Regan and I are determined to train our kids early to LOVE BYU and to LOVE to go to basketball and football BYU games! We got all of the family dressed in our BYU clothes and headed down to Cougar town for the bball game on Saturday! It still is a little hard to keep them contained, but we are certainly training them young!
We went on a date night to Downtown Salt lake! We went ice skating at the Gallivan Center & it was SO much fun! Ice skating is pretty much like roller blading so it was pretty easy for us!! I love date nights and I am really going to miss our friday night co-op when we move!!!
Question of the day: How do you keep a house CLEAN with a baby who does this?
{Having 3 kids and trying to keep your house in model home cleanliness is honestly NEAR TO IMPOSSIBLE! I am just glad that Elle was having a fun time crunching fishy crackers in her hands and looked so cute!!!!!!}
Please someone....buy our house so this mom doesn't hate cleaning for the rest of her life!!!!
We spent a lot of good family time over the holidays! We LOVE playing games at my parents house and hanging out with my siblings! We were at Regan's mom's house hanging out with Brady and Chelsea, had a great New Years even Dinner with Regan's family and got to see Regan's dad, mom and Grandma as well! We had a New Years Eve party at our house {well, we pretended that it was new years at nine o'clock instead of 12 for the kids sakes! Maybe even the parents too!} We had delicious pina colada frape from Leatherbey's and a ton of food that day!
Regan scored some major points for Christmas with me! He got me a new camera! For those of you who haven't heard me complain about my dumb $70 camera, you will now! It took the worst pictures-they were dark & blurry and for a mom that takes a TON of pictures of her kids, that is NOT okay! So he got me a Canon Power Shot and it is pretty much the coolest camera ever! I am on page 150 of the manual to figure it out, but I am catching on to some of the cool features! Here are some of the pictures I took on Christmas!
We decided as a family long before December, that it would be great if Santa could bring a Wii for our family, and 1 present for each of us! Well, that's what happened at the Fackrell Home. Riley freaked out when he saw the wii and all of the accessories with it. Sunny freaked out when she saw her Littest Pet shop and pets, and I am pretty sure Elle liked her Music Table and Riley eventually found his legos! The days following Christmas, I was surprised at myself! Me, Regan and Riley all played the new mario brothers for hours and hours and hours! We are at level 8, the last level and every night Riley begs us to finish the level! Now that school is in, we can't play like we did before! It was so much fun-addicting because you can play with up to 4 players! Wii Sports and resorts is so much fun and I am so excited to play the american idol kareoke! Riley probably said 20 times, "I just LOVE playing the wii with our family!"
So we were super busy in December:
1. I was ending violin lessons for all of my students, organizing the last Christmas Concert, writing up letters to all of my students for their new violin teachers, and making Cd's for all of them. The Christmas Concert was at Herriman City Hall and it was great! It was great to see all of my students {except 2} play together, but a little bittersweet knowing that I probably would not see them again. On the same hand, it was getting a little stressful towards the end to teach lesson and show our house too!
2. Sunny Bunny had her Christmas Ballet Concert and she and Kayci did a great job! They are such great friends and such cute girls!
3. Riley played his violin everywhere! He played it at 3 holiday concerts for his teacher's studio, his classroom, for anyone who came by the house, and at Christmas eve! He is doing such a great job on it and I hope he continues to enjoy it!
4. The McKell family did the annual Christmas Dinner, but this year it was at the ROOF! We haven't done it there since the 1st year of this tradition. I was probably 12 when we went to the Roof for the 1st Christmas Dinner, and my dad decided not to do it there again until the kids could truly appreciate it! This year, I can pretty much say that I truly appreciated it! It was so nice to be with all of the family and just be able to talk without worrying about kids throwing food over the table! I have to say that my favorite was the creme brule and the prime rib!!!
5. Christmas Preparations {Note to self: Going to Toys R Us at Christmas time with your own kids is NOT a smart idea!} I had to hide a few items under my coat!
Christmas Eve is always split between my family and Regan's family. We started out by going to Alvin & the Chipmunks with the kids and they LOVED it! We are very lucky to have 3 kids who actually sit and watch a movie {granted, they HAVE to have treats, popcorn and a drink and Elle is strapped into her carseat!}
We then went to my parents house and had the traditional Anderson Family Talent Show and the Nativity. Riley was a wiseman, Sunny a Sheep and Elle a shepherd. For the Fackrell Family Talent, we all played Jingle Bells on our violins and Elle rang the jingle bells. I taught Regan how to play it that day, Riley already knew it, and Sunny played an open string! I was pretty impressed by the way it went!
Afterwards, we went to the Groves Christmas Even in South Jordan. There, the kids were able to hit the pinata and sit on Santa's lap for a present! Let's just say that Elle wanted NO part of that! She screamed her head off UNTIL she saw what he had given her-a baby alive doll of her very own! She stopped crying and started giving it loves and hugs! It was seriously the cutest thing to see how excited a baby can get!
Here are a few things that I have learned this year:
1. Staying Home with the family is better than you think.
2. Keeping your house clean 24/7 is not fun.
3. Having a clean home feels good.
4. Scrambling to make your house look clean in 30 minutes is near to impossible with
3 kids!
