changing diapers

brighton has this down perfect..........she'll be
changing boston's diaper next.....can't wait!


notice the enormous pile of wipes she's made. there
were probably 25 wipes she had gone through.

temple open house

today we checked the kids out of school and went through
the open house of the temple in draper. they enjoyed seeing
the inside--it's open for everyone to see so if you haven't
gone yet..............................................................get going!

first haircut

boston has had kinda long hair-wispy and scraggly at times.
we kinda liked it but have finally gotten enough comments,
so we finally got it cut..........why is that a sad thing to me?

belgium/netherlands

jordan got his mission call! as of june 3rd he will be a missionary
in the brussels belgium/netherlands mission speaking dutch! his
mission covers all of belgium, the netherlands and the north part
of france (from about 40 miles north of paris and up!).
he will serve for 2 years.
words cannot explain the emotions of tonight's experience.


there was a whole crowd of family & friends present for the opening.


jordan started reading his letter outloud then he & mom glanced
down to where he was going. mom took in a deep breath/scream
and jordan went silent. here he is, choked up, trying to regain
his composure to read it to the rest of us...................................


jordan, surrounded by 5 future missionaries--
when these boys are old enough to serve, we
will have 5 missionaries within about 3 years!

boston won the "guess where jordan is going" game!
he was very inspired to pick belgium--
he donated his cash prize to jordan's missionary fund!
(okay, i'll admit, we forced him to)

hayden the inventor

hayden was asked to shovel the snow (again!) and after tending
to the twins for awhile, i came downstairs to find him doing this:


he is getting tired of shoveling so he decided to do something
about it! hayden's brain is always going and this time it paid off!

run!

what a glorious day!
bruce has a new album out......run to the store and get yours now!
he's also going on tour, tickets would be a great valentines present!

it only took 5 years and 3 hours

the big day finally came! skylar got her glasses 5 years ago and
wanted contacts that day. the doctor told her she had to wait
until at least 5th grade and then-only if she were responsible-
could she get contacts. sky doesn't wear her glasses when she
does sports and we've had enough of seeing her squint at the
vault, squint at the soccer ball and the tennis ball. we spent
almost 3 hours in the doctor's office trying to get the contatcts
in, get them out and then having her do both by herself. 3
hours. we then had to come home and get them out again.
-
(coco should get the patience award). that was friday and
it is now monday and she hasn't worn them since. we've
got a few hours this afternoon....we know what we'll be doing.

happy birthday gr. pam!

Pacient
Active
Motivated
Under control
Laughing
Arobics

happy birthday grandma pam!
-by skylar

happy birthday ellery!

ellery, pictured with hayley and the real john mayer, not a
cardboard cutout, is one of the few that "gets it" when it
comes to bruce springsteen. maybe that's why i liker her
so much or maybe it's because she makes me laugh more
than any other girl i know. whatever the reason, we wish
her birthday happiness, wishes and a happy, happy day!

first day of "school"

the twins started speech therapy today, otherwise known as
"school". they were so excited-they put on their backpacks
right when they got out of bed and wore them all morning.
(aren't they still babies and too young for this?)

they were pretty serious when it was time
to go, maybe the nerves started to kick in.


trying to decide if they really dare....................looks kinda scarry
from their angle. once inside they absolutely loved it. they got to
color, eat, sing, read, play, and their favorite: the ball room full
of mats, a slide, a ball pit, stairs to climb, swings, tunnels, tramp-
olines and even a few autistic kids. one of whom didn't want
boston in his way on the stairs so he punched him in the stomach,
kicked him in the shin, and punched him in the stomach again!
this kids mom was mortified. boston's little lower lip came
out and started quivering. he was sad and very confused.
-
so, our kid gets beat up on the first day of school. with that
and a twin sister, maybe it's time to enroll boston in self-defense!
-
all-in-all, they loved it and kicked and screamed when it was
time to go. hopefully when we're done with all this they will
actually be able to say they don't want to leave when it's time to.

happy birthday jordan!

jordan, 23 years old today and has the whole world ahead of him,
literally! he's supposed to get his mission call tomorrow..............
what a great birthday present! happy day, jordan!

happy birthday patrick!

the kids love to tease pat, just as he loves to tease the kids.
this is their version of funny:
p-pretty
a-attitude
t-tooty
we hope you have a fun day, happy birthday patrick!

dad's home!

joe's been in florida since wednesday and today after stake conf.
(where we got to hear elder l. tom perry speak) we went and
picked him up from the airport and then took the kids to
temple square.............it's been a while since we've taken the
kids there, we even saw a guy down on his knee proposing.
that's something we've only seen in movies. boston is proudly
showing off his cards the missionaries gave him. they have
have a picture of Jesus on them, he says it's "jeesh".
dad, elder perry, temple square, it's a good day.

