Sam's the man!

Sammy loves to pray. His prayers are very brief, but frequent. Today after a couple of his prayers he announced:

"I say my prayers like a man."

Chistmas Story

Paul's family and my family were together on Christmas Eve. The kids performed the Christmas story.

- Stephen

Sledding!

Paul and I took the kids--Elise, Mason, Sammy, Bianca, Cannon, and Christian--sledding in Orem. They had a blast. Citius! Altius! Fortius! (Faster! Higher! Stronger!)

- Stephen

Sammy

Today at lunch Sammy all of a sudden said:

"No dinosaurs in the house and no singing at the table. Those are one two rules."

I must say that he is right - I made up both of those rules. Things I never thought I'd have to make rules about...the dinosaur rule is so that Sammy won't have scary dreams. He is a firm believer in rules, so he is perfectly assured that no dinosaurs can get him. :o) The singing rule...well, if you have ever been to my house you would understand that one!

Let me know...

...if you read my blog, drop me a comment! :o)

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas! December 2008

What an exciting year this has been in our family! The biggest news is that we (meaning Stephen) are back in school. We sold our cute little home in August and moved to Provo, UT so that Stephen could attend Brigham Young University to get an MBA. It’s a lot different here in Provo than at home in Portland, but we like it, and are very happy. We have been very blessed, and I attribute it to the fact that we are in the right place right now. The Lord has truly blessed us.

Stephen is loving being back in school. He does nothing but schoolwork, and is gone much more now than when he was at Nike. He’s doing great in his classes (no surprise there…) and considering a Ph.D. program when he is finished here (April 2010). That’s 4 additional years, in case you were wondering. A couple of months ago he accepted perhaps his favorite church calling ever: stake choir director. He has had so much fun looking for music to sing!

I don’t know if I’ve ever been so relaxed and happy, which isn’t what I was expecting with how much I have to do now that Stephen is always studying. I stopped teaching piano lessons at the beginning of the summer, and decided not to pick it up after the move. I’m homeschooling the kids, and getting my own great education as well. I LOVE having my kids around. I also still run – I finished my 2nd half marathon in June – and have started practicing the piano again. This is a great time of life for me.

Elise turned 6 in June, and loves to help, learn and dance. She is always singing and dancing around the house. She is excited to have me teach her piano lessons – I told her that when she can read well enough to read my handwriting I’ll teach her, and that has been great motivation for her! The boys love it when she reads to them. She is a great little peacemaker, and very sensitive to the feelings of others. She ran her first race this autumn – a 1-mile race in 10:04! Holy cow! She also loves books – we have read all sorts, from “Winnie-the-Pooh” to “A Christmas Carol” to the “Little House on the Prairie” books.

Mason is a persistent, intelligent, creative, energetic 4½ year old. This child LOVES machines. I can always tell where he is by following his paper trail. He is constantly creating machines out of anything he can find (“MOM! Don’t throw that milk carton away – I can use it in a machine!”) He draws anything he sees, be it our Brita water pitcher (the brand is only important so that you know it is a type of machine) or “The Big Stink” (a factory in Albany). Mason is also a very good boy – he is always climbing on my lap and telling me that he loves me (“Just like the prophet told us to do, right Mommy?”)

Sammy is 2½, and personifies joy. He is such a happy boy, and always remembers to say “thank you”. He likes things to be correct, for example, when he started talking a couple of months ago he spoke in complete sentences, and if he stumbles over a word he will have me repeat it to him over and over, and he will practice saying it until he gets it to his satisfaction. Sammy loves trains, tractors (especially excavators) and books. We read lots of books about heavy machinery!

We hope you have seen the Lord’s hand in your life this year as we have. Have a wonderful Christmas season!

Much love,

Stephen, Claire, Elise, Mason & Sammy

Travelling

Stephen is becoming quite the frequent flyer! Since we've been here (3 1/2 months) he has flown out of the SLC airport 5 times. Georgia was the first, then Ohio (P&G), Arkansas (by way of Oklahoma - FedEx competition), Portland (wedding), and now Illinois, just north of Chicago. Today he interviews with United Stationers in Deerfield. Pretty exciting!

The kids and I have taken him to the airport 3 of those times, and we do something fun after we drop him off. There is the nicest little zoo in Salt Lake - about a quarter of the size of the Portland Zoo, which I actually like - and we've gone there twice, and to Temple Square and lunch with a friend once. We meandered around the zoo today - I saw 3 other moms the entire time! It was fantastic to take our time at exhibits that interested the kids. We spent half an hour each at the gorillas/orangutans (they have a baby orang) and the giraffes. We could have touched the giraffes many times - we were that close to their heads, but settled with eating lunch and waving to them.

Poor Sammy is cutting 4 molars right now...I hope the buggers quit causing him so much pain soon!

The Dog House

Check out The Dog House - it's pretty hilarious!

I told Stephen that I need diamonds for Christmas. HA! What would I do with diamonds? I'll tell you what I'd do with diamonds - I'd lose them!

The Clapper in the Crapper

This is Stephen writing. Claire objected to such a toilet-talk title, so I get to tell the story:

Claire was helping the children get their teeth brushed, and Mason was standing at the potty going potty. Right after he was done Claire saw him using some toilet paper to pat dry his little plastic clapper toy.

Claire: "Mason, what are you doing?"
Mason: "I dropped my toy in the toilet, but I got it out before I flushed."
Claire: "Yes, but did you drop it before or after you went?"
Mason: "After, but I got it before I flushed."

We're very proud of him for not flushing it down the toilet. Now we just owe him a lesson about cleanliness.