ICE BEARD

Someone please tell me what is so appealing about this!??  Each year Evan talks about going to the mountain for an afternoon of snowboarding.  On occasion he has even mentioned the idea of teaching me to snowboard...this thought doesn't last long since I am not a fan of being cold.  If I remember right, I think he has even told me that it isn't that cold once you get up there and start moving around.  He just sent this photo from his iphone...

...I rest my case. 

This is evidence that while he loves to snowboard, I will never share this desire with him.  

12 Days of Christmas

As some of you may know, Grandma and Papa Ehat are doing the 12 days of Christmas for each of their kids.  Family traditions is the theme and it has been so fun to open a new gift each day. So far the days have been...

1-Letters to Santa 

2-Making Candy Bar Trains 

3-Hot Cocoa & mugs when we went to Temple square to see the lights

4-Themed Christmas Ornaments  

5-Service Star 

6-Playing games together

7-Candy cane stories 

8-Peppermint milkshakes 

We are excited for the next few days to see what traditions are to come.  It has been really fun to create new traditions and adopt some old ones.  Thank you Grandma and Papa!!! 

*For those who wondered about the writing on the train..."Zuga Zuga Choo Choo"  is Rylie's version of the standard "Chuga Chuga Choo Choo."

The eyes of an angel

There is something about her eyes, there is something about her facial expressions, there is something about her smile, there is something about the way she makes you feel looking at her cute face.  Saige has this  way of making your day.   She makes us laugh without saying a word, she just has this way about her and we love it.

Many time we've asked her, "What are you doing?"  Good! 

With a smile you can't resist, what can you do? Laugh , that's it!

We love our little Saige and the way she makes us Laugh and Smile.

~Evan 

Just Check out this Face:

All the who's down in whoville

"All the whos down in Whoville like Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.  The Grinch hated Christmas - the whole Christmas season.  Oh, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason.  It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.  Or maybe his head wasn't screwed on just right.  But I think that the best reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small...He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, it came.  Somehow or other, it came just the same." 

wheww! I passed my practical

It was a snowy night in which we headed up to Brigham city.  We were to spend the night in a hotel to awake after a restless nights sleep.  The alarm went off at 5:45 so that we could be ready for my 7:00 exam.  We went to the testing location and checked in.  About 30 girls and I were nervously waiting for our exam to begin.  We started with our first task and I quickly felt at ease as we hurried on from one task to another.  Before we new it, and after 4 hours of doing hair and nails on mannequins in front of a proctor watching every move we made, we were finished.  I was relieved to be done but not yet satisfied with my performance until now, 11 days later when I received "the letter" in the mail.  Valerie Ehat...blah blah blah...Congratulations you have passed with a score of...98%.  Now, I know, some of you may say "come on, its only hair."  But, after almost 2 years of school and 1600 (so far) hours of school I am proud to say that this part is finished and I am that much closer to being done with school. YAY!  Now, on to the next exam and 400 more hours of school...

A few of our favorite things....

Mom!  Get up!  Mom!  I want juice!  Mom!  Get me juice!  This is the sound that I woke up to yesterday morning when Rylie came in to my room.  I was not quite ready to wake up so I quickly thought of a way to distract her and keep her laying in my bed with me.  I started asking her about her favorites. Get to know Rylie with some of her cute responses...

What is your favorite color?  My favorite color is purple. Saige's is green and I don't know what yours and Dad's are. 

What is your favorite movie?  Um...Princess Bride...Wizard of Oz...and...Cinderella

What is your favorite animal?  Giraffe and Saige's is an elephant 

What is your favorite season...Summer with the hot sun or Winter with cold snow?  Winter, I like the snow. 

What is your favorite game to play?  Candyland 

What is your favorite song? Dora song (I'm not sure what this is)

What is your favorite food?  Quesadilla and Macamodi Cheese 

She then proceeded to tell me that "Daddy is my favorite Daddy.  Mommy is my favorite Mommy.  And Saige is my favorite Saige."  

By this time I was ready to get up and start my day.  Kids are so cute!

Gingerbread Houses

Each year just before Christmas my family and I get together and make gingerbread houses and this year was no exception.  This year was, however, a little different than past years.  This tradition usually includes Mom, Megan, Bridgett and I (NO kids allowed.)  We also have gone a little overboard (is that possible?) in the past.  This year, Mom was making gingerbread houses at her new home in Oregon.  Megan was at work.  And Bridgett's day was packed with busy plans. Because of this we decided to let the kids in on the fun.  Danielle really wanted to make a house so they hurried over to my house to make their gingerbread house in record time.  I think they were done with theirs in less than 45 minutes.  This is in huge contrast to the previous years 4-5 hour event.  Rylie, Saige and I started on our house only to find that Saige was entirely too tired to participate.  She went to bed and Rylie and I made our masterpiece.  We had a lot of fun as I applied the icing and Rylie did all of the candy.  She did a great job!  Its funny, I somehow thought that she would not be tempted to pick the candy of and eat it since she made it herself.  I was definitely wrong.  The gingerbread house now sits in the furthest corner of my kitchen counter where little fingers cannot reach it. 

