Raelin-ism, Post Script

So I forgot to put this little story in the last post, but I just have to share it because it's just about the funniest thing I've ever heard. A few weeks ago, we were sitting at the table and I looked at Raelin and said, "Raelin, you have the prettiest teeth!" She smiled even bigger than she had been and Brice smiled a goofy smile at her. She looked at him and said, "And you have really pretty GOLD teeth!"

Cute Pictures

We don't have very many exciting things to tell right now. Brice and I are both going to school and I LOVE it. I love school, I love that we get to have evenings together again, I love that Brice gets to spend time with the kids while I'm in class, and I love school (did I say that already?). It's all just great! These pictures of Raelin in this green jacket are first, to show off how cute and beautiful she is and second, for Uncle Jesse who gave her the coat for Christmas last year. It was a little big then, but it fits perfectly this year and Raelin and I both LOVE it.

Raelin has been such an extra great girl lately. She is just growing and learning in leaps and bounds. Brice and I were both pretty sick this weekend and Raelin took care of herself and didn't get into any trouble or complain about Mommie and Daddy needing rest. She's given us some great quote-ables lately. Here's one: The other day we watched 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians and afterwards she was drawing a bunch of dalmatians. I asked her if she was going to be an artist when she grew up and she said yes. I asked her what kind of artist she wanted to be--one that paints things for people's walls or designs clothes like the girl in the movie or designs houses or makes sculptures or what. She said she was going to sell puppies and give them to the poor. I said, "Cuz everyone needs puppies, huh." She said, "Yeah, but not everyone has puppies. That's a big job, huh. And it's really important."
This is Ryker at his favorite pastime of late. The two houses next door to us are being framed right now and Ryker loves to get wrapped in a blanket and go out on the porch to watch all the tractors and trucks do their work. It's been about 25 degrees for the last week, but that boy loves his tractors!

Cute kids with their pocket scarfs.

Christmas Vacation

For Christmas this year we went to California to be with Brice's family. We had a great time and visited with lots of family and friends.

On our way to California, we stopped in the gorge for lunch. Ryker had on some loud striped PJ's and we put Raelin's shoes on him because they were big enough to fit over the jammie feet. Then we put on his red coat. And this is what you get:
(I have a picture that is closer up, but the background on this one is too cool not to use.)

On Christmas morning Ryker and Raelin opened lots of presents and had a fun morning playing with new toys. Actually, Ryker just wanted to eat candy all day. And he proceeded to eat as much candy as he could get his grubby little hands on all week until at the end of the week he was throwing up. That still didn't stop him! He just wanted more and more sweets. Now that the holidays are over, we are trying to break his sugar addiction. Candy is definitely the way to his heart!

Raelin had asked for roller skates and ice skates for Christmas from Santa and Santa gave her some ice skates! I think that she had come to expect that Santa always gives kids what they ask for because she wasn't all that surprised. But she was excited about getting nail polish in her stocking! She's looking at her pretty painted nails in this picture.

In the afternoon, we had a huge feast! Brice's mom had spent a few days preparing a ton of hors d'oeuvres and we had lots of deserts that Brice's sister brought. Oh, and she made these oreo truffles that were the most delectable thing I have EVER eaten! So we had a family feast (minus Wes who had had his appendix removed :0( the day before.) and it was wonderful!
[Upon re-reading this sentence, I realized it needed some clarification. We did not eat family minus Wes for our feast, but rather ate our feast, without Wes to accompany us, because he was in the hospital]

A few days later we went down to visit Brice's sister and her family. The cousins all had a great time playing together and getting rowdy with Uncle Brice. I think this picture depicts the first mellow thing Brice has ever done with the kids. Usually the kids get so loud and rough that one of the adults goes over to tell them to quiet down only to find that Uncle Brice is riling them up and causing all the fuss. It was pretty cute to watch all the kids collect one by one to hear Brice read a story to them.

We visited with our friends Kari and Glen and made our annual visit to Jack and Sue Reynolds and had a lovely time visiting with both of those families. Kira had a particularly great time at Kari and Glen's house because they have a Golden Retriever for her to play with. She got to play with the Dennert's dogs during our visit to them (lots of games and laughter there), but I think she was a bit intimidated by the duo.

