It's a Wonderful Life: 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Best Buddies

Aubrey and Addy are best buddies.

They love to hug each other and give each other kisses.
Addy will call for Aubrey when she goes to bed and wave "night-night" to her.
She's pretty tough too - Aubrey loves to wrestle with her.

In the mornings, after breakfast, they just love to sit and watch Sesame Street and Curious George in their pajamas and blankets.

Cuddling up in their "gin-gins" (blankies).

Rylan just happened to snap this picture of Addy. It's not the best pic1ture, but I thought it was so funny and indicative of Addy's character! She is so funny!

Here they are again on the couch watching Tinkerbell.
When Addy smiles big, her nose scrunches up and it's so cute.

Mesmerized by movies.
It's either Mulan or Tinkerbell, or more recently, The Polar Express.

Aubrey and Addy holding hands on a walk in the park.

We tried to feed the ducks, but Addy ate the bread!

Here is their other buddy - cousin Justice. Justice loves to play with Aubrey and Addy.
Addy had just eaten some ice cream and is looking for more, while Justice poses and smiles.

Aubrey and Justice have so much fun together. They love to play in the mud, watch movies, eat snacks, play with blocks, and tell each other stories. Justice even taught Aubrey how to pee in the grass (thanks, Justice!) :)

It is so nice to have some many of her cousins near by. Not only is it nice to see them often, but they really all do have fun and get along fairly well with one another.

Aubrey's First haircut

Aubrey was in desperate need for a haircut. Molly dug out the cutting shears and gave Aubrey her first haircut.

Actually, I think she did a great job!!!
Aubrey loved her new hair cut and she looks like such a cute little girl!

Temple Square Arizona Reunion

Molly got a surprise phone call and found out that her Mission President and his wife were going to be in town and wanted to gather with some of their missionaries that lived here in AZ. It is always a pleasure to meet with mission companions and senior couples.

Here are the Senior couples and a few of the Sisters that served on Temple Square with President and Sister Crouch.

Molly and her long-lost companion Hannah. Thanks for showing up!!! It was so good to catch up with you!!!

Molly talking with President and Sister Crouch. Always a pleasure to catch up!

Since When Was Halloween After Thanksgiving!?!?!

Okay, so Rylan totally messed up on organizing our blog chronologically. Actually, we're trying to get our blog a little more up to date. Molly has been swamped with vinyl orders, Rylan has been swamped with taking 8 credits for medical school pre-requisites, working full time and cutting Molly's wood products, and of course, the girls need some love and attention. Needless to say, the blog got behind.

So this is Halloween...

We had a pretty quiet night. We wanted to be in our neighborhood to be supportive, but everyone left. I think we had one kid come by...yes, that is correct...
ONE,
UNO,
1 KID.

It was still nice. Addy walked up and down the sidewalk all night and Aubrey was with her cousins and relatives at Andrea's family haunted house. She had a blast. Aubrey is still quite into Mulan and Tinkerbell. You might have thought that Mulan was a fairy.

Princess Aubrey aka "Princess Mulan"

"I'm Aubrey Chan...hai ya!!!"

This is Aubrey and Addy: "Mulan and best her friend - her horse!"

I think Addy was too hot in the horse costume, so it didn't stay on for very long.
Aubrey loved putting on the eye make up and wanted to dress up as Mulan for days afterwards.

"Mulan" and her "horse" at Grammy and Papa's house.

Molly's Craftiness

Molly has become super crafty. After an entire year, we almost have our little home business paid off! Yeah!!! Here is a peek at some of her projects that she has been working on this season. They were a great success.

This board is a stocking board and has been quite popular. I guess there probably aren't a whole lot of mantles here in the desert. It was fun to do, but we were finding that there weren't enough spaces on our original boards for the entire family, so this is one of our bigger family boards.

Molly also came up with this great design for family pictures - they are a little different than your typical family picture frame.

This is Aubrey's Dream board. This was a lot of fun putting together and Aubrey loves it. There is some tin underneath so the flowers are actually magnets!

Here is another picture frame with customization text available.

This is a customized frame that Molly had designed - the cool thing is that we routed the back in a way that the frame can be turned 90 degrees and hung in any direction!

If anyone is interested in some of her products, customization, or in learning more about what Molly does and would like to see more of her projects, feel free to contact her at molly@signsbydesignllc.com
We hope to have our website up and running by the beginning of the year!

