O Christmas Tree!

Living in the Evergreen State has serious perks. In addition to the BEAUTIFUL surroundings, we can get super cheap Christmas trees since the trees many of you get in the mall parking lot in your state come from around here. We went to Olmstead's Tree Farm where we cut down our 8-9 foot spruce and paid just $27 (we had a $5 coupon). I am such a fan of cutting down our own tree anyway and the fact that it's cheaper to do so is a bonus. It turned into a sunny, warm-ish day and so the experience was perfect for everyone involved.

It was hard to catch Max for a picture...he was being a sneaky ninja/secret agent

Favorite picture of the day

Two extremely handsome men

I love this little woman

Pinned the ninja/secret agent down long enough for a picture...no small feat!

There she is!

What a manly man

You're coming home with us, ol' girl (to die...but let's not discuss that just yet)

Hunting for the perfect Christmas tree is EXHAUSTING...

...but totally worth it.

(It looks much better in person, by the way, and would probably look better if I had a camera besides my phone)

Merry, Merry Christmas!

We are here! We are here!

That scene in Horton Hears A Who when they are all chanting, "We are here!" totally made me cry. In case you were wondering. It still stirs up emotion when I think about it.

I know that your life has felt a little less full this past month without a post from me and since this is the season of giving I thought that I should finally give you a new post to balance out your life and fill that tiny void in your heart. :) Just kidding. I know that I miss blogging and documenting my thoughts and funny things my kids say way more than anyone who reads this little blog o' mine misses when I don't post. Thanks for reading all the same!

***Our camera is on the fritz, so our fancy-pants iphones did the trick...though they don't have a flash. Just thought you'd want to know.***

We went to Colorado! We were going to make the trek by car, but the week we were leaving my generous father-in-law called and offered a ton of frequent flyer miles so that my little fam could fly for a few hours instead of drive for a few days. So nice! I have to note that we took almost every mode of transportation to get there - we drove (car) to the ferry, took the ferry(boat) to Seattle, walked (foot) with three kids - a stroller - 4 pieces of luggage - two carry-on bags to the light rail, got on the light rail (train) and rode it to the airport, rode the tram to our gate, boarded the plane, and finished off with another car ride to my in-laws. It was pretty darn smooth. But don't ask about the trip back which took the same path. Not so smooth. I still have bitter feelings in my heart, I think. It's too early to talk about it. :) I've been contemplating writing a letter to Frontier Airlines and I'm not a "write the company" kind of girl. And then the leg of the trip where we walked from the light rail station to the ferry turned into RUNNING through the wet streets of Seattle with all of the aforementioned luggage and children so that we could make the stinkin' ferry. But make it we did! Hot, sweaty, and exhausted, but we made it. I knew those races would come in handy sometime. I was training for that moment.

Okay, on to the trip. It was fabulous. I really, really love my in-laws...all of them. I love Colorado too. Except running in Colorado, not sure I love that - something about making the transition from sea level. I felt like I hardly saw my two older kids all week because they were playing hard with cousins. I love not breaking up fights because they get along perfectly and watching them use their imaginations together and build friendships. It's a beautiful thing. Max and Kelly LOVE their cousins. It was a sad, sad scene when Max had to say goodbye to his amazing cousin, Joy. Oh, that tender-hearted little boy. Here are some snippets...

Max to the Max and his awesome cousin, Callahan, on a walk at dusk

Walking with Grandma Maggie

Fussy girl on a walk leads to a sleeping girl in Daddy's arms

Max, Cal, Monica, Kelly, Grant, Everett and Joy in the front watching cartoons

On Monday we found ourselves with some time and Everett was down for a nap, so braved the cold and headed to Red Rocks Amphitheater and spent some time in the visitor's center. Pretty amazing place!

My children are NOT into normal poses these days

No flash on the iphone 3 camera...maybe it's not so fancy-pants :)

It looks like Kelly was smiling cute, but my arms just don't reach long enough

This elk was just meandering down the road

We celebrated my handsome husby's 33rd birthday while we were there! Started off the day with decorations and german pancakes, then Tyler and I headed out to do a session at the Denver Temple, got some lunch, headed home for presents, Max and Kelly took their Dad on a date to Fun City for a few hours, left the kids with Megan while we went with Mickey and Margaret (mother & father-in-law) to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, came back home for cake and ice cream with the whole Foster Fam! Such a wonderful day! I love that man of mine. I am so blessed to be his wife.

....aaaand this is all we have to show for the day in pictures. Pretty sad.

We also went swimming for a few hours one afternoon. That was super fun. Ev was in splashing heaven.

Isn't my mother-in-law beautiful? And she is the NICEST woman ever. I love her.

