Christmas Day

The boys stayed up soo late on Christmas Eve. I told them if they were awake when Santa came that he would probably just skip our house. That didn't really work. We didn't have a Christmas tree so presents were piled by the fire place. We all had such a fun day. My big Christmas present to Lance was to tell him that I was pregnant by way of a wrapped picture of my positive pregnancy test. He was shocked, surprised and I think eventually elated. It is so hard to keep that a secret from your spouse. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Snow Day!

Rain, snow or shine, Jackson always loves to push the broken car.

My little snow angel.

Halloween Church Carnival

Here are my adorable Buzz and Sheriff Woody from Toy Story.

This was hilarious to watch. Obviously the game is to put your hands behind your back and try to bite the doughnut. Jackson (2) took one look at the other kids playing this game and grabbed the doughnut and took a big bite. He thought he outwitted them all!

And Gavin goes around.

And around.

He made me dizzy.

Here Jackson is so pleased with himself.

Here we are all together. I am Jessie from Toy Story 2.

The boys still ask me every time they dress up if I will too. So fun!

Doughnut on a String

Fall Carnival

Here are the boys stuffing their faces with kettle corn. I don't blame them, it was sooo good. We had to park about a mile away from the carnival on a busy road. I was carrying two chairs and all our blankets and jackets and trying to keep my kids on the dirt path, by the busy road, and out of harms way. When we finally got there my arms were almost broken and then when the kids started whining about wanting food I realized that my wallet was not in my purse. I found 50 cents in the bottom of my purse and had to sing at the booth to earn that kettle corn. Really. The guy gave me a huge bag after I sang a Little Mermaid song. Don't ask me what I did to get them on the air jump.

Here we are getting ready to watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin projected on a truck. This is Utah people.

And I loved it.

Gardner Village in October

Admiring the witches and their spooky cauldron.

Hay Maze!

Our Monkey

I'm really cute and I love to eat my vegetables. First!

A Ball

Recently we were invited to a fundraising costume ball. There was a silent auction, performances, dinner and dancing. I get so competitive during silents auctions. Is that even possible? Once I have my eye on something I have to be the last bidder. You can see what I wanted and got below! The dinner was great. Dancing was even better. We had such a good time with our friends. Thanks Christy and James!

My Gangster.

Make fun of us if you like, but we came home and took movie star shots. At least tried. For some it comes naturally. Others...

One word. Zoolander. This is for Ryan, Cristina, Blaine and Jenny. You guys called it. Hehe.

And this is so he can't get too mad at me for posting the previous picture of him.

Now I'm embarassed too.

Jackson thinks it's funny.

This is what I bid on. A ton of Stampin' Up stuff. I'm a dork, I know.

But I'm so excited.

Paint my Face

It seems like every where we go, face painters charge $8+ for their artwork. So I bought our own facepaints and I bring it out every once in a while and do this...

And this...

Jackson is still scarred from Gavin's professional Zebra incident (see below)

so he happily stays paintless.

Sometimes I check on the boys at night and find this: Jackson crawls into bed with his big brother. Snuggles.

My Ringling Bros.

I took the boys to the circus one Saturday morning. Because I bought $4 tickets, we were in the nose bleeds and the boys were terrified of falling down the stadium. Jackson was glued to my lap the whole time and Gavin was bored with the clowns and magicians. I think really because we were just too far away.

But once the elephants came out, my boys were enthralled.

Here is Jackson's fake terrified-of-falling-face.

The elephants were so amazing. If you haven't seen it. You should.

But the thing that freaks me out is watching the tigers.

The tamer is crazy. He is in a cage with 12 tigers. Surrounding him on all sides.

And they are sassy with him. They bat their big paws and growl ferociously.

It's all just a game of dominance. The way he has to carry himself; now that is a real man.

rolling over

When we walked out to where our car was parked, to our surprise we realized we were 100 ft. away from the elephants. They were just hanging out in the shade munching on hay. I really was tempted to climb over the fences, throw my kids aback and ride one away. :)

That evening I was priveledged to attendthe General Relief Society Meeting at the Conference Center.

First of all, I was amazed to be in a structure that large and beautiful. It seats 21,000 people and it was nearly full of women that hold my same values and beliefs. I really was in awe. Secondly, it was such an honor to be in the presence of the prophet. I can't really describe the feeling I had. He brought such peace and calm into this room of almost 21,000 chatty women. When he walked into the room it was so silent one could hear a pin drop. To say the least, it was a very inspirational night.

Daddy watched the boys. Of course when I came home, this is what I found waiting for me on the floor. One tired pup and the other one barely waiting up for me. Lance, thanks for studying all day, sorry you had to miss out on all the fun!