A little over 3 years ago....

My sweet little girl was born.

Happy birthday Gracie Girl!

I wish this picture didn't have red eyes, I'll take them out when I develop it, but couldn't figure it out with blogger.... She was so happy on her birthday!

Grace kept saying she wanted a Cars birthday cake, but I wanted her to have something girly... She was so funny when we went to pick her cake, she wanted most of them, but then changed her mind quickly. Finally we found a Care Bears one and she said that it's I want that one, but just as I went to order it she said she wanted Cars again. Then we found the Princess and the Frog cake, it was so cute and she said yes!

Grace got spoiled by everyone... She had two birthday parties, and of course I forgot my camera for the 2nd one. She got fancy new shoes, an Fur Real pet Elephant, some cute clothes, a V-tech computer, a little phone/piano, a leapster and a puppy vet set with a kennel.

We played Kiss the Frog at Grandma Ruths too. Seeing the kids in their blindfolds was so stinking funny, they looked adorable! Travis and Tylor were good sports too!

I think this video is so funny, Grace could not leave the blindfold on to save her life!

A little picture from the past - one of my favorites!

At three years old Grace amazes me at her communication skills! She talks so well, she keeps us laughing and smiling. She is highly opinionated and always wants things her way, right now. I love the few minutes each day that she wants to be held, because usually she is "go go go!"

Grace would rather be out of the house, shopping or playing at the park - but she does like her movies. Right now she loves Up!, Pete's Dragon, Car's, Finding Nemo and the really old claymation Curious George. She rarely naps - and has a hard time with the concept of quiet time.

Grace LOVES books. We could read together for hours. She is good at remember which page says what and fills in the blanks when we read her favorites. She loves "But No Elephants!", And of the Little Critter books, but especially "Going to the Dentist", "Jenny in the hospital" and the little Elmo series from Target.

Grace used to be able to count to 10, but she WILL NOT do it now. She counts to three, some times to four or five but then she stops. I try to count with her, but she ignores me. That's my stubborn little girl!

Grace also loves her puppies and kitty, her snake, her elephant and her teddy bears. Much to my sadness she is not a baby doll lover. How could MY child not love dolls? My mom thinks it's funny because I hated stuffed animals, but not Grace, she plays with them all day long.

She loves to "help" in the kitchen, dress in her princess dresses and walk in the snow.

This past year she has changed so much, her feet are starting to straighten out, she still wears braces every night and is doing better about keeping them on. The doctor really wants her to keep up with the braces instead of casting them, because even if we cast them she will just have to wear braces at night to keep them from turning in. Grace also "lost" her binka this year, or at least the nipple off the end of it. She went for several months without one and then got an ear infection and cried for her Binka again, I was strong, I didn't cave. Even though I found a whole plastic bag full of them in my drawer a couple weeks ago.

Love you baby girl!

My funny girl

Grace says the funniest things sometimes - well most of the time. She remembers everything, good or bad and she can be quite a pill - but she makes me smile!

Yesterday Max was stinky - she came in my bedroom and said "Mom, you've got a poopy bloke!" How she knows what a bloke is I have no idea.

The other day I tried to make the kids take naps after lunch so I could go do some scrapbooking. After two hours I moved Grace to my bed and told her if she got off my bed before Dumbo was over I was going to have to beat her. Max feel asleep quickly so I went downstairs. After about 10 minutes I heard her get off my bed, go down the hall and proceed downstairs. When she came in my scrapbooking room she said "Mom, I'm just coming to make sure you're okay. I'm just checkin on ya." How does a mom get mad at that? "I'm good Grace, go back upstairs and take a nap." "Mom, I've got to do my excersizen." To which she gets on my eliptical machine and starts huffing and puffing. (I don't know where she got that from!)

During Christmas Grace's aunt Caitlin asked what she wanted for Christmas - she replied "How about a kick in the head?"

Mike's mom watches the kids while I work, the other day she said, "Grandma, do you know why you're watching me?" Grandma says "Why?" and Grace said "Because my moms at work and my dads in therapy."

The other day Grace started singing Row Row Row your Boat "scarily down the stream". I just laughed, Mike went to correct her and said don't - it's better that way!

We've been planning Grace's birthday party and she told me she wants to write Santa a letter - I told him that would be nice. "So he can come to my party." Hmm - I wonder how sad she'll be when Santa doesn't come?

When Grace prays over dinner at night she always says "Thank you for Heavenly Father, thank you for prayer, thank you for foo (which sometimes sounds like poo)."

I need to do better about writing these down - I think I will remember and then I don't - but seriously the girl keeps me laughing!

Merry Christmas!

My kids are not know for their sleeping in abilities, so by 6:30 it was all we could do to keep Grace in the bedroom. We ended up waking Max up -
Grace was so excited about everything - she got Pez in her stocking and a refill pack and candy necklaces. I don't think she even wanted to open up any of her presents. Santa didn't finish all his cookies, so Max helped a little. Surprise.

Grace loved her puppy and her kitty. She also got a Sit-n-Spin, a Dance Cam, some games and some babies. Growing up I loved baby dolls and hated stuffed animals. I want so badly for Grace to love baby dolls, but she hasn't played with the dolls that Santa brought her once. On the other hand, she hasn't put down the kitty - Max got trucks and cars and a puppy too. He is all boy, he puts the cars in the dump truck and drives it around my house.

After we were finished opening Santa presents Mike told Grace he had a surprise for her. Santa talked with him last night and left a special present in the kitchen. Grace went in and found her frogs on the counter. Mike told her Santa said they were magic frogs and they only stayed with good girls who minded their mommies and daddies and didn't whine or throw tantrums. She has been mesmerized by the frogs - and tells everyone about them. Their names are Chip and Dale - and the place I bought them promised they only needed cleaned 3-4 times a year and their container would always look clean and not smell.

