This is a picture of our house with the Christmas lights on. This was taken 12.22.08 at about 8 pm. once it had stopped snowing.

Let is Snow and Snow and Snow and Snow

I will have to get a picture of this. Up unitl this past weekend we haven't had much snow. In fact, this has been one of our driest Decembers in many years, which is saying a lot with the past 7 years of drought we have been through. Then it decided to start snowing and it hasn't stopped. We got hit this past weekend. Then a small break, and we got sideswiped by a storm that wasn't supposed to reach us, but it did. This morning Anistyn was sick and Deb had to be to work so I left work after being there for about and hour. I shoveled the walks before Deb left and then it stared snowing again. I have now shoveled the walks twice over and removed over a foot of snow. I actually like the winters, but this is a ton at once. The forecast is calling for snow for the next three days, just to make sure we get caught up I guess.

Our Busy Month

December is always busy for us. We didn't plan it out well. Work is always busy for both Deb and I. It is the end of the quarter and end of year for me, and with Deb working retail, this is her busiest month. It seems to always start with Thanksgiving and before we know it, the new year is her. December 2nd is our anniversary, Anistyn's birthday is on the 12th, and then throw in all the christmas shopping, all the family parties, the lights, the tree, and before you know it, it's all said and done.
Ansityn has had a busy month so far. Early this month, she was invited to go with Pa to ride on The Polar Express. It is the Heber Creeper that they create a villiage made out of lights up by Deer Creek, they read the Polar Express story, give out cookies, hot chocolate, a christmas bell, and the jolly old make makes an appearance along with the Mrs. Its a pretty big deal as I have looked into it in years past and people come from out of state to visit family and ride the train. For a couple of weeks before she was telling everyone that Pa was taking her to the North Pole. She always likes visiting with Pa.

With Deb working retail her November and December are pretty much blacked out for any vacation time. So for our anneversary we didn't plan anything other than dinner. We went up to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and ate dinner at The Roof. It was nice to spend time with just she and I. Our table was right next to the window so we had an amazing view of temple square with all the christmas lights on. Deb got me a fun little Flip video camera to use for blogging. It holds an hour of video, and is completly plug and play via usb with your computer.

Deb was scheduled to work a couple of Saturday's this month so she actually had Monday the 15th, off of work. It was Rae's birthday on Friday so we make a trip out of it and headed to Disneyland. I got some tickets off of e-bay which saved us about $100. Children under 3 get in free so we planned on telling them that her birthday wasn't until the 18th. Turns out that if you bring your child in a stroller, they don't even ask questions. If you have never been to Disneyland at christmas time, it is something that I think eveyone should experince at least once. That being said, I don't know that I will ever purposefully plan another christmas trip there. They have everything decorated for with lights, trees, wreaths, and all things christmas. Even raindeer and christmas crafts in frontier land. They also turn the castle into an ice castle with blue and white lights, and fake snow on the roof tops. It is quite a site to see. The prade is different, and so are the fireworks. They even blow out fake snow when the fireworks are over. I mean literally, they blow out soapy, suddsy bubbles that actually look like snow from a distance. There are two problems with this time of year. 1. Is that it is fairly cold. And 2. there are a ton of people there.

We left on Friday night after work and spent the night with Bryan and Lani ( sorry if I spelled your name wrong Lani). We woke up at 4:30 am and drove the rest of the way in. With the long drive, and traffic on the 91 a standstill, we didn't get to the park unitl 11:00. It was overcast and a bit chilly, and there were people everywhere. What was nice is that we were able to just take our time and do whatever Rae wanted. With Deb being pregnant, we were limited as to what we could and couldn't ride. We just gave Rae some suggestions and let her chose where she wanted to go. We spent time over in toon town and got to see Mickey, Minny, and Goofy. Ansityn was brave enough to ride the little rollercoaster as well. We spent the rest of the day in Fantasy land, and she loved riding the rockets.

Day two was a lot better. It was clear and cooler and there weren't as many people. One of Anistyn's favorite things at Disneyland is meeting all the princesses and getting dressed up like one. She has been Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. This time she wanted to be Snow White. It kinda suprised us as all along she wanted to be Belle. We were one of the first in line to meet the princesses again. We went through the line and met, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. Once we were done we went over and bought her a dress, some shoes, and a bow. Along with all that, they do their hair, with flowers and ribbons, and also paint thier faces up (all for a few extra dollars, of course). It is really cute to watch her because she just sits there like an angel and lets them do her hair and put on the makeup, and she doesn't flinch. Unlike at home.