On Saturday my friend Karly got married. Brice and I went out to the Newport Temple for the wedding and afterwards spent a few hours in the temple doing temple work. It was so nice to have a calm and relaxing day at the temple instead of our usual rush to make it before they close at the end of a crazy day with kids and school and work. That day we could just take our sweet time because Brice's mom had volunteered to take the kids for the whole day! After the temple, we still had some time to kill before the reception, so we went to the beach. Ah, the beach...

Usually when we go to California I think, "Yeah, I've missed it here," but this time, as soon as we got there I thought, "I LOVE California! What am I doing in Utah?!?" I discovered that I missed things about California more that I thought I did. I missed the diversity, the palm trees, the beach, fancy houses up on the hills, the maze of freeways (weird thing to miss, but I get tired of the 15 being my only option), California drivers, the ghetto, all the different places to go and things to do, watching my kids play with all their cousins, and the weather! The weather was beautiful! Where else can you enjoy 63 degree weather in December?

So, anyway, we went to the beach and played around at some tide pools at sunset. We had a great day together where we weren't in a hurry and we didn't have to take 13 potty breaks per hour or settle any squabbles or load kids into and out of the car. It was such a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time.

After the tide pools we went to the reception and it was a great crowd. The wedding party really let loose and they were completely entertaining. The groom and his groomsmen lip-sync'ed to a Backstreet Boys' song and it was hilarious! The dinner was great and I got to see a lot of people from back in the day. Also, (this was a weird coincidence) the groom's sister is married to a guy that Brice knows from his mission! So it was fun to talk to all sorts of friends from our pasts.

The next day we went home and it sure was good to get here. We'd been gone for a little over a week and it was nice to sleep in our own beds. My parents had come by while we were gone to play Santa for the kids and ended up playing Santa for Brice and I as well. They cleaned our house for us! We had tried and tried to get to the house cleaning part before we left, but there was just way too much to get done and we didn't quite get everything done we wanted to. But thanks to my parents we came home to a spotless house and that was sure nice.

We went to my parent's house on New Year's Day to do Christmas celebrations with them, and that was lots of fun too. We ate good food, watched football and Planet Earth and opened presents. The kids got a cool table for their train set, Ryker got a big tractor that he just loves, and Raelin got a big box of craft stuff, her favorite. What a fun-filled holiday season! Thank you to everybody who participated in making our Christmas a merry one!

One last story I have to share because it is so...Somers.
We drive a little Saturn Ion. With Brice, Raelin, Ryker, and me there isn't a whole lot of room left, but we needed to fit luggage and dogs someplace (it's hard to pawn a nuisance puppy off on anyone and there's no way our house would survive if we left them here, so we decided it would be best to take the dogs with us). So we borrowed a roof pouch from my parents and put as much of the luggage up there as possible and the rest in the cab and we put the dogs in the trunk. It was actually Jax's idea. Before Ryker, we would put the seat-back down and he would ride on top of it and he liked to climb into the trunk to rest and cool off. So, why not put them there to go to California? So we did, andwhen we were in Barstow, we all got out in a parking lot to stretch our legs. Brice and William (we caravaned out there with the other Utah Somers') got the dogs out to walk a little and after a while we got ready to leave. A lady came and knocked on Brice's window and said, "We saw y'all put your dogs in the trunk and I just wanted to let you know that we called the cops." We laughed and said thanks and drove off. I called a CHP friend of ours to asked him about it because I was curious if there really was a law about it. He looked it up and discovered, much to his amazement, that there was nothing wrong with it. People put cats in the trunk all the time. For dogs, it's like being in their crate--almost. So on we went laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, when the lights go on behind us. The officer came to my window and said, "Do you have a dog in your trunk?" I said, "Yes." Brice said, "Two, in fact." (We were feeling rather confident after my call to Kevin.) The officer looked at me confused and said, "Yeaaah, that's not okay." I told him about my call to Kevin and he asked to see the dogs. He observed that Jax is a big dog, asked for Brice's driver's license, and said he was going to see what he could find out. After being in his patrol car FOOORRREEEVVER, he came back to my window and asked where we were going. We told him and he said, "Well, from the outside looking in, it looks really bad, but when you stop and think about it there's really nothing wrong with it. At least it's not your kids in the trunk, right?" So we chatted for a minute longer and he sent us on our way. Who but a Somers gets pulled over for having a dog in the trunk!?!

Family Resemblance

I know, I know. I'm a slacker. I keep getting scolded for not posting frequently enough (I'm flattered that so many of you check up on it so often! Thanks!), so my new year's resolution is to do better at keeping up on my blog.

