Marissa

christmas 04

may 2006

happy birthday sis! i can't you are 4! such a big girl, we are so proud of you!!

here are 4 great things about my girl:

1. she loves to be my shadow. wants to help make the beds, fold the laundry, load the dishwasher, whatever i am doing, that is what she wants to do. how neat to have someone just want to be near you and enjoys doing what you do.

2. she loves to be in the mix. she constantly asks for friends over to play, and once one friend leaves, she asks who else can come over and play. she makes friends at the park, at the costco food court, at church, school everywhere. and she is no respecter of age or gender, she will be friends with them all.

3. her memory is something to behold. random tidbits about our vacation last summer, the kind of shoes my OB wears, the building we had our pictures with santa clause taken, and the exact location of every ice cream place within a 20 mile radius; are all stored in her internal mega hard drive. she always wants to know names, directions, time frames etc. and then spits them back verbatim. i hope she will use her super power for good. :)

4. she is my girly girl. she loves getting dolled up, make-up, jewelry, accessories, etc. how can i not be in love with her? she loves to go shopping, and tells me often its time to go to children's place or grandma's and buy a new outfit or shoes or sunglasses. she lets me paint her nails, curl her hair and preen over her every morning before school or church. this is why having a little girl is heaven. thank you baby!

you are my sweet, loving, easy going girl. you love life and always want more . . . more cake, more friends, more princesses to play with! we're so happy you are in our family, we love you so much!!

Mason

oh my sweet little boy! you are 4 today! how time has flown by . . .

4 great things about mason:

1. he loves to be affectionate. he still wants to snuggle, hold hands, and have me stroke his face if he wakes up in the middle of the night. he loves to give hugs and kisses. i hope this lasts for awhile yet but i'm sure soon enough, it will be "ew mom, don't kiss me!" that is why i treasure this time.

2. everything is a science project to him. it needs to be inspected, dissected, and/or re-calibrated. he has such a curiosity about EVERYTHING! and while this is exasperating at times, i swear i can actually see his wheels turning which is about the coolest thing a parent can ask for.

3. he is his daddy's boy. life revolves around dad. is daddy home today? i miss daddy! i want to sit by daddy. daddy can help me brush my teeth. i will hold daddy's hand when we cross the street. i hope daddy will always be his super hero. i don't mind playing second fiddle at all. :)

4. he loves to sing. he sings primary songs, school songs, made-up songs, songs from movies. and as much as he loves to sing, he loves to preform. anything is a pretend microphone, (or in the case of the mother's day program at church, a real microphone works great too) and he puts on the mason show. what a character!

happy birthday to my red headed, spunky boy who has the permanent mischievous twinkle in his eyes. i hope it never goes away! we love you!

may 2005

may 2006

M and M's B-day Party

mason and marissa had their friend birthday party on thursday from 1-3. here is a quick recap with mostly photos because that is what grandparents love. notice marissa's new haircut. more about that in a future post. i love it, she is not so sure. :)

travis and i (mostly travis) blew up like a 100 balloons and that proved to be the favorite entertainment, just running and playing and screaming with balloons.

new haircut boy

duck duck goose was mason's favorite game and the one that held the kids' attention the longest. everyone knew how to play, everyone got to be the goose at least once and everyone loved it. not a bad way to kill 20 minutes with 11 4 year olds.

mason plays this game at school and he LOVES it. i'm so glad we played it.

marissa's party game request was "what time is it mr.shark" which for those not in the know, is very similar to red light/green light. another party hit!

love this "action" photo of everyone running away after mr. shark declared it was lunch time.

why was i going to kill myself making a mickey mouse cake when twenty bucks bought me this one from albertsons?

enjoying our cake and ice cream. we played games from 1-2, ate cake from 2-2:30, opened presents from 2:30 until going home time and it was the right amount of time for everything.

licked her plate clean. what a gal!

apparently it is the season of the fake smile. sigh. i will miss my normal looking children.

