Over the River and Through the Woods...

...and over mountain passes. We are on our way to grandmother's house for Christmas. Parts of the Idaho highway are closed due to poor visibility, but we are hoping that they will be open tomorrow when we need them.

We would love it if you would say a little prayer for us as we travel so that we can make it safely.

Merry Christmas!

In the six Christmases we have been married, I have NEVER had any sort of Christmas card, letter, etc. I always want to, but doing it all by myself, including trying to convince Michael to be on the smiling end of the camera has always been too daunting a task in the middle of all the other Christmas festivities.

This year, however, I convinced Mike to have our family pictures taken because we haven't since Anita was two weeks old, and we have an AMAZING photographer that is a friend of ours and lives close.

So, I'm sorry you don't all get cards in the mail, but I am very proud of what I got accomplished so far.

I do need to take a minute and thank ANDREA, who took wonderful pictures on short notice and in a short time frame with two kids crawling on her and another crawling inside. =) You're amazing.

I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas!

Abigail's 4th Birthday

Abigail opening presents

Abigail blowing out candles (with Anita's help)

Mom, trying to get those darn candles lit

(sorry, no pictures of dad, he was on the other end of the camera, where he likes to stay)

She is growing up so fast! She had a great day. It snowed all morning long, so she got a special birthday present from mother nature. She got to go to lunch with her great-grandma Gledhill, which is always special. It is so great to spend so much time with her, she will have some great memories to remember when she is no longer here with us.

When we were at lunch, a man came into the restaurant the same time we did, and my grandma told him that it was Abigail's birthday. He ordered right ahead of us and bought her a chocolate chip cookie. I thought it was very sweet.

Abigail's favorite gift was the Tinkerbell movie. She has been wanting it very badly since she saw it a month ago. She is very happy to be turning four and mom is proud that she remembers when her birthday is and how old she is.

Christmas Carol Pictures

Since most of Mike's family lives far away, I wanted to post some pictures of Terry in the play. Mike took the third picture because Debi made the costume and it turned out really good.

Abigail's Hinting

I found this lock on my refrigerator this morning. I think Abigail is hinting that I need to watch what I eat this Christmas season. Actually, she said she locked it so Anita wouldn't get into it. =)

Midnight Blogger

I don't know why, but since we moved back to Springville, I have struggled with falling asleep. Tonight it has to do with the awful cold I've had this week. I feel a lot better, but the minute I lay down to sleep, I get a tickle in my throat and I can't stop coughing long enough to fall asleep. So, I decided I would do something useful and make a post on my blog.

Yesterday we went to see the city of Midway's production of The Christmas Carol. My father-in-law has performed in it the past two years. I haven't ever been a big fan of The Christmas Carol, but this year it had a great effect on me. I don't know if it was because the economic status of our country at this time or something else, but as I watched it I recognized many different thoughts I have had being portrayed in the musical. I understood the poor in their struggle for the daily necessities of life. I also understood Scrooges yearning to keep his pennies in order to prevent that impoverished life he grew up in. In this scary economic time it is so easy to rationalize keeping your money close in case things get worse. On the other hand, it is the season of giving and we need to serve and help those who are less fortunate than we are.

That show helped me remember that the Lord is always aware of us and always takes care of us. By giving to those who have less than us, we are putting our faith and trust in the Lord and He will, in turn, reward us. When we help others, we will never be left without our needs being met.

Sorry, sometimes I have a tendency to be lengthy and boring in my posts, but I just feel the need to share my thoughts and feelings in the hopes that it might help another in their life.

Trimming the Tree

We have a wonderful family tradition that I look forward to every year. We make our own ornaments for our Christmas tree out of only edible materials. This stemmed, I think, from Mike's family's tradition of making gingerbread houses around the holidays. His family is VERY creative and came up with some cool things over the years. In his family, Mike is one of the more creative of the creative, so we have a good time.

When we were first married, we made ornaments out of hard candies melted into Christmas shapes. Last year, after many years of sitting and watching the master at work, I decided that I needed to add some of my talents to the mix, so I made gingerbread ornaments. This year we combined the two to very great effect. The girls had a great time putting the ornaments on the tree, and they feel a sense of ownership toward the tree because they were able to help with its creation.

The great thing about making new ornaments each year is that you get to learn from your mistakes the following year. This year, after a lot of half-eaten cookies on the tree last year, we decided we needed to salt the dough, and it has worked like a charm!

