Quotable

Me: "Cloudburst, quit bugging your brother.  You're being a pill."

Cloudburst: "I'm not a pill, I don't even know what that means!  You can't swallow me and I am not tastable!"

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I just finished telling the kids that I saw an accident and called the police about it.  Sunrise said, "You talked to the police?  Did you tell them you're the Bishop's woman?"

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Sunshine: "Black Widow spiders are not nice.  But Daddy Long Legs are nice."

Cloudburst: "Why aren't the Mommy Long Legs nice?"

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Looking at our garden, Sunshine: "This is like having our own vegetable place!"

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Tornado: "You're a coo-koo head." (said multiple times a day)

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After I got annoyed with Sunrise for spilling water on the newspaper I was reading, he responded with "You just spoke to me with a sentence that sounded like it had an exclamation point at the end!"

Christmas #2

Thunder's brother and family left a couple of days before Christmas, so it was us along with Nana and Papa for Christmas morning here.

I always love seeing the kids when they peek downstairs.  This year they all woke up at 3am ("Heavens no!"), 5am ("Back to bed!"), and then for good around 7.  Sunshine got a giant remote control car that can flip over and switch wheel positions.  You can also see Cloudburst's one desire- a play kitchen.  Yes, she is 7 years old, but that's what she really wanted!

For months and months, Tornado has talked of nothing but Stinky the Garbage Truck!  He was so happy to see this smelly friend!

Here is the only picture of me, the hazards of being the family photographer.

All of our kids have a fold-out couch in their rooms for sleepovers (and a place to sleep in the middle of the night if they wet the bed) and Sunrise finally got his!

Some new jammies, socks and a new stealth gun.

Sunrise was really only interested in the chocolate in the stockings.  He hid small pieces and kept finding them and eating them throughout the day.

And here is Thunder's amazing brain at work!  This game is called MindFlex, and it really does read the intensity of your brain waves.  Depending on how "hard" you are thinking, it turns on a fan below the little blue ball.

Like every year, we all feel so blessed.  We were able to be surrounded by family this week and talk to others we miss on the phone.  And we feel truly grateful for the Gospel for our little family.  We hope you all had a truly wonderful Christmas!

Christmas #1

We were lucky again this year to have Thunder's family come join us for Christmas.  His brother, wife and two kids came for 3 days, and Nana and Papa came for a week.  Here are our kids dressed up for church the week before Christmas.

You can see that Sunrise was thrilled to have his picture taken!

Thunder took advantage of the snow and took his dad and brother out for a muddy spin on the Rhino.

After all, what's better than being splashed with freezing mud??

Cousin R1!

Uncle K with Tornado and Sunshine, chillin and watching a movie.

The cousins had fun making a snow fort together.  Don't believe Sunshine's face for a minute... he loved it out there.

We also had a kids' craft one morning, where each kid got a Christmas moose and got to make a nametag out of Shrinky Dinks.  Shrinky Dinks are so fun! Even if one falls on the floor of the oven, smokes, and gets all melted everywhere, they are awesome.

Cousin R2, rockin out!

Here is everyone assembled for Christmas dinner, a few days before actual Christmas day.  We fried our turkey again, and it was ahhhmmaaaaazing.  We also had mashed potatoes, corn, sweet potato casserole and rolls.

We also opened presents with Uncle K and Aunt V's family before they had to leave the next day.  It was awesome craziness!

We stayed up late getting everything opened, packed and ready for them to go home the next day.  It was such a wonderful visit, and as usual, too short!

Daddy's bday

Lucky for him, Thunder's birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  The kids took advantage of the school-free time and made plans to "kidnap" Thunder and "make" him go on a clue hunt to find his presents.

The little bandits woke him up and demanded that he get out of bed and follow the clues they made all by themselves.

After several clues upstairs, he was finally led downstairs...

... to a royal spot to open presents!  We've talked forever about getting a giant beanbag, and this was finally the year that one came our home.  It is moved, jumped on and slept on constantly every day and the kids love it.  Oh, and Thunder gets to occasionally use it,too.

The kids and I also found a fun gourmet popcorn shop down in Orem.  Thunder enjoyed sampling our finds.

We made a fun cake together in the shape of a basketball, since we went to a BYU game all together as a family.  I did have a big fancy cake made and served at our company party this year.

Cake and ice cream from Arctic Circle, just Dad's style!

Here we are before the game started.  It was a great game. Happy birthday Thunder, you deserve it!

It's time...

...Christmas time, that is!  Our tree is up, the boxes are finally put away and only 8 ornaments have been smashed (we're on pace for one every two days or so).

And our dear elf, Alex, has returned.  The kids were informed that Alex would return on December 1, and Sunshine was up promptly at 5:30 AM to go find his hiding spot.  And then he woke everyone else up to tell them the happy news.  Ah, what a lovely time of day to wake up.  Alex goes to the North Pole each night, and returns each morning in a different spot.

Have a Super Halloween!

This year we had a superhero theme.  Well, actually it seems like we have that theme almost every year. Hmm.

We had Supergirl...

... Wolverine, and....

...Ironman.  With a headache, apparently.

Off to the rescue!

Or at least off to the trunk or treat!

The ward put on a killer spook alley that required crawling from the RS room to the primary room.  It was a fun night, which was good since the next night it rained for hours!

And oh yes! I almost forgot our little Robin.  Quite a group, eh?

Monkeying around

Somehow I now have a 7, 6, 4 and 1 year old.  If my kids are getting old, that doesn't mean that I am getting old, does it???

Tornado turned 4 at the end of the month. Since he turned an even year, we had a family party.  And what better way to celebrate with family, than by having extra family?

Nana and Papa came to visit!  It was so fun to have them.  The weather was not the best, but we all enjoyed the company.  Here is Sunrise doing something he does often- desperately wanting to follow his brothers.

But that night he got right down and snuggled with them.

Nana and Papa brought gifts for Sunshine's birthday too, since it was only the week before.  Our kids love Trio blocks.

And here is the birthday boy when he woke up from his nap that day!

He just loved being the center of attention.  Sometimes being the 3rd kid can be rough, but he really is a good sport.  He is our funniest and most entertaining child.

Dad and Sunrise had a good time on the couch together while Tornado was opening up presents.  Sunrise has been so snuggly lately.

Cloudburst and Sunshine were so excited to see what Tornado opened up.  He really liked the presents Grandma wrapped in newspaper with a giant "D" on the front.

Later that night we tried out a new place here in town called Monkey Island.  It has blow-ups, a small arcade and an ice cream shop.  The kids LOVED it!  It was so fun to let them run around and jump to their heart's content.  They all slept well that night.

After we got home, we had the fabulous monkey cake.  It is one of those cupcake-puzzle cakes and Sunshine, Nana and I had decorating it together.

Like the new jammies?

And like the snow we got?  I tell ya, we always get snow before Halloween here.

And one last fun tidbit.  A lot of people ask where Sunrise gets his sunshiny blond hair from.  Well, Nana found a darling old picture of herself.

See any resemblance??

And this is a picture of Papa.  I think Sunshine takes after him.

We had a great trip, and as always it went by much too quickly!