So this is why Rori's been barking all night...

Since the boys have been out of school for Christmas break our schedule has become very relaxed. Late nights mean late mornings around here. Our poor brussels griffon, Rori, has been the one to suffer the most. She has been left in her kennel to wait for us to stop by between activities to let her out and play with her for a little bit, not to mention her daily walks have been interrupted not only because of the freeze factor but because I usually walk her to pick up the kids from school. So when she started barking in the middle of the night and early in the morning I thought it was just because her schedule had been so different. But this morning when she woke me up barking there were at least 5 deer in our backyard!

Temple Square!

I love to hang out in Salt Lake anytime, but it is especially fun during the Christmas season! We headed up Saturday afternoon with Alan and Sharee, Marci and James, and Richard and Carlie! We rode trax from Sandy (and on a side note the boys in the Bird fam play a balance game where they stand in the middle of the aisle on the train and try not to fall, without taking a step or using their hands to balance. There's a very complex scoring system, it's very intense, and we always get a lot of interested stares) then spent some time in the Joseph Smith Building. It's absolutely amazing that this building was constructed so long ago without so much of the technology that we have now. Then we ate at Crown Burger! I love to eat at this place (the jr. crown burger is the best) even though it is possibly the greasiest food ever! By then the lights were on and we walked around the temple grounds, the nativities are so fun, and there were not a ton of people (I didn't know before this year that they kept the lights on until New Year's Day!). Of course a trip downtown is never complete without a trip to the Gateway. We stopped and my favorite window-shopping store, Anthropologie, as well as Build-a-Bear where the boys got to spend a gift card their cousin Audrey gave them! This may be my very favorite holiday tradition, when I was young we used to try to go on my birthday, which I LOVED! Can't wait for next year...

Last summer when my niece was up visiting, she had a loose tooth that Grandpa Sumsion pulled out. This is some sort of tradition that Grandpa will tie some floss around the kids teeth and pull them out for them, then pay them a two dollar bill and take a picture. Ever since Benson saw what a fuss everyone made over his cousin he has been DYING to have a loose tooth! We went to the dentist in October and the hygienist said that one of Benson's teeth was going to be getting loose any day now... Well about two weeks ago it was visibly wiggly! For two weeks Benson wiggled this little tooth and Grandpa checked it three different times to see if it was 'ready.' Thursday night it was finally there, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Sumsions, Grandpa tied some floss around it, and Benson yanked it out! He was pretty brave and said it just hurt a little bit! (On a side note, the tooth fairy forgot to come, she also only had a dollar in change...no dollar bill...so she had to leave it in an envelope outside his room, and he got to keep his tooth, he thinks it was because it was his first one!)

The First Ski Day of the Winter!

Did you know I grew up in Utah and didn't learn to ski until I was a Junior in high school!?! And then I was so cold and miserable and frustrated that I never wanted to go again? And then I married into a ski family. The January after we were married we went to Colorado for a week to ski. Every day. For a week. I really did think I was going to die. I have never hurt so much in so many places in my life as I did on that trip! So, it turns out that you have a bye if you are pregnant or have a young child, so I was off the hook for several years there, but then 3 years ago George decided it was time. We took the plunge and bought the gear for the whole fam. And I began to truly enjoy skiing! For a whole year I was not the worst skier in the group! But the 2nd year the boys surpassed me and I hold that coveted position again. So we went skiing Friday. It was so cold that after three runs I sat in the Lodge while George and his brother Richard took the boys on several more runs. Both Alan and Benson rock! It is amazing to see them improve, as well as see their talent and determination. What a great family activity!

Ready for Christmas (almost)

Last night George and I finished our Christmas shopping! And today I am going to wrap everything... I had actually never considered wrapping all the gifts before Christmas Eve until on our walk yesterday Sonia mentioned that was her project for the day, what a great idea (thanks soni b!)!! Sharee and I have been putting together a Nativity for our family party which is going to be soooo special. We can't wait for our cousins to arrive and we are skiing Friday so school is going to be out early around here! (And the word on the street is Rich and Car are joining us, which we hope is true because nobody around here can get enough of Uncle Richard and Aunt Carlie!) We did our first batch of Christmas Ginger Cookies Saturday, this is (another) George and Liz family tradition! Last year we made 400 cookies, we're at 270 and counting this year! I've gotten a few requests for the recipe, so here goes...

