Mia's Three!

I can hardly believe that Mia's three. Her birthday was Friday, which also happened to be the last day before Christmas vacation. She and I went to Boondocks (yes, by ourselves) and then to Jolie's school where we helped with her class party. Mia played in the Kiddie Cove and ate a kids meal from McDonalds (her choice).

Mia loves going to the kids' schools. When we go to Jolie's class she sits with Jolie at her desk and acts like a fourth grader. That is, unless something doesn't go her way in which case she has a huge tantrum and draws attention to herself.

We were fortunate enough to get lottery tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert for Friday night. David Archuleta and Michael York were the guest performers this year. These are the hottest tickets in town! Although they were free to those who were fortunate enough to get them, they've been going for upwards of $100 per ticket online. Lisa's the one who encouraged us to register for the lottery, so we decided to invite her to use one of our four tickets. She and I took Tristan and Jolie to dinner and to the concert. It was amazing! We felt fortunate to be there. We rode light rail after the concert and stopped at a coffee shop for hot chocolate and cider.

Saturday night we had a combined birthday party for Tristan and Mia. We had
Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Lisa for a steak dinner (Tristan's choice), a new game called Wits and Wagers, gifts, cake, balloons, etc. It would be easy to take the easy road for a birthday party this time of year but I'm determined not to let that happen. Tristan was thrilled to get a new Wii game (Metroid) and a beautiful red and white zip-up tie and new slacks from Grandpa and Grandma. We know that it was probably hard for Grandpa to buy anything in red and white after watching the Utah-BYU game with Tristan.

Mia received all five of her favorite friends: Pablo, Tasha, Uniqua, Austin and Tyrone (the Backyardigans), a jacket and purse filled with lots of surprises, and spending money from Nana and Papa.

Mia is growing up much more quickly than I would like but there is absolutely no holding her back! She wants to be big. The worst insult for those wishing to get her worked up (three people in particular) is to call her a baby or tell her she's too little to do something. Her reaction is unmistakeable. The provoker is usually punished severely. Mia has a very strong will. One could spend their whole day fighting battles with her over insignificant things. Lets just say that we choose not to go there most of the time. I've become used to taking her to the grocery store in mismatched clothes, leotards, princess get ups and the like simply becuase it's not worth the battle to get her to change. The hour that it would take and the strain on my back to physically force her to do so just isn't worth it.

Other than being strong willed, quick to provoke, prone to melt downs and tantrums that can go on for hours, Mia is a joy. When she's happy she's over the moon. She's loving and affectionate and wants to be involved in everything. I can't tell you how many times I've had the opportunity to go somewhere by myself (yes, it does happen occasionally) and I've ended up taking her along because she wanted to go so badly and would be so devastated if I said no. We spend two hours of church together in the nursery because she can't live without me. I've actually not minded it but I'm wondering how things will go in two weeks when she moves on to Sunbeams. I have a feeling she thinks I'm going to be sitting right there next to her. In some ways, I'd like to be.

Turkey Day

We spent Turkey Day at my mom's eating great food, playing speed scrabble and watching A Christmas Story (for the first time). I made rolls and two pies. What other family has as many pies as they do people at their Thanksgiving gathering? This year we kept it simple; we only had 5 pies among 9 people. I made Chocolate Cream and Banana Caramel Cream Pie. I've been watching Kelsey Nixon's new show and I watched her make this pie. It really was amazing. I'm usually not a huge fan of banana desserts but this was an exception.

I have to say that the best part of the holiday was not having to host for the first time in 3 years. It was a relief to be a guest for a change.

After the Blizzard

There was SO much build up to our big pre-Thanksgiving storm. Blizzard warnings, cancelled events, huge crowds at the grocery store yesterday... it was a whopper but I guess when you live in Utah you expect a little more when they say "blizzard". I woke up this morning and said, "What? That's it?"

All that mattered to the kids was that there was enough snow to cover the rocks and ravines at Happy Hollow. The kids each invited a friend to go sledding with us and by the number of kids out there you wouldn't have known it was only 15 degrees. I can't believe we were out there for nearly two hours. We probably would have stayed longer but Mia decided to pee in her snowsuit.

Another photo shoot

I've been trying to take each of the kids out for photos before we're up to our eyeballs in snow. I found a great place for the boys; a wonderland of two by fours, rusty nails and decaying cow manure. When I was there with Gavin a few weeks ago I stepped on a nail that went all the way through my shoe. Don't be alarmed, I haven't started foaming at the mouth or exhibited any other signs of tetanus (yet).

Do you think Tristan looks like a blue-eyed Justin Bieber? Maybe it's just the hair. Which ones do you like the best? I know there are a lot and some of them look nearly the same but you know how I am. Come on, I value your opinion!

Fall Biking

Dan and I went to Midway for my birthday. We rode our bikes around town, stayed at the beautiful Zermatt resort, and biked a trail near Soldier Hollow. This trail was gorgeous, it wound around the edge of Deer Creek Reservior.

After arriving home on Saturday the kids were dissapointed that we'd gone biking without them. We ended up taking them out that evening on the Legacy Trail. We've been biking there several times since. We pull Mia in the bike trailer and the rest of the kids go it on their own. Gavin has done a remarkable job, considering that he just got the hang of his two wheeler at the end of the summer and we ususally ride eight or so miles on the trail.

I don't know if we'll make it out again this fall considering that today was the end of daylight savings which will make it dark by 6:00. We also had an unfortunate accident with the bike trailer on our way home last weekend. Dan's tailgate wasn't closed securely and it went flying off the back of the truck. Dan jumped out and saved it before it was hit by another car but he tells me it sustained some damage. Hopefully not too much because we're really liking this biking thing.

Goodbye to Football Season

Yesterday we said goodbye to the pee wee football season. I should be relieved since it consumes so much of my life between August and October. Having one less (huge) thing to do is always a gift. The boys play football six days a week and we travel to the far reaches of the earth for games on Saturdays. I've actually been sad, though. Tristan's team didn't get a win the entire season. They worked their tails off and still lost every single game. I also know this will be the end of a lot of great friendships. There's always hope that he'll end up playing with some of the same kids again next year but it doesn't happen very often.

It was a hard season but Tristan learned a lot and got better, he played a fair amount of each game, and his coaches were positive and treated the boys well (which hasn't always been the case). I came across this quote by Teddy Roosevelt which sums it all up pretty well:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

The video is of his team's "Haka" war dance. Tristan's head coach is part-Hawaiian and his son is the one leading the chant. Tristan is on the far side of the circle, in a white tee-shirt



.

Multitasking Doesn't Pay

Um, look what I found baked into my brownies tonight (it's a spatula).

I've officially lost my mind.

What they say about multitasking is true. It doesn't pay to bake three pans of brownies, steam broccoli, bake chicken, and gossip on the phone... all at the same time. Tonight the brownies were the unfortunate victim of my multitasking. Tomorrow, who knows.

They still tasted good, though.

For Grandpa & Grandma

Please call Gavin and tell him which photo you like best. The title of his project is "Together we can change the world".

Pretty cool, huh?

My Brown Eyed Girl

Jolie was in the mood to play along with me tonight. I took her and Mia out to take some photos but the light was perfect and Mia was less cooperative, so it turned into mostly Jolie. There's a big road construction project down the road and one day when I was out walking, I noticed this metal box sitting on the side of the road. Leave it to me to turn it into a location for a photo shoot.

Help me out, which ones are your favorites?

**I have to mention that Jolie put this outfit together herself. She's developing quite a flair for fashion. Most of the time she does well but occasionally I have to remind her that less is sometimes more, if you know what I mean**