I'm a big boy now

My Christmas wish came true and this little dude is POTTY trained!! HOORAY. I have always said that I never want 2 kids in diapers, and with Jayson I wasn't sure that was going to happen, but it did. He has done so well. He has only had a few accidents, however they were while in route to the bathroom. Today- NOT one accident all day.

What a big boy! I am so proud of him.

Sunday Fun & Tay's mishap

Saturday night Tay slipped and fell down a few stairs. Sean and I comforted her, but didn't think much of it (since it isn't the first time). Sunday morning, Sean came into the bathroom where I was blow drying my hair and told me that Tayler was crying and that I should go take a look at her ankle. I did. It was pretty swollen and we were a little afraid that it was broken since she wouldn't put any pressure on it- what-so-ever! We were headed out to my mom's ward because my brother Brent and sister-in-law, Ashley were in town and we were anxious to see them. Jayson, Rylee and I headed out to my Mom's house/ward while Sean and Tayler headed to the InstaCare. They did an x-ray and found that it was just a bad sprain. PHEW! I was really sweating the whole idea of crutches, etc. She has been tough and the brace they gave her has really seemed to do the trick.

Sean and Tayler arrived right as we were getting home from Church. We had a great visit with Brent and Ashley and also got to visit with Annie, Steve and their family for a while. It was a lovely day and nice to see everyone.

Chistmas 2009

I am still in awe that Christmas has now come and gone. The month of December did seem to FLY by, but there were so many things I enjoyed this year that did make it magical and other things that totally stressed me out!

Christmas Eve:

Sean took the kids sledding that morning so that I could mop my floor without any distractions, a.k.a. "helpers." He is such a great Dad. I really do love his willingness to always take the kids out to play. He is awesome!

He even bought them a new sled to try out. I had a Dr's appt. that morning and it was nice to just head out myself. Usually I have Jayson and Rylee in tow, but this time I was in and out. I can't believe the time is quickly approaching to add #4 to the circus. I can't wait! (literally). I need to make it through Rylee's birthday and then I will start to get everything ready for the new baby.

My mom was able to celebrate with us this year and we are grateful that she came up to be with us. She came up around 12:30 and was just in time to help me get my house put back in order after the festivities of the 23rd. Thanks Mom! Sorry that you had to work, but I really appreciated all that you did. It made it so much easier. We put Jayson down for a much needed nap, Sean and I delivered some neighbor gifts, and then we bathed and got the kids ready for the night. This year Shelly & Mike hosted Christmas Eve at their house and everything was great. It was quite relaxing and nice to be with everyone. Thank you Shelly & Mike! (I forgot my camera, so if I can steal some pictures from Shelly I will post those from that night). We ate dinner, had sleigh races which were made out of Crunch bars and candy canes thanks to Grandma Shayla and opened presents. We stayed until 9 and then delivered 2 gifts on our way home. When we got home we opened up the traditional Christmas P.J.'s and slippers.

We put out our cookies and milk for Santa. Also, this year Tayler made him a present and even wrapped it. She also got out a pen and paper and left it right by the cookie plate so that he could write back. Isn't she so thoughtful? I loved it! Then it was off to bed. All 3 fell asleep quickly, so that Santa could dump his sleigh!

Christmas Day:

Christmas morning we had to wake the kids up at 8:45 a.m. My kids are not early risers, especially when they get such a late start (but, I didn't wake up much earlier than them either so I guess I can't say much.) I turned on the Christmas music so that it would play through all the speakers in the house, thinking that would at least cause them to stir. NOPE! I went upstairs only to see them all still snoring away. After a few minutes they did wake up and remembered that it was Christmas morning & were excited. Man, as a kid I remember being so excited that I never really went to sleep for more than a few hours!

Thanks to Santa,

Tayler got a new PINK camera from Santa and a new coat (good thing since her mom broke the zipper on her other one). She also got some new clothes, books and p.j.'s.

Rylee got some babies with accessories, a dress up and some clothes.

Jayson got a Geo Trax and a little people car shop which Santa so lovingly had all put together for him so that he could play with it right away. (good job, Santa!)

After they looked and played with their Santa toys, we had breakfast and then it was off to open the presents under the tree.

