Merry Christmas!!

We had a really fun and relaxing Christmas this year.  We just stayed at home, watched the snow fall and played with our new presents!!  Later in the afternoon Ray, Grace and Elliot went out and built a snow cave (Grace and Elliot gave up early, but don't worry, Ray stayed out there and finished :))  Mom, Dad, Abby, Leslie and Alex were going to drive up from Pocatello, but due to the snow storm that never ends (it is still snowing, by the way) they couldn't make it.  But we will get to see grandma and grandpa in a couple of weeks when the baby is born!

 

Christmas eve jammies...

Grace wanted to give Santa the snow globe she got at some restaurant, so she wrote him a note.  It says "Dear Santa, I want you to have my snow globe.  Love, Grace".  They teach them to spell words phonetically at school.  She is doing a pretty good job!!

Santa brought us a Wii!!  Grace woke up at 4am, we made her go back to sleep with us, but when it was finally time to go open presents she came running back into our room yelling, "Santa brought us a Wii!!"  I'm kind of sad that she (and Elliot) even know what a Wii is, but they have played it at their friends house.  It is actually really fun, we spent a lot of time playing on it Christmas day.  I like it because you can play most games up to 4 people at a time, so we can all play together and the kids are up and moving around when they play it.  Elliot is eerily good at golf...

 
One of Grace's presents, butterflies she can decorate and hang up in her room.

Maggie loved opening presents.  She had a good time with this tissue paper.  Thanks for the new clothes, Valerie, she loves them!!

Elliot loves the Kung Fu Panda!

The babies were a huge hit with Maggie.  Every time she sees them she says, "Baby!", then she picks them up and gives them a hug and a kiss!

Thanks for the story book Jack!! Grace loves it!

Thanks for the Charlie Brown shirt Lilia!  Elliot hasn't wanted to take it off for 2 days!! For those of you who don't know, Elliot LOVES all things Charlie Brown.

The Geo Trax were a big hit.  Elliot loves it, and so do Grace and Maggie!

Grace bowling on the Wii.

On a totally unrelated note, the baby is due on Jan. 11th (Sunday), but I have an appt. to be induced on the 9th (Friday).    Grandma and grandpa are coming up on the 8th to help with the other kids.  So, one way or another we will have a new baby here in 11 days, at the most.  I highly doubt I will go into labor before then because I have never had a baby early, but I feel fine about being induced because my babies are always ginormous!!  I have found myself wishing that she would just get here NOW, but I really do have a lot to do before she is born.  I actually fell on our stairs outside last week.  It hurt, but I was hoping it would put me into labor.  Of course, I am not so lucky.   All I got from it was a really bad backache and some contractions for a few days!!  But seriously, now that Christmas is over, I can focus on getting ready for baby.

On another totally unrelated note, I have decided to change the privacy status of my blog.   I figure it is a good step toward overcoming the unrealistic paranoia that can sometimes overtake me :).  But I'm not totally overcoming it, I have taken our last name off of anything I could see (hence the blog name change).  So, if any of you have my last name listed on your blog list, could you please just change it to "Becky and Ray" or whatever.  Thanks everyone!!  Have a great day!!

Winter Wonderland

Spokane was hit with a HUGE winter storm last Wednesday.  This is definitely the most snow I have seen since I was a kid, and the coldest temps I have experienced in years (it was a high of 8 yesterday!!).  It snowed over 24 inches in less than 48 hours.  Christmas break got started early when they cancelled school on Thursday and Friday.  They pretty much shut down the entire city on Thursday.  Ray has a big 4WD truck for work, so we were able to get out when we needed to, but we just barely dug the van out yesterday, and the city just got plows to our neighborhood yesterday night.  It was crazy, but kind of fun.  Ray was like a kid in a candy store.  He didn't work on Thursday and spent most of the afternoon out in the front yard shoveling and playing with the kids.  He was totally loving it-he loves the snow.  I like to sit in the house and watch it all from the couch :).  The kids think it is the greatest thing ever.  It is really beautiful now, with all of the pine trees covered in snow.  It has been too cold for any of it to melt, so it is all still there!!  We will definitely be having a white Christmas!

This tree is in our front yard.  It sits right at the edge of the yard and the street runs behind it.  You couldn't even tell the street was there!

Ray helping Grace sled.  I'm glad I bought those snow pants and boots a few weeks ago!!

