Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!! We thought we'd share our Holiday Season with you by sharing a few pictures. Above are Rebecca and Sarah ready for the Sunday Christmas Program (the Children sang a special number at church). Thanks, Heather, for the matching "princess Christmas dresses."

Ganon took the three oldest to the Ward Christmas Party. Here they are "with Santa." Papa may remember a similar visit with Santa at BYU that resulted in tears. This picture was as close as they could get and still have three smiles.
Here the girls are enjoying their new magna-doodles. T.J. is enjoying his letter and shape barn. David is not in this shot because he is busy "spending" his iTunes App. Certificate. He got to pick out $10 in "Engineering" games for the iPod. Thanks, Grammie and Grandpa!
Ganon got a new Aloha Shirt for Christmas. It isn't a reyn spooner, but he likes it anyhow. The sleeves are even the same length. My gifts are not pictured here, but Ganon gave me some new tools as well as a healthy supply of paper plates and bowls. Now I can use disposable dishes if I don't want to do dishes (or I've been too busy using my tools to wash dishes...). Thanks, Ganon! They're perfect!

As a fun closer, here is a movie of T.J. the day after he learned to crawl. It also has him scooting at the beginning. He still uses the two skills together to get where the party is.

We're grateful for the wonderful year that we've had. Ganon continues to work hard at BYUB, at BYU's MBA Program, and at serving in the Bishopric. I try to maintain sanity as I take care of the house and little people. David loves First Grade and is loving learning new things. Rebecca is attending BYU Preschool and continually comes home with a new song that she learned. Sarah enjoys helping me with the laundry and taking care of T.J. Thomas James joined our family on April 8th and continues to make us smile. He wakes up happy every day and has figured out how to move around the house. Next goal: walking!

We look forward to all of the exciting things coming in the next year and are excited to share as much with all of you as possible. We hope you are all well and wish you all the best for this coming year.

Trafalga- Lehi

Sometimes working for BYU has its perks. They sponsored a BYU family day at Trafalga. We all got in for free. There was never more than a five minute line. dIt was pretty sweet. They had a little train (the favorite event I think) that went around in circles. The kids also liked the game of mini-golf, the inside play land, and watching me climb the rock wall. David enjoyed the race car track (he beat the other 3 girls), but Rebecca was done after one lap. David and Rebecca watched Sarah, Ganon and me go on the Airplanes. Sarah and I also went on the Carousel. I think Sarah had the most fun of all the kids. She wasn't afraid of anything. It was also nice to go somewhere for free and be able to test out their boundaries. David is probably still not ready for much at DL, but Sarah might be.
The Dakota Divide boat ride was a little intense for David, but the girls went a second time.
David LOVED the bumper boats. Sarah tolerated them. I love my son so I agreed to go with him. Rebecca and Ganon watched while keeping Tommy dry for the spray of stray "bullets."
Sarah and Rebecca took turns "bouncing" on this ride behind us. Sarah was still smiling at the end, but Rebecca wasn't as sure about it.

Bridal Veil Falls

We have taken the kids twice to Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon. The first time David wanted to cross the "river" to get right up close to the falls, but I was there by myself so I said no. For the past few weeks whenever I ask if the kids want to go for a walk David requests the Falls so he can cross to the other side. We decided to go again with Ganon on Saturday. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water. i tried not to be crazy-over-protective. Aside from not wanting to leave (when do they ever?), the trip went pretty well.

Pioneer Day

The Sons of the Utah Pioneers have a little pioneer village around the corner from our house. On Pioneer Day they have extra activities and crafts run by the local missionaries. We decided to walk over. Ganon got to walk on stilts, Rebecca made a Harmonica, and David and Sarah rode the ponies. It was a fun little activity that was worth about 30 minutes of time and no hassle with parking.

Rebecca with her harmonica by the petting zoo.

David had a lot more fun than I expected.

Sarah wasn't so sure about it once the ponies started moving.

Birthday Time!

To celebrate Rebecca's Birthday we went camping with the Connelly (and Freeman) Cousins. We made homemade ice cream as part of the festivities and she got to spend all kinds of time playing with her cousins. David and Tommy also did well and had no problems sleeping at night.

Sarah, on the other hand, was quite miserable. I think this was the only smile I saw from her all weekend. I'm glad our first experience with camping with four children went as well as it did. I might be willing to camp again sometime (just make sure Sarah is feeling well first).

To celebrate David's birthday we went to the water park. If Ganon didn't have to work or I had a friend with no kids I think we would go to the water park all the time. The kids all love it, including Tommy. They also sleep pretty well after wearing themselves out at the pool.

The Floor

When we moved into our house I told Ganon that the carpet would have to change. Two years later, we finally did it. At least in the living room. This is the finished product.

Here is the yucky carpet we started with.

Ganon took a few days off of work and so we could get it done faster.

After removing the carpet we had to remove all of the tack strips, staples, and screws that were scattered around the room. Then I sanded the edges all around the room. Then we rented a drum sander to do the rest of the room.

