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When can we eat it?

With much anticipation (begging), the night for

building our gingerbread house finally arrived.

This little house is a compilation of three very

different design styles but upon completion it was

deemed a great success.

Who cares if the walls are caving in and the roof is sliding off!

IT WAS FUN!!!

I GET AROUND

This morning I heard Dallin talking to Will about watching a show together. When I went to check on them, this is what I found. Aaaah...what a great big brother!

Go Thomas!

It's been a while since Dallin's birthday in September, but I still wanted to share this video that shows just how much he appreciated the Thomas the train set he received. Fortunately he has enough energy to enjoy all of his gifts with this same level of excitement.

They got their mother's lips

I was at Macey's today and couldn't resist

these treasures from days of yore.

I thought for sure the kids would get a kick out of them.

Not so much...

The lips were met with "uncontrollable" gagging

and intense dislike.

The funny part is -

I MADE them pose for a pic anyway, because,

Hey - I like those lips and I'm the mom!!

(p.s. Dallin liked them too. He all but ate them.)

Research

At 7:30 in the morning,

this is our version of America's Test Kitchen.

Dallin's Findings:

Yes, they really do snap, crackle and pop!

My Findings:

Those little dry puffs of air are hard

to catch with a vaccuum or a broom.

But, I don't mind.

I wasn't doing anything else this morning.

The Skeleton In My Closet

Autumn is my favorite season.

I love the fresh chill in the air.

It makes me want to snuggle up in a sweater

and slipper socks and read cookbooks all day.

BUT, I only got as far as the slipper socks -

my little skeleton wants full time entertainment.

Oh well, maybe another day.

Happy October Everyone!

FIRSTS...

FIRST

day of school!

Emma met Miss Knudsen last night.

She's so excited for 2nd grade.

Emma's an awesome student!

FIRST

tap dancing lessons.

The girls are thrilled to be tapping away!

They love dressing up and making noise!

FIRST

Red Velvet Cupcakes.

MMM...

Two Little Months

This little guy has sure intensified the busy and tired

part of life but he has also brought so many

extra smiles, and giggles to our family.

Love you Will!

i

Abbie on 2 wheels

Abbie practiced balancing on her bike a few weeks ago and then spent 30 minutes learning how to stop yesterday. With the promise of a strawberry milkshake, she rode to the end of the "Strawberry Place" cul-de-sac and back - no problem! Then did it again, and again, and again.

And yes, the strawberry milkshake was well worth it.

Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein

(Reenactment takes place on the Jordan River Walkway)

Oh, I'm being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don't like it--one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It's nibblin' my toe.
Oh, gee,
It's up to my knee.
Oh my,
It's up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It's up to my middle.

Oh, heck,
It's up to my neck.

Oh, dread,
It's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff...

Update on Will

Little Will came home yesterday.

As the pictures show, he's still in denial about this whole "life" thing and mostly tries to sleep it off. But you can bet that three older siblings aren't going to let him sleep too much.

Welcome William

William Craig Davidson
June 11, 2009
6 lbs 2 oz - 18 inches

We were very pleased to welcome William to our family on Thursday. He surprised us with his timing and his dark hair.

He's got some great big sisters - you can see he's delighted to meet them.

Amy & William are both doing well - for which we feel very blessed.

Army Girls

I took Emma & Abbie to see the Thunderbirds at Hill Field on Saturday. I really enjoyed the air show, but I think the part that intrigued the girls the most was that several of the soldiers directing traffic on base were women - or "Army Girls" as they put it. Well here are a few shots of my Army Girls:

Being loaded into the back of a C-17

Taking control of that C-17

contemplating a career switch to NASA

But space-travel isn't nearly as macho as flying Fighter Jets

Abbie looks like she's ready for the job. I just hope for her sake that these jets are a lot quieter on the inside, because the first high speed pass from an F-18 jolted her right out of her chair as we ate our picnic lunch. She has the bruise on her knee to prove it. Notwithstanding the jets that snuck up on us, we had a blast at the air show. Can't wait until next year.

