Family Pictures

I just found this post that I never posted.  It happened almost three years ago, but it is a funny story so I shall post it now.

This last Saturday we went to get some family pictures taken since we really don't have any since Alivia joined the fam. What a crazy day that turned out to be. It was just a really frustrating day from the get go. Colby was on the phone most of the morning (pacing the house of course) and so that meant things were hectic around here. Audrey tried to be helpful and get herself and Evan dressed. Unfortunately she was wearing this and Evan was in pajamas. That is usually what he wears, but he does have to get dressed sometimes. We were doing pretty well and left a few minutes earlier than we needed to. Which was a good thing because on the way there Evan started screaming and we turned around to see blood quickly dripping out of his nose. Of course he had used his shirt to try and stop it and of course Audrey started crying about it. Luckily there was a Kohls right by where we were getting our pictures taken and we had a few minutes to spare. We all went in to clean Evan up and buy him a new shirt. None of our children cooperated well for the pictures. Audrey tried her best to hide her teeth, Evan just wanted to play on the furniture, and Alivia was a bit scared. This is the best shot we got. Overall, the pictures turned out okay, just not as well as I would have liked. We did get some good pictures of the kiddos individually, but I shall post those later.

Freezing Rain

As if all the snow wasn't bad enough, one Thursday in January we woke up to freezing rain.  I hope I never get to experience that again.  It took me 50 minutes to do something that normally only took 10.  It took Colby 5 attempts to get his car in the garage that night.  Here Colby is the next morning using our tile scraper to get the ice off of the driveway.

I am glad my parents weren't here to experience this weather.  They were on vacation down under.  I just know my dad would have fallen on this ice had he been around.

Snow Day

January of this year was the worst.  It really was brutal.  If I remember correctly it was the third coldest January on record in Utah.  Our house had icicles on it forever.  They took months to completely melt.  We couldn't take down our Christmas lights because they were frozen in the ice.  We were stuck in an inversion and it was just miserable with a capital M.

It all started with a big snow storm.  I believe we got 24 inches.  School was cancelled.  I have never loved snow, but the kids enjoyed their snow day.  Of course it was a race to see who could get to the slide first.

It was really hard for them to walk around.

Snow angels were attempted, but really didn't turn out very well.

Alivia really wanted to swing, but she couldn't get up.

The snow was fun to play in on the first day, but after that it was just too cold to be enjoyable.

Christmas (2012)

I couldn't find any pictures from Thanksgiving, so we get to skip ahead to Christmas.  There's not a lot to say, I'm sure I would have had more to say last year.

Here's the loot.  As usual, I think the kids got too much.

Alivia loved her pink swing.

Audrey got the Beanie Boos she really wanted.

Evan likes the book.

Colby is enjoying his scalp massage.

Only 35 more days until the next Christmas.

It's a....

I don't even know if I ever mentioned on here that I am having a baby.  Well, I was having a baby and now I have a baby.  Here is a picture of me just a couple of days before we found out what we were having.  This picture makes me miss my old house.  Yep, we have moved too.  Lots of catching up to do.

I really wanted to make a cake to tell everyone what we were having.  So I did.  It was really yummy too, but I ended up telling almost everyone what we were having before we got around to eating the cake.  Everyone except for Audrey.

She was the only one who found out via cake that she was getting another little sister and she was thrilled.

The proof.

Evan found out via colored balloons that he was getting another little sister and he was not thrilled with the news.  Poor thing, I really did feel bad.

Sleepover

Sometime last November, Calvin got to sleep over at our house.  He was his usual hilarious self and insisted on sleeping with his Thor hammer and hat.  (I just love taking pictures of kids when they are asleep if you haven't noticed).

He also insisted on feeding the fish beads and grapes while he was there.  Surprisingly, this fish is still alive.

Aggies All the Way

Last year in November, we finally made it to a Utah State football game.  It was a beautiful day and we didn't even need to wear jackets.  Evan was very excited to get an Aggie shirt, he tells everyone he is an Aggies fan.

Audrey was just glad she got to wear blue.

