Survivor Man on the Kansas Plains

Joseph is such a good daddy -- he lets me take a nap while he plays with the kids in the snow. :) And comes home with funny snippets like this one. (hopefully it works, it's a little long).

A visit with Santa

We got to visit Santa at our Annual Church Christmas Breakfast -- he comes every year! And since it's been a yearly event for most of Kaitlynn's life (and all of Jonathan's!), here's a little trip down memory lane (crazy how fast time flies!!!) Yes, that's a SUPERHERO (not Dracula) cape on J-boy -- it was hard enough getting him out of his car pajamas and into normal clothes. I wasn't going to fight the cape. Or the hat. And I thought girls were bad with their accessory fetish...
Pictures with the B-ladies are also a yearly tradition (as you will see).

2006:

2005 (no pic of 10 month old J-boy that year -- oops):

2004 (J-boy inutero at that point):

Ice Storm

We had a little bit of an ice storm last week -- not bad enough to make our power go out (though a few of our friends lost theirs briefly), and not bad enough to make the roads impossible, but good enough to make the trees have this incredible diamond sparkle once the sun finally came back out.

More Thanksgiving Pictures

So, I just couldn't not post these, even though Dave & Angela have that fabulous video. So you get to enjoy them AGAIN! :) (I know I will enjoy them again and again and again and again -- there just aren't quite words to describe how GOOD it feels to be with family. Especially when it's been too long since the last visit!) Dave & Angela were wonderful hosts -- we came home feeling so good about life in general! Just what a vacation is supposed to do for you. Thank you so much!!!

Catch-up part 2

Okay, so we left off mid-November...

We enjoyed Pre-Thanksgiving play time with the L's -- all 7 of the L siblings were in town, making for a grand total of 32 (spouses, grandkids and grandparents) for the full family picture.

We played at Paradise Park (a big play place with all kinds of fun things to do -- batting cages, go carts, foam-gun wars, ball pit, kid kitchen, water tables, playgrounds, make-believe town, face painting, etc etc etc), went to Kaleidiscope (Hallmarks' free art studio 'experience' for kids using their left over papers, ribbons, stickers, etc & all the Crayola markers/crayons you could ever need), visited Union Station to see the mega model trains and Christmas tree displays, played games, did puzzles, went to the Independance Visitor's Center to see a display on the Dead Sea Scrolls, fried Joseph's wild turkey (the flavor was great, but it was a little chewy....), and had a girls night in at Jen's (such great sister-in-laws!!). Whew! That was just Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!

(This is J-boy playing in the baby play place at Paradise Park...you'd think we didn't get out much)

On Wednesday we made the 11 hour trek to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi where my brother and his wife and their beautiful little girl live. Heather and Ryan met us there, and we had a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. Dave, Joseph & Ryan fried store bought turkeys (fabulous flavor, minus the weird texture), the boys played a good game of football Thursday morning, we made (and ate) WAY too much food, and generally basked in each others' presence. It was so fun for my kids to meet their first A-son cousin! Joseph was inspired by Survivor Man to build a pop-can stove. Tara and sisters made a Christmas countdown candy adventish thing. We went bowling, and now Kaitlynn asks every day when we can go again (mom, I've been WAITING to go bowling! WHEN can we GO?) I have to say my favorite part was using the bumpers with a good excuse. :) And the little baby bowling shoes were too cute! (those are J-boy & my feet in the pic) For the complete Thanksgiving photo review, visit Dave and Angela's site (link to the left). It was so good to be with family! It's always a good sign when the time feels too short and you want to linger longer.

For you readers, we read a great book on the way to/from Columbus -- just a lucky find at the Borders' Bargain table from a couple months ago that I finally got around to: Wish You Well by David Baldacci. Both Joseph and I enjoyed it, which is important on our road trips! It's about a young girl growing up in the Appalachian Mountains after her father dies. I don't know if I'm just really touchy or what, but he had me bawling after the first two chapters -- I had to stop reading out loud and just sum it up for Joseph. He's such a good indulgent husband! :) Maybe somethings a little messed up in my brain, but if a book can make me cry, I generally love it. Call me masochistic.

So that brings us (almost) up to date!

Busy and Fun -- it's a pretty good life!

Love to you all!!

Tara

Before I forget...

I'm always saying, "I should write that down" when my kids say something funny, but I always forget, so instead of going to bed (like I said I would) I'm going to pause in the middle of this catch up to bring you todays best conversation with K:

K: Mother, I'm not a child anymore. (wish I could capture the sassy tone)
Mom: Oh? What are you?
K: I'm a bigger girl. I was a child when I was three. And two and one. J-boy is a child. But not me.

Now, where did she get that?

Playing catch-up...

So somehow I missed a whole month. Obviously, we've been very busy with sundry recreational, educational, and multi-generational activities this past month, so I thought I'd post a few pictures to sum up. I prefer pictures to words -- you can skim faster, and I don't have to think as much while posting.

So here you have it, in chronological order, the past 35 (or so) days with the L's.

K with her little baby N cousin -- FHE night at Great Grandma's! (falls under both multi-generational AND recreational categories)
J-boy with a cupcake at our last fair weather BBQ with our "Mormon Village" neighbors.

K & her best friend M at the Trunk-or-TreatCouldn't quite decide if it was a stick horse, sword, or num-chuck. I guess that would make J a Toddler Cowboy Ninja Hero (you can sing that to the tune of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- Toddler in a costume... we'll just end it there).I made adorable little Ghost-on-a-stick cookies for K's preschool Halloween party. Very educational. :)

Watching BYU football (requires push-ups and a quick game of catch with every touchdown and/or field goal at my house)

Joseph's flyfishing adventures near Tablerock Lake

You're never too old for jungle gyms! (Playing at Paradise Park with L family)

And it's past my bedtime, so I'll post part two of catching up tomorrow!