"You're Abe Froman?"

No wasting time here. I am going to mush January and February into one short post. Plus, my quote has nothing whatsoever to do with the content of this post but you are still encouraged to guess it - don't google, that's cheating.

January was supposed to begin with a few birthdays but, unfortunately for my family, Grampa Elison stole the spotlight. He passed away at the beginning of the month and a good chunk of the family was able to make it to Idaho for the funeral. It was a bitter-sweet funeral; it's always sad to let go of someone you love but we sure were happy that he'd be able to be with Gramma again. While I wasn't able to attend the funeral, I'm glad I made the trip to Idaho to visit with him last summer. He was a real good guy.

Grampa Keith M Elison and me

Jason and I were able to attend a strengthening marriage class put on by the church. Jason affectionately changed the name to 'Love Class' and we were the only couple in our group to attend every single class - even though we were late every single time. Even with our tardies we still passed the class and apparently we can stay married forever now. We thought the class was great and we recommend it to anyone even if you're not married yet.

Adri's new watercolors

I might have mentioned before, but I got a new calling to teach the Sunbeams at church. Originally it was supposed to be an older class but they switched me at the last minute and Adri was thrilled to have me as one of her teachers. We have about six kids in class and they all need to go to the bathroom at different times. Four of the kids are boys and I was at a loss for words when one of them told me he needed to go because I had no idea what to do when helping a boy in the bathroom. The first time a Primary leader let me off the hook and took him herself but the second time I decided I would need to know how to do this eventually so I took him. I really didn't have to do much, in fact I ended up doing too much when I handed him some toilet paper. He gave me a confused look and informed me that boys don't have to wipe. Boys are weird. Other than that, as long as I have a bucket full of snacks with me every Sunday they all stay pretty happy. It's a fun calling and will mark my sixth year working in the primary. I'm guessing they're going to keep me in there until I don't want to leave then transfer me somewhere else.

Reading stories with Daddy while he's trying to eat dinner

We got snow a few times in January and I got to show off my shoveling skills once again. One time someone came out while I was shoveling and I actually thought he might show appreciation for all my hard work (I think I appreciate it more than anyone). As he looked my way the only thing he did was to inform me that Adri was eating the snow. In my experience Indian parents have an unhealthy fear of their children eating snow. I've always thought it was okay to eat as long as it was two inches or so off the ground. I'm not sure what they think snow is made of but as long as it's not yellow it can't be that bad, can it?


Along with the snow and the shoveling came skiing. That's right, Jason finally got to return to the slopes after a 5 year absence. He prepared by working out in the early morning and again after the girls went to bed for two weeks, hoping that he wouldn't be exhausted after only a few runs. I guess his plan worked because he skied from morning until night and said he had a great time even though skiing isn't nearly as fun here as it is in Utah.

Jason with some people I don't really know and a guy who fell

asleep during the picture taking process

And now to copy a friend of mine, I'll sum up the rest of these two months with a short list of quotes and such from the family:

Adrienne

First an explanation of what is wrong with her face in this picture: On her lip is a healing cold sore - a lovely trait from my side of the family. Under her nose is a healing scab from when she had a cold and blew her nose so many time that we scraped all the skin off. Under her eye, well, maybe we got some pizza sauce up there. I'm not really sure what we had for lunch that day.

Quotes:

Sunbeams are known to give hilarious answers to questions asked during Primary. The question was, what are things Jesus wants us to do?

Adri: Eat foods! Play! I have Barbies and a boy Barbie . . . "

On a warm day we went on a walk and Adri ran around screaming the whole time.

Me: Why are you screaming so much?

Adri: Because it's fun!!

Adri is getting good at saying her prayers. Sunday prayers are funny because she'll incorporate church lessons into them.

Adri prayer #1: Thank you we cannot get buyed to the bad guys like Jesus.

Adri prayer #2: Thank you that we cannot let the bad guys get our babies like baby Moses.

Apparently the whole "boys don't like Barbies" thing did not help Adri like her brother better. One day she asked me if some boys like flowers and Barbies. Apparently she's looking for another sibling she has things in common with. Maybe that's why she was so ticked off after the ultrasound.

New interests: figuring out what letter words start with, climbing into the crib with Juliet in the mornings, dinosaurs, her cousin's ballet class and swim team

Juliet

New nickname: Juju

Accomplishments: Can blow her nose, the Juju FLOP (video coming soon), feeding herself

Quotes:

I don't know. (She likes to use this one after we don't understand her and ask her what she just said)

This is my idea of fun! (A song from The Swan Princess)

This is a rhinoceros. This is a mommy. This is a big mess. (Maybe she's giving herself a vocab quiz)

Here, here Mommy. I wanna read a story. I want Lady and the Tramp. (One her favorite books. She would sit and read stories all day if I didn't have other things for her to do)

What's so funny, Daddy? (Mostly she asks this when we're laughing at her)

I don't have another picture of Jason to put up but I do have a quote. Since I have been feeling better I started making Jason's lunch again. One day one of his co-workers noticed and asked, "Your wife makes you lunch?!"

Jason: It's the first time in three months! It's about time!!


There are no quotes from me because I don't write things down after I say them. I'm sure I said at least two funny things during these months. If you can think of one of them I'll send you a prize. The only thing I can remember from these months is that I've started listening to books on my ipod at work and now I feel awesome because I'm starting to "read" again. And I found an excellent bathroom cleaner because apartment bathrooms are, shall we say, icky. It's called X14 and it rocks.

Lastly, a note to my mother.

Dear Mom,

I am fine, how are you? In reference to your earlier question, here is a picture of my girls in their new beds. I know you have been wondering what we would do with the new baby and where all the kids would sleep and now I have found the perfect solution. I have two laundry baskets that the girls seem to be quite fond of. I threw in a pillow and a few blankets and, presto! It's a toddler bed! At this rate I figure I could fit at least 5 babies into that bedroom. I hope this puts your mind at ease and reaffirms to you that I am a responsible mother.

Love, Annie