Must be Santa...

Waiting in line to see Santa for one hour.....$4.50 (we bought cookies and a drink)

Purchasing the pictures on a flash drive.....$24.99 (Sucker will now be spelled C-A-R-R-I-E)

Pictures of your kids with Santa...Priceless (I guess)

I did get a very beautiful one hundred and twenty eight megabyte thumb drive with a beautiful green ribbon. It's really "schnazy".

Logan told Santa he wants a Lego Spiderman Mini-figure to replace the one his little brother lost, and the rest is "Santa's choice". Good, because Santa has already purchased many items.

Caden told Santa he wants an airplane. When asked what kind, he says..."a big one". Hey Santa, bring us a Lear Jet!

You can track Santa's journey and see the countdown to Christmas on http://www.noradsanta.org/

Oh Thistlehair the Christmas Bear...

We all love this Christmas song thanks to Aunt Lana. Ryan put up our Christmas Tree and started to decorate it while I was at work the day after Thanksgiving. Poor Caden sees it as pure torture that there were so many balls, but Mom and Dad won't let him throw them (at least when they see him try). I removed all the glass balls and we will start over later.

We raked leaves today. Logan and Caden had fun playing in them while I tried to coax them into a bag (the leaves, not the boys).

The end of an era...

Now that my grandma's second husband has married again my mom and her siblings have been closing out the house they grew up in. It's funny how just walking into that house makes me feel eight years old all over again. I remember making birthday cards from the stuff in Grandpa's desk, parties in the backyard and "tinkering" in the shed. There was a clay indian in my Grandpa's bathroom that glowed. It was a Sunday afternoon favorite. He also had a vial of a silver liquid (I now know it is Mercury) that was fun to watch roll around and hold (exept we now know it causes cancer.) There was not really a finished basement, but a big piece of the floor that lifted up in the kitchen to let you in the cellar and crawl space. I should have taken a picture of that. We made Grandpa take us downstairs virtually every time we visited. It was a novelty.

This is the Wright Halloween Party.

These are some shots of all the wierdos at the Wright Halloween Party. Logan told my Aunt Lana it was the best party he has ever been to, in his entire life. It was a fun party. We used to do this when we were little. Ryan went as Adam or Michael Angelo's David statue. Either way by the end of the night he lost a leaf and he had to take off his costume so he did not offend or confuse some of the guests.

Four Wheeling in Fairview

As you can see this long ride made Caden sleepy, very sleepy. He had a nice nap he would not have had otherwise. It was a nice Saturday in Fairview. The view from the top of the mountain was better than fair.

Farmer Maybe's Pumpkin Patch

We have been watching the pumpkins grow at the Maybe's Farm all season. Grandma wheeled the kids down the street to find the best pumpkins. Thanks G and G!

After 4 long years the backyard is done.

Ryan finally finished the last little corner of the backyard. He wanted to zeroscape it to "save money on water." It only cost $600 dollars in rock to "save money on water." At least it is done. Now all we need is the fire pit.

Watermelon!!

We grew these watermelon in our backyard. They were sweet. They were not seedless watermelon and I guess Logan has never seen watermelon with that many black seeds. He was fairly annoyed that you had to pick out or spit out the seeds. Kids these days! I sound like my grandma.

Logan Saves the Day!!!

Just like all superheros, Logan was able to prove he has superpowers last night when his mother made a very stupid mistake. That mistake was thinking that Caden would stay in his car seat without being buckled in. We were leaving the library at around 7:30 pm when I noticed a man and a women (with 2 little kids in their car) standing next to their open hood holding one end of jumper cables. It was obvious to me that they needed someone to jump start their car, so I told them I would move my truck closer to theirs. I put Caden and Logan in the backseat and moved 2 parking spaces over. I got out to open the hood and noticed that someone (guess who) was flashing the headlights at me. I ran to the car door, but I was a moment too late. He locked it. Logan (the good son) had already hooked himself into his 5 point harness. Logan has never had good hand strength, so I always have to unbuckle him. Yes, most of the time I like it that way. I tried to get Logan to unroll his window, but I guess I had the windows locked (because Caden had unrolled his and threw a toy out his window last week.) Plan B, get Caden to try to push the button to unlock the door or unroll any of the windows. I was laughing the whole time this was going on, somewhat because I didn't want the kids to be scared and also because this was so stupid. While I was trying to convince Caden that now was a good time to play with the buttons, Logan was carefully trying to maneuver himself out of his car seat. He managed to open the chest lock. It took him a while and he had to take off his shoes and his pants were pulled down to his knees, but he was able to get out of his seat and save me from having to have the police unlock my car. Logan was so proud to have saved the day. Some of you may ask why I didn't call Ryan. He was not in the state. If I had called him, he would have just laughed at me. The poor people whose car battery was broken felt so bad. More proof to the old adage, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!

Where's God?

I was putting Caden to bed tonight and singing him his usual song when he interrupted me and asked "Where's God?" I had him repeat himself to make sure I had understood him correctly and then told him God was in heaven and he loved Caden and checked on him all the time. He said, "No, Mommy. I want God." I was a little perplexed at this response, but then I realized he wanted me to sing I am a Child of God to him. So, I sang him all three verses and he happily went to bed. He really loves the nursery.

A few weeks ago we were driving to my parents house on a Sunday night. Logan was mad at me for some reason and so I was trying to get him to come out of his bad mood and talk. I asked him what he learned at church today. Logan would not respond and Caden piped up all excited. "A book, dug up from the ground." Apparently, they had been talking about the Book of Mormon that week. We have the best nursery leaders and substitutes.

