Christmas 2008...(the short version)

We had 5 Christmas's this year. One with just our family, and one with each of our parents. Two of which were at our house this year, and the headcount reached 27 at one of them. Holy crowded. Anyway, good times...here are just a few pics.

Hayden & Marcus in their new jammies, in front of our smallest Christmas tree ever.

5 of the 7 "Franklin" grand kids. From Left to Right: Noah, Hayden, Marcus, Aubrey, & Elijah. Not pictured: Allen & Brigham
We got to see the Youngs!! Keegan is 3 months and Noah is 1 month. Can you move back here please so they can hang out together...and so WE can hang out together?? We miss you guys!

I think he's actually saying "cheese". Chris and the fam were able to visit and this is him sporting his new hat and showing off his new Banzai dude.

We got to go outside and build a snowman, or rather, watch daddy build a snowman.

The boys mostly just ate the snow and threw snowballs, but they also made some beautiful snow angels.

Noah & Daddy. Check out the shirt Sterling designed for his shop.

I make each child a stocking for Christmas, and this is this years for Noah. I love the curly toe with the bell at the end.

We have several Christmas traditions, one of which is to decorate a gingerbread house. I thought this would be a good time to share each others traditions. I'm always looking for new and exciting ideas for our family. So, below are the ones we do that I can remember...

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

1. get our tree the day after Thanksgiving

2. decorate a gingerbread house

3. open 1 gift each Christmas Eve-always a new pair of jammies that we wear Christmas morning

4. Christmas Eve we bake Santa cookies

5. Christmas Eve we watch a favorite Christmas movie-this year it was Jim Carey's The Grinch

6. Christmas morning, before other Christmas's w/ family & friends, we have one with just our family @ home.

7. Christmas Eve, put the kids to bed & play w/ Santa

8. just checking to see if people actually read this...lol

Ok, I know we have more, but I can't think of them right now. Please let me know what cool things your families do. I'd love to hear.

Hayden's most wanted gift this year was the "gorilla rock"...he REALLY likes it.

Noah William Kaiolohia Place

He's here! Noah was born Saturday, November 22, (1 1/2 weeks early) weighing in at 9lbs 2 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. Labor and delivery went awesome. I was induced at 9am and had him at 2:38pm. We were discharged from the hospital Monday night, went home for our last night in San Diego, packed Tuesday morning and headed for home that night. We arrived around 1:00pm Thanksgiving day, in Enumclaw first to surprise my mom. Oh yeah, nobody knew we had our baby, or that we were coming home(were supposed to be in San Diego until Dec. 12th)...HUGE surprise...Noah was almost a week old and yes, we kept it a secret and showed up on people's doorsteps. It was awesome! A special thanks to Heidi who helped pull off the whole thing, and who flew in to San Diego to help us. We love you Heidi!!

So, below are the videos from our big surprise, and some pics of baby Noah. Enjoy!

If any of you remember Hayden as a baby, Noah does the same face....the poop face.

I have THREE boys!!

Not the best picture, but our first as a family of five.

Happy 30th Baby!!!

The day started at 5am when Sterling got up for work. I made him what was supposed to be an omelet with ham, peppers, and cheese, but turned into scrambled eggs. I also tried home-made chocolate and vanilla eclairs for the first time. They were alright. He headed off to work, 12 long hours...poor guy. The boys and I, while anxiously awaiting his return, baked him a pineapple upside down cake and I must say, it was the best I've ever made. I substituted some of the water for pineapple juice and mixed crushed pineapple in with the batter. Mmmmm!

Anyway, he finally arrived home just before 7pm at which point he opened his card from the boys which played music, "I'm so excited". They couldn't wait to give it to him. Then he quickly got ready for his bday dinner at one of his new favorite restaurants called...

Five of his buddies from work joined us. The food was amazing. If you ever go there, I recommend the butterfish or the fillet minon. There aren't even words to describe their deliciousness.

The boys love hanging out with these guys. Here is a picture with Ryan.

One of daddy's cards...and the PERFECT smile.

