Our Neck of the Urban Jungle

Happy Father's Day Babe!!

2011-06-19T19:42:00.001-06:00

Happy Father's Day!!

It was a fun day celebrating dad's. We kept things low-key...Chris got in a little nap...we had one of his favorite meals: beef stroganoff. Then we ate some of this yummyness!

The first picture at the top is of the cute ties the girls made for him. They are Mr. Potato head ties that have exchangeable accessories, including shoes...about as many pairs as he actually has in his closet! Haha! I loved that he wore one to church today & plans on wearing the other one next week. (Hopefully I can get a picture of it before he changes out of it then.)

I was so excited to give this gift because I just knew he would love it!

And he did.

TastyKakes, I love you

Tasykakes, I do

I want to spend some serious time ea-ting you!

Do you think he is trying to be in a commercial for these?

Fake smile ALERT!!

We love you! You are a terrifical Dad and we are very blessed to have you! XOXOXO

Chalk Art Festival

2011-06-18T19:43:00.041-06:00

The chalk art festival was great this year, as usual. We spent a good couple hours there being amazed by the various artists as well as enjoying a little bargain shopping (big sale at Bath & body Works) and delish twist ice cream cones. I am including pics of the ones we really liked!

Totally awesome! We saw HAgrid & I made all the girls take a picture with him. We had a friend of Victoria's, Kara, join us for the afternoon. Geez, they all look like a bunch of hobbits next to him!

I really wish this was entirely in the shade-the colors were so much more vivid there.

This was one of my favorites! There were even little pictures within the larger bubbles.

Simply gorgeous! The time & talents this took!!

There was a band playing and Chris took Grant over to rest a little. The girls went & played in the fountain area. He is just so stinkin' adorable!!

There was a HArry Potter theme throughout the entire festival...which I thought was great! Beings that it was a festival to celebrate Foster Families - I thought it was quite fitting.

This one tied with the bubble picture - it was simply amazing how detailed that painting of Washington was! I wish we could have seen it finished...we had a ward BBQ we had to be back for. (I can't pass up a dinner I do not have to make.)

We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to attending next year. I always want to come home, break out the chalks and get to work creating a masterpiece on our driveway...haven't done it yet...but I sure want to try it!!

I'm BAAAAACK!!!

2011-06-02T11:02:00.000-06:00

So after an insanely amount of time away from my blog...and everyone elses for that matter...I have decided to get back into the swing of things and...UPDATE MY BLOG!

Hopefully my followers are still around so someone will be excited about this breaking news story.

I have been putting it off because there was just too much & I have issues skipping and having to backtrack. But I just have to work through them as I update from current and work my way backwards. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Victoria!!

2011-05-29T22:21:00.001-06:00

Victoria is 11 - can you believe that???

Victoria, you are the sweetest girls and we are so blessed to have you in our family. It is so very hard to believe that you are growing up so fast and becoming a beautiful young lady. One more year until you are in Young Women's!

Since you are very much into peace signs, we designed your cake this way. It was Christianna's idea too.

(Just realized that I never turned the cake around for you to see!)

Top 11 Reasons we love Victoria

(Thought it would be fun!)

You care so much about how others feel and try your best to make everyone feel happy and loved.
You are a HUGE helper when it comes to taking care of Christianna & Grant.
You are really good at playing the violin.
You are super SMART!
You love to go to church and follow your Savior, Jesus Christ. (The best you can!)
You are funny...especially when you dance.
You love to read.
You love to sing out loud in the car, house...or anywhere you are.
You look so cute when you get embarrassed, mostly when we are talking about a boy you like.
You are beautiful inside & out.
We have you in our family FOREVER!

We invited the McConkie & Lyman families over for some cake & ice cream. Unfortunately, the McConkie's were sick and couldn't make it. But the Lyman's came!!! YAY!

Ummm....Heather??

Trying to put words to your facial expression is just too much fun... haha!

Uncle David & Aunt Heather with Christianna.

The Ice Queen Ballet Recital

2011-05-21T23:06:00.002-06:00

Another year , another wonderful recital! The story & costumes were fantastic!

Christianna was in both performances this year as a Heather Bell. We saw a huge improvement compared to last year...she didn't have to watch the teachers on the side & she smiled the whole time!

The Ice queen is a story that follows Anika as she travels to save her friends & sisters from the evil Ice Queen...which she does & she wins the heart of the only guy in the show. Awwwww! It was a great story & I didn't mind seeing it twice!

She had a lot of support this year. Both Grandma & Grandpa were able to come, along with Uncle David & Aunt Heather, not to mention we all were there too. Christianna's friend, Mackenzie came to with her family. So sweet! They brought her a card & flowers. She also got a small bouquet from Chris.

Ok -so this looks funny. But it was the second time they "posed" so I could get a picture & he was talking! HaHa!

Interesting that the only one NOT doing a ballet pose...is the ballerina!

Grant LOVED her flower. As we were taking the family picture, he kept trying to grab it & eat it.

Cucumbers & Ruby

2011-05-19T11:48:00.001-06:00

Seriously...I do not know why Christianna loves to do this...but she has to every time I slice cucumbers. This time she included Ruby in cucumber festivites!

She then eats them.

(Waste not, want not.)

Happy Birthday Chris!!

2011-05-14T12:08:00.003-06:00

Well, my love, another year older and wiser too! (Maybe?)

So I was thinking that I would share my top 10 memories of you as a

special birthday gift from me!

They are in no particular order...except I am saving the best for last.

That one day I was at Stake Conference and Holly showed me some pictures you sent her while on your mission. You were looking rather smokin' and that, I think, is when the tides started to shift for us.
You cried tears of joy as you kissed me when each of our children were born. So you just need to remember that we are excited, joyous & happy to be parents.
The first time I ever made a real Chinese feast..including cheese won tons...you thoroughly enjoyed it. We could all tell from each and every "mmmmm" that you mmmm'd as you took each and every bite.
You are not afraid to show your emotions! The mark of a true man. It was especially memorable when you were interviewed for our Youth Conference Pioneer Trek a couple years ago. You were answering a question about your feelings on the women's pull. You answered by saying how proud of me you were and how you could see my strength. That meant so much to me.
Even though it has kinda turned into a little joke between us...I love when you cook spaghetti for me on special occasions...you know, for Mother's Day & my birthday? I just love when you cook!
A few years ago when I was making a cake for one of the girls, you asked when you would get a Barbie cake. That very next birthday I told you I was making one, I even baked the cake in the bowl to really get you going. Turns out I was just messing with you & that year I made that police themed cake, where we had all those blue officer toys surrounding that lego guy, trying to arrest him because he nabbed a lady's purse. Remember?
Those rare occasions when you actually sing in the car with us...you always have to do it in some kind of funny voice. Which reminds me of the first times we ever rode in a car together. You asked me if I had to always sing...you felt it was just too loud. I think it was just because it was such a foreign idea to you. As with many things, you have grown accustomed to the steady flow of singing that happens in our car especially now that the girls sing too! (I think they know more songs than me!)
Your ca-razy collection of 80's songs. Oh, how excited you get when you find more! Really? Need I say more?
The day you told me that you passed your academic tests to join the police department. Yeah, I was floored. I knew you were so excited to be a cop & I was a little scared...ok, more than I admitted. You had said you were not the brightest in math so I thought - sweet, if he doesn't pass, it will be fine! Well, the joke was on me...you did it. I was very proud of you and I am still to this very day. You love being a cop and now that you are finally on motors...let's just say, you are lucky to be able to fulfill you life's dreams. Not many people can say that!
Here it is...now, you KNOW I couldn't do my top 10 fav moments without this one! It was late in the evening...we were at the grocery store, Target maybe...our favorite movie was The Mask of Zorro...as I came down the aisle to meet you, you started tapping with your feet the rhythms of the feet tapping in the beginning of that movie. You had the biggest smile on your face & I laughed so SO VERY hard!

I know there are so many more wonderful memories that we have had together and there are many more to come. I am just glad that I am the one who gets to share them with you!

Happy Birthday to my eternal flame!!

(Get it?)

Bathtime...with Minnie?

2011-05-10T11:54:00.008-06:00

As I was giving Grant his bath today, Minnie decided to "help."

At first she was just sniffing around...then she licked his arm...and finally his head. Apparently he tasted great because she just wouldn't stop. I was laughing so hard, even harder when I saw his reaction. Looks like he is thinking "Ah, really Mom?"

Don't worry - I did rewash him before he got out!

Meet...the bike.

2011-05-02T13:04:00.003-06:00

It is official! Chris has finally joined the ranks of the Motor Squad Elite! To say he is excited, would be the BIGGEST understatement of the century. This is a position he has dreamed of since before he was a cop...while he sat on his couch at home and watched episodes of CHIPS.

(He even took a picture of his new email signature! I had to laugh at that one...I would post it too, if it didn't have all his contact information on it. Gotta love that man!)

Zion's National Park

2011-04-18T21:24:00.002-06:00

To help the National Parks celebrate their "National Park Week" we decided to go to Zion's National Park. It was a fabulous trip that we were able to share with Grandma & Grandpa along with Aunt Jennie, Uncle Dallas, Ethan, Rory, Emma & Olivia. There were only 2 bummers: Chris wasn't there on account of the Baker to Vegas Relay that he got thrown into last minute & we were missing the Tierney Family & Uncle Patrick.

I took so many pictures! I bet I only posted about half. So enjoy them!

(This is the only photographic evidence that I have to prove I was even there!)

(Seriously Jen, do you teach your kids to do perfect school picture poses?)

The funny thing about squirrels: they are actually quite dangerous. There were constant warnings about not feeding them & just leaving them alone. The quote on that poster says, "The squirrel bit me twice in less than a second. It took 16 stitches." Thanks to this add in their paper, that Christianna insisted on carrying, she was terrified of every one we saw! Apparently this was all fascinating...that is her reflection in the glass.

Phew! It was a good thing those kids were there to hold that huge rock up for the rest of us to pass under.

Grant's Blessing

2010-08-15T13:57:00.000-06:00

Today we blessed our beautiful baby boy.

We decided to move it up to today from next Sunday since we would have most of Chris's family there. We invited close friends and family and had the blessing at the church in the Relief Society room at 9:30 am. We were the ones late - of course! (Except for Jennie and her family, they were even later than us...but I was glad that they did make it.)

