My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite Christmas things:

10. Egg Nog (Coleman's the only one with me on this one)

9. buying gifts for my family (I can hardly wait 3 more days!)

8. Newly fallen snow

7. Getting out my willow tree nativity set

6. Reading Christmas stories by the light of the Christmas Tree

5. Watching Christmas movies all cozied-up with a fire in the fireplace

4. Going to see our traditional play of "A Christmas Carol"

3. Christmas Music!!

2. Dec. 25th, 5:30 am - kids piled on our bed with uncontrolled excitement as we wait for the clock to strike 6:00

1. Watching "Luke 2" on Christmas Eve

My sister Sarah with her first born son, Carson. Painted by my aunt Susan. I am so thankful for the greatest of all Christmas things - the gift of our savior Jesus Christ.

Have a Merry Christmas!!

BYU football

No fall would be complete without BYU football. "We will fight, day or night, RAIN or snow..." They haven't had the best season, but we're not fair-weather fans.....obviously. We are true blue, through and through! And besides, they ended pretty strong and are building for a great next season.

Ra Ra Ra-Ra-Ra, Goooooooooooooooooo Cougars!!! Good luck at the New Mexico Bowl next Saturday.

Katelyn loves her cougs. I'm not sure what this dance was about, but it was kinda funny. I've never posted a video before, so I'm crossing my fingers that this works.

Cruisin'

Dan has got the travel bug. He loves to go to new places and try new food and do new things. I'm a homebody. I have a great time once I'm there, but I seem to need a little push. And it's especially hard when we leave the kids. For years, Dan has researched online the best snorkeling places in the world. He has PLANNED many, many trips that we've never taken. However, this fall, when he saw how cheap the prices were, he decided this was the time and the Carribean was the place.

Leaving the port in Miami

View from the top of the ship

Dan catching some sun.

Mike and Angie came with us which made the trip so much more fun.

Barefoot beach, Grand Cayman Islands

When ever we got off the ship, we snorkeled. Here we rented a car and drove to the north side of the Island to a place that's supposed to have great snorkeling. It was good, but the beach was filled with trash. I should have gotten a picture of the trash, prickly seaweed, broken bottles (don't go "barefoot" here), old washed-up flipflops, broken sunglasses, you name it.

Then we drove to Smith's Cove.

Much better snorkeling for me because the water was calm and clear.

This is our ship (the one on the left), the Carnival Valor. It's HUGE!

Chaakanab Park, Cozumel

Again, more snorkelling. But here we could also relax on the beach and get food. They also had a neat Mayan exhibit.

Our underwater camera didn't take the best pictures, but here's a cool one of Mike swimming with some friends.

Dan at Smith's Cove.

I have to quickly tell about Belize. It was our favorite part and we forgot our camera and we had used all the pictures in our disposable underwater one. We took a water taxi out to an island called Caye Kalker. We hired this guy to take us (just the four of us) out to the reef on his little boat. He was a snorkel guide. We saw the coolest stuff!! 6 foot long Moray Eels, huge sting rays, sea fans and whips, parrot fish, angel fish, I even saw a jelly fish right off the boat that had me freaked a little. I wish I could remember the names of everything! Very colorful fish and the corals were amazing. Then the guy to us to "shark/ray ally." I didn't dare step off the boat for fear I would step on a ray. They were everywhere! They would swim between your legs and up on your back if you got down to snorkel. There was a big barracuda about 10 feet away from us that never moved. I kept checking on him and he didn't move the whole time we were there. Then a nurse shark came over. The guide was going to make sure I touched it. It was rougher than sand paper. He was pretty big, but apparently harmless.

Such a fun time! When we weren't snorkeling, we were on the ship eating. Eating, eating, snorkeling, eating, snorkeling, snorkeling, eating, eating, eating. It was the laziest 8 days of my life! I was ready to come home and start taking care of the kids again. Thanks to Sarah and my mom and dad for taking such good care of them.

Family Pictures

It's been a while since we had family pictures taken. Dan can't see the need to spend that much money on pictures. Well, lucky for us, my wonderful sister-in-law, Ashlee, enjoys taking pictures. I don't think we're very photogenic, but she somehow worked miracles with us. They turned out great!

Had to get the dog (Missy) in one.

