To be a Child

Today my children played hide and seek, went to Disneyland in a cooler which soon turned into an airplane which then turned into the log ride at Lagoon. They cleaned their room and sung Barney songs, helped me make dinner and lunch, threw tantrums and are, at this very moment, playing "Don't Break the Ice". Today has had it's moments, but over all I have LOVED it.

What's going on?

I decided to leave up the previous posts for a bit so people could get caught up if they wanted. I'll put up the rest of our trip next week. So for now what have been up to? Clint is back at school this semester and will be happy when he can BE in the program and not just taking classes to get in. Kaily is LOVING school. She loves to read and is getting so good at her drawing and letter writing. I am impressed by her daily. She asks me to read her a book just to have her read it to me instead. If she doesn't know a word she is good about sounding it out. Conner is a happy helpful little boy. Last night he wanted waffles for diner, his favorite food as of lately, and he emptied my sugar canister all over the floor. THEN, he got out two towels to try and clean it up. When he got frustrated enough he came and told me he made a mess and asked for the broom. I let him "help" me clean it up he was so sad and sorry. If Clint hadn't have had my camera I would have taken a pic. It was So cute to watch him, even if there was sugar ALL over my floor. I am currently back to wking out and just recently started a spinning class. Oh, and did I mention that I have a new calling? That's right no more Nursery, I am now the 1rst counselor in the Primary. I kind of feel like a fish out of water, I haven't been in Primary since I went into YW at 12. So far I love it though. I really like the women I serve with and the primary is small and not too intimidating. I know I will learn a lot. Right now Clint is still in Nursery b/c we haven't been released from it yet. Kaily likes me in there and Conner I think is ready to be on his own, I hope.

I need to be honest, FB has taken over my time. I find that I post on there more often than I am ever on here anymore. Don't worry though, I will still post, just maybe not as frequent, although I'm sure I'll back into it as soon as I have everything updated.

Explanation

So here I am almost a month behind on my blogging. The truth is that when I get on here I enjoy reading others blogs so much that I take all the time I have to read through all of my wonderful firends and family and then have no time to write in my own. It's been daunting to think about. So, enough delay, here we go... I'll work on a little a time.

Merry Christmas

Dec 25, 2009

I LOVE Christmas! I love it not for all the presents and the music and all the other worldly things, but I love it for the time. During Christmas we take the time to be with family. I enjoyed this one I think a little different than I have loved ones in the past. This year was insane! So many people in a little house all the grandchildren running about, most being little girls. It was loud, crazy, energetic, and so much fun! I helped make breakfast this morning and after everyone had eaten we gathered in the living room and listened while Papa Willis read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke. Then Grandma Willis passed out presents to each of us. It was fun to see what the kids got from all the Aunts/Uncles and Grandparents. The room was a mess to behold, but laughter and talk could be heard and appreciated.

Grandma Willis had gingerbread houses for the kids to make and Papa Willis had a train for the kids to ride in. There was dirt everywhere and an old wagon to ride on. There were guns to shoot and paint balls to use up. Grandma and Papa Willis made a ping pong table and lots of video games to play with. Kaily and some of the older cousins made a little play house out of scrap wood from the farm and I honestly didn't see Kaily unless it was time to eat or go to bed.

That night Evan made a fire pit in the back and some of us went and roasted marshmallows, while others went for the warmth. It was a great day filled with great food and great company.

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2009

We woke Christmas Eve morning so happy to be in AZ. Clint's mom, Clint and I all went for a walk inthe morning. They walked, I ran the 2.8 mile ( I think that's right) driveway I think the total I ran was 5 miles give or take a few. The dogs ran with me and it was SO incredibly nice to be moving and breathing CLEAN air. Utah has been on short supply of that these days. The run felt awesome and I did it with no trouble at all. The dirt road seemed to go on forever. When I got back to the house Amy and others were in the process of making a yummy breakfast. Later that afternoon Papa Willis treated us to a tractor hay ride. He bought yellow hats for us all to wear and put our names on. The kids had so much fun. Later that night we had a Mexican dinner and after we put the kids to bed we all played Santa. It was fun to be with everyone and the chaos in the house was amazing! Even though it was crazy it was a lot of fun to have everyone there.

On our way

December 22 & 23, 2009

On December 22 we started our travels down to AZ for Christmas. It was a terrible day to leave, but after looking at the weather for the 23rd we decided to go anyway. We rented a car from Enterprise, a Kia something, ( I can't remember), but it was a really nice 010 model with only 400 miles on it. (It had about 2000 more than that by the time we got home.) The car drove great, too bad it took us 10 hrs to get to St George, normally only a 5 hr drive. It was SNOWING! I hate driving in snow storms! We did stop by Daniel and Crystal's house to pick up an extra DVD player for the kids though. It was nice to see Stephen and his little family while we were there. Thank you so much Zank family the DVD player came in handy thanks to the LONG drive. So a drive that normally takes 14 hrs took 22 hrs. We stopped in St George for the night and the got back on the road the next morning. The kids did great. We had to let them out about every 2 hrs, Conner really, so he wouldn't go crazy on us. Other than that they were great. Conner watched Kung Fu Panda all the way down there and all the way home. Kaily watched a variety of movies. I don't know how any one ever drove those distances before portable DVD players were invented. Needless to say we were VERY happy to arrive at Grandma and Papa Willis' house the next night. My little homebody, Conner, was ready to get back in the car after being there for an hr though. He wanted to go home. The next morning when he saw all the dirt, animals and cousins he was happy to stay. (=

Preschool Christmas Caroling

December 17, 2009

Kaily's teacher is such an awesome lady. This year she had the kids go Christmas caroling around the neighborhood where her house is. She taught them all about Christmas and why we celebrate it. Seriously all December I was told "Mom, Christmas is Jesus' birthday, that's why we give presents to each other." It was nice to have a constant reminder. =) Just before going out they put fruit in bags to give away. When they got back to the house she fed them cake, b/c it's a "birthday" party.