Hangin' with Santa

Oh the Joy of sitting on Santa's lap.  After a surprisingly uneventful morning we headed over to the mall to sit on Santa's lap.  Of course the girls had to scream and fight in the car and mom had to explain (over and over again) that "Santa is watching you" and "Santa knows if you are being good."  Unfortunately, this didn't seem to faze them.  Although they eventually settled down before we got there.  Much to my surprise there were only a few people in line in front of us.  We only had one moment of tears before actually getting to Santa but otherwise everyone was happy. I wasn't sure how Saige would do since last year she cried but this year she was great.  I think she was even excited.  Both of the girls sat on Santa's lap and told him what they want for Christmas. Rylie asked for a princess crown (purple to be precise) and Saige,wanting to be like her sister asked for a "crown too."  They had a great time and when it was time to leave Rylie kept going back to hug him one more time.  The photographer took some cute pics but of course Santa's eyes were closed in the one with both girls smiling.  

Cute Girls!

Just too cute!


Rylie and Saige decided that looking through binoculars was the best thing ever.  They both walked around the house with them around their necks.  

Riding Mac

Rylie LOVED Riding Mac the horse!!!

Thanksgiving in Oregon

This Thanksgiving was really fun.  We took a quick trip to Oregon to visit Grammie and Grandpa.  They moved to Oregon this last summer and we hadn't seen their house or where they were living so it was really nice to know that they are doing well.  They have a nice house in a beautiful area of central Oregon.  We saw a lot of deer in their area.  They also live close to 3 of my mom's 4 sisters so we were able to spend Thanksgiving with much of the family that we haven't seen for a long time.  We actually had my Grandma Kasch and all of my mom's sisters there for dinner.  It was really fun to see them and to see cousins that I haven't seen for WAY too long. 

The girls LOVED spending time with their Grammie and Grandpa!!!  They were spoiled rotten by the time we headed home...and we were only there for 4 days.  Rylie got to ride Aunt Marlene and Uncle George's horse named Mac.  She was so excited!!!  Its all she talked about.  

Saige didn't ride the horse because it was really cold out but she loved to watch with me from in inside.  

We then traveled 4 hours to the Portland area where we got to see Grandpa and Lorraine Frint (my Dad's dad) and Aunt Dottie (Dad's sister) and Uncle Mel.  We were able to spend the day with them and then stayed in a Hotel Saturday night with Mom, Dad, Aunt Dottie, Uncle Mel, and us.  We had a great time (although WAY too short.) We then had to leave for home.  We drove all day and got home at about 2:00 am on Monday morning.  

It was so much fun and I loved being able to spend time with my extended family.  A bunch of my family members had never even seen Saige.  

Fun in the Leaves!!!

Today we got to have Coley come over and play for a while.  They had so much fun playing in the leaves.  It is probably one of the last warmer days before it starts to snow so we decided to take advantage of it.  We played on the slide, rode bikes, and played in the leaves.  Its funny to see how much different boys are than girls.  Cole sees a stick and instantly wants to hit something with it.  He is so cute and they really had a lot of fun together today.  We need to get them together more often!  

Grandpa Rylie???

More Pictures of Halloween...

Halloween

This Halloween was really fun for the girls.  They dressed up as princesses (of Course.)  Saige was a stunning Snow White and Rylie a beautiful Cinderella.  Of course, Saige's hair is a little too light to be a convincing Snow White so we had to improvise.  We sprayed her hair black!  It was really strange to see her with dark hair.  And of course, Rylie had to have Cinderella hair too.  We had a lot of fun getting dressed up to go visit Evan at work.  Everyone there thought they were beautiful princesses.  After his work we went to Grandma and Papa Ehat's house and before we got there Saige's hair color turned to dust.  It was everywhere!!! Her clothes, car seat, and cute little face were covered in black.  She looked like she had an abusive prince charming.  Before we could go any further we had to stop for a bath.  We washed her hair out and started out for trunk or treating as a blonde Snow White.  We went around the church parking lot and the girls got WAY too much candy.  Fortunately, Evan and I had our say and we "convinced" them to choose the good stuff.  We then went to visit "Gongie" (Grandma Scadlock.)  Gongie LOVED to show them off to some of her friends who were over to play games.   After her house we went trick or treating to Auntie Amy and Uncle Silas' house.  It was adventurous trying to keep the girls from falling asleep on the way.  They seemed to have no problem waking up once we got there for more candy.  

We had a good time and lessons were learned.  I learned not to start Halloween events too early in the day. We were all exhausted by the time we got home and the girls were ready to get out of their costumes.  I also learned that Black hairspray is probably NOT the best idea for a 20 month old.