An Ode to the Turtles

Gracelyn and Addison.....your Daddy loved you so much that he really wanted to get you a pet. The only problem was, Mommy and Daddy could simply not agree on the right pet for our family. We finally settled on the idea of getting you one small turtle....and after Mommy gave Daddy the approval to get that turtle, Daddy came home with TWO turtles and a HUGE turtle tank with all the accessories! You named them Jewel and Diamond, and despite Mommy's hesitation, we tried our best to make a nice home for these turtles. But we soon found out that having turtles was ALOT of work. They were dirty and stinky and after two weeks, we all decided that it was too much work to take care of them. So we lovingly sent those turtles back to the store. We promised you that we will think and pray about getting a new pet for our family, one that doesn't stink up our entire basement!

I just wanted you to remember that you did have pet turtles when you were little....even if it was just for two weeks! :)

Animal Parade

For her animal report at school, Gracelyn chose Zebras. She had to research all about where they live, what they eat, and other special facts about them. After completing their reports, the students got to dress up like their animals and march in the Animal Parade at school. We had so much fun watching her march around school with all her classmates and their animal posters. She worked so hard on her report and was so proud of her work. And she might have been the cutest zebra I've ever seen! :)

All about LOVE!

We had a great day celebrating one of our FAVORITE holidays around here! What's not to love about a holiday filled with hearts, pink, candy, and LOVE?? We started with our Valentines Breakfast with heart shape pancakes. And then while Gracelyn was busy celebrating at school, Addie, Preston and I took some special deliveries around town to some of our favorite people. We topped the night off with some heart shape pizza. Daddy came home and surprised us all with some special Valentines presents like necklaces for the girls, cool cars for Preston, and chocolate covered strawberries for Mommy! He definitely knows the way to his family's heart! Such a FUN day!

Snow, Snow Snow

This winter has been full of snow, snow and more SNOW! They keep saying it is the snowiest winter Utah has seen in years! And our kids have LOVED it! They love getting all bundled up and going out to play in it.

Thank goodness we now have a snow blower! It has sure saved Josh a lot of time!

Addison's 2 on 1 Date

Proof that some good ideas can come from The Bachelor! We have decided to start taking our kids out once a year on a 2 on 1 date. Yes, dates with just mommy or just daddy are great, but how FUN would it be to have a night out with your mom AND your dad all to yourself! Well, we decided to let our kids have that chance. Our sweet middle child Addison got to be first! We took her out to dinner and then downtown to the University of Utah gymnastics meet. This was the perfect date for our little gymnast! She even got to ride on the Trax train to and from the parking lot, which ended up being a highlight for her. It was fun to see how interested she was in watching all the gymnasts. And even more fun to see the look on her face when she got a huge bag of cotton candy all to herself! Now she keeps asking me when she gets to do the big bars and the big balance beam like those girls! We had a great time with our sweet girl! I'm really looking forward to continuing this tradition with our kids over the years!

Preston at 18 months

At 18 months, Preston is a very happy, busy boy who loves to entertain! His sense of humor is really starting to develop. He loves to make funny faces and silly noises...anything to make us laugh. He LOVES cars and trucks. In fact, it's rare to see him without a car in each hand. It amazes me to watch him play with his cars. It's like he is transported into his own little world as he rolls those cars back and forth, making all kinds of car noises. It might be one of the cutest things I've ever seen. He also LOVES to be outside. I can barely get him loaded into the car without him trying to run outside every time the garage door opens. I can not wait for him to experience this spring and summer, when he can play outside all day long. He is going to be one happy boy! He has a few new words: up, more, Ya Ya (Addie), and nigh nigh (good night)  but is still not very interested in talking a whole lot. His favorite foods are cheese and anything that has cheese on it! And he will eat almost anything if he can dip it in ketchup! I am in love with raising a little boy. It never ceases to amaze me just how different he is from his sisters! I can't imagine our lives without him! 

Winter Wonderland

Before we headed back home for Utah, we got to stop in Prescott and spend one last weekend with the family to celebrate New Years Eve. When we arrived, there was not much snow, but we decided to drive up the hill anyway so the kids could sled on the small patches of snow. Once we pulled up and unloaded at the sledding hill, the snow began to fall in the biggest fluffiest snowflakes I have ever seen. We were instantly transported into this wintry wonderland. It was actually quite magical and it was so fun to watch my kids experience that. It was one of those memories that I will never forget!

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas season. We tried to be very purposeful in trying to make time for fun family activities and not get caught up in just being "busy" this year. Before our big trip to Phoenix, we enjoyed lots of holiday activities at home with Nana and Papa. There were snowmen to build, gingerbread houses to decorate, a sweet baby Jesus to visit, and many, many Christmas lights to see. Preston was especially thrilled with the Christmas lights this year. Everywhere we went he was ooohing and ahhhing over the lights he could see at night. It was so sweet.

We even got to spend some fun time with Uncle Blakey Boy before we headed out of town.

Our trip to Phoenix was wonderful. It was so great to reconnect with family and great friends! We were busy running all over town trying to spend time with everyone, but it was well worth it. Another bonus was being able to attend Christmas service at our church. I dolled the kids up in some "not so traditional" Christmas outfits this year, and I think they looked adorable!

 We got to spend Christmas morning with Grandma Margie. We had some very excited kids who woke up to see that Santa had brought the perfect presents! Gracelyn got her Princess and the Popstar Barbie doll. Addison got her Doc Mcstuffins doctor kit, and Preston got his big dump truck with lots of hotwheels to go with it!

 

The rest of Christmas day was spent with our WHOLE family. I was happy to see the girls were still so comfortable with being around our huge, LOUD Italian family! Preston, on the other hand may need a few more visits before he gets used to the craziness. Ha! Needless to say, it was a FUN day! My favorite part of the day was that night when we settled down with just our immediate family to open presents with Grandma and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was such a sweet time to share with them!

We could not have asked for a more blessed Christmas season! It was such a joy to be able to spend this Christmas with our family in Phoenix. The only thing that was missing were our cousins in North Carolina who were not able to visit this year. We missed them dearly and it was not the same without them there! We really look forward to getting ALL the cousins together for holidays in the future.