Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

We had a good Christmas this year. It was a little quiet, nothing terribly exciting, but for this year, that is a good thing. Christmas Day was on a Sunday and our church is at 9am. I thought it would be more painful that it was. It was actually a really nice thing, we didn't let the girls open any gifts until we got back home from sacrament meeting (we only had sacrament meeting). It really drove home the true meaning of Christmas, a celebration of Christ's birth. The ward choir sang and it was a lovely morning. I actually sang my first duet. Karamie and I sang a beautiful version of "Away in a Manger." I haven't sang anything since high school and it was nice to enjoy music like that again. I was nervous but it went well enough. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas season.

The girls and I made home made ginger bread cookies. Messy, but fun!

We took Ashley to see Santa. She was not trilled with it! He was really good to her.

On Christmas Eve we always go to Powells. This is my girls on Christmas Eve day  ready to go to Grandma and Grandpas.

Christmas morning. We all got new Christmas footie pajamas,  Ben got Grinch ones and I got Pink Panther (sorry Ben and I are not pictured . . . but that's a good thing).

Gone with the WIND!

Well, we just had one heck of a wind storm. Here are the events from my perspective.

On Wednesday I noticed on the news that our area was going to have “strong winds”. It was also the evening of Wendy’s surprise 60^th birthday party. I wanted to be sure to get home before the wind started and I wanted to bring in some little trees that I had put on my front porch to decorate. I had added rocks to weigh down the trees, but thought I ought to bring them in just in case the rocks didn’t hold and they tipped over.

Around 2 a.m. I woke up to howling wind. It was the loudest wind I’d ever heard. At Wendy’s birthday party, Hilary had made a DVD of Wendy life and played the song “Everyone Knows it’s Wendy” at the party. Now that the wind outside was keeping me awake, that song played over and over in my mind only with an “I” instead of an “E” having it be “Everyone knows it’s windy.” The wind howled and howled. Around 4 a.m. our bed started to shake and I realized that our whole house was shaking in the wind. Our house is built three inches above street level and therefore stands very high. The entire second story was shaking and vibrating our walls, floors, windows and even our bed! By 5 a.m. I was wide awake. Ben and I started talking and trying to sleep but just couldn’t. By 7 a.m. our whole family was up and worried about the wind. I looked out the window and everything looked normal, it was just SO windy. My sister, Stephanie, called at 7:15. She said that she was worried about the wind where she lived in Bountiful. She said trees were falling. We wondered if we should send the kids to school or not. While I was on the phone with Steph I looked out my window just in time to see our big, fancy, metal, Lifetime swingset tumble through our yard!!! It is BIG and HEAVY and was expensive. The name brand Lifetime means it is suppose to last a LIFETIME. The wind just tossed it like a tumbleweed and it literally tumbled across our yard! I was shocked.

As the morning progressed the wind got stronger and louder. It was a beautiful sunny day, with this amazingly powerful wind. Our neighbor’s had just installed a vinyl fence. It blew into our yard in bits and pieces. Pretty soon shingles were flying everywhere! I sat and watched at the neighbor across the street lost most of their shingles off their entire roof. It was amazing. I clearly decided NOT to send Hailey and Aubrey to school. Hailey especially, because her classroom is a portable and I wasn’t going to risk it. We just hunkered down and watched the wind blow the neighborhood apart. At 9:30a.m. the power went out. By 10 a.m. the school called our cell phones to say it was closing for the day. Luckily I already had my children with me. Now, without power and with the wind so loud it was hard to do anything to keep our minds off the situation. The freeways were closed so Ben couldn’t go to work, but I didn’t want him to leave us anyway. We all just sat and stewed. Ashley wouldn’t even take a nap, the wind was so loud. I moved her crib to the middle of the room (incase a window broke) but she would not nap. With Ashley crying, the girls scared, me scared the power out and the wind howling, around noon, I decided I couldn’t take it any longer. We piled in the car to drive to Sandy to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The freeway had opened going south. When we were on the freeway the two miles between Farmington and Centerville we witnessed 11 semi’s tipped over on the road. It was insane! I couldn’t believe it. Once in Salt Lake City it was a beautiful, calm afternoon. It was hard to believe the destruction that was in Davis County. We got to Powell’s and I was a bundle of nerves. I couldn’t even enjoy being there. We decided to take the girls to see “The Muppets” at the theatre. Then we went to Walmart to get flashlights and kerosene lamps. When we got back to Powell’s we saw on the news that the winds were still strong in Davis County and the power was still out. Schools had been canceled for Friday. We decided that Ben would go home to “protect” it and be there, while the girls and I stayed at Powell’s. I was still uptight about the whole thing and couldn’t relax. By 9p.m. Ben called and said that the power was on and the wind had stopped. He drove back to Sandy to get us.

