Facebook Tag--I know, I'm taking the easy way doing two-for-one, but oh well!

well, I got tagged by Tamra on Facebook and I figured it would work for my blog too, so here we go!

25 Random Things About Me
1. I get really, really annoyed with bad drivers! Pay attention people!
2. I love to play games with friends and would do it every weekend if I could find any friends that would actually want to come over that often.
3. I am so SICK of the cold
4. I like to stay up late--if I'm in bed before 11:30, I lay in bed thinking that I must be forgetting to do something because I got to bed so early.
5. I've been really frustrated with my post-nursing breasts lately--can anyone else relate?
6. I like to eat junk food way too much; I can't have it in the house, or I pig out.
7. I am a total coupon/clearance freak!
8. I HATE shopping for swimsuits.
9. I would love to travel the world someday.
10. I am so glad that I have the kids that I do--they're wonderful and I love to watch them grow up!
11. I love my husband SO much, even though he annoys me SO often!
12. I don't have cable (just rabbit ears with a digital converter box) and I rarely watch any TV, but I really don't mind.
13. Having said that, I do enjoy mystery shows, especially funny ones, like 'Monk.' (We buy the seasons on DVD, watch them, and then sell them on ebay)
14. Speaking of ebay, I made $300 profit on ebay in December--it was awesome!
15. I LOVE Collective Soul; I have loved them for about 14 years now--wow, has it been that long?!
16. I always forget how old I am.
17. I love to dance, especially to 80's music and swing/big band.
18. I think I'm addicted to shopping.
19. If I think about it, I get scared of the dark.
20. I think I'm a really organized person until I look around my piled up house!
21. I'm glad to be good friends with my sister; there were quite a few years that I didn't ever think that was going to happen.
22. I wish I lived somewhere warmer, like San Diego.
23. I think feet are DISGUSTING (unless someone is under 2; then their feet are cute and I can actually touch them; older than that? Forget it!)
24. I know that Jesus loves me!
25. I wish I had more friends (in real life, not facebook!).

Christmas

For Christmas this year, we had "Christmas morning" on the morning of Christmas Eve at our house in Idaho with all but the Santa presents and stockings, and then we headed down to Cedar City to surprise my parents for Christmas. They were expecting us a day later, so when we rang the doorbell at 9pm Christmas Eve, they weren't expecting us! We all thought is was fun to surprise them like that. We had Christmas morning and dinner at my parents and a couple of days after Christmas, we went down to Vegas to visit Dale's family. It was good to see everyone; we even decided to have a family reunion at our house this summer! I brought my camera on the trip, but somehow didn't manage to take a single picture, so all I have are pictures of the kids opening their presents at our house.

Dalan's and Elora's birthdays

Dalan turned 6 in December. I'm finally getting around to updating the blog, so I'm playing catch-up. Here's Dalan with his car and number 6 cake.

Dalan loved the transformer shirt and skateboard that Grandma Linda gave him.

Elora also had a birthday in December; she turned 4. I wanted to make a princess cake for her. I asked Dale to make the frosting (I left a recipe for him and everything) while I went to the store. When I got home, this is the color he had made. Brown! I tried to explain to him that I needed white (which is the recipe I gave him) so I could make a pink and white dress, but he said he liked chocolate better, so what's the big deal?!
So, Elora ended up with princess with a dark brown dress with pink accents. Oh, well!

She wanted to be 'fancy' for her birthday party, so she wore this dress (and two others--she couldn't decide which she liked best, so she changed periodically; kinda like the announcers on the Academy Awards).

Christmas in the Nighttime Sky

At the beginning of December, Pocatello has a bonfire, free chili, and fireworks at the county fairgrounds, called "Christmas in the Nighttime Sky." We went with some friends this year and it was really fun. So, here's some pictures of the fireworks, my kids watching them, and the bonfire. Hope everyone is almost ready for Christmas--it's only 13 days away!

Hooray for Thanksgiving!

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! I've recently decided that it's my favorite holiday. I just love thinking about all the blessings we have and I like that it's a pretty low-stress holiday (compared to Christmas), and it involves lots of food, naps, games, and family.
A couple of weeks ago, I was counting the days until Thanksgiving with the kids when Elora asked what Thanksgiving was. I told her it was a day that we think of all the things that Heavenly Father has given us and everything that we're thankful for. She looked at me with a funny look on her face and said, "We do that every day, Mom!" (Like, "That's silly that we have to have a holiday for something we should do every day!") It was so profoundly cute and sweet! I am so thankful for my children and for the times when they say things like that!

Halloween

Elias was Winnie the Pooh.

Elora was a princess.