getting some help from jackson. they were all so cute with the presents, i let the gift giver sit in between the gift openers when it was their present they were opening. they all seemed to enjoy that.

marissa with emma and sarah jane miller. everyone played so well and i'm so glad there is such a nice bunch of kids in our neighborhood.

group photo. travis cut out sarah jane who was sitting to the left of marissa. sorry sj! noise makers are fun to have, glad i saved them for the end.

party is almost over!

fun treat bags that we passed out to our friends as they left. thanks for coming to the party!

i wish i had a picture of us after the party. travis napped on the couch, the kids watched a new little einsteins dvd downstairs and i laid down in bed. then we went out to marv's, mason's request, for french fries, burgers and shakes. i told travis earlier in the week there wasn't a chance in heck that i was cooking dinner after the party. all in all, we had a very fun, very exciting day.

Happy Birthday Mom!

here are 50 things about my great mom:

1. she is the 4th child and only girl in her family

2. her name is margaret sharon

3. she was named margaret after my grandma ethel's oldest sister

4. she has always been sharon

5. she has her bachelors of fine arts from BYU

6. while at BYU she was with the group "sounds of freedom" and preformed on the ed sullivan tv show

7. she met elvis presley and has his autograph. he was filming a movie in her hometown of napa, california. he kissed her hand and told her he bet that she wouldn't wash that off anytime soon. she said, don't bet on it. she said that elvis was greasy and gross, she was a ricky nelson fan

8. she always guesses correctly, and very early on, the villian in who-donnit books, movies, and tv shows

9. she was a majorette when she was a girl and can still twirl a baton very well

10. she and her brother eldon preformed tap dance routines all over the county fair ciruit when they were kids. they had matching costumes.

11. some of her favorite leading men include tom selleck, james garner and robert redford

12. she was a nanny in norway after she graduated from BYU

13. she drinks her tomato soup out of a mug

14. she only eats cheeto-s and cheese puffs on car trips

15. she cooks for an army yet it has always been just me, mom and dad

16. has never been to hawaii

17. isn't a water person so she's okay with never having been to hawaii

18. avid reader

19. fantastic cook

20. used to drive a red volkswagon bug

21. while at college, bought beer to wash her hair with

22. met my dad while both were social workers for the state of california

23. she and her friend charlotte ran a state provided day care center, that was her job when she met my dad

24. loves crossword puzzles, crypto-grams, etc. now has started to get into sudoku

25. loves american idol, dancing with the stars, and other various reality tv shows

26. speaks spanish enough to get where she is going

27. would love to tour england, wales, ireland, and scotland someday

28. collects polish pottery

29. she and 5 other lady friends formed their own small business called blue bee pottery and made their pottery design. they still are in business

30. doesn't really like milk and attributes that to having to drink slightly soured/warm milk a lot as a kid at school

31. could single handily keep hallmark in business, she is a card person. always sending little notes and cards in the mail

32. very brand loyal; likes lays potato chips, campbells soup, etc.

33. can get on the internet all by herself and surf the web

34. great public speaker/storyteller

35. always stayed up late to help me with school projects

36. her cowboy cookies and monster cookies were passionately requested, by teachers and students alike, for every bake sale all through elementary school

37. is a talented writer and enjoys writing christmas stories, birthday stories and poems for my kids. she also writes tributes for friends who are moving away or celebrating milestones

38. knows at least a million kid songs

39. loves liz claiborne everything

40. like her mother before her, is a shopper extra-ordinare

41. very diligent about ironing. my dad is never without a plethora of freshly ironed shirts in his closet

42. is the favorite aunt for all her nieces and nephews. they all want aunt sharon to cook for them, to visit them, etc. she was single when most of them were growing up and was the "cool" aunt who took them to disneyland, the beach, etc. even after she got married, she and my dad took a bunch of them on road trips regularly

43. doesn't like breakfast right when she gets up, she has to wake up for a while first

44. always wants to go to jimmy johns when she comes to st.george

45. she watched the soap opera general hospital when i was a baby because it was always on when i was drinking my bottle

46. taught me everything is better with avocado

47. got mason hooked on key lime yogurt

48. one of her favorite authors is mary higgins clark

49. deserves a medal for putting up with my dad and his antics throughout the years. he once forgot his underwear on a 2 week trip and she helped him wash out his one pair every night before bed.

