Snow!! - Dec. 28, 2012

We made it to Island Park!!  There is Snow here!  a lot of snow!

 Rock woke up and went right to the window.  He just stared out at the snow!

 Rock & Brian

Rock LOVES to snow machine.  Look closely, that is his EXCITED face, i promise!  He would cry and throw a fit every time we took him off the machine.  He just wanted to ride them all day long.  

 Dalia LOVED playing in the snow!  She enjoyed climbing the hills, sledding, and snow machining (she liked going fast!)

Justin & Tes

Tes even had fun snow machining!

 Brian, Dalia, & Rock

 Rock, Brian, & Britni

The only way i will ride on a snow machine with Brian is if Rock is on it too.  That way I KNOW that Brian will go slow.

 Tes & Emily playing in the Girls Hide Out!

Tes on the deck of our cabin for the week!

Christmas! - Dec. 25, 2012

Christmas 2012

We slept in Christmas morning!  Our girls woke up about their normal time around 8am and came to wake us up.  We got Rockwell out of bed and headed downstairs!  We all enjoyed checking out what was left in our stockings!  Dalia got a Lego Friends set and a stuffed animal bird that really chirps!  Tes got a Brave Polly Pocket!  And Rock got a little monster truck that he loved!  He instantly said, "Vroom"!  Check out the picture of him pushing his truck, you can see his bottom lip out as he says Vroom.  After we checked out our stockings and ate some candy we ate some sticky buns for breakfast!  Then we spent the day opening our gifts!

I love being at home with just the 5 of us for Christmas.  We spend the entire day in our pajamas and it takes us all day to open our gifts.  We take turns opening gifts.  Who ever opens a gift then gets to pick a present out for someone else to open.  When a gift is unwrapped it is then opened and played with for a little bit before we move on.  Like i said, our gift opening in an event!  It is so fun!  I love to see how excited the kids get when they open a gift and how they want to play/use it right away!

I

Brian got the kids some new books.  Dalia LOVES them, she thinks they are so funny.  Tes says they are just Dalia's, because i don't think Tes likes them.  They are called, "That's Mean", "That's Disgusting", and "That's Dangerous".  Aunt Callie made us an awesome snowman kit!  We hope to use it on our trip to Idaho this week!  Tes got mom a framed picture of herself that she wrapped in Sunbeams at church!  (Tes has the best sunbeam teacher!!  Sis. M.!)

Rock got a Thomas the Train blanket from Grandma Cr., a yellow drill just like his dads, and a race track!
Dalia got a non-fiction book about birds!  (she specifically asked for a non-fiction book!)
Tes got and Apple Peel-it!  Tes LOVES apples!  She also got PINK legos!!

Here we are will all out new stuff!  Thank you family!  We are so blessed!
Tes wanted and got: Brave Polly Pocket!  PINK Legos!  Apple Peel-it!
Dalia wanted and got: Lego Friends!  Non-fiction book.  Disco Ball Light.
We all got some new snow gear for our trip to Idaho!
Brian got remote control set to make his own remote control airplane.
Britni got a new kitchen faucet and sparkly shoes!!!

It was a great day to just be together.  We are glad that we get to celebrate having each other in our lives because of our Savior and knowing that we get to be together forever.  Happy Birthday to Jesus!

In the evening we ate left overs and packed our bags for our trip that we were leaving on the next day.  After the kids went to bed i took off all the decorations and lights off of the Christmas tree and Brian took the tree to our compost pile.  It was so weird to take our tree down on Christmas, but I knew it would be nice coming home to it all put away. 

It's Christmas Time!!

Merry Christmas!!

 Shepherd's Dinner with Cam & Kim's Family!

Dalia, Britni, Brian, Rock, Justin, Kim, Annissa, Cameron, & Tesila

 We acted out the Nativity Story!

Christmas Pajama's!!

Christmas Song Videos - Dec. 18, 2012

Merry Christmas from our family!! Enjoy some singing from the girls! Video: Dalia sings "O Christmas Tree" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia sings "Jingle Bells" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia sings "Our House is a Holiday House" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia & Tes sing a Primary song about Baby Jesus, "Samuel tells of Baby Jesus" - Dec. 2012 Video: Dalia feeding Rock his dinner! - Dec. 2012

Shepherd's Dinner & Chrismtas Eve - Dec. 24, 2012

This year Cam & Kim's family came to our house for our annual Shepherd's Dinner!!

