Merry Christmas!!

The New kitchen...only took Scott until 11 pm to put it together, I don't think he realized how elaborate it is, but hopefully this will provide a lot of fun for a lot of years.

Ok-the thumbnail was too small so I picked the worst shot of us, but still, here is our pic with the girls in their Christmas dresses.

Opening the presents from Grandma and Grandpa on the 26th

The beautiful snow on top of our Christmas lights. This shot is up above our porch.

Christmas for our family went very well this year. All my shopping was pretty much done a month ahead, so just a little wrapping and a few other things and we were good to go. We kept things pretty low-key this year, with the kitchen being the main present. I also packed up one huge box of toys to make room for any of the new ones, and to help keep the basement under control.

Here is Abby (six-and-a-half):

"I like Christmas because it is when we celebrate when Jesus was born. And it is about giving to others. And spending lots of time with our family and give presents. This year I got a new little hamster that came with a bottle, I can't resist playing with it. and the night on Christmas eve before the day that was Chrsitmas we made placemats with my sisters and Mom and Dad. Yesterday my grandma and grandpa came over to my house. they stayed a little bit, but they had to leave this Sunday (which was today). This Christmas Day I found reindeer footprints by wher I left an apple outside. there was no core, but you know what was weird, I found tracks. Christmas is one of my most favorite time of the year."

So that pretty much sums it up. The girls played well Christmas day and the best part for me was getting to have an actual, semi-uninterrupted rest in my bed. It was nice. We cooked a turkey (thanks to Scott for doing the icky parts...touching it, taking out the neck, etc. I can make myself do it, but still love the help) Had dinner, watched a few Christmas movies on the DVR, it was really relaxing, which is not a word we use a lot around here. This week we will be headed up North to visit and do a little shopping. We have 2 birthdays in our family, and two cousins in the next two months, so I hope to get some gret bargains for all these girls! Also hoping to find some more items for my main present of bedroom decorating. Scott's parents brought down the headboard I found at Thanksgiving, so now I just have to spruce it up a little. We got a great deal on it, so that makes it all the better. i did find a fabulous little website with little butterflies, flowers, etc and the whole website was 40% off and free shipping. So cute and so cheap!! I love it! So Isabel and Sara's room will be complete soon, I am excited. Now if only I could get them to quit emptying their dresser on a daily basis, it would be perfect. I will post pics when I get it done.

Anyways, we wish all of you a happy New Year, I did not do Christmas cards, but hopefully you have been able to keep up on our doings through the blog.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our house with Christmas lights on...I forced Scott but it turned out really nice

Whitney in Daddy's hat

Isabel in her dance outfit

Abby (left) at the recital

Isabel doing her dance "Love and Marriage" (second from the left)

The girls by the tree Scott chopped down for us.

Stripes I painted in Isabel and Sara's room...

Whitney LOVES oatmeal!

Abby's first lost tooth

December has been quite busy for us. I was able to get most of my Christmas shopping done while we were in Orem for Thanksgiving, so that was nice. We are keeping it pretty simple this year, and I already had some stuff put away, so I think we are set. We are looking forward to just hanging at home, and hopefully Scott gets a little time off. His schedule was supposed to slow down with the winter, but so far that has not been the case.

Abby lost her first tooth, we didn't notice it until she showed me that she already had her adult tooth half-way out behind it. She was so excited and told everyone we met. Now she claims to have five other loose teeth....

She and Isabel had their dance recital this week and both did really well, not too shy, and knew their dances well. Abby is also signed up for a little basketball class for first and second graders starting in January. it should be funny to watch, but I'm glad they have that here, so she can start getting some skills.

Isabel is doing well, excited for Christmas. It is so nice this year that the baby is not crawling into anything, and the older ones can actually leave things alone a little bit. Still, I am going to leave most of the presents away from the tree until a few days before Christmas.

Sara is finally potty trained!!! it was a long, messy process, but I am so glad it's pretty much over. As with my other girls, she is able to stay dry at night already, which is great. She does have a few accidents, and also loves playing with things in the bathroom now that she has access, but at least I am not scrubbing carpet every day anymore. She pretty much runs around in nothing but panties all day, purple feet and all. She is funny and smart, but also can be moody. She will be 3 in February.

