Finally, some girl toys!

For the past 1 1/2 of Liv's life she has only known boy toys (trucks, balls, Jedi's, Lego's, guns, etc.), but this Christmas she finally got her first doll and a few other girl toys. She is loving every minute and can hardly put the doll down. Today she brought me her doll and said "poop". Next, I watched her get the wipes and wipe her doll-it was so cute. She feeds her baby constantly, takes her for rides in the stroller, and puts her to bed. She insists we all take a turns with her doll and I have walked in on Shawn many times rocking a doll in his arm (something that I was not sure I would ever see). It's just priceless. Here are some pictures I took of Liv with her doll on Christmas morning. All this girl stuff is really starting to grow on me.

Temple Square

We braved the cold weather and walked around Temple Square. It has been years since I have been there and it was so beautiful.

Snow and more fun

I was really hoping for some good snow when we got to Utah, but I had no idea what we were in for, and after driving all the way to Utah we ended up getting snow in our own backyard in Las Vegas.

We had the Annual Nielson Nativity program while we were home. My family got to be the Wisemen this year.

We also played the chimes, which is Shawn's favorite part :)- sense the sarcasm

We took a trip to the Hansen Planetarium.

They showed a really fun movie called Santa vs. the Snowman. It was shown in 3D and Ethan kept getting out of his seat to touch things that he thought were coming his way. Cole was scared at first, but then he liked it.

Candy Trains and more Utah Fun

Your probably getting sick of all the Utah pictures, but we seriously run non-stop when we go home and do so many fun things. We got together with the Reese family to make candy trains. Liv just ate the frosting, but the boys had fun.

We attempted family pictures, but just as we got out of the car Cole slipped and fell head first into the snow. He was so cold and sad that he cried the whole time.

We also has another chance to see Santa, which didn't prove to be any better experience for Liv than the first time. Even my boys were scared this time, as you can tell I am in every picture coaxing the kids onto Santa's lap.

And we had fun bowling at the Rudd Christmas Party....and just for the record I won (I even beat my dad 131 to 130).

Home Again

We just got back from spending a week in Utah for the Holiday! We had such a great time and already miss everyone. Here is a pic I took of Liv and hopefully over the next day or two I will get the rest of the photos up.

Life without kids

Sometimes all I want is five minutes without someone crying, begging, yelling, whining, and touching me-is that too much to ask? At times I wonder what my life would be like without kids... I don't know, maybe full of sleep and actually finishing things that I start. But, is that really what I want..... The kids keep me laughing all day long, like when Ethan prays that his food will cool down, that our car will not run out of gas, or when Cole tells me that dinner was so NASTY-all of which happened yesterday. Cole told his preschool teacher this morning when asked what his dad does for work, "he get's Coke." Ethan informed his primary teacher that his mom isn't getting anything for Christmas because she is poor. I just love the innocent, tender spirits in each one of my kids and despite the fact that I might like to have some peace and quiet every once in a while, or even catch up on sleep, or maybe if I am lucky go out on a date with my husband-I wouldn't change anything!!! Who would tell me that they love my earings and set the table for breakfast to surprise me (ethan), who would give me the best bear hugs and want to help me cook(cole), and who would get my slippers every morning and hang out with me while I get ready (liv). When it comes down to it-I love being a mother, I love my kids, and I really I love my crazy, sleep-deprived life. How grateful I am to have three healthy kids. Shawn comes home with all kinds of sad stories of kids dying and it is so tragic, I couldn't imagine my life for a second without my kids. How grateful I am to be their mother.

Also, as of this morning Shawn got offered his first interview for a Neonatology Fellowship. His interview will be at the University of Rochester in New York, which I know is far away from home, but we love the program and area. A bit of an extreme weather change, but we will see. Hopefully there will be more interviews to come, but we are excited!!

Santa Visit

This is what Livy thought about seeing Santa last night.

Cole was just relaxing and kicking back, Ethan was a little unsure but excited, and Liv was just screaming! I thought Santa was supposed to be someone who kids could not wait to see???

O Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree up, and we are officially in the holiday spirit. We went and picked out our new ornaments for the year with the kids (a fun tradition that we started a few years ago and each year the kids get to pick a new ornament to put on the tree). Here are our 2008 picks:
Shawn-The Flinstones
Jenn-The Grinch (no similarities, I just thought he was cute)
Ethan-Harry Potter
Cole-Iron Man
Liv-Fairy( I realize that it looks like the Grinch is trying to look up the fairy's skirt, but I promise he is looking under the Christmas tree).

Black Friday

I can't believe I even attempted to go shopping on Black Friday. We sat on the freeway overpass for 15 minutes.

