Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us in AZ!

Andrew's shoes

Andrew has been quite the little helper recently. He loves to pack things in boxes (and unpack them shortly afterwards.) This morning, he asked me to help him put on his shoes and socks so we could pack stuff in the garage. As I was helping him I asked which shoes he wanted. He said he wanted his dentist shoes. I asked him if he meant tennis shoes, but he said no, he meant dentist shoes. I asked him why they were dentist shoes. He explained that they had a tongue, but...they don't eat.

Andrew's song in our Primary Program

Dressing up for a Trunk or Treat

I just had a unique hair-do for the evening.

Kit (aka Chris) Carson

Our cuddly puppy

Fireman Drew

Princess Na Li

Umm, I think he said he was a Manufacturing Cost Estimator ;/

7 things you already knew (or didn't) about Darren

So how does this newfangled posting on a blog thing work? I work for a tech company and read about all these web 2.0 companies, but never actually use the technology. Pretty funny. Anyway, I guess I've been tagged at this MEME thing. What does that stand for? Make Everyone More Embarrassed? So here goes.



1. I have a very, very hard time sitting still. I always have. I loved school and love church, but have as hard a time sitting through sacrament meeting as Christopher. I am always bouncing a leg or wiggling. I can sympathize with my kids.



2. I internalize everything very deeply. It seems like when I watch a movie, I spend the next three days thinking about every aspect of how it matters in my life. In some ways, I'm kind of like a toddler in that every choice is a big deal to me. Much like Emily, this means I over-analyze everything and want to do my absolute best. This means I don't have as much spontenaity as some of you and have a harder time just shrugging off a bad experience. This leads to . . .



3. I wake up easily at night and simply cannot go back to sleep once I'm up. I have always been an early riser and enjoy it. Unfortunately, late afternoons can be hard and by 9:30, I'm ready to be out.



4. I love to learn. I'm not a master of anything, but know a little about a lot of things. My interests are very eclectic and I get on kicks where I study in great detail some interesting facet of life. Unlike Emily, my studies are usually not of the practical nature.

Emily: I must know everything there is to know about window treatments. What materials fade in the sun? What colors go best with Natalie's sweater she hangs on the bed knob? Which brand costs most per ounce? Does real wood last longer than faux wood?

Darren: I must know everything about mutinies (famous ones, how they did it, what drove them to do it, where), or gravity (How is our earth not increasing in mass? How does it figure into spiritual connections to physical bodies?) or other mundane topics.

5. I greatly appreciate when Emily notices things that I've done. I'm all about verbal affirmation. So after I go to the library, I have to show her the books I've picked out for the kids. "Good job, Darren." Yay! I don't know if this is reflective of shallowness or a need for attention earned as the 4th rowdy boy in 7 years. At any rate, power doesn't appeal to me, nor does great wealth. I think my weakness is for when people I care about recognize something I've done for them.

6. I love maps. As a kid, I wanted to be a weatherman so I could look at maps all day. I participated in the geography olympics in school. One year I asked for an atlas for my birthday(I got a national geographic book and a globe too). I have always been very aware of world happenings and always have loved to learn about new places.

7. I am a people watcher. (I probably judge too many people as I watch them.) One of my biggest interests is trying to figure out what makes people tick. Why did that person choose that path? What could we do to make people choose a better path? What is that person really like behind the public face and clothing?

Natalie being helpful, and David playing with Dad

More skin than 6 year olds can handle

(I teach an art masterpiece class at the school, and the 1st graders couldn't get past the bare baby bottom on a Mary Cassett painting as I was showing some of her work. Hence, the title for this post.)

I don't have time to write everything, but I'll post what I can...

We'll see what I get done before I have to get off. I'm sneaking time on Darren's computer since our family one no longer acknowledges us. First off, I've attempted this meme thing twice, but blogger doesn't save when it's saying that it is. Second, my first big quirk is that I don't enjoy posting my info. for all to read. I've always been private about my life, and I care a little too much about other's perceptions of me, so this whole idea is too much for me. However, it has been interesting to quickly read what others say about themselves, so I might write a few.

2. I over-analyze too many things (I noticed that I'm not the only one), and I'm over-thinking too much about what to say so this will take more time than I have.