The rest of the week was a whole lot of hanging out and spending time with each family. We did family pictures on Friday and then did our Thanksgiving Dinner later that afternoon. Delish! The following pictures are hanging out before the family photo session.

Joy (a.k.a. BEST oldest cousin ever) walking with Kelly

Gorgeous!

I look kind of like a giraffe with sleepy eyes

And, folks, this is what happens when you stick a camera in my face. Even if I have gum in my mouth. You've been warned.

What a great trip. I am so thankful for family and for holidays that bring us together. Thanks to Jeff and Angie for coming back early so that we could spend time with you as well! Looking forward to running the Wasatch Back Ragnar with the fam in June...

Streeeetch!

Just after we decided that Tyler would do three classes this semester, we had a talk about "circling the wagons" and keeping our little bit of family time sacred. We've never been busier and, while it's mostly gone smoothly, sometimes it is really draining. Ty gets pretty down when he doesn't see the kids for three days straight. I can get overwhelmed when I am the sole question-answerer, food-provider, put-to-bedder, entertainer for three days straight.

Tyler was saying the other day that we're lucky we had such a huge emotional bank account to start off with since we've only been able to make withdrawals for the past few months. But the account is depleting and we both feel it. And there just isn't time to make the kind of deposits we're used to. Thank goodness for his 9/80 schedule...those three day weekends are lifesavers...or emotional bank account savers.

*Side story: I love Tyler's analogies. I remember the first time I heard him teach. We met online, remember, and he came to Vegas to meet me on a (very magical) Wednesday. That Friday I drove to Provo to see him again and to meet his parents, brother, and sister. I went to Church with him and he was a Sunday School teacher. I LOVED his lesson. I loved how he taught things in a way that was easy to understand. He is a big user of parables and analogies. I was already smitten, but that Sunday School lesson took it to another level.*

Well, I think that the Lord takes opportunities like this to stretch and teach us. In many ways. One was in the form of a new calling for Ty this weekend. He's been called to be the Young Men's President. The Bishop was aware of our situation, so before he 'officially' extended the call, he came and talked to us about it. While it is going to be a stretch (he can't even attend the weekly activities until January because of classes and then a trip to Vegas we have planned) with good men serving with him, I know that he is going to be able to pull it off and do very well. In Tyler's setting apart he was told that he likely was given this calling at this particular time so that he would learn to delegate, as that will be important in future callings he will have. He was given some other wonderful promises as well.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) I have seen that in my life over and over again; God takes care of us and makes our load lighter when we put Him first. I think that we are going to be surprised at how well things fall into place and the time that we have together will not seem so depleted. I am so thankful for opportunities to grow and to serve - because we all know this isn't a calling just for my sweet husby; for him to serve well I've got to serve well here at home. I'm getting pretty good at it. :)

Baby Steps...

Everett D was a little early to the crawling game compared to my other kids; he was a full-fledged crawler just shy of 7 months. So it shouldn't have surprised me that he took some steps today...but it did! Ty steadied him a few feet away from me and he took 3 somewhat clumsy steps into my arms. I absolutely love those parenting moments!
Lately when we try to sit Everett on his bottom, he'll stiffen his legs because the boy wants to either stand or walk while holding our fingers. A few weeks ago I was reading stories before bed to the kids and Ev was playing by my legs. At one point I glanced over and he was standing there, unassisted. It was one of those double-take moments where it seemed normal at first until I realized that he'd never done that before and by the time I got excited about it and wanted to celebrate with him, he'd fallen down and was moving on to another equally important activity (i.e. shoving a toy into his mouth.)

I don't think this means that full-fledged walking is right around the corner - he's still pretty unstable - but what do I know?! I also didn't think when I woke up this morning that my boy would WALK into my arms. I just take things as they come around here. I'm totally smitten with this little man.

Oh! And he also successfully took his first bottle tonight! From ME, no less. Hooray for that. I might be able to go to the temple before long. (It's a 6-hour gig from where we live...not just the drive, but the whole sha-bang)

Bizzaro

So yesterday we went grocery shopping. Ty and I split up to get it done quicker - he had Max and Kelly and I had Everett. I was filling up our cart with yogurt (Tillamook yogurt to be precise because I'm a big Tillamook fan.) I had just grabbed a few and turned to put them in my cart when a young couple walks past. Both of them are looking at me funny and the girl is kind of snickering. I got a few more yogurts, glanced up and saw her snickering at me again. Ummm...do I have something on my booty? Chances of sitting in something the kids left on the seat of the car are pretty good, so maybe. (Please note that I didn't care enough about that thought to actually check, just had the thought and went about my business.)

I saw them a few more times in the store and got the same looks and snickers from the girl. Weird. Tyler and I ended up switching carts at one point and checking out separately...it was all about the speed.

