Christmas Eve with the Miles family

Christmas Eve #2 was spent at Byron and Kathy's house. We enjoyed a nice ham dinner, played the dollar game (which I had fun buying nicer gifts at the DI for only $1), and opened new pajamas.
We tried to get the kids together for a picture. This is as good as it got.

Christmas with the Hulses

We spent Friday night at the Hulses celebrating Christmas. It was fun to get two Christmas Eve's this year.
Allison looked cute walking on her knees in her new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa.
Makayla and the other grandkids thought it was neat listening to the ocean in the huge shell Nicholas sent from the Marshall Islands. Chuck and Nathan thought when you combined the shell with the noise of Allison picking up a bag of chips it sounded like a toliet flushing.

Sledding

Angie called Makayla to see if she wanted to go sledding. Makayla was so excited. She loved it!!! Thanks for the call Angie. Makayla would love to go again anytime we're in the same state.

Quick Update

Allison, now one, is so busy running around the house. She entertains us all by playing with her tongue, learning to click her tongue, and puckering her lips. She is such a tease; Allie will walk in the room arms wide open to be picked up. Just as she gets within arms reach, she'll grin and divert course. Allie's starting to give up the bottle; the pacifer though is still her very good friend.

Makayla turned four today. She got to take cookies for preschool (gluten free for her and regular for everyone else). They sang to her, and her teachers even gave her a present to take home (a new book). The rest of the day has been filled with phone calls from family. We took her out to a new Mexican restaurant that does sombraro's for birthdays...unfortunately there were hardly any workers and they didn't even sing. It's okay, we came home and had ice cream sundaes and more cookies. She did really good at her dance recital last week. It was cute to see her wave from the stage. We had a little mishap with the video camera, but we still have some of it on video.

Nate and I are having fun chasing the girls. We've been trying hard to fit in as much family times as we can. We've been taking advantage of Nate's bad teeth...every time he has to go to the dentist, he gets a half a day off. Who ever thought there'd be something good about cavities. We are so excited for Christmas. Last year we kind of missed out on all the excitment of the season. This year we've been really enjoying the Christmas season. We hope everyone is making the most of this special time of year. We're looking forward to seeing you in less than a week.

Merry Christmas!

Their Own House

We've been wanting a playhouse for quite a while. My mom finally found one for me at a garage sale for $50. I was happy to not have to pay $200+. It is wonderful. Makayla will play outside for hours in it. I also just found a little Tikes grill at our wonderful DI for $3.00. It will make a nice addition to the house in the spring. For now, it's driving us crazy in the family room. The little girl with Makayla is Avery Atkins, a friend from church.

Ward Halloween Party

Our ward had it's annual Trunk or Treat Party on Saturday night. It was the first ward party we've been able to attend since moving to Tooele. The girls had lots of fun. It was great that they got to trunk or treat first while it was light outside and not so cold. We then left the candy in the van and went inside for a chili/soup cook-off. After dinner all of the kids individually walked across the little set of stairs and was introduced by name and what costume they were wearing. It was really fun. When Makayla climbed up, lots of people started commenting on how cute, and then she did a little twirl... that really got the chatter going. I've been trying to convince her that even though she has the outfit and is a big sister, she is still not quite big enough to get married. I'm trying to convince her to go to college first, but she thinks she's grown up enough now.

YUM! APPLESAUCE!!!

Allison loves her applesauce. I was feeding her and had to stop to get something for Kayla. I made the mistake of leaving the dish on the tray...well you can see how much she wanted to wait for me.

Makayla's Preschool Party

Makayla loves going to preschool, especially when there's a party. Allison and I got to help with the Halloween Party. Makayla was a beautiful bride, and Allison a cute Belle. They played games, ate cookies, more games, made a craft, more treats, and posed for a group picture. It was lots of fun for everyone.

Sidewalk Art

Makayla and Grandma Darla had fun drawing a train on the walkway up to our house while Grandpa Bert attended a training meeting in SLC the Thursday before General Conference. Nathan stopped in SLC on his way home from work and hijacked his Dad from the Salt Palace. We then had a very late dinner and some house guests for the night. It was fun to visit and catch up on things going on in Pocatello. Makayla then had the opportunity to go back with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend. She was so excited to get to go camping and spend time with her cousins. She's been telling me lots of fun stories from her trip.
It made a great weekend for her, and it was nice to be able to work on the basement without the help of a three year old. Nathan and I were then able to go out for an extremely expensive dinner at the Roof restaurant thanks to his appreciative boss.

Visiting Daddy's Work

Last Saturday we wanted to do something as a family. We didn't have a lot of time and the weather wasn't great. After perusing the internet for ideas. We decided to go to Kennecott's Visitor Center. Makayla was so excited to see the trucks, but she was quite disappointed she couldn't crawl inside the giant tire. We also watched a 16 minute video about Kennecott which showed one of the trucks Nate built last summer. I thought that would excite Makayla, but she was too busy trying to figure out where the popcorn was. Allison was just happy to be crawling around.
Oh, and we did get quite a few compliments about the girls cute matching sweatshirts as we did a little shopping afterwards.