50. happy birthday mom, i love you!!

marissa's preschool program

this was super star preschool's end of the year program at the santa clara city park. marissa was talking about this for WEEKS!! she was so excited to sing to mommy and daddy! :)
my girl, the tall one in the middle. ;) she sang so well, did all her actions, smiled, waved, everything a mom wants when their child is preforming. so cute. so very, very cute.
one of the mom's of a boy in her class put together these "summer fun" baskets for the kids. each mom brought 9 toys and she divided them and every kid got a fun bucket filled with toys to last them the summer. what a great idea! we've enjoyed it already.
here is marissa with her miss debbie. thank you miss debbie for making preschool so much fun! tuesdays and thursdays were filled with much excitment, a chance to see our friends and learn new things. i'm so glad that there are talented and WILLING individuals who enjoy teaching preschool because i am not one of them. :)
little red is smiling in this photo but he cried the majority of the time. while my heart was bursting with pride for marissa, my heart was breaking for mason. he wanted so badly to be up on stage with all the other kids singing and preforming. i think he thought we were punishing him. boy was he angry with us. poor guy, he just wanted to be like the rest of the kids. his public school preschool, of course, has no such end of the year program. anyway, here he is posing with a chocolate cupcake on his lap. amazing how some sugar makes the day better.

my little dracula

today while waiting at the deli counter for my lunch meat, mason was being a rowdy little boy. i told him to calm down. so he hops down from his perch at the back of the cart, and comes to stand by me. good, i thought, stay by mom. i'm checking my list again and i feel the sharpest pain in my fleshy posterior, HE BIT MY BUM! as in full on, pressed his mouth firmly into my rear end. i gasped so loudly, other shoppers stopped to stare. lovely. i fought the urge the bite him back and am grateful i didn't scream. fun times.

quick update on the fam

here is a run down of what's been going on lately-

travis-work, work, and work. he tries to squeeze in as much basketball-play-offs-watching as possible. :) on his days off, he's hung picture frames, mowed and trimmed the front yard, helped me around the house and with dinner. he earned HUGE points with a wonderful mother's day breakfast consisting of waffles, strawberries, bacon and sausage. he and the kids made it all and did all the clean-up. thanks honey, it was fantastic. he knows the way to my heart right now is through my stomach. ;) he is currently reading the 3rd book in the fablehaven series and really enjoying it. he shaved squirt the other day and its so nice that he likes to/is good at doing that. he got released from his young mens' calling recently and he said how nice its been to go to elders' quorum again.

anne- doing fine, went to a regularly scheduled OB appt and all is well. these are the 5 minute "pee in a cup, weigh my fat butt on the scale, listen to the heartbeat and kick me out the door" appointments. no complaining from me really. after the one on the 28th of this month, i start going every 2 weeks. yippee, it means we're getting closer. according to babycenter.com, he's about a pound and 2/3 and measures 14 inches from head to heel. he is an active fellow, its so fun to feel him dancing around in there. other things i have been doing, i ordered baby bedding, should be here tomorrow. i'm hoping i like it as well in person as i did on the computer screen. i'll post pics when it comes.

marissa- went to a little friend, madison decker's birthday party last week at a salon. they had manicures, pedicures and ate pizza. how fun is that? i want a birthday party like that. :) anyway, she LOVED it and has worried about smudging her nail polish every second since then. her last day of preschool is tomorrow and her end of the year program is friday. i don't think she realizes its all ending so soon and how much she will miss it. she has said some funny things lately like, whatever she is eating at the moment is very favorite thing in the whole wide world. and she keeps asking how the baby is coming out. well, considering i can't predict the future and i don't want to have her having discussions about my vagina with her newest friend on the slide at the park, i have evaded this question with a simple, " the doctors and nurses at the hospital will help mommy get the baby out when he is ready." do i need to be more detailed than that to a 4 year old? anyway, she has been enjoying a new disney princess puzzle i bought her recently.

