2009 Christmas Letter

Dear Friends & Family,

We feel so very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Thank you for all the great memories and for the ways you inspire us. We love you all so very much!

2009 has been a great year. We feel very blessed in so many ways. The move we made last October to South Weber was a great one. We are so happy living in a small town, yet close enough to larger cities. I love driving down the road and getting stuck behind a tractor. It forces me to stop and 'smell the roses' or hay.

Mr. Boy (21 months) continues to enrich our lives with his strong personality and innocence. He is definitely a daddy's boy but occasionally flatters me with a hug & kiss. We are amazed with his food preferences- he often chooses fruits, vegetables, & beans over sweets & meat (he evens eats guacamole & edamame). He likes drawing, playing with cars, and looooong baths. He still prefers whining over actual words.

ZoZo (4 months) radiates such a sweetness. She is so lovable and happy that it's difficult for us to stop gawking at her. Her eyes are constantly following her busy brother. Her dainty little fingers are fun to watch as they explore new objects. We are thrilled that she joined our family.

Being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has blessed us in so many ways. We enjoy learning about the Savior and His teachings. We've had opportunities in our congregation/ward to get to know our neighbors. HeRoos is a Sunday school teacher to the 11 year old boys. This has been quite the challenge for him since he has never taught before. He comes home exhausted on Sundays (or at least that's his excuse to watch football) but he really enjoys getting to know the boys. I work with the Young Women (ages 12-18) in our ward and I have grown to love them. They are such strong young people and they inspire me to be better. Sometimes I feel like there is not an age gap between us and then I look in the mirror and am reminded otherwise.

There are a gazillion things we are grateful for- good health, employment, family, faith, peace, friends, a home, relationships, and the list goes on and on. There are so many good people in this world and we feel fortunate that we know some of them, including YOU! Have a Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Roos'
HeRoos, SheRoos, MB (Mr. Boy) & ZoZo

Stocking Stuffers

ZoZo barely fit in the stocking. The formula supplementation must be working.

Mr. Boy is trying to decide if he wants to be on Santa's Naughty or Nice list. He put the ornament back. Whew.

It may be short but there are some benefits of waiting so long to get a tree, it was only $10 and it smells wonderful!

This is closest smile we can get on camera. He waits until after the camera 'clicks' to smile.

Can you tell how much Mr. Boy loves getting his picture taken with his sister (notice the knee pinching)? ZoZo is very tolerant.

ZoZo's 4 Month

Our little ZoZo is definitely little. When I took her in for her 4 month check up, she only weighed a little over 10 pounds which dropped her to the 5-10% (from the 50%) for weight. Her pediatrician, who we really like & respect, suggested that I supplement with formula in addition to breast feeding so we can fatten her up. (I wish my doctor would tell me to have a milkshake after every meal).

We took her to the doctor today for a weight check (a week later) and she gained a pound-yea! She is sleeping better through the night and is even taking longer naps during the day. What a relief! I absolutely love this little gal and am so glad she is part of our family.

ABC's of Gratitude

I got this idea from a friend's blog.

I'm grateful for:

Almonds, I like snacking on them.
Books.
Cheeks to kiss on (ZoZo's & Mr. Boy's)
Diamonds. Let me be a little shallow please.
Exercise. Yes I know, I need to be better at it.
Friends, I've been blessed with the greatest friends ever!
Good health.
Hot hubby who I adore.
Inspiring conversations.
Jesus Christ, My Lord & Savior.
Kisses.
Letters that are from the heart.
Memories that make me smile.
Nature. I feel alive when I'm outdoors.
Old people, like my parents (I'm just checking to see if they read this) :)
Prayer.
Quiet, peaceful moments.
Rhymes, I'm learning nursery rhymes again thanks to my little kiddos.
Surprises (good ones of course).
Thoughtful people.
Utah, it really is a great place to live.
Vacations. I need one (preferably tropical)!
Water- for it's many uses (swim in, shower in, drink, etc.)
X the place next to where I signed for our home.
Yoga pants. Is there anything more comfortable?
Zzzzz's, I love sleep, what can I say?!

Popeye the Sailor Man

We have a new favorite drink around here. When I make one for myself, Mr. Boy tries to drink it all.

The 3 magic ingredients: Ice, Orange Juice, & Spinach.



Blend.



Cheers!



A spinach mustache (and glass ring on the forehead).



Here's hoping we can fight off all the germs this season!

Abominable Snowman... kind of

It's that time again... SNOW and lots of it! I love how beautiful it looks and it gets me even more excited for Christmas.

