Christmas 2008

AJ and Natalie’s letters to Santa were pretty darn cute. All Natalie asked for was cupcakes, which we had Christmas Eve for Zachary’s birthday. AJ apologized for getting on the naughty list (he got sent to the principal’s office 3 times this semester!!!) and promised to be good as long as he didn’t get “black rocks” for Christmas.

That night we read the kids our three traditional Christmas stories (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the real Bible story of Jesus’ birth) and put them to bed. Joe, who’d worked all day prior to our party, quickly fell asleep on the couch as soon as the kids were settled. I woke him up around 10, and we wrapped a few remaining gifts until 1 o’clock. Santa had to stay up late to get to our house after we went to bed, but we heard there were others in the area up way later than us.

Joe and I generally don’t buy ourselves big items except as gifts, so Santa was able to be pretty generous with us. Joe got a new LCD flat screen, and I got a piano. AJ was most excited about new Star Wars games for the Wii. Natalie got a whole bunch of nail polishes and chapsticks and purses and a motorized puppy she’s been asking for forever and clothes, among other things. But the only thing she cared about was that Santa didn’t bring her cupcakes for Christmas. Santa was confused. Unbeknownst to the big guy, what she wanted was similar to an EasyBake oven specifically for cupcakes. You can’t win them all, I guess.

After a greatly needed nap for me, we headed over to Grandma Johnson’s house for a fantastic steak dinner with the family. I had to leave early to go to work of all the awful things. We were really busy that night too. I was grateful that I didn’t get scheduled for Christmas Eve though. That would have been much worse.

Natalie's Ballet Recital

Natalie participated in her first ballet recital on the 13th. They were so adorable! She really enjoyed seeing the older girls dance as well. We have lots to look forward to. You can't make out faces very well on the video because of the lighting, but I'll post it anyway if my computer will let me.

AJ's winter...ish concert

AJ’s kindergarten winter concert was the 9th of this month. Joe and I were somewhat disappointed. We crowded ourselves into a tiny gym along with what felt like thousands of other parents only to hear AJ sing two songs that were neither festive nor Christmasy. One of the songs (although I use that word loosely) had to do with a snowflake, but that was as close as we came. I realize that schools have to be religiously neutral, but what’s wrong with a little “Sleighride” or “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”? Frankly, I would have been overjoyed to hear a Hanukkah or Kwanzaa song from my son. I don’t think avoidance entirely promotes tolerance any more than focusing on the majority’s beliefs. Jumping off the soap box…

I have a video of his concert that I'm going to try to upload, but I don't know if it will work or not. My computer is being dumb.

More knots

Natalie's knots

Natalie has recently figured out how to tie knots...so she ties up anything and everything. I've decided to catalogue some of the things she ties up.

This week's news

We’ve pretty much spent the last week trying to recover from our journey. Natalie has pinkeye (and maybe an ear infection that we’re gonna get checked out tomorrow). AJ is over his cold and bit of a stomach bug. Joe is over his bout with a nasty stomach bug. And I’m still trying to get over a cold as well.

However, we did manage to get our Christmas decorations put up. I had an ultrasound to make sure the baby is okay. My doctor wasn’t terribly pleased when I lost weight over Thanksgiving and am measuring smaller than I should be. Everything looks just fine for now though. The little one is sure an active child. She rarely sleeps. Or maybe she just sleeps when I do. That might be a really good thing!

We went to the Primary Christmas party on Friday night and listened to a few really talented musicians and a few not-so-talented ones. They're just kids; plenty of time to improve. There was plenty of pizza and desserts afterwards. We told the kids that Santa might be able to come, but we weren't sure. When Santa walked in the room, Natalie's face absolutely lit up. She exclaimed, "I knew he would come! I just knew it!" I didn't have my camera, so one of our friends in the ward took pictures of our kids on Santa's lap and is supposed to email me with them. Joe and I are loving being in the golden age of Christmas with our kids. It really is magical for them, and it's so fun to watch!

Scott and Andrea came down yesterday to pick up a bed frame we brought home for them from Monticello. We were pretty boring and mostly sat around all day while Scott and AJ played pretend Star Wars battle. AJ went to a birthday party for one of his classmates that afternoon. He was such a sweetheart. He’s been talking to McKenzie all week long about what she wanted for her birthday, and she said she wanted a dolphin. So we got her a toy dolphin as well as a My Little Pony. When she opened it, he said she was really happy about getting the dolphin, and he was very proud of himself!