Thanksgiving

Here is Iron Chef Rylan making his famous Chinese "Fire bird" Turkey. It was super SUPER yummy!!! He also made some sticky rice stuffing that was SOOOO tasty - especially after being cooked with the Fire Bird. Everyone had an absolute feast at Molly's parent's place. I was so excited and didn't eat all day so I could enjoy the dinner, but was completely stuffed after one plate. The good thing is we had lots of left overs. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Calling Buzz Lightyear!!!

The funniest thing happened while we were at Disneyland. Naps were in short supply and the weather was quite warm. Aubrey would not drink any water and was getting quite dehydrated, not too mention being quite cranky from lack of sleep (she fell out of bed a couple of times in the hotel).

All of a sudden, Buzz Lightyear walks by! We get up suddenly and jump in line to talk to Buzz. Aubrey goes up to Buzz and shakes his hand. We get some fun pictures. Buzz gives the "thumbs up" sign and Aubrey tries to coordinate her little hands to do the same, but ends up giving the "number 1 sign" with both hands instead of the thumbs! Buzz looks down and changes his thumbs up to number 1's instead! She thanks Buzz, then runs off.

Molly then proceeds to tell Aubrey that, "Buzz Lightyear said to tell Aubrey to drink her water!" Aubrey starts to chug water...

Rylan gets back in line with Addison to meet Buzz as well. As Addy is greeting Buzz, Aubrey runs up with her water bottle saying, "Buzz! Buzz! I drink the water all gone!!!"

Priceless.

But it gets better...

Next day Aubrey is throwing a mild tantrum and won't get seated in her car seat. Molly proceeds to "call" Buzz Lightyear so he can speak with Aubrey. Rylan is a few cars away and answers his cell phone. This is a synopsis of the conversation:

Molly: "Buzz? Can you talk to Aubrey? She's being disobedient and not listening to her Mom and Dad and won't get in her car seat."

Rylan (aka Buzz): "Hello. Is this Aubrey - the little girl I met yesterday?"

Aubrey: "Hi Buzz."

Buzz: "Are you listening to your Mom and Dad?"

Aubrey: "No."

Buzz: "I would really be happy if you listened and obeyed your Mommy and Daddy. If not, my friend Woody and I will have to take you to infinity and beyond!"

Aubrey: "Oh."

Buzz: "Do you want to go to infinity and beyond?"

Aubrey: "Oh no, Buzz. I will listen and obey."

Buzz: "That would make me so happy."

Aubrey: "Okay. Bye Buzz."

Aubrey immediately jumps in her car seat and buckles up. She proceeds to tell Molly how Buzz Lightyear told her to listen and obey or she would be taken to "infineeyon" (infinity and beyond)! :) Molly and I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

It's been about 3 weeks since Disneyland and anytime Aubrey is disobeying or being sassy, we just have to pick up the phone and "talk" to Buzz Lightyear and Aubrey becomes a perfect Angel!!!

She won't listen to Mommy or Daddy, but Buzz can take her anytime to "infinity and beyond" so I guess that holds a lot more clout than simply going to timeout.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

2008 Beijing Olympic Thoughts

Today at Church, Bishop Becker reminded us to write down important moments in our lives that we will be able to share with our posterity in the future. Since we have kind of gotten away from writing in our journal, hopefully, keeping this blog will help in some way - at least we can share our feelings and thoughts with our friends.

I've really been looking forward to these Olympic games and can't believe that after so many years - that it's actually here. Growing up, my dream was to one day participate in the Olympics and I always thought Beijing would kind of be cool - a homecoming of sorts.

Watching the opening ceremonies and the incredible display of artistry and shear pageantry was truly impressive and awe-inspiring. I must admit that although 1) I'm Canadian 2) I have lived in the US for quite a few years, and 3) the closest I've gotten to China was serving a mission in Taiwan; I surely felt a sense of National pride - not Canadian, not American, but Chinese national pride. It is a feeling truly difficult to explain. This was the land of my ancestry and they were putting on a glorious show for the entire world to behold - and I felt proud to be associated with it - even if it was only by ancestry or heritage. I truly feel that Chinese descendants everywhere surely felt some of the same stirrings of pride in their Chinese heritage as I did.

