Merry Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas. The kids' presents were a hit, and we got to spend a lazy morning playing before heading out to visit family. Unfortunately this Christmas will go down in my memory as the year I ruined Christmas morning by crying over the present Mike got me.

It was a smart phone.

He thought I would really like one like his, and I would, but it costs an extra $30 a month to have internet service on it, and I had said it wasn't worth it to me. He researched and found a refurbished phone with cool features like his, but I could use just as a phone without the expensive data plan. It was a thoughtful idea, and he kept it a secret really well. But I didn't give Mike the reaction he was hoping for, after all his thoughtfulness.

I didn't want it.

If it was free I would have, but I knew it must have cost a lot, and I still had a perfectly good regular cell phone. And if it didn't have internet service, there was no reason to change over to an expensive new phone just so I could play Angry Birds. I finally had to tell him how I felt, which made me cry and feel terrible.

Thankfully it was returnable. I sure love Mike for tolerating my over-emotional moments. I really lucked out when I married him!

Christmas Eve 2010

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional dinner at my parents' house, and then had a special visitor, like always.

Lydia asked Santa for a Unicorn Pillow Pet.

Elise changed her mind several times in the weeks leading up to Christmas. For months she planned on asking for a "changing color iPod" (She wanted a music player and just couldn't decide what color, and surely Santa could make one that would change colors according to her whim). Then she wanted a real cell phone. Then at school she wrote a letter asking Santa for a Disney Princess boombox with a microphone (I'm justified in being upset that the Toys R Us catalog was distributed in class for a school assignment, right?). She finally settled on just a microphone.

Tyler asked for a train. No surprise there!

Holiday Festivities

Here is a quick (yeah right) rundown of all the fun family things we did to celebrate the holidays.

My grandpa's big party/reunion was held on the 19th (yeah, our anniversary, but it's not like we were planning a romantic getaway or anything). All the great-grandchildren acted out the Nativity. There were at least 20 of them. Elise and Lydia were angels, and Tyler was the Baby Jesus. He played the part beautifully, sleeping peacefully through all the commotion. Grandpa recently started a Christmas tradition of giving each great-grandchild a book chosen especially for them, with a note from Grandpa inside the cover. We think it's awesome.
On the 21st, for my Mom's birthday, we dressed the kids up again for a smaller Nativity play. This time Elise was Mary, and Lydia and Tyler reprised their roles as Angel and Baby Jesus. The best parts were my nephew Watson, who dressed up as "the Night Sky" (a blue robe) and held the gold star, and also the Donkey, played by my brother Chris, carrying Mary to Bethlehem. We ended the night with another Christmas tradition, all the grandkids receiving new Christmas pajamas.



Mike's mom had us all over for Christmas on the 23rd. She and Clint may have started something though, and I bet every Christmas from now on the grandkids will want to do the "fish pond" again (Grandpa behind the stair railing, hooking candy and prizes onto a makeshift fishing pole just like a carnival). I am proud to report that I made my very first batch EVER of homemade rolls to take to this party. I bought a bag of "backup" rolls at Costco, just in case I failed miserably, and I didn't even have to use them. Mike's grandma was also at this party, visiting from Ogden. It was fun to see her and let her meet Tyler for the first time.
On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents' house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This always includes oyster stew, shrimp cocktail, grapefruit cocktail (frozen slush), relish trays with all different kinds of pickles olives and baby corn, little tins of smoked clams and other weird things, and several varieties of bread to make sandwiches of deli meat, Havarti cheese, and honey mustard. When Dave was on his mission, he sent home some weird Portugese foods for us to try on Christmas Eve (because it seemed to fit with the smoked clams etc.). Ever since then, we try to have something new each year. Sometimes it's a little Fear Factor-ish. In years past we have tried pickled pig's feet, pickled watermelon rind, pickled okra, lots of pickled things. I can't remember what else.
This year my fear factor contribution was Rocky Mountain Oysters (takeout from The Cowboy Grub restaurant). They looked appetizing, but they had a weird texture. Mike thought they tasted like chicken.
After dinner, Santa dropped in. He was so funny. Each of the grandkids had a chance to tell him what they would like for Christmas. Elise requested - I kid you not - a Rainbow. (It's ok, she thought up this request months ago, so Santa had plenty of time to fill it). Lydia asked for a ball and a dolly.




