White Christmas!!!

Two days until Christmas and this morning our yard looks like this. It really feels like Christmas. This morning the kids were outside first thing:
This is the first snowman they have ever made without any help. Kind of a cute little guy:There has been no time for blogging lately...I will catch up soon! Until then, Merry Christmas!

Keeping it real!

If you have ever wondered what life REALLY is like at my house I am about to give you an honest glimpse. I got out the camera to take a picture of this cute litte frog after bathtime one day: I turned around and was presented with this lovely site:

Just keeping it real!

A winter day at the park

We love spending the weekend at Grandad's lodge in Midway. We went to the park on one weekend there. It was a beautiful, clear, cold day. But we soon warmed up from all the running around and playing. You can't help but jump in and play with the kids at the park.

Decorating the tree

Decorating the tree is always a big job...even with a small tree. We found a beautiful little tree at Baum's again this year. It sprouted new growth it was so fresh. William helped me with the lights. A few days later we put the ornaments on. It is always a trick to try to get the four kids to smile in a picture. This was the best of about ten pictures that Rod tried to take. It tells a story in itself though.

William loved playing with all the fun new toys...I mean ornaments on the tree. By the time Christmas was over I think he had broken more than his fair share of decorations.

Somehow though it is all worth it. The beauty and wonder of the Christmas tree really is special.

Karate Belt Test

Tanielu and Owen had their first belt test in karate. There were a lot of kids there. Tani jumped right in and did a fantastic job! Owen had a harder time with the crowd and cried in the beginning. However, once he warmed up to the setting he tried hard too. They both received their yellow belts. I am proud of their hard work. Tani is learning how to control his body and have discipline. Owen is learning to have confidence and strength.

Great job Boys!

Visiting Santa

We visited Santa at the annual Kids Village Christmas party again this year. He was in great spirits and ready for Christmas. Tanielu was excited to see him and tell him of his wish for a hotwheels race track. Anna wasn't nervous at all...very sure she had been good and would get the "girl crush hair extensions" set she was wishing for.
Owen and William wanted nothing to do with the stranger in the red suit.

I tried to help them relax but it didn't work. I just love having a picture every year with Santa...even if they are screaming. Is that wrong?
William quickly recovered when I let him have his candy cane. What a mess but a fun, festive night.

BYU football

We love going to BYU football games with Grandpa Bergeson.

Anna makes signs and we paint the kids' faces.
Owen loves hot dogs with mustard. Tanielu gets the program and studies it to figure out who all his "cousins" are. Any of the Polynesian players count. He pulls out the program during the week and memorizes their stats.

Grandpa Bergeson patiently teaches the finer points of the game.

Win or lose it is always fun! Go Cougars!

Anna's yummy cookies

Anna made a batch of cookies all by herself (with just the tiniest bit of help). It made me remember being a kid and loving to bake cookies with Cathie McIff. Anna read the recipe carefully and did a great job. They were yummy!

Thanksgiving Feast

I cooked again this year for Thanksgiving. My second time roasting a turkey. It was all good though because I had a lot of help. Anna woke up early (about 6am) and sat reading on the couch so she "would be ready when I needed her." Anna, Tani and Owen all helped me make the traditional Yugoslavian stuffing: The turkey came out perfectly. Thankfully.

A lot rides on that bird.
We had Aunt Zoie and Uncle Jefferson and their family over for dinner. A small party but great company and tons of delicious food.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Owen's surgery

My cute Owen went in and had tubes put in his ears and his adenoids out. Poor kid! I don't think he liked the anesthesia too much. Hopefully he will stop getting ear infections now.

Halloween Fun

Halloween this year was a lot of things: spooky, messy, funny, silly, sad and crazy. For the sake of my blog-journal I must start out by mentioning the D&C I had to have on the 30th. Miscarriage number 5 for me. It was sad and frustrating and emotional to say the least. Rod took over the pumpkin carving while I recovered. It was warm enough to carve them outside on the back deck. Owen didn't want to carve his and just colored it.

However, after the surgery I felt better than I had in weeks and was ready for all the Halloween fun! The day started with getting Anna dressed up for school. She looked adorable in a Tinkerbell costume made by her talented Aunt Sundee. We made sure to put some pixie dust and a little bit of mascara (that she begged for) on her face.

We then hurried to get the boys ready for their preschool programs at Kid's Village. I was wondering what Tani would choose to dress up as. He had already worn a few different combinations for other parties. He decided on a cowboy for school and Owen was an elephant.

Owen really wasn't too happy about the idea of singing with his class. It is pretty cute how he covers up his shyness with attitude.

He hid behind a pillar for a while. It was all just too much!Finally, he started to come around and smiled a bit.Tanielu had no problem being right in the center. He sang loudly every word. Very cute. Grandma B. brought over a big pot of homemade chili for dinner and I made some yummy cornbread to go with it. Grandad and JoAnn, Grandma and Grandpa Bergeson, Aunt Zoie and Uncle Jefferson, Hyrum and Emilee all came to eat and go trick-or-treating with us. Tani changed his costume again and came up with his idea of a pirate. He was happy with the end result. This group was definitely ready to go!

We lost Tani for a little while. Luckily Nonna witch found him for us! She was very in character and scared the kids a bit with her threats to take their candy. I am not sure she was entirely joking! William quickly got the hang of holding out his bucket and saying "trick-or-treat" in his own little way. What a cute litte monkey! Seeing him in this costume (also made by Aunt Sundee) brought back memories of my other kids. They have all worn it for Halloween.Towards the end of the night Tani decided it was pretty fun to hand out candy too and took over the bowl from Grandpa at the door. It was so warm out that we just left the door open and waited for trick-or-treaters to come. Anna even wore flip flops and no coats over the costumes this year!When everything had finally calmed down the kids had fun counting and sorting their candy. I can't believe the things they got. Several full size candy bars each and lots of chocolate! We got mostly hard candy when I was little. Overall, I think Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun!