Temple Square

I thought I would surprise Mike by getting a copy of his Patriarchal Blessing (I keep losing it somehow). I loaded up the kidos in the car and headed downtown. We are so lucky to live about 20 minutes away from Temple Square, but had never really been there with the kids. After we filled out all the paperwork, we decided to take a look around. It was so nice out (especially considering it was still February), and we didn't even take coats (a decision we started to regret after the sun went down). Austin LOVED the big fountain in front of the Church Office Building. We talked about how the Prophet Brigham Young built a house close by, so we went to tour it. The kids loved that, but it was a bit long for their short little attention spans. We went through the South Visitor Center and looked at a diorama of the valley as it looked when the saints first got here, a display about Truman Angel who was the architect for the Salt Lake Temple, there was a life size wagon with a quarried rock on it, and lots of other cool stuff. On the way back to the car, we paused for a minute in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and talked about Joseph Smith while we looked at the giant statue of him.

Austin discovers he likes girls

Austin tells me he likes Princess Leah, "you know mom, the one from Episode 6 where she is wearing a bikini. Where her pants are separated from her boob holder."

What kind of family is this?

We had French Toast for dinner tonight (lame, I know), and Rachel asked me to cut her French Toast. I told her that when I was a little girl, my mom would cut my food and I thought I would never learn how to do it as well as she did. Rachel says to me a little later, "I a mom and you a daughter. (explaining that she would cut my food) And you my Grandma Jan's mom."

Austin's birthday dinner

One of our birthday tradition is that the kids get to pick where they want to eat out on their birthday. This year, Austin chose The Mayan. He loves the divers!! So we went. While we were eating, one of the divers climbed up the ropes next to us, and then jumped into the pool! It was pretty great. Austin says he wants to have all his birthday dinners at the Mayan.

Visit to the Morris'

For Family Home Evening, the Morris family (Mike and Dustin were mission companions in Finlad for a couple months) invited us to their house for dinner and a sauna. We had a great time playing Wii, sizzling in the sauna, and visiting. Our kids loved it, and have asked when we get to go again. Next time it's our turn to host!!




Check out the AWESOME "Christmas Story" lamp that Dustin made!

Austin's 6th birthday

I can't believe Austin is 6 years old. He sure is a fun boy. Very smart, and very stuborn all at the same time. We love having Austin in our family, and can't imagine life without him!!

No Deal!

Austin smashed Rachel's finger in the door and she is crying inconsolably.
Rachel: Austin, you smashed my finger!
Austin: Deal with it. (as he walks away)
Rachel: No deal!

Groundhog Day...A Little Late

Austin comes up to me on Saturday and says, "It's Groundhog Day. I need to know if the groundhog saw his shadow." Ok. So I tell him, I'll check in a minute. In that minute, he decided he could not wait, he was going to check himself to see if he can see his shadow. Proceeds to put on pants (thank goodness. If you know Austin, he hangs out in his wife beater undershirt and boxers for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE on days when there's no school), and his snow boots (no coat, mind you) and heads for the door. I intercept with "I pulled it up on Yahoo, the groundhog DID see his shadow." The next couple minutes were a blur, because I'm not sure what happened, but there was body flailing, and crying. In retrospect, I figured out that Austin is VERY ready for spring and was expressing his displeasure at the thought of 6 more weeks of winter.
Here is a article about Punxatawny Phil if you are so inclined.

Superbowl Party/Lily, Austin, Mike, Matt's b-day party's for February

This year for the Superbowl (who's playing, again?), the Black's had their monthly dinner at our house. We celebrate that month's birthday's and do a cake a presents and eat yummy food. February birthdays are Lily (2nd), Austin (17th), Mike (20th), and Matt (23rd). We had lots of YUMMY food (French dip, and appetizers) and fun! Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids cute stuffed animals for Valentine's Day, too. The kids all loved them!

