What is LOVE?

Love is holding hands with you when we go on a date.

Love is watching you snuggle our newborn babies.

Love is giggling about things our girls do/say.

Love is laughing about our inside jokes.

Love is your big warm bear hugs.

Love is when you bring me a peanut butter Twix, just because.

Love is hearing you sing to our girls (a little off key) before bed each night..

Love is listening to all your "useless information".

Love is when you take the girls out on a date so I can have some "me" time.

Love is the excitement I feel when you walk through the door.

Love is staying up WAY too late just to spend time together.

Love is......YOU!

A Wink and a Smile

We've discovered that all three girls have a special talent...winking! Uncle Ben eat your heart out!! It is so funny to watch them wink their left eye and then switch to their right eye.

The first words that come to mind when I see them wink is the Harry Connick Jr. song titled "A Wink and a Smile" (from Sleepless in Seattle) They wink, we smile! :) Ask your kids to do it...it is SO funny!

Recent conversations

Life hasn't been too exciting since the holidays so I thought I'd post some random conversations that have happened recently. The first conversation involved Regan and her Barbies: The picture below is Regan's favorite Barbie doll. Her name is "Aunt Heather". My sister Heather should be complimented because she really IS beautiful! :) So, Regan was playing Barbies with her favorite doll and I was eavesdropping on her playtime (is that bad?) Her dolls were talking about "Aunt Heather's" new yellow car. She said, "You can do whatever you want in a yellow car...the police don't even run you over!" (FYI-Chad better trade in his truck for a yellow car because they "run him over" WAY too much!!)

The next conversation involves Carli and her new haircut. I cut her hair and the following day she got the stomach flu. She was in the bathroom (not pleasant) and she started crying. I rushed in to see if I could help and she was looking in the mirror. I asked her if she was alright and her response was,"My hair looks terrible!" What a girl...that should be the LEAST of her worries! :)

BEFORE:

AFTER: Last, but not least, is a conversation with Mollie. If you haven't figured it out, Mollie is a real character! We are always laughing at what she comes up with. This conversation was no different: She was laying with Layla (our 9 1/2 yr old lab), looking into her eyes and really talking to her. I said, "Mollie, what are you doing?" She said, "Mom, Layla can talk." "Really!?" was my response. "What does she say?" She looked at me very seriously and said, "She says: eerrrrr and ahrrr" (FYI-Layla does not bark, never has) "What does that mean?" I asked. "I don't know." Thanks for that insight Mollie... :

It's Party Time!

We had such a great holiday season! There were parties and get togethers everywhere we turned...Chad and I both gained 5 lbs. and we are grateful the season is over! :) We had the Dares (Sam/Jill/Aubrey,Wes/Amanda,Gma/pa) come visit our place for Christmas and then we went to AZ to visit the Whitings/Brownlows. While there, we had a ton of parties: Chad threw a surprise party for my 30th birthday (crazy, the police even showed up!), New Years Eve with Gpa Whitings usual fireworks (the police SHOULD have shown up!), and a party/dinner for our 10 year anniversary! We had such a fun time (even with the added weight) We are now looking forward to Chad's birthday next week. You know what THAT means...another party! I'm kinda out of ideas though...anyone got any good ones? Wii? Go Karts? Burn the Christmas tree? Make-out? Just kidding (although I KNOW he'll be up for that one!)

"Polar Bear Club"

The Whiting family has a lot of pretty fun traditions and this year we added a new one: the 1st annual Whiting Family Polar Bear Club! Since we are in AZ, there's no snow, and EVERYBODY has a swimming pool, it is the ideal location for this type of event. Before we all jumped in the temperature was 52 degrees. It was SO COLD!! Even Carli and Regan did it! We are having T-shirts made for those of us who participated...I'll do anything for a shirt! :)

White Christmas

We finally got snow! The girls were jumping around the room because they were so excited. Of course we had church at 9am, but AFTER church they had a great time play outside in the cold stuff. Being from AZ, I think it looks really pretty and it's fun for a little while, but if I have to drive in it I don't like it anymore :) I will admit that having the snow makes it feel more like Christmas!! We enjoyed watching them play...so funny!

Tis the season to be...

BUSY!! Maybe I'm the only one... is anyone else so busy they don't have time to breathe? I haven't posted in a while because I just haven't had time, so hang on because I'm going to do a "quick" update on our month (so far).

Our season started with a trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving with the Munch family (Chad's sister). Chad's niece asked him to baptize her and, of course, he said yes! We had a great trip and had a great Thanksgiving. On our way home, the roads were closed through the Rockies and we were able to stay with the Torbet family (Chad's other sister). The girls had so much fun with their cousins!

Upon returning, and after months of trying to pick a color, I FINALLY painted!! I'm sure my friends were sick of hearing me talk about it...and now that it's done, I love it! I wasn't sure at first, but I really think it makes this place so much more comfortable.

When the painting was finished, it was the dreaded day...my 30th birthday. I say this without excitement because it really was an awful day. First of all, I don't want to be 30!! Dumb, I know, but I really wasn't happy about it. AND Chad was gone all day officiating a HS wrestling tournament and I was stuck with 3 whiney girls. In his defense, we decided together this was a tournament that he should attend so it's not his fault, but it really was a bad birthday. Thanks to all those who called and sent me "goodies". Chad brought me home some presents and said we will celebrate better when things finally calm down. I hope so...getting old really stinks!

Before it was too late, we had to put up a Christmas tree! We usually cut our own, but again we were just so busy! We took the girls to the boy scout tree farm for FHE and enjoyed bringing it home and decorating! Our trees never look very good, but the girls LOVE having a real tree (Chad too!) Maybe one year we'll pick a "pretty" one!

It was also my week to teach Regan's Joy School friends. Now I'm not complaining about this, because it IS really fun...We were practicing our nativity production for our Christmas party and they are so cute!! We also had performances for Sunshine Generation in various locations. The girls did AWSUM!! They were just great! Carli did the hula hoop for the Chipmunks song and sang her solo beautifully, while Regan did all her actions and said her line with clarity...maybe she'll come out of her shyness someday ?!? The girls were also in the Fruita Parade of Lights. We had so much fun riding on the float (Mollie got to ride too!) and seeing all the floats!

Amid all of this, there was a trip to California, church parties, birthday parties, volunteering, speaking in church...the list is endless! Even with all this craziness, we are having fun! We are now getting ready for Santa and looking forward to being with friends and family for the holidays! Just Remember to SMILE: It SHOULD be the season to be "JOLLY"!