We went to Mikes parents for breakfast and presents and then my parents for lunch, a talk with my brother Patch who's on a mission in California and then more presents. Of course the kids got spoiled some more- we are so blessed to have family and friends so close. We are blessed to have jobs, and the gospel in our lives.

While you were sleeping

Christmas Eve we made Santa some cookies, they were so tasty - but no one liked them more than Max. He must have had 6 or 7 cookies that day. Every time I came in the kitchen he was reaching up for another one. I finally had to move everything and push them as far back as I could, and then I came in and he was pushing a chair over to the counter. Max's nickname is Sugar Cube, and it fits!
After the Christmas Eve party we set Santa out some cookies and milk, and the next thing I know Grace is in my bed eating cookies. She told me she was just going to try it for Santa.

One minute I walk in and she's eating a cookie and the next minute she was sound asleep. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with Max, after all the cookies, the candy canes and the Hershey kisses he ate at the party he was up with a tummy ache for several hours that night. But Santa came anyways.

And I guess the kids were good this year, because they sure got spoiled!

Christmas Eve

We went to Mike's family Christmas Eve party this year. Mike's aunt and uncle own North Davis Gymnastics and always have the family parties there. It's great for the kids because they are able to play on the gymnastic equipment and they always have so much fun. Max thought he was pretty neat stuff that he could hold onto the rings.

Miss sassy pants herself. (Side note, Grace wears these silver boots pretty much everyday. I only have one pair of skinny jeans for her- but she doesn't care, she can "match" them with everything.)

Santa always comes after dinner and the little kids love it. He remembers some of the kids from the years past and tells them a Christmas story, they sing some Christmas songs and then each kid gets a present. Grace and Max were leery at first - but while Santa was talking he said someone gave him a high five. Well Max perks right up and walks around the kids right over to Santa to give him a high five. It was really cute - Santa is so good with the kids.

This picture turned out a little blurry, but the fact that Max is on his lap is a huge accomplishment. It didn't last long - but then Santa gave him a candy cane - and made it all better. (Can I just say for the record that I hate candy canes, who ever thought that a big sticky stick was a good idea for kids?)

Grace wasn't too sure about Santa when he first came in. She sat on Grandma Ruth's lap and after a few minutes she said "He's sure a nice Santa." Then she hoped down and ran up and got her present -

My niece Daisy did not like Santa, the sad look on her face said it all. She wouldn't look at him - not even to get her present.

It's so much fun to see how excited the kids get on Christmas Eve, you can just see it in their eyes.

Temple Square

I want my kids to experience family traditions, especially at Christmas time, so each year we go to temple square to see the lights. We usually try to go the first part of December, but between Disneyland, and me working until 8pm 3 days a week it looked like it wasn't going to happen. Plus it's just be so dang cold. But on the 23rd we had an open night and bundled up the kids.

It really was cold - I had them each in a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and their biggest coats, plus stocking caps, scarves and gloves. I wanted them to not cry because they were cold and just be able to enjoy the lights.

I do own a double stroller, but I didn't have it at my house and I figured sticking them both in the single would keep them warm. Plus there are so many people, trying to get a double stroller through temple square just doesn't make so much sense.

The reflecting pools with the little bubble lights have always been my favorite.

It was lightly snowing, not even enough to get us wet, but it made everything look so beautiful. I leaned down and told Grace that the temple was Heavenly Fathers house and she looked at me and said, "I know that," and then gave me a look like "duh, mom." Thanks Grace.

Grace kept taking off her hat and telling me her head was hot, I thought well then I'm doing my job and told her to keep it on.

I'm glad we live close enough to make this a quick trip - and hope it's something my kids will enjoy doing each year. The lights are so beautiful and the Christmas story is always touching. At the end of the story the prophet always has a recorded message. Last year it was still President Hinckley, this year it had changed to President Monson. I looked at Mike and said it made me a little sad. Not because I feel anything negative towards our current prophet, but the last four years Mike and I have been we loved hearing President Hinkley's voice, it was comforting. Max was named after President Hinckley. I'm sure next year it will be normal to hear President Monson's voice, even comforting again.

Speth Family Christmas Party

Because I'm a slacker, or possibly because I usually blog at work when it's slow and November/December are busy I'm just a bit behind on my posts.... So, even though my sister and cousin posted this a week ago - here are some pictures from my mom's family Christmas party.

Each year we get together a few weeks before Christmas at an elementary school in Hyrum. It's always very casual, we eat, talk, sometimes play games, sometimes just eat and talk. It's great because we are baby making machines and have a ton of little kids... okay, maybe not machines but there are a bunch of munchkins. They get to run around the gym and play, scream and use every last drop of energy they have.

Here's my mom writing my brother and cousin a letter. They are both on missions and we are proud of them both.
Some of my cute family, Ryan, Mary, Jalane, Taya, Cassie, Dustin & Nicole.

The school has these skateboard things that can be used individually or hooked together to make a train (danger train). You can see by Max and Grace's faces that they loved this!

Adi trying to pull Max and Grace...

Grace and uncle Jordan

I posted this picture because it was so dang funny to watch - This is Grace and my cousins little boy Tyson. He's a few months older than Grace and they are both in the "Don't touch it, it's mine, I had it first" age. I honestly don't know who had it first, but when I came up on them they were both going at it over the green skateboard. Part of me wanted to jump in, but the other part of me was like this is so good for Grace, she is always the taker, and the winner of objects in dispute.. Well not this time!

Luckily there were no major accidents with the danger train this year. Adi and Ty had a pretty good run in, and Nayvie's hair got stuck in a wheel - but as fast as those things get going, and as many kids and multiple trains going at once - we'll count it as a win!

Missed all of you who couldn't come!