I admit it- I liked Twilight!

When Mike and I first heard that they were making a movie of twilight, I was really excited, but Mike said, "don't get excited, you'll be disappointed." When the trailers started coming out, I watched them, but Mike didn't. He said, " You'll be disappointed." When the movie came out, Mike said he wanted to wait until the hype was done before we saw it, and was expecting to be disappointed. I knew that it would be different from the book but I was hopeful that it would have at least some of the excitement that I felt when I read the book.

When Missi saw it Friday and came back telling me it was bad, I continued to want to see it, but wasn't in any hurry. It just so happened, though, that my wonderful mother offered to babysit Saturday night and I was in the mood to go see a movie. I didn't necessarily want to see Twilight, but I love movie theater experiences. When I looked to see what was playing, there wasn't anything but Twilight. I asked Mike if we could see it, and he said that if we got tickets and the lines weren't long, he wouldn't mind going. I was able to get tickets and there wasn't a line, so everything was going well.

As the movie progessed, Mike and I would decide every ten minutes that the movie was good SO far, and we'd just have to keep watching to see if it went downhill. At the end, we weren't disappointed, to Mike's surprise. Granted, the vampire's skin was sometimes too pale and the skin-in-the-sun thing was cheesy as well as the vampire's quick movement. All in all, though, I thought the actors did a good job of portraying the tension between the two, especially from Edward, as they struggled to come together in a situation where they should be staying apart (the magnet analogy).

Anita's Strange New Habit

Anita has developed a strange new habit while at the grocery store. The past few times we have gone to the produce aisle at the grocery store, Anita runs to the cabbage, rips a leaf off before I can catch her, and eats it. She never takes lettuce, only cabbage. I have never even offered cabbage to her at home, so I have no idea why she does it. At least she eats it all, I guess.

Caramel Apple

I am in the Young Women's presidency in my ward, and yesterday we had Young Women in Excellence. Our theme was apples, so the leaders gave each young woman a caramel apple. There ended up being extras, so I got to take one home. The girls were so excited to try it. They kept bugging me about it all morning and we finally ate it. I cut it up into slices so that it would be easier to eat.

As they were eating the apples, I realized that how they each ate the apple told a lot about their individual personalities. Abigail held onto the apple with as little contact as possible. I think if it was any more sticky she would have required a fork (she is known to eat rice krispy treats with a fork!). She ate only the apple at first, unsure of the caramel. She ended up eating the whole thing and quickly ran to the bathroom as soon as she was done to wash her hands. She didn't want anymore.

Anita, on the other hand, ate all the caramel off her apple as fast as she could. It wasn't until I told her she couldn't have another piece until she finished the whole thing that she started eating the apple. She had two pieces and would have eaten more if her mommy hadn't eaten it all first! =)

I got the girls together to take this picture to post and Abigail kept closing her eyes. I told four pictures before she finally could keep her eyes open. I kept telling her to keep her eyes open, so that is why she had the wide eyed look in the picture.

First Snow!

Here are the girls last week basking in the first snow of the season. They were so excited! Abigail wanted to make a snowman out of a 1/8 inch of snow. They had a lot of fun running around and throwing snow at each other.

Abigail- Fashion Designer?

Abigail "created" her first pair of shoes today. One of her favorite things to do is take my fabric scraps and pin them together. She makes necklaces, hats, and anything else she can think of. Today she made shoes, which I thought were very cute.

Abigail's and Anita's Vocabulary

Here are a couple of interesting phrases that the girls have said in the past couple of days. They are so refined! =)

I was getting dinner ready yesterday and Abigail said, "Is daddy going to join us?"

When it's time for prayers, the girls both want to say it. When daddy chooses who is going to say it, Anita always says, "go ahead, Abigail" or "go ahead, mommy" or whoever he picks to says it.

One of Abigail's new favorite songs is "There ain't no bugs on me", except she sings it, "The rainbow bugs on me"

An Odd Place to Nap

I put the girls down for their nap this afternoon and, as always, it took them a little while to stop playing and go to sleep. They finally did but it wasn't too much later before Anita started crying in her sleep. I went to check on her, and I couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't in her bed or Abigail's, but I could hear her in that general area. I finally found her asleep UNDER the bed. Luckily, I was able to get her out from under the bed and put her in her own bed without waking her up completely and she went right back to sleep.

