CHRISTMAS DAY

SANTA CLAUSE...

Santa came to see the girls Christmas morning. Meg was up at 6:45 to wake us all, including Ava. She of coarse was soooo excited. Ava was still somewhat asleep but seemed to love all the new prizes. Megs favorite Santa gifts were her pink DS(Like Paytons), Make-up Case and Princess Skates. Avas faves were her Princess cars, Yo Gabba Gabba shirt, Zebra and for sure her Dora Skates. Luckily Santa knows that the girls have to get the exact same thing with maybe a twist to it. After presents and watching Barbie Christmas Carol we headed to my parents for "Terry's Breakfast!"

We made and frosted lots of very yummy 30 second cupcakes for Meg and played cars and robots for Ava. It is so funny how they are born with such their own personality.

PA AND MEEMS...

DUNCANS...

Later on that night Lances fam came over for dinner and Wii. Thanks to Danny and Brit for dinner. It is always so nice for Meg to get to see her cousins and she so loves Payton. The Varners could not get back to Traverse Mtn so they had to turn around and come back to have a sleepover at our house.

All seemed like a great holiday when I woke up in the middle of the night very sick. I spent the next 5 days throwing up, lots of coughing, sleeping all day and all night, headaches, fevers and living on the couch. I have never had anything take me out like that. I lost a ton of weight and looked like a crack mom with dark circles under my eyes for a while. The Dr said that I had some funky rotovirus infection that just had to work its way through my system. Whatever that means. It was also fun to add both girls with everlasting ear infections and coughs to the mix.

Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas eve this year was spent at my cousin Aaron's house. We had a ton of yummy food(tamales, spaghetti, turkey, cheese bread and lots of cookies) and a great time just hanging out. The kids got new pj's, played games and we tried to get them to sing Christmas carols, with no such luck.

We had to take off a bit early because the girls still were not feeling great, plus Lance and I were not really being friends either. It's funny how that stress of the holidays can get us all so crazy. Add bitch week on top of that and it's really crazy!

ZOO LIGHTS

We went to see the Zoo Lights tonight. It was really not to cold other than we could not find enough gloves. They are always missing when you need them. The girls were all snugged in the jogger and liked the lights and reptiles. We all had a good time and we really needed to do something Christmasie before it passed us by.

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

We hope everyone has a great holiday season.
I have been so busy that today we finally got around to doing Sants Lists. Meg did hers and then wanted to write Avas but we didn't have time to sit thought another hour to let her write it. So Meg told me what she thought Ava would like.

A MEG WEEKEND

Happy Birthday to our sweet princess Meg. She is now 5 and so excited to be big or at least bigger. Today started out with a new birthday outfit and school. She picked Nerd Ropes and Glowies to give to her class.

MEG...

*Meg is such a good girl

*She loves pink milk, oatmeal, sloppies, mac & cheese, cereal

*Is very into the Princess, Tinkerbell, Barbie and HSM

*Some of her fav shows are Max & Ruby, Pinky Dinky Do, WA WA Wuzby, Yo Gabba Gabba, Sid the Science Kid and Charlie & Lola

*Until yesterday she wanted to be( in this order)a cheeleader, a salon, doctor, basketball player and dancer when she grew up and now she only wants to be one person, an artist.

*Meg and Ava do NOT play well together

*Loves to wear her hair long and we have to braid her hair every night before bed or it is a nightmare to brush out in the morning

*She mostly moves in slow motion unless it is something fun to do. I have to ask a million times to get her to move.

*Likes to wear lots of mismatched pairs of pjs

*Still loves her gank although she hasn't mentioned the tag for awhile

*Does not like loud noises

When she got home from school she got to open her presents from us and was very excited for her Pink Ipod. She has been talking about it for a long time. After that we went to the mall to get some lunch and see Santa. That night we had family over for cake and ice cream. It was a great and very long day. Ava had about a million break downs that day and all weekend. She was so upset about not being able to touch everything and she also hated Santa.
CLASSIC SKATING PARTY...

We were planning on having a princess party this year and after skating a couple weeks ago she wanted to switch. So we took 11 chitlins skating. It turned out really well and with O drama. All the kids were great and did such a good job skating. Everyone got necklace glowies so we could keep track of them.

Lance Gage and I took them all on.

