Ice Skating Princesses

We had a fun time taking the girls ice skating a couple weekends ago. They all did well on the ice! Kaitlyn is getting more and more comfortable on the ice, while Ashley is doing well on her "training" ice skates. Lauren surprised us all, though, by getting brave and trying some skating all on her own, without Dad's help. She had a few falls, but did great. Most of the time, though, she (like her sisters) did laps around the rink holding desperately onto Dad. A good time had by all!

Our house is framed!

I haven't posted anything for awhile, but wanted to "show off" some pictures of the much-awaited framing of our house. Here's a view from the front and the back. They plan to start the 4-way work this week (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, gas line etc) andso we're hoping to continue to see progress. It's been a slow process, but we're finally seeing some progress. We had hoped to be in the house before school started last August, but our hopes and expectations have had to adjust several times, and now we're just really hoping to be in before our baby comes in May. We'll see...

Snow Day

We had a big snowfall this week, and celebrated by playing lots in the snow. We made a snowgirl in our backyard. It's pretty pathetic, I'll admit. I'm just not able to put big snowballs together to pile on top of each other. I'm blaming it on Utah's "dry" snow, but I'm sure it's mainly my fault. But in my defense, I grew up in Arizona and have no idea how to make snowmen.

We also had a great time sledding down a nearby hill. Lauren was fearless and had a great time! She insisted on going sledding (and skiing in Kaitlyn's skis) again and again.

And on Saturday, I took Kaitlyn skiing for the first time. It was fun and she did pretty well considering it was her first time. She basically stood in front of me with her skiis in the middle of mine and held on to me. At first it was a little tricky, but we figured out how to do it. We had great skiing conditions with all the recent snow and had a fun time.

It's a Boy!

We had our follow-up ultrasound this past week, and it looks like we're having a baby boy! We're all very excited. Ashley at first seemed a little disappointed and a little leery of a new baby brother (having had some bad experiences with boys being mean to her), but has warmed up to the idea. We're going back and forth about names and so forth, but I think the "pre-birth" name for now is going to be Wilbur, at least until we think of something better that'll stick. We'll probably do something similar to what we did with our other children, and bring 2 names to the hospital and see which one best fits the new little one. We're about halfway through the pregnancy, so we're slowly getting closer to the May 18th due date. Can't wait!

Christmas Report

We had a great Christmas! It was fun to be around family after three years in Maryland, and we enjoyed great holiday activities, from countdown advent calendars to school at projects. Some of our favorite things were the "Savior of the World" play at Temple Square, decorating gingerbread houses, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert (be sure to catch it when they broadcast it on PBS next Christmas--it was spectacular!), driving around special neighborhoods all decorated in lights, and watching "A Christmas Carol" at a community theater. We've also had some fun game nights with friends and family and several ward/work/city/school holiday parties.

Eyes were aglow and tiny tots found it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve, but they did and Santa came and found us! We set up a video camera to catch Santa in the act (a la Mortensens) and had some amazed and excited little girls on Christmas morning. Santa came through with fun presents for everyone. Lauren's favorite presents were Ashley's dolly and Kaitlyn's roller skates (she kinda liked some of her own presents, too). Ashley especially liked her Mommy and Me dolly, a new video game player, Barbie Dancing Princess dolls and Lego blocks. Kaitlyn was thrilled to find an Easy Bake Oven from Santa, as well as a beginning knitting and sewing kit, a Barbie and a jewelry box. Melvin was excited to get a new bike and a new wedding ring (I lost my old one a couple months ago and it's now certain to show up now that we've replaced it!).

For Tami's Christmas gifts, I usually try to follow a theme. This year, the theme was an 80's song with the refrain "You spin me round, round baby, round, round like a record, baby." I tried to find things that spin round, round. Some of the items included a new CD and DVD and little things like that, but some of the bigger items included a blender, a can server, her KitchenAid mixer (repaired after being broken for over 2 years!), and so forth.

A Merry Christmas all around, I guess. Can't wait 'til next year!

Temple Square Lights

It was very cold, but we had a fun time taking our kids to see the lights at Temple Square for family night. We went with the Halbfells and had a good time. They seem to add a few new things every year and the Main Street Plaza seemed a little more elaborate than in years past. We got some good pictures--the trick is to not use a flash! Here's one of Kaitlyn with the lights.

Gingerbread House Time!

We made our gingerbread houses tonight. It's a fun family tradition, made easier by pre-made kits with candy and frosting ready to go. As expected, Lauren ate most of her alloted candy, Kaitlyn agonized over where to place each red hot and gumdrop, and Ashley accidentally pushed one of the walls in during her decorating. The wall was repaired, though, and a marvelous candy house was the finished product.