g'nite

the one time the house is completely quiet.

beautiful.

cade and his buddy....the dump truck.

sweet dreams.

becoming self-reliant

the visiting teaching message this month is on self-reliance.  i thought it would be fitting to show how 'self-reliant' the kids have been lately.  a nice yummy after school snack....some homemade toast by the two munchkins.  (cade is making his way to kaylee after climbing onto the counter getting some plates for their toast)

when we're helping we're happy, and we sing as we go!

would you like some bread with that butter?

looks like grandpa price is visiting!

I really loved the quote by Robert D. Hales..."Our ability to serve is increased or diminished by the level of our self-reliance." (the whole quote is great).

thanks Kelly for the candids!

all the single ladies....

Kaylee has been singing the song by Beyonce....

"All the single ladies!  all the single ladies.  All the single ladies!  all the single ladies.  Put your hands up... put your hands down!"   (adding her own interpretation alongside as well)

She's definately our little performer.

 It's funny to hear her in the other room singing the song.  She'll even dance some of the moves.
(cade has even gotten in on the action too)

I've asked her where she's learned the song and she said her friend did.  We have some cute neighbors she plays with that I thought was who she was talking about.  Turns out I was almost right.  It wasn't the older girl, but actually her little sister, about Kaylee's age!  Amazing what kids can teach each other!

Whatever is playing, be it primary songs, or 'single ladies' you can hear Kaylee singing and dancing along.

if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it.....

guess who's a big bad sunbeam?

Cade is finally and officially and sunbeam.  After waiting and waiting!  He was so proud of his sunbeam 'crown' that he wanted to wear it to church.  I let him wear it in, but soon it was off his head...phew.

he was so proud to be in primary!

it was so cute to watch Kaylee and Cade walk to primary together.  They were both putting their arms around each other, walking to primary.  Cade thought he was going to sit with Kaylee's class at first, and didn't want to sit anywhere else, but I finally got him to the right class.  I went and checked on him 1/2 way through, and he was sitting in his chair just enjoying sharing time.

oh the life of a sunbeam.

such fun for a sunbeam.

snow much fun

i've finished editing the rest of my favorite shots.

kaylee's face was frozen like this for almost an hour.  she had so much fun sledding down the hill by herself and with her cousins.

too bad we don't live in a snowy climate.

emily.  she was gracious enough to pose after sliding down for me and kelly.

hadley, emily and max....these kids are so much fun to sled with.

potential into kinetic.

energy.

david was in his element.  he just loved all the sledding and had so much fun with the kids.  i wish i could have gotten into the fun too.

jadey, that daredevil.

a sweet shot that Kelly got of hadley after flipping on the snow.

my own christmas cheeseball.

a cute angle of hadley.  she's 6 months younger than kaylee and about 4 inches taller.

close your eyes, this is gonna get scary.

chikin.

what a cute expression.

jadey and cade.  so fun to have cousins together having so much fun.

one of my favorite sledding shots.  kaylee was quite animated.

max-a-rubie and buddy.

cade LOVES max.  they slept down in the basement livingroom together and had so much fun.  it's nice to have the boy time.

hadley getting her sun for the day.

hold on, this is gonna be fast!!!!!!!

cade must have had a few muscle cramps in his cheeks from smiling so much.

and my favorite ACTION shot of them all....she's falling to her doom.

she doesn't.

she just rolls out of it, lies on the snow for a moment, and gets up to do it all again.

our fun cousins-in Orem

we had so much fun with our family in orem.  thought you'd like to meet some.  these are 4 of the 5 of my brothers kids.

so fun and cute!

Jadey...jades...jadey bug.  the oldest sib, smart, soccer babe, jokester.

max.  fun, sweet and helpful.

emily.  lover of shoes, kind and spunky.

hadley...hads...hattie.  another lover of shoes, adorable, sweet as they come.

