Super Heroes

Davis is totally into super heroes right now. He has a Superman dress up that he likes to wear constantly and he has Batman and Spiderman pjs that also double as dress ups. He is always acting like a super hero and always getting the guys that "kill the day" (as opposed to the good guys that "save the day"). He chose super hero Valentines to take to his friends at school and he was thrilled that they came with a super hero poster. I helped him hang it on his bedroom door and he likes to show everyone that comes over. This afternoon he had Grandpa Davis close his eyes and walk downstairs so Davis could reveal the awesome poster. He then proceeded to tell Grandpa that it was a poster with Iron Man, Captain America, and Melvin. Grandpa laughed and said, "I think that guy's name is Thor." "Nope," Davis responded, "My dad says his name is Melvin." There was no convincing Davis that his dad may have been messing with him...

Projects

Blair loves art projects. She spent at least two hours on her daddy's valentines and used up five glitter pens. This afternnon, she decided to work on a "sticker project". Baisically she just had a sheet of paper with millions of Barbie stickers all over it. Her pronouncement about half way through the project- "Mom, my work here is much more important than the work Dad does at his office all day long."

I think she probably really believes that...

Valentines Day

We had a great Valentines Day yesterday. The kids love holidays and this one was no exception. In the afternoon, we went to the store and got stuff to make a fun dinner full of red things the kids like. We had a heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's along with red jello shaped like hearts and lips, chocolate dipped strawberries, and valentine cupcakes. We also made ice cubes out of red Crystal Light for our drinks. Davis and Blair made Valentines for Dad too. Blair spent a good two hours working on hers and used tons of glitter. She was very proud and Dad loved them.

For some reason, the kids had decided to surprise Dad when he came home. They hid behind the chairs in the living room and jumped out and shouted "Happy Valentines Day!" when Spence walked through the door. After our fun little dinner, we gave them their Valentines and they were thrilled. It was so fun to have our family "Valentines Party" as Davis and Blair called it. Spence and I avoid going out on Valentines Day because of all the people, so we're going on a date Friday. I sure love my family and love doing fun things with them.

Waiting for Dad

Love the Crystal Light mustaches

4 Year Old Pictures

I've been a major slacker lately. I just took 4 year old pictures of Davis and Blair on Saturday. It was actually relatively painless this time. Davis was easy to make laugh and he had some great natural smiles. Blair, on the other hand, was trying so hard to cooperate that sometimes her smile was a little cheesy. Overall, I think we got some pretty good ones. Thank heaven my mom could come help get their attention while I took the pictures.

New Year's Eve Pheasant Hunt

On the morning of New Year's Eve, the boys in the family, minus Austin who was in California, went to Wasatch Wing and Clay for a little pheasant hunting. They had a great time and came home happy and ready to cook their pheasant. It doesn't sound good to me, but Brady and Spence sure liked it. Spence also brought some home and made it into jerky on our new smoker my parents gave us for Christmas.

When the boys were leaving, the three younger kids were staying home with me, my mom, and Emily. Davis was fine with the idea that the kids stayed home until he realized that Trey just followed the boys out the door. In the past, Trey has stayed home too, but this time he got to go and Davis was feeling pretty ripped off. Davis is constantly asking us when he'll be six like Trey and doesn't like the idea that no matter what Trey will always be bigger.

Fieldtrip to the Fire Station

Today was the first preschool field trip for Davis and Blair. We went to the Clinton Fire Station and they loved it.

All the preschool kids (and siblings) with Mrs. Kate dressed up in fire gear
Practicing how to get to the door if smoke has filled a room

Checking out the fire truck

One Smart Boy

Most nights our kids go to bed without any problem, but every once in a while they try to pull a fast one on us. The other night, we put the kids in bed and sat down to watch the Jazz game. A couple of minutes into the game I heard toys rattling around in the basement. Spencer went to check it out and, sure enough, Davis was playing with his new Geo Trax. Spence put Davis in bed and told him it was time to go to sleep. A couple of minutes later, he peeked his little face around the corner at the top of the stairs.

Being the sucker he is sometimes, Spence told Davis to come sit with him for a while. This is where Davis' little brain kicked in big time. After asking Spence what color the Jazz guys were wearing and figuring out who was who, he started in sucking up to his dad by saying:

"Dad, the Jazz is the best movie ever!"
"I love the Jazz!"
"Oh great, they threw the basket in the hoop again."
"Oh, no. They need to make it so the other guys can't make a basket."
"Go Jazz."
"Dad, me and you like to watch the Jazz together."

This went on for a good fifteen minutes before Davis had to go back to bed again and he was pleased as punch that he stayed up late and watched part of the game with his dad. His dad was pleased as punch that Davis acted interested in the game. I laughed at them both the whole time.

I sure love my boys.

Time Out

The other day, Blair got in trouble and Spence put her in time out. When our kids go to time out we like them to tell us why they're in trouble so they can recognize what they did. Spence asked Blair why she was in time out and she didn't respond. He reminded her that her time didn't start until she told him what she did. Still no response. A minute later I walked down the stairs and Spence asked Blair to tell me why she was in time out. In the most annoyed voice she responded, "It's complicated."

Spence and I laughed ourselves sick. I don't know where she comes up with these things.

Dance Recital

Blair loves dancing and she especially loves any chance she gets to perform. Her Christmas recital wasn't as big of a deal as the one they do in the Spring and it was just at the dance studio, but she loved it. Grandpa and Grandma Davis and Grandpa Erickson came to watch her. She was a great little dancer and was thrilled to get flowers from her daddy after performing.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Davis and Blair turned 4 while we were in Uruguay. We had a party for them with our extended family before we left, but they knew it wasn't their actual birthday. We kept a couple of presents for each of them and took them to Uruguay to open on their birthday.

After a delicious breakfast of pastries we went out back in the beautiful weather to open presents. They were thrilled with the gifts. It made me think about how we always do too much because just a couple of thing that weren't that big of a deal was more than enough for them to be so excited on their birthday.

Davis spent the rest of the month attacking with his first Nerf gun.

Blair was happy to get things for her baby, a swimming suit, hair stuff, and a snow suit. She was excited to bring the baby back to Utah where it could wear its snow clothes.

After lunch, we went to the ice cream shop for a birthday treat and followed it up with a trip to the beach. It was warm, but not super hot, so I told the kids we'd just wear short and play in the sand because it wasn't warm enough to go swimming. That was a mistake because they just went swimming in their clothes instead. They were so happy to play at the beach, but Davis was elated because he thought the whole reason we went to Uruguay was to go to the beach.

It turns out it is cold getting out of that water. Lucky for the kids our house was close to the beach.

I love the huge smiles my kids have in most of these pictures. We had a great day hanging out together celebrating their birthday. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

El Pinar

On November 3rd, we took a day trip El Pinar. It was about an hour and twenty minutes on the bus from Piriapolis. This was the sixth area Spence served in on his mission and he was there for about six months. This was one area where Spence had written down addresses for the people he baptized so we didn't have to do so much walking.

First we went to visit the Sanchez family. Both Gricelda, the mom, and Celeste, the older daughter not pictured, were baptized while Spence served here. The other family members were baptized later. When we went to their house, they were very happy to see Spence and we had a nice visit. Davis and Blair were thrilled because they had a slide to play on in the front yard.

Gricelda and one of her younger daughters

Next, we went to visit the Del Rio family. When we arrived Spence asked for Mirta and her husband (who Spence barely knew) said she was dead. Spence was a little shocked, but it turned out that Miguel was just messing with him. We went inside and had a great visit. Mirta was thrilled to see Spence and told him all about everyone he knew from the ward and everything that was happening with the missionary work since he left. She was pretty sure no one had come along that was as good of a missionary as Spencer. Mirta fed Davis a ton of cookies and the kids were pretty good considering we visited with them for about an hour and a half.

Spence baptized Mirta's granddaughter, Vanesa, while he was here, but for most of our visit, Vanesa was at school. Vanesa walked up just as we were leaving and it was so fun to see her. We got to catch up with her more at church later.

We also greatly appreciated the ride Miguel gave us from his house to the church. A car ride was a fabulous thing in Uruguay.

Miguel and Mirta

Spence, Vanesa, Mirta

The new chapel in El Pinar

On the 13th, we went back to El Pinar to go to church. It was much different than church in Sarandi Grande. They had a big chapel and it was full of people. Mirta and Vanesa had told lots of people that we would be there and when I came out of Relief Society, eveyone knew who I was when I was wondering around alone. They were all super nice and Vanesa was patient enough to let our kids go to her primary class and try to communicate with them. Blair was Vanesa's best little buddy by the end of church and was thrilled that we were hanging out with Vanesa after church.

Lareano Pardo, the third person from the left, was one of Spence's converts in El Pinar. We were excited to see him and his family and it was fun for Spence to visit with his mom.

This is a picture with Celesta Sanchez. We visited her home earlier (see above), but she wasn't there so it was fun to catch up with her at church.


After church, Mirta, Miguel, and Vanesa invited us over for lunch. Of course, Mirta was too nice and made a wonderful meal of canalones complete with two desserts. I think she thought I should eat three or four times the rest of them because I was pregnant, and I ate a bunch because it was so good, but I didn't make it through the whole second dessert. We had another wonderful visit with all of them and it was fun to meet Marcelo, Vanesa's boyfriend, too. He is a very nice, fun, returned missionary and Spence was so happy to see her on track in the gospel. She's awesome.

Blair was entertained forever playing with toys in Vanesa's room. They spoiled the kids rotten with anything they wanted and their constant attention.

When it was time to leave, Miguel and Mirta took us to the bus stop, but for some reason, the bus we needed didn't even slow down when it passed the stop. We were worried that we'd be waiting another two hours, but Miguel took us to another stop and a different bus that wasn't on the schedule happened to go by and we made it back to Piriapolis without a huge wait at the bus stop. El Pinar was one of Spence's favorite places to visit.