Once she was all dekced out, we were going to go and ride some more rides, but I noticed that they were changing princesses. The line wasn't too long so we jumped back in. Now normally when you go see the princesses, they say hi and to take a few pictures and you move onto the next one. In all you are out about 5 minutes. This time was different. You see earlier in the morning, before we went to the park, I asked Rae if we were going back, and she said "where". I told her we were going "back to the future" as a joke. she got mad because she wanted to go back to the park. For some reason, that stuck with her. When we got back up to meet the princesses it was Belle first. She told Anistyn that she looked beautiful and asked where she was from. Ansityn simply replied "From the Future". Well Belle seemed to get a kick out of that. She asked her if everyone wears Snow White dresses in the future, and Rae said "yes"
"Even Daddy?" asked Belle
"No, he just wears t-shirts"
"what do we eat in the future"
"Beans"Ansityn replied.
"Do we still ride horses and carriages in the future"
"yes"
This went on for a bit and then they took some pictures and then Belle walked Anistyn over to Ariel. She told her that she was from the future and then they all talked for a bit.
Arial asked "how did you get here from the future"
"I flew" said Rae
"Can you fly now?"
"No because I have my boots on right now"
Apparently you have to have the right shoes for flight.
This whole sequence went on for a bit and Ariel skipped Rae over to meet Jasmine. The conversation continued for enough time that it was time to rotate princesses again and Cinderella came back and they talked for a bit longer. By the time we walked out of there, it was fifteen minutes later. I am sure the people in line behind us were mad at how long we were taking. I think Anistyn made their day just as much as they made hers.

We spent the rest of the day riding rides. We headed over to California Adventure and rode all the kids rides, and I mean all of them. We also saw the parade with Jessy, Woody, Buzz, Flick, princess Atta, Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, The Incredibles and all her other favorites. We then went back to Disneyland and saw the christmas parade, rode a few more rides. I fell alseep in the Tiki room, but Rae loved it. We then watched the fireworks and went back to the hotel for the night. We did everything that she wanted to do, all in one day, which was good because we woke up to rain.

I went to walmart early in the morning to get Rae a poncho, and some umbrellas. It was funny because I ran into two other guys doing the same thing. The day before, we had bought two ponchos at disneyland and they told us that they only had adults, which is why we were short one for Anistyn. So we got all bundled up and went back to the park. Well it turns out that they ponchos that tey gave us were acutally childrens and really didn't cover Deb and I that well. It didn't matter because within a half hour, we were all soaked. We rode a few of the rides and got even more wet. We did some shopping and bought decorations for our christmas tree, and we headed home. By the time we left we had done everything that we wanted. it was about 1:30 and the rain had let up quite a bit. This allowed them to re-open the part of I-15 out of LA that was closed due to snow. I was glad we left when we did, earlier than planned, because it took us a long time to get home. We had snow from Hisperia to just outside fo Vegas. Then again from just outside St. George all the way home. There were times that traffic was going 25 and you were driving on packed snow. Made for a long drive home.
This is my first attempt at posting videos, but here is the footage from the princesses. If you listen closely you can hear the conversation. Also a short clip of Rae dancing outside the Tiki Room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMcVjyHJ7Ks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMUHTYrPndM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvlIP9g32cw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBuARjSsHyo


Merry Christmas everyone!

Plogging the Cooper!

I almost forgot this one from the weekend. Anistyn told me that she needed to go to the bathroom. She also told me that she didn't need any help so I let her have at it. I was busy doing something and forgot about her for a minute until I walked by her bedroom and she was in new swear and looked as if she was going to cry. I knew something was up. She did her duty but apparently there was some duty left over betwixt her cheeks. She used about 2/3rds of a roll of TP to try to clean the mess. She basically accomplished wiping it up her crack and onto the small of her back. I seriously don't understand her toilet adventures. It was bath time ASAP! This one almost tops the peeing on her shirt story which I still havne't worked out the physics on!