Just one of the cool treats the kids get while they're waiting. This one was crisscrossed quesadillas over sliced grapes. They also got one with carrots, celery and sliced apples, and their desert was a cookie bowl filled with ice cream and sprinkles, topped with a sugar dusted palm tree cookie. Lucky boys!

We got home from dinner sometime after 10 and then Sterling could finally open his present! I had the idea just two weeks ago to do this so thank you SOOOO much for all those who help put this together. Its a DVD celebrating his first 30 years which starts off with a little intro from me, followed by a slide show of pics and specially chosen songs from his siblings, parents and myself. Throughout the 25min show, there is actual video footage of his siblings, parents, and the boys and I, sharing favorite stories of him, or funny memories, etc. It was a good way to help him feel close to his family when we're so far apart. It turned out GREAT! and we're really excited to show everyone when we get back home. Thanks again! It meant a lot to him, brought a tear to his eye and also made him laugh hysterically...bloopers.

It was a good day.

Sleepy Boy

This is what you get around 1:00 in the afternoon, when a two year old goes to bed at 10pm and wakes up at 6:30am.

My singing Angels

We sang this for FHE last Monday and they've been singing it ever since. I personally can't get enough. I love it!

Shop 56 Volleyball

We started the night with a poolside bbq, then Sterling's shop, as tradition, played against shop 38. Seeing as how everyone was "slightly" intoxicated (except Sterling), it made for a very entertaining evening.

In between games, some others playing volleyball scouted Sterling and asked him to play with them. He did great!

Halloween Night

We stayed home this year since we'd already done trunk-or-treat. We made it a family night. I made snakes in the grass for dinner, which are just sub sandwiches on bread sticks, with olive eyes and tomato tongues, surrounded by grass, shredded lettuce. It was actually pretty lame...so lame that I won't be posting a picture of it. The boys thought it was cool though. I guess that's all that matters. We then baked sugar cookies, made frosting, and decorated them with sprinkles. We finished the night with The Nightmare Before Christmas, a family favorite. Good times.

Happy 5th Anniversary to Us!

October 25, 2008

Sterling had to work on our anniversary but had this delivered to me at home while he was gone. It's from Edible Arrangements and it was gorgeous! I'm sad to say it didn't last long because it was just as tasty as it was beautiful. What a sweet surprise!

This awesome husband of mine also had reservations for us, at what is now probably my favorite restaurant, Benihana's. You sit around a table with a total of 8 people in a U shape. The rest of the table is a huge grill that they cook your food on. It was dinner and a show as the chef flips and throws around food and his utensils. The food was AMAZING. I had steak and shrimp. Ster had steak and lobster, both of which came w/ fried rice, salad and soup. A couple of pinacolada's and raspberry lemonades to wash it down. Mmmmm. Seriously, the best steak I've ever had, like as soft as a freshly baked roll. Had to remind myself that it was in fact meat I was eating. A fabulous night and to top it off, an unexpected picture taken and given to us in honor of our anniversary. A very cool restaurant all must try.

More Halloween Fun

Here are our pumpkins this year. These have only been carved for 3 days and they're already shriveling and growing hair inside. I guess the weather here is not pumpkin friendly.

I didn't realize how much my boys hated getting dirty until we told them they had to gut their own pumpkins. They both cried and refused for about 15 minutes, until we actually forced their hands into their pumpkins and held them there until they had a handful. After about 20 seconds they were doing it on their own...not enjoying it, but doing it.

Trunk or TreatingI handed out candy this year while daddy took the boys around. They were yet another hit with their costumes and yes, collected way too much candy.

Nursery Craft...the best use for the most disgusting candy ever.

Sunny San Diego

Many have been asking how things are down here so I've updated our blog quite a bit to show our latest adventures. Work for Sterling is going well. He's still enjoying it, which is a good thing because he just started working tens. Also, baby #3 is doing great, very active. Doc says the head is mostly down now which was fantastic news. I'm doing fine, anxiously awaiting the 6 weeks until I can hold this child on the outside. We love it here but miss our family terribly and can't wait to see everyone!