"I Think I Fell In Love"

We went to Sam's Club the other day, and much to Alec's delight there were "Sample Ladies" out. So we got our samples of dried fruit, and stuff. Then there was the sausage sample. Alec loves sausage, so we all took a sample and kept shopping.

Five minutes later.

Alec: "I can't stop thinking about that sausage. I think I fell in love."

We bought some sausage.

Presenting: Lilian Drake

She did it! Lily gave her first talk today in Primary!

I don't think you could even see her head over the little pulpit,

even with her standing on the pull-out step,

but she actually talked into the microphone, and only

whispered a couple of times (because I was whispering

to her, telling her what came next...). She was so stinkin' cute!

Way to go, Lily! Here's her talk:

I Love Jesus. He loves me.
Just like Him I want to be.
He helps people. I will too.
He shares scriptures that are true.
He was baptized. He did pray.
He does good things everyday.
I Love Jesus. He loves me.
Just like Him I want to be.

Happy Birthday Timmy!!!

This months is such a special one, it's birthday time for you!!! We'd really like to celebrate this special day with you...

Alec & Lily had a fun time decorating their own wrapping paper for Dad. They were so excited to give presents!

Tim thought it was great that they had his picture on the box for the "Perfect Pushup"...

This is what Alec & Lily thought of the "Perfect Pushup" equipment- "Look Mom! They're dancers! You just step in them and dance around!" Great times at the Drake house...

This was my favorite present to Tim. I made this picture and had it put on a mousepad for Tim to take to work. Too sweet!

I also made this for him. I have such silly kids! I don't know where they ever got that from...

Happy Birthday, Timmy!!!

You are my favorite person in the whole world. I love you!

Matt's back from Iraq!

My brother, Matt (a.k.a. Julie Andrews) is back from Baghdad! He has spent the last 15 months as an Aarabic linguist in Iraq. He said that he actually enjoyed his work, most of the time, and he worked in a palace. His next real job is going to have a lot of competition- except hopefully it will have an elevator. He said he had to go up 150 stairs in the palace to go to work, then down 150 stairs to go to meals, then back up 150 stairs to get back to work, then down 150 stairs.... It sounds like he is the stair master. He mastered those stairs...

Megan finally got to meet her crazy Uncle Matt!

She wasn't so sure about him at first, but I'm sure she'll come around!

Alec & Lily adore Matt! We're glad you're back!

I had to make Matt an Army Man cake.

To all my fans from Alec's Mystery Machine birthday cake, I apologize!!!

Baby Face

I just couldn't resist showing off this "Oh So Kissable" face!

Megan will be 4 Months Old tomorrow! Her checkup is on Monday and we will see how much she weighs. It's clear to see that the girl is like her mother, and likes to eat!
I was looking at Alec's & Lily's baby pictures to see which Megan looks like the most. I think it's leaning twards Alec, but Megan still has blue eyes. Alec's eyes were always brown. Lily had blue eyes for the first six months, and then they turned hazel. So CUTE!!!

Here is Alec at four months.

He had no neck, like Megan! What a sweetheart!

Lily at six months. She has always had such a fair complexion.

I love these pictures!

Sweet Megan!

Megan is a lot more like Alec (as a baby) in other ways, too.

*They both have such adorable rolls all over. I can't resist them!

*They both hate carseats & being in the car.

It makes it so fun to go anywhere. Really.

*They are sympathetic cry-ers. They don't like loud noises,

or crying. (Lily always thought loud noises were great fun!

Then, she liked to join in the fun.)

*They are more selective in who they smile at.

(Lily seemed to be born smiling-

everyone was there to entertain her!)

I think it is fun to look back and remember how things were.

Some qualities were definitely a lot easier to manage than others,

but I can't complain! I have great kids!!!

Gordon B. Hinckley

Last night, our prophet Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. He has lead such an inspiring life. It is hard to imagine him not being there for conference. The happiness I find in this is picturing him rejoining his sweet wife who passed away almost four years ago. Sister Hinckley was the epitome of what "Grandma" means to me. I think the heavens must be rejoicing to have this remarkable brother and sister with them to do such amazing work on the other side.

This morning I told Alec & Lily that Presiden Hinckley died. Alec went right away into his room and colored a picture of our prophet in his suit and tie, and put a heart around the picture. I thought it was very sweet.

Happy 6th Birthday, Alec!!!

Happy Birthday Alec!!! Six-years-old already! He has been sooo excited for his birthday and more presents! We were crazy and invited a bunch of little boys to go sledding and then come and have pizza, cake & ice cream. It was a blast!