mason- is currently obsessed with his "going on a bear hunt" book. he either is dragging the book around the house "reading" from it or is sans book and repeating it. his favorite part, of course, is when they actually find the bear and this part is re-enacted MANY times through-out the day and every part of our house is now the dark, gloomy cave. he is also is on a puzzle kick, putting together his favorites, (the eagle puzzle, the parrot puzzle, and the new mickey mouse clubhouse puzzle) in record time at least dozen times during the day. earlier this week, he did something he hasn't done in a long, long time. he went down the twisty slide at the santa clara park. he has balked at that slide for at least over a year, maybe 2. i think maybe with his hearing/tubes issues, it was a balance/heights thing. who knows? whatever it was that was stopping him, stopped him no more on saturday, as he became a twisty slide maniac. way to go little buddy! his preschool ends next week and i'm sending treats with him for his birthday.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a little tribute to mi madre. I'm not going full boar because this month is also her birthday and i will, therefore, write a more fitting and complete tribute at that point. :) i'm doing this pre-school style because that is the level my brain functions at nowadays.

S- is for sharing, whether its feeding anywhere from 2-8 girls EVERYDAY for lunch during most of my 3 years in high school (and we're talking hot, homemade lunchs like lasagna or enchiladas) or sharing her home with everyone from her neighbors, ward members, family members, etc, she is always giving someone, somewhere something of herself.

H- is for happy. little things like fresh bags of potato chips on car trips, her favorite contestant winning it big on a reality series or talking to her grandkids on the phone, make my mom very happy.

A- is for adversity, and while my mom has faced her share of adversity and then some, she is not a bitter person, but instead embraces life and helps others look for the sunny side too

R- is for reading, one of her favorite past times. she is the one who has recommended many of my now favorite books. when i was little, she read such classics as little women, the little house on the prairie series, and anne of green gables to me. she even volunteered with the reading specialist at my elementary school. she is ALWAYS reading a new book and she has instilled her passion for books onto me. i hope my kids will have ferocious literary appetites as well.

O- is for outstanding, referring to her many talents. she is a superb cook, great storyteller, improviser, shopper, speaker, game player, and encourager. and of course, an outstanding mom and grandma. :)

N- is for never, i never say it often enough, mom i love you! thanks for all your love, support and prayers!!!




and i would be very remiss if i left out my mother-in-law, so in the same fashion, here goes:

J- is for joy, she always finds joy in the simple things in life, watching her grandkids play sports or planting a new flower or singing with the choir

A- is for always, she is ALWAYS busy and has a million friends. she is out to lunch with one, going to water aerobics with another, having her dinner group over for a taste of homegrown beef, making chocolates with her cousin vicki or visiting branson, missouri with yet other friends. she radiates a positive attitude and is always up for some adventure and people flock to her because of this.

N- is for never, and there is never a weed in her garden, never an unloved or underwatered flower, never a spot of dirt that isn't blooming, never boring or plaing, her garden is bursting forth with sensational color and life all season long. and there is never a day off for the gardener!

E- is for embrace, as in she has embraced her daughters-in-law as her own family. the three of us are very lucky to have such a loving and thoughtful mother-in-law, who raised such terrific and loving sons. she remembers our birthdays, sends us cards on mother's day and our anniversaries. thank you for making us part of your family!!

T- is for tough, as in tough to fluster. nothing stands in her way. janet mows the lawn, rides horses, helps irrigate, doesn't blink an eye at watching a bunch of grandkids ALL DAY (or days and nights), can fix a dinner for 20 at the drop of a hat and smiles and jokes all the while. it take a lot to rile her up, she is so easy going and hard to ruffle. its tough to stop listing all her great qualities! thanks for being such a terrific mom/mother-in-law and grandma! we love you!

