First Snowman of the Season

While the little ones were napping, Andrew and I decided to go out and try our hand at making a snowman. Andrew did a great job of making sure the snowman stayed together by adding the ligaments(extra snow so it would not topple over). We used gum for the eyes and mouth and celery for the nose and arms. I offered my cap for its head but Andrew insisted that it was a boy. We had a fun time outside building our little snowman and I am sure the little boys will love it when they wake up.

From 2008-12-20 snowman08

From 2008-12-20 snowman08

Christmas at School

This week was a busy one at school for Andrew and Josh. Andrew performed in his 3rd grade play Scrooge. He was a singer and did a great job. Next time I need to get him to try out for a part because he knew many of the parts. He would tell me he was going to give me a preview of the play and then proceed to say the parts. I included the video where he was square dancing. I thought it was so cute that he was dancing with a girl. My little boy all growed up!
Friday both boys participated in the Holiday Sing. Joshy's class performed Rudolph and you can see the pure joy and excitement on his face. Andrew sang "Spirit's Gonna Get ya" and "Grab Your Coat and Mittens"
While we were there listening to them sing a storm rolled in and I had flashbacks to last winters storm. I did not take the boys out of school and of course they were delayed 2 hours in getting home. I almost decided to brave the weather again and head out but was a little scared, I did not want to sit on the road for 6 hours again. My good friend Bobbi Jo's husband Ron was going to go get the boys from me (they were smart and brought their kids home after the play), but alas the bus made it and the boys were home. You would think that I learned my lesson last time but I didn't want Joshy to miss his Christmas party at school. Next time he is going to have to miss it.

From 2008-12-20 Dec.08

Click on the above picture to see the video of Andrew Square Dancing

From 2008-12-20 Dec.08

From 2008-12-20 Dec.08

From 2008-12-20 Dec.08

From 2008-12-20 Dec.08

New Tradition

So last week the boys decided that they wanted to make a Gingerbread house. I tried to talk them into waiting but they had it in their minds to make it now. Surprisingly I had all the ingredients to make the gingerbread so I attempted. It turned out okay and we just used what we had at home, so the candy you see may not be what you would normally see on a gingerbread house but the boys had such a great time and it was fun. Each year I hope it gets better

From 2008-12-14 December 08

From 2008-12-14 December 08

From 2008-12-14 December 08

Daddy trying to make Andrew part of the house.

Mouse in the House

Okay, I just had to share this with you because I have been freaking out. Alex and I were snuggling on the couch (something that Alex rarely allows) watching Dora the Explorer and I see a mouse run across my living room and go behind the couch.AAAAAHHHHHAAAAHHH!! I am one who is scared to death of most things so this is not a good thing. I am like um,um,um that is a mouse. Alex asks what and I tell him it is a mouse  and he says, "i kill it mom , I get it" My little 3 year old is going to protect me. I call Eric to tell him and he just laughs at me and tells me to get it, my mom tells me to go get some mouse traps. So after sitting frozen on the couch for a few minutes I get this brilliant idea to sweep it out the front door. Wrong! I sweep it from behind the couch and it runs behind the TV. I am screaming and Alex is screaming and laughing. I am jumping from couch to couch because of course I can't touch the ground. So I decide to run to the store and get the best mouse traps I can. I get there and ask where they are and a lady tells me to get gummy bears, suck on them for a minute and then put them on the trap. OK I will do that. So I got traps, gummy bears and we are good to go. Now that I am home I am to chicken to get them set because that means I will have to put my hand behind the TV and couch. The mouse may still be there. I will wait until the boys come home and let them do it for me, they will think it is cool. So now I am sitting with my feet up and not moving because the mouse may strike!! I know, I know I am a little crazy but that is just me. No more late night wanderings to the kitchen in the dark for me!

