Let it snow!

We were so lucky to have Gramma Linda come stay at our house for a few days! We ordered lots of snow to fall during her visit.

Jake's first snow-skating experience. He loved it!

Snow wrestling!

Brrrrrrr. Daddy is a good sport. Mommy would be less enthused by this treatment.

This really could be my favorite family photo of all time. Look at all those legs!

Christmas Day sunset.

Lee and I took the boys sledding on Christmas Day at the church by my parents' house. I remember sledding here as a kid; it's the best!

"WHEEEEEEEE!" Another sledding trip with Uncle Lee! This time to Old Main Hill.

Jason's tow-rope service.

Trying out the new Christmas snowboard on Old Main Hill yesterday. The boys did GREAT!

Holly Jolly Christmas!

Jake (and Uncle Jerry) had fun pulling the kids through the fields at the McCracken Family party one coooooold night before Christmas!

A special visitor came later! (Notice Jake's absence.) Ho ho ho!

Jason spent a good portion of Christmas Eve making his hot and sweet beef jerky.

Mmmmmmm. Our house was the house of teriyaki ALL DAY.

We had a picture-perfect Christmas Eve this year in Logan! It snowed for hours.

Everyone's favorite Christmas Eve tradition at our house: FONDUE!!! Yummy! We eat until we are completely ill.

Chocolate cheers!

Poor Owen slept right through the fondue party, despite many attempts to wake him up, and awoke around 11:30 p.m. for some cold cereal.

Hope everyone had a magical holiday!

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails...

(What the heck are snips?  Anyway...)

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to keep you waiting, Jami!  Yes, we had Bennett open the envelope on Christmas Eve.  We closed our eyes, and he read the news to us, "BOY!  It's a BOY!  B-O-Y, BOY!"  We all screamed and did a happy dance.  It was so fun!!!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  Of course I'll post some Christmas photos soon.

Out of the mouth of a babe.

I love Bennett. He cracks me up! We have had a few funny conversations and incidents over the last little while, and I wanted to share them.

First, when I went to volunteer in Bennett's classroom this week, his teacher pulled me aside and said, "I need to ask you about something Bennett told the class yesterday." Oh, man. I could only imagine what might be coming.

She said, "Bennett told us all that his Grandma taught Elvis how to dance." She thought it was the funniest thing she'd heard in a long time, and called all her children all over the country to tell them.

I explained to her that he didn't pull that out of thin air. We were actually listening to Elvis' Christmas album, and as my mom danced around the room singing, my sister-in-law, Kate, told all the kids that Grandma taught Elvis how to dance.

Moral of that story: Be careful what we tell Bennett. It will undoubtedly be shared with his entire class, both at school and church. Fortunately for us, this story was fairly harmless.

Second: We went for a little evening Christmas shopping trip at Fred Meyer a.k.a. Smiths Marketplace the other night. The boys were hungry, as they had declined to eat much of my tasty enchilada dinner earlier in the evening. They thought it was too mysterious. So, just North of Fred Meyer is a McDonald's, which was all lit up and looking festive. When Bennett saw it he said from the back, "I really want a cheeseburger!" (Don't we all? I thought.) I answered him, "Bennett, we just had dinner," to which he answered, "I know! I want it for dessert!" I laughed so hard for so long. He didn't think it was funny at all.

Third, inside Fred Meyer, Bennett and Owen needed to use the restroom. I waited outside for them with our cart of stuff and Jake. I insisted, much to their chagrin, that they go into the women's bathroom so I could come and check on them.

"WHY?" Bennett demanded, "I know how to use the stand-up kind in the boys' bathroom!"

"Because," I answered, "I don't know if there is a creepy guy in there, and I want to be able to come check on you."

Off they went to the girls' room, grumbling all the way. When they came out, Bennett informed me, "Mom, you thought there would be a creepy guy, but there was a CREEPY GIRL! She looked inside Owen's stall at him!"

I asked, "Was his door closed?"

"No."

"What did she say?"

"She said, oh, sorry!! But still, it was creepy."

BABY

Yesterday we went to the hospital for the big ultrasound! My Mom came up to watch the kids while we went. They love her so much! So do I.

Ultrasounds are so cool. It was so much fun to see that little guy in there! He was moving all over for us, waving, and opening and closing his mouth like he was chewing gum. So we debated about whether or not to find out the baby's sex there or have the technician write it down on a piece of paper to be opened on Christmas. Jason had been the one who wanted to wait to find out, but once we were there thought we should find out right away. The technician actually convinced us to wait because it would be more fun. Or, she said we could rip open the envelope as soon as we left! So we decided to wait another week, and she took some pictures and wrote down baby's sex for us.