Whitney has finally learned to roll!! yes, she's 6 months old and is a little slow. I think it is a combination of her being swaddled alot of the time (she still sleeps all wrapped up) and the fact that I am afraid to lay her on the floor with her sisters running all over the place. She is pretty close to sitting up, and has discovered her feet and hands. She can grab things now. She is still a pretty happy baby, but still gets up quite a bit at night. I don't know how I luck out with these babies who don't sleep, but oh well. She is a sweetheart and smiles and giggles a lot. She is very ticklish.

I have been busy painting our room and the girls' room. It was a lot of work, and I did a lot without Scott, which was crazy....the girls took full advantage of me not supervising them. Scott did help when he was around, I have to mention. Our bedroom is a dark blue color, I am getting to decorate it for my Christmas present. So I have a headboard I got on clearance sitting in Orem, waiting for the Watson delivery truck and I have some pictures I want to get up on the walls and I'm shopping around for other accessories. it should be pretty, and I'm excited. Then little by little we'll get to the rest of the house.

Scott has been busting lots of people without permits to cut Christmas trees and firewood. It is a $10-$20 permit or a $250 fine....people are not doing the math. But no one has been enforcing the rules around here for so long, I guess they don't think they'll get caught. He has also had a lot of meetings and other things around the state, so he has been gone a lot. Tonight is his work Christmas party, so that should be fun, and I will get to meet a few more people he works with. He is still loving the job, and will soon have a snowmobile he can ride around on for "work"

Anyways, we are all doing well, no major illnesses or anything here. We had a huge snowstorm which almsot blocked us in our house, but we love it, it is fun for me to see "real" snow after the northern Utah winters where it always melts away. Weird that I would enjoy seeing huge piles of snow in every parking lot, but it does reming me of home, Merry Christmas to all of you!!

Hello Again

Whitney LOVED halloween!

SO did Sara "I don't want to be a MONKEY AHHHHH!!!!"

Awwwww...

Funny faces!! And delicious pumpkin seeds. The girls drew on their own pumpkins and we cut it out for them.

All ten grandchildren of Kim and Jane Watson

At "Boo at the Zoo"

It has been a while since I have posted...I have been trying but having a hard time getting my pictures uploaded. I am trying again today, but if it doesn't work, I thought I would post anyways. Things have been busy as usual the last few months, but we have all been good. As of today, 4 out of the 6 in our family have had some sort of stomach bug. It hasn't been terrible, but still no fun. We were lucky up until this week to avoid most germs, so that was nice considering the current climate of germ terrorism.

We made a trip up to Orem to sign our mortgage papers and see everybody. I wanted to take the girls to the zoo to see the baby elephant and baby giraffe they have there. We ended up getting there on a day with decorations and trick or treating, it was fun. We also got free kids dinner coupons for Red Robin, so we headed there afterwards for lunch.
We had a good Halloween, the girls enjoyed it, although Sara REALLY didn't want to be the nice, warm monkey. She wanted to be a princess. All the drama went away once she got out the door and on her way to candy. We over bought for ourselves, and have bags of candy left. We are on a street with only 2 houses, so we didn't get much traffic. I am about ready to get rid of all of it though, since I get asked for candy from the minute the kids get up until they go to bed.

Abby is still loving her class at school. She is reading so well! We are shopping for a camcorder so we can post things on here, I will have to post her reading. It is amazing because she is very young in her grade, but she is so smart. Isabel is also gettting ready to read, I actually think if I work more with her she could be reading before kindergarten. She is loving her preschool and friends, and constantly asks to go to friends' houses. I think she misses Abby.

Scott has been enjoying work, finding a lot of ways to keep busy. Right now he makes a lot of people unload the firewood they forgot to get permits for. He also spent some time hunting with his Uncle Brad and second-cousin Ralph. They were unsuccessful in shooting anything, but I think they had fun. The girls loved having uncle Brad here with us. Scott also spent 2 weeks in South Carolina learning about marijuana gardens. He took most of the course while he was in Georgia, but for some reason he had to take it again. There have been quite a few of these gardens here in Utah, and they are going to be getting very aggressive with getting rid of them.

I have been slowly but surely organizing the house. Getting things where I want them. I am getting ready to decorate, and am trying to get ideas together for painting, etc. I am ready to get rid of some of the beige around here! I have also been able to go to a few girl's nights and meet people. There really are a lot of cool ladies around here, I just have to get myself out of the house a little more. But that will come. Whitney is getting bigger, not eating quite as close together, and she will be starting solid foods soon. I am not in any hurry, though. I expect the high chair will be much more interesting for Sara than it will be for Whitney. Whitney still just hangs out, she is quite happy and laughs and smiles a lot. She is still an impatient eater and that has been hard sometimes, but she is growing just fine. She doesn't seem to be interested in rolling or anything, and again, I am not too worried about it. I don't mind her being immobile. She is a cutie, and we love having her in our family.