I have a lot of video from the morning, but not a lot of pictures. Here are Tayler and Sean figuring out her new camera. She loved it and took lots and lots of pictures. I was really relying on downloading her pictures and posting them, but SADLY (and we don't talk about it) Saturday night she accidentally dropped it- Lens down- on the tile and now it won't work. It broke my heart because she had waited for a very long time for that camera and it was just an accident. We will have to see if we can get her another one sometime.

Cute Grandma & Jayson

Yes, Sean bought Jayson some Y gear.

Rylee got another princess dress-up. That is really the only thing she wanted this year.

Playing with the "choo choo train"

We were able to talk to Jen and her cute family and Julie on Skype that morning/early afternoon. Mom left around noon to go and visit Grandma B with Annie and the gang. Thanks again for coming Mom! I hope you got a nap when you got home. We kept her up WAY past her bedtime Christmas Eve (morning ;)

After lunch we all went and took naps too. I was exhausted. I didn't care that my house looked like a tornado hit either. It was fun to not care and just play with all the toys. Later that night we went to dinner and took the kids to see The Princess & the Frog. The kids loved it! Jayson kept laughing at all the right parts exclaiming "that's funny" They are all at such fun ages. I love that they always want to hang out as a family.

I love the Christmas season when you forget about all the "have to do lists" It was a wonderful year!

Christmas Eve EVE

Since last year we have started a new tradition and we do it on the 23rd (since we usually don't have much going on that night). We stay up and watch movies until midnight, eat pizza and LOTS of candy/goodies which they all pick out, and have a big sleep over in the living room. The girls were excited all through Decemeber for this night (Jayson really had no idea what fun was in store ;)

That evening, we made all the beds, went and picked up our pizza and let the girls choose movies from Blockbuster. I think we watched 3 1/2 total. We all made it until 11:49 and then everyone zonked out. I can't believe that I don't have ANY pictures from that night. LAME! I guess I was too lazy to head up the stairs and get the camera. Anyway, we had a great time and love our new found tradition. Can't wait until next year.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Today we ventured into Salt Lake to Energy Solutions for the annual Sing-A-Long thanks to Larry H. Miller. We decided to ride Front Runner since we haven't yet. The kids were so excited! Jayson said "choo-choo train" about a MILLION times (at least) the whole way in. Sean came home around 5:30 so we bundled up the kids and off we went. When we arrived downtown there were so many people. We made it around 6:45 and ended up sitting in the Upper Bowl section (I haven't ever seen it that full , but that was Larry's wish to fill at least the Lower Bowl. He definitely had his wish granted!)

The sad thing was that we didn't have a program with the words to the songs and we couldn't hear very well up top. We sang a few songs and then left because the kids were starving. We walked over to the Gateway for dinner and then went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was a great night. Jayson couldn't keep his eyes open at all & fell asleep on the way to Temple Square. I loved seeing the lights but man was it COLD and there were a ton of people, so we didn't stay long, but it was fun.

Here's our trip on the train

And our sad attempt at pictures at Temple Square (notice Jayson is sound asleep- poor kid)

The kids were troopers and such good sports even though we walked a ton and it was freezing. I thought it was great even though the sing-a-long didn't go as planned.

Time for bed!

New Arrival and Pretzel Making

First off, a shout out to my little brother Jared and his wife, Katie who welcomed a new baby boy, JACOB, to their family yesterday. We are excited for their growing family and can't wait to meet him in person. He weighed in at a whoppin' 6 lbs. He is sure a cutie! Congrats guys and good luck with everything! It makes me so excited for our little one to come too.

Also, yesterday my awesome friend Maria taught me how to make the YUMMIEST dipped pretzels ever. First we dipped them in homemade carmel and then in milk chocolate or white chocolate. I packaged them up last night and sent them to work with Sean to pass out. We sampled quite a few as well! I can't wait to do them again. Thanks Maria for showing me the ropes! I loved it. (p.s. I stole this picture off of her blog, since I only took 1 picture the whole time).

I can't believe that Christmas is only 1 week from today. I still am feeling a bit unprepared and yet we have been running around non-stop! Sorry for not posting for a while. We have been busily preparing for the festivities and have been having a great time as a family (although I haven't taken many pictures for a while).