Koda-Aunika-Baylee-Meg-Kennedy-Alex-Addy-Kennedy-Treyce-Avery

Missing-Rayce-Trev-Brady

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PARTY

We went to Meg's Christmas party at school tonight. They are such a great school and Meg loves going with her friend Baylee. The kids got to make reindeer food, sing, have treats and see Santa. Meg loved seeing Santa and Ava hated it. We were unsure what she would think. The picture says it all.

DO YOU WANT TO SKATE WITH ME???

Monday night we went to Classic Skating. Lance was super excited to take Meg skating. She has been practicing on the carpet at home. It has been years since we had been there and it was so fun. Meg was a bit scared in the beginning but ended up not wanting to leave. She liked it so much that her birthday will be there now. We were planning on not taking Ava with us but we are so glad we did. She LOVED it. She rode on the scooter while we pushed her and when she was done with that she wanted to skate, and she did. What a die hard. Meg and Koda did a couples skate with a bit of help from me and Shan on the outside. They are a very wobbly still and what a good workout for us. You can even ride scooters there now, Lance was not happy about that. The DJ also played a few of the oldie skate songs, one of my favs, We Built this City on Rock and Roll. SO GOOD!

THERE IS MORE TO LIFE...

Lance and I went to a funeral yesterday of a very good friends father. It has been a very long time since attending one but it was such an amazing service. I did not know him well but Lance had the privilege of embarking on a few adventures with the family through Zion, which was one of his passions and great loves in life. Lance had grown to respect and love this man like a favorite uncle. Maybe me not knowing him was why I was so impacted by the things his family had to say. It seemed to me that he lived 3 lifetimes and had experienced more than most of us will ever. Playing as hard as he was working, with so many passions. It had me thinking so many things...What would my family have to say at my funeral or even now? What type of mother, wife, sister, friend am I or do I want to be? What impact would I be on the world when I pass...good, bad?

I often times forget about some of the sweet moments in life because I am so wrapped up in my to do list, is my house clean, the lawns or anything else. Ya it is great to be a super hard worker but what is the point if at the end of the day we are enjoying life from our couch! It seems silly that we are putting so much effort into our day jobs, whatever they may be, and then at the end of the day our family gets the leftovers. I am sometimes guilty of this and I want this to be a reminder of what really is important.

TATER TOT SCHOOL PICTURES!

Meg loves going to school and is such a good student. She is always the most excited for Art class. This is her third year in preschool and I am so excited about how well she is doing.

HALLOWEEN

TRICK OR TREAT...

This year Meg wanted to be Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba but no one makes costumes from that show and by the time we figured that out it was to late to make one, or for meem to make one. So her next choice was Princess Jasmine. She was the best little Jasmine and her costume was soooo cute. I was struggling on what Ava was going to be so I asked Lance to pick one out for her and once he saw it he was hooked, Princess Leia. Ava really liked her costume and left her hair hat on all night. She couldn't of looked any cuter.

We trick or treated the neighborhood for a couple of hours. Ava got the hang of trick or treating by the 2ND house. It was so fun to watch them go to the houses together. After we took a pit stop at my parents and came home to be in bed by 9, we were all super tired that night.

KODA, MEG, COLTON, GAGE, AVA, BENTLEY, TREYCE

TATER TOT HALLOWEEN PROGRAM...

I helped out with Megs class this year for Halloween. I was in charge of treats and to help a bit with games. We made spider web sugar cookies with spider rings on them and apple juice Capri Suns in a cauldron of smoke(dry ice). It turned out great and the kids really liked it. I love to go and help in her class and see how she interacts with the other kids and her teacher. She really is such a good girl.

FRIDEE, SATURDEE & SUNDEE

FRIDEE...

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE INDIANS???

Fridee we sent all the boys off hunting and started the girls weekend. That night me, Jenn, Kee, and mom made sugar cookies for the sleepover the next night. Jenn is taking a history class at school and it started at the Indians so she wanted to know, "What happened before the Indians?" So that began our night of religion study so why not start at the beginning, including Kane and Able, The garden of Eden, Satan, the Golden Plates, Joseph Smith and Temple. Thanks to Shannon, Grandpa P and Goggle it was quite a night. We learned lots of interesting stuff and that has now furthered our quest to find out really what is going on???

