Santa's Hat

Merry Christmas, Luke style.

Christmas Preschool Program

Last night Kimball and Koria had their preschool program at our Stake Center here in town. Amazing how full the cultural hall can be when it's not centered around an actual church meeting .... Jared and I had a interesting time trying to take pictures while managing Luke and Layne at the same time. Hence, not many of the pictures that I took turned out well. Within seconds of Koria finishing her memorized part to "A Night Before Christmas," the power on our video camera died. Thankfully, Kimball's part was earlier. They both do very well. It was great to see our two towering preschoolers on the back row, singing their hearts out. They also were able to talk to Santa Claus, who assured Koria that he has special elves who can "make all that girly kind of stuff."

Wagon Ride for Preschool

Today Kimball and Koria were able to go on a horse-pulled wagon ride during the first part of preschool. There was not enough room for me to join with them, so I just took a few pictures, then headed home. Come to find out, they were riding around in our neighbors' field, so I was able to get a few of them as they were enjoying the ride too.

Here's Kimball, in the middle of it all.

This is one of Koria's good friends, Kylee, who also happens to be in our ward. They were very excited to be going.

Gloves and hats were required, and I really did put them both on the kids, but as you can see, Koria's either fell off, or else she decided that it was not fashionable enough. All the other kids are still in compliance. I tied Kimball's on so that he didn't have a choice.

Jared was staying at home watching Luke and Layne, so when I pulled up and saw the wagon out back, I had him come out to wave at the kids with me. 15 minutes later, from 200 feet away, Jared's left eye has already turned red, itchy, and who knows what else will happen. Allergies are amazing. We saw the kids for about 30 seconds! I just hope that Kimball doesn't have the same allergies, but I guess that we'll find out ... and see how his asthma does.
Animals, I tell ya. We just can't be around them in this family!

Good Morning

Here's a few pictures from this morning that I thought I'd post about. This is an early gift to both Luke and Layne. It's specifically a toy geared at getting Layne to use her legs for therapy. It's built to pivot around the central area, allowing both babies to walk with their legs to where they want to play.

This? Well, you know Luke -- always up to something. He's made up a new game where he shovee his bottle through the crib slats (used to be just chucking it across the room when he was done drinking) as well as anything else that he can find. This is him being caught in the act. Looks really remorseful, huh?

In reference to the placemats underneath Kimball and Koria's food this morning at breakfast, Koria said,
"Hey Mom, I guess you're having a special day today because you don't have a carpet under your food like ours."

Monday, Dec. 14th

I have to get this post done while K&K are at school. Last night we completed our pajama preparations for this year. Kimball's been asking for "Star Wars" pajamas, as well as Koria, but Kor's come with a twist -- she's requested a Princess Leia set of pajamas -- preferably a nightgown. While we couldn't find a plain nightgown to work with, we were able to find a white shirt and star printed bottoms, then Jared and I created this lovely number with an iron-on set and an image that Jared found online. I have to say, could you find a cooler set of pjs? Don't let her know ... we'll have to wait until Christmas Eve for that ....

House of Candy

I guess the patience paid off, because our gingerbread house is still standing even though four pounds of decorative products have been placed atop it's roof. This is a picture of Kimball and Koria, looking at the side that Kimball was in charge of doing. And the one directly below this is Jared's side. Nice log cabin touches.

This was my favorite part of Kimball's side -- a half-eaten gingerbread man.

Here's the front ....

... and this is my favorite scene from Koria's side, dancing gingerbread men, all in a row. Looks like they're having a party in the snow.

That title not only refers to the gingerbread house that we just put together today after church, but also to what the leftovers have turned our place of residence into. We just returned from tithing settlement, and this is part of the conversation that Kimball started with the Bishop as soon as we entered his office:
Kimball: "Bishop Faimalo, what are those candy canes for?"
Bishop Faimalo: "Well, what do you THINK they are for?"
Kimball: "Are those for all of the kids that come to tithing settlement and pay their tithing?"
(Lots of laughter ... thank goodness)
Bishop Faimalo: "Would you like one, Kimball?"
Kimball: "OOOh, yep! Here's my tithing!"

Sunrise and Snowflakes

This year, I decided to be a little bit creative with our decorations. I took down the drapery that normally hangs over our kitchen windows and constructed some unique hanging snowflakes to hang in their place. I looped a snowflake ornament (which I found at the dollar store last year) around some silver snowflake wired ribbon, then knotted each snowflake into place. After that, I secured each snowflake strand around the drapery rods to allow the ornaments to let the sunlight pass through each one. I happened to catch a glance of them this morning as the sun was coming up. I thought of the beauty of light as it passes through each of us, the light that the Savior gives us. What an inspiring thing, that He is the Light of the world, a priceless gift given for our sake. I love this time of the year, a time to reflect on all the good things He brings.

Building the Foundation

Jared was blessed to be in the temple up in Logan today with our soon-to-be sister-in-law, Katie, as she received her endowments.