This is for you, Steve

Yesterday, in Wal-mart, we turned onto an aisle where a soldier was shopping. Abigail said, "Wow, look at him!". The man heard and stopped to talked to her. Another soldier who was shopping with them walked up and started talking to them too. I mentioned that their uncle Steve used to be in the Marine Reserves and went overseas a few years ago. One of them asked Abigail what your rank was and neither of us could tell him. He told Abigail to ask you, so I am doing it for her benefit. I asked Mike later and he said you were a sergeant, but I wanted to share this story and confirm.

God Bless the Troops!

Thanks

Today I am thankful for... todays. So often in life we go through our days wishing we were at some point in our future. Maybe, when we have a break or have graduated from school, or when the kids start or go back to school, or grow up and move away. At that point, you think, your life can "begin". However, you are very likely going to get to that point and start wishing you were back at that point in your past. Whether you are looking to your past or your future, you're not being happy with your today. Today is that only point we have and we need to be happy about our todays.

I have caught myself looking at my current struggles in life and wishing that I could go forward to days that are easier. I had a thought today, though, that when I get to that point, I will be wishing I could go back to this time. Yes, life is hard, but life is also SO good. My daughters are so sweet and I love to be with them. My husband is caring and hardworking and he is truly my best friend. We have a home to live in and food to eat. We have money to pay our bills each month. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ and a testimony of Him that carries me through anything that can come my way. I know that He is aware of all of us and that He loves us. He knows what we are struggling with and it is through these challenges that we can become like Him.

Things I am Thankful For

I am thankful for my wonderful grandma Joy. She came over to my house at 6:30 this morning to watch my kids. When I got home at 10 AM, my house was clean, my dishes washed, and my floors vacuumed. She fits her name perfectly because she is a joy to me.

I'm Thankful For...

Each day, I would like to share some of the things that I am thankful for, to help me remember how truly blessed I am.


1) I am thankful for my dear husband Michael. He works so hard for our family and is a great father. I am thankful for his patience and understanding with my sometimes uptight and worry-filled personality.

2) I am thankful for Abigail. She is so obedient and good.

3) I am thankful for Anita. She is so happy and energetic.

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween. We went trick-or-treating with the Ortons and had a great time.

Abigail's Update

Abigail is having the greatest time in Washington. She got to see her new cousin, Eve, and has had a great time with her cousin Louesa. Grandma and grandpa are just eating her up! They have loved every minute with her.

Abigail's Adventure

My sister Crystal is going down to Washington this weekend and Abigail got to go. When I mentioned it to her, I wanted to feel out how she would do without us for almost a week. After I said, "You are going to be gone from us for a long time!" she said, "Yeah, you're going to miss me a lot, huh." Nothing about her missing us, she was worrying about us missing HER too much.

Yesterday she was going to spend the night at Crystal's house so that they could leave early. All day she would randomly come to me and say "goodbye, I'm going to grandma T's house". There was absolutely no fear or nervousness about being away from her family for so long, which is surprising for a girl so young. She has never had any separation anxiety. I spent a week away from her at Girl's Camp this summer and she cried when I got back (and not because she missed me).

Anita is going to be the one who misses her most, I think. Whenever Abigail is gone for any period of time, Anita constantly asks where she is. Anita loves to have Abigail around, even though she doesn't always show it. =)

I'm also going to miss her a little. It's more of a worry for her. As a mother, you feel helpless when your child is so far away and worry that something will happen to her.

I'll post an update about how she is doing with grandma and grandpa. I'll sure she will have lots of fun.

Teaching Moments

Anita just learned today that eating soup with a utensil greatly decreases the likelihood that you will get soup up your nose.

Anita was putting her face into her bowl, drinking up the soup with her mouth, when she accidentally inhaled soup through her nose. She found it very uncomfortable and, hopefully, will not do it again.

Comforting Sister

Abigail hasn't been feeling well the past couple of days. She woke up from her nap today and lay down on my bed. I came into my bedroom and saw Anita laying by her and cuddling with her. It was so cute that I had to take a picture and post it. Abigail closed her eyes in all the pictures I took, she wasn't really asleep. She has been a pretty good sick girl. She doesn't complain, she just lays down when she doesn't feel good.

