What I really want for Christmas

So it is that time of year again. The time where everyone wants a Christmas list from you and all the great ideas you have had for the past 11 months that you thought about writing down but didn't have completely escaped your mind. So I have come up with a few things; a new sweater, a watch (I don't have a single one that still works), a few replacement sets of earrings for those I (read my kids) lost down the drain, all the usual suspects. But as I thought about it her is my REAL wish list:

Dear Santa,
For Christmas this year I would like........
1. An 8 foot fake tree. One that looks real but doesn't need water, or to be cleaned up after each day as the needles fall, or that makes my allergies crazy. And yes I would like little white lights superglued on, perfectly spaced so that all I have to do is roll it out each December.
( I know it is a little bah humbug but this is my list.)
2. One Saturday morning each month when I get to sleep in as late as I like.
3. My kids to like vegetables and want to eat with silverware.
4. Jake to be spontaneously potty trained.
5. Self cleaning toilets and showers
6. A house broken pug puppy (this is fantasy after all)
7. One week of fresh snow on the mountain, sunshine and a baby sitter.
Thank you for your consideration
Kate

Hay You!

The kiddie hay maze is one of our favorite traditions at Halloween. This face on Jake says it all. It is also the face that I seem to see the most these days. It says, "Here I come at about 100 mile per hour, brace yourself!"Along with the hay maze is hay for throwing / jumping. Nothing better than a hay fight. All in all it was a pretty great day out for the Sheffields.

Pumpkin Picking

We pick pumpkins in addition to apples, but only once a year.

Apple Picking: Part Two

We made to Walters Fruit Ranch as a family in time for some of the last apples of the season. Jake was again focused on the eating part of the adventure.











Gabby, of course, insisted on wearing her hot pink cowgirl hat (thanks Mimi). I think my mother does this to torture me!













Finally, we have the annual "box" photo. Each year we take pictures of the kids in the fruit box. Some years are more successful than others. Just for fun (or just for my fun) I posted years past below.

Past Year "Box" photos

Hats, Hoods and Goggles

Dress up is certainly a constant at our house. Gabby wanted to help out Dad in his hat selection. Mat always seems to have a hat for every occasion, but none that match this.

Not wanting Jake to be left out Gabby created a custom look for our little car lover.

Jake was a lion for Halloween (I am still looking for our Halloween pictures by the way.......). The costume was well used by October 31.

Who knew how many uses ski goggles have?

So You Think You Can Dance: The Tour

So Emily and I made it happen. For almost 24 hours we were without commitments, children or any adult supervision...in short we were 16 again! We both flew into Salt Lake and met at the airport. We rented a car and with nothing but the best intentions of getting an outfit for Emily to wear to her sisters wedding, hit the mall. Apparently it had been a while since I tried shopping without children in tow. One pair of fabulous purple shoes, a set a matching jean I would have never bought on my own, and a trendy green coat later we were off to the show. (Thank you fashion guru Emily)
We were both a little afraid that the tour would not live up to our VERY high expectations. We were soooo wrong. It was AMAZING!! Seriously I still do not have words. We cruised back to Emily's parents' place and crashed for a few hours of sleep before our early morning flights back to reality.
Thanks to Matt and Scott for taking the kids and making it all possible. Save the date for next year!!!

Apple picking: Round one

So we do lots of apple picking in the fall. Say it with me: Cheap Road Trip! It burns an entire morning. This year we hit the apples with the Pincock twins and Maddie Rawlins.
Jake was not about to be part of the group photo but he gets points for determination.
As crazy as this sounds this is the coolest thing... It is a giant sandbox of dried PEAS! The kids love it and they actually stay pretty clean. Who thought of this and how do I get one?

Pink Pink Pink!

Gabby lives in pink. Our big clothing break through was the recently she added dark pink (ie hot pink) to the approved clothing color list. The craziest part is that while these pictures are from September, she is still wearing her ballet leotard almost every day! We have snow!!!!