Thanksgiving in Sundance

This Thanksgiving my side of the family all met up in Sundance and stayed in cabin for Thanksgiving. We had so much fun. There was tons of food. We were all supposed to bring snacks and it was funny that we all pretty much brought the same things. We made many memories. We started a tradition last year of playing family Jeporady. Erin and Joe were in charge and they came up with questions from the year. We have a few competitive people in the family (John) but it was all in good fun. The boys won this year and reveled in it. The girls were the winners last year. We have to iron out a few rules but it is something we all looked forward too. Note to self, make sure and read each others blogs carefully before the next game. We mostly stayed inside and the kids played game after game after game. We also decided that this year we would do a service project. We made quilts for the convalescent home that my grandma lived at. For our Christmas present exchange we decided to do family preparedness gifts. our family got the big 50 gallon water barrel, some got sanitation stations and mom and dad got a generator. Of course it would never be a get together if someone didn't get sick. Josy started it off, followed by Andrew, Bella, Carter and Courtney. It was a lot of fun and we loved every minute. I love to spend time with family and make memories. thanks mom and dad for making it all happen, you are the best! Scroll down for more posts from the last few weeks.

From 2008-12-03 Thanksgiving 08

Every year we get pjs from grammie and poppa. They boys loved theirs.


Andrew was the game man. He loved the fact that his dad was sitting and playing with him.




Andrews present from Grammie and Poppa


Poor Jenny and Kyle just wanted a quiet spa experience and this is what they got. Love Ya!


Categories for Jeopardy. Thanks Erin and Joe for doing this for us.


Decorating the lap quilts for the convalescent home.

From 2008-12-03 Thanksgiving 08

Friday we decided to venture out and try to go on a hike. Try being the operative word. No luck and we had a few grumpy kids. But it was nice to be outside


The hill was slick but the kids were determined to get up it and they did pretty good.


No Christmas is complete without nerf guns. These were purchased for the big boys but all the boys and girls loved them. Nothing like watching a bunch of grown boys play shoot im up. Good times!

Meet the Flash

It is that time of year again when we get to go see the Utah Flash basketball team play. My brother Joe is president of the team and so have season tickets. This is their 2nd year in the d-league. Andrew became a huge basketball fan after watching the flash last year. he knew all the stats and everything about the Flash. Eric loved that fact. He was very excited to be able to go to games again. Last Monday they had a Meet the Flash players night, so off we went. The boys got to get autographs and pictures with the players. They loved it. Go Flash!!

From 2008-12-03 Thanksgiving 08

Alex loves Flash Fox. He talks about him all the time and always says' Flash Fox goes SSSSSSSSHHHHSSSSSHHHHH" He is talking about how Fox sprays fans with silly string. He so wanted to see Fox but wouldn't let him hold him but did sit by him.

Pre Thanksgiving Dinner

We got together with Eric's sisters and their families for a little pre thanksgiving dinner. It was good food, good company and good times. Eric has not been able to play rockband for a while and he took the opportunity to play it while Mark was there. They wanted to go on tour. All the kids wanted to be in on the action, especially little Ty. He was having so much fun playing the drums. We are so thankful to have family close by where we can build these memories.

From 2008-12-03 Thanksgiving 08

This Week...

This week has been fairly uneventful. Not a lot going on. Just enjoying the beautiful weather and looking forward to seeing family at Thanksgiving.

My handsome boys!


This is how we found Alex one night after dinner! Don't ask because we don't know


Alex after his nap! He seems to have enjoyed his sleep.


The boys posing for a picture

I am Thankful for...

I was reading a friends blog and she was writing things that she is thankful for. I thought I would follow her lead and say what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for a beautiful family.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband who works hard and who serves willingly.
I am thankful for my parents and my in laws who strengthen me and uplift me
I am thankful for sister in laws who are so willing and ready to help me when needed
I am thankful that I made it through this last week.
I am thankful for a wonderful home teacher who so willingly helps with Alex during sacrament.
I am thankful for the angels in my life who knowingly and unknowingly help me and make me want to be better
I am thankful for my membership in the Church.
Most importantly I am thankful for my Savior and his atoning sacrifice on my behalf.

