New Mexico Gabrielsens

Another crazy week in February

2012-02-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we decided to sit in the pews rather than the seats in the back, and Alice actually didn't need to be taken out during sacrament meeting! Grace was asked to give the scripture in primary out of the blue, and she recited 1 Nephi 3:7 perfectly. She watched movies all afternoon because she was sick with a cough and runny nose. We put her in her pajamas, but of course Princess Grace didn't want to lay around in just pajamas.
Alice liked watching Cinderella with Grace, and she even says "Rella"!
On Monday, Paul gave Alice a horsey ride before I took Grace to school, went to walking group, and worked on scouts. We have SO much to do with the Blue and Gold banquet coming up, then the Pinewood Derby. Plus, Scouting for Food is this weekend, and we're starting to get serious about the Faith in God program. It's all a TON of work for me, but I'd rather take care of it myself so Paul can focus on his thesis.
I try to have Grace and Alice color in the afternoons while I'm making dinner so Alice won't be constantly under foot. It works sometimes. Paul taught FHE that evening, then he worked on thesis stuff while I worked on the Blue and Gold slideshow.
On Tuesday, walking group was canceled, so Alice and I went to Grace's class for a couple of hours. Everyone always loves when Alice comes to visit. In the afternoon, I wrote up an article about cub scouts for the ward history, then picked Grace up from school. When she realized she forgot to bring home a project she'd done, she cried and screamed and kicked the back of my chair the entire way home, and for 15 minutes in the parking lot once we got home! Wild. And Alice was wild while I was cooking dinner. In the evening, we went to the church to go through the cub scout closet. Alice pretended to be in primary.
Practicing her first talk.
Another scary picture of Grace getting ready for bed. When we got home, Paul was about to say the family prayer, but Grace said she wanted to. He told her we need to take turns, and he had let her say it the last two nights. So she cried and screamed for 20 minutes. Rough day. Grace is still pretty sick with a cough and cold, so that's probably most of the problem. I went to sewing that night to work on a Valentine's gift for Paul.
On Wednesday, Alice woke up surly, and with horns. I went to walking group, then a bunch of us watched Biggest Loser at Kim's. Alice says "Kyi" very clearly now. Grace had half day, and we went to the book fair and bought a couple of books. In the afternoon, I took the girls to the library.
Alice was under foot again as I made dinner. This time, she ended up hitting her head on the floor when she lost her balance while pushing a box around. The good news is we found out that night that she loves mashed potatoes!
My fried chicken dinner got eaten up so fast that I couldn't get a picture with it, but Paul wanted something to represent such a good meal. The country gravy mixed with the dregs of the fried chicken made everything so delicious!
Then we had ice cream. We didn't have enough cones, so Paul ate his with a spoon.
Grace was happy with her cone.
And obviously Alice LOVES ice cream cones!
Messy baby looking suspicious.
She wants to make sure she gets every last bite.
She loves to roll her eyes up like this to make us laugh. Silly kid. That evening, Grace wanted to pretend to be a librarian, so she read us 3 books for "story time". For craft time, she said we should all draw pictures of Alice with her goose egg. Ha! Then Grace and Alice played mimic together - so cute! More scout work that night. It never ends.
On Thursday after walking group, Kim had me come over and teach her how to make roast beef. Alice decided to try her hand at the Wii while we were there. Then Alice had therapy, I did more scout work, I filed our tax return (super small refund this year), and made cupcakes. Then I took the girls out back to play with the neighbor kids.
In the evening, we had a scout committee meeting. We're the only ones who ever show up, but the bishop did finally arrive late. Then we had 11 boys at cub scouts.
We made puddle jumpers out of tin cans and string. You can't really see it, but Grace is standing on hers.
Ready to race.
Paul helping our special needs boy, Nathan. They had a lot of fun.
Grace woke up at 2 am Friday with a sore ear. We gave her medicine, and she was fine to go to school the next morning. Her teacher called me in the afternoon to come pick her up, and the nurse said to put heat on it and give her tylenol. Poor kid.
When Alice woke up from her nap, she climbed right up onto the couch with Grace. Alice LOVES Grace, and calls her "sister".
Sweet girls. That evening, we watched "The Bewitching of Ben Wagner" with the girls. Classic Feature Film for Families. Wow. Then Paul and I watched a documentary on psychic detectives.
On Saturday, we got up late and took our time getting ready. We watched Disney's "Oceans" with the girls, and really liked it. Grace's new favorite animal is the blanket octopus because it looks like Superman flying with a cape. I French braided Grace's hair for the first time that day.
Then we went to the library book sale, and out to lunch. When Alice was down for her nap, we helped Grace do her valentines for her class. She chose Phineas and Ferb valentines this year, with temporary tattoos as always.
When Alice woke up, we went for a hike up the hill behind our house. There's a cemetery up there, but we've been seeing lots of tractors and construction vehicles on the hill. Looks like they cleared some land for more graves.
Alice did well in the backpack, but we also helped her walk for a while. She does best when Paul and I are each holding her hands.
Grace liked the view of our house.
Beautiful day for beautiful girls! Then we borrowed a minivan and drove the missionaries out to Bernardo (30 mins north) to dinner at Paul's home teaching family's house. Delicious food, including chicken cordon blue, roast beef, homemade rolls, etc. Paul had gotten a referral from his HT family to teach their granddaughter (about my age), so he got the referral to the missionaries, and we were able to be in on her first lesson last night! She has 2 daughters and we get along well, but her husband is anti religion. She had good questions, and even came to sacrament meeting today. We have such good elders right now, and things are getting exciting!

One Wild Week

2012-02-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

On Monday, the weather was nice, so I took the girls outside to play in the afternoon. I even took Alice's walker out there. They had fun playing in the sand, until Alice crawled into a patch of goatheads, causing her to bleed and cry.
Grace buried herself in the sand.
We had FHE on Nephi's courage, including lots of activities. Grace liked it so much that she cried and screamed when it was over. But eventually she gave in and took her clothes off so she could put her pajamas on.
Then we read some stories from the Friend and let the girls color. Once they were in bed, Paul and I watched the season finale of Cake Boss: Next Great Baker.
On Tuesday, we woke up late and grouchy because the girls had woken us up a lot in the night. After walking group, I watched my friend's kids, and had some other friends over to visit/play at the same time. In the afternoon, I proofread Paul's application essay and worked on the taxes. That evening, we had leftover turkey for dinner, and then ice cream cones. Alice loves ice cream cones, but she likes the camera even more.
"Come on, Mommy, can I PLEASE have the camera?"
The ice cream ended up being enough in the end.
Time for pajamas again! I went to sewing group, where my sewing teacher cut off and hemmed my dress for Whitney's wedding. It's a relief to have that done!
On Wednesday, I took Alice to library story/craft time after walking group. It was just okay. She's a little young. In the afternoon, I proofread Paul's application essays for the last time, and he sent in his application to UC Santa Cruz! Ella came over to play after Grace got home from school. Grace told her all about why she chooses to dress modestly, and told her the name of our church and everything. What a good little missionary!
Then Ella kept asking if I could read them a story. She didn't believe Grace when she told her that SHE could read a story to them. I cooked all afternoon to have the elders and the Sotos over for dinner. My honey sesame chicken over basmati rice, Filipino egg rolls, and root beer cake were a hit! Junior has lost 15 pounds on his diabetes diet. You can really see it in in stomach. Paul taught the HT message to the Sotos (now that he is their home teacher), then he went out with the missionaries.
Thursday was wild. In the morning, Paul and I got ourselves ready and read our scriptures. Then we took turns feeding the girls, getting them ready, cleaning the house, and doing the dishes. Paul worked from home while I took Grace to school and went to half of walking group. When we got home, Alice wanted to play with my sunglasses. Weird kid.
Aren't we cute? As soon as we got home from walking group, Paul left for a meeting on campus. Then Alice and I went to a WIC class (she was wild all through it), and came home for therapy. Alice is doing well walking with the toy walker. As soon as Paul got home, we had a break for lunch together, then Alice napped. Paul worked from home while I proofread his thesis chapter, then I got Grace from school. As soon as I got home, Paul went to campus and I worked on scouts. As soon as Alice woke up, my ladies came over for the stake RS activity committee. The girls were wild. Paul got home as everyone left. He worked more on scouts while I made dinner and about a million cookies. Dinner was wild as I went back and forth to the oven switching out cookie batches, and Grace went to the bathroom for a long time right during our meal. Then Paul bathed the girls while I cleaned up the house, and we got everyone ready for scouts.
We had 11 boys, only one not wearing his scout shirt! Paul taught them about citizenship and America.
Nice-looking group. Only one was really out of control and bad that night.
And it wasn't Alice. We got a speaker for the Blue and Gold Banquet at the end of the month, so we're pretty relieved about that. Then we had to stay extra late because some of the boys were waiting for their ride to show up. When we finally got the girls to bed, Paul and I were trashed. We put on our pajamas, watched "Waiting for Superman", and talked until midnight.
On Friday, we had a regular morning routine and everything seemed normal, except that Grace had a pretty bad cough. We decided to send her to school anyway. Then, as we were about to walk out the door to take Grace to school, Alice threw up all over the floor. So I took Grace to school, took Alice to walking group, and went to hang out at Kim's to eat junk and watch Biggest Loser. A bunch of us girls had been planning it all week. Alice threw up on her floor, and didn't have much appetite, but was super thirsty.
When we got home, Paul was still out with the missionaries teaching a discussion to our neighbors two doors down. He was gone 2.5 hours, since the husband wanted to tell them all about the Catholic church. The wife seems more receptive. After Alice ate lunch and had a nap, she was all better. I think she got some rotten milk for breakfast. She and Grace are always so cute together.
Alice and her toy walker. She pushes it from the back, front, side, or whatever direction it happens to be in.
That evening, we watched the Fairbanks 3 boys so they could go out to dinner. When Kim and Sam got back, Grace cried and begged for them to let Kyi stay for the movie. Looks like the kids enjoyed the low-budget Tom Sawyer. After Kyi went home and the girls were in bed, Paul and I had a date discussing topics like "What would you do with $100 million?" or "What do you miss from when we were dating?" Then we played Scrabble.
On Saturday, we got up at 8:15. That makes for happy parents and happy kids! We went shopping in the morning, ate a big lunch, started our fast, and wrote all of our Christmas thank-you notes. A little late, but things have been hectic around here. Grace was sick to her stomach all afternoon, so we let her watch a movie, then we read a bunch of library books.
After that, we all went outside to play. It was a VERY COLD 50 degrees! Alice loves playing in the sand.
"We'll sweep this clear in 'alf a year, if you don't mind the work!" (Name that movie/book/poem.)
Grace was all bundled up, but I shouldn't have let her stay out so long. She has a terrible cough and runny nose.
But Kyi's the one who invited her out, so she never wanted to come in. When Kyi had come over the day before to be babysat, Grace asked me to curl her hair, and she put on make-up!
I had fun on the playground. Then we fed the girls dinner, and we all sang/danced to the Disney princess sing along movie. Grace was feverish by then.
We put the girls to bed with a humidifier, then Paul and I read our scriptures, read all of Dad's personal history chapter on the year 2000, and watched a couple of Twilight Zone episodes. Pretty good day!

