Christmas

I LOVE ARIZONA! I never thought I'd ever say that, but after being in Utah for 6 months, I have learned to appreciate Arizona. It's beautiful weather, the wide roads, the grid system and of course my family. We had a great time being with friends and family for the few days we were there. I got to go swim a few times with my sisters, Ryan got to work on the Tahoe with his brothers and Kate and Clark got to play with their Grandparents and cousins! I didn't take many pictures, and the ones we did take didn't turn out very well. (someone got ahold of my camera and adjusted all the settings without me knowing)

This was Christmas morning. We stayed at Ryan's parents house the whole time, and his sister and kids stayed over Christmas Eve, so the kids could be together Christmas moring. All the kids had to line up smallest to biggest and wait for Grandpa to give the go ahead to go see their presents. The order was Kate, Clark, Emily, Becca and Rachel.
Here's Kate and Clark tearing into their presents from Santa

Clark got a work bench with some new power tools
Kate got a fold up doll house with all the fixings
Clark the "worker guy" with his new tools

This is Ryan's Dad, George. He has to be the hardest person to shop for. Every year we have to rack our brains to find something he likes. This year we lucked out. It just so happens that George LOVES BYU football. So we went down to BYU bookstore and got him this nice long sleeve button up with the 'Y' logo on it. Best of all- he liked it!
In the afternoon we went over to my parents house to do presents. Kate got this doll.

Clark got a dump truck complete with wheelbarrow, construction signs and of course a hard hat.

That's just cute.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

We are leaving this afternoon to drive home to Mesa! We have been counting down this day for a month now. The kids are so excited to see their Grandparents, cousins and friends. Ryan and I are excited to see everyone, to have a little vacation and just be home!
We will only be in Mesa through Sunday the 27th and then we drive home Monday. It will be a quick trip- but so worth it.
I'm really looking forward to being with my family. I thought that it would feel more like Christmas with the snow, but I realized that family is what makes it feel like Christmas.
See you all soon!

Shake it Senorita

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Temple Square

Last Thursday Ryan had to work late, so I decided to take the kids down town, meet Ryan at work and walk over to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. I wish I could say it was a great time, but there was a Jazz game that night, so instead of taking about 35 minutes to get to down town, it took over an hour. By the time we got there, Ryan ate the dinner we brought him and we walked over to Temple Square, it was 8pm already! Not only that, but I think we picked the coldest night yet. It was only 13 degrees! Needless to say, we didn't stay long. We walked around the temple and the visitors center and that was it! My feet were frozen from my toes to the arch of my foot. Since then I have invested in some new shoes.
Kinda a bad picture, but that is Ryan, Clark and Kate at the bottom

Here's all of us freezing our tootsies off!

Gingerbread House

It's a Haynes family tradition to make gingerbread houses every year before Christmas. For the past few years I have continued the tradition with my own family- usually just Ryan and I. In years passed, we made our houses out of graham cracker, the way my Mom does it, but this year I decided to take it a step further. I've always wanted to try to make a real gingerbread house out of real gingerbread. I've seen those kits at the store and have been tempted to buy one, but I am "Suzy-homemaker" and couldn't cheat by buying one, but decided to make one all by myself.

I found a recipe in a cookbook I already had, that had the recipe and the measurements for the house itself. So Monday afternoon I decided to give it a try- so we could decorate it for Family Home Evening. Well much to my surprise, it took a lot longer to make all the pieces than I anticipated. I finally finished making the pieces about 7:30pm- which was much too late to put it together and decorate it. So after the kids went to bed, Ryan and I put it together.

The recipie made enough dough to make a base for the house- which I didn't do- so we had some extra dough. Tuesday the kids and I made gingerbread boys and girls and decorated them.

Then Tuesday night when Ryan got home, I got everything out and we decorated the house. It was alot of fun. Kate and I decorated one side and Clark and Ryan decorated the other.

This is the side Kate and I decorated. At first I tried to make it look cute- then I just let her go to town and put stuff where ever she wanted.

Ryan was not so lenient with Clark. Their side of course looks pristine. (Ryan is a superintendent you know)

So eventhough all our Christmas decorations are still in our attic in Mesa, we are finding ways to fill our home with the Christmas Spirit!

It's About Time!

Snow. And lots of it.

The last two weeks have been very cold ( 10 at night and 20's during the day) but NO SNOW. What's the point of having cold weather if you don't have snow to go along with it?! Last night it started snowing and has been off and on all day today. We're supposed to get snow almost everyday this week and I love it! It finally feels like Christmas- minus the being with family part.

This morning we got to do something we've never done before- shovel snow. We don't have a snow shovel yet (we're going tonight to Home Depot) so I had to borrow our neighbors. They even had a little kids shovel, so Clark was my little helper. Kate lasted about 15 minutes. After she had been inside for a few minutes by herself, I went to check on her and she had taken her pants off and put on shorts! Umm, we don't live in Arizona anymore.

Other than that- we had a great time!

PMS.

