Pop Quiz 2008

How well do you know the DEl Beatty family?

Take our 2008 pop quiz to find out!
(The answers are at the bottom of the page....no peeking beforehand!!)

1. When did Del begin his new job at Dixie State College?
a. July 2008
b. August 2008
c. September 2008
d. October 2008

2. What is Mathison's favorite thing to say?
a. "Awesome!"
b. "Oh my gosh!"
c. "Holy Cow!"
d. all of the above

3. How tall is Bronson?
a. 6'2"
b. 6'0"
c. 6'1"
d. 6'2.5"

4. What is Kim's calling in their new ward?
a. Webelos Den Leader
b. Primary President
c. Ward Choir Director
d. Nursery Leader

5. What place did Krissia take at the Miss Utah's Outstanding Teen Pageant?
a. 1st runner-up
b. 2nd runner-up
c. 3rd runner-up
d. Miss Congeniality

6. Which role did Jefferson play in a CEU theater production?
a. Kurt from "The Sound of Music"
b. Jo-Jo from "Seussical"
c. Douglass from "Shadowlands"
d. Tiny Tim from "A Christmas Carol"

7. What is Mathison's most recent accomplishment?
a. reading simple words
b. potty training
c. tying his shoes
d. riding a tricycle

8. In his spare time, DEl is:
a. writing a book
b. tying a quilt
c. directing a children's performing group
d. performing in a musical

9. How does Kimberly spend most of her days?
a. eating chocolate while soaking in a bath
b. driving kids around
c. cleaning up after her "toddler tornado"
d. b&c

10. What is Krissia ranked statewide in the 100m backstroke?
a. 1st
b. 2nd
c. 5th
d. 8th

11. What does Jefferson enjoy doing?
a. hanging out with his friends
b. acting and performing
c. learning about military history
d. all of the above

11. After graduation, Bronson plans to major in:
a. History
b. English
c. Theater
d. Communications

We would love to get feedback on how you did :)

Happy New Year!

DEl, Kimberly, Bronson, Krissia, Jefferson, and Mathison

ANSWERS:
d, d, c, a, b, c, a, c, d, b, d, b,

Constipation Cure

Today, we discovered the perfect cure for a toddler's constipation.

Just let him/her soak in a nice, warm bathtub for a few minutes and the blockage will slip right out.

I don't know which of was more surprised at the floaties, me or Mathison.

Guess how I the spent the rest of my morning?

Christmas in Review

Our Christmas celebrations began on Monday, the 22nd when we had a special dinner and FHE with my side of the family. Each of the Gubler siblings presented a short lesson/story, and the evening culminated with the kids reenactment of the nativity.


Jefferson and Grant as the shepherds:


Cole and Mathison were darling sheep:


Krissia and Bronson in the starring roles (Bronson informed me beforehand that this would be his last year) :


We were able to have a special family home evening on Christmas with the Beatty's that also included a nativity, as well as some other special traditions. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't cooperating so I couldn't get any pictures :( My children's parts in the program were: wise man - Bronson, angel - Krissia, shepherd - Jefferson, sheep - Mathison.

With a mixture of teenagers who wanted to sleep in and youngsters who wanted to wake up early, we decided to compromise at 7:30 a.m. on Christmas morning. Everyone was soon unwrapping presents; Mathison was delighted he could finally do it without getting in trouble!


Judging by the big smiles on every one's face, I think it was a great Christmas!





This was taken before our family room looked like it was hit by a tornado:


I guess I must have been a really good girl this year, because I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas.....a new camera! It has been so frustrating the past year only being able to take pictures in natural light (broken built-in flash) and having the image stabilization go haywire. Any picture I've posted that looks halfway decent is the result of painstaking work on Photoshop! Now, I just need to read the owner's manual to learn how to use it :)

An Early Christmas Present

As part of our kids' Christmas this year, we decided to take a pre-holiday vacation. We planned on spending three nights in Las Vegas, doing some shopping and planning a very special excursion for Thursday.

