Cousins unite

Does he not want to wear matching pajamas or does he not want to sit on the couch or does he not want his picture taken? The possibilities are endless. Crying or not they were pretty cute in their red pajamas on Christmas Eve.

There were more matching pajamas. These kiddos parents respectfully decline to match.

Christmas Chaos

Eric never asks for anything. We should hire a detective to unravel his mind. We had a Christmas miracle with this gift, an iPhone.

Emily wanted Rock Band. I think she thought someone else would get it first. Let her know if you want to be in her band.

Justin and Jon, both on BYU's team, still competitive on the Wii.

Colton has the boots, the jeans, the hat, the horse. Now he can move to Texas.

On, off, up, down, repeat

Bryce discovered he could walk up the outside of the stairs and reach the dining room light. I am just waiting for him to realize he can go all the way upstairs, on the outside of the railing, on the other side of this staircase.

He looks like a deer caught in the headlights but Bryce is comfortable with an audience.

Lights On

Travis Meyer, from channel 6 news, reported the weather with Emily's 6th grade girl's choir singing in the background. Don't pay any attention to what he said because this happened the day of the Jenks Lights On ceremony which took place the week before Thanksgiving. The sky is bright blue today, no snow (or ice) but a little too cold to stand outside in your bare feet. At least that's what Jenny said while running back inside to warm up. (Emily is top row, five people in from the right when it starts.)

It's the happ, happiest time . . .

Justin, Miranda and Bryce flew home Thursday night. (with only one small diversion to Mississippi)
Jenny, Jon, Kirsten and Colton drove in Friday night and
Eric flew home Saturday night.
Geoff will be home in March.
We'll probably open the presents before then.

Catch him if you can.

He's fast. We can't catch him. We've tried. He got to this age so much quicker than the rest of us. Happy Birthday Lonny!

Dazzled by Twilight?

Do you recognize Forks, WA? Or are you one of the 5 people that has not read the book Twilight? My sister left the book at my house in the summer of 2007. I am not into vampires but was curious to find out what the big deal was. In fact, I don't particularly like fantasy (or science fiction either) (understatement) at all. I apologize to all the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans including those in my own family. Well, I read the book because I didn't have anything else to read at the time. It was okay. I liked it. I was interested enough to read the sequels but waited about 6 months to force my self to finish them. I really did not like either and I am (waiting for lightning to strike) not sure why Stephanie Meyer is considered a genius. Sorry Steph but hopefully your millions will soothe the hurt feelings. We made the trek to Forks because my beautiful daughter in the picture is a fan. I only let her read the first book in the series. When she is 25 she can read what she wants. Look how happy she is, and taking these pictures to school put her at near rock star status.

You get plastic fangs with your "Twilight Punch" at the Forks Diner.

Emily became proficient at climbing on the logs at every beach. Here she is at La Push. My favorite part of the trip was the Olympic Rain Forest. (Of course having the girl at the pizza place in Port Townsend asking for the name to put on the ticket was enjoyable. Maybe she thought we were the town namesake or the offspring of royalty but she could spell said last name without any prompting.) ( by the way, did you know my parents became engaged at Port Townsend? And Lonny proposed across the water in Fort Casey? Another story.) This picture of the forest does not do it justice, everything, and I mean everything was covered in moss. We did not look too hard for the bears and cougars the warning signs cautioned were around, but the elk were abundant. My children have learned about this rain forest in school. Its status as the only of its kind in North America is remarkable, but it wasn't the Amazon, no monkeys or anacondas, but I like them better at the zoo anyway.

thank you. very much.

I asked a friend today at Church what she did for Thanksgiving. She had just told me that her daughter and son-in-law who live with her had been away. I was cringing to hear her answer but she was laughing when she said she cooked a whole turkey, lit a candle and opened a can of cranberry sauce. I stopped cringing and laughed at her lie.

I don't have any beautiful pictures of beautiful pies to post. Which is really too bad because Emily loves to tell me, "I like pie" and I could have quoted her. I ate pie though and it was beautiful.

