Family Pictures

It's been a long time since we've had pictures taken as a family - way too long actually. My friend and very talented photographer, Leah, graciously offered to do just that. She worked wonders on our motley little bunch. We're so happy with the results (even if one of us would have rather shed a little more baby weight before being in front of a camera - Bah! Baby pictures couldn't wait that long).

Nick's expression kills me in this one!

And the 'center of attention' award goes to . . .

Now we all know what Sy will look like when he's ninety.

Ah, Happy Family.

Can't you just hear the little 'coo' and giggle here? Another Daddy's boy.

Mother and Child

Thanks Leah - you're amazing!

And, back to the grind

Hey there. Wow, that was quite a break but I guess it's time to get back to the blog-o-sphere. I mean the kids are back in school, it's a new year, I've finally taken down the Christmas decor (okay, almost, but by tonight, I swear) and incorporated the Christmas swag into daily life. Back to the norm. I've had a hard time being motivated to make the switch though. Everything feels so plain when the twinkle lights come down. Tyler told me he feels a little cramped over the holidays with all the extra stuff everywhere, but somehow it just feels cozy to me. The tree was so dry even a week before Christmas needles would drop to the floor if you walked past. Mama Kitty barely made it out with her life before the sagging limbs trapped her underneath forever. I'm not kidding. I took two or three strings of lights off with the tree inside before I was up to my ankles in pine needles and had to move the whole operation outside. Next year is the year I will cave. No more tree-guy. I'm all about a big pre-lit fakey and pine-tree scentsy now.

Our Christmas was great though. We were swimming in relatives (this is a good thing) from Christmas day until, well, yesterday. We had such good times with everyone - it was perfect! The only drawback is that Tyler and I are incredibly dull in comparison to the the smorgasbord of cousins, aunts, and uncles the boys have had to entertain them. Don't think they don't let us know exactly how boring we are too - they're pretty good boys, but no one would accuse them of being subtle.

Tyler completely surprised me with a gift on Christmas Eve. He had taken the boys to get it that day and they barely kept the secret. When I came home from my last minute shopping Max was all over Grey and Nick to 'not give it away'. Grey proceeded to tell me they were sending me on a little treasure hunt to find my gift and that they had to give it to me that night. And then:
Greybug- So, aren't you kind of thinking it has to be an animal now?
Me- Oh, woops. Actually I was thinking it must be pajamas.
Max- GREY!
After dinner that night everyone came with me on my little hunt. I should have known what it was since the rest of my family (namely my brothers) were so interested. The last clue led us to the guest bathroom where this sweet little girl was waiting!






Meet Izzy. She's a Jack Russell Terrier puppy - a dog that I have wanted for at least twelve or thirteen years now. I have to keep telling the boys she's Mommy's puppy just to get to play with her myself. Sadie and Mama Kitty aren't such big fans yet.
Anyway, she has been taking up a lot of my time and attention, but can you blame me? She's so cute! It's totally her fault if I slack on my blog. . . or anything else.

Thanksgiving Traditions

Does every family do the thing where they can't eat anything (aside from all the stuffed olives, roll dough, celery sticks etc., etc. everyone snacked on pre- sitting down to the dinner table) until everyone around the table has said three things they're thankful for . . . and no one can repeat what someone else has said? So the food gets incrementally colder as each person racks their brain for a new way to say they're thankful for the same things everyone preceding them said. Sweaty palms are wiped on napkins, minds go blank, and you find yourself blurting out "manicurists, muck boots, and bleach pens" (or some nonsense) only to see your loved ones sadly shaking their heads at your inadequate answers. "No!" you shout, "I'm not mocking tradition! I DO HAVE a thankful heart! I just want to move onto the pie and the little leftover turkey sandwiches that come LATER! And, and, and the first five people stole my TOP FIFTEEN ideas!" No? Your family doesn't go for that craziness? First, I don't believe you. Second, can I come to your house for Thanksgiving?
Since that's not an option, and I really do love Thanksgiving and family togetherness, and I AM grateful for a bazillion things that I could list any time of the day - except when it is suddenly demanded of me - I have a plan. I'm making cards. Not crafty little foofy cards (although my inner Martha is thinking some place cards would be a nice touch) but sneaky cheater note cards. Then, as all my thankful speaking points are taken I can just toss those cards casually over my shoulder and be ready to eloquently add whatever blessings I'm still holding. I'm not even writing down "Family, Friends," and "the Gospel" because I know those will be taken up by the first person to speak. Unless it's Nick because - judging from his prayers lately - the three things he is most grateful for are the temple (good one), dinner (if only he would eat. . .), and potty (really, and he can have that one all to himself).
SO I'm starting my note cards with these:
Love (which will SO get taken)
Music (ditto)
Freedom (ditto)
What would you say? You know it's coming. . . better be prepared.