Here is a video for your viewing pleasure:

Cutest thing you ever saw

Okay, so we got our new camera (we had to buy a new one thanks to Austin's handywork) So how adorable is it to get 10 little girls between age 3-5 on a stage for a ballet class? It simply melts your heart. Rachel's teacher is amazing at dealing with the girls and getting them to pay attention (most of the time pay attention anyway). Rachel knows that she is just our little princess and is so excited to go. She asks almost everyday if it is her ballet day. She has had two classes so far and loves it.

Review of Christmas activities

Friday, December 21

Tonight was the Black Family Christmas party. This party is the best of all parties because Uncle Brent makes the best appetizers!! There was lots of yummy food (the Black family loves to eat!!), and a good program (well, at least the part we were there for. Mike had to go to work, so we left earlier than everyone else). Our part of the program was about angels. We sang a song that I can't remember at the moment, and then Adam played a video that Megan's sister's husband (Case) made about Porter, an amazing angel in our life. It was great!
The coolest part was that Rudolf came to the party!! He was so cute with all the kids, but some of the kids did not know what to think. My kids were ok! (Thank goodness)



Monday, December 24th

Raclette... mmmmm
The Randy Black family has a tradition of eating Raclette every Christmas Eve. We've done it for quite a few years now (I can't remember how long - it's Mike's job to remember things like that). Ok, I'll explain. You take a big hunk of very stinky cheese that will stink up your fridge. Cut it into smaller slices. Then you take a variety of meats (ie: salami-my favorite, beef stick, pepperoni, Canadian bacon). You get a Raclette grill (yes, there is a special appliance to take up more room in your kitchen just for this dish), and place your stinky cheese in the "pan" for the cheese (it goes underneath the flat top), and then your meat on the top. Cook until the meat is yummy and the cheese is melted. We pour our cheese over boiled red potatoes, and put the meat on top. Wikipedia has a rockin' explanation of Raclette: Click here
This year Jenny got to experience this joy with us (and Danny, of course). Once we start eating, I learn that she doesn't really like cheese (who doesn't like cheese?). This is the only thing I have learned about Jenny that is not MTW.

Tuesday, December 25th

Christmas morning

Santa came to our house (kind of a bit of a miracle). We had planned on getting the kids up at 7 am, but we slept in a little, and were woken up by Randy calling to say they were on their way to experience Christmas with us. We always gather together in our bedroom and talk about the reason we celebrate Christmas (we do not, however, read the actual Christmas story-that takes way too long for excited kids). Then we go into the living room to see what Santa brought us. We have asked Santa to not wrap presents that he brings to our house. Instead he places them in designated spots (ie: Daddy gets the recliner, Austin gets the blue chair, etc). We rushed unto the living room, and gushed over the presents Santa brought. Then we started to open our presents that we give to each other. Rachel opened one of hers that was wrapped in a Saltine cracker box (Mike got creative because we were out of other boxes). She takes off the wrapping paper and says (in her MOST excited voice), "AHHH! Crackers!!!!" It was the best thing EVER! I wish I would have gotten it on video, but then I would have been really crushed when it got broken, and all our pictures were lost. (more on that later) The real gift inside that cracker box was a Tennessee Titans Cheerleader outfit. She looks adorable in it. She got out her pom poms (they are Denver's , but that's ok) and did a little cheer-so cute. We ate Monkey Bread (yummy-I'll post the "recipe" later), and played with the toys. Mitchell was pretty disappointed this year because he had an enormous(sp), gigantic box with his name on it, and it turns out all it had was new comforters for his bunk beds. He did not cry, though, to his credit. Austin got a Titan's alarm clock that he was THRILLED about (there have been days when it goes off at 2 am, and he sleeps right through it). Austin and Mitchell both got Lego's from Santa, and we spent a good portion of the middle of the day putting them together. Later on that evening, we went to Randy and Jan's for dinner, and we were a Titans family, everyone had Titan's gear. We were pretty cute if I must say (you will have to picture it in your mind, as, alas, we have no record of the event).