I love Katelyn's eyes in this one.

We had a slight mis-hap half-way through taking the pictures. It's rained the night before and, well ... kids just can't be still for that long. I wish I had gotten a picture from the back too, he was covered in mud! (Don't worry - he cheered up pretty quick and now he can laugh at it). Definition of boy: a noise with dirt on it.

Ashlee wanted to get some pictures of just Dan and me. It was really awkward! We don't usually pose for sappy pictures. We felt silly and couldn't stop laughing. It felt fine on our wedding day, but it's been a while since then.

I love this picture!

I love this picture, too!

This last picture is more true to our family. We're a little (okay, a LOT) goofy. Chow for now. You should be getting one of these pictures in a Christmas card soon.

A phone call from who!?!

After getting home from church a few Sundays ago, I was casually tidying-up the kitchen when the phone rang. Keep in mind that Dan is still at church for meetings. Coleman was anxious to get the phone. I hear him talking to himself:

"Let's see who it is ...."

(pause.... he's reading the caller ID)

"It's Jesus!!"

A picture of his face at this moment would be worth a thousand words because words could never do it justice. It was Dan calling and the caller ID actually read "CHURCH OF JESUS". This experience might not speak too highly of his intelligence, but it does of his faith. He's the kid who immediately kneels down to pray when he loses something, and immediately kneels down to thank Heavenly Father when he finds it. He's found a few lost teeth that way long after I'd given up. A child's faith many times puts me in my place.

Moral: We don't need a phone to talk to our Savior. What a blessing and a miracle the way prayer works.

Yellowstone

. . . I had a hard time posting last fall, too. I'm not quite sure what the problem is, but I've got a lot of catching up to do. So here's our family vacation to Yellowstone last August (just three months late:)

Beautiful "Yellow" stone canyon. Grandma & Grandpa Finch came with us.

Jamison's favorite was seeing all the animals. No surprise... he is my outdoorsman! Here we're looking at a herd of Elk and some swans in the water. We also saw a coyote at the side of the road, a buffalo walking next to our van, eagles, ospreys, two moose really close. In fact one night around the campfire, a moose walked right behind our tent! I panicked and walked in the other direction with Katelyn. Even with all these animals, the kids still thought it was lame because we didn't see a bear.

Watching Old Faithful. I wish we had audio - Coleman and Katelyn screamed and cheered when it FINALLY erupted.

My favorite part . . . swimming in the Firehole river.

The Yellowstone Falls - absolutely breathtaking! You can't get the sense of how HUGE this waterfall is. It gave me butterflies.

This is Inspiration Point - you can see the falls in the background.

Riding the Ferry across Jenny Lake in the Tetons. Then we hiked to a beautiful waterfall.

The kids also loved the Horseback riding.

One short story: While driving up there, we stopped for gas in Cokeville, Wyoming. This is when I realized that Katelyn's backpack, with all her stuff in it, was still sitting on her bed at home! I had to forget something - why couldn't it have been the marshmallows? Luckily, Jackson Hole had a Kmart. We had to buy everything from sneakers, to underwear, to swimsuit.

Way Fun! We loved this trip! In fact, we might go again next year.

What's all the buzz about?

We went to dinner at a neighbors house the other day. The kids kept trying to get us to come and look at some bees. We brushed them off a few times until we finally... reluctantly... got up and walked around the corner to see "some bees."

These are solid bees!

We called Bro. Broderick who raises bees and honey as a hobby. He said when they are in a swarm, they are looking for a new home. Either a new queen was hatched or the previous hive got too crowded. He said this is when bees are most docile. We got up really close, and they didn't seem to care -- luckily for us.

Katelyn and Bro. Broderick

This is Dan grabbing a handful of bees and putting them into the hive box.

Check out his "protective" gear. There are big holes in the netting that covers his face, too. No one got stung, the bees found a new home, and we learned a lot about bees. Fun day!

Mad Scientists

Happy Birthday Coleman!!!

We celebrated Coleman turning 7 by having a "mad scientist" party. Here they are making slime. (Coleman's in the middle). We used glue, water, and borax - the boys loved it! We erupted a volcano, looked at things through an eye-clops microscope on tv, mixed primary colors to get the secondary colors, saw what static electricity does to balloons, and our traditional spider web, of course. The boys even mixed their own color of frosting and frosted their own cupcakes.

