Sledding Fun!?!

What could possibly be more fun than sledding on the day after Christmas? Nothing, you say. That's what we thought too. So we headed out to the world famous sand dunes in St. Anthony about 20 minutes away (yes, they are covered in snow, but the sand is mixed in a little in some places prompting Owen to proclaim that it looked like cinnamon mixed with sugar). We proceeded to unload and trudge up a hill and sled down. But this hill was too tame for this self-proclaimed dare devil. You may recall I have a need for speed. So we found a bigger, steeper hill to try. Some members in our party (who shall remain nameless) were too chicken to try this new hill. The feeling was a bit like the one you get when you're about to go over the edge of a cliff while repelling, you just have to make it over the edge. And so Dad, Rex and I took the first plunge, and oh what fun it was. This convinced a few others to try but we made the mistake of putting Rex in front. On the way down my foot slipped off the sled and caused a bunch of snow to fly up and spray us all in the face. Oh, did I mention that it was 14 degrees? That, combined with snow mixed with sand on the face is not pleasant. Needless to say Rex was not happy, neither was Owen so they went to the car and drank some hot chocolate. There were a few more runs made down the hill until a bad spill was taken by Dad and Matthew and then our short-lived fun came to an end. We all piled in the car and tried to thaw our faces by downing many cups of hot cocoa. We will definitely have to try another day.

The Brave Ones

Go Gracie!

He's too cute

frozen eyelashes

mmm, hot cocoa

cold, wind-burned cheeks

cute little snow bunny

Frozen Mountain Man

Colby- 4 months

Yes, it's true. Colby is four months old already. He rolled over for the first time this month on the Monday before Christmas and he's done it several times since, so that's pretty exciting. He celebrated his first Christmas, he didn't get much but I think he was pretty happy. He's really started giggling and is so ticklish in his armpits, neck and thighs. It's so cute sometimes when I take off his shirt he'll just start laughing cuz it tickles his arms. Lots of people have been commenting on his little poof hair and saying how cute it is and people usually say "oh, he looks just like his dad" or "he looks just like his mom". So I am left wondering "do Kris and I look alike?" We adore our sweet Colby, he is a wonder baby. He is always so happy. He generally doesn't even cry when he goes down for a nap and when he wakes up we usually just hear him cooing and squealing with delight. I've been finding him in the corner of his crib so I know he's scooting around in there. We are so blessed to have him in our family!

Check out my 'do!

Twinners! Like father, like son (minus the beard)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

Here's a few of ours-

Sugar cookies for Santa

Rex thought he needed a whole bottle of green sprinkles

to decorate his cookie (tastes good too!)
Christmas Eve jammies

(Rex' jammies say I'm One Tough Cookie on the front and the kids keep

trying to get him to say it but all he can say is "I Want a Cookie!"

You try saying it fast three times!)

Swedish pancake breakfast, a tradition that really is straight from Sweden

thanks to Dad serving a mission there (yum!)

A new tradition? Guitar Hero World Tour

courtesy of Dan and Michelle (fun for the whole family)

Winter Wonderland

I know everyone out there in Arizona who is reading this is extremely jealous right now.

Jealous of the fact that we get to enjoy a white Christmas.

Did you know that jumping on the trampoline can be a winter activity, too?And I know you're jealous that you don't get to do it.

And I bet you are jealous that you don't get to build snow caves in your front yard.

And I KNOW you are jealous that you don't get to shovel the snow off of your driveways!

Or drive on roads with inches thick ice. Or start your car 15 minutes before you leave somewhere. Or, I bet you are jealous of the fact that you don't get to wear your snowpants and boots to school every day. And that you don't get snow days at school (that means that we get to stay at home and drink hot chocolate all day, and we don't have to fake the fact that we are really cold and we really need it to warm us up!) I know, I bet I just made all you Zonies out there want to move to Rexburg!

Sisters

The other day we decided to do a little rearranging. First, we did our bedroom, then we moved on to the kids' rooms. We decided to put Rex in with the big boys downstairs and then move Gracie into Rex' old room and turn her old room into an office/playroom. Eventually, (like hopefully tomorrow) we will move Colby to the crib in Gracie's room and out of our bedroom. Why I got this whim at this time of the year I will never know because it obviously involves a lot of cleaning out closets and such. But since I had Kris on board and he was enthusiastic about the whole thing we just went for it. Unfortunately, my home has looked like a bomb went off for the last week or two, oh well.