***Just a note: On Monday, Dec. 21st at Energy Solutions Arena, they will be doing the Christmas Sing-Along again at 7:00 p.m. This will be our 3rd year and we think it is a blast. It's FREE too! (free admission, free parking, free hot dogs and drinks as well). It's a great way to get into the Christmas spirit and to sing all the fun Christmas songs. My kids totally dig it. Anyway, just an FYI to all those interested.

Have a great weekend!

Sugar cookie night

Last night we made sugar cookies. They were yummy! I used a new recipe (the one with sour cream in it) and they turned out pretty good. I bathed the kids right before, BAD IDEA!

They were all covered in flour from head to toe. They had fun "squishing" their shapes, watching them bake and then frosting them. I am so glad that I only made 1/2 a batch. They each frosted about 2, ate them, and I was left to frost the rest. After about 10 I am done too.

It has been freezing here (LITERALLY). The high has been the normal low for this time of year, so we haven't gotten to go outside for any of our activities. I hope it warms up a tinsy bit so we can see lights, and things like that. Anyway, I can't believe that December is ticking by. So much to do, so little time! I hope to get things wrapped up here soon. I wish I had a little more energy right now, but by 6:00 p.m. it has all been ZAPPED! I had a Dr's appt today. Everything is good, except I am super low on IRON. Shocking! I am always low on iron. I can't believe we are down to weeks now though, it has seemed like forever that I have been pregnant. I can't wait to meet him!

Dec 7th

Last night we constructed a Gingerbread House! I think I had sprinkles in every inch of my kitchen (and many other places), but they all loved it and we laughed a lot.

Today it's snowing, AGAIN! It is beautiful, but OH so cold. I want to go see lights with my kids, but we need a day that it isn't freezing. I don't want them to turn into popsicles.

Grateful Sunday

Today the theme at Church was SERVICE. It was the topic of every lesson and with everything that was said I thought to myself "this is totally for me, I really need to forget myself and serve those around me." I haven't had the easiest time of feeling accepted in our new ward. I'm not sure if it is because I am waiting for others to reach out to me and fellowship me, but today I realized more than ever that if I get out and serve I will grow to love those around me and feel a part of this new ward. When I left Church and was making lunch for the kids, I truly realized how grateful I was for the messages that I heard today. I need to change so many things and I am grateful to have that chance.

Sean and I also started a Book of Mormon challenge to read it in 99 days. Sean mapped out the chapters we need to read each night to finish in our 99 days. I am excited to start! I love to read the scriptures but have been as consistent as I should be.

The above picture is a gift from the Relief Society Presidency in our ward. The idea of it is to do SERVICE for those in our own household. When we do something nice we will leave the box in the place where the act of service was performed and then that person who received the service will in turn do it for someone else. Of course it's an old concept we have heard many times that definitely needs to take place in our home, especially during this time of year. I am excited to see what my little family comes up with.

Dec 3rd-6th

Thursday night was the night of my work party so we had the kids watch Merry Madagascar and eat pizza for their activity (thanks Julie and Marcela for the idea). They loved it!

Friday night I was bad and SO tired after working 11 hours so we didn't do anything. I know I'm horrible.

Saturday we took the kids shopping to buy their presents for each other. Tayler has Rylee, Jayson has Tayler, and Rylee had Jayson. We headed to Toys R Us and the kids loved picking something out for "their person." It was a fun night! Now we need to wrap them and put them under the tree.

Today we FINALLY finished the candy countdown chains. Thank you Kendra for helping us figure out how to finish them. I thought I could staple the ends of the candy's together but that didn't work out at all. Anyway, they are all finished. I can't believe that we are only 19 days away from Christmas. CrAzY!

(they could be used as jump ropes for a few days!)

Happy Holidays everyone! Saturday it snowed & snowed & snowed. It finally feels like Christmas to me now.

Dec. 2nd

Yesterday was a fun day because we got to hang out with my sister, Julie who just came home from Kuwait. I loved hanging out with her.

We shopped a little bit and went out to lunch. I am excited that she is home for good now- even though she will be in Colorado that is still WAY closer than Kuwait! This picture is from when we picked her up from the airport last week before Thanksgiving. Rylee is wearing a scarf she brought home for my mom. They love their aunt!

