Christmas 2011

 Christmas 2011 was a little different for us because one we are here in Fort Worth away from our home and second because Blake had to work the 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Luckily it wasn't too busy and Blake was able to be a part of the most important parts. I made Kelsey and Mylee their pj's this year. They're lucky I pulled them out this year, it almost didn't happen. I finished them Christmas Eve in the early evening! NEVER again! Next year, I'm eating up the cost and buying them. It does warm my heart though to have my girls wear something I made. Lanaea got store bought ones this year because she needed some footsie pj'.s She loves her froggie feet.

 Christmas morning was a lot of fun. The girls were so cute and appreciative and happy with all they got even though they didn't get one thing on their Christmas list--Kelsey had practically written down everything in the Target toy catalog on hers! Umm, yea, that was not happening!!

 Lanaea was the best! Everything she opened she would say, "LOOK!!!" and then come up and show us. I seriously can't get enough of this kid.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Brown. This have been a beloved toy at our home!

Grammy Joyce made this sweet little dolls for the girls. They were so darling!

Lanaea loving her doll

The big disaster after presents were opened.

The girls sleeping in their tent they got from Christmas in their new sleeping bags with their new babies by their side. PRICELESS!!

It's hard to believe another year has gone by! This was a wonderful Christmas. Thank you to all those who thought of us this Christmas. We enjoyed reading many of your Christmas cards. I might actually get those out next year! We feel so blessed to have so many people that care and think of us. Since being here in Fort Worth I have really come to realize how much I value friendship and the association with friends and family. We love you!!

Christmas Adventures

 At the beginning of December we went to a play called "The Littlest Wiseman" put on by a local church. It was a fun experience. It was just me and my two older girls, Blake stayed home with Lanaea. I was disappointed that the story didn't follow the story exactly as it written in the Bible, but it was still a fun experience. It actually ended up being a teaching tool to help the girls pick out what happened and what didn't as it is written in the Bible.

 In December we also went to story time with Mrs. Claus. It was seriously the cutest thing ever!! She did such a GOOD job. The girls LOVED it. During the Rudolph song all the kids got Rudolph noses and Lanaea wore hers almost the entire time we were at the mall. She would get mad if anyone tried to take it off. Countless shoppers would stop me and comment on how cute she was.  At the end of story time the girls got a goodie bag filled with candy and a free meal at Chick-fila--so we stayed extra long and had lunch there at the mall.

Look at Lanaea in this video, it's hilarious!!! She loves to get attention and has NO fear or reservations! Where does she get that from!?

 This is our "Santa" picture this year. I know LAME!!! But I'm too cheap to pay to get a picture at the mall and they didn't have Santa visit at our Ward (Church) Christmas Party this year. Lanaea would have nothing to do with him. Mylee asked for a baby doll and Kelsey asked for a puppy.

We also enjoyed fun times at the play area in the mall. Surprisingly Lanaea only fell off the equipment once. She always frightens the other parents because she is so fearless. I've finally have had to just let her go and don't worry to much about her--that's within reason though.

 Cook Children's Hospital (where Blake currently works) put on a special Christmas event. It was quite a production with Santa there and a fireworks show that was better then some 4th of July shows I have seen. Lanaea cried and huddled up in my shoulder the whole time because of the noise. Kelsey and Mylee couldn't get enough of it!

 They got to explore a real fire engine and wear a real fireman's hat while at Cook Children's. This trip was also the first time that me and the girls had been to Blake's work. The hospital is amazing! I admittedly got a little teary eye-ed too walking through halls and seeing such young children that were so sick.

On one evening we went to go look at Christmas lights at a neighborhood not too far from us. This house was pretty impressive!! Probably one of the best and biggest light displays I have ever seen. The girls loved it.

Christmas of course wouldn't be the same without making gingerbread houses. I had to keep getting on Mylee for eating the frosting. Luckily she didn't come down with salmonella poisoning (I made it with egg whites). Lanaea of course just ate the candy.