One day, I took a picture of Ryker and I. I looked at it and thought, "Wow! He looks just like me. His eyes, chin, cheeks, smile, everything! I never knew!"

So then I told Raelin to go sit with Daddy and I took their picture, which didn't turn out as nice as the one of me and Ryker but it answered my question! They have the same eyes, chin, cheeks, smile, everything too! They even have the same dimple but on opposite sides.

Here are some other cute pictures just because I like them.
Ryker with his beloved pack-pack.And Raelin and Ryker catching snow in their mouths. The picture is kind of far away but that's because I was safely inside away from the cold. And I don't always send my kids out in sub-freezing temperatures so severely under-dressed. They were just out for a minute to see the first snow of the year.
I'll get Christmas pictures on my computer today and try to get them on the blog by tomorrow!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at the Lawler's this year and had LOTS of great pies, as is our custom, great food, and lots of fun! For those of you that aren't in our Thanksgiving tradition, I'll share it with you. I think everyone should adopt it. It started a long time ago when my mom would be slaving away getting everything ready for an enormous dinner and my dad would come in and sneak pieces of pie. She got tired of shooing him out and then having to argue with us ("but Dad has pie...Why can't I have some?" in the most whiny tone imaginable). Finally she gave up and just said, "Here! Have all the pie you want!" So she just started making extra pies and letting us have a free for all! Now we have Thanksgiving pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then we have some turkey along with our meal of pie. It's GREAT! We all love it.

This year, Ryker tried to hang on for dinner, but just couldn't make it. For any of you that know Ryker and his sleeping habits, this is SO not typical:

Zonk!

And Granddad plopped this down on Raelin's plate, just to see what would happen. Unfortunately, I had no warning and didn't get a chance to take a photo of the initial look of delight and excitement. But here's Raelin gobbling (pardon the pun) up an enormous turkey leg.

And... Um... I have no explanation. Gina and I discovered that the napkin rings would fit just tightly enough in our eye sockets that we could wear glasses without ear pieces or nose pieces. Don't ask... We're retarded.

Raelin's Birthday

Raelin's birthday was a blast! What a fun-filled, busy day. She wanted to go to the park, so Raelin, Ryker, Mimi (Brice's mom, who came for Raelin and Liam's birthdays), and I walked to the park and played and played! They had a great time!

Raelin likes the swings best.

When we got home, Raelin wanted to do a project, so we got out some playdoh. This is Raelin's penguin that she made. It has wings and a beak and everything! I was REALLY impressed!In the evening, we had a BIG dinner with lots of family and extended family twice removed (it's too confusing--you'd need a diagram). At least this year we had room to accommodate everyone! Last year we had most of the same people (a few additions this year) and boy, was it crowded! Brice's mom made the best fried chicken any of us had ever had! The kids played some fun games. Brice made a beanbag toss that also served as a jungle gym:

Winter and Ryker were great at it (though Ryker mostly just got lucky). Just to give you an idea of how confusing our extended family is, Winter is this cute little boy in the orange shirt, and he is Brice's brother's wife's sister's husband's grandson (ridiculous, isn't it!) and just to confuse things further, his aunt is the pretty princess in the blue sweater, Renee.

The kids also played the fishing game that we always had at our birthday parties when I was a kid. We would throw the "fishing pole" over the backyard fence and when we felt a tug, we would reel in gummy fish or gummy worms. We don't have a backyard fence yet and we also don't have the temperate weather of California, so we did it over the pony wall around the stairs.

Little cheaters spied on the fish in the stream...
And found Granddad!Present time was great! Raelin got so many great presents! She loves to do crafts, so she got LOTS of "project" stuff, some fun games, and lots of other toys!