(Here are Ethan and Cole with my Dad and brother, Matt)

But, I think the kids has fun. Even though the fake snow falling at the mall (it was actually bubbles) was a little sad. I want real snow-atleast just for a minute, that comes with it's own snowblower!

Just a cute pics of my mom and Cole.

Eating breakfast with Liv

Is is bad that I let my 19 month-old daughter eat her Coco Puffs on the table??  

I am sure this isn't approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics-so Shawn 

and Randy stop looking, but it is the only way she will eat.

The Big 30!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband in the world. Each day I continue to be inspired by your hard work and dedication to me, the kids, the gospel, your job, and so many other things. You are such a great leader in our home and the kids admire and look up to you so much, as do I. Thanks for all you do to make us happy! WE LOVE YOU!

Head Above the Water!

A few years ago Ethan took a swim class with his cousin, Brandon. There was this little girl in their class who would not keep her head above the water-she just wanted to swim. It used to scare me to death and I was sure she was going to drown because her head was under the water most of the time and the teachers kept having to pull her up. Well, Ethan and Cole are currently taking a swim class and Cole has turned into that crazy little girl. He is out of control! He won't sit on the step with the rest of the class and just keeps jumping off the steps. He won't keep his head above the water no matter where he is. If he is sitting on the top step he still leans over and sticks his head under. I have to stand right next to him on the side just to make sure he doesn't drown. Both the teacher and myself have tried to talk to him, but he just laughs! If we survive one more week of this swim class I will be a happy girl! Here is the one picture I could get of his head out of the water. Meanwhile, the other five kids in his class are crying because they don't want to get in the water.

On the other hand, Ethan is doing great! Here is a picture of him meeting with his class. (notice the cute kid next to him in the speedo, I think I just might have to get one for my boys-isn't that cute!)

Farm Kids

Despite the fact that I didn't grew up in the country on a farm like my parents, I like to think that I am not totally a city girl. There is still a little country in me, and every chance I get to go up to my grandparents always reminds me of how much fun it can be. While up in Utah this past week my kids got to spend some time on the farm. They could easily be entertained here for hours, if not days. Here are a few pictures.

I knew they started driving young on the farm, but I didn't realize they meant this young....

Halloween and a quick trip to Utah

This past week we made a quick trip to Utah. My grandpa died last Friday, which wasn't totally unexpected as his health had been very poor the past few weeks. So, we made a quick trip to Utah for the funeral. It was a little crazy with Shawn's schedule. Shawn drove with me and the kids up to Utah, then he flew home that night, then he work for 36 hours straight and caught another flight back to Utah, just in time to drive back to Las Vegas on Saturday. It was a beautiful funeral and I couldn't believe how many people were there. My grandpa was one popular man! Cole almost climbed ontop of the casket while all the grandkids were up singing, but other than that the day went very smoothly. This is a picture of my grandpa five years ago at Ethan's blessing (as you can see Ethan was not a happy baby this day).

While we were home we were able to go trick or treating with cousin's. We had a nice Jedi clan (and one very nice Anakin Skywalker). Liv got to be Yoda for Halloween this year. I know that isn't very girly, but I figured we already had the Star Wars theme going and she really didn't care. There will be plenty of Halloween's for girls costumes.

The Jedi' Clan

My cute little Yoda!

This is Maycee, my niece, with my sis Jam

Here is little Maycee

This is my mom with Liv. Liv quickly became sick of the Yoda ears.

Oh, and can't forget Shawn and Kev!

time to carve pumpkins...

This was our FHE activity tonight. Livy's pumpkin didn't survive the night, but Ethan and Cole's are still holding strong.

Fall Festival

For the past few days Ethan has been talking about the Fall Festival. It is a little Halloween Carnival that his school does every year. Tonight was the night and it sure lived up to all it's hype. We had such a fun time! The kids dressed up and went trunk-or-treating. There were so many different games we got to play, like miniature golf, fish pond, throw pies in faces, cake walk, karate chop (Ethan seriously broke a board with his foot), glow sticks, crazy balloon lady, face painting, lots of food, etc. etc. I really had way too many pictures, so here are just a few!

By the end of the night Liv was done. She just sat in her stroller and polished off a bag of chips!

The face painting lady was a little crazy. She tried to make Cole a mean Anakin (Shawn will be so disappointed I think I spelled that wrong), and for some reason Obi-Wan has a bat on his face. Next, is our cute little lady bug!

Pumpkin Patch

I bet you didn't even think the Las Vegas could grow pumpkins in this miserable heat. Well, a cute family in our ward grew over 60 pumpkins this year and made a fun Pumpkin Patch for the kids.