Birthday's

We got back last night from Bear lake...and today we had family over for Birthday's. My brother-in-law Eric's birthday was the 12th and my sister Kelsey's was yesterday. So I had Kelsey pick out the dinner she wanted, and had Carlee bring a dessert that Eric loved. They couldn't come until later...but it was really fun. Our Aunt and Uncle also came up because they're more like siblings to us. Kelsey wanted souvlaki...but I didn't have enough marinating time...so we did italian kabobs, rice pilaf, home made pita bread..And Jenni and Corey brought a delicious Italian salad, that I forgot to get a shot of..

It was fun to get together with everyone...at some point Sophie was running around with underwear on her head. Fun times.

This is what I made Kels for her birthday...Eric's present is still on the way :)

Bear Lake Adventures

We were invited back up to our friends cabin in Bear Lake for Valentine's Day. And this year we had snow clothes for the kids, so they got out to play every day, and LOVED it. Sophie is more wussy, like me. But Aubs and Dave stayed out there as long as they could. I'm glad she has someone to take her....cause I just can't do it for long.


We ended up celebrating V-day on Saturday instead of Monday, so the kids could have some new toys and get out of our hair :) It worked really well....Here are their baskets...
And pretty beads inside the purses...
One thing I love about going up there is the huge California king we get to sleep on. It allows Aubree to sleep with us and still be comfortable.
How cute are sleeping kids?
Luckily this trip, none of our kids got sick. The Millers weren't as lucky...but it ended up being a fun weekend. I got A LOT done for my friends wedding...we got addicted to a new t.v. show (Parks and Recreation) and spent A LOT of down time...it's nice to get out in the Winter. And boy are we ready for Spring.

Another fun thing the kids love, is seeing the deer. This one got really close, and Sophie couldn't take her eyes of it. She kept calling her a bunny, and was distraught when she pranced away. The rest of the trip she would randomly walk up the door and say "bunny?" while looking around...

On the ride home we were in our jammies for a comfy trip...Aubree was making funny face at us for pretty much the whole three hours.
Here are some fun videos of the girls. This was their first experience to sledding, and they really, really, enjoyed themselves.

Report card

I had my very first parent / teacher conference. I was smiling the whole time. I'm such a nerd. But it was such a cute thing. She had a little packet of work from Aubree with a self portrait on the front. And a report card! I had no idea they did report cards for pre-school. Their grades are based on: Mastered, Progressing, Needs Improvement, and Not learned yet. I am happy to say she did a good job. The things she has mastered are:

Communicating well with the teacher

Expresses self well in front of class

Stays on task and tries to finish work

Enjoys school, is usually happy

Recognizes name

Handling crayons

Colors

Shapes

Most numbers

She is improving on:

Plays well with others

Participates

Obeys school rules

Listens and follows instructions

Prints name

Handles scissors and pencils

Knows left to right progression

Alphabet song (which is VERY different from the traditional song that she has mastered :)

Counting objects 1-20

Recognizing lowercase letters and sounds

She didn't get any "needs improvement" since she is showing good improvement in all areas that she hasn't mastered. In the teacher's comments she wrote:

"Your cooperation and support with Aubree is appreciated. I love her big smile and hugs."

Aubree did have a bad week a while ago which involved going to the "Principal's office". Apparently she was hitting and not learning from her mistake after sitting on the thinking chair. I told her teacher to do what she had to do, and we had a little chat. Hence the cooperation. Ever since, I chat with Aubree every morning before school. We talk about how important it is to be a sweet friend and good listener. To show respect to others and listen to the teacher. I am very happy to say she has really listened to me and we haven't had any problems since.

