Visiting Santa

Friday we went and visited Santa at the South Towne mall. Of course we go there at the beginning of Santa's break, so we enjoyed a lunch of corn dogs and cheese dogs on a stick. (When I was little, I remember going to the University mall with my mom and my grandparents. Every time we went, we would enjoy a cheese dog from the corn dog factory. Now we go to Hot Dog on a Stick at South Towne because it is close to my work). The girls loved their lunch and didn't mind the wait at all.

When it was time to finally get to see Santa, both girls had different feelings about seeing the big man. Jade was excited to tell Santa that she would like what ever he decided to give her. Ivy had no desire to see Santa. After all, she saw him at Disneyland. For Ivy, there were no smiles, just tears and fear.

As we walked up to Santa, Ivy grabbed my legs and started to cry. Jade jumped right up next to him and was good to go. After a few words with Ivy and Santa, Ivy and I walked back to stand behind the camera for pictures of Jade and Santa.

Such a sweet Santa. Although, I do wish Santa still wore his big red dress coat. His workshop clothes are fun, but they don't fit the fantasy and visions that I have of St Nick.

Oh the anticipation....

I seem to have created a bit of a stir. I'm so sorry to disappoint, but the more I hear what changes people think we might be making, the more I am sure the changes will only be big to me.

Here are some of the changes...

I am going to start focusing on my photography business. Which means I will have a new website and blog. Plus I'll be doing portfolio building mini-sessions. Those will be lots of fun.

http://www.singingandspinning.com/ will be disappearing and in its place will be http://www.thefamilytrifecta.com/ (don't try and go there yet- you won't find anything).

I will no longer be the only contributor to our blog, but my wonderful husband has agreed to contribute as well- which I am SUPER SUPER SUPER excited about. (See, that IS a big change).

There will be a few different parts to the blog and it will have a more focused purpose. In our family, we try very hard to find the balance between family, work, faith, play and home. We've agreed that if we are excelling in at least 3 of those areas then we're doing alright. We thought it might be fun to share how we do it, how we plan it, how we decide and sometimes how we miss that trifecta we're shooting for.

There will be different sections of the blog focused on family time (the journal), our faith (bringing Christ into your family), our careers (and pointers for keeping it in check while still advancing your career), creative (a place for recipes, projects and crafts), and daddy's corner (where Scott will be sharing).

While we are striving for the Family Trifecta, we have been implementing different activities in our home and we'll continue to experiment and share as we do so.

So, the changes aren't so big that they are "life changing" but they will be "family life changing" and a lot of fun.

If there are other changes made, I'll let you know, but in the next little bit you can look forward to the new blog and more on my photography business.

I'm excited, but I feel the anticipation was maybe a little too great.


***PS A trifecta is a horse racing bet when you pick the first three horses in the correct order they place.

A Blogoversary Announcement

Every day we are pulled in multiple directions- some pulls are out of obligation, some are out of faith and some are out of love. But with all of them, we have a goal of finding balance.

As we are try to reach this level of balance, Scott and I have decided to make some changes. Some little and some big but all of them will be exciting and we look forward to sharing them.

These changes will be rolled out over the course of the next few months. I hope you find them as rewarding and exciting as we think they will be.

Stay tuned.

**** to clarify, I am not expecting, we aren't moving, we aren't having job changes- so the changes are more small than they are big. And I guess I am probably the most excited about them. Who knows, you may not even notice the changes. But I am excited and looking forward to the new direction and focus.

Finally, a Christmas Tree

Earlier I mentioned that we have been slow to get in the holiday spirit. This year we didn't have any plans for get-togethers at our house, so we were considering doing minimal decor for the year. But, in the end, we were able to put together the Sanford-Fried-Oysters-traditional get-together our house. That was enough incentive to put up all of our Christmas decor. (Of course we haven't finished putting everything up, but we do have a tree).

Jade was responsible for the top half of the tree and Ivy had the bottom half to cover.

It is typically Scott's responsibility to put on the star. This year he let Jade put it on with his assistance.

When I was little, my mom would prep the tree before we (the kids) got to decorate it. I've carried that tradition on in my little family tree. I prepped the tree by putting on the little sparkle sprays throughout and then let the girls have at it.

You will notice, Ivy tends to clump everything together. I was getting a little impatient during the process and Scott had to remind me that it should be a good experience for the girls. I needed to be reminded that it is okay if the ornaments are in clumps, if there is nothing at the top of the tree and if they are making pained faces in the posed pictures.

After the reminder, everyone had more fun and the kids and Scott wrestled around the tree.

Look, another picture of me. Crazy how many pictures there have been of me recently. Scott keeps forgetting that I am the one that is behind the camera avoiding the front of the lens.

