Did I mention we had a good Christmas as a family?

Well we did.

And then we went to my sister's house.

And then we came back home to a popsicle house.

Our house had literally frozen.

It took hours to heat it up.

So we went to bed kind a cold.

And woke up to gushing water at 3 am.

The pipes had finally thawed.

And had bursted.

In three different locations of our house.

We had to shut off our water for three days.

We were dirty.

Our house was dirty.

I was depressed.

Our house is finally clean.

Our water has been on for awhile now.

And everything runs smoothly.

I am happy.

:)

Update on the Goose: She did great for her surgery.  Woke up cranky and was screaming for 15 min straight but now she's doing great and she can hear!

YAY!

We R Family

After we had our own family Christmas in Cedar we drove up and spent the rest of the Christmas weekend with my family.  My mom and Joe had flown in from Hawaii that morning and it was the first time we were all together since last year for Breana and Mack's wedding.  Let me say through all the chaos with the stomach flu, 6 kids, work, eating, sleeping, movies, and the wii, we had a BLAST!!  Santa brought Nikki and her family the wii with rock band and steering wheels for mario kart and we decided to have a battle of the bands.  We split up in groups of three, with Kurt being the judge, and each group had to perform three different songs with each team member playing a different instrument each time.  There was a point system Kurt was judging by and also on enthusiasm/dancing... you get the picture.  It started simple enough with a few moves like the rubber band, jumping, guitar throws and marching.  Then on the next round everybody kicked it up a notch and by the end the last group was in full costumes with moves like the cockroach and a few other ones that I can't mention on my family blog! ;)  The other team won by two points but if we were to combine forces I know we would go platinum!  

We all had SO much fun!  I sincerely love my family.  I'm SO grateful that we are all in good places with our lives and that we are all doing what we are supposed to be doing.

:)

Happy Christmas!

We had our ward Christmas party last night and Santa made an appearance.  I had no idea he was going to be there but I'm so grateful I brought my camera or else I, and a lot of other parents, wouldn't have had their children's pictures taken with the big man.  Our ward did a great job from food to decorations.  I was even able to take a plate home for Kurt who had to work.

Some updates about us:

After having Christmas morning at our house we are driving up to Salt Lake to be with my family and especially my mom who is flying in from Hawaii that morning.  Alia signed her first sign which was "milk" and now uses it constantly for all the right reasons.  She also turned 9 months today.  YAY!  It's so sad how fast they grow!  :(  She's also semi crawling, semi scooting on her belly, but she's so mobile! She can go from her belly into a kneeling position.  She also pulls herself up on everything, including just the wall and she's starting to cruise and get around.  I tell you it doesn't get old!  Drew is on her Christmas break from preschool and every morning she asks if she has school.  She likes being home and playing with her brother but I think she's not as challenged with us and misses her friends.  Brody is just being a boy.  He loves to go out into the snow, cold, you name it, with a beanie, gloves, and boots.  Sometimes a shirt but I have to make him come in to get more clothes on.  He's also talking a lot more and is getting his colors down.  He also tries to read and to recognize letters like his bigger sister whom he loves!  Kurt is liking work and is doing great at it.  He is definitely kept busy juggling his work, family and sleep but he does a great job at it.  I also have been keeping busy with the kids and starting my own business but it as been fun and is so worth the hustle.  We also gave away our family dog, Leonidas.  It was a bitter sweet moment but I know he's doing good with his new family.  That's pretty much us in a nutshell.  This started out as just a post but now it is kind of our family yearly update.  If I don't post again by Christmas we hope every one has a merry one!

Stars and stripes

First of all I have to thank Kurt's Grandma Kay for buying us this very patriotic flag. ;)

No, but really we had a very fun 4th and I am so very grateful to be able to live in such a free country!

We woke the kids up to go to the parade.  Besides the heat we had fun.

Then we went to Enoch's Mud Mania for kids ages 1 - 14.  Drew saw a kid throw mud at his brother so she thought she would throw mud at Brody.  He got a mouthful but was a very good sport and didn't even whine.

Then we went to our friend's, Tony and Rachel's house for a shindig.

Complete with tether ball,

relaxing,

Plasma luge,

sparklers,

pinata's full of candy,

illegal fireworks,

guitar hero,

and a front row seat of the firework show.  Such a good 4th of July!

Save a tree, eat a cow

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

This is our 'thanks' to the earth that we love so much.

Our ferocious white siberian tiger

We spent all day outside.  The kids especially had fun on the swings.

Until Brody fell off.

Kurt imitating a Kangaroo

and Alia loving every minute of it.

Plants and flowers and trees, oh my!

I am loving these robins that hang around our house

It seemed like a good earth day picture.

Daffodils that I planted before the first frost last year have made their debut.

And for the finale... *drumroll*

Drew's plant that she grew from seed in this little cup in her Sunbeams class.  We have no idea what plant it is.  Beans, or peas?  Anybody know?

Hug a tree!

Easter Weekend

This Easter Saturday the whole Reynolds clan drove down to St. George to hike through Snow Canyon but we got rained out.  We stopped at a park for lunch and the rain stopped just in time for us to eat.  There was a guy there selling these adorable bunnies.  Perfect Easter timing!

Our family retired from the festivities early and came home.  This is a picture of my daffodils that I planted in the fall!

When we came home we dyed eggs.  It was the first year we did this as a family and the kids LOVED it!  My sister Nikki and I were reminiscing when we were young my mom would buy dozens and dozens of eggs for us to dye.  My Dad in attempt to not waste would eat as much as he could.  My sisters and I hated eggs and a lot would go to waste.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny left a grass trail in our house to the kids' baskets.

After eating way too much candy before breakfast the kids went on their easter egg hunt that the bunny had laid out for them.

Then Kurt made his delicious potato salad with those eggs so as not to waste them.  He thought the shells looked too cool to not photograph.

As Kurt took hours, not kidding, to make his salad, I got the kids ready for church.  Grandma Reynolds got Drew and Brody their outfits and our good friends Curtis and Christina Barnum gave us Alia's dress when she was born.  Sadly this was the best picture could get of them.

 

After church we had a BBQ with the Reynolds clan again.  Then the kids went on another hunt that Grandma Karla put together for all the grandkids.