Ray created a trail for in the yard for the kids to walk in.  The snow was up to the top of Elliot's thighs at this point!!

Sledding kids...

Grace and Elliot helped shovel the driveway, too!

There was at least 2 feet of snow on top of the van!

This is what we woke up to on Thursday morning.  It proceeded to snow pretty hard all day long!

This is the back porch on Thursday morning.  Max didn't stay out long :)

Whatever...

Okay, I'm totally busted.  Elliot has recently taken up saying "whatever" to me all the time, and in a snotty little way.  Oh how our words come back to bite us... Ray just looks at me like "I'm not the one who says that all the time".  I guess you have to be careful around those little ears...

Christmas Fave...

Okay everyone, what movie is this line from?!?!

"I painted a picture of a butterfly!!"

Also, Grace and Elliot were having a "tickle fight" last night (they were really yelling "tickle fight!" as it was happening), pretty sure they got that from the same movie!!

My first and only blog discussion of Prop 8...

I know this is a bit of an old issue, but my dad sent me this article today and it summed up so perfectly how I feel about this issue. It addresses the reasons why the mormons have been the main target of these vicious attacks. I guess it is par for the course for the mormons, who have suffered from much worse persecution than this in our history...

"WE ALL ARE MORMONS!"
============ ========= ========= =======
Rabbi Nachum Shifren
Lecturer and Author, "Kill Your Teacher: An Expose of Corruption and
Racism in LA Schools" & "Surfing Rabbi: A Kabbalistic Quest for
the Soul"

We are living in an era of insanity! Witness the latest attempt to remake
the nature of our country, founded and established on certain principles that
have been the envy of the entire world. The latest assault on our country and
its values comes in the form of vicious and criminal violence against the Mormon
church in Westwood, California

Interesting how the selective self-righteous indignation on the part of
the radical Gay activists is played out here: they bewail the blow to freedom
and justice! But I thought we just had elections, where the majority of
Californians expressed their views in a free and open manner. Are we not a
nation of laws? Dare we relive the McCarthy era, where Americans were harassed
and threatened with the loss of their jobs for believing in a certain way? If
the Gay radicals should have their way, untold numbers of Americans would live
under the threat of the Gay-Lesbian "thought police," where
individuals that reject the Gay lifestyle would be sought out and have sanctions
brought against them.

It's bad enough for those working in the entertainment industry here
in Los Angeles, where a fog of political correctness and a bending over
backwards to accommodate, even promote Gay lifestyle is in full gear. Let none
dare say that this type of activity is anathema to our country, our morality,
and the debauchery of our young people.

Let it be stated unequivocally: The radical Gay attack on the Mormons is
the shot over the bow against the United States of America. There was a time
when what a man did in his bedroom was sanctified between himself and God. Now
we are being served an "in-your-face" smorgasbord of smut and
licentiousness as being between people who only "want their civil
rights."

Hogwash! We are dealing with the equivalent of a moral takeover of the
country that has as its bedrock a belief in God and His promise for humanity.
They don't want civil rights! What they desire is quasi Gay/Lesbian
hegemony, where a huge "bookburning, " reminiscent of the Nazis, will
purge any remnants of the "Christian, White, mainstream America" that
has given ALL AMERICANS the most profound scope of freedom, liberty, and justice
that Mankind has yet to experience.

People have perhaps wondered: why the Mormons? Answer: they are a small,
yet vocal Christian minority. They have been selected by the mobs as vulnerable,
a group that might not have such massive support among America's Christians.

We who are friends of the Mormons, their patriotism, their family values,
will not falter in our continued support of these dear Americans. Let us recall
the Christian minister Niemoller, whose admonition during those dark years of
Nazi Germany moved us to our core:

"When they came for the gypsies, I said nothing, because I wasn't
a gypsy. When they came for the homosexuals, I said nothing, because I
wasn't a homosexual. When they came for the Jews, I said nothing, because I
wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I said nothing, because
I wasn't a Catholic.... ..then they came for me, and there was no one left to
defend me."

My fellow Americans, in the coming battle for the heart and soul of
America and everything we cherish, may this call to arms be the mantra of every
concerned patriot.


AMEN!!!

Thanksgiving

Like I said earlier, we went to Pocatello to see my parents for Thanksgiving.  My sister Abby was the only other sibling there, but we had so much fun!!  I forgot my camera at my mom's house so click here if you want to see Abby's slideshow of the festivities.  She got some really cute pictures of the kids, better than the one's I took, I think!!  