(kelly got this shot...thanks!)

air horn dance on the office

we're watching this episode right now....can't stop laughing.

this is when dunder mifflin took their website online and dwight was trying to beat the system.

enjoy!

cousin Jadey and Kaylee...enjoying the slopes at lakeridge jr. high...our 'back yard' of fun!

too many fun moments captured!!!

the kids LOVED going down head first on the ice.

this reminds me so much of growing up...all the snow and ice fun we had!

cousin Max and Cade...buddies.

do you think they enjoyed themselves?

kaylee had so much fun on the knee sleds.  she could go super fast!  i even got a shot of her going off a jump in mid air.  she didn't look too excited at the moment, but she loved the ride at the end!

giddie up!

geez!  what a super fun time!!!  we gotta get us some snow!!!

lake walk

While up in Utah for the wedding, we went to Utah Lake and a blast of a time 'walking on water'.  We had tons of winter fun!  The kids couldn't get enough of it.  For your enjoyment....a true Family Christmas Photo.  This is just minutes from my parents house.

David had so much fun on the ice...he was sad we had to leave.  it was cold for the kids, but David was in heaven!  Here he is skidding on the ice while we watch.

conner getting his 'sea legs'

thanks Kelly for take the pics!

the last williams is married

I was in Salt Lake taking photos of Emily's wedding.  She married a great guy and they are such a sweet couple.  I look forward to getting to know Thomas.  During the reception the boys sang a special number for sweet Em.

The past 4 weddings, of the boys, they would sing 'in the still of the night', so they sweetly surprised Emily with her own 'one of a kind' hit.

enjoy!

so fun, so sweet!

happy to welcome the new McConkie family to the group!

merry christmas!

love, us.

family shots.

after waiting and planning...and a saturday that we weren't running around like crazy....

(jump on over to my photography blog for more shots.)

ladies and gents.

i give you.

us.

cade.

smooch. squeeze. pinch!

Kaylee.

my silly poser!

daddy and conner.

love the kiss on the nose.

and....

us!

thanks to Jake for showing up to take this shot of us!  love it! (much more effective at making the kids look at the camera and smile than mr. tripod last year!)

conner update

conner's nail fell off tonight.

it's been looking like a popped car hood the past few days.

honk honk.

updates and vent

things have been busy.  but much busier lately.

the kids have just added to it.

Conner.

conner had a sad mishap on Sunday. he got his finger shut in a door.  now the nail is all white and the finger is red and infected.  looks like the nail might fall off....gag.  he's also dealing with thrush AGAIN!!!!!  aah!  The doctor thought it was a condition at first, that was called geographic tongue....a chronic and somewhat painful condition...but I wasn't too sure about that diagnosis, since we've had the thrush problem in the past and for so long.  I'm hoping thrush is the right answer (I've been slowly getting to trust my instincts more).  at least this can be relieved and healed

.

but hey, it looks like he's still enjoying life!...just not to the full extent yet!

soon though.  very soon!   (hopefully)

Kaylee.

we're still waiting on the new lenses to come in, and be put in the CORRECT way!  I still can't believe they screwed up the last pair...and we had her wear them for 6 MONTHS!

I only hope they don't ask for the 100 dollars for the replacement lenses...

really?

you want me to pay for a job done wrong?

sorry, but these are going to be on you this time! thanks.

the doctor says that her eyes will not have suffered any major setbacks due to having one lens too strong for an eye and one lens too weak for the other.  doesn't seem logical to me.  time will tell.

kaylee and kelly (kaylee's other mommy)

Cade.

he failed his hearing test twice at school.

took him into the ENT today.

he has fluid in both ears.  causing hearing loss.

we're giving him some steroids to bulk him up....i mean help the fluid drain.

in a couple months we have a follow-up appointment.  if there is still fluid in his ears....

ear tubes.

again.

(I'll ask him a question or say something to him.  and without fail..."hu?" replies Cade.)

he's also been stuttering lately.  not sure why.

and through all this, he still doesn't qualify for speech therapy.  and i know he does...and so does his teacher.

my poor caders.  can't hear too good.  can't talk too good.

but, he's a good kid.  and i love him to pieces!  every clumsy moment!

who couldn't love this face?

it's just frustrating when you know how to help your kids, and you're unable to be the one to help them.

we're depending on everyone else.

patience.

i must learn.

patience.

been a long day.  and emotional day.

alright.  done venting all that cold air.  now on to some warm vent air.

  gotta go snuggle the honey.

night.