Boo to You

We decide to make treats and annonymously drop them on some neighbors steps along with the infamous ghost to hang on the door. Makayla loved helping make the cat cupcakes. She even liked it better than eating them...almost. Allison just thought we were mean for not letting her pull the plates off the table.

slipcovers

Happy Birthday Nathan

We had a nice birthday for Nathan at my parents house last time we came to visit. He was spoiled with a new watch, cash, remote control cars, tools, and even a sample of urine (or was it mountain dew?).

Cory thought Allison would make a cute gift...She wasn't so sure.

We tried getting a picture of all three grandkids with the birthday boy. You can see how much luck we had.

We did get a fairly good one with just Allison and Tyler.

This is a picture of Ty hip-checking Allie. They were standing at the table together, and then I guess he wanted something, and she was in the way. I guess it pays to be the bigger cousin.

Nathan had a lot of fun. Thanks everybody!

First Day of Preschool

Makayla was so excited to start preschool again. She gets to go three days a week which is almost more fun for Mom than Kayla... She was having fun playing it up for the camera. It's kind of interesting having a professional photographer in the house.

An Update On Our Family

Even though I can't post pictures yet (a problem we are hopefully going to correct soon), I thought I'd update everyone on what has been going on around here. Makayla started preschool again. She's loving it. Last Friday her class went to the FireHouse Museum. She came home and showed me how to drop and roll in case there is fire on your clothes. She also showed me how to crawl and cover your mouth if there is smoke in the house. She's also learning how to help in the basement. She loves to help her Daddy anyway she can. Although sometimes she has trouble understanding why she can't work all the powertools.
We hear little pitter patters and know Allison is nearby. She's a fast little crawler and very anxious to walk. She's walking around the furniture and has no fear in letting go. Unfortunately, her head sometimes finds the floor first. I hate watching the babies go through such pain while trying to walk. Allison loves all food, most especially fingerfood. She is a real Mama's girl, but when Daddy first gets home for work, it's nothing but tears until he can get cleaned up enough to hold her.
We've also got a new member of the family with Amy moving in. We've enjoyed having her around, even if we like to tease her. Makayla has been really good about not going into Amy's room without knocking. She won't even take something inside if Mommy asks. She has to stick them under the door. It's cute!
Nate's been working on the basement with the help of my Dad. He's enjoying it, but wishing he had more time. It is hard on him to spend long hours at work and then have to try to balance working on the basement and spending time with the family. He had been hitting it hard, but this last week, he was burnt out and had to take a break. We enjoyed some nice evenings talking and playing with the girls. Hopefully things will go a little better at work, but they are starting building some new trucks, so who knows.
I've just been being a mom. The girls have been sick, and now I am too. Nathan and I were both fighting the symptoms all week. Today he announced I lost and he won. That guy is healthy as an ox. It is a good thing since I'm still weak. I love getting to spend time with the kids. They are so fun. Makayla is my helper. She likes it when I ask her to babysit Allison for a few minutes while I do some stuff in a different room.
Anyway, that's our life here in Tooele. We love to have visitors, and would love any help with the basement. If anyone wants to head this way, we'd love to see you. If not, we'll be in Pocatello for the parade and Ty's birthday.

Our girls

Allie has decided she can now walk around the furniture. She's also more willing to crawl throughout the house. Kayla doesn't know what to think. Her stuff is no longer safe. Allison is constantly falling and smacking into things. Kayla tries to help protect her (sometimes a little too much). It is sweet the way they interact.

Makayla also earned a new outfit for her baby doll by trying 7 new foods. She was so excited. She said her baby just loved the new clothes. We figure this bribery is working because as soon as we gave her the clothes she asked to try another new food so she could work toward earning something else.

A Death in the Family

It greatly saddens me at this time to report we've had a death in our family. Our computer has given up the ghost. Matthew and Nathan tried to save it, but it is of no use. We can use the internet, but nothing else. I can't save anything, and there is no downloading pictures of course. So during this sad period of mourning, I am afraid we will have no pictures to post.

In lieu of flowers, money can be sent to the missionary fund in your ward.

She's So Proud

Then Allie pulled herself up (something she has only done by holding onto our hands before).
Look how proud she is of herself. Kayla thought it was so neat she came running to give Allie a kiss.

We're in Trouble!!!

Allie has always been content to just lay on the changing table, usually sucking on her toes (since it's at this time her socks come off). Tonight I just took her top off and she fliped to her stomach. She quickly decided to go after all the fun stuff at the end of the table.

Ride 'Em Cowgirl or boy

Tyler and Allie couldn't seem to get enough of each other this weekend. They were pretty intrigued by having another baby around. We just had to watch out Tyler didn't love Allie too much (and eat her). Makayla just wanted to mother both babies. She was constantly getting them toys, cleaning up the spit-up, and feeding them. We decided to let the babies take turns going for horsey rides...

Almost There

Allison is so close to figuring out this crawling thing. She can get around to pretty much anything she wants, but she lacks speed.






She does have to stop and take the occassional rest.

Our Little Bride

I stopped in at the DI this week, looking for a little tikes playhouse (I'm determined to find one for my girls.) I didn't find that, but instead I found this brand new dress from JCPenneys for Makayla. After a quick trip to Michaels her Halloween costume is complete with a veil and bouquet. She even has white gloves from Easter. Makayla is obsessed with brides and weddings, I couldn't have found a better outfit for her if I spent hundreds of dollars instead of $13.50.