1st Days

Gabby had her first day of ballet last Friday! She has been so excited. She went shopping with Mimi (Grandma Mary Jane) for her leotard last week and has worn it almost every waking moment since. She would wear it to bed as well if we would let her. I think in her first half hour lesson they learned to point their toes and possibly to plie. Can you imagine a class of 3 and 4 year olds? Herding cats is all I have to say. Her teacher is a very brave woman!



Today was Gabby's first day of pre school. Gabby attended pre three school last year (love those fall birthdays!). This year she was off and running, literally, to the dress up pile to steal the best princess dress. Ah yes, experience counts. After 'helping' her remember to share she seemed to adjust quite quickly (as in 60 seconds) to the new class. While I lost the battle of the cute "first day of school outfit" I did win the "no costumes, pjs, or dirty and/or stained clothes" battle. We will call it a draw.

Newport Pictures

Our Trip to Newport

We are back from our trip to Newport Beach. Each year we get to spend one week visiting with Matt’s grandpa. He has a great little place right on the beach. The kids just loved staying on the beach. We found that while Gabby enjoyed learning to boogie board in the water Jake enjoyed the new hot sport of sand bodysurfing. We would dig a hole and then he would body surf down the sides. (If I can figure this out I will post the video.) We took our annual trip over to Balboa Island and enjoyed nightly excursions for frozen chocolate covered bananas.
We were able to catch up with lots of friends while we were in town. We saw Jim and Katie Watkins with their cure baby boy, Roy and Cora (my brother and his wife), Kevin and Karsen and their beautiful daughters, and Matt’s friends Bethany and Rob with their kids. We were also able to overlap with Matt’s sister Emily and her family. Gabby and Jake loved playing with their cousins.
If the pictures posted above are not enough (if you have time to kill or you are related) here is the link to Matt’s web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattsheffield/NewportBeach

Seriously, so blessed

OK, I had to add this to my list of blogs because it really is funny. Matt sent me an email with the link and two hours later I was still laughing. It is a spoof blog on married Mormon moms. You have to be able to laugh but it is the funniest thing that I have read in a long time.

So Enjoy!!!!!!!

http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

S.Y.T.Y.C.D.

For those who don't know SYTYCD is short (almost short) for So you think you can dance. I really don't watch reality TV but thanks to Emily E. I am completely addicted to this show. In fact for three years we have been trying to go to the SYTYCD tour and I think that this is the year! We will find out on Saturday if we can get tickets but I am pretty excited!!!
Just for Emily: my prediction of the winner....Twitch or Joshua!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Daddy is Chasing a Beaver

Background:
This summer we have been reworking our back yard. In summary it has involved a tractor, new sod, concrete removal (and burial in some cases like the old concrete septic tank buried in the back), trees and growing grass from seed in a few large spots. This story is really about the grass growing from seed. We splurged on sod for areas in our yard that did not have any grass before the 'Project'. In order to save a few bucks, however, we decided to let the grass grow back where it had previously been. When that didn't happen fast enough, we bought seed, fertilizer and enough water to fill a small lake. Matt has been heard saying that this will make a great story about faith and things 'unseen' IF the grass ever grows again.
Yesterday:
The grass has indeed started to grow back. But yesterday we had an intruder. Matt got home from work and was headed into our room to change. When he looked out the door to the yard in our room he saw the unthinkable: a gofer! A very large, fat, happy gofer. So shirt pulled out he went chasing after the gofer with a push broom. I suddenly had images of a night two years ago where Matt when crazy and chased and killed a mouse with a broom in the middle of the kitchen floor. Only this time the kids were watching and the animal was much bigger.
In the end Matt just chased it around the yard for a while and then it ran into our neighbor's yard. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. At this point I had just opened up raw chicken so I asked Matt to grab the door. It was the Comcast guy (who is LDS, single and about 19 by the way) coming to talk with us about our phones. So here is my husband in the early stages of undress opening the door and my 3 yr old blurts out, "Daddy has been chasing a BEAVER!!" Very Nice.