On Christmas morning, Tyler woke us up at 6 a.m. Definitely it was because he wanted to see what Santa brought, and not because it had been 3 hours since his last feeding. I would have gone back to sleep, but Mike was up and all giddy about Christmas. I wouldn't allow him to physically wake the girls, so he turned on a Christmas radio station really loud until they woke up on their own. He was so funny!
We all had fun and enjoyed the presents from Santa and each other. My favorite gift was a new set of nice sharp knives. Elise loved her rainbow and her new doll, which she named "Rainbow". Lydia was excited about her new doll as well as all the candy in her stocking. Tyler got a few toys that I'm sure he'll enjoy later. Mike was excited about the Bluray player, and the new Guitar Hero band game. Later that day, we went to my parents' house to open more gifts. It was a really fun, relaxing Christmas.




On the 26th, we stayed the night at Mike's dad's house, and celebrated Christmas there too. We met our newest nephew Henry, born just a week or so before Tyler.It was fun to sleep over with all of my in-laws. Mike's side of the family is so fun. They are awesome people and we all get along nicely. It's such a nice bonus when you fall in love and get married, and the family you join turns out to be just as easy to love as your spouse.
The Saturday after Christmas is always my grandma and grandpa's Christmas party. It's fun to get together with all my cousins and see how their kids have grown.
We had Fruit Soup (one of my favorite traditions), and all the great-grandkids were invited to participate in a talent show. I explained to Elise that a talent show is when people show everyone something that they do well. I suggested maybe she could sing a song or do a little of her tap dance. She decided to show everyone how good she is at holding Tyler. It was precious. Lydia very quietly sang the ABC's. I was so proud of them both.

I love the Christmas season for all the togetherness. I think it's my favorite time of the year.

2 Birds with 1 Stone - Christmas Card Birth Announcement

Here is our Christmas card slash birth announcement. I'm actually feeling a little guilty because Tyler is already having his birthday overshadowed by Christmas stuff! See what us December babies have to deal with? :)

Our Christmas Letter

2008 has been an exciting and eventful year!

Mike is still doing electrical engineering for sonar things. He had surgery this fall to repair a torn ACL in his right knee, which he injured playing church ball. He is getting around fine now, except he can't run yet. He just joined a gym to try to build up his leg muscles again. Serving as our ward's Cubmaster, he has done a great job planning the Cub Scout pack meetings and getting more comfortable with conducting them. Mike also enjoys playing board games, and World of Warcraft when he has time.

I have spent a good part of the year growing a human being, ha ha. I also spend my time caring for our kids, blogging, reading books for 2 book clubs, doing various little sewing projects, and trying to keep up with the housework. I am also serving as the Young Women 2nd Counselor, with an awesome group of leaders and girls.

In April, Mike and I went to Oahu, Hawaii, where we snorkeled, hiked Diamond Head, relaxed, and ate our fill of "shave ice". Actually I was pregnant at the time (eating shave ice for 2!), but we hadn't announced it yet. When we got home, we planned a luau for our families and announced the pregnancy by including an ultrasound picture of our fetus in the invitation.
In July, I tagged along with Mike on a short business trip to the Washington DC area.

Elise (4) seems to have grown up so much this year. She is a wonderful big sister, often inventing fun scenarios to pretend with Lydia. Elise loves princesses, especially Cinderella. She is doing well in her tap dancing class, and just performed "Jingle Bell Rock" in the Christmas recital. She enjoys her preschool in our neighborhood, and is beginning to sound out letters to make simple words.

Lydia (2) has recently begun talking a whole lot, and is becoming much more independent. She has a vivid imagination and is great at making pretend food. She loves doing anything her big sister is doing. Lydia is in a pre-ballet class, and does excellent "princess twirls."

Our new baby Tyler joined our family on December 4th. He is a pretty calm baby, and is eating and growing well. He has a little bit of light brown hair, and is very handsome, in my completely unbiased opinion :) We are all very excited to have him in our family.

At this time of year, when we remember and celebrate the birth of our Savior, we are so grateful for His gospel in our lives. We are also thankful for our friends and family. We wish all of you the best in 2009.

Love,
Mike, Shayla, Elise, Lydia and Tyler

Christmas Day 2007

I know, I know, I'm three months late posting this but here goes!
Christmas day was so fun. I made a yummy dessert-I mean breakfast, with frozen Rhodes rolls and butterscotch pudding mix and like a week's worth of butter. I think it may become a family tradition!
The girls loved Christmas morning and checking out their stockings. Lydia immediately ate every Hershey's Kiss she found in her stocking, it was so funny (but messy). Here is her favorite present, a rocking horse that sings and clip-clops! She loves musical toys, and rocking chairs, so this was right up her alley.


