Puppy Love

A friend of ours' doggie had 9 puppies! She's been so kind to let us come visit them a few times. Last time I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera. Then yesterday after Sadie and I picked the kids up from school, Emma started pleading with me to just call and ask her if we could come again. I'm glad I did because she said they're going to start going to families this next week. They are so adorable.

Here's their mommy. She's half Australian Shepherd, half Golden Retriever. Their dad is a Golden Retreiver.
Here's some pictures of the fun the kids had there. I'm so glad I remembered the camera this time.





They started to tire out after awhile.

And congregate near the sliding door.
Then one by one they all plopped down next to, or on top of each other and fell asleep. For sure one of the cutest things I've ever seen.
By the time it was time to go, all 4 kids were begging for just one. But I think we're a one dog family- even though these are some of the sweetest puppies ever.
But if you're interested in one let me know and I'll send you her info.

Snip-Snip

For one of her "Faith in God" goals, yesterday Emma had the idea to make cookies for an older lady in our ward (who also lives down the street), all by herself. And they turned out perfect!

I love when she comes up with ideas like that :)Another idea she's mentioned to me a few times lately is she'd like to cut her hair to her shoulders. Initially, I was hoping to talk her out of it. I mean, last I knew she was growing it to her waist.

But it is her hair so...
Sweet Auntie Mames took the time to cut Eli's (who I was desperate for) and Emma's last night after dinner.

And here's Emma ready for school this morning!
Getting her new 11 yr old look with her birthday just a few weeks away.
And giving 11 inches to Locks of Love :)
It's always a little hard for me to say goodbye to long pretty hair but short is fun.

And much easier to brush through.

My Favorite Gifts

This post has some serious cheese potential but I'll try to keep it at a minimum.

With all the cute kid photos and snow pictures I've neglected the best parts about Christmas for me. One that I didn't take a single picture of (why??) was my family coming out and just spending time with them. On Christmas Day my brother and cute sister-in-law drove out from Las Vegas. I love getting to know Carrie more and more. The next day Sally and my mom came out (Eter had to work). Miranda went to Texas with her fiance for Christmas and we did miss them.

One of the days my mom and Jeff even watched the kids as all us girls got to hit an after Christmas sale and go to lunch. We were laughing that out of the 4 of us Carrie is now the only "Giles". Anyway, it was such a fun time. I treasure family time so much.

Also, I received from Dana probably the greatest Christmas present I've ever been given. He wrote me a song! He spent hours on this project for me. At first he was even trying to figure out his own tune and everything, but in the end ended up using a tune I had never heard of and putting his own words to it. On Christmas morning I got to watch a video of him singing it to me. I was crying. The words were so sweet and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. He also made a collage of pictures of us throughout the years and in one of the openings is the lyrics to the song.

He is so good to me and often I feel undeserving. He makes life so special. I used to be pretty proud of my people-discerning skills but experiences and time have humbled me and I can now see that no matter how well you think you know someone, when it comes to eternal marriage, there is an certain amount of luck involved. This makes me feel so incredibly blessed.

Hopefully he doesn't mind me sharing the lyrics with you :)

Our Sunbeam

Our baby graduated nursery a couple weeks ago and today was her first day of Sunbeams! Out of the 4 she was definitely the most excited.

She kept squealing with excitement during Sacrament meeting.

A fitting name for such a little sunshine in our lives :)

White Out ----> Black Out

I had to laugh as I looked out the window as we drove toward Mt. Pleasant and saw this view. White everywhere. And then I grabbed the camera and took a picture so I could share.
You really feel grateful for your car at times like this.

We left for Utah a day early because of a big storm moving in and drove in smack in the middle of it. Luckily we didn't have any problems and just took it slow.