However, you notice I am referring to the baby as "he." That's because both Jason and I thought we caught a glimpse of some boy-ness, and the tech kept referring to the baby as he. Sometimes she would catch herself and say, "See his.... the little tongue?" So I don't know if she was doing it on purpose or if she really kept slipping, but we're thinking BOY! We may be in for a shock on Christmas morning, but I'm feeling very at home with the idea of another boy. I have all along. We were mainly so happy to see that things looked normal and healthy and that we are right on schedule for a May 10th birth. It's such a miracle, and we feel so fortunate. It was and will be a great Christmas present.

Sorry to friends and family who called yesterday and today dying to know. My favorite call was from Jaime. The first thing she said on the phone after exchanging hellos was, "SO????" Ha ha! She's so cute! Sorry to make you wait, Jaimes! Stay tuned, everyone!

Trip to Salt Lake #2

Last night we went to Salt Lake again, but this time we brought the boys. Jason's sister was in town from Portland just for the day, so we met her at the Gateway for some dinner and fun. We wanted to get to Temple Square too, but ran out of time. Apparently, though, Bennett thought that we WERE at Temple Square that night, because I heard him tell his Kindergarten class today that that's where we had gone. Oh well. I'm sure we'll be going back!

Jake loved all the lights, and chased his big brothers everywhere.

The kids loved watching the fountain at the Olympic plaza. It's a miracle that noone got wet.

We ate at McGrath's, where Elizabeth showered us with gifts.

Picking out treats at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company.

Elizabeth carried Owen all the way to the fountain! The kids LOVE Aunt Elizabeth!

We sat around this firepit to eat our treats before we left and Elizabeth had to get to the airport. We love you, Aunt Elizabeth!!!

Trip to Salt Lake #1

We had the great treat of going out on a double date with Kate and Andy last week to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert in Salt Lake. It was so much fun! My parents were kind enough to watch all the kiddies while we went. Thanks, Mom and Dad! We loved the concert, which also featured the King's Singers, who were great. Afterwards, we walked around Temple Square to see the lights until Kate and I were completely frozen. Then we went with about 500 other people to Crown Burger for some tasty vittles at 10:30 p.m. Mmmmm. Andy had never been there, and the pregnant lady had a cheeseburger craving, so off we went. It was so much fun, and Andy and Jason cracked us up the whole time. Funny boys. Then Kate and I entertained them with our talk about our love of the Twilight books on the ride home. (Edward or Jacob... the great debate of 2007.) We are both a little sheepish about our affection for the books, but what can you do?? Jason even got on Stephanie Meyers' website for us on his iPhone. Thanks for humoring us!

Boy, were we surprised to find these bright-eyed boys still awake at Grandma's house upon our return at MIDNIGHT! They were just having too much fun to sleep. Notice, though, that Owen isn't in the photo. That's because he told Grandma he wanted to go rest, and fell asleep on the couch. Needless to say, I let Bennett sleep in a little the next morning and go to school late. It is Kindergarten, after all.

Owen's last day of preschool!

Last week was Owen's last day of preschool at the Child Development Lab. 3-year-olds attend just one semester, so he won't go back again until next fall for the 4-5 year-old lab. I can't say enough about what an awesome experience this was for him. He had the most amazing teachers and cute little friends. He will really miss it! Anyway, Jack, Jake and I took him to school that day and played for awhile. Everyone had so much fun!

Owen, pretty much the cutest kid ever.

Jack, Owen and Simon.

Jake enjoyed watching and occasionally touching Penny, the guinea pig.

A cute picture of Owen with some of the girls in his class...

Fashion Report

Are you struggling to find that must-have winter fashion this season? Well, I'm happy to share with you some ideas from Owen and Jacob, winter fashion trend-setters on and off the slopes.

You better watch out!

Can you guess who just walked in the door to surprise us at our ward Christmas party last night? The looks on the kids' faces might give it away! Jake was cracking us up. His already big eyes were like saucers. He recently learned how to say SANTA, and was just so amazed to see him in REAL LIFE! Well, until he had to sit on his lap, that is.


The boys were excited to tell Santa their wildest Christmas wishes. (Game Boys. Whoa.) oh, and let's just say that Jacob likes Santa best from a safe distance.

A wild snowball fight after the party with about 20 rowdy boys was the icing on the cake for our 3 that night.