I'm not sure who had the most fun- Tim or the kids!

Some of my favorite memories were of my mom making us the coolest birthday cakes! I always thought she was so amazing in decorating us anything we wanted. So, when Alec said he wanted to have a Scooby Doo cake, I had to give it a go! Go Mystery Machine!

For more fun birthday pictures, check out Alec's Page!

Sunday, Sunday...

We now have the 9:00 a.m. time for church, and I wasn't so sure how this was all going to work, since I could barely get us all to church on time at 1:00 p.m. With Tim in the bishopric, he now has meetings from 7-9 a.m., so I started getting everyone ready early. I had fed Megan at 5:00 a.m., and she held out til 8:20 a.m. pretty well. So I figured I could have everyone already to go, bathe & feed her, and be at church even a couple of minutes early! Right... We were right on schedule until half way through eating, when as I was burping her she threw up all over the blanket, my shirt, skirt, the pillow & couch. Great!!! She hasn't done that in over a month- it was perfect timing!!! The only good thing was her dress was okay- miraculously! Even so, we got into Sacrament Meeting as they were starting to sing the openin hymn (sigh of relief- Just getting to church is half the battle!).
I was especially happy to be the Primary Pianist today, so I had an excuse to sit and watch Lily in her new Sunbeam class. Our little neighbor, Hailey, and Lily just barely turned 3 years old, so they are the sweetest little Sunbeams!!! Lily was so excited to go to the big primary like Alec. She always tells me she has a class, like Alec. Alec thought it was pretty cool to have Lily in there, too. He is such a nice big brother!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I know it's January 8th already, but Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!! We have had such a great year and a wonderful Christmas season. We have loved having all the family in town and the parties with such great food! (though Megan-the mean child :)- didn't let me eat any of the delicious chocolate treats that were everywhere!!! I have found that her not screaming as much is plenty incentive to avoid chocolate!)

We had Christmas Eve with the Drake Family, with the traditional Mexican dinner, followed by Grandpa Drake playing the guitar and everyone singing Christmas songs. Then we read the Bible story of the birth of the Savior, and open presents.

This Christmas was extra special, I guess, because over half the family got sick within a week of each other! I had the flu the day after Christmas, as well as quite a few other Drake family members, and then Alec, Lily & Tim all got terrible colds, along with many of the other Drake family members! Tis the season for sharing. Blah!

On Christmas Day we had lunch with the Smith Family. Yummy, Yummy! We are so blessed to live close by to so much of our family! My favorite part of the Smith party was watching the Early Years Movie of my brother, Adam, that I had put together from old home movies for him. The best part was a clip of him at 7 years old, dressed up in a wig; teenage mutant ninja turtle mask; superman cape; shorts; knee high socks & women's shoes, running around the front yard. It brought back so many funny memories! I love you, Adam!

Here are some of our favorites:

Santa brought Tim the remote control airplane that Alec asked for him. Yahoo! (Never mind that it got stuck in the neighbors tree on its' maiden voyage...)

Ah, the most Super Duper Remote Control Truck ever- complete with trailor and remote control four wheeler! Alec has been staring at this trucks' picture in the toy magazine for three months! Go Alec!

Lily and her special Baby Alive doll. She adores all babies! This one has a star button bracelet that you can push and she talks. Lily and Alec's favorite saying is, "Oh Uh! I made a stinky!" and then she giggles. My favorite part is she says, "I love you, Mommy," so sweetly, and then Lily snuggles her close and says so sweetly back, "I love you, too, Baby Princess."

Grandma Drake made Lily a special princess quilt, with a matching smaller quilt for her baby doll. We are spoiled rotten!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lily!

Our little Lily is 3 years old! -Though she is already saying she'll be four next year. Always looking to the future... We had a party for Lily and cousin Aiden (who turns 10 years old on the 23rd) with the Smith side, and then another party for Grandma Wendy Drake (who turns a special age on the 20th) and Lily with the Drake side. We have way too many birthdays right around Christmas! Tim made Lily a special baby cradle for her birthday. He did such a nice job on it, we're not sure we want her to play with it!! :) Lily loves her Daddy! Lily tells me she's a princess with her baby princess, too. I have to agree. Lily, you are my Little Princess! I Love You!
Go to Lily's Page for more birthday pictures!

