Merry Christmas!

We had a Merry Christmas!  We hope that you did too.  The kids loved all of their gifts.  They look great in there new clothes.  They are also having fun playing with all of their new toys.  We are truly blessed and grateful.

We got up in the morning looked at our stocking and headed to Church.  The kids were all dressed up nicely.

Michael built the kids a big castle by the tree like his Dad used to do when they got new blocks.  It looked great.

Leah wasn't much in to unwrapping presents.  She was just along for the ride.  The boys helped her unwrap her gifts.  On Christmas Eve we had yummy homemade ravioli at a friends house.  It was a great time.  

The rest of Christmas day we lounged around and looked at our gifts.  We also got to Skype with our parents.  We love and miss our family!  

Vacation begins

Thursday was Joshua's last day of school for the year.   I was so looking forward to it.  I always thought I would be the Mom who wanted their kids in school, but instead I love having them home.  We are going to especially enjoy the time Michael has off.   

Leah's always changing and doing new things.  She loves to dance, and clap along to songs.  Currently, she especially loves to walk behind things.  The boys love encouraging her.  In this video you can hear how excited Dallin is for her.  It is so cute.  

 Dallin and I hang out at home while Joshua is at school.  On this day Dallin had a friend over to play with him.  My boys love their friends.  Every day they ask me if they can have someone come over or if they can go to someone else's house.  They are so social. I guess they can teach me a thing or two about being social.  :)

Dallin is so funny whenever he wears anything that has a hood, he feels like he has to have the hood on.  He will not take it off for anything.

We are looking forward to Christmas.  It has snuck up on us.  I haven't done any baking or anything, so I better get on it.  :)

Christmas Program

Joshua had his Christmas program this week.  I loved it!  I loved how happy and proud his teacher was.  They did Christmas around the world.  Joshua's class did the Philippians.  I dropped Leah off at a friends just to make sure I wouldn't miss a beat.  :)  The program was right in the middle of nap time.  Dallin enjoyed going as well.  Dallin enjoys going to Joshua's school.  He got to have milk and cookies with Joshua after the program.  they also go to see Santa.  

The video of Joshua singing is really long and would take forever to upload so I will just upload the video of him holding up the star.

 I haven't shown any park pictures in a while. It is finally getting cold.  I love it!!!  Leah doesn't have a girlie coat, she has a hand me down boy coat, but I think she is still stinkin' cute!  She loves to swing.

The boys don't like to swing on the behinds.  They prefer the super man style.  My kids love to get their coats on.  We don't get to wear them all that often, so we will enjoy it when we can especially around Christmas.  People think we are crazy here walking and playing outside when it is in the 40s.  We walk Joshua to school everyday.  I have had so many sweet people offer me rides.  I enjoy walking and so do my kids, but it is nice to know that there are kind strangers out there willing to help.  :)

Happy Birthday Joshua

 I have a five year old now.  I feel too young to have a five year old.  :)  We are so blessed to have Joshua in our lives.  He is so bright and fun to be around.  He is kind, caring, and considerate.  We love you Joshua!!!

We had a little play date in the morning and then off to school.  After school we had cake with Aunt Jenny and then off to the Ward Christmas party.  It was a busy but fun day.  They sang Happy Birthday to Joshua at school his teacher said he turned bright red.  Joshua received many wonderful gifts.  He loved them all.  He is so blessed.  Thanks to everyone who helped make it wonderful!!

Thanksgiving Break

We have much to be thankful for!  We have great family and friends.  We are healthy and employed.  We have a very good Thanksgiving break.  It has been actually relaxing.  

 Leah is hanging out with her cute pink cowgirl boots and reading her favorite Carl book.  We have been so blessed.  Leah has received so many hand me downs, and they are so cute too!  I don't know that I would have bought pink boots, or any shoes really at this age, but they sure do look cute.  Thank you friends and family for sharing clothes with us.

 Dallin and Joshua playing in the fire truck tent.  They love it.

 We had a great Thanksgiving dinner.  This year we did one dessert a day. Today we are doing the apple pie.   It worked out well.  We had Jenny and Tony over for Thanksgiving.

 Leah loves blackberries.  She had her own meal separate because she slept during the Thanksgiving meal.

 Joshua didn't have school so we went to the Arboretum.  It was so fun.  Dallin and Joshua got their face painted.  They usually don't want to, but this time they went for it.

