When Nora was about a year old she used to pull out her own hair. She would pull it out and then roll it around in her fingers and suck her thumb. She did it so much that she had bald spots on her head. I kept trying to find dolls with hair to encourage her to pull out the dolls hair, instead of her own. She never really pulled the dolls hair, but she eventually stopped pulling out her own. Soon after that she started getting really attached to stuffed animals, and she started pulling the fur out of them, instead. I was going through my old emails today and I found this video that Scott’s mom sent me. I just had to share it!

A new bowling alley just opened up in Park City. We decided it would be a fun place to have Ian’s birthday party. We had a small party, and he just invited some of his best friends. It was the first time any of my kids had been bowling and they really had a great time. It was a perfect place for a party!

Check out Ian’s bowling style. I love how he is totally off the ground in the last photo!

The kids had lots of fun bowling, eating chips and candy, and then we finished off with pizza and cake.

Thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. Scott and I were able to get married. At least, according to Emma.

She has been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr in honor of his recent birthday. Everyday she comes home from school with more stories about him. Earlier in the week she named all the kids in her class that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King, Jr.

Then, this weekend we were having lunch at my parents house. She started talking about him again. She talked about how people of different races were not allowed to be married before. She looked at Scott and I and said “It is a good thing for you that Martin Luther King, Jr. did what he did. Because if he didn’t you wouldn’t be able to be married.” We both looked at her confused and asked “Why?” She looked at Scott and whispered “Because you are black.”

We tried not to laugh, because she is really sensitive about that lately, but I have no idea where she got the idea that Scott is African American! Maybe because he is tan???

So, in honor of Emma, I want to say Thank you to Dr. King for allowing Scott and I to get married

While we were in Maui, Ian had a few classic moments. I already wrote about the pajama incident, but there were so many more that I don’t want to forget. One particularly memorable one involved Ian at the pool with a few of his friends.

There was one family staying at our complex that Ian and Emma spent quite a bit of time with. They had two kids–a boy about 12 and a girl about 10. They were both really nice to our kids. Ian had a great time with Robert and Emma had lots of fun with Amanda. Robert was great with all the kids. He was like the entertainment director of the group and all the kids loved him. Some days I felt like I should be paying him because he spent so much time playing with the kids.

They were a really nice family and they happened to be a little bit overweight.

Ian once referred to Robert as “puffy”. But the grand daddy of them all was another day when Ian saw Robert’s mother.

All the kids were in the pool together. Robert’s mom came up from the beach and walked up to the fence around the pool. As she walked up Ian looked over at her and said “Oh great, a whole family of chubby people, just keeps on getting chubbier”. I almost died! Luckily the mom took it in stride and started laughing. I was mortified, but what could I say? I got Ian out of the pool and talked to him about it. Hopefully it sunk in a little bit.

It isn’t the first time he has embarrassed us, and I am sure it won’t be the last!

I had such a great vacation in Maui. It was extremely relaxing. I enjoyed being away from the computer and all the new responsibilities that I have lately with my new photography business. I enjoyed just taking a few photos for fun. I really enjoyed playing with my new Canon G11 camera, too. Here are a few snapshots from our trip to the Maui Ocean Center.

And here is my last sunset of the year:

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Emma and Ian have been really into snorkeling on this years trip to Maui. They have had snorkel and mask sets for a few years. Last year Emma started playing around with them in the pool, but breathing through the snorkel was still really a challenge for her.

This year, though, she really started to get it. She practiced a whole day in the pool and then we decided to let her try out her new skills in the ocean.

My mom and I took her to Napili beach to do a little snorkeling for real. I went in with her and was surprised at how well she did. We swam out to a shallow reef and she really enjoyed seeing all the fish. She got a little nervous when the water got deeper, but she still really enjoyed it.

A few days later Bryan and Mary planned a snorkeling trip on a boat to Molokini. I didn’t think it would be a good trip for Ian and Nora, but I thought that Emma would really like it. Scott decided to take her and have a special daddy and daughter date.

I wish I could have been there, but I was happy to hear they had a great time. They rented an underwater camera and they took a bunch of fun photos.

Here is Emma going down the slide on the boat to start snorkeling.

They had quite and eventful day. They saw all kinds of fish, a sea turtle and lots of whales!

I am so glad that they had a fun time and so thankful that I have a wonderful husband who is so involved in our kids lives!

We spent most of Thanksgiving day with Scott’s family. His brother Mike was visiting from Arizona with his wife Maren and their cute baby Lucy. It is always fun to spend time with them. I really love Maren. She is such a nice person and so much fun to be around. And I love her sweet little Lucy.

We thought about getting up early and going shopping for Black Friday, but we decided not to. We really didn’t need anything this year so we decided that we needed the sleep more

We ended up going to Salt Lake City and having lunch with 3 of Scott’s siblings and his dad. It has been almost a year since we have seen Reva, and it was nice to see him again. We went to Siegfried’s, one of my favorite lunch places. It was the third time in a week I was there! I did a photo shoot in the alley behind there, so I needed to check it out first, and then we had to get hot chocolate to warm up after the shoot.

It was a nice Thanksgiving and we are all really enjoying having a few days to just hang out and spend time together!

We have been “turtle sitting” for Emma’s class tortoise. She was so excited to get to bring him home over the Thanksgiving break. Flora was pretty excited too.

Scott got these photos with his iPhone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is what Emma is thankful for:

“My mom that cares for me. My dad that tickles me, and my cat that plays with me.” How cute is that?

Emma went for her first time a few weeks ago. She loved it, and Nora has been talking about going ever since. She is the stuffed animal lover in our family, so I knew it would be right up her alley.

She picked out the softest bunny. She loved it as soon as we saw the display. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t quite understand why she couldn’t have that one, instead of the flat one without any filling. But we convinced her to put that one back and she took hers to be stuffed.

She picked out a heart, and kissed it before putting it inside the bunny.

She took it and gave it a “bath”

Then she picked out a fairy costume and she got the bunny all dressed.

She named her “Hunny Bunny” and she hasn’t let her out of her sight since we left the store. It was a fun day, and a fun way to spend some special one-on-one time with Nora!