Then came the grand finale! Drum roll please! Raelin got a SNAKE!!!! That's what she wanted for her birthday more than anything. She was so happy and excited and it still hasn't worn off.Why would a four year old girl want a snake, you ask? Well, I'll tell you the story: A few weeks before her birthday, we decided to scrap the fish tank we'd had since she was a baby. It had contracted something that was killing off all the sucker fish and I just really didn't want to change the water on a weekly basis--it's a BIG job. So I thought it would be fun to get something else to put in there for the kids for Christmas. So Raelin and I got on the internet and started looking at reptiles. I asked Raelin what reptiles she liked the best. She said snakes, so we started looking at different kinds of snakes.
Somehow she just decided that she was getting a snake for her birthday. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that was probably better then getting one for both kids for Christmas--Ryker's not old enough for that, and he's proved it several times over since we've had the snake. Anyway, we learned a LOT about them. Ask Raelin something about snakes sometime and see if she knows the answer. She knows what they eat, recognizes different species of them, knows that they are cold blooded and what that means, and knows how to clean the tank. We've also talked about venomous snakes and a few ways to tell noce snakes from not nice snakes (red next to yellow will kill a fellow and red next to black is a friend of Jack, and the wider cheeks). When we were snake shopping (I wanted Raelin to pick out the kind of snake she wanted and to tell me what color variations she liked the best. She was very definite on all the things she wanted. She wanted a corn snake, a girl one, and she liked the ones with the brighter red and orange colors best), Raelin kept talking about wrapping her snake in a blanket. We couldn't figure out why she thought that, but we were a little worried that she thought it would be like a cuddly doll or puppy. Then I realized that she wanted to give it a blanket because it was cold blooded! I explained that, for people, we make lots of our own heat and the blanket traps it, but for a snake who doesn't radiate much heat, a blanket doesn't really help (I've since read something that indicated that they do make their own heat, but they have no way of retaining it, so maybe a blanket would be useful to a snake...). We did put a little doll blanket in the cage anyway just for her and the snake loved to use it as a hiding place! Raelin was right; it does like blankets! Oh, the other thing about this snake adventure: we went through all of Toys R Us, putting things she liked into the cart for her to choose from at the end, and after that we asked her what she wanted most for her birthday. She leaped in the air and shouted, "A SNAKE!!!" I was so proud! What a girl!
So, she got her corn snake, a girl one, and she is beautiful! And, by the way, the snake is just a baby. It's about 14 inches, but it will grow to be anywhere from 3-5 feet! Raelin decided to name her Aurora. I asked her why she liked the name Aurora (I wanted to see if it was because of her auntie Aurora or if she remembered it from Sleeping Beauty or from somewhere else). She said, "Because it's a beautiful name, and because it's Auntie Raroo's name." So there you go, Aurora! You have a beautiful name and, now, a snake named after you. Aren't you proud!?

Something I think is fantastic about this little girl is how much she knows her mind. It wasn't just limited to wanting a snake. I'd been asking her for a while what kind of birthday she wanted. I like to make fun cakes for the kids and kind of theme the birthday around that--that's what my mom did and it was so fun. I'd asked Raelin often to see what answer she gave most consistently. At some point she decided to have a Santa birthday. Once she got that idea in her head, she never deviated. So we got out the Christmas decorations early and got lots of dollar store Santa stuff. And I made the hardest cake yet!And here is poor Brice. This is how he spent the evening. He was really feverish and congested and not feeling well at all. What a way to spend his daughter's birthday. So pitiful...

Raelin's Haircut

Do you like Raelin's haircut? Bangs and layers...they look pretty cute, don't you think? Well, there's just one problem: SHE DID IT HERSELF!!!! Yup, she's on her way to becoming a hairstylist. Her bangs were a little long and in her eyes, so I shortened them up just a little bit. But the rest was all her. Don't any of you dare tell her how cute her haircut is either! I'll never hear the end of it-- "But Mommy, I know how to do it! I can do a good job and I want it cut! I promise I won't mess up. I did it good last time!" Yeah, let's just not go there.
So I wrote this post a few days ago, but the pictures wouldn't load, so I just saved it. Guess what happened in the meantime. Yup, she took the scissors to her hair again. Yesterday, she was supposed to be taking a nap, but she snuck downstairs and CARRIED a chair from the kitchen to the living room (I would have heard her if she'd dragged it) and got scissors and candy off the top shelf of the bookshelves. She cut open the candy package and dumped all the candy into the recliner crevices and then she cut her hair and her clothes. Once again, it doesn't look too bad! Her hair, that is--the clothes are camping clothes now. Her bangs are a little short and the layers she added are only on her right side, but they are still cute layers! How does she manage that?!? I think we found her calling in life. She tells me what she wants me to do with her hair a lot--stuff that I wouldn't have thought of. After I do it how she tells me, I'm always stunned at what a cute idea it is! I don't have pictures of her newest haircut yet, but I'll get them up as soon as I can. I still have Raelin's birthday and Thanksgiving to catch up on--I got behind this month.