5. A house that has 3 kids will never look like a model home!
6. Being sick is simply NO FUN AT ALL!
7. H1N1 is aweful; especially when your whole family has it!
8. Getting your passport and losing weight to go to Can Cun only to find out that you can't go because of the Swine Flu makes me mad!
9. Having Regan come home for lunch since his office was 5 minutes away was wonderful
10. Having a Kindergartner at school for a half a day is a good thing.
11. Selling your house is stressful!
12. Redbox is a wonderful invention!
13. Clearplay could be a wonderful invention if it just would not break down all
of the time.
14. Having splash pads and a "community beach" is a great thing for kids in the
summer!
15. I decided that I did NOT miss the day after Thanksgiving shopping madness!
{Black Friday no more!}
16. I need to find more time to scrapbook!
17. It is not fun to take your kindergartner to the bus stop when it is 7 degrees!
18. I am excited to move!
19. Hard times make you stronger!
20. Forgivness is ESSENTIAL!
21. You can't trust everyone-sometimes even your friends!
22. Vacations are pretty much a must!
23. Vacations with out your kids are sometimes a must as well!
24. Teaching 15 violin students with 3 kids at home is hard!
25. My $75 Kodak Camera is such a let down!
26. Regan scored MAJOR points by getting me a new Canon camera!
27. I need to play more with my kids!
28. I love jamming to my ipod!
29. Cleaning your house when jamming to your favorite tunes isn't that bad!
30. Your family will always be there for you!
31. It is important to have good girl friends to talk to!
32. It is wonderful to have a great baby!
33. I really need a toy room in our next house!!
34. Keeping carpets clean with 3 kids is hard!
35. The magic eraser is my new best friend!
36. Playing in an orchestra is therapeutic.
37. Playing in an orchestra with your sister is so much fun!
38. Enjoying the last year of my 20's wasn't as great as I thought!
39. Practicing the hymns before playing the organ in church is essential!
40. Even when you are a mom of 3, you still get embarrased!
41. Even when you are a mom of 3, you still can get hives!
42. Facebook is interesting.
43. Having your kids have good friends is a huge blessing!
44. Teaching violin lessons for 10 years was a good thing for me!
45. Retiring temporarily from violin teaching will be a good thing for me!
46. I missed boating with my friends this year!
47. Scratches on your wood floors and dings in your walls are inevitable with 3 kids!
48. Going to Walmart without kids can be quite an enjoyable experience!
49. I am going to miss my Friday Night Babysitting Co-op more than I know!!
50. Freezer Meals are pretty much a must for me!
51. I miss my Grandpa Anderson & Papa a lot!
52. I need to read my scriptures MORE!
53. I need to take some quiet time for myself everyday-even if it is 5 minutes!
54. I LOVE to decorate!
55. I am so excited that 2009 is over-time to start off 2010 the right way!
56. I am going to miss having friends that I trust watching my kids!
57. I love doing bulletin boards at Riley's school!
58. I realized after volunteering in Riley's classroom that I really miss teaching!
59. I love having a free day when dieting!
60. Good Exercise Music is essential to a good workout!
61. The Biggest Loser is my FAVORITE Show-so inspiring!
62. I want to work out with Jillian Michaels one day!
63. I miss my friend Britta who moved to California!
64. I love girls trips-revitalizing!
65. I LOVE family vacations!
66. I want to become a wedding coordinator!
67. I love playing with my quartet at weddings!
68. I love that my kids like playing the violin!
69. I want to complete my children's book and get it published in 2010!
70. I have learned a lot more than 70 things, but this is a start!
2009 was a hard year for me, but I am ready for 2010 to come so I can work on being a better mom, wife and person! Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of things to be grateful for, but let's just say that I am ready to move on to a new adventure and am excited for the start of a new year-a new beginning!
WOW! Life is totally crazy with trying to sell our house, violin recitals, and LIFE! Here are a few pics of some of the things we have been doing this month so far!
{Jazz Game with Riley, Festival of Trees & This is the Place monument Christmas Concerts for Riley, Cookie Exchange party!}
We are having an open house this Saturday from 11-2:00 so hopefully someone will fall in love with our house! In the meantime, I am always cleaning the house and decluttering closets to make it look awesome!
Here are pictures of the girls room, and Riley's room!
{I wish these rooms would always stay this nice and clean
"take a picture it will last longer!"}
This scrapbook room/laundrey room is pretty much my favorite room in the house! Even though it is the smallest room in the house, I love going in there to do my scrapbooking & crafting!
Here are some pictures of our home! We got the pictures taken last night and now they are up on the MLS! I always knew our home was totally beautiful, but after seeing these pictures, I am in love with our house. When I saw this house on utahrealestate.com 5 years ago, I fell in love with it and thought that I could live here for the rest of my life. Since that isn't going to happen, it still makes it hard to part with this home. It has been a huge part of our lives. Riley was 1 when we moved in, Sunny & Elle came home to this house after being born.
This is a great home and I am happy we could live in it for these past 5 years!
