Christmas morning

We had such a nice Christmas this year. I know that's a pretty simple statement. But it was. Dan and I got kinda emotional as we realized this was our Christmas for our children in our house. We have been so blessed and we're so grateful for a secure job in this uncertain economy, a comfortable home, healthy children and the love we have for each other.


Santa brought Danny a new train set! He was so excited and would have been completely content if he has just received that. Note for next year.

Kate was a good sport on Christmas morning and even attempted to "open" a present or two, with her mouth! :) But she even had fun and could feel the excitement of the event.

Snake River Pictures

Recently, I found the picture of the Idaho Falls Temple that I wanted framed and displayed in my home. (obviously this is not it.) Yes, it took nearly three years. But this photographer, James Neeley, is amazing! (Check out http://www.flickr.com/ to see some of his work.) I love the pictures he takes, probably because they are mostly images from my home, but they are captured beautifully. I wanted to share a short slide show of images with the Snake River. One of the pictures of the Temple in the slide show is the one I chose.

Any guesses??

Halloween Pictures in December

I've had some people ask to see Danny's UPS costume, and since I wasn't on the ball in OCTOBER...I am going to do it now.

Concert Etiquette...NOT

Last night one of my cute young women was singing a solo at her high school's Christmas concert and I really wanted to go. The problem is I have two small children and a husband that works nights. So my two options were to not go or to bring the kids.

*disclaimer: To my music major/choir conductor friends Amy and Andria, I do understand concert etiquette, I just was thinking about a concert in our church, ya know.?! Last week, I took them to a musical fireside thing and they were great! Besides, there were other kids there and kids make lil' noises here and there, so it wasn't a big deal. So that's what I was thinking. Anyway...

Well, this was one of many concerts this high school puts on during Christmas and this one happened to be downtown at an old Methodist church. When we entered the chapel, we saw Ashlyn's family up in the balcony and they invited us to sit with them. As soon as we sat down, I knew we were in trouble. They were in the first row in the balcony and you moms out there know you need to have another pew in front of you for containment purposes. Toddlers tend to escape.

As the concert began, I also noticed the lovely acoustics. However, I noticed them even more when Danny started yelling "agua-er." Yes, that's Spanglish for "agua" and "water". One of Danny's first words was aqua, because he had a Salvadoran babysitter and has always used that word for water until recently. In the last week or so, he's been using "aqua-er" because he hears us call it "water." My poor confused son.

Back to the concert. So I tried to unsuccessfully to quietly exit the balcony with every sound echoing across the entire room. Gave Danny a little water break and a chance to walk up and down a couple fights of stairs. I then tried to use some concert etiquette and not enter again until they finished the song they were singing. Well, then Danny started to whine for Kealeigh, our little 7 year old neighbor friend, who he saw quietly sitting in the pew. (We brought along our favorite neighbors Kealeigh and her mom and sister Elise.) Tara, the mom, was a big help with Kate during this time.

So anything to keep Danny quiet, we entered again, every sound magnified a million times over. I had him sit on my lap and tried to keep him interested by giving him something to listen for. The conductor had already used some bells in previous songs, so that's what I told him to listen for. Sure enough, the next song gave Danny lots of opportunities to tell me about the bells, much to his own excitement, but the lovely acoustics echoed Danny's two-year old voice around the room as he exuberantly told me "Bell! Bell! Bell!" over and over again.

I was frazzled at this point, and with Kate starting to make baby noises, I decided it be best to pack up and leave. (you're probably wonerding why I didn't do that sooner!) End of concert experience with two kids. Moral of story: Don't do it. :)

Oh, the best part is, just as we left the building and started walking up the street, my cell phone went off. Wouldn't that have been perfect?! Aghhhh!

Miracles Never Cease

So after a brief lil' demo, (yes, that means he wasn't quite sure how to do it) my dear sweet husband helped me clean the bathrooms today by scrubbing down THREE toilets! He was so awesome and it was so nice to have someone to work beside. I don't think he realizes though that he has now consigned himself to that duty for the rest of his life...

Wish me luck. :)

Snugglin' Siblings

Lately I have not felt much like blogging for some reason, but last night provided me with the most perfect opportunity to return. Dan went to check on the kids before tucking into bed ourselves and he comes back into our bedroom and motions that I follow him into Kate's room. I walk into her bedroom only to find Danny snuggled next to her in her crib. Both of them looked as peaceful as can be, which is unusual for Kathryn when Danny's around. :) I have no idea when Danny climbed into her crib, neither of them made a peep. I wonder at what point in the night Kate would have "realized" Danny was around and made his presence known...

