Champion

I think last night may have been one of the highlights of Talmage's life. I have never seen him so excited. I think this clip is a good taste of his excitement. His is the red car, but watch Talmage (on the right).

In other news...

Bryant has been to three birthday parties in the last 10 days. He loves them and they serve as a great motivator for practicing the piano.

Sariah was coaxing for her nap yesterday---love that!

Hyrum has figured out how to flip light switches. I went in to get him at 4:30 this morning and the light was on---for who knows how long.

James is off to Portland for meetings this weekend and although there are still five hours before he'd be home on a regular work day, I already miss him.

Well Child

Hyrum had his 9 month check-up today (now that he's 10 1/2 months). He weighed in at 18 lbs. 14 oz. as he squirmed all over the scale. He is 29 inches tall. This makes him very average for height and under weight with a big head. If you ask me, just by looking at him, you'd say he's perfect.

Thankfully, he is more like Sariah when it comes to check-ups than Bryant. He was generally cooperative as he was "checked-out." (Bryant would start screaming at the sight of the doctor and was relentless until it was all over.)

In the doctor's office, Sariah declared, "When I'm little I'll be a princess. When I grow up, I'm going to be a doctor."

In other news, Talmage has finished the fourth Harry Potter book and is devouring #5. His first pinewood derby is a week from tonight. He is ecstatic.

Bryant finished reading his first chapter book solo---a Boxcar Children book. I was happily surprised that he stuck with it and enjoyed it. From the sounds of it, he understood it too---100% on his AR test. Lost another tooth this week. Three birthday parties to attend in about 10 days, couldn't be happier about that. Good motivation for piano practicing.

Sariah is starting to write words as I spell them to her. Of course, I know which letters she knows and that helps her succeed. She has begun to carry Hyrum around the house and I found them both on her high bed the other day laughing and giggling together. Poor girl doesn't seem to be able to get a full night's sleep in her own bed with the company of little brother in the room.

James is buckling down on his MBA prerequisites. He was called for jury duty twice this month but was not required to serve this time.

I'm getting excited about working on a quilt for which I picked out fabric before Sariah was born. I cut out three blocks worth the other day. Getting anything done with my little leg leech is an accomplishment these days.

All in a days work.

Up by 6:30 for scriptures.

Splashing in the toilet twice today. (Siblings still learning that
"keep the bathroom door closed" means all the time.)

Two more new bottom teeth.

Intentionally "waved" for the first time.

Fell asleep in the car two different times as we ran errands.

Bit his own forearm hard enough to leave marks and cry the "hurt" cry.

Spent a significant amount of time clinging to my leg in the kitchen.

On a couple occasions, "played" the piano as he crawled through the house.

Surprised himself in the bathtub during a happy splashing frenzy.

Sunk his two top teeth deep into his tongue when his chin slammed down
onto the side of the bunkbeds. Significant amount of blood.

Down for the night at 9pm. Minimal crying.

Yeah for Hyrum!

Calm after the Storm

The whirlwind of the holidays and a bout of the flu and finally a chance to catch up.

The few days before Christmas was a mad rush to finish making pajamas and putting together the kids' 2009 scrapbooks. James pitched in several hours to help so we could continue our tradition of opening up cozy, new PJs and a scrapbook for each child to lay around and look at on Christmas Eve.
Hyrum also got a badly needed haircut on Christmas Eve.



On Christmas morning, the kids were up at 2:30 and every hour thereafter until everybody else got up around 7 o'clock. I don't know what a hangover feels like, but that's the best way I know how to describe what I felt like on Christmas. Despite the "hangover," it was so fun to have everyone together at Mom and Dad's on Christmas day. Dax and Jennifer even came down for awhile.

We came home and unpacked and packed back up to head for winter fun at Camp Zarahemla.


There wasn't as much snow as we expected, but enough for some good sledding. We all had some good rides, but Sariah was the funnest to watch. She was tireless, and gutsy. No tears, even with the crashes.

We came home the morning of New Year's Eve, unpacked, and packed back up to head out to Dad and Mom's. It had started snowing pretty good and once we got out on the roads and realized how bad it was we wondered if we should chance it. The kids protested turning around, so with a prayer a maximum speed of 30 miles an hour we trekked on. As we crept toward our final destination, I knew we had made the right decision when I could see three large bodies with headlamps rolling the biggest snowball I had ever seen in the dark. Got the kids all dressed up in their snow clothes and within an hour they and Dax, Kase, Vard, and James had built the biggest snowman ever...ten foot five inches!


In this photo they are measuring their final engineered masterpiece. (For scaling purposes, those with headlamps are all well over six feet tall.) The nighttime snowman building experience was a memorable New Year's Eve for all.

New Year's Day found us playing basketball and eating pizza as usual. Enjoying the final hours of being together.

During the course of the whirlwind we were sleeping in very common quarters and Hyrum got into some BAD sleeping habits as I would cater to his cry not wanting to wake up others. The last night we slept away from home he was up every hour! With that, I was ready to come home and get life back in order.

So, Monday morning with that January burst of energy to clean up, clear out, and make fresh I was up and running. By Monday night, I was throwing up and as sick as I've been for a very long time. Now that I've been through it while James took care of me, and vice versa, we're hoping for a new Monday tomorrow to start fresh.