Joshua got a football and Dallin got spider web eyes.  This is Joshua's friend Ameila they actually share a Birthday.  They are so cute!  We listened to the lady sing songs and the kids had scarves and shakers.  They also had a petting zoo set up.  We had a great time.

Michael had his friend Paul come over and help us fix our lawn mower.  It was so nice!  It is running and we got our lawn mowed.  yea!!!  Thank you Paul!!!!  We also got some shopping done and a Birthday cake made for Tony.

Now we will got back to work and school tomorrow.  We won't set up our Christmas stuff until after Joshua's Birthday, so now you all have fun new posts to look forward to.  :)

9 Months

Well technically 9 1/2 months. :) We went in for Leah's well check today. It was quite the adventure. She is diong well. She is 18 1/2 pounds, and is 29 1/4 inches long. 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. She is crawling with speed and even throws in a bear crawl every now and again. She is also pulling up to a stand, so my shelves empty out on a regular basis. She loves to clap and wave for us. She has 3 1/2 teeth. She is an awful teether it has been hard work for these teeth to come in. She didn't have to have any shots, but they like to do a blood draw for their 9 month check up. They started with her arm and the vein blew. It will be a nasty bruise in the next few days. Then they pricked her finger and filled up their little vials. She screamed and screamed. It was awful. She got blood all over the place. Then I wanted to stop at the grocery store really quick to pick up our turkey. Today the sale started where they are 29 cents a pound. I thought I could just run in and grab it. Leah, who was in the cart bit off her band aid and got blood everywhere. It was gross. She was covered in it and our cart was covered in it. Who knew a finger could bleed for so long. I don't know why none of my kids like band aids. Now we are all cleaned up and Leah is down for a nap.

If you want a comparison on all three of my kids click http://mwestfamily.blogspot.com/2009/04/9-months.html.

Everyone always tells me she looks like Dallin, but I think that is because they didn't see Joshua as a baby.  I think she looks so much like Joshua.  They are all so cute!  I love my kids!

Family Camping

We went camping this weekend as a family. I was so afraid that it would be disastrous, but it worked out really well. We had five families total share one spot. It was great to spend time with friends and eat yummy food.

This was Leah's first camping trip. She did pretty good. She did wake up crying in the night and Michael took her to the van where she spent the last two hours of the night sleeping. Dallin and Joshua went right to bed and didn't wake up Leah. They did great! My boys really love camping.

We went on a little hike. It was fun to walk and see nature. I love getting out of the city.

Joshua wanted to go fishing so bad. We do not have poles and Michael hasn't fished much, so he isn't as excited about it as the boys. We will have take the boys another time.

It was so fun to be with our friends. The little ones all went to bed pretty good and we got to sit around the fire and talk. It was so nice.

New Things

We had a very exciting week. We tried a few new things.

 Dallin and Rayna went to the Arboretum with Michael. They didn't have any other siblings with them. Dallin had a great time. Michael said he was happy up until they went to pick up Joshua from school. I guess it crushed his dream of being an only child. ;) He must have enjoyed his one on one time with Dad. :)

I got 25lbs of tomatoes. My friend Elise came over to teach me how to can them. It took me until about midnight but I did it, and enjoyed it. I made it into tomato sauce.

It was Raytheon day at Six Flags. We asked Tony and Jenny to come with us. It was so fun! They traded us off and on so we can go on bigger rides. We are so glad that they came with us.

Leah did great! She handled the day so well. Leah was only allowed on one ride. The steam engine. She was such a trooper.

Dallin was a little slow to enjoy the rides. When he finally decided that he could enjoy himself he loved the trucks! I think he rode them like 8 times. I know it doesn't sound like a big thing but he also used his first public restroom. He hates using public restrooms. I think that may be why he decided he could enjoy himself. Silly boy! He had a good time though.

Joshua had an amazing time! He loved this tower ride. They go up and drop you down. He went on four different roller coasters. This is coming from a boy who is afraid to jump out of the van. He also went on this ride where you go up about 200 ft and then they drop you down in a parachute. Michael wanted to try it, but was scared. Joshua asked Tony to go with him and loved it! When Michael and I went on it, Michael kept saying "if Joshua can do it, I can." Michael did great. He didn't even get sick. Jenny got a little sick. I got in a few big roller coasters which was fun since I think the last time I went to an amusement park was over 6 years ago with Jenny, Michael and his brother Paul. There were hardly any lines at the park. No lines is really the way to go!

