Snow Trip

Saturday I went with the Youth to Kings Canyon National Park to play in the snow. I was so not prepared. I had a jacket and boots but no snow pants so I froze. I thought I would just watch and take pictures but to even get over to the hill you had to walk through so much snow that I was so wet I figured I might as well go down on the sled. That is where the day took a turn. I did not get hurt; well maybe my pride because I then realized I am far from being a teenager anymore. I had so much fun and I didn't realize the extent of my pain until the next morning when I woke up...ouch!



Here is Diane, Valerie and Claire going down on the "fast" sled...
Here is Diane eating snow. She was thrown off face first and landed in the snow. Valerie was still on the sled and then ran Diane over. It was the funniest of the whole day.

Here is our Zac and Michelle hanging in the truck. At one point I think Michelle took a nap...

After we were soaked we took a break. Diane,Valerie and Kelly posing....

We went back to the boys campsite for lunch and to play some more. We had a huge snowball fight at the end. Well I am not sure if it was much of a fight because the boys demolished us. I have never been hit so many times in the head with a ball of snow in my life. Oh yeah and sorry Valerie for taking you down with me...

Here is Maya I had to find her and make her pose because she was hiding from me all day.

I haven't been to the snow in so many years that I have forgotten how fun it is. I am thankful the girls let me hang with them all day. I am already looking for ward to next year...

I'm the favorite...

Today we had a great Valentine's Day with the family. Jason and I cannot wait to give gifts so we exchanged presents at midnight. We did not go all out this year. I got a book, Ghiradelli choc. and card. I gave him Dove truffles and a card. Pretty basic but thoughtful because we know what kind of candy we each love and usually only get it for Valentines day. Anyway this morning as the kids woke up we had them all come into our room and handed them their Valentine treats. Gabriel was so cute because he got candy and two movies, Charlie Brown and a Batman cartoon. He carried his gifts around all morning and would not put them down. The kids made valentines for me and my favorite was from Gillian who wrote me a card that said "You are my favorite Mommy" I know what she meant but it tickled me because , how many mommies does she have? The kids were so great and we all went out to Tokyo Steakhouse and had sushi and tepanyaki. I was a little nervous because they sat a couple who was out for Valentines day with us and I know they were thinking "Oh great we have to spend our date with this family with four kids" but the kids were perfect in the restaurant. I am so proud that they can go out with us and be mature and polite.

On a happy note for those of you who knew Jason was laid off at Christmas he has a new job. It was hard for a little bit because there are not a lot of jobs hiring right now but it seems he has found a great job with a good company and we are so excited for this new chapter.

Phantom Revisited...

Okay I have been bombarded with people telling me how much they like Phantom so I am starting to feel bad that I didn't. So there are a few things I want to clarify. I did not hate it. I just didn't walk away saying "I love it", like I usually do when I see a play. Now what I have gathered is most people knew the songs or the story line first before seeing it. I have never heard anything about it. I don't know why I guess it always seemed spooky to me so I never wanted to learn about it. I am freaked out by everything so yes a disfigured guy living in an old theatre freaks me out. That was the first problem I had with it. The second and not to dis the traveling group but I don't think the actor/singers were that great. I could not hear the words in the song which was basically the only dialogue so I had a hard time following the scenes. Now for the next problem, I was really just not feeling good Friday. I had an earache and soar throat and about half way through the play my medicine was wearing down and I was feeling horrible. So with all these things going on I just was not able to get into the play.

My friend Marina has been giving me all the back story and I am now able to understand the story line better. I think I will have to watch the movie. I know it must be good because everyone I know likes it. So for all my friends that loved it I will give it another try.

Phantom of the What?????

Last night Jason and I went to see Phantom of the Opera down in Hollywood. The day was wonderful. It is so nice to be able to get away for the day. (Thanks Mom and Dad for watching all the kids over night)

Jason and I right before leaving. We are so excited to be getting a date alone for more than two hours.


































