Post-Christmas Fun to Tide Us Over

I know I have a ton of family pics from Christmas, but I'm still trying to dig out from under crumpled wrapping paper, plastic twist ties, and wet snow clothes. So, to hold us/you over until I can post something related to our family, here (http://www.holdman.com/christmas/) is a light display with video (enable your sound) that you have to check out. If you are in the Utah County/Lindon area, you NEED to visit it in person (until Jan. 5th). If you think it's impressive online, just imagine how it is live. Enjoy!

How did he keep his pants on?

So I (Leon) was browsing through my photos at work and came across this one. We had to have a picture of this - Jayden running and holding up his pants because then he was too tall for his age and everything that fit him length wise was too big in the waist. He is still pretty skinny for his pants, but is getting by.

Dallin's Metal Mouth

So, it's official - Dallin is a metal mouth. After more than a year of orhtodontic work widening his jaw, he finally has something to show for it. He was a little nervous this morning, but he seems to actually like them. I think he feels like a teenager. So far he's not been in too much pain other than getting used to them rubbing on his mouth. He chose "midnight glow blue" for those who are wondering.

Another Plug for My Jewelry

With the holidays coming up I have been trying to market my handcrafted jewelry. I have many new items listed in my Etsy Shop as well as on my jewelry blog (stephsjewelry.blogspot.com). There should be something for everyone - women, men, boys, girls, and infants. Take a peek and TELL SOME FRIENDS.

Free Child Labor

Don't tell my kids, but I consider "leaf raking time" as a chance to get some free child labor out of them. They think it's too much fun to consider it work, I guess.

Things I Love Today

Things I Love Today (in no particular order):

• That my husband made the bed this morning - pillow shams and all.
• Finding the last two cans of "milk chocolate" flavor hot chocolate after digging through the pile of all the yucky flavors no one ever buys. Felt like I had won the lottery!
• The nice people at Macey's grocery store gave me another gallon of milk after I dropped mine in the parking lot (an entire gallon of milk makes a huge mess, by the way).
• That there are still some radio stations who are playing regular (not Christmas) music.
• That all my dishes fit into the dishwasher - no straggling pile that never seems to make it in.
• That all my kids are safe and accounted for after Jayden got lost at the movie theater during a Scout activity last night.
• That we have a laptop as a backup computer since our main computer died yesterday. I would be going through computer withdrawls without it.
• A patient, honest sister who talked me off of a shopping ledge today, twice.
• I had no visitors today since my house is a total mess.
• That it's Friday and my carpool week is over.

So, what do YOU love today?

Clever Traders

Dallin came up with this candy trading idea. Each boy had their own candy area, and the center of the pillows was the "up for grabs" zone where unwanted candy was put up for trading. That "Fun Dip" was a hard one to get rid of.