Family...

This post includes some stuff from the end of December but it already felt like the New Year so we will count it!

We really did spend a lot of time with family during the holidays.  We were lucky enough to get our Preslar cousins to come stay with US for New Year's.  It was so wonderful to have all five of them packed into our home and you know what?  I think we fit perfectly! We didn't take hardly any pictures of our time together because it was mostly spent just "being."  Romney, Emma, Cara and I played in every room of the house, played with almost every toy, and enjoyed making up pretend worlds.  Chase was rescued from all of the girlyness by my daddy and the Wii.  They played lots of Mario Brothers together!  We did feel bad for Uncle Troy and Aunt Rachel who spent their 15th wedding anniversary in drug induced comas for their flu.  Basically we sent them to bed while we played.

They did get to take part in our New Year's Eve ritual of hot tubbing until midnight (okay midnight EST!) and enjoying a little bit of Martinelli's.  We really wish we had taken pictures but mostly we just really enjoyed the warm steamy water and the cold air instead.  We missed them terribly just hours after they had left.  They got the worse end of the deal though.  They had to drive north into sub freezing temperatures and a terrible inversion!

Oh and we did let Uncle Troy have the house to himself to recover on New Year's Eve while we played at Jumpin' Jacks.  Here is the only picture Mommy took.  We loved having Daddy to help us with the bungee run.  He was getting ready to let go and send me flying backwards!

And here is us hanging with our other cousin, Lexi.  She's getting to be such a chunk and she loves to sit and watches movies with us!

And just so you know what it looks like to see my Mom and Grandma teaching at the gym here is one of my Grandma's Group Power classes.  (She's so popular!!)

And last but not least, we got to hang out with Josie again!  She's our second cousin or first cousin twice removed on my mother's side...I don't know...anyway we love her and playing with her.  See how we ham it up!

Rounding out 2012

Guest post by Mommy:

Well here it goes.  Time for me to wrap up what we did this year in to a couple of sentences per month.

January:  I became a stay at home with the bonus of being a fitness instructor! We also set some New Year's Resolutions...I did way more than 20,000 squats but I won't talk about the rest.  Let's just say I scratched out 12 and wrote 13.  Siena can write her alphabet and Cara is potty trained! Peter did his, I think!

February: We fulfilled a life long dream of mine by going to Disneyland and purchasing ANNUAL PASSES!  So wonderful.  We also played up north with cousins and tried rappelling with Grandpa and added a new dog, Chester, to the fam!

March: Marty married Hailey, we bought a playset for our backyard, met Becca's boyfriend, Phil, and Siena received her scooter and started gymnastics!!

April: Disneyland trip for Mommy's birthday! It was momentous because Siena rode her very first Splash Mountain ride!  We played at the beach also!

May: Siena went backpacking with Grandpa and Daddy.  We finally landscaped our side yard and through an enormous effort built our playset (thanks to our family!) Siena also had her first cavity and her first gymnastics show.  We also enjoyed a complete solar eclipse!

June: We started it off with the opening of the Rocky Shores at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake, dashed to Disneyland with Hailey and Grandma (while Grandpa and Marty and Eric were in AFRICA) and then hosted the Preslars at OUR house! I had my 10 year high school reunion and that was all before the 10th!

July: We did fireworks.  We went up to Idaho so Pete could do a triathlon and we could hang out with friends plus we stopped in SLC and got to do cousin time including our Seattle cousins.  We won a queen mattress set, met Jimmer Fridette of the NBA, ran a 5k and Cara turned THREE!

August: Pete and went on a grown ups only trip to Seabrook, Washington with his family to start off August and our 7th anniversary! Siena started dragging behind the boat on a knee board! And we added a new cousin when Angie had her baby, Lexi!

September: We found out Marty and Hailey were pregnant with TWINs. We managed to sneak in our annual camping trip up on the Kolob plateau, Siena started PRESCHOOL and we went on an epic trip to Disneyland for her FIFTH birthday that included a stay at the Disneyland Hotel! Ooo and Cara was able to ride Go Coaster with us this time!

October: Pete started this month off completing his first MARATHON! The girls had fabulous Halloween costumes that we showed off at our trip to Staheli Farm.  We took a trip up north for the second year in a row to be part of the Preslars' school carnival and then Siena was also able to attend a dance production called "Thriller" which she LOVED.