Ginger Cookies

1 1/2 C Shortening
2 C. Sugar
2 Eggs
Mix together throughly (I do these in my bosch mixer), then add

1/2 C Molasses
4 C flour
4 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. Ginger
2 tsp. Cinnamon
Mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl

Roll into balls, then roll in sugar

Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (they will begin to get cracks on
them and flatten out, then I leave them on the cookie sheet for 5 min.
before putting them on a cooling rack)

Makes 30-40 cookies

They're super yummy, but a little time consuming so hopfully we've delivered some to you so you don't have to make your own! Merry Christmas everybody!

Santa and The Ski Boots (Not a story for small belivers)

I love Christmas! I love cards and shopping and gifts and Christmas books and parties and the celebration of Jesus' birth! But this year I do not love SANTA.
He is making my life really difficult! Alan and Benson both really want some ski poles, last year we told them that if they mastered a blue run we would buy them ski poles this year. Alan also needs some new ski boots. Well, I always am on the lookout for ways to kill two birds with one stone, so we decided that they would get the poles and boots for Christmas, then that money would come out of the Christmas fund and it would all be great. In our family we have gift traditions, the boys get 4 gifts: 1. Whatever they ask for. 2. A surprise. 3. An outfit. and 4. Something spiritual. Well, all of these gifts come from Santa. So we thought the ski gear could be #4 ,the surprise. I didn't think this through too heavily and one Saturday when we had a couple of hours we took Alan to Park's, tried on some boots and bought them. We took both boys to several D.I.'s where they sell ski poles for $5 a set and purchased them. In front of Alan and Benson. They saw the money exchange hands. And we are planning to ski on the 19th. Before Christmas. With their new (and gently used!) ski gear. Benson wanted to 'try' his ski poles, George told him we had shipped them to Santa, unfortunately he neglected to actually ship them to Santa (or tell me that he was planning to) and Benson found them. Then Alan asked if Santa would get his ski boots in time if he skiied on them on the 19th and then we sent them to the North Pole. Now I'm feeling irritated that the big guy is getting all the credit for the expensive boots and cheap poles that I actually bought! Plus, don't you think the boys are going to be worried about all those shipping costs to the North Pole? I mean they're young, but they know how much shipping costs are! How has this lasted 9 whole years? I am not sneaky, I don't come up with ridiculous stories to explain why I bought the presents that are from Santa by LYING to my children (something I hope I've taught them not to do) about shipping them to someone so he can bring them back to our house later that month! My personal philosophy is to be vague and ask the boys what they think. They come up with way better stories than the gifts are going to be shipped to Santa (I'm being mean, it was a creative way to explain this--if they had been hidden better!) Merry Christmas everybody!

Go Cougars

So here goes my FIRST post! How long we have anticipated the day that our children would be well behaved enough to take to sporting events! George told our boys that if they could sit through Sacrament Meeting they could take a crack at sitting through a football game. Well, sacrament meeting has been a pretty pleasant experience (not to brag, but it seems like that's a little what this is all about--bragging I mean) for the past year or so. It's awfully wonderful when all that consistency and trial and error and practising pays off, especially when it's in public. (I'll have to post about some of our trial and error next) So George needed to make good on this deal (which he may have made thinking that our kids would NEVER sit through Sacrament Meeting). Some extra tickets became available and we all went (it was last month...I can't even remember who they played, but the cougars won...see how sneaky that was, now it seems like I have some recollection of the game when really I just know that BYU only lost to two teams and both of those games were away!) Here's a confession-contraband tastes better to me than food you buy at the stadium (or theater)! So I loaded Alan and Benson's coats up with goodies and zipped them in. There's a rather large sign explaining what you cannot bring in to the stadium, I felt like a real gem trying to justify that one to my nine year old! Isn't it great when you get to look at yourself from a whole new light when you have kids? Anyway here's some pics, notice the braids...