Without further adieu...

There has been quite a bit of excitment in the air at the Doezie house!

I celebrated my 35 birthday on the 23rd...

Which in and of itself was not that exciting, but it gets better...

The missionaries dropped by for some NON-alcoholic sparkling cider. For some reason Avery was not very happy about this picture? Maybe he thinks we should be avoiding the very appearance of evil!

Actually he looks how I feel! I don't want to get any older. Half way to 40...YIKES!

I also want to thank my darling friend Amanda, who came over to visit

and leave me a very 'delicious' birthday present! (I forgot to take a picture of us together) DANG IT!

Then came Christmas...

Avery had SO MUCH FUN! This was really the first year that he 'got it'

and it was so dang cute! Every present was better that than the next and it was so darling to watch him have such a great time!

(Dad, I found the 'magic' again through Avery's eyes!!!)

Kasey also had a very expensive, I mean great Christmas! She got her own digital camera, (among many other gifts!) which she had been asking for, FOREVER!

She has already taken a million pics! Look at that, she's taking after her Mommy!!!
Like it or not Kas, we're really not that different!


Well the only thing missing from this picture,
of course is Jaylyn and Hallie!
We have had to celebrate Christmas FOUR times without two of our children!
My heart aches just writing that!
Three years, 1 month and 17 days ago Troy, Kasey, Avery, Kain and I left two of our children and everyone and everything else that we knew and drove to Illinois.
At the time we HAD to come here.
Truly it was our best option. We had planned to be here for a year, TWO at the absolute MOST!
I thought I could do it... and I guess I did, but I didn't do it well!
I'm sure if you have been in hearing distance from me, at any time during these last three
years, you would agree, I did NOT do it WELL! And for this I sincerely apologize!
I am truly thankful for the love and patience that you have all shown to my family and me!
We have learned a lot about ourselves and can say in hind sight, this experience
was good for all of us!
(maybe not so good for all of you, again SORRY!)


So without further adieu............


We say goodbye Illinois! It has been.......well...
Let's just skip over that part!
Yes we are moving HOME!!! My dear husband FINALLY got that transfer, and we are goin HOME!
I have dreamed about this very post for sooooo long!
We could not be more excited! And as for Jaylyn and Hallie....Let me tell you the story...
We called Jaylyn and asked her what would be the best Christmas present EVER?
And without hesitation she said "For you guys to move home!"
Let's just say after that none of us could talk, we just cried!
A little later, after Hallie was out of school, we called and asked her the same question...
She thought about it for a minute and her reply..."A puppy!"
We hope to sell our house within a month (Yeah right)
but even if we don't we leave the end of January...

Again, thanks for sharing your love with us...

Holiday fun...

Ya, he's so dang cute!

All I have to do is point the camera in Avery's direction and he's ready for the shot!

Troy has to send out 'work' Christmas cards every year to all of his clients. So this year we took this pic of Kain in front of a McDavid sign and had it made into cards at Costco. We couldn't get one with his eyes open because

of the flash. But it turned out pretty cute anyway...

It was our ward Christmas party a few days ago. It was pretty fun. The food was good and Avery had a really fun time. But we can absolutely NOT get him to sit on Santa's lap.

We promised him anything he wanted and still NO WAY!

He kept saying "Santa's a nice guy, Mommy."

And I was like "Yes he is sweetie, so sit on his lap."

I think he was trying to convince himself that he was a nice guy, but he just couldn't do it...

He wouldn't even come in the room at first. I can't believe we got this close to him?
Anyway, he told Santa everything he wanted from the comfort of my lap and it was very cute...

Here he is jumping off a rafter into his daddy's arms. This started a string of little boys wanting to jump into Troy's arms too.

BOYS...



Amanda and I are on the ward events committee together. From the look of her body language I was just a little too close for comfort! Actually every picture I have with her she looks like I'm too close. She's not real big on touching, which just makes me want to get even closer to her
just to tease her!
Love you Amanda, really I do...





Then came the box of Christmas presents from Nana and Papa. This happens every year, the kids can't get the gifts out fast enough so they can play in the box and get those stupid 'peanuts' all over the house! That drives me crazy to try and clean those things up!

But thank you for all of the gifts Nana and Papa, we are so very thankful...
Which brings me to yesterday. Papa was in town (I know-rare) And even more rare we went to dinner with him. I bet you can't guess where we went for dinner???

Give up?
BENIHANNAS
It was great, like always.


But before dinner we went to the mall. Every year Nana and Papa get all the grand-kids
'Build-a-bears' On top of all the other gifts they give them...
Avery chose a dinosaur which he named 'Cubbie' he dressed him in a Cubs uniform and
absolutely loved it!


Kasey, however, wanted clothes more than a B.A.B. so Papa let her choose a couple things from Abercrombie....She was very happy also.
I would have pictures to show from last night
but I forgot to take my camera??? I never forget my camera. I was a little bummed. Papa, however was happy about that. I drive him a little crazy with all the pictures I take...
Thanks again Papa, we love you!

Hallie...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLIE!!!

Today marks the 9th birthday for our darling daughter

Hallie...

We love you and miss you every single day! You are a very special little angel, and we love you so very much!

Have a wonderful birthday sweetie!

Here are a few pictures of Hallie. It was very hard to limit the number of pictures that I posted. I have a million (at least) of this darling little girl.

We love you ALWAYS and FOREVER!!!

A quick stop in Chi-town...

Nana and Papa just spent the last two weeks in Italy, to celebrate 35 years of blissful marriage!

Today is their actual anniversary,

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY you love birds!

