We need some photographic evidence of the studying that's been such a huge part of our lives for the past couple of years!
Joey has spent the past few months trying to rival Jonas' mop, which has worked out well for us, because we've been able to use a haircut as a threat for bad behavior. He claims his decision to cut it was not based on Rob's harassment or my insistence on combing it, just that it was "bugging him." He claims to feel pounds lighter, and after seeing this pile of hair on the floor, I can see why. He's a pretty good-looking kid either way.
Last night we went to an adults-only dinner at the ward. They had a ton of these vases from Ikea, and encourage everyone to take them home, so Rob grabbed a couple of roses, and I already feel like I have too many vases in the storage room, so I told him I didn't need any flowers. He quickly informed me that they weren't for me, but the girls were going to think he's the greatest dad ever. And they loved them. In fact, this morning Ainsley said, as she often does, "Mom, I wuv you." But then she added "But I wuv Dad the most, 'cause he gave me that flower." So it's a day late, but here's my photo for yesterday.
I had such a great time with Julie and Liza at lunch today, but Ainsley was the only one who'd let me take her picture for the daily photo. So far she's the only person in the family who doesn't audibly groan when my camera comes out. She's a little more passive-aggressive—she just makes silly bug-eye faces at me. I caught her off guard here, in all her Flashdance glory.
Ellie to Ainsley: "No, I don't want to play that—Duck Duck Goose is for preschoolers."
No cameras are allowed at Pioneer Theatre, so I didn't get my daily photo yesterday, but we enjoyed the play. Shakespeare is definitely meant to be seen, not just read. Thanks for the tickets Ralph and Judy! I'm not sure who had more fun, us or the kids, who had Grandma all to themselves—thanks Mom! And even though we didn't get nearly enough time to talk, we loved going with Pete and Becca.
That last photo was not the photo of the day, since I obviously didn't take it, and it obviously didn't happen yesterday. As I pulled out my camera to take this shot, Rob predicted that fully one-third of my daily photos will be of food. What can I say? I have a simple life, and not very many willing subjects.
Rob's update today on facebook said he is "fondly remembering this day, thirteen years ago when he was so sick he could barely stand up. And he got married."
I've toyed with the idea of a daily photo before, but couldn't handle the commitment. Then for my birthday photo scrooge did the unbelievable and gave me the digital SLR I've been coveting. I'm so excited about my new D90 that I'm going to give the daily photo a shot. I love the idea of capturing the day-to-day aspects of our life and not just the events that I usually photograph. And I want to be a better photographer, which takes practice. For now I'll post my photos here, maybe I'll join Davy over at aminus3.com or the 365 project on flickr sometime.
For the past few years our New Year's Eve tradition has been easy—we just show up at the Stringham's for fondue and fun. This year I'm in Young Women's and we had a pizza and root beer party with the YM at church, while Rob went to the Utah v. Gonzaga basketball game, so we missed the party (not that we've ever stayed 'til midnight—we're lame that way). The kids all got to come to the ward with me, and they were in seventh heaven. Afterward we came home and watched an iMovie of about 780 photos plus short video clips from 2008. I will never scrapbook again! (It's been so long I may have forgotten how anyway...) It was really fun to review our year—even Photo Scrooge made it through without too many complaints. I'm hoping this is the start of a new tradition on New Year's Eve. The kids want to make root beer floats part of the tradition. Which will make it easy for me to get a jump-start on my perpetual resolution to lose weight in January, since root beer floats don't tempt me in the least. 
What could possibly be better than being princess-cheerleaders?!!! Great-grandma Clayton knows how to make these girls happy!
We had a great christmas morning. I mostly shot video, so I don't have many photos, but we had my mom & dad and grandma over to watch the kids open presents, and Rob's parents and Jake joined us for Rob's famous ebleskiver breakfast. There were only minor injuries playing the new air hockey table. Good times.
You know you're old when a sleepover doesn't sound like fun. Yet, except for the lack of sleep, the YW christmas party was fun. We had to cancel our trip downtown to see the lights because of the massive snowstorm, but we had a yummy dinner, exchanged white elephant gifts, played "The Sassy Experience" and watched an awesome slideshow/movie summarizing the year. 
I got to go home and sleep in my own bed for a few hours before heading back for a waffle breakfast. We don't have many young women, but they are stellar. And I feel so lucky to work with some of my favorite people in the ward.
Robbie was thrilled last week when he was chosen to be the student who introduced author Brandon Mull at today's assembly. Robbie devoured the Fablehaven series and The Candy Shop War and told me I'd love it too—he was right. I read the Fablehaven books this past week, expecting a mediocre Harry Potter knockoff, but after the first book I was hooked. The plot kept me turning pages, the dialogue kept me smiling and the characters came to life. And I loved the discussion questions at the end—there are some good issues to get kids (and adults) thinking and talking. Yep, Robbie takes after me...he's a book nerd. Now our only dilemna is who gets to read book four first!
