Christmas and Family

We had a wonderful Christmas. You could see Archie processing what was happening and having more fun with toys and presents and excitement. He misunderstood the excitement though, and went for the unwrapped wrappings in the trash bag rather than the nicely wrapped presents under the tree. It didn’t matter to him he was happy to get his hands on anything toy or not. We spent the morning playing, eating, puzzling, and resting. Temple square later that night was fun, but we arrived too early for the lights, and after spending and hour walking around in the cold as a group we decided to leave, and we took about 5 steps and as if on cue all of the lights surrounding the temple turned on. It was magical. We reveled for about 2 minutes, it was still very cold, and then left, feeling satisfied that we got to see what we came for. Archie absolutely loved the attention he was getting. Aunt Kara, Uncle Devin, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom ( I am now “mom” not ‘mommy’ or ‘mama’… my little heart broke a bit, my little baby is not a baby) Daddy, ( how he got to be ‘Daddy’ and not just ‘dad’ escapes me, but makes me smile) and Archie. He would go from adult to adult bathing in their laughs and kisses and chases, not at all ready to share his pack of grown-ups with anyone. And he didn’t have to. We left two days after Christmas to spend a week with my family where Archie isn’t the only grandchild, but the only one that could make it to Colorado. So it was another round of amazingly fun laughs and kisses and chases from Grandpa M., G-ma, Aunt Laura, Uncle Bernie, Uncle Zach, Aunt Courtney, Mom and Daddy:) We do our best not to spoil the child, but how can you spoil a little boy who basks in your attention? Instead of too many ‘things’ he gets time and love and books read and trains played and pictures drawn. It is the most surprising, purest relationship. I am living the life that I always wanted but wasn’t sure how to express. Days may run into days and life isn’t always exciting, toilets need to be cleaned no matter where you are! But, I have an incredibly loving husband, who is committed to our family and our family’s happiness and a son who makes me laugh out loud and want to cry because he is so sweet. However, just like all lives, mine isn’t sunshine and roses and smiles every second of every day and that is why it is so wonderful. We learn hard lessons sometimes and make tons of mistakes most times, and burn dinner so the house fills up with smoke two times… but, I am rescued by that charming man who walks into the smoke filled house and opens windows, finds fans and says “don’t worry, let’s do date night tonight and take Archie with us”. Then, when it happens to him the next time, I will be there to rescue him. And Archie will be there to watch and learn, a) how to use the oven, b) how to use a timer, c) how to comfort and calm, d) how to make the best out of a burned dinner (because sometimes you just have to eat it when there is nothing else and the budget is tight!) I love my family, especially husband, kids, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandmas and grandpas.


We don't really have any other Christmas photos, I used our video camera most of the time and still have to get the videos uploaded. These pictures were from our Family night at Thanksgiving Point, taking a wagon ride through the lights in 'Santa's Village, it was a lot of fun.

Thanks to Kristen

You are the best- in so many ways, right now i will just highlight one of the ways. Thanks for taking great pictures and letting me borrow them so my family can see what we do too, instead of just having to hear about it over the phone lamely with no pictures. You directly facilitate Archie's Michigan grandparents viewing of their grandson in Utah. Thanks!

Ward Halloween Party!

Ben and I were accessories to Archie: he was the Rebel 1950's style. I guess you could call him a Rebel without a cause, but he really wasn't tough enough for that, and I had to keep kissing him on the cheek because I thought he was so cute. I don't think rebels let their mommies do things like that...
This was the best family costume of the night, and I was pretty sure they won, but an announcement the next day confused me... you guys still won in my heart! Absolutely the cutest, even you Tyler.
Uncle Ben with the Princess and the Rebel. The princess is preoccupied with the fake earrings on her earlobes and the Rebel just wants the piece of candy I promised him if he sat with daddy and Alex to take a picture. Uncle Ben is the only one performing up to the standards that we expected.

We had a blast! Kristen made a chili for the cook off and it was delish, but it did not win, maybe next year! I think I ate more desserts than chili because the dessert table line was so much shorter... the kids got to do their trunk-or-treat inside because it was raining; Archie didn't really like squeezing down the hall with 30 other people so he only got about 6 pieces of candy, not that he needed more- but maybe his parents did. But don't feel bad for me and Ben, there is still Grandma's work party and the actual Halloween night, so we'll be swimming in candy by the end of the month:)

cinnamon rolls, not roles...

Business in the front... Party in the back

The beginning... my precious little boy with precious hair...
Sittin' there like a champ with his cape on, lookin' kinda bored actually...
His prize for sitting there was every once in a while aunt Kristen would feed him a bit of marshmallow :) But he took to licking the chair too, which was full of his hair....
The first stage!
The last stage. Had a bath, ready for bed. When we all got up this morning we were surprised all over again!


We took a vote one night around the camp fire and decided that Archie's hair was just long enough in the back to have a mullet. Aunt Kara was dedicated to the doo and ended up cutting it all evening; between swinging and walking around, eating dinner and running to get the clippers the hair cut took a couple of hours! Thanks Aunt Kara!
The mullet doesn't really go with his Halloween costume, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity.
While all of this was going on we had a fantastic night cooking tinfoil dinners in the backyard between Tyler and Kristen's and our house. We had s'mores and tried to cook cinnamon roles over the fire. It was so much fun! Yeah for family dinners. Grandma and Grandpa played with the kids, the boys played with the fire (and cooked the food) and the rest of us just enjoyed, except Kara and Archie they were down to business in the salon :) It was a perfect night.

The Very Peculiar Day....

It was a Friday. Our plans were the same as any other day; eat breakfast, play outside, have a snack, play outside, eat lunch, (take a nap) play outside. So, when a little lion came walking through our backyard things changed (only in minor ways however, nap time was still an absolute, and all designated eating times were still observed, really it was just AWESOME to play with a lion).

We found her in the back- we still aren't sure to this day where she came from or where she went when she left. Archie and I talked about it and we think she lives in the big tree and she only comes out on days when the tree guards are on vacation, like last Friday. The friendly animals have a whole city under that tree; that's what we think.
Well, little Archie was just walking around the house with his hands in his pockets wishing for an adventure- and then we went outside.
The little lion and Archie became friends right away. They both had similar colored 'fur'. They were about the same size. They also seemed to speak a similar language.
Archie taught the lion how to play with the toys, for, down under the tree the lions don't have toys.
The little lion even learned how to drive a car- and then....
She was gone. Archie searched everywhere, he ran through the back yard, and even asked the chickens if they had seen the lion, but she was no where to be found. The chickens didn't know where she had gone, but they did tell him not to worry. Someday she will come back, she may not be a lion, but she will come back.

I asked Archie if he was sad. He said he wasn't because the chickens told him everything would be okay.

"I don't understand" I said.

He looked at me with a loving pity in this eyes and said with confidence: "she will come back mom, don't worry."

I didn't question him further.

"But she won't be lion anymore, she'll be a horse" he said simply.

So, we'll keep our eyes peeled for a horse to climb out of the tree and appear in our backyard to play.

Video!

Kristen helped me and we figured out how to post video, finally! This is just a test video, from Memorial day, Archie, Ben and I went to a park to play, and this is them walking to the swings and swinging. Enjoy.