Doldrums

I don't have much to report this week.  I feel like we are in the doldrums of winter.  We had snow almost everyday so we spent a lot of our time playing in it.  I watched Hudson pick up black slushy snow from the road and put it in his mouth so I made my best attempt at teaching him the essential color rules for eating snow.  We have watched a lot of movies and done some swimming at the Y, but for the most part I feel like we are all counting the days until summer. I even pulled our life jackets out to see if they would still fit for the up coming season.  The kids were so excited they wore them around for the afternoon.  It was probably a mistake since Hudson woke up everyday and told me, "now it's summer" and that I needed to take him to the beach. 

Even with cold snowy days, and a busy Daddy, we are all doing well; if you don't count the runny noses.  Every body is happy; and aside from Ellie's new found fascination with putting things in the toilet, our week has been incident free. Actually, today is our "Jelly Beans" 18 month birthday.  I can't help but think about how much she has already grown, and how thankful for everyday I have been able to have her in my life.  I had no idea how wonderful it would be to have a daughter.  She brings such a sweet spirit into our home....well, when she is sleeping she does.  She might be quite an energetic busy body these days, but she keeps things interesting.  She has learned to give really good hugs.  Sometimes she will snuggle into my chest and sing me a little song and I feel like my heart might just burst.  I don't know what I did to be blessed with so much to love in my life, but I'm sure thankful.

BRRRRR!!!

It is cold in Pennsylvania! I miss the park. I miss the sun. I miss riding bikes and just all around being outside. The kids do too. Everyday Hudson tells me he wants to go to the beach. Ohh, wouldn't that be something right about now. We are trying to keep busy though; with trips to the library, play dates, and classes at the YMCA, but its just not quite enough. One day we were lucky enough to have warm enough temperatures to get out and sled a little. Our apartment is right off of a big hill, so all we had to do was step outside to have some fun.



Ellie loves sledding as long as she is the one sitting on the sled!

 

This is what happened each and every time it was Hudson's turn.


Hudson got to go to a friends birthday party one night this week. He was so excited! When he got home we found out it had been another princess party and he was the only boy there again.  This time he even got to bring home his very own lip gloss party favor, a jeweled ring, and chocolates.  He told me we could share them.  I really need to find some boys for him to play with. 

Is this a look of shame?

Back in PA

Well with our return to State College life is back to normal.  The new semester has begun so Jake is once again busily learning and working at school.  He has an extra ten hour commitment with teaching this semester, so he should be even busier then last semester, but I think it will be good.  He has some good opportunities that come with the additional time commitment, so it should be time well spent.  Jake also received a new calling. He is now the assistant ward clerk. My calling changed a little as well. I am still in the primary, but they had a new family move into the ward that has twins with autism, so I have been moved to be the primary teacher of their class.  I'm actually excited to get to use some of my rusty special education skills.  The first Sunday was a little crazy and left me feeling like I had forgotten all my training;  but after some reflection and implementation of new strategies, this Sunday went so much better. It was actually a lot of fun.  Hudson is back playing with friends every chance he gets, and doing his gym and swim class at the YMCA. He also became a Sunbeam!  I kind of can't believe that he is not only that big, but also that he can finally sit still long enough to make it through primary. He is surprisingly reverent in fact; thanks largely to great primary teachers who came up with "the reverence train".  I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I do know he gets very excited when he tells me he earned to be the reverence train driver. 

The primary gave Hudson his first Book of Mormon for Christmas with the challenge of reading the entire book this year.  We have been modifying this a little by simply telling him a summarized and maybe slightly modified story of what happened in a chapter each night.  Its been a lot of fun.  He was pretty sad that Nephi had to leave his favorite toys at his old house and move.  Although, he thinks the wilderness is actually Pennsylvania.

Also, since we have been home, I have completed what I thought would be an impossible task of finally weaning Ellie.  It was accomplished with a lot fewer tantrums then I had expected.  This picture has nothing to do with weaning I just thought think its funny.  Our Ellie girl loves to be in the buff.  When we try to get her dressed after her bath she runs away from us laughing.  It brings her such joy that we sometimes indulge her a little and let her be.  On one such occasion this week Jake had the very unfortunate experience of getting peed on.  Hudson and I both thought it was hilarious, but Jake was not very pleased.

