These last two weeks have been full of antibiotics and Nyquil. Its cold season and sadly kids are especially prone to it. Both Lily and Jensen have had ear infections and bad coughs. Am I unsensitive and unfeeling if I feel bad giving nightime cough medicine to Lily, to help her sleep, but approach drugging Jensen with some sort of deranged excitement? Anyway the saddest part of being sick was not being able to go to Utah to vist my brand new nephew Lucas, Bryce's boy. Once we get better that cutie better be ready to be held!

Jensen put on his shirt all by himself!
(same PJ's -different night)
Shots of Jensen sleeping. Butt in the air, under the bed, he dumped out drawers and over turned boxes of clothes- than stuffed both his legs into one PJ pant leg. You know the usual.
I DID THIS! The massive goosebump on his head is from me opening the door in his face. Opps:)

Lily started rolling. She rolled herself right under the couch.
She also is very good at pulling hair and looking innocent at the same.
Hanging out with Dad while he plays our favorite Wii game Lego Star Wars. They don't look alike at all do they.

This video is some of the fun we have at the house. Jensen just loves getting whapped in the face with pillow or other soft objects(no seriously, he brings stuff to us so we can throw things at him). Sometimes its used for a little......discipline.

So I realized how badly I have been neglecting putting up pictures of Lily. She is known in the ward as smiley baby She smiles big and often at most anyone who smiles at her. She is so cute. Here are some pictures of her in a beautiful dress we took her in to go to the Rexburg Open House.

I AM MOM'S HELPER

Hi my name is Jensen. I am a big boy. I even sleep in a big boy bed( I may cry and bang on my door for a while, but eventually I fall asleep in my bed) . My mom needs my help SO much. She can't do ANY of the chores without my help.


I oversee all the cooking from up here. She needs me to tell her when something looks tasty or not. This bread was definently better because of my supervision.

I helped mom get all the spots she missed cleaning the oven.
When I saw mom was sweeping I helped by dumping the entire box of Cheese Nips on the floor, than grinding it into the carpet, so we could mop it all up.

I know how long it takes mom to do the laundry, because the machines are so far away. So my friend Ivan and I put all of the detergent in my bus. Ready to Go!

I know my mom would be lost without my help and definently wouldn't finish her chores NEARLY as fast if it weren't for my help. Your welcome mom :)

HELP!

The McDonald's aren't sleeping.

So there we were... on Sunday morning we had just laid both kids down for a nap before church and Dave and I (not ones to pass up the opportunity) laid down to take a nap as well. Suddenly Dave jumped out of bed and told me "Some one's in the house." We went out to the front room to discover Jensen happily playing by himself.

JENSEN LEARNED TO CLIMB OUT OF HIS CRIB !

AND

HOW TO TURN/OPEN THE SAFETY HANDLE DOORKNOB!

Jensen has never slept well but not being confined to his crib just pushed him over the edge. He only slept one hour all day, and didn't go to sleep until 1:30 a.m. He climbs out of his pack and play, and untied the tie we put around his ankles. I laid down on his floor to sleep in there with him, but he thought it was playtime. We finally switched the doorknob from Dave and I's room to Jensen's and we locked him in.

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO? HELP ME

Okay so I finally got a chance to catch up and I realized I needed to add a bunch of my favorite people on my links list. I would just like to say I love blogs. I am awful at keeping in touch with people. But blogs are so nice. Even though I don't actually get to talk to most of you I love seeing what is going on in your life. So to my family, friends from Rexburg, friends from home, and friends from China- THANKS!

We had a couple of friends over the other night for dinner. I was so excited because I had lost contact with Phoxay after she got home from her mission. Dave just happened to run into her on campus while she was in town for the Rexburg Temple open house. We had a fun night. Jensen LOVED Mel. He kept kissing her and bringing her one of his little cars and putting it in her mouth while holding it in his.

The best part is Jensen has now claimed a beatiful return missionary's V.L. status.

COSTA RICA!
We have been planning to escape to Costa Rica over the New Years break since June. We were joined by Celeste and her family and my parents. We were REALLY excited. It was to be Dave's first real time out of the country, and I was truly looking forward to warming up on beautiful beaches. We even arranged for Jensen to stay in Utah with family so we would be traveling with only Lily. Well after a truly wonderful Christmas we all packed our bags and headed to the airport for our red eye 12:1o flight.

We soon discovered we were 24 hours too late and the 12:10 had messed us up and we had missed our flight. We stayed at the airport for two hours trying to figure out something else like an escape to Cancun- but nothing else panned out. So we made the best of it and transfer ed my parents timeshare condo to Breckenridge. We had a great time in the mountains, but we are looking forward to actually going to Costa Rica next December.

So for the rest of the vacation...

We had a relaxed little Christmas up in Rexburg we had planned on spending it with Dave's sister but there was a bad storm so we relaxed and had a fun time with out neighbors. We gave Jensen his own dishes. Kinda dorky I know but he enjoyed it.

We spent some time with Marybeth and then they drove us to the airport. We of course forgot all our our hygiene products at their house and had to re-buy them in Denver. We showed up at the Salt Lake airport and I told Dave we are on Southwest airlines. By the time we had waited in the 20 minute line and gotten to attendant we only had 10 minutes to run over to the other terminal to check into our actual flight on Skywest. My Oops made up 6 minutes too late to check baggage. So we had to come back the next day. But we got to spend some time with my Aunt in Kaysville which was really nice.

When we finally got to Denver it was wonderful to hang out with the family and play Heroscape. We got everyone hooked and Bryce and Brad are going to buy their own sets

THE highlight of the trip to Denver was going to the aquarium. Dad has been able to fulfill some dreams and he is a volunteer diver. We all got to see and wave to him.

