Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!!We have had a busy busy christmas! I haven't had time to blog since our cruise so I have lots of pictures to post.
Our week started out with baby blessings of both Aiden and Tristan. Because Aiden is adopted, They typically wait the six months until the adoption is official before they can be sealed and they do the blessing at the same time. They were supposed to be sealed on the 19th but the temple cancelled the sealing because there was so much snow! I couldn't believe it. But they went ahead with the blessing anyway. So lucky boys, the two cousins were able to be blessed on the very same day. Drew looked very handsome in his christmas sweater.

Proud momma Haylee and baby Tristan

Proud momma Steph and baby Aiden.
Just three short days later was Christmas eve at Grandma Tori's.My cute Mommy and Daddy

Grandma played christmas songs with the kids. They love the piano.

Me and my honey.
Mason was finally old enough to like decorating cookies.

My sweet girlie with her antenna pig tails

Mason with his vision impairing eyelashes

On Christmas eve I gave my brothers some advent calendars I had made for them. They were a little cheesy but we had one just like it growing up and it just doesn't seem like christmas without being able to open the ornament of the day. I made one for myself also and Mason loves it!

At last... Christmas morning!!

The pictures speak for themselves. Santa cam and the kids got lots of loot. Even though we missed our Shields family in Boise this year, it was nice to have our own little christmas morning. We loved it. Merry, Merry!!

Carribean Cruise

We're back. It is happy and sad. I'm so glad to see my kids again. It was really really hard being away from them for 8 days. I'm sure it was really really hard on their grandma's also. So we are all very happy being back to normal. I am even loving sitting here by my fire, with my christmas tree all lit up watching the snow fall outside my window. It is just another type of heaven.

However, I also loved sitting on my beach chair, watching the beautiful blue-green carribean waters lap against the powder white sand beaches. I loved being lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of our boat on the waves. I loved swimmig with sea turtles and seeing all the wonderous colors of the tropical fish. I loved walking up and down the beach with my sweet husband, collecting all colors of sea glass. I loved not having to cook or change dirty diapers. I loved being able to read 3 books in 8 days.

We departed from Puerto Rico,

It was neat to see Old San Juan with it's cobble stone streets and old buildings. But we were both very tired after flying out on the red-eye.

Stop #1 St. Thomas

Beautiful. It reminded me a little of Hawaii. It had hills covered with green. White houses with red roofs dotted the hills. The city was fairly clean. Magen's bay was one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen. We snorkeled and saw tropical fish. I even saw some squid. We saw a huge Iguana come right up to us on the beach. freaky.

Stop #2 St. Maarten

Also, amazingly beautiful. We went to Orient beach which was just the perfect carribean postcard picture. But as we walked the beach we began to realize that there were even more sights to see. On the end of the beach we were alarmed to see a man about 60, fully naked standing there for all the world to see. We, averted our eyes and continued a few more feet slowly realizing that he was not the only man displaying his... uh... well, ...you get it. I guess we had wandered into an adults only, all- inclusive resort. There wasn't any sign or indication that we had gone too far, the scenery just suddenly changed. The funny thing about it was that no one was under the age of about 60. No one had a body worth showing off. All of the women I saw had at least 50 or more lbs to loose. The men... I can't even say. I tried not to look. I felt like they were flashers and I was their victim. I got the heck out of there as fast as I could go.

We spent the rest of the day on a nice safe beach a hundred yards down and felt the carribean breeze. It was awesome.

Stop #3 Antigua

We took a taxi to Turner's beach because they said there was good snorkeling there. The beach was beautiful just like the others. This one was nice because it was out of the way and there were hardly any other tourists there. The snorkeling was just okay. We were starting to realize that you need to go to a coral reef that doesn't have a beach if you want to get really good snorkeling. But we saw some neat fish and enjoyed the lack of crowds. There was one local there who was trying to get us to buy some Conch shells from him. He was missing more than a few teeth and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have passed a drug test if he was given one. Because there wasn't a lot of tourists, this one wouldn't leave us alone. Finally, Burke gave him a couple bucks to get lost. We loved walking up and down this beach because it had a lot of sea shells and sea glass. We spent an hour finding the most rare and beautiful sea glass to bring home with us.

Stop #4 St. Lucia
Wow. I kept thinking the islands would get worse as we continued on but St. Lucia was my favorite. It was very large and was covered in rain forests. There are not as many beaches on this island. It is volcanic and is more mountainous. It was also a little rainy so we decided to take a tour with our friends and dinner partners Steve and Kim. We drove all over the island seeing Banana plantations, interesting little fishing villages, waterfalls, boa constrictors, and a volcano. We had a great time seeing the sites and they tried to teach us to speak English like the British.

Stop #5 Barbados
Okay... so I like the name Barbados, It sounds very exotic and romantic. But... it was not as pretty as the others. All of the other islands had mountains. This island's highest point is probably 20ft. But the beaches.... Wow. The beaches were all amazing on all of the islands. This one was just like the rest. This was the warmest of the stops because we were very close to the equator. But it was heaven. When you would get to hot, you could just step into the water which was probably 75 degrees. It was incredible. We were at a very beautiful beach and could see lots of tour boats about 100 yards out. We decided to put on our snorkel gear and see what the fuss was all about. They were feeding sea turtles and we got to swim with them. We could grab their shells and swim with them. It was amazing!

