Kids will be Kids

The girls have come up with a great idea to decorate their room for Christmas. They think they need to have a tree in their room (green blanket pinned to the wall) and presents and stockings and everything associated with Christmas. They want to use white blankets on the floor for snow. Then Haley came up with the great idea of getting styrofoam and breaking it up and spreading it all over there room for snow. Gee I wonder where they came up with that idea. (Jill)

I'm really hoping they will forget all about decorating their room for Christmas because it just sounds like a big old mess to me.

Ryan Shupe & his Rubber Brothers

Last night we were invited to come down to Ingrid's stake's Christmas musical fireside. Several family groups played various arrangements of various Christmas songs on various instruments. Featured performers included Cherie Call (songwriter and singer of my all-time favorite song "Believe"... check it out here!.), and Ryan Shupe and his Rubber Brothers. This is my new nickname for them when the whole band doesn't show up. There was only Ryan, Ryan Tilby, and Craig Miner (yes, the Banjo Boy!), and they only performed three songs, but it was a treat nonetheless. I got this nice grainy picture with my cell phone.

Gingerbread Houses

On Tuesday we decided to get together and make gingerbread houses. While shopping at Roberts the day after Thanksgiving we found the gingerbread house kit that was just the gingerbread and not all the other stuff. So we got one for each of the kids to decorate. There was lots of candy and lots of creativity. We did learn that we should have put them together the night before and let them sit and the frosting harden because we had a few collapses. I think I was too tired to get pictures of the finished product and since Haley and Emmy have started eating theirs I'm not going to worry about those pictures.










This was part of Daniel's creation. Notice the gingerbread man hanging from the roof. His house ended up being one of the collapsed ones.

I don't know if they worked better than the graham cracker houses we did last year. Who knows what we'll end up doing next year.

Out of the Mouth of Haley...

Tonight Haley and I ran to Roberts to grab a gingerbread house kit. On our way home she started talking about chasing Santa around the gym at the ward party, last Saturday. She then told me that she didn't think that this Santa was the real Santa. She said he didn't have the hair between his nose and mouth. She thought he might have been an elf helping Santa. Then she came up with this...

H: Mom, I think that Santa was just someone dressed up from the ward. His kids must have toys they want to get rid of so he could play Santa and give their toys away.
M: I think your dad needs to play Santa if that's the case.

Apparently an elf named "Cherrie" came and visited her 1st grade class today. She wanted to know if elves were invisible. She also wanted to know why the elves needed to come and look in the windows to see if the kids are being good or bad when all Santa has to do is look in his tv or on the computer and see whose being naughty or nice.

This and That....

Week in review... We had thanksgiving dinner up at my parents house. On Friday I once again braved the crowds with my mom and Jill and went shopping. One store we make sure to get every year is Smith Marketplace because all of their socks are half price. We also went to Mervyns and Target and Roberts and a few other stores in the mall. I don't like crowds and probably wouldn't go if I had to do it alone each year but since I started doing it with my mom and Jill it is a lot of fun. I think Zach likes it cause he gets to stay in bed rather than me sending him out to fight the crowds. On Saturday morning we took the kids to Zach's work for the children's Christmas party. We had breakfast, watched a mad scientist, and sat on Santa's lap. There was also face painting and balloons. The kids all had a lot of fun. After the party Zach and Emmy headed down to the BYU/Utah game. Too bad Emmy's team couldn't pull off the win but at least Zach was happy. On Friday afternoon we put up our Christmas Tree and most of our Christmas decorations. Sunday was spent at church and just relaxing, Monday Emmy, Luke and I went to see Enchanted again and on Tuesday we were at Jill's card making.

Here are some pictures of Luke checking out the after thanksgiving day sales.




Last night was the adult Christmas Party for Zach's work. It was themed to be a Scottish Christmas with bag pipes being the entertainment. The food wasn't so great. I don't know why they have to cook all the beef so rare. Not my favorite or Zach's but oh well. We did come home with a huge ham, cute Christmas tree ornaments, the center piece and some chocolate.




So that's pretty much what we've been up to since our last post. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the kids loot they got from the Christmas Party but I forgot. They each got a stocking full of treats and a fleece blanket and a bank.

Emmy turns 5!!

Today Emmy turned five. We had a lot of fun going and seeing Enchanted, and then we went to Brick Oven for dinner, and finally had an ice cream cake. I think she had a pretty good birthday. She wanted to get her ears pierced but when it finally came to doing it she was too terrified to go through with it. She got lots of fun new toys and a red shirt to wear to the Utah BYU game. Go Utes!!! Oh and Happy Birthday Emmy!!! We love you and are so glad you are part of our family.














Haley drew this picture on the back of her brick oven coloring page and wanted us to post a picture of it on the blog.

Look at him go!!

Check this kid out! It only took him 15 months and change (almost 16), but he finally decided to toddle.

More pics

Cute Kids!!

This morning we went and did some pictures. Our frames are in need of some updated photos of the kids and we need a family picture for Christmas cards. Unfortunately in all the family pictures we took at least one person wasn't cooperating. So hopefully when we go back this afternoon we can get a good one. Here are some good ones of the kids.