Chris gave him such a wonderful blessing that moved many of us to tears. Grant Roscoe Fairall was named after my wonderful Grandfather, Roscoe Call. Chris tried to record the blessing, but there was some technical difficulties so he will be writing as much as he can remember in a letter to be included in his scrapbook.

Those who were in the circle to bless Grant were:
Bishop Aguilar(not pictured), Grandpa Ron Lyndaker, Uncle David, Chris, Uncle Brian, Grandpa George Fairall, Uncle Dallas, and Aaron Lyman (not pictured.)

It was a wonderful Sabbath Day filled with family...many of which we do not see very often and it was a weekend of celebration for all of us!

David and Heather are HITCHED!! (Finally)

2010-08-14T22:30:00.001-06:00

August 14, 2010

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. David Fairall!!!

(And the crowd goes WILD!!)

Today we had the privilege to witness David and Heather get married for all time and eternity at the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. I was very glad that I was able to be there for it, even though I wasn't able to attend her endowment session the day before.

In between the wedding picture taking, we found refuge under a tree. It was pretty hot and bright out and with Grant being only 2 weeks, we wanted to keep him out of the sun as much as possible.

We also got a good family picture under there!

(It is already blown up and on our mantle at home!)

The newly extended Fairall family.

Just missing Todd in this one - I like to call this the "Brother's Goosing" picture.

Doesn't he look all handsome in his bow tie??

The way Christianna poses...should I be worried?

This is the Hightower & Fairall families together.

We are so glad to have Heather in the family. We love her!

After the wedding, we attended the reception in West Valley. All Christianna wanted to do was dance with her Daddy. Such a cutie!

I guess Chris & Brian have matured a bit since they totally didn't even think about decorating their car!

Not sure who did though...but I would say that they totally wasted all those Oreos by putting them up the antennae and all over the car...seriously...that is considered a criminal offense to me.

The day Grant was born and BEYOND!

2010-07-30T14:15:00.002-06:00

Friday:

Who would have known how today's' events would unfold? Definitely not Chris & I! We went in early Friday morning, to the Jordan Valley Hospital, to be induced. Grant was already over a week overdue. We had tried everything to help him along...from Ian William's fool proof secret salsa inducing sauce (Tuesday), to a bike ride out to the airport control tower (Thursday) among other activities. I was having contractions but nothing put me into labor.

(This is me...happy to be getting induced and excited for the baby.)

Once there I was still not progressing and the Dr. put me on petocin. (Really wasn't excited about that one.) After another few hours and thinking how great I was handling the contractions, I still had not dilated past a 2! They did an ultrasound only to find that the baby was breech. Well, this explained why nothing was happening. So things started to get "interesting." The next course of action was to try to turn him around in my belly...a very painful procedure. I got an epidural (another thing I was trying to see if I could avoid) and then they tried turning him. Even though I was certainly numb, it was the most painful thing ever. After three attempts, the Dr. stopped. The baby would not turn, he was just too big and there wasn't enough room to move and he didn't want to hurt the baby by forcing things.

Then things went even worse...the only option left was a cesarean. Talk about emotional overload! Chris & I tried so hard to keep things together, but we were struggling. Now I was facing major surgery. The most I have ever had "done" in a hospital; besides having 2 babies regularly, was 3 stitches
in my thumb about 5 years ago.

We had a couple hours until I was to have the surgery and Chris called a good friend from work to come and help give me a blessing. We are so grateful for the Priesthood. The comfort from that blessing was enough to help me calm down and think clearly as I asked the nurse what to expect. That in itself was a blessing as she had all her children by cesarean. I was also able to call my best friend Kayla & even though there wasn't enough time for her to get to the hospital to be there with me, talking with her was greatly calming.

When the time came to go in, Chris got all dressed in his little suit. The epidural wasn't working anymore and they had to give me a spinal tap. My body was reacting so weird to the various drugs in my system I was shaking uncontrollably! Chris found it amusing and was administering field sobriety tests on my eyes. Hilarious...definitely was not in any condition to drive - failed miserably!

The anaesthesiologist was the best ever. Everyone was really helpful and calming and the procedure went better than I could have hoped for. Chris, ever curious, asked if it was ok with me if he watched what they were doing on the other side of the curtain. Of course I was fine with it - I actually knew it was coming anyway. At 5:29 PM Grant Roscoe was born.

He weighed a hefty 8 pounds and 10.5 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. As soon as he was born, he coughed and started to scream and BOY was it loud! The only hard thing was that I couldn't hold him yet until I was all stitched up.

Daddy got to hold him first.

Once we were both all cleaned up and finished, they wheeled me to my recovery room. Chris said that Kayla was there in the room waiting and I about burst into tears right there! Gosh, typing this is making me want to cry again. I am so blessed to have her as my friend. She knew how much I needed her and she did everything she could to be there for me. Thank you so much Kayla!

We were on the road to recovery.

So, you may be wondering where the girls were all this time. They were with Aunt Holly - our wonderful friend, who has been "adopted" as our family. She stayed with the girls the entire weekend and spoiled them like crazy! She brought them down to see us every day.

I think Christianna is started to be more excited about this whole boy business.

Grant's First Bath

Chris was there for it, he started out crying but soon calmed down with the warm water washing him.

The girls were happy to come and visit and meet their brother!

Uncle David came to visit as well...

...along with our soon-to-be Aunt Heather.

We also had the Blackburn family and a couple of my YW advisers and one of the Young Women visit. It was just wonderful to have them stop by!

Alright, in keeping with tradition, we put this outfit on Grant to take him home. This is the very same outfit that Chris came home in from the hospital as a baby. There was a boy & girl outfit that his parents would bring to the hospital each time. They only ever used the boy outfit so we used the girl one for Victoria & Christianna and now this one for Grant!

When we got home Monday evening (finally) the YW had decorated the garage and baby's room. They are such great girls!

After all was said and done, we were blessed to have another member in our family. It was well worth the wait for this little guy.

Christianna's Americanna Recital

2010-05-21T23:30:00.001-06:00

What a fun evening! We all attended Christianna's Ballet Recital this evening. My Dad was even able to come up to see it. (We will excuse Mom, she was in NY enjoying a sister's weekend and celebrating Grandma's 80th birthday.)

Christianna was a horseshoe. She is the one on the far left side. Boy was she excited to get her costume! Shiny gold with black - totally awesome! (Even though it was a bit itchy for her.)

She did such a great job and didn't have to look to the sides too often to watch her teachers. She was so nervous that she would forget everything but she was wonderful!

Chris and I got her a lovely bouquet of flowers. Turns out I was on the wrong side of them to get a good picture...but her face says it all!

The family all together.

Aunt Holly was also able to join us.

Christianna with Grandpa.

Uncle David and Heather also came.

It meant so much to me to have everyone come and support her tonight.

After pictures, I went with Christianna to collect her things only to find that she was missing a shoe! Seriously? What the heck? We did find a random brown shoe that wasn't a match - so we figure that someone just threw on 2 shoes not knowing they didn't match and then left! CRAZY!! I am so hoping there is a lost and found when summer classes begin - they were a stinking cute pair of brown shoes.

(I will be adding a video of her performance once I can figure out how to edit it to only her dance.)

Spring Fling MADNESS!

2010-05-15T21:00:00.001-06:00

So our Young Women's Spring Fling is finally done! There was so much stress involved with getting this activity off the ground and I am glad it all worked out and it is now over. Believe me, I was so ready to throw in the towel and do something different this year but Jessica wouldn't let me.

We ran into building scheduling conflicts - made worse with the closing of our Stake Center for renovations which just made our building unattainable. Not to mention the various Stake activities that were popping up everywhere.

We went with the Luau theme this year. The menu: pulled pork, rice, salad, chop suey and fresh fruit. It was delicious! Angie even provided fresh pineapple from Hawaii!

We had the regular fundraising activities; the dinner, cake auction, silent auction and bake sale. We wanted to add a little entertainment as well so we had the girls learn a Polynesian dance to perform for everyone. They did great and had a fun time at it!

There were some cake auction highlights too.

At one point we had someone on their cell phone bidding for a friend who had to work - it was for a very desired chocolate cake with Reese's Peanut Butter cups on it.

Then the bidding was on for an Apple Crumble cake made by Brian Barker..to be made fresh when wanted served up with vanilla ice cream. Chris started bidding and Aaron kept countering. As they were reaching $75, I was about to have a heart attack! Once it went over $100, I looked at him with such pleading eyes and asked him to please stop bidding....got some laughs on that one. At $105, Chris yells at Aaron, "Are you serious?" And Aaron just said,"It's good cake!" At that point Aaron suggested that they split it and that we will share the cake when it is made. PHEW! Hey, I know it was for a good cause - but don't overstress the pregnant lady!

A big thanks goes out to everyone who supported the young women. We raised enough for all of them to attend Wilderness camp this year!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T19:59:00.000-06:00

This Mother's Day was wonderful for me! First, we were in Cedar over the weekend so the girls and I were able to go to Sacrament meeting with my parents. Victoria & Christianna were a bit sad that they would not be singing with their Primary back home. Mom talked with the Primary Song leader there and the girls were able to sing with their Primary! It was so sweet. Each child was given a pretty rose to hold while they sang and then they each gave them to their Mothers when they were done. Victoria gave hers to Mom...such a sweetheart!

After Sacrament, we headed home. My goal was to be home in time for dinner. We actually beat Chris home from church. He was so cute! He had this huge smile on his face and said,"I just can't wait!" He then opened the microwave to show me his masterpiece.

He then critiqued his work - but I thought it was fantastic! He even made the frosting for it - which was no small task since he had to find the recipe first and it turns out that it was not labeled as to what it was. It was just a scrap of paper with the ingredient list...not instructions as to what you do with them! So typical of me!! ha ha

I really didn't take a bite out of it....

...but I did accidentally get frosting on me.

Not sure were Victoria was and I am kinda sad that she wasn't in the picture!

All in all, we had a good dinner and dessert and I was able to spend it with my family.

What more could I ask for?

Skate Party

2010-05-01T17:22:00.008-06:00

The girl's pediatric Dentist office has yearly parties for their patients. For the first time in the years we have been going there, we were actually able to attend one. It was so much fun and it was fantastic that we could all actually go! It was down at Classic Skating in Sandy.