Lastly, I was so proud of myself, the other thing my mom used to do after we would decorate the tree and were sound asleep, she would redecorate the tree so that it would look more balanced. That tradition, I didn't carry on. I left the tree exactly as they decorated it. Believe me, it was hard, but I did it.

Polar Bear Swimming

Is 21 degrees too cold for swimming? We don't think so.

We went up to Crystal Hot Springs just outside of Brigham City. They have 5 different pools ranging from 71 degrees up to 104 degrees.

The girls have both been sick and we thought the natural minerals, the steam and salt would help clean out the girls' sinuses and get them feeling better. Jade spent most of the time diving underwater- so her sinuses were very cleaned out. Ivy loved the water and didn't want to ever leave.

We had a wonderful time and were really glad that Grandpa and Grandma were able to join us. (By the way, their house is coming a long beautifully, but they won't be in by Christmas.)

I have to say that the getting in was much worse than the getting out.

Once we were done, the girls got all bundled up again and were ready to face the COLD.

Brigham City is so....

Metropolitan.

Here's to all of my LDS friends out there who lived this story.

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

found here

The first signs of Christmas

This year the Christmas season started out a little slow. We didn't jump right in after Thanksgiving and get the house decorated for Christmas, we didn't start an advent calendar and we didn't start watching Christmas shows right away.

Luckily we did do something to get things in the holiday spirit- my mom gave us a gingerbread house to decorate (and I had purchased one as well).

The girls loved it and worked really hard to make them as pretty as they possibly could. They were such perfectionists doing it and spent so much time. I was really proud of them and how much it meant to them to make them beautiful.

For a week and a half, this was the extent of our Christmas decorations.

A noteworthy blog post

This week I read a blog entry that really made me think. You should read it too. Sometimes you learn important things by blog stalking.

Reflections Winners...

Remember when I talked about Jade's reflections entries? Well, guess what? She won for the visual arts and she took second for photography. She was so excited and surprised.

Jade's friend, Eden, won for 3D art.

Here is Jade with her two entries and her proud sister.

My new favorite thing to do at Disneyland...

Did you know that Disneyland can sometimes be just too much stimulation for young kids? They can start to get cranky and antsy and just not that much fun to be with? It's even worse if it's hot outside (which for us- that wasn't a problem- mid 70's the whole week). Anyway, Disneyland is a lot of fun but sometimes you need some down time. Some people that have kids will go back to their hotels and rest- that idea didn't sound like fun to us. Some will take in a show- but that too can add to the over stimulation. We found the perfect solution. In the back lot at California Adventure Park, they have an animation academy. In the animation academy, you can take 25 minute art classes. They teach you how to draw different characters every half hour. The kids LOVED it and so did the adults.

Our first class was Pluto (Ivy's absolutely favorite character). Our second class was Jack Skeleton. We only did two classes, but we also explored the rest of the Disney Animation attraction.

Scott, my dad, my mom, Jade, Ivy and I each gave it a try. Can you guess below who drew what? I'll give you number 1- Ivy. Heehee, you probably had guessed that one.

Leave me a comment and the first person to get all six Pluto's right will get a prize. And, the first person to get all six Jack's right will also get a prize.

Give it a try! Remember I listed the 6 of us above.

And, next time you go to Disneyland, take a half hour break and try your hand at sketching Disney characters.

Thanksgiving...

I love Thanksgiving Dinner. I love the turkey covered with gravy. I love the sweet potatoes and the mashed potatoes smashed next to each other on my plate. I don't love the cranberries. I love the stuffing with the left over gravy from my turkey. I love the rolls soaked in the gravy. I love starting the meal off with shrimp cocktail and I love ending it with pie.

This year was a little different. I have just been diagnosed with ulcers. Not from stress but from my anti-inflammatories I have been taking for the past year and a half for my foot. While diagnosing my ulcers, they found that my gall bladder isn't working perfectly. So, this year, I didn't get to dive into the food as much as I would have liked. Luckily, everything with my tummy is treatable and I'll be in good health in no time. I'll get to enjoy food the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

This year for Thanksgiving, we were with Scott's family. I love getting to spend time with them and getting to visit with his sister (and family) and cousin (and family). Scott's brother's family was sick, so they didn't make it. We missed them. Also, we missed almost all of his cousins - except Ryan and Brianna.

The food was yummy and the turkey was super moist. They cooked it in an electric roaster. We almost didn't have mashed potatoes, but I'm glad we did.

The kids didn't care much about eating- they just wanted to pretend they were dogs. They played the game for HOURS. Which actually made for some very nice grown up visiting time.

I was asked to bring pies. Since I'm not typically much of a baker, I had to turn to the family cookbook. My cousin in law, Jenny, is an amazing pie baker. So I used her recipe for Banana Cream Pie. It was delicious. The other pie, I experimented a little bit with. I sliced up 6 apples and mixed some of my homemade peach jam with the apples. It actually turned out pretty darn good- if I do say so myself. Super easy - with a minimal mess.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did.