I volunteered to stay at home and watch the kids so that he could go and represent our family, which meant me being extra creative with the projects for the weekend. We had already planned on making a gingerbread house with the kids, and when I went to set up the wall of the house, the instructions made sure to mention that it needed to sit for up to 24 hours before attempting to decorate it. The lack of patience would result in the house caving in on itself. I was tempted to just let the kids go to town anyway, but the better part of me won out.

Instead, I drove the five of us in to Walmart to find some great decorations for our project. We found some great supplies and hope to be able to put the fun stuff on it today. Here's a picture of the "solid foundation upon which we must build."

Braids

I decided to be adventurous today and do two french braids on Koria, one going across the front of her head, the other looping around the back portion, then joining up the two on the side by her ear. I sold her on the idea by telling her that it was "a Princess Leia" hairdo. Works every time.

Observations of Youth

Koria has a talent for noticing the tiniest of details. She has ever since she was a baby. She'd spot a piece of lint in the carpet across the room, and work her way toward it ... then pop it in her mouth.

The other night while Jared was reading a bedtime story to Kor and Kimb, she stopped him, pointed to the footprints on this page of the book, and asked,

"Daddy, why are those footprints going in opposite directions?"

Guess the illustrators of the book didn't count on one ultra-observant four-year-old finding all of their congruity mistakes!

One comment I have to post about from Kimball from the last week:

Kimball: "Mom, Grandma calls us her grandkids, but we're not."

Kendra: "Uh, yeah, you are. You are kids of her kids --that's what we call grandkids."

Kimball: "We're not grandkids! We're PBS kids!"

Sure sign of the fact that we no longer have cable ....

Huntington Power Plant

No, that's not Old Faithful.

It's one of the local power plants around our area. The local coal mines feed the power plants, the power plants process the coal, and that's what supplies a big part of the economy of Eastern Utah where we live. This plant is at the base of a canyon heading over the mountain to Fairview and the Sanpete Valley where the Manti temple is, our temple district. The kids always like to point out the smoke stacks.

This is another one of our nativity sets. Baby Jesus seems to get lost from every set, so a couple of years ago, I had to make a new one to fit with this one. Not perfect, but it works.

Guess that's like most of us. We're not perfect, but we work.

Car Wash

After I picked up the kids from preschool, I decided that it was time to wash the car. Koria doesn't like it. Kimball and Layne loved watching the water hit the windows, Luke was just not happy at all, so on went the Scooby-Doo Christmas movie to appease the angry mob.

before ...

... and after. Much better.

Jared Through His Office Window

He was thrilled when I took this picture of him through his office window, but I thought that it would make a great shot. He took a Christmas Tree to work and asked the secretary to help him decorate it, which he said, in turn, became "Let's have the whole district office staff come into my office and decorate a tree the height of my four-year-olds." That's not a quote, just a summary of his hilarious recounting of the process. Isn't Jared great? I don't know what I'd do without him. Thanks for all the work you do both at the office, at home, and service in the church. You amaze me.

K&K have memorized parts to "The Night Before Christmas" for their preschool program that is coming up next week. Kor's part includes the line,

"He spoke not a word, then went straight to his work, and filled all the stocking, then turned with a jerk."

She gets tripped up on the "and went straight to his work" section, because she likes to say, "and went straight to his office."

Guess she's used to her dad.

Sunday, December 5th -- Our 8th Anniversary

Yep.

8 years ago today.

Good thing we managed to celebrate over the weekend, because the Sabbath day of peace and rest was anything but ... Jared had to play the piano for the Spanish Branch, I helped Jana take eight kids (4 of which were six and under) to Sacrament Meeting while Evelyn stayed home with a sick set of one-year-olds, then taught a gospel doctrine lesson.

By the time K&K and I returned home, the rest of our helpers from the weekend had taken off (we can't thank you all enough -- the kids had a great time too) and we found ourselves feeling the effects of some bad food that we must have eaten over the weekend.

Couple that with fasting, and you get a very exhausting day.

In reflection, I have to say that I am so blessed by the events of the last eight years. I'm very grateful to be a "Black Sheep" as Becky likes to remind me.

Saturday, Dec. 4th

This picture is not from SLC, but I didn't have a chance to take one as we were still on the road in SLC. It's a picture of main street here in Hungtington and some of the deco that the town puts up for the season.

We slept in on Saturday, another rarity, then finally found some last gifts for the kids (Jared was thrilled to be shopping for little girls' dresses all over the valley -- actually he was a trooper and didn't complain at all). We went to the Oquirhh Mountain Temple and did some innitiatory work, then arrived back at home around 9:45 p.m. More Gospel Doctrine prep. Layne apparently vomitted massively right before bed. Yahoo. Then Luke woke up at 2:00 a.m. with a nasty diaper rash and you don't want to know what else. I was up with him until around 5:00 a.m., and managed to get an hour or so of sleep before waking up again to get kids ready for church, look over the lesson .... but's another post.

