Marlee's Fieldtrip

Last Monday Marlee's kindergarten class had their first field trip. They went to the Ogden Nature Center, and I was lucky enough to tag along. A brief bit of history: When I was little, my dad taught 2nd grade. Every spring he would have a field trip to the Nature Center. I was excited to be able to go with Marlee to the same place I have such fond memories of going to with my Dad!!This was Marlee's first bus ride. She had a bit of anxiety over it. Poor thing. And she decided it wasn't cool for her Mom to sit by her. So, she sat in the front, and I had to sit in the back with another Mom who had been "dumped". Once we got to the Nature Center, one of Marlee's little friends told me she had cried the entire way there. She said she was scared to be on the bus.Here's half of her cute little class. It was a very cold day, and the wind was blowing. Luckily we got to go inside for awhile and wait for it to warm up, while we learned a little bit about Native Americans.This is Marlee at the food station. She was trying to crush a corn kernel with a rock. They cooked cornmeal patties over an outside fire. Most of the kids thought they tasted great, Marlee thought it was awful!!

There were 3 turkeys: Tom, Tommy, and Thomas. They kept following us around. This one, we'll call him Tom, walked right up to me. All the kids were amazed he got that close to me. Turkeys sure are ugly birds!!

The Nature Center has some beautiful trails to walk around on. You can see Marlee holding hands with cute little Jenna from our ward.

The highlight/favorite part of the field trip (besides the bus ride) was the Tipi (teepee). Marlee was totally fascinated by it!!

You can tell how intently she's listening to the rules about being able to go and sit inside the tipi. It was very serious/sacred stuff! She did not want to do anything wrong.

Oh, and the ride home was a success. She decided it would be okay if I sat with her. There were no tears, and she actually enjoyed it!! (cute little Brooklyn had fun sitting with us too!)

And one last picture of my favorite part of the field trip (that and all the things I learned I can make with rose berries, juniper bark, and a willow tree branch - ha ha)

Elijah

It's been awhile since I've done an update on Elijah. Here's a really quick one. He loves to :Suck on any knob he can find. Particularly the drawer handles in the kitchen, or in this picture the button knobs on the fridge.

He loves to :

Put bowls on his head. His sister showed him this, and when he saw the reaction he can get from his brothers (they laugh and laugh), he wore it around for quite some time.

He also loves to :Pull the ribbon out of my "craft box". This happens a couple of times a day.

And finally a somewhat close up, sorry it's blurry. He always moves right as I take the picture.

Good Day

Oh, today is a good day. You get 2 posts of pictures. Lucky huh?

It was our ward Halloween Carnival last night. The kids were so excited they could hardly stand it. We wished Nathan could have been there, but I suppose a mid-term is more important.Noah's spider costume is a work in progress. Hopefully it'll be good and ready for trick or treating on Friday.Van's a great ghost. He was lovin' his white hair.

Marlee is Snow-white again this year. She liked having her hair down instead of pulled up. And she totally loved the lipstick.Sorry there's not a pic of Elijah or me. We'll get some on Friday.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

I know, it's been quite awhile since my last post. And I know you are all dying to see more photos of us. (Kidding!!) But I really do want to finish my challenge of 30 days of photos. I guess now it's just 30 posts, not 30 consecutive days. I do have some excuses for my lack of effort this last week. Last week Elijah had an ear infection, and decided he would only sleep at night for 2-3 hours, and only if I held him. Then he decided he wanted to be held all day long. I didn't argue though, I love cuddling with him. It's just really hard to blog and hold him at the same time. Last week also consisted of my Uncle Richard passing away, a trip to the doctor, flu shots, a school field trip, a school Halloween Carnival, Nathan's mid-term plus all the daily stuff that occurs with 4 children, 2 of them being twins. Like I said excuses, excuses, excuses!! Blah Blah Blah . . . on with catching up. . .This is Sarah (my sister) and Seth's adorable dog Rooney. (aka Maca-rooney, and our personal favorite pepa-rooney) He's the funnest dog, and the kids love him to death!!

Day 17

It was beautiful outside, so we spent the afternoon at the "Castle Park".

Noah liked the tires. Even after he fell down them. (They are a vertical tunnel) Don't worry, he's okay.

Marlee's mastered the monkey bars, but we didn't get a photo of that. Dang it. And she was excited that she, "made some new girl-friends".

