Gove Family Christmas Card!

This is it!
We are officially GREENish!
(formerly known as too-poor-to-send-out-100-real-cards-to-everyone-we'd-like-to)

and if this were a real card the inside would say this:

12 events of the Gove family, 2009 edition

1. Amanda was baptized.
2. We bought a house in Florida.
3. Amy photographed her best friends wedding.
4. Samantha celebrated her 1st birthday!
5. Hayden learned to use the potty... sort of.
6. Samantha learned to walk.
7. Both of Amy's sisters came to visit and sweated it out!
8. Visited Kennedy Space Center and Universal Studios.
9. Went to the beach more often, but not often enough!
10. Michael got promoted!
11. Hayden celebrated his 3rd birthday at Disney World!
12. Amanda celebrated her 9th birthday!

and it would also say:

Merry Christmas!
May you find Joy and Happiness this Season...
and throughout the year!

when Christmas photos go terribly wrong...

okay - maybe not terribly wrong. But just not how I envisioned they would be. If it hadn't been such a windy day and if I hadn't decided to take pictures right after church when the kids are way tired and the shadows are deep, my vision might have been realized... but alas, this procrastinator of family photo-taking screwed up. So these are the best of the bunch... I can't decide if I should bother printing cards this year... Oh well - that's US!

p.s. the photographer is in NO WAY at fault for my disappointment - she was a total doll to put up with my lack of direction and my daughters lack of cute shoes... she even let Amanda borrow her shoes (yes they fit!). I actually think these pictures would have been just fine and dandy if it were not for the fact that our "girl hair" is so flyaway-ish.

Dear Daddy...

come home soon.

things are getting a little dicey around here.

I've made an effort to communicate...

but can wait no longer. My kids need their mom back and a liittle Christmas cheering of the house! I promised Amanda that we would decorate the house today and we will! We will, however, save the tree till daddy gets home. Now...gotta go find some corny Christmas tunes!

Used and Abused

I guess you could say I've been feeling a little used and abused lately. I've done my share of punching back, mind you, but it's not like it made me feel any better... I'm at a bit of a crossroads where neither path will be traveled painlessly and that has made me very anxious (as in panic attacks AGAIN....yay). I honestly don't know what to do. Following my instincts and sitting tight believing "this too shall pass" did not work... in fact it probably made things worse. So, now that I have finally taken some action to defend/clear my name it's too late - I'm yelling into an empty auditorium.

I wish my hubby wasn't on a business trip - I could really use his listening ear. I guess I really will have to handle this on my own and just continue praying for guidance. So far my prayers have been answered with messages from the Ensign and one particular blog post that has lifted me just a bit. But I still see no end to the distrust I have for some who I used to call my friends and will now have to endure seeing at least once a week.. I have to find peace and strength and humility and balance them perfectly.

Yeah.... I know.

Thanksgiving play-by-play

{insert imaginary picture of yummy baked apple substitute for cranberry sauce}

{insert imaginary picture of Samantha totally stuffing herself}

{insert imaginary picture of us all playing Dominoes}

{insert imaginary picture of Hayden the Pimp Daddy}

{insert imaginary picture of Amanda playing games on the computer}

{insert a suddenly grumpy and sick Samantha}

{insert "the drive home" starring "the guy who couldn't stop tailgating us"}

Hayden's Awesome 3rd Birthday!

Today was Hayden's 3rd birthday!
Since Disney gives you free admission on your birthday, I decided to take Hayden alone, with no other siblings to compete for attention. With the help of super deluxe wonderful friends and family who helped with all day babysitting and financing my admission to the park, we made it happen!

Halloween 2009

13 months - so smart, but not walking yet! ahhh!

We're not big pumpkin carvin' people

Basically, we're too lazy and cheap, I suppose.
So today the kids decided to paint their melons instead...

It all started off innocently enough.









Happy Halloween!

Little Sister and Nephew Visits!

It's been nearly a month since my sister Becky and her son Connor came for a visit... I can't believe it has taken me this long to write about it!

Becky flew ALL THE WAY from Oregon with her 2 year old son, thanks to her MIL, and spent nearly a week with us! It might have been a totally crummy trip for her since our A/C died on us in the middle of it all... but she was a total trooper. Needless to say, I don't think she will EVER live in Florida. Ever. E.V.E.R.

(note to family members - wait till at least the end of October to visit us... much nicer weather - I promise!)

While they were here we introduced Connor to

lizards,

fishing,

and well, free expression...

Connor and Hayden butted heads most of time, but they did have some moments...

{Hayden and Connor trying to catch a lizard}


{Connor and Hayden raiding the pantry}

But Amanda and Connor seemed to get alone quite well... especially at the beach! I think Connor really enjoyed our warm Atlantic water.

We celebrated Samantha's birthday a week early at Poppy George's house. This is the ONLY picture you will see of Becky. She managed to worm her way out of most of the pictures... bahhh!!!

My favorite picture...

well, for this month anyhow.

Samantha's 1st Birthday!!!

I'm on internet technology overload. Got some stuff on Flickr, some on Utube, some on Facebook... gotta find a way to make it all merge nicely into one place! And it seems that my blog is the last place to see the good stuff lately... oh well. So here we go!


Samantha's birthday was last Saturday and since we don't have A/C (I'll save that rant for another post) we decided to keep it really simple and fun. We invited anyone who wanted to come see Samantha eat her first ice cream cone to Bruster's Ice Cream for a little ice cream party. Samantha did not disappoint. She loved her first taste of vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and we all loved watching her eat it... and sneak sips of her daddy's milkshake.

Afterwards we came home and opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Lee and Aunt Becky and her family. The Grandparents sent the cutest little shoes fit for a princess and Aunt Becky sent an adorable inch worm toy that Hayden immediately decided was his... of course!

Here's a little video of Samantha opening her presents... ignore the squeaky voiced woman singing off-key in the foreground... I have no idea who she is or where she came from! ; 0



Today since there was no school, I took the kids to the mall so Samantha could pick out her present from Mom and Dad at Build-A-Bear Workshop. She got her first Bear, we dressed her in a Hawaiian Moo-Moo and Amanda named her "Honey".

Can I tell you how much we love and adore this little girl? She is the sunshine of our home. Her smile melts the hearts of everyone she meets. She's growing up way too fast... at least for me she is.

I almost forgot!
Samantha had a little pre-birthday party at her Poppy George and Grammy Jess's house about a week ago. The pictures for that event are on my flickr account... now let's see if I can get them to appear here...hmmmm....

Samantha @ 11.2 months

I'm so late taking and posting Samantha's 11 month picture. Between sickness and grumpy teething and grumpy mommy - it just hasn't been a good time. But anywho...

Here she is in all her cuteness! She's really just the sweetest baby a mommy could ask for. She has her moments, mind you, but for the most part she is super pleasant. She is beginning to stand on her own, cruise around the couch... she can even climb onto the couch! She has climbed half a flight of stairs to mommy's great surprise and nearly gave me a heart attack. You know that lump in the throat, cold chill feeling of "oh no, be soooo careful..eeeeeekkkkk...don't startle her but...GO GET HER BEFORE SHE FALLS! AHHHHHH!"

One of her favorite things to do is pull all the books that she can reach off of the bookcase. The kitchen drawers and cabinets are a close second. The girl knows how to make mischief, I tell ya!

She has 3, yes 3 teeth coming in all at the same time...her 2 top front teeth and one to the left. Needless to say, mommy is VERY eager to ween her! Samantha? Not so eager.

So that's all I've got... busy busy are we! Watch out for Samantha's one year video... a tradition in our family. I just know it's gonna be awesome!