Danny's birthday

So Danny's birthday was on October 5th, a long time ago I know, but one of the reasons I have been putting off posting about it is because I wanted to post a video of him blowing out his birthday candles, but I didn't know how to do it. But I think I finally learned, so take a look. We got such a kick out of it.


And since Danny is obsessed with Elmo, my mom helped me make him an Elmo cake. He loved it! We tinted fondant and used that for the eyes and nose so it would be nice and smooth and then I just tried to make the red icing look like fur. Since Danny's birthday was over conference, we used this cake for the party we had later in the week.
Danny is such a happy and loving little boy. He has such excitement and enthusiasm for life, I love being around him. He's very affectionate and one of his sweet little hugs and a kiss just melts my heart.

My Daddy's Bread

One of the things I acquired on my trip home LAST year was the wheat grinder/mixer that my great grandma left for me. It's gotta be 40 years old or so, but my Grandma kept it in perfect condition and it works great!However, it was only this latest trip that I really practiced with my dad on how to make his most delicious bread. These pictures are of my first attempt without my dad's supervision. And I think I passed! It doesn't take that long and it is so much better than store bought bread--we love it!

Invites

Our YW presidency has been trying to put together everything for our up and coming Young Women in Excellence. We chose our theme to be "Reap the Harvest." We thought it would lend itself to convenient decorations for this time of year. :) But we're really excited about it and the latest thing we did was make special homemade invitations. Since this is not necessarily my forte, I pleaded help from my incredibly talented friend Shanan and she gave us a little template to create the invites ourselves. One of my counselors and awesome friend Katie helped me do it and we think they turned out pretty cute!

Trunk or Treat??

Our ward is having a Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night and I come to you for ideas. I have never been to one and I am having a bit of trouble thinking of ways to decorate our trunk. So if you have decorated a trunk in the past or have seen a FABULOUS one, (or know of where I can find some ideas) please let me know. Thanks!

Photo Session

We just got back from a nearly two week vacation in Idaho with all of my family. It was the first time in years that we were all together, all six of us siblings plus our parents. With Josh just getting home from his mission and Austin just about to leave, the timing of this trip was perfect. It wasn't initially planned that way, but that's how it worked out and we are very grateful.

I loved having a countless number of people in line waiting to help me change diapers, hold a crying baby, or watch Elmo with Danny. They all WANTED to do it. It was so awesome. Needless to say, I got majorly spoiled and I had a serious wake-up call when we got home and it was back to reality. But the kids have been really good and Kate is starting to be less grumpy. She has had her first grins, some of which have become near giggles. Her coo's are so cute and when it happens it makes me forget that she cries a lot.

While we were in Idaho, we had a photo session with a wonderful photographer, Kimberly Smith. She took some amazing pictures of my best friends new adorable little son, Landon, and I wanted some too! We wanted to take cute naked newborn pictures of Kate, but she was just too big to take cute sleeping pictures. She was too big for all the props and cute newborn poses and kept waking up and was very disgruntled the entire time. And she had TWO major accidents and she shot poop all over us and all over the canvas backdrop, which required some extensive cleanup. It was so funny! But take a look at this album I compiled of some of our favorites from the session.

Kate's blessing Sunday

After about twenty shots, this is only one where everyone was looking at the camera, Danny had his hand out of his mouth and Kate wasn't crying. So this is our little family on the day Baby Kathryn was blessed.

Proud Grandma Norton Daddy and his little girl Here are all the Norton cousins. Even though I miss my family desperately and I'm sad Danny doesn't get to spend much time with my side of the family, I am so happy we at least have Dan's family close. They are really starting to play well together and they love GrandDad's hammock!

Apple pie anyone?

So I have never made an apple pie before. But our ward was having a chili cook off today and contests in chili, cornbread and apple desserts, so I thought I would give it a try! I found a Paula Deen recipe and put it to the test. Unfortunately, we did not arrive in time (surprise, surprise) and so it didn't get judged. But I think it turned out very pretty and it was delicious. We loved it!

In the last week or so...

I always check on Danny right before I go to bed and the other night this is what I found. Could a mother be more proud?! :)
Although, the pride stops whenever I find that he has climbed up something again and has gotten into something (again) that he shouldn't. Dan loves seeing his son with make-up brushes and powder all over himself. But Danny couldn't be happier.

Danny loves balls and plays so hard his cheeks get all blushed. This week, he spent a day with his Grandma Norton at a farm on a field trip and he found pumpkins, which he insisted were balls.
His favorite thing to do right now is instead of holding my hand, he wants to put his hands in his pockets like a big boy.
Kate was a bit disgruntled the other night when we took her and Danny to James Wood's football game. (The high school where I used to teach.) Danny had a blast, but Kate wanted to go home. This picture cracks me up!Contrary to what one might believe after having seen the previous picture, Kate has begun to smile!

