"I Love to See the Temple..."

We took Burke and Hewitt out on a "date" this past Friday night. We got a babysitter for Tosh, and went to the Draper Temple open house and then out to dinner as a special treat (we rarely take our kids to sit-down restaurants...we find that take-out is much more convenient with kids in tow). We had a great time together. In preparation for the open house, we'd talked to the boys about the temple and how special it is to get to go to the House of the Lord. Hewitt has been talking about Jesus a lot lately and recently asked me how Jesus will return to the earth when He comes again and said, "Are there stairs on top of the church from heaven?"

For the beginning of the tour, we watched a video about temples at a neighboring church building and then took a bus from there to the temple. The boys were so excited driving up to the temple that I thought that Hewitt was going to jump/fall out of his seat! When the temple was in view Hewitt giddily said, "I'm so excited to go in the temple! We get to go see Jesus!" Rob explained that although we were visiting Jesus' house, we would probably not see Him, but feel Him there. In recapping the experience tonight with the boys, Hewitt said again that he did see Jesus at the temple and that "He was in the walls."

Burke was very serious at the temple about being reverent and actually embarrassed me once when he "shushed" one of the ushers who was talking loudly. The temple is so special and beautiful and I hope that any of you who live in the area will take the time to go. Our kids had a great time and I hope they were able to feel the Lord's presence; I know I did.

Now that's what I like to call...

a "FRO" (in progress):

Now, some of you may wonder where my child got such big beautiful curls and I will tell you...

(not from me).

And maybe when Tosh is 14 he'll be lucky enough to have sweet hair like this:

"Wiggly" thoughts

I know, I know that some of you moms out there probably never let your kids watch TV and maybe you don't even own a TV. If that is the case, you can just skip over this random entry. I would guess that there are plenty of moms (like me) out there that limit TV watching and only allow certain shows to be watched by your children. Thankfully, my kids are actually still at that honest stage where they will turn off the TV on their own after the show is over or yell, "Mom, it's a show that we can't watch..." I've found that they seem to go through stages of what they like to watch and will really like a certain show for a month or so and then move on to something else. These favorites are always evident to me by what they request and by the the fact that Burke has figured out how to record his favorites on the DVR and so I will suddenly find that have 30 "Cyberchase" episodes recorded (for example). I'm guessing that Burke is also responsible for the time I had about 15 hours of the "Shop Latino Network" channel recorded...

Well, in getting to my point (finally), Hewitt and I turned on the "Wiggles" this morning (which we haven't seen in months) to discover that "Greg Wiggle" (the yellow Wiggle) has indeed been replaced by "Sam Wiggle." If you are familiar with the Wiggles at all you will probably understand that Greg was the lead singer and that Sam used to be known as "Professor Sing-A lotta-Songa." I had heard months ago that this change was going to happen due to Greg's health problems, but just felt sad watching the Wiggles without him! Just for the record, Anthony (blue) is my favorite, but Greg was a close second. Burke and I first discovered the "Wiggles" when Burke was two and we were living in Tennessee for the summer. Their songs are catchy and clever and I especially like their movies (more than the TV episodes) and the dancing. Here are the old Wiggles (cheesy, yet so endearing):

And here are they are now:

Now, I guess I'm a sucker for children's shows with dancing and am serious when I say that my "dream job" (other than my current job of S.A.H.M.) would to be a Wiggly Dancer! For those of you not familiar there are actual dancers on the show that are called that. What a blast. That, or I would love to be one of the "Backyardigans" (love the music and the choreography. Of course, they are animated so that would be difficult...)

My kids and I haven't watched a lot of Barney, but I'm sure I would have loved to be one of the kids on Barney when I was a girl (even though my personality was way too reserved to be able to ham it up like most of the kids on the show seem to do, and the fact that I would have been too old). I'm fairly certain that you all can picture "Barney" and that I do not need to post a photo.

Getting back to the Wiggles, I also noticed on the show today that "Wags the Dog" can now suddenly talk (as opposed to just barking and having those mad dancing skilz). This reminds me of turning on "Sesame Street" as an adult to discover that Mr. Snuffalufagus could now be seen by everyone and not just Big Bird! For some reason, that kind of ruined the fun and bothered me. Anyone else relate?

Happy (and healthy, I hope) New Year

I feel like my recent blogs are more journal-esque and probably not very amusing, clever or thoughtproving. Nevertheless, as this blog is mostly for my children to read at some point down the road as well as a creative outlet for me, I guess I'm bound to document the happenings around here as uninteresting as they may seem...