The next morning the cities of Bountiful, Centerville and Farmington looked like war zones. Shingles and fence bits were EVERYWHERE!!! In Bountiful, most of the HUGE pine trees had blown down. It really was an amazing site. Saturday was spent cleaning the yard. It was also Bronson’s baptism. Stephanie had two huge pines blow down. All the men brought their chain saws to help cut up the trees after the baptism. Sunday morning we received word that another wind storm was coming that night. Bountiful and Centerville canceled their church services to clean the city. Everyone was out chopping trees and clearing them away before the next storm. We had church but then we went to work helping neighbors and cleaning up and bringing in everything that was outside. We took in garbage cans, lawn chairs and even put our BBQ in the basement.  Even though it was a Sunday, Ben went and bought a generator. The number one complaint of people we heard was that their homes got so cold. I didn’t dare risk it with Ashley. Stephanie had a neighbor that had their house get down to 36 degrees!!! When night time came we were ready for the next hit . . . we waited and waited, very nervous. Nothing ever happened.

Although it was a little anticlimactic, I’m glad that nothing happened, my nerves where shot after this weekend! Hailey had a rough time going to school this morning. She didn’t want to leave us and was afraid of going to school (we had heard it was damaged.) I’ll be happy to get back into our routine. I really firmly feel that this was the Lord’s way of saying, “I’m not joking about food storage and emergency preparedness.” I think this was the dress rehearsal for the real show. We’d better get ready . . .

This is a bad picture, but this used to be three lights and a ceiling fan.  

Some of our house hanging off.

I wish you could see where the playground used to be. Here is it bent in half. 

More damage.

Missing shingles

I duct taped this paper sign to the doorbell about a month ago. It stayed through the whole storm! I guess our whole house should be made of this stuff!!!

Ashley's First Birthday

November 22, 2011 we celebrated our sweet Ashley's first birthday. I can't believe that a year has already gone by. I also can't believe our family ever existed without her. 

I really wanted to get photo's of her at one year old. I used to take the other girls to JC Penny or Kiddie Kandids to get their photos, but now with all the digital stuff and fancy cameras I don't think it is worth the cost. My sister Stephanie has a really nice camera so we set up a little "photo shoot" in her house and took some pictures of Ash. I think they turned out really well. 

For Ashley's birthday party, we invited ALL the family over! My best friend Jen, Ben's two sister's Hilary (Quin, Jonas and Rex), Lindsey (Ky and Parker), my sister Heather (Mike, Spencer and Melia) we also had Kim's kids James, Rachael and Becca and Hannah and of course Grandma and Grandpa Place and Powell. 

Rex and Ashley. Rex is six months younger than Ash.

It is a family tradition that Grandpa Place brings the "Birthday Bear" at every grandchild's birthday. 

Ashley and her cupcake. She loved it!

Boil, boil, toil and trouble

Happy Halloween! The month of October we had a Halloween celebration!

First, I tried to take the girls to Lagoon's Frightmares. Uh, it didn't go over very well. We went in the day, but still . . . we made it into that park, but when we tried to leave the gouls came out and scared Hailey and Aubrey so bad, they ran out of the park, through the parking lot and to the highway!!!! We will NOT do that again.