Protect Our Children Act

Yesterday's Oprah show was about online sex predators/pedophiles. (To read a summary of her show, click here.) Not the most uplifting topic, I know. While watching I had such a pit in my stomach and I had to turn away at times because I was so disgusted. While trading in pedophile pornography is illegal, there are not sufficient resources to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. Only one-half of one percent are ever prosecuted. And now the demand for this type of pornography is so high, the predators are attacking younger and younger children, even infants. Being a new mother, this was particularly disturbing. I don't even want to say anymore about the crime, it is just horrible what is happening to these children, toddlers and infants and this should never be a part of one's childhood. To even imagine that any child has to experience this kind of abuse is heartbreaking.

Even though I had difficulty sleeping last night, I am glad that I watched because there is something we can do to help these innocent children. There is a group called PROTECT that is working to pass better laws to better protect our children and there is an important bill going before congress this month. Senate Bill 1738, the PROTECT Our Children Act, will provide valuable funding for child protection task forces. Please take the time NOW to contact your senator and voice your opinion on this bill. Tell them to vote yes! Oprah's website gave great instructions as to how to do this. Click here for that page. It only takes a few minutes. Please do it today.

Top Gun

As I previously mentioned, Dan was away at UPS school last week and I had to hold down the fort without him. I got to change one million and one diapers (believe me, I counted) while Dan worked on attaining his goal of being the Top Gun of his class. This training that he went to was pretty intense with class all day long, then hours of group and personal homework. Plus, they were required to memorize a bunch of information that they were drilled and tested on. At the end of the week, there was a contest and whoever won, would be the Top Gun of the class. My dear sweet husband is ultra competitive, plus he really cares about doing a good job, so he took this very seriously and he reached his goal! Congratulations Dan! (I meant to get a picture of him and his trophy, but I didn't get to it today...maybe another day.)

Bruin Beatdown

"Rise and shout the Cougars are out along the way to fame and glory...Go Cougars!!!" I know some people don't enjoy blowouts, but when it's our treasured Cougars who tears up a PAC-10 team, we don't mind one single bit. It was so fun to see them play so well in all aspects; excellent offensive domination, big defensive hits and forced fumbles, and another blocked kick. Which by the way, is what won the game last week, NOT necessarily the controversial excessive celebration call Washington got. But if you'd like to read about Hall's seven touchdown passes and how AWESOME BYU is, click here: http://http//sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=282570252

Josh is home!

It's taken me a little while to get some pictures posted of Josh's homecoming from Mexico because I haven't had any. I've waited and waited...he got home on August 27th. But after much nagging, my dear sweet little brother Austin, who asked to be mentioned lots in my blog, sent me some pictures today. They were taken at the airport. Here Josh is with my Grandma and Grandpa Tew and Aunt Rachelle. My mom says his suit was hanging on by a thread. I know he worked so hard and I'm grateful for his testimony and committment to the Gospel.
Getting a long awaited hug from the lil' sis!
And doesn't Lexie look pretty! I had to put this in because she just went to Homecoming on Saturday night and she looked gorgeous! She's a junior this year.

Newsflash---Being a mom is hard

Just in case you didn't know, being a mom is a handful and I'm ready to go crazy. I'm about ready to pull my hair out with Danny. He wants to be so independent and it makes things soooo difficult for me. His favorite thing right now is when I hold his hand and ask him to walk with me, he throws his body to the floor and REFUSES to walk. I feel like I'm gonna pull his arm out of the socket. But then if I don't hold his hand, he takes off and loves to see me chase him. I feel like I'm creating this terror child, but I don't know what to do. At this point, I definetely feel like the two year old is winning and it's driving me crazy! Our enrichment activity this week is on parenting-looks like I'll be the first one there! (Actually, probably not, I can't seem to be on time for anything!)

But I guess I should share something that shows his sweetness, because he is most certainly not all bad. :) So a little background information---ever since he was a baby he has been one of those that plays with his hair. When he nursed, he would play with this one little piece and twirl it around one of his fingers. Also, when I hold him and he has his arms around my neck, he'll do the same thing to a piece of my hair. And now that he has a big boy bed and I lay in bed with him to read stories and sing songs and stuff, he does the same thing. Well tonight, he put me to sleep as he played with my hair! When I woke up, nearly an hour later, he was asleep but still playing with my hair. He's so cute.

The baby is doing well though. They're so sweet when they're newborns. Dan is out of town this week for some training, so we shall see how I do ALL by myself.

I'm a canner!