Dave and I said goodbye to Jensen. Which was REALLY hard to do! He went back to Utah with Bryce, while we (supposedly) went to Costa Rica. We really missed him and were so exited to see him again.

In Breckenridge (not Costa Rica) we had a really nice time. Dave and I got massages and we all sat in nice warm hot tubs. And my favorite was going to a pottery place where you could glaze your own piece and take it home. We had a ball sitting around for three hours painting and talking. It was really fun. Dave made three little mythical creatures, and I made a gravy boat.

We got back on the plane miraculously without any delays or missed flights, but they did loose our bag :)

So in summary we got snowed in, missed a flight by 6 minutes, missed a flight by 12 hours, made a flight but lost our luggage and had a GREAT time. Just remind us never to go on the Amazing Race :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to all. What a wonderful time of year Christmas is. It is an opportunity to reflect on the past year, to show friends and family how much we appreciate and love them. And most importantly to show love and appreciation to our Heavenly Father for the gift of his Son. Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior, and Redeemer. How thankful we are for opportunity we have to worship Him and to follow Him.



We have been so blessed this year. We frequently look around at our situation and smile. According to the world's standards we are in pretty bad shape.



Money is very tight as Dave finishes up his last semester's of school until he graduates in April. We have one car to share between a busy student and a busy mom. We live in a 500 foot square apartment with a VERY active 19 month old. Most of our furniture are hand-me-downs with "character." The rest of our furniture is plastic shelves and drawers. Our kids are dressed in all passed down clothes from generous friends and neighbors. The government helps us survive by subsidised housing and food stamps.



But we smile because we feel so blessed. In April, when Dave graduates, he has a job offer in Huston, Texas, with an oil company. We have two great kids. We have very supportive family. We have good friends, and a great ward. Our future is so bright we gotta wear shades.

Dave had a very successful year. He landed a great internship on an oil rig for the summer. It was pretty hard on all of us. Dave lived on the rig with only the Internet and satellite TV to keep him company. He learned a lot identifying samples and working with rig hands. He was happy to come home to confront a semester of Calculus and Physics and other "fun" classes. He did well and is pumped for his last semester of "ologyies." He has Paleontology, Ecology, and Hydrology. He is a great dad. Jensen has a ball growling and wrestling with Dave, and Lily lights up every time dad comes to play with her.



Danica's year has been a year of ups and downs- mostly ups. She had to watch her husband suffer through 12 hour days of studying Calculus and Physics. She was alone much of the year with Dave being home only 15 days over the course of 5 months. She was gripped with fear that the week buffer between Dave coming home from his internship, and when Lily was due would be eliminated by an early birth. Her ups included the birth of BEAUTIFUL Lily ( Dave was there, thankfully), being able to teach Sunday School with Dave, starting new crafts like card making and pottery, and "being the sole reason for her husbands success" (as quoted by Dave.) She feels incredibly blessed to be healthy and be able to stay at home and play with the kids. Her only wish would be to never do dishes again.



Jensen is a very busy 19 month old. He is dense. Not in a slow to learn way, more like a little cannon ball of pure muscle. He ate 4.5 hot dogs for lunch the other day. He climbs as high and as often as he can. He loves to pour water from one container to another. He has about ten words he uses consistently. Mom means "I want that, get it for me", and dad means "Let's wrestle." He entered nursery last month and loves it. He seems to enjoy bonking his head based on how often and how hard he hits it.



Lily is pure joy in an adorable little baby package. She is so kissable with her dark skin and sparkling brown eyes. She is quick to flash a huge grin and coo whenever you smile at her. She eats well and sleeps even better. We are so blessed to have this good natured adorable 3 month old in our family.



Merry Christmas to you. Jesus is the Christ- the giver of peace,love, and happiness.

The McDonalds
Dave, Danica, Jensen and Lily

When it gets quiet you know there is trouble. I was feeding Lily then came to check on my too quiet son. Jensen didn't mind sitting quietly if he had container of Nesquick to snack on :)

In spirit of today being the last day of finals and almost Christmas- Dave's friend Matt Cannady put this together for Dave of his web shots in the testing center. Merry Merry Merry Christmas

Elf Yourself!

Check out my elfed Family!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1149923714

THANKSGIVING!

We had a fun week last week. We got to visit Dave's sister and her kids.

She had Clayton two weeks before Lily was born. These two will have fun playing together growing up.We had actual Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents house. We took 4 generation pictures.
We blessed Lily at Bryce's house. The kids had tons of fun in Sam's awesome room Marcia decorated.
The whole crew at the blessing.
Lily and Clayton.Dave reading his birthday book.

25Years Old!

Dave's Birthday was on Thanksgiving this year. He hasn't really ever had a birthday party because we usually grab the nearest pumpkin pie and stick a candle on it. As much as Dave loves pumpkin pie he has always wanted a party. So a week before his birthday I organized a surprise party for him. I don't think I can say enough how HARD it was for me to keep the secret. But we pulled it off! He got Guitar Hero III for the Wii ( from like five people). And we played Guitar Hero and Double Dash on the projector. It was really fun. And in the words of Dave "Best Birthday Ever".

FINALLY NURSERY!

Jensen hit 18 months and has finally entered nursery. I feel a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. It has been a challenge to try and contain this very active and inquisitive boy during church. We walked up to the nursery room and I expected a tiny bit of trepidation and then he would be fine. But he didn't even look at me once, even when I repeatedly said goodbye. He didn't cry at all. We got a cute little outfit to celebrate the occasion. He knows he looks good.