Snow day

We got quite a bit of snow yesterday. The storm pushed the smog out and the sun was shining, we just couldn't stay inside!

The stockings were hung...

I just had to show these off before I put them away! My mom, at some point, decided that she wanted to make all of her grandchildren's stockings. They are quite a bit of work and so STINKING cute! My mom is the best!

Christmas update

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and hope everyone else did as well. We started the day at about 6:45 with what Santa brought. The Queen found a purse and The Boy some cars (his favorite, even though Santa couldn't come through on the green pickup truck he requested).
Then it was on to what Mommy and Daddy shopped for. We managed to get our Christmas shopping done by Nov. 2 (personal best), so I had been excited for the kids to open their gifts for quite some time. The Boy received a camera (the kind that can fall down the stairs and land in the bathtub and still be okay), and a remote control Jeep. The Queen opened a doll bed (one my dad made me when I was little) complete with blankets (thanks, Mom) and a new dolly. Both kids love the play food and dishes (they get to cook while Mommy cooks, and that makes everyone happy).
Afterward, we headed to Morgan for some of Boppa's cinnamon rolls for brunch.

"Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-Daddy open sleigh!"
Thanks, Boppa and Diyah!

We finished off the day at Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas dinner.The Queen's favorite gift was from Grandma and Grandpa, she even says the word, ball -- which is more than we can say for the word, Mommy.

Happy Holidays!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.

m&n

Pile of snowman

The Boy has been asking to build a snowman ever since we had snow flurries last month. According to the weather forecast we were to get enough and I promised him we would make one today. The trouble was that the snow was too dry to pack. We rolled and rolled, but to no avail, we simply could not get any snowman sized balls. Not wanting to let my little boy down, we shoveled a pile of snow and sort-of made a snowman. The Boy is thrilled.

Green eggs and ham

The Boy's newest interest has been words that rhyme. He makes up words to get rhymes. Not surprising his favorite book of late has been, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess. We read it about 3 times every day. It was inevitable that one day he would ask to eat green eggs and ham. That day was today.








The Boy is a pretty picky eater and I honestly thought he would have issues eating the green eggs, not so! He ate every bite! Got to love children's literature! Thank you, Dr. Suess!

Indoor plumbing

Last April I took the kids to a park to enjoy the warming weather. The Boy was still pretty new to potty training and needed to go. This particular park has no bathrooms so I asked if he could wait until we got home. His desperate look told me he was about to burst. There was no one else in the park, I allowed him to use a tree. It obviously had quite an impression as, seven months later, I have the following conversation with him...

The Boy: When I get big enough I will have my own house.
Me: Yep, when you are big enough you can have your own house.
The Boy: And my house won't have ANY pottys!
Me: What will you do if you have to go potty?

* a thougtful pause*

The Boy: I will have one tree!

Mr. Charming

This morning I found The Boy in front of the bathroom mirror making faces. After watching for a while I asked what he was doing. "Mommy, I got a dimple, see!" He gives me a very cheesy smile and his dimple appears.

Look out, ladies, he's got a dimple and he's figured out how to use it!

When Daddy is in charge...

Funny things can happen when Dad is in charge of bath time.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is a lot more fun with kids.
For Family Home Evening we carved our jack-o-lanterns.
This is a scared and a happy face, per The Boy's request.
For the big night The Boy was a dragon and The Queen was a princess, though we had many guesses for The Boy as a dinosaur and The Queen as either an angel or a fairy.

The Boy was very excited as soon as our next door neighbor handed him a candy bar and he really enjoyed ringing doorbells and yelling, "trick-or-treat" before anyone could open the door. The Queen was excited as soon as she found out what was inside the wrapper.
As much as he enjoyed trick-or-treating himself, The Boy loved handing candy out to all of our trick-or-treaters. The doorbell would ring and he would yell, "I coming!" Then he would open the door and hold the bowl so everyone could choose a treat, saying "Trick-or-treat! I got some treats, they are suckers." As they would leave, "Thanks for coming!"

It's Autumn time!

I raked some leaves for the kids to play in (and so we could mow our jungle lawn one more time). The Boy had a lot of fun, but we only got one picture because The Queen had enough at this point.

(In case you didn't) know what we did last summer...

Yes, I realize it's been four months. We've been busy. Doing what you may ask?

JUNE
*Painting the house
*USU 5 K Spring Fun Run
Talena, Caleb, Ainsley and I participated in the 2nd annual Aggie Spring Runoff in Kaysville. It was a fun run, the kids liked the stroller ride...and free Aggie Ice Cream!






*Planting 3 trees
*Ripping apart and clearing a 120 sq. ft. cement dog run surrounded by chain link
*Planting a garden

JULY
*Centerville 5K -- apparently I have no pictures of this event (Talena, Keira, Elly, please send me some). Mark, Neesha, Caleb, Ainsley, Talena, Keira, Adam, and Elly all ran the 5K (okay, so Caleb and Ainsley were in the stroller) and Josh ran the children's 1/2 mile. Afterward, homemade pancakes at my parent's house...yum!

*Pulling 500 gallons of weeds
*Moving 250 gallons of gravel
*Moving 1 tree (don't think it survived, poor thing)
*Moving 800 sq. ft. of sod

AUGUST
*Putting together a swing set

























This was worth all the money and all the work. The kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE their swing set. Since the pictures were taken, we've cleaned out the sod and put pea gravel along the bottom, it looks nicer.

*Heritage Park











Cousins were in town, so we all took part of a morning to visit Heritage Park. The pony ride and train ride were a big hit with Caleb. He was also very fond of his arrowhead necklace and hand dipped candle.



*Girls Camp -- I didn't take any pictures, trust me, you wouldn't want to see any pictures.

*Mueller Park
Every summer we take an evening and go to Mueller Park to roast hot dogs and make smores with the Winegars. We managed a couple of pictures -- the boys and the babies.











*Youth Conference -- again, no pictures, none wanted.

*Top of Utah Half Marathon
I ran my first Half Marathon with Talena and Elly in Logan at the end of August. It was a lot training (loads of thanks to Mark for watching the kids) and it was A LOT of fun! Next up, Snow Canyon Half Marathon -- Nov. 7! Yep, I'm addicted.






SEPTEMBER
*Mini golf








For Labor Day, we decided to take the kids out to breakfast and then over to Cherry Hill to play mini golf. It was a hit.






















Think she has a future as a pole dancer?






*Painting front door
*Moving 250 gallons of gravel (again)
*Canning 12 qts. peaches and 24 qts. tomato sauce
*Kaysville Car Show
I took Caleb to his first car show last year. He had so much fun, we brought him again this year.








*Ainsley's first birthday
Ainsley is one year old (okay, almost 13 months at this point). One word to describe her, busy. She is everywhere. She is getting better at walking, goes up and down stairs, dances, and will eat pretty much anything. She's learned a few signs; "daddy", "mommy", and "more". She loves to walk around with her purse, and toy cell phone. She is very endearing when she waves, smiles and says, "hai" (hi). Bear with some of my favorite Ainsley shots from this last the summer.































So, a quick run down of our summer. This cold weather will force us inside more often and I hope to spend more time updating the blog ... lucky you!