We had some friends over last night and enjoyed Dave's masterful BBQ. That man is amazing in front of a grill. When I was growing up, eating chicken off the BBQ was always a charcoal like experience. But Dave makes it all so perfectly tasty! I think it must have something to do with patience. Something my gene pool runs inordinately short on. And Dave has in mass abundance. All in all it was a fun night - right up until the wall shelf almost fell on our friends' heads. Good way to end an evening. Dave has always hated that shelf there. I hate I told you so's...

Hawaii recap

Okay - two posts in a day. ANd I have a bunch of other stuff to do. Like clean my house. But Dave is driving me crazy about putting hawaii pics on the blog. I told him how to post. He smiles and tells me it's too hard for men. :) So here is because I love my husband.

The few, the Proud, the freezing. At Haleakala crater the morning of our bike ride down. It was beautiful and freezing. We awoke at 2:30am to get to the bike place to ge tto the crater before sunrise. I wish I could say it was totally worth the sleep. But we had fun. This is me, dave, amber, kade, and Britt. It was so windy, the boys kept jumping into the wind - it was fun.

Here we are in required "safety gear" about to bike downhill for about 30 miles. It was totally fun. Especially during the parts where the lady in the hummer began screaming at McKade because his "wife" (Brittney our sister) swerved directly in front of her. Gotta love hawaii. Britt is lucky she didn't kill herself (several times). And I am lucky I had a husband nice enough to wait for me. I enjoyed myself (some say I was just SLOW). I find that now that I have kids I am much less likely to take risks. Dave says I was always like that. He didn't know me as a teenager.

Here's my little beach bunny. When we did get near water and sand, I didn't waste time with a camera. So most of our shots are un beachy... Bummer.

Watching Kung Fu Panda on lounge chairs by the ocean. Grandma Ardy was a good sport.

The infamous snorkeling trip to molokini. Our marriage lasted. Much to my surprise. Next time, we won't take a 4 year old or 5 year old on a snorkeling trip IN THE OCEAN.

This is by far one of my most favorite moments of the trip. Grandma will probably kill me for posting her in her bathing suit, but I think she is darling. And Sophia sure loves her.My girls are so beautiful!



Sophia loves her Grandpa!

Christmas addiction

Okay, so I not only have a birthday in December, I also decided to get married four days before Christmas. I grew up hating the sugar cookie decorating birthday parties. I SWORE i'd never get married anywhere in the winter season. And I cursed myself. Because now I can't feel the Christmas spirit without a sugar cookie party and a hay ride. Since these activities are a little juvenile for my peer group, I torture my kids. So the other day I decided to throw a hay ride party - complete with sugar cookies. I stressed the day before (when I decided to have it and invite everyone I knew) that I wasn't inviting these people, or these people. But I decided I had to stop somewhere before I had a ward party for kids under 6 on my hands. Unfortunately at 4am on the morning of, I awoke with a panic attack. I began counting invites and kids. I came up with a number of 24. And I wasn't planning on having anyone help. Um. Dumb. Luckily (sorry kids that missed it), I only had 16 kids show up. My great dad came over to give a hay ride. My amazing baby sister came over for a little bit - long enough to get me through the sugar cookie beginnings. And Dave magically showed up home early at the end to help with the hay ride. Well thank heavens we are now in the Christmas spirit! :)

Then we got all ready for church on Sunday and I decided to again torture everyone with a picture. Did anyone feel like mentioning my 80's hair? HELLO!!! I spent so much energy on the girls for "Christmas Sunday" that I missed ME. (Not that they came out amazing in the picture anyway... ) Luckily, I'm not sure anyone noticed - thanks to my "i'm 30" shoes I bought on my birthday with my awesome husband. ( They have zebra striped fur on the sides and red patent leather buckles on the toes - "Naughty Monkey" -the brand name - says it all). Dave knows how to make me happy. :)

My Christmas Card!!!

Merry Christmas from the Votaws!!!

2008 has been a wonderful year for our family, and we are enjoying our holidays already. Here is a little update on our happenings:

Beth: Kindergarten! She is a wonderful student and quite a little leader in her class. She started the summer by informing us that she would now be known as “Betsy”. That was short lived once her swimming instructor mistook it as “Bessie”. The next alias was “Meagan” followed shortly thereafter by “Valentine”. Her beautiful personality is coming out! She loves piano and performing anything to anyone. She also earned a parakeet (Ernie) this year with points at home. I NEVER thought I would be the mother with three pets. Let alone a bird.

Kate: Preschool at Ms. Becky’s! She has become quite the socialite. And once Beth began changing her name, Kate informed us that she was no longer “Gracie”, but “Kate”. That has stuck. She is also enjoying piano and friends. Each afternoon when we drop Beth off for school she asks, “Mom, who is not asleep right now?” Life without friends is just not as fun!

Sophia: Talking! (Okay, she’s mumbling). Sophia thinks she is a big girl like her sisters. She walks around telling them (loudly) what to do. If only they could understand Chinese. Lately her language is less like Chinese and more mush (like she has a binky in her mouth – but she doesn’t). She loves babies (especially her new cousin Evelyn – to her aunt’s dismay) and kitties and horses. She is too big too fast. Okay, nursery starts this week – I guess I can’t complain about that!

Dave: Still working CI, he finally got into the Mesa office (shortening his commute by more than an hour). He decided that he is saving so much time in the car he would join the gym close by. So much for more “honey-do list” time. J He is still working as the Ward Clerk. Tithing settlement time has been crazy, but I think he is secretly having fun… We attended his 20 year HS reunion this fall. It was crazy to see old friends, but mostly to surprise people with how he has changed (much taller and much more outgoing). Humorous! We also got to attend a Police concert this year. We get to do some fun things! He took on our old wooden play set this fall; I think the play set is winning. But he definitely beat the lawn with our winter grass. I could get used to it being so green!

Kelly: Still at home trying to gain control over chaos. My vision of what my house should look like is coming on – too bad it has taken 4.5 years in this house! J I get time to quilt here and there – usually in spurts. I have loved the new babies coming into our family (extended J). I am still working as Young Women President. My bishop has informed me to not get my hopes up – I’ve just begun. I feel incredibly blessed to be serving such amazing youth. I hope I can learn something about how to raise such awesome girls.

Our whole family was able to go some wonderful places this year – Disneyland, Utah, San Clemente, Maui. David still makes comments about how he feels like a teenager being dropped off at things (with our one car), but I remind him that we are blessed to do so many awesome things with our family – I would rather vacation than have two cars! J

We are so blessed this Christmas! We continue to feel the Lord’s hand in our daily lives. We know He lives and loves us. We are so grateful for his guidance in all we do. Merry Christmas! May your family be blessed with the love of the Lord that we have felt.

The Votaws: Dave, Kelly, Beth, Kate, Sophia, Cobra Bubbles the desert tortoise, Taco Bell the Chinese fighter fish, and Ernie the parakeet

Doesn't this say it all? I saw this on someone else's blog and LOVED it. I know we're done voting, but we probably still need to remember. :)

Beautiful people...these beautiful people

These are my four favorite people in the world. Darling!

So I'm thinking I'm doing so well. I even made it to the cannery yesterday. Then in the MIDDLE of the night last night, I wake up and do the math. 24 cans of rice do NOT fit in three boxes (at 6 cans a box). This means that I ordered and paid for 24 cans of rice. And I came home with 18 cans of rice. "Don't worry about it, we work with honest people. Just come get your extra box", says the lady at the cannery. And we wonder why I keep waking up at 5am with anxiety for no reason. What else can't I count?