One of the things that has surfaced in the midst of all this is the box of Gracie's old clothes. I pulled it out of the top of her closet on Saturday and was hit with a wave of sadness. I sighed and Kris looked at me and said "you might as well just get rid of it all." I don't think he was trying to be insensitive, he's just a guy- old hand-me-down clothes just don't really mean anything to them. But to a mother- one who has hoped to be able to pull down the box of girl-hand-me-downs and adorn another daughter with some of their super cute goodness- it was like a kick in the gut. For one thing- this box holds all of the memories of my first daughter wearing all of these clothes. And for another thing- this box holds all of the hopes that I had of having another daughter, a sister for my first one. It is almost inconceivable for me to think that my daughter may never have a sister. I have always had sisters, I have four of them, and I can't really imagine life without them. They are my best friends (and I know this is all sounding so cliche') but it's true. It's hard for me to imagine my daughter not having any sisters and I'm so sad for her. Of course, she doesn't know any different, all she knows is that she has lots of brothers. And it's not all bad being the only girl- being spoiled rotten, having your own room, no hand-me-downs :-), etc... I know several women who were only girls and they loved it- my mother-in-law, and two of my best friends- are among them. I'm the one that needs to let go (Michelle's post has me pondering this). So I am going through Gracie's old clothes, hard as it may be for me, to let them go. And I found someone at church with two young daughters who can really use them and is so grateful for them so this is making the process a little easier for me.

Who knows if we will have another girl. We may or may not have any more children, never say never. But at this point Gracie would be at least 9 or 10 years older than that future sister and what is the point of me holding onto all these clothes. So that I can drag them out and realize how cute but outdated they are? No thanks. Besides it'll be loads of fun to get all new stuff if we ever do have another girl. And all these clothes that we have can go on and bless somebody else. I'm just so glad that Gracie has girl cousins. When she and Audrey get together it's like they were never apart, they pick up right where they left off and are best cousin buddies. I hope it will always be this way. She also loves her younger girl cousins Macie and Scarlett, too and I know they will all be great friends. These Wright girl cousins have to stick together cuz they are seriously outnumbered right now (9-4). And let's face it- someday she will have sisters, sisters-in-law! And I love my sisters-in-law just as much as my sisters, it's like they were always meant to be my sisters and so I hope for the same for Gracie- may she have wonderful sisters-in-law!

Gracie and cousin Audrey

*NOTE: Sister-in-law Emilie is missing in the above sister picture and we were very sad about this.

Uh-oh I think we have a thumbsucker on our hands! (not to be confused with bloodsucker ;-) also a Colby Update!

So our little Colbster man has taken a liking to his thumbs (I catch him sucking on both of them, I guess he just picks whichever one is convenient). I'm not sure what I think about this development. On the one hand I think it's absolutely adorable, I myself was a thumb sucker so it can't be all bad, right? And it's just so darn cute when he does it cuz he's so little and it's just cute, ya know? But I'm worried about down the road when it's not so cute, like when he's eight. We've tried to give him pacifiers but he just doesn't seem interested in them. It's like we're forcing some foreign object into his mouth and he tries to wiggle and squirm away from it but eventually has to give in because we're holding it in there. I have a friend whose daughter started to suck her thumb and she would pop in a pacifier every time because she did not want to have a thumb sucker. A pacifier you can take away, a thumb not so much. So I'm not sure what to think about the whole situation. I probably won't do anything except hope that he doesn't suck his thumb until he's 12 years old! Ugh, I can just see myself putting that nasty tasting fingernail polish on his thumb in a few years in a feeble attempt to get him to stop just like my parents did to me!


Now for his update: I intended to post a little update on Colby every month and since I'm a little behind on my blogging and we were in AZ when he turned 3 months old I'll just do it now. Colby spent his third month of life mostly just sittin around not doing much. (Besides looking really cute kickin' it in his bouncy chair.) He did start to enjoy his baths more, thank goodness because I was getting a little worried. And he had a few nights where he slept eight hours. He also had some big firsts this month: his first trip to Arizona, his first trip to Pete's, his first time meeting all his cousins and most of his aunts and uncles, his first Thanksgiving, and his first trip to Gecko Grill, and his first trip to see the lights at the Mesa Temple. So you can see it was a big month for him, and it's a good thing he's such a good baby because he handled all the excitement so well!

Mormon Angels

The other night as we were driving through Idaho Falls we passed a Nativity display that had angels with wings at a church (not an LDS one) and Owen asked if they were Mormon angels. I thought this was a funny question in and of itself but I said well no they're not because Mormon angels don't have wings. Then Gracie pipes up from the back seat "well, my angels are Mormons and they all have wings!" I couldn't argue with that!

Thankful

It's almost Thanksgiving, right? So I've been thinking about the things that I am truly grateful for and I thought I would share them with you-

Falling gas prices- no wait- not just falling, plummeting gas prices. What a relief! Now we can actually drive somewhere again. I'm definitely grateful for this, I just wish it could last forever!

This here is what we like to call a bun warmer or a tushy toaster (how do you spell tushy anyway?) or seat heater. I like to call it the finest invention of the modern age (well since I moved to Rexburg anyway). You'd probably have to live here to truly appreciate my gratitude for this nifty accessory. I never want to own a car without one (as long as I live here). It is divine.

