Christmas with the chipmunks.

I thought everyone would like to see this. They love this music as much as mommy did when she listened to it growing up.

Halloween Continued

My guess is that you were waiting for pictures from Halloween. So now I am adding these in this morning. Alexandra wanted to be Minnie Mouse, Joshua a Dalmation, and James a Jedi Knight. They got all dress up and Pris brought them to work. Once again Novell made it really easy to get as much candy as possible in one single place. It was like Heaven for the kids. Julie and her girls came as well. As you can tell the girls were really cute in their costumes. Unfortunately the adults did not dress up! No Halloween spirit from them. We have a costume contest at work and there were some great costumes. A couple of the employees dressed up lik Sarah Palin and John McCain. It was pretty good. They also had a salsa contest. Work also had a drawing for the kids when they got to work. We won some bath toys for the kids.

You are all probably wondering what Kaleb was and so here he is. He was a beautiful bumblebee. I am not sure if I would have chosen that but at least we dressed him up. I think him and Joshua were the most miserable since those are very hot costumes and we did all the trick or treating indoors and not outside.

Halloween 2008

Doesn't Joshua look a little like Casper?

After Kaleb was born, Priscilla's parents decided to come and visit. It took them a couple of days, but they got is safely. They stayed with John and Tiffany, but drove back and forth between us. As you can see we decided to go Vineyard Nursery and pick out pumpkins and go through the corn maze. Grandpa Harman is always making silly faces when he gets to pose in pictures.

Grandma and Grandpa brought Maddy and Eve with them. Julie was out taking care of other business.As you can see we are a little bit behind. Time is flying by really fast having additional ones living in the house. Everyone had a great time there. It was very hard to try and get Joshua to look at the camera.



This corn maze also had a ton of blow up toys that the kids could play on. The had animals as well that the children could look at. They even saw little mice running around the rabbit pens, and drinking water from the rabbit's water trough. They really had a great time, and I think Grandpa had a ton of fun too.



Alexandra and Eve holding hands as they came out of a little blue barn.



James and Maddy coming out of the corn maze.

Kaleb has come!!

He has finally arrived at the Finlayson household. Kaleb Joseph was born on October 11, 2008 at 5:42 PM in the MT Timpanogeous Hospital in Orem Utah. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. It was a surprise for us since he came 4 days early which included an emergency c section. Both Pris and Kaleb are doing well. I will post some more pictures soon. He is definetely a miracle baby.

Summer has ended!

Since I last wrote there has been a lot of things that have transpired. The 4th of July was spent at the parade with the Beckers. They have a family outing every year and end up saving a spot for us. The children have so much fun. It was nice and cool under the trees that the Beckers reserved for the whole family. The kids loved the candy that was thrown to them. We had to keep that under control or we would have sugar rushes on our hands.


James had his 6th birthday and invited all of his friends over for a pool party. It was quite fun. They even got to throw water balloons at each other. They were the high point of the party. They had a blast just filling up the balloons. I could not make them fast enough. Priscilla made cupcakes for the cake and James loved all of the gifts from his friends. James loves to be around his friends and hates for the time when they have to go home.

One of his favorite gifts he got for his birthday was the Game Boy Color. He does not play it often, but he has it around him all the time. It is amazing to see how fast they grow up. Sometimes I think they grow up too fast.

Well it is a tradition at Novell to go to Lagoon every year during the summer. And this year was no exception. James could not contain himself when I told him that we would once again be going there. He talked about it all week long. So when the day finally arrived he was so excited we could not get driving soon enough. We did not leave until about 3 in the afternoon, since we have kids that still need to take naps. We made it in time for the dinner that Novell provided. Then the fun began. This was Joshua's first ride at Lagoon, and boy was he excited to be on a boat in the water. Priscilla's sister, Julie, brought her kids and Julie got a great video clip of Joshua being very crazy in the boat. Let's just say he was very animated. It was quite hot and so we decided to go on Rattlesnake rapids. We waiting in line for quite a while and when we got to the front, Joshua was too short so I ended up taking him back to wait while, Priscilla, James, Alexanda, and Maddy went on the ride. Boy did they get wet at the end of the ride where there is a huge water fall.
The kids could just not get enough of the rides and wanted to stay for ever.
Before we left, Julie and I went on wicked since Priscilla does not like the scary rides. So while we were waiting in line to do that she took care of all the kids.

This past week was James' first day of school. Unfortunately I was not able to be here for it since I was in North Carolina fixing issues a customer was having with one of Novell's software products. Priscilla told me that he was so excited to be going once again. His new teacher is Mrs. Blackhurst. She will be having a baby soon so James will have a substitute for part of the first year. Hopefully I have caught you up on all of the happenings. Hope to write more soon.