They came up Friday night, then Saturday we went shopping & out to lunch.  After lunch Brian & Cam took the 4 older kids to the Frisbee Forest to play frisbee golf!  Kim and I stayed at home to prepare for the Shepherds dinner and so Rock could take a nap!  Later that evening we all got dressed in our best shepherd attire and sat on our living room floor to the glow of the Christmas lights while we ate finger foods and pita bread sandwiches!  After dinner we acted out the Nativity story.  Cameron was our Narrator.  Brian, Rock, & Kim were Shepherds.  Tes was the Angel.  Dalia was Mary. Justin was a reluctant Joseph.  Cabbage Patch doll as Jesus (even though the girls thought Rock needed to be Jesus).  and Anissa & Britni were Wisewomen!  I think it turned out well despite our shy angel.  Justin was even so good to participate.  We are thankful that they came to join us for a fun Grandma Carolyn Tradition!!  Side Note: Callie, Jerry, & Jami and their families were together the same night in Utah at Callie's house for their Shepherd's dinner.  And my mom and Lane were in the Philippines for their Shepherd's dinner with lots of other missionaries at the mission home!  We were all in sync just not together.  Thanks mom for the fun tradition!!  Oh, then we watched a cool youtube video about the birth of the Savior.  It was a great way to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!!

While Cam & Kim's family was here there was also lots of car racing on Grand Turismo.  Justin really really loved it!  We decorated some cookies Sunday morning and then the H. family loaded up in their car and headed home to Oregon.  We got all dolled up and left for Church.
Monday was Christmas eve!  The girls spent the day playing, Dalia enjoyed being home and doing whatever she wanted.  I wrapped presents and started packing for our trip to idaho.  That night we went to Mat & Bri's for a yummy Christmas eve dinner of Ribs and all the fixings!  Mat & Bri sure know how to make a feast!  The food was so good!  Thank you for inviting us!  We ate and enjoyed talking to one another as our kids played.  Back at home we opened our "X" presents!  Pajamas!!  Rock was SO excited to have cars on his feet.  He walked around the house looking at his feet and saying "VROOM!!"  We set out some cookies for Santa and headed to bed!

December Happenings - Dec. 17, 2012

December happenings...

Yes, it happened, Rock pulled the Christmas Tree over onto himself!!  I didn't really want to get a tree this year because i was afraid that Rock would knock down the Christmas tree.  But of course it wouldn't seem like Christmas without a tree so we got one.  To be honest Tes played and pulled on the tree more than Rockwell did.  The tree was up for 13 days before it fell over.  We had just got back from the mall in Bellevue where we were at Snowflake Lane.  We bought a Mickey Mouse ornament to represent our trip to Disneyland in 2012.  Back at home I took the girls upstairs to get them ready for bed.  Brian was left alone downstairs with Rockwell.  Maybe that was the problem?!  However, Brian says that it is my fault that it happened.  Brian was in the kitchen when he says he saw Rock pick up the new Mickey Mouse ornament, Rock walked over to the tree and was trying to put the new ornament on the tree when he pulled it over on top of himself.  (so it is my fault because i bought the new ornament).  All i hear from upstairs is the ornament balls (a lot of them) bouncing on the hard floor (since we have unbreakable ornament balls!  they are the best!!)  I run downstairs to find the tree on the floor and Rock underneath in shock, no crying, he wasn't even sure what happened.  Brian was standing next to the tree, he says he was waiting for Rock to cry or something.  Brian picked up the tree and i took Rock upstairs.  We set the tree back up, even though now it looked more disheveled then it did before, and only two ornaments broke.   All in all, it happened, and thankfully Rock wasn't hurt and it didn't happen again.

We went to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue where it "snows" every night at 7pm in December!  There are Christmas decorations everywhere and Christmas characters dressed up walking around, like drummer boys, and nutcrackers, and fairy princesses.  And they play Christmas Music.  It was fun, but one of those things where you go once and that's good enough.  When it began to snow Tes said, "Mom, it's just bubbles."  She was not too impressed.

One Saturday Brian went skiing/boarding at Stevens Pass with Brent so Lori & Owen came over to bake Christmas cookies with us!!  We made Gingerbread people and snowmen, peanut brittle, and peanut butter balls!  We had fun baking, i think the boys had fun skiing.  Rock enjoyed playing with Brian's gear before he left.  

I took the kids to the $1 store where they each got to choose one tube of wrapping paper!  They really enjoyed playing with the tubes!  Here they are pictured using them as microphones and singing in the glow of our Christmas lights!  They also used them as guitars, swords, and horses!

Dalia's elementary school had an ice skating night!  We didn't make it last year, so i promised that we would go this year.  We got a babysitter for Rock and Brian and i took the girls!  They have these walker things for the kids to rent.  I am not good at ice skating.  I was glad to have the walker thing to hold onto and push the girls around.  Brian did get Dalia to let go of the walker and they made it around the ring once holding hands.  However, she did not like it, and she had a hard time controlling where her feet went even when using the walker.  Tes did great at keeping her feet straight and LOVED to be pushed around on the walker, especially by her dad, because then she got to go fast!!!