I was bummed that I didn't get to experience Frightmares but my best bud Jen said she'd love to come with me. Jen and I braved Frightmares all on our own. It was a blast! It has been a 13 years since I've been to a haunted house, I felt like a young girl again with Jen there. We had a great time!

Then, Stephanie and Loren had two free Frightmare tickets and wanted Ben and I to take Mike, their 11 year old son. So, a few weeks later, I went to Frightmares AGAIN, this time with Ben and Mike. It was fun to be with Mike and Ben. Mike had NEVER been to a haunted house and it was a kick to take him through. He was really tough and looked the creeps in the face and stood his ground. It was fun!

A week or so later, a friend of mine called and offered me tickets to Ballet West's Dracula!!!! I was thrilled to go to Dracula! (Ben was less than excited, but he was a good sport). I cannot say how much I LOVED it!!! It was wonderful to be at the ballet again. I haven't been to a ballet in about 14 years. I was in heaven.

My high school friend, Mindy Lillyquist was in Thriller at Kingsburry so the next weekend Ben and I went to see her in that! It was fun.

Finally Halloween arrived!

Every year we go to Grandma Powell's ward party. Ashley was a  spider witch with Grandma Powell.

I volunteered for the Halloween party in Hailey's classroom. I dressed as Malificent. (I was the ONLY mom dressed up!) Hailey was a gypsy and Aubrey was a little devil.

Carving pumpkins on Halloween morning! (Look at Hailey holding the knife in the background . . . scary!)

Ready to go trick-or-treating! Ashley was a kitty cat this time.

Hailey's Baptism

October, 8th 2011, Hailey was baptized. It was a fabulous event. We spent weeks planning, buying a beautiful white dress, having many Family Home Evenings on Baptism, making invitations, cleaning the house, preparing the program, and then having a wonderful day. 

A few weeks before the baptism I took Hailey to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to take some pictures of Hailey around the temple. It was around 6 pm on a random Wednesday and not very many people were at Temple Square. She looked so beautiful in her white dress. She walked and acted like a princess. We talked a lot about the church and life in general. It was wonderful private time. I took her in the visitor's center to the statue of Christ and told her that is where Ben proposed to me. She sat on the same chair I did, almost 13 years ago. I took her to the temple doors and her little hand shook as she reached to touch the door knob. She cried afterwards and said she could feel the Holy Spirit very strongly. It was a wonderful sweet time. 

Hailey was able to be baptized with her friend Myah Smith. They were only birthdays in September, to be baptized in October. She was baptized by her Ben. Many, many families came to support her. We had many of her neighborhood friends. Our home teachers (brother Moore and brother Caughlin), her primary teachers (Sister Anderson) and the Primary presidency. My visiting teachers. Our good friend Craig Mattinson conducted (he is in the bishopric). Abby Mattinson play the piano and Grandpa Powell lead the music. Shelli Smith gave a talk on baptism and Grandma Powell gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. Hailey, Aubrey, Myah and Beckham sang "When I am Baptized" while my sister, Stephanie, played the guitar. Grandma and Grandpa Place came, Grandma and Grandpa Powell, Jen, The Morgan family, the Mercer family, Rachael, Ryan, Jett, Becca and Hannah, the Okerlund family and the Herrera family. There was so much love and support it was overwhelming. After the baptism everyone came to our home for lunch. I had made a movie of Hailey's first 8 years and played it for everyone. It was a wonderful day!!!

Hailey and Ben before the baptism.

Hailey and Myah on their baptism day.

Hailey at the temple

Hailey's first time to touch the temple doors. 

Hailey's 8th Birthday

Hailey had a fantastic 8th birthday. It was really a week of celebration. The Friday before her birthday Grandma Powell took her out on a special date. They had lunch, saw a movie and shopped til they dropped! Grandma bought her some darling outfits for school. Saturday we went to Lagoon in the afternoon. Ashley stayed home with Ben so I could ride all the rides with the girls! We had a great day! Monday was Labor day and we swam at Grandma Places and had a BBQ. Tuesday was Hailey's actual birthday. Hailey woke up to a special egg and bacon breakfast then, I met Hailey at school to have lunch with her and I brought her FAVORITE Costa Vita enchiladas. We ate in the lunch room with all her friends and they all cooed at Ashley. Hailey was thrilled to be able to walk Ashley around in the stroller on the playground and show her off to all the kids. Wednesday was the big friend birthday party at the Lion House. 

