Its been almost a year . . .

We hope you all had as much fun during the week of Halloween as we had. The picture above is what we ended up with after a night of carving pumpkins. At the end of this post check out the picture of them all lit up! No excuses, It has been a long time since we've updated. I showed Amanda how to access the blog, and create her own posts last year. Apparently neither of us is very good at posting. We will try to be better, but no promises! ;)

A quick update about us all:

BJ
Life has been interesting to say the least. A lot of things have been going on, I'll try to let you know about a few. First of all, I am enjoying my class this year. They are a great bunch of kids! We recently put on a spook alley as part of a fundraiser for the school. The students had a fun time going through the maze we created trying to guess which "gouls" were there teachers. I also have joined a local choir, it has been fun for me to be singing in an organized group again. We will be having several performances for the Christmas season, including one on Temple Square November 30. I have been involved with many other things, but I will share this post with the rest of my family !

Amanda
I'm Mom. What else do I have to say? I've been scrap-booking online and enjoying it because I don't have kids helping me cut the pics or the paper. I have reading any book that looks interesting and so that means a lot of books. It easy when I work a slow night. I been trying to keep my house clean, but with four extra "helpers" it never seems to reach that goal. I'm hoping to make some more blankets in the next few weeks, but who knows when that will really start. I'm really enjoying my kids and all of the cute things they say and do. Just today, I listened to them all trying to out scream each other. It made me laugh.


Anna
"Hermione" is enjoying first grade, and is very excited to start reading chapter books. She doesn't like doing homework however, who does? She was excited to go on a field trip to a play on the same day she wore her costume to school. She has a lot of friends at school, and also in our neighborhood. She always makes sure we read our scriptures before going to bed. One night I was too tired to read scriptures, so I just told a quick scripture story. She pouted, and pulled her scriptures out and said "I am reading them Dad!" and opened them up and read for 5 - 10 min. I asked her what she had been reading about, and she pretty much told me the whole story. The little stinker is getting to be a very good reader!

Kate
"Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl" is loving preschool, and dance. On Wednesdays she is always prancing around the house showing me her latest dance moves. She loves to write notes lately as well. Though they are just a bunch of squiggles, you can sure feel the emotion put into each note. She was excited to be "Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl" for Halloween. When someone would say, "What a pretty cowgirl you are!" she would reply, "I am not just a cowgirl, I am Jessie the yodeling cowgirl from Toy Story!"


Daniel
"Buzz Light-year" is getting very energetic. He gets into trouble faster than any of the other kids. He loves to play in the car, and often will sneak into the garage to try to get in the car. We have had to start locking the car so he can't get in. He insists on opening all doors very forcefully, and as far as they will open. He has put three holes in the walls at out house. I repaired one of them, and bought a new door stop. A week later he opened the door so hard, it sent the door stop through the wall. He is a good kid, and doesn't mean to get in so much trouble. He always is quick to say sorry, as tears well up in his eyes. I told Amanda that maybe we should start calling him "Dennis the Menace!" ;)


Lizzie
The "Care Bear" returns for its third use at the Wright house. Lizzie wasn't sure what to think of the hood, and would pull it off when she could. She has been growing fast, and learning a lot of new words. She almost melts my heart every time she says 'Thank You!' Recently she has been blowing kisses, and giving big hugs. She already is a big tease. The other day my Mom was trying to get her to say "Grandma", but Lizzie would just say "PAPA" and then laugh. It was funny to watch her mischievous grin!


So all in all, things are going well! Enjoy the upcoming holiday season. Take lots of pictures to share with us, and we will tray and to the same. TTFN, ta ta for now!

Long time no post!

There is no valid excuse, we just haven't found the time to update our blog. We have had a lot of traveling go on in the last few months. The kids were very well behaved, and we are excited that we may dare to go on longer vacations once again. First we will have to be able to pay for them though!

Our adventures started off in mid-February when Amanda's grandfather passed away. We decided to travel down to his funeral . It was held in Mesa, Arizona. Mesa is about 10 hours from where we live, but it took us over 12 hours to get there. We had to stop and take multiple potty breaks, and we had to stop to feed Lizzie about every 2 hours. Amanda's sister lives further away, left after us, and still beat us to Mesa! This picture was taken at one of our stops. It is right outside the visitor's center of the Glenn Canyon Dam. Like I said earlier, the kids handled the trip very well! ( I think they handled it a lot better than their Mom and Dad.) While in Mesa we went on a long walk, and visited a lot of neat places in downtown Mesa. We evHere's a picture of Amanda and the kids after a LONG walk, resting in the shade of the Mesa temple.entually made our way down to the LDS temple, and finally to Amanda's grandmother's house.
The first weekend of March we made a much shorter trip to Moab, Utah. We had a fun time visiting with BJ's family, and even found a fun park that had musical instruments as toys. As I type up an update about each of us, I'll include a picture from the outing.