It is fun to see Rock playing with toys!  and acting things out.  Here he is making the dollhouse mom and dad kiss!  Um...he made Woody and Jessie kiss too.  Maybe there is too much kissing going on in our house.  I do kiss Rock a lot.  I really need to toughen him up.  But i just don't know how.

Dalia's First Grade Concert - Dec. 10, 2012

Dalia's First Grade Holiday Concert!!!

I was so excited for Dalia's holiday concert at school!  She tried out for one of the speaking parts and got one!!  There were about 8 parts for her first grade class of 24 students.  That night there were 3 first grade classes performing together.  Dalia was excited!  She has been singing the songs at home for months.  Brian & Eric made it back from their car race in San Fransisco monday morning about 10am!  Yeah!!!  I was worried that they might not make it back and that Brian would have to miss the concert.  We went as a family and Eric & Emily came with us!  However, the we sat on the left side of the stage and Dalia was standing on the right side.  To make things worse we couldn't even see Dalia from where we were sitting because the music teacher was standing right in our way.  So i had to move around a bit to see her.  But i enjoyed it all and how excited Dalia was!  She did great at her speaking part!  Videos of her speaking part and a song are below.  After the concert we all went out for ice cream at jack in the box!  

Side Note: Notice the little dolls in the Christmas tree!?  Tesila loves to hide her dolls in the Christmas tree.  When i first noticed one i asked Tes why her dolls were in the tree and she said, "They are hiding from the humans!"  She is so cute!  Each day there were more dolls hiding in the tree.  She would also play with the dolls in the tree making them jump from branch to branch.  You would think our tree was a decoration, but nope, it is a doll house!!

Video: Dalia's Speaking Part at her First Grade Holiday Concert - Dec. 2012  

Video: Dalia's First Grade Holiday House performance - Dec. 2012

Weekend without Brian - Dec. 8, 2012

 

Brian went out of town for a car race near San Francisco for a weekend in December.  Even though he was gone that didn't slow us down.  Friday we went shopping for gifts to give to kids in need.  I take the kids to the store and tell them to choose a gift that they would like to have and that we will be going to a little kid that is their age.  It is hard sometimes, because they think that they get to keep the gift.  So i have to keep reminding them that it is for someone else.  After we shop we go to the mall where we look at Santa as other kids sit on his lap and get their picture taken (i am cheap and don't want to pay for that).   Behind Santa's display is a huge toy box where you can put unwrapped toys.  After we dropped of our toys we went and played at the dinosaur play place before heading home.  Later that night our friends came over for Pizza and a movie.  There dad was out of town too, so it was just us moms and kids!  Alycia, Preston, Carter, and Owen!

Saturday we went to a first birthday party for Owen Mc. (different Owen then the one from Friday .  Then Dalia had a birthday party for a friend from school.  That night there was a Nativity display at the church!  The girls had fun seeing all the different nativities!  And we had fun dressing up for our own version of the nativity.  It was a busy weekend, we had lots of fun, but we did miss our dad.  However, i know he had so much fun at the Infineon raceway in Sonoma, CA!!  It made it even cooler that he has been racing on the infineon track on his Grand Turismo PlayStation game and now he finally got to race on the track in real life!!  However, their car was too loud that they kept getting penalties and had to try and fix it, but the car just got loud again.  So they didn't place very well, but they had FUN!

Rockwell - Dec. 2, 2012

 

Our little Rockwell started Nursery!!
The nursery leaders said he did well as long as he was playing with cars, reading books about cars, and didn't see the doors in the room open.  However, when we went to get him he started to cry, he was so excited to see us!  Yes, it is true, my Rock LOVES cars!  We usually find him carrying a car around and making it drive on everything and of course making awesome car noises!  Recently Rock has started to act like a puppy or a kitty or a puppykitty.  He will crawl around on all fours and stick his tongue out and pant like dog, but then he will meow.  Whatever he is, he is sure cute!

Christmas Tree! - Dec. 1, 2012

What better thing to do on December first then get a Christmas Tree!!

We drove to our favorite U-cut Christmas Tree farm up highway 92 where any tree is $20.  Well this year the price was raised to $25.  Tes was so excited because she remembers that they give candy canes to the kids!  The girls & Rock had fun running around and around and under the trees!  I tried following them so that we didn't lose Rock among-est the trees.  We were pretty quick this year with our tree choice.  However, Brian and I had to convince the girls that this was the tree we wanted.