Last night for our Christmas activity, we made Candy countdown chains. We bought several kinds of candy's and let the kids pick 23 for their chains. Sorry no pictures. We also read our Christmas story #2.

December 1st

Here we are the 1st Day of December and it was a beautiful day. I am okay with no snow, yet!

Sunday night, we put up all the Christmas decor (minus my railing). Our tree is a beast to wrap in lights, but when it is all finished I love to sit in the dark, with just the lights of the Christmas tree shining. It calms my soul and I feel at peace. I know this is a semi-blurry picture, but you get the idea.

I have decided that everyday for the next 24 days, as we count down to Christmas, we will do some kind of Christmas activity, whether it be big or small. I am trying to be a fun mom and enjoy the holidays with my kids. We'll see how it goes.

Tonight after dinner was cleaned up we started with our first activity. The kids painted ornaments for their Christmas tree upstairs. They had a great time and were so excited. I am pretty sure Jayson tasted each color of paint and was pretty much covered from head to toe, but I kept my OCD in check and just let them have fun.

(we had fruit punch for dinner, can you tell with all their red mustaches?)

** (Did you notice their hair cuts in the pictures? I took all 3 of them last Wednesday to the College of Beauty that is by our house. They wash, cut, blow dry and style it- all for $5. My kids love to go. Even Jayson wanted in on the action. Rylee wanted her hair cut short so I let her (it was really hard to let her do it knowing I couldn't do fun hairstyles with it anymore). At first I wasn't so sure I loved it, I think I was just shocked by how short it really was, but now it totally fits her cute little self and I love it and so does she. That is all that matters right? Tayler's is cut just like mine and Jayson looks like a little stud with his sides and back trimmed up. Anyway, just a side note! :)**

MADNESS in the making..

Thanksgiving weekend has been a blast so far! We (well I) decided it would be fun to go up to Park City Thursday night after the big meal, get a hotel and then hit the outlets for a little "MIDNIGHT MADNESS" I was excited that the stores opened at midnight. I thought that would be nicer then waking up at 3 a.m. to go.

First we went to Sean's aunts house for an awesome Thanksgiving meal. It was so nice and all we had to bring was a relish tray. We enjoyed the company as well and had fun chatting & catching up with everyone. It was very relaxing and the kids had a great time as well.

Around 4:30 we headed up to Park City. We stayed at the Marriott and had a great time. The pool was awesome, even though I felt like a beached whale (literally, still shocked I got into a swimming suit). We checked in around 5 and tried to take a nap, but we had a pool side room and the people swimming were LOUD, so we all just vegged for an hour or so and then got up to go swimming. Afterwards, we got ready and went to find somewhere to eat. Little did we know that everywhere would be closed, yep, even McDonald's. Seriously, when do they ever close?? We drove around for a while and then figured we would just have to stop at 7-11 and eat some hot dogs and nachos for dinner, but driving back to our hotel we noticed that the Burger King was still open. Cute Tayler hopped out and said "I knew Heavenly Father would help us find a place to eat" She had been saying several prayers in the back seat. The faith of a child. Love her!

After we ate we stopped at Maverick to get some candy for a sugar high so that we could be the energizer bunnies to shop. We waited until about 11:50 and then headed over to the outlets. HOLY COW, there were tons of people. I guess it is crazy everywhere, hence the Black Friday label. Luckily, we found a spot to park and headed on our way. Sean and I were originally just going to trade off, but the kids were up and excited (don't worry that soon ended).

I took Jayson with me. He slept the entire time in the stroller all bundled up. I hit the stores to buy things for the kids, so Sean took Rylee and Tayler with him. After 2 hours they were done and tired. I did feel so bad for them. I would have been grumpy too. Next year we will definitely do the "trade off'' thing.

We all sleep in until 9:30 this morning, except Sean who went back to the outlets to exchange/return things. He said he felt hurried and frazzled since he had the girls. He is quite the shopper these days.

The sales were awesome, but the line at Gymboree took me 2 hours to get through and all I had were the $5.99 p.j.'s for each of the kids. Not so sure it was worth it, but it was fun night. Any excuse to spend money and I love it. Now everyone is catching up on their sleep. I have to work until 5 and then I might just crash! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are truly blessed with SO many things and I am grateful for all that I have in my life because it is a lot!