A Monticello Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty eventful for us this year. We left Monday evening when Joe got home from work for Monticello. We didn't get on the road until after 5 pm because we had to finish running errands here in town before we could go. And then, we made it as far as Tri-Cities before the check engine light came on in the van. Joe's iPhone proved its worth for the first time on the trip as it allowed us to quickly locate a Schuck's where they diagnosed the problem as something minor and turned the light off.

With all the delays, we only made it to Baker City, Oregon before we decided to rest for the night. The hotel was the cheapest we could find, and we definitely got what we paid for, from the non-pre-heated room to the chintzy continental breakfast. Oh, well. It could have been worse.

Tuesday, we pretty much drove all day long. Our kids enjoyed a few movies courtesy of Joe’s work laptop along the way and read books or slept the rest of the way. We’re really grateful for seasoned travelers! We planned our stops to include Apollo Burger and Gandolfo’s, two of our favorite restaurants not found in Kansas or Washington. We made it to Monticello around 9 pm that night.

Joe got to go on a motorcycle ride with my brothers and dad on Wednesday. He only crashed pretty hard a couple of times! Thankfully, no major injuries were incurred. And Ben’s bike only received mild damage as well. Maybe Jed will send us the video of one of the wrecks. It was pretty funny.

The kids spent the day playing with the cousins and Uncle Scott, who has firmly solidified his status as favorite uncle. It’s like he just can’t help playing with the kids. I helped my mom bake pies and troubleshoot her oven, which was on the fritz.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, of course. We were saved by Grandma Harvey’s turkey, since the oven wasn’t working. My mom baked another turkey for leftovers in her big crock, but it took all day long to cook. Joe represented our family at the church for basketball and such.

Friday, my dad took my kids on a hike to see some ancient Indian ruins while Joe and I stayed home and rested. My dad’s hikes are notoriously farther and longer than he thinks they are. I decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to go since I get winded going up the stairs these days. And Joe was coming down with one of the various illnesses going around the house, so he stayed home too. We’re told our kids were troopers and didn’t have to be carried at all!

What a fun thing to be able to have everyone (except Ben, of course) come down for the holiday! I know it’s really hard for us all to plan something like that, but it’s always worth it to be together at the same time.

Joe and I left for home Saturday morning. We had to stop every two hours all the way home for my poor pregnant body and its various ailments, so we took our time. We stayed the night in Boise and drove the rest of the way Sunday.

Twilight!

After obsessing over Stephenie Meyer's books for the last year, my sisters-in-law and I were anxiously awaiting the premier of the movie based on the first book, Twilight. We decided to go all out and have a slumber party to celebrate. Jeremy's wife, Dyana, graciously hosted our party, consisting of me, Liz, LaVern (my mother-in-law), and a friend, April. We drove down to Tri-Cities for the show and ate yummy Olive Garden while we waited in line to get into the theater.

I don't think the show was exactly what any of us were expecting, but we all really enjoyed it. We swooned just like the little girls every time they said a line directly from the books. We decided afterwards that we must all be corrupted because our biggest complaints were not enough kissing and violence!! We should have known it would be that way though because the books are ultratame too. Joe's mom made a good observation that we should think about what we'd want our teenage daughters to be watching. It is refreshing to see a teenage couple just spend time together and actually get to know one another. And of course, we had to stay up half the night talking about the show and the books!

The other reason for the slumber party was that we had a birthday party the next day for Jeremy and my niece, Paige. Dyana did an awesome job of planning for food, etc. So everyone was well fed and happy. Paige was so adorable eating her own large cupcake! (She just turned 1) It's always great to spend time with family. Joe and I even managed to squeeze a temple session in while we had ample babysitters.

Not much to report this week. I went to a breastfeeding conference in Spokane on Monday for work. It was really interesting. I learned quite a bit. The hospital I work for doesn’t have a lactation program yet. I’m really thinking about becoming a lactation consultant and starting a program, so that I can work during the day. Besides, it’s REALLY needed where I work. I had lunch with Andrea while I was at it (and my work was paying for it). Andrea says Joe and I should just move to Spokane since we’re there all the time. I’m not sure I disagree!

