I just LOVE this little family of mine. They fill my heart to the brim and then some.

Our Nativity

We drove up to Sean's parents in Casa Grande for Christmas (I liked the 5 hour drive we used to have much better than the 10 we now have....but the kiddos were pretty good). We rolled in at about 2 AM on the 23rd and stayed until Sunday morning (the 27th). Caelan and Ben and Megan have been playing with our little plastic Nativity set all month. On a couple of occasions they wanted to be the characters ("I'll be Mary," and "I want to be the Shepherd," etc). I mentioned something about acting out the Nativity story, and they just thought that was the greatest idea. Ben talked about it several times from that moment until Christmas Eve. So, we decided it would be fun to have all the little kids play the different parts in the Nativity. We were with all of Sean's family as well as his Grandma Dick and Uncle Garry and Aunt Jera. Jenny and I and Sean's mom pulled together some costumes and the kids acted out our very BRIEF version of the Nativity....and loved it. Caelan played Mary, Ben and Logan played the Wisemen, Megan and Hailey were Angels, Corbin was a Shepherd, Brooklyn was the Star, and Nathy was supposed to be Joseph (but he pretty much wouldn't cooperate at all). It turned out really cute - I think we might start making this a regular Christmas Eve tradition.

Cindy Lou Who

In honor of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" here is our very own Cindy Lou Who.

YUM!!

Making treats at Christmas. Fun..and delicious!

Everybody Smile

Each year we try to take a simple family snapshot to put on our family newsletter. Nothing fancy or professional (in fact we just use the timer on our camera at home usually), and yet every year we take probably 30-50 shots trying to get one....JUST ONE picture with all of us looking forward and looking somewhat happy. We never get a "perfect one," but we sure get some comical ones in the process. Here are some of the gems from this years attempt.

Nathy - we're not that scary....


Meg - the camera is over here....


Oh Ben - he was the highlight of the "funny pictures" this year. Man, he had a bunch of them...


We're getting cheesier...


And...we're done..

Here are some other pretty cute ones.

Dick Holiday Newsletter

I've emailed this to those who I could find addresses for, but here is our family newsletter for 2009. (If you click on the image it will enlarge to something large enough to actually read....HE HE HE).
Merry Christmas!

Gratitude

I'm Thankful For:
1) The BEST husband ever who is not only a great husband and father, but also my very best friend!!
2) 4 FANSTASTIC kids (Caelan (a genuinely "good" girl and a real blessing as the oldest), Ben (the fun-loving, self-entertained, tender boy), Megan (the animated, energetic, full of personality girl), and Nathan (our smiley, noisy, chubby, irresistible little dude)) - I LOVE THEM TO PIECES!
3) My dad and Andrea and the rest of the fam in Murrieta who so graciously let an extra 6 people crash with them for the past 5 months - we cannot express the gratitude.
4) A huge and wonderful family: The Sorensens, the Taylors, the Dicks, The Grants, the Andersons (I couldn't ask for better)
5) Two (now working) cars that fit all members of our family
6) A home that we have been able to keep and rent out (even though we had to move away) - what a blessing.
7) My ability to see, hear, feel, smell and taste
8) My home in the United States of America - even with its current struggles it is still the land of the free and the home of the brave (and I feel very lucky that I was born here)
9) My talents, and even though I may not be an "expert" at anything, I feel like I can do quite a few different things pretty well
10) Beautiful scenery in this world: mountains, oceans, forests, even desert landscapes
11) The gospel of Jesus Christ, a living prophet, the scriptures, the temples and the covenants we make there, the programs of the church that help to teach us and our children, ward families and so much more.
12) The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation: that I will be able to see dear loved ones that have past on again someday, and that I will be able to be with my family for eternity
13) Delicious food (especially fresh fruit and ice cream)
14) Education: both the education my kids are able to receive (that so many other countries don't have) and also for the education Sean and I have received that enable us to supplement and challenge our kids even more
15) Good health
16) A happy childhood
17) Family vacations
18) Little things like air conditioners, heaters, toilet paper, feminine products, soap, vacuum cleaners, blenders, microwaves, binkies, strollers etc, etc that make life just a little easier
19) Technology and the ability to stay connected with so many friends and family members that I otherwise wouldn't keep as in touch with
20) The seasons: I love them all in their time throughout the year
21) Good music and books and movies
22) Our big, huge bed (even though it is a pain to move) - it makes for a great nights sleep
23) Holidays and decorating for them
24) My ability to walk and run and hike and climb
25) Dear friends
26) Sean's new job and that he is enjoying it
27) A loving Heavenly Father who hears and answers prayers
28) Libraries (a free place to get books - who thought of that?? GENIUS)
29) Hair (I like my own hair and I also quite enjoy my girls' hair and doing it every day)
30) The Savior, Jesus Christ, who makes all these other great blessings possible!