Short blog

2012-01-29T13:05:00.000-08:00

We didn't take many pictures this week for some reason, but here's a cute one of Alice in Paul's ear muffs.
We made Valentine's decorations. The first one is a heart Paul made with our family on it (made by me). The second one is a heart wreath Paul made with embellishments by Grace. The last wreath is one we bought a while ago.
Grace made the hearts paper, and she decorated the paper girls I made. Cute!
The 5 Gabrielsen girls: Grace, doll Alice, Mommy, real Alice, and doll Bobotch.
Cool girls in the car yesterday.
Too cool for school.
Funny baby.
At the mall playplace yesterday.
Grace was so excited to go on the carousel at the mall!
Alice was NOT happy about it.
Both girls liked it in the end.
Well, that's it for last week. I'll try to do better this week!

I Caught the Feevah!

2012-01-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

Sunday was normal. Grace was cute.
And VERY happy about it. We made ice cream in our ice cream maker that day. Too bad we didn't let the core freeze long enough. Our ice cream was pretty gross in the end, with huge ice crystals in it. Oh well.
Monday was Martin Luther King Day. Grace didn't have school, and Paul just worked in the morning. Alice was cute, but her poor lip keeps splitting because it gets so dry.
Baby's first ponytail!
We made Grandpa Jim's lemon artichoke chicken with Grandma Lu's amazing rice. It was delicious! The only casualty: I zested my thumb!
On Tuesday, my temperature was up a little, and my throat was sore, but I fixed everybody's breakfast and packed Grace's lunch. Then the sickness hit. TERRIBLE sore throat, earache, fever, chills, headache, no appetite, body aches, etc. It hurt to swallow - even water. I was on the couch in my pajamas all day. Paul took care of getting Grace to/from school, he worked from home, made spaghetti for dinner, and went out in the evening to get me a milkshake and roses! I read to Alice, and ended the day with a fever of 102.
After a terrible night, my fever was at 102.6 by morning. I was in and out of sleep all day. My fever broke twice and then came back. I was on tylenol, ibuprofin, or excedrin all day long. Paul took care of things. It's kind of a blur.
On Thursday, after a night of chills, my fever was 102.3. I tried to get a doctor's appointment with no luck. Paul went to check the mail and saw that the latest issue of the school newspaper was out. His article on Mormons is the entire front page - so proud! In the afternoon, I got a blessing from Paul and Sam, and my fever immediately broke - for good! The rest of the symptoms hung on, but it was a start.
Paul put Alice to bed early, and took Grace to scouts with him. A few of the parents brought their daughters Grace's age, so they had a lot of fun together.
On Friday, my temperature was just below 100. I still had most of my other symptoms, but I felt bad that Paul hadn't been able to do some stuff he needed to do on campus, so he spent the morning there. Alice was pretty good. I only took one nap that day! Paul made a pizza for dinner, then we played with the girls on the floor. Paul tried to teach Grace how to jump rope. Alice wanted to try too.
She was very interested in it.
Old fashioned telephone?
Yay! Paul and I ended the evening with a documentary on weather you can commit murder while sleepwalking. Interesting.
On Saturday, my temperature was only one degree above normal. I was lightheaded all day, probably because I'd lost 6 pounds in 6 days. I also still had the sore throat, ears, and headache. Paul took the girls to the neighbors' for the apartment complex waffle breakfast. There they are playing with Kyi.
Then we let the girls stay in their pajamas since Grace had a primary pajama party for lunch. Alice loves her sippy cup.
What you lookin' at? She's been very good about the band-aid we put on her finger. We don't know where the cut came from.
Too cute for words.
Cute, but can you tell Paul's been doing their hair this week?
Funny kid.
Grace read 9 AR books this week. She's really getting good at it. She's pretty solid at a second grade level.
Just look what girls can do!
After a McDonald's dinner (purely medicinal - I needed more fat), Paul read the girls a bedtime story.
Cupid with a Headband.
Slightly scary, but still cute in my book.
My temperature was totally normal today. I still have all the symptoms from yesterday, but I think we're almost there. I tried to get a picture of Alice in her cute outfit. She was busy.
Grace was more willing. Pay no attention to the huge purple bruise on her forehead - those are the hazards of being a cub scout.
The kid keeps a tight grip on her quiet book.
Now you can kind of see her cute outfit, and her cute quiet book, and Grace's cute scripture case. Grace recited 2 Articles of Faith and a scripture in primary today. Such a good girl!

2 Cute Girls

2012-01-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Grace wore her cute new sweater-dress from Grandma Terisa. She'd been a grouch for a week, but magically turned good on Sunday, and has been much better this week.
Here's a picture for you to have nightmares about! Poor Alice was sick all day Sunday with a runny nose, fever, and grouchiness. We tried to give her some tylenol after she was already in bed that night, but she got really mad, and had a lot of trouble going back to sleep afterwards.
On Monday, the girls dressed in their stripes. Paul and I made ourselves get up early to exercise and read our scriptures. Grace read an AR book before school, and Alice was still grouchy and sick, though not feverish. Grace had Kyi over to play in the afternoon.
Alice has given up her afternoon nap. Even SHE is surprised about that! We're trying to fix her so that it's the morning nap she skips instead.
She's happy to know she's growing up though. 15 months! For our FHE activity, we went through all her toys and put away the baby ones she's grown out of.
On Tuesday, we kept up on our morning schedule with exercise, scriptures, and Grace reading AR books. She also memorized a new scripture this week. We had a productive day, then got the girls ready for bed. Alice likes to be the one to brush her own teeth. I went to sewing group that night.
We had another good morning on Wednesday, Grace had early release, and Alice had physical therapy. At first she didn't like the new exercise of pushing the diaper box around.
But she's gotten to like it, and we think it will help her walking.
She was was pretty happy with herself.
Walking practice with Daddy and Grace.
She gets mad when we make her do it too much.
Cute sisters! I made a delicious pork roast for dinner, then we played with the girls. Grace was the toy store owner with Alice as her daughter, Paul was the restaurant owner with toy food, and I was the librarian. Grace was having so much fun that she cried when it was time for bed!
Thursday was another good morning. Alice and I stayed at Grace's class in the morning to play. That evening, we had scout committee meeting. We were the only ones who showed up, so we got to hear about the scout committee head's UFO sighting! We had 10 boys at scouts. They were wild.
On Friday, we let ourselves have our one day off of exercise, and a little more sleep. I took Alice to the public library that day. Grace wanted a picture in her Tinkerbell outfit from Grandma Emery with her Tinkerbell movie from the physical therapist. The girls LOVE that movie and have watched it 3 or 4 times since they got it. In the evening, we made pizza and watched an old Disney live-action movie "The Barefoot Executive". Elaine had her baby that day: Ella Jolynne.
On Saturday, we slept in until 8! I went grocery shopping all morning, then we had a big lunch. Paul and I were starting our fast since Paul was too sick to do it last weekend. I bought Hostess Ding Dongs because we heard they're going out of business.
Alice LOVED it! In the afternoon, Alice napped, Grace played outside with Kyi, and Paul and I cleaned our room and hung wall hangings.
Then we all went on a walk. Check out Alice's cute owl hat we got her in San Francisco!
Grace loved wearing her rain boots.
Paul had to run Grace's tricycle back to the house when it became clear she couldn't ride it very far. He got worn out.
Grace took some time enjoying the last of the snow.
Cute family! We walked to campus to check the mail, and realized we were the only ones in the entire student center. It was like the Twilight Zone! So we went up to the top floor, found an open ballroom, and Alice crawled around to her heart's content. Then a security guard suddenly appeared saying he was locking up. Creepy.
We fed the girls and read books, then I tried hard to get a picture of Alice's new tooth on the bottom. It's pretty hard to see.
She was trying to cooperate.
What a happy baby!
And now it's Sunday. Grace wore her new dress from Mom Flake, her new sweater from Dad Flake, and her new shoes from us. We're excited for a day off tomorrow!

Back to Reality

2012-01-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sunday was New Year's Day. Grace was still somewhat sick and didn't want to go to church, but we all went anyway. She and Alice both wore cute new dresses from Christmas. I played in primary, including a new song I'd never seen or heard before. The girls like playing the piano too.
Monday was our last vacation day. We slept in, grocery shopped, took down the Christmas decorations, took naps, and Paul cleaned out the closet under the stairs! We had FHE, then got the girls ready for bed. As you can see, Grace's pants ended up on Alice's head.
On Tuesday, we started real life back up again. It's been really hard getting back into it, but Paul and I got up early to exercise, read scriptures, and shower before getting the girls up at 7:30. We ate breakfast, got the girls ready, and even had time for Grace to read an entire book and take an AR quiz before school. Paul worked from home all day, and I took care of Alice and got some work done.
When Grace got home from school, she was in different pants because she fell in the mud at recess. Poor kid. She was really tired and grouchy after 5 hours of school, so she rested all afternoon. In the evening, we had nice family time. The girls had fun wrestling Daddy.
And they love it when he reads to them!
On Wednesday, we barely made it through the motions of our new early-morning routine. Paul was really sick with body aches and a sore throat, and we were really sleepy and weary. Grace had another tiring day at school, so the only one having a good day was Alice. Here she is with one of her favorite toys: the turkey baster.
She loves reading her Ernie book. She pretends to read now, and it's really funny.
She cracks herself up!
She's finally willing to pose for the camera!
What a cute kid!
Sweetie.
Silly kid. She is so funny at dinnertime because she LOVES to make us laugh. She'll slurp up a noodle, or leave something on her face on purpose, or make weird faces at us all during dinner.
On Thursday, Paul was still sick. He loves to work from home, but being on the dining table in the middle of everything was too distracting, so he made himself an office in our bedroom using the card table. He actually works in his bathrobe! Grace played with Kyi at our house that afternoon, then we had dinner over at their house.
We had 8 cubs that evening. Poor Paul had to lead the boys even while he was sick.
They learned about leadership, then had competitions. Grace even got in on the arm wrestling!
After all the boys had competed and we narrowed it down to the strongest boy in the pack, Javier went up against Paul. The mohawk didn't help him, and Paul beat him soundly.
On Friday, we slept in until it was time to get the girls up. We dressed them in their cute matching tutu skirts. Paul was still sick, so he went to the health center for a strep test. It was negative, so he just kept treating the symptoms, and went to 2 meetings on campus. I had a massive headache that day too. We were a mess! We made a pizza in the evening and watched an old Shirley Temple short with the girls.
On Saturday, we lazed around all day. We painted with Grace, got Chinese take-out for lunch, watched a Western on TV, and sent Grace to Ella's for the afternoon. Paul and I took Grandma Lu's nice frame and do-it-yourself framing lesson and put them to good use on the painting Paul got me for Christmas.
Awesome, huh? Thank you so much, Paul and Grandma Lu!
I wanted another picture taken with it today because I love it so much! Speaking of love, Paul bought me a dozen yellow roses yesterday! I love him!
Here's hoping for a better week. We're already off to a rough start with Alice crying all night and finally getting a fever at church. What a life!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

