Layton Update

We decorated for Christmas on Monday night. It was fantastic fun. I put out 6 of my nativity sets this year and I'm so excited! I love being in my house at night with the tree lit up - well, I guess I should be honest, I've closed all the blinds so the house stays dark so I can keep the tree on all day long! I'm really enjoying the change. I had book club at our house last night so I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and it's so nice to have a clean house! I'm trying hard to keep it that way...we'll see how long it lasts!

Church is busy, and life is busy as always, but we're healthy and happy. We're looking forward to Steve becoming "Master Steve" (the end is in sight!) and we're looking forward to our trip to Texas for Christmas.

I made homemade chicken/noodle/vegetable soup (without a recipe) for the first time EVER today and it turned out so wonderful I can't wait to make it again. I even made homemade noodles (whole wheat)!

I lost 4.2 pounds last week (YEAH!) I'm finally on the losing weight band wagon again...I know it's been too long in coming. So - weight watchers - here I come...again.

Yesterday I switched around the kids' rooms. I put Daniel's bed into Caitlin's room. Caitlin has been having a very hard time going to sleep alone, and she pines for Daniel. Those 2 have been playing so well together lately, it's so fun! Last night Steve ended up sleeping in the queen bed and both of them were in the twin bed when I came in after book club. :) Tonight Daniel fell asleep when we dropped Kenneth off for piano (5:30pm) and I put him straight to bed and Caitlin went to bed next to him happy as a clam. We'll see how tomorrow night goes.

We're still spending lots of time at the park and today we ended up having lots of friends over to play today as several of my friend's kids are battling illnesses and needed to go to the doctor and/or ER. I'd rather be the one home with the kids than be the one with the kid in ER! : )

Kenneth's soccer season is over and we're not signing him up for basketball. I need a break. He's OK with it, I think. He's been doing amazingly well lately and I'm really enjoying being home more. He goes to GATE (gifted and talented education) 3 times a week at school and last week some guy from the school district called me and said he had been referred for the Highly gifted program or something and he scheduled a 2 hour test for Kenneth. He took it, and we haven't received any results yet back. Kenneth reads a LOT. I'm pretty sure he's read every Harry Potter book (except 7) at LEAST twice...if not more. He likes to read star wars and my sister got a bunch of Hardy Boys books, so we'll see how he likes those.

Daniel's speech improves every day and he's enjoying learning (finally!). He asks me how to spell things when we're driving in the car and he is trying to sound words out here and there. He now writes his name 1/2 in upper case and 1/2 in lower case. It's very cute.

Caitlin's speech is also very very good, and she's 100% potty trained! Hallelujah!!! :) Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially now and she's become my little cooking/baking pal. Anytime I'm in the kitchen she goes and gets a measuring cup and "helps". She's actually pretty good at not spilling when she pours things into the pot. Today I was making Macaroni and Cheese for her (her current favorite) and she was trying to open the box. She wasn't being very successful so I reached down to assist and she wrenched the box back and said, "No, mom, I'm HELPING!" in an angry tone. It was so funny.

We got some devastating news yesterday. Suzanne Lopez (Artie's wife) called to tell us that her mom had a massive heart attack last Friday and passed away on Saturday. She is now without a mom, dad, and husband. They've all preceeded her. She seems to be handling it amazingly well. It was good to talk to her, but I just feel awful. Please keep her in your prayers.

Crazy Hair Day

Enjoy!

I know....I know

I'm way overdue for an update. Things have been pretty high-stress around here lately between work and school, etc. Other than that - we had a wonderful week with Amanda...we were able to make 2 trips out on the boat...fun, fun, fun! Angela & I got 2 girls nights out with her. We played soccer last Friday and I came home with a nasty bruise on the side of my knee (I was playing defense again). It was a frustrating game. We led 4-1 at the half and lost 4-6. You can see how that was frustrating. We had a wonderfully productive and fun Saturday. We helped Darrel & Angela lay sod in their back yard (see their blog www.thedarrelwebbfamily.blogspot.com for photos), and they were kind enough to give us their extra sod....so we laid more sod in our yard, too. We had a great time with the Jones family when they came through again on their way home from Disneyland. We had a great dinner with the Webbs (using our gift cards that Steve & Darrel got as gifts from their soccer team.) It was a fun, full day. Yesterday was church, church and more church. The kids and I had a nice evening, though, while Steve worked on his school project. We made cookies together. :)

Well, sorry it's not more exciting...we're just plugging away. We're looking forward to the launch of www.cheerfulnoise.com this afternoon (6pm MST). If you'd like to know more check out the website or email me at cheerfulnoisejoy@gmail.com.

Soccer & more soccer

So - last night Steve & I played again. The other team played really rough. I got knocked over (for the first time ever) and got banged into a few times (well, I WAS playing defense...perhaps I was doing the banging into, eh?). We lost the game, but I thought it was my best game yet. I really enjoyed it. Steve was having an "off" night - just coming off a migraine, and he was still nauseated. Mom was there to watch and that was fun! We went to Cafe Rio for dinner afterwards...that was fun, too. This morning my sister-in-law, Amanda, flew in with her dog, Diesel. Diesel will be staying with the Webbs for the next year while Amanda goes to Iraq. Thankfully, Amanda extended her trip and will be with us until NEXT Saturday....we're all excited about that....especially all the nephews who have a crush on their beautiful, fun aunt. :)

On another soccer note, Kenneth & Johnathan's team played the only team they've lost to this season today. The team, the WILDCATS, was undefeated, so it was a BIG GAME! We WON in a shoot-out....very exciting! So, along with their regular team trophies they got 1st place trophies from the city. It was a great game, and it's so fun to see how these boys have improved over the past 10 weeks. We had cake and pizza afterwards and it was all in all a successful soccer season. Steve & Darrel did a great job w/ coaching and now they each have a nice plaque and a $25 gift card to Black Angus to show for all their hard work.

Tomorrow is Stake Conference and the Jones family is coming through on their way to Disney Land! YEAH!!! :) Another fun weekend.

Delinquent

I know - I know - I've been a complete & total delinquent when it comes to blogging this week. We've had another wonderful week at the Layton house! We've gone to the park quite a bit (the weather has been in the 80's and I'm sure it's not going to last much longer), we've done school, scouts, soccer, church, etc. just like always. But - Grammie came Wednesday night and it's been so fun to be with her in the evening! She's here for a blogging conference (or something like that). Angela is picking her up from the convention center now and then we'll head over to our soccer game tonight and go to Cafe Rio for dinner. We are all looking forward to that! The guilt is piling up for not having donated blood for a while (I've been thinking about it a LOT and I've even been taking my iron!). Hopefully I'll get to do that next week. Tomorrow morning Amanda comes for the weekend - YEAH! She's getting tired of her flight to Iraq being delayed and she needs some Vegas sun before she takes off! (She's also accompanying Diesel and will help transition him to his new home at Angela's). If the weather is good tomorrow, we'll go out on the boat one last time before we winterize it. Tomorrow is also Kenneth and Johnathan's last soccer game, and their team party is right after the game.

Great News!

So - I scored a goal on Friday for our soccer team. Yes, this is Joy typing....believe it or not! It was so fun. I also assisted on one other goal. Amazing.

The other great news is that Caitlin is breaking down potty-training barriers all over the place today. She got 3 of her "Poopy-presents" today. You can imagine what she has to do to get one of those! :) We are so excited! Yeah!