The first thing we did was hit the bounce house area. The girls were getting so worn out - it was GREAT!

Right after Christianna went over this, she immediately fell out of sight!

This one was fun. Chris even had to try it out. There was a timer so you could race someone through the maze.

We then had a little family pow wow to decide what to do next...

...the vote was to skate!

Chris isn't much into skating but I personally love it. I first let the girls just go out by themselves. Victoria remembered it pretty well, but Christianna was struggling a bit. So I did what any mom would do and got skates too so I could go around with her for awhile.

I was a little weary of falling and needing assistance to get my butt up off the floor. But I survived and DIDN"T fall at all.

Christianna soon got the knack of it and then I could sit and relax with my love...who happens to look like he is in pain or crying. He wasn't - remember, he was having a good time.

After skating for awhile, we headed to our final destination: The Blast Zone.

Pretty much, you collect little foam balls and shoot them at anything that moves. Good times!

There was a huge slide in there too. You can kinda see Christianna (toward the top in pink), Victoria (just below her sister), and Chris (by the target sign). They all climbed up to go down together as our big finale to our fun day.

I thought it was super adorable!

Ready....set....

...GO!!!

We are looking forward to the next party for sure!

Snow???

2010-04-29T12:15:00.002-06:00

I may be the only one in Utah to say this....but:

Bring on the snow!!!!!

You see, the longer this colder weather holds out, the less likely I am to spend 2+ months swelling up like a behemoth balloon. SERIOUSLY!

With Victoria, who was born at the end of May, I had so much water retention that I had cankles people! Luckily I didn't get toxemia...but I was getting dangerously close to it...blech!

So I say to Ms. Mother Nature...Let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW!!!!

See...even Minnie likes it. HAH!

(What are the odds of a little snow in June, I wonder?)

2010-04-26T13:55:00.000-06:00

What a fun day! I was able to go along with Christianna's 1st Grade class on their field trip to Red Butte Gardens. The class was split into 2 groups, so I spent the morning with half of them. It was really nice having a guide too. She taught the kids all about plants and their parts. It was funny all the things I had forgotten!

They each got little magnifying glasses so they could really check out the different plant parts.

I love going to the gardens. It was nice to spend some time with Christianna too. Not sure how many more field trips I will be able to go on after the baby comes - so I was grateful for the opportunity.

Victoria's 2nd Quilt

2010-04-19T11:44:00.001-06:00

Victoria just blows my mind!

Before I left, I showed Mom the colors I was doing in the baby's room. Victoria then looked through different patterns and then got my opinion as to the one I liked best.

She then spent the entire weekend, while Chris & I were in Vegas for the race, sewing away. She pretty much worked on it for 3 days straight and didn't want to do much of anything else - which left Christianna bored on more than one occasion!

When we got back, I asked if she got her homework finished and she gave me that "uh oh.." look. The conversation went something like this:

Mom: "Did you get all your homework done?"

Victoria: "Ummmm....no....but I just wanted to keep sewing the quilt!"

Grandma: "I understand honey (because many things are put aside when she is quilting)...but you should have been honest with me."

So a little honesty lesson was inserted here - but it was understood how badly she wanted to finish the quilt before we got back! She just loves to quilt!

She finished her homework - she did have most of it done though.

Then we got a picture of her passion!

I so love it!!!
All that is left is the back and we are hoping to have her spend time at Grandma's in June so she can get it all finished.

Christianna's Photos

2010-04-19T11:29:00.001-06:00

The day Chris & I returned from Vegas, Christianna had my camera and went about my parents home taking tons of pictures. (Sorry, not extreme close-ups of runny dog noses this time.) I am sharing some of my favorites. I think we have a little photographer in the making here!

This is a dormant wasps nest in a barrel.

A dead bug????

The back window of the van with the team number for the Baker to Vegas Relay Run. (The reason we were in Vegas.)

Cambria - tech. my brother's dog...but he left him here with my parents when he moved out.

That would be the mama.

Their other dog - the jealous one...Sadie.

The following were obviously not taken by Christianna...but I thought I would share a little glimpse into the personality of the photographer so I included them!

Fashionista Christianna

2010-04-15T18:06:00.001-06:00

Seriously, this kid cracks me up!

We were getting ready to head to Cedar City and the girls got all ready for bed since we would be arriving a little late. I had just bought these rain boots for her to wear since it was really muddy at my parents house. I about fell over laughing when I saw this outfit.

Hair tied back nicely and the stray bangs back with a sparkly blue headband.

Pajama dress.

High knee socks with fashionable skulls & crossbones on them.

The finishing touch - cow rain boots.

Easter

2010-04-04T15:40:00.000-06:00

This year we down played the whole commercial side of Easter and focused more on our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We had various activities leading up to Sunday and I must say that it was so much better!

We did color eggs though. We used the same method as last year - dripping color dye on the eggs and rolling them around in a strainer. It makes a cool tie-dye effect.

Chris even got in on the fun!

The other tradition that held through was the new Easter dresses. It was a very cute pattern and the girls chose their fabric. There are little sequins all over. They turned out to be a bit itchy on the inside seams, so Victoria spent a good amount of time cutting all of her sequins off that were on the inside!

Yes, my girls do love a good photo shoot!

The Pinewood Derby

2010-04-02T20:31:00.003-06:00

This year our scouts made the Pinewood Derby a ward event. We were so stoked to be able to make a car as the YW leaders. Victoria & Christianna and Chris made cars as well.

Here is the fearless Cub Master, Heather. I know she put so much time into making this a great activity - THANKS HEATHER!!!!

This track was ginormous. It was about as long as the entire cultural hall diagonally.

Here is the YW's car "The Refiners Fire" right next to Chris's police car. Whenever Chris was in a race, his car won. Apparently even derby cars do not want to pass a cop car!

There were so many cars that night! They first raced all the scouts cars and then opened it up to the rest of the ward competitors.

Everyone got certificates too. So even though none of us made the winners circle...we all came back feeling pretty good about things!

The girls actually shared a car. Victoria is the Utah fan and Christianna is the BYU fan.

Can someone pass the....mud?

2010-03-15T17:22:00.000-06:00

I got a call from the school today. It was Christianna. She asked if I could bring her some clothes...a clean shirt, pants and shoes. She told me she fell in mud but I figured, how bad can it be? So I gathered the necessary things and headed over. When I walked into the office, I so wanted to turn around, go back to the house and grab my camera! But I resisted that urge and we headed to the bathroom. Man, when she took off her shirt, her belly was coated in mud too!

I tried my best to wash it off with wet paper towels and we got her all changed and presentable. I was glad that she didn't have her jacket on correctly or I would have been washing that too.

For my lack of camera and a brain, I saved her clothes in a little pile for after school and made her put them on for a picture. I just couldn't miss out on this one!

By the way, the mud never came out of her white shirt entirely. We'll count that as a loss. But, I don't know...I think it was worth it!!

It's a BOY!!!

2010-03-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

So, how do the Fairall's announce the sex of the new baby?

With food - of course!!

Tonight we were having breakfast for dinner and I thought - hmmm, blue pancakes will be GREAT!

I then set up the table like this:
Victoria was hoping for a boy & Christianna was hoping for a girl and I decorated each plate accordingly.
I did add a secret message under each plate though.

Then we had Christianna check out under her plate first & Victoria apparently reads quite well upside down. She was already excited.

Then she revealed her message and practically threw hew plate through the window! Just kidding!!

For about 5 minutes Christianna just scowled at Victoria since
she turned out to be right. That was funny.

So after all the fun, we settled in to eat some pancakes. I even made blueberry syrup - YUMMERS.
(We had about 5-8 minutes to eat dinner since Chris got home late from work and we had to head right over to the church for mutual.)

A Sad Time

2010-02-28T12:26:00.001-07:00

This is kind of a long story - but I am not really wanting to get into everything right now. An incident occurred with Minnie bolting out the door and we had to take her back. It was totally heart wrenching for all of us. She was gone for almost 3 weeks and we just couldn't leave it like that. We ended up getting her back and committing to obedience training for her since we really had done nothing up to this point and we wanted to give Minnie a fair shake in things.

The training has been awesome for all of us and she is really learning who is boss around here. We are so glad we gave her another chance. We knew she was a good girl! Maybe someday I will put out the whole story...but I don't know. We are just glad to have the little heathen back in our home with us!

Christianna...are you sleeping?

2010-02-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

I went in to check on our dear Christianna before I went to bed and saw this:

I was laughing so hard...quietly of course. Didn't want to wake her before I got a picture! She was pretty firm-footed on the floor and still fast asleep. We did eventually move her after the necessary laughing and picture taking. We love the things she does!!

Investigator V. Fairall Reports

2010-02-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

This year, Victoria had the opportunity to participate in the school science fair. She only got the notice about it 2 weeks before it had to be done - so that really limited her as to what she could do. We talked about different ideas and most of them involved plants and watering them with different "chemicals." Well - I figured that we would need more time to kill off plants...we talked about forensics. She decided to do a study on fingerprints...her own actually.

So, are your fingerprints the same on your right hand compared to your left? Are fingerprints the same between family members?

That is what Victoria set out to discover. Chris set up an appointment for her to meet with a Crime Lab Technician who specializes in fingerprints on Feb. 8th. Victoria came all ready with a list of questions.

We all learned so much listening to the answers. Koalas have fingerprints too! Did you know?

After she collected her information, she fingerprinted all of us in order to compare. She learned that every fingerprint is different...there may be similar loops and characteristics between family members and between your own hands - but they are all different.

FASCINATING!!!

I will be honest...I helped a little with the poster...she picked out what she wanted on it, typed up the titles she needed & I just helped with aligning everything.

It was exciting to see her explain what she learned to anyone who would ask! My parents were even in town for it and that was awesome for them to see too. (Dad so wanted to try the 2 soda bottle experiment-the one where you fill it half with water and then as you swirl it around it makes a tornado and it empties faster into the second bottle. I was shocked that he didn't know that rick already. Love you Dad!)

Victoria received a 2nd place ribbon too in her category!

WAHOOO VICTORIA!!!

