A lot to share

I went through a "HATE MY BLOG" phase for a while. My sidebar items were showing on the bottom and it was driving me CRAZY. I know, that sounds stupid, but it made me not want to even post anything. Well, I finally figured it out, yeah me! So, here's a LOT (probably way more than you want to know/see) of info .....

Of course, December is crazy busy. This year, the girls didn't have a Christmas dance concert, instead they just did a little concert in their studio. I actually like it better, we can see them better and I don't have to buy a $60 costume for them to wear once. The girls both did an awesome job and enoyed themselves so much.

Next came the Ward Christmas Party.  I am on the committee, so it was a lot of work.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone loved it.  Amy Hall (a lot of you know her), is the chairman,so of course it was awesome.  We had games for the kids and adults and the highlight for the kids was sitting on Santa's lap. I was shocked that Bo didn't cry!

Now, it's off to Temple Square to see the lights.  It was cold.  But, I got a couple great pictures of the Temple.

Isn't it beautiful.  You certainly can't deny that.  Below is a cute picture of Parker and Claire. Bo was mad that he wasn't sitting with them.  He wants to do everything Parker does.

I wanted to get a picture of Great Grandma Lever. What a sweetie she is, I love her so much.  This is a cute picture of her with Ivie, Jamie, Grandpa Rex and Great Grandma Lever.

The Sunday before Christmas, my kids always get to wear their new Church Christmas outfits.  The girls' dresses are gorgeous, I wish my picture did them justice, but for some reason the kids weren't cooperating that day, but here's the best I got.

Cute picture of Dad and Bo, handsome boys!

In true Sarah form, I didn't get a ton of pictures on Christmas.  I much more enjoy watching my kids, then taking pictures.  I may regret it someday, but I'm doing better than I ever have, so here's a couple.  This is Bo with his new Tool Set.  He LOVES it and it's so cool, all the men love it and with they would have had one when they were kids.

I'll never understand why, but both Ivie and Claire wanted a Snuggie so bad, but don't they look cute sporting them?

I know you're all thinking, "okay Sarah, enough", well I'm done.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a great 2010.  I'm looking forward to another fun year, full of wonderful memories and blessing.  Thanks to all of you for your friendship.

Exciting Things...

Well, I'm really excited about a few things. First of all, Bo is pretty much potty trained. In the last 4 days, he's only had one accident (which was probably mostly my fault). Even at church yesterday and going to both grandparents, no accidents. I'm so proud of him. For some reason I was so scared to potty train him. My girls were so easy and I was scared to do a boy because everyone says how hard they are. However, he's done great. He's such a cutie. We bought him a Spiderman bike about 5 or 6 months ago, he wanted a big bike like Claire's. However, we told him he couldn't have it until he went potty. We strategically placed it in the kitchen where he could always see it as enticement. But, he would just ride Claire's instead. We brought it in the house a few days ago becuase he had been doing so well to let him ride it on the wood flooring (since it was snowing) and now he's in love with it.

Second, Trav and I booked a cruise for next April last night. I'm so excited to get away with him for a week. And neither of us have been to the locations we're going to so it will be a first for both of us.

Everything else is pretty much the same. The girls are doing good. We are all excited for Christmas and need to get busy getting ready for that!

Stop the madness

Okay, this has been a crazy few weeks. It all started about three weeks ago when I got a call from Trav in the morning telling me he had been in an accident (he's okay, just a banged up Truck that's already been fixed). Then a week after that the battery in the van died. Luckily I was on my street so it wasn't a huge deal and Trav fixed it that night. It was a crazy day for that to happen. It was, what I like to call, Dance Day. Dance Day is Thursday's because both of the girls have dance and it's a lot of driving back and forth. This particular day was Watch Day which meant I needed to stay and watch, which also meant I couldn't take the van so I borrowed my mother-in-law's car. I also needed to take Shayla (my babysitter)to the airport. This made for a crazy day, and quite frankly, I was glad when it was over. Then last week, we had our family vacation to Disneyland. We had a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much easier it's seeming to be as the kids grow a bit (lots of pics on Facebook if you want to see them). We got home from Disneyland on Friday and had to buy a water heater that very night. Then, on Saturday, we had to go buy a new fridge. Craziness. I really hope we're done and don't have any major expenses for a few months (please, I need a break). Okay, so that was a bit of a vent session. Hope you don't mind....

Perspective

It's funny how God has a way of making you think or putting things into perspective when you really need to. A few days ago, I was having "One of THOSE days". All of you know what I'm talking about. The kind of days when you want to cry becuase you think your fat, you think you have no friends, you think your kids are so hard to handle, you think your house is a disaster, well, you get the picture. Anyway, I was having one of those days. I tried my best to get the kids off to bed as early as I could becuase I needed sometime to myself. When Trav got home, he went to check on the kids and called me to come look at Bo. I almost started crying when I saw the sweetest, most inocent face. It made me step back and realize how lucky and blessed I really am. I love being a wife and mother, I love my job, I love my family so much. I'm thankful for those little things that really seem to put things into perspective.

Growing Up ...

We had a wonderful day last Saturday. My sweet little Ivie (not so little any more) got baptized. Ivie is such a great example. I am thankful that she made the decision to get baptized. She looked so beautiful on Saturday and on Sunday. Her dress was so pretty. She was so excited about everything that it made the entire day so fun. She got new scriptures and a new scripture bag. She's been reading them every day. She got a few other presents from others and she loved that. Her friend Gracie also got baptized the same day which made it that much more fun. I am thankful for the Hall's. They are such a great family and are so willing to help out. I'm thankful for our family and friends.



Ivie just before her baptism.


Ivie, Claire, and Bo


Ivie and Grace (so pretty)


Ivie before church on Sunday


Now.... rewind a few weeks. Here are some pictures of the girls on their first day of school. Ivie is in the 3rd grade and doing great. She enjoys school most of the time and being with her friends. It's so funny how much drama there is already for an 8 year old, I love hearing all of it. Claire started Kindergarten, that was a little more tough. She's such a quiet little peanut that I worry about her. I know she's doing okay though. In the mornings, she doesn't want to get up and get dressed but after she's done with that she seems to be okay. She has 4 little friends in class with her so that really helps.