We're finally home!

Hello everyone! We made it home. It has been an eventful week! The airplane ride went without a hitch! I am so grateful for my friend Steff from VA. The night before I left, she left on my doorstep a little bag of things for the kids. Not normal things. I had told her I wanted to go buy pipe cleaners for the kids to play with on the plane. I know, a wierd thing, but I saw some kids playing with them in Sacrament Meeting and thought it was worth a try. She had some on hand, and brought them over (to save me a trip to Michael's with 4 kids) along with a few other surprises. She sent some left over felt, and cardstock and glue sticks and those wiggly eyes. Those few items kept Jake and Kristin entertained for at least 30 minutes on the plane. That was HUGE!

We got home to a house full of all of our stuff...why we think we need all of it, who knows? After living in VA with the bare minimum, when I am unpacking, I am realizing just what we need, and what we don't, and throwing a ton of stuff away! Our new appliances were here, and needed to be installed. Kenny had painted most of our house for us (THANK YOU! WE LOVE IT!) and most importantly, the kitchen cabinets. All day Friday and Saturday, we had constant visitors. Everyone was being so nice and helpful but it was something we definately were not used to...we are now! We love our family! So much needed help this week! A big surprise was when Scotty and his family stopped by (good friend from High School). There was wet paint in the house, and needless to say, they didn't get past the entryway, but once things are sane again, we'll have to invite them over. We really appreciate our family - they've helped us tons.

It has been almost a week since we got here, and I have already made 2 trips to Urgent Care for Haley. Poor girl is only 3 weeks old, and has a horrible cold. She has reflux too, which makes her cold worse. In 4 days, she lost 3 ounces. On Tuesday night, she weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. Only 5 oz. more than when she was born. I am especially worried for her lungs...due to prior experience with all the other kids. As of now, I think she's over the worst. She's on Zantac which has made a world of difference and hopefully, she'll be fattening up soon.

We love our house. It feels so good to be home. It would feel even better if it was clean and everything was put away and out of boxes...but all in time. I can't even believe Christmas is in a few days. Troy is in Vegas now, at the bowl game - Congrats BYU for KICKING THE CRAP OUT OF OREGON! So, that leaves Saturday for us to Christmas shop...woopie! I can't wait...shopping on the last Saturday before Christmas...could there be anything worse?

A fun thing...my brothers are in town - Jason and David (in tow with girlfriend Jabani - David's girlfriend...not a shared one!). Michael and Maria will get here tomorrow. It's been fun seeing my brothers, and I can't wait to spend Christmas with my whole family. It has been years since we all spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning together. After an hour with my wild kids, my brothers are definately worn out...oh well, they only see them once a year - roughly. They should enjoy every second! Troy turns 29 tomorrow too! We are going to dinner and to temple square to see the lights. It should be a fun day!

Well, I think that describes my week. Of course, I don't know where the camera cord is, so pics will come later! Now, back to the boxes...

National Christmas Tree

On our way to the TREE!

We got a new stroller. It is a sit and stand one. The baby carrier hooks into the front ( I was wearing Haley in my front pack during this particular picture). We like it, cause Jake and Kristin can both fit on the back. It was on clearance at Babies R Us, which is why we got this particular model, but it works! Our old double stroller, we had lost (or who knows, it's somewhere in the move) the attachment where you can attach the baby carrier, which makes it pretty useless. Plus, it has gotten so much use, it's trashed! Now we have 2 double strollers...let's go to Disneyland!

Here's your National Christmas Tree:

We went downtown the other night for one last hurrah! We went to see the National Christmas Tree. It was pretty cool. They have a tree decorated for every state. Some organization donates the stuff to decorate it. It is usually done by a girl scout troop, or school, or something. Around the bottom of the Christmas Tree, there are tons of train sets that are going. The kids loved watching that! It was such a gorgeous night out! Here's another crappy pic of the kids...still can't figure that whole flash thing out...honestly, I haven't tried...too much to do!

I took this picture so that you could see the White House on the left side of the Christmas Tree. You can see more of the train sets too. Okay, here are pics of some of the state trees. All of the trees are exactly the same height, and they all have see-through ornament balls. Each state decorated the inside of them.

Here's the Oregon State Tree. It was kind of cheesy, all they did was put ribbons in their ornament balls.

Here is the Utah State Tree:

It was decorated pretty cool, with snow in the bottom of all of them, and ski's and such in the snow...then some of them had sand and the arches...

Here's the Nevada Tree, just for you Erin. I honestly don't remember what the balls had in them...
Oh, I forgot to tell you about what happened on the way home. We saw the presidential motor cade. He must have been out shopping, but we were stopped at a light, and he came (with his enterage - however you spell it) past us. Pretty cool...for some odd reason, our family keeps seeing the presidential motorcade...David in Indiana (I think), Troy and Doug in Wyoming (on their way to the BYU vs CSU game), and us in DC. What are the odds? I tried to take a picture...but this was all I got...