YW New Beginnings

2010-02-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our lovely Young Women. It was sad that more couldn't make it. We had a fun safari theme this year and shared with the girls the important ways to prepare themselves to face the challenges in the world and how Personal Progress helps them to prepare for life as well.

I just had to include the cupcakes - all of the leaders got together and spent an afternoon decorating the cute little buggers.

Family Pictures: Complete

2010-02-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures with Minnie - taken before we were taking her back to the rescue.

This one is my favorite of all of us together. I am thinking of getting it larger to put in our family picture frame over our mantle.

A very special THANK YOU goes out to our fantastic dog loving neighbor - Kathy. She came over to take the pictures for us and we really appreciated it!!

Mutual Ice Skating

2010-02-03T22:53:00.007-07:00

Tonight we spent my birthday having a blast ice skating with the young men and women. We took everyone up to the University of Utah rink. Some may think I was a little crazy for skating while pregnant - but I love to skate and didn't want to sit this fun activity out! That is one thing about me - just hate to be left out. (Just ask Chris, he'll tell you!)

This here is a picture of some of the leaders.

This is our awesome Bishop! (He didn't skate though...party pooper!)

(Don't let this picture fool you - Liz had a good time and wasn't on her phone all night.)

My girls just LOVE to skate! They were so excited to be able to come with us on this activity. They both have only skated a few times in their lives, but they picked it up so fast.

Once Christianna and I took a couple trips around together, she had enough confidence to just go at it alone!

I think this was taken right after I had fallen on mybackside.

It wasn't my fault - entirely! I was skating in the direction we were supposed to be going and I had my camera out taking some pictures of the youth. Well, these 3 younger kids came from the wrong direction and totally cut me off! I tried to stop, but instead fell. Hey - it was the first and ONLY time I fell too. My little camera totally broke. As I was looking at it, a couple YW came up and told me that that little group of kids went off the ice chatting with themselves and said "You totally made that old lady fall!"

NICE!!! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! Do you think 32 is "old?"

Anyway - they came up and apologized to me later on about the old lady comment. I am still bugged that my camera broke.

Here I am with Liz and Jessica - the most wonderful counselor EVER!!!

I may be explaing to Jazzen that his head gear isn't appropriate and that he should put it back on the ice....

....what do you think?

Looking at these pictures totally made me cackle - LOUDLY.

Chris getting ready for his big move...

...ooops!!!!!

Isn't it great that he can laugh at himself??? (That's why I didn't feel too bad laughing too.)

I just had to include this picture of Christianna's backside. In learning to skate without me, she fell a few times. She just got a little wet :-)

Here are a few of our fearless leaders. Peter, Sylvia and Nelson.

Not sure what really happened here - when I went to investigate, the story sounded a little fishy.

And thus ends another fantastic activity with our youth!

It's My Birthday!!

2010-02-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Being in YW's is FUN! Today I woke up and sent the girls to school and saw this:

Just made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!!

They must have come pretty late last night to get it done too.

I actually asked one of my counselors about it - mainly when they came. She told me that it was pretty late and that they tried to be so careful as to not alert Minnie! I just pictured them creeping up to the house and trying to be so stealthy about it. They did succeed too - didn't hear a sound! Thanks!!!

Food Bank Drop-Off

2010-01-23T10:40:00.002-07:00

Remember all that food that was donated at Christianna's Birthday party? We finally took it all to the food bank today. It was great to go as a family to bring it to their center. Serving others gives you such a great feeling and I was grateful to share that with my girls today.

So PROUD!! (sniff, sniff)

On the way to Layton...

2010-01-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Chris and I were heading up to Layton to get some breakfast at Sill's Cafe. (Yummers x's 10!) While driving on the freeway we couldn't believe this:

(Can you see it? That little panda hanging on for dear life??)

Alright, so he doesn't look too scared...but we found this hilarious! Maybe he was trying to do some super ninja thing and the truck driver was some bad guy carrying illegal stuff....like fireworks or something.

Way to go KUNG FU PANDA!!!!

(Everybody was kung foo fighting.....da da da da da da dada daaah)

A Day at the Zoo

2010-01-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today we took an impromptu trip to the zoo and met Heather, and her boys and Laycee.

It was a chilly day, but we were all bundled up and ready for some fun. There are not too many pics this time...I know, I was slacking.

We did see lots of animals, but these here were the wildest!

It was such a challenge to get all 6 of them on this Rhino and have them all look at me at the same time...hence not one shot of all their faces.

I know this one is blurry - but it has a story all it's own. You may be able to tell that Heather is laughing, hence the hunched back...if you look to the bottom right corner of the picture, you will see Christianna sprawled on the ground.

She totally slipped right off and down into the mud. We all thought it was hilarious - even Christianna.

That wraps it up!

Oh what a loverly day!

2010-01-19T13:52:00.002-07:00

The Utah air has been ucky and gunky lately & I am so excited to see the blue, blue sky today. I just opened some windows, like I do when it is springtime. Ooohh, I feel a cool little breeze, I smell some really FRESH air, the wind chimes are singing to me and the sun shine is pouring into my kitchen.

I have fresh bread rising on my stove.

I am also all caught up on my blog!

In the words of Martha Stewart: "It is a good thing!"

Happy Happy Birthday Christianna, Dear!

2010-01-16T16:43:00.002-07:00

We finally had Christianna's birthday party with her friends. We had to wait a few weeks so that we could have the most awesome face painter EVER there. Christianna decided that it was best to wait instead of not having facepainting. I agree...good decision.

We had decided on a carnival theme & I was super excited about the idea. This was the invite that we gave the girls. It was in the form of an admission ticket.

(So, I did have it on here until I was reminded by Heather - thanks by the way - that - DUH! Our address was on there! SO I took it off.)

We had a little note on the back that read,

"No Presents Please

Christianna would like to have a food drive instead of gifts this year.

If you can, please bring some canned/boxed food and we will deliver it to the Utah Food Bank.

Thank You!"

(For those who may be wondering whose idea that one was...I'll be honest. I did give her the idea and asked if that was something she would like to do. She was very excited about it and said YES!"

It was awesome as the girls showed up with a bag of food each! We are very much looking forward to delivering the food this week.

I even had this grand idea to hang one of those parachutes (the kind they use in school for kids to run under) from our fan in the lving room to make it look like a circus tent. Well, for safety's sake, I decided against it...the fan was kind of tipping to one side and I didn't want to risk it falling down and crushing someone. Turns out those things are a little heavy.

We played lots of girly games and they seemed to have more fun watching Abi paint faces. Between Hullabaloo, popcorn, bean bag toss, cupcakes, making cute flower decorations for their rooms, eating taffy and the limbo...not to mention the face painting...they had such a fun time together.

My sweet birthday girl. I love this picture.

A Big THANK YOU goes out to Uncle David and Heather for helping with the limbo game.

Turns out, Victoria is like the Limbo Queen. That girl is flexible.

This is Abi. Long story - but she and I used to be in YW together when we were YW back in PA. Came across her on Facebook and after reading her various posts regarding face painting at events in SL, thought I would see if she did parties too. WAHOO - she does!! It was great to see her again and catch up on our lives. She did an amazing job with the girls and I really think that was their favorite part of the party.

Here they are all painted up. We are missing just one friend, Daniela, who had to leave early.

Victoria just couldn't miss out on the face painting. Even I was tempted to have mine done! To be honest, it was kinda freaky to look at her with all that stuff on her face...you know? Her eyes were just POPPING out of her head.

Another party down....so many more to go. It was great to celebrate Christianna again and the wonderful blessing she is to our family.

2010-01-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today Chris and I were able to go to a special program that the Red Pod had put together. It was called "The Melting Pot of the World."

Victoria's class started off with reading a poem. They also had some teachers talk about their native land. We learned a lot from Mr. Ghafarri and all he sacrificed to come to America for a better life and education. The other teachers also shared where their ancestors were from. It was really neat to learn about them. It was also great for the kids to learn how people can be different and from different places and still work together in our great nation.

Christianna's class sang the Star Spangled Banner. She had been practicing the song at the house for weeks. Apparently the shower has some awesome acoustics! Watch the video of them singing - it is cute.

Appointment #2

2010-01-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

I went in again for my regular checkup today. It is so fun being able to see the baby already and how much has changed in a month. I still get teary at the miracle that I hold inside of me. I had to laugh too, as we were doing this, the baby was moving around a lot....kicking the legs in the air & then waving the arms. They even rested their arm over their head - just like I do when I sleep. The head is on the right side within that dark area in the middle.

The leg is kicking up in this one (above) looks like a little line on the left side.

(Below) The arm is over the head in this one.
Heather (across the street) is convinced that it is a boy. (I think she is seeing "things".) Only time will tell. Turns out we have to wait until the first week in March to see if we are having a boy or girl. I bombarded the Dr. with some questions too. Turns out, I can not go to Youth Conference June 15-19 in St. George. Just too close to the due date and the stress of being responsible for youth on top of being hugely pregnant will not be a good combo. Not to mention - it will be hot there. Even though I was a little bummed, I really wouldn't have been much help anyway plus, it would have been depressing knowing I was missing all the fun hiking and stuff.

Looking forward to my next appointment Feb. 10. I will hopefully get to schedule the ultrasound of awesomeness and I am being transferred to a new Dr. in the same office since my ob doesn't deliver babies anymore (sniff, sniff). I wonder if that has to do with the fact that he is now a Bishop? Hmmm, I wonder?

Callings out the wazoo!

2010-01-10T17:17:00.001-07:00

Today was a very important day for me. I think it was the end of a whole slew of different callings in our ward. But before I get to the new, I will explain what I mean.

Let's go back to October 2008. This is the month where we officially started attending our new ward. I was soon called to be the Webelos leader. I was apprehensive at first because I am surrounded by girls and I had no clue how scouts even worked. Once I finally got my head wrapped around things, it turned out to be such a fun calling! And then...I was released.

I was then put into Young Womens as the secretary. I kinda laughed when given that one since I am SUPER BAD at organizational skills. Want proof? Ask Chris & then take a look at my office. But I persevered and did my best...for a couple months until I was moved to be the advisor over Personal Progress in YW. During this time I was also a Ma for our Pioneer Trek Youth Conference. (If you ask me, that is truly one of the best callings EVER! I would do it again in a heartbeat. Repeatedly.)