Anyway, we didn't get there until about 12:30 am on Thanksgiving.  I finally got the kids all in bed at around 2 am- they immediately started playing with Abby and didn't stop the entire time we were there!!  On Thursday I was really good and went to the gym with my mom and Abby-it was a treat not having to wake up at 5 am to go!  Then we came home and got dinner ready (mostly Abby and mom got dinner ready, I watched a lot:)).  We STUFFED ourselves with yummy food (it's okay, I went to the gym, right?!), then as dad and Ray were starting the dishes Abby, mom and I went to see Twilight.  (It was good, but the book was sooo much better.  I know, I'm a loser).  On Friday morning mom and Abby watched the kids while Ray and I went shopping and to breakfast.  It was so nice, I can't remember the last time I went shopping alone with Ray.  Later that day we took the kids to this really fun community activity where they got to make ornaments, go to a petting zoo, jump in a bouncy house, get their faces painted and see Mr. and Mrs. Clause!!  We had to walk around downtown a lot, and it was REALLY cold, but we had so much fun!!  The kids totally loved it.  Friday evening we got a babysitter and the adults went out to dinner at this awesome Thai restaurant in Lava Hot Springs (I know, who would've guessed!!).  On Saturday mom and Abby took Grace and Elliot to see Bolt in 3-D (they loved it!).  Later Ray and I got to go on a date, we went to see James Bond: Quantum of Solace.  I seriously loved it.  The last James Bond I saw was the one with Halle Berry and I thought it was the dumbest show ever.  This new James Bond guy is way better!!  Later that night grandma, grandpa and Abby took Grace and Elliot to a "Christmas kickoff" fireworks show.  I was so not in to going out in the cold, so Ray and I stayed home and watched TV.  I can't remember the last time I had so much alone time with my husband!!  Thanks mom, dad and Abby!  Abby seriously played with the kids the whole entire time we were there, I felt a little guilty because I hardly watched them at all.  I mostly just prepared meals for them and put them to bed!  We had such a great time!!  We left after church on Sunday-Grace and Elliot were in tears and are already counting down the days to Christmas when they come up here (with Leslie and Alex added into the mix this time!!).  Grace is already praying that they get here safely when she says her prayers ;).  Below is a video Abby took of Elliot doing the robot.  Enjoy!!

Piggy Tails

I just had to post pictures of Maggie with her new 'do.  She looks so adorable!!  Her hair is getting really long in back, but is still pretty short in front.  Her hair pretty much fell out in front after about 10 minutes, but how cute is she!!

Little cutie...

She was in the middle of saying CHEEEEEEESE!!

We decorated our tree on Sunday night.  The kids had a great time, unfortunately I was too busy trying to avoid broken ornaments to get any pictures!!

Tomorrow we are off to Grandma and Grandpa's in Pocatello for Thanksgiving.  Everyone have a wonderful holiday!!

One Crazy Weekend

Last weekend we went to Cascade, ID for a little weekend getaway.  We met my parents at their house there and we had such a great, relaxing time.  But the weekend was not without it's excitement.  All of the excitement happened on Sunday night/early Monday morning.  More on that later.  This first picture is a shot of the lake covered by a low cloud.  This is the view from my parents deck....beautiful.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.

We got there late Friday night and we went down to the beach to look for golf balls (Ray's idea :) on Saturday morning.  I wish we had more shots of the beach-it was so beautiful that day.  It was sunny with no wind.  Grace and Elliot each found a golf ball :)

Grace helped Grandma make apple pie on Sunday morning.

This was from the morning we were at the beach.  There were actually 2 bald eagles fishing, but we could only get a shot of one.  It was funny.  They kept going after these 2 ducks-right before the eagles would get there the ducks would dive under the water.

One of the eagles sitting on the beach.

Ray went to the gas station late Saturday night (we had to have soda for Sunday :) and these 3 little foxes were in the parking lot.  He whistled and they came over to him.  He fed one of them a chip.  They were not afraid of people at all!

On Saturday afternoon we built this huge fire outside the house to burn all of the leftover building materials from the deck.  Grace and Elliot were out there with Ray the whole time (grandpa was working on the rain gutters).  It seriously took about 4 hours to burn all of the stuff, but the kids loved it-I spent a lot of the time inside with Maggie (okay, I was reading while Maggie was sleeping!!).  I wish I would've gotten some pictures of them working on the fire-I think my mom got some.  

