Ben and I have decided to eat no treats until we lose a certain amount of weight, and this time we are serious about it. So we had our final treat last night, a cake, which we ate plenty of. At the end of the night there was a bunch of cake left and obviously I didn't want it around the next day so I asked Ben if he wanted to do some sort of cermonial cake burning with me. I was holding the pan and he surprised me by coming up and sticking his hand in the cake and shoveling it into his face, yes, like a pig. It was sickening yet delightful to watch. So I thought I'd have a little fun and next thing I know my face is in the cake and it was so fun to eat cake with your face buried in it. Then of course Ben had to try it to, and what he ended up with on his face is truly scary. The picture makes me so glad he doesn't have a goatee! For all of you who think we are wierd, we agree...we ARE wierd.
Riley thought we were both "sgusting" but he couldn't stop laughing either. If you had asked me 5 minutes before this picture was taken I would have said I was 100% sure that no one in my family would be burying their faces in a cake anytime soon.
Ben has made some dominoes for Riley. Sometimes he'll come home from work with little blocks or other cool things for Riley to play with and build towers. What a nice Dad!
All three of them were in jail for a few minutes because they wouldn't stop bugging me :)
This looks so unsafe and yet I can't see any way for her to fall through or get her head stuck in the bars. But the way she is lately, I'm sure she would find a way to make this dangerous. She fell down a full flight of stairs at Ben's brother's house on New Year's Eve, but seemed unphased and even had time while she was at the bottom of the stairs to pop a piece of styrofoam in her mouth just in case falling down the stairs wasn't dangerous enough. Her personality is so funny lately. The way she is now, I have a feeling she is going to be a very goofy little girl.
This picture is kind of out of order with the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day ones, but what the heck! Our friends Heidi and Whit came to visit from California. Heidi's family lives in SLC, so they were nice and paid us a visit too. It was fun to see them, and Riley at once fell in love with Heidi and wanted her to stay in his room the whole time. She kept having to politely excuse herself from what he thought was their playdate, to return to be with the adults :)
I gave Ben 10 chapsticks, so he should never be without and never have an excuse for chapped lips! This gift was for my benefit as much as his.
Have I ever mentioned that Ben is a REALLY good dad! He and I get such a kick out of our kids. It's fun to enjoy them together :)
Christmas morning, Riley was EXTREMELY happy that Santa brought him not just the batman costume (yes! it finally came Christmas eve at 4 pm!), but also Hulk Smash gloves, Ants in the pants, and his own snow shovel!
This kid means business with his new shovel. For a while he was even shoveling the grassy areas for us. It's actually a good little shovel! 
Today was the long awaited day that Santa came to preschool! It's amazing how much a child changes in one year. Last year there was no way Riley would talk to Santa, let alone sit on his lap. This year he couldn't wait to get his little bum on Santa's lap and eagerly told him he wanted a Batman costume *with muscles*. It has been so fun to see how excited Riley has been this year. It has been interesting trying to help him understand that Jesus is even more important than Santa. I have told him that Santa is trying to be like Jesus by helping people and giving to others, and that we can be like Jesus too. Today after seeing Santa Riley asked "When can we see Jesus?" Riley believes that Santa and Jesus are really good friends, and that's just fine with me! 
When I put Malia on Santa's lap, she began her usual staring contest, and if given enough time I'm sure his beard would have ended up in her mouth so I quickly took a picture and got her off.
This is Riley singing a solo for Santa. After all the children started filing out of the room to let the next little group of preschoolers come in, Riley yelled earnestly "WAIT!!!" and ran up to Santa and told him he needed to sing him a song. So he sang a shortened version of "You better watch out...." and ended it with "Santa Claus is coming.....to preschool!" Does it get any sweeter?
This was a fun girls day out with several nurses that I work with. Part of why I love my job is because I work with wonderful people and they make me laugh and sometimes they even laugh at my jokes. We went to Happy Sumo where I ate very teeny tiny orange eggs from some sea animal and it totally disgusted me but I put on a brave face to impress the ladies. My dish was just a stir fry type thing, but I did try some sushi and I had to close my eyes when I put it in my mouth because the little raw piece of fish was flopping around on my fork. But I did it and I guess that is some great accomplishment to try sushi for the first time. Now I will happily never eat it again. 
My Mom came to visit for Thanksgiving. I LOVE it when she comes to visit. As you can see in the background, she brought her cat. She doesn't think she will do that again because the cat (Lighting) was pretty ticked the whole way down. I guess six hours in the car makes him nervous. We also found out over the weekend that Riley is allergic to cats, but only if he pets them and then rubs his eyes. Ben is the same way. They are both okay as long as they don't touch their faces. Malia and my Mom had some more bonding time this trip, or as my mom sais "I'm imprinting." It was funny how much Malia would stare at my mom, like she was studying her every feature. I think it's so neat that they are EXACTLY 50 years apart. I KNOW, my mom doesn't look 50, does she!
My mom took Malia and I to TGIF's, and unfortunately for Malia our food came with a lime wedge. This is one of the MANY faces she pulled. Poor thing! I am such a mean mommy. But this is one of the reason's I had kids, to see what funny faces they can make!
Malia with her little tongue out! And notice my shirt (It's one of my faves) it sais "It's only funny until someone gets hurt...then it's hilarious!!!" So true.
Riley had a hangnail. Apparently it hurt "so, so bad." In fact he originally put two bandaid's on it, one over the other, because it hurt so so bad. The next day those bandaid's got replaced with this bandaid. This is the bandage I would use for a 4 cm laceration or a major knee scrape, or I guess a hangnail if I was four :)
Amazing but true facts about big Bertha: 
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Much to my relief, Malia has finally embraced the art of sitting. I hope this will help let the back of her head round out since she hates being on her belly and always rolls to her back. Her pediatrician recommends she gets a helmet since her head is still wider than it is long, but I might wait and see since I think it's rounding out a little on it's own. Plus, isn't she a little doll sitting there like that!!!
Riley was spiderman! This action shot pretty much captures how he was all night....running! He loved halloween this year. He was even happy to say "Trick-or-treat!" which he was too shy to do last year. This year, as long as the people at the door just gave him his candy or let him pick, he was fine. But if they tried to interact with him at all, he just froze :) He especially hated being chased by a big gorilla with a chainsaw. We heard his wrath on that subject for the rest of the night!
SPIDERMAN!!!!!
We are looking forward to the holidays! Ben is determined to get a real tree this year. I am a fan of artificial, but hey why be stubborn when I know Ben will have fun taking Riley to get a tree. My only request is that it be symetrical because I am a freak who can't handle asymmetry in any form. My mom is coming to visit for Thanksgiving! She will join us at the Cooks, and my biggest goal is to get her to embrace sweet potatoes (Kade and Ciara make the BEST sweet potatoe dessert thingy). Also can't wait to go to New Moon with friends this month. I hope we can spend lot's of time with friends and family over the next few months!