So all in all, everyone is doing great and things are going very well.  Except for one thing.....

While home for the holidays; everyone fed us so well, and we were given so many delicious tasty treats that we thoroughly enjoyed.  Now that we are home it seems we can't control ourselves, we are still devouring them with an endless passion.  No cookie has gone untouched, no candy has gone unchewed, and no ice cream has gone unsmothered with hot fudge, caramel, and whip cream. We are a family of sugar addicts! There, it feels so good to admit it.  We cant stop!  Its no secret that we have always liked our sweets, but now I feel it has reached epidemic levels.  I'm afraid that we have no choice but to implement a session of "sugar detox".  For the rest of January we are going treatless.  Which means it might be a very grumpy few weeks in this house.   Hopefully our marriage can make it through this challenge. We are going to need a lot of prayers!


Speaking of candy, we decided to see if the kids would like Pop Rocks.  It went just as anyone who knows our kids could guess.....

Christmas Break

After lots and lots of anticipation. Christmas break and our trip home finally arrived. Since we were flying out of Pittsburgh we wanted to head there a little early and check out city. We enjoyed seeing the cities man bridges, tunnels and historic old buildings. While there, we took some time to visit the Children's Museum.
                                                                         Pittsburgh

An interesting fact is that Mr. Rogers is actually from Pittsburgh. The museum had an exhibit in his honor
that included the set from his children's show.  The kids had no idea what it was, but Jake and I enjoyed visiting
 the land of make believe.

The museum was huge and had lots of really interesting exhibits designed to interest and educate children. Unfortunately they also had a train table, so Hudson probably wont remember any of them!  

We decided that since our flight was early the next morning it would be nice to spend the night in a hotel close to airport so that we could get a good nights sleep before a long day of travel.  We were so wrong.  Ellie did not enjoy her time in the hotels crib that night and decided to spend the night alternating between fits of screaming complaints and trying the scratch her way out.  By 5:00 AM we gave up on trying to sleep and got up and ready for the trip.  We were exhausted even before the plane left the ground.  Hudson was amazed by all that was going on at the airport.  He loved watching them de-ice the plane. We were so relieved when Ellie fell right to sleep during take off. However, her brother killed our brief period of peace when he woke her up not long after.  We were less then pleased.  We had planned on playing movies for the kids on our portable DVD player to pass the time, but it malfunctioned and wouldn't turn on. This did not help our mood. It was a LONG 5 hour flight to Las Vegas! I think Jake and I were even more excited then the kids to get off the plane.  We were all over joyed to see Poopah Gary waiting for us at the airport.

                                                                       St George
We were very excited to spend some time in the warmth of St George.  However, it rained enough to cause record flooding the entire time we were there. Despite the rain we still had a great time.  The kids loved playing with their Powell Grandparents.  Jake and I loved getting to watch someone else entertain our kids.  It was a lot of fun to catch up with the Powell's, and Sam, and meet our soon to be, new family member Erin.



Cute new Christmas Jamies.



We really did enjoy walking around the St George Temple looking at the lights.  The funniest part is that we warmed up afterward by taking our soaking wet bodies out for ice cream.

"Into Everything Ellie" had a great time doing her thing.  It didn't take us long to realize that we moved to Pennsylvania to an apartment with no stairs just as she should have been learning how maneuver them.  We all spent a lot of time sitting on the stairs trying to keep her from falling to her death.

Bountiful

After a few days we headed north to find the rain we were seeing in St George was lots and lots of snow in other areas of the state.  We stopped to see Gram Lundell in Payson while the boys cleared off some of her snow.  Then we headed up to Bountiful to see Gram Wendy, John, and Boston. Once again we had a great time catching up.  We were all excited to get some of Poopah John's famous buttermilk pancakes among other delicious foods he made for us. Grandma Wendy is really good at playing trains with Hudson and Jake and I were thrilled to have a break from the occupation.  We spent Christmas Eve at Great Grandma Clark's, and came home and watched the Polar Express for the first time.  Hudson was more mesmerised then I have ever seen him.  He liked it so much "Santa" decided he had to go out and get it for him.  Christmas morning was spent with Gram Wendy and Poopah John. It was fun to see  Hudson full of Christmas excitement.  He kept looking for Santa as if he were going to show up at any minute.  Both of the kids loved tearing open the overly taped packages gram Wendy is famous for.  Many of them contained trains so Hudson was more then thrilled.

