9 Years Today...

Nine years ago today John and I got married in the Manti Temple. I can't believe it has been that long. Time sure flies by. In our 9 years of marriage we have lived in 9 different apartments/houses, 3 different states and 6 different wards. We have had three kids in these 9 years all of them being born in 3 different cities and hospitals. Apparently we like change. But as of late that has changed. We have lived in our current home for three years!! These 9 years have been fun I wouldn't change them for the world. I just can't believe next year will be 10 years!! Today in church they talked about families and I thought how fitting since it is our anniversary. I am so grateful that I was able to go to the temple and be married for time and all eternity. I am so grateful that I am married to a man that has the priesthood. I am so grateful for my family and John's family for all they do for us. It is great to think that my family is sealed together for eternity and we will be together when we pass from this life.

Sew, Sew

During my last semester at BYU in 2004 I took a sewing class. I know it took me eight years to get through college. Honestly it is not my fault, John got a job in San Fran and I had to leave in my last semester and finished up when he came back to get his MBA. Now back to the sewing class. I had never and I mean never sewn anything in my entire life before this class. It was completely foreign to me. I loved the class and learned so much. But after the class and two more additions to the family I haven't really touched my sewing machine much. But while I was at Walmart with my niece the other day and looking through the fabric section she voiced a request to have something made for her out of a fabric she liked. So I decided to make her a pillow case (I had to start out easy, it has been over four years). So I made her pillowcase. Then I thought I would be more adventurous and make Coen a blanket. I found some cute Thomas the Train fabric thanks to my friend Kristi who works at the Walmart fabric area and who is also a talented seamstress. So I finished the blanket and a pillowcase too. It is not my best work that is for sure, and I definitely need to practice sewing more often. I hope that I can keep sewing some things more frequently then I have in the past. I had forgotten how much I really enjoyed.

(Izzy's Pillowcase)

(Coen's Blanket)

(Coen's Pillowcase-it's reversible and so is his blanket)

Blue's Clues to Franklin

Johnny was about Coen's age now when he became interested in Blue's Clues. He had been at Primary Children's for a few days and their child life specialist came in with several DVDs to try and ease his discomfort. I put in Blue's Clues and the rest was history. He just sat there mesmerized by the show. Coen has shown really no interest in the TV either except to change the channels and make Johnny go berserk. Well, the other day I put on Franklin and this kid just sat down and watched. I couldn't believe it. So today I started it again to see if it would have the same effect and it did. I was hoping Coen would have a affinity to Blue's Clues since we have all the Blue's Clues stuff. Maybe I can sway him later. If he doesn't take to Blue then D.I. will have to open a Blue's Clues section. So Franklin it is for now. And lucky for me all my kids seem to like Franklin too!

You know your little guy is too small when....

He can get out of his highchair when he is buckled. Coen has taken to getting out of his highchair as soon as he gets in it. He loves to stand up and turn around to play with the blinds. So to remedy that we moved him away from the blinds. Did that stop him? Of course not he just got of his highchair and sat on the tray. This kid is something else. He is so busy. He is more busy then my other two. I also have never had to deal with a kid that is under the 80% in weight. This is a totally new thing for me. I had to ask my Dr. if it was ok to put Coen forward facing at a year because he didn't meet the weight requirement. My other kids met that milestone months before their first birthday. His pants fall off of him and he outgrows his clothes because they are getting too short for him before they are getting to small around the waist. I have never had that before. I guess it is true what they say. No two kids are a like and I am going to have to get use to having a little guy. But boy is he cute even if he is little.

PS- I remedied the highchair thing by tightening the straps to the absolute smallest setting the one that you have when you child is a new born and that seemed to work. At least for now.

Our Christmas Festivities

This month has been filled with many Christmas events. First we had Paige's ballet class event. It wasn't a recital it was just to show us what they have been working on the past few months. Paige has only been doing dance for a few months and loves it.

Then we had Johnny's pre-school singing concert. At times Johnny would appear to not be singing and a moment later he was the only one you could hear. It was pretty funny.

And finally last night we started the Gingerbread house. It didn't take only a few minutes for Johnny to break part of the house so it is our special needs house. John kept on trying to make it a catholic church by adding a cross but I would have nothing of it so he finally gave up and started decorating with the kids. I think the kids had fun.

During the festivities this is where I found Coen.

He apparently has inherited the Black family shoe fetish. This month has been fun and tonight we will be having Christmas Eve. dinner at our house. We our looking forward to it. I love the month of December with all the Christmas festivities. I love the Christmas music and the spirit of giving. I am always sad to say good bye to December. But always look forward to the next year.

Charity.. the Pure Love of Christ

During this Christmas session we had the opportunity as a family to give to the Bishop Toy House. This is where you can take new toys and give them to Deseret Industries and they take them to a special room where families can go pick out new toys for their children for Christmas. I decided to take my kids along to show them where these toys would go and to help them understand better why we give things and to feel the wonderful spirit that accompanies you while you do good for others. I was a little apprehensive because I thought that Paige and Johnny would want all the toys and not want to give them up. I was pleasantly surprised when Paige took one of the bags and saw that a Hannah Montana doll had fallen out and quickly put it back into the bag.(She loves Hannah Montana, so this was a great thing for her). There was no fussing or whining for toys. They willingly and joyfully gave these toys away. It made me feel so good that they are learning about giving to others that may not have as much as we do. Today Paige also showed that she understand giving to others. In her classroom they have a class store where you can buy things with tickets that you have earned through out the week. Today she got into the car after school and was so excited to show me what she had purchased at her store today. She had purchased something for her brother Johnny. She knew that he liked lizards and she bought him one (a toy one of course). She used most of her tickets to purchase her brother something. This made me so happy that she is learning this concept of giving. And sometimes giving to others means sacrificing something that we may want. I hope that as a family that we can remember that giving is not only a Christmas thing that there are many others who struggle throughout the entire year and who need our help all the time. I am so grateful for the many blessings I have in my life and I am so grateful for my Savior and what he has done for me. I hope that I can be a little better at remembering his birth all year and not just this season.

It seems there are no more victims...

This past week our family was slammed with the stomach flu. We have never had this happen to us before. It started on Tuesday when I went to Enrichment and Johnny threw up all of the church's hallway and then in the kitchen trash. (Thanks Kristi for cleaning that up, you're GREAT). Johnny seemed fine the next day so we assumed this was an isolated instance and that it was due to his lack of sleep. Oh we were wrong. Wednesday I was just getting out of the car to buy some shoes with some money that I had gotten for my birthday and I open the door to take Coen out and he had thrown up all over himself and the car. He even was throwing up as I drove away. That night I went to YW recognition and thought that everything would be OK with the kids because Johnny had only thrown up once so I assumed that was all Coen would. I was wrong again he threw up all over John this time and John was nice enough to send me a picture. Then comes Thurs and I start to not feel good at dinner time and new what was to come, you guessed it I got it too. Then comes Friday and John's home from work and later that evening he gets it. This thing is so fast moving I still can't believe it took four victims in four days. Paige is the only one that seems to be untouched. I am still crossing my fingers on that one. But it has been two days since the last victim got it. I just love winter and all the junk it spreads around.