December birthdays

We are doing this all as one post, because it's December, and life is crazy! So, here we go!
First, it was Daddy's birthday on December 8th! Yayyy! We sure do love him and he works very hard for all of us!

 We knew that he would be working late on the day of his birthday, so we had a small party the Sunday before. Here he is blowing out his candles. He's OLD!! 38!!

Here he is on his birthday opening presents, with the help of Davis and Reagan. They are great helpers, especially with present-opening!

He got some shoes, which is a BIG surprise. Davis wanted to try them on!

On the day of his birthday, I made buttermilk pie for dessert. He had been telling me about how delicious it was for many weeks, so I tried it out. And yes, it was delicious!

Reagan's birthday is December 11th!

She cracks me up, because she KNEW that it was her birthday, and told pretty much everyone at church that it was her birthday, and that she was a princess. Both of these things are true.

We got together with my parents and grandparents and the Meservy family for the celebration.

 As you can tell, she LOVES her new snow hat!

The kids enjoying cake.

MY birthday is December 16th. . . by the time we finish Reagan's birthday, I am done and would like to cancel my birthday. Especially this year, because December 16th was when my little brother decided to get married. So here's how the day went:

• We went to bed late the night before, because it was Casey and Hilary's reception, at which the kids got food ALL OVER themselves and thus needed to take baths before going to bed.
• At 4:00, I woke up to use the bathroom. At 4:30, I realized that I had left my temple recommend at home, which is not good when there is a wedding happening in 4 hours. I woke up Chris. He texted a member of our Stake Presidency, and then said that he could not go back to sleep, and went to exercise in the hotel.
• I made it into the temple with a temporary recommend. Phew!
• After the wedding, the kids came with Whitney's sister to the temple, which was fun. It was cold, but beautiful!
• On our way back to the hotel, Reagan fell asleep in the stroller. So, we waited until the last possible second to go to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for the luncheon.
• We knew that we would have a parking pass to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but the parking lot was full. So we parked in City Creek, and then found out that even though those parking lots are connected, you can't go through them. We didn't take coats, and it started to hail. Hard. We frantically ran to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and by the time we got there, looked like wet dogs.
• It was awful weather during the luncheon, but we were inside. Oh, and my brothers and I chose a time when the elevators were out of order to work on decorating their car. So we ran down 12 flights of stairs to get the job done.
• After the luncheon, we searched for our car for an hour. We forgot where we had put it, because we were so frantic at the time. But, we saw old friends, and old students in City Creek, so that was fun!
• We finally got to our car, changed our clothes, and started on our way. Of course, the other cars going to Idaho Falls were quite a bit ahead of us.
• We pulled over at the truck stop in Downey, Idaho, and called my parents to ask if we should keep going. My mom said, "NO!!" Roads were terrible, visibility was bad, and there were a bunch of slide-offs. So, we decided to stay the night in Downey. The motel there is run by the truck stop. We actually had a somewhat decent meal at the truck stop, and then climbed in bed, which was great.
• The next morning, roads weren't fabulous. We were glad that we weren't on them during the night and in the storm.
• But when we got back, there was a surprise waiting for me:

• Chris had collaborated with my friend to leave cheesecake and flowers for me at my house. Isn't he the best? That night, we went to dinner and Star Wars with my parents, which was fun.

•  And, two days later, I opened up a small gift from my parents. Oh, the day before, I also opened up some other presents. So, all was not lost. 

Anyway, happy birthday to us!!

Davis is FOUR!

Look how old Davis is!

For his birthday party, we invited his friends from our preschool group and his Sunbeam class. Having seven four-year-olds at your house is an adventure!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the Thomas cake:

 This was the crew that came:

Yesterday, we had a smaller party with just our family and Grandma and Grandpa and Great-Grandma and Grandpa. It was definitely a success.

I didn't get a picture, but after opening presents, Davis put on his new snow boots and new gloves and worked with his new tools. He was very happy doing his "Davis-land" things.

Things I want to remember about Davis turning four:

• He LOVES his little sister and is (usually) the best brother for her. They like to sing and dance together, watch movies together, and mostly play together. He can seriously get Reagan to do things that I can't even get her to do sometimes.
• He is NOT motivated by food. Ever. There are so many better things to do with his time than to eat.
• He LOVES doing crafts with me, and loves to break out the crayons and draw.
• He also loves anything to do with trains. Last night, he mentioned something about couplings while opening a present. Great-grandma was impressed, but I explained that if you watch shows and play with trains CONSTANTLY, it's part of your lingo.
• He can't wear his socks for any longer than just in the morning. If they are still on right before his quiet time, they come right off for the rest of the day.
• He is very rigid about his rules of daily life. He ears basically the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. He is pretty particular about where things go sometimes.
• He loves to help me or his dad do anything. He also loves to feel like he is fixing things around the house, and loves opportunities to use his tools to do so. He like to feel helpful and big.

Oh, how we love this boy!! He has let me know that he is done growing, which I always hope is really the case!

Becoming a citizen

In the United States, becoming a citizen is a BIG DEAL! My good friend immigrated from Mexico, and after a long time here, a U.S.-born husband and two kids, she was FINALLY able to become a citizen! She went to Boise with her family for her final test, and found out that she PASSED and that the next ceremony was in exactly a week! Unfortunately, her husband could not take the trip to Boise with her again so soon. At first, she thought that she would just go up by herself and was trying to figure out who would watch her kids. I told her that she needed me to come so I could take her picture and give her hugs (and watch her kids). So, Marcela and I packed up four kids in my van and drove to Boise! When we got there, we checked into our hotel, and went foraging for food. Originally, we were going to take the kids to a movie, but they were having way to much fun at Chick-fil-a, as you can tell by the socks strewn all over. So, no movie. Ah, well.

That night was an adventure. Our boys slept together in Davis's sleeping bag. The girls wanted to sleep together (mostly Bri. Reagan had no idea what was going on) but that didn't work out. Reagan ended up switching between her sleeping bag and bed with me a bunch of times before finally falling asleep, and then throughout the night as well.

The next morning was the big ceremony. We got there, and there was no sitting room available any more. Fortunately, we were told that there were toys at the back of the room, so we basically hung out there during the ceremony.

It was a very cool experience. There were 34 people from 15 different countries, and the whole room said the Pledge of Allegiance together, which was fairly moving regarding the circumstances. A role call of countries was called out, and there were people from Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand, Argentina Brazil, the UK, and many other countries as well. Then all of the new citizens stood and repeated the oath of allegiance together.

After the oath was repeated, everyone received documentation that they were now citizens of the United States. Then, a video was played with the president welcoming everyone into the country, and then another video with a moving rendition of "America the Beautiful." After that, many pictures and hugs were taken and given.

This one is a representation of our craziness:

Anyway, it was an awesome experience and I'm so glad that I was able to go with Marcela. Afterwards, we celebrated the experience and her birthday at Tucano's. I have to admit that my eyes did leak a little bit. Somehow, I did not expect to get emotional about it, but it was a really cool experience that I will never forget!

We love the fall

Because it means

Pumpkin patches

Helping Daddy rake the leaves . . . or just playing in the leaves while Daddy rakes them.

And Daddy's work Halloween parties with friends