Good morning Thatcher. . .

This boy. Ahhhh! Good thing he's so stinkin' cute! This was his favorite book too!
Whatever. His loss, not mine. Right?

Happy Birthday Gretchen!! and other fun. . .

Gretchen is 6!! She had a fun day - taking cupcakes to school, always a hit, and dinner and party with yours truly! She chose her favorite meal of spaghetti with parmesan cheese, garlic bread and salad.
This is Thatcher's smile face - he hates to be left out!



We also had a few parties for her before we left Utah - Nobody wanted to miss out on the celecration!!



We also had some fun at Kangaroo Zoo! The kids loved it! Thatcher was a maniac. He loves it!



These two had some fun with tape on their faces, and then marker on the tape, which then of course ended up on their faces! That's what happens when Grandpa is monitoring!

So it's been awhile. So what?

Ok it's been a little bit. Let me catch you up.

We spent Christmas (and New Year's)in Utah. It was great to visit with family and friends.

Here are my New Year's party companions:

Yeah, it was 10:15!! It was quite the rockin' party. Chris did twitch pretty good and hit the rewind button on the Tivo. Pretty exciting stuff.

We drove home the next day - always a longer road trip than desired, with two kids! - and were glad to get back to some sunshine! It is quite "chilly" here - I do occasionally don a sweater. Oh, and the heat is on in the house. Some of my vegetables froze while we were gone. Another planting disaster. Plants seem to not like me very much.

The kids have been doing pretty well. We gave them a tramp for Christmas and they are loving it. Today is 70+ degrees and quite delightful! I'm off to intervene in the children's screming - peace out. . .

Christmas at Grandma Adlers!

We made it up to Utah just in time for the Adler Christmas bash! It was good times - but mostly good company! We exchanged all of our gifts, and received fabulous ones, too!
All the cousins! Grandma Adler made all of the girls dresses (and purchased the boys clothes) and has high hopes every year of a fabulous Christmas picture. You can imagine how easy that is!
And no I'm not pregnant (I wish), that lovely camera angle just makes it appear so!
Chris is working on perfecting his camera techniques! Looks awesome!

Thatcher had fun opening his gifts. He then laid down in the middle of the floor, amisdt all the paper, and played with his puzzle.
Jayme and Steve acquired a new puppy which everyone loved. I think Chris is trying to talk them into letting us take it home!

Gretchen's Kindergarten Christmas Program

Gretchen did such a fabulous job at her program! She sang all the words and smiled, too! Last year, she sulked during the whole program, and kept her sleeve in her mouth.


Thanks to the Holt grandparents for coming to support her!

Thatcher was pretty good to sit through it, and dang it! Isn't he cute?

He has decided he doesn't like the flash from the camera and covers his eyes and says, "No More Eyes!"

Snow sledding!

We made it up to Utah through some treacherous driving, and lots of yelling and crying (the kids were crying and yelling some, too) but PHEW! We made it! The kids were so excited to see everyone and now it finally feels like Christmas!!

With some snow clothing donations from Susie (thank you much!) they went out to romp in the snow!
Thatcher is pretty excited about his hat and gloves!
Thanks to Daddy for helping play in the snow!
Thatcher was done sledding after this crash!

Gretchen loves sledding down with cousin Sydney!

More Temple Lights!

We made it to see the beautiful lights at the Salt Lake Temple Square!! It was much, much chiller than in Mesa! But this temple is particularly lovely to me.
The various nativities are sure cute - and a fab reminder of what my focus on Christmas should be!!
I had a fun conversation with Gretchen about this statue. It is amazing how quickly she seems to understand topics that adults can complicate so much. It is so nice to be able to figure out the simplest explanation of things to share with her.

Thatcher was entertained by all the snow, and when we tried to get him to move on, he would yell, "NO!! More NO!" (the second NO referring, of course, to snow) And at dinner he threw about 8 million things on the ground, and then when he did decide to eat a bit, he managed all of his bites with his head resting in his hand!