However, we were totally unprepared for what greeted us upon arrival.

Yes - that's SNOW!

We were "privileged" to witness a snowfall not seen in over 30 years. Our part of the city received three inches; other sites got up to seven inches. We had to re-evaluate our plans, and ended up spending Thursday in Vegas instead of going on our special activity.

We decided to visit the Mirage. It was very fun, and we enjoyed the relaxing, tropical atmosphere:

Part of the reason we visited this hotel was to see the animals that are kept there. We were able to see dolphins up close and very personally, including a baby dolphin born only three months ago:

The Mirage also has an area where big cats like tigers, panthers, and lions are kept:


The only problem was that the animal habitats are outside, so our visit was rather chilly :) That afternoon, the older kids and DEl did some Christmas shopping while Mathison and I had a nap.

Early the next morning, we awoke the kids and prepared for our special surprise.....Disneyland! We were unable to go on Thursday as planned because I-15 was closed due to the heavy snowfall. It was so much fun; I'd never been to Disneyland during the Christmas holidays. Everything was festively decorated:


I knew Mathison would not want to spend the entire day in the stroller, yet was worried about him wandering away. We came up with a perfect solution; a monkey backpack with a leash for a tail:


We braved the chill to go on Splash Mountain. Here is a picture of the screen where the pictures taken on the ride are displayed:


As we were preparing to ride Splash Mountain, we ran into Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Mathison was so excited to see them, especially Tigger. In fact, he starting jumping up and down, doing the Tigger bounce. It was so cute!


We had to trade off on most of the attractions as Mathison was too little to ride them. However, it meant that one or more of the older kids got to ride twice. Here are Bronson, Krissia, and Jefferson in front of Autopia:


Mathison held out pretty well for most of the day, although he finally gave in and had a small nap in the late afternoon:



Although it was a very full day, and Disneyland was pretty crowded, we were able to experience most of the things we wanted to do. I would have to say that one of my favorite rides this time was "It's a Small World". They had the entire structure decked out with Christmas lights and it made the park seem even more magical.

We left California at about 9 p.m. and drove back to Vegas. By the time we rolled in, DEl and I had been up for about 20 hours.....but it was worth it. Hopefully, this will be a Christmas the kids will always remember!

Breakfast With Santa

The Washington City Rec Center (the facility where Krissia trains every morning) sponsored a "Breakfast With Santa" event last Saturday. They offered games and activities for the kids, live entertainment, a catered breakfast, and - of course - a visit from Santa Claus, complete with free pictures.

Tickets were a little pricey, but Mathison could get in free due to his young age, and everyone else in the family was busy that morning. I decided to take him, even though our Santa encounters with our other toddlers in past years had produced strong emotions like screaming and crying.

Mathison LOVED it! After eating a yummy breakfast, he had fun with the bean bag toss before moving on to make a reindeer hat. Surprisingly, Mathison sat still for the 10 minutes it took us to make this craft and actually helped to glue and color the project! Waiting in line for Santa was a little difficult; I ended up strapping Mathison in the stroller, as he kept trying to wander off and try tossing the bean bags again :)

When the big moment finally arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Mathison. Mathison took one look at Santa.....and ran straight to him, climbing right up onto his lap! The first thing Mathison did was to give Santa a big hug before telling him that he wanted "toys and trucks". Afterwards, Mathison kept wanting to go back to Santa and became quite upset that it wasn't his turn again!

I've never had a child this young warm up to Santa like this; especially one that is very sensitive, like Mathison is. Mathison really enjoys older people, even "Grandpas" and "Grandmas" that he doesn't even know. Maybe this is part of the reason he took to Santa so readily. Anyway, I think this picture says it all:

Jefferson the Great

A few weeks ago, Jefferson had to prepare a report on a famous individual for his history class. He chose to give his report on Alexander the Great, one of the most brilliant generals ever.