That Time of Year

As you can see it's that time of year for the children to have fun in the sun. Pris and I signed up the children for swimming lessons. We set it up so that all the kids had it at the same time. This made it easy for me to leave work and come and help. Joshua and Alexandra had the 'Parent and Me' class. So we each took a child and had a great time singing songs and teaching them how to swim. It took Joshua no time to jump in without any coaxing. Alexandra of course, is like a fish in the water and enjoyed every minute of it. You do not see James in the picture, but he was off with his teacher learning how to hold his breath longer underwater. He has even learned how to open his eyes under there as well. Boy does that burn daddy's eyes. I need to use goggles to do that!. He also was learning how to float on his back. Another thing that he did was put on a life jacket and then jump off the side by himself into the water. You can tell that he had so much fun in the water. After the two weeks of swimming, he wanted to go back and just play. And of course we did. It is so amazing to watch them learn and grow. Especially when it is learning something for the first time. Joshua went down the water slide for the first time as well. He was a little scared going down the first time. Once the slide was over, he said, "again, again, again". There was no stopping him then. He wanted me to take him over and over again.

Trip to Seattle, Part 2

Kurt left out all the fun activities we did with everyone! Maybe that's because he was often left at home being babysitter for those who needed naps. Thanks Kurt! After staying with the Sorsensons, we spent time with the Hansens and the Harmans. James and Daniel played with Hot Wheels and Alexandra and Ella cooked in their play kitchen for hours. It was so fun to see them get to know each other. At Lori's house, all the cousins played hide-and-seek with Uncle Kurt, played frisbee out in the rain with Jacob (it rained the whole time, so we learned how to just enjoy the rain!), and dressed up as princesses. It was a party all the time.

In the course of the week, we took a tour of Boehm's Chocolate Factory, visited the Seattle Aquarium, took a tour of Microsoft, had a barbeque at Beaver Lake, and went to the Seattle Zoo. The best event, however, was at the end of the week when we got to see Marie and Jacob perform at their Primary Talent Show. Marie did a ballet dance that she had choreographed herself, and Jacob played a paino piece that he wrote himself! They both did wonderfully. They sure are talented children. We will miss all the Hansen children while they are in Japan. We're so glad we got to spend some time with them before they leave. Now we have some great memories. Alexandra talks about Kate and Sarah (and all her girl cousins) incessantly.



We all came down sick on the two-day drive home, but the trip was so worth it and one we won't soon forget! Thanks to all our family for being willing to take time from their schedules to spend so much time with us. Dan and Teri are on their way here to visit for a few days, and the kids can't wait to see their cousins again. It's hard to live so far away, but these reunions sure are fun!

Trek To Seattle Washington

The family vacation that we recently had was a blast. We took a ton of pictures throughout the trip to help us save those memories. You can imagine what it was like to drive 14 and a half hours in the car. Luckily we made a few stops to brake up the driving. James had a great time and was a great helper throughout the drive. When the other two children where asleep he got his movie time.As you can see, Alexandra probably was not very comfortable sleeping the way she did, but she at least got some rest. Plus that gave some quiet time for mommy and daddy. The first part of the trip took us through Montana. We left on June 3, and when we drove through Montana it was snowing for part of the day. What a great start for a trip that we only packed one pair of warm clothing for each of us. Oops that was a mistake. We stayed in Idaho Falls the first night and then stayed a couple of days in Spokane with the grandparents.

Once we left Spokane we went and stayed with the Sorensen's. The children had so much fun together. We appreciate the Sorensen's for letting us stay there, even when they were in the process of remodeling. One of the things they did together was relax.!! Dora here we come. They had a blast up in the bonus room playing together. They could not get enough time together. It was so amazing to see Nathan and Isabella. They are growing up too fast. I remember when Adam and Isabella were on the floor together and Adam hit her on her head. She was shy and Uncle Kurt use to scare her by just looking at her. Now she is very outgoing and loves to wrestle and be tickled.

One of the main reasons for the family vacation was for our nephew's baptism. Jacob was going to be baptized. When the Saturday came for all the family to meet, it was a very happy reunion. All the Harmans got into a picture, and as you can see Grandma and Grandpa Harman have a ton of little grandkids, and they still keep on coming.

Don't we look like a happy family. We sure wished that Ryan and Julie could have been here as well. We definitely missed them. Well, I think I have said enough for now. If Pris wants to say more she can add more.

Our New Family Blog

Kurt and I have decided that it's time to join the latest craze and start our family blog. We want to be able to keep our family and friends informed about our lives and I want a place to write some of the funny things that are happening around here! Life with little children is never dull, and I don't take enough time to jot down some of the fun memories. I'm hoping this blog will give me the place and motivation to do it. I just don't want to forget these precious times. I hope those who read our blog will enjoy it as much as we will.