A Rant

What is the deal with car commercials? Are they not the most annoying things ever? Seriously, I'd take 20 "Totally Awesome Computer" commercials over one loud car commercial. On TV, it's the truck commercials, especially. Do they think that playing loud guitar music to the point that you can't hear the announcer will attract more of their target market or make the trucks seem more "manly"? And the dealer commercials on the radio "88 dollars down! 88 dollars a month!" screamed at the top of some announcer's lungs with the echo-reverb effect doesn't make me think that I all-of-a-sudden need a new car! Sheesh!



Okay, I feel better now. You?

Sisters

Witches at Gardner Village

Here are pictures of some of the witches we saw when we went to Gardner Village last week.

Emmy has the hardest time smiling naturally for pictures. You have to get candids of her to get a good smile.

Kemry wasn't so sure about sitting by the witch. That was as close as she would get to that one.


Ian wouldn't have anything to do with the witches. He mostly stayed in the stroller or ran away when we tried to get his picture by the witches.

And of course we couldn't pass up and opportunity to get a picture of Grandma quilting with the witches.

Halloween Fun!

Today we went up to This is the Place Heritage Park. Grandma bought the grandparents pass when we went in the summer so we decided to take advantage of it. There was some Halloween fun going on while we were there. We had to do a scavenger hunt which took us to a bunch of different houses and we got to play games and do some crafts. It was such a nice day and we had so much fun. Here are some pictures of some of the stuff we did there.


This is Haley, Emmy, Daniel and Kemry playing a popcorn game. They had to take the popcorn from one bowl and fill up another bowl.

Here's Emmy throwing a circle on a witches hat that was on a pumpkin.

This was the hay ride. Luke and I passed on this one because he was hungry.

Luke found his goat friend and had a good time with him again. Emmy wouldn't even come into the pen where the animals were.

Of course we had to ride the horses again.


Haley on the horse is a perfect addition to her costume. Too bad we can't borrow the horse for trick or treating.


We had a lot of fun and are glad that there was something for us to do while Haley was out of school.

Haley

Quick trip outside in the yard before church to show off Haley's cute outfit.

Haley's first kiss...

Yesterday Haley came home from playing with her friend Kevin. She was all giddy and told us that Kevin had kissed her. She pointed to her forehead and said he kissed her there and then on her cheek and then on her nose and almost on her mouth. Haley is constantly telling me that she loves Kevin and hopes to marry him. About a month ago she came home from school and was so happy because Kevin had told her he loved her too. I just hope this isn't any indication of what she'll be like as a teenager. First grade love.

Picture details...

Okay, for all those that commented on the last blog and were serious (you know who you aren't!), here's what you gotta do.

EMAIL me (zj8674 [at] yahoo.com) with TWO dates between now and November 15 that will work for you. Mind you, weekdays I'm pretty much only available after about 5, which doesn't leave a ton of daylight. All day any Saturday is good... on Saturdays, specify morning, afternoon, or evening. Second, give me a kind of location that will work best for you, i.e. a park, a downtown-type setting (Gateway makes for cool pictures), canyons/mountains (may catch some fall leaves still, may not... may get some fun snowy pictures...), etc. Or you can leave that part up to me.

Be sure to include your phone number... I just lost a bunch of them when I got a new cell phone (operator error, I know). Also tell me how many people are in your group and their ages.

Thanks so much for everyone's interest!

Pictures, anyone?

For all those that read this blog, I'm posting an offer. I really want to get my photography business humming, and as such, I'm going to offer anyone who comments to this post FREE FAMILY PICTURES (or pretty much whatever pictures you want... baby, family, just you, you and spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, whatever). This offer will last until the end of the month. Just say you wanna, and you got it. I'll give you your images on a CD with a photo release so you can have them printed whereever you'd like. Also, for each referral you send me (of a paying customer ;) ), I'll give you an additional free photo session. Such a deal, eh? What a great way to get pics for your family Christmas card or whatever!

Autumn Photos

We went into the canyon today in the drizzle to take a couple of pictures of leaves and kids. It's easy to take cute pictures when your models are so cute.

Ear Infection Again

I think Luke takes after his uncle Caleb. Not four weeks ago I took him into the doctor and he had an ear infection. Last night he was up crying every two hours or so and then pulling at his ears so once again we went to the doctor and once again the poor kid has another ear infection. This is the third one in four months. Hopefully the antibiotic will start working soon and he'll be happier.

No utensils required...

Luke has hit the stage where he very rarely lets me feed him anymore. I usually don't look forward to this stage because I hate cleaning up the mess. I think I'll take the cleaning up after him because he seems to eat a little better when he is doing it himself. I love that in both pictures he's got a spoon or a fork and is eating with his hands.

Making Cookies with Grandma

Recently Grandma and Grandpa Jaffa went to Sweden to visit Caleb and Johanna. While they were there they got Haley, Emmy, and Kemry Dala horse aprons and Caleb and Johanna sent home horse cookie cutters for them. So since Haley had the day off of school today Grandma sent all the girls an invitation to come and make cookies, using their cookie cutters and aprons. Here are some pictures...















Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the aprons and thanks Grandma for letting the girls come and make cookies, and also thanks to Caleb and Johanna for the horse cookie cutters.