Merry Christmas

Jake and Tami's little girl Taylor

18" of snow

I got to do a lot of shoveling the last few days. We lost our shovel today but it was found by someone slowblowing the sidewalk. Chad bent our other shovel today while clearing the driveway.

Um, maybe it's time to put on the grill cover.

Snow Day

Loves being outside, even when soaking wet

Grace, Kate and a friend kick the crap out of a snowman I just made

Original Songs

I was playing "Deck the Halls" on the piano when Grace came over and told me I was singing it all wrong. This is how it goes:

Note: The upcoming ward Christmas Party was her inspiration.
Deck the Holly to the Jolly
Santa's sleigh is going to be at church tonight
The real Santa's sleigh from the real north pole
I know that there's going to be a guest
I know there's going to be a guest at church

Kate trying to sing "Twinkle Little Star"

Twinkle, Twinkle
"I want to see"
Twinkle Twinkle star
How I wonder what u
Up Above
Twinkle, Twinkle
How I wonder
hmmm, lost her place?

Harry

Meet Harry Potter. A lot of thought was put into this getup. After "Harry" went to the bathroom he said: "Boys don't need to wipe when they go pee, right?" Ahhh. That's my Harry.

Finally, some sun!

Jake and I had to take advantage of a "warm" day.

Come eat dinner with us

Eating dinner with our 3 kids involves little eating sadly. It is a game of us guessing what their next request will be, while watching them goof off and spill, crunch, squeeze and discover the food on their plates. It is however entertaining.

This is actually breakfast. Kate always wants what someone else has.

Thanksgiving in Idaho

It was cold in St. Anthony... too cold to get a picture of tube rides!

Grandpa Randy's famous Micky Mouse pancakes

Grace had a lot of fun playing with Cheri's daughter Brooklyn

Some of the crew

Kid's table

I wish I would have taken a picture of the pies. Melanie made chocolate and chocolate peanut butter cup, and Barbs had pecan, pumpkin, apple, berry and german chocolate pies. They also baked a turkey and a ham for us pigs. We loved staying and eating all the leftovers.

Jake's 1!

I have a very strong bond with Jake. He wants to be held often and I don't mind. He has a high pitch scream and instead of annoying me, it makes me laugh. He spins in a circle on his bum when he hears music, smiles all the time, and I just love to be around him. He snuggles me more than my girls. Men, they are such babies from the beginning;) Some of our favorite pics:






Eating some icecream

His latest stats from the Dr.
19lbs(5%tile), 28inches (5%) head (49%)

Kids Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Kate

Kate turned 2 Nov. 2nd. She is so cheesy. She loves to get noticed and makes the cutest scrunched up smiley face when I catch her being naughty. She loves gum, Dora, saying "oh no!" "mmm yummy" and is so good at taking naps. Sometimes she will even ask to go to bed. It's her passion for the pacifier. She only gets one in her crib, and now that she's 2 I should really cut it off, but I can't! When I put her down she pops one in her mouth and arranges the others neatly in her hands, then shoves her stuffed monkey in the corner and uses it as a pillow. She can wake up and play for an hour, just talking to herself. She's a little pinter with huge blue eyes.

We got a babysitter and just took Kate out to the Park and McDonalds:

Earlier in the day she insisted on getting this bandaid on her nose



Being a spaz


Here are some of our favorite photos:
She did grow into her alien eyes



Her latest stats from the Dr.
21 lbs (1%tile), 32 inches (16%) head (3%)

First Snow, BOOOO!

7:00 AM, Oct. 26th

Grace's first snowman - I told her I'd help her if we did it on the deck

Halloween

Mom likes, Jake doesn't

Grace is helping Kate look at the camera. Thanks!

Kate going to the dark side

Sophie

The rest of the gang at our Halloween Party

Short but sweet

Prague, Czech Republic

When Chad told me he had a computer conference in Europe I said YES! When he said it was in Prauge I said, Where is that? When I researched it out we decided Clint had to come because he served his mission there 15 years ago. We all had an amazing time.

I realized the only pics I have posted of my trip thus far are of the Bone Church. Prague is a historic city with a lot of beauty too.

Behind us is the St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle (the largest castle in the world) It dates back to the 9th century.





THE FOOD!
Gelato with Ellen (Clint's acquaintance from Idaho Falls we just happened to meet)

You can just buy a block of cheese at this stand. I thought it was bread.

They list the grams of food on the menus. After ordering Melanie said: "I think I might have ordered too much food. Mine was 650 gms and most dishes are 150." We all got to help her polish off the ribs.



The Restaurant in Kunta Hora where we ate the above food.

Clint and Chad with Mike (Ellen's husband) You can tell they are friendly eh? We loved having them along.

THE BUILDINGS
Our Hotel, The Santini Residence

The ceiling in our room

Outside the St. Vitus Gothic Cathedral

Inside


Outside the gothic church in Kunta Hora

Inside

The Astronomical Clock - In Prague we were told that the poor clock maker's eyes were gouged out so he could not repeat his beautiful work but reading online now that seems like a legend. What kind of a legend is that?

Old Town Square

Charles Bridge

TOM CRUISE WATCH
Tom Cruise was in town shooting Mission Impossible 4. We saw some movie crews but no Tom.

Who's this creepy guy? Movie extra, Tom in hiding, psycho killer

This must be Tom's hotel

WE ARE SO FUN AND CRAZY!!!
Now I finally have a post worthy picture of myself.

Action shot: Chad as Jason Bourne, not too shabby

The perfect fig leaf

Where's Melanie? Yikes!

POLICE
"Respect our laws!" That is what I was reprimanded to do after paying a policeman $50 for not having a subway ticket. It was awkward for us all. Chad was at a conference and had my subway ticket. I decided, no big deal. As we are going down the subway escalator a cop is checking for tickets. Clint and Mel proceed to show him their tickets and I pretend to be aloof to all this and get back on the escalator to get a ticket. He asks where I am going and Clint says "I don't know." After this we meet and a different cop inspects my ticket (the other is busy) and we ride. All is well... for the moment. Later in the day we stop at the same station and the policeman eyes me and starts yelling at Clint in Czech. Clint says in Czech: "You are talking too fast. I can't understand. Something about in the name of God and a ticket." The cop then got mad because I didn't have my passport with me and said he could take me to jail, or I could pay a fine. He was mean. I was scared. I'm glad Clint can speak Czech. He was a great help.

WORTHWHILE STUFF
The John Lennon Wall

We made it to church. Clint even met with some people he knew on his mission. Ironically a couple from Provo were giving the sacrament talks. They did have earphones with missionaries translating into English in the other meetings. What an experience!