(Note: Some of these pictures are from Lynne and Kit's camera.)On Wednesday, Grace woke up with a stomach ache. She threw up, so we wrapped her up in her new Dora snuggie from Grandma Lu. Paul and I had a nice time doing a session TOGETHER at the Jordan River Temple, then we came home to find that Grace had thrown up again while Mom/Dad Gabe were babysitting her.
Our little family decided to ditch all of our plans for the day, so Mom/Dad Gabe had to go on their own to Huntsville to ice skate with Lynne/Kit. Poor Grace was sick all day and threw up again and had a fever. Mom/Dad Gabe and Lynne/Kit got home at dinnertime, then we had a gift exchange. Grace was so sick all through it, so we had to open all her gifts for her.
She was willing to try out her old-fashioned flute, and look at the cute shirt from Mom/Dad Gabe!
Alice loves her new toy that she can hammer and bang and pound on!
But she probably would've been just as happy with just the wrapping paper and boxes!
Paul liked his new white shirt.
I love my new pink sweatshirt. (Apparently, so does Kit.)
How do you like my new silly socks?
We had a lot of fun playing dominoes that night.
On Thursday, Grace woke up with a fever and was sick most of the day. Don't let this picture fool you - she seems interested in the box of chocolates, but she hardly ate anything that day.
Grace did have some time during the day that she was feeling alright, so she put together some new puzzles with Kit and Lynne.
Then we got ready to take a big family picture. The hardest part is keeping Alice's hands down.
But we got a pretty great picture out of it!
Then Alice napped, so the rest of us continued our dominoes game.
Grace was still doing well on her tylenol, so she put on her new Snow White dress-up stuff and played.
Alice woke up early from her nap, so she became Lynne's dominoes partner.
Then she played on her own for a while.
She loves all the toys at Grandma's house.
What a happy baby!
She loves dancing with her Aunt Lynne!
Grace crashed by the afternoon and was really sick and feverish again.
We set her up downstairs to watch people play ping pong. She fell asleep, and woke up SO grouchy. We finally got her to eat by buying her a pizza lunchable.
Then we bathed the girls. Grace loves her new pig pajamas.
Dayna's family came over in the evening with the new baby Jackson. We all visited and ate cake pops.
Alice and Kit got some final time together.
And Grace got some final time in the mini rocking chair. We played our last few rounds of dominoes, then went to bed for our last night in Utah.
On Friday, we got up at 5 am and drove 10.5 hours back to Socorro. Alice was pretty grouchy, and Grace was pretty sick, but she never threw up and didn't even need tylenol all day. We were SO happy to get home! There was ice and crunchy snow everywhere, and our house was cold, but we were HOME! We unpacked the car, got some McDonald's (the only thing Grace would agree to eat), and got the girls to bed so we could have a nice relaxing evening.
Saturday was New Year's Eve. We slept in until 8! Grace was still weak and pale all day, with very little appetite. We spent the morning getting ready, shopping, unpacking, and cleaning. Then we had a coloring party.
Look at the cute baby with the sticky-up pigtail!
We had fun coloring, and even got Grace to eat a little.
In the afternoon, we just relaxed, then we prepared for our New Year's Eve tea party. We had grapes, crackers/cheese, yogurt raisins, mini m&m's, fruit snacks, circus animal cookies, and water.
We even dressed up! Alice wore a necklace, Paul wore a bow tie, and Grace wore a cowgirl hat AND tiara!
I poured the "tea" with my boa scarf on.
We had a lot of fun! Then we watched a cartoon and put the girls to bed. Paul and I spent the rest of the evening eating junk and watching a million episodes of the Twilight Zone. We went to bed just after midnight. Happy 2012 everyone!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday evening, Paul and I went with Mom and Dad to the institute choir concert. Dad and I got to go up and sing in the closing number because we're institute choir alumni - ha! Cassidy was nice enough to put the kids to bed for us. Alice LOVES her, but Grace apparently threw a tantrum and didn't want to go to bed.
On Monday, Alice was sick with a cold. She was pretty grouchy, but did have some content moments with Grace. They love looking at the old family yearbooks.
They also played the piano together!
Mom read books with Alice, then she made an amazing fried chicken dinner!
Dad taught FHE out of the Friend, then Paul taught everyone how to do oragami.
Dad, Mom, and Cassidy were very impressed with the bows they made!
On Tuesday, we girls all drove out to Middleton to Aunt Carolee's house to visit. Grace loved playing with my cousins' kids.
And I had fun visiting with Valerie and meeting her kids. Then we ran tons of errands in Boise, and Paul and I taught Cassidy to play Quiddler.
On Wednesday, Grace got into the Christmas spirit with her reindeer antlers.
And Alice kept dreaming of a white Christmas. That evening, Joel's kids came over for piano lessons. Paul played Flake-opoly with them, and I made mint chocolate chip cookies.
On Thursday, Grace went to basketball practice with Cassidy. She got hurt twice. Then the girls had fun playing together in the Sam McGee hole. Paul had a big meeting he had to phone into for the whole morning, then he worked one more afternoon, and was done with work for 10 days! We played games all evening.
On Friday morning, we all went swimming at John's Hot Pool. It was so fun! On the way back, we saw some bald eagles in the trees! Paul made everyone crepes for lunch, then Uncle Scott and Aunt Vivian came by for a visit.
In the evening, Joel's family came over to play. Paul braved the freezing cold to toss the football with Preston and Wesley.
Then he played chess with Ammon while the women made potato soup and pepperoni rolls.
Grace LOVES playing with her cousins!
We made all the younger kids watch a movie together once it got late. Grace, Emery, Savannah, and Natalie.
Meanwhile, the older kids and adults played games. Mom, Preston, Joel, Wesley, and Paul played Risk.
Cassidy, Melanie, Dad, Ammon, and I played Authors, and then Quiddler. Pretty fun. The Dilsavers arrived late that night.
Saturday was Christmas Eve. Grace drank cocoa in front of the fire by the Christmas tree.
Then Paul "made snow" using powder and water. He even threw a bunch of it out the upstairs window so I could see snow fall!
We spent the morning getting ready and getting work done. Cheyenne and Grace hung out, the men tried to fix the computers, and the women did laundry, tended kids, and made food.
Cassidy is a favorite with the kids.
Mom made some delicious funeral potatoes.
She also made these great chocolate-covered Oreos.
Alice and Cheyenne ate and ate and ate!
We watched the edited version of "The King's Speech", then made final preparations for Christmas Eve dinner. Ashley took a picture of us all dressed for dinner.
Grace helped set the table with all Mom's fancy dishes from the china hutch.
We had a delicious ham dinner, complete with the sweet potato casserole I made, and tons of pies. Alice liked it all.
She's always happy when she's eating!
Then we got everything cleaned up, and messed around some. There's Princess Paul.
Then we had a nice program singing Christmas carols and doing the nativity.
It was all so nice to do with a kid who really understands it all. She loved it.
Then we told Christmas memories, and Uncle Ben held Alice while Dad read them The Night Before Christmas. He tried to skip some parts, but Grace was reading along and wouldn't let him!
We set out cookies and milk for Santa, trail mix for the reindeer, and took one last picture of the Christmas room before putting the girls to bed.
Then we filled the stockings, and watched the edited version of Captain America. Dumb.
After that, the girls organized the gifts while the men went out looking for people working on Christmas Eve so they could give them chocolates. Horseshoe Bend was pretty dead, even at the local bar. Apparently, Dad is a beef eater.
Sunday was Christmas! Paul and I couldn't sleep, and got up at 5:30 to shower! Everyone else got up at 6, and we came downstairs together. Grace was so excited to see the toy violin she's been asking for all year!
Alice got a really cute milk wagon, and tons of other great gifts. Paul gave me a beautiful oil painting of Jerusalem, as well as a binder full of my family group records. I made Paul a portfolio of all the articles he's ever published, and I made the girls a quiet book (with Mom's help). We opened lots of great gift for 2 whole hours!
We saw an ad in the paper that said "dealsaver", so we decided to cut it out and decorate it for the Dilsavers. Haha! Then we all went to sacrament meeting. Grace and Paul sang "When Joseph went to Bethlehem" while I played it. It was a nice program. Then home to talk to Derek on his mission, and to take a nap!
Paul and I had to work on packing that evening, and the Dilsavers had already left on their cruise, so Dad watched the kids!
Reading scriptures to Alice. She seems more interested in the movie! Joel's family came over for a visit that night.
On Monday, we got the car all packed, and Grace helped scrape the frost off.
Alice and Cheyenne wore their matching "Nihao Kailan" outfits from Grandma Emery.
Grace was ready to leave, but Alice was grouchy about it. It was so fun to live in HSB for 3 weeks!
We left at 10 am, and the girls were pretty good on the drive with their new Christmas gifts. We stopped in Tremonton to eat pizza with the Burrs and Whitney/Adam. He seems nice.
We made it to Grandma Grace's house in Ogden by 4, and the girls were happy to see their Grandma Terisa.
They were also happy to open gifts!
A new hat! We had a nice dinner and visit with Grandma Grace, then the girls were asleep before we made it to Riverton.
On Tuesday, the girls woke up and were surprised to find a new tea set and little table/chairs! It was a fun breakfast.
And they kept playing with it throughout the day.
Grace got some more violin practice.
She's already good enough to jam with Grandpa!
We went clothes shopping for the girls in the Twilight Zone (seriously, a deserted mall!), then we went to lunch at a Thai restaurant in Provo, and got some stuff at the Creamery on Ninth (my old job!).
We ended up in Elk Ridge at Grandma Lu's. We had nice visits, and Grandpa Jim even played Scrabble with us.
Alice tried on her cute new dress, and started getting used to Grandpa.
He let the legos do all the work.
Grace had tons of fun with Paul's cousin's daughter Lili, who Grace calls "Buggy". Look at Grace's cute new sweater dress!
We had a delicious artichoke chicken dinner, then went back to Riverton for bed. We're having a great time, but we miss our HSB family - we hope you guys aren't having too much fun without us!