Along with bible study we also started a new quest of finding ex boyfriends and lost loves on Face book, My Space, Google Search and Yellow Pages. With not much luck we ended the night about 1:30 AM. What fun.

SATURDEE

ANNUAL GRANDMA P GIRLS SLEEPOVER

Every year all the girls in the family have a sleepover for my grandmas birthday. This weekend we were celebrating her 80Th birthday and it was held at my house. Every year we do different things that always come with lots of food, plenty of laughs and a few cries. We are girls, do you expect anything less??? It was great but we missed Amelia and her 3 girls and Jesse.EXPRESSIONS...

I love all of these pics mostly because everyone has such great expressions. No one can ever get a word in edge wise in this family. With such strong personalities everyone is always talking over each other, we love it that way and have such a great time together!!!

THE LITTLE GIRLS...

We painted pumpkins this year for the girls. They liked it but I think they liked putting on plays, dress up and dancing better.

SAVE THE TATAS..

This year we decided to do breast cancer awareness tees instead of pj's. Does it really get any better than these. We loved them and we are supporting such a great cause. After going to bed at 4 AM we love the morning after pics.

DANCING...

What's a party without dancing??? We have such amazing girls in this family so I have to think that is the reason that we are getting very few boys. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA, WE LOVE YOU!

SUNDEE...

Sundee night we had dinner and carved pumpkins over at pa's and meems. I think by this day we were all tired and had run out of most of our creative juices and energy but the pumpkins still turned out great.

18 MONTHS

Ava Just had her 18 month apt on Friday. She is 33 inches in length(86%), Weighs 24 lbs(46%), and her head is 18 inches(27%). She is sleeping from 7:30 to about 7:30 and taking 1 nap around noon for about 2 hrs. Ava is starting to talk quite a bit and understands very well. A few things she is saying: It's stuck, Sissy, Bod, Juice, Show, Shoes, Hi, Outside, Shug(snug), B(bink), Gank. She is getting so much personality and is so stinking cute we all can barely resist her.

*She loves her daddy the very most of anyone.

*Will not go anywhere without her B and Gank

*Loves pink milk, ice cream, and any type of treat but otherwise eats nothing.

*Will put herself on timeout.

*Screams sooo super loud.

*Is really loving to sung.

*Likes to watch Elmo, Oswald, George, Dora and Clifford.

*Loves to color, especially on things she shouldn't.

*Wants to do everything that Meg does.

*Says hi, hi, hi, when she know she is in trouble or doing something wrong.

*Throws all of her binks and ganks out of her bed and then cries for you to come put them back in her bed a million times during naps.

*Does not like the doorbell at all

VEA

VEA

Vea is here. She was born on October 2, 2008. She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 18 inches long. I am so excited to be an Auntee on my side. Meg as well can not get enough of her. Kee ended up having a c-section so she was at the hospital for a longer time which meant that Meg never wanted to leave. She will be a super good cousin to Vea. SEX AND SLEEPOVERS

Jenn and I had a sleepover last Friday at Kee and Teds house to take Vea for the night while they got to sleep all night. I loved that my mom would take a nightly shift here and there when my babies are born. Nothing is better than a full night sleep with a new baby. My mom has been sick so we had to take over. Vea was really good and super grunty.

I have recently started watching the Sex and the City seasons. Lance has been hunting a lot and since my girls go to bed about 7:30, it has been great at filling my time at night. I was only on season 2 so Jenn and I watched a couple seasons while attending to our auntee duties.

JENN WEEKEND

Jenn ended up staying for a few days to play. Usually when she is here we have lots of things going on but this time we just hung out with the family and had Beans, Rice and Chili Verde at Grandmas, our favorite and soooo yummy!!! It was really nice and we all love it so much when she is here.

THINGS...

I feel like this has been such a different year for me. Maybe you hit 30 and something clicks or you now have 2 kids, one being crazy busy and that does it or who knows really but I love how I am feeling these days. I have always felt like I have been a confident person but with a close eye on what everyone else was thinking of me and now I feel like that is switching. I am now that person with a better eye on what I want, doing things for myself and am feeling so grateful for all the amazing things around me.

THINGS THAT ARE GOING ON...

