Sad day for Provo

The Historic Provo Tabernacle was heavily damaged by fire today. The fire started around 2:30 this morning - they think in the attic somewhere. Right now it looks like the building is a complete loss. The Provo Tabernacle was a beautiful landmark in downtown Provo. When we lived there we were not too far from the tabernacle and they used to hold our stake conferences there. We will have to wait and see if anything is salvageable and if they will be able to rebuild it.

Here is a Deseret News article about the fire:
Provo Tabernacle burns in four-alarm fire

Kid talk

I just got home from driving Blondie to piano lessons and Kay came up to me while sitting at the computer, hugged my arm and said, "Hi Mom! I missed you soooo much!"

Kid talk

Kitty on the drive home from ballet yesterday: "Mom, how do the leaves get back on the trees?"

Starting to move!

When we put MJ on the floor now she will somehow manage to get herself turned around when we are not looking. She still hasn't quite figured out how to roll back to her back from her stomach but she has started scooting herself a tiny bit and will use her arms to turn herself a little at a time.

What do you mean I'm turned sideways?

Serious face (love those eyes!)
Happy face

Temple Square

The women's choir that my mom sings with performed twice at Temple Square last week. My family decided to drive downtown for the Friday evening performance and then we could see the lights there as well. Unfortunately we didn't anticipate all of the traffic that we would encounter on the way there (apparently there was a Jazz basketball game that night). The performance started at 8:30 and we ended up getting there a little late. They were performing at the Assembly Hall so the audience could walk in and out at anytime during the performance. It was fun hearing some new versions of some of the Christmas songs. It's a fun group that sings some silly songs as well as some serious ones and tries to get audience participation too. Afterwards we went to walk around the Temple Square grounds a little and then we noticed that all of the visitor's centers close at 9:00 and they shut off the nativity scene as well. So we just walked a little over to the reflecting pool and then went back to our cars and back home. Luckily it was a fairly warm night compared to what we had been experiencing a few days before so the kids didn't freeze too much!

Little things

* Having a quick and relatively pain free dentist appointment. I was gone from my home for less than an hour! I was the only patient there when I first arrived and I think there was only one other person there when I left.

* My dad watching my three youngest kids while I was at the dentist. The dentist and his assistant thought I was crazy for asking my dad to watch them for me - especially a 4 month old. I never even thought twice about asking him because he loves kids and does great with them. Kay especially loves it when Bacca comes over. Normally my mom would have come instead of him or with him but she had a concert that morning.

* MJ sleeping the whole time I was gone.

* M&M getting Kitty ready for her dance pictures while I was at a rehearsal on Saturday. She got her all dressed and even fixed and curled her hair!

* Online shopping! I am loving it this year!

* Helping the Bear scouts make tool boxes. Yesterday we finished putting the screws in, sanded the boxes and started painting them. We will finish them up next week.

More Kay talk

katar = leotard (at first I thought she was trying to say guitar)
cracker = nutcracker

"Mom!! Get back up here right now!" - This is what she was yelling the other day after I had put her in bed because Luke had put another blanket on her (one that she had asked for) and apparently it wasn't put on her quite right.

Fire

I was writing down the titles of some Christmas piano books that the kids have and after I walked away from the piano I heard Kay say, "Oh no! That house is blowing up!" I went back to look at what she was pointing at and saw that one of the books had a drawing of a house on it with smoke pouring out of the chimney. I tried to explain to her that it was from a fire in a fireplace so the house was okay, but who knows how much of that she understands...

Thanksgiving 2010

I just realized that I haven't written a post about Thanksgiving this year. We stayed at home this year and invited my sister and her husband and little boy over for dinner. My parents were up in Idaho again this year with my oldest brother's family. I made the rolls, pumpkin pie, and jello dish the day before Thanksgiving so I kept sitting around the house Thanksgiving morning wondering why I wasn't busier. I like to cook the turkey in the oven bags because it keeps it very moist and it cuts down on the cooking time - only 2 hours for a 15 lb turkey. My sister brought the sweet potatoes and an apple pie. MJ ended up sleeping during most of the dinner which was awesome for me! Baby W seemed to enjoy all of the attention and chaos - at least until the end when he was getting really tired. Kay enjoyed bringing toys up for him and even tried to pick him up once (by the neck)! It was a nice enjoyable time for all.

Snow fun!

M&M has been a great help with getting the kids suited up to go out and play in the snow! Kay ditched the mittens after a few minutes and I found her playing in a pile of dirt/mud with her fingers... Whenever the kids come in from playing they have to break out the hot chocolate and marshmallows!Blondie making a snow angel. When Kay saw Blondie laying down in the snow she yelled to her, "Lee-lee! Are you okay?"

Kid talk

Trying to get the kids to help out around the house is an ongoing struggle that we deal with in our home. Right now we have room assignments for the week that the kids are supposed to help clean in addition to their bedroom throughout the week. Today I was making Kitty do some work to help get the living room clean and DH and I were helping her out with vacuuming it. Later on the kids made some chocolate chip cookies and some of the kids had wandered into the living room while eating a cookie when Kitty piped up, "Hey! Don't eat cookies in the living room! I just vacuumed in there!"