For my Texas friends, doesn't this get you in the mood for a ski vacation? We're within minutes of a ski resort. Get on a plane and come see us!


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Gobble Gobble

There are a million bazillion things to be grateful for! Especially family & friends. We had dinner at the Roos'. The turkey was deep fried...it was so tasty! We played games and the kids made a ding dong Turkey.






Grandma Trudy babysat our little Turkeys and we went to the game with my brother and HeRoos's dad. We had more delicious food (prime rib & seafood mmmm) before the game & enjoyed great seats.



A great way to end Turkey day- a Jazz Victory!

PB & J

Some strange boy likes turning his Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches inside out to eat. Gross!

Letting the Creative Juices Flow

When I'm not too exhausted, I love getting creative.

I saw a mobile similar to this at a store for mucho deniro so I tried to make one for ZoZo with butterflies. I loved how it turned out so I made one for my friend with circles.




Do you recognize the material on top? Yep, that same pink curtain. There's still more left. I wonder what else I can come up with.

I work with the girls in my church (Mia Maid, Young Women) and we learned how to make these fun aprons.




My mom may fall over in disbelief but I think it's time for me to start looking into buying a sewing machine. I love all the fun fabric out there and now I have a little girl that I want to try dressing in cute, homemade things before she is too old to tell me, "No, it's ugly."

Even Mr. Boy likes being creative. When he isn't playing cars, he likes drawing.




What fun projects have you been doing lately?

Grandpa Charlie

We made a trip to Idaho Falls to see Rick's grandpa. He hasn't been feeling very well lately so we wanted to check up on him and say hi.

He still diligently reads the paper. When he is done reading, he takes a ruler and creases the edges so it will be nice and neat to put in a pile to take to DI.



Charlie & Sharon discuss what is going on as they read.



Grandma Sharon made some warm stew for us & made us feel right at home. Mr. Boy and I had fun in the snow while HeRoos shoveled the driveway. There aren't any pictures of ZoZo but she was there-she was keeping warm inside while we played outdoors.








As we were leaving, Mr. Boy grabbed a bag of Grandma Sharon's cars that he had been playing with and tried taking them home with us. It was pretty funny. Too bad I didn't have the camera ready.

We love you Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Sharon!

On our way home, we stopped in Malad, Idaho to visit my cousin and her family. Her little girl is adorable. She is so close to walking on her own & pushed MB around on her car.

Hooray for Southern Utah!

Last month, we had a great weekend in Southern Utah. ZoZo and MB slept for the majority of the 5 hour drive. They were good traveling pals to take along. :)

We checked into the hotel and headed to Southern Utah University for some alumni events. HeRoos was great and played with the kids in the student center while I went in and out of various events. It was so nice to catch up with my college friends.

We met up with my Uncle Jeff and his family (well, some of them) at the parade. When I went to SUU, I spent a lot of time with them and I got to know each of my cousins really well. The kids took turns going to different events with me (basketball games, multi-cultural events, etc.) . They fed me dinner and they even let me live with them for a quarter while I was waiting for my mission call.

I can't believe how much they have grown! I remember being Gavin's first babysitter (on the left) and vacuuming my apartment over and over to keep him happy. Keaton (on the right) was a baby when I lived at their house.

I was able to catch up with some of my great friends from SUU. I LOVED college. That is the only stage of my life I might consider repeating if I had to. I made friends that I still keep in touch with and they influenced my life for the better.

Before the SUU parade, there was a Livestock Parade. It was awesome seeing all of the sheep being herded through Cedar City.

On the way out of town, I had to stop at KB's for old time sake. My girlfriends and I used to go there for the generous scoops of ice cream (and to check out the guys scooping it).

In St. George, I met up with two of my friends. I love these ladies! I met Torrey in (on the left) when I lived in Salt Lake and I met Cara (on the right) when I went to SUU. They happen to be in the same ward and somehow figured out that they both know me. They have amazing adoption stories and it was great talking with them.

We headed to Santa Clara to spend some time with my aunt and uncle. They fed us delicious food and spoiled us rotten. Mr. Boy really liked Uncle Craiger and Zoey kept smiling at Aunt Beaner.

I look forward to going to Southern Utah University's homecoming again next year!

HeRoos Loves Twilight

NOT!



He agreed to see New Moon with his sisters and their spouses opening weekend. I made him promise not to make comments during the movie & ruin it for the rest of us. So, he bottled it all up and gave us an ear full after the movie. *And all the way home. And I'm sure there is more to come before we go to bed.

*I know it's not correct to use "and" at the beginning of a sentence but I wanted to. And, I'll do it again if I want. :)