We had to stop off at the $1 store for some items and the girls were excited to find Nutcrackers!!  I was so because i almost bought them one for $7 at Fred Meyer.  I am glad i didn't because this way they each got their own and they could play with them all they wanted and if they brake i won't care.

Back at home, we set up the tree and begun to hang lights on it and put Christmas decorations around our home.  We took a break to go to our Ward Christmas Party!  It was really fun!  They called it a "Night in Zarahemla!"  It was as if we were in Book of Mormon times!  We ate carne asada, Rice and Beans, Salsa Bar, lots of fruit, churros, and leche cake!  The food was good and it was fun to have something different than ham and potatoes!  The program was also set in Book of Mormon times.  So we heard the Christmas Story from the Book of Mormon perspective!  It was neat.  The Primary Children also sang songs during the program.  My two primary girls were so cute front and center!!  They were most excited to sing "Samuel tells of baby Jesus!"

It was a good way to start off our December!

November 2012 Videos

Video: Kids "trying" to sled on the leaves. - Nov. 2012
Video: The girls dance and play "instruments"! - Nov. 2012
Video: Jessie & Woody Kiss - Nov. 2012 Video: Rock pretends to be like his dad and carry around a power tool. - Nov. 2012 Video: Rock uses a drill to "fix" the closet door. Just like he saw his dad do. - Nov. 2012
 Video: Rock tried pouring himself a bowl of cereal. - Nov. 2012
Video: Family Birthday song! Tes did not like the singing. - Nov. 2012
Video: Brian made a Mustache Jello Vacuum mold. - Nov. 2012
Video: Movember Party!! - Mov. 2012

Books & Braids - Nov. 28, 2012

 

Rock has recently started to like books!!  He doesn't like to be read too, he just likes to look at the pictures!  He is pictured here with his most recent favorite book to look at.  He will grab this book "First 100 Words" off the shelf and sit himself down on the couch and look at the pictures by himself for minutes at a time!  And when i ask him to choose a book this is the one he chooses.  He will sit on my lap as we point to the pictures and say what they are or say their sounds.  He doesn't know all of them.  His favorite ones to look at are the cars, trucks, fruit & vegetables, the babies doing things, and the animals.

Rock also likes to "change" diapers on dolls or figurines.  Here he is "changing" Jessie's diaper.  He sets out the white diaper changing mat and pulls out the wipes.  What usually ends up happening is he buries the figurine in a pile of wipes.  He is getting really good at imitating.

Tesila loves to pick out her clothes!  She comes up with some of the best outfits!  As of late her most favorite thing to wear is that pink belt!  And the only pants that have belt loops are Dalia's shorts!  So even though it is cold outside she wears those shorts just about everyday so that she can wear her belt!  She loves to have her hair "bumpy" (the waves in her hair after we just took a braid out).  She also likes to get her hair done by mom.  She always requests different hair styles!  The other day i thought it would be fun to try to put her hair in a crown braid.  I remember one of the Dockendorf girls putting my hair in a crown braid before my baptism.  I figured if my short hair could be a crown braid then Tesila's beautiful long locks could!  And sure enough she has the most beautiful crown braid!  I sure have fun doing Tesila's hair! 

Thanks to Callie & Jami for the hair doing practice!!

Broken Glass - Nov. 27, 2012

Check out what Rock did...

Yes, he broke our glass table top with that white plastic bowl.

I was at young women's when i get a text from Brian that said something like, "Rock just broke the table with the salad bowl."  (attached was this picture).

Rock had finished eating so Brian let him stand in the chair next to him while Brian finished eating.  Rock began playing with the salad bowl and started to bang on the table over and over with the bowl.  Next thing, the glass broke and one long brake when across the rest of the table.  Whoa!  The good thing is we can still use our table since it was just the glass part that sat on top of the table.  The sad thing is i liked having it on there.  It was nice to roll out pie and cookie dough on and i didn't worry about the kids ruining the table when they colored or painted, because it always wiped right off.  Oh well, here is to life with a wooden table.  Things could definitely be worse.  We could have no table at all.

Thanks to Linc & Carrie for the table in the first place!  It has survived a long time.

8th Anniversary!! - Nov. 26, 2012

Happy 8 years of being Married for us!!  Nov. 26, 2012
 

I really like fondue.  We make it at home at least once or twice a year.  We make the cheese, the meat, and the chocolate.  When i was living in Fort Lauderdale i found out that there was a fondue restaurant called "The Melting Pot," and I thought to myself, "some day i want to go there."  Well lucky for me that someday happened to be on my 8th wedding anniversary!!  Thank you Brian!!