Blowing Kisses is Dangerous

Last night, Crystal was over at our house for dinner and games. When I was putting the kids to bed, Abigail and Crystal started blowing kisses at each other. Then, they started catching the kisses and slapping them onto their faces. Anita wanted to join in, but she didn't quite get idea. Crystal blew her a kiss and Anita grabbed the kiss and slapped Crystal across the face, hard. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

Family Dinner

We went out to dinner yesterday with my Casper relatives. My sister Tamara and her husband Chris were there, as well as my sister Crystal and my cousins Hauni (and her husband Aaron and son Max), Christianne (and her husband Todd), Will, and Phil.

It was great to see them, I don't get to see them very often.

While we were there, Abigail was talking to my cousin Will, who she hadn't really ever met before. She asked him what his name was, and he told her. She said, "I saw you on the dancing show!" At first, I was confused, then I remembered that there was a dancer named Will on the show "So You Think You Can Dance" that we watched this summer. They look nothing alike, but she remembered that name and connected it to that show. We all laughed very hard.

Abigail's Missionary Moment

We have a 17 year old friend Devon, who is 8 months pregnant. It's a long story but the short of it is that she comes to our house from 7 AM to 8:45 AM every morning and we take her to a special school in Springville for pregnant girls and young mothers. Abigail and Anita really love being around her. I don't believe she grew up with any religion at all.

This morning I was in my room, and I heard Abigail ask her if she would read her a book. She said yes, so Abigail brought her a book titled, "I am a Child of God." I could hear Devon reading this book to Abigail, then I heard Abigail singing "I am a Child of God" to Devon. I thought it was very sweet.

It is really hard for me to feel comfortable sharing the gospel with others and it gave me renewed confidence knowing that my 3 year old daughter shared her values with our friend. Granted, she thinks everyone in the world went to Primary, so she didn't exactly realize what she was doing, but I thought it was neat.

Abigail's Life

Hi, this is Abigail!

I want to tell you about me!

"I like to play and have cupcakes when Anita wakes up. I love to play with Morgan, my best friend"(and babysitter.) "I love Daddy but he's at work and I know him when he comes back home and I will ask him if I can go to Aliya's house. When somebody knows that I am a big girl, someone plays with me. When Anita wakes up, I know that I could tell her that Anita is a special girl. When I love that daddy is a big boy, he could have fun and play with everyone and watch a movie. The End."

Dreams

This morning Abigail came happily skipping out of her bedroom from a long night's sleep. She looked up at me with a huge grin and asked, "Do I have wings on my back?" When I said no, her face fell dejectedly and started to cry. She said that she had a dream that she had wings on her back. She woke up thinking that they were still there. Then she asked, "What do you do if you don't have wings on your back?" I said, "you walk with your feet." Again, she was crushed and cried some more. I gave her a hug and told her that she is still a very special girl, even if she doesn't have wings on her back.

Sometimes we have dreams in our lives that we really, really hope become reality. However, some of those dreams are not what our Heavenly Father has in store for us. When those dreams aren't realized, a lot of times we feel sad and think that maybe we aren't the special people that we once thought we were. That is most definitely not true. Just like I felt an outpouring of love toward my sweet daughter who was devastated, I think our Heavenly Father helps us get through our hard times. He really wants to give us all that we think we might need, but He knows that it would not be to our benefit.

When I first started this post, I labeled it "Funnies", but by the end I changed it to "Spiritual". It's interesting how those little moments can have significant life lessons.

Oh, the Joys of Motherhood (Cont'd)

Yes, she did it again! Anita pooped while she should have been taking a nap, then took her diaper off. When Abigail woke up, she came out and informed me that Anita had pooped, taken off her diaper, and went to sleep. Luckily, I guess, Abigail was awake and had tried to take control of the situation. She laid Anita down, cleaned off her bum with wet wipes, and tried to get a clean diaper back on her but Anita took it off. So, there was a messy diaper and dirty wipes all over the floor, but Anita was clean!

Photography

Princess Anita

Log

Cousins Kiley, Malerie, Haley, Brookley, Kenlee, Abigail (Abby!)

Priest Lake Sunset

Since Michael has gotten his camera, he has been reviving his talent and love of photography. He has also been learning Adobe Photoshop and really enjoys it (Princess Anita and Cousins photos).

Vacation

The grandkids! (Louesa, Abigail, Anita)

The Family (Top: Cousin Tyler, Lance, Louesa, Brittany

Middle: David, Tamara, Chris, Abigail, Kelliann, Anita

Michael, Crystal Bottom: Teresa, Bret, Joy, David)

Lance skiing

We just got home from a wonderful vacation. Each year my family goes to a cabin in Northern Idaho on a lake called Priest Lake. We always have a great time skiing, swimming, relaxing and eating! This year we brought some mountain bikes and had a great time on the trails.