We made our spicy orange chicken wings at Liz and Nathan’s house last night. They were really good. Later, we realized that we accidently used the extra spicy bottle of hot sauce in them instead of the regular. It took me a whole bunch of Tums to get the heartburn under control when we got home. I wonder if anyone else had that problem.

Primary Program

The only other news I can think of this week is that the kids participated in the annual Primary program today. AJ's part was, "My name is AJ. I am a child of God, and I am thankful for the scriptures. I love to hear the stories of Jesus." He did really good. He needed some help to remember it, but he was very clearly understandable.

Natalie practiced her part as well. It was, "My name is Natalie, and I too am a child of God. I am grateful for parents and teachers who lead and guide me." This morning when we practiced, she told me, "No, I want to be Natalie Elizabeth, and THAT'S IT!" She wouldn't say the rest of it, so I was kind of worried. And that's pretty much what she told her teacher on the pulpit when she tried to prompt her.

I was really proud of my kids. They gave us invitations to give to people we knew in the community. Our kids wanted to invite our neighbors, who are good friends. They're not members of our church. The kids were really brave little missionaries and invited them to come anyway. They weren't able to come, but that's okay. It was a good experience.

Seattle Auto Show

Joe took his nephews, Zach and Ben, to Seattle yesterday for the annual auto show, which means they pretty much they drooled all day. Joe took a whole bunch of pictures, and I think he'd like me to post them all. However, I'm going to limit it to the ones that I think are cool as they might appeal to the general demographic of my blog readers.

Halloween 2008

We had quite the eventful Halloween this year. Joe and I really like Halloween, so we were okay with that. The first activity on our list was a Harvest dinner last week with the ward. Lots of yummy food, and I didn't have to cook...or clean up! The Elders' quorum sponsored costume party was last Saturday at the home of Travis and Sara Palmer, from our ward. I didn't get a good picture with my camera for some reason, but the Palmers sent us one of everyone together. Joe and I went as a white trash bride and groom. We even introduced ourselves as "JoeBob, Destinie, and Chastity" (the baby in my belly). We won best overall costumes! Some details you can't see in the picture include Joe's nasty fake snaggle teeth and his "Official Hooters Girl Watching T-Shirt" under the ripped suit coat. Natalie saw a new Barbie movie about a month ago and was sure she had to be a butterfly fairy princess for Halloween...with a pink dress! She was totally convinced of this until Thursday afternoon when she was watching the Disney channel and she realized that Tinkerbell has a green dress. I had to go online and create a fairy with a pink dress at Disney.com to convince her to put her costume one! AJ decided to be Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic 4 this year. I didn't have the energy to make costumes this year, but I found this one online for really cheap, and he was happy with it. Thursday, AJ got to wear his costume to school for their Halloween parade and party. And that evening was the stake Halloween carnival. The stake center was ridiculously overcrowded. There was lots of fun games and such, but I'm not sure it was worth it. There was enough chili for everyone, but definitely not enough hot dogs or dessert. The kids were really upset they didn't get a cupcake. And for the big day yesterday, the kids finished carving pumpkins and went trick or treating with their dad. I stayed home and handed out candy. I seriously had to set a chair by the door because there were so many kids! I thought I was gonna run out until my kids came home with reinforcements. Joe and I share the philosophy that our kids can't possibly eat all the candy they come home with. So we cull all the crappy candy and add it to the stuff to hand out and only save the good stuff. There's still plenty for the kids to munch on and get plenty sick off of, don't worry! On to Thanksgiving...

AJ's school picture

Here's AJ's school picture. He actually smiled!

Crazy 8's Tag

8 favorite TV shows: This might actually be embarrassing because I watch this much tv every week. Heroes, House, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Desperate Housewives, America's Next Top Model (I know...), and Chuck.

8 favorite restaurants: Olive Garden, Mi Ranchito (oh, how I miss it..), Gandolfo's (oh, I miss that too!), Wendy's (you get the idea-there's NOTHING good in Moses Lake), Great Harvest Bread, Papa Murphy's, Applebee's, and my own kitchen when I feel up to eating and/or cooking.

