Happy New Year!

Our family welcomed in 2009, and had all the kids asleep by 9:00 p.m. Micah and I have never been real crazy about big parties to welcome in the new year.  We figure it will come by morning if we stay up to bang pots together or not.  Maybe we are just big party poopers, but I'm sure it will change as our kids get older.  As for now they need their sleep. Micah took the two older girls to a movie, and I was able to have lunch with my mom and Aunt Mavis who was visiting from out of town.  We ended the day with a fun dinner together as a family with Martinelli's and poppers.  (We really know how to party.)  

Aliza has really been on this kick of doing something she knows will hurt and then asking "are you ok?"  It is really hilarious when you're not the one getting pinched or squeezed.  

This really is not a good picture of Abbie, but look at that great action shot.

When doing poppers the best part is making a huge mess of all the stringy stuff.  It wouldn't be a party without stringing it all over the house, right?

We hope that you all had a very Happy New Year!  

We look forward to all our memories in 2009.  

Merry Christmas

We started out our Christmas at a great Christmas Eve party at Micah's parents home.  Every year this is my favorite time because the kids are so full of excitement.  The anticipation is almost too much for them to bare.  We play games, eat, eat, and eat some more.  Then the evening always ends with one last sit on Santa's lap for any last requests.  I love it when the kids come up with something totally random that they must have just thought of.  It happens every year and makes for a good laugh. We always leave their house in new jammies and a fun Christmas Eve present from Santa.

This is the first year that Abbie had no hesitation to sit on his lap.  She would do it in years past but would never sing with Santa or really have a conversation with him.  This year on the way to the party she was really concerned that she would not get to ring his bells and sing a song with him.  Luckily her wish came true.  

Avery is our very shy little girl.  This is where she was all night to insure that she wouldn't have to sit on his lap.  I was informed to tell him she wants a roll over puppy, but to please not make her sit on his lap.  She was attached to me until Santa left.

Aliza really surprised us by sitting on his lap without screaming. Afterward Micah informed me that he kept telling her that he had a present.  That must have been the key.   Avery has learned from past years that you still get the present no matter what.  Aliza hasn't learned that yet.  She looked terrified the entire time.  I always laugh when we head to the mall to see Santa each year and there is always a few screaming kids.  Why do we do this to our kids?

Christmas morning was so much fun.  Luckily the girls didn't get up too early and everyone seemed pleased with Santa's picking of toys.  Aliza would just ooh and ahh over each gift she unwrapped.  She would have to get it out of the package and play with it before she would move on to the next.  Abbie wrote Santa a letter which she had asked for a bell from Santa's sleigh.  He responded back telling her that she couldn't have a bell because it would throw the balance off on his sleigh.  She was really disappointed.  (I would love to talk to the Santa writers if anyone knows them).  After all the trauma he did leave her a special bell from his sleigh.  Both sets of Grandparents made a visit that morning  and then we were off to visit family for the rest of the day.  We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

Once There Was A Snowman

Yesterday we were bombarded with ALOT of snow.  In fact, Micah and I couldn't remember it ever snowing that much in one day since we moved in 7 years ago.  Luckily we really had nowhere we had to be, so we could sit home and watch it pile up all day long.  Our front yard has turned into great sledding ground for the neighbor kids.  

I had to take a picture of Aliza in her snow gear.  It was way to big on her, but she was dying to get out in the snow.   While I shoveled the snow Aliza would try to walk around and then fall, with all that padding she would just giggle.  She was unable to get up by herself so she would patiently wait for one of us to pick her up, and then she'd do it all over again.

Our Fabulous Snowman!

Let it Snow!

The snow is officially here to stay.  The excitement is so great that my girls can't get enough of  it.   I'm sure there will be a puddle on my kitchen floor until spring where they remove all their snow gear.  I can't complain because they are having so much fun.

Abbie and Avery have been arguing over who gets to shovel.  I can't complain about that either.

My snow angels.

We have the perfect size hill in our front yard for the little ones to sled down.  The only downfall is that our driveway is a hill too.  Whenever it snows and I need to drive I literally slide down the hill into the road.  It still scares me after all the years of living here.  

Temple Square

I am always so grateful for opportunities to head to Salt Lake and see Temple Square.  Every year Abbie and Avery get to play at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building the first Monday in December.  (I'm slow I know)  We stayed and made it a whole family night seeing all the sights and lights of course.  This is the only picture I got of them with their violins that wasn't too dark.  

Temple Square is always so peaceful and beautiful.  I was so glad we had the opportunity to start out the Christmas season thinking of why we celebrate this time of year.  Our girls were just fascinated with the nativity scene.  Abbie kept asking to watch it over and over again.  With President Hinckley doing the narrating who wouldn't want to stay and listen to it over and over.  

Avery was closing her eyes in all of the pictures so I told her to keep her eyes open wide.  That was the wrong thing to say because when I looked at the pictures that evening I realized she now looks like a deer in the headlights in almost every picture.  Oh Well..... I think she's cute either way.

Dad and his girls.

It was a beautiful night.  I can't wait until next year.

Aliza's Surgery Day

We are so relieved today to have made it through Aliza's surgery.  We are so grateful that everything went well and our little one is feeling better today.  For those of you who were asking questions, Aliza had a small surgery to remove a  epigastric hernia.  It really wasn't a huge deal but to all the moms out there you know that whenever it's your child it's a big deal.  I didn't realize how stressed I was about it and how obvious it was until after the surgery.  Micah and I were laughing last night about all the phone calls making sure I was okay.  When we got to Primary Children's Monday morning Aliza of course was very hungry.  An hour later when they finally called us back to prep her for the surgery I think she could tell something was up because she just screamed.  They had to give her a quick acting sedative before they even took her back to the OR.  We had to leave her screaming which didn't help the situation.

This is Aliza one minute before the next picture.

Is that fast working stuff or what?  That sedative kicked in so fast.  The poor little thing.  When we were in the waiting room Aliza became very attached with this Elmo coloring book.  We couldn't get it away from her.  Needless to say when she came to her first word was Elmo.  That tells you where we stand.  We even had to bring it home with us.  I promise we will replace it when we go back next week for her follow up appointment.

In the recovery room all of the nurses were laughing at her relaxed pose.  She kept putting her hand behind her head like she was sitting on the beach.  They had to keep her other hand covered because she wanted to rip out her IV whenever she got a glimpse at it.

We made it through and are so grateful that we have healthy children.  After being in the hospital for pretty much the whole day it sure makes you think about how lucky we are to be healthy and well.  Aliza is doing amazingly well today.  In fact I expected her to just want to sit around all day taking it easy, but no way.  She has been running around trying to keep up with her sisters.  Every once in a while she will stop and say "owie," but it's not slowing her down much at all.  We are glad to have this all behind us.

Thanksgiving Beauty Shop

On Thanksgiving day my girls and their girl cousins decided to open up shop.  The Snarr home became the holiday beauty shop.  As you can see they did a great job in the makeup area and gave great massages.  Over the course of three days of family get togethers they successfully massaged and made over everyone in the family.  It started out as just makeup but ended up as a full service salon.  I'm sure they went through several bottles of lotion and lots of play makeup.  They had a great time!  We owe you big time Michelle.

I'm so glad I remembered my camera to get these glamor photo's.

This is Aliza with her fabulous makeover and her Great Grandma Joy.