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and just relaxed for the rest of the day.  They don't have cable up there and it was so nice to be away from all the craziness of the world that you get via TV.  So for the crazy part of our weekend.  Early Sunday evening I noticed Elliot breathing funny.  He was taking really rapid breaths and you could see his stomach moving up and down every time he took a breath.  We tried to give him a puff of my mom's albuterol inhaler, but it didn't help very much.  His lips weren't turning blue or anything, so I know he was getting enough oxygen, but he was obviously having a hard time breathing.  Anyway, my dad and Ray gave him a blessing and he fell asleep.  He seemed to be breathing better after he fell asleep-he was taking deeper breaths.  He slept in our room and he kept waking up crying and his breathing seemed to be getting worse.  We finally decided to take him to the little ER in Cascade at around 1 AM.  (This same thing actually happened to him about 14 months ago).  So, we got to the ER and they gave him a shot of steroids to open up his airway and gave him an albuterol breathing treatment.  He was doing much better.  The let us take their nebulizer home for the night so we could give him more breathing treatments (gotta love small towns!!).   Earlier that week Elliot had a cough that was pretty croupy.  They think that this reaction was just a result of the croup.  I don't know what to think about that because his cough had been much better the few days before that.  Anyway, he is all better now and that is seriously the fastest ER visit in the history of mankind.  We were there for less than an hour-yet another perk of small towns!!

Now for the other craziness.  I hate even putting this in print because it still upsets me to talk about it.  My dad had been working on rain gutters.  There is an upstairs deck and a lower deck.  The lower deck has a covered portion, the roof of which the upper deck butts up against.  My dad had taken the side (iron) rail off the upper deck so he could crawl out on to the roof to install the rain gutter.  Well, Ray had been out on the upper deck with a blanket.  After Elliot fell asleep he went out to get it and my dog Max followed him out.  Max rain straight out on the roof, which is metal and slanted, probably thinking he could run around out there, and slid straight off the roof.  He fell about 10-12 feet.  Max is 8 1/2 years old and has been a little arthritic lately.  Ray yelled and I freaked out when I figured out what had happened.  He couldn't see how Max fell because it was totally dark.  We ran down and by the time we got outside Max had walked back up onto the deck.  Miraculously he was totally fine.  He was limping a little but didn't wince or yelp when Ray was checking him out.  He had a hard time getting into the car the next day, so I took him to the vet when we got back and he is totally fine and now he isn't limping at all.  Some of my dad's good luck must have rubbed off on him!!  It still makes me sick to think about him sliding off the roof, though.  It could have been very bad.  

All in all we had a great weekend, despite all the events of Sunday night, and I miss Cascade already!

Fall Fun...

***Sigh*** Having mature landscaping it totally overrated...

Grace and Maggie were using the pooper scooper to rake leaves :)

(See all those leaves still on the tree?)

Or is it?

Elliot was being a party pooper at this point, and wouldn't come join in the fun...

He changed his mind!

Yes, Maggie was eating dirt...

Ray had the wonderful idea of camping out in the backyard, which he discussed with Grace before me...needless to say, that was NOT going to happen in the freezing weather, so I compromised by letting them camp out in the back room-I made Ray sleep in there with them :)

Mouse in My House

You would think with a pest control professional as a husband we wouldn't have this problem, but every once in a while I come into the kitchen to find that a little mouse has been nibbling at my cheese.  It is a really smart mouse because he manages to open the fridge to get it out.  I guess we need to get a lock.  That mouse loves cheese almost as much as Elliot...

Tagged..7 things and 8 things

I've been tagged by my sister and sister-in -law. First I'm supposed to list 7 quirky things about myself. Stuff like this is so hard for me because I feel like I am so boring. I really have to think hard, so here goes...

1) I have to check every door and window in the house to make sure they are locked before I can go to bed. I also check in every closet to make sure no one is in there. I also won't sleep with any windows in the house open, Ray and I have gotten in more than one argument over this. He told me that my paranoia was starting to scare him. This all may be residual child protection worker PTSD. I know, it sounds like I am borderline insane and slightly OCD...

2) I can't emphasize how much I HATE pictures of myself. I avoid the camera like the plague and usually erase any picture of myself that I can. I know I need to get over this, I know it is important of me to have pictures with my kids...maybe after the baby is born and I have lost 30 pounds!!