 Highland

Later Christmas day we headed down to the Powell's in for more Christmas excitement.  We were thrilled to get to be with the entire family. 



Ellie might not have fully understood the proper Christmas present procedures, but she was a lot of fun to watch. 



Gram Andrea got this cute stroller for Ellie and I thought she was excited to push her baby doll around in it however, that was not the case; she was excited for us to push HER around in it.

The family just keeps getting bigger.  Morgan and Erin just make it that much better!

On the night of Christmas a bunch of us ventured out into the fog and cold to enjoy the beautiful lights and spirit at temple square.

 Ellie and Hudson both loved being pushed around the Powell's house in laundry baskets.  While there we also enjoyed race cars, trains, swimming in the hot tub, reading books, and of coarse kitties.  We couldn't keep Ellie away from either of the cats.  She was obsessed with them. 

Blanding

We headed down to Blanding for a few days of fun with the Palmer family.  I felt very fortunate that my parents took time off work so that we could all spend time together. They treated us to lots of good food and fun, and even took care of me when I got sick. Kate and Hudson got to be good buddies while we were there.  He tells everyone here in Pennsylvania about how much fun his Kate is. I got to celebrate my birthday while we were there and Jake surprised me by taking me to breakfast at my favorite place in town, Grandma and Grandpa Palmer's. Poopah Wayne and Gram Renee took us out on a fun double date for dinner as well. It was so was wonderful to get to see everyone including my favorite furry friends the goats at Poopah Wayne's field.  We had such a great time.                   



Poopah Wayne got out some sparklers he had saved specially for Hudson.  Hudson was thrilled! We all enjoyed the fireworks.



   It wouldn't be a trip to Blanding without a fire and a visit to a nearby ruin.                           

 



Ellie was overjoyed to get to play with the new puppy, and since the Ruger was sick the whole time we were there it couldn't run away from her "loves".

Hudson got his first lesson about guns.  I think he might have even scared the pop can he was shooting at.

The snow found it way to Blanding as well, and we had fun taking advantage of it.

Hudson was so impressed with being pulled behind Poopah Wayne's big red truck on the snow packed roads.  Even Ellie and I got a turn on the sled.

We were happy to get to see Grandma and Grandpa Cook while we were in Blanding.  Its always great to hear Grandpas stories. Grandma is always eager to give us nutritional advice and share her testimony with us. They had this little tricycle as a decoration.  Ellie earned a lot of laughs while she tried to figure out why she couldn't ride it. 

Back up North

Not only do Sam and I share a love for restoration of classic boats, but we also share the same birthday!
The Powell's made us a special birthday fried food fiesta that we all enjoyed!

Jake and I both celebrated our 29th birthdays while in Utah.  I'm sure that the last year in my twenties will be the best one yet.  Ever since I met Jake each year is better then the last. Every birthday means we have been able to spend another wonderful year together.  Having him in my life is the greatest birthday gift I could ever get.

Heber City
We had a few things to take care of with our house in Heber City so me made the trip up the canyon for a few hours.  I have to admit it made me sad to see our neighborhood and some of our good friends.  While there, we spent a little time sledding in the park behind our house.  The kids loved it.  I was amazed at how fearless Ellie was.  She would climb on the sled and slide down all by herself grinning all the way. Hudson loved riding over the big jumps some other kids had made.  They both ate a lot of snow.  Afterward Hudson was thrilled to get to go to Dairy Keen and watch the trains to warm up and have some lunch.



Hudson loves Dinosaurs almost as much as he loves trains.  Gram Wendy and Poopah John took him to visit the Dinosaur museum and he got to see a 3D Dinosaur movie that did a good job of scaring him.  He is a lucky little boy!