In September, I was yet again, released and put into the Primary as the secretary...thinking there is something I am supposed to learn here? Upon learning that a secretary makes or breaks the Primary organization (thanks Heather) I was seriously not going to be the one to let the ball drop. I put everything I could into making things work & run smoothly for the brand new Primary presidency...who were all new at it.

Which brings me to the here and now...On Jan. 10th I was to move once again. I was released as the secretary and then called to be the new Young Women's President. WOW! I am very excited for this new phase in my life...and not because I am practically guaranteed to be in it for two and a half to three years...it's because I love the girls! Spending all that time on trek with them helped me to really get to know and love them.

I know it is kind of a joke within the ward- all the different places I have been moved to within about a year and a month - but I know that callings come from the Lord, and I was grateful for each of the opportunities I had to get me to where I am now. I hope and pray that I can continue to be a good example and leader for these young women. I think back to my leaders and what an important role they had in my life and I do not want to let these girls down.

I came across this from the General YW President. In reference to all the young women in the world, they are our "bright, shining hope for the future," and we, as leaders, need to help them learn that they are daughters of God and that with that knowledge they can move forward with confidence.

I know that is true!

Lucky Dog

2010-01-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

What an evening! Tonight we had our Pampered Chef team meeting in West Jordan. (Location will prove to be important in a minute.) It was like any other meeting, fun, friends, training and some food. I had carpooled with a friend, Shelly and her two kiddies. It all seemed uneventful enough, after the meeting was done we piled into our car and headed back north...about a 20 minute ride.

After we pulled into our driveway, I got out and opened the door behind me so the kids could get out. To my shock and surprise...there was a little white dog just laying there on the seat next to Phoenix, partly in his lap.

"Why is there a dog in the back seat?" was all I could muster to say.

"I don't know." Was the answer...

"Why didn't you tell us that Lucky had climbed into the car?"

"I forgot."

WOW! Normally this wouldn't have been too bad, yes a little frustrating...but I would have been fine dealing with it. EXCEPT, Chris was still at the YM activity and Heather was at my house staying with the girls - who were already in bed for the night - and now I had to ask her to stay even longer (thought Chris would have been home about an hour earlier) so I could return the dog to West Jordan.

I tried to see how it would go with Lucky & Minnie so I could maybe return him the next day...well, she was not happy with this little yipper in her house.

I called Debbie, for that was the dog's owner, and asked her if she knew where her dog was. I bet I sounded like I was asking a ransom or something. She said laughing, "Why, is he with you?" When I replied with a very big "YES!" She laughed even more. Apparently the little dear loves car rides.

Luckily she was ok with meeting me halfway and as I was heading out the driveway, Chris pulled up. Thank goodness, Heather could go home now and then I could get this little mutt to his rightful owners. Thank you Heather for aiding me in my evening of "When it Rains it Pours." (And for also not letting Minnie eat Lucky.)

Now every time we leave Debbie's house, I will make sure that we have not picked up any stowaways.

I guess you live and learn?

Who's my teacher?

2010-01-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

The day started with so many questions...good ones too!

"Who is my teacher?"

"Where do I sit?"

"Which class is mine?"

Today was our Primary "Meet the Teacher" activity. It was a rough one with a bit of stress added to the mix, and let me tell you - I learned a lot of what we should do next year! But we pulled it off and the children seemed to have a great time. There were various stations and the classes rotated around the room to each one.

Tiffany did a musical chairs activity. Perfect for all those kids to get some energy out and run a little.

My dear Christopher was recruited to help out & I am so greatful that he did! He ran the scripture story memory game.

Even Bishop got in on the musical chairs action. (Who wouldn't? I would have if I had the time.)

Then ther was the Bingo station. The Bingo cards were so cute, if the square desribed you, you got to mark it. Just a fun spin on getting to know the new kids in each class.

This was the calendar station. They each made a chart to keep track of the monthly scripture that we use in primary.

We all survived, maybe a little worse for wear...but we did indeed survive. (It was a little crazy since the Primary Pres. was out of town on vacation & we were counting down the days until her return. 4 days left to go!)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, another event without my camera! I am seriously slacking.

Our wonderful neighbors, the Lymans, hosted a little shindig to celebrate the New Year. Awesomely it was early on - didn't think I would even make it to midnight with how tired I have been lately. We enjoyed friends, good conversations and lots of laughs.

After we had worn out our welcome, yet again...we headed home and got the girls ready and in bed. I let them stay up until after 10, that's 2 hours later than normal. Think what you want...but I was the one who would be up with them the next day and they needed sleep so there would be less crankiness. Especially with the primary activity the next morning.

I was definitely ready to go to bed at 10 myself. Chris really wanted to wait up until midnight. Turns out I am a crazy and supporting wife since I ended up staying up with him. Originally we were going to watch a movie, but it turned into channel surfing and watching shows about food! Luckily the last one was about all the various things people fry and eat. YUCK! Did you know that there are restaurants that are known for frying the following items:

BACON (insert puking sound here)

Hamburgers

Pickles

I know there were more things, but those really stuck with me (and would stick with you if you ever tried them.) I was actually intrigued by the pickles though...

Needless to say, we bought pickles on our very next grocery shopping trip and have yet to try frying them.

I am hoping that your New Years was a bit more eventful than ours, I think we did ring in the new year with a very tired kiss and then promptly turned off the TV and crashed into bed.

Sledding at Lindsey Gardens

2009-12-30T20:17:00.002-07:00

Today we were introduced to the wonderful world of good sledding. Heather has told us about this place and we were so very excited to be able to go and get on some sweet hills. The girls did get sleds for Christmas, so we got all ready and loaded up. It had been snowing for most of the morning and there is nothing like fresh snow!

We joined the Barker, Lyman & Thomas families for some rip roaring good times. Victoria & Christianna saw the biggest and steepest hill there and immediately went for it. Unfortunately, they haven't learned the good skill of walking up the hill so you are a little familiar with ramps & bumps and just went down it. Christianna was fine but Victoria totally nailed a ramp and flew into the air and landed on her back. It hurt for a little, but she eventually got back into sledding. Very grateful that we didn't have to run to the hospital.

I really wish that I had used my really good camera - I would have had better pictures as well as a few more. Didn't want it to get ruined in the weather though.

Now Chris & I have to get sleds so we can all go again soon. I am thinking that an inner tube style would totally ROCK!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

This year was a bit different. For the first time in years, Uncle David wasn't there. He went to Indiana with Heather for the holidays. He was missed.

We started our morning with reading the scriptures, the birth of our Savior, to be exact. We really want to make sure that they really know the meaning of Christmas.

Then the gift giving began!

We had to give Minnie her gifts towards the beginning since she had been smelling them since I opened the box from Grandma & Grandpa Fairall. This chew toy/rope thing..had a ball on it...for about 5 minutes. Then she practically ate up most of the rope in about 2 days. Are there any dinosaur chew toys available?

The girls are showing of more dresses from Grandma & Grandpa Fairall. They love it when they get more dresses.
This was a gift from Chris. It is a framed picture of Victoria and Chris while they were on a Motor Centennial Ride this past summer.

I got some wonderful stuff for my face...to help clear it up.
(Hence the strategic placement of the box over my chin.)

The most awesome gift EVER was to Chris from me! I had been searching for the best way to pop popcorn & I came across the oil method as the most voted for. I was ecstatic when I found one & that it was on sale! Yippee!!!

As is tradition, after all was opened and enjoyed, it was time to find the pickle on the tree. We had a small one that was about an inch big, but it saw it's last tree last year. I just found a new one, but this sucker is about 3 inches & therefore, not too hard to find. But I figured that it was better than nothing.

Chris found it & therefore wins the prize for being the most observant child. ha ha A lovely bubble wand, fun for all ages. (Really, I tried it out too and it was super fun!)

Christianna turns 7!

2009-12-23T16:51:00.001-07:00

My baby - well current baby...turned 7 today. I am amazed at how fast time flies! We were able to have our family celebrations today...on her birthday.

As is often the case, we had a request for a Barbie cake this year. (Glad I got a new barbie body since Minnie ate the last one months ago.) She blows out her candles in such a funny way...she only had 7 candles and still needed multiple tries. What is she going to do when there are about 15? Need oxygen??

If you're good, you may realize that this was a gift she received last Christmas...well, it was broken, by a friend, a few weeks after she got it, so we thought we would get her another one. She was very glad!

Chris got this especially for the BYU fan. She insists that Uncle David likes her best because she likes them and not the "U" like her sister. Who knows for sure? It was set up and on her bedroom door before the night was over.

The Fairall Grandparents sent this super cute dress for her. She loved it!

This is the doll bed that I got her. She loves playing with it! It will get into a good practice/routine for when the baby comes.

Daddy brought home this lovely bouquet for her birthday. Isn't it magical how a bunch of cut flowers can make your day? Plus, she loved that vase & is thrilled to know that it is just hers!

Christianna, you have come a long way from your crazy energizer bunny days, where I would chase you 'till the cows came home! You are growing up into such a beautiful young lady. You learned how to ride your bike without training wheels this year. You already have a list of boys you have a crush on and are a great friend to others. Your favorite color right now is blue and you favor peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch practically every day, even though I try to get you to have new things. You are definitely a mommas girl and come to me for everything. I know that I will miss that in a few years when I am not at the top of your list. But I will enjoy you as much as I can now.

I love you honey!

Ward Christmas Party

2009-12-18T20:38:00.002-07:00

First things first...the food. It was delicious! We had a great Ward Christmas party this year. I loved the fact that they really tried focusing on Jesus Christ, and the celebration of his birth vs. the whole Santa thing. They did a great job too. I brought a dessert & this is what I made: brownie reindeer.

I had been wondering why Kenley was all dressed in white for the dinner...then after she got all accessorized, I figured it out. She was the lucky one to portray the angel.

They gave head scarves to the primary children as well, and they looked like a whole bunch of shepherds.

They had a special musical number by the activity girls & some extras. Victoria is there in the red and black dress.

They read the scriptural account of our Savior's birth and re-enacted the manger scene.

Then all the primary children sang "Away in the Manger." They did such a wonderful job.

Then the young men and women sang a song. Christianna was just amazed. She just sat and stared right up at them the entire time. It was adorable!