Santa Pics

Here's the pics I promised...not that great...oh well...that's my kids...no trying to disguise it! Oh, and yes, that's another bruise on Jake's forehead! He's just not Jake without a bruise on his forehead!

Just wondering if it was possible if any of my kids could look at the camera at the same time? Guess not...

Santa Claus

The kids have been begging to go see Santa. Delilas invited us to dinner last night, so we went to the Manassas mall to see Santa. I thought it would be less busy than Dulles Town Center, which is always packed! I was right! There was 1 family in front of us! Kristin was the most excited. This is her first year of being old enough to know what's going on. She asked Santa for a kitchen. Jake asked for a train(why? he already has one), and Kyle asked for 2 soccer goals (he originally wanted a soccer ball, but he must have realized he already has one, so went for the next most logical gift - the goals.) The Santa was really nice. He even held Haley, and a big bonus, we didn't have to pay the $20 for the mall picture, they let us take our own, but I only got 2 tries! So, here are the 2 pics I got...whoops! I haven't dowloaded the pics yet...my camera is in the car so I don't forget it tonight. We are headed to downtown DC to see the National Christmas Tree! I will upload the pics later!

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas Party on Saturday. It was amazing! Such great food and a program. The thing I was most impressed by was the orchestra that was made up solely of people in our ward. There were probably about 12 people, and they played the song, "For Unto Us a Child is Born", which the ward sang along to. It was amazing! I think easterners are much more artistically refined than those in the west. To prove my point, I was telling a friend (from Oregon) that was what I thought (about being more refined) and she said that someone brought a guitar to theirs for a sing-a-long. Not that that is bad, any music is better than none, but that is the difference...Anyways, it made me want to sign Kyle up for violin lessons. I want a piano more than anything now! I can at least get him started in piano! Anyways, back to the party...They did a program, based on the nativity. Kyle and Jake were asked to participate. Kyle was to be Samuel the Lamanite, and Jake was a cow. At first, I couldn't figure out what Samuel the Lamanite had to do with the nativity, but Troy reminded me he propheside (I know I spelled that wrong...) of the birth of Christ, so that was Kyle's part. Jake was a cow, who got to hang out in the same stable as Baby Jesus. Jake thought that at the end of the program, he should HOLLER into the microphone..."THANKS FOR COMING!" Troy and I were trapped in the middle of the audience and could do nothing...
Kristin and Haley stayed with us in the audience! Man, they are so much better behaved than the boys would have been. My only complaint about Kristin was that she couldn't quit singing. Everytime they played a song, she would have to sing too. It was never the same song as in the program, and it was always loud. She's such a diva!

Haley

Just a picture of Haley in her carseat! She's so cute! She can't wait to meet her Grammy and Papa and her Grandpa Korth!

Kyle-ism

So, we found a mouse here in our garage. Thank HEAVENS we only have 4 days left here! I am the one that spotted it first. Troy thought that my hollering was me splitting open my incision...it wasn't...it was a mouse. The only things on this planet, that literally make me squirmish thinking of...anyways...

We bought a mouse trap. Not the normal kind, it looks like a hockey puck, you put bait in it, the mouse goes in, eats poison, dies, and you can throw away the disc without having to look at the mouse. It has these indicators on the top of it that tell you if it's set, not set, or mouse caught. Well, it's been almost 2 days since we've put the trap out, and no mouse. The boys have been anxiously waiting and watching the indicators!

We got home from church today. Kyle went and looked at the trap. He looked up at Troy, and in an exasperated voice, said, "I know why it's not catching any mice! There's a picture of a mouse trap on the side of it!" OF COURSE! Why would a mouse go into a little house with a picture of a mouse trap on it? Love his logic!

Washington DC Temple Lights

We decided to go see the lights at the temple tonight. The kids were crazy, and needed to get out of the house. We listened to Christmas Music on the way there. It was really nice. It wasn't too cold outside. This is the view looking into the Visitor's Center. Look closely, and you can see the Christus.Here's Troy and Kristin. The pictures aren't that great. I need to figure out my camera a little bit better, with shutter speeds, etc...so that my pics aren't all blurry...

Here's our family in front of the temple. I thought this was a gorgeous setting, but again, I've got to figure out shutter speed...

Here's Grandma Korth with the kids, watching the LIVE nativity. They asked a couple in our ward to volunteer to be the nativity couple, but we will be back in Utah. It would have been cool though!

Here's a picture of me and the girls. We had to squat down by the pink lights (thanks Kristin). I was praying I wouldn't fall over.

It was such a fun and pretty night at the temple. I think we were there a total of 15 minutes, but it was perfect! I wasn't too sore, and the kids got some energy out before bedtime. Haley stayed perfectly warm in my new "New Native Infant Carrier". I think I got a size too big, but I am going to try to shrink it. Merry Christmas everyone! I can't wait to go see the lights at Temple Square...I've got to figure out the whole shutter speed thing first...any tips?