This here is Rexburg's equivalent to Filibertos. And I mean that very literally- same menu (including those pictures) and everything. I have been much more content living in Rexburg since Ramires came to town, it makes life a little more bearable when you know you can get a good bean burrito or super nacho or carne asada fries...

This is BYU-I's radio station here in Rexburg. I'm just grateful to have a radio station that plays church music all the time. Not that I listen to it all the time, but it's just comforting to know that when I need a spirtual pick me up I can just flip the dial.

I'm grateful for this picture that Owen painted because every single time I look at it makes me happy. I love children's artwork. It also reminds me of nice, sunny Arizona and the fact that we get to spend Thanksgiving down there, for which I am muy grateful.

I'm grateful that my sister Michelle gets to live so close to me. It's so nice having her here. The other day I was dreadfully ill and she came up and took care of my kids (and me) for a while, she was a lifesaver!

I am extremely grateful for my husband, he is my best friend. He works so hard to provide for our family and doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. I'm grateful that he feels that it's as important for me to stay at home with our children as I do (in our mostly LDS town over 75% of moms work outside the home, so I view this as a great blessing and luxury). I'm grateful that he's such a great dad and indulges my desire for a large family (don't worry, he loves each of our children as much as I do) even though thoughts of providing for all of our children stresses him out more than I know. I'm grateful that he loves me in spite of my occasional insanity and puts up with all my neuroses, cuz that's what friends do, right?

I'm grateful for the Rexburg Temple. I took this picture from downtown to try and give everyone an idea of how prominent and beautiful the temple is here. You can literally see it from anywhere in town and for miles and miles away from some places. It is always there up on the hill, always on our minds, constantly reminding us of the important things in life. I am so grateful that we lived here while they were building it and that we got to take our whole family to the open house, to have all of our children with us in the celestial room, what a wonderful blessing. Then to be able to go with Kris and Matthew and actually be inside the temple during the dedication was a special experience, one that I know I was blessed to be able to do and one that I may never have the opportunity to do again. Most of all I'm grateful to be sealed to my family for eternity. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Gracie's To Do List

I found this to do list on Gracie's bed today. I will type it word for word. Each task is followed by a box that she marked with a check.

Today's Plans

wake up
get dressed
get ready
go to school
___________________________________________________________

do homework
put away shoes
do dragon spell (this section has a picture of a dragon breathing fire that she drew on the side)
___________________________________________________________

feed dragon
read book
go to sleep (this box is not checked as she must've fallen asleep prior to marking it)


I only have one question after discovering this list-

Where is she hiding the dragon?!?

Owen Turns 5!

Owen turned five yesterday, our cute little, sweet little Owen bobowen (as I like to call him). He has many nicknames- just plain O, Obi Wan and Obo Fett (he is a major Star Wars fan and if you are too then you will recognize these ones), Obee Doebee, O-meister, any of these will do. I've gone into a little mourning. My little boy is growing up. I used to ask him all the time, "Owen, will you please, please stop growing up? I want you to stay my little boy forever." He would tell me "no, I can't stop, I just can't." On Saturday Michelle said to him "Owen, I can't believe you are going to be five. I can't believe how big you are getting!" And he told her "what, it's not like I'm going to be any bigger tomorrow!" And it's true he's not any bigger today but five is older and it means that he'll be going to school soon, even though it's still 9 months away I'm already dreading the day. He is my little sweetheart, from the moment he was born I knew he was special (well, they all are but Owen was different somehow). Even as a baby he seemed especially thoughtful. He always asks me the deep questions and seems to ponder certain things. One of my favorite Owen quotes came when he was three years old and he was talking to his Grannie, he told her "You are the mom of my mom and my mom is the mom of me." He has always been fascinated by relationships and how people are related. When Michelle first came to live with us he would tell her that she was not supposed to be living with us, that she was supposed to be living with Grannie. This would hurt her feelings and I would just tell her to not feel bad because in his mind children are supposed to live with their mommies. He is always telling me that Grannie does it this way and Grannie does it that way. He sure loves his Grannie. My other all time favorite quote from Owen came one day when we were eating scrambled eggs and he was not touching his, which was unusual so I asked him "Owen, why aren't you eating your eggs, I thought you liked eggs?" to which he replied, "I do like eggs- in peanut butter cookies." Smarty pants. So here's a few pics of Owen with a few of his favorite things:This is Owen with Blackie and Brownie, his two best pals. Blackie is the favored pup and has been on many an adventure with Owen. We have spent many nights scouring the house and car in search of these dogs so that Owen could get a peaceful night's rest. Once Blackie got lost somewhere in the mall and we had to go back the next day. We searched every single washer and dryer in Sears before heading to the mall office where thankfully someone had brought him.