The evening was great and it always makes things better when you can celebrate with your family and many friends.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope we all can remember the true meaning of why we celebrate this special time of the year.

Christianna's Winter Recital

2009-12-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

Today was very exciting. Christianna has been practicing for her winter recital for a few weeks now, and we were finally able to see it. Luckily, Chris was even able to get off work in time to head to Bountiful with us.

We started in her class room, where they stretched and got warmed up for their dance.

I love watching her do her ballet. She is such a beautiful girl!

After all that was done, we met in the main studio and were able to watch all the various classes perform a dance. Christianna's was second to go. They danced to a song as though they were dolls.

She kept looking at her instructor to make sure she was doing everything right. Maybe as she gets more confident, she can look at her audience?

After the little ladies were finished, they took a seat along the wall to watch the rest of the classes. Christianna always likes to be by her teacher or assistant, especially in class when they are at the bar.

Looking adorable & a job well done!

We ended up going to the most awesome Chinese restaurant - EVER...which happens to be located right next door to the ballet studio. It is so good, that I have these cravings for it - A LOT. It sure is hard not to stop there to eat every Thursday after ballet!

We're PREGNANT!!!

2009-12-17T17:14:00.001-07:00

We have waited years to be able to announce this one again. I found out the week of Thanksgiving that we were indeed excpecting little Fairall number 3. I had suspicions and finally took a test and sure enough - it was positive. I told Chris via text message..."Guess who is pregnant - AGAIN?" His first guess whas JEnnie, my sister, who just happened to have her fourth child this past summer. I told him to guess again...and he said "You?" I said "YES!!!" It was funny. He was in a meeting and asked if I was serious & why in the world would he think that I would joke about that? He was excited too.

He didn't want to tell everyone until it was Dr. official. He was doubting the test I took since it was purchased at the dollar store. I figure, you don't have to spend 15 bucks on a test!

We called all the family on Thanksgiving day to make the big announcement. Christianna was the one to do it with "Guess what, I am going to be a big sister!" Everyone is thrilled.

I had my first Dr. visit on Dec. 17 and came back with an ultrasound. At the very bottom of that black hole area is a little peanut...that would be the baby. It was amazing that I could see the heart fluttering already. Now we know that we are only expecting 1. Victoria & Christianna had it all figured out: we were going to have triplets. That way they each could have one and Chris & I could share the third one. Funny huh? Now we wait until March to see if it is a boy or a girl.

The lights were beautiful!

2009-12-14T22:30:00.004-07:00

It was wonderful to have my parents visit for the weekend. My Dad helped with a few fix-it jobs around our house. (Ok - did them while I watched - it is the best way for me to learn, you know.) We were super excited that we were able to convince them to stay another day. So we took that time and headed down to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. Chris was working at the arena so wasn't able to come with us.

We were armed with mugs of hot chocolate and all dressed in our snowy best!

This is the Salt Lake Temple. I was really liking the shots I got!

Meet my parents: Ron & Francine. They really wanted a good picture with the temple in the background...it was tough with the challenge of the lighting. So in the other ones, you could see them really good & the temple was all dark...in this one, we have the orangy glow from the lights on the tree they were standing next to.

this tree was amazing! I really wish I knew how many lights were on this one alone! It looked like every single inch was covered.

This is a picture of the temple through the reflecting pool.

Victoria

Christianna

We ran into some new friends a little before I took this picture. Tobi and her family, she hosted a show in November in Pleasant Grove. Victoria and her daughter, Justice, really hit it off and were so excited to run into each other there. Dad & her husband, Darren, hit it off and we had to break up their conversation to move along...worse than women! Seriously hilarious!

Here I am with my girls.

The little ladies with their Grandparents.

Low Dough Christmas Show

2009-12-09T23:42:00.002-07:00

Wowza! This was a fun night! Well, once it got started. It all started when I purchased the tickets about a month ago - we were really excited to all go to this concert. The tickets were only $5 a piece...plus taxes & fees, of course. But all in all - a cheap night out for the family. We arrived at the parking lot to see Wyatt Koeven working. He was so awesome, he totally just let us park there...no fee! (Found out he is a supervisor now, so he was ok to do that.) Thank you Wyatt!!

Once we got in, we had to walk around a bit, they were still doing sound checks at 7...when it was supposed to start. Anyway, once we got some treats, we finally got to our seats and the show began at least a half hour to 45 minutes late.

The opening act was Bombshell. I knew a couple of their songs...but it was really hard to understand the words. Oh well! (It is not sounding too great right now, huh?)

Next up: Bucky Covington. Did you know he has a twin brother? Well, he does - he was playing the bongo drums. (Personally, I think he looks better simply because he had his hair pulled back and not flopping all over in his face.)

It always surprises me to find out I know songs from an artist. You see, I hardly pay attention to who sings a song...I never have. The most annoying thing about this guy - is the constant brushing of his hair out of his face. I was thinking that he should either 1: pull it back or 2: cut it. Just saying. He does put on a good show though!

This was hilarious to me! HE was singing that song "I'll Walk," where the girls got hit by a car and is paralyzed...anyway. Towards the end, he kissed this girl's hand...see that fellow in between them? I am assuming it was her boyfriend, 'cause he is not too happy about what just happened! HA HA!

The final performer: Phil Vasser. I knew tons of his songs. The girls and I were singing away and Victoria really got into it, standing up and dancing.

I personally really liked this jacket!

Here I am with my sweetie! Don't we make such a cutie patootie couple?

It took about 5 tries to get one without them moving...end product: cuteness to the maximous!
(I took the ones of us while we were waiting for the concert to start.)

This was the best part of the evening. The dancing of Victoria was really bothering Christianna, so I told her to sit down in front of us..since the seats were empty. She totally fell asleep! I still cannot believe HOW - it was soooo loud in there.

We had such a fun night together! Now we will see how getting up early for school tomorrow goes. Wish me luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

This year we decided...and by "we" I mean "me"...that we would not have Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving. Originally, Chris was supposed to be working until 4:30 and I didn't want to spend the day cooking everything all alone. So we figured on having it on Friday instead, when he had off.

Turned out that he took off Thursday anyway, but I was still sticking with my plan. He just had to go and play in the Annual Turkey Bowl, which is a football game between a couple wards. David has gone with him the past few years & they always have such a great time. Apparently, Chris went early so he could paint lines on the field...and they were totally NOT straight! Wish I had been there to take a picture of that! As everyone showed up, they totally let him have it about the lines. He always means well.

Even though said game is known for injuries, he returned home with out any injuries. I spent Thursday baking the bread and rolls, the cranberry relish as well as the pies.

Friday, I made the rest of the meal...the turkey, and...I think that was it! We invited the Johnston Family over to share our meal with. I am really wishing I had taken pictures! What was wrong with me?

Anyway, they brought the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and Uncle David & his Heather came with the stuffing. It is fabulous sharing a meal with others...it was so much better not having to stress over all the food myself. Definitely a tradition I would LOVE to carry on for years to come!

There is nothing like being able to celebrate our many blessings with great friends and family!!

Christianna commandeered the camera...again!

2009-11-26T13:11:00.001-07:00

I am always amazed at how fast she can take pictures on that camera! In about 8 minutes, Christinianna had taken over 140 pictures!!! Can you even believe that? After downloading all of them, I had to go through and delete all the ones that included the back of Tanner's head. Really? The back of his head in over 50 pictures?? Heather had stopped by with John & Tanner for something, so while we were chatting in the kitchen, she was snapping away.

These are the ones that I kept.

This is what kids do while the adults are talking away.

Cross dressing

John was being Batman, taking a break.

Victoria was painting her toes.

Seriously, painting her toes.

Tanner taking a brief "nap"

Christianna taking self portraits...at least you can see her whole face & not just her nostrils, though that is a pretty clear shot right up her nose.

Tanner touching something that he shouldn't be...

...probably wondering why we even have these empty things on our fireplace...

...wondering who all these people are on our table. He could pick out Grandma & Grandpa Fairall & kept saying "Grandpa and Grandma." They look a lot like his grandparents....you know, the grey hair.

A glorious picture of Uncle David.

Followed up by a bright shot of Heather...so not to confuse anyone:

This is David's Heather, not Heather from across the street who belongs to Brett, John & Tanner.

There was a fun shot of the back of my head and neck along with (across the street) Heather with her hair in curlers....there is no longer any evidence of said shot. I felt it was best for both of us!

There you have it folks, the interesting artistry of Christianna the camera woman!

Sledding on Mosquito Hill

2009-11-23T17:43:00.001-07:00

The girls have really been itching to go sledding lately. Too bad we have no sleds, so when Heather invited us to come along sledding, they jumped on that one! (BTW: sleds are on their Christmas lists.) It seriously is a 2 second hill, but they all had such a great time. Heather had some family visiting, and Laycee also was there. As you can see, not much snow was left, but there was enough to go down the hill. Oh - did I mention, it was seriously frigid!

This is Heather - ready to have Tanner go down. So, now there is a face to whenever I talk about "Heather" and things we have all done together! (I'll try to get a better one)
Dear Victoria

At one point, the law of "Taking official turns" had to be implemented. It was for the best and as a result, there were much less tears.

Dear, Goofy Christianna

Tanner was enjoying the ride back up the hill.

This is John, at his happy hour.

I never got a good picture of Brett that wasn't blurry or of his back. I wonder if he was avoiding me and my camera?

Awww....my loverly ladies!

Here is John again...at his "I want to go home now" moment.

We had such a fabulously cold time...not that the kids noticed the temperature.

Good Deeds!

2009-11-09T15:37:00.002-07:00

So Victoria just came inside and told me this:

"Mom! There were these boys walking down the street and I saw them ripping open the leaf bags and throwing it on the street. So I went and hid behind a car and when they walked by, I jumped out just as they were going to go to another one & yelled,

'Hey! Leave the bags alone!!'

and they took off running like crazy."

I then asked the girls if they could move the bag from the road and if they would like to put the leaves in a new bag. They said "SURE" and went to work.

I definitely have the 2 greatest daughters in the world!

In Wrappers we Trust

2009-11-03T10:06:00.003-07:00

I don't know about you...but this totally knocked my socks off!