The hardest part of the trip was dealing with Anita. She is so used to being the youngest, but Louesa, my brother Lance's daughter, had that title this trip. Anita didn't like it one bit. She was constantly pushing Louesa and taking away her toys. As you can see by the first picture, we had to put the two on opposite sides of Abigail just to keep the peace. Hopefully, next year, she will be a little more kind to her younger cousins.

Mike had a great time taking pictures. He likes photographing landscapes and nature more than people. He took some beautiful pictures that I will post if he doesn't mind.

Kayaking!

Here are Mike and I kayaking. As you can see by the look on both our faces, kayaking is hard work. This isn't even in any white water- it's on a reservoir! Either way, we have lots of fun.

Spiritual Moment

My decision to blog was very personal. Yes, a small part of it was to share my family experiences with others, but it is mainly for myself. I would continue to blog even if I never got a single visit, because I want to record our lives. I haven't been very good at journaling during my adult life, but I hope to do better by typing out our lives on this blog.

With this in mind, I want to record some thoughts that I had in regard to a chapter of scripture I just read this morning. It is Mormon chapter 5. Moroni is captain of the Nephites, but was very discouraged about their wickedness. He says, "They were once a delightsome people, and they had Christ for their shepherd; yea, they were led even by God the Father. But now, behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they. (Mormon 5:17-18)"

I have known people in my life that seem to be being tossed. They want so much to be happy, but do not look for it in Christ. They look for it in new cars, new relationships, new jobs, etc. But it doesn't matter where they look for their happiness, if they aren't looking to Christ, their happiness in that object eventually fades. When it does, they are unhappy again and start looking for the next new thing that will make them happy.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of happiness that comes from new things, and that is not wrong at all. But, when the newness and excitement wears off or when things aren't going perfectly, can you still find peace and happiness in your life? If the answer is yes, then your core is based on Christ. If the answer is no, then maybe you are "[laying] up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal (Matthew 6:19)."

In closing of the chapter and my post, Moroni says, "And also the Lord will remember the prayers of the righteous, which have been put up unto him for them...Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll?(Mormon 5:21, 23) " I know that the Lord does hear our prayers and remembers them and that he does have all power. We are in His hands and, if we humble ourselves and allow him, He will mold us into the people He wants us to be. It will not always be the easiest path, but if we rely on Christ, He will not let us fall and we will have peace and happiness in our lives. In the wondrous name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Happy Day After!

We had a great Fourth of July. First, we went to the Johnson's in our ward for a scone breakfast. It was very good. Then, we went to the parade in Provo. I have had some not very fun experiences with the parade in the past, waking up at 5 AM to sit there for hours waiting for the parade to start. Those times I ended up wanting to go home and back to bed before the parade even started and not enjoying the parade, which is twice as long as it should be, in my opinion. Then, you spend an hour just getting to your car and fighting traffic out. This year, we left our house in Springville at 9:15 (the parade starts at 9), drove to the end of the parade and found a spot in the back. It was so great! We got there just a little into the parade, but we didn't miss much. Then, when Mike and I decided that we had had enough parade, we packed up and left. We didn't have to deal with the crowds and traffic the way home! It was great!

In the evening, we hosted a party for the Wright family. Mike has a brother and sisters in town, so we all got together. We had great food, good conversation, and even a water fight. Then, we had a wonderful fireworks show to end it all. A special thanks to Paul Bylinowski for providing the fireworks! In all, it was a superb day of celebrating our nation's birthday and I am so grateful for our independence.

3 going on 30

Abigail was playing with a balloon and thought it would be fun to "have a baby". She also loves to wear my "princess shoes" around the house. Not only does she like to look older than she really is, she loves to act older as well. She is always mothering Anita.

Layering

Anita's new thing now is putting on layers of clothes. As you can see, usually it is a particular dress. I thought, maybe, that she just wanted to wear that dress, so one day I let her wear it. Nope. She was still putting on other clothes all day long. Sometimes she wakes up from her nap with three different articles of clothing around her middle.

Abigail's Nap

On Sundays, after church, we have a snack and put the girls down for naps. Unfortunately, Abigail hasn't been taking naps, she says she's just not tired. But, on this particular Sunday, she was watching me play a game on the computer and she fell asleep on my back. I thought it was so sweet.