Mega Moo is 3 Years Old

Megan had her third birthday on Friday. She got two fun days of celebrating. Friday night was a high school choir fund raiser at Bob's Murrieta Pizza, so we supported that and then went home for cake and ice cream. Megan got some flip flops this summer that she calls "blip blops," so I made her a "blip blop" cake for her birthday. On Saturday we took a trip to the San Diego Zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen(and even though Megan had turned three and therefore was now should have cost $26 to get in the attendant taking the tickets just let her in for free because it was only "a day" - so nice). The kids all got their faces painted (which they thought was pretty great) and we enjoyed all the animals (there was a lot of activity this time - most of the animals were awake and moving around). We went out to dinner on the way home where they brought Megan a little dish of ice cream for celebrating her birthday. She was pretty excited about "two birthday cakes." Funny girl.


Some fun things about Megan at three years old:
* She is a very independent spirit
* She is tough, but also very much a girl
* She loves to play with baby dolls, her little pony with a binkie, little character hand toys and almost anything else if the bigger kids are doing it
* She loves the bath, but doesn't care for swimming too much
* She wants to get herself dressed everyday, and puts her clothes on backwards almost EVERY time
* She loves salad (isn't that so weird for a kid?)
* She will go up to any person that is eating and sweetly get herself some of their grub (even is she just ate a huge meal) - it's just what she does.
* She likes to make up songs in the car, around the house, taking walks, etc.
* She can throw the fit of ALL time if she decides to
* She has the most expressive face - you never wonder what Megan thinks about something
* She likes to test her brother and sister (taking things from them and running away - oh goodness)
* She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES getting her finger and toe nails painted.
* She is totally and completely adorable....and she knows it and uses it (HE HE HE - we're in trouble).
* Life in the Dick home just wouldn't be as great without our Mega Moo. We love you tons!

Walking Boy

Little Chub took his first steps about a week and a half ago (13 months old). This week he has started letting go of things and going on his own. He can still only take a few steps at a time (I think 5 has been his record), but he's getting better and better. Too cute!
And here are a couple other pictures that are just too delicious to resist.

Happy Halloween

You know how once you get too old to Trick or Treat, then you live through the little kids for your candy fix (younger brothers and sisters, neices and nephews and then your own kids). It used to be okay... just a couple of pieces here and there because really my kids were too young to Trick or Treat long enough to have a big stash. Well, this year I'm in trouble. Three kids, two different parties = 3 full bags of candy. YIKES! I'm trying to discipline myself, and I only eat a piece when I let the kids have one or two (maybe twice a day), but still - we've got to get rid of this stuff!

Pumpkin Patch

We actually got our pumpkins about a week ago from a Nursery in town (the deal was $16 for as many pumpkins as you could hold: I held 7 and Caleb held 8 - not too shabby). We still wanted to have a pumpkin patch experience, so we headed over to Bates Nut Farm yesterday afternoon. We did the tractor ride on hay bales and the straw maze (where the kids had to find 8 different mailboxes and stamp their papers at each one - they loved it) and the petting zoo and ended the trip with a stop in at the treat shop there where the kids picked 5 treats from the candy barrels. Very fun.

Cruisin'

Sean and I can now say that we have cruised the high seas (well maybe not the high seas, but we have gone a cruisin')...and we LOVED it! We went on a cruise with my dad and Andrea and also Kyra and her friend, Kayla (rewards for good grades...lucky girls). It was all sorts of fun! It was a five day cruise. We went to Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The ports were great, but also being at sea was awesome. There is no shortage of things to do on the boat, and it is just so relaxing to just sit and watch the ocean. We went to La Bufedora in Ensenada (one of 4 blowholes in the world). It had some pretty good bursts while we were there. We also rode horses along the coast, did a little shopping, ate some tasty fish tacos and made it back to the boat in plenty of time.

We woke up early as we pulled into Cabo to watch the sunrise. It was breathtaking, and the Cabo port is also very pretty.


While we were in Cabo we went ziplining. AWESOME! It was a series of 8 ziplines that were anywhere from a couple hundred feet long to as much as a half a mile long and up to 800 feet up. We got going to speeds of up to 50+ miles per hour. On some of them Sean and I got to ride tandem. The vegetation was beautiful, and just being that high in the air and zipping through the sky was a pretty cool feeling.