Last weekend we all got the stomach flu (big groan). First Rob and Hewitt during the middle of the night on Friday (why is it that kids always throw up in the middle of the night and all over their bedding?), followed by Burke on Saturday, Tosh on Sunday and me on Monday. Being in bed all day Monday and not being able to keep anything down until about 9:00pm was a horrible flashback to my two months in bed this fall. I was feeling so paranoid that the vomiting and sickness would last, but Rob kept assuring me that it was only a 24 hour thing, and thank heaven it was. The real bummer of it all was that my brothers and their families all arrived in town that Saturday so we had to miss all the family events until mid-week when we were all healthy and I had had a chance to sterilize and re-sterilize my house to the best of my ability.

We had a lot of fun being together with my family. My favorite activities were an adult trip to the Mt. Timp temple to do sealings for some family names, a family talent show (that my bro. Todd's family rocked), a sweet game of sardines, and a visit to Temple Square. The cousins had such a great time together and are always so kind to each other. My cute 5 year-old-niece was crying when saying goodbye to all of her cousins (so sweet) and it made me sad that we all live in different states and aren't able to gather as much as I'd like to. Although, maybe the distance makes our get-togethers that much more special.

Here is our clan at Temple Square with many of us sporting our matching "D" hats (a flashback of when we went to Disneyland when I was 5 and we all wore "D" shirts my mom had made. The "D" was not for Disneyland, but for my maiden name starts with a D...). I'm on the far right (if you can't tell)-- popping out of my jacket...

On a very random note, I want to document that Tosh (who has been able to say "Burke" for several weeks) is now saying "Hewitt" but it sounds more like "Wee-wee." It is awfully cute.

Christmas Recap

In all of the excitement surrounding Christmas Day yesterday, I didn't get around to posting some photos and talking a little bit about our Christmas Eve celebration.

One of my very favorite traditions is dressing up every year to act out the Nativity on Christmas Eve. This year we had an especially yummy turkey dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Pete's house with Rob's sister's family and then picked characters and put on costumes. All that are present participate in the Nativity and then we sing carols (such a treat to have married into a very musical and talented family) before diving into dessert.

I am noticing that every year Hewitt is especially happy to take part (and makes the cutest shepherd ever):


Burke was quite serious during the production, but eventually cracked a smile...
Here is my handsome Wise Man (I just love my mother-in-law's costumes) with "Joseph":

Tosh was an especially wiggly Baby Jesus (as pictured here with cousin "Mary") and was soon replaced by a Cabbage Patch doll...
I played a Wise Man, but have certainly spent a lot of time thinking about Mary this year and what she must have been feeling and thinking about the great responsibility (and physical burden) placed upon her.
We had a such a wonderful and special Christmas. I love this time of year as I feel that I personally take more time to think (and teach my children) about the Savior and his miraculous birth, life, and resurrection. I hope that the spirit and peace of this season can continue with all of us throughout the coming year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What Santa brought us...

Yes, I've been crying all morning...Merry Christmas.

A holiday first

So I made the realization today that I have completed all of my Christmas shopping this year without EVER personally stepping foot in a store! Seriously, not one store. This was made possible due to the following:

1. Amazon.com. They have free shipping on so many items and I love that Rob and I can shop for the kids together (without getting a babysitter) and it is delivered right to our front door.

2. My parents, who were willing to pick up a rather large item for our boys in my Dad's truck. Again, this was delivered directly to our home one evening after the kids were in bed (thanks, Dad).

3. My decision to forego doing "neighborhood" Christmas gifts this year. I'm going to give Valentine gifts instead. Why not? I send out Valentines instead of Christmas cards and figure that my neighbors may enjoy knowing that they are cared for and loved at other times of the year besides Christmas.

4. Some friends that held a holiday boutique at my next door neighbor's house. Can't get much more convenient than walking next door to do some shopping.

5. A neighborhood boy selling items door to door for a school fundraiser. Okay, this is the most convenient and it's for a good cause, right?

6. Other on-line retailers that ship directly to my family members so I don't have to wrap the gift or go to the post office (a definite plus).

7. My husband, who works across the street from Walmart and was able to pick up some "last minute" stocking stuffer items. This saves making an extra trip and let's face it, I'm not a fan of shopping in general much less at Walmart in December.

All the talk I hear about nasty holiday traffic, rude shoppers and children asking for everything they see in the store--avoided completely. I doubt this will ever happen again, but it did make for a much more relaxed and simplified December.