We got a babysitter for a monday night and headed down to Seattle to the Melting Pot!!  We got to the restuarant shortly after it opened and there weren't many people there.  It was nice and quiet.  They sat us upstairs in a little square booth.  We ordered a full course fondue meal!  We got cheese fondue, then a mojo meat fondue, and a chocolate turtle fondue for dessert!!  They were all so yummy.  The thing i didn't know about the melting pot was how the waiter is a big part of your experience.  The waiter mixes all the fondue ingredients right there on your table in the hot fondue pot and tells you all about what is being mixed in.  It was like a little cooking show, cool!  Also, our waiter had a movember Stache as well.  You could tell Brian and him had some extra pride for each other.  When our meal was done our waiter offered to bring us a couple glasses of wine to celebrate our anniversary.  We thanked him for the offer, but declined because we don't drink alcohol.  So he offered to bring us some sparkling cider, and we agreed!  I thought that was so nice.  And it was fun drinking out of our fancy glasses that said 'The Melting Pot' on them.

It was fun to sit and talk to Brian and cuddle in our little square booth as we ate yummy food on sticks!  After our meal we walked across the street to the Seattle Center and walked around the fountain watching it rise and fall to the music that was playing with the glow of the space needle, a huge christmas tree and the full moon behind it.  It was so fun to just be with Brian.  And so weird to me that i live in the Seattle area.  Just weird because i remember walking around the Seattle Center as a kid and i didn't think that i would live here, not because i didn't like it.  I guess what i'm trying to say is that I think it is cool that i get to experience Seattle at this time in my life with Brian!

It was fun to celebrate us!   

Movember 2012 - Nov. 25, 2012

Happy Movember!! 

Movember is the month formally known as November.  It is where men start Nov. 1st clean shaven and grow a mustache for the entire month of November to raise awareness for prostate cancer.

Brian & Britni

 

Mustache party supplies!  

 

The party guests!!  We love getting together with our college friends.  We always have such fun!  The O. family hosted the party at their home.  We had BBQ Pork sandwiches for dinner with Mustache Jello!  Then we took pictures in our "Mustaches!!"  Some of the kids enjoyed it some didn't (poor Hudson was sick with an ear infection).

Then we played games!!!  Brian was voted "Best 'Stache" at the party!  (He did have a great stache!  However, he also had the only mustache as the party!  Other people did get votes though).  Pin the Mustache on Burt Reynolds.  Jamie won for the adults and Dalia won for the kids.  The big game of the night was a "Name that 'Stache" game (Mustaches, Answers, Answer Sheet) .  I knew Mat & Bri would be good at it.  And sure enough Mat one!  He got the ultimate prize of a "MUSTACHE JELLO MOLD"!!  That's what everyone wants, right!?  The name that stache game was mostly celebrities, but i added a picture of a few guys that we know, Brian, Eric, Papa Rad, and Rock. 
After games we sang "Happy Movember!" to Brian and ate Mustache cake & Mustache chocolates!!

It was such a fun night!  Thank you friends for making it great!

Mustache Mold - Nov. 24, 2012

Have you ever wanted to make your own Jell-o molds?  I know you have.  Here is a step by step to making your own.  Best of luck.
 

Yes, Brian made me some Mustache Jell-o molds.  He is the best, I know!!
I had been planning a Movember Mustache party so i ordered some mustache molds and mustache cookie cutters.  The party was Sunday and i got an email Friday saying that my order would be delivers on Monday.  I was bummed.  What was i going to do for the party now?  I decided that i would make a Mustache cake instead and just not have Jell-o.  Brian took this as a challenge.  He decided to make me mustache jello molds himself.  So Saturday morning i made a cake and then set it out to cool.  As we were loading up in the car to go get the HDPE sheet of plastic that we would need for the molds the mailman came with my package of molds and cookie cutters!!  Hooray????  I already had baked a cake.  We didn' need cookies too.  And now Brian didn't need to make a mold.  He was sad. :( 
We decided that he should still make the mold anyway.  So off to the store we went.  Then back home to create!  Brian & Dalia sculpted the mustaches using so me type of clay.  Then Brian built a vacuum box, heated up the plastic and created the mold!  Easy Peasy right?
 
Here are some more shots of our mold making experience.

Our family is 8!! - Nov. 23, 2012

We celebrated our 8th birthday as a family the day after Thanksgiving!!

It was fun to talk about our wedding day with the girls and how I envisioned them up in heaven watching us that day in 2004!  We spent the entire day together at home and at the end of the day we sang Happy Birthday to ourselves and blew out 8 candles on our left over Pumpkin Chiffon pie.   