The Holidays

The long weekend. Ah Thanksgiving! It was nice to have a few days off. With Deb working retail, we really only get Thursday to spend together as a family. She is right back to work on Friday and Saturday. Anistyn was happy that she didn’t have to go anywhere in the morning. Each morning she would wake up and ask where we were going today. On Thursday I told her that we weren’t going anywhere in the morning because it was a holiday. “Yeah, it’s Turkey Day !” She was very exited. We had lunch and dinner with family, and played games with Anje, Jerry and Uncle Dane that night. We also hit the late show of Four Christmas’s, which was very funny. On Friday when Deb left for work Rae asked me where we were going today. I told her nowhere. She said, it’s not Happy Halloween, and not Turkey day, so it’s Christmas all the days.
I avoided the Black Friday shopping rush by doing my shopping on Wednesday. That is the day that Anistyn goes to Great Grandma Shirley’s. Deb was picking her up so I ran over to Walmart and got her Birthday and Christmas all done, other than the little stocking stuffers. We did venture to the stores once as we are looking for a new portable DVD player. The screen went out on the one that we have. After spending 5 minutes without any help, and seeing everyone standing around the checkout counter not move, I decided to head back home and we found one online. Anistyn spent the weekend having me replay some of the songs from the Juno Soundtrack. I thing she likes them because most of the songs are really simple and seem like kids are singing them. What blew me away is that she learned one of the songs entirely in 1 day. Granted we listened to it over and over, but it amazes me how fast she learns some of these things. When we got back into the car all she wanted to do was sit in the front seat with me, listen to music and watch cars drive by the highway. I don’t know why but she liked watching the cars. We spent about a half hour one day just watching cars. This is after hitting the playground at “Old McDonalds” for a good while. She got excited every time she saw busses drive by.
Her funny for the weekend was great. We were playing games last night at Grandma Carol’s (Deb’s mom’s) and they were reading Christmas books. Anistyn gets the story read to her and then she likes to read it back with her interpretation of the story. She gets the basic storyline right, she just adds her bits here and there. The funny part came when we were playing Phase 10 Twist and she was readying books. She got a new one and someone told her that it was Charlie Brown and Peanuts. Well apparently to Anistyn you say Peanuts without the T. What is going to happen if she has a little brother???

Christmas Cookies

The other night Anistyn threw a fit because she wanted some Christmas cookies. I told her that for her to get cookies she would have to be a good girl and eat all of her dinner. The really funny part of this was that she was in tears when I was telling her this and as soon as the deal was struck she tried changing to her happy face. I wish I had a camera because it was so fake that it was almost freaky. So she ate all of her dinner and whilst she was finishing I headed off to the store to get some sugar cookie mix and some Christmas cookie cutters. When I got back she was finished with her dinner and ready to make cookies. So I let her help me mix in the ingredients and we started making cookies.
Then it was onto the frosting. It had been a while so I asked Deb how she made frosting. Deb disappeared for a minute and came back with a recipe in mind. I said "you just went in there and called your mom didn't you!"
By then I had already found a recipe from the cookbook. I used the vanilla that we got from Cozumel. It's the real authentic stuff. So I finished the cookies and began frosting them. I finished and gave one to Rae and she took one bite and put the cookie down. "I don't like that frosting Daddy, I am ready for my bath now!" I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. I told her "You gotta be killing my guys", and got her into her bath. She hasn't touched the cookies since.

One a side note, she keeps telling me that Pa is taking her to the North Pole. He called last week to see about taking Rae with them to ride on the Polar Express. It's the Heber Creeper train ride that simulates the story. I told her that Pa was taking her and that they would read, get a cookie and some chocolate milk on the Polar Express Train. She is very excited.

The things kids say. . .

Last weekend was pretty uneventful. I spent the weekend putting up Christmas lights and dealing with one of those migraines that come out of nowhere. Puts me out for a few hours. There were a couple of things that Anistyn said this weekend that were pretty funny. We finally got a Five Guys restaurant in Sandy. It seemed like a reincarnation of Eat-A-Burger with their spicy fries. The only differentiator was that they also had peanuts to eat while you at. Rae loved those more than her food. There happened to be two gals sitting behind us as we sat down that had to be in their early to mid 20's. As they got up to leave Rae said, "Look mom, she has a baby in her belly too!" Deb and i just kept eating like nothing happened. Once the girls left, I looked at Deb and asked her if she said what I think she said. Deb, just rolled her eyes. I felt bad because the gal wasn't really that big.
Once we got all the Christmas lights up at the house, I had the girls come out and look at them. Anistyn got out to the edge of the curb and said, "It's just beautiful dad!"

Where do you get home made Bows for your hair, and other Crafts. . .

Well at the Bo-peep of course. As much as I tease her about her words, she actually speaks better than most 4 and 5 years olds that we know. Her aunt Missy tended her today. I guess Missy took her to the Boutique and got her a bow for her hair and a little stuffed animal cat that we had to take everywhere this evening. Anistyn also got to see Santa eating dinner at the Mall. I guess he was on dinner break.
Her other word today is Fab-we-ous. She looks "fab-we-ous" with her new bow in her hair.

