best snow on earth

abe has been sick with a fever and a cough since thursday. dave has been working and it has been snowing a lot! by saturday afternoon, i was starting to go stir crazy, so we decided abe's treatment plan consisted of some fresh air!
max couldn't remember ever making a snowman. i forced them to put all their snow gear on and play in the snow for ten minutes. me included. we stayed out until dark and had so much fun. we built two snowmen. one was going to be tall and tie dyed, but ended up only blue due to darkness and a hot cocoa distraction. what could be better than drinking hot cocoa in the snow?

this morning, i woke up to more snow and max, with a fever, handing me his snow boots....i wonder what we should build this time.

doctor day

doctor day #1
kai's class is learning about community workers, so dave did a little presentation about some of the things he does as a doctor. he put a fake cast on kai and the kids loved it.
doctor day #2
we were five minutes out the door on our friday night date and sadie called panicked. kai hit his head on the nightstand and he was bleeding a lot. we rushed back, and dave did some stitching up on our kitchen counter. luckily , kai only needed two stitches and i'm pretty sure that kitchen towel was completely sterile.

diez!

january 20th was abe's tenth birthday!

i still remember way back, when we lived in virginia and i waited to be induced with our second child. the nurse ask me a few questions. my favorite was, my pre-pregnancy weight and how much i weighed now. i remember her looking at me and saying, "wow, you really ate your way right in here didn't you." i think so....and so did abe, weighing 8lbs 12 oz.

when abe was born, all i could say was, "he is so cute, he is so cute, he is so cute." the day after i had him, i got bell's palsy. not fun. i remember holding tiny little abe and he would make this "mmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm" sound and he seemed to make everything all better. he still does seem to make everything all better at our house. he is an amazing brother, peacemaker, and quiet leader.
he wanted to have a family dinner for his birthday. since we just moved back to utah, that sounded great. thank goodness for great families and wonderful cousins!!!!

happy diez day! we love you!!!!!

farewell flagstaff

we will miss you!

christmas morning

christmas morning was exciting.
highlight: max opened his stocking and pulled out an old fashioned bottle of cream soda. he held it up and with a very concerned look on his face said, "is this the bad kind, or the good kind?"

fueeef!!! santa did not slip him a beer in his christmas stocking!

christmas eve

our family tradition= homemade gifts exchanged on christmas eve.

this year sadie made kai a sock penguin. he LOVES penguins and he loved this one a lot!

abe made sadie a t-shirt with the nick-name given to her by her friends.

i helped kai make max a marble run made out of pvc pipes. it turned out awesome!
max had abe's name...it was tricky finding something max could make, but we came up with a mix of songs from their favorite show, phineas and ferb. abe thought it was great, especially the drawing by max on the cd.


the exchange....














making cookies for santa

christmas eve dinner
kai came home from school with a handmade snowflake made from popscicle sticks. i loved it so much we decided to make them for our christmas eve dinner decorations. the kids painted and glued and we hung them all around. it was simple and lovely!
i was so excited when i found these gross candies in the store. my grandma always had these and dried apricots in fancy candy dishes. it is a fun memory.



the purple glasses were my grandma haws' and i found the other glasses at a thrift store. what a find! i love them and they were perfect for our little dinner together. we listened to music, had a fantastic dinner, and opened presents. couldn't have been better.

piano recital

my friend, dianne taught abe piano lessons for a few months. he really picked up on it quickly. he liked it and she was a great teacher. he had his first piano recital right before christmas. right after her five students played, she talked about how every one of the kids were very busy but they practice a little everyday and how great things came out of small and simple things.
i really like that thought. we have been busy lately, even so that i didn't know the names of the songs abe was going to play...how sad is that! abe would squeeze practicing in a few minutes a day before school or bed, and he did a great job. small and simple things over time equal greatness. it's my new thought for 2011....thanks abe and dianne!