BJ
This picture was taken in the lobby of the hotel in Moab, before heading out to find some fun hiking the city trail!

Things are going great for me. It seems like I am always running around lately, literally. I have found a new hobby in running, and working out. I have lost a lot of weight and am feeling a lot healthier. I have a few more pounds to reach my goal, so cheer me on! I also have been working on a Math Endorsement to add on to my teaching license. It has taken the better part of two years, but I have now completed the coursework for it. All that is left is to wait for grades to be posted, and turn some paperwork into the state. It won't be hard to find something to fill up the time those classes took up on Tuesday nights.

Amanda

Amanda and Lizzie found a "Digger" at the park in Moab.

Amanda has been scrap-booking up a storm. She bought a cricut with some Christmas money she received, and has been working hard ever since. Anna's scrap book has jumped from January 08 to April 09. Kate's book was at Christmas of 08 and is now up through Dec. 09.
Daniel's book also is current through Christmas of '08. Lizzie is still waiting patiently for hers. Our family scrap book is still a few years behind, but Amanda is practicing on the kid's albums, so ours can be perfect lol!

Anna

Anna discovered the "music park" first. She took off running and played us a tune.

Anna is enjoying Kindergarten, and is doing quite well. She is reading all sorts of books, and is also writing her letters and numbers very well. She likes to feel pretty, and is always trying to wear dresses to school. I wonder how long that is going to last. I know that many of my sixth-grade students wouldn't be caught dead in a dress. She takes a dance class, and loves to go every week. She still has to wear a patch over one of her eyes for a couple of hours everyday to strengthen her other eye. Hopefully the doctor will say that we are finished with this process in May, as Anna hates wearing it.

Kate
Kate loved making music at the park, and tried to sing a song as she pounded on the bells.

Kate is very happy when she goes to dance class. She often will tell me, "Dad, I am a dancing princess!" And twirl off around the house. Kate also had been a little jealous of Anna doing "homework," so we have had the pre-school she goes to send home a book for her to read each day she goes. Kate read her first book by herself too! It was an ABC book that Daniel got for Christmas. Kate must be getting ready to grow soon, because she always seems to be hungry. She has two really good friends in the neighborhood, Makayla and Gracie.


Daniel

Daniel was surprised we let him bang on things. He took advantage of every second.

Daniel has become a very good mimic. He wants to say everything and do everything he sees someone else do. He loves is sisters, and is quite upset when he can't do what Anna or Kate is doing. Daniel loves to feed the cats, and really do anything outside. We have to constantly lock the doors, or he tries to escape outside. Anna calls him Daniel the Destroyer, because he seems to destroy almost anything he touches. It isn't that he is trying to break it, he just wants to find out how it works.

Lizzie

Lizzie is now eating solid foods, though she gags on most of them still. She doesn't like anything that has flavor, but wants to eat real food. She is also sitting up, and getting near to crawling. I can tell that as soon as she starts moving, she will be into everything. She looks like she is already planning on what she will get into. She will not take a binki, but does suck on her bottom lip to soothe herself, or smack her lips when she is hungry. She is as smiley as ever, but also is getting a real opinion of what she does and doesn't want.

Well, that's the last few months in a nutshell! Hopefully our next blog post will be sooner than three months down the road!

December Fun

Anna's Dance did a December performance and she did a very good job. Here is one of the dances that she performed. Something cute that Anna said during her prayer one night is "And please bless everyone in the whole world except Santa that they will sleep well, because Santa has to work hard." She is just growing up so quick. I love to hear how her day is at school and who likes who.



Kate's dance also had a winter performance. She also learned the itsy-bitsy spider dance, but she didn't end up dancing it. She is such a doll. When she plays I noticed that the words are in her head, but she does the actions. Sometimes when she asks me for something she will sing the last word. It just makes me laugh. She is now up to Anna's eyebrows, but I think she is slowing down because she doesn't want to eat as much lately.

Daniel is my little cuddle bug. He will come up to me and say "Huggie." He is right now going through the "I'm Mommy's Echo" stage. Anything I say he will mimic. His vocabulary is expanding quickly. Yet he will still come up to me and look at me like I'm suppose to read his mind. He loves to hold Lizzie and visit Grandpa Bill's house. One night at Grandpa's he and his cousin McKay looked like two peas in a pod. As of right now they get along pretty well.

Lizzie loves to smile. She is trying hard to keep her head up when she is on her tummy. She will stay on her tummy longer if I am lying right next to her and talking to her the whole time. I sure love her and love that she sleeps well.



BJ and I enjoyed his Christmas party this past week. We had very good food to eat and we enjoyed talking to his colleagues and their spouses. I'm enjoying my job still. My unit had our Christmas party and I think it went well. I'm glad it is over because it is the second Christmas party this season I had to help plan. The hospital I work for was awarded the "Best in Value Award" for our hospital size. That award includes quality, affordability, efficiency and satisfaction. This award was a national one, so we must be good.