So I was helping out at the school with school pictures a month ago. A friend of mine went to the cafeteria to get lunch for her wee ones and after they ate their burger...she just had this sitting on the table. SERIOUSLY??? Now I am not talking about the fact that it was on the table - I am talking about that circle in the center...see it???"PLACE SANDWICH HERE"

I can honestly say that I think that it is a little bit much. Do they think the sweet cafeteria workers have no idea??? I am surprised that they do not carry both - English & Spanish versions...just in case. We don't want those burgers to be askew the least bit. All chaos would happen! (Too bad there wasn't such direction when I worked at Arby's in H.S. This totally would have helped.)

OI!

That's it - I am DONE!

2009-11-02T14:25:00.002-07:00

Not done with blogging...don't get too upset Jennie. I am done with the updating past stuff before the things that are going on right now. So what that means to all of my 12 followers :-) is I am going to work on current stuff as it happens & then continue to catch everything up that I have missed. So stay tuned everyone!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T22:59:00.007-06:00

This post will have lots of pictures. Our Halloween celebrations went over 3 days!!! So instead of 3 separate scary posts - I have them all together.

I will start off with the pumpkins. We actually carved them at about 6 pm on Halloween night. Better late than never, right?

The Witch - by Victoria

The Scary Faced Pumpkin- by Christianna

It all started on Oct. 24th. Laycee, our cute neighbor, had a special kids Halloween Party at her house. We were watching the boys while Heather & Aaron were at the Utah game. So we have here, a Renaissance Princess, 2 awesome ninjas & Laura Ingall's.

On Thursday, Oct. 29th we had our Ward Trunk or Treat. Guess what! Chris went this year as a.........COP! Shocker, right? The kids really like the flashing lights & police stuff. Actually, the lights were on as I was taking the picture, but it snapped it at the precise moment when they flashed off.
Here are the girls together: Christianna, Laycee & Victoria. You may have noticed that Christianna is in a different costume. Well, we had found out from Heather that a little costume shop up the road had princess costumes on sale. I was thinking "Awesome, cheap dress-ups!" and Christianna thought, "Awesome, I can be an actual Disney Princess for Halloween!"
Hence, the wardrobe change.

The next day we had the school Halloween parade & parties.

Here is Christianna with her cute friend Abby. They take all the kids and march them through the entire school. It is always fun to see what the teachers are going to do.

This here is Mr. Olsen, Victoria's 4th grade teacher.
Funny guy!

Victoria really wanted to go as Laura Ingall's. She loves to watch that show. I think it is because Laura has lots of freckles, just like my cute Victoria.

Victoria & Laycee - the vampire girl.
Laycee's posing was making me giggle a little. She took her part seriously.

Man, she does fit that princess-y part, doesn't she?

This year, Chris & I volunteered to help out with Christianna's class party. We had 3 stations: story time, mummy wrapping & a Halloween version of duck, duck goose. I was in charge of the mummies. They had so much fun wrapping each other with toilet paper.

Thanks Heather for that great idea!!

The last thing we did was make Halloween wind socks...pumpkins, ghosts & witches. They turned out super cute & the kids had a great time.

After a fun morning of games & treats, they sat on the carpet and sang songs until it was time to leave. They sang my favorite song from Kindergarten...the spider song.

Later that day, we invited the Lyman clan to go with us down to the Police Station for some Trick or Treating.

They had police cars, the SWAT truck, the bomb squad robot, a K-9 team, firetruck, motors and the Mobile Command Center outside to check out. The boys were loving that.

Victoria spent a few minutes making Moe feel all loved. He is the coolest bloodhound ever! His handler even gave Victoria biscuit to run away with. He started his howling and then after he was released, he ran right to her for the treat.

You can't pass up a chance to sit on a real police motor cycle...at least if you're a kid.

Victoria & Laycee

John & Christianna

Brett & Spencer
(Spencer, Brett's friend, really got into it!)

Gage

To me, it is looking like he is just too cool for this bike. Either that, or he was born to ride!

He cracked me up!

Tanner - a ball of sunshine wrapped up in cuteness.

He had a major piece of candy stuffed in his face.

On the top floor, swords a blazing, we got a picture with the Police Chief. He was laughing at John since he was swinging his little bag in front of his face...the picture taking was...let's say: difficult & funny. The picture I took after this one, the chief is hugging John so he couldn't swing his bag! It was funny.

Then, later that night....

Heather had invited us to have dinner with them. Sweet - since I had nothing planned. Once dinner was done, we visited & then later went to a fun Haunted House. It was actually built in our friend's yard for trick or treaters. Since we were in the ward, we got a sneak peek of it the night before. The kids loved it!

Finally, to top off our Halloween Festivities, we went Trick or Treating on our street on Sat. Oct. 31st. Brett and John were trying to avoid the camera...but sneaky me got John as he was peeking around the tree.

We had a fun time walking around the neighborhood and they got even more treats. One of our neighbors had these awesome pumpkins outside. Thought I would share.

And there you have it - our fun filled Halloween Madness!!

Halloween Party - no kids!

2009-10-17T23:34:00.002-06:00

I have always dreamed of being able to go to an adult Halloween Party! SO imagine my excitement when Jennie tells us they are going to one & we are invited too! (One of these years, we are so going to host one.) Grandma & Grandpa stayed home with all 5 kids - Olivia came with us.

First, we had to get home from all our things, and with an hour until showtime - had to make dinner for the kids, make a dessert for the party, and get all dressed. There was going to be a costume contest as well as a treat contest and we WERE going to win that Blue Ribbon! PHEW!

Turns out we were an hour late. We could have been there a good 10 minutes earlier, but the invitation was lost and we drove through random areas trying to find the right house. THAT was lots of fun. So after many turns, Chris's elbow smashing into the giant cookie dessert, fighting off the urge to get car sick...we missed the voting entirely for EVERYTHING. I was seriously sad...'cause I felt Chris & I had some pretty good chances of a win.

Meet Professor Plum & Miss Scarlet. SO I am not looking so sultry sitting on that couch...but I was smokin!

Jennie was the Super Mom...or something like that. SO, pretty much, she came as herself. Dallas pulled out the ol' Ghostbusters costume and kept second guessing his choice all night.

We met a lot of very nice people from their ward that night. They were funny and friendly...and they brought good snacks...and...I remember NO ONES NAME!

So this is ???????

Papa Smurf & the pope, they are TIGHT...interesting huh?

Clark Kent & Lois Lane

Ummm....Cesar & his wife? (It was their house.)

Hey, I know him! Dallas!

And who is that?

ME - and I am mad that we didn't win either of the contests. GRRRRRRR

Now here is a familiar face! LISA!

Don't worry dear, I could never forget you. XOXO
I would have much rather seen you in that swan or duck costume though - another tragedy of being late.

Here we have some Hippies. Just if I could pull of tight one piece outfits like that and not send others screaming for the hills. sigh

Luckily we didn't miss Rock Band! This was the first time I braved it. It was a BLAST!
Chris was very hesitant, as he is with everything totally fun...(You should ask me about that one karaoke night where he was dancing on the furniture...I have pictures!) I personally loved singing and playing the drums. My hands were seriously getting cramps from the guitar playing!

What a great day!

How much can we actually pack into one day?

2009-10-17T20:29:00.003-06:00

Jennie's kids had their Primary practice this morning so we were able to just spend time just us Fairalls. We walked down the road to a fun diner for some breakfast. We had a great time just chatting away and eating all the food. Turns out it was more expensive than eating at the hotel. Guess you live and learn.

The best part of the girl's day was time to swim in the pool. We had a blast! We taught the girls how to play Marco Polo. It is hard to keep your eyes closed to catch someone! At one point when I was it, I was just needing to catch Christianna. I kept getting so close to catching her & then she would be gone. Now she is not that fast...she is 6 for crying out loud...turns out Chris was moving her out of the way. The joke was on me & it was a funny one! Then they taught us how to play shark.

Chris took some time to challenge Victoria to distant swimming...underwater. It seemed like she was more concerned with going deep underwater instead of just skimming the top. It equalled a very not far distance.

What is this - ballet practice?

After we were dried and ready for the day, we headed to Jennie's Stake Center. They were having a safety fair. Pretty much when we got there, we met up with the family, I asked where the bathrooms where...and then went & threw up. I had not been feeling well really for the past day or so. After I got sick, I felt a ton better! Funny how that works, huh?

Anyway, I then got a lolly pop...and we let the kids check out the firetruck, thoroughly.

I was really off my picture taking game too on account of feeling ucky. But I am sure you are ok with that since I tend to put so many on here!

After that, we headed to the really cool shopping place called Scheels. It was alot like Cabellas with the one little exception-it had a Ferris wheel inside! So all the kids went on it...of course. Dad went to browse gun supplies, and Mom & I waited with the younger ones who could not go on and I took the pictures.

Chris went with Ethan & Rory.

Jennie went with Victoria & Christianna.

After that, Chris went to find Dad. We took the kids to another area where they had an indoor play place! They played in there for a good half hour or so. Chris came back with multiple packs of ammunition. But they were on sale!

Whew - it was a long day. But guess what! It wasn't over yet! We still had to go home, make dinner and a dessert for the adult Halloween party that night.

A sugar & pumpkin filled day!

2009-10-16T17:00:00.001-06:00

To start off the family extravaganza - Grandpa made sure the kids had breakfast. What was on the menu? Fruit loops..a cereal, I might add, that I NEVER buy since I am a cereal snob. (Don't believe me, ask Heather.) Actually, I really try to make sure that the sugar content is low..the highest I go is 9 grams and that is Honey Nut Cheerios. I try to stick with 6 grams actually.

So, when I found out that they had not one, but two bowls of cereal...I just thought "Great!" But what are grandparents for? The spoilage of grand kids. Gotta love them!

Besides, the kids were pretty happy...and who wouldn't be all hopped up on sugar?

Chris was always willing to take care of Olivia. I think there is a special allure to someone else's baby, since you can hand them over if it gets to be too much. He even volunteered to change her diaper! I KNOW!!!

After breakfast, we all got ready and headed to the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun!

This is Emma, Dallas was tossing her into the air and I thought it looked pretty neat. It was such a gorgeous day.

Here are the cousins together - again, we are missing Alex in Texas. Without her, the cousins are NOT complete!

