move over mitt

abe ran for class president yesterday and won!!

they are in the middle of their 5th grade economy and they all have class jobs. abe's job was desk checker and it was pretty time consuming for not much money. we decided he needed a new job, so we made him a little business selling shrinky-dinks. when i picked him up on the first day of his business, he immediately told me, " i quit my job. my business is so successful!" he didn't waste any time deciding desk checking was not for him. anyway, the class elects a new president every four weeks and the president gets paid pretty well, so abe decided to go for it. they can't campaign, only give a speech. abe made up new lyrics to "jingle bells" and sang his speech. he said the class cheered when he finished and he won! on his presidential agenda- to give the desk checker a raise!

therefore, i make a record...

for my mom's family christmas party, she had a book fair. she had so many books and the kids were able to choose a few, but in order to choose a book, you had to complete a family history assignment (this is totally my mom's kind of fun). one assignment was to complete a pedigree chart using family search. my kids enjoyed exploring and adding information on family search. the second assignment, to find two scriptures about making a record. the third assignment was to write a paper entitled, "therefore, i make a record" all about a few personal events that happened to them in the past year. sadie's was very heartfelt. she talked all about the things she learned by moving this last year. i was impressed with how sincere it was and her outlook and desire to learn and do what is right. abe told me he decided to write his in book of mormon form and since he worked hard on it, he limited it to one event. they read them during dinner, and it was a treat listening to abe read his paper. we were in tears!

for your enjoyment, abe's record:

"Therefore I make a record that in the year of 2011 I, Abe Tullis, did participate in an NJB basketball game. And at the half we were behind by many points. In the next half we shot greatly and played fiercly avoiding the fiery darts of the other team. With little time left in the game we needed 3 points to tie the game. And it came to pass that I did shoot a three point shot with 20.0 on the timer then with the power of my muscles the ball went through the net to send the long match into overtime. And I know the record I make is true and I make it with mine own hand, the same hand that swooshed a winning 3 point shot. And I shall make an account of my proceeding in all my days. (Most Likely)"

i love the disclaimer "most likely". not completely committing.

it was a fun night with family. i'm grateful for my mom's tireless efforts to make memories, and share her testimony with my kids. and once again, it made me smile at what awesome kids we have and how grateful i am to be their mom. love them!

it's that time of year!

what do you want for christmas??

i want it to feel magical.

progress

as you can see, we started off a little rough with the flood, but i think it was a blessing in disguise. it had to be, right? what are the chances of a pipe bursting in the exact spot so all the water would end up in our foundations?

it has been a long process and sometimes i wonder what we were thinking. it seems strange that we will actually live there someday. it seems very far off. i hope in the end it all turns out and that we made a good decision. when i calm my fears, i am actually really excited and feel very grateful. i wonder if the house or the baby will come first?

happy thanksgiving

we had thanksgiving with the haws side. the seven course meal included my kids favorite, seven layered jello. it is a thanksgiving treat and also WAY too much work for jello, but they love it! my mom always includes traditions from my grandparents like shrimp cocktail and clousures. it was quite the meal. my mom had worked extremely hard to make it nice. she likes the kids to help so abe was in charge of menus this year and they all helped make little rice crispy turkey favors. of course, we played thanksgiving bingo for chocolate dollars and real dollars. i am grateful for my mom's efforts to have important family traditions.

grand

i keep telling dave that i'm not sure we remember how to just hang out together. it seems every time we have a minute together lately, we are discussing something major like house decisions, kids, projects, or work schedules and our relationship seems to be all business. he decided to prove to me that we still have it and that we do like hanging out. he cleared the day and went black friday shopping with me and then swept me away to the grand america hotel for a night. we had so much fun. we hung out in salt lake and shopped, went to a movie, looked at christmas lights, and ate at fancy places. it was great being together and not talking shop, but really enjoying each others company. it also made me really excited for christmas.

thanks john, marilee, tim and holly for keeping our kids over night! we owe you!

pink or blue?

a few weeks ago, we visited dave at work to see if we could get a sneak peak if we are having a girl or a boy. his ultra sound machine is super old and i was only 15 weeks at the time, so the chances of getting a definite answer were not great. none the less, it was a fun try, especially because we took sadie and she got to learn all about the machine and what to look for. she was excited and interested. so.....dave was pretty sure he got a good look, but also has been feeling the whole time that it was a girl. i was convincing myself that i saw boy.

at our last appointment they said we could get our ultra sound any time. dave was actually with me so we went right to radiology and asked if they could fit us in. they did. max was there this time. he kept saying he wanted a brother....so when they said it was a girl, i thought there would be tears. nope, he looked at us and said, "i was just trickin' ya. i really wanted a sister."

we let max share the exciting news with sadie, abe and kai.

he held up two candy bottles, a blue and a pink. he made them guess, then he thrust the pink towards them and told them it's a girl! sadie screamed (so excited), kai almost cried (disappointed-and still says they could be wrong), and abe said, "girls play with less toys and make less of a mess, so i'm good." he has about had it with sharing a room with two younger bro's and can't wait to only be in charge of keeping his area clean:)

dave tells me he knew it all along, and he's sure she will be a mini me and look and act just like me and kai.

i think i am still in shock....but can't wait to meet her.