20 degrees

the first thing the twins want to do every single morning is go

outside........they head straight for the mud room, grab their

boots, put on their hats and bring me their gloves. so, by 8:30

they are stomping around in the snow. this morning they were

out there just as the sun was rising above the mountain (notice

the long shadows behind them) i called time& temp and it was

20 degrees outside....................not a bad way to start the day!

happy birthday chandler!

the baby of the family is in his last year of being a teenager.......
chandler was born a month before joe & i met.................weird.
chandler: one talented dude. it will be fun to see what he
does with his last teen year...................happy day, chandler!

and the winner is...

sailor!!! sailor won the next level (district?) of reflections! she
was awarded her trophy tonight--we tried to surprise her but
she said she knew she won because they never invite the people
that didn't win to come to these...........smart girl & good artist!
isn't this what blogs are for? to brag about your kids?!

even if we're just dancing......

a most favorite past time of the kids..................dancing with dad.

......................................................especially when it's to bruce.

new years resolutions

we finally wrote our new years resolutions and to be honest, they
were written with a chip on our shoulder. there comes a time when
you learn that you ultimately have to only look out for yourself &
your children. after getting screwed over by friends (and some
family) enough times, the resolutions kinda change and quite
possibly get more selfish but, you know what? sadly, that's life.

we get to wake up to this

summertime.........indoors

we had a blast getting our pasty-white bodies into swimsuits
and playing in the water today. the twins would jump off the
side of the pool for hours if we would let them......................
swim lessons will be a must before real summertime comes.

sailor..................................sadie.......................................sage.
it was all smiles until we had to face the cold with our wet hair.

state champion.....here we come!

okay, so maybe we're setting our sights a little high but
today's meet went much better. skylar was almost back
to her old self. big improvement from last meet but still
in need of some more work--we've learned most of the
girls she's competing against have done this level last
year and some are on their 3rd year. skylar got to bring
home the team trophy because she put forth the best
effort and tried the hardest (woo-hoo) that's good, right?

i love...

sweet notes tucked in my bed.

happy birthday jared!

j-dawg, we hope you have a happy day.

we want. we need.

and it's still snowing........................................isn't it pretty?

bodyworlds

last night we (along with chris/lisel, kim/wade) took the kids to
see bodyworlds. a traveling museum of real human bodies that
have gone through the process of plastination. if you have a
chance to see it, do. it's like nothing you've ever seen before.

we knew it was a bit "mature" for the kids to see but we also
knew it would be very educational. hayden, afterwards, said
he could definitely be a doctor, sailor can't wait to be older so
she can be a baby doctor and skylar wanted to throw up!
p.s. don't take your 2-year old twins.
............we did and we shouldnt' have.

01-01-09

the first day of the year was spent playing in the snow
.........................that's a good way to start off they year.


joe, sailor, alec, and jim went snowshoeing.

-
skylar made some awesome snow chairs and tunnels for the twins.
mom spent an hour walking the twins up the hill and sending them
back down while the other kids made a fun snow slide going from
the deck to the road............................................we Y the snow.


boston wore this headlamp as long as we'd let him. we think he
was trying to tell us he wanted to go sledding at midnight again.

happy new year!

watching the clock.


the other day we couldn't get boston to put on his snow clothes.
tonight we couldn't get them off...........
he celebrated the new year by trying to get his gloves back on.


hayden giving the camera the heisman.


we woke up skylar with 5 minutes to go.........
she was able to celebrate with all these cute kids!

6 minutes to the new year...

getting back to the cabin just in time to throw confetti, joe,
sailor and the twins weren't quite ready to get out of the snow.


brighton had to have a few licks of really, the best tasting snow
on earth....................................she learned that from her mom.


joe had to send boston down the mountain.
a boston-sized mountain.


and sailor, she could have slept outside.

new years eve

tucked away in the mountain up american fork canyon, away
from leaking toilets, we got to escape from the world for a while
and hang out with the andersons at their cabin.........................
-
mia is only 6 months older than brighton but she seems to be
more like a mother to her..........she takes good care of brighton
and made sure she was getting her dinner (bajio take-out, yum!)


with less than an hour to go 'til the new year, we bundled up and
loaded on the ranger and the 4-wheeler to go risk our lives, i
mean, to go sledding. mia and brighton were ready and waiting.


boston was so bundled he couldn't move......
or maybe he was so frozen he couldn't move!

joe, hayden and nic on the 4-wheeler....can you believe jim

trusts joe to drive his 4-wheeler?...........................j/k moat

skylar was exhausted from getting up early every day for gym

so she was asleep in the cabin.........without sky, sailor was the
official baby helper, she did a good job of not letting them fall out!

so, we drove to the top of the road, got on flexible flyers, and

rode the winding, icy road down to the bottom with only head-

lamps lighting the way. fun? yes. crazy? coco thinks so.

here is sailor demonstrating her sledding (without her sled).

coco, not wanting to act like the oldest one of the group, (which

she was) was not going to let the young boys be faster than her.

flying down the mountain at lightning quick speed, all control

was lost and her face met the wall of snow that was lining the

side of the road.............................................................................

notice the gash on her lip but please don't notice the wrinkles.