December Activities

Here in Utah every Christmas you have to go see the lights at temple square. It is tradition, and pretty much every one does it! It is always beautiful. Olivia took a nap on the way over this year and if you know Livie, you know she turns into a BIG crab if she takes a nap. It takes her about an hour to snap out it. So- pretty much the whole time we were walking around looking at lights Olivia was a crab. She was pushing her sister, giving people crusty looks, and complaining all the way. Other then that, the trip was nice ;) The weather was perfect that night and Claire was sweet as a peach. We've had quite a lot of snow the past few days. We had a couple feet to shovel off the drive way. It is beautiful, but cold and wet!

Merry Christmas

This is a thank you letter to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. It was Olivia's idea to write them a letter to say than kyou for what they did. The pictures are of Mary on a donkey, Jesus in the hay, and Joseph just standing there. I love her art work! She is just so sweet.

Cindy... WHO?

We were told Olivia looks like Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch... What do you think? I say of all the who's I would definitely want to look like Cindy Lou!!

So cute

The girls are so funny. Most days they put on clothes they find around the house. The other day Claire put on my big warm socks ;) Other days it is undies on the head and they call them hats!

Let there be light!

We finally did it! We have lights on our house! And they actually look good! We have had bad bad luck when it comes to lights. I mean this is our 6th Christmas together and we have finally done it right. We hired a professional!!

Every year we have tried to get lights up and every year we have failed. Our first year (pictured below) we accidentally purchased indoor lights and they looked terrible. I think we put them up again the 2nd year anyway. The 3rd year we purchased outdoor lights but the were "cool"white and they made our house look like a creepy halloween house. They were also not very straight and we had lights in places they shouldn't be. We couldn't figure out how in the world you put lights in only the spots you wanted them. Then last year we tried again, but we just couldn't find lights ANYWHERE like what we wanted. So this year- we hired a professional. Now we have a set of lights that will fit our house perfectly every year. And they are pretty colors. ;)
wow- it looked really awful....sad!

The Holidays are here

We have had a busy week. We had Thanksgiving over at Scott and Brittas, we had a baby party for Claire and Luke, and we had fun hanging out with my parents who drove about 40 hours in total to see us! Yes- Cliare does not turn 2 until the end of December- but we celebrated early with family. Although- I'm sure she'll have another small party on her Birthday too! Sorry I do not take enough good pictures during events... I am just not good at event photography I guess!

Grandma and Liv

Luke turns 1 and had his own cake!

Grandpa and Liv

Emma at Thanksgiving helping out with dishes

mini me

Most amazing Cheese cake

I have spent the past 2 days making a cheese cake. I checked out a book at the library all about cheesecake and I was going CRAZY to make one! I've had the book less then a week... ;) It is a great book!
It took a lot of time and effort to make the cake, but I LOVED making it! It was really pretty fun. I was so very impressed with myslef because the cheese cake didn't crack or sink or crumble. It was really a perfect cheese cake. The top half is chocolate moose and the very top is chocolate ganache. I think it turned out so beautifully. I have only eaten a sliver to make sure it tastes good. We will eat the rest after dinner tonight! I can't wait. I may gain a few pounds from it though. It tastes AMAZING! I am so happy to have made a good delicious cheese cake! Now I won't have to buy them! Although- to make it was REALLY pricey (like $20 of ingredients) Yikes...

Tinker Bell Buns

Anyone who has a little girl may know that it is difficult to get them to want to do their hair every day. Who can blame them? I myself would rather not do my hair any day. In order to get Liv excited about hair we make up names for hair styles. This style is called "tinker bell buns".

Cute Girls

Halloween 2010

We were bugs for Halloween this year while Brett was the bug killer. That is scary, right!? Thanks for letting me borrow your dress Kristen!

Picture Update

This is no-theme sorta boring post... What to do with random pictures kind of post...

We went on a nature walk and collected leaves and flowers. The girls loved collecting stuff off the ground
The girls watching TV before bed. Don't they look so darling together?

These pictures are from the day that the girls got out the box of 12 month old clothes that hadn't been packed away yet. Claire took off her pants and diaper and added on from there,while Liv stripped down to panties and tried on every shirt and dress she could manage to squeeze on.

This is a picture of my new hair cut and color... I am still contemplating cutting the front a little shorter because it looks a little too disconnected for my taste, but all in all it is fun to have a new cut.

My first 5K

Warning: I ramble. this is a lot of reading. This is why I don't write much on my blog. I can't sum things up. I like to keep going and going...

