My Little Helper

December 17, 2008

As of late Eliza has become my little helper. She wants to help clean the toilet. She loves to empty the dishwasher and she even sometimes will make her bed without being asked. The other day I was doing wash and was having Forrest put his clothes away. Eliza wanted to get in on the action so I gave her simple things that she could put away in her drawers. I was soon out of simple things and she still wanted to help. I gave her some pants thinking that she would just put them on her bed until I got in there to help. She seemed to be taking a long time to come back to get more clothes so I went in to check on her. I found her trying to hang up her clothes. She had managed to get her pants hung up and was working hard to get a shirt hung up.

I took pity on her and tried to help her, but she insisted on hanging them up herself.

Yesterday we headed outside to shovel snow. Forrest got a shovel and worked hard on trying to help. Eliza of course wanted to give it a try. We gave her a shovel and she went to town. Unfortunately she was shoveling the snow from the grass onto the driveway. This drove Forrest insane, but I just got a good laugh out of it. I am told that when kids are finally old enough to do a job well that is when they no longer want to help out. I am going to enjoy this while I can. Because I know the day will come when getting the kids to complete a chore will be like try to scale Mt. Everest.

Heading Downtown.

December 14, 2008

For a change of pace this year we decided to head down to Temple Square to check out the lights. Normally we stick closer to home, but Valerie convinced us to venture out a little.

Our first stop was Hires Big H for dinner. After dinner we headed down the to the library, found some free parking and then jumped onto Trax. This seemed to be an fun and easy way to be the congestion around Temple Square. The kids of course got a big kick out of it.

Once we got to Temple Square Eliza refused to wear her gloves, but luckily for us it wasn't that cold. She would run around until she was too cold and then she would crawl back into her stroller and warm up in her blanket.

I couldn't believe how beautiful the temple looked. I haven't been down to see the lights in several years. Forrest couldn't believe how big it was and kept wanting to go inside to check it out. Lucky for him we have tickets to the Draper Temple open house.

A kind stranger took our picture. It seems like we never have pictures of all four of us together. He was really nice to stop and offer considering he was alone with five kids three of whom were triplets.

Our last stop was the reflection pool. I know there was a lot of controversy when the church purchased the land, but let me tell you I would rather spend time admiring the reflecting pool than trying to cross a busy street. The area around it is so peaceful. This year they had bubble with lights in them floating on the pool with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the center. It really brought home what Christmas is all about.

Pictures From Grandma's Funeral

December 12, 2008

I can't remember who wanted these pictures, but these are the pictures that Uncle Stephen took at Grandma's funeral. I am going to upload these to a picasa web album. If you will send me your e-mail address I will send you an invite so that you can download them. If you know of anyone that doesn't really read blogs, but would be interested in these pictures let me know and I will try to get them to them some other way.

Did You Know Forrest Is Getting Married?

December 9, 2008

Neither did I, but apparently this past summer while we were at a neighbors house swimming Forrest and a little neighbor girl decided they would get married. At first we thought it was cute, but it now seems to be getting pretty serious. As the little neighbor girl was leaving our house the other day. She said, "I love you Forrest" Her dad rolled his eyes and asked me what we should do about it. I told him not to worry because Forrest had ignored her and really didn't seem that in to it. That is what I thought until Sunday night. As we were driving down to my sisters house we made a game of spotting all of the temples. I then took time to talk to Forrest about the importance of temples and why we go there. After a little while I asked Forrest which temple he would like to be married in. He said, "I don't know I will just let Allison decide which temple we will be getting married in." Obviously this is getting pretty serious. Don't be too surprised when you get your wedding announcement in the mail.

Have You Met My Princess.

December 8, 2008

This is Princess Eliza. She must wear this dress at all times and will even sleep with it. From watching Barbie movies she knows that only a real princess sits on the horse side saddle. She uses her necklaces has a bridle and will sit very majestically on her pony as she watches her favorite princess movies. This poor dress is plum worn out. Hopefully Christmas will be here soon so that Santa can restock her dress up box. Other wise we will be using masking tape to hold it together.

Using What You Have.

December 4, 2008

For the past couple of months I have been working on building up my food storage. One of my goals when I started this monumental task was to learn how to actually use my food storage so that I would be storing what I eat. Also if we ever really needed to live off our food storage I wanted to make sure that we as a family could eat it without too much complaint.

In my research I ran across a blog that I just loved called Everyday Food Storage. She has wonderful ideas and I have enjoyed many of her dishes. One of my favorites is the Magic Mix. It is perfect for making a white sauce. I have used it to make Macaroni and cheese, Pudding and cheese sauce. It was so easy and all of them tasted really yummy.

If you are like me and would like to use more of your food storage you should head on over. Right now she is going through ideas for neighbor gifts using your food storage. How cool is that.

Just Not In The Mood.

December 3, 2008

I don't know what it is wrong with me, but I just can't get into the holiday spirit. I planned on this week to be my week to tie up loose ends. I just finished my Christmas shopping and just need to start wrapping. I am dreading wrapping those last few presents, but I keep pushing on hoping that if I just get this done I will be able to sit back and relax. Unfortunately I know that isn't the case. There is always something that pops up. This year it is our going on a cruise right at the first of the year. I just found out about this two weeks ago and I really need to think about what we are all going to wear and all the little particulars of the trip, but I am so tied up with trying to get Christmas squared away that I haven't really even given it a thought.

The really horrible thing about it is while all of you will be laying around feeling grateful that summer is still six months away I will be trying to get back into to my swimsuit. I am really dreading that part. Just as long as no one takes a picture of me I think I will be okay. I know we will have a blast on the cruise, but getting ready for it doesn't seem like that much fun right now. Sorry for the pity party. Maybe I just need to listen to Christmas music 24/7. It just might push Greg over the edge, but maybe it will finally put me in the mood to celebrate Christmas.