Merry Christmas!

To start, here is a fun song by the kids with a great ending- I promise it's worth it!

Click here to hear it

We have been having a wonderful time with family and friends. Thunder's brother, wife and 2 kids arrived on Saturday and we had a great time talking and hanging out.

We also got a massive snowstorm and had to take advantage!
On Sunday, Thunder's parents drove in as well. We had a great time being together. It was so fun for our kids to play with their only cousins. Cloudburst and Sunshine had fun getting their baby cousin to laugh- what a cuddly, cute baby!
We celebrated Christmas early with Thunder's brother, since they had to fly out before Christmas Day.

On Tuesday, Thunder's brother left and my sister flew in from Texas. Since I am about half way along in my pregnancy, I can't do some of the fun games with the kids we used to do. Thank goodness Aunt J came to visit!


On Christmas Eve, we attended a Christmas Eve service at a Presbyterian church. Then we came home and read the Nativity story from the Bible. The kids kept begging Thunder to be the donkey. Why? "Because it has to be a boy, and Papa is the Wise Man." So, being the nice Dad he is, Thunder was the donkey...

...and, then Papa was the donkey too.
We ate a wonderful Christmas dinner today with Randall and Michelle (with a smoked turkey- you've gotta try that!) We feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends and wish you all a very

Christmas Festivities

We've been busy getting ready for family to come for Christmas. Today Thunder's brother and family arrived and it's been great! Now that our kids are getting older, we've seen an increase in fun activities we get to do and watch.

On Tuesday, Cloudburst had her first dance recital. She just began taking dance a few months ago, and she has fun with it. She doesn't always remember the right steps, but she has a good time!

On Wednesday, Cloudburst had a kindergarten Christmas program.

We worked many days to get ready for her to sing a solo! She sang "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town." Thunder got it on our video recorder, and I'm still figuring out how to get that onto our computer... but she did GREAT! No joke, she got the loudest applause, and that's not just the mom in me talking. :-) We were so proud of her.
All the kindergartners were so cute and did several really fun songs together. Cloudburst is in the upper right corner.

Cloudburst had a good friend in Springville and we were sad when we moved away... but now they go to the same school!

Happy Birthday Thunder!

I am now married to a 31 year old! Yes, yes, he robbed the cradle to marry his hot, young trophy wife who is still in her late 20's (and who happens to be getting fatter by the day, oh well). We love Thunder and thought you might want to know 31 things about him:

We ambushed his car at work

31. He keeps his car scrupulously clean (wish I did that)
30. He faithfully goes to the gym pretty much every day
29. He loves to eat Cheezits
28. He loves to watch football- go Cougs and USC!
27. He is the First Counselor in our ward Bishopric
26. He loves to sing around the house
25. He knows more people in our neighborhood than I do!

Thunder got this from work- absolutely delicious!

24. He likes to go snowboarding
23. He loves being a Dad
22. He can be very stubborn!
21. He did his first triathalon this year
20. He works harder than anyone I know (except maybe his Dad)
19. He is very well-spoken

The kids carefully used their allowance to get Daddy's birthday gift- gotta love the Dollar Store!

18. He loves to wrestle around with the kids
17. He is fiercely loyal to his family
16. He loves to play practical jokes on people
15. He has got the longest toes!
14. He is great at giving back rubs
13. He likes to make caramel popcorn and chocolate/caramel treats

The kids "helpfully" unwrapped the presents before they gave them to Thunder

12. His favorite thing to do is relax with the fam
11. He coached JV football last year, and really misses it
10. He owns a scooter and took a bad spill on it this summer
9. He loves to have his feet tickled and rubbed
8. He loves to give nose kisses to the kids
7. He tries to figure out his presents before his birthday or Christmas

Blowing out all those candles- might need the kids' help here too!

6. He puts his dishes in the dishwasher every time he eats
5. He likes to fish here in rivers and also deep-sea in Cali
4. He is very thoughtful for birthdays and anniversaries
3. He secretly loves being married to a nerd
2. He would do anything for anybody
1. His family adores him!

Happy Birthday, we love you!

