Hannah is FIVE!!!

The princess cake

Hannah and some of her presents...

WOW! I can't believe that our beautiful Hannah is FIVE! She had a fun birthday, with a lot of fun new things. We are so happy that she is part of our family! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!

Christmas Morning...

Shawn opening his tools from the girls.

Caleb with his head lamp.
Hannah with some of her make up.
Joe and his head lamp.

Sarah and her American Doll outfits.

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was a very nice holiday spent with my family. We got to eat the crazy Christmas Eve dinner, do the nativity play, and the talent show - my kids did GREAT! Christmas morning everyone was excited, surprised, and had lots of fun. I am so thankful for this time of year and the family traditions and time we get to spend together.

I hate going to the dentist!!!

Okay, so I HATE going to the dentist! I always have. I really hate getting the shot to make you numb, I hate being numb, and I really don't like thinking that they are going to tell me I am hygienically challenged and will have ugly teeth forever. So, just to give you a little background. I NEVER had a cavity until I got pregnant with Sarah. All that pucking etc... did a wonder on my teeth and I had 13 cavities and 4 hours of dental work after she was born - HUMILIATING! Anyway, because I have now been pregnant 5/6 times, my teeth have really taken a beating. Two years ago I paid HIGHLY for a lovely root canal. Well, on Sunday my root canal tooth was a little sensitive and I ask Shawn about it and he said "well, get to the dentist before the new year..." So, I made plans to call the dentist and schedule my appointment. Monday morning I wake up and I have this lovely "growth" inside my mouth attached to that tooth. (I will spare you the details - GROSS) So, I call the dentist and they work me in. To spare you a REALLY long story, they ripped my tooth out!!! I just paid them A LOT of money for that root canal and now it is gone and I get to pay for an implant or bridge! I am not happy! AND I have this huge hole in my mouth until I am not pregnant! AHHHHH! So, I am done ranting - for now... I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST!

Way fun museum!

Caleb playing with the cars on the map of West Jordan
Joe fishing in the river

Sarah hanging out the babies laundry

Hannah taking care of the baby.

Thanks to Stacy, we went to this way fun museum. It is the Gale Center of Culture and History. They have done a really good job at making history fun for kids. It has a pioneer school house, a "grandmas house" with a kitchen, couch, baby bed, cow to milk, chickens to get eggs from , a laundry line and bucket, a river to fish in, and pets to care for. It also has an old time store with food to pick, a cash register, scale, etc... THEN, it has an indian teepee, a coal mine, a telephone booth, and it is FREE! The kids just get to go and play in all of it and learn history. Anyway, it was fun and we will be back!

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

Uncle Luke showing us his best side... and Shawn after he cut the tree!

As some of you know our Christmas tree is always a source of "debate". I grew up with a fake tree... Shawn grew up going out and cutting one down and having a live tree... I really don't mind a live tree, exept that Shawn really likes to go to the same place he went to as a kid to get our tree (that is 3 hours away - one way) and I don't prefer that kind of pine tree... So, every year we have our "debate", and I have only won once. It was not this year... So we drove the three hours out to the basin, looked all over for a tree that I could live with, helped Uncle Luke get a load of fire wood, and then drove home. It is a really cute tree, and it looks so pretty all decorated. So.... I will not complain (today :) ) and will just enjoy our pretty Christmas tree.

I don't want anymore snow...

A few days ago when SLC got all that snow, this is what our house looked like... Unfortunately Shawn was stuck at work all day so I got to "snowblow" our snow and two elderly ladies that live near us. It took over an hour to do it all, two tanks of gas, and I was sweating and dying when I finished (not self propelled snowblower). The kids had a blast, but I think I am done with snow....

Hogle Zoo

The Last Wednesday of the month from November to February is Free Zoo day!!! We went in November and it was actually a really good day. The weather was nice, there are LOTS of new baby animals, and there wasn't that many people either. These are some pics of babies...

sledding with DAD!!!!

On the last snow storm it was Shawn's day off! The kids got dad to take them sledding at the "dinosaur park". We were the only ones there, and it was tons of fun to watch them and listen to their little comments.

babies new blanket

This is the adorable quilt that I am going to hand quilt for the baby. I am so excited, and in love with it. Each animal is made of a different kind of "fuzzy" material. My favorite is the pig... anyway, just thought I would share and I will have pics when I am done.

Hannah the Chef

Hannah has been begging me for a month to let her make chocolate covered pretzels. (because lilly did) I didn't have chocolate chips and always forgot to buy any, but I remembered and Hannah had a blast melting her chocolate and dipping each pretzel and put it on the wax paper. All of us totally LOVED her skills!

school projects this month

For science this year we are doing biology... I hate biology!!! We have hatched sea monkeys, are watching an ant farm, and today we did experiments with worms!!! We are yet to dissect things... The kids seem to like it.

In English we talked about the book "The hungry Caterpillar" Then the kids got to make these really cute ones of their own.

This month we talked about the 1700-1800's when new ideas were starting. The kids got to make their own inventions.... this is what they came up with.

Sarah made an automatic watering system for her flower garden.

Joseph made a giant tube to get his cars from the floor to his car bin (easier) :)

ITS A BOY!!!

Well, it is official. #5 is a boy due the last week of March or the first week of April!

(a shot of me at 19 weeks)

Halloween!!!

The finished works of art...

Carving pumpkins this year was a HUGE deal (not knowing that before hand...) Sarah and Caleb said they wanted to paint their pumpkins, not carve them. So, Shawn started the carving kids, and I started the painting kids.

Hannah decided what she wanted to do, cleaned out the pumpking, cut it out, and then decided to paint it... so she headed to the table to paint.

Joe decided that the inside of a pumpkin looks like barf and he was not going to clean it out, and Shawn was determined that he was going to... After all that (30 min), Joes pumpkin was so thick that it took him 30 min. just to cut it out.... but it looked great!

Sarah painted then washed it off twice before being satisfied with the "look". Then... decided to carve it too. She also decided that she coudn't clean it out without barfing, and I "caved" and cleaned it.

By this point Caleb (who had been slightly unattended) had painted the pumpkin, table, chair, his paint shirt, and the floor. I began cleaning up that project and told him we were done. That caused a HUGE two year old issue that lasted FOREVER. When it was over he wanted to carve his - like joe. So, we then proceed to carve his.... well we don't own a knife that would go through the pumpkin. So.... Shawn got out his drill and skill saw! It turned out great and it worked really well seeing as Calebs pumpkin was 6 in. thick!!!

After all that we ate lunch, took a small "break" and then began getting into costumes. Sarah is Kaya - from american girls books, Joseph is the grim reaper, Hannah is a rock star - not hannah montana, Caleb is a dinosaur, and I was a black cat - the kids said "a pregnant cat". It took me FOREVER to dress, make up, and accesorize all four of them! By the time we were done we had 15 min to get to the trunk or treat. Overall it was a fun holiday and we have LOTS of memories...

Halloween Cookies

For "Fun Friday" we made sugar cookies, frosted them, and then delivered them to some families in our ward. The kids had a blast, and I'm sure the neighbors loved them...