Luke swim meet

Luke beat Tristen in 100 fly. Took 2nd in the 500 yd free and got 59 sec 100 yard free style! He may be the fast freestyler in the family right now. I think only Mark and I ever broke the minute barrier, GO LUKE!!!!

DisneyWorld Preparations

Since we got back to somewhat normal life after New Years, we have been spending all of our spare time getting ready for our Disneyworld trip! Larry has been combing through all of these websites for tips while we are there and what to bring. I've been ready this enormous book that details everything about Disneyworld. We'll be gone from Jan 17-29, so we got a 10 day pass to the parks. To get the kids ready, we've rented Disney movies, watched Disneyworld Vacation planning movies that show some of the attractions, and talked it up. We even had friends over last night for dinner, then home movies of Disneyworld. They even brought some of their souvenirs. I can tell that the kids aren't even comprehending the scale of Disneyworld yet. I think they'll just have to experience it for themselves. They are so excited to ride on an airplane, have warm weather, and visit the beach, too.

We are SO excited!

Christmas Vacation in Utah

Our Christmas vacation began a couple weeks ago when we loaded up in the van and headed to Utah. The kids loved all the snow there. At a rest stop on the Utah border, Derek ran out of the van, into the snow, and promptly did a snow angel. (As the snow started melting a few minutes later he realized why we wear boots and coats for that sort of thing!) Needless to say, the kids got lots of time outside and made snowmen as soon as they could. We also had a really fun sledding trip to the Old Main hill on USU campus. Even Lindsey loved it.
After looking through all the drawers in the house, Lindsey quickly mastered the stairs and walking- now she rarely crawls or goes on her knees.


Christmas morning was so exciting for all of us. I have to admit that I woke up at 5:50 and couldn't go back to sleep. Finally, a little after 7:00, I started slamming my bedroom door to wake them up! It worked, and the kids really ripped through all of their presents. Some of the highlights- Miranda got an easel and Barbie lifejacket, Derek got Star Wars stuff and baseball gear, Spencer got some train things and tools, and Lindsey got a doll and doll stroller. They got several collective gifts- Legos, Play-Doh stuff, and Larry's old Star Wars figures.

Merry Christmas!

We got our Christmas tree on Saturday- a beautiful Grand Fir. Our realtor treated us to a free tree and lunch. The kids ate their hot dogs, but used the buns to feed the ducks by the pond. Spencer loved looking at the ducks, and Derek harassed them by chasing them and yelling. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the tree is great.

We also got an early Christmas present from my parents- a can rotater. Derek and I put it together, and the boys just loved "racing the cans" as you put them in the top and they roll down below. They think it's a great toy. Now all we need is to get more canned foods to fill it out! Thanks, dad!

Birthdays!

Derek and I both hit some big milestones this month. Derek turned 5 and I turned 30. Yikes!

Derek's birthday was a family party- all Star Wars themed. We watched Derek's first Star Wars movie- 'A New Hope'. It was funny because he already knew all the characters and the plot from his books and his computer game. He still enjoyed it, though- the Darth Vader heads filled with candy and the pretzel rod "lightsabers" helped make it festive. I made him a Darth Mal lightsaber cake. It is a 2-sided lightsaber, so I made his cake about 4' long. He got a bunch of micromachine Star Wars scenes from us (they are things like the Death Star that open up to have a scene from the movie with little characters to play with). He also got Star Wars Legos 2, a black backpack for school, and a magnetic calendar. So, all of his gifts were perfect.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was such a strange day! Some really unusual things happened- like the van battery being dead, so we had to jumpstart it, one of my spoons fell into my mixer while it was going and splattered my cake batter everywhere, Spencer peed in the sand outside, and the babysitter wasn't home when I went to pick her up. But, after Larry got home things were nice. He gave me 2 dozen beautiful roses, nice cleaning gloves, a big cheese grater, and some weightlifting gloves (all things I asked for, by the way). We had my favorite Jello cake, and then we went out for dinner with 7 other couples to my favorite resterant. Afterwards, we came back to the house for some games and a slideshow of me. It was really nice. Larry is such a wonderful husband for making it all happen. After everyone left we sat on the couch and fell quickly fell asleep.

Christmas Card Pictures

Christmas Letter 2007

Merry Christmas, Everyone!
As usual, it has been another wonderful, crazy year for us. It seems like days just zoom by with all of the activity that is in our home.

Probably the newest thing for Larry this year has been the weight loss competition that he started in April and ended in August. Through lots of running (up to 90 miles in one week) he was able to win the contest and use his prizes to buy his new plasma TV. Since then, he has been weightlifting to build up muscle again, and has met his goals so far. He is still at Intel, and continues to be a diehard BYU and Blazer fan. GO LARRY!

As for me, life is relatively the same, except busier this year. One big highlight of the year was my trip to Disneyland with my mom and sister. It was so fun to hang out and be kid-free for a few days! Let’s just say that things got a little wild at times! Other than that, I teach Spencer’s preschool occasionally, go to the gym, play the piano and organ at church, and teach the 8 year old cub scouts. Sometimes I even manage to read a book or go shopping.

Miranda is really growing up! She’s 6 ½ now. She still loves to be creative and make things. She even had one of her paintings in the Hillsboro Art s Center for a while. Miranda is now in first grade and laments that she doesn’t get to play as much as Kindergarten, but she is doing well, and enjoys her friends as much as ever. She is very sensitive to others feelings and is always ready to cheer up anyone who is feeling sad.

Derek just turned 5. Since his first introduction to the world of Star Wars his summer, he has been ADDICTED! It’s all he can talk about. You should have seen his excitement to get the ‘Star Wars Visual Dictionary’ at the library. He poured over it for hours. Other than that obsession, Derek has learned to write, and loves to watch sports (thanks to Larry). He wants to know how everything works and why. He loves to read, play with his best friends, and dance around and make silly sounds. He’s quite a character.

Spencer continues to be our fun-loving little boy. He’s now 3, and says the funniest, most random things. He constantly thinks that his finger is falling off because he has hangnails. He also says that there are dragons under his bed, but they aren’t scary. And whenever we eat grapes, he sticks them in his cheeks and says, “Touch my cheek!” And you’d better, or he’ll keep asking. Spencer has a VERY active imagination and can spend long periods of time playing in the sandbox, with his stuffed animal dog, or with a pile of blankets. Once I found him with two orange cones on his feet. “Mom, look at my ice skates!” he exclaimed.

Lindsey is 1 now, and finally walking. Actually, she walks 1/3 of the time, crawls 1/3 of the time, and walks on her knees 1/3 of the time. She is quite opinionated with the foods she likes. She really loves being in water and watching people do silly things. She has even started some antics herself. She’s got us all wrapped around her little finger!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas Season!

Love,

Larry, Michelle, Miranda, Derek, Spencer, and Lindsey Dickinson