The history teacher was very creative; as part of the report, she asked the students to dress as their selected character and present a short synopsis of that person's life as a wax museum figure would. Other students would wander through the "museum", pushing "play" buttons to hear the figures talk about themselves. As you can imagine, Jefferson threw himself into his preparation, designing and creating his costume all by himself.

Parents were invited to come, and it was so fun to see the students dressed up and giving their carefully prepared speeches! Jefferson did such a great job :)

Here is Jefferson trying to look tough for the camera:

Recycling

Our family tries to do its part when it comes to recycling - like reusing grocery bags, scratch paper, etc. But I've recently come to the conclusion that there are just some things you shouldn't try to reuse.

Like a soiled disposable diaper.

During an outing a few days ago, I had only brought one extra diaper with me because I knew I'd only be gone a couple of hours and Mathison never poops more than once in the mornings.

Never say never.

As we were about a half hour from home, I probably would have just let it go except Mathison was suffering from a terrible diaper rash that we were just getting under control and I knew that sitting in a dirty diaper would only aggravate it more.

After about 20 Huggies wipes, one roll of toilet paper, five minutes of vigorous hand washing, and one bottle of hand sanitizer later, the diaper was almost as good as new and we were able to make it home.

Let me just say that until Mathison is potty trained, I will NEVER be caught without extra diapers again!!!!

Lightning Strikes Again

When Krissia swam for Carbon High last year, some of the other swimmers on the team gave her the nickname "Lightning". She is truly living up to that name this year, striking so hard and suddenly in her races that the other competitors hardly know what's happened.

Krissia competed in a 2 day invitational last weekend in Cedar City with over 450 other swimmers. 14 schools were in attendance, with both 3A and 4A atheletes competing. Krissia was incredible, getting 2 individual golds in her events. In fact, in her premier event, the 100 backstroke, she touched the wall 5 seconds before the 2nd place swimmer! The local newspaper featured an article about the swim meet today, and it predicted that Krissia could end up taking state in this event.

I guess that getting Krissia to those 5 a.m. practices are really paying off :)

(Let me add that we all take turns driving her in the mornings)

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Today is Del's 42nd birthday. As I recently spent another blog giving out all sorts of information and tidbits about him, I won't say much more other than he is a wonderful husband, father, and friend. I am so lucky to have him as part of my life!

Happy Birthday, Honey.....I love you. Lots :)

Mouths of Babes

Every time I try convincing Bronson that his room is a disaster area, he argues that his room is no worse than the average teenager's.

However, you know your room has to be pretty messy when your barely two-year-old brother walks in and exclaims:

"Whoa....Bronson room's MESSY!"

Maybe Mom is right :)

St.George Outdoors

We've been in St. George two months now, and I have to admit that we are absolutely LOVING the mild weather. Although it's the beginning of December, most of the leaves have yet to fall from the trees! It's so fun to be able to spend time outdoors in shirtsleeves or - if it's a "cold" day - a jacket. Our family has taken advantage of the beautiful weather by taking some outdoor excursions, and these pictures were taken when we visited the Tonaquint Nature Park about 3 weeks ago:

There were plenty of ducks and fish to feed:

Bronson and Jefferson feeding the ducks:

Mathison had more fun eating the bread himself rather than feed it to the fish!

Krissia dressed in an old T-shirt with no makeup and still looking gorgeous

Del and Jefferson racing on the trail

Enjoying a short walk


I seriously thought about rubbing it in to you folks who are living in cold weather country, but I realized that our positions will probably be reversed next summer when we are melting in the 100 degree heat and you are enjoying the mild weather :)

A Wonderful Wedding

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend; I know our family enjoyed spending the vacation with loved ones.

This blog is actually a belated blog about my youngest sister's wedding, which was on Nov. 22nd. She married Tyson Pulsipher, a former student of DEl's. We know him quite well, and feel that Shawnee couldn't have made a better choice:)

It was a wonderful weekend, with all of my brothers and sisters coming in from various states (Nevada, Arizona, Nebraska, and Kentucky) and my parents taking a few days away from their mission on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Here are a few pictures I took outside of the St. George Temple: