a little Christmas wrap-up...

a million pictures...
some highlights of the season, and a quick run-down of events enjoyed by our fam.

number one memory of this year...Odie LOVES Santa. Every time we saw him, (3 times, total) he would climb onto his lap as soon as possible and go into some kind of trance. He was never overly excited, just so content to sit there on his lap, almost like he was going to go to sleep. It was absolutely adorable. (if you ask me, his adoring mother)

Lucy's bike will be another fun memory of this year. Every time she sat on Santa's lap she would lean up to whisper into his ear that she wanted a pink training wheel bike for Christmas. Santa brought her the pinkest bike you have ever seen, and it's Hello Kitty to boot. She rides it back and forth through the kitchen and family room all day every day. We can't wait until the snow melts so she will have somewhere to ride outside!

Will asked for, and received, a NintendoDS. He is addicted. NOT something I'm proud of. BUT he played the part of a wiseman in our ward nativity with his friends Ryker and Elle, and he was perfect. Just like Will, he took his part very seriously, and all month has been very attentive whenever a "wiseman" song came on the radio. Especially "Do you hear what I hear"...He sings "LET US BRING HIM SILVER AND GOLD" with all his heart and voice! He also tried to sing "all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" with his cousin Nikki at the Arnell party. She definitely out-sang him, but they looked cute...
Phoebe sang with the ward choir with me as part of the children's choir this year. They all sounded like little angels, and it was fun for her to join me and Gram at choir practice all month. Ward choir is something I have always enjoyed (some years more than others) as a way to celebrate the season. (This is obviously not a photo of said event, but the only one I have of Phoebe in my entire collection of Christmas photos. Wow, my heart is breaking!!)My highlight about Abby was when she and her cousin Gavin played their violins at the Christmas Eve party. I was NOT an advocate of the performance, because Abby is not exactly a pro on the instrument, but it actually went pretty well. And they had a blast together doing it!

And did any of you catch THIS snow-made wonder at a home near Layton park? definitely another highlight of our Christmas...we drove out to the lights on Christmas Eve and happened to drive past this home...WOW! That is some snow molding talent, there!


So all-in-all it was a great Christmas season. Less than a week until kids are back in school, I am back to work, and we are all back to the real world...I don't think I'm ready!!!!

something to post about...

I can't figure out why this picture is being weird, but I am done trying to fix it...
today is our 13th anniversary. no plans, brandon will probably have to work for 24 hours today like he has every day since christmas, but we do have a little tradition of getting in brandon and brigitte's hot tub...hopefully he'll be home in time for that! and it's lovely to have children old enough to babysit the babies, so we don't have to get a sitter, or feel guilty for leaving them with someone who may be trying to enjoy their holidays!
anyways, I feel so lucky to have found the perfect match for me!

who IS Amaryllis?

(and for your viewing enjoyment)

For those of you who have asked me just who Phoebe will be playing in the Music Man, I found this little clip on youtube. I realize it's a bit long, and don't be distracted by the lovely Kristin Chenowith, she is playing Marian the Librarian. Phoebe will be playing the piano student, Amaryllis, at the Terrace Playhouse in February.

deer, angie.

Since Angie P. left me such a super nice comment on my last post, I decided it was finally time to do the deer post I promised her. Unlike Angie, I don't consider myself an animal lover, but I am a nature lover through and through, and I think the deer are one of the reasons why.

Most of you know I grew up right around the corner from the house I live in now, and the deer have been a part of my life forever. At least once a week we have paused to take in the beauty and peacefulness of the deer on the hill. It never got old. Even now, when we are at Sunday dinner at my parents house we see them cross the hillside almost every week in the summer.

I have felt almost possessive of the deer, and proud when people would slow or stop their cars to look at "our deer." My kids have inherited the same awe and wonder for them. Abby sees them almost every morning when she's waiting for the bus. Phoebe almost stepped on the most precious baby fawn one easter when we were picnicking on the hill. The morning after Owen was born, the kids were pulling in the driveway with Gramnell and there was a whole herd in the back yard. Ok, Lucy is a little bit scared of them. She had a dream once when she was 2 that there was a deer in her room. She was terrified, and still is, but she pretends she loves them...

The problem was I never captured the deer on film. I took a few last winter with my phone, mostly to illustrate how much it had been snowing to Brandon, but I didn't know how to transfer pictures from phone to computer. I once saw a picture on a blog (I don't remember who's blog it was or how I got there) of a little girl all in white with her back to the camera standing in front of a small herd of deer. Her mom had taken her in her baptism dress to snap some photos on the temple grounds (not in Utah) and the deer showed up, and they got some really beautiful shots. I would LOVE to recreate that with my own kids and my own deer, but alas, I haven't got a camera worth talking about, and...well, there's a lot of reasons that would be tricky. I won't list them.