Happy Halloweeeeen!!

(Max as a Dementor, Grey as Zorro, Me as Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West, and Nick as Batman. . . ready to hit the streets and get some candy! Oh yeah, and Tyler as the cameraman and door-answer-er.)

Oooooo! (That's a scary ghost sound by the way.) Nick has been drawing little blobish circles and saying 'Oooooo' for weeks now. 'Dat's a scary ghos, Mom'. All the little blobs look pretty much the same to me, but he assures me they're all very different ghosts. SO, our whole family has been pretty preoccupied with Halloween for some time now and now that it's officially over I'm not sure I want to let it go. The spooky decor is definitely staying up a few more days at least.
Th boys' school doesn't let the kids wear costumes to school on Halloween which I thought was very sad. I have great memories of the Halloween Parade at my elementary school. Teachers and students dressed up, parents came and the entire school tromped through the halls and through every classroom in the school. I'm sure it was chaos for the faculty and maybe even a dreaded event, but seriously, it was great fun for the kids. Part of the fun of being in costume is seeing (and being seen by) all your friends. In lieu of any costumed festivities at school I told the boys we would have a Halloween Costume Party for them at the house. Their guest lists weren't too bad separate, but they were a little spooky put together! We had twenty-three kids (and Grey's amazing kindergarten teacher, his wife and their son even stopped by - the kids went wild. He's quite a celebrity to them). When all was said and done (seventy-five 'witch-finger' cookies, twenty-three spider cupcakes, and twenty-three treat bags later) it was a very crazy, fun, chaos-filled hour-and-a-half! I'm definitelty glad we did it though and think it might have to become a tradition for us.

Witch Finger Cookies

I didn't have a chance to snap any pictures until the very end of the party. By that time, of course, most of the little goblins had shed multiple pieces of their costumes. Too bad I didn't group them together for a shot in the beginning - they were so adorable!

Hutch Henrie August 21, 1977 - October 18, 2008

Early Sunday morning my beautiful sister-in-law and friend Holly sent me the terrible news that her brother Hutch was killed in a car accident. Neither Tyler nor I could believe it - it's just too much. Too much for one family to go through, honestly. We attended the service today at an overflowing funeral chapel. I just wanted to send our love again to the entire Henrie family as they find themselves inexplicably thrust once more into the refiner's fire. We love you and Hutch and are so saddened at his passing. He will be greatly missed by everyone he ever came into contact with. I'm sure he, Ashley and Verna are all watching from above even now wishing they could comfort you themselves. I wish I could do something to comfort you as well but feel inadequate for the task - words are not enough. We're here for you always.

Anybody Still There?

So, I had a fit of 'time to get every project you've been thinking about doing for the last year done'. SO, after making some serious headway in the realms of mounting things on the wall, random organizing (picture me, a bajillion greeting cards, and a cute little file box - it's sickening and wonderful all at the same time, I know.), and, of course, more unpacking. I've had enough. For awhile. (I'm really quite productive when I'm not blogging, or reading what everyone else is blogging. Who knew.) Then an overly happy announcer-type appeared out of nowhere, shoved a microphone in my face and said "Well, Wendy, now that you've finally folded all that laundry and painted another wall shelf, what are you going to do?" Like any good American wanting to help spur the economy I cried, "I'm going to Disneyland!" And so it came to pass. We've always tried to do Disneyland in the off-times before but I had to see what all the "It's Halloweeeen Time" fuss was about, so off we went - along with at least half of the state (and some Az folks too) during Fall Break. Somehow we fit two eleven-hour days at Disneyland, a day at the San Diego Zoo, and a day at the beach in. I have to admit, the parts of Disneyland and CA Adventure that were decorated were pretty cool. Seeing the 'new and improved' Haunted Mansion alone was worth the trip. I'd like the Disney Staff to come and decorate our house for Halloween now, please.