Dillon Days

2011-12-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

On Sunday afternoon, the Dilsavers went home to Utah. That evening, Dillon wanted to do a fashion show of all his new mission clothes. Snazzy outfit #1.
Cassidy did NOT want to be part of the photo shoot.
Acting studious with his new scriptures.
Preaching the gospel - old school style.
Here's how he'll look tracting in frigid Philly.
Here's Dillon with all his new winter gear on. Oh, and Dad decorated the grill. Mom hates it.
Summer outfit.
Hurrah for Isreal!
On Monday, Grace wanted her own photo shoot after Mom fixed her hair and did her make-up. By the fire.
And by the tree.
Dillon spent most of the day in his pajamas doing his final packing and getting some last-minute playtime in with his niece.
In the evening, we had Swiss steak for Dillon, then went to Joel's for a Family Home Evening on missions. All the kids were very interested in Dad's pictures and stories.
On Tuesday, we had a seafood lunch for Dillon, then he had to do some final shopping in town, so some of us went with him. We stopped to visit Grandma Emery at her beauty shop, so Grace tried on some wigs.
Pretty cute.
Boy hairstyle.
On Wednesday, Dillon left for the MTC. Here he is with everything he'll have with him for the next 2 years.
Last hoho.
Last picture with the parents.
Last picture with the Gabrielsens!
Last kiss under the mistletoe. Mom and Dad took him to the airport, and we haven't heard from him since. Hopefully he's having the time of his life!
Grace decided to give Alice a "sleigh ride to the North Pole" using a laundry basket on the hardwood floor. It was really hard for her to push Alice around because she's so heavy, but they both loved it so much that they did it over and over again.
Paul eventually gave Grace a break and let them ride together. That evening, Paul and I went into Boise to Christmas shop. It was a nice break from the girls.
On Thursday, I found this Santa hat, and Alice was actually willing to wear it!
We went to lunch at Sizzler for Grandma and Mom's birthdays. Alice liked the cantaloup.
That evening, Joel and Melanie had our family over for a steak dinner and nice talks. Then the 4 little girls took a bubble bath together. Grace is in heaven when she gets to play with her cousins!
On Friday, Dad fixed us cocoa and toast for breakfast, and Mom helped me with my sewing project. In the afternoon, Natalie and Savannah came over for a girl cousins sleepover. They started with a craft: making reindeer out of clothespins.
Then they had a tea party.
For dinner, Dad went all out on the place settings, with baby shower napkins, fruit snacks, and suckers.
They had a wonderful dinner of corndogs, salad, peas, and potato wedges.
Then back to finish up their reindeer.
And on to making cookies!
They had so much fun!
Grandma sure knows how to throw a girl party!
Alice couldn't do many of the activities, but she's happy as long as she has a cell phone.
The party continued with a Cinderella movie, and another bubble bath! Then the girls all slept together in Derek's old bed. The rest of us spent the evening playing Quiddler, Scrabble, Rook, and Authors.
On Saturday morning, the girls got all dolled up and went to zumba. Paul worked half the day, then we all watched Home Alone together. Grace had never seen it before.
In the evening, we went to Joel's for Ammon's 13th birthday. Alice loves the new baby Caroline.
And all the kids loved Ammon's new sled. We played Authors and watched Twilight Zone in the evening. This is the face Dad made during Authors, but it could also illustrate the Twilight Zone!
Today, Paul and Cassidy played a hand clapping game before church.
It always ends in pain.
We had Cassidy take our picture before leaving for church.
Merry Christmas!

San Francisco!

2011-12-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we woke up in Horseshoe Bend after a good night's sleep. Grace and I went to zumba with Mom while Paul worked out on the treadmill. Then Dad set Paul up with a desk in his office to work on his thesis, and Grace joined in the party too.
They're quite a group in there. We have Grace do worksheets and crafts everyday to make up for missing school.
Around 11, we went to see Joel and Melanie's new land and the beginnings of their new house. It's all framed out and really nice. Then we went to lunch with them at the Corner Cafe in HSB. Nice visit.
In the evening, we celebrated Mom's 59th birthday a day early. I made her a cake, Joel's family came over, and we had stew and gifts. Dad's gifts to Mom did not disappoint: a shirt 3 sizes too big, a scary Santa ornament that is too huge for the tree, and something that chops potatoes into French fries, though Dad thought it was an onion chopper. Awesome.
Grace has LOVED playing with her cousins! Natalie, Grace, and Savannah.
On Wednesday, Paul and I left our girls asleep at Mom and Dad's, we drove to the airport, and we flew to Oakland. Then we took a shuttle to the rental car place, got a car, and drove over an hour to Santa Cruz. It's very crowded with lots of traffic, nowhere to park, and small, windy streets. There are lots of trees everywhere, and the campus is really spread out. We got a tour of the student family housing, and it looks livable. Then we went to lunch at a place with Santa - the first of many on this trip.
I got a great Philly cheesesteak.
And Paul got a pastrami sandwich. We also ordered garlic fries, which ended up being regular fries with pesto squeezed on it.
On our way back to return the rental car, we saw a sign for Bethany University, so of course we had to stop for a picture. Then we returned the rental car, got a shuttle to the airport, took a bus to the train station, and took the train into San Francisco.
We got off the subway train and emerged from the escalator into the heart of the shopping district. There was tons of noise and energy and people and shops and restaurants and lights and beggars and street performers and cable cars and everything was decorated for Christmas! It was so exciting! We got our luggage 5 blocks through all the people and traffic to the Larkspur Hotel, where Paul spoke Tagalog to our Filipino desk clerks. The hotel had tiny halls, tiny stairways, tiny rooms, and the smallest bathroom I've ever seen - one person can barely stand in it!
We dropped off our luggage, and went back out into Union Square for a night on the town. Macy's was all decked out for Christmas, even the palm trees outside!
Paul and I were totally in the Christmas spirit!
I loved the HUGE Christmas tree!
They even had an outdoor ice rink!
Then we went to the fancy Westin hotel to see the sugar castle.
Their tree was really cool too!
We decided to shop at the 8-story Macy's - it had en entire floor dedicated to Christmas stuff!
They also had an ipod vending machine!!
I had to take a short break in the furniture section.
We went to a few more stores, including the Disney store.
Oh, and Baby Gap.
We had a late dinner at Cold Stone, where Paul got an awesome new funnel cake dessert. Then we made it back to our hotel so tired and sore from traveling all day long. We slept 9 hours that night, and didn't have to wake up with our kids!
On Thursday, I got picture in front of the hotel Christmas tree, then we walked around a little and shopped some.
Then Paul got check in to his conference. Here's what the poster session looks like.
Lots of posters. Lots of people. Paul had an interview with the head of the science writing program at UC Santa Cruz. He said it went well. Then we went to the Container Store - which sells every container imaginable - and grabbed lunch at an amazing place in the mall food court called Bristol Farms. There was nowhere to sit in the whole food court, so we ate by the big Macy's Christmas tree. Paul went back to his conference for the afternoon, then we ate dinner at a very authentic Filipino place. SO good and nostalgic! We spoke Tagalog to the owner.
Then we climbed steep slopes up to Nob Hill to the fancy Fairmont Hotel. They had a full size gingerbread house!
Look at all that candy!
You could walk right through it!
The hotel was all decked out for Christmas.
Look at their tree!
Everything was so ornate!
Check out that lobby!
We checked out other Christmas lights, then went to Chinatown. Paul tried on a silk jacket.
And of course he had to wear the hat with braids!
There I am with all the Chinese lanterns. We bought chopsticks for Cassidy and Grace, and went to bed so tired again.
On Friday, Paul left early for his conference. In the hour he had to be by his poster, 20 people came by to ask questions. He said people seemed really excited about it. He spent the whole morning at the conference.
Then we got all dressed up for our fancy lunch at Luce. We decided when we first planned this trip that since we were going to San Francisco, we should have one really fancy meal.
Here's Paul's first course: baby beets, compressed apple, chevre mousse, and toasted hazelnuts.
I got spinach salad with smoked pancetta and blue cheese. Delicious!
For his main course, Paul had 72-hour short ribs, spaghettini, mushrooms, and fancy cheese. The ribs were melt-in-your-mouth! I got herb-roasted chicken breast, celery root, figs, and wild mushrooms. Wow!
For dessert, Paul got a chocolate peanut mousse bar with heavenly crispy crust.
I got a caramel chocolate pot de creme. Everything was so delicious and fancy. So fun!
The Christmas tree in their lobby was really cool too.
Then we went to see a movie. We got a picture with the sign for the new Lorax movie.
Paul and the Chipmunks.
We really liked seeing Arthur Christmas in 3-D. It was a perfect date! Paul had to go back to his conference for an hour or so after that.
Then we went back out on the town. Paul got his picture in front of the Scottish imports store.
Then we went to the Italian district for pizza by the slice.
We got cannolis for dessert.
Then we walked 2 miles to Fisherman's Wharf.
There were some Christmas decorations, but less than we thought.
We went to a mechanical "museum" where they have tons of vintage coin-operated machines games. It's free to get in, and then each machine costs 1 or 2 quarters.
Paul tested his strength, and we did a cycling game, and dancing puppets.
I wanted to get my fortune, so I put in my 2 quarters. The woman's eyes and crystal ball started glowing, then all of a sudden, it went dark. We turned around, and the entire room was dark and everyone was gone. It was like something out of a movie. We headed for the exit, and the creepy guy on roller skates gave me my quarters back and told me they were closed. Scary.
After that odd experience, we walked along the piers, and there were hardly any people around. Paul got a picture with sea lion statue.
They had a really big Christmas tree at Pier 39.
We looked at all the shops there, and saw a surfer Santa statue.
Paul tried on a diver hat in one of the stores.
There are Santa statues all over the place!
Then we went to see the sea lions and look at the view. A perfect last night!
On Saturday, we got up at 5:45, packed up, and got one last picture by the lobby Christmas tree.
Paul got one last picture with the Christmas frog. Then we got our luggage to the train, took the train to the bus, and took the bus to the airport. We flew to Boise, took a shuttle to our car, and drove our car home to HSB, where we had a happy reunion with our 2 girls! Dillon, Ashley, Ben, and Cheyenne were also there, but we had to leave immediately to go to the Gemtek party.
The party started with a buffet at El Sonora Mexican restaurant, then we all got to go on the Santa train. Grace liked Mr. and Mrs. Claus fine, but Alice did NOT!
How many times can Grace ask him for a toy violin? She's started adding a new sister to the list - ha!
We had a fun time chilling with Dillon and the Dilsavers on the hour train ride to Banks.
Alice didn't know what to think of Cheyenne at first.
But they became friends pretty soon.
Dillon warmed up to us pretty quickly too. He liked Grace's hat.
They gave the kids coloring books and crayons, and they were really good.
A guy came around and made balloon animals for all the kids. Another guy came around dressed as a lion. Grace was terrified, and cried and screamed when he came by.
Banks was set up as the North Pole (minus the snow). Grace and I got our pictures taken.
Alice didn't want anything to do with Santa, even with me holding her!
Grace has finally gotten used to him this year.
They had a few things for the kids to do, including hula hoops.
There's our train.
Happy family back together again!
Snowman cut-outs.
The ride back to HSB was a little wild, with kids running around, everyone tired, and balloon animals popping. Grace's mouse turned into a crown.
Alice liked the free milk from the Idaho Dairy Farmers.
Grace had SO much fun withe her cousins! Emery, Savannah, Natalie, and Grace.
When we got back, we finally time to hear about what our girls did while we were away. Mom continued the worksheets and crafts with her everyday. They made this nativity from the Friend.
And they made ornaments for the mini tree in our room. They were well taken care of!
Today was Dillon's big day. He gave his farewell talk, had a farewell potluck at the church, and got set apart as a missionary. Caroline (niece) also got blessed, Melanie gave a lesson, and Joel got called into the branch presidency. It was a busy day!
Thank you so much to Mom and Dad for taking care of our girls so we could go to San Francisco together. Paul was so sad when he had to go alone last year. The girls didn't miss us at all, and Paul and I got to have an almost second honeymoon!

Let the parties begin!