So since I have been thinking about this post, I decided I needed some good pictures of the deer. Abby and I pulled in the driveway last week and there they were...luckily my camera had been in the van all week. Oops, no, it wasn't. I had taken it inside earlier that day. I sent Abby in for it, without slamming the door or turning off the engine. She managed to get it without scaring them away, but as I tiptoed closer, I realized my battery was dead. Ugh! I turned off the van, didn't mind slamming the doors, went inside, almost giving up. I searched my house high and low for batteries, finally finding some in a random cd player, and headed back out. The deer had been patiently waiting for their photo op, apparently. They were still there, and as I started snapping away they almost posed for me! I climbed up on the trampoline to get a better view, and more and more kept coming out of hiding to pose. I almost cried! I almost called angie b to come take some with her decent camera, and Angie P. to come see for herself. It was so exciting!
We don't have any immediate neighbors on either side, and probably never will. Sometimes my kids feel cheated that they have no friends nearby to play with. These are our neighbors. We love them. Isn't it a wonderful place that we live?

a fortunate thanksgiving weekend

I don't know if you've read the children's book Fortunately by Remy Charlip, but that is where I got the inspiration for this post.

Fortunately, the weekend started early. The kids were out of school on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, I had to cook for dinner group, for my grandparents, and yams for Thanksgiving dinner...
Fortunately, we had Jazz tickets for that night, which gave me a deadline to have all my cooking done.
Unfortunately, that meant we were all up too late for the night before Thanksgiving.
Fortunately, we were all able to get out of bed in time to go to the Thanksgiving 5 mile run, 2 mile walk, and I remembered my camera!
Unfortunately, these are the only shots I got...pre-run.
I missed a great post-run photo-op of Brandon with his wasatch back "team"...aka the Stanger's. I also failed to get a picture of the cutest running couple I've ever seen. (Jason and Jeni)
Fortunately, we got home in time for Abby and Phoebe to see David Archuleta on the Macy's parade.
Unfortunately, because the kids were all glued to the parade, we had a hard time getting ready to go to Tremonton for our Argyle Thanksgiving, and were a few minutes late to dinner.
Fortunately, dinner was not quite ready for us anyway, so I had time to brown the marshmallows on my yams at Aunt Joan's.
Unfortunately, her broiler was not working right, and it was taking forever.
Fortunately, she had another oven, which worked just fine.
Unfortunately, I was standing by said oven staring at the marshmallows when the blessing on the food was given.
Fortunately, we all thoroughly enjoyed our dinner, and the kids were thrilled to go to Gramnell's for a sleepover.
Unfortunately, Odie wasn't old enough to go.
Fortunately, he was adorable as an only child for the rest of the night and the following day.
Unfortunately, he didn't sleep in.
Fortunately, my mom was willing to tend so Brandon and I could go shopping, and we are now about 1/4 of the way ready for Christmas.
Unfortunately, we still have a lot to do.
Fortunately, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Brandon's parents that night.
Unfortunately, Brandon bought a $45 cheesecake.
Fortunately, Abby had a soccer game on Saturday.
Unfortunately, it was at 6:45 a.m.
Fortunately, that gave me plenty of time to shop with the girls for Christmas dresses to wear to the Nutcracker, and I found one for Phoebe for 50% off!
Unfortunately, Abby's wasn't.
Fortunately, the Nutcracker was wonderful, as always.
Unfortunately, we barely had time to get ready for the Jazz game after the Nutcracker!
Fortunately, Abby decided to stay home from the Jazz game, and agreed to keep Lucy home, too.
Unfortunately, the Jazz lost.
Fortunately, Brandon didn't have any meetings Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, he still had to prepare a lesson.
Fortunately, Brandon and I prepared a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner Repeat for our little family Sunday night. It was a wonderful way to end a fun-filled Thanksgiving weekend, and remember how thankful we are for each other and everything we are truly blessed with.

wanna know what Odie is thankful for?

the kids thought it would be funny to demonstrate how much halloween candy we STILL have...will it EVER be gone? At the rate Odie is eating it, you think it would...

lucky #7 tag...

of course there are several other things I should be doing right now besides blogging, but I have been tagged a few times and am starting to feel guilty that I haven't done them! I really do like tags! so here goes...

7 things I can do...

1- sing in front of people
2- little girls hair
3- make a mean meatloaf with ground turkey
4- ignore my house when it's messy
5- recite the book "go dog, go"
6- play "I wonder if I'm growing" on my guitar
7- make a quilt

7 things I can't do...

1- my own hair
2- sew clothing
3- leave my house without making my bed
4- shave my legs on a regular basis
5- eat red meat
6- grocery shop without a list
7- buy clothes for myself

7 things I always say...

1- "cute"
2- "awesome"
3- "good grief"
4- "oh brother"
5- "let's talk nice"
6- "did you practice piano"
7- "is your homework done"

7 things I always eat...

