Making Lemonade

You know what they say about life, and what to do when it gives you lemons - or a kid who is adamantly against potty training.

I was looking in the fridge for a tempting beverage to give to Luke so that I could flood his system and thereby provide plenty of opportunities for using the toilet today. I spied a big bag of lemons that I had bought on sale and decided to make lots of lemonade. Luke loves it, and needless to say, the bathroom has been busy today, but so has my washing machine.

Anyway, you know what they say about potty training. Practice makes piles of laundry.

Okay I made that up.

Christmas

Here are some photos from Christmas. We spent most of the day at Nate's parents' house where we had exchanged gifts and had lots of food.


Luke opens a tee ball set


Jake and Lucy open matching paint sets




Playing with toys in their Christmas hats.


Tired Kristene


Lucy is so happy with her new bike from Santa

Allison and Nathan's family came down from Utah after Christmas. We had so much fun at our After-Christmas party when all the kids exchanged gifts. We had Sommer and Jeremy on the computer too using Skype so they could see everyone who opened gifts from them. In my memories of that day, it's like they were there! I love technology.

Grandma and Grandpa gave all the kids hiking sticks with their name engraved on it for Christmas. It's a thing between Grandpa and the kids to have hiking sticks when they go camping, so they liked them. We all went on a hike up Waterfall Trail at the White Tanks while Allison's family was here. It was fun to seen Jane enjoying her cousin Gillian so much. Luke and Lucy especially love having Henry and Elliot here too.





Grandpa, Henry, Nate, Luke

Lily and Grandma

A slippery climb just to see a tiny pool of water where the waterfall wasn't falling. All the kids wanted a turn, so of course Luke had to go up there too.

Pals Jane and Gillian

Katelyn was there

Allison was there too. I think I was there, but I'm not sure because there are no photos of me.

Henry and Lucy follow the rule of holding hands to cross the street

A bunch of kids

Luke and his aunt Allison saying their goodbyes.

You want a Christmas card? Here's your Christmas Card!

Christmas seems far behind us now, but I didn't ever get a chance to blog about it. Christmas was a good finish to a long year. It's nice to have the familiar traditions, music, food and family to make everyone happy and comfortable.



Anticipation



Hey, my sister made me a jewelry box for Christmas!

Hey, me too!

The Year in Review. Here are a few notable events from our year.

*We moved all the way across the neighborhood.

*Nate got a Blackberry.

*Hailee returned to photography with her first wedding and several more booked.

*Our dog, Bindi, died suddenly after 9 years of being awesome.

*Hailee and the kids grew a garden which actually produced for the first time ever.

*We went camping in Colorado and had an amazing time.

*The kids enjoyed swimming all summer at our old house before it was sold in September.

*Nate went back to school for his MBA.

*Jane turned 8 and got baptized.

*Lucy started "Home School" (her words) in lieu of preschool.

*Luke kept us all entertained with his excellent vocabulary and enthusiastic personality.

What a year it's been. I'm happy to be staring a new year right in the face and making plans for a bigger and better year. What's your year look like?