2011-12-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, the Burrs went home. I got called to be the ward primary pianist in addition to my cub scout calling. Here's a picture of Alice showing her support. I've already been the substitute pianist for the past few months anyway. Paul home taught all afternoon.
On Monday, we had FHE about the true meaning of Christmas. Paul and I told the girls our Christmas traditions from when we were kids, then we wrote down what our gifts to Jesus are this year.
On Tuesday, I made dinner for my friend who was about to have a baby, and I went to sewing group.
On Wednesday, we went to the temple to commemorate Grandpa Flake's hundredth birthday. Grace loved the nativity outside.
Then we shopped at Target. Cute little elf.
Rudolph and the angel.
On Thursday, we had 8 or 9 boys at scouts, ALL in their scout shirts. We showed them Mr. Krueger's Christmas and made snowflakes.
On Friday, Paul finally finished his poster for the big conference in San Francisco. To celebrate, we went to lunch at the Chinese buffet. Alice liked the ceiling.
She made a mess of herself, and loved every minute of it!
She has really started to enjoy playing with little people in their toy house. It's so cute! We watched a Christmas movie with the girls that evening, and Paul and I slept on the hideabed/air mattress under the Christmas tree that night!
On Saturday, we spent the entire day packing, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and getting ready for our trip. Even Grace helped by trying on the winter gear we needed to pack.
Paul had quite a time packing the car, including gifts, enough clothes for 4 weeks, winter gear, stuff for our San Francisco trip/conference, and everything WIC gives us for a whole month!
We were sad to leave our fun decorations. We took down our stockings so we could take them with us.
Here's our "humble Christmas" scene.
The tree all lit up.
Paul and Greg put up garland and lights around the windows this year.
But one of my favorite things is the garland that Paul, Greg, and Grace put on the railing!
We hung up Grace's fun crafts. She did some of them with Aunt Haley.
Our mini tree is decorated with the oragami we did with Haley and Greg.
Snowmen around a tree.
Santa and snow globes.
Snowmen, a Christmas tree, and just-add-water fake snow!
My very favorite Christmas decoration of all: the wall hanging Mom made us for Christmas last year. It is SO cute!
The crafts I made in relief society a few weeks ago.
Mistletoe from the Rio Grande!
On Sunday, we got up at 5 am, got the girls up at 5:30, and we were on the road by 6. Grace was a really good girl all day, and is old enough to entertain herself most of the time. She had her backpack full of coloring books, activity books, reading books, etc., so she stayed busy.
Alice looks very happy in this picture, but was grouchy a lot, still not over the cold she had all week.
Paul washed the windows at the gas station, but our car got SO dirty on the trip, and looks AWFUL. You can see in this picture that Paul's in a suit and tie. We all traveled the whole day in dress clothes because we stopped for a 10 am sacrament meeting in Farmington, NM at the San Juan College singles branch. We stuck out a little bit!
Alice was obsessed with this Christmas book about a reindeer named Bob. We got to Mom/Dad Gabe's empty house in Riverton around 5:30, and put the girls to bed by 6. Neither one had really slept the entire day. Paul and I slept 9 hours that night, and the girls slept 13!
Our 6-hour drive to Horseshoe Bend on Monday was painless. The girls did great. We listened to a lot of Christmas music, and Paul read us about half of "A Christmas Carol". Whenever he'd stop for some reason, Grace would say, "Read on!"
I drove most of the time both days. The weather was never very bad, and neither was the traffic.
Grace and snow leopard were good friends on the drive.
Alice actually slept a little!
We made it to Mom and Dad's at 2. Alice liked them just fine from the start. Mom read Christmas books to her while we unpacked the car. Dad, of course, was napping.
Mom loves her granddaughters!
I can post these pictures now that I have given Mom her birthday gift: 2 dozen homemade tamales. It took me 2 entire days to make them!
I did it without any help from my friend this time, though I did have to borrow her steamer and pressure cooker. Not bad! Mom liked them. We ate them with the taco soup she made for dinner.
Grace had so much fun having tea party after tea party at the little table in the toy room.
She likes it even better when Grandma comes for tea!
After months of working with her, Grace now knows all 13 Articles of Faith word for word. I've been teaching them to her on the way to school everyday, and she wanted to be all done in time to impress her grandparents. Well, they were impressed. Mom cried, and Dad immediately pulled out his wallet and handed her a dollar! Paul and I were so proud of her accomplishment that we bought her this little book she had her eye on - her very first Book of Mormon, just her size! We are so proud of her!
We played Quiddler with Dad. As usual, he puts all his cards out in front of him in hopes that people will help him find words. Even then he doesn't win! We also played Flake-opoly, the game Paul and I made. Everyone loved it!
That evening, Dad tried to have FHE geared towards Grace. It was less than successful, but at least he tried. Then we watched a few old episodes of The Twilight Zone.
As soon as we left Socorro, they got the most snow they've gotten in years - 11 inches! My friend sent me this picture of our back yard. Paul's school was canceled Monday and delayed Tuesday, and Grace's school was canceled Monday and Tuesday and delayed Wednesday. Crazy! Good thing we made it out in time!

Thanksgiving with the Burrs!

2011-11-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Paul went on a walk with me because all 3 of my walking group girls flaked out. I like Paul a lot better - he even bought me a hot chocolate on the way! Alice was cuddly after one of her naps.
What a sweet baby!
Looking up at the star of Bethlehem?
Happy smile!
I ordered Grace a long-sleeved shirt because she doesn't have many. It came in the mail that day.
Cute shirt for a cute girl!
Once you decide it looks like a cowgirl shirt, you have to go all the way.
Yee haw! We had FHE on reverence that night, and wrote Grace's talk. Her third!
On Tuesday, I visit taught in conjunction with walking group, then went grocery shopping for 2 hours. I hate it. Alice had her first hoho that day.
I was craving chicken Mcnuggets that night, so I found a copycat recipe online. I knew it was right when it told me to grind the chicken up in the food processor. The texture was good, but the spices were off. We may try again. We tried to watch the Disney computer animated version of the Christmas Carol, but Paul and I were SO bored with it, and Grace was scared. It was dark and slow. So we found a simple cartoon about the birth of Jesus with a donkey as the main character. Much better. I went to sewing that night, and came home with homemade cranberry sauce and homemade peanut brittle from my sewing teacher!
Grace didn't have school on Wednesday. We got up at 7:30, Paul took the car in, and then he made great progress on his thesis model while I bathed the girls, and made 2 pies (chocolate and peanut butter), and worked on the missionary dinner for that night, including making jello and cake. What was I thinking having a dinner party the day before Thanksgiving?
The girls were really good entertaining themselves while Paul and I worked. They read books, played together, and Grace cleaned the living room by herself twice that day. I played a game with her and gave her 32 cents as a reward. We also went on a family walk in the afternoon.
Alice wanted some cowgirl time!
That evening, we had the missionaries and the Sotos over for lasagna, garlic bread, corn, jello, and a birthday cake for Skyler. We got a new elder that didn't say a word. Weird.
Thursday was Thanksgiving! Paul didn't have to work, so he was mostly in charge of the housework and getting everything ready for our guests. I was in charge of the food. I got good reviews on last year's turkey, so I tried to do everything the same.
Grace helped with the sweet potatoes.
She and Paul made place cards, and then Paul hid our turkey decorations so Grace would have to go on a turkey hunt. She loved it!
Paul had to put the books away about 15 times, since Alice kept pulling them out.
Grace got all cute for her aunt and uncle to come. She was so excited!
Haley and Greg arrived an hour and a half early from Las Vegas! We were so glad they made such good time, because they were able to help us with all the final preparations for the dinner. Haley is showing some, and Alice and Grace took to both of them with no problem at all.
The turkey was delicious!
It was a small crowd, but at least we had family with us. We all ate two plates full, and had lots of things we were thankful for.
Alice wants to share!
We had sweet potato casserole (a huge hit!), rolls with homemade strawberry freezer jam, cranberry sauce (2 kinds), green bean casserole, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. It was a very successful and filling meal - we ate off it for the rest of the weekend!
Paul and Greg did the dishes while Haley and I bathed the girls. Then we played games, including Ticket to Ride, of course.
Greg was SO good with the girls. They really loved him. Here he is playing finger puppets with them.
He even let Alice play with his wedding ring. Watch out, Haley!
We took them on a tour of town, and got out at the Rio Grande. What a view!
Daddy sandwich!
Greg touched the Rio Grande, then we hunted for mistletoe along the hiking trail - success!
We checked out the old Catholic church, but it's still under renovation, so we walked around the plaza. Paul and Greg got along really well - they're both nerds.
Paul and the newspaper office where he's written 2 articles.
That afternoon we decorated for Christmas! The men and kids were in charge of the tree set-up.
Haley got out all the ornaments.
I was in charge of all the other decorations. We have a lot!
It's always so fun to remember what decorations we have, and to see ones we bought at the after-Christmas sale last year that we haven't ever used yet.
I knew Alice would love the beads, but the men liked them more than I expected!
I give Christmas 2 thumbs up! We listened to lots of old favorite Christmas songs, as well as some new "soul" Christmas CDs we got.
Greg taking a break.
Making a mess with the beads.
Alice loves those things!
She was totally in the Christmas spirit! She hasn't been able to stay away from the tree and presents.
After that, Paul taught us how to do Christmas oragami. Greg and Grace really took to it, and did more and more whenever they had a chance.
We went to Wal-Mart that evening for Black Friday sales, and Haley and Greg bought us pizza for dinner. Grace and Alice got a little more Uncle Greg time before bed, then the adults visited, and watched a Christmas movie. We didn't know it was made by an ultra-Christian comedian. It was painful.
On Saturday, I got my family all fixed up for pictures. Alice was sick and oozing from every orifice, so we decided just to do some low-key indoor shots. Grace wanted one with Christmas doggy.
Alice mesmerized by the tree.
Sweet girl. She is SO excited for Christmas this year - it's really fun to be her parents!
Our first family picture attempt. I know, gross.
Poor sick kid.
She was much happier after some breakfast.
But still very obviously sick.
Sisters!
Ecstatic!
Fun!
So cute!
Which family picture is better? The one where Grace isn't really looking?
Or the one where Alice is blurry?
Daddy and his daughter.
Alice was attached to Greg all weekend, and Grace was obsessed with Haley. I think it has something to do with the fact that she teaches pre-k. Whatever the reason, there is no contest in this house as to who the favorite uncle and aunt are!That mistletoe from the Rio Grande came in handy!
Christmas romance!
We tried to go play sports at Clark Field that morning, but it was so cold and REALLY windy, so we went on a little campus tour.
Haley and I decided to go back to grad school and share an office.
Paul and his filter.
Then we had planned on a cookout at Water Canyon, but the wind was so intense that we decided to do it in the back yard instead. Haley and Grace played out back for a while.
Then the party moved inside because of the cold. Kyi stopped by and joined in on the Chutes and Ladders action.
We had delicious hot dogs, then roasted marshmallows for smores.
The crew pretending to be around an open fire.We played out in the leaves for a while.
Alice didn't particularly like it.
Then we hiked up the hill to the old Catholic cemetery.
That evening, Alice woke up from her nap just before sundown, so we drove over to the bird refuge to see the sandhill cranes fly in.
They are so big, and cool to watch.
And there were so many of them!
It was really cold though.
Cranes on the water.
I love those skinny legs hanging down.
After putting the girls to bed that night, we played Ticket to Ride twice, watched a Hallmark Christmas movie, and Greg killed us all in Boy Scout Monopoly. We were sad knowing it was our last with the Burrs.
This morning, we took one last picture with our friends, and they left after sacrament meeting. We are so glad they drove so far to spend Thanksgiving with us. They were the perfect guests - helpful around the house, good with the kids, game for whatever, low key, low maintenance, never complained about sleeping on an air mattress on the hideabed, easy to talk to, easy to entertain, etc. Haley was even sick sometimes, but she never made a big deal out of it. Am I being too gushy? Come again, Haley and Greg - we miss you already!