The kids, on the other hand, were beside themselves with excitement.
We could barely get their snow clothes on them before they were out the door. It was up to Sadie's waist in some places but she kept pushing through undaunted.
Dana was so funny because I have like 5 pictures of him holding snowballs and doing funny poses and finally he put this giant one on his head. It's still cracking me up that he kept telling me to take pictures.
We stopped in Las Vegas to break up the drive on the way up, completely intruding upon my brother and wife (who were sweet and welcoming) at the last minute and also picked up Emma's cousin. Their car broke down and they weren't able to come up but Emma was so excited to have Savannah come with us. And, as luck would have it, they unknowingly had matching PJs.
Shortly after we got there the power went out which they said isn't uncommon when they get alot of snow. This lasted into the evening before finally it came back on. It really made us appreciate electricity! We kept thinking of how it must be to live like that.
But it did make for an even cozier feeling inside.

Here's some more memorable moments from our trip in a random order:

Sadie got to help grandma make breakfast in the mornings.
Grampa told the kids goodnight stories which they loved so much.
One of the days after the roads were plowed better, we went about half an hour away to the middle of nowhere where a friend of Dana's parents live. They own a bunch of horses and are true cowboys. She let the kids take horse rides and they also hooked up a toboggan behind a horse for the kids to ride.
They LOVED it.

She was so nice and took these two around like 3 times.

They have a 4 year old who gets a stool and then steps in the stirrup and then climbs up onto the horses and rides by herself! She was cute. And she was soo excited to have friends over. She kept telling me "I wanna play with that little girl out there." (Sadie) and when Sadie did come in they had a great time together. Probably not too many playdates out there in the middle on winter.

On New Years Eve Dana had a birthday and turned 42.
42 never looked so good am I right?
Uncle Dean and Dana helped the kids build a giant snow Mickey.
Or the kids helped them.
I ventured outside periodically to take progressive Mickey shots.
And then ran back in as fast as I could.
Here's Sadie waiting for me inside...I love this girl.
It remained cold enough that the snow wouldn't stick together (I didn't know that happened) and they couldn't form another ear so we took a profile shot with a giant Santa hat.
Kids in front of the tree- Eli said he was being serious like in old pictures :) I mean... :l
On the way back we stayed with Dana's sister Kristy and dropped Savannah off. Sadie got to play with her cousin Sophie who's a year younger. They had lots of fun together.
We were grateful to return to warmer weather but did notice all our hibiscus plants with black leaves so it got cold here too. Dana's co-workers even told him it snowed at his work in Phoenix while we were gone!

And we came home to two animals very happy to see us. And a sister who was too. Thank you, thank you Amy.

San Tan Festival of Trees

Emma had the opportunity on Dec 17th to sing with some of her classmates at the San Tan mall. She, Abi and Ashley sang "Holly Jolly Christmas". The whole show was so cute. Different schools decorated trees and they were auctioned off for charity.
Ashley, the girl in the middle above is going to be Annie in their play, and Abi is Lily St. Regis.
Sweet 5th grade girls :)
I videoed it and then fumbled with the camera at the very end and got one blurry photo.
It was such a fun experience for her!

A Merry Little Christmas

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures ever. Blurriness and all.

The kids all lined up to go out to see if Santa came. We told them not before 6:30 but they starting coming into our room (and bed) about 6 and then each minute that passed Eli would say "Oh now it's 6:18, how many minutes left?" Finally I told a little story to pass the time. Then of course we had to go to the bathroom and get the cameras which was pure torture for them.

Emma had said "Oh! I hope I get a bike." about 10 times the night before and it was fun to see her excitement when she saw it.


Emma caught the spirit of giving this year and made everyone in the family homemade gifts. She made this medal for Dana which says "Best dad of the year award 2010" which she thought of on her own.
Sadie loved her ZuZu Pets but how she loved all that candy.
And I made her a scrapbook since she was my only one without one. Sometimes the kids get theirs out to look at and she comes to me and says "Where's my scrapbook?" And breaks my heart. So now she has about the same amount of pages as Holly- about 6. But she was excited when she opened it :)
Coconut now has a husband (Coco) and baby (Hazel).
Christmas day was about 75. An amazingly beautiful day.
And Emma got her bike. Happiness all around.
After the morning melee we went to the park with cousins and played and watched "How to Train Your Dragon" (Emma's other thing she REALLY wanted) and enjoyed relaxing all day.