Josh's first serious wound

So I dropped Josh off at the bus stop yesterday and gave him a kiss and a hug as he left thinking I would see him in a few hours. I am home not 30 minutes and I get a call from his aide and a friend of mine Diane. She tells me that Joshy says he fell on the steps on the bus and their is blood all over his shirt. WHAT???? Why didn't the bus driver say anything to any of us? I asked her how bad and she says,"well it won't close up. Why don't you come down and bring him a new shirt and take a look at it." Now me and the sight of blood don't go to well together especially if it is one of my kids. I get to the school and sweet Joshy comes walking up to me and he looks so sad. You can tell he is in pain but he is not crying and he is being so brave. I make myself look at it and think "OW" After some discussion, I decide to take him to the doctor and have him take a look at it and see if he will need stitches. This whole time Joshy is just sitting quietly not really moving or doing anything.
We get to the Doctors office and they take him back and the nurse looks at it and says "Yep he needs stitches, do you want to see it mom?" I shake my head and say, "better if I don't". So they numb him up with numbing gel and then we sit in the room for about 20 minutes waiting for it to get numb. The doctor comes back in and gets everything ready and Joshy is just laying there. From an earlier discussion with the doctor he wants "turtle whiskers". The doctor originally asked him if he wanted wolverine whiskers(that is what Josh was for Halloween). Joshy lays there completely still the entire time he is getting stitches. Not a peep out of the boy. No tears or screaming or squirming. I was quite impressed. Alex saw what they were doing and he said he did not like that. I am with him on that . I can't believe how brave my Joshy was! I am so proud of him.
When he was done he wanted to go back to school. But he stayed home for the rest of the day. needless to say he was the talk of the preschool today when he went back. he got to show off his stitches and he very proudly told me that he got to be the star helper today and share with everyone and show everyone his stitches.

Our Little Family Picnic

Today, Eric had the day off and so we decided we were going to go on a picnic. We headed up to Bridal Veil in Provo Canyon. The boys had so much fun. They climbed and played in the water. It was great to be able to spend time together. We haven't had a lot of time to do this lately so Eric and I really treasured this day with our boys. The weather was great and the view beautiful. The Fall colors are so amazing. I love to be here in Utah and see all the leaves changing. It was a great day and the boys had tons of fun getting wet and climbing around.
Funny story for the day. As we are driving Alex just keeps saying "hey daddy" and then he just babbles and talks non stop. Well one time he says, "Hey daddy, I got a joke for you." Eric says "okay bud what is it?" Alex says "Why did the cow cross the street?" "Why did the cow cross the street Alex" Alex says "Because he got ranned over and says AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" It was so funny we were all laughing. A 3 year old telling jokes.
On the way home Andrew says out of the blue "You're so sexy" I say "Andrew don't say things like that. You don't even know what it means" Their is a pause and then we hear, "Yes I do it means you're lookin gooooood!" I started busting up and I look over at Eric and he is trying so hard not to laugh because he doesn't want Andrew to see him laughing. BOYS!!

From 2008-11-01 Halloween 08

I don't know what kind of smile I have. Alex was a little scared and Josh was saying cheese I think.










Alex hanging close to dad. Always saying "daddy come on"

My Superheros

Looks like our theme for this year was superheros. I thought they all looked cute and so strong. They will be my protectors always.The day started out with a Halloween parade at school. They couldn't wear their masks but they had a good time.
After school before we went to my brother Joe's house for trick or treating, I decided to let them go around our neighborhood. Well they were running from house to house and all of a sudden here comes Joshy and BAM! He runs right into the electrical box and hits it hard. He hit his face. I guess his mask was covering his eyes a little too much. Poor guy! He decided after that he did not want to wear his mask anymore.
Alex kept his mask on and had a great time this year. The first house that we went to by my Joe's house, he kept grabbing candy. By the time I realized it he probably had 5 or 6 BIG candies in his bag. Little Snackshack was true to his name this Halloween. Notice his pile of candy compared to everyone else.
Andrew had fun as always. They walked up to one house and there was a guy sitting on a bench on the porch and he looked like a goblin. The boys thought he was fake. Well as they get close to him he snorts at them. Talk about screaming! I was a little ways back with Alex and I heard them loud and clear. It was funny. Andrew could not stop laughing, he thought it was cool but also scary.








All the boys ready to go get some candy.


All the loot has been checked and now it is time to trade.


You want Alex to sit happy and quiet, give him some candy

Pumpkins 101

Pumpkin carving this year was done by yours truly. I know they are very generic but it was the best I could do. Eric was at work and so the job was left to me. I ended up getting the seeds and goop out of all the pumpkins.Yeah for me! Alex wouldn't touch it. He apparently remembered from last year that it is gooey. He just kept saying "yucky mom" even before I got his cut open. Josh and Andrew helped a tiny bit but you could tell they weren't really in to cleaning the pumpkins out. So the pumpkins are very basic but the boys liked them so that is all that really matters right.

From 2008-11-01 Halloween 08

Who could resist this cute face?

From 2008-11-01 Halloween 08

Can you tell Andrew is caught in the spider web?