I typically don't cheer for the Chinese, but this time I did. I'm also rooting hard for the Canadians and my friends who are on the US Olympic team. I also feel a certain sense of loss with American's with the loss of an Olympic parent (the individual who was killed was the father-in-law of Hugh McCutcheon - the current US men's volleyball head coach, and the assistant coach with BYU men's volleyball team while I was the student trainer with the team back in 1999). Some may call it loyalty. Maybe I'm just being a fan of sport. Regardless, these Olympics have already touched me and will hold a special memory and place in my heart.

Maybe in another sense, it's just another chance for my ancestors to call out to me reminding me that there is lots of work to be done for them - so many thousands and millions - even a billion - who lack the knowledge of God and his gospel. I do feel a kinship to the people of China - and to the country as a whole. Part of me longs to "return" to a land that I have never been. Like a Taiwanese Olympian said, going back to China and being "(received and welcomed there) was like coming home."

I hope you all enjoy the spectacle of the games and brush up on your Chinese because they will need all the missionaries they can get - there's a large field that will soon be ripe and needs harvesting...

My very late Tag challenge post

Liz I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to respond to your tag challenge. I am a slacker what can I say! However, it was really fun just to stop and take pictures of the this day. So, here are my pics...

p.s. I have no idea why all my words are being underlined, it is very annoying so sorry!

This was so cute, because I had just grabbed the camera and Rylan walked in holding Addy. She had just woken up from her nap and I am so glad I got her sleepy face on camera. She is so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it.

Here is Aubrey looking presentable. Usually she is running around in her underwear. She loves to finger paint or color in her princess coloring book.

Although, this just a picture of my kitchen sink. It will forever remind me of how Aubrey gets that little pink teapot and fills it up with water. So, she can have her tea parties. I think it's up there because I had confiscated it for a while, she spills water all over the house.

I wasn't sure if we were suppose to take a picture of the outside of the refrigerator or the inside. My outside is pretty boring, so here is a look at the inside.

Our laundry room...pretty boring! Although, can I just say that everything in that room we bought off of Craigslist. We love craigslist.

These are absolutely my favorite shoes. I hate my feet so I wouldn't model them, but they are so comfy. I have converted so many people to these flip flops because they mold to your feet. I LOVE THEM. If you want to know... so you too can have the best flip flops in the world they are Roxy flip flops.

Now, I was suppose to have taken a picture of my most favorite room in the house. And although I wouldn't say this is my most favorite room to hang out in. It's my most favorite decorated room in the house...because it's pretty much the only decorated room in the house so far. (o:

Here is a picture of my closet....not so exciting.

Well, that concludes my little tag challenge. Thanks again Liz for the tag challenge. I am now going to tag...Wingman, Emily, Bethany, and Coree. Just take pictures of your kids (no fixing them up), your kitchen sink, refrigerator, your laundry room, favorite shoes, favorite room, and your closet. No worries, just have fun.

Did someone say it's your BIRTHDAY?

It has been quite a busy month with 3 birthday's in 11 days! Rylan and Aubrey had their birthday's on the 27th of July, while Addy followed shortly on the 8th of August. We sure had a fun time. Molly wanted to have a quaint family party for Aubrey and Addy on their respective birthdays and then an extended family party in between. I think next year, we'll just stick to one birthday party each - too stressful. :) However, Aubrey loved it - thinking that every day for the past week and a half was her birthday - again, and again, and again! She was so excited and the day after her birthday she was so sad that it was over. She asked, "can I have my birthday back?" It was so sweet. She sure had a great time swimming and opening presents and spending time with her cousins.

Addy's birthday came on 8-8-08 which is the luckiest Chinese number! It was also the night of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. Since we don't have TV, we went to Molly's parents for a Chinese dinner, Addy's birthday bash, and the opening ceremonies. Addy had a wonderful time eating her cake and opening presents - again. She's so sweet and cute, and it's so hard to believe that she's already been with our family for an entire year. We are so blessed to have such wonderful, sweet, girls.

Below are LOTS of pictures of the events of the past couple of weeks.

Addy loves watermelon. She obviously just can't get enough!

Here is Addy getting ready to blow out her first candle.

Addy was so funny when she got her birthday cake. The first thing she did was stick her mouth on the cake...and sucked on the icing...for 5 minutes. It was so funny, because she wasn't chewing and her face appeared to be "stuck" to the cake. If we pulled the cake away, she would scream. It was pretty funny.