If you know Owen then you know about his blankie that he has had since birth. This poor thing has lived through everything. Even being lost in Mervyn's one time. The last few years my mother had taken to referring to it as "the rag" as it was literally reduced to strings barely hanging together. He has just this past year started to grow out of needing it with him at all times, so now it is being held by me for safe keeping. I love that he is so attached to things that mean a lot to him. He loves deeply.

Now Owen has grown attached to his baby brother, Colby. He sings to him when he is crying and asks to hold him all the time. What a sweet big brother.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Owen. We were waiting to ride Pirates at Disneyland. He LOVES Disneyland and has always lamented the rides he has not been tall enough to ride on. He cried and cried when Dad, Matthew and Gracie got to ride Splash Mountain and all he got to do was ride Pooh ten times while we waited. Broke my heart. He is anxiously looking forward to the day when he will be tall enough to ride Indiana Jones (please, oh, please let that be by the next time we go to Disneyland).

Owen came up with this idea for his birthday cake. We had just made homemade pizza on Friday and he told me he wanted a cake with pepperonis in a smiley face on it. So we came up with this idea- a white cake with vanilla frosting, toasted coconut dyed orange, and red frosting pepperonis. We had to scrape off the coconut for him to eat it, but all in all, I think it turned out pretty cute!

This is going to be a big year for you, Buddy! I'll try and look forward to it :-(

Give Me Some Space Part 2

Matthew's spacer is doing it's job nicely. He thinks it pretty cool, this massive gap between his front teeth. He came in and said "look mom, this sucker fits right in here." Then we tried a straw. He doesn't even need to open his mouth to drink from it, we thought this was pretty funny. Luckily, he's young enough that it doesn't bother him and the kids at school are fascinated by it. Thank goodness for that. Oh, and a major bonus- it really has helped his nasal problems, he hasn't been plugged up for about a week. This is practically a miracle.

Trick or Treat!

We all had a great time on Halloween this year. Gracie spent the afternoon and evening with a friend of hers and we definitely missed her, but she had fun. I just don't think I was prepared for her to be spending Halloween with friends yet, but we know the family well so we just rolled with it. We didn't get to do her blood splattered costume though, and that was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. Rex pretty much refused to leave his pumpkin suit on but he did let Kris put zombie makeup on him so we had a houseful of zombies. Owen asked me what I was for Halloween and I said that I was dressed up as a Party Pooper. Kris thought that was pretty good. Owen had a fit when we tried to put stubble on his face and almost refused to let me do it, but being a mean mom I made him do it and I told him how everyone would love it. I could hardly get him to stop crying long enough so that the tears wouldn't run down and smear it. Poor kid was so embarrassed to walk into the school (we went to watch Matthew and Gracie in the costume parade) but he looked so dang cute! Then right off the bat people were commenting on his costume and everyone knew he was Indiana Jones and then we saw a few other boys in the parade with stubble drawn on their faces and he perked right up, and he knew he looked good and he told me he wasn't embarrassed anymore! Rex was the dang cutest kid to go trick or treating with ever. He was so excited to run up to the door and say "trick or treat" in his cute little voice even before the door was open! He has the cutest little voice, you'll just have to trust me on this one! Then he would say "thank you" and the people would say "you're welcome" and he would run away from the house saying "you're welcome"! It was a fun mommy moment. I was smiling and laughing the whole time. One of the best parts of the night was the weather, it was warm enough we didn't even have to wear jackets! I was so happy!!!

Don't mess around with this zombie!

BOO!



Everybody loves Indiana!

One of these boys is not like the other...


One dead zombie at the end of the night.

Daylight Savings

Can I just say how much I hate daylight savings!?! It seems very pointless to me. We turn our clocks ahead in the springtime so that it can stay light until 10pm (or later) all summer long and then in the fall we have to turn them back so that it gets dark at 5pm. What the *&%#$? Can someone please explain the logic of it all to me? I seriously DO NOT understand it. I seriously hate it. The annoyance of having to change the clocks twice a year and adjusting to the new time (try getting your kids to sleep when it's perfectly bright outside). I have said all along that Arizona is the only state that gets it- why mess around with stupid daylight savings, just keep the clocks where they are at and let your body adjust to the seasons' changes normally!

2 Months Old!

Colby was two months old on Tuesday, my, my how time flies! He weighed 11 pounds and was 23 inches long and is doing just great!






What Colby has been up to this month: smiling, eyes starting to turn brown(yay! I think I am finally getting a brown eyed child), eye lashes getting longer, hair falling out(bummer! Can you say old man receding hairline?), starting to grow out of 0-3 month size clothing, still hating his baths, skin getting flaky and dry (due to colder ID weather), getting blessed, getting to know his grandparents, and filling our lives with a little more joy!