Cali part deux

On Tuesday last week, we took the kids to see
and they totally loved it! We adults (Thunder, myself, Nana and Papa) also thought it was pretty good for a kids movie. I'm pretty sure they didn't really understand what was going on (it's kind of like The Truman Show but with a dog) but it had fun music and moved pretty fast. And I didn't catch any fart jokes, horray!

On Wednesday the Riverside Convention Center was hosting a free program called Stories with Santa. When we got there, they also had several crafts for kids to do and the entire outside of the room was lined with beautifully decorated Christmas trees.
We all had a great time together! Thunder's mom is always so great at finding fun activities like this to do with the kids.
We found some candy Legos in San Diego and the kids loved building and eating towers! Thanks for the tip Michelle!
So I am a nerd and did not get any actual pictures on Thanksgiving Day- the whole reason for our trip! We had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time. Thanks again Nana and Papa!

We give thanks for trips to California!

Greetings from (semi) sunny Cali! We are still enjoying time here with Thunder's family. Just a few hours ago we all ate an incredible turkey dinner and enjoyed eachother's company. Even though Tornado decided not to wear pants to dinner. Oh well. We actually arrived last Friday. Thunder and I had a company meeting with our partners in San Diego. We stayed at the
and it was so fun! We walked all around downtown San Diego, in the Gaslamp district. We ate at an authentic Spanish restaurant called Cafe Sevilla. The food was pretty good, but we had no idea how to order it! There were a series of "tapas," or appetizers, of various sizes and only a few main courses. We learned that our table was to order a several appetizers and one or two main dishes and we would all share. It was fun to try everyone’s food. After dinner we walked to a theatre and saw the new James Bond flick. The next day we got massages and walked around more, mostly window shopping.

We met up in the afternoon at the Whisky Girl Bar and Grill to watch the BYU football game. That was a rough one to watch! We turned in pretty early- we are truly "old" married folk who enjoy our kid-less sleep! On Sunday morning we drove back up to Mo Val where it was simply joyous to see the kids again. Nothing like a day or two away to make you love them more, right?

On Monday we headed over to Thunder’s favorite park- Knott’s Berry Farm! The kids loved Snoopy Town…

and Cloudburst kept begging us to take her on the big rides. She was actually tall enough to ride several and had a ball. Thunder swears she was more fearless than he was on the first rollercoaster ride they went on.

Thunder and his dad managed to get on the Supreme Scream but the new exciting Xcelerator ride got shut down for repairs…when they were 2 minutes from riding it!

Since I am preggers, I stayed to the kiddie rides. Yes, very exciting. But I swear, Snoopy’s Bus Ride made me nauseous!

We finished off the day with Thunder winning a prize in a shoot-around contest. We had a great time! More later…..~

Thursday's Heroes

BYU and University of Utah had the big rivalry game today. We were able to catch the game here in San Diego (more on that in another post!) but first I wanted to share what a wonderful time we had on Thursday.

A week or so ago, Thunder and our friend Dave B. had a flash of inspiration. They were thinking about our sick Bishop and something he said. When the Bishop heard that he would have a cancer treatment on Friday November 21, he said was "well I have to be well enough to watch the BYU-Utah game on Saturday!" So Thunder called up the BYU Football office and asked around to see if there was any way we could get our Bishop in to meet the players or coaches. They asked Thunder to email some more information, and then happily informed Bishop Edwards that he had been invited to be this past Thursday's Hero! This is the Bishop and his family.

After we all arrived, we started off with a tour of the coaches' offices and watched a highlight film of the 2007 football season. It was neat to see all the pictures on the wall. Many of the offices have their walls made completely out of white-board so that they can put notes up everywhere.

Then we got to walk through the player's locker room.

We then walked over to the indoor practice field where the team was practicing. After a few minutes, a whistle blew and the whole team walked over to Bishop Edwards and enveloped him in thunderous applause. Several players welcomed him, and talked to him. They gave him a signed shirt and other items, and asked him to sign the flag that they bring out before every football game. It was a very emotional moment for us and many of the players and coaches.

