your granddaughter

These pictures are for you mom.
Finley is wearing an outfit that my mom wore when she was a little girl.
Fin loved it. She said it made her want to dance and cross her legs.

On the go... for good reason

He took his first steps on Christmas Eve and has been walking ever since. Being the younger sibling he needs to know how to MOVE. Check out the last photo for case in point.

LOVES sunglasses. May need to pick him up an un-bedazzled pair of his own.

Amazingly no one was injured in the taking of this photo. Like I said he can move.

hello kitty

We are just starting to live hello kitty here. Socks, stickers, notebooks, pens.

Don't worry pup, you're still King.

Her other love affair

It's possibly the cheapest thing around. We have it in 30 colors and she plays with it for hours and hours.
No joke. She'll spend hours creating all kinds of things, most of which look the same but in her mind they are unique and different. Things like lollipops, snakes, dogs, elephants, spaghetti and more. It doesn't get much better than Play-Doh.

This girl is funny. The other morning I was squeezing the last of the noisy honey bear out onto my toast. A few minutes later Fin said, "Mom I want toots on my toast too!"

Home for Christmas

It is so rare that all of us are together. It was good to be home.

My Family

The Grand babies


I love this little family



Love them too- They are expecting their 1st baby in July


Miss you guys



...and us

Yes I'm still posting about Christmas folks.

Blue Skies

Fin sporting her "pack-pack"

Tonight's dinner conversation:

Amy: "Fin, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Chad: "Do you want to be an Engineer?"
Fin: "No not a 'ginneer dad, an Elephant, I want to be an Elephant, (insert elephant sound)."

The Goaslind Gang (Chad's sister)

Could we have enjoyed our vacation anymore. We saw so many family members over the holidays. Looked at Blue Skies day after day. We laughed tons, ate so much food, went to movie after movie, stayed up till the wee ours of the morning playing cards, got our Rock Band on, climbed through the red rock, wrecked my parents Hummer (while 4 wheeling), opened Christmas gifts and celebrated the New Year. We can't wait to see you all again. (pictures of Amy's family coming soon)

Did I mention Southern Utah is one of my favorite places in the world!

Finley has been going through withdrawals since being home. She told me today, "I want to go to the park with my Petzer."
Me: "Your what?"
Fin: "My Petzer, what's that boy's name?...My Jack?"
Me: "Oh, your Jack and Spencer."
Fin: "Yeah mom I want them."

"my Haley"

'twas the night before Christmas..

After a delicious dinner, games, and Christmas program with
our friends, we tromped home through the snow to watch a Christmas show and wait up for Santa. The kids picked their stockings, wrote thank yous to Santa and set out the mandatory cookie plate sprinkled with carrots. Then it was off to bed.

They were so excited. Finley wanted to see Santa and get "giffs" and Tuck was fueled by her adrenaline. We lit the Christmas candle and told one last story about snowflakes and Rudolph and a sack filled with presents for good little girls and boys.

We all slept soundly (till 8:25am) and then woke to a "Santa trap" and a room filled with presents.

Christmas night really is Magical.

A couple of wired toddlers waiting for Santa.Christmas cookies and a Thankyou

Christmas Morning

(click image to enlarge)

Christmas Morning was everything we all had hoped for. One of the highlights was watching Finley open her "giffs." All She wanted for Christmas was a pony. Every time we asked her what she hoped for, that is the only recognizable answer she would give. As she unwrapped a recycled converse sneaker box inside were 5 My Little Pony's Santa had collected from McDonald's Happy Meals (he sure likes his fast food). Her reaction was priceless (video below). Who knew $5 could make all her dreams come true... Santa did.

December '08 LIVE

"Look! Boy, Oh boy!"
Finley unwraps her favorite Christmas gift ever... the one and only thing she wanted.

Sugar Rush (Happy Birthday Son)
Tucker tastes his first slice of sugary goodness & Christmas morning.

Mom is so last year

This boy loves his dad. When Chad got home from work last night his littlest fan made a mad crawl to the front door. Chad picked him up and then came over to give me a hug. Tuck pushed me out of the way with both arms and said, "My dad". His First Words put me right in my place.

Let it snow

It was a white, white Christmas in the Northwest this year. The first couple days of snowfall were exciting. By the 4th and 5th day I began to worry. Our plans were to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa but flights home for Christmas were postponed till New Years.

The streets were packed with snow (there are only a handful of snow plows in Oregon). Freeways were closed, towns were without power, and things were looking pretty bleak.


One of the best things to come out of the blizzard was having the Man of the House around. We loved having our "dad chad" home during the day. We watched movies, listening to the "singer" (radio), took naps and played in the snow all the while wishing it would melt so we could fly away.