My Baby is Eight

Wyatt turned 8 today  - he woke at midnight Loren says because he knew it was his birthday.  I heard him get in and out of bed several times, it was worse than Christmas Eve.  Since Tay, Ky and I have to leave at 6:10am we had our "party" at 5:55, Wyatt opened his presents,  more Skylanders, a video game, a book, Legos, football and tennis balls (from Ty bought with his own money) a scooter (he actually opened that yesterday) and white underwear, he is getting baptized and  I don't' think Incredible Hulk underwear will cut it.  He brought Twinkies to share at school, Loren got off early from work and we went out to Native New Yorker for wings the home again to play some more.  Big party on Saturday when he gets baptized.

I am so so thankful for this baby of mine, he is smart which leads to his quick wit, he is competitive will try to win at all cost, so loving I think it is because he was my baby and I spend so much time with him, (I took 6 months off work and then went part time for  two years.)  Wyatt was and still is a my boy, while I am working on the computer he will come up and scratch my back or just give me a hug.  I told him tonight to brush his teeth and I will tuck him in and he says "I don't need you to tuck me in mom I am 8."  NO NO NO - my baby is growing up, I will still insist on tucking him in for as long as possible.  Love this boy of mine, Happy Birthday!!

Family Pictures

Finally some new family pictures - it has been quite a few years since we had a "real" family picture taken.  Too bad we didn't get these done before the holidays so we could send out Christmas cards, maybe we will send out Valentine's instead.   Loren's niece Brittany came to our house and took them, she has quite the eye, they turned out great, now I have to decide which one(s) to blow up and frame - decisions decisions.

 I love this one of the girls, I know I have said this before but they are such good friends, and they have the greatest sense of humor, this is totally them.

               I love whatever the "pro's" do to adjust the picture - the boys just look so cute, maybe it is because I rarely see them cleaned up.  They are good friends too, one minute they are bickering, egging each other on, driving me crazy, then the next minute they have the camping mat out playing a game of "football" they made up.                                                                                                              My favorite part about his whole "photo shoot" was that it took place on our property, not only did Brittany capture us, but our little piece of heaven, from the old shed we had to move 20 feet to get it off the previous owners property, to the ever changing green fence arrangement, to the horses (poop and all), to the white storage shed that Loren built the tresses onto, to the old fence post that has been there since they built this place, this is us and I am glad it is documented.

Short-Cut or Long-Cut

Our dinner conversation tonight: "Mom do you choose the short-cut or the long-cut?"  Wyatt asked.  I answered "long-cut" trying to choose the less obvious,  and his answer was "Good choice you picked the long-cut to death."  I guess that is good news.  I have always told my kids I only want to live until 85, it just seems like life is too hard after that, you can't drive or see or hear well, you start to forget stuff so I always said take me to my 85th birthday party, bring me home put me to bed and I can die in my sleep.  To me that seems perfect, I just saw everyone I love ( assuming they made it to my 85th party) and now I can go see those that have passed on before me and according to Wyatt I might just make it to 85 since I am taking the "long-cut" to death.

20 years

At the Fiesta Bowl celebrating our 20th anniversary.

Loren and I have been married 20 years, we probably would have married sooner had the Mesa temple not have been closed for renovations.  Since it was we were married on the first day it opened - Jan 2, 1992.  I cannot believe it has been 20 years, man time flies I still feel like a 21 year old although my face and body says otherwise.  I have seen this several places here is a list of 20 things I love about Loren in no particular order...

1. He is a good no great dad to the kids
2. His sense of humor
3. His perspective - he helps me see things in a new light
4. His eyes - I swear they change colors based on what he wears
5. He is a great friend - we don't even have to say anything and we know what the other is thinking
6. He is a priesthood holder
7. His intensity when watching sports - I know where Ty gets it from
8. His loyalty - he has had the same friends since he was 3 years old - how many people can say that?
9. His forgiving heart
10. His love of the outdoors 
11. His love of animals - at this point in our lives we have 2 horses, 2 cows (one in the freezer) 1 goat, 2 dogs, 7 puppies and a tank of tropical fish
12. His spontaneity - a little tough to take from a planner like me but it is growing on me.
13. His ability to grill the absolute best steak - so yum
14. His directness, he will say it like it is
15. His ability to read people - no wonder he is so successful at sales
16. That he is "in-tune" he has told the girls no and he says he just has a bad feeling, we will never know why except he is protecting his kids (see #1)
17. He takes his role as a protector very serious - don't mess with his family
18. He is the best gift giver - every year we say we are not getting each other a gift for Christmas and then he surprise me with a new necklace, or Coach bag year in and year out.
19. His memory ( I thought of this at #7 but I couldn't remember until now) we will be out and he will see someone from 7 grade and talk about a certain event, "remember when..."
20. Most of all I love that he loves me - here's to 20+ more years.

Days After Christmas

 

Ty said it best on our way home from the park playing with the cousins, he said..."Christmas Eve is bad you know Christmas is just staring you in the face, Christmas Day is good we get to open the presents, but the days after are the best, they are my favorite, we get to play with our toys."