Kids! - Nov. 23, 2012

 

The Day after Thanksgiving was spent at home in our pajamas!  Brian taught Dalia how to race cars on his Playstation.  She first choose a sports car to drive, but she couldn't control it.  (The race game really simulates how the cars would handle in real life.)  So Brian set Dalia up with a honda minivan.  She could control that car much better and enjoyed driving around.  Rock helped himself to a bowl of cheerios!  Rock is aware of kissing.  Sometimes when he plays with Woody & Jessie he makes them kiss.  He also kisses Jessie himself.  Brian put up the Christmas lights outside on the house and the kids enjoyed dancing to the glow of the lights!  Brian also fixed a few doors that needed some repairs and Rock was fascinated by Brian's power drill!  Rock enjoyed carrying the drill holding it next to his waist like daddy does and trying to use the drill in the joints of the door just like he saw daddy do. 

Dalia's 6th Birthday Party!! - April 28, 2012

(Dalia's birthday post only 7 months late.)

Dalia's Unicorn Rainbow Birthday Party!!

Dalia  is turning SIX

                Join her for a       

      Magical   

UNICORN

   Party!

 Saturday, April 28^th, 2012        2:00 to 4:00pm

We decorated the house full of rainbows (awesome rainbow crate paper design thanks to Dalia's dad!!), butterflies, flowers, ponies, and unicorns!!  I made her a unicorn cake and Brian made her an awesome Unicorn Pinata!!  Dalia has been asking to have a pinata at her birthday for the past few months!

When her friend arrived we turned them into Unicorns by putting sparkly party hat horns on them.  They played around in the backyard for a little bit.  It was fun to see Dalia running around with her friends.  We then headed inside for "Pin the Horn on the Unicorn!"  Dalia drew this unicorn and colored it (with a little help from mom).  Her friend Hanah won this game.  Then we went outside and played "Horse, Horse, Unicorn!" (like duck, duck, goose).  It was a hit the kids loved running around chasing eachother.  After that we had them dance around the pinata and act like unicorns making horse noises and using their hands as hoofs by shaking them in the air.

The kids at the party were: Audrey, Tes, Alejandro, Mackenzie, Dalia, Justyce, and Hanah
 
The first round we blind folded the kids and had them use a soft bat.  However, since Brian made the pinata SO strong it was hardly broken.  Next round we left the kids see and had them hit with a broom stick.  It still took awhile.  The legs got knocked off first with a little bit of candy falling out.  Audrey was by far the most vicious hitter, she can sure swing, watch out when she is really mad.  Eventually Audrey was the one to break the pinata by hitting the head of the unicorn right off.

Once the pinata was finally broken we went in for cake!!!
I made Dalia a Unicorn cake from a stand up Lamb cake pan.  The inside of the cake was rainbow colored!  I had fun making her cake, even though it took me so long.  After cake Dalia opened up her presents!  It is fun to see how excited the gift giver gets as the birthday girl was opening their "gift".  We are grateful for Dalia's friends and glad they could come and celebrate with her!

Thanksgiving - Nov. 22, 2012

 

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house! 
Long story: I didn't want to make the entire Thanksgiving feast and Brian says every year that he just wishes we could eat at "Denny's" instead of go to some huge family thing.  Since we weren't going anywhere i thought this was our Denny's year.  We would go out to eat and come home for homemade pie!  So all i needed to make was pie.  Well i found out that Brian was always joking when he said the Denny's thing and that h really wanted to eat Thanksgiving food at home.  When i was grocery shopping for my pie ingredients and my normal grocery shopping trip there was a deal on turkey's.  If you spent $150 on groceries you could get a free turkey.  I felt obligated to get the free turkey since i would be spending at least $150 on our normal shopping trip.  I called Brian and told him if he cooked the turkey i would cook a few more things than just pie.  On the way to the register i grabbed a Thanksgiving table cloth and now there was no turning back.  We were making a turkey feast for the 5 of us.
The next day Brian's friend Brent called and asked if him and his family could come over for Thanksgiving!  Done!  It worked out great!  Except for the fact that Brian accidentaly turned the oven off 1/2 way through cooking the turkey and didn't realize it until we were ready to eat and the turkey was "supposed" to be done.  So it took at least another 1-2 hours to finish cooking.  So instead of our afternoon meal we had an evening meal.
We were so glad to share Thanksgiving with Brent, Lori, & Owen!!
 