Here is Thunder chatting up Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall.
Here is the Bishop with the quarterback Max Hall and defensive end Jan Jorgensen.
This is Dave B. with Max Hall, wide receiver Austin Collie and Thunder.

Here is Thunder, Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall, Bishop Edwards and Rob H. (our ward Bishopric with the Coach). It was really a wonderful and touching day, and we really appreciated BYU for letting us all come and celebrate the strength of a truly wonderful man!

How observant are you?

I promise... you'll watch it twice!

Prayer

This has been a hard week for us. Our congregation leader, Bishop Kelly Edwards, is currently in the hospital. Scans have shown several tumors on his brain. His primary physicians remain very optimistic that with surgery and medication Bishop Edwards will be able to pull through this. We have been invited join in fast and prayer this Wednesday the 12th for him and his family. In addition, we've been asked that at 8:00am on Wednesday we each have a special prayer for Bishop Edwards wherever we are.

His doctors are determining the best course of treatment right now. Many of you reading this don't know our Bishop, but would you mind keeping him in your prayers?

Grandma Time...and Other News

We've been having a ball with Grandma in town. Mostly, I've been reminded that the Lord does look out for me and my family. This trip was planned several months ago, before we knew about our ward splitting and Thunder being called into the Bishopric. He has had meetings past 10 PM many nights this week and last week, so it has been sanity-saving to have my mom here! Here is Grandmas doing push-ups with Sunshine and Tornado after a trip to the gym.

We've mostly kept our normal schedule because I've been so tired.

Yeah, tired.
And sick.
And cranky.
Repulsed by odors.
Not sleeping normally.
Sore from achy joints.
Uh, did I mention that my favorite spaghetti sauce is PREGO?!?!?
Yes, we will have another little crazy addition running around sometime late spring, probably in May. We just heard the heartbeat today! Yes, yes, yes we will have four kids and yes, we are most likely going to go crazy. But we are very excited for our family! Cloudburst said she wants a girl, because "there are already too many boys in this family." Sunshine jumped off the couch with a loud growl and said he wants a boy- go figure! I had pretty severe hip and pelvic pain with my last pregnancy, so I am trying to do a lot more exercise this time around, we'll see if it helps.

Body Worlds

On Saturday we headed up to Salt Lake and visited the Body Worlds exhibit. This is a traveling exhibit that showcases real human bodies in amazing ways. The bodies are posed in acrobatic poses and certain muscle groups are highlighted. On one body they had removed everything except the blood vessels and bones. They had sections that focused on different organ groups and excerpts from poems on the wall. It was amazing to view and the kids were fascinated by it. Although after a while of my explanations, Cloudburst said nicely, "Mom let's not do any more talking. Let's just look." For the old scientist in me, it was wonderful!

Here are the kids climbing the wall outside the Leonardo Museum where it was held. Thanks Grandma!

Halloween!

We got a fun mask for Thunder to wear... but the kids had a little fun first!

Then it was showtime. Thunder got all dressed up and sat very still on the porch. We had spooky music playing and lots of kids weren't so sure if he was real or not. So to test this, kids threw candy at him, hit him with sticks and yelled at him. And I thought he was supposed to scare them! He did get in a few good scares. And he has big plans for next year...

And last but not least... the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf! The kids had a great time trick-or-treating, although they did get tired by the end. Good thing Grandma was here and pushed the stroller! After we got home, we headed over to a friend's house for some food and fun. Fun night!

Happy Birthday Tornado!

We officially no longer have a baby in the house! Tornado turned 2 on Saturday and excitedly went around telling everyone "birthday, birthday, birthday!" We decided to open presents first thing in the morning.

And this is a toy that Tornado monopolizes every week at nursery... and he has loved it, played with it, run with it, and sometimes slept with it ever since:

We decided to keep things low key, and headed out as a family to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and games. The pizza was, uh, OK, but hey, the kids had a blast!

Later that night our church had a Halloween party. Now, the kids may or may not wear these costumes on Halloween! We actually pulled these out of the closet right before it started.

All in all, a fun day for our newest toddler. And if you can't read his shirt... it says "I get my muscles from my DAD." Love that!