Of course our dining of choice in Hollywood Pink's Hot Dogs. I know, I know why out of all the places to eat in Hollywood do we eat at a hot dog stand? Because it is the best ever. Why do you think there is always a huge line. Luckily there was not a bad line this time. We have waited over an hour before.














Here we are waiting for Phantom of the Opera to start. I love going to plays and am so thankful my husband supports me. He is getting into them and I think he liked Phantom a little more than me.



















Okay now for my problem. I just did not "get it". Maybe I was over thinking it, maybe my head cold was interfering with my enjoyment of it. I just could not understand one word that they were saying. I think I don't like opera music. It is too much concentrating on what the heck they are singing about. It all sounded like jibberish to me. I think I will have to see it again. Maybe I will have to go to Vegas and see it with Marina so she can answer my questions. I know so many of you like it and are thinking I am weird but sorry I did not "get it" that 's all I can say. I did however enjoy myself. It was a fun day and I love the theatre. I have never seen a play I didn't like (well except for Peter Pan that I had to walk out of because of the foul language) so I am keeping this open to further interpretation.
Anyways we ended the night with Pinkberry. Yum!

Yay!

Gabriel is now out of diapers. He has been so dead set against going for months. We have tried every technique in the book and he was not having it. Well last Saturday while shopping with Leanne I bought a pop up clubhouse for him. He is always making clubhouses in his room so I knew he would love this. I felt kind of guilty buying it for no reason other than it was on clearance and I bought nothing for the girls. So I made it a bribe for going to the bathroom. I came home and he was asleep so I set the clubhouse up in the living room and left it there for him to see. The next morning he got up and was so excited. He went into it right away. We went out there and told him to get out, this is for big boys who go on the potty. We told him if he wanted to play in it he had to use the bathroom. He immediately went to the bathroom and then ran to the clubhouse. The rest is history. If only I knew it would have been that easy.
Anyway I know you all don't want all the details of the week but he has only had a few accidents since Sunday and he is in underwear 100% of the time even at night. What is funny is he has been collecting on all the bribes we have offered him over the past year. He says he is going to Disneyland and I had to take him to the store and buy candy and a toy. These are all things we had offered him in the past. I guess the longer you wait the more you get. LOL.

Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Today my brother Jeff and Christina came down with Joseph, so we all got together for dinner at my parents house. It was so great to see all the kids together (except Patrice who is at BYU) My sister had the only boy in the family for about 15 years until Adrian had his boy Luke, then I had Gabriel, then Adrian had Owen, and then Jeff had Joseph. So now after years of girls dominating our family we are almost even with all these little boys. It is going to get crazy once the two little ones are running around too. Here is the pic of all the Wood boys.

left to right, Gabriel, Owen, Eric, Joseph, Luke

Baby Thoughts

My brother took a few more pictures and I had to steal them and post because he is so darn cute. As many of you know I am done, I think, of having kids. I haven't even had the urge to want another baby. For some reason when I see this little guy he is just so cute I want one. Not really. I want to hold one and cuddle one and kiss their cute little cheeks. I do not want the feeding and diapering and waking up in the middle of the night. Anyway I don't know why Joseph's picture makes me miss a baby so much. Maybe because he resembles my last little baby. I also realize that he is sleeping so cute and sound here and ALL babies and kids are so cute asleep. Maybe if I was there and heard the crying I would think different. Oh well I will be content with my nieces and nephews.

My New Nephew

My brother's first baby was born today at 8:12am. His name is Joseph Paul Wood and he weighed 8lbs 8oz. We are so excited to have another nephew and cousin in the mix.

Jesus Wants Me For A...

Sunbeam. Today was Gabriel's first day in Primary. He did great. I don't feel like he is old enough yet; but I guess I am wrong because he loved it and told me everything he did in class. He made a crown that he plans on wearing all day I think. What a cute little guy he is.

Ice Skating

The kids have been out of school since the 19th and they don't go back until the 12th so we have been trying to find activities to keep them busy so we don't go crazy. Friday we took them ice skating with my brother in laws family.