3. I am probably overly cautious about my kids, etc. and there are some things that I have gotten a little more lax about each time, but I still introduce one new solid food at a time and certain things aren't allowed until 9 mos. or 1 year (like those are magic numbers); my kids are still in boosters or car seats no matter whose car they're in; no child is allowed near the front seats (what if the air bags decided to get quirky--sorry AJ, but that video sickened me ;); no one eats the raw dough (I got an awful case of food poisoning from cookie batter when we lived in MN); no spending the night at friend's houses (no going over to friend's houses without me if I don't personally know the parents very well); helmets while riding bikes (for all of us--which is why we haven't gone bike riding as a family since Andrew was born b/c there's always been one who's too young for a helmet.) Anyway, the list goes on and on, and someday it may all be in vain, but I'm trying to do the best I can.

4. And it looks like I'm out of time...esp. if I want to post a pic or two. I just sound like a mean old cow, so maybe I'm better off not posting anyway. I don't like thinking about what you might all be thinking... :).

I'm back.
4. I'm indecisive. I've been wondering what else to say for the past few hours as I've been doing other things. It's difficult for me to prioritize what to say or what to choose in the many options life gives me.

5. I seem to pick up on other people's traits when I'm with them. I find myself speaking more properly and more British sounding with my friend from Ireland. I take on mannerisms of people I'm chatting with. I actually talk more quickly or more bubbly with certain friends. Perhaps I'm a bit of a chameleon, but it goes back to my awareness of others' perceptions, I think.

6. I am a worrywart. Combine over-analytical, awareness of others, and over-protective and there's too much that might be a problem. I do still get a little sleep occasionally, when no one is sick, teething, growing up, changing jobs, moving and I'm just too exhausted to think anymore.

7. I would like to be a fun mom, and I am so not. I try to be positive and I make efforts to just sit down and play games, read books, talk, but I feel like I'm always cracking the whip--"time for homework", "have you done a job first?", "you need to clean up this mess before you can do that", "no, we don't have time (or sometimes money) for that." At least Darren will often do the fun things with them. I just worry that they're going to look back and not remember the meals, the laundry, the cleaned up messes, the knowledge of responsibilities, the example of hard work I've tried to set--they'll just think I was the mean mom.

I am now going to tag any of my kids who want to, especially Darren! :)

I just couldn't go a day longer without posting....

I have no cute pictures and I'm sure this will be a rambler, but I'm needing to explain why no new pictures are appearing on our blog. I don't really want to play the blame game, since I could have easily been the one to lose our camera, but it's gone and I'm really going crazy without it. On a Scout trip a few weeks ago, it got left behind at a National Munument they were visiting; supposedly it has been found and will eventually come back to us, though who knows how long I will be waiting.

In the meantime, Natalie had a speaking part in a school performance, Christopher won an award at an assembly, Andrew has become an avid independent child (no longer a baby, though he still usually wears diapers), and David has begun scooting to get around occasionally. In other words, I really want my camera back.

I've been wanting to document some of my children's comments in life, though I'm not sure they should be all over the web. This is quicker than my journal at the moment since I'm actually typing without a child in my lap. Natalie has a way with words when it comes to Mommy's cooking: her description of a flan with a slightly burned caramel topping was, "it tastes like ear wax pie;" the description of a tuna and garbanzo bean salad (which would not be a favorite for many eaters) was "the beans are bleh and the other stuff tasted like a wet paper towel." I'm usually a good cook, but I experiment too much on my poor kids.

Christopher has this obsession with wearing many layers of long sleeved shirts, pants, socks, etc. It drives me crazy since the daytime temp. barely drops below 95 right now; so he's not allowed to wear this insanity to school. I've asked him at different times why he wears the layers and he has alluded to being cold occasionally. However, he recently explained that he was dressing like Spiderman. Huh?

Today Andrew had pulled almost the entire roll of toilet paper off and the bathroom floor was filling with it. So I stopped and asked what was he doing. He explained that he was trying to get the brown triangle like Chris. (Christopher has demonstrated that the toilet paper roll is a long triangle).

David is a grab-meister, and anything in reach now goes straight into the mouth, including paper, hair, chins, toys, clothing, a peach in mom's hand, etc. He still doesn't have any teeth, so he may be the oldest of all four to be toothless.