Here is Elise with the gift she imagined up and requested of Santa, a "pink baby with pink hair" (aka Strawberry Shortcake). It's hard to tell exactly what she had in mind, but this definitely fit the bill and she loves it.

The girls' other big gift was this cute playhouse. See that one-of-a-kind "Cinderella's work dress" that Elise is wearing? She loves to pretend she is Cinderella and always asks to wear dresses and aprons, so I got the idea to make her a costume. I stayed up late Christmas Eve finishing it (of course Mike rolled his eyes at me), but she loves it and insisted on wearing it all day! And in case you were wondering, Lydia's diaper leaked so that explains her lack of clothing in this picture.

Later that day we went to Mike's dad and step-mom's. Here are the girls with McKenna and Savannah playing Ring-around-the-rosies on their new mini-trampoline.

That afternoon we ended up back at my parents' house. They had cleared a "road" in the snow so the grandkids could drive their new kid-sized jeeps! We had such a fun Christmas season, and loved celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with so many of our extended family.

Christmas Eve 2007

Santa dropped in on the Christmas Eve celebration at my parents' house.

Lydia actually sat on his lap and didn't cry!

Elise told him she would like a "pink baby with pink hair" (try to guess her favorite color...)

After dinner, the girls and their cousins played the parts in the Nativity story. Drew bravely played the part of baby Jesus, despite the threat of eye-poking angels. Luckily he came out of it unscathed.

After the Nativity, all the little kids (including Chris and Alan, haha) got new pajamas from Grandma. This is a tradition that started with my Grandma and Grandpa Grow, who would give new pajamas to us and our cousins at their annual Christmas party. We would immediately change into the pjs and pose for a group picture in our (usually matching) pajamas. After several pictures had been taken, we would beg for the parents to take a "silly" picture, and we would pull funny faces.

Instead of funny faces, our girls opted for an "ouch, she bumped me on the head" pose:

Our Christmas Card

Here is this year's Christmas card. I had the address of this blog printed on the back of them, so that may be why you're reading this!

For anyone who is wondering what we've been up to this year:

Lydia is so much fun these days. She's a tiny little thing, but she is so confident on her feet (as she should be at almost 18 months) that she draws comments from strangers everywhere we go. Her vocabulary grows all the time, and she has several words that are fairly clear. Her favorites are baby, ball, duck, dada, ooshes (shoes), -ilk (milk), and -ock (sock). I don't know what's with dropping the first consonant sound of some words, but it sure is cute sounding.
Lydia loves music and is a really great little dancer. Maybe someday I'll try to post some video of all her different dance moves. Lydia also loves to blow kisses and give hugs. She's a very affectionate child.


Elise is now 3, and started preschool this fall, at a home in our neighborhood. She loves it. She can write a few of her letters, and she loves to draw cute little pictures (see below). Elise is currently very interested in the concept of big and little, and when she sees groupings of different sized anything, she assigns them titles like mommy, daddy, baby, big kid etc. We're so proud of the way she acts with Lydia. She is a wonderful big sister. Elise also has been doing a dance/tumbling class with her cousin McKenna at AED (where Cindy works). Her class performed a Christmas dance last weekend at their recital. She was so pretty in her little blue costume. Lately I've begun to wonder if Elise grasps the concept of buttering people up (for Christmas?), because she has just recently been showering Mike and I with praise like "You're the best best best mommy/daddy anyone ever had!" I would love to know where she learned this!


Mike is still working at Progeny Systems in downtown Salt Lake. When I try to describe what he does, I always get it wrong, but it has something to do with designing FPGA chip thingys for underwater acoustic kinda thingys. Very technical, I know. Sometimes he gets to travel to Rhode Island and Connecticut for his job, but it's not very often, so that's nice for us.

Mike spends his Tuesday nights developing his patience, as he leads the 8-year-old cub scouts. Seriously, I helped him last week, and I know why they call 'em Wolves. They are just like a pack of wild animals, ha ha.

I was just recently "promoted" from Beehive advisor to YW second counselor. I was about to be super disappointed as I was released from my calling, and then I was relieved to learn that I would be working with the same great Beehive class, just in a slightly different calling. It has been so fun being a leader of youth, and I'm looking forward to continuing it.

I am enjoying my role as wife and mother, and working on the "homemaker" part of it, ha ha. Speaking of which, maybe I should wrap this up and go do some laundry!