old pictures...

I recently spent hours and hours and hours scanning pictures for my oldest brother's 50th birthday. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of the 5 of us! I can only assume the bouffant hair-do a la Tracy Turnblad was cutting edge fashion at the time :P
This Christmas was a bittersweet one for us. The first one without my dad....but we still gathered and kept up all of the traditions that add to the "glue" that holds us together. We're all transitioning into the grown-ups that we, as orphans, have to be now. I will say unequivocally that the best gift our parents ever gave the 5 of us; each other.

Other December Stuff

Christmas choir concert...complete with Tyler singing and dancing his way into my heart...he's front and center and the first boy to be chosen by a girl to dance with :)

And a partridge on a new Wii....

I realize that we're probably the last family on the planet to acquire a Wii...but we finally got one this year!
Ty and Jill got new iPods to replace the ones that have been broken for months. Ry already has a perfect iPod, so he got a camera.
Gracie got the pink DS she's been pining for....
Here she is doing Yoga on the Wii Fit. When Grace steps on the Wii balance board it chirps "great!" Imagine my chagrin when every time I get on it and it sighs and grunts "oh!" Are you serious? Why did I even bother putting a password on my Mii so no one can see my weight and BMI...the dumb board gives me away every time I get on it by complaining loudly!

I highly recommend the Wii though. It's mega-fun. I, surprisingly, am a Yoga Master. Incredible balance apparently. I cannot, however, play any of the sports to save my life. Hit a tennis ball or a baseball? Umm no.
We have laughed and laughed together and at each other. It's fantastic.

Christmas Eve

They were cute. Don't judge.
Cousins watching each other sit on Santa's lap...Ty is getting ready to perform his annual re-make of the Hanukkah song...
Ty molesting "Sam-ta" Claus...
Home at last for the yearly jammie picture.

2 Decades

20 years ago today at 11:58am this wonderful girl came into my life. I heard those 3 little words "It's a girl!" and my life changed forever.
Two decades of learning, loving, growing, and changing
Two decades of joy, happiness, heartache, and loss
Two decades of fun, laughter, diet coke, and shopping
Two decades of music, singing, piano, and friendship
Forever will not be enough time to be able to spend with her...she is everything I ever dreamed and hoped and wanted her to be. I love you Jillian!

Trees. Should. Not. Be. Inside. The. House.

Remember our new puppy, Snickers? She's 4 months old. She has been pretty-mostly-basically-potty trained for about a month now. We still have to remind her regularly, but have not had accidents of the pee variety for over a month...poo here or there but usually because we forget to take her outside. She still sits quietly next to the back door when she needs to go out. I'm desperately trying to teach her to SCRATCH on the door, because accidents do happen when we don't notice her sitting there quietly like a little princess.
Enter one Christmas Tree. SHE THINKS SHE IS OUTSIDE WHEN SHE IS NEAR IT. We've had the evergreen standing in our house for 3 days now, and she has consistently left lovely presents of BOTH varieties near it every day.
Perhaps if she bothered to wrap them in brightly colored paper and add a bow it would be less offensive.
How can you get angry with her? Her perception is logical, if a little skewed. It is a fake tree, after all. Clearly she's not the sharpest knife in the family drawer.

Star Spangled Solo

Milestones

Ryan and Grace. Eight years separate them, but he has consistently done his best to include her in everything he does. He plays games with her, talks to her, tucks her into bed, drills her on Chinese tones and words, loves and accepts her sensitive nature, and has always been her champion. (Right now they're in the kitchen cutting up a pineapple and translating things into Chinese.) Ryan was baptized on December 1, 2001. Just 4 days before Grace was born.
Isn't he fine? My boy. He was ordained to the office of a Priest 2 weeks ago...just in time to baptize his baby sister. I know that I have her birthday/baptism to discuss. And I will, at length, in a few days....
But first (and yes, tears are rolling down my cheeks right now...) I have to inadequately decribe my joy at this picture. Dressed in white, my babies doing their best to be obedient; to follow the plan our Father in Heaven has outlined for us; to stay on the straight and narrow path that will lead them back to Him. Words cannot describe my gratitude for my son. He is a good boy. No. He is a good man.
President Hinckley said: "The priesthood is here. It has been conferred upon us. We act in that authority. We speak as sons of God in the name of Jesus Christ and as holders of this divinely given endowment.... There is no power on the earth like it. Its authority extends beyond life, through the veil of death, to the eternities ahead. It is everlasting in its consequences."

What joy for him to do this for his beloved baby sister... by being worthy to use his Priesthood power to baptize her. I am confident that they knew each other before this life. I imagine him promising her to be patient until she could come. Promising to stay worthy; promising to be here for her when she needed him. They have a bond that will never be broken...and has been strengthened by the things they share. Like the song says, "God gave us families...to help us become what He wants us to be...this is how He shares His love...for the family is of God!"

Hoping for a Wrecked Cake?

Grace and I were at Costco tonight ordering her birthday cake. Order form in hand, I'm asking her what she would like. She picked out music notes. I gently tried to suggest the BEAUTIFUL COMPLETELY WHITE CAKE WITH WHITE ROSES ALL OVER IT (Hello? Baptism + Birthday= white??) But alas, she wanted the colorful grand staff with notes. Ok :)
ANYWAY. I started writing "Happy 8th birthday Grace" when she chimes in with this little gem:
"HEY! Maybe they'll mess up the writing and we could send it to Cake Wrecks.com! That would be SO funny...!"
I love her so much....