Happy 33 Matt

So this is a lame picture of Matt's birthday, but it's the best we've got. Unfortunately for Matt it was a pretty uneventful day. We'll try to make it up to him tomorrow. He did get to pick his meals and he chose the following: hashbrowns and a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit; a fruit smoothie(to save room for dinner); steak and homemade battered fries; chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. He also got to take two of the kids to church by himself, grill his own steak, referee an intense air hockey game and clean the kitchen after dinner. We sure treated him like a king! Matt's great, we love him! Happy Birthday!

Last Christmas pics!

I know this is a really blurry picture, but don't you think it shows how action-packed this game is? Yeah, it mostly just shows I'm not a good photographer.

We tried to tell Nina that her stroller was only for her baby, but her whole, "no, I do it myself" attitude sometimes gets the best of her. Is it cruel to take a picture of an injured child before you go to help?

Nina is watching Matt shovel the snow with her "funny hat" on. You can see she has fully recovered from her earlier fall.

It was awesome to wake up to a White Christmas. It was even better that Matt was home and could shovel the driveway so I didn't have to. We got about a foot of snow by the time it stopped snowing that night. Matt found the newspaper after a little digging.

Christmas pics part 2

Nothing really to explain, they had a great Christmas. Donovan would yell, "wow, this is the best Christmas EVER!" after every present he opened.

Christmas pics part 1

These guys didn't wake up until 7:30 which surprised us. They are waiting for us to check if Santa came.


Howie eventually figured out that you don't have to control the guys by their heads, they have handles.

Donovan is reading the thank you note Santa left.

Hopefully Nina is this nice and loving when the new baby comes.

sledding in front yard

Everything's ready

Donovan's air hockey/foosball table is on the right, Howie's little workbench is on the left.


Nina's baby gear

Santa had fun getting everything ready. He felt so grown up.

Christmas Eve 2007

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister Jennifer's house. After a nice Mexican themed dinner, we did a quick birthday celebration for our nephew Jackson and for Matt's birthdays, attempted to play some Christmas songs with our chimes, broke open the pinata and enjoyed a visit from Santa. Howie was very excited that Santa came. He got a black spiderman lego thing.

You can see how excited Matt is that Santa called his name. You can only imagine his joy when he discovered that Santa brought him a new razor. Santa sure is a generous guy!

Donovan also got some lego thing, but he was too quick to get off Santa's lap and we missed getting a picture of him. He went crazy when Santa walked in the room. It was fun to see.

Nina still hasn't warmed up to Santa. She was the last one called and the whole time she kept saying, "no sit on Santa's lap." Even though Santa had a striking resemblence to her uncle Zach, she wanted nothing to do with him.

But she did like the clips he brought her. All 12 of them went straight in her hair.

Ice Fishing

Today Donovan, Howie and Matt went ice fishing at Slough Pond in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Donovan caught two rainbow trout. This picture is of the smaller fish, Matt was too cold to pull out the camera for the bigger one. Howie sat in the car for most of the time, eating oranges and chips. Me and Nina went shopping.

Matt's Basketball Team

As many of you know, Matt's second, third and fourth jobs are coaching freshman level soccer, basketball and lacrosse. He's in basketball season now and this is his little team. 7 players. Anyway, Howie and I made the girls little candy leis for Christmas and brought them to practice yesterday.

The girls were scrimmaging some teachers from Matt's school and Matt played as well. I don't care what any of you say, Matt can play with any freshman girls team out there. I have seen him do it myself. Look how serious he is, ready and waiting. Gotta love Matt!

Yippee!

After 6 months, we finally had our storm door installed. The main reason this is so exciting for me is because now it is not sitting in our dining room!

This is part of Howie's photography portfolio.

Who wouldn't want to take a bite out of these gingerbread men? Howie's is on the left, Donovan on the right. I can see at their early age that they don't share my taste for linear, symmetrical and classical design.

Weekend Pics

At our Ward Christmas party last night, Nina got to be in the 12 Days of Christmas as one of the maids-a-milking. Matt was a Ninja Turtle Dove, but I didn't get a picture of him. He had some nice ninja moves though.

Most people have issues with their younger children being afraid of Santa. Yeah, Howie's 4.

I love their Christmas outfits! Thanks to the Secret Santa who outfitted the boys! And Nina is wearing one of the dresses from Grandma Marshall.

Donovan wanted to play photographer today. Matt and I tried to coordinate our outfits with the kids for church today.

And finally, Donovan felt like everyone would want to see the Corduroy picture he made at school.

Last year's Christmas present

This is what Matt got me for Christmas last year; the whole Willow Tree Nativity set. I LOVE it! Currently on our piano, we have a collection of 5 Nativity sets. Now the pressure is on for Matt to come up with something this year!

While I Was Out

This past weekend all my adult siblings (minus Randell who is in Argentina) ventured back to Reno to see my brother Michael graduate from the University of Nevada. It was a great trip, especially since all the kids stayed home with Matt! We were there long enough to see him graduate, eat lunch at Chevy's, catch one of my dad and Michael's basketball games and one of Nevada's basketball games, oh, and put back together a broken Christmas tree. I don't have any pictures of that trip yet, but maybe an obliging sister will send me some soon. Anyway, Matt held down the fort and all went well. They had fun sledding, playing video games, eating pizza and taking a trip to McDonald's. This is one of Nina's latest activity of choice, hanging out in the fridge. To each her own. And to Matt's credit, the house was clean, the kids were happy (and clean), and this picture happened after I got back Sunday night. Way to go Matt, you're the man.

That left a mark

We're not sure what happened here. Our only witness is our 3 year old niece and she's not talking. But it's always fun to have injury pictures right?

Miss Nina

Nina wore her "coca dots" dress today. She wanted to pose for the camera a little bit. She seems to like to show off her "pretty dresses".

My first cookie exchange

I went to my first cookie exchange yesterday and I thought it was great! I made 10 dozen of my mom's butter cookies and I got a very full tray in return. I didn't remember to take a picture of all the cookies I made before the exchange, but picture that one tray of green cookies times 5 (instead of the 120, I ended up making closer to 200). It was a ton! Matt and I frosted them during a movie. I think I am a fan of cookie exchanges. 10 dozen is a ton to make, but it was fun and I got such a variety of treats.

I elfed my family

I had to copy Jill as soon as I saw her family all elfed out. This is great! What a bummer that there was only room for 4 of us! Enjoy!

Elf this!