Santa

Speaking with Santa is always a bitter sweet event. Bitter in that, man, is he much scarier in person. Sweet in that you just gotta tell him what you want so you'll get it.

Eira's first birthday

Yup, she made it to her first. From being born in our living room to now thriving and playing there, we have had a fantastic year. We love, adore, dote on our sweet Eira.

Decorating for Christmas

Isn't Christmas wonderful? For me, as I get older the season's feeling seems to dim. But with my children, all the colors restore themselves and seem ever more vibrant, more alive, even better than my earliest memories have sustained.

Lucy's birthday

Lucy and Amanda are filling Lucy's pinata. Lucy loves these things and has had one for the last two years.

Lucy wanted a butterfly theme to her party. She is more colorful than the most beautiful butterfly.

We love fairies at our house

Amanda and Lucy at our local Library's Fairy Frolic event to celebrate Tinkerbell's new movie.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween season. How could we not with such fun, darling girls? This year we went as a butterfly, flower and dragon. The early Christmas present to me was that I didn't have to sew a single costume this year. YEAH! Geoff was Evil Kanivel (how the heck do you spell that?) and I was a doctor. Fun, fun but I'm glad it's over. Now, for Christmas. . .

So funny.

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the whole thing.

Get the facts, people.

This election is so crucial this year. I guess it is every year but so much seems to be riding on this next election. To be honest, I'm still not sure who I'm voting for. But I'll tell you what, I've been looking up facts like crazy. Here are some great non-partisian sites to check out if the statements and claims that the candidates say are true or not; politifacts.com and factcheck .org.

My sister rocks!

My favorite sister is now a second degree blackbelt in Kajukenbo. She has worked so hard and prepared so well and the hard work has paid off. Just a little hats off to her because she is truly my hero. And, I'm really glad to have her on my side in a fight:) Jess, you are awesome.

My Harley ride

Last weekend my oldest brother rented a Harley for 24 hours for his birthday. I was so lucky to be able to ride for about an hour with him up American Fork canyon. It was a blast! When we were young and living in Pleasant Grove eons ago, we all loved to ride dirt bikes. I even almost bought a motorcycle after my mission. Anywho. Motorcycles are cool.

Twilight Trailer Spoof

I'm just as excited as the next 30 something mom about the upcoming movie, Twilight (Yes, I've read all of the Twilight saga. Yes, my laundry and dishes suffered for it). If you've seen the trailer, you'll love this hilarious spoof. I laughed so hard. Enjoy.

My new obsession

If you know me at all you'll know I have obsessions. Reading is my constant obsession while movies come and go. Here's the movie of the month, North and South. Such a great story from the book by Elizabeth Gaskell. So well done, gorgeous and well written, I'd recommend this to anyone. It's hard for me to believe that such restrained passion existed simply because of decorum. It drives me crazy to watch two people fight against the feelings they have for one another. Then again, my favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Go watch this then weigh in.

Mom's visit

Mom and dad came to visit for my nephew's farewell. We had a really great visit. The two things we have to do when they come is get pizza at Two Jack's Pizza and bowl. These are our bowling photos. Noah and Maddie Giles got to come with us. Yeah! Thanks for the great visit, Mom.

24th of July children's parade

Yeah, I know, I'm a bit behind. Our summer has been just too fun, I haven't even had time to do much updating. Anywho, In Spanish Fork the 24th of July is our big holiday. Every year there is a children's parade, carnival and activities over the 24th. When I was in the primary presidency, I got to march in the parade with my girls. This year, Eira was sick so I didn't even get to see the parade! But Geoff got some cute photos. The theme was "Children around the world." Our ward tried to dress like children from the countries of Japan, Mexico, the Marshall Islands and Iceland. I had some soroungs from Bali, Indonesia and dressed my girls in those.

Cool to blog

I just have to say quickly just how cool blogging has been for me. I love to be able to connect to relatives who live far away. And, let me just say, I'm blown away by the people who have found my blog as of late! Such a cool perk of blogging to reconnect to people that I've not seen for years! Sunshine and Shellee. Thank you so much for commenting. And all of those others who may stalk this blog, don't hesitate to comment. I think that is what blogging is about, connecting. Kay, I'm done now:)

My gorgeous girls

I may be biased, but I think my girls are gorgeous. Here is proof. But, like I tell them, it's good to be beautiful on the outside but it's more important to be beautiful on the inside. And they are.