After dessert we thought it best that we teach our girls how to play Tetris!!  They didn't quite get it, but Dalia tried for awhile.  However, she would get SO sad when she would lose.  Which was every time.  She would cry and had the saddest face.  We need to give her more practice time.
Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

FHE Thanksgiving! - Nov. 19, 2012

Pilgrim Dalia, Indian Tes, & Rock

For Family Home Evening Dalia & Tes acted out the story of the first Thanksgiving.  Dalia learned a cute little poem at school that she shared with us too.  It went something like this..."Mayflower Mayflower what do you see?  I see a Pilgrim Boy (however Dalia would say Program Boy instead of Pilgrim) looking at me."  Then it continued on to a Pilgrim Girl, Indian Boy, Indian Girl, and then a Turkey.

I sure am grateful for these three little people!!

Videos Tesila's Presentation & Rock swings with Go Pro - Oct. 2012

I think i mentioned before how Tesila did a presentation for preschool on Nikola Tesla, the Greatest American in History. Well here is a video of her presenting her report! so cute!! Video: Tesila's Preschool Presentation on Nikola Tesla. - Oct. 2012 Brian made this video of Rock swinging, with his new Go Pro. Don't feel like you have to watch the entire thing. I didn't and i'm his mom. It is really cute! He giggles and laughs! but it made me sick watching it with the swing going back and forth. good luck! Video:GoPro for Grannys, Rock in a Swing. Go on a swing ride with Rockwell.

Fun Run & Spotlight - Oct. 9, 2012

 

At Dalia's school they had a Fun Run to raise money to buy a new playground.  The invited parents to come and cheer on their kids.  Tesila, Rock, & I made a sign and made up a cheer!  "Run Dalia Run, Run Run Run!  Run Dalia Run, Run Run Run!!"  Tesila also had some pom poms to shake around! 

After Dalia's 3rd time around as she crossed the starting line we started to sing our cheer again as Dalia was passing us.  Dalia said, "Stop saying that."  Ah...we embarrassed her!  Later i asked Dalia what was wrong with our cheer.  She said she just wanted us to say, "Wooo, Go Dalia!"  Sweet thing.  I fear that this won't be the last time she is embarrassed by me.

I am glad that we got to go cheer her on.  She isn't the fastest runner, not quite the slowest, however, close.  She pretty much started out with a little jog then shortly after began to walk.  I would see her run for a bit and then walk and talk with her friends.  In all she ran 4 laps around the big track at the middle school!

Tesila was also the Spotlight girl at Preschool this week!!  She enjoyed helping me pick out picture of her doing things that she likes.  She liked taping on her pictures and putting stickers all over her poster.  Her poster now hangs proudly in her room!

Video: Tes cheering Dalia on at the Fun Run!

Primary Program - Nov. 11, 2012

Today was Dalia & Tesila's first Primary Program!!
(Dalia should have been in two already, but one year we were out of town and last year we were sick.)
We were glad to have Papa here to watch the girls perform!  Tesila was excited that they were singing her favorite song, "Nephi's Courage!"  And Tes sang loud and proud!!  All the primary kids had a part to say.  They asked Dalia & Tesila's class to fill in the blank, "I know Heavenly Father loves me...."  Dalia said, "I know Heavenly Father loves me when I do what is right."  And Tes refused to speak.  At home instead of writing her part on a paper for her to take, she had me write a note to her teacher telling her that Tesila did not want to give a talk.  Tes can be very shy when it comes to performing or doing anything in front of any type of audience, even just the five of us sometimes.
Back at home we had a yummy dinner and had pumpkin rolls and egg nog for dessert.  Then we played "Match!"  

Seattle (Part 2 - Aquarium) - Nov. 10, 2012

The Seattle Aquarium!

It was a beautiful sunny day and cold day outside.  I was sad to leave the sun and go inside, but it was a nice break from the cold.  We enjoyed seeing all the fish tanks full of fish!!  Dalia liked to touch the sea creatures, especially the ones that would kind of grab you.  Both girls had fun dressing up in some scuba gear!  I think both of the girls really liked the little whale exhibit.  However, there were no real whales.  Just a whale fin to pose on for pictures, some whale bones, a whale video that you could watch on a tiny screen, and free whale info cards.  The cards were like baseball cards except for with whales instead of people.  Dalia likes to carry her whale cards around and learn about the different whales.

I liked watching the seal the best.  It was fun to see the seal swim under water and do flips.  But it was also neat to see the seal walk on the deck.  This seals name was Woodstock, because she was born when Woodstock happened. 

It was all of our first trip to the aquarium except for Tes.
 
Tesila's first trip to the Seattle Aquarium in June 2010
with G&G Ho. & Great G&G Cr.
Tes was 2 years old.
(Dalia had a friends birthday party to attend that day and I was busy packing and preparing for our trip to Utah that we were leaving on the next day.)
What a lucky little girl to have 4 grandparents to play with at the aquarium.  They told me that after the aquarium they went out for ice cream.  They got Tes some pink ice cream and she wouldn't touch it.  They were surprised that a little kid didn't like ice cream.  That story seems weird if you know Tesila now because she LOVES ice cream now.  I think before we never really had offered it to her before and she didn't really know what it was.