From left: Victoria, Ethan, Emma, Christianna and Rory

There were fun things to do there - this was one of them. I call it: "Knock over the funny Halloween men" game. Chris was watching over them trying to give them pointers. It is funny how he isn't patient with that - he kept trying to tell them the best way to do it instead of just letting them go. I couldn't help but laugh...inside.

See those funny little men?

"Uh...Ethan...that may not be the best an...gle..."

They had some farm animals there. So the kids enjoyed checking them out.

We were hoping that the kids wouldn't fall in with the pigs. We would have had a modern day Wizard of Oz moment.

I thought this goat/ram thing looked weird with the double horns.
I have never seen them coming out of the neck/face area before!

There were little wagons all over for the moving of pumpkins you were going to purchase - but they were used for rides instead. At least, that's what we used them for.
I would have figured that Victoria and Christianna would have been the ones pulling the younger ones....they actually took turns later on.

We then headed to the very fun corn maze. This was a first time for the entire Fairall family. I know, we are very sheltered. Dallas had his very strategic corn maze theory. As long as you always keep to the right of the path, you will make it out. He kept true to his theory and made it out. Chris, Jennie and I had no plan and just ran through and had fun and we made it out too - just before Dallas!

We waited at the exit for Grandma, Grandpa & Victoria to make it out..

So excited that we made it!

Two thumbs, way Way up!

This was too cute: We are thinking that Emma was tired from all that walking. She went over to the cash register area and picked up this chair and carried it all the way over to where we were all standing, set it down, and sat herself on it.

We ended up getting pumpkins for us...a green one, a white one and Christianna went with the regular orange type. Chris wasn't feeling the whole "pumpkin thing" this year. Oh well, his loss!

On the road to Reno!

2009-10-15T23:17:00.001-06:00

I have been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS!! Jennie is blessing her newest little girl on the 18th and we are going to visit for a few days.

Our first stop was at the Bonneville Salt Flats. This was the second time the girls and I have been here & it was a first for Chris. The colors out there are amazing..I am tempted to drive out there for our family picture!

Chris was telling the girls that the place where they race is about "7 miiiiilessss....that way." And then he pointed his arm out to his right.

We got to Reno kind of late, so I didn't get any pictures until the next day. You will see that there were many...not that it would be any surprise to those who know me!

The day before the end.

2009-10-10T23:07:00.000-06:00

We just relaxed for the rest of Saturday and hung around the house with everyone.

I personally dislike "couch" pictures. It doesn't make for a really great & flattering picture-at least when it is of me...that is why I try to stand! Not to mention the fact that our couch isn't finished from when I started to reupholster it & it looks silly.

Lip gloss is sooo pretty!

2009-10-10T21:29:00.001-06:00

After we all ate dinner, we headed to Bath & Body Works. The girls always go in and choose a fun lip gloss to sample. It is always followed up by "Can we buy one? We can share?" (Yes, both are said like a question.)

Well this time, Chris was with us and apparently felt a little left out.

He came over and asked them which color he should try. After a little discussion, we decided that a sheer would be best. So he slathered it on! It was seriously funny.
I waited for a little while before I told him, "You know that your lips are shimmery, right? There was glitter in that lip gloss." He said, "Really? Oh, I don't care."

That's the kind of Daddy I like my girls to see! It's nice for them to catch a glimpse of that fun loving man I fell in love with.

Birthday Dinners at Tucanos

2009-10-10T21:17:00.001-06:00

I am thinking that this will be a tradition when his parents visit us: a big birthday dinner to celebrate the birthdays for the year! Tucanos won the vote...maybe for their Brazilian grilled meats and pineapple or maybe the endless salad bar. I was personally voting for the Chinese restaurant in Bountiful "Joy Luck." But 1 to 7 are not good odds. I guess I'll just have to go sometime by myself.

Christianna with a mouthful of food. She loves the cheese balls!

Chris was feeling a bit grouchy today.

I was having a hard time being happy about it.

(We're good now - in case you were concerned.)

Here we all together, stuffed to the gills!

Making Strides 2009

2009-10-10T13:19:00.000-06:00

This year the girls and I walked to help with Breast Cancer Awareness.

We found some friends along the way...

this is Melinda & Brook

On our way back, we ran into Christianna's first grade teacher, Lori Boschert.

Christianna, Laycee & Victoria at the finish line.

Fists up...peace sign & Hanging Loose...what do we have here?

A few little gangstas?

I walked for my girls...I hope that there can be a cure when they are older & the girls walked for our Aunt Karen...a breast cancer survivor.

The Children's Museum

2009-10-09T20:28:00.000-06:00

It pays to attend Relief Society! At our last activity, they handed out free passes to the museum - for up to 6 people! I decided to wait and use it for when Chris's parents were out here & it worked out GREAT!

Here are some photo highlights of our fun outing.

After we played in the tube & ball area, we moved onto the huge xylophone instrument. We all manned 2-3 bars and we tried our best to play a song all together. It was so funny! Too bad there are no pictures or even a video...I was too busy having fun.

This little girl was no relation & Chris found it weird that I wanted to take a picture of her. But I was so impressed with her sense of style, that I had to get a picture! I thought it was the cutest thing! "I told you to turn right at that last street!"

What is going through his mind??

Too bad we couldn't get them to act like Grandpa was a crazy driver...his hands aren't even on the steering wheel for crying out loud!

This was, by far, my favorite part of the day. Grandpa was doing the news & he was hilarious!

The face animation as he retold the horrifying story of the lady who swallowed the fly was cracking me up.

These videos had me laughing again! They are not long - so watch them! I love how Christianna finishes her part & then moves behind the camera. She is a bossy & no-nonsense director!

We spent a lot of time playing with the magnets. Kids - young and old - really had a good time building things.

I actually had a fun time chucking magnets at Chris's structure. They just clung right to it!

Spider vs. Fly

2009-10-09T20:11:00.000-06:00

So if you were a betting person...who do you think would win this match up? I mean flies can...fly! But spiders have that web thing going on.

Granted, it could have just taken it off the porch or something...but I thought spiders like a FRESH meal.

Today I went outside and saw this:

You can't tell me that this isn't totally awesome, witnessing such a thing in nature!

Minnie, you are not a lap dog!

2009-10-05T20:02:00.001-06:00

I really do not understand this dog...most of the time. But this one threw me for a loop. Mom & I were sitting on the couch and she just climbed right up onto my lap!

Yeah, she looks comfy and everything...but she is over 90 stinkin' pounds!

We are not sure why, but she has been doing this quite often lately.

So can someone help us? When you see minnie, tell her that she is NOT a lap dog!!

General Conference October 2009

2009-10-04T19:40:00.001-06:00

Normally I am not able to attend any sessions of General Conference due to the fact that Chris always gets to work it. But this year, with Chris's parents visiting, we were able to get tickets for all of us to attend each conference session. I still only went to one on Saturday & Sunday since Christianna isn't old enough to attend it in the conference center.

Victoria has been going with her Uncle David since she was 8, so I was very excited for this chance to go with her. Christianna spent the first session with Chris in the Church security booth. She really enjoyed being in there with him & I bet she wouldn't mind doing it again next time around.

Here are his parents - George & Betsy Fairall. It was their first time attending Conference.

It is such a blessing to be able to hear and see our modern day living Prophet and our other church leaders. They help us stay on track and remember our Savior as we live in this crazy world.

One of the perks of Chris's assignment for conference is the special tours! He took us all down to where he was and showed us what he does. His parents were quite impressed. I can't tell you too much about it - since it is so top secret and your knowing could result in death. I will tell you this - you had better not ever pick your nose while in the conference center...or on the grounds outside for that matter...there is someone ALWAYS watching!

Heather & David outside.

Saturday night, while all the guys were at the Priesthood session, the ladies went out! We headed up to Centerville to check out Seagull Book & Roberts Craft. We made it in time for a drawing at Robert's right when we got there and my Mom won! We then headed back down to Seagull book and browsed around. I kept returning to Roberts every half hour & for the last 2 drawings, we were in there again. This is the funny thing...my mom told Betsy (Chris's mom) to stand by number 3, but she just told my mom to go to that one, maybe she would have better luck...(now, Betsy had been by this number for the first drawing & didn't win.) Well, #3 was picked again & my mom won another gift! Victoria was her lucky charm. It was a fun evening all together.

On Sunday we all attended the first session and for the first time in 7 years, Chris was actually able to go. Christianna spent the time with Heather until my parents picked her up.

My parents were also up for Conference weekend, but since we had his family visiting, they stayed in a hotel over night.

We made it to Gardner Village!

2009-10-02T19:20:00.002-06:00

We had never been to the Gardner Village before. I normally thought about it when I saw posts on other friend's blogs and then realized that I had - again - missed it. Chris's parents had flown out earlier this morning from PA & we wanted to do something fun. We actually got there and ran into Heather with the boys & Heidi with her kids. They were just getting ready to leave actually.

I am not sure what Grandpa Fairall is teaching Victoria...but I am willing to bet that it is important!
The whole place was decorated for Halloween. They had different witches everywhere...so in pretty funny poses. I also found out that you can dress up as witches when you go! Bummer! I SO would have done that!

I followed this lady, trying to not be too obvious that I was stalking her for a picture of her hat. I thought it was awesome!

This here was the biggest bosomed witch I ever saw. Seriously, they are bigger than Christianna's entire head!

Chris had to really fight the urge to not rest right her chest or do something else inappropriate...I am glad that there were many kids around and that he remembered the "Rated G" time of the day...or am I???

I am thinking that we are going to make this a yearly exodus. And next time, we are dressing up!

A cold day with the birds.

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Today was a very chilly day and I promised to take the girls, including Laycee, to the Tracey Aviary. We made 4 cups of hot chocolate and set out.

We saw ducks and birds galore.

The girls had fun hanging out. I had a wonderful time with them too.

I wonder what kind of bird you are??

Victoria commandeered the camera and took the picture of the peacock.

Why are the males so darn pretty?

And the females are so drab looking???

This was cute - we came across a little peacock family.

The girls then spent some time in this interactive part making things out of clay. Their fingers got cold pretty fast, so that was short lived.

All in all, it was a fun day and we weren't all hopped up on hot chocolate, though I wouldn't have minded it.