I did it. I ran my first 5K EVER. I had decided some time like 5 or 6 months ago that I wanted to put the scriptures to the test. It promises that if you keep the word of wisdom you will "run and not be weary". Or something like that. I should really look that up.... but I'm lazy. Anyway I told my sister-in-law Britta I was thinking about giving running a 5K try and she said "lets do it together!" The fact that Britta committed me to this made a world of a difference. She was my supporter through it all ;) Thanks Britta. You are awesome.

Now let me tell you about the journey. I am NOT a runner. I have always done plenty of exercising. I have tried running in the past but have never gotten far. I really really do not like running. I would go about 3 minutes and feel out of breathe and exhausted. I just felt like I could NOT do it. I figured some people were runners and some were not. I left it at that until I pondered that scripture. Run and not be weary.... really, could that be possible? I thought if the Lord promises it then it must be true. I have never been able to run and not feel like I was about to die. In the beginning I had not even run 1 mile with out stopping to walk.

So I started. It was ROUGH. I sweat more then I have ever sweat. I worked harder and more consistently then I ever have. It was lots and lots and lots of hard hard work. Like I said- I don't like running so it made it difficult to stick with it. I did though- I ran 3-4 times a week usually pushing myself harder then I thought possible.

I ran into lots of obstacles. We went on a trip to Oregon and I had a really hard time running while I was away. When I got back home I thought I should give up because I pretty much had to start from the beginning again since I didn't run while I was away. Britta said no and I re-committed to my torture ;)
I got shin splints. If you've ever had them you know how bad they can get. I prayed and asked for help. I was so close to finishing I didn't want to stop after so much work. I kept running and miraculously my shin splints never got any worse.
A few nights before my race I got a really bad pain in my arm. I thought I had a blood clot or something. The next day I had bad chest pains. We looked over the internet and it seemed I fit the signs of a heart attack! I was freaked out! I was thinking that if I ran I could possibly die!

The morning of my race I had sharp chest pains around my heart. I was crying and so confused if I should run or not. I called Scott (Bretts brother who is almost a Doctor) he told me he thought I was safe to run and it was probably anxiety. I still felt scared so Brett gave me a blessing. I was told that if half way through my race if I had chest pains I should stop and walk the rest of the way. In the blessing I was told that I would KNOW if I needed to stop running or not. Most of the time when I run I have chest pains- so I thought for sure I would be confused if I should walk or keep going.

I went to the race. Britta ran along side me. We talked. It was relaxed. We never stopped running. At the half way point I felt good. My chest didn't hurt at ALL. I knew I could keep running. We ran for 38 minutes. It went by pretty fast. Britta being next to me made me comfortable and reminded me that I could do it and it. Talking helped me realize that I had enough oxygen and I wasn't dying. I am so proud I over came something I never thought I could. I ran and I was not faint! I could have even kept going for another mile if I had to. I felt great at the end of the race!
The Book of Mormon is true. The Lord keeps his promises. He will bless you if you ask. He blessed me with strength, courage, and peace. With out the Lord I honestly don't think I could have done it. I was SO blessed through out my journey.





Here is the last part of the run. Britta is on the left and I am on the right.

This Weekend

This weekend
-I ran my first 5K (more on that later)
-Olivia got pink eye
-Claire drew all over the couches with a red permanent marker. We luckily got to it right away and for the most part got it all out. It was SO scary though! And when I say ALL over I mean she drew a LOT
-I thought I was going to die of a heart attack half the week end after showing all the signs of a heart attack. I had pains in my arm and chest pains and had no idea why. After much investigation we think it is just anxiety. I'm still going to the Dr to get it checked out though.

I'd say the last few days were just FULL of extra stress. It is just life though. We are off to Wal-Mart to get a prescription for the pink eye and ingredients for freezer dinners that I am putting together for Activity Days on Tuesday. Oh and Claire is standing here next to me diaper-less with poop hanging from her hands and bum. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Gotta go.

Daddys girl

Claire used to love me and pretty much only me. She is finally old enough to realize that her Dad rules and her mom needs some lessons in patience. My girls LOVE their daddy ;)

Happenings

Here are some of the photos taken on Bretts IPhone. They are of events in which we didn't bring our camera to- or just captured since the phone was sitting there ;) Oh I do love his Iphone. If you've never had the chance to play with one- don't... it makes you realize how bad a regular phone is ;) September 2010- Brett and I got to go on an OVER NIGHTER! My mom stayed with the girls so Brett and I could re-connect as a couple. It was sooo wonderful to be away for an extended amount of time. This was our 5 year anniversary get-away. We went to Lagoon, a movie, and out to eat. Thank you SO much mom. I didn't worry at all about the girls knowing they were with the BEST.
oh and I might add- the pic is quite nice. Shows my HUGE teeth and Bretts little teeth. hahaha

July 2010 we went to a local carnival. Liv loved the little kitty rides and rode them all by herself and enjoyed every minute of them!