Mr. Chunk is six months and no longer a linebacker

David had a six month check-up and he is now only in the 50th percentile for weight at 17 lbs. 2 oz. He is still almost 90th percentile for height at 27 1/2 inches, so maybe his siblings won't be calling him LITTLE brother as he gets taller than them! We'll have to wait and see.

He does this funny expression so often lately, and I think it has more to do with teething discomfort than happiness. His gums are pretty swollen on the bottom so we'll see how much longer before those teeth start showing.

We think he is quite a sweetheart. I do wish he would go back to sleeping better, but for now we'll put up with the night waking since he won't be a baby for long. We're sorry that he doesn't get to charm more of you with his grins.

The dancing puffs of metal

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The AZ Science Center

We had a great time playing and exploring. There seems to be something for everyone here. We plan to go back at least the next time Darren's company has another sponsor day, if not sooner.

N&C are learning about pulleys as they pull themselves upward.They're posing in front of a room where they learned all about how to build a house. Natalie was even designing a floor plan that would give her a beautiful new room.
They're watching marbles spiral into a dark hole. David was even quite distracted with this one.

Andrew was using frequency and electromagnetic energy to get the glove to move. He got it to move around better than most of us.

Some personality!

I'm documenting this for reference; now I will remember the time frame for when David could sit for awhile. Natalie and Christopher wanted to be a part of the pictures too. This is your hi from us. Andrew says hi too; he just wasn't interested in the picture taking. The kids put themselves all in navy, not me! :)

Our trip--Yellowstone pictures

We were able to see some wildlife, though we couldn't believe how many people would stop in the middle of traffic for one shot of a bear, bison, eagle, etc. Whenever there was an animal around you could expect to see plenty of people surrounding it for a photo op.

Geysers, paint pots and sulfur, oh my!

Old Faithful shooting high after a 100 minute wait (we weren't standing around waiting the whole time).

The Grand Tetons

Our trip (more)

At almost 11,000 feet and way above the tree line we thought we must be driving to the top of the world.
Brrr! Snow in June!

Our trip--heading to Mt. Rushmore

Here are a few pictures from our marathon trip. Sorry that we didn't take very many shots.

Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple

Natalie and Andrew posing by our campsite (the site by a pond was nice with a pretty view, but those blackbirds were noisy)!

Mt. Rushmore

Recent family picture

What's wrong with this site?

So for some reason, Blogger isn't letting me post any pictures today. Is anyone else having this problem? I was hoping to post a couple of family pictures we attempted on Memorial Day. Oh well, they were nothing spectacular; just a quick family memory. Well we're super excited to be spending the little bit of time with some of you on our upcoming vacation. It's been on my mind for weeks, and now I have to start actually packing everything. We probably won't have room for me to overpack, which is scary for me, because I have this compulsion to be over-prepared.

The other two things that have been on my mind much lately are Darren's Mom and Mitt Romney, though they have nothing to do with each other. Mom Gibby just found out that her cancer is back after being gone for 18 years. It makes me very sad because it will be extremely difficult on her body even if she does get through it. Though it would be hard for us if she were to pass away, Darren says he can find some consolation in the fact that she has lived a good life and all of her children have been sealed together, and that he has been preparing himself for this possibility for a long time. Diabetes, stroke, heart disease, asthma, etc. are some of the other physical ailments that have been plaguing her for awhile. She's a very strong person, and if it is the right thing she will get through it. Otherwise, she will finally have some peace and no pain, though she would be greatly missed. Pray for the best!

I have been learning more than I usually do about the potential Presidential candidates for 2008, and I can only hope that our country has enough intelligent and righteous people to choose the leader who will best help us deal with the issues of our time. I am more impressed with Mitt Romney the more I learn about him, and I can only hope that he we will be a positive role model and example as a member of our church. Darren says that the statistics say that there are more liberal voters right now who will push for a Democratic president, but I keep hoping that somehow more people will come out who want family values and conservative views to oversee the government in this country. Any thoughts?

More baby pics

These were taken the same day as all of his pictures at Target. Babies have so many little expressions and it's their best way to communicate (besides crying), so I always end up taking so many pictures while he just makes faces at me.

A picture from Mother's Day

Andrew "cooking" and David "standing"

Lots of pretend play goes on in this house....

Almost the same size as each other

Lots of pictures of the same outfits

Sunday morning

The future must be bright....

'cause they want to wear shades (at least in the house)!