The picture is of Caden wearing a beautiful headband he got in nursery. It says something about forgiveness. He wears it every now and then. All the kids in the nursery were really cute wearing them when I picked Caden up. The nursery is full of boys. Their names would make any nursery leader crazy: Caden, Kade, Beck, Beckham, Bladen and Madsen. There is usually only one or two little girls.

I love the Summer Rain

I love the rain in the summer. I didn't get to do much playing in it because I was the photographer. Caden was actually the one who requested we go play. It took me a good long time for me to figure out the thing he kept saying he wanted was an umbrella. Speaking of umbrellas, how do you like my U of U football helmet umbrella? You're jealous, huh?

Nostalgia...

You Grew Up in the 80's or Early 90's if.....
01. You've ever ended a sentence with the word PSYCHE.
02. You watched the Pound Puppies.
03. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bellaire ..and do the Carlton.
04. You swore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
05. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried start a club of your own.
06. You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
07. You know that WHOA comes from Joey on Blossom
08. Two words: Hammer Pants
09. If you ever watched Fraggle Rock
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars...and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that inc incredible sound effect
11. You can sing the entire theme song to DuckTales (Woo-ooh!)
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to cartoons.
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen...and still know the turtles names.
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
17. You played the game MASH (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it. (As in Jor ass looks good in those jeans.)
19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?
20. You wanted to change you your name to JEM in Kindergarten. (She's truly outrageous.)
21. You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all the Ramona books.
22. You know the profound meaning of WAX ON, WAX OFF
23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
27. You took lunch boxes to school... and traded Garbage Pail in the schoolyard.
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
29. You still get the urge to say NOT after every sentence.
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
33 . You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like, probably in neon colors, too)
35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying I know you are, but what am I?
36. You remember I've fallen and I can't get up
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
41. You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember Popples.
43. Don't worry, be happy
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do...getting yelled at by younger hip members of the family)
46. You remember boom boxes.. and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
48. You know what it meant to say Care Bear Stare!!
49. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and My Little Pony Tales
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as NKOTB
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on Saved By The Bell, The ORIGINAL class.
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
55. You just sang those words to yourself.
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.
57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool!
59. You had a mullet!
60. You still sing We are the World
61. You tight rolled your jeans.
62. You owned a banana clip
63. You remember where's the Beef?
64. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talk in' about Willis?"
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
66. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!!!

NO!

After 2 years of having Caden's diaper changed and putting clothes on him he still resists (sometimes violently) nearly every time I have to change him. Oh well, in 15 years I will be wishing he was 2 and under my complete control. Ha Ha Ha. Like I'm the one in control! Just in case you were worried, my sheets did survive this little photo op.

What do they call boy mermaids?

I don't know what they call boy mermaids, but these are some of the cutest ones I have seen. I can't really explain why they have boobs, but I can tell you it really upset them. Chris and Ryan buried the boys (Noah, Brigham, Logan) in the sand. My neice Tiffany had a great idea to make mermaid sand scupltures out of them, but I don't know who made them so busty! Caden wouldn't sit still long enough for anyone to make him into a mermaid. Smart boy.

Twelve Years!!!

I can't believe it has been twelve years. I wonder if Ryan could (or would) jump like that anymore. Anyways, thanks for twelve good years and two good kids. I love you Ryan.

I need a night cap!

Logan has suddenly decided that he needs to wear a hat to bed. So, weather it is hot or cold the kid goes to bed with this stocking cap on. It's hysterical. Sometimes he takes it off before I check on him and sometimes I have to pry it off his sweaty head before I go to bed. He even took it to the cabin and slept with it there.

Caden will find a way to eat the things he wants. This story does end with the watermelon falling to my kitchen floor and breaking apart, but it was funny anyway.

Little Stream...Big Fish.

Logan caught his first fish from a stream at the cabin in Fairview. His Aunt Candace, Aunt Michelle and friend Gina helped him. Gina dug up worms, baited the line, and let Logan reel in the catch. Thanks Gina! I have been wondering how I will get the boys involved in the great outdoors without getting my hands dirty. The only fish Ryan has ever caught was in a stock pond on his mission. It was raining and muddy. Logan is wearing the newest in fashionable rainwear from "Hefty Bag."

Has anyone seen April??

I guess I missed a whole month. There was just too much random stuff going on. I'm involved in a group called International Aid Serving Kids that takes a group of health care workers and a dental team to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to provide medical and dental care to the people in rural areas of those countries. I have been working to purchase the medications and try to figure out how to get vaccines into the country without getting people arrested at the airport in Haiti. We ordered the meds today. It's such a relief to have that done. The vaccines are going to take some more work, so they won't be taking them on this trip. If you are interested in my new "hobby" you can see their website iask4kids.com.

It is so humbling to me to think of how much we have compared to other people in the world. Our healthcare system is cumbersome and complicated at times, but our access to care is good.

Easter

We celebrated Easter on Monday at the Dunford's and on the following Saturday at the Berg's. Logan got a volcano that really erupts in his Easter Basket.

Caden, Kaitlin, Cadence and Logan all loved the bubbles at Grandma and Grandpa Berg's. Thanks Clayton and Michelle for playing outside in the cold.

Now you see it...Now you don't.

Logan lost his first tooth. He refused to let anyone pull it out so he woke up one morning with it sitting on his tongue. He's lucky. I hear that the tooth fairy won't retrieve swallowed teeth and give money. The tooth right next to it is very loose too. He's no baby anymore. Well at least most of the time.

Caden's first trip to the Pacific Ocean

Carrie found the beach to be very cold on Friday. Caden chased every bird he could find and ignored the water. Logan and Ryan played in the sand. They even built a sand castle and then a sea turtle, but their photographer was not on the ball and missed the pics. Saturday was a much nicer day on the beach (for February.)