November: I snuck in a trip to Disneyland by kidnapping a dear friend who needed to go for her 30th birthday in a desperate way! Pete had a birthday filled with silly pranks.  We went up north for a great Thanksgiving with the Romneys that culminated in an early Christmas party.  I also painted the wall in our living room along with our fireplace much to my happiness and Pete's surprise (he was out of town!)

December: Just me and the two girlies took another trip to Disneyland! We also spent lots of time enjoying our Elf on the Shelf and Christmas movies.  Siena had a lovely preschool program.  We built our Christmas igloo and then hosted the Preslars at our house to send out 2012 (more on that in a later post!)  Oh yes! And Pete got a new pony...well bike.  His very first tri-bike!

Phew!  We've had a TERRIFIC year and we feel very blessed.  We know it hasn't been that way for everybody and we are mindful of them in our prayers.  I hope that 2013 can be just as full!

Enjoying family...

We have just been enjoying our family for days and days and days.  We jacuzzi, eat, and watch movies.  It's been great.

Aren't we a handsome bunch?

Ooo in swimsuits!

Using my new helmet...

Cara trying out the helmet and her new shoes...

Turns out she doesn't like climbing.  She kept exclaiming "Not until I'm FIVE.  I can't climb til I'm FIVE!"

And then we got to play with our second cousins! We had so much fun. And see our great grandparents. And all kinds of family!

Merry Christmas!

We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve with family and a delightfully slow and plastic filled Christmas morning.  We hope you all have had the same!

We got new swimsuits for the annual dip in the Larsen Jacuzzi.

Followed by new Merida jammies!

Then we rushed home and set out Santa's cookies and eggnog plus the 5 toys that Hermes told us he had requested we leave for him.

And then in the morning, Santa had left us our presents!!!

Siena was much more excited then this picture lets on...

See!

But you'll notice Cara is also so excited, she won't hold still!

Thank you, Grandpa Great for your gift!

We had quite the haul!  And we haven't stopped playing with it or watching movies since we got up at 8 am.  (That's right...we still sleep really well...)

Side note from Mommy:
We had a wonderful Christmas at my parents house last night and felt really really spoiled. I have long coveted my mother's caroler collection.  They are my favorite decoration at Christmas.  My dad has given her a new caroler every year since 1989 I think with some years adding a bonus such as a bench in.  My parents almost reduced me to tears when I opened my gift this year and found my very own first caroler..Mrs. Cratchit.

It was also such a joy to watch Siena and Cara open their gifts.  Such funny expressions none of which were caught on camera.  They were appreciative and elated and so sweet.  Hands on top of heads with mouths open.  Squeals and giggles and jumps over presents that I thought they would just kinda enjoy.  It was so magical.  They didn't get grabby or sad over what they other one got.  They have played so nicely with each other and all their presents.  (Actually I think their Santa presents have been the least played with!) It was a GREAT year.

Annual Igloo and Hermes antics

We set up our annual Christmas Igloo yesterday.  I think this year's is the best ever.  We have comfy foam pads on the floor this time and it just looks so good!  Thanks Mommy and Daddy!

We haven't taken many pictures of what Hermes has been up to but he has been silly.  Since coming home from Disneyland, he was recreating rides.  One time it looked like he was on Jungle Cruise and then the Tea Cups.  We did get a picture of him recreating the Christmas parade...

And then last night he built his own fort/igloo!

Oh yes and he also made our milk purple.  Silly elf! We are going to miss him after Christmas!

Siena's Preschool Performance!

Guest post by Cara:

We got to go to Siena's preschool and watch her do a performance!  She was amazing.  She had been practicing and singing and telling us all about the songs for weeks!  She did a great job.  She even had a solo where she had to sing the beginning of "Rudolph".  Plus we didn't know they would be doing a little hip hop dance.   It was so cute!

Mommy's going to try and work out posting a video of it because she was that great!

My darling girls

Guest Post by Mommy:  Sorry.  It's gonna be a wordy one.

This is going to be an emotional post.  It wasn't going to be when I thought I would write it yesterday but it has since morphed into one.  The news from our country of losing 20 innocent children and 6 adults in such a violent act had me aching.  I cried many times yesterday thinking about what those 26 families are going through (and just how large a "family" can be.)

