25 Random Things...

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Ok. So it's been a while (ok, a long while) since I last posted. Between then and now, my likfe has gotten a little complicated. I was called to teach Seminary at the beginning of February and while it's an awesome experience that I wouldn't trade, I have had to put a few things on the back burner, like blogging. I'm hoping to get back on track and work in a few here and there now that I'm getting more used to the schedule. We'll have to wait and see how that goes.

Anyway, back to the blog. My last post ended on 12/31/08 and this post is going to cover the events of 1/1/09. It was a day I set aside to potty train William. It had to be done and I wanted it to be before school started back up again. So I read a book about how to do it without failing and set out to get started. We started by going down to the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace to FAO Schwartz. Why, you ask? Good question. I wanted an "Emma" doll that was talked about in the book that will go to the bathroom if fed water. Of course it was a fancy doll that was only at fancy stores. I decided to make it an outing (somewhat) and I headed down with the kids. We did find the doll and everyone played on the floor piano (like on "Big") and here's a few shots of the kids by the fountains and looking at the fish. Sorry for the poor quality - it was from my phone, since I forgot the camera.


We headed home and I got out the salty foods, water, and M&Ms to start our potty training experience. To make a very long story short, we spent a few hours potty training Emma (what the book says to do), and then lots more hours "practicing" going potty and trying to actually catch a time when he would have to go. We had a "get rid of diapers" ceremony and have not used them since (except pull-ups at night). I wish it had gone as smoothly as it sounds like it should, but we did end up cleaning up accidents for probably two full days and even some times after that. The first two days I thought he would never get it since he only went to the bathroom on the floor (with the exception of one lucky #2 experience in the toilet on the first day), but eventually he figured it out. Thank goodness. Now he is doing great and I am so glad it's over! Good job William!!

The last two events of the year! (12/08)

Finally, I am getting to the last two events of last year! I just know that one of these days I will catch up to the present... hopefully it's not too long from now!

Anyway, we are very lucky to be pretty close by to both of our families. Because of this, we are able to spend a little bit of time with them all during the Holidays. As it has worked out, we end up going out to my parents house every Christmas Eve, and then we are with Ryan's family either on Christmas or whenever we can (depending on what day it falls on - with two cops in the family it can be tricky sometimes).

We went out to my parents on Christmas Eve afternoon and after eating a fabulous meal, we retired to the family room for gifts and visiting. My Grandma Pitchforth (used to be Booth) was helping us make a batch of her famous fudge. It required a ton of stirring! Good job Booth boys! It turned out great! Here's Kaitlyn making the pass off of fudge for stirring turns:


We were hoping to be able to hear from Elder Booth (Randy) as he was flying to the Philippines (on a layover somewhere) but he couldn't get the phone card to work and he ended up calling on Christmas (not Christmas in the Philippines though). :( Oh well, there's always Mother's Day! Here's a picture our family by the tree:

Here's me with my awesome sisters. I love you guys!


On Christmas, after opening up what Santa brought and relaxing, we headed over the Nate and Vicki's for another awesome meal and some Wii competition. (Thanks Santa!) While I did well with the bowling game (only because I don't have a fancy spin) I didn't do so well with golf. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to get better :) Here's the boys enjoying Mario Kart:

Here's Willaim trying to stay away from the tree...

For New Year's, as most of you know, Ryan has to go with every other cop in Vegas and work down on the Strip. It's definitely not his favorite part of being a cop, but I guess it's something we'll just have to deal with. Anyway, this year we decided to get together with another "Cop widow" family and have our own little New Year's party. We ate pizza, watched a movie and the older four even stayed up to midnight for some Sparkling Cider and messy confetti fun. Before the movie started, the kids decided to dogpile on Zach!



We had a great time with the Becks! Happy New Year! Bye 2008!