3) I used to watch Days of our Lives every day. I stopped watching soaps all together about 2 years ago and now whenever I pass by one while flipping through the channels I feel sick to my stomach, I can't even stand to watch for 2 seconds.

4) I haven't seen a rated R movie for about 7 years. I also rarely watch PG-13 movies anymore.

5) I can't go to sleep if there are dishes in the sink. The rest of the house may be a disaster, but the kitchen has to be clean.

6) I am extremely political and extremely patriotic. I used to be an emotional, bleeding-heart liberal but have evolved into a pretty conservative person. The TV in my room is usually on fox news all day (of course, I can't turn the TV off because it's so old that it takes about 45 minutes for the picture to come on again!).

7) I LOVE CANDY!!! I think I have the biggest sweet tooth in the entire world-it is my biggest downfall in the continual weight loss saga...

Now 8 Things...

8 Shows I Love to Watch:
The Office
The Biggest Loser
Medium
American Idol
Amazing Race
Fringe
The Closer
Wheel of Fortune, 24, Family Fued, America's Funniest Home Videos....

8 Things That Happened Today:
Went to the gym
Fed the kids breakfast
Made all the beds
Got Grace ready for school
Voted (see below)
Sorted the Laundry
Started the Laundry
Did a blog post

8 Places I Love to Eat:
Anywhere I don't have to cook
Costco
Wendy's
Blake's Lota-Burger (Albuquerque)
That Mexican Restaurant by our house in Boise (what was the name Dana?)
Jack in the Box (love the stuffed jalapenos!!)
Red Robin has been really good the last couple times I have eaten there
Big Juds

8 Things I am Looking Forward to:
November 5th
Baby girl (I think she will be Naomi) being born
Losing all my baby weight once and for all!!!
Going to mom and dad's cabin in Cascade, ID in a couple weeks (if mom and dad can make it)
Going home for Thanksgiving
Elliot being potty trained
Going back to school someday
Getting rid of all the Halloween candy (it's a love/hate thing)

8 Things on my Wish List:
Moving back to southern ID someday
A house I really love
Travel the world
A family reunion with all the family there (good one Dana!)
More money
A pedicure
Kids who all sleep all night (three down, one to go-I am anticipating life in a couple months)
Elliot being potty trained

8 People I Tag:
I tag everyone on my sidebar (if you haven't already done it), I know it's more than 8...

And Last of All....
I voted today. Like I said before, I don't love John McCain, but I voted for him for a few reasons. Most importantly, I think he can better keep us safe. I think this issue has been lost with the recent financial meltdown in our country, but it continues to be a major issue for me. Not that my vote makes much of a difference on the national level- Washington will go to Obama, but maybe I can make a difference in the local elections. Go Dino Rossi!! I have 2 brothers, a sister, and 2 sisters-in-law living in battleground states. YOU have a chance to actually make a difference- please, please, please, vote. There, I'm done!!

Happy Halloween!!

We had a very fun and crazy Halloween!  Grace was so excited, I was in my room when she woke up that morning (Maggie was already up) and I hear her say (through the monitor) "It's Halloween!".  She was very excited!  We managed to make it through 2 school parties, a doctors appt (why I scheduled it on Halloween I will never understand!), trunk-or-treating at church and trick or treating in the neighborhood.  I was so glad when everyone was finally in bed, especially after Maggie's inevitable sugar-induced, sleep-deprived meltdown 1 hour before her usual bed time! Enjoy!

Grace the cat, checking out all the cuties in her class!  My camera died after I took about 3 pics, so I didn't get much of the party :(

Mrs. Smith was dressed as the old woman who swallowed a fly-it was so cute!  She had all the things she swallowed in bags, hanging down in front.

Elliot, taking a break between festivities.  Ray took him to his party at preschool, so I don't have any pictures of that, but he came home with a huge haul of candy!!

Dinner...Jack-o-lantern pizza.  Gotta love Papa Murphys!!

Maggie was so adorable in her little pumpkin outfit, and she TOTALLY got in to trunk or treating.  She was so excited about all her candy in her little bucket.  (Click on these pics to get a better shot of the little pumpkin :)

She was sitting on the curb checking out the spoils.  She completely flipped when I tried to take her bag from her in the car!  I was going to have her stay with me while Ray took Grace and Elliot around the neighborhood, but she was so not having that.  Ray took her walking around the neighborhood and she had such a great time!

Meow!

ARRRRH!!