8 things that happened yesterday: (1)Natalie tied herself to the fridge with Joe's tie (pretending to be a dog/tiger/kitty/horse), (3) I started reading a book recommended by my sister-in-law-Poison Study, (4) I fixed Natalie's costume, so it will fit her for the party tonight, (5) I washed Joe's coat because he got insulation in it at a job site, (6) I made beef stroganoff for dinner, (7) I threw up once and came close a few other times, (8) and I played half a million games of Solitaire trying to put off all of the above, except reading.

8 things I am looking forward to: (1) Not being pregnant any more, (2) My kids' reaction to their baby sister when she comes, (3) AJ being able to do his homework by himself (okay, I have a ways to go on that one), (4) the stake Halloween party tonight, (5) dressing my kids up for Halloween tomorrow, (6) Thanksgiving at my parents' house with almost all of my siblings and their families (Ben is the only one with a good excuse, being on the mish and all), (7) Joe making enough money for me to stay home (also, I probably have a ways to go on that one), and finally (8) I'm stealing this partly from Peggy: the stupid election to be over, so people can stop trying to convince me that Obama is a Muslim terrorist.

8 things on my wish list: (1) a healthy baby girl, (2) a new car, (3) the use of my garage this winter, (4) a piano, (5) an iPod, (6) furniture (except that one requires kids who don't wreck everything), (7) my parents to move closer to me (okay, that will never happen), and (8) a haircut.

The last one was supposed to be 8 people I tag, but since I don't update my blog often enough for people to check it regularly, I'm just going to tag whoever sees this and wants to do it.

Natalie's birthday and clean carpets

Natalie turned the big 4 years old yesterday. I think she got plenty spoiled by all the gifts. She got Barbies galore, including a Princess horse and carriage, a few cards, a little money, and a fun game. I really wanted to do a party for her, but being sick and pregnant, I just plain didn’t have the energy to put it together. Maybe next year. We settled on a family party at Joe’s parents’ house yesterday afternoon. They served us delicious dinner (including ham from one of Liz’s boys’ pigs). I made Natalie a pink princess castle cake for dessert. And she got to open presents and start watching her new Sleeping Beauty movie.


The only other exciting thing we did was borrow the JRCC carpet cleaning truck and clean our carpets. Since we moved in, we’ve had a number of issues relating mostly to having small children who sneak things out of the kitchen they shouldn’t. But more than that, Natalie perpetually gets bloody noses (we think directly related to an inability to keep her finger out of it, dry air, and a lack of coordination to remove dry boogers without injuring herself) and bleeds all over before she figures out that she needs a Kleenex. Sometimes, she gets them at night and wanders all over the house, bleeding everywhere she goes. It’s made for some really nasty stains that ordinary carpet cleaners don’t fix. Then, a month or two ago, Joe accidently dropped a soda can, and it exploded all over our downstairs carpet. We cleaned immediately everywhere we saw it splatter, but we missed a lot of little spots that have been soaking up dirt ever since. We even cleaned out both our cars and did all the upholstery as well. Anyway, long story short, our carpets look AMAZING thanks to my wonderful husband!

Fashion show

Does anyone else think that buying clothes for you kids is funner than buying clothes for ourselves? Okay, I still like buying clothes for me, but Natalie LOVES to shop and try things on. This is what she got on our last trip to Spokane. She just had to model her new outfits when we got home.

October 12, 2008

Soccer games, dance classes, work, and the perpetual cleaning of our house pretty much sums up last week for us. AJ is really getting into soccer. He really GETS the point of the games, especially where defense is concerned. He gets really upset if the other team scores on him. And he knows how to pass the ball between players to get it away from the opposing players. It’s lots of fun. Natalie is definitely enjoying being a ballerina as well. Joe spent the whole week in Seattle on a job.

Joe’s dad had heard me say that I wanted to learn to make applesauce, so when one of his tenants offered him a bushel of apples, he took them. We spent that Friday making applesauce and apple leather. It’s really good stuff. He had all the equipment to make it really easily. Now, I just have to figure out where I’m going to store all of it. I just bought a whole bunch of food at the local case lot sale as well, so I’m really strapped for pantry space!