The day after the party was Sunday. Coleman brought a transformer to sacrament meeting to play with. I thought it would be quiet enough and not cause any problems. Well, Jamison really wanted it too. I went back a forth saying, "Jamison - it's his new birthday toy," and "Coleman you should share with your brother," and "Jamison - you're too old to need a toy during church." Finally the inspiration hit. I said, "Coleman, why don't you say a prayer and see what Heavenly Father wants you to do." So this new little 7-year-old went to the end of the pew, actually knelt down and said a prayer. Then he got up with an angry look on his face, threw the transformer into Jamison's lap and mumbled, "Oh, Fine!!!"

I'm proud of him doing the right thing, for the right reason. Now he just needs to work on the right attitude!

Great kids!

Last week was probably the busiest of my life! It was the last week of school and it seemed like I lived over there. Then, right in the middle of the week, Wednesday, Dan had surgery on his shoulder. That's a different story, though.

I had received a message earlier in the week from Morgan's teacher. He asked me to call him back. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. What could have happened? Well, to my relief, and great joy, Morgan had been chosen for the Hope of America award. It is traditionally awarded to a boy and girl from each 6th grade class.

She was presented the award at the dance festival in front of the whole school and parents. I was bursting with pride, .... Dan was drowsy from the pain killers. (we're the middle left - can't miss the sling)

Each recipient spoke at the 6th grade graduation. She did a great job! (of course)

Now let me tell you about my "speedy gonzales." During field day, each grade races and awards the 3 top finishers of a sprint. Jamison took first in the whole 4th grade. Then they had a "marathon" which the kids tell me was about 2 miles. This race was between the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Jamison said, "Mom, I never stopped!" His competitive nature pushed him through the race.

He took FIRST!! Keep in mind he's in 4th grade. Then .... he dropped to the ground out of complete exhaustion. The school nurse came over and took his vital signs and made sure he was okay. (My neighbor took this picture -- I was at the hospital with Dan)

Not to leave out Coleman and Katelyn .... I'm completely proud of them, too. Isn't family great!?!

Spring Break

Technically, it's still spring, right? Well here's some fun pics from our little trip - over a month ago. We tend to plan last minute, so two days before leaving we finally decided on our destination: Bryce Canyon. We had A LOT of fun. And amazingly enough, the kids got along really well. I can't remember any fighting. (Maybe I'm blocking it out of my memory!)

We stopped at Dan's Uncle Raymond's place on the way down. Here's Morgan on a super long swing tied to the top of a tree. We also rode 4-wheelers and got treated to ice cream cones.

The boys -- aren't they cute?

I tried really hard not to over-react to the cliffs just a couple feet from my children. I think I did a pretty good job, but don't ask Dan his opinion. :)

This was a hike around Navajo Loop. Bryce Canyon is at a pretty high elevation, so there was still plenty of snow piled up. We watched the erosion process in action as the snow run-off took rock and dirt away with it. It was really cool.

Evidence of the muddy hike.

We stopped at the hot pots near Meadow on the way back. The atmosphere made it so peaceful.

We also did plenty of swimming at the hotel and played card games together. At home our policy is "you can't play with friends until you can be a good friend to your brother/sister." It sounds good in theory, but it doesn't always work out so well. This trip, I loved that my kids played so well with each other. Surprisingly well . . . kind, patient, considerate, happy. I just wish it would have lasted longer once we got back home!

Butterflies

Jamison is my bug man! He is always bringing some insect creature into the house. I open the freezer to find jars with bugs. We've even had a few of them escape in the house -- much to mom's dismay!

We got Jamison a butterfly habitat for Christmas. We ordered the caterpillars and waited for them to grow and form a chrysalis. Then a couple of weeks ago, they emerged as butterflies! We've been feeding them orange slices and sugar water.

As you can see, they've been a huge hit. Now that it's warming up, we'll have to let them go.

As Easter is approaching, these butterflies seem to remind me of the resurrection. There's a scripture that says something to the effect of "all nature testifies of Christ." These little creatures, that appear dead for a time . . . then emerge into a new beautiful life . . . testify to me of the miracle of the resurrection. Happy Easter!