New Haircut

Moienah's First Birthday

So our little Mo-Mo has turned 1, it seems like yesterday she was born, surprising us on Christmas day. She is such a joy and delight to have in our family. We decided that we would celebrate her birthday in the afteroon, that way everyone has opened their Christmas gifts and she has something to look forward to in the afternoon. We were able to celebrate at Gandma Long's house for her first. I got her a cake that she dove right into and loved. It is amazing how fast babies grow in the first year and how much they learn to do. I am thankful for my sweet little Moienah.

Christmas

On Christmas Eve we spent the day making candy, then we made clam chowder and chicken noodle soup for dinner. The kids were excited to open thier Christmas Eve gift and so we opened them before dinner. For Christmas Eve we always give the kids pajamas, all the kids look forward to seeing what their pajamas will look like, so after opening our pajamas and changing into them we ate dinner.

On Christmas day the girls got us up at 5:30 a.m. They were super excited to open their gifts and see what Santa got them. I told them that everyone had to be awake to open gifts, so they went and woke everyone up. We opened our gifts and then I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I had the kids get dressed and we headed down to my moms house for the day.

When we got to Draper the roads were packed with snow and it was a white out, so we pulled over to wait for it to clear up a little. We finally got back on the road and made it to my moms. Most of my family was able to come, some of them were not able to make it because of icy roads.

We spent the day having fun and celebrating Moienah's first birthday. We left around 5:30 and went over to Lamars for dinner. When we left to go home it had snowed tonz, the roads were super slick and it took us over an hour to get home. It was pretty scarry on the roads. I am thankful that we were able to make it home safely.

Christmas Lights

On Sunday we went to Temple Square to see the lights with my family, it was fun. I love looking at Christmas lights. It was super cold but the kids had fun. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures from going with my family. On Monday night we went to see the lights with Eric's family. We went out to eat at Skybox and then over to see the lights. We rode the frontrunner down to Salt Lake and the kids loved that, they think we should ride it all the time.
I love the holiday season and seeing family together.

Gingerbread houses

My family got together and made gingerbread houses. It was so much fun, the kids loved decorating thier own little houses. It was good to have most of the family together. The kids love playing with thier cousins and it is always good to hang out with my family. My brother Chris gave Eric a piano lesson while we were there. We brought our new puppy and I don't think she was put down for even a minute, all the kids loved holding her.

I am so thankful to have a wonderful family. One thing that I think is important is to make sure that we are helping make great memories for our kids to grow up with.

Tree Decorating

Tonight we decorated a gingerbread house with the kids. It was a huge mess, the frosting wouldn't stick to the house, the candy was everywhere, and everyone was covered in frosting. The kids had fun and that is what is important. The house fell apart as soon as we finished, but it was fun while it lasted.

We also put up our tree this week, the kids loved decorating and looking at all the ornaments that they have gotten through the years. My mom gives the kids a new ornament every year.

I love the Christmas season and hope to pass on the love of Christmas to my kids.

I Love Your Blog Award

So my sister tagged me for the I love your blog award, I have to answer each of these questions with one word only.

1. Where is your phone? car
2. Where is your significant other? couch
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? Mildred
5. Your father? Albert
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your dream/ goal? education
9. The room you're in? family
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? outgoing
15. One of your wish list items? car
16. Where you grew up? Orem
17. The last thing you ate? soup
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your t.v? off
20. Your pet? dog
21. Your computer? HP
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? yes
24. Your car? red
25. Something you're not wearing? watch
26. Favorite store? Walmart
27. Your summer? busy
28. Love someone? always
29. Your favorite color? pink
30. When was the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? Monday

I now award 2 people the "I Love Your Blog Award"
April
Nancy

New puppy

So our new puppy is very loved. The kids want to hold her all the time. She is a very cute puppy. Our dog Boeing is not sure what to think of her, she does o.k. with her until Willow tries to latch on to Boeing to eat, Boeing does not like that at all. She also does not want Willow to get any of her toys. I guess I should be happy that they get along as well as they do.

