Holiday Visitors

The Arnold clan packed up and came to visit right after Christmas, we did a lot of eating, shopping and hanging out. In true Taft and Libby form, we made at least 5 trips to Nordstrom Rack in the 6 days that they were here.
One of the best trips we've had to Leo Carillo beach. We researched the tide this time and timed it perfectly. Tons of great tide pools full of sea stars, several different kinds of crabs and urchins galore. Logan and Owen have so much fun tormenting each other tossing insults back and forth.
Taft and Lesha with our newest little nephew. Lesha and Lincoln flew down on Christmas night before everyone else got here. He is such a good baby and we were so glad to get to meet him. It may be noted that he scored some new digs at ever trip to the Rack. He'll never wear all the clothes he has.
Super Aunt Libby. I think she's primarily responsible for Tessa becoming princess-like. Nobody can sing on Rock Band like Libby-Lou.
Jon and Abby took the long way down. They went to San Francisco first, then made their way down on Abby's birthday. All-in-all, we had a great time together and cramming so many of us into our tight quarters was so worth it. I don't think we'd have it any other way.

Rock Out

It appears that there was plenty of Rock Band being played everywhere this holiday season. I've seen many blog posts with hilarious pictures like the ones here. This was our rockin' New Year's Eve. Take that Dick Clark. Owen and Cal both had a blast, along with the rest of us.
Logan takes his music very seriously. Usually it's guitar (he talked my mom into buying him a sweet Gibson while he was down here) but he found equal intensity in the Rock Band drums. Lesha's face says it all.
New Years morning. Grandma Leslie with all her grandkids. (She is in heaven!) Just after we took this picture, with some suggestion from Grandma Peterson, we decided to pack Cal up and let him go back to Utah with everyone. The next week he made his first solo flight home and handled it like a pro. He is seriously grown up.

Better Late than Never?

Although it was over a month ago, Christmas did occur at our house and deserves a bit of documentation. Our Christmas Eve tradition of new PJ's didn't go as planned. Both Grandmas got pajamas for the kids, but I wasn't sure which box Grandma Peterson's were in and my mom was bringing her gifts with her the day after Christmas. I didn't feel like buying each of them a new set just for tradition's sake, so Owen is wearing Cal's Christmas jammies from a few years ago, Tessa is wearing Owen's from last year and Cal is just in his usual pajamas. And we all survived! We had a great Christmas day that began with breakfast at Western Bagel (Jewish owned - so open on Christmas) and Kirt took the boys to see Desperaux while Tessa took a nap and I got Christmas morning cleaned up. Christmas dinner with our little family was the perfect end to a great day.
This was the day after Christmas. I asked the kids to clean up the leaves out back. I think the one-leaf-at-a-time into a bag approach may have taken all day, but I thought it was funny to let them try for a few minutes.

Owen Started Preschool

Owen started school today. He was sooo excited and has been talking about going for months. We finally felt comfortable with his potty skills, so off he went. I was shocked to not be nervous this morning like when Cal went to school. I guess I was just feeding off of Owen's excitement. But as I dropped him off, it was hard to leave. It's so weird to not know exactly what's going on in his day. Is he following instructions? Is he being nice? Are the other kids being nice to him? My mother-in-law always says that she looked forward to not having to worry about her kids when they grew up, but instead they just got married, had kids and gave you more people to worry about. I guess this anxiety of parenthood never ends. But it sure is worth it.
This is Owie and a friend of ours from church. She was so happy to see Owen and helped him find his way around. Just a few more hours and I'll be able to let you all know how his first day was. But for now, I'm off to the mall with just one kid. Not sure I'll know what to do with myself, but I'll manage.

No White Christmas Here

We had a very Merry Christmas, fun family visitors, a serious Rock Band New Years Eve and an unexpected trip for Cal. But those posts will come in time. Today is the day for this:
This is not a picture from the summer or a post about how I wish summer would hurry up and get here. This is a shot of our afternoon yesterday. It has been well over 80 degrees these past few days and we took full advantage yesterday. We dug out the swim suits and the sunblock and soaked it up. Today while Cal was in school, the little ones and I took a drive (windows rolled down, of course) to see Owen's new school. He starts preschool tomorrow and can hardly wait. I can't wait to see how he does. As we left the school I asked what they wanted for lunch. Owen said, "Sweet and sour chicken." The request cracked me up, just seemed like a mature request coming from him.
As long as I'm here, I guess it wouldn't hurt do post this picture as well.
This was following the Utes impressive victory over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Kirt has spent countless hours since the game reading all about how his Utes should be ranked #1 in the country. For more trash talk and commentary, go here.

(Thanks for the nudge Lola!)