"We Love to See The Temple..."

To finish off the Christmas pictures from this year-as part of our visit in UT we were able to go and visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City. This is the first time the kids have been there and both Tavin and Katie were in awww of the beauty of the lights. My sister Karey pointed out as we were walking that it was special to be there almost 5 years after Dan and I got married at the Salt Lake Temple-with our children.

One of my favorite parts of our visit was seeing the Statue of Christ in the visitors center...Tavin knew exactly who it was and stood and just took it all in for a few minutes. I know that Jesus Christ knows and loves my children and they know him.

One other thing that touched my heart while we were walking through the visitors center was a picture of Mary outside the tomb when Jesus was first resurrected....I can only imagine the feelings she must have had at seeing her son-just days before hanging on a cross in agony- now resurrected and well. As a mother, I feel for her and the life she led. She was an amazing person.

My "TRUE JOY" Moment and 2011 Goal

Playing Bingo at Christmas Time With Our Cousins and Aunts

Seeing what fun things Santa Brought Us!

Loving the new Tonka Remote Control Car From Grandma and Grandpa Bauman

Making Cookies and Eating the Dough in the Process

Working Together:)

So I am a little late on a couple of these posts-including a little comment about my birthday-which was in November:) I usually would just skip the post this late in the game but this year, my birthday was so great.....why was it better than birthdays past? There wasn't anything huge or surprising about it-I think what made it so great was the simpleness of it actually. We went to eat at one of our favorite places to eat: Leatherby's (if you live here and haven't been there-you are missing out!) They serve the BEST ice cream ever-and my absolute favorite to get when we go is the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sunday-vanilla ice cream drenched in peanut butter and chocolate sauce-YUMMMMM!

It was just Dan, Katie, Tavin and I sitting around one of the circular tables-all enjoying the deliciousness of the ice cream-Tavin and Katie had faces smeared with ice cream-and we were all smiling as we ate. I just got this sensation-my heart was sooo full-because I felt like at 28 years old (yes I am that old now) I have everything that is truely good and important-I am completely content in where I am in life and what I have-I have been given such great children-who bring me so much joy in every day. And although I haven't done anything earth moving or significant in the world's eyes-I am proud of what I have become, who I am and what I have. At that very moment-in that restaurant surrounded by the 3 most important people in the world-I was truly and fully happy and that was the greatest present of all.

So with all the sentimental stuff said-one of my goals in 2011-to do more with my family-Often times we get set in a rut-thinking that work, and cleaning house, laundry, and appointments are the important things-but they aren't. Family and those we love are the important things-and if we don't take the time to soak it all in-one day it will all be gone and you will wonder what happened to time and people that passed you by. I find that I am most happy when we are sledding or making cookies, playing pretend super heroes or blowing bubbles in the house (since it is sooo cold out!) Dan has started to say to me-what fun thing are we going to do today (he seems to say this right when I start to get bogged down with everything:) And that is my favorite part of the day!

NOTE: By the way I fully support and believe in the idea of goal making and encourage all those who read this to sit down and make some of their own. You are either moving one of two ways in life-forward-working towards becoming better-or backward-becoming less that you once were-there is no being stagnant or still in life. And who wants to be less instead of more??

Do You Do The Potty Dance? Tavin Does:)

Katie waiting patiently while we are working at potty training. Just a side note-aren't those leggings absolutely adorable! This is why having girls is so fun-don't get me wrong-I love my little boy-but girls have so much more versatility when it comes to clothes and cuteness:)

Potty watch

Underwear Styles

Thomas Seat

Monday of this week we started the dreaded Potty Training. We geared up before hand with a potty watch( a pretty cool little training tool that goes of every 30, 60, or 90 minutes and sings a song-letting tavin know that he needs to try again-it automatically resets itself after it is done singing-so no hastle to it either! He loves to wear it-even when it is turned off for the night time...makes him feel like a top dog I guess:), Lots of variety in underwear styles-we have the Thomas the Train underwear, Elmo underwear, Diego underwear, and Zoo animals underwear-don't worry no one feels left out because Tavin likes to switch styles at least 5 times a day, and then we got the Thomas potty seat so that we won't have any falling in if we lose our grip...