*We had family pictures last week. Hopefully they went well. Meg, of course, did great but little Ava was not having it. It was also very hot.
*Meg also had her school pictures
*Lance is getting ready for lots of weekends of hunting and recovering from surgery on his mouth while dealing with massive allergies, FUN!
*We are still running, it is very dark, cold and windy that early but we tried a new venue today, the cemetery, morbid? actually really great!
*HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN! Today to one of my 2 greatest sisters and friends!

THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR...

*That Lances business that is still very busy. With all that is happening, especially in construction, that we are not feeling the slow down to much.
*For the great get togethers with all of our friends that mean so much to us, including the spur of the moment bbqs that Lance throws.
*Lately I am hearing so many awful things going on in so many marriages and all I can think about is how amazing my husband is and what a great relationship we have!
*For Shannon, for which I would be without many fabulous peaches and Cinderella pumpkins.
*Most importantly! We now have a new pink addition to the family. Vea is healthy and sooo cute with a ton of black hair. More to come...
*That every time Ava gives a love she will hand you her gank to put over your shoulder, pat your back and say, ahhhhhh shuug ( snug) and she says it in the lowest little voice.
*That last night Meg read her first book all by herself.
*With all that has come this year and yet to come I find myself focusing on how important my family is, especially Lance and my girls!

CORNBELLYS

Saturday we took the girls to Thanksgiving Point to go see the animals and ended up going to Cornbellys instead. It was actually really fun. The girls had a great time and the weather was perfect. Meg is still very timid about anything even a little big or scary. She is for sure our softy. She loved the cars and a few of the slides and even made a new friend, Alexa.
Ava is the exact opposite and is ready for anything. She loved the tramps and the slides

which Lance even sent her down some of the pretty big ones, too big!

FLASHBACK FRIDAY- MEG

4 years ago tomorrow Meg was taking an unexpected trip to Primary Children's Hospital thanks to her mama. One Sunday morning Lance was putting Meg down for nap. When putting her down for a nap I usually will take out any hair things that she is wearing, which lance was unaware of. So meg went to bed with a pink star barrett in her hair. Lance hated those barrett's and continued to tell me that they were dangerous weeks prior to this day. Of coarse I did not listen because it was all about how she looked, I know terrible.

About 20 minutes later we heard meg gag and throw up. We were not sure that she had eaten the barrette but could not find it anywhere. We ripped her room apart and nothing. I called everyone and they all said it will come through, even her pediatrician. So through out the next 7 days it did not come through. Meg was eating and acting very normal too.

On day eight I took her to be x-rayed to see if it was still there. It was lodged in her esophagus, no one could believe it. The doctors could not believe she was eating, breathing or anything else. They quickly sent her to Primarys. The doctors were worried that they would have to repair her esophagus after taking the barrette out but luckily it came out without any problems. We were there only a couple of days and after that she was good to go.

What a terrible experience and I have never felt worse. I am sure it was very hard for Lance to not say I told you so, but I fully learned my lesson.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE...

I just got home from a long weekend at Jenn and Kevin's in Huntington Beach, ALL BY MYSELF!

It was Lances first time doing both girls for longer than a day. He did a great job although I don't think he wants me to leave again any time soon. He said it is really hard to do the single parent thing. I am sure that Meg loved it, she got to sleep in our bed, eat whatever she wanted or not at all and wear all sorts of clothes from all seasons.

Jenn and I had a great time. We shopped, ate a ton of candy and Carmel apples, saw Mama Mia(again, I love it!), went to the beach and then shopped some more. It was so nice to wander with no time schedule, kids or anything else. Such a great relaxing and much needed weekend.

AUNTEE KEE

On the 16 of August my mom, Jenn and I hosted Kees baby shower.

Place: Risas House

Time: 12:00

Food: Chicken Ranch Sands, Sugar Cookies, Fruit, Lots of Pink (Only) Candy.

It turned out great. We had 50+ people and a ton of fun. She received so many great things and is pretty well set for Vea to come. 4 weeks and counting.

Yesterday the girls celebrated Kees birthday, even though it's not till Friday. We usually shop and get pedicures for birthdays. This was Megs first time getting one as well. She has been talking about getting a "manipedi" for weeks. I mentioned it once and she really wanted to have her feet rubbed! It was a success and we had a great day with the girls.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEE, WE LOVE YOU!