For Him.

Christian is 3.

Wow. We did some serious celebrating. Cousins, Courtney and Carter came with Grandma Nancy for their big days. We were happy to have them and the kids were sad to see them go. The kids were really sad to see grandma go. Sometimes it takes Christian awhile to realize that someone has left. So the day after grandma left, he was a little sad. He insisted on calling her. So we called. The conversation went something like this:

Christian: Damma, did you go home?

Gma: Yes, I had to come back to Papa.

Christian: I miss you. I want you to come back.

Gma: Why do you want me to come back Christian?

Christian: Because I love you Damma, and you forgot your bra.

It was pretty funny. Humor aside, he did indeed miss his damma (not to be confused with damn-ma).

He is a sweet boy.

Though, he has not been only sweet lately.

He has had some..."moments". You know, the times when you have to stop and tell yourself all the reasons you don't want to sell him to the gypsies. But the other night he was the last to fall asleep (which his sister has on him 90% of the time). He snuck to the edge of him room and asked me to come tickle his back. Yes, I have created a monster. His preferred way of falling asleep is, like his dad with soft tickles on the skin, not over clothes of his back.

There are a handful of nights that I promise to return after a minute to conclude the tickles, knowing he will be fast asleep when the dishes are done. Not this night. I laid down on his toddler bed with him and tickled his back while he jabbered off never-ending stories to me. He finally finished his elaborate tale and said, "I wuv you mom."

Well, Christian, I love you too. I get sad thinking about the days this kid won't be a toddler anymore. I am sure his life to come will be wonderful. I just want to freeze him as he is right now, because I love him.

The sweet sound of his voice brings a smile to any strangers face. I am tempted to keep a voice recorder on him. He shows the most genuine joy over simple things. We could have given him a piece of paper for his birthday, with nothing on it and there would have been joy. He has a friend with a nickname of BoBo, which has now turned into a term of endearment at our house. It is completely promoted by his uncle dog as together they call each other bobo-heads. There is always at least two pairs of shoes in our car due to his dislike for having them on his feet. He is brave and daring. When he does something wrong, the first thing he does is comes to me and says sorry (before he tells me what he's done). While I was writing this he did that exact thing. It is impossible for him to tell a lie if you sing the song, "I told the TRUTH". What a boy. He's hard not to love.

So here's to you buddy. Happy Birthday!

Sink or Swim

Christian's now in swim lessons.

It has been an anticipated day since he watched Ava throughout her last session.

He watched her cry.

He said, "You can do it" and "Good Job" with a little brother thumbs up.

He nearly fell/jumped in the pool on a regular basis.

He knew his turn was coming when he was almost 3.

So the time came.

First lesson: Super excited.

No tears, despite his 3 classmates screams...

until the 2nd lesson. Now, instead of 3 screaming kids, there are 4.

For about the first 2-5 minutes then he calms down and rather enjoys himself.

It is weird, I don't get it. Oh well, it'll pass (after many torturous days of throwing him in the pool). Ava, on the other hand is swimming like a champ. Who would have known that last session she was just like Christian's class.

Thanks for the pictures Alie!

Change-is-a-coming

I was just about to purchase myself a pair of these.

Now, I'm thinking I might purchase these instead.

Why the change of heart you might ask? Just prepping for a slight change.

Instead of frequent trips to this "gate" into the US,

we just might make more frequent trips to this "gate" into the US.

Our "sign" will be changing from this

to this

Oh, yes folks. We are heading 3,000 miles across the country. Ty was offered a position at KPMG's National Office in New Jersey, essentially right across the Hudson from NYC (here is a visual for you). We couldn't help but accept the opportunity for adventure for the next 2-3 years.

We are sad. We really love our life here in California, which made the decision really hard for us. But, we are also really looking forward to what the future holds. I am SO NOT excited for the weather, but I figure I'll manage (with a few tropical vacations in between).

B-Man is growing up

It's true. Bennett turned one. Since we were all enduring on and off sickness, we had zero energy to exert on this boy's party. Good thing he was turning one and therefore we avoided any expectations. So we whipped up a mickey cake, grabbed some ears and called it a party.

Double fisting it. My other kids played in their cakes. Not this kid. He didn't stop until it was gone, then he cried.

Happy Birthday, my big boy!

So we might call him Ezra.

Any idea what these two people have in common?

Other than their deep spirituality, of course.
(hint: take a look at their left ears)

notice a tomato in his hand-no surprise.

I know this is a repeat picture, but it may be the best indicator of our little Ezra.

So what if his left ear sticks out. So did Ezra Taft Benson's. I think it is pretty cool (along with vampire teeth...and a bald head).

Meet Ruby

I had a couple favorite gifts that I gave this year. They happened to be given to the same two little girls.

Meet Ruby Stitch, which happens to be in the form of Ava and Anna. I gave one of these handmade dolls to Ava and her cousin Anna. They were made to look like them by my good friend Abby. Ava's even has a few freckles in just the right spots. Really, you should check these out. Don't worry, she makes boys too, complete with masks and capes.

Aren't they cute.

My other favorite gift was to my boys and Ava and Anna. I see me books are awesome. They are custom books all about your children. Ava's is about finding the fairy princess and each fairy brings a letter to make her name and crown her the princess. The boys are about a baby that was born with all the animals to name it. Another item you really should check out.

The Joys

December is always a joy with the fun things going on. Here were a few of our joys as well as a few not so joyous moments.

Taking my YW ice skating was great.

I was waiting all night for someone to eat it...it was me. I was trying to do things like I was 15 again. I should have expected this result. It was surprisingly painful to fall on the ice.

Tyler's last week of work before we went to Utah for Christmas was absolutely horrible. He worked Mon-Thursday and racked up 75 hours. That means he was home 21 hours in 4 days. Awesome. But it is over, YAY! During that week everything went perfect at home, as usual. After falling out of the van, head first on the curb, Christian recorded another trip to the ER, this time the real thing (not just urgent care) since it was 3:00 in the morning. No, I didn't intentionally let him sit around with a concussion. He seemed fine after the initial spill, until he woke up in the night and wouldn't stop throwing up. Finally Tyler got home around 3 and I headed to the ER for some CAT Scans and Zofran.


Surprisingly cheery at this point.

Five days later, Ava woke up sick and also threw up all night long. Tyler got home around 4:30 after her throwing up was complete. She woke up feeling better, so we packed up and headed to Utah, only to find out that we spread the worst stomach bug I have ever seen. We watched as it passed through well over 30 people. Every adult in the house got sick. Lovely.

We were, however, able to enjoy ourselves here and there.

Salt Lake Temple Lights:

Freez-ing! How do people live like that?
Little ms. happy.

There we go, that's better.

Noah and Christian

Bundled like we've never been bundled before. Ava came to a consensus, "California is WAY better than Utah. It is too cold here." Christian, on the other hand could not have cared less about the cold. After sledding for a long while we came in and found that every extremity was frozen and he hadn't complained once. Typical Christian.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were part of my time being sick, so our pictures are few. Here you go.

Christian has known for awhile that right before his birthday he gets to start swim lessons (he's finally old enough to do it without me). The goggles were a huge hit from Santa. He wears them to ALL of Ava's swim lessons, the entire time.

This darling picture was when the vicious stomach bug was getting passed from Ava and Christian to Papa Jim, Noah and Luke. Sorry guys!

While in Utah we went bowling a couple times. Our kids loved it. They ask to go all the time now.

It seriously took Christian ball 30 seconds to get to the pins and honestly we kind of expected it to stop at the pins, Uncle Buck style.

Aww, it was fun to spend time together in Utah.

Bennett's 1st birthday to come.