A Big, Icy Mess

So, for our friends and family outside of Arkansas, we had a big ice storm here on Monday night and Tuesday.  It left things an icy mess, so we have been hermits in our house for 4 days now. We got out and drove around a bit yesterday, and the roads were terrible.  They just can't seem to clear them the way they do in Utah.  And the drivers here are crazy! School had now been cancelled for 4 days, which will have to be made up at the end of the school year.  We are all getting a little stir crazy.  Mike got to stay home from work for 2 days, which was nice since we haven't hardly had him around for the past 3 months.  We lost power for about 5 hours on Tuesday night, and were grateful it didn't last longer.  To stay busy we have been watching T.V. and movies, playing the Wii, playing outside in the snow, playing with friends, playing games, and doing a puzzle.  We are hoping it melts over the weekend so that the kids will be back to school on Monday. I need a break!

Keep in mind as you look at our pictures that it looks like snow, but is actually ice.

Our Christmas

I guess I better post about our Christmas before next Christmas rolls around. We had a great Christmas this year.  We stayed home, and didn't have any family come to visit, so we just enjoyed the holiday by ourselves.  Mike has been in the midst of his busy time at work, but was able to get a couple of days off, which was so nice.  Christmas eve was quiet - we had a nice ham dinner that we ate on our china.  We read some stories, the kids opened their new jammies, and we tried to send them off to bed. But because Noah took pre-dinner nap, it was midnight before all were asleep. I think he had just barely fallen asleep in time for Santa to make his visit (we were afraid he would have to skip us because he was still awake).  Samantha was awake by 7:00, but we kept sending her back to bed until 8:00.  The kids were all so excited about the gifts Santa left them. Megan got the purple Ipod she has been wanting so badly.  Sammy got a new American Girl doll - Julie Albright.  Noah got a slot car set that he can do with his dad.  We then started opening the presents under the tree.  We were actually able to stretch that out so that we didn't finish opening presents until around 3:00.  The kids would open a few presents, then we would stop for awhile so that they could play.  Then we would would start again after a little while.  It was fun to make it last all day.  Later in the afternoon we went over to some friend's house for dinner.  They just moved into our neighborhood from Boise, and we are so excited to have them here.  We had a fun night eating and playing games.  It was such a nice day, and we were so sad when it was all over. 

I'm not sure what happened, but our attempt at photographing the events of this Christmas was PITIFUL!  It seemed like we were taking lots of pictures, but somehow only managed to get 10. Of course I'm kicking myself now. Maybe I'll hire a photographer next year.

Parties, Piano recitals & Choir concerts

My title pretty much sums up the month of December.  It seems like there were 3-4 events and activities every week.  Each one of them are what makes the holidays so fun, but also so hectic and stressful.  

Sammy was able to perform in her first piano recital.  She has been taking piano since September, and is making so much progress.  She has started to memorize her songs so that she doesn't have to look at her music.  Over the Christmas break she started to sit down at the piano and plink out notes without using sheet music until she figured out a couple of Christmas songs.  I think she has real talent (of course I am biased).  Here is a video of her piano recital performance.

I should probably mention that Megan was supposed to play in the recital as well, but got the stomach flu and wasn't able to be there. Too bad because her songs really sounded great, and she was excited to play them.

We also had the opportunity to go to Megan's winter choir concert at school.  She is in the Women's choir this year.  We weren't sure what to expect other than what we saw in her choir concerts when she was in middle school.  This concert totally blew us away.  I couldn't believe how good each choir was.  The music was really beautiful, and it was so neat to see Megan performing in such a great program. I hope she continues her interest in singing.

We went to so many fun parties.  I think I counted 2 school, 3 church, and 4 friend parties all within the month of December. Unfortunately, I only have pictures from Noah's school party. We even squeezed in a Saturday family trip to Branson (no pictures of that either).  It was a very busy, but fun month.

Sammy's Birthday

I am finally back from my blogging vacation!  Things were so busy from mid November on that I had to put blogging on the back burner. Now that I am back, I have some catching up to do!  

At the end of November, Samantha turned 7 years old.  For some reason, her going from 6 to 7 was a big deal to me - it seemed so old!  I remember her birth very clearly.  The night she was born we had a big snow storm in Salt Lake.  Fortunately, we were already at the hospital when it started.  Sadly, it made visitors quite scarce, so we got lots of time alone with her.  We had a hard time choosing a name for her.  We had 2 names we really liked, but when I called her those names, it didn't feel right.  Finally, as I was getting ready to check out, a lady for the birth certificate office told me I need to fill out the certificate before I could leave.  Mike wasn't there at the time, so I called him and asked him how he liked Samantha.  It was a name we had thrown out earlier on, but never really made the list.  I thought it felt right when I called her it, and Mike gave his okay.  

Sammy was such a happy and funny baby.  She always had a mischievous look to her, like she was up to no good.  We loved how different she looked from the rest of us - her hair was quite blondish-red, and her eyes were very blue.  Mike likes to call her the mailman's daughter.  It was fun for me because when I had her, Megan was in kindergarten, so I got lots of time to myself with Sammy.  It was like having my first child again, but with the experience of already having one. Megan was thrilled to finally have a younger sibling, and quickly took the role of the second mother (she hasn't given that role up yet).  Sammy has gotten a little shy as she has gotten older, but has such a great sense of humor, and is a really great teaser - especially with Megan.  She is also a quick learner, and very smart.  She is quite sensitive and tender hearted - the tears turn on easily. 

For her birthday this year she got the added treat of having Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Michael here visiting from California.  We had a lot of fun on her birthday.  She went on a shopping spree at Justice, played at Chuck E Cheese, had dinner at Pizza Hut, and came home to open presents and have cake and ice cream.  For her birthday she got an Ipod Shuffle, an 

Itunes gift card, Justice gift card (for the shopping spree), American Girl doll clothes, and a Webkin.  It was a great day.  She can hardly wait until her next birthday when she can get her ears pierced and be baptized!