When I turned 8 I had my birthday at the Lion House too, it is kind of a family tradition. To my surprise, Ben's family also has this tradition and Lindsey and Hilary had their 8th birthdays there too! That made it all the more special to continue with the family tradition of having a Lion House Birthday! The girls dressed in their Sunday best and we went out to the Lion House. It was so fun to see the girls giggle and get excited about being in the "great big city". We had to walk through the Joseph Smith Memorial building to get from the parking garage to the Lion House all the girls ooh and awwed at the big chandelier, they felt so fancy! It really added to the fun of the day! At the Lion House the girls got to have a little tea party and play pioneer games and take a tour of the house. Then, they pulled taffy and we did presents and stuff. At the end Hailey got to chose a beautiful doll off the fireplace mantel to take home. She chose a blonde girl with a blue dress. It was a great day and she had a fantastic birthday!!!!  

All the party girls in front of the Lion House

In our private little party room

All the girls got to wear Pioneer bonnets. They are darling girls!

Hailey and her cake!

Toddlers and Tiaras- Here we come!

I love to go to the Davis County Fair. We go every year. I love things like that (flee markets, bizarres, etc.) I love the food, I love the atmosphere, I love the animals, I love the whole thing, and I especially love that it is free! 

This year I invited my little sister Heather to come with us. Heather is 9 nine months pregnant and needed to get out of the house. So, being the awesome sister that I am, I invited her to come with us to the fair in 100 degree heat! The night before we planned to go, I looked online to see what the days activities were going to be. Low and behold, it was the Davis County Cute Baby Contest! I called Heather and we laughed about entering in Ashley and her daughter Melia. We decided "heck, why not?" I picked out one of my favorite outfits for Ashley, a green dress that really brightens her red hair. On a whim, I decided to be silly and paint her toenails bright pink. She really fought me on this and I was getting frustrated. I thought of the moms on TLC's "Toddlers and Tiaras" that spray tan their daughters while the daughter screams. Oh no, I don't want to be that mom! 

We arrived and entered our kids. They were entered by age group and gender. Then, when your group was called you had to walk up on stage and stand there (feeling really stupid). The announcer lady said, "now remember judges, this is on looks only. This is a Cute Baby Contest." (Ummm . . . let me tell you what, when you are standing on stage, hocking your precious angel, it is a really weird feeling. It is one thing to audition for something yourself and put yourself out there, it is a whole new ball of wax to put your innocent baby up there. I don't know how the TV moms do it.)  Ashley's group was small, but voila! She won!!! During judging she reached out her hands to the judges and smiled really cute! (the judges were the Fair Royalty) I'm pretty sure she melted their hearts. She got a big blue ribbon and a $50 gift certificate to Target!!! I was thrilled! Oh, now were are for sure going the pageant route! I've got a little money maker on my hands . . . wait, no, back to the ill feeling of hocking your angel. It was really fun to win though, I won't lie. 

I wasn't able to snap a really cute picture of her, but here she is with her big blue ribbon! First place baby!

Next it was Melia's turn. Her group was much larger that they had to split it into two different categories. Melia and Heather were right up front. Melia wore a darling red dress with flowers that Stephanie made for Kali. Melia has a darling personality and started dancing to the music. She is a little dolly. Viola! Again! Melia won second place! She got a pink ribbon and a $25 gift certificate to Target! Pretty awesome to get paid for going to the fair!

Melia is center on stage with a redish dress and yellow ribbon across it. Poor pregnant Heather is sitting on the stage with her. She was so cute dancing! And the girl on the left with the yellow sunsuit came and gave Melia a hug!

The whole day was really fun! We saw the animals and went to a really stupid Rattle Snake show. We always have a good time at the fair!