Fall Leaves Fall!

2011-11-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

Ella's mom posted some pictures of the princess tea party Grace went to on Saturday. Grace, Bethany Kempton, Clara Kempton, Ella, some other girl.
I think she invited every white girl in the whole town! Ella's mom wore her wedding dress, and her dad dressed up as Little Bo Peep. Grace loved it all!
On Sunday evening, we made rice krispy treat turkey pops. We had to improvise and use straws and chopsticks for the sticks. Here's Grace and me doing the first step.
We put Alice in her stroller in the kitchen when we do cooking projects.
Paul decided to get artsy with the camera. How can you take Alice seriously when she's so cute when she cries?
Case in point.
Artsy Grace.
Paul, Grace, and a bunch of decapitated turkeys.
They turned out really great!
Here they are, not dry yet. Pretty cool, huh? We got impatient and put them in the fridge. That solidified the chocolate, but got the marshmallow too cold, so they were pretty hard and crunchy. Still good though! Then we made up stories together as a family.
On Monday, I did lots of online shopping, organizing, and list making. We have a lot to do before we leave on Dec. 4! We had FHE on repentance, I told the story of Matilda King having the gift of tongues and singing to the Indians, and we bathed the girls. Alice got a sweet new hairstyle out of it!
On Tuesday after school, I took the girls out front to pick fall leaves.
We have some really pretty trees on our road!
Grace loved doing it. Then we made turkeys out of styrofoam plates, with leaves as feathers.
The girls did art projects together on the couch. Cute sisters! I went to sewing group that night.
Grace likes to read with Paul before school. On Wednesday, Grace played outside with Kyi the entire afternoon. She had so much fun, and Alice even joined them in the sandbox for a while. When Paul got home from his thesis committee meeting, we were all so relieved it was over. He's been preparing intensely for it for a while, and it went really well. The committee agreed with his speedy timeline, and even gave him permission to cut some stuff out if he needs to! He plans to defend at the end of March. We celebrated with some of his favorite foods for dinner: sausage, potato cakes, French toast, and fried eggs.
On Thursday, Grace's school put on a Thanksgiving lunch. Of course, she eats at 10:30, so it was more like brunch. We brought the whole family, and Grace was really excited! I made 9 dozen cookies that afternoon for the pack meeting.
The pack meeting that evening got off to a slow start.
One webelos and his dad were a little early, so Paul and Grace played straw ping pong with them.
Then people started pouring in. We counted 49 people there! Our space-themed pack meeting went off without a hitch.
Paul did great, we gave out lots of awards, everyone had fun, and 6 dozen cookies got eaten. Everyone always comments on what a great cub scout leader Paul is and how patient and energetic and stuff he is. I'm always really proud!
On Friday, I saw a huge dead crow on the sidewalk during walking group. Yuck! Then we saw a guy wreck on his bike. He fell on his face, layed there for a few seconds, then got up and said, "I'm good!" Scary.
That evening was the young adult Thanksgiving dinner. I made stuffing. We were all so full!
On Saturday, we got up at 8, then layed in bed because the girls weren't awake still. We finally WOKE THEM UP just before 9. Amazing! I had an RS activity from 9-noon, so Paul took the girls on a long walk to get me flowers!
Then I got visit taught, so Paul and Grace gathered pine cones, leaves, etc. and made some pretty fall arrangements for me. We sprinkled fall spices in them too! They also made me a note saying why they're thankful for me. Where did I get them?
Pretty flowers!
Here's the top of our piano with our Thanksgiving decorations, as well the the table runner Mom made me last year when Alice was born. Looks great!
Here are the Christmas crafts I made at the RS activity.
More Thanksgiving decorations/crafts.
In the late afternoon, we went out back to play in the leaves - Alice's first time!
The girls really liked it!
Happy autumn baby!
Fall leaves fall!
The leaf blanket was supposed to keep them warm.
Yay for leaves!
Buried! We were cold afterward, so we came inside and drank hot chocolate. Then we had dinner at our Chinese friends' house. They fed us pizza, ham/cheese/crackers, turkey/gravy, popcorn shrimp/cheese ball, tofu/meat, green beans/asparagus/chicken, Asian spiced pork ribs, cream puffs, ice cream, and cake. It was a feast! Pretty fun.
We're SO excited for Haley and Greg to come this week! PARTY!

Family skits

2011-11-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Paul and Grace bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting. Then we had an uneventful afternoon reading scriptures and laying low. Grace played with the paper dolls Mom made her a few Christmases ago. She plays with her toys a lot more now that they're organized.
We made brownies from scratch that day. We rationed them so they'd last us most of the week.
Grace was mad when I told her we couldn't have any until after dinner.
So she occupied herself making paper bag puppets of her and Alice.
Poor Alice woke up from her nap in a bad mood. She's been having diaper troubles since we started her on cow milk. She likes this position on Paul because it helps her push. We like it because she's so cuddly! That evening, we made up skits and took turns being partners with different people. See a few of our best at the end of this post!
On Monday I was able to go walking outside at 6:30 am because it was so light! (Then it got really cold, so I worked out on the elliptical the rest of the week.) I also went walking with my walking group, and then the kids played at my house.
I don't know how Grace feels knowing Kyi comes over and plays with Alice while she's at school, but so it goes.
This is a typical lunch for Alice and me. She eats cheese, goldfish, fruit, and a jam sandwich. I have cheese, apple sauce, half a pb&j, and some carrots. Not very exciting, but pretty healthy.
It was dark, cold, and windy that evening. We had potato soup for dinner, and FHE on prayer. Then we made turkeys by cutting our handprints out of construction paper, writing things we're thankful for on the fingers, and gluing on faces. After that, we messed around with the girls. Paul showed Alice what the elliptical is like.
Grace had some fun while getting ready for bed.
She can be pretty scary sometimes.
Here's Alice after we took out her pigtails.
She's so cute!
With horns!
Happy kid.
On Tuesday, the girls got up way too early, so we made them play together while we continued our usual morning stuff. Grace decided to play princesses.
Things got pretty silly.
That afternoon, I went an hour early to pick up Grace from school so we could visit her class for a while. Alice was just another pre-k kid at snack time!
We went to Wal-Mart that evening, and Grace HAD to have a picture in front of their Christmas tree! Then I went to sewing group.
On Wednesday, Alice and I went to walking group as usual. She's gotten really good about keeping her hat and gloves on. Grace had a half day of school, and then a play date at Ella's.
On Thursday at walking group, we saw that the sprinklers got left on the night before. Cool!
Even the grass had icicles on it! I watched Kyi and Eli that morning.
Alice had leftover chili for lunch. She LOVES chili!
I took this picture to prove to those who said I looked bad on the news that I do sometimes fix my hair and wear makeup.
That evening, we had scout committee meeting, then scouts. The bishop's son was early, so he played with the girls.
He even taught Grace to play checkers!
Our lesson was on disabilities awareness, so we had the mother of our disabled cub come in and tell all about his medical history, challenges, how he's normal, etc. All 11 boys were so interested and had a million questions.
Then we had them "try on" some disabilities, like being blind, deaf, learning disabled, and even having to write with their toes because they had no arms! The boys had a lot of fun.
Friday was 11/11/11. We had no school because of the threat letter, so we slept in until 7:45, and Paul worked from home all day. Alice played in her toy box, and Grace did a bunch of worksheets I made for her. We watched Gnomeo and Juliet as a family that evening. Just okay.
We got up at 8 on Saturday! We got Grace all cute for Ella's princess tea party birthday party. She had a lot of fun, and we got a free morning while Alice napped. In the afternoon, we ALL got naps! Except Grace, of course, who only naps when she's sick.
That evening, Paul had an EQ activity, so I got the girls ready for bed. Alice is getting a lot better at letting us brush her teeth. She has at least 10 now!

Family skit #1: Grace with Paul's arms.

Family skit #2: Bethany sells to Witch Grace

Family skit #3: Cowboys on horses

Halloween Pukes

2011-11-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Monday was Halloween. Grace was still on Fall Break, so she got to lay around and read.
Alice likes having her sister home! She had her hair all ready for her giraffe costume, and was getting ready to brush her teeth. She has a lot of teeth - at least 9, maybe more. She won't let us check, so we don't know for sure.
We went to walking group as usual. It's getting colder, so I'm glad Alice is willing to wear a hood and gloves. Then Grace went to play at Kyi's while Alice napped.
Meanwhile, Paul was on campus analyzing water samples. He claims it's an alien embryo. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
Then Kyi and Grace moved over to our house. Kyi is lucky he has a friend who can read to him!
I fed them lunch. (Scary-looking kids! It WAS Halloween I guess.)
Then they all settled down to watch Toy Story. That's when Alice decided to throw up all over the floor. Grace freaked out, and she and Kyi ran back over to his house. I cleaned up the mess and put Alice in her bed, poor baby. She threw up a total of 4 times that day.
That evening, after a Family Home Evening lesson on the sacrament, Grace got all dressed up for her first time trick or treating. She was excited and nervous.
Paul threw on his dinosaur costume, but didn't do the make-up and hair this time.
Poor Alice was disappointed she didn't get to go. We had all planned on going, since we don't really get trick or treaters here. I got 2 sets of neighbors is all.
Grace went to the neighbors first, so I got a picture of her at Kim's.
Then Paul drove her to where everyone told us the best houses are. Paul said she was a little skittish.
But she got into it after a while.
People on these streets decorate for Halloween. Here's some serious cobwebs.
Grace never would've gone near this person if she wasn't the primary song leader!
Giant glowing spider.
Blow-up Halloween decorations. Grace was really tired by the time she got home. She had a decent amount of candy, but didn't eat any of it. She threw up in her bed that night.
Tuesday we had a sick day. Both girls had thrown up the day before (though Grace couldn't remember throwing up, being pulled out of bed, and having her sheets and pajamas changed!), and Paul and I felt awful all day. Grace skipped school, and we hung out at home, ate bland foods, watched TV and movies, etc. No one threw up all day, and we were somewhat better by evening, so we cleaned up the house, since it was totally trashed by then!
Wednesday I went grocery shopping. I hoped for some after-Halloween sales (it was only 2 days after Halloween), but all the Halloween stuff had disappeared, and everything was a war zone trying to get Christmas stuff up. I was disappointed, but it's so fun to see and hear and smell Christmas again! Grace helped me with dinner that night.
On Thursday, it turned into winter, and actually froze in the night. Paul was brave enough to run outside, but I did my exercise on the elliptical. In the evening, we had a little family dance party before going to cub scouts. Grace danced on Paul's feet.
They're pretty cute together.
Sisters dance! No, Alice can't stand on her own, but does okay when we hold her hands.
We had 9 boys at cub scouts for Paul's lesson on money. Then they took Grace's squishy brain to play ball with, and the brain got stuck up on the wall ledge. It took a ladder on the table to get it down again!
On Friday, Ella came over after Grace got home from school. Among other things, they played in a fort...
and played play doh. After Ella went home, we made a pizza, and watched a Lassie movie as a family. Very weird old movie. Paul and I watched the Yul Brynner "Anastasia" that night. He's awesome (both Paul AND Yul)!
It was so windy in the night! On Saturday, Paul and I were both sick on and off all day, but we had an empty day and really wanted to get lots of work done, so we pressed on. We spent hours in the girls' room, going through every item of clothing, lowering Alice's crib, changing Grace's sheets, fixing the black-out curtain, boxing up small clothes, organizing their entire closet, vacuuming, etc. Then we went through every toy in the house and organized them, as well as all the childrens books and art supplies. Then we moved on to the Sam McGee hole, then the coat closet, including all the winter gear. Paul decided these ear warmers were too tight.
Grace did great entertaining herself with her workbook. She did pages and pages of it with no help! Then she read books to herself.
I tried on an old hat.
And Grace finally fits the winter hat she got as a baby!
Alice woke up from her afternoon nap in a grouchy mood. There she is with her new straw cup. She is now off bottles and formula, and drinks cow milk from a straw.
She seemed to still be tired after her nap. Yawn!
There's a little smile! We all went out back to clean the porch/garden area, then the girls colored while Paul and I finished a few more things. It felt great to get so much done!
And now it's Sunday. The girls got in bed with Paul this morning because it was cold. Yay for cold! Happy fall/winter!