On the way back to UT, they had a layover here in Chicago and we decided to go get a room at their hotel and spend 24 hours with them...

We went to dinner and then back to the hotel to swim... Avery had been talking about swimming for two days straight! He was so excited!!!
It was all he could think about...

And the pool was AWESOME!!! It was huge! And so warm! I imagine it would cost a fortune to keep that pool heated like that!

You could swim under a bridge and it would take you outside. It was so cool! The heat coming of the water would make this thick steam and then the snow falling made it really magical...

This is the only pic that we took with our camera, but Nana took some with her camera that really show the pool better.

Even KASEY got in! She wasn't going to until she saw the pool. She went back up to the room and got her suit on...

(She doesn't like to get her hair wet with chlorine water because it makes it very unmanageable)

This is Avery after he found out we weren't going swimming again... Awwww, poor little guy!

So we had breakfast this morning and tried to fit in as much talk as possible before they had to leave...

As we dropped them off at the airport, Avery was very sad and said he didn't want his Nana and Papa to leave. He said "Why can't Nana and Papa come to our house?"

It was so sad!

It really is sad to think of all the time we have lost with our families, but especially for Avery, he NEEDS his Grand parents, and his Nana and Papa, and his cousins...

Hopefully soon, hopefully soon...

We came home and put on all of our gifts from Italy. Kasey wouldn't get in the pic because she had just gotten out of the shower and didn't want to take a pic without getting ready!

So we couldn't wait...Troy is wearing his new chefs hat that he will be expected to wear whenever he is cooking...(Other clothes optional)

And his darling Italia sweat shirt- Avery in his Ferrari hat and his Le-Gondole shirt, so dang cute! And me in my apron which I will probably NEVER really cook in because I don't want to get anything on it! And showing my beautiful glass pen that you dip in ink...

I already tried to write with it and it was really cool, but a lot of work! I couldn't imagine having to write page after page like that. Thank goodness for bic! Also the darling hat that I'm wearing two pics above, was also from Italy.

Thank you Nana and Papa! We love you so much and miss you ALWAYS!!!

I heart Mormon humor...

I found this on a friends blog...

Mitt Romney Tackles top LDS Issues

At last — Mitt tackles top LDS issuesBy Doug RobinsonDeseret Morning NewsPublished: November 20, 2007 Good morning, everyone. I'm Brother — I mean, Mitt — Romney, and I'm running for president. As you might know, for months people have been pressuring me to discuss my Mormon faith the same way my twin, John Kennedy, discussed his Catholicism before he was called to be president.Somehow my religion has become the issue of my campaign. One Washington Post poll showed that people would vote for a woman and a black but not a Mormon.So Gladys Knight just missed.Ba-da-boom.A Harvard professor called me the "most qualified" of all the candidates — have I mentioned in the last five minutes that I saved the Salt Lake Olympics? — but noted that my faith could prevent me from moving into the Oval Office. So I have called this press conference to address this issue. I am thankful for this opportunity, and I know that I'll get more out of this than you will. I'll take questions now.

No. 1. Why is this press conference starting 10 minutes late?It was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. MST — Mormon Standard Time. MST is about 10 minutes later than the rest of the world. Most BYU football fans, for instance, have never heard "The Star Spangled Banner.

"No. 2. Can you discuss the widespread rumor that Mormon men are subjected to horrible violence and unspeakable ugliness regularly in the Mormon culture?I'm not here to talk about church ball. Not in front of the women anyway. Next question.

No. 3. If you win, will there be a Second Lady and Third Lady in the White House?Listen, the only thing Mormons know about polygamy is what they learn on "Big Love" and the 10 o'clock news. We marry one partner — of the opposite sex — and have 3.5 kids and that's pretty much it.

No. 4. What about this Warren Jeffs guy we keep hearing about?Warren Jeffs has about as much chance to become the president of the Mormon church as a Mormon has to become president of the United — oh, wait; never mind.

No 5. Do Mormons have horns?Yes, and they use them frequently in the traffic jams that form outside of general conference biannually. No, in all seriousness, we drop our horns at puberty.

No. 6. Do Mormons still drive wagons on the roads?Please, that's the Amish gig! We do like vans and Suburbans, though — aka the Mormon Cadillac.

No. 7. Is it difficult being a Mormon?Nah, it makes life easier. LaVell Edwards noted a few years ago that one of the benefits of church membership is that when you forget a first name there's always an out — "Hey there, um, Brother Smith.

"No. 8. Are Mormons a threat to national security?Not unless you're on the road on the first Sunday of the month. It's an inside joke.

No. 9. Why should we trust a Mormon?Because the 49ers and Eagles did. Because the Miss America pageant did. Because so did Black & Decker and voters in Nevada. Here's a list of Mormons (you can sing it to the tune of Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song) "Sharlene Wells-Hawkes is a Mormon; so is Dale Murphy, Steve Young and J. Willard Marriott; Warren Jeffs — NOT A MORMON! Neither is B.J. Honeycutt, but everyone thinks he is; We've got John and Glenn Beck and a senator and coach named Reid; Robert Redford and Larry King both married Mormons; Mike Wallace is not a Mormon, but he really likes our leader; Larry Miller, Johnny Miller, Donny and Marie; all of them are Mormons, just like Ann and me.

"No. 10. Could you discuss the confusion about your former Mormon leadership title of steak president?I've had several people ask me if they could have theirs "medium well." It's s-t-a-k-e, not s-t-e-a-k.

No. 11. As a long shot, how do you ever expect to move to the White House? The elders quorum.

No. 12. Can we count on you to visit us regularly once you're in office? I'll bring a friend. How about the first Sunday of the month?