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: