Random Stuff

So lately I've blogged about big and exciting vacations, etc. Today it's for the random stuff in between that is so cute. So a while ago I posted about Halle "posing" and I just couldn't get a good picture. Well, we finally got one a month or so ago.

She also loves playing Hide and Seek, yet she only hides in one place. We ask her to hide other places and she says, "No." Lovely. So, Mom and Dad get to go in the pantry, count to ten, and then come pretend to search for Halle while she kneels down giggling like crazy. Yes, it's cute, but after the 20th time it's hard to find funny places to look, "Is Halle in the TV??....NO..."

And of course she's holding a giant yellow balloon, now that makes it even harder to find her in the same place everytime.

She also enjoys jumping off the couch. Those crazy little boy cousins of hers have taught her bad things.

She LOVES getting pampered. If I cut her finger nails then I have to cut her toe nails. This is actually a good thing because she used to scream and cry and squirm while I tried to cut her toe nails. It was terrible. She also likes to get her nails painted. She holds so still and is so careful not touch anything and mess them up. In fact, today Jared emailed me asking where the nailpolish remover is. I told him and then asked if something had happened. He said no, just that Halle made him paint her nails and he needed the remover to clean them up since he's a little messy. What a great dad painting his princess's nails.

Showing off her toe nails to daddy.Watching Little Einsteins while getting pampered.

This is how she holds her fingers out so they don't get messed up.

This is Patch praying. This is what he does while we eat dinner. "Please let them drop something on the ground so that I can eat it. Amen."

I am so excited for Christmas. My sister and her boys arrived from Alaska this morning at about 7:30. On Friday they are coming to our house (with my mom and dad) to eat dinner. Then hopefully she'll leave Nolan here (if he agrees to it) and Nolan and Halle will have a sleep over until Sunday. Halle talks about Nolan daily. More just mentions his name daily, she doesn't really talk that much to converse about it. This morning I asked her what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas. She said Nolan and Ethan. Isn't that sweet? I think she'll be so thrilled to see them in two days. Then Dustin and his family are coming on Sunday. So, once we get down to my parent's on Christmas Eve there will be 7 children ages 6 and under and 4 dogs. So, let's see that, 8 adults (Grandma Kline, no Doug), 7 children, and 4 dogs. That's just the people sleeping over. In reality for dinner there will be 15 adults (2 great grandmas!), 2 teenagers (is Allison a teen?? I'm counting her as one) 9 kids 6 and under, and maybe a new baby (but I doubt that Summer will be early...speaking of Summer, Damon, would someone in the "Vimner" family PLEASE BLOG??). But really I am so excited. It's so fun to have everyone together for Christmas every other year. We visit each other, but rarely are we all there together at the same time in the same place. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures.

Alaska - the final day

I wanted to post a bigger picture of Monday's sunrise for you.

I also forgot to mention in my previous posts that on Friday in Alaska we were sitting at dinner and discovered that Halle could count to 10. Who knew? It was so random, we didn't even think she could count to 3!! Genius on the way!

Tuesday was our last day in Alaska. Erin and I decided to be crafty and eat junk. Poor Nolan and Ethan woke up sick, and Doug, Jared and Nolan went looking for a Christmas tree. They didn't find one the first time out, then just Doug and Jared went out. They saw FOUR moose. Ugh. So then they came home without a tree and I decided I should go with them so that I could see a moose and...I DID! We found the Christmas tree on this scary unplowed road. It had 5-6 cars on the side of the road over turned (one of which was covered in rust and must have been many years old) and an old washer. Weird. I don't know why they don't take the cars off the road in the summer. Luckily we didn't end up on the side of the road. I didn't get a picture of the tree up, so hopefully Erin posts some great pictures.

It was so big the tree stand wouldn't hold it up so they had to improvise something (not sure what). It was a cool tree.

So, while Doug and Jared were out tree hunting Erin and I made bows - for like 5 hours. During one of their tree hunting breaks Jared made oreo balls. Later Erin made hopscotch, and we made this veggie pizza . We had this really good pizza from this place called Treehouse as a late lunch and didn't end up having salmon for dinner. Instead we just snacked on our veggie pizza and the other junk we made. Sorry we ruined your diet, Erin.

Anyway, these are the bows I made:

Mickey Mouse, a butterfly, Christmas tree - of course all with printed instructions and Erin's guidance.

These are Erin's bows:

A bee, dragonfly (that looks more like a butterfly), Christmas tree, snowflake, and she also made a ladybug, but we didn't get a picture of that.

They had some Harry Potter glasses that Ethan looked real cute in.

While Erin and I made bows the kids played and then watched Little Einsteins.