Anniversary Weekend

On Dec. 3, Jared and I headed up to SLC to celebrate our 8th anniversary (a first for us). A neighbor watched the kids (Luke and Layne took a nap) until Ev and Jana, Taeya, Madison, Jaden, and Jace arrived around 3:00 p.m.

We made it up to SLC in time to finish our Christmas shopping (scored a great deal on Koria's big gift for this year), then watched Harry Potter at the Gateway Mall, followed up by a quick walk around Temple Square to see all of the beautiful lights. And when I say quick, it was with good reason. I'm glad to say that the cold did not claim any of our extremities. We hopped on Trax, then jumped in the car at out hotel and headed up to a great Thai restaurant that Jared has eaten at for some business meetings. When the owner found out that it was our anniversary, he gave us free dessert, which we really didn't want because of all the other food that we had eaten, but you can't exactly say no when someone offers you a gift ... The food didn't sit so well, so we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed sleeping. Amazing what a luxury that it when you have four young children. I worked on some Gospel Doctrine lesson preparations too.

Ponytails

I know I'm behind. I know you know why.

That being said, here's a picture that I took last Thurday, Dec 2, of Layne's first back-of-the-head ponytails. Very exciting for the females in the household. Koria's the most excited.

Happy December!

This, being the first day of December 2010, I decided to post a picture of one of our nativity sets. The kids (including me) tend to focus too much on the gift giving festivities, and not enough on our Savior's birth. Each year I rededicate myself to thinking more of our Him, less of the other, but seem to fall short of my goal. Hopefully, a good mix of the two will work, as the symbolism of Christmas and all of it's decor needs only to be closely examined to realize that Jesus Christ is the center of it all.

This is the view looking out of our front door ...

And I did a little holiday revamping of our blogs for the season. This is actually a picture that I think Dad took back in the 60's of Uncle Larry. I did a little cropping and photoshop magic, and this now makes a great winter painting. I put it as our Blog header too. Hope you like.

Cold Cereal

On this, the last day of November, I am most definitely grateful for the gift of cold cereal. I think that it's an invention especially for me. This was a picture that I took at breakfast, not dinner -- although cereal makes a great dinner around our house every now and then. Kimball and Koria love to look at the cereal boxes, just like I did as a kid. It's almost as much fun as eating.

By way of explaination, the last couple of posts were for Jana, in the hopes that one of the pictures posted would work for Joe and Ev's mission papers. The format needed to be vertical, not horizontal, as all of the pictures I took were formatted. One was a photoshop attempt that I did, hoping to fit Ev in closer to Joe, and the next was a picture that we had taken while we lived in Orem. Different camera. Low resolution. Only shot of Joe that I could find with he and Ev together, he not wearing a hat. Oh well, if it doesn't work, Jana, good luck on the retakes!

Only other one I've got

Jana, this one's to the right dimensions. Don't know if this will work or not ...

Here you go Jana!

The Photoshopped, closer together edition. Good luck, Jana!

Mission Picture

G&G Black are working on their missionary papers right now, so I took a picture for them today following church meetings. Afterward, we loaded up the car and headed home to Huntington. We had a great holiday weekend, and are happy to be back home tonight. Nothing beats your own bed.

Saturday, Now. 28

We enjoyed a slower day in Panguitch with Grandma and Grandpa Black and Julena on Saturday. All of the kids managed to sleep in until at least 7:30 a.m., which helped me recover from the loss of sleep the night before. The day ended with Koria vomiting all over the stairs around 11:00 p.m., in the middle of a game the adults where playing upstairs.

Perfect way to end the day.

Black Friday

Since Panguitch sits in the middle of nowhere, Black Friday requires one to test their own sanity and well as dedication to a deal. Jana, Evelyn (my mother-in-law) and I all braved the time and weather and left town around 3:30 a.m. to drive to Cedar City to first hit the Walmart before heading farther south to St. George for some Christmas shopping. We managed to stay awake through "Harry Potter" also, then headed back to Panguitch, arriving home around 8:30 that night. Too bad the world with all of it's technology (which seemed to in short supply that day) has still not provided a way for us to just fly from place to place with our own hover jets. Sure would make traveling a lot easier.

We had a good time talking and laughing along the way ... and yes, Grandma Black can still outshop anyone ... even her daughter and daughter-in-law!

Thanksgiving in Panguitch

One of the highlights for us this year on Thanksgiving had to be sledding on Dickinson Hill, right across from Grandma and Grandpa Blacks house, in Panguitch. The kids had a great time enjoying the snow, despite the cool. We had to force Jaden and Koria to come in when the sun went down. The others came in a bit earlier, after which we all sat down and enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner together. Luke and Layne enjoyed their first solid-food Thanksgiving to the fullest, outeating me by far. We are definitely thankful for good family and fun. Here are some pictures from the sledding portion of the day. There's a couple of posts here that show some of my favorite shots.

Jaden and Kimball suffer the aftermath of snow splash.

Dad and Kimball

Everything's that much better being a twin.

The old truck in winter