Las Vegas

Our flight home had a 4 hour lay over in Las Vegas.  We entertained ourselves by playing on moving sidewalks, walking to all the different terminals, and sampling the a variates of fine airport cuisine.  Luckely Hudson can entertain himself anywhere if he has a train to push around.  The flight was pretty uneventful; well for everyone except the lady sitting in front of Ellie. Whenever Ellie got upset or bored she would kick the seat in front of her.  When it was leaned back it was just within reach of her little legs.  The lady in front of us would snort her disapproval and squirm in frustration that her beauty sleep was interuppted but refused to lean forward or move to the empty seat just to her left and get out of the reach of Ellie's busy legs. I did feel bad for her, but I couldn't make Ellie stop.  I was happy we didn't see the lady again after the flight.  We didn't arrive home to State College until 4 A.M. I have to admit I was less tired from this long day of travel then I was from the long night in the Hotel with Ellie is Pittsburgh.

It was a very Merry Christmas indeed.  Like all good things it was over too soon.  I want to thank all of our family for going out of their way to make it so special for all of us.  I was blown away and brought to tears more then a few times by all of the generosity we received from all of our parents.  I'm sure I didn't do justice in giving my thanks, but I hope they know how appreciated each of them are.  We were so blessed with the gift of time with our parents, grandparents, and siblings. The thing that truly struck me the most this trip was not how much we love these people but how much we truly like them.  I would love to spend time with all of them even if we weren't related! It is such a blessing to have so many good people in our lives.  I truly hope that as we continue on through this life that these relationships can be made even stronger.  I hope that everyone knows that they have for people in Pennsylvania who love them. We look forward to seeing everyone again soon!



Christmas Joy

      As I was driving along today with the sounds of Christmas ballads pouring out the speakers, I caught a glimpse of two very happy little ones swaying to the music in back seat and I felt surprised. I wasn’t surprised to see them enjoying the music; they are always back there dancing to the tunes on the radio when I drive. I get a lot of requests from Hudson to turn up the volume of the music so he can dance. What surprised me was the fact that I realized I was enjoying the Christmas music just as much as they were.
      I would not call myself a fan of Christmas. It could easily be my least favorite Holiday. We barely get done with Halloween before the Holiday is forced down your throat in every store, on the TV, and the radio.   
      Don’t get me wrong, I love Jesus and all. I’m more then happy to sing praises to him. I love having opportunities to think of his love and celebrate his birth. So what is my problem? Thinking back on Christmas’s as a kid I was always left with feelings of sadness. My parents always did their best to make the holiday everything it is supposed to be with lights, treats, and more presents then I’m sure I deserved. But Christmas is a day to be with the people you love and when your parents are divorced this just isn’t possible. No matter who I was with, I missed the other parent. If I was having fun and feeling happy I seemed to end up feeling guilty, as if it wasn’t fair to the other parent that I could be enjoying my Christmas with out them. However, I have realized that this year I am excited for Christmas, very excited in fact. Childhood scars that I should have let go of a long time ago have been healed by a silly little three year old boy.
      Every Christmas light, fake Santa, and Christmas song sends Hudson into a fit of excitement and anticipation that radiates pure joy in my heart. The part that warms my heart the most is that his excitement if not for the presents he will be opening but of the fact that he knows this Christmas he gets to go see so many people he loves back in Utah. So in primary this week as we sang of the precious gift of a baby; I couldn’t help but think of how grateful I am for the gift of my own babies. I know my Heavenly Father loves me because he not only sent his son here to save us, but he also gave me mine.



This is our countdown until Utah chain.  Hudson loves to take a ring off everyday.  Its getting really short!



Just when I think Ellie can't get any sillier she seems to learn something new that makes me laugh even harder. She is coming up with new ways of communicating with us everyday.  My favorite one today is that barns are called "Yie Yoes" as in "Old MacDonald had a farm  E I E Yie Yoe" 



The end of the semester is upon on us and Jake is really busy.  He tries to make the most of his time though. I cant believe that we are almost 1/4th of the way done.  I really cant believe Jake has learned to multitask!