Part three

The last part of our vacation, we stayed with Mom Groberg and took fun day trips. Lagoon, the Eccles dinosaur park and the zoo. Here is evidence thereof.

More vacation

We rode bikes in West Yellowstone. Geoff rode the rickshaw with Mandy and Lucy and I had Eira in a trailer behind a bike.

You've got to roast stuff when you stay at the cabin. So, we did. Hot dogs and s'mores. Geoff showed the girls how to make an awesome fire, too.
And here is my family floating down the river in a canoe. Eira and I stayed back at the cabin and took a nap. Well, she napped, I called my sister and talked books:)

Summer Vacation in three parts

Hello again, after so long:) We had a really great vacation. We spent some time in Island Park, Idaho and in Centerville staying with Geoff's mom and doing things from her house. Here are our shots from horseback riding. Yup, I had Eira in the hotsling. Amanda has been riding her own horse since she was four. We had a great time.

The Cake

Okay, here is the cake. For some reason it wouldn't load the other day. Isn't it magnificent? Yeah, I think so, too.

Happy Birthday Mandy!

Mandy had a great 7th birthday party! I can't believe she is already 7. I remember bringing her home from the hospital, knowing for sure I would break her. At 6lbs 6oz I couldn't imagine anything smaller I'd ever had to care for before. Today, Mandy is so bright, so polite, so creative, so tender hearted. I didn't realize how much I missed her this last school year until she was home all day for the summer! She is so fun. This year, she wanted a Dragon birthday party. Here is the cake and the game the kids are playing is Dragon tag. We had a great day.

Eira trying new things

Here is our Eira eating rice cereal for the first time. She hasn't eaten cereal for a while since she has been sick. We'll get right back on it soon. Who knows, we may even give her some bananas, too. That's us, living on the edge.

Sick of being sick

I haven't updated much because we have been sick at our house for two weeks now! When I say sick I mean, Eira has been sick for two weeks now. Something yucky started with Lucy and then filtered through the whole family landing heavily on the baby. I got a little something towards the end, too. Now, Eira has ear infections. We are so hoping to get everyone well so we'll be well for our cabin trip. Anyone who knows us know of the infamous cabin curse. We hope to avoid it. I'll post about Mandy's birthday a little later.

A few of our favorite things

These are some of the things we like to do at our house.

Goede Dag

Our friends from the Netherlands are finally here!! Nanne and Joep came to visit us from Haarlem. They came Sunday for dinner and ice cream sundaes. In the time they were here, we tried to show them everything we'd done in the last four years:) Photos and videos and stories. We had a great time. Notice my awesome orange Holland t-shirt. I'll be wearing it for the next week. I'll probably sleep in it, too. If you are wondering.

Joep with the girls. Eira was a hit, of course. But Nanne and Joep couldn't get over how awesome Mandy and Lucy were. I can't either.

Amanda's 1st grade program

Amanda had her 1st grade program last Thursday. All the first graders sang together and then each individual class took a fairy tale and performed that. Mandy was the Red Hen narrator for her class tale, "The Little Red Hen." She read so clearly and audible. We are so proud of her.

Our Secret Garden

The girls and I have planted some cool things in our garden. Marionberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries. The girls also wanted a "Secret Garden" (You know, after the book and movie). So they choose some flowers and where in the garden space they wanted to plant. Then, we planted 12' Sunflowers to block the view. Therefore, our secret garden. Get it? We are so excited to see how things turn out.

Dad helped us make a box for our Strawberries. We hear they like to spread all over the garden.

Super Baby!

A small child was attacked by a killer whale over the weekend while her sister looked on. The baby, Eira Rose Groberg, is not much over five months yet she held off the killer whale in an amazing feat of strength. With no teeth and not even able to hold herself up, Eira gummed at the creature until it gave up and went away. All are hailing this event as a miracle. The people in the town are calling her a super baby.

Disney's Lands dance recital

This show was about DisneyLand. Lucy danced to a cute song called "Perfect Princess Tea." Here she is with Snow White.

The dads of the 3 and 4 year olds were asked to come to the show every night. At one point in the show when the song "I'm Waiting For My Prince" comes on, all of the dads lined up against the wall, with their princely banners on, and picked their little girls up as they ran offstage. It was such a sweet sight.

Amanda's dance was Pinocchio, "I've Got No Strings." She was a little french puppet to her partner, a Pinocchio. She was so cute. Their dance started with the girls looking like puppets with their hands in strings that came down from the ceiling. It was so cute. Here she is playing Uno with her dad and others in the greenroom.