I took Boeing and Willow in to get their vaccines today, I think that people were laughing seeing me drag one dog, push a stroller, try to keep a 3 year old with me, and hold a tiny puppy. Boeing was going crazy with all the dogs around and trying to keep her under control was hard enough. We weighed the dogs and Boeing weighed 43 lbs. and little Willow weighed 2 lbs. with the leash.

Moienah loves the new puppy and follows it everywhere, Boeing and Willow were laying on Boeing's bed and Moienah crawled in and layed with them. She loves her dogs.

Thanksgiving

We went down to with Eric's family for Thanksgiving. We decided to eat on Saturday since that is when everyone was going to be able to be there. We had lots of fun hanging out with family. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the church which was nice to have plenty of room.

While we were down there we saw Spencers puppies, his dog Gladys had 13. On the way out of town we decided to get one of the puppies. It is the runt and so very small. Gwen also decided to get one of the puppies for her birthday. The one we got is black and Gwen's is white.

Family Home Evening

For family home evening we decided to go get milkshakes for dessert. Of course it's 34 degrees outside, so we were arguing over going somewhere for hot chocolate or milkshakes, milkshakes won out. We go to the local DQ and place our order, we drive up to the window and they hand us our milkshakes and we leave. As we are driving we realize that they gave us 2 strawberry shakes instead of 1, and that we had no cookie dough shake. So Nika starts crying because she wants cookie dough. Eric suggests we turn around and go back, but I refused saying she could eat strawberry, it was past bedtime. So Nika did not want the shake, of course I am being firm that we need to get home and in bed so I will not budge on turning around. So as I am driving she is crying and I finally yell out that it is strawberry or nothing, so she eats it. I then start feeling bad for yelling and not turning around. We got home put kids to bed, later on Eric goes to eat the rest of Moke's shake and what do you know, it is the cookie dough shake. It really did look like a strawberry shake in the dark, next time we will have to taste them before handing them out.

Thankful Thursday

Eric's family
Desiree family

So I thought I would try a new thing, Thankful Thursday, I thought I would write about something I am thankful for.
I am thankful for family, I love being with family, that was one of the hardest things about living in California was not being able to see family more often. I am thankful that Eric's boss lets him work from home so that we can live by family, and so that the kids can get to know who there family is.
When I was growing up I didn't really know my cousins or aunts and uncles very well, I remember seeing my friends hanging out with their cousins and wishing that I had that relationship with my cousins. I have always wanted my children to be close to my family and Eric's and so I am glad that we were able to move back so that they could grow up with close relationships to their relatives.
I am thankful to have a wonderful family and to have wonderful in-laws. I am thankful for the chance to be able to see family often.

California Trip

I love this picture, if you look closely you can see San Francisco through the fog.

Eric had to go back to work for a training class, so I decided to tag along. My mom watched the older kids and we took the baby. It was so much fun seeing everyone. We went to our old ward and it was like going home. I miss my friends in California. I spent a lot of time with friends. It was crazy to see that the girl who babysat for us had a little baby 4 days younger then little Moienah. He was very cute. It was a blast. We missed the kids but I think they had fun with grandma. Mokesaut did tell me that he never wanted me to leave him again. We were gone for a whole week. It was great to come home and get big hugs and kisses from all the kids.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween the kids dressed up all day, it was totally fun. I wore my costume all day also. Navitt was a zombie, Maheone a cat, Nika a vampire, Hatosh a ninja, Mokesaut was batman, and Moienah was tinkerbell. I was a witch. My mom and dad came over and so did Eric's mom and dad. The kids made spider cookies and witches hat cookies, they were totally cute. Pete and Gwen came up to go trick or treating with us. The weather was perfect we didn't even need jackets, it was like being in California for Halloween. I made clam chowder which I make every Halloween. We watched Iron Man after all the Halloween fun. It was a great Halloween. Eric and I are leaving for California today. We are totally excited. My parents are going to watch the kids, we are taking the baby.

Family

We went down to Blanding to do family pictures, it was a fun weekend. The kids loved having time with their cousins. I think the pictures turned out pretty good. Eric took the kids hiking, we played volleyball, and enjoyed visiting. I took the kids to see Spencers new puppies. His dog had 13 puppies, they were so little and cute. Nika really wants a puppy.