I am thankful. Thanks to my husband who has given me a life a girl could only dream about. Really.

Thanks to Justin, the boy who arrived the same day I became a mom, who has never said a rude thing to me. Ever.

Thanks to Jenny, sweeter than candy, who still hugs and kisses her mom and dad at night.

Thanks to Geoff, the most ridiculous, goofiest, singing, dancing son in the group.

Thanks to Eric, almost perfect, who use to think his mom knew everything except why there is an "almost" in this sentence.

Thanks to Emily, a fabulous ending, and the only one who still calls me mommy.

Chapter 2

Thanks to Jon, who has not placed a "for sale" sign in my yard for over 10 years, but if you need some heavy lifting he is your guy.

and Thanks to Miranda, not acquainted with bad hair days and willing to clean up after mine.

Thanks.
You're all the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me.

So This is Love

When Geoff left on his mission we went to Disney World. He left on Tuesday. We waited until the weekend. We weren't celebrating, it just turned out that way. Now he says he's going to Cinderella's castle. So there. We would have taken you Geoff but remember how you felt about Splash Mountain?

Elder Geoff has been transferred to Augsburg, Germany.

My Heart will go on . . .

I was counting on going to the Celine Dion concert with some friends Thursday night, but apparently that plan went down like the Titanic. She was sick, so the whole thing canceled. I can't complain too much. Emily and I went to the American Idol concert in September. David, the Mormon, or David, the Tulsan? They were both amazing. In October, Emily and I saw the So You Think You Can Dance concert which was better than American Idol. I have to say that the Donny and Marie Concert that I went to with Suzanne and Janelle was the most entertaining. My only regret was that we didn't go when we were 13.

Rainy days and Mondays . . .

When you are a kid, Monday is the beginning of a long week of school, ugh, but c'mon, when you are a mom, it's the day you get to send your kids back to school. How bad can that be? Even when I missed mine, they always came back at the end of the day. And rain? Bring it on. I can take it, you could say I am use to it. Although, out here, rain often comes with thunder, lightning, wind, and flooding, it is still familiar.

Yesterday was Monday, it rained all day, and it was gloomy. A friend's husband passed away from a year long battle with cancer. I know they will have eternity together, it's just the next fifty years, even with seven young children, that will be lonely.

The sky is falling!

We had a storm Wednesday night. It was mild by OK standards, but nonetheless, the wind came sweeping down the plains and took most of the leaves. Somewhere. When we lived in Seattle, I would look at all of the big leaves on our backyard maple trees. And then they would fall. They would be wet and they would just sit there until I raked them into bags and bags and bags. Like 100 bags, maybe more. It was ridiculous. There is not much raking here when the wind blows. A few good gusts and the rakes stay in the garage.

And across the country . . .

Bryce is a thinker. I love how he analyzes his candy here. Looks like a bowl full of chocolate so it should be acceptable.

This scary witch was seen near Philadelphia. Too bad she couldn't cast a spell on the election.

And for the sake of full disclosure, yes, I did steal all of these pictures.

Colton wrestles a moose.

Colton looks like his Dad. Except for his pale skin. He also looks like Kirsten and even his cousin Bryce. (Because they are both adorable.) But he really reminds me of a puppy.

Nutcracker fans unite.

Geoff always hated going to The Nutcracker. He endured many performances and never looked this happy about the whole thing. What irony. Send him to Germany where Christmas is big and so are the Nutcrackers apparently. Emily will be a beautiful Pointe Angel this year. And Elder Townsend looks quite angelic himself.

The Cummings and goings.

We were going so one last picture.

Guess what I did today?

I changed my kitchen calender from September to October. I have been away. Emily and I have been playing with these kids for the last week.




Kirsten has plenty of practice being a cowgirl already.

Colton is good at smiling and crawling.

We went to Highland Orchards just for the apple cider donuts.

Does this bring back memories for anyone?

This is the place.

Even if it is only part time, we will live in WA.

But, someone else will have to mow.

And just to make it easier, same faucet in both houses.