We Be Los!

I don't really have any qualms about hiding my slight lack of enthusiasm for all things scouting but alas, I have been blessed with four sons and so it is my destiny to endure many, many years of the fine scouting program. And trust me, I do believe it is a fine program. Teaching many valuable things to my young sons. It's just so much work and I'm kind of lazy, I guess. It's sure a good thing my boys have been blessed with a good daddy who is willing to help them with all their scouting needs. (It's good for him!) Needless to say in spite of my obvious complaining about scouts I was seriously distressed last week when I found out that Matthew would be receiving his Webelos award along with about a million pins and it just so happened to fall on the same night at the same time as the very first stake camp meeting. Since I happen to be the Ward Camp Director and have absolutely no clue as to what I'm doing I felt like it was kinda imperative that I attend. I had known about the camp meeting for about a month, I found out about the pack night and all the awards Matthew would be receiving only 3 days before. I was frustrated with my dilemma. I don't want to have to choose between my child (and dang it! I wanted to be there for him to put on my mother's pin!) and my church calling. I seriously wanted to cry and I may have shed a few tears along the way. I was going to try and just attend part of the meeting that was hopefully only going to last 45 minutes (yeah right it was almost 2 hours) and zoom over to where pack meeting was being held and arrive just in time for the pinning but alas, it was not to be and so Dad had to fill in for Mom (and wrangle all the kids), he got my pin and the joy of being there to share in Matthew's glory. Which I suppose since he was the one who did all the assisting in the earning of the award is appropriate. I'm still bummed I missed it! But, way to go Matthew! I'm so proud of you for working so hard!

Proud Father and Son

She really isn't taller than him (yet!)
The pinning of the mother's pin on the father...sniff.

Bus Driver

Katie G came home from school today and told us that she thought her bus driver had a bad day and wondered if we thought it would be ok if she made her a card. I told her that I thought it was a wonderful idea. Their bus driver is great- she gives them a treat on Fridays, picks them up right in front of our house, honks and waits if they are running late, and lets them call her Diane (which drives Kris crazy!) So here is the card-

That's right- my kids ride the school bus of awesomeness!

Don't you wish you did too?

(*Doesn't it just KILL you that she uses an asterisk!!!*)

I thought it was so funny that she made Matthew and Owen sign it, too. Mrs. Sharp, I also think you are the best! You are the reason I don't have to venture outside my hibernation cave to drive my kids to school every day!!! You totally rock!

P.S. Yes, that's where I've been the last month or so- in hibernation!

Hats Off (er, On) To You!

Colby has a thing for hats.

He loves to put them on, and he does it all by himself.

And since we live where we do we happen to have a lot of them laying around.

He's so cute, isn't he?
Runny nose and all.

Actually, he just really likes headwear, even headbands.

And isn't he just as cute dressed up as a girl?

Courtesy of Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dan who thought it would be funny to put Mia's dress on him. And he kinda liked it. I'm not worried though.

Rockin' Out With Brooke

Brooke White is AWESOME,

I liked her when she was on American Idol, but now that I've seen her in concert I really like her.

She seems very cool (and funny)!

We had a fun girls' night out!

Yes, our seats were THAT good! :)

(He was the security guy, in case mayhem broke out amongst all us rowdy Mormons)

I think Michelle was about to cry when she didn't sing "Let It Be" but then she came out for an encore:

Going to see Brooke got me thinking about concerts and how it had been a while since I've been to one. And I bet you wouldn't have guessed that I've been to quite a few concerts in my time. I thought I would list as many as I could remember:

1. Dave Matthews Band- imagine me and my best friend (both of us total Molly Mormons) at this outdoor pot fest. It was awesome!!!

2. I've seen tons of country acts at Country Thunder and other places and I couldn't even begin to remember them all...

3. Bon Jovi- just after high school and it was great rockin' out with all the stuck in the '80s, big hair rockers we were surrounded by.

4. Chris Isaak- I LOVE him! Oh, pleaeaeaeaaease return the love you took from me....

5. Bette Midler- Kris got me tickets, we had NO idea she was SO vulgar! Call us naive. All I wanted to hear was The Rose and Wind Beneath My Wings. (I got to hear them at the end of the concert after cringing through all her crap!)

6. Garth Brooks- for my honey, yes I am the BEST wife ever!!! (there's an inside story to this one)

7. Weezer- I'm totally drawing a blank on the band that opened for them but they were awesome, too!

8. Fleetwood Mac- thanks to my awsome friend Christi! She is the biggest Fleetwood fan on the face of the earth and she took me with her. I totally dig on Stevie Nicks scratchy voice, it was a great concert!