Is it possible for a 3 year old to have PMS? I think so. Yesterday I had quite the day with Kate. It was tears from the moment she woke up. Here's an example: We were outside playing in the snow and Kate had to go pee. So I sent her upstairs by herself, usually she can do it all by herself, but for some reason yesterday she didn't make it. After a few minutes I went in to check on her, come to find her in her room trying to put a diaper on herself. I told her she could not wear a diaper, but she had to wear 'little panties' (real panties) or 'princess panties' (pull-ups). She just lost it. She wanted to wear that diaper. I took it away and told her to get herself dressed. After about 10 minutes she finally put a pull-up on, but then came the decision as to what to wear since her skirt and tights were all wet. Here's how the conversation went after that.
Me: Here's your white tights, put these on.
Kate: I don't want those tights.
Me: Ok. Then put on some pants.
Kate: I don't want pants, I want to wear a skirt.
Me: If you want to wear a skirt, then you have to wear tights.
Kate: I don't want to wear those tights.
Me: Ok, fine. Either put on the pants or the tights.

At this point I walk out of her room, with her still throwing a fit. After a few minutes she decided to put on the tights, but of course couldn't put them on herself- even though usually she demands she does it herself. So she is yelling/crying from her room for me to come help her.
Once we had the tights on we had to pick out a skirt. The one she wanted was dirty, so that started the whole process over again until she could pick out a skirt.

Poor girl. She is doomed. If she is already having emotional issues over everything- I'm not looking forward to when she is 13!

Mouse Trapped

The saga of my mouse bite continues.......

Yesterday I was making dinner when Ryan saw a little something run from behind the fridge and into the panty. He slowly started moving the stuff that was on the floor out of the pantry-then got the idea that he should close off the pantry opening, so the mouse couldn't run out again.

So here is the mouse blockaide. Ryan put up this foam board and then continued to take everything off the floor ,only to find- THE MOUSE!
Here is the mouse trapped in the empty pantry. I was disgusted. I couldn't even look at it, Ryan had to take the pictures for me. The mouse was not very happy to be stuck in there, in fact he tried to jump out. He could even get about a foot and half off the floor.

Ryan had a 'Ratatuille' moment where he thought the mouse was cute and didn't want to kill it. He even let the kids see it and was getting a bit too attached when I had to remind him that the rodent had knawed on my elbow and deserved the death penalty.

So as we are deciding how we are going to kill it, Ryan got the broom, and trapped the mouse under the broom. We decided Ryan should take it out into the garage and either drown it or whatever other cruel, or torturous thing he could think of. When Ryan lifted up the broom, he was dead. Much easier than we anticipated.

Here's my fearless husband with the dead mouse. He put it in a ziplock bag and filled it with water, just in case Basil of Baker St. decided to wake up.

I'm glad we finally found the mouse and got rid of it, but now I'm worried about more. I've got the heebie-jeebies all over again, and I'm afraid to walk into a dark room or to open doors. YUCK. It's like living in the Fire Swamp and being afraid the R.O.U.S.'s are going to jump out and get you.

January

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we won't be moving back to Mesa until January, for sure this time. I know you're thinking, "yeah right, I've heard that before", but we really are coming home the end of January. Ryan is in charge of a 10 story building, and he needs to see it all the way until the end before we can come home. When we come home, he will be starting a private school remodel in Chandler.
I am very excited to get back to Mesa and back to my "normal" life with all my friends and family, but there is a little part of my heart that will be sad to leave Utah. When we first got here I didn't invest any time or energy in making friends, but when we found out we were going to be here longer than expected, I decided it was time to reach out and make friends. I'm finally getting to the point where I feel I have friends at church and I know who people are. I've even made some really good friends I'll be sad to leave.
This has been a great experience for Ryan and I and for us as a family. I feel so much closer to Ryan, and I'm learning how to be a better Mom. It also has made me appreciate some things I took for granted. First- my family. I really have missed being able to go to my Mom's, and being able to go to family functions. Not to mention the baby sitters! I don't think I've ever spent so much money on babysitters the whole of Kate and Clark's life as I have while being here!
Second- my house. I didn't realize how much I loved my house until I had to live in a rental. Ryan and I spent a lot of time and money over the last two and half years fixing up our house and I miss it!
Third- my ward. I miss all my friends and feeling a part of the ward. I miss the dynamics of it and the feeling of family there.
Anyways- I didn't mean to go on and on- just wanted to let you know we'll be home soon. I'm making a point to get home before London's Run, so I can run the 10k- anyone want to join me? I won't be in very good running shape by then, I can't run anymore- seeing as the high is 35 and there's snow on the ground!

Discovery Gateway Kids Museum

Discovery Gateway Museum is in down town Salt Lake and has to be the coolest kids museum I've ever been to. I wouldn't call it a museum as much as I would call it a huge play house. The whole idea is taking real life things , making them small enough for kids, and using toys instead of the real thing. For example they had a whole house set up with a kitchen, living room and bedroom. In the kitchen was a fridge with play food in it, plates, cups and utensils in the drawers, a sink, and a kitchen table. In the living room there was couches and chairs (the cute little kid ones) and ironing board with an iron and a basket of clothes. In the bedroom there were babies, beds with blankets and pillows, clothes for the babies, pack- n- play and a stroller! And that was just the house. Here's a look at some of the other things they had-

This was the construction zone. They had all kinds of construction vehicles, and those grey foam blocks were for building. They had two cranes on a pulley system so you could move the blocks up and down.
This was the farm area. They had costumes you could put on to be a cowboy or cowgirl, a cow or like Clark, a horse. The chickens in the background all had a basket with eggs in it. There was also full size horse you could climb on and a "garden" where you could pick food out of it and put it in baskets.