Dentist Visit

We just had our dental checkup, and it is always interesting. This was Lily's first official checkup, and she was ready to go! She climbed right up in the chair, sat down, and opened her mouth up wider than I thought was possible! The dentist laughed, and tried to tell her what he was going to do first, and that she didn't have to open her mouth yet, but she just sat there with her mouth open, waiting. I love it! She did really well through the whole cleaning. Alec has a warped sense of humor sometimes (where could he have gotten that from???) and he thought it would be funny to wear his Billy Bob teeth to the checkup. It was great! As he climbed up in the chair, he told the dentist, "I don't have a normal stomach. I have a puppy stomach." (I don't know where that one came from!) Alec ended up having a small cavity, so the dentist gave him some laughing gas so he could drill on it. Alec is a great example of why they call it "Laughing Gas." He started breathing deeply, and after a minute or so, he got this huge grin on his face. Then he starts giggling. The dentist just shook his head, and started to go to work. All of the sudden I heard this high pitched "Yip! Yip!", and realized that Alec had started yipping like a puppy during the drilling. He did this several times! (He does have a puppy stomach, though, so what else would I expect?)

Tagged

Well, I thought I'd catch up on checking out some of my favorite blogspots, and I laughed all through reading Amy's "Tagged" blog. When she included me in her tag list, I had to comply. I don't know that mine are as cool as Amy's, but here goes. Six interesting things about me:



1. I was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz in sixth grade at Park View Elementary. Of course it was a small school...



2. "You'll shoot your eye out" has personal meaning to me. I was shot in the eye with a BB gun while babysitting. The 10 year old boy came in to show me his friends' BB gun, and says that is "accidentally" went off as he turned to go back outside. Luckily I blinked. I had to go to the emergency room and then had to wear this big metal eye patch for a week and endure my sister, Candi, calling me "The Fly."


3. I was voted "The Biggest Joker" in 9th Grade at South Ogden Junior High. So... this doctor reached into his shirt pocket for a pen to sign an order, and instead of a pen he pulled out a thermometer. He looked at it and said, "What??? Some bum has my pen!"


4. My family knows me as "Dave." While driving through Fillmore, Utah, one year, we stopped at the park for a stretch. On the back of the sign at the park was spray painted "Dave was here". So I said that I must be Dave, because I was here. The name just stuck. My brother, Matt (aka-Julie Andrews, because he used to sing all the time) still sends me emails addressed to Dave.


5. Two of my favorite movies growing up were Grease, and The Pirate Movie. I could sing all the songs with them, loved everything about them. Several years later, after not watching them for a long time, I went to see the play Grease with my boyfriend, Tim and I was so shocked and embarrassed at all the sexual references! Ah, the innocence of youth. (You should check out The Pirate Movie if you've never seen it before. It is so awesome!...)





6. I actually was a cheerleader in 9th Grade. I didn't know any better. I had the long permed hair and big bangs, so I looked the part. Tim's favorite cheer was "We're not mean and we're not cocky, Gonna ride on you like a Kawasaki! Vroom Vroom! Hey, Hey, Vroom Vroom!"

December 4th Grateful for...

I love music! I love Christmas music- but I freely admit that all Christmas music is not created equal. Today I heard a Christmas song by Neil Diamond that should never be on the airways! - (sorry Amy & Jamie!) So, I am thankful for most music.

Grateful For...

Gracias! I am thankful for so many things! Every morning as I sit feeding a sweet little baby at 4:30 a.m., I have so many thoughts of things I am thankful for (like having disposable diapers and wipes- Oh Yeah!). I have been meaning to make it down to my computer to make a list, but alas, everything takes a few days longer to get to than it used to, (Megan knows she takes precedence over all things!) and then I smashed my finger in the door so badly that it makes it hard to type... (but I am grateful that it was my left hand, not my right...) So here I sit at 5:oo a.m. because it is the only time I have, (I just finished feeding my cute baby...) and I feel that I need to start my list. I wanted to start for the month of December (thanks Jen Ormsby for the easy-to-do idea of one gratitude thought for everyday til Christmas), so here goes!

December 1st- I smashed my finger today so bad that I know I am going to lose my fingernail, and as soon as Lily saw me, she said "You need me kiss your finger, Mom?" Then as I was in my bathroom fixing it up, Lily slid a picture under the door that she had colored for me to make my finger feel better.

I am so grateful for my little Lily!

December 2nd- Today is my Mom's birthday, and I don't know what I'd do without my mom! When we bought our house, I wasn't sure how living two doors down from my parents would be, but it has beed so wonderful! My mom is always there to talk to, and I always feel better after I'm with her.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I Love You!

December 3rd- Tim has been out of town for a pharmacy convention for three days now, and I miss him! He is the greatest friend in the world! He makes my life complete. I am so thankful for a husband that loves his family. Our children adore him and are sad when he is away. He is a Super Dad!