GIRLS weekend

This past weekend was WONDERFUL in every way!

New Moon came out, I had a girls weekend, AND I was able to see my sister, Jen! I loved every minute of it!

I am so grateful that Jen's friends let me come and tag along. I flew into Boise on Thursday at 9:05 and Jen flew in that same night at 11:10 p.m. We had tickets to see the Midnight showing of The Twilight Series: New Moon. When Jen arrived we hugged and then ran to pick up the rental and FLY (literally) to the theater. We made it with a few minutes to spare before midnight. Luckily they didn't start the movie in our theatre until 12:20 so we had a few minutes to breath as well. These cute ladies, Cherie and Cindy, greeted us when we arrived. Cherie had shirts made up for the whole group that said "Team Edward" Jen and I slipped ours on and had a picture.. (remember this is at midnight).

Cindy, Jen, Me, Cherie

Here we are after the movie- this is the whole group that attended.

I did enjoy the movie, but my dang leg made it hard to sit still and concentrate. We left the theater around 3:00 a.m. and went straight to Cherie's house. We were all dead tired. I think I could have slept standing up :) We brushed our teeth and called it a night.

The next morning Cherie had a brunch at her house at 11:00 a.m. for all the gals that went to the movie. It was YUM! She made muffins, quiche and then Cindy brought fruit. This is the awesome table she had all set up. Everything was amazing. It was fun to talk about the movie and eat. I was amazed at all the preperation that went into everything. It was fabulous.

After brunch we talked for a while and then took naps. I seriously don't know how I did it all those years in college and it didn't even phase me, NOW.. it totally wipes me out! After a 2 hour nap I felt great and so we got ready for the day. We went out to eat that night to the Texas Roadhouse. We rented some movies and went back to Cherie's house to veg.

My cute sis, here we are ready for the day! (at 6 pm)

Cherie (our wonderful hostess), Steph (who flew in from Spokane) and Jen (who flew in from Georgia). Isn't that awesome that everyone came back to the old stompin' ground. I think they are darling!

On Saturday we went shopping to the outlets, took Steph to the airport, and then went and saw New Moon again. Yep, twice within an almost 24 hour period! I have to say the second time was much better. I think being tired and crammed into a hot theater, along with my restless leg didn't help the first time so I loved seeing it again.

Afterwards, Jen and I ran some errands and then we came back and got ready to go to the temple.

All, in all we had the best time! I truly enjoyed every minute and am so thankful to Sean for having a daddy weekend. He took them shopping, bowling, etc. He is a wonderful person and I loved having a break. I feel rejuvenated! Thanks babe.

Sunday morning we went to Sacrament Meeting and then came back to Cherie's to pack up. Jen and I had flights that left within 20 minutes of each other so we headed to the airport around 11:30 that morning. She left at 12:52 and I left at 1:08. It was not fun to say good-bye to her. I hate that part! It is hard having them so far away and not getting to see her as often as we used to. We sat and talked for a while and then it was time to leave. I love my sis so much and am so grateful that she included me in her weekend.

And a HUGE thank you to Cherie for everything. Thank you for letting us stay in your home and making everything so perfect. You are wonderful!

Eclipse comes out June 30th! Yahoo. Can't wait ;)

Snow Bunnies...

Rylee's wish of snow and playing in it finally came true today. Our 1st snow fall (that actually lasted). They were so excited to get out there and play. I'm so thankful that all of their winter clothes still fit. PHEW!! I do need to buy Jayson new boots, but other than that, we are good to go for the next few months. It was freezing outside when I went out to take some pictures, but they stayed out for 1 1/2 hours. Tayler attempted to make a snowman. Rylee made lots of snow angels and Jayson ate the snow just as fast as he could. The snow was blowing side ways. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I think I liked the 65-70 degree days last week a little better. Oh well, bring it on.

Snowball fight!

Jayson found the rock in the island to sit and rest on.

The start of Tay's snow "ball"

Cute Rylee

All 3 in action

Ready to come in... just kidding! Just needed their noses wiped.

I love when they have fun playing together. Now their clothes are in the wash and the hot chocolate is brewing. Next it's off to the bath to warm their frozen bodies.

Happy Saturday!