Aren't they adorable together?

Then Jared and I packed up our stuff, we left the house around 7 and Doug drove us to the airport. We flew on a 19 passenger plan. The "stewardess" said the flight would be good and calm and we should be there in 15 minutes...then she sat in the cockpit and flew the plane...not really the stewardess I guess. So that was the flight from Kenai to Anchorage. Then we flew from Anchorage to Seattle, arriving in Seattle at 3 am. Then we slept (or tried to sleep) at the airport until our flight left at 6. We flew into Salt Lake at 9. Then we went to my parent's and had a wonderful breakfast. Unfortunately by this time Halle was sick. We headed down to the basement and slept for 3-4 hours. Then we packed up the car with the dogs and headed home. I don't remember much after that, only that I went to bed pretty early.

Erin and Doug and kids - THANK YOU for allowing us into your home. We had so much fun and can't wait to come for another visit. Hopefully one for the summer to fish and another later in the winter to see the Northern Lights. Thank you so much!!

Days 3, 4, and 5

I can't believe our time in Alaska has almost come to an end. Our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday was CRAZY good. The turkey was perfect. After dinner/lunch we went outside to play. That was so much fun. We didn't get any pictures because we were having such a blast. We would sled down this huge hill in the neighbor's yard and tredge back up. We tried having Doug bring us back up on the snowmobile, but the snow wasn't deep enough and were tearing up the neighbor's grass. Then we went down their driveway so the kids could go by themselves. Halle loved going by herself and on the driveway Doug would bring her back to the top. She thought Doug was awesome. After about 3 hours of that we were exhausted, but luckily not freezing since we all bundled well. Erin and Doug went to take some neighbors something so we were left with the 4 kids. I plopped them infront of Little Einsteins with some popcorn - they each had two bowls full!

Brenden on the left, then Nolan, and Halle sitting in the Elmo chair.
She really likes the Elmo chair.

Fudge, one of Erin's 3 dogs chased Erin everytime she sledded down the hill and would trudge back up. She was pretty tired after that (and unfortunately couldn't even walk on one of her hind legs and Erin had to give her pain medicine)...Everyone needs a good hug...
On Sunday (after relaxing, a good night's sleep, church, and another nap) it was time for more play time. Nolan and Brenden had fun playing in these boxes and hiding.
They each had a car (Brenden had a big yoga ball) and went around the table for a good 30 minutes. You can't see Ethan but he's on a big green jeep thing.Then Ethan played ball and threw it at Jared.Then Halle had a turn and became VERY silly.Then it was time for bed in preparation for another day.

So today is Monday and it has been so much fun. Brenden got up and went to school and Doug headed to work. The rest of us cleaned up the house until it was light enough to do anything. The sunrise is beautiful. The pictures just don't do it justice, but let's see if they can at least start to show the beauty. (I'm having troubles uploading images and have been trying off and on for a few hours, so I've had to make them smaller to get them to upload.)Then Halle and I headed out the door for some play time. We sledded for a while.Halle and I sledding down the hill. She preferred laying down.
Then she would continue to lay down and make me drag her back up the hill.

Then we convinced dad to join us and go snowmobiling. Your snot and spit freeze if you don't wear a helmet. After one time around the block Halle and I came in for the helmets. Then Jared and Halle went out.Halle was SO sad when daddy left her at the house.

Jared had so much fun going really fast around the block by himself.

We picked Brenden up from school so I could see his class. Then we went out to where the road ends and saw the ocean. It was beautiful. We didn't take a camera though, bummer. We had wonderful halibut for dinner and I hear we're having Salmon tomorrow!

Alaska - days 1 and 2

We arrived in Anchorage Thursday at 2:30 and drove to Erin's home in Nikiski. We arrived at her house at about 7:30...what a drive. It seemed like it was midnight since it had been dark since about 4. We had to drive about 40 mph the whole time with all of the snow, but the time while it was semi-light was beautiful. So...by the time we left our house Thursday morning at 7:30 to take the dogs to my mom's (THANKS, MOM!), and we arrived here at 7:30 (9:30 Utah time) we had a wonderful 14 hour travel day. When we got to Erin's Halle discovered two favorite toys:She was so excited to find "BIG TIGGER". What a great day 1!!

Day 2 was MUCH better than day 1. I was totally thrown off by the darkness though. We woke up at 7, which seemed like 4 or 5. Here is a picture of the morning of day 2, it is SO beautiful:

Then Erin made a wonderful breakfast and we headed out "to town" (30 minute drive) to see Santa. Brenden told Santa he would write him a letter later, and Nolan said that he wants toys and candy. Halle wouldn't tell Santa what she wanted, but while in line we asked her what she would tell Santa and she said she wanted Mickey Mouse (we already have a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, but nothing else Mickey related) and "Manny tool" (there is a cool Handy Manny toy with a tool set). So, there are some ideas if any of you are interested. Erin got some cute pictures while we were in line.

