Last Weekend

This weekend we took a trip to El Paso, Texas for the marriage of my sister Amanda to David Munoz.


It was a great trip and a great thing to see my sister get married. She is so happy and her wedding was unique and beautiful.

My parents and ALL of my siblings together--a rare thing indeed.


Aunt Kerami (my sister) dancing with Dallin and his cousins Iris, Madeline, and Savannah.


Dallin pinning a dollar on Amanda for the dollar dance.


Here is a photo of Adam's short appearance at the wedding reception. There is a long story here, in which Mark is the hero, but I will leave it to Mark to tell since he deserves to tell it--blood, vomit, poop, and all. At the end of the day at least there were some great wedding nachos for Adam to enjoy.



Our family and my sister Dawn's family got connecting rooms at the hotel and enjoyed bouncing from one room to the other while the kids played together. I loved seeing my kids playing with their cousins, especially their older cousins. Jack and Wyatt are 10 and 12 and yet they still had a fun time playing with my two and four year olds. There is something heart-warming about that.


On the way home we stopped by my Aunt and Uncle, Lisa and Jason's farm in New Mexico. They had a large greenhouse with tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries. The tomatoes grow around a wire that is connected to the ceiling.
I thought the cherry tomatoes were especially cool. Notice how neat they grow in two nice rows and how they ripen from the top, fading from a ripe red to a bright green.

The small greenhouse grows mainly lettuce, cabbage, and spices. Notice how these styrofoam pots stack to the heavens around a pole and the plants peak out the exposed triangles.

The Table is Set

Thursday, December 4th.


Mark comes home in the evening and is wondering what is going on. Ribs? And not the cheap kind? The good kind that we've never ever bought before? Something must be up.

The menu:

Parmesan potatoes

Carrots

Spinach salad with poppyseed dressing

BBQ ribs

Throughout the course of the meal I take the opportunity to announce each portion of the meal. Interspersed with our evening commentary of "How was your day?" and "You fired another temp?" were questions and phrases somewhat like this:

Marily: Do you want some baby potatoes, Adam?

Marily: Look, Dallin, baby carrots.

Mark: Wow, we have a few baby things for dinner tonight.

Marily: Dallin, did you know that's baby spinach in that salad?

Mark: Is it really baby spinach?

Dallin: Can I have some more chicken?

Marily: Sure, but it's not chicken. They're baby back ribs.

And then he gets it. Or at least Mark gets it. And he laughs. And still we get through that whole announcement dinner without even clueing in the little guys as to what was going on. Dallin might not have even cared at that point. He was too busy enjoying his chicken.

'Tis the Season

Here are our pictures that are very similar to your pictures that many of you have already posted. Different kids though.

Our simple tree. And I prefer kids decorating trees in pajamas. Better photo opportunities.

Adam preferred the grouping technique for decorating the tree's limbs.

He would carefully place another bulb on the same one or two branches and then smile wide and do a little happy dance that he managed to get another one on without knocking the others off. It reminded me of a game like Jenga or Don't Break the Ice.

These two photos are from the Christmas party at church. Somehow I missed taking my own picture of Adam with Santa. I think it was because I was trying to take Adam's sucker away for the photographer to take a picture.

The morning before the activity I kept asking Dallin what he was going to ask Santa for--a mom's got to know these things. He'd simply whisper, "It's a secret." I was worried that I would have to ask Santa himself, but fortunately I caught Dallin as he was running off after sitting with Santa to ask him what he asked for. "Airplane roller coaster" was his whispered reply before he ran away.

Christmas crafting

So what's a mom to do when she actually planned ahead this year and already bought her kids gifts and how was she suppose to know that if you leave Target ads lying around the house your kid is bound to come up with something to ask for that is NOT what was already purchased? Really, I need some advice. Mark could care less whether Dallin got what he asked for. Me, I'm feeling a little guilty for not buying this:

Our Joy School and a couple of extra two-year-olds (mine included) went to a care facility and sang and performed a reenactment of the nativity for a few ladies there. Dallin's the one with the crown over his eyes in both pictures. My kids were two wise men (hopefully reminiscent of things to come).

How's that for spreading some Christmas joy?