Conference weekend was fairly uneventful. Joe really wanted to do something exciting, but we spent a lot of our time getting the internet to work, so we could keep watching conference. We had a big long break where we weren’t sure it was going to come back on. But the talks were all wonderful, of course. We’re pretty excited for all our Kansas friends to be getting a temple so close. We know exactly how desperate it’s needed.

This Friday was Joe’s 30th birthday. I have given him so much crap over the last year about him being in his “upper upper 20s” or “just a crack away from 30” that I decided to lay off it now that he’s actually out of his 20s. I’ll tease him about it later. He got a new iPhone for his birthday. It can do more things than he knows what to do with, but it’s really cool!!

We went to Spokane yesterday to play with Andrea and Scott and do some shopping. Joe and Scott took the kids to an arcade/bumper car place where they had all kinds of fun. Andrea and I were horrible influences on each other and bought everything we liked in every store we went to. Okay, really we didn’t. I had lots of fun. I hope she didn’t get too frustrated shopping for my kids. I found some really good things. I miss living close to real stores.

Sorry no pictures. Our camera battery is dead, and we can't find the charger!

September 28, 2008

This week was a lot of nothing. Joe and I decided that we were going to clean out our garage, so we can actually park a car or two inside. We haven’t cleaned it out since we moved in, so it was REALLY messy. It didn’t take us too long, and we’re really glad we did it. It’s supposed to be a two car garage, but that would only work if you had absolutely nothing else inside. With our deep freezer, shelves for storage, bicycles, the lawnmower, and a couple motorcycles, there’s just not room for another vehicle.

I went to see “Nights in Rodanthe” with my mother- and sister-in-law yesterday. We all cried through it. To the males on this list, this movie is not for you unless you’re willing to suffer through it in order to score points with your wife. To the females, don’t see it unless you’re in the mood for a serious CHICK flick.

Well, I better get back to dinner. Joe is leaving for Seattle in an hour for work. He won’t be back until probably Friday. Ugh!

And the answer is....

The pollsters have it. Joe and I are expecting a....


Girl!!!!

Busy Kids

Our kids have been busy lately. Natalie started ballet the last week of August. I think her class is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s eight 2-4 year-olds prancing around in tutus, skipping, leaping, and practicing their curtseys. She LOVES it! Natalie has to show everyone that comes to our house her leotard, tights, and ballet slippers.


AJ started soccer last week. His babysitter is our friend, Shannon Justesen, whose son, Troy, is one of AJ’s best friends. Troy is pretty gung-ho soccer because his parents both played in high school, and he’s really good for a 5-year-old. I think AJ will do fine when he learns the rules. On Thursday, AJ’s team scored two goals, and the other team didn’t score. AJ scored a goal, and Troy scored one. Anyway, afterwards, Shannon’s husband, Ben, asked AJ what happened during the game, and AJ couldn’t stop talking about how he scored the goal. And he had to point out every time that, “You scored ZERO!” AJ’s kind of a sore winner or loser. He’s excited enough that he tries to wear his shin guards to bed.

Kid number three has been busy as well. He/she moves all over the place these days. I had my ultrasound on Tuesday this week. Baby seems very healthy; everything normal. I have more amniotic fluid now that I think I ever had with the first two. The medication is working really well, so I feel much better than I have. We do know if we’re having a boy or a girl, but I’m not telling until I get at least 5 votes on the poll on my blog. And if you’re one of the few people who already know, don’t spoil it. Maybe we’ll do a name poll next.


We adopted a few other children for the last week. Liz and Nathan took off to Hawaii (I know, we hate them too) for a week and left their five boys in various homes. We had Aaron and Andrew for the weekend and Jared and Zach for the week. I hope the boys had fun while they were here. I know our kids enjoyed having them. Poor Zach doesn’t start school until tomorrow, so he was bored out of his mind all week. We tried to keep him busy with chores, but he could only mow the lawn so many times . Instead, we had to get more creative. This picture is what we did one day for the girl he’s asking to Homecoming. We home-made the cards that are on each of the roses. Each one has a quality that he likes about this girl, and the folded card on the vase very politely asks if she’ll go to the dance with him. Then, we snuck it into her house and placed it on a bed of rose petals. It was great fun!