My next door neighbor Tara went to Pennsylvania for Labor Day weekend and raved about how good produce from Lancaster County was. She offered to bring me back some peaches, so I decided I needed to learn how to can. My Relief Society did it as an Enrichment activity a few weeks ago, but with the new baby I wasn't able to go. So I called up my friend Sister Rust to see if she could tell me how to do it. But instead, she so graciously offered to come and help me that very day! So we spent a couple hours together and afterwards I felt like a better Mormon woman! :) I ended up getting about nine quarts of peaches. Thank you Sister Rust!

I'm looking forward to canning apples here pretty soon. My cousin manages some orchards out here, so I'm sure I'll be able to get some delicious apples from him.

Slip 'n Slide

We had such an exciting mutual activty last week at the Bishop's house. Check out this Slip n' Slide!! Two tarps were sewn together to make one massive slide and the kids used dish soap to make themselves go even faster. After everyone's eyes were burning from the dish soap, the YM leaders realized that they should have purchased baby soap instead. But the kids hardly complained and they had a great time.

Dan would get a running start holding Danny in his arms and just FLY down the hill. This one ended up in a small little crash, but Danny just popped up and started clapping with a big smile on his face. Dan is creating a lil' dare devil.

My little warrior playing with all the big kids!

Wild Animal Park

For any of you who doubted that Danny was the spitting image of his father, here is conclusive evidence. I have always teased Dan about when he's standing his hands always seem to end up in his back pockets, see exhibit one, or in his back waistband. It doesn't matter if he's waiting in line at the store or brushing his teeth, his hands always end up behind his back. I found it a little strange and wondered why he did it. Well, now I can see that it's just him 'cause Danny does it too.

He loved feeding the goats and the deer until they got a little aggressive, then he got a little scared and wanted to keep his distance.

Momma and Danny looking at some cute little monkeys.

Dan took Danny over to see the baby camel, whose fur was unbelievably soft, and as he set him up on the fence to pose for the picture, I saw that the camel started nibbling on Danny's leg! Needless to say, Danny was a little startled and didn't want much to do with him after that. But the little camel was so cute, his umbilical cord was even still attached.

I thought he looked like he was really GQ-in' it!

Simple Pleasures

Is this not a picture of pure enjoyment?!

Rita's is an italian ice chain out here that Dan and I love. And I think we frequent it probably a little more than we should because Danny knows exactly where it is and if we drive by he yells out, "treat!" and points in the direction of the establishment. I am shocked that a kid, not even two years old, can recognize places out and about town. He knows exactly where Chick-fil-A is as well. He cries out from the back seat, "side!!" which in his language is slide. They have a little toy area that Danny is obsessed with. Whenever we eat there, I can hardly keep him from darting immediately to the back of the restaurant, pulling on the little handle on the door and racing into the play area without a care in the world. But playing on that jungle gym thing is something he loves, so he remembers it. The simple pleaures of a child.

But this particular time at Rita's, they gave him a massive ice cream cone! Dan did not join us on this trip and by the time we got home, this is what he looked like. Just imagine his sugar high.

Called to Serve

I am very excited to announce that my brother Austin, the younger of my two brothers, just received his mission call to Vancouver Canada, Mandarin speaking!! He leaves for the MTC at the end of October.

We find his call especially endearing because since Austin was 10 or 11 he has always wanted to serve his mission in China and speak Chinese. We knew China wasn't open to missionary work at the time, so we would tell him, "you never know what can happen." So for the last seven years or so, he has been fascinated with the Chinese characters and the Chines cultural. He has had a Chinese calendar and a souvenir that I brought home for him from NYC Chinatown hanging in room for years!

So when he read his call and came to the part that he would be speaking Mandarin, nobody believe him because he was going to Canada not China!! We had to ask him several times, "Are you kidding?! Austin, are you serious?" We just couldn't believe it because he has wanted so badly to learn Chinese. (I am opening admitting ignorance and I do not understand the difference, if any, between Chinese and Mandarin so I hope I am not sounding too foolish.)

Here is a map of his mission. Before 1974, this area was known as the Alaskan Canadian Mission.

I also did a little research on Vancouver because I was curious as to why there was such a large Chinese population. I didn't quite find my answer---but I am short on time and I have a baby that will be waking up any minute wanting to eat and if anyone knows why, I would love to learn about it---but I did learn that since the mid 19th century, Vancouver has been home to one of the largest Chinese populations in North America. And apparently it has a beautiful and clean Chinatown. And it has the first authentic classical Chinese garden to have been built outside of China. Here is where you can find some more information. http://www.vancouver-chinatown.com/

But we are very excited for Austin that he has this wonderful opportunity to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary for two years. He is a hard worker and has a strong testimony of the restored Gospel. I know he will do great work in Vancouver!