(I made the dress. It took me forever. My machine kept messing up. I was ready to give up and just have her wear dress-up clothes, but I finally figured out what was wrong and finished the dress half an hour before we went trick-or-treating.)

Dalan was Luke Skywalker. Well, he switched between Luke and Anakin, but whatever. I made his outfit, too, but you can't see it very well in this picture.

Kydee's costume was the biggest hit of the school and Halloween party. She was originally going to be a princess with a dress just like Elora's, but you know about the troubles with my sewing machine. The night before Halloween I gave up on making something and decided I needed to throw something together that did not require sewing. I looked at the local thrift store, and although I didn't find a costume, I saw this tablecloth. I remembered seeing a costume like this in a magazine, so I decided we could do it.

(She's an ant at a picnic, by the way!)

We went to a straw maze a couple of weeks before Halloween with some friends of ours and had lots of fun getting lost. It was so cold, but we brought some hot chocolate and dressed warm. It was in the 30's that day, but luckily Halloween was really warm. We didn't even need to wear coats, just warm clothes, even at 9pm. It was so great!


Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We're looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Birthdays

Here's some pics of recent birthdays in our family that I'm finally getting around to posting. My birthday is Sept. 28, Dale's and Elias' birthday is Oct. 2.

We always let the kids have their own star-shaped cake on their first birthdays. Elias wasn't too sure about what to do at first. Then he had lots of fun crumbling up the cake and throwing it on the floor. He ended up eating only about two bites, but he did really well at making a mess.

Kydee's play

The Missoula Children's Theatre came to Idaho Falls a couple of months ago. They have kids from the area try out to be in the play on a Monday, practice all week, and do the play on Saturday. Kydee wanted to try out so bad, so we let her.

She got a part as a dust bunny. Isn't she so cute?!

She's the oldest kid in our family, so I always think of her as being more grown up than she really is. It was fun to see her with all the other kids in the play. She was one of the youngest cast members. It reminded me how little she is. (She's on the bottom row, 3rd from right.)

She had a lot of fun and is looking forward to trying out next year. Look out Hollywood!

Camping at Mesa Falls

We went camping with some friends at Mesa Falls. It was really pretty. We drove over to Big Springs (one of the biggest freshwater springs in North America--it puts out 120 million gallons a day!) The fish there are gigantic, but you can't go fishing or wading. The camping trip was so fun and the water was so pretty that we took my parents and brother there last week.

Lower Mesa Falls (isn't this such a pretty picture?! I took it.)

Upper Mesa Falls (yes, I took this one too and I think it's pretty dang good)

Playing in the water at Big Springs with Grandpa

Elora dancing around the fire

Elias helping unload the camping gear

Dalan found plenty of sticks to play with

Kydee on top of Sawtelle Peak

Grandma, Uncle Eli and the kids at upper mesa falls

Family Fair

On Labor Day, we were going to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair, but it was very cold and rainy, so on the spur of the moment, I decided we could do a family fair instead. I gave everyone an hour to make up to two things to submit to the fair and then we'd all meet to judge the entries. Kydee drew a picture and submitted a coin collection, Elora made cookies and drew a picture, and Dalan did some tricks on the trampoline and drew a picture. I picked some flowers from our garden and arranged them, and Dale had a nap. (He got the Party Pooper Award.) Here's pictures of our awards.

Then we had a watermelon eating contest. Kydee and Dalan had two minutes to see how much they could eat. Dalan won.

More Disneyland and beach pictures

I was going to post more about the beach and Disneyland and never did, so here's some pictures. If I had more time, I'd write about our trip, but I really need to go spend time with my family and get away from the computer.

Here's Dalan pulling the sword from the stone.

Kydee with Cinderella.

Amos, Micah, Eli, Mom, Dalan, Samuel, Elora, Dad, Kydee, Elias, Dale at the beach.

Elora got to go on stage and help with a show.

Here's Samuel, Elora, Dalan, Mom, Kydee, and Ariane riding Heimlich's Train. (It's pretty cool--you drive by bits of food that Heimlich eats and you can smell each one; animal crackers, watermelon, um...I can't remember what else.

I've tried to post this three times and my internet connection keeps quitting, so I better publish it now while I've got the chance. Someday I'll blog about Disneyland with four kids, and about our camping trip that we took a couple of weeks ago.

Wedding pictures

Here's some of Dale's family the day before the wedding:

Jason, Charles' wife Stacey, his mom holding Dawn's baby Rachel, half of Shelly's head
Dale's dad
Jason looking at Jeannie as she is coming down the aisle.And that's when my batteries died, so I didn't get a picture of Jeannie or the actual ceremony. Whoops!