the christmas train made its first stop

all pictures shamelessly stolen from tiffer

(now whenever i talk about my sister you can picture her inside her pretty house [the second home she has purchased- i am so proud of her], lounging on her cute red sectional, feet on her big leather ottoman, diet coke in hand, and computer in lap.)

1 interstate, 595 miles, and 1 white-knuckle driven snow storm later, our christmas train safely arrived at its first stop: aunt tiffs house. the kids ripped through some of the gifts she had collected for them: cute cloths, well-written picture books, and educational games. have i ever mentioned how nice it is to have a generous older sister with such good taste!?

happy birthday to our crazy grandma

blog, meet crazy grandma. her tendency to do things like pole dance in a new york subway car is why brian took to calling her by such a name. on her birthday (or the day after) lets examine a few reasons why we wouldn't have her any other way-

• she use to enjoy toiletpapering more than the teenagers she escorted
• she can fix plumbing, hang 2nd story x-mas lights, & hedge a lawn
• she takes things in stride
  
• she travels to cali every april so brian & i can get away for our anniversary
  

• she can't stand seeing her grandbabies in trouble
• she never missed a soccer game, tennis match, or dance recitle
• she only wears pants that contain multiple sets of pockets
• she keeps a post-it in her wallet that reads 'dr. pepper is poison, don't buy any today'
  

• 'dead gum' is her chosen curse of frustration
• she loves where she came from
  
• she does yoga in a room heated to 110 degrees
  
• she should have a license plate frame that says 'i'd rather be on an airplane'

to my mom, i love that you are so full of life. i love that you have remained such an active force in our lives from so far away. i love the memories of being raised by you.
i love you.

sunny so-cal

a few years ago we were debating whether buying a house in utah was the right move for our family. for me, there were many complicated factors involved. for brian, the problem was simple and solitary: it snows there.

our home 12/2008

pan to the week before christmas when our house looked like this. when we purchased in the foothills we were given fair warning about the wind, but snow! i have been assured by neighbors that this only happens once a year. phew- i thought we were going to have to move again. i do realize that my family in utah and my cousin karen in iowa (who went caroling in -4 degree temperatures) are totally laughing at me right now.

the snow fell just before we left for our early morning drive to utah. the white stretched from our door step to vegas. we stopped for a potty break and the girls couldn't resist a little play time in the cold fluffy whiteness.

the babies, who don't like being cold, opted to wait in the car.

i like him!

i blame the wii

g-ma glo & her sweet tenant bob playing wii tennis

for my lack of sleep and sore right arm. crazy grandma (hater of all things television/computer/video games) shocked the pants off her children with a fabulous family christmas gift: a nintendo wii.

when playing the wii some can kick butt with just a flick of their wrist (tiff, brian, ryan, james), while others uncontrollably jump and flail around like fools (me, mom, katy, geneve). see above.

the wii was enjoyed in my moms living room this weekend by everyone from miley (age 3) to uncle reed (age 73). katrice and mia played many a game of competitive bowling, while the rest of us were enthralled in mixed doubles tennis matches. brian admonished me for trying to sneak the wii into the back of the suburban with the rest of our loot. he wisely pointed out that the wii wouldn't be nearly as much fun at our house, it was all the wonderful people we shared it with that made the game a hit.

a very happy christmas to you!

12/2006

5 things i learned at the dr.'s office today

the picture we e-mailed dr. liu late last night

1. miley's ears are infected
2. levi's right ear is infected (it must have been jealous of the left ear that was infected last week)
3. mia has an ear infection, an eye infection, probably bronchitis, and possibly pneumonia
4. levi's fall onto the floor jack didn't fracture his skull
5. we have the worlds greatest pediatrician (okay- so i knew that one long before today)

the stinkeye

this is what we affectionately call the stinkeye. levi offers me this look whenever he's asked to do something he doesn't want to (eat, stop jumping on the counter tops, hand over the knife, etc.). it's alarming how early mr. trouble pants mastered such an expression.

luckily, if you give him the look right back, he brakes out in an uncontrollable smile. i tell ya- if that child wasn't so cute...

opening night & always

11/2008 me & christa opening night

6 freeways and 1 hour later i was back. back where it all began. back with the people that feel like home.

i was lucky enough to attend the opening night of west side story with christa and her mom cathy in orange county a few weeks back. this was no ordinary musical- it was christa's masters thesis. designing the 185 costumes for the cast had been her life for months, and it was beautiful. the dresses were to die for. as was her outfit- a smashing green number, huge earrings, and 6 inch shiny black sling backs.

walking into the theater, the three of us couldn't get two feet without being bombarded by enthusiastic well-wishers. all of whom offered big hugs to the designer and comments to cathy and i about what a hard working, talented girl we had- we just nodded our heads in agreement. we know. we watched the wonderful production together- pointing, whispering, and being all around terrible audience members.

christa is having a rough week and i want her to know that she makes me glow with pride to be by her side. opening night & always.

the giving of thanks

thanksgiving 2008- click to enlarge

i reluctantly changed my 'be thankful' to 'be merry'- i love being thankful and i'm so not ready to be merry. just as mia pointed out while running around town this afternoon- "everyone except us are getting ready for christmas." so true.

in less than three short weeks these suggies will be celebrating the season in the snow, but for today i'm enjoying my gratitude tree and pretending christmas isn't around the corner. our tree is full of colorful paper leaves covered with the handwriting of our loved ones. i could fill a forest with my leaves of gratitude this season, but i will only bore you with a small family sampling-

mia- books, flowers, bugs, & love
miley- lip gloss, glass slippers, & auntie tweece
levi- electric outlets, light switches, & power tools
brian- diet coke
me- silly people willing to drive 700 miles, sleep on air mattresses, & deal with screaming kids so we can be together on the holidays.

as is their custom brian and tiff mocked my sentimental traditions (it's ok- we all know they're a couple of super secret huge hearted sapps).

miley absolutely loves having her aunt tiff around- miley's quiet (she gets that from me) and tiff always takes the time to really listen to what our cute little church mouse has to say. glo mom christened my kitchen with yummy miley family recipes and katrice kept everyone laughing.

we stuffed months of memories into three short days, and that is something to be grateful for.