1- filet o' fish (I'm not kidding)
2- cheez-its
3- bagels
4- hummus
5- nutella
6- oh-so-delicious oatmeal (mandy's recipe)
7- leftovers

7 people I tag...

1- mindy
2- debalicious
3- paige
4- angie p.
5- ginger
6- joanna
7- beckey

2 visits from the tooth fairy

(which also turns out to be a great before and after haircut post...thanks mindy)

jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, you are such a funny sight,
as you sit there in the window looking out at the night.
you were once a yellow pumpkin growing on a sturdy vine,
but you are now a jack-o-lantern,
see the candlelight shine.

before and after...

before...my cute farm kitchen, painted blue by my sister-in-law Paige when she lived here many years ago.

after....I stuck with the blue...funny now that I look at the pictures, it is almost the same shade!
(I don't know why this picture turned out so dark)
We are DONE! (for the most part) of course we have a few little odds and ends to finish up, but our kitchen is now functioning. It is so FABULOUS to have such modern conveniences finally! I am having a blast. I know several of you have talked about wanting to see it, please stop by. I'm not going to give out any personal invitations...anyone is welcome anytime!

better late than never?

Remember how my camera is broken? It is really affecting my life. On Halloween I had to ask Carrie to come take pictures of my kids. (Thanks, Carrie) Those I have not seen yet. My mom took some the week before at our trunk or treat, and she just e-mailed me them today. Hence the late Halloween post.
I didn't get ANY at all of Phoebe in her adorable Little Red Riding Hood costume. She was gone by the time Carrie came over, and she didn't have her costume yet for the trunk or treat. She opted for the Cheerleader standby.So here you have it. We had Peter Pan, (his hat came later) Tinkerbell and Captain Hook...
and Abby donned the Sacajawea costume yet again, only re-named it Princess Tiger Lily.

Goodbye, October! Now on to Thanksgiving... :)

I'm back!

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the bloggy blog world. I do, however, have 3 really great excuses for my extended absence:
1. October, for some reason, is crazy busy. Especially when trying to survive without a kitchen. Or half your house, for that matter. I have not been at my home much this month.
2. My camera is broken. It seems cute little Odie thought he should snap a few quick photos. Fun for him, not so much for my camera...
3. I have been reading a major book. The Devil in the White City. Long, heavy, non-fiction, not happy, put me in a bad mood for the week I was reading it. I also ate up my days trying to finish it in time for book club. I tend to procrastinate.
and I guess make that 4 excuses...
4. FACEBOOK! I have become a facebook junkie. I can't really say why? A bit less work than blogging.
So now I'm trying to make a comeback of some sort...we'll see how it goes!

Donuts and Snow...

My cabinets are being installed in my kitchen right now, and I am so excited I can't even stand it! So I will blog to try to entertain myself while I wait!

Saturday was our annual, (since I was a child) donut making day at my mom's. My mom does most of the work, we get to eat as many donuts as we can, and hang out all day with the fam. Yum! We ended up making somewhere around 600 donuts!

And then Sunday morning we woke up to SNOW! And not just a little dusting. It really snowed! My kids were SO excited, they had to get their gear on right away and head out in it. Here's little Odie peeking out his window to check it out.And Will. This is the boy who was crying 3 days ago at the prospect of snow. "The garden will die!"... Not so sad anymore!They even continued their play after church at Pop and Gram's with the cousins. They built this awesome fort, and stayed out until dark! Now Will is crying that the fort is going to melt. He's overly sensitive!

Halloween Flashback!

I almost forgot to post my flashback this week! This was just last year.
Lucy was the CUTEST raggedy ann (another made by gramnell)
and Willie had his costume details planned out all month! DRACULA...
Abby and Phoebe had a halloween piano recital in October, where they played the duet Chopsticks, hence these costumes.
Abby went with it for halloween night, Phoebe opted for the more cute and "popular" cheerleader...go figure!And little Odie, well, let's just say this is the 5th arnell clown we've had on Halloween. Gotta love Hand-me-down costumes!

(kitchen update: painting is done. I don't love the color but I am trying to be patient. I know it will look different with my cabinets in, which come MONDAY! )

thanks, angie!

For those of you that know "Angie b" you know how wonderful she is. For those that don't, you're about to find out about one of her many talents. The girl is awesome at everything she does, I swear!
A couple of weeks ago, Angie b and I took my little Lucy and Odie and her little Molly and Zac to SLC to take some pictures. Angie is an incredibly talented photographer, and I've been dying for her to do some of my kids for years. (She did Abby's baptism pics, but c'mon, that was 4 years ago!)
Well she took a ton of super cute ones of Lucy Lu. I had a hard time picking my faves, so I'm putting kind of a lot on here, but they are fun to look at, anyways.
Thank you so much, Angie, you are such a great friend...I'm proud to know you, girl!