Merry Christmas

I know many of you will be leaving to visit friends and family soon.  We wish you a Merry Christmas!  

***UPDATE***Whose the better driver NOW?

I should have included this  before but forgot and some of you have asked...no ben did not get a ticket.  But i should say the cop followed him from Mercer Island all the way to Bellevue where they pulled him over !!! haha Ok so here's a funny story.  Yesterday ben was at an all day meeting.  After dinner a bunch of them went to a bar to hang out.  Ben rarely goes, but decided to.  I thought he was coming home at like 8 but I finally heard from him at like 12:15.  I was talking to him for a few minutes and he said that he had to go because he was being pulled over. Which is an especially be deal since ben has a company car and if he gets 3 strikes in a year he'll get fired since he won't be able to do his job without a car (a strike is like 1 for a ticket, 2 for an accident) ect...I even get strikes :)  I finally heard back from him like 20 minutes later, and said What was that all about??  He said I was pulled over for drunk driving!  WHAT?!!!  He said the cop pulled him over for erratic lane changes.  Which let me tell you ben's driving BUGS me sometimes.  He constantly changes lanes to try to get ahead, but goes no place faster.  So the cop says "Have you been drinking" Ben says "no" and then the cop says "How do you explain the odor" Ben says "I was in a bar all night but didn't drink" so the cop says "How do you explain the bloodshot eyes"  Ben says"I don't know it's like 1 am?" So the cop made him get out of the car on the side of I-90 and take a sobriety test :)  hahah I think it's too funny!  I may have had some fender benders in my time (ok 3 to be exact and had our car totaled...NOT MY FAULT) but I have never been accused of being DRUNK :)   

The Minute-Clinic

I feel like I have to post this to show how THANKFUL I am for the Minute Clinic in QFC.  I woke up this morning and had a bladder infection (AHHH) anyway I had heard of this minute clinic for things such as this, or strep throat, sinus infections, ear infections etc.  They are in some QFCs and CVS stores.  It is a nurse practitioner and you just go, check in and be seen immediately if no one is in front of you (thankfully no one was) while i was there I got all 3 kids a flu shot, and a prescription for me, and my insurance was billed the same as seeing a DR.  YEAH!!! Instead of finding a general practice Dr for me, and making a trip to the pediatrician it was all one quick stop.  So Minute Clinic this is a shout out for you :)  And my kids left happy with stickers and magnets :)  the nurse even let zach play with the credit card machine to keep him happy (which after getting bored with just pressing buttons he went to my purse, got my hollywood video card out and tried swiping it)  Is this a sign I shop too much????

Nauvoo-Who?

For family night this week we talked about the little section in the Friend with cut out pictures of Joseph Smith, and there is a little comic like story too.  So Kyle colored the pictures and was very excited to help.  So the story was about Joseph in Nauvoo and building the temple.  At the end of the story we used his little pictures he colored to have him retell the story.  I asked "Kyle what was the name of the city that Joseph Smith lived in and built the temple?"  Kyle looked at me for a minute and I could tell he was unsure but decided to go for it- he replied "Who-Ville"?

We just had to watch The Grinch for the activity after :)

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

While we were visiting Ben's parents Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit the kids.  It was wonderful!  Last year when we went to Snowflake lane Kyle wanted to see Santa so we walked over to where people were taking pictures for a look.  The price of the pictures, in my opinion, was outrageous- we we stood and looked at kids taking pictures with Santa:)  Kyle was very concerned and asked me how will Santa know what I want if I can't talk to him because it costs too much.  So we wrote letters:)  

So Santa and the Mrs. just walked in the house jingling bells and came looking for the kids.  Sadie was playing downstairs in the playroom and he bent down to talk to her, but she wouldn't even look at him.  That was funny!  (see picture)

Each of the kids took a turn to sit on his lap and talk about Bedtime, behavior, and toys....(he seemed to know how Kyle is with bedtime :) ) 

Kyle went first in our family (Ben's older brothers kids were there too) and acted very quiet.  He didn't tell Santa that he wants a 2 wheeled scooter because he didn't know how to draw it on his letter to Santa:)  

Sadie went next and just could not stop giggling.  It was priceless.  She finally told Santa that she likes dolls and barbies..

Zach went last after his cousins.  It took him the whole time to warm up to them.  Mrs. Claus kept trying to lure him in with Candy Canes (which he LOVES now).  He just sat there and talked to them for a minute.  Pretty cute!  It was the best!  

Slot Canyon Hike

While we were in Utah visiting ben's parents his dad took us to Little Wild Horse Canyon where we went on a hike through slot canyons.  It was so much fun.  For most of the trip ben's dad had Zach on his shoulders, Ben had Sadie, Kyle led the way, and I lagged behind which is exactly how it was from my childhood :)  Kyle LOVED it!  We got lots of great pictures and had a really fun day.  Towards the end of the hike Kyle pretended like he was Yoda and would bounce/sideways jump off the sloped walls- I guess that's what Yoda does in one of the movies or something.  You can tell from a few of these pictures how narrow some of the canyons were.  It was a fun memory we won't soon forget.