discovery gateway

last week, we took will and met his cousins at discovery gateway.

simon played with this for at least 20 minutes, and i'm sure he could've easily stayed there for another 3 hours.

i love how chubby will looks in this picture. good stacking, dude.

needless to say, we'll be going back.

livin' large in LA

last week peter, will, and i went to LA to visit my family. we had a full house and a fun time. cort, kim, and their daughter kate are all staying at my parents' home while kim is on bed rest, whitney and her two kids came up for the week, and my grandma margie also came into town. so, the bedrooms were all full, kids laughter (and whines and screams . . . ) rang throughout the air, and we went on lots of fun outings.

we also hung out at home a lot, and will had a fun time playing in the big playhouse in the backyard.

and then we took william to disneyland for the first time. i think he had a fun time. until he found out he was on a leash . . . hey, don't judge me. with a runner like will, a parent's gotta do what a parent's gotta do.

we had fun going on the bug's life rides, riding through monstropolis with monsters inc., and going on the carousel.

we also took will to a farmer's market in glendale that had a little petting zoo. will loved it half the time and hated it half the time. personally, i could have done without the goats . . .

little kate loved every second of it. she is seriously one with animals.

and our little cowboy definitely did NOT like the pony ride. but it was a fun adventure!

and then i got to meet up with my good friend, lorraine and her adorable kids at the long beach aquarium. such a fun outing with such a fun friend!

In Memoriam

My dad passed away one week ago today.

I just wanted to say thank you to many of you who reached out to my family and me over the last week. The outpouring of love and support has been overwhelming. Thank you.

Ronald Mackay Frandsen

February 14, 1946- December 27, 2010

Christmas 2010

Well. Christmas has come and gone. It was maybe that craziest we've had in a long time. But it was definitely fun being home in Utah for all the festivities...

tuesday night:

we drove down to lehi to my sister's house for our second annual gingerbread housing decorating extravaganza (not pictured, still waiting for the pics). i don't think emily, zach and i won the competition, but we did have some awesome roof shingles to show for it.

thursday night:

each year on the 23rd of december, it's the frandsen family christmas party with all of my dad's siblings and always a good time. we always do a sub for santa for a family in the neighborhood of the aunt/uncle who hosts that year. then at dinner, there is always a lively discussion about politics, sports (namely utah vs. byu banter), or movies, and this year wasn't any different. at the end of the night, grandpa frandsen likes to tell stories, bear testimony, and finish up with a cat vs dog fight for all the kids that he's been doing probably since i was will's age or before. will got to see the fight super up-close this year. i'm not sure he really knew what he was getting himself into.

friday:

this year since we would be sleeping at my mom's house on christmas eve, we figured we should stretch out the present opening activities as long as possible. so we started on wednesday or thursday night, and then finished up most of the presents we were giving to each other on friday morning, leaving the ones from my parents/siblings for christmas day.

emily got me my long coveted obama chia head and apple's magic trackpad, plus some other cool stuff. and i made emily this wooden bike rack from a design she found on one of her craft/design blog months ago. william thought it was necessary to inspect my work to make sure it was good enough for his mother. i made two. one for emily's road bike, and one for my yet-un-purchased road bike...

and will got a million cars/trucks/things with handles, and noise makers. he couldn't have been happier.

friday night:

we have always done christmas eve with the ushio side (my mom's side) and this year wasn't any different. we played the usual games (like a reading of the night before christmas for money), acted out the nativity scene (will was both a sheep and a donkey at various points), put the little ones to bed, and started the real games. boys against girls again like always, and like always, not a very prudent decision.

before we could put the kids to bed we had to sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn to guide the flyers to the right house.

saturday morning:

christmas morning was chaotic and awesome. running down the stairs and into the family room was almost more than william could handle. all the kids loved their toys and santa hooked everyone up.

william got a sweet tool/work bench that was a big hit with the kids of all ages. for some reason, will liked putting the snake light up to his forehead, which made his mother cringe...

plus sometimes he had more fun sitting on his presents fully wrapped, that is until he got them unwrapped...

this is a lap blanket that emily crocheted for my dad when he gets cool sitting in his wheelchair. he and my mom loved it. what a talented little craftster i married...!

we finished the day off by leaving my kind mother stranded to put 6 crazies to bed so the we could all go see True Grit. great flick. thanks mom for watching the little ones...

all in all it was a great christmas. like i said, maybe the wildest we've had in a long time. but i only imagine them getting wilder for the next several years to come...!

speaking of high school . . .

just came across this picture yesterday. oh memories . . .

annual christmas party

this year we had our high school friends' christmas party at our house. we had a lot of fun, although we sure did miss steph, ade, and michelle. we ate some food, had some laughs, reminisced about high school (sorry hubbys . . . ) and exchanged some awesome white elephant gifts. here are a few pics of everyone showing off their new treasures. for sure the award for "most creative" goes to christy, who made two t-shirts with a couple classic high school sayings: "preesh" and "let's go somewhere and promise to be friends for ever." i'm not exactly sure who coined "preesh;" it was one of the boys--reese or josh or dj or someone. and the second saying is from our darling dede. who else could have come up with such a classic phrase???

here are nick and jamie showing off their new shirts.

christy and les with their enema, desk clock, and kitty calendar.

dede with her new bump-it and james not displaying his home pregnancy test and tweezers with a built in light.

amy, pheobe, and dj with their "preesh" shirt and music playing snowglobe.

and peter and me with our bath glove and Teachings of Joseph Smith book. hmm. i guess someone knew that we need to be better about reading the lessons before sunday . . .

thanks for such a fun night everyone!