Some of our Adventures in Fort Worth

We have been trying to keep busy and make the best of our time while we are here in Fort Worth. We found this cute little museum that talked about the history of Fort Worth. It was really tiny and no body was there, not even any staff. After that we went to the Sid Richardson Art Museum that was across the street. The lady at the front desk was so accomodating and sweet!! She had a scavenger hunt prepared for children that visited the museum. The scavenger hunt consisted of a sheet with a small portion of the different paintings throughout the museum. At the end they all got sticker books. The girls have been asking to go there again since. I don't even think they appreciated the art--they just want another sticker book!

 We also visited the Botanical Garden of Fort Worth. We visited a little late in the season to see all the flowering plants, but there was still a lot of beauty to admire. The girls enjoyed looking for bugs. Kelsey even found a catepiller and a stick bug.

Wouldn't this make a great family pic!

In case you have been wondering what we have been doing for school for Kelsey, well she gets to stay home with me!! We have our off days and even weeks!! Mostly the problems that we have are me! It's a lot of work to plan out our days every day! In the picture above we are having our scripture study. We start with this every morning (at least that is the goal). This day we are learning about the Book of Mormon being the keystone of our faith. We were making arches with playdough. Every where we go our girls will pick out all the keystones they see.

 Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving unit. I can always get my girls motivated to do Mommy School when it involves something crafty.

Making Indian Vests

Our homemade tee-pee cupcakes

We live within walking distance of a Chick-fila and during the month of November you got a free entree if you wore purple on Friday (in honor of TCU). Needless to say, we had Chick-fila every Friday in November. The girls love their chicken nuggets!

 At church Lanaea has a little twin. You seriously can't tell them apart from the back. The other little girl is just 4 months older.

We Move to Fort Worth, Texas

On Halloween of all days we moved to Fort Worth, Texas for Blake to complete his Orthopedic Pediatric Surgery training at Cook Children's Hospital. We will be living here for the next four months in an apartment rented out by the Ortho Department in a nice area 3 miles away. This rotation is new for the program because the pediatric orthopedist is retiring in Lubbock. One resident came here before us and was put up in what was an appartently awful yet furnished apartment so we were the first ones to test out this new apartment. It is nice and I don't have any complaints about the apartment itself other then maybe that it was unfurnished. The attending doctors willingly donated their old furniture and kitchen items for us to use. These items were stored in a storage unit until the day of our move. Blake loaded everything up onto a Uhaul while me and the girls left earlier in the day to arrive before the office closed so we could get keys to our apartment. When Blake arrived I had no idea what to expect when he opened the trailer. Everything is in usable, but very worn condition. We acquired a couch, kitchen table with 6 chairs, a desk, a coffee table, 4 end tables, a full-sized bed, two lamps, two tv's (which don't work by the way), a small entertainment center that is currently being used as storage for our homeschooling supplies, and some kitchen supplies. We had to bring some things from home, but not too much.

  





It's been a new experience living with people above us again. Overall though, those above and around us are very friendly and quiet. We are probably the loud ones. My biggest erk is that I have to go to the laundry mat once a week because we weren't able to acquire a washer and dryer and didn't have a way to get ours back home if we brought it. I'll be EXTRA grateful for my washer and dryer when I get home!

The city is wonderful, with many things to do and some really neat parks. The weather here is so much more mild then Lubbock too, most days needing nothing more then a jacket if that. Across the street is Central Market, which our girls call the grocery store palace because essentially that is what it feels like. I've never seen a grocery store so elaborate as that one. It's totally overpriced though, so I don't do my shopping there. Occassionally though I'll take the girls over to get free samples throughout the store and play at their playground outside their store. Next to the grocery store are a bunch of boutiques and restaurants and World Market. Just South of us is a really nice park that the girls and I walk to often.

Our home in Lubbock currently sits vacant while friends and neighbors keep an eye on it for us. Hopefully it stays quite there!

A Lubbock DUST STORM!!

 On October 17, 2011 this is what rolled into Lubbock, Texas!!! The girls were outside playing and came running in saying, "Mom, how come the sky is all orange?" I responded saying, "Oh it's probably just the sun setting." That's what I thought until I came and looked out the window!! I quickly whisked my children back inside and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had never seen anything like this before. Luckily our home went unharmed, just dusty! When you walked in the grass after the storm a big plumb of dust would rise up. When we mowed later that week, our bag was mostly filled with dust--it was a nasty job!