Fall Break and Trunk or Treating

2011-10-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

Monday was busy. In the evening, we had dinner, and then the cake Grace and I had made. Alice loved it!
Scary!
Grace tried the cake Paul's home teaching family sent home. I guess she liked it too.
What a happy baby!
"What are you doing?"
We had to get pictures of everyone. Why not? Then I taught FHE on the "LDS Women are Incredible" talk, Paul told Grandma Grace's conversion story, and we took groceries over to another one of Paul's home teaching families who was running out of food. They were very grateful.
On Tuesday, we went to walking group as usual. Alice uses EVERYTHING as a phone, so there she is, talking on her straw. The other kid is Hannah, who is one week older than Alice.
Paul thinks it's really cool that we can take extreme close-ups with the new camera. A lot of times, they just end up looking scary!
Or cross-eyed!
This is where Paul ate lunch that day. What a nerd! But at least he's getting lots of work done for his thesis project. In the afternoon, we all went to the book fair at Grace's school. Grace went to Ella's house afterward. Then I made spaghetti and homemade meatballs for dinner (my first time!).
I finished sewing Grace's Halloween costume that day, so we decided to try the girls' costumes on. Grace wore this giraffe costume a few years ago, and hated the giraffe head hood as much as Alice does!
Grace loves her Little Red Riding Hood costume! I made the cape, and put elastic in the skirt someone gave her from the thrift store. (Better pictures later in the blog.)
This sweet little giraffe is so excited for trick or treating!
Then we went on a family walk. I was curious to see how Grace would do on her tricycle, since she never really rides it very far - just around our apartment building. She had a pretty hard time.
Paul and his girls with the fall leaves.
Grace eventually ended up in the stroller. I went to a relief society activity that evening.
On Wednesday, Alice woke up cuddly.
What a sweet little angel!
She's a total Daddy's girl.
Grace loves her daddy too!
Paul is so sweet with his daughters!
We try to get Grace to read in the morning before school if she has extra time. We can't always get her to if she's not in the mood, but sometimes we get lucky. Alice's physical therapist came that day, I talked to Elaine on the phone, and we had the Fairbanks over for dinner. It was cold and windy that evening.
On Thursday, Grace's Fall Break started. The girls slept in until almost 8. Alice's hair had gained significant height overnight.
We had blueberry pancakes to celebrate the break.
Paul didn't have his usual early meeting, so even he got to relax some! Walking group was freezing, and we had to cut it short because some of the other kids weren't dressed warm enough. We let the kids play together for a while, then I took the girls to library story/craft time.
In the afternoon, the apartment complex had a pumpkin carving party. It was SO cold! Paul cleaned out pumpkin guts.
Grace poked holes for the pattern.
They were good workers.
Alice and I watched from a more sunny area.
Then we ate dinner, and bathed the girls. Alice always gets food all over the carpet, but Grace doesn't complain too much when she gets asked to vacuum it up.
We had 8 boys at cub scouts. They were pretty wild because of Fall Break, and somehow no parents stayed this time! We made paper bag masks and worked on skits.
Friday was still Fall Break. The girls and I got all bundled up for walking group. Afterward, we all went to the flea market. All we found of interest was a VHS of the Lion King.
Then Grace was tired, so I layed down with her and watched a Halloween movie. I got visit taught in the afternoon, and missed Haley's phone call. I was so excited when I called her back and heard they're having a baby after trying for a year and a half! Yay!
Our plumbing has had major issues since we got here, and it's acting up again. Plumbers came to our house at 2 pm, and were still here at 5, so we decided to just go on with our plans. We carved the rest of our pumpkins.
Then we had pizza and ice cream while watching the BYU game on TV. This is a picture showing Alice's Gabrielsen genes. She is holding a chocolate ice cream cone, but eating a cucumber! That is NOT my kid!
Alice was sad that Riley Nelson let TCU get a turnover. But at least the plumbers finally finished at 6:30, and everything seemed to be fixed. Here's hoping! Paul and I put the girls to bed, and finished the depressing game without them.
Then we took pictures of our masterpieces. Paul carved a smirk, Hello Kitty (for Grace), and an alien. Only the alien was freehand.
I carved a smiley face (freehand), and a ghost rising from a grave.
On Saturday, we got all bundled up to do a scout fundraiser selling flashlights outside the grocery store. I spent hours on that sign!
We had 4 leaders (including me and Paul), 2 cubs, and 1 boy scout there. Pretty poor showing. Here's Grace with Nathan.
Christian is the other cub that came. He and Grace became great friends, and this shy little stutterer came out of his shell and had a perfect sales pitch that he'd say to everyone!
In 3 1/2 hours they sold 30 sets of flashlights! I was SO proud of Paul, who hates selling things, but just wanted to be done. He had a great sales pitch, and would stop anyone and everyone. He probably sold more than half of them himself, and tried to hand sales off to Christian whenever possible.
I stayed for the first hour and a half, then took Alice home for her nap. Grace stayed to be with Christian. They had a great time!
After a long, hard morning fundraising, we went to the Chinese buffet for lunch. Alice liked the fruits more than the fried foods. What's with this kid?
Then we went on a family (plus Kyi!) walk. Grace and Kyi fit in the one-person stroller.
Paul took Alice in the baby backpack so he could get more of a workout. She really appreciated the sun shade!
Later, Grace and I made Tootsie Pop ghosts to give away at the trunk or treat. We tied the tissues on with floss, so they can clean their teeth afterward!
Then we got all costumed up! Grace loves that her red riding hood cape is sparkly. Thanks to Mom Gabe for giving me this fabric over a year ago!
I did her hair all cute because I think the costume looks cuter with the hood down.
Alice actually kept her hood on most of the evening when she saw that everyone else was in costume!
I found this cape at the thrift store for 10 cents.
Now that Grace can crawl, she's a natural as a giraffe!
Little Red Riding Hood and Big Red Riding Hood.
Paul the dinosaur. We mohawked his hair, he did green and black dinosaur make-up, and wore gators.
The green top was 10 cents at the thrift store, and the spiked dinosaur vest was another 10 cents. Cheap and easy costume!
How do you fit a giraffe inside a car? Ours was even willing to be strapped into a carseat!
When we got to the ward Halloween party, one of our non-LDS cub scouts was there. We had talked up the party all morning to Christian at the flashlight selling, so his parents let him skip his church party and come to ours. Grace was happy to see her buddy again.
We had a chili cook-off with all types of bread. I brought cornbread. Grace ate with Christian, another non-LDS cub scout, an LDS cub scout, and our non-LDS Korean neighbor.
Then came the games! Grace did the cake walk, "guess the gross", and the hanging donuts.
Alice was a hit with one of the non-LDS cub scout moms that came.
Grace had so much fun with the games! She did the fishing pole, and the balloon darts.
She even bobbed for apples!
Then out to the parking lot for the trunk or treat. Paul took the girls around.
I manned the trunk Paul had decorated, complete with music playing from Nightmare Before Christmas.
Our family won the prize for best costumes! We got a Halloween cookie decorating kit.
Of course Junior was there as Wile E. Coyote. Ha!
Alice didn't eat a bit of candy, but she loved every minute of it, and was totally wired when we tried to put her to bed. Paul and I watched a Halloween movie on the Hallmark channel that night.
On Sunday, Alice was a grouch all during church. After lunch, we decorated the Halloween cookies that we won.
It's been a really fun Halloween so far, and it's not over yet!

Grace's movie for my Dad

2011-10-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

My Darling Baby and the Cub Scout Field Trip to the VLA

2011-10-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we had primary program practice, a long choir practice, a quick lunch, a long home teaching visit, and another song practice. That took our whole day until evening. Paul made autumn-spiced French toast for dinner, then we all made jack-o-lanterns out of construction paper. We ran out of orange.
Okay, this blog is going to have LOTS of pictures of Alice. I can't help it. She's adorable!
She thought it was so funny to try on Grace's slippers.
What a face!
Gotta love the pigtails.
When she starts to get a dazed look, I know it's time to turn off the flash!
That's better!
Grace has been happier with her best friend, Aiyana, back at school. She also had Kyi over this week to play chefs, and she got invited over to Ella's. It made me so happy to see her in such a good mood again!
Paul and the girls at Family Home Evening on Monday night. Paul and I take turns doing the lesson, and now we've decided that whoever doesn't do the lesson shares a family history story at the beginning. It's been really nice so far.
We also put up more cobwebs. Spooky!
Don't mind the ghost in the window!
Not a bad looking ghost, if you ask me!
We may have had chocolate chip muffins for breakfast one day.
Okay, this sweater from Grandma Lu just makes Alice irresistible!
I'm running out of captions for these portrait shots. She's cute, okay?
A slight underbite. The doctor says not to worry about it until she's 6.
Cute!
Practicing the sitting position the therapist wants her to do to get from crawling to sitting and back again, rather than doing the splits.
Look, Ma, no neck!
Aaaah!
Raaaar!
I love that round little face!
Even when it's sideways!
Remember that newspaper article of Dad where he has his hands out like that? Where IS that picture?
Just playin'.
Mischievous.
The camera loves her!
On Wednesday night, at Grace's request, we had a blanket party. We pretended it was winter and a snowstorm had knocked out the power, so we had to use flashlights.
Grace loves her headlamp.
Paul took the opportunity to take pictures with the new camera in low light.
She's even cute in the dark!
So's he!
Oh, and there's me.
On Thursday, Alice and I went on Grace's field trip to the "pumpkin patch". They went on a hayride. (Aiyana is the one on the right.)
The pumpkin patch was a dead plot of dirt with pumpkins lined up in rows.
Grace took a long time choosing hers.
But she finally found the perfect one! Then we all went to Escondida Lake for lunch and playing on the playground. Grace loved it, and again was totally in love with the bus.
Meanwhile, Paul and 3 other guys were digging a trench out in his field area.
It was 65 feet long and 3 feet deep. He left before 6 am and got home after 11 pm with blistered hands and sunburnt skin. We hope he won't have to go back again EVER!
On Friday evening, we watched "Benji" with the girls. I don't think I'd ever seen it before. It was VERY dated. After the girls were asleep, we left the baby monitor with the neighbors, and went on a date. We got ice cream and went on an evening stroll. It was wonderful! We made a short stop at the grocery store, where Paul had a run-in with Frankenstein!
Look how cool - our new camera can take pictures of our lightning ball!
On Saturday, we didn't get up until 8! Grace pretended to be the "story time girl" and read to Alice.
She really is a very good reader.
In the afternoon, we met up with 14 cub scouts, 14 adults, 9 siblings, and 8 vehicles, and we all drove an hour west to the 27 radio telescopes that make up the Very Large Array (VLA). One cub was brand new that day, and another 2 were back after a 7-month hiatus.
We ended up in a tour group with a bunch of webelos from ABQ. They started by showing us a short film.
Then came the walking tour, which began with those "whisper dishes" that they have on every playground across America. I'm not sure why the kids were so impressed. Maybe because the ones on playgrounds are never installed correctly, so they never actually work.
Alice wasn't impressed.
Paul, Grace, and the alien contact device.
Those things are huge!
The Very Large Array. And Grace and Paul.
The tour guide took us inside the operations building, and we got to meet an operator. The best part was seeing all the wires.
Then our group broke off from the ABQ group. Fine looking pack of cubs!
One of our cub parents works here (remotely), so he was able to show us the big machine that transports the telescopes.
The boys loved that they had to wear hard hats!
I didn't get on the machine, so my BYU hat worked just fine. We missed the game because of this trip.
Grace loved climbing on the transporter.
But she needed help to get down.
There's our motley crew for a final picture after it was all over.
Then Paul handed out papers and folders and posters and stuff that we were given by the cub father that works there. The boys loved it, and we're so glad it was a success, and that it's over!
Here's a picture one of the parents took of Grace at the zoo field trip 2 weeks ago. Pretty cute!