September 2010- Liv and Brett went to a daddy/daughter camp out. They had fun, but it was frrrrreeeezing.

October 2010- we went to a BYU football game. BYU is really bad this year, but every time Brett attends a game they win! He is lucky! This was Claires 1st football game. Both the girls did great- with $20 worth of over priced food of course!

Lost

I lost my ring about a month ago. Sad. It was special. We designed it ourselves. I will admit it wasn't the best made ring I ever saw (it was hand made by the jeweler) but I still loved it. It was unique and different then any body elses ring. There is not another ring quite like mine.
The ring was a little too big and after wearing it for about 6 years now it must have fallen off and went in a trash or down a drain. Who knows. I have never taken it off except to get it cleaned. I now wear a fake $30 ring that is also still too big! I have ridiculously small fingers. It is starting to frustrate me.

Keeping Warm

As I remember back to last winter there is only 1 thing that I remember clearly. That is COLD feet! I bought my very first pair of boots 2 years ago to try and keep snow out of my shoes. Well- sadly they were not well insulated and not water proof. I ended up with freezing feet.
This year I made it some what of a goal to get WARM boots to keep snow OUT and hopefully keep my toes warm. This has proved to be VERY difficult! Most boots are made for fashion, not warmth. Then there are boots made for warmth, not fashion. So to find ones that were both was difficult. I ended up compromising. I got 2 pairs for less then $50 (also, most boots were VERY VERY pricey!) I think what I have should hopefully keep my feet a little warmer. The ones are leather (water-proof) and insulated and they have heels so I can wear them with dresses. The others were not exactly the cutest, but they were only $10- so I had to get them! They are very cozy and warm. I will have to try and water proof them though.
The girls have always had boots every year. Little legs get buried in snow FAST so you really have to have good boots on little people.
End of the story- now that I am a Utah resident of 8 years I think maybe I am on track to keeping my feet warm and snow free. About time huh? Can you believe I have lived here 8 years? That just blows my mind!

New Hair Cut

We cut off about an inch and a half. (maybe 2 in the back) What is the point in growing little strings anyway!? ;) I have my doubts that with my need to cut that Livs hair will ever be long! She told me after I cut it "I love it Mom! I always want my hair short!" (The curly picture is what it did naturally after we cut it- so cute!)

Latest Projects

I am finally getting around to making pillows for the living room couches. I did piping for the first time on them. (piping is the white edging) I also made Liv a skirt. I saw the fabric in the store, loved it and decided I needed to make something with it. I like how it turned out. I've also made 2 little Halloween skirts for the girls. I will wait to show pictures until Halloween! Those are the latest sewing projects. I love to sew! It is so fun to have a complete project to show at the end!

Fortune Cookies

Tonight we went out to a Chinese restaraunt. Claire was being her usual difficult self. There was the high pitched screaming, whining, crying, trying to stand on the table, etc, etc. We were trying our best to hurry eat and get out. So finally our waitress brought the check and some fortune cookies. We handed them out- and here was what Claire's said:
You constantly struggle for self improvement- and it shows
hahahaha, we had a good laugh over that. Seriously. Poor Claire- she is just at a hard age for just about EVERY thing! I just love the part that say "and it shows".

Twirl Dress

Gramma 'K' made Liv a beautiful dress. She is so talented! Olivia loves dresses, and she especially loves that Gramma 'K' made her one. As she ate her oatmeal this morning she said "Can I wear a bib? Gramma would be SOO mad if I got my dress dirty!"

Highlights

Olivias 4th Bday from Sarisker on Vimeo.

Here are some video from Liv's B-day. Ignore the fact that it goes on for like 2 minutes AFTER the video is finished... Sorry ;)

Torture

I am training for a 5K. I do not think I have ever put myself through so much torture in my life. I hate running with a passion. I want to do it just so I can see for myself that it can and will get easier. I am excited for the race- and I am excited for it to be over! Maybe by the end I will enjoy running!? Every one tells me the first 5K is the hardest.
So- any advice you have when it comes to running would be helpful. I know little, and I could use any help! Thanks! Oh- and if you are interested in running the race with me let me know! So far my sister-in-law Britta, and my sister Emma are coming! We would love to have a whole pack of runners!! It is Oct.19.

Bananas and Orange Juice

It is a tradition in the Knerr family to eat bananas and orange juice. I think my girls love it as much as I do!

Recipe:
*Cut bananas in slices
*Put sliced bananas in a bowl or a cup
*Pour Orange Juice on top
*Eat with a spoon (it is like eating cereal, only it's not)
*Enjoy.