The boys throwing out . . . who knows what signs.

Noodle and Tyler

Oh, look, it really IS the happiest place on earth.

We stayed with our good friends, Kara and Jason for the last few nights. One night we even left our kids with their kids and snuck out for an amazing dinner at our friend Jason Knibb's restaurant, nine-ten, in La Jolla. We miss his cooking Soooo much. He left the Tree Room five years ago and our mouths still water just thinking about our many favorites of his dishes. He truly has a gift. Mid-bite of one of the appetizers Jason sent out Tyler rolled his eyes back in his head and actually said "If he was a girl I'd date him!". Um, yeah. I know. At least it's not as bad as what I thought he said at first. . .

The next afternoon at the beach wasn't warm enough for playing in the water, but the boys did anyway. What was I thinking by NOT putting them in their swimsuits and heading to the beach?

To be fair, Max kind of tried to stay dry, and kind of succeeded.

Nick was scared to get in the water without holding one of our hands. (except for the moment of heroism when he tried to pull Kara and Jason's toddler out of the oncoming tide to 'safety'. . . by her hair. Poor Nick was so scared of the water he was crying the whole time he was 'saving' Mia.

Grey, on the other hand, was being typical Grey. He's 'not trying to get wet' in this picture in fact. Notice, please, that his hair is dripping. And, yes, his clothes couldn't possibly soak up any more water than they already had at the point I took this picture.

Kara and Me. I know, I look ridiculous. My hair gets all psuedo-curly in humidity, and then the jewelry. . . For all you know I'm wearing a big frilly white skirt. Cha, cha, cha!

Our two families. . .Ready to go 'home' as the sun sets. Thanks for you hospitality dear friends!

Reading the Signs

When things are hard or keep going wrong at what point do you stop and say probably wasn't meant to be and let it go, and at what point do you show perseverance? If you always push forward no matter what, when do you have time to read the signs, take a minute, and mark it up as a bad idea or bad timing or bad juju? When we took the boat out, for instance, and it wouldn't start (which might have something to do with the little monkeys who like to play in the boat while it sits in the garage.) should we have thrown the towel in then? Or (after jump-starting the boat in the harbor) how about when I was swinging around to pick Tyler and Max up for another run and saw Grey inexplicably paddling alongside the boat? ('But, I wanted to swim') How about when Nick leaned too far over the edge trying to fill his water-streamer gun and toppled in? No? Keep on keeping on? Endure to the end? When we left the radio on while the bilge was filling and the battery wasn't fully charged yet and had to be towed in to the harbor by some little twerp? Certainly then we should have wrapped things up and called it day. But no, the water was turning glassy and so were Tyler's eyes watching it. We jump started again and off we went into the sunset. To be fair, the last runs of the day were beautiful and mishap free. . . so was it a lesson in never giving up or should I have recognized a doomed day at the lake from the the first fruitless turn of the ignition? One way or another, boating always makes for good pictures and we had my 'little' brother, Josh, with us who left to fly back to work in Russia today. (We'll miss you Josh!)




Tyler and Nick



Greybug



Maxer



'Uncle' Josh



Grey and Max



Tyler boarding with Grey



Tyler boarding with Max



Tyler ignoring me while we're towed in. I said ' This reminds me of the first time I went skiing and had to get taken down the hill in a toboggan. I was so embarrassed'. Tyler answered 'You know what's different? No one was pointing a camera at you telling you to smile while it was happening'.



Max and Nick watching the tow boat



Last swim of the day