We did finally get all our loan paperwork signed a few weeks ago, so our mortgage is finished and we are off the construction loan. No more free ride here :) We are so glad, the entire process of selling our old house and getting everything done with this one was over 6 months of worry and faxing and signatures and daily phone calls to the bank and mistakes and drama and we are SOOOO happy it's over!!

We now head into the holiday season ready to enjoy time with the family and just simplify. I am getting quite good at online shopping for things, but really we are close to ready for our Christmas, with a big suprise for the girls already in the basement. Just all the other people in our lives to shop for, but I still think we'll keep it to a minimum. As for Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for our beautiful home and family, for an amazing job that pays all our bills and just having not much to complain about. We wish the same to all our friends and family.

September begins

Grandpa Gulka with all the girls

One of the cutest babies in the world :) She is growing so fast!

A small fire in the mountains, we did s'mores. Sara was hiding in the van. I guess it's better she's afraid of fire than fascinated by it.

The apple cake with cream cheese icing I made for my Dad. The first time I've been with him on his birthday, luckily I had some left over candles that worked out perfectly....

An "Indian" ruin by the side of a gravel road in a place called Montezuma canyon. There are many of these in our area, some are marked attractions, others are just left alone.

Our family at the top of Needles Overlook, near Canyonlands park. Pictures can't do it justice.

Grandpa Gulka and Whitney getting to know each other

Isabel's first day of Tap\Ballet combo class. Her teacher is great and she has friends in the class.

The past few weeks have been pretty busy, but good. We are all healthy and happy. My dad was able to come visit on Labor Day weekend. We stayed home and played together, and also made a few short trips. As the kids get older I am sure we will go farther to see more things. Most of the attractions in the area involve rocks, but it is interesting to see them all. Scott has been busy with work, he ran into a hunter who only wanted elk horns, so Scott told him we'd take the meat if he got one. He did not think the guy would actually call him, but he did and so we got a few hundred ponds of elk meat, free! I did make Scott take it to a butcher, since I was not sure I could eat the meat after smelling it raw in the garage. So we shall see how that works. I haven't tasted it. We are getting a lot of it ground up, and also making jerky with a friend who has a large jerky drier.

All the girls are loving their schools. Sara struggles when her sisters leave, but it will be good to have time alone together. Whitney is growing so quickly and is such a sweet baby. She still wakes me up quite a bit at night, but it's ok.

We are meeting more people and making more friends every day. I love having the school so close and being able to enjoy the outdoors so easily. I think this will be a great place to raise our children. Our house is almost done, finally receiving a BLACK microwave...even if they did install it wrong. We are getting ready to hit the yard and get that done ASAP.

We still wish we could be closer to all of YOU, but our door is always open for visitors, it really is beautiful down here.

Back to School

This is an attempt to get a picture of Whitney smiling. She grins the biggest, sweetest smiles now but never for the camera. She also did a tiny giggle a few days ago. I am sure she will be laughing all the time once her sisters figure out how to get her to do it.

Abby's first day of school. That is the school behind her, she is on our back porch. So nice. On Friday it was early out and I didn't know because I never really got a schedule, so after waiting a while she just walked home. I was kindof upset about the whole thing, but glad she can do that quickly and safely.

Isabel loves to pick up Whitney, I'm not sure Whitney likes it but it's cute sometimes. So far all the girls have been really good with the baby.

Abby holding Whitney.

Isabel climbed on Scott and stayed there while he stood up and walked around. Good thing we have vaulted ceilings.

The news-Well, we finally sold our house, it was anti-climactic and still doesn't seem real, it has been such a long process. Finally after we went up north to sign papers, nothing happened. Then we had to wait a whole other weekend, including finding out the government loan people don't work on Fridays. So monday there was no word, then tuesday it happened, they signed and we had to sign a few extra papers. Of course the money we made took two days to get to our bank, so on Friday I was calling everyone trying to find it before another weekend passed. But now it is all good. I assume the people moved in and now can deal with the weeds, the utility payments and all of those stressful things. We are thankful it did sell, and are looking forward to getting our loan done on this house, since we are still on the construction loan. The next big project is the lawn, which will be a lot of work, but so nice to have done. Scott has big plans for the sprinkler system, I just want somewhere for the kids to play and a few trees. We will also put in a garden area, but will have to figure out a way to keep the deer out. people here have all kinds of fences, even electric fences around flower beds!