The first day we had a couple pee pee accidents in his underwear-until finally he got one in the toilet and then it was smooth sailing from there! I it almost seems like he just needed to see that it was easy and not scary. Then, Tuesday-we had to deal with the whole doing number 2....lets just say that it didn't go very well the first time. He "messed" on Elmo-and then we had to have a talk about the fact that poop goes the same place as pee-IN THE TOILET not in the underwear and that his underwear friends (Thomas, Diego, and Elmo) did not want to be pooped or peed on...I know sounds kind of silly but it worked!! He didn't like the feeling of pooping in his underwear and came running as soon as he did it begging me to change him:)

Wednesday-no accidents yet to speak of and it is 5:11 pm! We even went to story time at the Library without anything happening-I had an extra pair of undies and clothes in the bag and we didn't even have to use them.

The next step-a sticker chart to continue to encourage him on the potty training process. As soon as he fills up all the spaces on the chart-we will give him a prize-maybe a trip to play place or a dollar theater movie....he suggested a rocket ship-we will have to see about that one-that is a pretty tall order:)

How is Katie doing in all the potty training madness?:She doesn't really seem to notice much accept she has taken an interest in some of the potty training "tools". She attempted to put the potty seat on her head-don't worry I told her ICKY ICKY and she repeated and dropped the seat on the floor:) And she tries to open and shut the toilet lid-but every once and a while gets her fingers stuck.

Christmas: Christ and Santa Clause

Katie was more interested in playing in the fake Christmas trees than talking to Santa:)Tavin was very interested in how the reindeer were doing and if Santa could come to our house

Tavin waiting in line to see Santa-VERY excited to meet him!

Tavin playing with our Christmas train once we got everything all set up

He loved that the train made noise/ said "all aboard" as it went around. Next year we will have to get him the "Polar Express" movie to add to our Christmas collection-I am sure he will absolutely love it-since it has a train in it:)

This year Tavin was a lot more aware about what was going on and I really really wanted to help him understand what Christmas was truly about. This involved doing a lot of explaining/talking about Christ and Santa Clause and the rolls they each played. It was hard to find a way to do this without taking away all the "magic of Christmas" so I just tried to make sure that Tavin was involved in the present wrapping and the gift giving, the scripture reading about Jesus and his birth.....but I never really new if he got it.

I shouldn't have ever doubted that my little boy understood during all our discussions...when we were coloring a picture of a Christmas tree and presents Tavin had me draw all sorts of different shaped ornaments on the tree (we are working on learning his shapes) and then he said: "Mommy-what about Jesus, he isn't in the picture." So he directed me as to what to do- Jesus was to go under the tree in his "bed" (a manger). My baby Jesus wasn't very pretty but my heart was glad with the knowledge that Tavin understood that among all the presents and excitement of Santa-there is also a place for Baby Jesus and the importance of his birth. What an appropriate place for him to be-under the tree- as the best gift there could be to all of us!

Burrrrr It's COLD OUTSIDE!

The last couple of days have been truly cold-I don't think that it should be aloud to get this cold outside! Right now it is 5 degrees out and snowing. I walk out the door and my body just screams "what the heck are you doing-get back inside"....so to say the least-we don't spend much time out doors right now.

These pictures are of us taking a little sled ride around the neighborhood when delivering our neighbor goodies for Christmas. It wasn't as cold out then:) Dan got a good work out pulling the three of us around. I tried to take a turn pulling him and the kids but they booed me-I couldn't make it go as fast as he could.

And then there are some pictures of Tavin and Dan making an interesting but friendly looking snowman in our front yard. Tavin wanted to make one after watching "Frosty the Snowman" on TV. For a week after watching that show-he would go around saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to everyone-cause that is what Frosty says when he first comes alive (I had to explain it to everyone he decided to say it to:)