The Big Number 6

OK - funny note. My daughter is not actually named Anushka. I've had quite a few people ask 'how do you pronounce your daughter's name?' or 'what is your daughter's name??' It's just a nickname... And, btw, we didn't name our son 'Diggity' either :)
SO - today was my girl's birthday but it has been a birthday celebration all week - and her actual party is yet to come!
One of her favorite gifts wasa pair of mocassins to go with the Pocahontus costume she picked out at Disneyland.Friday, we took advantage of Alta's free run after 3:00 and took Anushka skiing for the first time. She was her usual trooper self and hung in there even after a pretty spectacular, bone shaking crash.

With her two best buds out of town, we postponed her party for a week. However, the four of us did some fun miniature golfing on Saturday...
A few friends came by on Sunday for parfaits (Anushka is a fan of Fancy Nancy) - 'that's a fancy way of saying 'sundaes'...It was baby mania here with our friends - two newborns and one on the way (not from us)...

Everybody's Got A Laughing Place...

says Uncle Remus. "Trouble is most people don't bother to go and look for it." My definition of a laughing place is one that is good for the soul - just being there makes you feel better, more balanced. I have a couple. Tip top of the list is Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach in San Diego, California.

Many years before I served there as a missionary (how weird is that?!), San Diego - and more specfically, P.B., was 'the' place for me.So last week, we fled the inversion and 20-degree-weather and headed south. The weather was beautiful - the water was NOT warm. That didn't stop my brave little 5-year-old.
The kids loved climbing around on the rocks at La Jolla.
After a couple of completely perfect beach days, we headed to 'The Happiest Place on Earth" - it didn't disappoint.

Our kids' first ride ever was in search of the infamous Captian Jack Sparrow on 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Diggity dug meeting Winnie the Pooh (while Anushka was off getting wet on Splash Mountain).
They loved meeting all the characters.

My personal favorite princess that Anushka met was Jazmine (she was the nicest and seemed to actually like kids).

If you've never been to the Pixar parade at California Adventure, let me recommend it! It was a blast for the kids and the parents :)
Jedi training was also cool...
I have to just say how proud I was of Anushka. She is one brave kid - seriously, there was no ride she wouldn't try. Her favorites were Space Mountain and Tower of Terror. In the line for TOT, she was BY FAR the smallest person. I saw a kid that looked about 9 years old and he was the next smallest. They snap a picture of you while you're on the ride and almost all of the adults were squeezing their eyes shut or looking terrified - but my girl had a huge grin on her face. It was awesome!
Diggity and Anushka are really each other's best buddy - we had so much fun watching them together.

Definition of a Diggity

Curse Facebook! time sucking machine that it is... As always, I'll try to live up to the deli family and get some posts out there.
Today it's all about the Diggity Boy

Definition: little ball of constant energy requiring little to no sleep;

Climbs furniture, counters, toilets; Hides in cupboards, under blankets, and in plain sight. Likes to sing Jesus wants me for a Sun 'Blink'. Likes letter 'L' as in 'marshlallows', 'hot chloclate' Can be manipulated using reverse psychology especially when one desires kisses and hugs.

LOVES his big sis, Isaiah (he calls him 'MYsaiah), his racecars, Abi, Hunter and talking to anyone with whom he crosses paths.
His scary face

Happy Face

Funny Face

Mad Face

In a nutshell, he's a boy with the ability to make me want to drop kick him one minute and within a few seconds want to kiss him to death. We are crazy about that boy - potty accidents and all!

Winter Fun

An evening iceskating at the Gallivan Center followed by Christmas lights has become one of our favorite holiday traditions. About a week ago, the temperature was still in the 50s - that's too warm for us so we waited until it dropped to the 20s before we ventured out.
Are kids just impervious to the cold? I don't know how Diggity could stand to sit right in the snow - even with snow pants on that had to get chilly...
Anushka may have not be the most coordinated child on the planet but "she's tougher than steel" according to Whitt. She probably fell on the ice 50 times while iceskating and never cried and never quit. By the end of the evening she could make it around the rink without holding on.
A couple weekends ago, LB went to Bryce Canyon with some good friends to help decorate The Stone Canyon Inn for Christmas. On our way home, we stopped in Escalante for lunch and to hike around some cool rock formations.
This is the view from the balcony of the inn at sunset.

Yesterday, Anushka got to be 'Santa Lucia' in her school class and we talked about Christmas in Sweden.
Diggity was her star boy and for once he behaved. I was worried he'd start hitting people with his star but he was great.
At the end, our litte Lucia served cookies to her class. It was a lot of fun.

48-24...We WON the Bet & the MWC!

WAY TO GO UTES!!!
After the blue decorations our friends put up last year, I have literally dreamed of this day for a year. I just never had any idea it would be quite this sweet - undefeated season, MWC champs, and BCS bound - again!
Tonight, we got together with some fellow Ute fan friends for the game. We felt some stress in the first half but the second half was all Utah. The moment it ended, we headed straight to our cougar-fan friend's house with the U Fight song blaring. Here are a few shots of the house after we were finished...

BB made that red U and it actually lights up - so cool! Our friends (sitting in the middle) were great sports about the whole thing. They came out while we were decorating and laughed along with us while we painted their house RED RED RED...

Funny Conversation

I was eavesdropping on Anushka and her friend today and here is a sampling:

Friend: I'm smarter than you because I'm older than you.
Anushka: Not all older people are smarter than younger people.
Friend: OK maybe we're the same smart. But what about your mom? My mom is always smarter than me.
Anushka: My mom is smart but sometimes she's not even as smart as me. Like I know the capital of Greenland and she doesn't even know that!

~sigh~

10 & 0 baby!