I wonder why they weren't falling asleep...

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that even though it was about an hour past their bedtime, Jacob decided to put every blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal into the crib and then climb on in himself. I mean, that would be nothing but soothing. They obviously had plenty of room to lay down and sleep too. Weird.

Because You Are Dying to Know

I give you, my Christmas post. We really did have a great holiday season with some favorite traditions and experimenting with new ones.

Ronna and I took the bart into the city to get the husbands from work and go to dinner. It was fun to be with friends and enjoy Union Square.

As we have done for many years, we went with the Hisermans to the Oakland Temple to enjoy the lights and getting to hang out.



And yes, even though we live 60 miles away from each other, we still managed to show up wearing the same sweater. Great minds I guess.


We spent Christmas Eve together, just our family. We had dinner, went on a drive to look at Christmas lights, and read from the scriptures. It was a nice night followed by a fun day. Jacob was excited from the minute he woke up and Parker was excited because Jacob was.

This is the after. Lots of presents, a big mess, and totally content.

We went over to Ronna's for dinner that night and once again enjoyed a fun, non-stressful event.

Continued

The day after Christmas we drove down to So Cal to visit Jamie's younger brother and his family. Jamie's parents flew in too. We stayed for 5 days and then headed back. It was a great trip.

Jacob was enjoying our new car and the rear entertainment system. He and Parker watched movies and he even played his new Star Wars game. Jamie and I enjoyed the wireless headphones.

Jacob and his cousin John. They had this awesome firetruck that they drove up and down the street, I don't know how many times. Jacob tried to ask if we could borrow it and bring it home. I don't really blame him for trying, it was pretty cool.


We also went to a darling amusement park. It was perfect for our young group. Jacob could do ALL of the rides, and the younger ones could do most of them. The weather was beautiful too.

Parker loves him some choo choo.

The boys are always excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, even if they are not always excited to hold still long enough for a picture.

We came home on New Year's Eve, went to bed early, and still had a few more days to enjoy no work and no school. We had a really great Christmas and hope you did too.

Ward Christmas Party

So this is what has consumed me for the last month. I am Activities Chair for our ward and we had our Christmas Party last Saturday. We had a Night in Bethlehem. I was really pleased with how it all came together.

Clay Collins is amazing not only because he built this for us, but he put it together in about an hour. It was perfect for our program at the end of the evening.

We created an open air market to serve dinner. I thought the booths looked very cool and I was so appreciative of the people that came to help me set up.
We had tables set up, and also had lots of families that sat on the floor, on their blankets, to eat dinner. I think the kids, especially enjoyed this.



It went well and I think most everyone had a good time. I was kind of a zombie on Sunday though. We came home from church, had lunch, I put Parker down for a nap, and then took a 3 hour nap myself. I woke up a whole new person. I am excited for Christmas, excited for new and old traditions with my family, excited for parties, excited to focus on the birth of our Savior--it is such a fun time of year!

Thanks Lisa

Thanksgiving was AWESOME!! Love you guys!

Strep Throat

Last Monday, Jacob woke up with a scratchy throat and by the end of the day his voice was worse and he had a fever. I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning where they did a strep culture and sent it to the lab. Because we it went down to the lab after 11 o'clock (I looked at my watch as she was taking the culture and it was 11:05), we had a to wait an extra day for the results.

The good news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. I was relieved that whatever the bug was seemed to be gone and we could attend the weekend's birthday parties and church without worrying about infecting others.

The bad news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. He had missed almost an entire week of school for a cold that, looking back now, was cleared up by Wednesday night. He missed his Thanksgiving feast at school on Friday morning and we were stuck in the house all week under quarantine.

Friday was a day of mixed emotion. I am happy to report that he is doing great and will be heading back to school in the morning.

Jacob and Charlie: Take Two

This is the age Jacob and Charlie were when they met. It is so fun to watch Parker and Dylan and see so many similarities between them and their older counter parts. Sometimes I wish I knew what these two were thinking ... sometimes.