I have long since admired a blog of my friend's (Kelliann darling it's you!) because she has focused so much on what her little girls are "doing" and what they say and their catchphrases for the month.  A wonderful baby book blog if you will.  I feel I tend to let "Siena" tell you more about our journeys since we seem to leave our circle a lot! And then I also feel so inadequate at capturing what my girls are "doing" and "saying" that makes them so uniquely them.

However, the thought of never seeing Siena smile again or Cara suck her thumb and burrow into my arm took my breath away and I felt I needed to write down what it is that makes them so special TODAY.  And as specifically as I could.

I'll start with Siena.  Oh my word.  She has really been a very pleasant child and these past four months of watching her grow through preschool has been amazing.  She is so bright and sunny every day.  And she is FUNNY.  Or at least she thinks she is.  She loves to show me new discoveries with such intensity and enthusiasm.  She has taken to playing outside with our neighborhood kids with fervor.  She still won't ride her bike and finds it scary, but her scootering skills have come far.  Plus she is no longer afraid to jump with big kids on a tramp or jump from the tramp to the ground or just be a little wild.  It's been liberating for us both.  She doesn't need me for everything.  She can do most things herself.  And I love it.  She loves to be with friends.  She has also taken to doing somersaults off the couch and trying to practice headstands will doing the splits while leaning on the couch.  It's hilarious.  She honestly obeys the rules and I'm still amazed that most days I only have to ask her once to do something and even then she RUNS to go do it.  She always asks before letting kids play in our side yard which I love.  She's polite and will talk to adults now.  She believes whole heartedly in Santa even when recognizing that some Santa's are fake.  She is uncanny in her musical ability.  Not necessarily singing or playing an instrument, but she learns the words to songs incredibly quickly AND recognize artists based on hearing them in other things.

Example:  We were listening to Judy Garland sing a Christmas song in the car and Siena sat up in her seat straighter and said "Hey! This is Dorothy!" We haven't watched Wizard of Oz in many months!

She was so wonderful in Disneyland.  No tears (or at least very few) and was just willing to tuck her little hand into my pocket when I had my hands full with Cara.  She ate corn dogs and mustard with me and laughed and sang and would steal kisses from me on my hand, cheek, arm, whatever she could reach.  Gaaa! Love her! She cleans up after herself at the table, puts the dishes she's assigned away..sometimes she'll say "oh no! There is so many! I'll get tired"...she misses us and loves us fiercely.

As for Cara.  She's still so tiny in my mind.  There are plenty of babies around to remind me that she is not exactly "tiny" but she is for her size!  She still sucks her thumb whenever she can , but over the last month especially has transformed from advanced toddler to little girl.  She plays pretend and talks in full understandable sentences all the time.  She will repeat most of her sentences until you acknowledge what she says.  She takes her moods to more extremes and is more of a roller coaster in that regard.  She's often the instigator in the fights between our two girls.  She's working through the "mine" and "cry to get what I want" stage right now.  She's completely potty trained and is actually better at holding it than her sister.  Sometimes she holds it too well and she can freak her mommy out!

She loves just about anything Siena does and wants to do it all, but only likes jumping on the tramp with Siena not anybody else.  She also won't go down the slide on our play set yet!  She needs more alone time than Siena.  She'll play with friends, but then needs to hide in a bedroom or on the couch with a movie much sooner than Siena does.  She still wakes up in the middle of the night and I end up bringing her in to sleep with us because we both love to cuddle.  However she does have a habit of stroking your arm or face with her hand over and over or trying to stroke you with her feet that ends sometimes with her crying because I've scootched her over a little too harshly or rolled away from her.

She also tries to complete Siena's chores for her because she thinks it's cool to do them.  Ha! Her voice is still really tiny and I love it.

I love my girls.  They play well together and get lost in their own world.  They both love to color and paint and Siena really enjoys trying to write.  I love over hearing conversations between them even when sometimes I am ashamed because I hear my own harsh tones or words coming out of their mouths.

I enjoyed being in Disneyland with just them.  Lots of together time.  One of my favorite moments occurred in the car on the way to my Grandpa's house.  Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" came on and Siena was confused by calling Santa "baby".  So I loosely explained that Eartha thinks Santa is cute and Aunt Angie likes to call Uncle CJ "baby" and the girls just thought it was so funny, but then they asked me to keep playing the song because they liked how it sounded and it made them sleepy.  They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces.

Love them so much.  And hopefully I can be a better parent....