Aubree's Playlist

Aubree is such a musical being. Which is pretty amazing to me since her name is based soley around music. She loves listening to songs and has slowly grown a fondness to certain ones. We listen to them OVER and OVER. So Dave made a playlist on his phone to plug in every time we're in the car. This is it:

Hey, Soul Sister by Train

Time After Time by Quietdrive

Mad World by Adam Lambert

Adelaide by Anberlin

Take What You Want by Mesa Drive

Fireflies by Owl City

Elderly Woman behind the Counter in a Small Town, by Pear Jam

The Fixer by Pearl Jam

It fun because some she know by song title (Soul Sister, Adelaide)

Some she knows by band (Pearl Jam)

Some she has nicknames for ("clock" song which is Time after Time, "Marc's Band" which is in fact our friend Marc's band-Mesa Drive, dying song which is Mad World)

And the rest she just asks "Just put that song on that I love" which is very helpful :)

**on a side note I am VERY excited to say that the last tooth we have been waiting on for Soph to get...the one I was very nervous would never come, the one I prayed would be here before she turned 2 SERIOUSLY...has made it's appearance. She will now have a mouth FULL of teeth before her second birthday. It is about time.**

Dashboard Confessional

Chelsea, again, bought me a ticket to see Dashboard with her for Christmas. Her good friend, and missionary companion Denise, came with us also. Needless to say we had a blast!

There was some drama with my ticket (it ended up in Tennessee with my sister. How? I have NO idea...) And we had to figure some things out, but we made it. We were late, but we didn't miss any of Dashboard. Sadly we did miss most of Chris Conley's set who is my ALL TIME favorite. I had no idea he was opening, so it was a bonus to even hear a few songs. We came in as he was playing "Jessie and my Whetstone" and we caught the last half of it. Then he played "At your Funeral", and lastly "Shoulder to the Wheel". I haven't seen him live forever. And never solo as an acoustic set. It was an AMAZING 2.5 songs. He looked really good too. Last time we saw him he had long, nasty hair, glasses and had gained some weight. Which is all fine..but he looked nice and clean cut now. Like I remember him 10 years ago. And it was really fun because on the last song he grabbed three people from the crowd to help him out. One guy played the guitar, and the other two sang with him. They all looked star struck to be up on stage with Chris, being his pseudo band. As I would have :)

Then came Chris Carrabbas. Who gave a lot of shout outs to Chris Conley. I had no idea they were friends outside of music. It made me happy :) So this was the 10 year anniversary tour for Swiss Army Romance. I can't believe it was 10 years ago we were there, it makes me feel old. Especially when I think about all the younger crowd. That were only 5 or 6 last time they did this tour! Weird. And there we were rockin' out. It was of course amazing. I was laughing a lot because Chris kept going off on his own screaming, harmonizing, changing lyrics, because EVERYONE in the crowd was singing along and it was his chance to actually be heard :) This was the set list:

Screaming infidelities. Sharp hint of new tears. Living in letters. Swiss army romance. Turpentine chaser. Plain morning. Age six racer. Again I go unnoticed. Ender will save us all.

(When he sang Plain Morning, it was the most beautiful arrangement I've ever heard him do. I hope he records it that way...but probably won't.)

When he was done with that set, he said something to the effect of, I'm just going to keep playing and not do a fake leave, with an encore. Lets just keep going till curfew. So his "encore" with out leaving was :

Good fight. So impossible. Carry this picture. Places I have come to fear. As lovers go. Cover cuckachoo. Get me right. Saints and sailors. Brilliant dance. Stolen. Remember to breathe. Best deceptions. Vindicated. Hands down.

We decided that concerts are very therapeutic. And it is so true. I always feel so much better after going. I wish I could go more often.

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam....

Aubree became a Sunbeam this past Sunday. It was a proud moment to look through the little glass window and see our baby sitting up in the front row of the primary room. She resisted at first ( I mean REALLY, who wants to SIT for that long and listen to lessons instead of playing and having snacks?) But once she was in, and on the lap of her teacher...she was just fine. She keeps growing up too fast...

New Year's

We don't do much to celebrate New Years. In fact the past two years Dave has been asleep at midnight so I toasted to myself. :) This year we got invited to a few celebrations. So we decided (based on who asked first :) to spend this New Years at our neighbors. We live right next door so we could still celebrate at midnight without having the kids suffer. One of my resolutions is doing better with diet and exercise (I know REAL original) so we all totally binged as our last night to eat sugar. Doughnuts, licorice, soda, (my mouth is watering...) we played a lot of Wii and hung out. We toasted (Karen and I hurried to drink our bubbly BEFORE "1" hit, so we still started the new year with our goal) watched Ryan Seacrest laugh at Dick Clark who made a drunken fool of himself, and left. It was a fun, simple night. And much more festive than we've done in the recent past!