Abby likes school, she has only had 2 days. She is making friends and likes her teacher. She was confused the first day in the cafeteria, since I packed her a lunch, but hopefully she will get into the routine. It is different having her gone all day. Sara says she misses her. But it's good, she loves to learn. In a few days we start with Isabel's preschool, Tuesday and Thursdays, then she has dance Wednesday mornings, and Abby has it Thursday after school. They are both in a ballet\tap combo. That was the only choice, but it should be good for them.
Whitney is becoming a happier baby. She is growing so quickly. She likes to sit up in my lap and just hang out. She still take a lot of naps in the swing and sleeps pretty well at night. I have started putting her in the crib in Abby's room and that has worked. She used to need to be elevated a little, but she seems to be ok flat on her back now. I am so glad Scott was able to add a plug to the swing so it doesn't take batteries. Much better this way.

Scott's grandma Vos (his mom's mom) died this week and he flew out to Minnesota for the funeral. Sadly, the girls and I never met her. He is coming back in a few hours, but has been called out to help with a marijuana grow somewhere. They want him to listen to the radios since he speaks Spanish. So we will only get to see him a few minutes. It is not fun, but we are pretty used to it. I worry about this kind of thing but hopefully all goes well and he comes back soon. At least he gets overtime....

I am ready to get back into a routine, hoping that all these activities help us get to know more people. We still don't have the microwave we have been waiting for...but it's supposed to come this week :)

Hope all of you are enjoying the end of summer. My dad will be here over Labor Day weekend, so that should be fun. Anyone else who wants to come visit, you are welcome!

Whitney chillin' at about 2 months old

Running from the water truck in the Pioneer Day parade, it came down the end of our street since Main street is under construction.

One little deer in our yard, there are tons of them around here, but it never gets old for the girls. A few days ago we went for a drive and saw at least two sets of twin fawns, spots and all, plus a lot of other deer and fawns. I like them as long as we are below 25 miles per hour and not on a main road. Then I do not want to see them.

Abby's cupcakes at her friend party. Always our favorite activity to decorate them with different colors of icing and candy on top.

The kids who were at Abby's 6th birthday party.

The Dairy Queen cake we got in Cortez, Colorado and drove over an hour to get home. It stayed perfect! We ate this on her actual birthday, the 21st.
Not much has changed since last week. We are now supposed to close on our house this week coming up and seriously hope it happens. We will make a trip north to sign papers and do school shopping. Also to visit friends and family.
Abby is all registered and ready to go to first grade. She will be in a class with a few kids she knows already so that will be nice. I did get Isabel into a preschool and I am so excited! It will only be 2 hours Tuesday and Thursday, but it will be so fun for her, and good for me to have more time with Sara and Whitney. Mostly Sara, who can be a little bit of a difficult child, but is so funny and sweet when she has your undivided attention. Someday she will be glad we provided great siblings for her, but not so much right now.

First Post from San Juan County!

Whitney, july 5, after she was blessed. We had a lot of family come down for the weekend. She wore the same dress her sisters did.

Cuddling with Great Grandpa Watson, he's a very comfortable guy!

She likes her bouncy chair, and her big sister

All our girls after Whitney's blessing, I got matching dresses at Costco, they all looked pretty.

Meeting Grandma CC for the first time! The last day at out Eagle Mountain house

Well, it took a while for us to get the internet up and running, and now I just have not had much uninterrupted time, but I know I needed to get some pics and info up for all our friends and fam who care to know what we're doing.

The move went quite well. We loaded up and Scott and his parents drove down to Monticello. I stayed with my mom to clean the house and then we drove about an hour to a motel, went swimming and stayed the night. We left in the morning and drove the remaining 3 hours to the house. That way most of the stuff was in the house. A few people came to help, which was nice. We then got to the job of unpacking. My mom was able to stay with us for about another week and a half and that was a huge help. She got to play with the girls, and hold Whitney, which was the biggest help for me. Scott's parents also helped a ton, so thanks to all the grandparents! We met some really nice people at church on Sunday and had a lot of great neighbors stop by. The town itself is quite small, but it has everything a person really needs. It is such a change to be able to go pick up eggs or milk without it being an hour long production like it was in Eagle Mountain. The grocery store is tiny, but only about a block and a half away. The house is beautiful, and very well done. Of course there have been a few issues with things not being finished, but overall it is good. Who needs a mirror in the bathroom, anyway....