The other new thing this week is I have a new job at church. I am now going to be a nursery leader. I was released as a counselor in Relief Society. I am told that it will be a good break for me. I am not sure about the break part (kids and break don't usually go in the same sentence:), but a change every once in a while is nice. I was told that I needed a break, which is probably true but almost embarrassing that people noticed. :) It should be fun change, but I will miss the people I worked with before.

Happy Halloween!

We have had many parties and Halloween activities.  It has been great!  Thanks to our friends and family for inviting us.

 The boys picked the faces for the pumpkin.  I had to convince Michael to do it outside.  He didn't want to at first because he told me it was too cold.  It was over 60 degrees.  I thought he was from Idaho.  ;)

 My very proud boys.

 Leah the fire house dog.

 Michael the fire chief and his fire fighters.  I am the victim that was rescued with the fire house dog.

 Uncle David invited us up for a carnival.  We had a great time.  The putting was Joshua's favorite.

 This is cousin Vivian she is fishing.  She is so great with my kids.

Joshua fishing.

My Cute Kids!

Busy Week

Joshua had to big firsts this week. He had his first cavity fixed. He did so great!! The dentist was so impressed that she allowed him to pick out two toys. He decided to pick out one for him and one for Dallin. He is such a sweet boy! I also had my first parent teacher conference. It kind of makes me feel old. He is doing really well. Joshua's teacher loves how he is so well behaved. It makes me feel like I got an A in parenting. ;)

Dallin is learning his letters. He pretty much just loves the letter D. He doesn't care much for any other letter. We took the kids to the carnival at Joshua's school. Dallin was so good all of the tosses. He is our little athlete. He has decided that he doesn't need to nap anymore. It has been working out okay so far. He needs one about once or twice a week, and usually will tell me.

Leah is crawling around and putting everything in her mouth. She will pull the electric outlet cover out and put it in her mouth. Silly.

We were invited to a costume Birthday party yesterday. We had a great time! The boys are being fire fighters for Halloween so they got to wear their costumes to the party. They have actually worn them quite a bit. They just like to play in them. They are big fans of fire fighters. Joshua will talk any fire fighters ear off if given the chance. Leah is going as the fire house dog. She is a cutie!

Michael took the Scouts camping this weekend, and had a good time. I think now that the weather is cooling off life is getting busier. :)

Bragging time!

We are so proud of Joshua. He won an award for perfect attendance for the first six weeks. He also won the citizenship award. They pick one girl and one boy for this award. Ms. De Guzman said from the very beginning Joshua listened and always asked before doing things. It just makes me so happy! He also got a perfect report card! Yeah Joshua!!!

Dallin and I have been working at home. He is supposed to be showing off his Halloween decorations that we made. He has grown up so much this last week or so. He got it in his head that he was going to go to school on Wednesday and I think that is why he was doing such a good job listening and controlling his emotions a little more. I felt so bad that when I realized what was going on. At least on Friday he got to go to the awards assembly, so he got to go to school.

Leah turned 8 months old. I can't believe how big she is getting. We know since she stole Dallin's peanut butter and honey sandwich that she doesn't have any allergies to those things. She loves crackers. She loves her brown puffed rice cereal. I am constantly sweeping and vacuuming the floor trying to keep her from putting things in her mouth that the boys may have left behind. She is doing great at sitting up now. She is finally enjoying it. She has even pulled herself up to standing. If she wants something bad enough she will do whatever she can to get it. She has forgotten how to sleep the last two weeks. It felt like I had a newborn all over again. I am hoping that she is getting a tooth or that there is a good reason for this madness. She is still happy during the day at least. The hat she is wearing below is the hat Elise made for her. It is so cute and fits my Leah bug perfectly!

The boys have said some funny things lately that I wanted to write down. We were watching women's steeple chase. It is the long distance run with hurdles. Joshua said "that doesn't look easy." I agreed and then he said "plus they have to run in their underwear!" We went to the playground yesterday and their were a few other people there. Dallin looked less than thrilled and said "I don't like people." At the dentist Dallin and Joshua got to pick a present. They both picked killer whales. The Dentist said "I am so glad that I don't have to be a dentist to a shark." Dallin glared and said "This is not a shark. This is a whale." It was warm one afternoon and we were outside. Joshua announces "It is so hot. We need to move to Idaho or Wyoming. Do you think Afton and Rayna would move with us?" This is the second time he has mentioned moving and both times he wanted his friend Afton and Rayna to move with him. Kids are so funny! Gotta love 'em!