Here we are playing with Ty's new scooter, so much fun.

I totally get it and today was especially good as we, Karrie & Jeremy and their kids, Dyan & her kids, Mark & his kids, we picked up Kelli's kids, Mom, Dad, Matt and Aunt Cindy met up at the park and played, the weather was glorious and the company fantastic. There were a total of  18 kids, 11 and under so plenty to play a game of football with, swing on the swing with, dig in the sand with and just run around with, while I had plenty of grown ups to talk to and laugh with, simply put a " great day to be alive, the suns still shining when I close my eyes..."

Bad lighting, not everyone looking, few kids missing, but this is us, I love it.

Christmas 2011

Santa found us and I must say our children must have been good.  It seemed to come faster especially since the boys had school until Friday and then bam Saturday was Christmas Eve.  I would rather have that way any day than an whole week of waiting.  We spent Christmas Eve cleaning, (Santa can't come to a messy house),baking banana bread ( Kyley makes the best) and peanut butter cookies with the kiss on top (Taylor and my favorites), wrapping present and watching football (Cardinals lost heart breaker).  I was hoping with all we had to do that this Christmas Eve would go by faster but nope it is still the longest day of the year.

This year we had my Mom, Dad and Matt come out for dinner.  I hope this will be a new tradition, it was fun to have my parents all to ourselves.  We had ham, mash potatoes, salad,  rolls and good conversation.  The kids opened their O.C.E. (open Christmas Eve - I abbreviated due to recent hand surgery) present - new pajamas, surprise surprise surprise (said Gomer Pyle style) Wyatt's were to big so he could not do any of his dancing or they would fall down.   I worked the kids hard this day so by 9 they were ready for bed, all tucked in Taylor's room.  I read them "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and kissed them goodnight.  Santa visited our house early and I think he was in bed by 10:30 (lovely night).

At 4:00am Loren rolls over and says "I am sick" I say so sorry thinking that sucks to be sick on Christmas, then he says "I am sick of waiting."  He was excited for the kids.  They all woke at 6:30 to find that indeed their good deeds through the year had paid off.

Taylor and Kyley got new lap-tops, they need them to keep up their good grades.

Ty got an electric scooter - he had to wait until the next day to try it out- it needed to charge.

Wyatt with his "Skylanders" game and a new train.

The quote in the newspaper:  "One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day.  Don't clean it up too quickly."  Andy Rooney

Since Christmas was on Sunday we got to go to church, the kids all looked great and I got to spend an hour with my favorite people, listening to good music and feeling the spirit of this special day.

Home again home again to play with the toys and relax before heading out to my parents house for Christmas night dinner, pot-luck Mexican food, so good.  We gathered in the front room which has decreased in size over the years (or maybe it is just our family growing) and listened to my dad read the Christmas story from Luke and the boys sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" the cousins were just waiting so they could open their presents.  All the boys got "real" Marine dog tags with their name and religion engraved, so cool. Taylor and Kyley got movie tickets and money and Loren and I got a book called "One in a Billion" in which my mom wrote "I love you the most" - she wrote that in all the books but she really meant it in mine she said so on last page - jk-  I love my parents.

Goodman cousins -being silly of course

Will, Dane, Grandma, Ty and Wyatt

We had to skip out early and miss the white elephant because Loren's family moved their Christmas breakfast to night due to church schedules.  Grandma Chesley got all the girls a cute hat, all different but all reflecting their personality.  She got the boys a "music" shirt, drums, guitar or keyboard - they all made lots and lots of noise. It was good to see the Chesley's and visit.  We got home and I told the kids you can stay up as late as you want playing with toys but I am going to bed I was exhausted as I did not get my usual Christmas nap.

Aurelia, Taylor, Brianna (Noble foster child ), Kyley

Decorating our Tree

We finally decorated our tree - we were really late we didn't get to it until Thursday the 15th, we had to put our presents under a 3 foot wooden tree I decorated about 10 years ago. Wyatt was OK with just using this tree but Ty was set against it. I thought the presents wrapped with newspaper ( a tradition we started about 6 years ago) lends a home-grown or hilly-billy feel which ever.  Finally we just did it.  Loren stopped on his way home and grabbed one, totally wrapped still, we cut the wrapping away when we get home, its a gamble to see if we got a good tree or a bad one - we got a good one again, just a little hole, but if it didn't have a hole how would you know what side to put against the wall?  This year we had a deer head above where we put our tree so we did what any red-neck would do we decorated the antlers.  I think it looks smashing.  It didn't take long, which was good since Taylor and Kyley had end of the semester projects they were working on, but it was an hour of well spend family time.  I love this tradition, it is my favorite every year and as the tradition goes we have to pretend to sleep, those photos crack me up.  I love my little family.

Loren with the kids after he opened a gift from Ty - a new ornament so of course we couldn't wait until Christmas,we needed to open it now.

 

We cannot take the "sleeping picture" without laughing our heads off, as soon as the all the kids get the "perfect sleeping" picture I will be sad - I love Taylor & Ty laughing,  Wyatt with the eyes wide open, the Kyley with the cheesey sleep to me this is perfect.