Van wanted to go to the zoo, but it looks to me like he was perfectly happy to be at the park.

Nothing says, "It's fall!!", like Mexican, I mean Canadian Geese flying over your head. (Long childhood story over the mix up of their name.)

Even the big kids had fun climbing and acting stupid!!
(Notice in this picture the lady behind and to the right of me, staring?!? She was jealous of my mad skills. Not really, she probably thought I was a total weirdo!!)

And Elijah had a great time inspecting all of the bark on the ground.

Day 16

Wow, I'm really getting behind in my challenge. That's just sort of how I am these days. But, I promise to do better this weekend.

My pic for today is another "old" one. The boys are almost 1 in this picture.Noah - green, Vance - blue
So many people ask me how I survived Noah and Van when they were babies. My reply is always the same : Keep them on the same schedule, and do everything twice. It was hard and it was fun. It still is. Unfortunately quite a lot of their first year is a blur. It makes me sad that I don't remember much. But, I do remember that I never got tired of looking at them next to each other, being able to hold 2 babies at once, or watching them sleep in the same crib together. It was always amazing to see 2 babies together. I never got used to it, I still am shocked at times that there's two of them. It truly is a blessing to have twins. It's such a special circumstance to watch and be a part of. I believe that Noah and Vance were best friends in heaven. How lucky to be able to come to earth with your best friend!!?? I know they'll have moments when they hate being a twin, but I hope that most of the time, they'll realize just how special they are.

Anniversary

Today is our 9th Anniversary (Wedding folks!). It was a lovely day, which started off with Marlee getting a black eye, and Van almost cutting the top of his thumb off. But those are stories for another day. Really though, it was nice (besides those few things.) My sister, Sarah, offered to watch the kids so that we could go out to dinner. Thanks Sarah and Seth (and Rooney!!!) It's always nice to have a calm dinner, without fighting and spills. We went to Chili's. Yum.

I can't believe that we've been married 9 years now. I really wanted to have a picture for every year we've been married, but I haven't scanned all our photos from the stone age, before we had a digital camera. lol So, here are a few from the last couple of years, of just us.

December 2005 - Temple Square

September 2006 - Bear Lake

July 2007 - The Roof

August 2008 - Jack Johnson concert

October 2008 - Bountiful Temple (Marlee took this pic)
You are my best friend, a kind and patient husband, and an amazing father!!
I LOVE YOU NATHAN

Day 15

Here's what the kids did this afternoon.
The weather man just said that we got 7 inches today.
Poor Vance thinks it's Christmas-time.Noah is making the funny face on the left. This is Elijah's first time touching snow, priceless!!

Day 14

Since it's SNOWING outside, I thought we'd visit Hawaii. We were there 4 years ago - today. *sigh* I wouldn't mind being there right now.

Day 13

So, what are you going to be for Halloween???

Day 12

This is Marlee around 6 months old.

Day 11

This is our most favorite picture of Nathan.
We think he's about 4-ish.
Anyone in the family have an idea?

Day 10 - FHE

For Family Home Evening (FHE) we went to Bountiful to see an art exhibit. Afterwards, we headed up the mountain and walked around the temple grounds. It was a really nice evening.Now if you have ever gone anywhere with Nathan or his Dad, you know that EVERYWHERE they go they meet someone they "know". At the temple grounds there was a nice young woman who offered to take our picture. Of course she had a New Zealand accent. Of course she was from there. Of course she knew of the Ormsby's in Hamilton, NZ. And believe it or not, she is here in Utah visiting her mother who just happens to live in our ward!! I can't believe it! Even after 9 years of this, it still amazes me just how small the world is if you are an Ormsby from New Zealand.

These are the kids looking up at "Le-oni". (Moroni)

This is the view of the valley from the northwest side of the temple. There is suppose to be a huge lake there (for those of you out of state), but as you can tell, the Great Salt Lake is now a few salt puddles. The mountain on the left is (suppose to be) an island. Very sad.

Vance, Elijah, Marlee, and Noah

Day 9 (late)

Halloween 2006

Day 8 (late)

Geez, I'm a bit behind. Sorry. I'll pick up the pace from here. This was Marlee being silly last night at Grandma's house.

Day 7

It's never easy to get a good family picture. This was at Thanksgiving 2006. I'm holding Van, Nath's got Noah. And of course funny little Marlee in the middle. She makes me laugh.