This is the grocery store. This was probably my favorite- it was so real. As you can see this was the produce section with all kinds of fruit and vegetables. Then there were actual isles with canned goods. There was also a deli that had a real looking deli case with meat, eggs, cheese fish ect. The bakery had breads and croissants . The kids got a shopping cart and walked around the store picking out whatever they wanted.

Then you actually get to check it out! They have the cash registers that make noise when you push the buttons and everything. We had alot of fun in the store.

They also had cars and this real old-time gas pump. Clark loved putting gas in his truck.

All in all it was a fun day! We even met Ryan for lunch afterward, since his job site was only 4 blocks away. The only draw back was how expensive it is. It's $8.50 per person over 1 year old! Luckily I had a coupon and only paid for 2 instead of 3. It's a shame- if it wasn't so expensive we'd go all the time!

Apples

I bought 4 boxes : 2 fugi 2 granny smith

Spent 3 days turning the apples into 15 jars of apple pie filling, 12 jars of cinnamon applesauce and 10 jars of regular applesauce. I am tired and glad they are done!

Mouse Bite

The strangest thing happened at 5am this morning. I was enjoying my sleep when all of a sudden I feel this scratch on my elbow. ( I had it bent up by my head) I thought it was just Clark, he's been getting up alot latley in the night, so I rolled over to investigate. No Clark. I turned the lamp on, get out of bed, and Ryan lifts the mattress up and this blur of color goes running near the edge of our bed. YUCK! So I freak out and jump on the bed, just to look over and see it run out of our room. Ryan gets up and for the next 20 minutes we're searching the house for the rodent. The gross thing is that it actually drew blood. It scratched the skin right off and I had a little drop of blood on my skin. I'm not sure it was a mouse- I didn't get a good look, but what else can bite and run that fast?
What grosses me out the most is that it was in my bed on my pillow. NASTY. Needless to say we changed all the sheets and tomorrow I'm going to go to Walmart to get a mouse trap.
I called my sister Bridgett just to make sure I didn't need a rabies shot- and she said most mice don't carry it- so I'm good.
Now I'm just freaked out to walk around my house without shoes and to sleep in my bed!

Okland Halloween Party

Happy Halloween from Peter Pan and Tinkerbell! Or should I say Clark and Kate? Today Okland had their annual Halloween party at the main office in downtown Salt Lake. Everyone that works in the office decorates their cubicle and the kids go around to each and 'trick or treat'. I must say I was quite impressed with the decorations and even the staff that dressed up! The kids had a great time, got way too much candy, and even got to have pizza for lunch with Daddy. (Ryan played hookie for an hour to come be with us!)
The caption for this picture is "I'm Peter Pan!"

Here's Kate and Clark outside the office with all the other kids and staff who dressed up.

Here's the whole group.

I'm thinkin we may not need to trick or treat tomorrow night! It's suppossed to be in the 40's tomorrow. We'll probably just do our close neighbors.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SNOW!

Kate and Clark haven't wanted to play in the backyard for about a month, but on the day it's only 35 degrees out and a windchill of 25 degrees; they want to go out. And why? SNOW! So I spend about 10 minutes getting gloves, boots, beanies and jackets on, just to have them play for about 3 minutes and come back in because they are cold!

This was Tuesday evening. We went to Walmart and got gloves and boots- so we had to try them out.
Walmart didn't have any boy boots or gloves, so Clark wore some of Kates mittens.
This was Wednesday, you can see the snow is starting to melt. Clark took my hair broom (I don't use it here) outside and was 'cleaning' the snow off the grass. He had a great time, he is a little worker bee.

Is this a blackmail picture or what? Clark wearing Kates furry pink snow boots working in the snow! I think it's time to find him some boots!

It's Snowing!

Believe it or not, we are having our first snow today! It's coming down pretty hard right now, and it's supposed to snow today and tomorrow. The high is 40 and the low tonight is 20! Here's some pictures I just took- but I'll make sure to take more as soon as it all stops.

Family Pictures

Today we went up to Provo Canyon to take family pictures. Ryan's cousin, Erin, was nice enough to take them for us. We went up a few weeks ago to find some spots to take pictures, but alot of the trees hadn't quite turned all the way, but the red ones looked awesome. When we got up there today, all the green had turned to yellow, but all the red had fallen off! I was kinda disappointed at first, but the longer we were there, the more fall/winter it really looked. We even had some cloud cover, now if we could just get all four of us smiling and looking at the camera at the same time......
I'm saving the best ones for our Christmas cards, but here's a sneak peak......