Oh the difference 24 hours makes....

We went from this...

to this...

Each does the beach his own way

The men, and Dax (who is quickly becoming a man) did a bit of surfing in the really cold water.

The kids, except Ivy, played in the water and sand.
The tourists stopped and took pictures of the cute little blondies playing in the sand. Yes- true story. They had 4 different cameras going and each of them got down on the our girls' level. I was dying laughing but HAD to make sure I captured the moment. For Asher, it was a flash back to her time traveling around the world.

Ivy eventually warmed up to the sand, but by then it was time to go home.

Mac dug a hole as deep as his leg is long. It was an impressive hole and one that inspired the girls to try digging their own.

Jade danced and tumbled in the water. Of course she leaps and cartwheels where ever there is room.

Everyone enjoyed their time at the beach, doing what makes them happiest.

In fact, I have very similar pictures from our trip last year doing the same thing. See here, here, and here.

Tidepools in Malibu

Our first day with Tom, Anne and their family we enjoyed one of my favorite food spots of the LA area- Tito's Tacos. Some people think In-N-Out Burger is the place to eat in California but my favorite place is easily Tito's. I love their meat burritos They are huge and full of flavor and they bring back wonderful memories of my grandparents. (In fact, when I left on the airplane to Ukraine, my grandpa brought me a Tito's burrito for the trip).

Our plan for Friday was to go to the tide pools and play at the beach, but in California, the sun sets so early. Seriously, by 5:00 PM, the sun is gone. The next challenge we faced was that low tide was at 6:00 PM- after dark. So we figured we could get some tide pools if we left around four. That didn't leave much of a window for time to play in the tide pools.

We bundled up and were on our way with the two Andrus littles. Dax was with some school friends and Mac went to New Moon for his second time with a group from the church. (Yes, he saw the midnight movie and then went the next day).

We went to the tide pools up by the Colony in Malibu. We were right by the private beach. It was beautiful, a bit chilly and very quickly too dark.

Thanks, Tom and Anne for taking us to play in the sand for a while, and thanks Anne for being Ivy's little buddy while she stayed as far away from the water as possible.

Good Night Disneyland- We love you!

WE LOVE DISNEYLAND!!!

Things to know about getting sick at Disneyland....

Mickey's Fun Wheel is really a thrilling ride. It's one of those rides that leaves little ones wanting more (it was one of Ivy's favorites). It leaves adults looking for the "barf bags" on the side of the carriage.

Anne and my dad took all of the kids on the ride. The ride is vicious!!!! Anne was calling my mom during the ride letting her know that Dad wasn't doing well. Ivy would be "weee-ing" and giggling and would stop to check on Grandpa. By the time the ride was FINALLY over, Dad was not doing well. Anne hurried up to let us know that dad was really bad. I went over to him first. He was as white as a ghost, ice cold and soaking wet. By the time Tom got over to dad, he was doing worse. Tom grabbed my dad just as he went out. Dad went out two more times while Tom walked him to the bench.

Mom went and told someone that dad wasn't doing well and needed some help. No one came. She went back and said that she could call 911- so someone came and checked on him. Minutes later there were two nurses running up to take care of him.

Disneyland cast members formed a barricade around my dad and the nurses.

After the paramedics had come and been sent a way, the took Dad to the first aid room. He spent the next couple of hours resting.

Disneyland really does everything they can to maintain the happiest place on earth.

Oh the things to know...

1. If you need help- ask with panic and fear in your voice/actions. If you go calmly, they won't hurry.

2. In California it is against the law to take pictures of someone being medically administered to.

3. The first aid room is up above the tortilla factory.

4. If you are going to die- it won't be at Disneyland.

5. If you get as sick as my dad, they will give you a free wheelchair pass.

6. If there is a barf bag in the ride, and you get motion sick, get OFF the ride before it starts.

Grandparents ROCK

Friends are often telling me how lucky I am to have the parents that I have. I couldn't agree more. When I was little, I took for granted how important my grandparents were to our family- I hope my girls will always realize how lucky they are. They have two sets of grandparents that love them with all of their hearts and would do anything to show them how much they care.

We were really lucky to have my parents join us at Disneyland. It was nice that we had a little "family" vacation first with SeaWorld and Wild Animal Park, but as my girls have said numerous times, "Everything is more fun with Grandpa and Grandma."

I think it is really important to make sure we get lots of pictures with the girls and their grandparents- because those pictures will bring back memories and emotions that otherwise fade with time.

I love my parents and am so grateful for the relationship that they have with me, Scott and our girls. We are very blessed.

Want to know what's even better? My in-laws and my parents are great friends and when we have all four grandparents together there is more laughter and fun.