Then we stopped by a glass blowing factory. We watched the artist dip his stick into liquid glass from a 1500 degree stove. When he pulled it out it would start to harden into a pliable state which is when the artist would cut and mold. We watched him make a colorful fish right there in front of us that started with nothing but some liquid glass. It was quite impressive. We headed in some glass bottom boats over to Lover's Beach (well, actually the beach right next to Lover's Beach) and snorkeled. We saw lots of different kinds of fish in a variety of colors. It was actually better snorkeling than when we went in Hawaii. We picked up a couple of presents for the kids before we got back on the boat. While we were on the ship for the rest of the time we had lots of activities to keep us busy: miniature golf, climbing the 3 story rock wall, working out in the gym (pretty good assortment of machines) and jogging on the track on the top story, playing pool, playing board games, karaoke nights (I sang twice which was fun), little trivia games, swimming, jacuzzi-ing, nightly comedy/performance shows, ice sculpting demonstrations, dancing, checking out the art exhibit, eating, eating, eating and more eating.

We ate in the dining room every night, so we got to dress up for the formal night and the causal formal night (which I always get excited to do). It was lots of fun, and beautiful!! It was great to be there with Dad and Andrea (they have become expert cruisers so they showed us how it was done...HE HE HE) and Kyra and Kayla (those girls ROCK). I was happy to get back to the kids, but it was a great way for Sean and I to spend out 8th anniversary.

Miramar Airshow

Yesterday we went to the Miramar Airshow. I've always enjoyed going to this airshow (we used to go as a family when I was younger). It's fun to get all sorts of food and blankets packed up and then go and spend the day on the base and watch the awesome airplanes do their tricks. Yesterdays trip wasn't as relaxing as other airshow events for the following reasons:
*It took almost 4 hours to get from our house to where we parked our car (it should usually take about an hour - the traffic was HORRIBLE)
*Both Caelan and Ben threw up
*Megan had an accident (and there are only port-a-pottys)
*Nathan spent the first few hours crying (he's been sick, and he was just exhausted but was fighting off the nap)

Despite how bad it sounds, it was actually a fairly fun day. We went with my dad and Andrea and all the boys, and then we met up with Erin and David and Jennifer Mason. The kids were mostly good and had fun (minus their couple of incidences), and the fun air stuff was awesome. I always love the Blue Angels. It's amazing how close together they fly. The firework show was great (Nathan was completely mesmorized) and then I always love the Wall of Fire (very cool). You can feel the heat from it all the way to our seats.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Well, I made a deal with Caelan at the beginning of the summer that if she would read 100 books (all by herself) then she could go to Disneyland. She finished her 100th book on Wednesday. Thursday was Sean's birthday (so he could get into Disneyland for free) and so we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. It was a perfect day to go (bad economy, weekday in October = very few crowds). The lines were so short. We got to go on everything we wanted and the kids had a blast. Caelan and Ben loved all the rides from the roller coasters to Peter Pan and the Carousel. Megan's favorite was the teacups. They have a great Halloween firework show, and tI love the way that they deck out the Haunted Mansion "Nightmare Before Christmas" style. It was great. We had a blast and were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home. Good day!

Happy Birthday Little Chub

Nathan turned one year old last Friday. I can't believe it's been a year already. We made a "dinosaur land cake" for him (Ben's idea), and he LOVED it. Here are some fun facts about our one year old little man:
*He is a good screamer (loves to scream at us when he wants something)
*He makes the cutest little squealing noises and also likes the sound it makes when he takes loud breaths in
*He is a good sleeper: 12 hours at night (7 to 7) and two naps during the day (about 3 hours total)
*He is crawling all over the place
*He loves to climb up the stairs and then look at us from the top and smile
*He can stand by himself for short periods of time and likes to walk along things
*He loves his baby cereal and almost all vegetables, most fruits, yogurt, sweet things, ice, oatmeal, crackers, soups, etc...but NOT cheese
*He will scrunch up his face and nose and breathe in and out with his nose (hilarious to watch)
*He loves the bath and splashing all over in it
*He does not love getting dressed...EVER (he cries almost every morning while we dress him)
*He has three bottom teeth and his two top front teeth trying to pop through
*He likes to bob his head up and down when there is good be-bop music on
*He goes by the nicknames, "Chub," "Chubby," "Chibby Chap," and "Nathy Pants"
*He is currently 23 lbs and 29 1/2 inches long

We love you Chub! Happy Birthday