End of 2009

As with many years, the end of the years seems to build up with different activities and events that create for a busy time of building memories. 2009 was no different. Our girls were fortunate enough to get to celebrate Christmas FOUR times! It is like Hanukkah for Christians! Ha, ha! We were able to celebrate with Matt's sister the Monday before Christmas, with Grandma Day on Christmas Eve and with our family on Christmas morning and on Christmas day with Grandpa Day! It was so nice to be able to get together with family and celebrate this season with them!
(The girls reacting to a Christmas present)

The day after Christmas we made a last minute road trip to Utah to spend time with more family. We got to see the Taylor's, the Eden's and the Clark's. While we were there the kids got to spend some much needed time with their cousins. Here are the girls on a "roller coaster".

We also got to visit Temple Square to see all of the Christmas lights there. It was beautiful and I am glad that we were able to see such a wonderful place at Christmas time.

We had a wonderful 2009 and we look forward to a great 2010!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Part 2

Matt and I attended the second annual "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. It was a lot of fun and once again, I am sure that Matt and I would have won the contest for best sweaters if they would have voted. Oh snap!

Up, up and away

Thomas is growing so big! He has started rolling over and he just doesn't stop! He rolls and rolls until he gets to where he wants or until he gets stuck. The other day I caught him trying to get up on his hands and knees! He is just growing up so fast. It is so fun to see him learning and growing!

Disney on Ice

Matt's Aunts, Barb and Bev, got our family tickets to go see Disney on Ice this year. It was quite a fun production. The girls LOVED it as they couldn't keep their eyes off of the ice. Personally, my favorite part was that they chose to put a wig on Prince Eric (They really couldn't find a dark haired male skater?) and after lifting Ariel a few times his wig kept slipping further and further back. So when he and Ariel were skating together looking into each others eyes, Ariel was trying every to subtly to pull his wig back into place! How romantic. A fun time was had by all!

Lion King



Lightning McQueen- Kachow!



Staying warm while waiting for the show to start!

Girls just want to have fun

Just another day in the Day household!

Snow-zilla

It snowed A LOT here and what do you do when it snows? Well at our house you try and make the most ridiculous snowman ever...which turns into two giant heaps of snow that take a long time to melt. :) At least it kept them occupied for a little while.




What do you do AFTER you build a humongous snowman?

Happy Halloween!

This year we had a very COLD Halloween. Luckily, both girls had costumes that didn't require too much to make them warm. Annalie was Pocahontas/Sacajawea, Malorie was a "spider princess" and Thomas was a beaver. Grandma Day came over to go trick-or-treating with us and we had a good time. It didn't take long for the girls to realized that maybe the candy wasn't as important as a warm house and we didn't stay out too long. It was a fun time and my girls are already planning on what they are going to be next year!



Matt and I went to a Halloween party. We put a lot of thought into what we could be when we came up with these costumes. If you look closely you can see that I am Miss America and Matt is Mr. Universe! Ha! Pretty creative if I can say so myself. :)

Me-tah or Utah?

This week is Annalie's fall break from school. We decided to take a road trip to Utah to visit My sister and her family. We went to a fall festival of sorts where there was a variety of activities for all. It was a lot of fun and our kids loved it. That evening we were able to go to the BYU vs. TCU game. Even though the home team didn't win it was a fun time. It was fun to go to a college football game again and enjoy the atmosphere. We were able to get home before a big snow storm hit the state...which gave us plenty of time to unpack.


Annalie, Malorie and Noelle playing in the dress-ups.


Annalie shooting a pumpkin out of a canon.


Annalie showing off her bull riding skills.


Malorie doing the same.


Three of my favorite monsters.

Cheering on BYU with Sooz and Thomas!

The welcome home storm.

Laughing all the way

I just can't help but to post another video of Thomas laughing...he is such a happy baby and so quick to smile...or laugh. :D

Jumping into fall

The tree in our front yard has dropped all of it's leaves. My girls said that they wanted to rake up the leaves and jump into the big pile. Although the pile didn't quite get big, it was still fun for all!

Fantastic Four!

Our little Malorie is four! We are so lucky to have her in our lives. Not only does she keep us on our toes but she makes sure to tell us that she loves us often and to give us a hug! Happy Birthday Malorie! We love you!

Hiccup Ha Ha!

The other day I had the hiccups. Thomas was fussing on the floor so I went to talk to him. I guess he thinks hiccups are funny. I especially like his eyes as he waits for the next hiccup. So super cute!

Morning routine

The following is a conversation that I had with Malorie this morning. I will preface this by saying she got up and asked for yogurt. She ate two bites and said she was done. Then she wanted a waffle. She ate two bites and said she was done. This happens all too often and it is frustrating to me. So this is the conversation this morning:

Malorie: Mom, can I have a snack?
Me: No.
Malorie: (in her best whine) Why?
Me: Because you didn't eat your breakfast!
Malorie: But I'm not hungry!

One minute later:
Malorie: So can I have some fruit snacks?
Me: No! I can make you some toast or some cereal.
Malorie: I want toast....No never mind. I just want warm bread.

Turned out she didn't want that either.

I Feel Pretty?

This morning I left Malorie coloring at the kitchen table while I went to get Thomas in the bathtub. When I came back I saw that Malorie was "trying to be pretty" but really she looked like a victim of some weird drive by coloring. Not only had she done the 'eye shadow' but notice the beauty mark by her top lip. I am not sure if that was on purpose or not, but nice touch nonetheless. I guess I will break down and let her use some play make-up. By the way, these pictures were taken after she had gone to look in the mirror to see how "pretty" she was. Notice the excitement.

