Ah, Sweet November, or not so much

This month has really been crazy for our household. On November 4th Tayven turned 2. He is such a little bundle of joy for us. He is sweet and very energetic. We love him soo much and are so grateful to have him in our lives!

Right after his birthday our dear friends lost their little 5 year old. Unfortunately we were unable to make the funeral up in Canada but our hearts have been very tender in thinking of them at this time.

Clint's Grandmother also passed away and we were able to travel to Vegas for her Memorial service. It was beautiful and it was a really nice visit with family and friends.

Clint had 3 midterms the week after we got back from Vegas, he did very well and we are very happy with his dedication to school work right now!

On The 15th Sarayne was rushed to the emergency room and then rushed into emergency surgery to remove her appendix. She is such a trooper and so brave. She looked so small on that big bed! She is doing well now but gave us quite the scare!

While in the emergency room Tayven's fever peeked to 104, he was diagnosed the next day with an ear infection and strep. Callay also had come down with pnemonia. Sarayne came home and I found a black widow spider the size of a quarter in our bathroom (seriously, that put me over the edge, Clint wasn't home so I had to trap it, verify that it was indeed a black widow, take it out side and spray it DEAD. Of course Clint pulled up as it was dying....)

I had an exam that week for my humanities class and a certification exam for my job. (This one I passed!)

Saturday the 20th was Sarayne's 7th birthday! I can not believe she is 7!!! We love her so much, she is such a ray of sunshine to us!

The following week I had another certification exam (different than the first, and I won't find out for 7-8 weeks how I did on it) and on Wednesday we headed out to Oregon to have Thanksgiving with Clint's sister Aimee her husband Trent, their beautiful kids and Clint's Dad. We had a blast. It was a lot of fun, the kids got to play and run. The weather was horrible, it took us almost 20 hrs to drive home. We almost hit two elk, we did hit a big tire tread off a semi and Tayven and Elya had the stomach flu. Luckily Sarayne missed the flu bug and everyone is on the mend.

We have had so many friends and family help us this month! Thank you!!! We are truly blessed to be so loved and thought of. Right before thanksgiving someone ding dong ditched us an entire Thanksgiving dinner, friends have brought dinners, family has babysat and sent flowers for Rayne and many many other acts of kindness and true charity. We feel very very loved by you all. Thanks a million for your support.

I am very glad to say that I am looking forward to a relaxing December! ;)

Callay

Happy 3 rdBirthday Callay Evelyn Gibson! We love you so much and are so happy that you are part of this family! We love your 'chocolate chip' eyes, your sweet little spirit and your unruly curly hair!

I can't believe my little baby girl is three! She is such a sweet little girl. Callay was born on April 15th 2007 as many American's here know that's Tax Day, so all the Statue Of Liberty's standing on the streets waving are her own personal salute and all the cranky people are just cranky because they don't get to spend this beautiful day with her! Here are some pics of the day, we love you Callay!!!

Gymnastics

Sarayne and Elya have been taking gymnastics for a couple of months. It's been really good for them, they get to jump, cartwheel, do headstands and play on all the equipment (downsized for kiddos). This past week they had a little performance that was so cute, they danced and tumbled to the song 'I just can't wait to be King' from The Lion King. It was a lot of fun to watch and see how much they really like gymnastics. We had a wonderful Easter and are really looking forward to Spring!!! Love you all!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this season has found you all healthy, safe and full of joy. I love the Christmas season. I love the snow, the cold, the lights and the general feel of this season. I miss Winnipeg the most this time of year, call me crazy but I miss the winters. I miss the crisp, dry cold. All that said, this is a great place to live.

We decided to make the trek to Chicago for Christmas this year (because we all know that we never travel... j/k) The kids loved visiting Grandma 'Lain, Aunt Kiki, Uncle Buba, Aunt Erin, Uncle Adam, Jim and of course their little cousin Daisy (who was known as Daisy Head the whole time) We had a wonderful Christmas and a great time visiting everyone. The girls got to make gingerbread houses with Kiki and Erin, we went to the zoo, and they made a HUGE snow man in front of Grandma's house. I made the kids pj's this year that they got to open on Christmas eve, Aunt Kiki gave the girls a gigantic bean bag chair (6 feet) with a tramp to jump on it. It is the hit of the year. They also love the American doll that Kiki gave them, the necklaces from Buba and Erin, and the tutu's from Grandma 'Laine. I surprised Clint by having prints made of his previous artwork that he has given away to people. Thank you to Cathi, Jon, Rachael, Kimberly, Mom and Allie for making that happen! It is a trick to keep presents from Clint, he doesn't try to figure it out he just stumbles on them. This year it was a close call but due to a fluke I was able to keep the actual present a secret, (he knew I had something printed) but he had no idea what it was. I had them printed on canvass so they look just like the originals. He was pretty excited about them. We are still anticipating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Bennett this coming week, and Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy are coming this week from Vegas!!

Other than all that, life is starting to slow down a bit. Clint and I both start school this semester at BYU, the racing season is going to start soon, we have a new teammate and are really looking forward to what this year will hold!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year! Sorry I didn't get Christmas cards out this year. I may try to send them for the new year, but I'm not promising anything ;).

belated birthdays

Happy belated birthday to two of my sweet kiddos. We did celebrate them, I'm just behind on my blogging. I'm also posting some pictures of halloween and other activities we've done. I finally finished Tayven's blanket! All of the kids and Clint came down with the swine flu right around Halloween so we're still a little behind on everything. All is better now, and it didn't seem to bother the girls very much. Tayven is walking all over, he has said a few words and is just loving his new found freedom. Callay has mastered some new songs (Angels we have heard on high is her favorite), Elya started a new preschool that she loves last week and Rayne had a blast at her birthday party, we had 20 kids here, all princesses except Preston and Tayven who were our knights. I'll post again more pictures and more winter photo's. Happy Holidays everyone!

we are so sophisticated

Here is a small insight into our very relaxed, very refined, calm life. I have always been a believer in being on our best behavior at all time. Our living room is not a jungle gym, or a play ground. Our kids never play on the couches, or do cartwheels or stunts with their Daddy.... or not. Our kids like to play, they are well behaved (most of the time) but I think some good hard play is in order a lot of the time!

I think I must be the worst blogger in the history of bloggers. I can never seem to find the time to sit here and think about what would be interesting for other people to read about me or my family. Then I sit here and type, delete it all and type again. So once again I apologize for the large gap in my blogs.

Some of the interesting things that have happened since my last blog I have at least taken pictures of. So at least I'll post some of them. Rayne started Kindergarten. I can't believe she is so big and so responsible. It's really amazing to see her grow up into such a sweet girl. She loves her school, her teacher, her new friends and learning new things!

Elya started preschool, she loves all the crafts they do and to play outside on 'her park'.

Rayne and Elya started gymnastics and love to do cartwheels, play on the bars and beam and learn handstands. Callay mimicks them. Callay is also very talkative right now. We can't understand everything she says, but when she quotes 'The Googies Are Coming' (Shel Silverstein) it is really really cute. Tayven is walking along furniture and has said his first word (Mommy ;)

Fall is here and I absolutely LOVE the fall. I love the colours, the crisp air, the smells and just he feel of it all. I don' t think it ever lasts long enough. Here's hoping it stays at least 2 weeks this year!!!