Last day aboard was a day at sea.
We slept in. Ate whatever we felt like, Lounged by the pool. Watched our friend Sean win the belly flop contest. (Santa Clause took a close second.) It was great. What a fantastic trip.

But now I just get to enjoy the other side of heaven. Cuddled up on the couch watching Nemo with my kiddos while the snow falls outside my window.

Life is good.

Happy Birthday Mason!

We celebrated Mason's birthday yesterday. He had a great time. He had a dinosaur themed party with a dinosaur cake that I made myself, thank you very much. He is my little sunshine boy and we love him so much. I'm so glad your mine! I love you Mason!

Last week we took the kids to the pool and had so much fun. I love it now that they are a little older and play so well together. As I am typing this, they are playing tag. Well, Mason is running and Tessa is following and they are both laughing. Mason loves his sister and they almost never fight. They were playing in the basement with Lillee and Charlie today and I heard Mason say "Leave Tessa alone!" He is very protective of his sister. He likes to play with everything she has but he usually will trade her something he doesn't want for whatever it is she has that he wants. She usually doesn't care and will just start playing with the new toy. I'm sure this will change in the future, but for now, I love having my two kiddos so close in age.

Mason's Birthday Video

So I have started a tradition in our home. On each child's birthday, I have been showing a slideshow of their past year of life. I love it! It is so much easier and more fun then scrapbooking because you can show little film clips of them laughing or talking. Anyway, Mason's birthday is on Friday, and I thought I'd do a little blog preview.

Mason starts preschool!

Mason started preschool on Monday! I can't believe it! He's getting so grown up! He will be turning 3 on the 21st, and I have been a little worried about Mason socially. He just is very shy. Our school district has a preschool for kids and I thought it would be great for Mason to get out there and be on his own for a couple days each week. So we started him up.

He looks so handsome with his little backpack. What a little stud!

Here he is getting off of the bus. He had a great time but was happy to see his Mommy. (kinda scary that he rides the bus but it is all preschool kids and they stay on the bus until their mom or their teacher comes to get them.)

Charlie goes to school with him. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad. I don't know if Mason would do it if Charlie wasn't there with him. But because Charlie's there, it makes it a fun adventure.

The bus driver is so sweet. She is trying to get Mason to look at the camera.

I love it. The first day I dropped him off at the school. I cried and sat in the hall peeking through the window in the door because I wanted to make sure he would be okay. But as it turns out, it was harder on me then it was on him. He loves school. And I get to have 2 hours alone with my sweet baby girl. I never get time alone with her. School benefits all of us!

Lillee's birthday

Our cute friend Lillee's 2nd birthday is today and she had a little party. It was Tessa's first girlie birthday party.Happy Birthday Lillee! I think she had a good time. Spunky and adorable Lanie

Sweet, beautiful Josie.

Stylish and glamorous Brittea

And my sweet Tessa. The youngest of them all, testing out Lillee's new scooter.
All of the girls together trying on their superstar glasses.

Happy birthday! We love you Lillee. Here is a picture of Mason and Lillee at the park last week. I think Mason has a little crush. He loves Lillee.

But he loves the swings more.

A serious and scary realization

My friend posted this link on her blog and I took a few minutes to read it. Everyone should read it. It does take about 10 minutes but it definately makes you realize what we are up against in our time especially as we are about to have this election which is a choice between bad and worse. This essay was written by Ezra Taft Benson when he was working in Washington as agricultural secretary (don't quote me on his job title. I think that's what he was but I didn't look it up) in response to the threat of communism in the 50's. It is on the proper role of government. http://www.properroleofgovt.org/prog.htm

Grandma's Halloween Party

Our family Halloween party was on Monday night. We had SO MUCH fun!The kids are still a little too young to be excited about their costumes. Mason kept yelling "TAKE OFF!" and refused to wear his Buzz Lightyear boots and hat with the light up googles. He loves Buzz. I am so disappointed. And Tess refused to wear her witch's hat. At this age I think costumes are really for the parents. The kids actually feel terrorized. But hey, it's Halloween. Terror is what it's all about right?Tessa, Mason, Aiden, and Drew are all pretty much wanting their costumes off. NOW! (Tristan didn't dress up this year. But he did come to the party and I got to hold him for a minute. What a cutie!Mason, very happy to be Buzz Lightyear.Probably the only picture I'll have of Tess with her hat on. Notice I'm holding her arms so she can't rip it off of her head. Drew, So cute. Look at that junk in the trunk! I think he also wants it off.

Aiden. Looking very content and handsome in his costume. He is going to be a heart-breaker when he grows up. He is just a beautiful baby.

After some cupcakes, (check out Mason's eyelashes, holy crap.) The men carved pumpkins. Burke's pumpkin got sick to his stomach.

Then it was outside to light them. Mason started into a version of "Happy Birthday to You" as we lit the candles. Afterwards the kids ran around the backyard with glowsicks. SO FUN! It was dark and they were running so fast that it was hard to get good pics. But they were having the best time!Time to go. Mason made a wish and blew out all of the candles. (Is this the cutest? He blows with his eyes closed!)