This is Ethan, the youngest.The kids on Santa's lap. Halle was scared, but this went MUCH better than last year. Here's a reminder:Then we came home and left Jared with all the kids to feed them lunch and put them down for naps. Lucky Jared. Erin and I went to a Pampered Chef party, which we were glad we went to since we were the only people that showed up. Erin bought me a Christmas present - an orange peeler that was 60 cents (20% off!!). Thanks, Erin! We came home and watched Transformers then headed back to town for the parade and fireworks. The parade consisted of trucks and cars with lights on them. Interesting. The parade was on the "frontage road" which I thought was a parking lot. While waiting for the parade (we had to get there an hour early to get a parking spot - yes we sat in the car to watch) we watched Shrek 2 and ate dinner in the car. Then we had to wait an hour for fireworks and watched Little Einsteins. The fireworks were pretty good, but I don't think these people have ever been to Utah for fireworks. So, they were good for Alaska, but maybe not so much for Utah. We got home and put the kids to bed then us adults played 4 rounds of pool. Doug and Erin suck at pool. Jared and I won 3 out of 4 games. I think we'll have a rematch tonight.

So, now we're on the morning of day 3. This is what Alaska looks like at 9:45 in the morning...the sunrise was scheduled for 9:44 according to weather.com...

Haven't seen a moose yet. I'm determined I WILL see a moose. Right now our Thanksgiving turkey is in the oven. Yum. Doug is outside getting the snowmobiles ready and we'll go sled in the neighbor's yard (we got their permission last night) until our Thanksgiving feast is done. I am so excited. Alaska is beautiful and I'm loving it here. We'll be sure to take lots more pictures and share them later!

SO BIG!

My little girl is OH SO BIG! I cannot believe how quickly she's growing up. Literally UP, like a weed. She's grown nearly 2 inches in 2 months. Crazy. Anyway, for Halloween she was a Ladybug (but everyone thought she was a Butterfly, arg!).

Does this little red and black costume look like a butterfly??? I know I already posted this picture, but it's the best one I have of the full costume, so here it is again.She was really thirsty after all of the trick or treating. She went with Aunt Janae and her cousin Alyvia.After trick or treating she insisted on sorting her candy. This is as far as she got at grandma's house before we headed home. At home she took out every single piece of candy and sorted it all by herself. All of the Smarties (her favorite) were together, all of the M&M's, etc.Moving on...Halle loves kissing Patch and he doesn't mind it either. They're so cute.Halle in her "big girl bed"!! I forgot to take a picture when she was awake, and I just had to take a picture that night. She's such a cute sleepy head!The next night I remembered to take a picture before she fell asleep. She did really well the first couple of nights. She would stay in her bed and stay asleep until we got her the next morning. She only fell out of bed (onto a bunch of pillows) two or three times a night. Then after that she just figured out she could get out of bed and open the door or read whatever book she wanted and collect every blanket and stuffed animal in her room. One time I went in and her book shelf was half emptied onto her bed. Anyway, two nights ago she came out of her room like 5 times in the first 30-45 minutes, then came out again at 10:15. The night before that she had the same habit the first 30-45 minutes, then got up around 3:00 and finally woke up for the day around 5:00. Needless to say, while we were very proud of her big girl bed, we have turned it back into a crib. She stays in bed, falls asleep and stays asleep the whole night. Maybe we'll try again in a few months.She loves her Halloween candy. Last night she had a blue dumdum. She was so proud of her blue tongue.Great Grandpa came to visit last week. Here is 4 generations - great grandpa, grandma, Jared, and Halle. She's eating a blue M&M - it's the only way we could get her stay still for the picture.

I just wanted to do a quick shout out to Brenden. My sister's blog says that he reads our blogs and asks if there are any new stories for him to read. That encouraged me to blog today so that he will have something to read tomorrow. Love you, buddy. See you in exactly two weeks!!

Arg!

My work deleted my favorite places when they gave me a new computer. I finally added the list of the blogs that I read on my blog here, but I'm missing Tricia's blog. Tricia - will you please email Jared or I with your blog website? I also had a bunch of favorites to Greyhound and Italian Greyhound websites where they sell clothes and collars and stuff. I'm seriously upset. Anyway, I'll post about Halloween later, but just wanted to get Tricia's blog linked here so that I don't lose it again!!