and the kids loved it! Dan and Chloe love to watch the original cartoon 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' over and over. They both cry a little when I put it away. Today they decided it was time to fish their movie out of the boxes in the basement. I was so not ready for the mess and stress of putting up the Christmas tree. Last year our tree lights gave out and because we have a pre-lit tree, we had to remove all the lights that were practically surgically in place... So, I knew I would have to sting the lights on the tree because I didn't do what I swore I would do and buy a tree on clearance after Christmas last year. I pulled the tree out of the box and strait off the bat, one of the bottom branches fell off. This should have been an omen! But I persevered and removed the remaining bottom row of branches. This took tools from Dan's tool box and a few minor swear words! This is how far I got:

This is how far I got before the dancing and whining, the begging and pleading began. "Can we put the ornaments on yet, Mom?" I repeated myself with all the calm of a 1950's mother {who never raised her voice} that they have to try to be patient and wait until all of the lights are on until about the 2000th time they danced and begged. I finally got half way up the tree and somehow ran out of lights. Now, I admit that I am trying to string the lights carefully so that the wire doesn't show. But I removed the bottom most row of the largest branches and all of the lights we used last year only fit on half of the tree... All that I could hope was that I have a box of lights still in the basement that Dan missed. No such luck. I had to buy more lights and hope to finish stringing up the tree to put these poor children out of their misery!
This is a picture of Dan {hiding}, sitting on the heater looking at his Christmas lights & eating candy. Even though the blanket has turned into a quilt and the lights have become slightly pornographic, there is just something wonderful about Christmas Traditions!!!

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Sun Roof

Seth thinks he is so clever! Today while taking our paper to the recycling bin in the back of Chloe's school, Seth popped his head out of the car! I think he is so funny. While we were getting gas he did it again and I made him pose for today's photo. Sadly the cold weather and the fact that he was trying to climb out of the car will both be good reasons to not let him do this any more...

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F.H.E.

It all starts with a song!

A Lesson:

Then refreshments:

We also helped Grandma celebrate her upcoming birthday!

There was actually enough candles on the cake to represent each year of grandma's life! The taller candles were melting and bending in half due to the extreme heat!!!

Thanks Brad and Jeanette for great food, lesson and fun!

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Early Out Day No More!!!

I am so glad that this is the last early out day for the past week! Since I have been running errands with just my little buddie, Seth ~ it is just wrong to have to drag Chloe along too! She tends to be Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and repeats, "I Want, I Want, I Want!!!" every time we turn a corner and there is Christmas stuff everywhere...

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