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December 22, 2007

Merry Christmas!

This year we actually got around to sending out Christmas cards! The last couple of years we have kinda let that slide. Poor Liam was born in Sep 2006 and we never even got around to sending out birth announcements. )-=
Poor fourth child, see how neglected he is!
Anyhow we thought that instead of writing a newsletter and sending them out for people to read and trash, we would send a card with our blog address on it and send everyone here to read about all the stuff we have been up to this year. That way people have a choice to read or ignore! Anyhow interesting or not here is what 2007 was like for the Dalton's.

Jan- Triston (6 years)was in Kindergarten, enjoying school and learning new things. He even mastered riding a bike without training wheels. Anja (4) was going to a two day a week preschool with all her little friends from church. She loved it as well, especially the art time. Nika was being a normal two year old, getting into trouble and Liam was turning 4 months old and being as cute as ever. Ben was working at Western and Southern Financial Group, and was the ward music chair at church and Esther was still enjoying her calling in Primary as Assistant to the President.

Feb- Esther & her Mom went to see a professional Mens Soccer game at the huge new stadium out here where the AZ cardinals play. Just being inside the stadium was awesome since it has been featured all over for its innovative design. PBS, Discovery, etc. The game was lots of fun too, very loud (poor Liam, who came along too) USA won, so it was a great night indeed!


Also in February Esther's Uncle Peter from Holland came out to visit. It was nice to visit and we hope he and his family can come again soon! Nika was still suffering from her asthma but in February she was put on a second medication that seemed to help her greatly! Liam turned 5 months and ate his first solid food!

Mar- Ben was excited to be flown up to Salt Lake City to interview with Beneficial Financial. A great life insurance and financial planning company owned by the church. Also Ben's sister Camille and her family came out to visit and we all had fun at a little train park north of us.


April- Ben's interview went well and he started at Beneficial! This was the month of watching professional sports. Ben got some tickets to a Coyotes game and he took Anja and Triston to see their first Ice Hockey game. Also he was lucky enough to get two tickets to a Phoenix Suns basketball game. He and Triston had a Daddy/Son Date and enjoyed the game just a few rows away from the court! All Triston talked about about after that was, Steve Nash this and Steve Nash that! In the same month that Liam turned 7 months and got his first tooth, Triston lost his first tooth, only two days apart! And by the end of the month it was warm enough to take our first swim at the pool. Liam's first time in the pool!

May-Ben and Triston went on their first Father and Sons outing. Triston was so excited to go camping. They decided to drive the van and sleep in it. They even brought Malibu (our lab) with them. The campout was north of us in Flagstaff. They had a bizarre late season snow storm and so Triston experienced snow for the first time. They stayed warm by sleeping together, even Malibu! They came home the next day smelling of camp fire and full of smiles! Anja was playing in our backyard and tripped over Triston's scooter. She landed hard on the cement and after taking her to the local pediatric urgent care we found out she had broken her collarbone. Poor thing! She was not a happy camper, especially since we were swimming pretty regularly and she wasn't really able to swim with her arm in a sling. She finished preschool and had time to relax at home and mend.

June- Good thing kids heal fast! In just three weeks from the time she broke her bone, Anja was healed and ready to swim which she mastered this summer. So now Triston and Anja both can swim on their own. Liam started crawling this month, and turned 9 months shortly after. Triston graduated from Kindergarten and our summer vacation began! We tried to swim often and go to the splash park out here. The local library had finally opened so we enjoyed some story time/craft days!. Ben got called to teach Elder's Quorum lessons this month.

July- We went to the local fireworks show held at the Phoenix International Raceway, just 5 miles from our house! (Yes on race days we can hear those engines!) Unfortunately it happened to be one of the hottest days that year, 117 F. They had blow up water slides but Anja was a little hesitant to go on them since they were huge (twice the size of normal backyard ones) Triston got wet and stayed happy, Anja and Nika unfortunately got heatstroke and Ben hiked them back to the car to drink water and get cool in the air conditioning. Liam, Triston, Esther and her mom watched the fireworks from the stands and Ben and the girls watched from the van. Ben, Esther and Liam went to a Diamondbacks baseball game with our friends the McBurney's! Also Esther's friend Angela came for a visit, the first time in two years. They had fun catching up and just relaxing. Nika turned 3 on the 28th, and enjoyed a Curious George birthday. Her favorite Monkey!

Aug- We made a quick trip to California to visit Ben's family before school started. Triston started 1st grade on the 6th, and Anja started Kindergarten on the 20th. Liam turned 11 months and started saying Bye Bye. Ben and Esther celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary, they went to an indoor shooting range and out to dinner. It was a lot of fun and beware, Esther is a great shot! Esther got roped into coaching Triston's soccer team this season (his third year)which started at the end of this month. Also Esther was called to the 1st counselor position in Primary instead of Assistant. It wasn't much of a change since she was doing similar duties already.

Sep-Triston had soccer every Saturday and Anja tried out Ballet. Both of them started going to a chess club once a week after school. Liam turned 1 this month and had his first haircut. Four days later Anja turned 5! (If you go back into my archives for those months you can see photos)We also went to Lake Pleasant for labor day weekend and took both dogs with us.

Oct-This was the month of sickness. We went through the stomach flu and colds. Yuck! At least the kids had two weeks off of school and so they didn't miss any school because of it. Ben's brother Jed came to live with us and we celebrated a fun Halloween together!

Nov-Triston turned 7 years old. Ben's parents and sister Abbey came and visited us and we all went to a family reunion in Mesa for Ben's Grandmothers side of the family. Triston and Esther both got strep throat this month although not from each other. Also Ben's sister Klare and her family came to visit for Thanksgiving and Esther cooked her first Thanksgiving meal. They were no comedic blunders and everyone enjoyed themselves! Triston and Anja went to the Phoenix Symphony and if you have read earlier posts this was the month Triston got to conduct the Phoenix Symphony! Anja started as a Daisy girl scout this month and is very excited about her twice a month meetings!

Dec-The month is not over but it has been eventful. Esther was called as Primary President this month and has been very busy getting the Primary ready for the new year! Esther went with Anja and Triston to see the Phoenix Ballet performing the Nutcracker. It was nice even though the kids were disappointed that the characters only danced. Anja kept asking when are they going to talk! We have been enjoying the usual holiday parties and craziness that accompanies this time of year.
We hope your year has been a good one and that next year will be even better! If you check out our archives you can see more pictures of our adventures and we hope you will check back and write us a note every now and then! Thanks for being our friends!
Love,
Ben, Esther, Triston, Anja, Nika, Liam, Malibu and Roise

December 12, 2007

Your the big fat man!

So Nika came up to me the other day and this was our conversation
Nika: "Mommy, I want you to wrap presents."
Me: "Why?"
Nika: "I want you to wrap presents for Santa."
Me: "Well Santa wraps his own presents."
Nika: "But aren't you you Santa?"
Me: (surprised but trying to keep the dream alive) "No I'm not Santa, do I look like a big fat man?"
NIka: "No"

I recounted this conversation to Ben later and Nika was listening. When Ben looked at her and said the same thing I did to her.
Ben: "Does Mommy look like a big fat man?"
Nika: "No your the big fat man."

Input laughter here! he he he

December 10, 2007

Dalton Elfs

Hey, I just made a total elf of my kids. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1279926560
and I made an elf out of Ben and I. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1280273903

December 7, 2007

Moodygrouch Rottenton

That is my Grinch name... if your curious about yours go to this site...
http://www.yourgeekfriend.com/GrinchName/GrinchName.php?FirstName=&LastName=&submit=Go%21