Water Boy

This little boy loves water! Yesterday, there were many squeals

of delight among the splashes, especially when I asked,

“What are you doing?”. The enthusiastic scream "WA, WA!!"

was the response, everytime.

I'm A Mom!

The Sad, Sad Truth!

Super Soaker Saturday

The kids have been begging for a water day

ever since the snow melted. So, with the

warm weather today we got out the water gear

and had a little wet fun.

Here we come summer!

Ticker

Two days ago, I put up this countdown to baby ticker on my blog. I saw it on my sister’s page and thought it was cute (I want to look like that perfectly pony-tailed pregnant girl). For two days now, every time I click on my blog, there is a number unabashedly staring at me and it feels like it never changes. Only one little number change every 24 hours—Do you know how long 24 hours is?!? Today I found myself wondering how many times I will do all the repetitive daily tasks that leave me out of breath or just bone tired before a number will fall off. And then the inevitable happened – I multiplied that daily figure by 61. Now, that‘s the REAL ticker. I’m banishing all numbers from my mind and that wafer thin little girl with the perfect baby bump better watch out. I don’t think she’s going to last 61 days on MY page.

"Just For You Mommy"

This afternoon, Abbie came in from the backyard,

with a gleam in her eye and a sugar sweet voice.

"I have a suprise just for you mommy!

It's a bouquet! Aren't they lovely?"
She presented me with plentiful bouquet of strawberry blossoms.

I have to say...they really took my breath away.

After thanking her for her love and the flowers

I told her what she had picked and how strawberries grow.

She turned on her heel and skipped away saying,

"Oh well".
My sentiments exactly.

Birthday Girls

We had a "ball" celebrating Emma & Abbie's

birthdays this weekend.

We love your smiley, giggly, girly ways!

Happy Birthday - We love you girls!

A Moment of Productivity

Isn't this just the prettiest sight?!

Yummy Strawberry Jam.
Now, all I need is some homemade bread.
Mmmmm...

Valley of Fire

This last weekend we spent a day in the Nevada desert with Grandpa and Uncle Spencer at the Valley of Fire. Abbie & Dallin quickly discovered how to have a good time.



It looked like Dallin had fun playing in the sand, but later on he denied it.



Emma, however, had plenty of fun during the Leaping Lizard Rodeo.

So, we took the kids to the ultrasound and had a great time

watching this little baby jump around on the screen.

And what are the chances of this kind of perfection

happening but, it did - A Boy!!

Two girls, two boys - We are totally excited!!!

Stonehenge

I'm in the UK for business and had the opportunity to see a few sights before getting to work:

Stonehenge

Portchester Castle

Every cemetery deserves to have a haunted castle looming over it; it goes well with the crooked headstones.

From the top of the Keep - this view got me thinking that I ought to attend to some of those pending projects around the house before too many accumulate on the "to do" list.

At one point this castle housed 7,000 French Prisoners-of-war. It's a much happier (and I'm sure better-smelling) place today.

My Life In Print...

This comic bears such a likeness to my own life

I had to give it a voice on my blog.

Does it ring true for anyone else?

(love you honey, and no offense intended :-)

2009: Year of Adventure

Emma, Abbie, and I decided to start the new year with an adventure. We settled on a nature hike in Saratoga Springs.

Above: Emma & Abbie by the hot spring.

When we were finished hiking around, we noticed that there were several fisherman down on the Jordan River. So we went to check it out.
To our delight, we discovered that those fisherman have been boring holes through the ice all up and down that river.

So we went for a stroll...

...up the river and out onto Utah Lake. Which is also covered by ice (and fishing holes).

Such fun!

Some fishermen were more successful than others, we watched the guy who caught these pull one out every minute or so. We had a really fun time discovering something new. After all, it's not every day that you get to walk on water.