By the way, the costume she is wearing is a sample costume for the company I work for. I didn't make this particular costume, but I made 8 others like it as my first set of costumes. The owner of the company gave this costume to Abigail on her 3rd birthday. Either Abigail or Anita is wearing it every waking moment, and sometimes on sleeping moments as you can see. It has been so loved that the seams are coming apart and the glitter is coming off (you can see one on her chin in the first picture).

Sunday Photo Shoot

We had a little photo shoot after church this Sunday. Mike had found a place in the industrial section of Springville that would be cool to take pictures. One of Mike's favorite things about taking pictures is that he can't be in them. Oh, well!

Foot in the Mouth

Yesterday, I gave the lesson in our combined Young Men/Young Women meeting. To start with, I broke the ice by saying that sometimes I get really excited when talking in front of a lot of people and start talking very fast. I told them that I gave my 15 minute talk once in5 minutes, which required Mike to talk for a half hour. "But," I said, "it was okay, because Mike can talk forever." As I started into my lesson, I realized that Mike had skipped out on the Priesthood/Relief Society lesson and was sitting in the back of the room. Oops! Mike thought it was pretty hilarious, but I was a bit embarrassed.

Oh, the Joys of Motherhood

*Beware, frequent use of the word "poop" will be used in this post*

Saturday, I put Anita down for a nap. A few hours later, I went in to wake her up, and the room smelled like poop. I turned on the light, and I saw that Anita was completely naked-not a good sign. Anita had pooped in her diaper, then taken it off and proceded to wipe its contents on the wall, bedding, and bed. After she got bored with that, she fell asleep and pooped some more. I called my mom and she laughed and said, "I'm so glad none of my kids did that!" Needless to say, Mike took me out to dinner that night. =)

Spanish Fork Reservoir

We recently discovered the Spanish Fork reservoir. It's very small so there aren't any motorized boat, which makes it not very busy. Mike loves to practice kayaking with his friend Jared, and Abigail is a water baby. Anita, however, is a little bit hesitant. In this picture, Anita had said she was done swimming, so I got a dress on her to keep her warm. However, within five minutes she was wading in the water again. I kept telling her not to get her dress wet, but she ignored me. Then, she tripped and fell completely into the water. She had to spend the rest of the trip in a wet dress because she didn't listen to her mother. She was not happy.

I'll post pictures of me kayaking shortly!

Abigail with Rebecca's Dog

Abigail also loved the dog, but she was a little more timid. Now I have two more strikes against me in the ongoing dog debate.

Anita with Rebecca's Dog

Grandma Gledhill brought over Aunt Rebecca's new dog to show the girls. Anita would not put the little dog down. She loved it!

Kid's Funnies

We were in the car today and passed a girl with a round stomach wearing a tight shirt and riding a bike. Abigail saw her and said, "Mom, she's wearing a swimsuit on her tummy and a bike on her bum!"

Hello!

We have finally jumped onto the blogging bandwagon. I made a compromise with Mike that if I let him buy a nice camera he wanted he needed to help me start a blog so that we can better record and share our lives with others.

To start, I'll give an update of our lives up to this point. Mike works at a custom cabinet shop name Dutchman Woodworks. It is owned by his uncle. Mike works in the finish department there and makes beautiful things. I'll post some of his amazing works later.

Abigail is 3 1/2 years old and is such a sweetheart. She wears dresses everyday and hates being dirty or sticky. She still has beautiful strawberry hair but I have been seeing more and more blonde highlights lately, which makes me sad. Abigail has amazed me lately by her memory. She remembers details like who was babysitting her while I cut my long hair off in May of 2007, and Crystal's graduation robes when she graduated from BYU-I in March of 2007.

Anita will be 2 in July and she is a firecracker. When I ask her not to do something, it usually means do it very quickly before I can stop her, or wait until I stop looking and keep doing it. She loves princesses and has also started wearing "pretty princess" dresses everyday. When she was about 19 months old she started identifying letters of the alphabet. Now she can identify almost all of her capital letters. Abigail has had to rush to keep up with her.

I am a work at home mom. I manage the swimwear line for a clothing company in Provo. I help design the swimming suits, manage the 7 or so swimwear seamstresses, and sew a few myself. It keeps me busy, sometimes very busy, but it also gives me the chance to be home and be a mother to my children.

Well, that's our life in a nutshell. We will (hopefully) continue to post updates and pictures to keep everyone informed about our lives and our successes.