Train to Seattle! (Part 1) - Nov. 10, 2012

Today we took the Train to Seattle!!!
Brian & I had talked about how we wanted to take our kids on a train and how it would be a good idea to do next time we had a visitor in town.  Enter a Visitor - My dad!  Yeah, we are going to Seattle by Train!!!

We woke up early Saturday morning and got on the 8:30am train headed to Seattle.  We rode on a double decker train (which Tes called the "Gordon" train since it was big)!  We sat on the top!  The day was clear and sunny!  Great for us since we were able to drive along the sound the entire way there.  We had great views!  and it was fun to see some of the parks and beaches that we like to go play at.  We were pretty much glued to the windows the entire trip south.

Once we arrived in Seattle we were on foot for the day since our return train ride didn't leave until 6pm that evening.  With the help of "yelp" on my smart phone we navigated to some places of interest in Pioneer Square.  This is a part of Seattle that we have never explored before.  It was fun!  First stop was the "Klondike Gold Rush Museum."  It was free! and warm inside!  and right around the corner from the train station!  It was also located in a very old building called the "Hotel Cadillac!"  I enjoy museums and history.  However, with kids it is quite difficult to read any of the signs.  But it was fun walking around and seeing all the gold mining stuff and talking about the old Seattle and Alaska!  Since that is where these Klondike gold miners were headed was from Seattle to Alaska to find gold! 

We left the museum and headed to a Waterfall Garden!  It was a quiet little place with tables and chairs, lots of plants, and of course a waterfall, right there in the city.  After that we walked across the street to "Occidental Square" where we found this cool statue of firemen!  It was a beautiful square.  However, there were a lot of homeless people and a lot of birds everywhere. (Bri, don't go there).  We then went to a diner called "Planet Java" for lunch.  It was a fun atmosphere, not the best food, just normal diner food.  The bathrooms were weird in that they had a box of chalk that you could use to draw all over the walls.  However, everyone else had already written all over EVERYTHING with the chalk, so basically it was pretty gross, but Dalia thought it was cool.


We continted walking the streets of Seattle exploring weird statues and climbing stairs we hadn't climbed before.  We made it "Gum Wall" where we all added a piece of gum to the wall.  We walked through the market and on to the "Seattle Aquarium!" (Check out the next post for Aquarium Highlights!!)  After the aquarium we walked down the waterfront, admired the Great Wheel (Seattle's new Ferris Wheel that i will ride some day!  Maybe the next time we have a visitor?!?)  What trip to the waterfront would be complete without a ride on the Carousel!?  So of course the kids & Brian rode the carousel.  However, their prices went up a pit and there was A LOT more people there then i have ever seen before.  It is all because of the Great Wheel, since it is right outside of the carousel building.
After the carousel we began our walk back to the train station.  On our way we stopped at "Jimmy Johns Subs" for dinner.  Then we realized that it was about time for our train to depart.  So we had to run the rest of the way to the train.  We made it and the train departed about 5 mins. after we got there.  This time it was a smaller train with one one deck, Tes called this the "Thomas" train since it was smaller.  And it was dark outside, so even though we rode along the sound again we couldn't see anything. 

Overall, I think it was a perfect day in Seattle!  I couldn't have asked for better (well except maybe for it to be a little warmer.  But it was a beautiful Sunny day so i really don't want to complain.)  I am glad that we took the train!  Thanks dad for coming!

The Avengers - Nov. 9, 2012

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Today while Dalia was at school, Tes, Rock, & I took Papa to Lundeen Park.  We played on the playground, quacked at the ducks, and then walked on the dock to see Lake Stevens.  It was a nice cloudy day and not too cold.  After school the "Avengers" showed up in my backyard!!  Iron Man, The Hulk, & Thor!!!  Oh wait, it was just my 3 favorite kids dressed up as the Avengers!!!  After some posing for pictures we raked some leaves.  Dalia was determined to rake the leaves into a long pile down the hill so that she could go sledding down the leaves.  She was very disappointed when it didn't work.  But she did like when i would pull them by the rope on the sled down the hill.

Note: Now whenever Tes sees "Iron Man, The Hulk, or Thor," she says something to the fact of, "There is Me and Dalia" or "Look it's Me, Rock, & Dalia."  Meaning that she saw something with iron man, hulk, or thor.  I love that she now associated the avengers with her and her siblings!