The kids were so excited, none of mine had ever been before.
Savannah tied her own skates but it looks like someone needs to help her. She won't get very far with those laces.

Chyna so cute and ready to go.

All of us are ready to go. Everyone looks happy so far...

Justin was by far the best skater. Jason came in second. They even had some Blades of Glory moves going on but I didn't take pictures because it was too dark out on the rink.

After one lap around the rink Gabriel was DONE! What more can you expect from a 3 year old. Gillian wasn't too thrilled about the whole ice skating thing either. All though later she claims it was really fun.

Not only was Gabriel finished skating he was done with being there and wanted us all to leave NOW!

Even though the older kids were enjoying it they kept coming in every couple minutes asking if it was time to go get lunch. Lesa and I were forcing them to keep skating so we decided to pack it up.

Jason says we can go back in another 10 years. I think it was good because they always beg to go ice skating and now they know it really isn't that fun, for us. Savannah was the only one who really enjoyed it. She was out there the whole time. The whole purpose was family time and we accomplished that.

Afterwards we took the kids to Hometown for lunch and that was a success the kids all ate very well. Lesa said next time we'll skip the skating and just do lunch. I agree.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years Eve at my sisters house with her family and my brothers family too. It was a fun time; eating, talking, playing Mexican Train. Then we had to run outside at midnight for fireworks and confetti.

It was really wet outside but they were still running around throwing confetti.

Gabriel was not happy about taking pictures, even with his dad.
All the kids having fun and being silly.
The little kids did not like the noise from outside so they hid by the door.

The girls excited about the New Year
Savannah and her Uncle Jimbo

All of them posing for their first picture of 2009!

Christmas 2008

This past week has been full of family fun and Christmas activities. To start the week off we went to a neighborhood full of Christmas lights. It was so fun to walk the streets and look at the pretty decorations. The kids loved this. Gabriel liked the lights but did not want to take a picture!

Then on Monday we went to Grandma Pryce's for ornament decorating. The kids have been doing this for a few years now.

Gabriel and Kaylee stayed interested for a few minutes but Kaylee would have rather had a tea party.

Now came Christmas Eve at my parents house. My mom has been in the middle of remodeling but I am impressed she got all the flooring done just in time. She might have been up all night we are not sure.

Anyway here is my nephew Owen. His first Christmas. We bought him Curious George who looks like it is bigger than he is.

All the boy cousins; Eric, Luke, Gabriel and Owen.

All the girls cousins; Ciera, Chyna, Patrice, Gillian, Savannah and Lauren. Don't mind Owen he is so cute he gets to be in all the shots.

Now ALL the cousins together. Next year we should have one more to add to the bunch.

All right now for Christmas morning. We awoke to an empty plate of cookies, so someone must of been here...

Yep their were a lot of presents under the tree so I guess all my kids must have been good.

We bought Chyna a digital camera for Christmas so she tried it out on mom and dad first.

All the girls wanted American Girl dolls from Santa and they all got them. Gillian really wanted Felicity.

Savannah wanted Kit along with a telescope and binoculars.

Gabriel playing with a Jimmy Johnson toy. Now I am not sure if someone is trying to get us to switch from being a Dale Jr fan or what. His favorite gifts were his cowboy boots and a Dr. set.

Chyna showing off her new camera. Usually she is a hard kid to surprise because she is snoopy and asks so many questions. This year I think she was surprised by ALL of her gifts.

My favorite gift was my pink Slanket. It's a blanket with sleeves. I love it for watching TV or being on the computer it is great. Thanks Jason, I love you very much!


I wish I was better at taking pictures to get actual shots of everything going on. I am always in the action so I forget to stop and take pictures. This should be one of my goals for the upcoming year. This is why I have no pictures for the rest of the day.

Later that morning Jason's parents came by for cinnamon rolls and to see all the kids gifts. My parents came by in the afternoon and we ended the day with dinner at our aunt and uncles house.

I am thankful that our family had a wonderful Christmas and all our family that was around us, we love them all. I appreciate this time of year because we get to see them more. We hope everyone else had as great a Christmas as us.