This is looking from our backdoor window.

This is a video our friends took of the storm approaching.

Utah Vacation Day 7 and 8

Blake and I with our future Cougar!

On Saturday Blake took his nephews to go shooting up the canyon and me and the girls went to a boutique. The boutique was fun and I found the most amazing coat and would have bought it had the price been right. We also got a family picture taken of the Clifton Clan and one for ourselves.

The Chuck and Joyce Clifton Family (minus Trent, Emily and their 2 kids)

Clifton Grandkids minus 2

Kelsey (6.5), Lanaea (22 months), Mylee (4)

We had to get a picture in of the kid brigade at meal time!

Later the evening I took Mylee and Lanaea over to my sister Megan's house while Blake, Kelsey and I went to the BYU football game. I had more fun watching Kelsey get so excited and into the game then watching what was going on. She was cheering and yelling and had the best time.  I think Blake was pretty proud to share this experience with his daughter. I had made some hair bows before we left for Utah for this very day and event.

That evening, we picked our kids up at Megan's and went home to get some good R&R for our long trip to Utah the next day. Yes, we traveled the full 15 hours in one day, phew!! We made it though thanks to our DVD player and a lot to talk about after all of our adventures we had had at home. Blake woke up bright and early the next morning for work. Luckily Kelsey didn't have to go to school the next day due to some school holiday--yea!! It was a good day to recuperate.

Utah Vacation Day 5 and 6

 The rest of our time while in Utah was spent at Blake's parents' house in Mapleton. Some neighbors had let us borrow their horses to ride so we took advantage. Unfortunately we missed getting pictures with Kelsey on the horse, but I'll tell you this, she LOVED it!!! Mylee didn't like it so much at first as you can see in the picture above, but with a little prodding from Blake, she warmed up to the idea and in the end enjoyed it!

 Lanaea stayed true to herself and had no fear what so ever. She loved every minute of her horse ride.

Me and Lanaea watching everyone ride the horses in the rain. Like my pink umbrella?!!

 The next morning we woke up to snow!! Crazy!! Good thing Blake and I had gone bike riding at the beginning of the week. We had a couple of more bike rides scheduled, but we ended up canceling them due to the weather. Instead we visited with family around the house and went bowling Friday morning with the whole Clifton crew. My mom and Roland showed up for a short time to say hi and goodbye to their grandkids.

 Blake treated our kids to a few games of speed ball and they all enjoyed a game of bowling. It's always so cute to see kids try to bowl.

Later that evening Blake's Grandma and Grandpa Ray showed up from Arizona to host their annual Homecoming Party. Every year at homecoming they have all their family gather together to visit and Grandpa always gives a devotional and he treats the grandkids and their spouses to BYU homecoming tickets. The whole event was wonderful. It was nice to visit with Blake's family and see some faces we hadn't seen in years. The devotional was wonderful and uplifting. Grandpa and Grandma Ray are two of the most wonderful people I have ever had the privilege of meeting.  They live the Christ-like life and are therefore such good people. Their kids did a tribute to them and their life together. I learned that no one is exempt from trials, we all get them. It's all a matter of whether or not we turn to Christ to help lift us up. The evening was so chaotic and crazy I didn't manage to get any pictures :(.

Utah Vacation Day 4

 On Tuesday we went to Cornbellys to play with the kiddos. Blake's siblings showed up with their kiddos too. The kids had such a wonderful time. There were all sorts of activities for the kids to do. We were there for a couple of hours.

Grammy Joyce with all her grandchildren except 5 (I think?)

Blake with 4 of his cute sisters. Awww, they love him too!!

Grandpa and Grandma Brown with their grandchildren minus 3



My little princesses!

 Later that evening we continued to spend the day with my Dad and Step-mom. My step-sister came over with her family and we had a wonderful visit. The kids had so much fun playing with each other and it was so nice to visit with my family. I miss them so much! Kelsey got some special treatment from Grandma too and did some beading with her. Kelsey was in heaven!!!