We chose a medium beige stain to lighten the room and make it feel bigger. This is after the first coat. We applied a second coat and then the sealer. Then we went camping for the weekend to give it time to dry. Overall, it was a great learning experience.

The biggest challenge was figuring out what to do with our HEAVY Piano. We ended up buying a piano dolly (not as expensive as you'd think) and asking five friends to help us lift and wheel the piano into the hallway. It stayed that way for nearly a week, hanging over the floor about 18 inches. I got to be the one to sand, stain, and seal under it. having to go all the way through and around the house to go potty or get a drink got old pretty fast, though.

The best thing about fixing the floor when we did was having Ganon's niece Stephanie here to help with the children. We could not have done it without her. She helped us with our perpetual picnic in the front yard (since we couldn't eat inside), helped the kids get dressed, and babysat while we went to meetings. I think the two weeks of chaos were definitely a success.

Freedom Festival

Over the past few years I have grown to enjoy Provo's 4th of July Traditions. They have a Hot Air Balloon Launch that we can see from our front yard, and they have a Parade that we can comfortably walk to. They also have great Fire Works. It is nice to live in a location where other people have to drive and then park in front of our house and then walk, but we can just sit outside or walk a little ways.

The kids pointing out their favorite balloons. Smokey the Bear is always a favorite.

The giant balloons are the most memorable at the Parade.

The kids love when they spin around really fast. This Blue Jet reminded me of an air show we watched in Oklahoma while waiting to go to the airport.

Tommy after the parade. We wore him out.

The Big Event

June 27th was Tommy's Special Day. We had lots of family come to offer support and celebrate with us. While my nieces and nephews were here we went to a baseball game (David's t-ball game), the Water Park, a Parade, and took pictures with some Celebrities. It was a busy weekend, but I loved it. Thanks to all who were able to come!

Rebecca with Princess Presto. Her cute cousins Whitney and Lauren are the other 2 blonde girls right by the Princess.

Sarah with Princess Presto. David was too sad that it wasn't Super Why to be in the picture.

For those without Small children, Super Why! is a TV show on PBS that teaches reading and problem solving through familiar children's stories.

The Blog is Back

So...um... I've been kinda busy and couldn't find my camera cable so it has been forever since I last updated. I thought about giving a two sentence update on a few things we've done, but I felt like that was cheating. So my new plan is to post a couple updates over the next few days. We'll see how it goes.

First, The Grandkids. These are just a few random pics to keep the grandparents happy.

April Excitement

April continues to be a busy month. During General Conference and Easter Weekend we went up to West Valley. We had an Easter Egg Hunt and celebrated Sarah's 2nd Birthday. (Sorry, we don't have any pictures because our camera was in the car and I was too large-with-child to go get it.) Sarah got an almost-life-size Dora doll and a fun book. She was pretty excited. We decided to celebrate early since I was planning on being in the hospital on Sarah's actual birthday.

David, Rebecca, and Sarah continue to adjust to life with a little brother. They are glad that Mommy continues to feel better too.

While Ganon was home to help with Tommy, he taught David to ride his bike without training wheels. David has been so excited and continues to practice whenever I let him.

Tommy continues to eat and sleep, but not as predictably now. I think he's going through a growth spurt. He is still pretty easy-going, but has found the volume control on his voice box. He can cry pretty loud now, but he doesn't cry for long. We love having him here. He definitely adds to the excitement of life.

Thomas James Connelly

Yesterday we welcomed little Tommy to our family. We had a voluntary induction and were in the hospital for just over eight hours before Tommy arrived. Labor and delivery went smoothly. The doctor and nurses have done a great job taking care of us.
Tommy was born at 2:20 pm with a full head of hair. He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz and measured 20 inches long. He wins the award for biggest baby and easiest/quickest delivery.
Tommy's brother and sisters have been very excited for the baby to come. They have been well cared for by their Grammie and Grandpa while we've been at the hospital. We look forward to going home tomorrow and resuming the adventure we call "normal life."

Old-Fence, De-Fenced, Pre-Fence, New-Fence

On our list of "Home-Improvement" Projects has been to install a new fence. Ours had become increasingly more wobbly, so much that the kids could move it back and forth in a worrisome way. We decided to have a vinyl fence installed before the baby comes and before the garden gets underway. After a lot of negotiating and working with our neighbors and the fencing companies, we made it work.

Ganon and some very kind neighbors tore out the old fence while I was at a meeting (Ganon didn't want to put me into labor). They had fun using a jack-hammer, grinder, and chain-saw along with some new fun tools that I bought. I was limited to the hammer and shovel. The hardest part was the walnut tree that we had to chop down and remove. Luckily no one was hurt (much).

The fence posts were installed and left to set for several days. They provided some semblance of a fence so the patrons next door were less likely to see our yard as a park. (I only actually had to shoo kids out once). The installers finally came this morning to set the last two posts and installed the pickets. I think it looks great. We have increased privacy and increased safety. It looks very clean and has little or no maintenance. Once the weather clears we will have a party in the backyard.