Well, we got home, did Family Home Evening and put the kids to bed. We came down and started putting groceries away. Amongst the groceries was a lone Yoplait yogurt. I asked Ty if he'd picked it up and he said, "No. I was wondering about that when I was checking out." So odd. Everett was with me getting the yogurt, so I knew it wasn't the "help" of little hands. I stood there for a second, wondering how it had landed in my cart.

Suddenly it came together...the young couple snickering at me while I was getting yogurt...a single yogurt I hadn't even touched in the store making its way into my cart and home...they put a yogurt in my cart! I don't have any proof, but I'm totally convinced that's what happened. Bizzaro, right?! Who does that? Good thing it only put me back 59 cents. Bizzare. And kind of funny.

A blast I tell ya...

Halloween was a blast.

Before the big day, we decided to do something different with our pumpkins (got the idea from Adri). We let the kids paint them since carving is a little above their ability right now. And paint they did! These pictures don't show how MUCH paint is on these babies. It took a few days to dry. We did carve the Mom and Dad pumpkins with the kids on Saturday - Kelly wanted ours to be silly and Max wanted Ty to do a wolverine jack-o-lantern.

This picture doesn't do Ty's Wolverine justice...it was awesome

I don't really know why I think I can do these things that I've never attempted before, but I decided to make the kid's costumes this year. Well, I made them last year, but those didn't take a whole lot of skill or time to make. This year's costumes brought on a whole new world of sewing for me. (I called my mom on the video phone several times and she cut out pieces of paper to show me how the fabric should look when I cut out the sleeves and each leg of the pants, plus other helpful tips. Thanks, Momma!)

I love this picture - pure happiness on those little faces

Max to the Max decided (after MUCH deliberation for SEVERAL months) that he was going to be a soldier. *Oh, and I just have to add that when he put his costume on for the first time, he kept walking slowly past me all over the house and then would ask, "Did you just see me?" Get it? 'Cause he's camouflaged. :) I told him he'd have to get where he could blend in for that to happen...so there was a lot of laying close to the green couch and green bean bag with shouts of "Can you even see me?!" this weekend.*

I wish you could see the U.S. ARMY letters I painstakingly cut out and sewed onto the pockets on his chest. But do note the knife pocket by his ankle, and there is a pocket on his other leg, about halfway down, for a pistol - those were the two things Max insisted (after examining several of his little army men) that he have on his costume.

This boy means business. And, oh my gosh, I wish you could have seen his excitement when I did his face paint. The boy was OVERjoyed.

You definitely should not smile when you're giving your best army man pose

Kell Bo Bell had a hard time deciding between Jesse from Toy Story and Tinkerbell, but we watched a Tinkerbell movie just as it was decision time, so Tink won out.

A WINK from TINK...she busted her best wink out without being asked. Girl's got some personality.

I took the material off of some pink wings we'd had forever from the dollar store, bent the wire how I wanted it, put some white knee-highs I'd never worn over the wings, and added some glitter glue.

I could never get the perfect picture of her lashes; I put mascara on them for the first time...I'd been wanting to do that since she was 6 months old. Totally worth the wait :) they are amazing lashes.

I know, another one of Kelly. I like all of these pictures of her. It's a mom/daughter thing.

Everett D got to wear the lion costume Max wore when he was a babe (didn't make this one).

Oh my goodness, he's delicious. Putting make-up on a 9-month-old is a bit of a (smeared) trick.

All of those hours of sewing and they only got to wear the costumes for a little while. :) Actually, my kids are dress-up fanatics, so these will go in the dress-up box and will be loved and worn for a long time to come.

We went to the Trunk or Treat at Church last night and weren't going to go out tonight (partly because it's Sunday, partly because I was feeling lazy, partly because they didn't even go to all of the cars last night before they were done getting candy and just wanted to pass it out). But at 7:50, Max turns to me with a sad/panicked look after we answered the door for more trick-or-treaters and said, "When are WE going to go trick-or-treating?" So we threw on costumes and went to a few houses in the neighborhood. A few of our sweet neighbors said, "We've been waiting for you to come!" Max and Kelly are very friendly with the neighbors, so I was glad that we went.

Hanging in the car while Dad passed out the rest of the candy...

I am so not scared of you, little lion...but I DO want to kiss your face lots

Ty's super sweet stand-by "costume" for the past 8 years or so - a weird hat with weird red hair

After Trunk or Treat, we came home to have the traditional hot chocolate and donuts (we added sitting by the fire this year) and talk about how much fun we had.
I love Halloween with my kids! I just might sew costumes again next year? It's kind of like childbirth, the memory of the pain fades when you have the happy end result and times passes.