Don't be afeard of Draq-wee-ah

I almost forgot about this one. I was reminded tonight when we walked past a 30 ft. tall blow up Dracula at a car dealership. Where Anistyn gets tended four of the five days, whilst we're off trying to earn a buck, they blow out Hallow-ma-feen. They seriously have no less than 5 life size Characters around the living room, and a blow up Dracula in the front lawn. Every day Rae would tell me that she was being brave and that Draq-wee-ah only scared her when it was blown up. I'm telling ya that Jeff Foxworthy would have an entire show of "Words from the South" if he spent a week with us.

p.s. she just came upstairs and she had her maracas that we got her from "Medico"

Princess Stamps

So the other night whilst I was working on the computer, Deb gave Rae a bath and got her in her PJ's and ready for bed. I left for a bit and came back home. I went right in and checked on Rae. As soon as I came in she had this look of "I'm busted!" I knew something was up because she was really quiet and started to cover things up. I noticed that her PJ's were off and she had stripped down to her big girl pet shop panties. Under her nose was really pink and I wondered if she had been rubbing it as she had a runny nose for the last couple of days (she's getting new teeth). When I asked her what she was doing she got really quite and said "nothing, you can't come in here daddy!" I flipped the light on to see that she had gotten out her princess stamp kit. At which point she tucked her hands in between her legs and again told me "you can't look daddy, I have to go to the bathroom, you can't look daddy!" Yeah, her hands were covered in pink princess ink and she had been rubbing her nose. It looked like a pink Hitler mustache, and her hands were covered. Deb came in and said "I was just in here 5 minutes ago and she was just laying there". Rather than two tubs, Deb was able to clean most of it off with a washcloth.

What a weekend.

I have been playing with this blog all weekend, just to end up crashing the computer for most of the day on Sunday. I was finally able to get it back up and running at about 10 bells after creating a boot disk and doing a system restore. I was affeared that if I didn't fix it, the Mrs. might send me to sleep in the dog house. Which might I add would be fine as the heater out there, coupled with the insulation, keeps things mighty toasty.
Saturday was interesting. We had Anjelee's shower. Deb did a great job and I think everyone had a good time. The "evilskivers", real name ebelskivers, were a big hit. Thank goodness that they came out right. I was in charge of cooking. The Little smokies were popular as well. Mostly Sammy D did work on them once he got home. The rest of the weekend was pretty much uneventful. We did have some moments of hilarity with Anistyn though.
We were talking about needing a vacation and Deb asked Anistyn if she wanted to go to Disneyland for her "Birday" as she calls it. That set her off in total excitement, which was followed three seconds later by, "lets go right now!" We reminded her of how long of a drive it was and she was in tears for a good 5 minutes. Finally Deb reminded her that we just saw Micky at Disney on Ice, and that he was out visiting other towns, so he wasn't in Disneyland right now. We would have to wait for him to get back before we could go visit. She bought it and finally calmed down, but only after she blackmailed me into getting her the Mariposa Barbie doll.
On Sunday afternoon, she and Deb also made her Christmas list to Santa. They clipped out all the things she wants and used the glue stick to put them on a piece of paper. I think Jolly old St. Nick will be very appreciative of the work, as her actual letter looked more like five little spider webs. That's what you get with a almost 3 yr. old.
The tragedy came a little while later when I told her that I would get a stamp tomorrow and that we could send it off. Apparently that wasn't sufficient as she wanted me to hand deliver to the old bearded chap. I was to drive to the North Pole and hand over the goods. I told her that I couldn't because I didn't have a sleigh, at which point she climbed up to the table, leaned over and basically threatened me. She got this very serious look and leaned in and started whispering to me, "you better take my Christmas letter and hand it to Santa, and make sure he sees the baby that goes potty, and hand him the envelope" I could hardly keep a strait face. Deb just said "She told you!" I told her I wasn't doing anything until she finished her mac-n-cheese.
She is getting to the age where she is remembering things too because she pitched a fit this morning when Deb had to take her to Mrs. Cheryl's to be tended and she only wanted to take her letter to Santa.
Anistyn's word of the day yesterday was "eskivavor", you know, the moving steps at the mall. I had to remind her that it was called the Escalator.
She also had another WOTD, "Coupon". Deb was eating a salad and gave her a crouton to eat. She kindly let me know that mommy let her have one of her "coupons".

I have been thinking of adding a blog for quite some time. I have just had too many other things going to spend the time to get this up and running. The main reason that I wanted to do this to tell of our adventures and to keep track of all the funny things that Anistyn does or says. She is one of a kind and I could probably keep a seperate blog just for her if I wanted. She provides almost all of our entertainment these days. Welcome for now and I'll do my best to keep this updated.
D

1st year pics