The girls have done pretty well. They miss their friends and other things we were used to, but generally they like Monticello. We can't believe it when Scott drops by for lunch, so different from before, and especially the last year where we barely saw the guy!

Scott LOVES his job, and has been single-handedly cleaning up the National Forest around here. He also managed to break out the back window of his work truck with a 4 wheeler. He was very busy with the 4th of July, checking on people doing fireworks, and also the 24th, with is pioneer Day, Utah's state holiday which also has a lot of campers and fireworks to check on. He has talked to a lot of good people, and also some who are not happy to see him, but I guess that goes with the job.

I have met a few other moms around here, and people at church. Everyone has been really nice but Whitney keeps me from really socializing too much. Or maybe it's my lack of sleep. Anyways, I have spent a lot of time trying to get the house how I want it, changing the kitchen cupboard layout several times. I am adjusting to the lack of shopping, and the lack of 24 hour stores. It is funny to be in a town again where things close at 5 or 6. There is a Wal-Mart about an hour away. It is a drive for sure. But a Dairy Queen ice cream cake can survive all the way, so that is good to know! I love the weather down here and am enjoying keeping windows open day and night. I hated the summer in Utah county, that was when I missed Canada the most. I couldn't stand how early it got hot and how it never cooled down at night. So this has been great. We will see how the winters do, though!

Abby turned six on the 21st. We invited anyone close to her age we could find and it turned out well. She also had an early birthday when Grandma CC was here, and presents when her other grandparents were here the weekend before it. She is getting big! We are woking with flashcards of sight words so she will be totally ready for first grade!

Isabel misses her friends the most, we loved Alena next door, and Caden across the street. But she does like the house and town and goig for rides in the mountains. Sadly there are only 2 people who do preschool in town and they are full, so I don't know if she'll be able to do that. I hope she can get in dance or something else, anyways. I am not up for doing another parent taught school, but who knows.

Sara is 2 and loving it. She is sortof potty training, but with the mmove and the baby and all that it is a little much. She could do it any time, if she wasn't so stubborn and I wasn't so afraid of scrubbing our new carpets. I just can't chase her around all day. But we'll see, there's got to be something that will work.

Whitney is now 2 months old and jus started smiling! she is soooo cute when she grins. She won't do it for the camera, but sometime I will catch her and post it. She is now 10 lbs 13 oz, generally healthy but we think she has a little reflux. She spits up a lot and screams when she eats, but not all the time. The doctor gave us a prescription for baby Zantac, but we'll see how she does.

The last news is our house drama.... long story short. We were so lucky to get an offer while I was in the hospital with Whitney. Seemed perfect, to close right as we moved out. Then the buyers decided to close some credit cards and ruin their credit score. They are trying for a government loan where you have no down payment. So they took weeks to find out the problem. But they were trying to fix it. Meanwhile they ran over the date on the contract. Their agent wasn't worried about it. Then they came back with an extension for 2 weeks. We said ok. Then they ran over that date. We put the house back onthe market. By that time the utilities had been off over a month, and our yard was frying in 100 degree heat. We also had to do another mortgage payment, etc. We decided to just cut our losses with them, get the earnest money and try to sell to someone else. But then they came back saying they were really approved, and now we are still waiting to get the final "yes, they are printing documents" phone call. Throughout the process the buyers and their agent have been difficult to say the least, but i won't go into all that. We are thankful to have gotten an offer, but this buyer's market allows people to be completely inconsiderate. Even though they have cost us a lot of time, stress and money and have broken their contract twice, we are still at their mercy, we get no more money or anything, the offers stands as it was months ago. let's just hope this is all over within the next week, then we just have to do the mortgage on this house, which of course, appraised low by the one appraiser in town. fun, fun ,fun. but we are blessed and have lots to be thankful for. I think this has been the most stressful year of my life but I am ready to get all of this done, get back to school and routine and get some friends and move forward.

our mailing address is

PO box 1031

Monticello, UT 84535

our physical address is 333 N 150 W

our phone number is still 801-847-6263. we have anew cell, but it's just for when we are out on the road, if you call this number and let it ring it will forward to the cell if we're out.