Halloween (2012)

Holy crap!  I just realized how far behind I am.  An entire year.  I also realized that I haven't posted anything since March.  The last eight months have been very busy to say the least.  Hopefully I can get caught up and tell you everything that has happened in the last year.  I have some really good excuses.  So here are the pictures from last Halloween.  We went with a superhero theme.  

Evan of course picked Hulk.

Audrey is Batgirl.  She loves to pose.

Here is the lunch I packed for Audrey on Halloween.  She loved it and was so surprised at school when she opened it up.  She came home yelling "Mom, that was the best lunch ever."  

More posing.

The pumpkins we carved.

The whole family.  If you can't tell Colby is Underdog and I am She-Ra.  It really just made us feel old dressing.  None of the kids in our neighborhood knew who we were.

Even more superheroes.

First Day of School

Here is Audrey on her first day of second grade.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of her in the "usual" corner of our house.  She was very excited to go back to school and it was hard for her to wait until after Labor Day.

She had a great day at school and loved her teacher and class.  She wasn't too happy though to come home and find out that her fish had died. 

Here is Evan on his first day of preschool. He too was extremely excited to go back. 

Alivia on the other hand got bored with her siblings gone.  She decided to take on extra responsibilities around the house like feeding the fish. 

Last Hurrah

Being the good procrastinators that we are, we crammed everything into the last two weeks of summer.  First we finally went up to Boise to visit family for the weekend.  While there, we all went to the local jump house.

I didn't get very good pictures while we were there.

After we got back from Boise, it was time to hit all of the local spots before school started.  First up was the splash pad. 

Next stop, the zoo.  We hadn't seen the new polar bear yet.  The kids really enjoyed watching him; they wouldn't even turn around for me to take their picture. 

They were able to take their eyes off of the giraffe so that I could take their picture.

The kids don't think a trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the carousel.

And finally we made a stop at the Alpine Slides in Park City.  Unfortunately Audrey was the only one that got to go down.  By the time Evan made it to the top, it had started to rain and there was thunder and lighting so he wasn't able to go down. 

After all of that, it was time to rest up for a few days before school started.

The Seven Year (St)Itch(es)

Seven years.  That is how long we made it without our kids needing stitches.  Last August I was cleaning the kitchen and Evan was playing in the basement when I suddenly heard a crash and I could also hear Evan crying and screaming.  I ran downstairs to see what had happened and I found him in my sewing room with blood running down his face.  He told me he was trying to climb like Spider-Man and he had pulled our Total Gym over and it had hit his head.  He had a cut right by his eye and another one on the top of his head.  After I got him cleaned up, I could tell the one by his eye was pretty deep and would require stitches.  So I packed up all three kids and headed to InstaCare.  Here he is after they put some numbing ointment on the wounds and we were waiting for it to take effect.

After that, they prepared him to get the stitches.  A sucker always helps.  He looks calm in this picture, but he was not calm while getting the stitches.  It was a four person job; the doctor doing the stitches, a nurse holding his head, another nurse holding his arms, and me holding his legs.  I don't think it would have been so bad if it had been farther away from his eye. 



Luckily he only needed three stitches and he only needed them on the one cut.  Here he is after we got home.

Six days later, we were back at InstaCare to get the stitches out.  That was only a three person job.  Here's hoping we make it another seven years.

Annual Fishing Trip

Usually the first Saturday in August is reserved for our annual fishing trip to Mirror Lake.  We look forward to this day every year.  We get up extremely early and often the kids don't make it out of their pajamas that day.  Colby gets to do all of the hard work and the kids just like to reel them in. 

Alivia was more concerned about wearing pink than she was about catching fish.

Here's my dad and Chris very patiently waiting for a fish to bite.  Waiting............

It is best if my mom casts my dad's pole out into the water.  He is certainly not known for his casting abilities, but rather the lack thereof.

Here is the final haul that we left with that day.  Sadly I don't have a picture of this, but I really did learn how to gut and filet fish that day.  I wasn't very good at it, but I did learn.  And I will probably have to relearn again next year since I haven't had any practice since last August.