Hair today...

For a while now Annalie has been asking me if she can get her hair cut. I LOVE her curls and didn't really know what a short haircut would do to them. I asked around and got a recommendation to someone who cuts curly hair. When Malorie found out that Annalie was going to get a haircut she wanted one too. So here are the results. I couldn't be happier with the results and my girls LOVE their new hair styles!

Happy Birthday to me!

My 31st birthday came and went but not without having an excellent day! We started out the day with the idea of going to the Taste of Colorado. However, Matt didn't get home from school until 1:20 and that was too late to go eat lunch especially if we were going to have a special dinner (wink, wink). So instead we went to the zoo for the afternoon. It was quite pleasant as it wasn't too crowded. We also got to see a lot of the animals up and moving around because it was close to feeding time for them. My favorite was the Tiger. We got to see it up close and it was HUGE! (I sound like a Dora episode.) After the zoo we stopped at the store where Matt got some lobsters for dinner. The girls thought this was pretty cool as they had a couple of rare pets for a little while. I was a little concerned about how they would react when they found out that we would be eating their "pets" but they didn't seem to mind at all. However, after trying it, they did not like the texture and so in the end Matt and I had lobster and the girls had rice and vegetables. It was a great birthday as I have officially entered into my 30s.

He just keeps growing!

Thomas is so much fun! I just can't keep him to myself!

Sunbeam Spotlight

In our primary they have a spotlight for each child. Today the spotlight was for Malorie. I don't know who asked her the questions but I LOVED her answers:

1. What are your favorite colors?
Orange, Blue and Pink. (It looks like Matt has a future Bronco fan to watch the games with!)
2. What is your favorite animal?
Doggies.
3. What is your favorite number?
3.
4. Do you have siblings?
One older sister and a baby brother.
5. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A cat. (Can you do that?)
6. What are your talents?
Helping in the kitchen and dancing. (She is really good at doing them at the same time!)

What a spotlight! We sure love our Malorie!

More Malorie-isms

~Having two girls can be interesting at times. Both want to be in charge and try to boss each other around. I will sometimes ask them who they are in charge of to which they usually answer, "Myself". The other day Malorie was trying to make Annalie do something. I went in and asked Malorie who she was in charge of. She replied, "My kids."

~We have a baby monitor that we use when Thomas is sleeping downstairs and we are upstairs. The girls have found this to be a fun little way to communicate with us while they are playing the Wii downstairs. While playing, Malorie ran upstairs and asked if the monitor was on. I told her it was not and she clicked it on and ran back downstairs. When she got into Thomas' room she said into the monitor, "I need help."

Pioneer children sang as they walked...

This past week we were able to go to Nauvoo to visit my parents while they are serving a mission. While we were there we were able to go and visit all of the sites. It was an amazing trip. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa in action. There were a lot of sites to see as well as plays to go to. I am amazed at what the pioneers did and the faith that they had. We took A LOT of pictures so I have tried to narrow the photos down to a few.



We were able to go to the temple grounds at sunset. It was beautiful. It is an amazing building with amazing grounds around it.

In front of the temple they have these statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith depicting their last ride to Carthage. It was a beautiful night with the sunset on the Mississippi river in the background.


We were able to go to Carthage and visit the jailhouse where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. It was a rainy day which set a somber mood. We were also fortunate to be there while a singing group from BYU was there. They were an a capella group and they sang in the jailhouse as well as in the visitor center. It was an amazing performance and really brought the spirit to the tour.


I have heard the story of the martyrdom many times but to see the rooms where these men were and to see the bullet holes and to be able to imagine what it was like was pretty emotional. It was crazy how a place where such a tragic event happened could have such a positive spirit about it.

And walked...

Grandma works in the sewing room a lot and so we were able to visit her there and even try on some of the clothing.


These are some of the bonnets and shawls that they made in the sewing room. Not only do they make the costumes there but they also store clothing there that have been used in past performances. It is quite the sewing room!


The girls in there "formal" pioneer gear.


Pioneer games...there was a "Pioneer Pastime" area that had games that they might have played in the early 1800s. It was fun for Matt to try and get the girls to walk on these stilts.


The girls were also able to play dress up.

And walked.

We were able to go to many performances while we were there. They were all very enjoyable and told different accounts of what the pioneers felt as they lived in Nauvoo and how they felt when they were told that they had to leave.


The girls loved the play "Anna Amanda" which was a performance geared towards the kids. It started with a short puppet show and then was an awesome show with a lot of dancing and singing that kept the girls entertained!


Before "Sunset on the Mississippi" they had a parade that the kids got to march and play an instrument. It got us all in the mood for the hoedown that followed!


Grandpa in full hoedown mode. It was great to see Grandma and Grandpa Clark in action!


It was a great evening and wonderful entertainment! They had a lot of fun songs and skits that were so fun to watch!


On our final night we went to "Rendezvous" where Grandpa Clark made his debut as the editor (here he is making an announcement to the relief society). He was nervous but he made it through the performance and he did a great job! This was a play about the love that everyone had for Nauvoo and the sadness that they felt when they had to leave. It was an awesome play that we all loved.

Overall Nauvoo was a wonderful expierience. We learned so much and felt such a great spirit. We are so blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Clark serving their mission there. What an awesome opportunity for them and what wonderful blessings our family recieves from their service! I am excited for the rest of my family to go and visit to be able to feel the spirit and enjoy Nauvoo!