A NEW CAMERA!

2011-10-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the girls wore their matching NM Tech shirts. Too bad the picture is so blurry, right? It was Mom/Dad Gabe's last day here. They took Grace to school, hung out with us, took us to lunch, picked Grace up from school, and were on their way. Grace took it pretty hard.
That evening, after FHE, we went on a family hike behind our house to try out the new backpack some more. The girls are also wearing their cute new sweaters!
Grace thought it would be fun to bring her stuffed bunny, and then we saw a real one hopping around! She loved that! There were also lots of mosquitoes.
We made it to the cemetery as the sun was going down, and decided not to risk going back through the dry brush (rattlesnake habitat) to get back home. So we got lost trying to find a road, and eventually got lucky and made it home.
The girls went to bed in their matching purple owl pajamas. Grace has "Who's Cute?", and Mom just got Alice "Who's Sleepy?" for her birthday. Don't you just wanna pick that baby up?
On Tuesday, Paul and the girls were being cute on the couch, but it ended up being another unfortunate blurry picture.
Somehow, my phone did take an awesome one of Alice at her WIC appointment. She was very grouchy and resistant to being weighed and measured. She's embarrassed that she's 24 pounds and 30 inches tall - 95th percentile overall! She's all done with baby food, and has about 9 cans of formula to finish off, then she can be done being a baby.
In the afternoon was Alice's one-year doctor's appointment. The poor kid got 5 shots in her thighs (leaving bruises), and had to get blood drawn for a lead test. She screamed 5 minutes while the guy moved the needle around and around in her arm trying to get it into a vein. Then another 15 minutes of squeezing a drop of blood at a time out of her heel. When that finally dried up, they made a huge bruise on her hand and got the blood they needed. She was traumatized, and so was I! They gave her playdoh and a book for being so good. I went to sewing that night.

On Wednesday, Alice's therapist came over, and wanted to see her progress. I went to show her the lack of progress, and suddenly Alice crawled! It was awesome! And she hasn't stopped since! That evening, we had the elders and the Sotos over for chicken divan and a new member discussion. We were all really tired for some reason.
On Thursday, Alice and I visited Grace's class for a while. Alice had 2 dirty diapers in the time we were there! We had 10 boys at cub scouts that night for Paul's lesson on constellations. They LOVED making pinhole planetariums!

On Friday, I had a weird eye thing where it looked like I had looked at a camera flash, but it wouldn't go away. It was mostly gone after a nap, but then I was nauseous the rest of the day. Grace went on her first field trip to the zoo that day, and her "zoo buddy"'s parents bought her a stuffed snow leopard. She LOVES it, and named it Alice Grace Dora. We watched Rainbow Brite with the girls that night. I forgot how terrible it was.
On Saturday, Paul took his GRE biology test all morning. Grace was sick, having coughed all night long. The girls didn't get up until 8:15! We ran errands all morning, including a library book sale, where I got an unopened video of Beauty and the Beast for $1. It still had the promotional material in it from 1993! Grace took a break after errands, and watched our other new $1 video: Toy Story.
In the afternoon, Paul bought me flowers.
That evening, we pulled out our new camera and started playing with it and reading through the manual. Sarah helped us choose this great Nikon coolpix. It has this feature where you can set it to "smile recognition", and it won't shoot the picture until it can tell your subject is smiling. It worked a little too well. Scary.
It also does extreme close-ups.
In portrait mode, it softens skin. Can't you tell? Smooth as a baby's bottom.
We also tried some action shots.
It can take pictures from 3 centimeters away. You can see the threads that make up my pajama pants!
Oh, and it has "pet portrait" setting. Closest thing we have to a pet...
We tried the panorama of our living area.
And the "fish eye" view.
Painting mode.
Paul took some good pictures of our decorative cobwebs. Yes, our Carlsbad bat is stuck in a huge spider's web - now that's Halloweeny for you!
Cobwebs connect our family to the temple. I think there's an object lesson in there somewhere.
Our piano-top decorations.
I don't think our old camera could get this kind of detail.
Spooky!
On Sunday morning, I took a few last pictures with some new subjects on macro mode. It makes the cute cuter.
And can show you what your daughter will look like in 70 years.
Maybe this camera is a little too smart for us. It can disconnect Paul's huge head from his small body! Aaaah! Happy Halloween!

For those of you who didn't get to see Alice's crawling video on faceboook.

Alice's 1st Birthday!

2011-10-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we had a very healthy dinner of salmon, wild rice, and tomatoes/cucumbers from our garden. Everyone liked it!
Then we offset our health benefits by making a cookie pizza to go along with our FHE on service. We did give more than half of it away to two neighbor families.
On Tuesday, I went to the doctor in ABQ. That evening, we went out to watch the rain because it had been raining all day. Alice loves Grace's old bear coat.
And how cute is Grace, all dressed for the cold?
That night, we taught her a bunch of jokes. She loves telling them, and is so funny the way she does them. She also likes to run into the living room pretending to be the Headless Horseman, and throw her pumpkin head and make scary sounds. We are reading a few pages of the story to the girls each night of October.
On Wednesday, Grace had a half day, so we scheduled our dentist appointment in ABQ that afternoon for Paul and me to get fillings. The park next door was very convenient. Alice loves to swing!
And Grace is learning how to pump her legs.
On Thursday, Grace was being silly, as usual. We had 13 boys at cub scouts, and they LOVED Paul's astronomy lesson!
On Friday, I ran errands, cooked food, and cleaned house in preparation for Paul's parents coming for the weekend. Paul helped a lot too. We drove in the rain to ABQ, switched off doing initiatories at the temple, and made it to our nice hotel in time to bathe the girls (breaking a glass in the process, and having to pull the soapy girls out while we found all the pieces), and get to bed at a decent hour.
Saturday was Alice's birthday. We got up at 5:30, and were soon greeted by Mom and Dad Gabe in the adjacent room. They got in late the night before. Paul had picked out a perfect park for us to go and watch the Balloon Fiesta mass ascension. Grace rarely left her grandmother's side from that point on.
Alice was being a VERY cute 1-yr-old. (Starting here, a bunch of these pictures were "stolen" from Dad Gabe's camera. Sorry, it's my kid, and she's REALLY cute!)
It was very cold waiting to see the balloons, with snow on the mountains. (Obviously, Dad Gabe took this picture.)
Okay, I tried not to post any of Dad Gabe's balloon shots, since he wants to post them on his own blog. So here's a shot I took. Amazing, huh? See the skunk in the top right?
Alice wasn't terribly impressed with our choice of birthday festivities.
But WOW!
It just so happened that 3 or 4 balloons landed in the big dirt lot behind us, so we ran over there and got to see one close up. The pilot talked to Grace a lot, and even gave her a trading card for his balloon: "Sweet Caroline".
We ate lunch at Souper Salad. Alice LOVED it, and I thought the carrot and radish planters outside were pretty cool.
Then we split up so Paul and I could go on a date. We've always wanted to take the tram up to Sandia Peak, and we finally got an opportunity. Being Balloon Fiesta week, the wait was 2 hours and 15 minutes standing in line out in the cold. We made friends with the group in front of us, and saw tons of BYU shirts around. Weird. Then we took the 12-minute ride to the top, and saw this amazing view of ABQ.
Then you turn around, and see an amazing view on the other side.
Then you play in the deep snow. It was really fun, and we're so glad we finally got to do it. Thanks for babysitting, Mom/Dad Gabe!
They took the girls shopping, to the aquarium, and even handled a bee sting!
Then we all went to a quesadilla place in Old Town. We did practice family pictures in front of this cool fireplace.
And on the adobe couch.
We had a beautiful sunset on the way home, and both girls were dead asleep when we got there. We didn't even hang out that night because we were all so worn out. Paul and I went to bed before 10!
On Sunday was the real birthday celebration. After church, Dad Gabe and Paul decorated the living room. Dad Gabe discovered he didn't need to use tape if he had enough static. Cool!
We set out all her gifts.
When Alice woke up from her nap, we went to have Dad Gabe take our family pictures on campus. The lighting was really bad at 4 pm - too sunny - but we didn't want to do it after eating messy food. This is the best shot we got.
Then he took some individual ones of the girls. I call this one "In the Leafy Treetops".
Cute kid.
And cooperative!
What a smile!
Obligatory shot of blowing the dandelion.
Mommy/daughter shot.
Don't fall!
Then home for dinner. Alice was ready!
We did small foods for her: spinach tortellini, peas/carrots, rolls, and her very first jello jigglers - a hit!
Then we stripped her down to her diaper for the cake.
She started off slow, but knew just what to do.
Yep, pretty soon both hands and a foot were involved.
I figured I'd give her a hand.
We bathed the girls, then had presents. Alice got lots of great things, including this lion piano from her Flake grandparents.
And she finally matches the rest of the family now that she has an NM Tech shirt from her Gabrielsen grandparents!
Our favorite gift of all was the new hiking backpack she got, which Mom/Dad Gabe picked out in ABQ the day before. Paul says it's much more comfortable than our infant pack, and Alice seems to approve! After the girls went to bed that night, we played Boy Scout Monopoly, the shortened version. I forgot how fun it is!
Well, today was the dreaded day when the grandparents left. It was sad, but both girls have some REALLY cute sweaters to remember them by. Thanks for the fun visit!