My top 10

at church on sunday, a sister in our ward got up and bore her testimony about her love of family and said that all her top 10 days revolved around them. this idea of having a "top 10 days of your life" list intrigued me, and so i'm going to see if i can come up with a list of my own. here goes. i think it would be much too difficult to rank them once they are in the top 10, so i didn't affix numbers. this was thought provoking and fun, anyone else wanna give it a try?

-my wedding day. my favorite part was the actual ceremony, seeing all my family and friends there in the room with us when we were sealed for time and all eternity

-the day mason and marissa were born. pregnancy seemed so surreal in a way, even though yes, i felt the babies move, and yes, i'd seen them on the ultrasounds, but they weren't real yet. not having done it before, you just go on faith that there are actual live babies you get to keep in the end. and not just any babies, your babies! so when they finally arrived, that was so awesome.

-our trip to hawaii in 2003. okay, this is technically 4 days, but i will lump it as one event. it was the best vacation because it was relaxing and fun and exciting all in one. we never felt rushed or like we had a strict itinerary, yet we saw and did a ton on the island. our hotel was phenomenal, it had its own dolphin lagoon, how cool is that?

-the day i found out we were having twins. i will never forget any detail of that whole experience. my 20 week ultrasound with travis and his mom, janet, in the room; it was so mind boggling, exciting, crazy, nerve wracking and emotional all in one. i knew in an instant that it would change everything, my pregnancy, my life, our lives, etc.

-the day i graduated from high school. i know it sounds trite and corny, and in a way, its not the actual day that was so momentous, more of what it represented. i was done with a chapter of my life. basically, the only chapter at that point, because its what the past 12 years focused on. it was the start of something new.

-the summer between my junior and senior years, again this is technically not a day, but i'm putting it on the list anyway. school got out and that weekend was a 3 day stake youth conference, then came monday morning and i went to girls' state in boise for a week. came home, 10 days later, left for national young leaders conference in washington d.c for 11 days., stayed at the dorms of american university, was there over the 4th of july, so cool, came home, did laundry, 3 days later, left for idaho business week on boise state university campus, came home, 2 days later went to EFY at utah state university in logan for a week, came home, 2 days later went to girls' camp with our ward, came home, went to yellowstone national park with my family for a few days, a few days later, my dad and i flew to california to visit his brother roger who was dying of a brain tumor, (he did die shortly there after), and a few days after that, school started. it was the best summer of my life! i met so many different, interesting, crazy, amazing people. i felt like that is when i finally figured out who i was and was happy in my own skin. for those fellow seinfeld-ians, it was the summer of anne. :)

-i've had some great moments in motherhood i'll combine here. when they learned to walk, when they started talking, when they were potty trained, when they started preschool, all such milestones that i'm so proud of them for accomplishing. it has brought me so much joy and personal fulfillment to see them grow and develop into such remarkable little people.

-any date night with travis. we have done some fun stuff, gone to some sporting events, great concerts like fuel, seeing jerry seinfeld and kevin james preform live, going to some fantastic restaurants, hanging out with other couples or just by ourselves, we always have a fun time and its nice to be anne and travis and not always mommy and daddy or the boss at work, etc.

-picking up my parents from the los angeles airport in december of 01. travis and i moved from pocatello in may of 2000 and they came to visit us in las vegas that summer. then they moved back to germany and we hadn't seen them since then. even though we emailed and talked on the phone, it had been over 18 months since we had seen them. it was so great to see them coming out of the arriving passengers gate and give them big hugs.

- even though this is a future date, one of my top ten days will be when this new little baby is born. its simply extraordinary how much you can bond with someone who is so small and just kicks you all the time! i already love him so much and we are having fun planning his room and getting ourselves ready for his big arrival.

sweet cherubs

how sweet is this! no prop positioning on our part, this is how we found them before we went to bed. nothing like freshly bathed, angelic looking children all snuggled in bed with their favorite possessions. :)