9. Alison Krauss- LOVE her!!! LOVED the concert!!! One of my faves. (she sings me and Kris' song "When You Say Nothing at All" also sung by Keith Whitley)

10. Live and Collective Soul- Great time with my hubby!

There have been others for sure, but I'm drawing a blank. I'm sure Kris could remember them all for me. Which one surprised you the most? What are some of your favorite concerts that you've been to?

Salt Lake City Lights!

The day after Christmas we had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City with Kris' side of the family to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. Here's the crew-

It was cold and it had been a long day and Colby was not happy about it!

The next day we went to the Church History Museum and right in the front they had a display of nativities from all over the world. This one is from Sweden so we took some pics for my dad, who served a mission there. It was a very large nativity and quite interesting, I thought he might enjoy these...


Funny wisemen

We got to see and do so many interesting things- the kids colored a "paper" stained glass of the First Vision, they each folded and cut a little mini first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon just like they did when it was first printed. We saw the actual printing press that printed the first Book of Mormon and learned how they did it (and how time consuming it was!), saw a letter written by Joseph Smith, saw a page of the actual translation of the Book of Mormon, viewed the death masks of Joseph and Hyrum, and so much more!

Then we made our way to the Children's Room at the museum, the kids had tons of fun in here!

I didn't take any pictures of it but they had this bean bag toss game that had holes labeled Telestial on the bottom, Terrestrial in the middle and Celestial on the top. The kids had fun playing that and I thought it was hilarious! They all got it into the top (by any means necessary;)...

Then we ended the day with a tour of the Beehive House (of course!) since we love that place!

Then it was time to head for home. It was a quick trip but we so enjoyed our little getaway to Salt Lake!

Late Christmas Update

This year we had a great Christmas, we really enjoyed the time together as a family. I just did Rhodes cinnamon rolls for breakfast and it was nice not to have to spend the morning in the kitchen. Grandma and Grandpa Arch came over around noon to watch the kids open their presents from them which they all loved. They got Kris and me a whole bunch of stuff to do canning- a huge pot, a pressure cooker, measuring cups, etc. I'm SO excited because these are things that I have been wanting for a long time and now I will be able to can without relying on someone else (well, except to show me how to use everything!) Then we went to Michelle's in-laws (who also happen to be in our ward) for Christmas dinner. They are so nice and welcoming and we had such a great time, there was lots of delicious food, lots of good company, lots of laughter, and lots of fun. Sometimes it's sad to see Christmas come and go so quickly but I feel like we really savored the day this year.

Christmas Eve jammies- we went cheap-o this year and just did the $3 ones at Walmart on Black Friday. This worked out just fine because the kids are obsessed with Spongebob (much to my dismay, as I can't really stand it!) but they LOVED them. Only I couldn't find SB in Colby's size so he got Cars jammies.

From the back they all thought they looked like a cube of butter (except for Gracie's legs, of course)

I couldn't pass up the adorable little reindeer sockies for Colby!

Christmas morning- We love stockings at our house!

Aww, aren't they cute?

I'm really going out on a limb posting this one, but as far as me on Christmas mornings go I think it could have been a lot worse and I just thought Owen's calendar was too cute (it was one of my favorite gifts) to not post!

After all the presents were gone, I guess Colby had to see what it was like under the tree.

The End!

And the Band Played On!

A few weeks before Christmas Matthew had his first band concert. He plays the clarinet, I'm pretty sure he picked it because that's what I played in 5th grade and he wanted to impress me or be like me or something along those lines. Anyway, I thought it was really sweet and I'm really very flattered. His first concert was great, although the band was HUGE (that's what happens when you have a middle school) and the gym was PACKED, and we got there 15 minutes early. I kid you not we sat on TOP of a lunch table way in the back corner (I was really tempted to stand on it). Apparently you had to camp out the night before to get a good seat. It took us about half of the concert to actually locate Matthew and even then we could only see the top of his head, but that's ok because we could hear him and that's all that really matters at a band concert, right? They played all the classics- Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Good King Wenceslaus. They topped off the night with a stirring rendition of Jingle Bells. You can't really see him in the video but you can see the top of his head- it's right in the middle of the screen, next to the very blond haired boy and right behind the girl with long brown hair, you kind of have to look closely. He did a great job and I was quite impressed with how well they played and Matthew promised me he was not one of the ones squeaking. He does have very good tone, I can vouch for that. I'm so proud of him and I hope he continues to love it and never wants to quit! (That was for you, Dad :)

Here he is coming in to take his seat. This was the only photo I got of him where you can actually see him (lame, I know) but by the time the concert was over and we made our way to the band room to pick him up he had already put away his clarinet. This picture was taken from very far away (we were in the WAY back, remember) thus the poor quality, but doesn't he look handsome?