Thanksgiving in Idaho

We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho this year with Tim's family. We stayed at Chuck and Laura's house and had a great time. There were 11 cousins there ages 8 and under and 11 adults. It was such a fun, crazy, chaotic party!! We played the Wii, stayed up late watching movies and playing cards. The kids had a great time with their cousins playing anything and everything and doing crafts. The guys played disc golf and the girls went to the movie "New Moon" and went shopping on black Friday starting at 5am! We even had an adult night out. We all chipped in for 2 babysitters to come and we adults went bowling and out to dinner. It was a great 5 days!! Thanks to Chuck and Laura for hosting us. We had an amazing Thanskgiving meal and all shared what we were thankful for. I am so thankful for my sweet family, especially my cute husband. I am also thankful for our temporal blessings like our home and financial stability. (I know that sounds silly, but especially in todays market, I am thankful Tim has a good job and we really don't want for anything major!) I know that I am truly blessed and I am glad we had such a great Thanksgiving holiday with so much wonderful family!

Bunk Bed Buddies

Well, we finally did it. We made the transition from the crib to the bunk bed for Eli. We bought the bunkbed several weeks before, but I was nervous to make the transition. Things were just working so well how they were, but we made the plunge on Nov. 18, 2009. They did so great and loved sleeping in the bunk bed together. They stayed in bed so well and went right to sleep; I was so proud of them. Eli even takes his naps so well in the bunk bed too! They are such big boys!!

Mannheim Steamroller

On Nov. 18, my mom treated me to the Mannheim Steamroller Concert at Abravanel Hall. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season. The music was wonderful. I had never seen them in concert before, but I had always loved their CD's. Of course it is always fun to be with my mom. I am so lucky to have such a fun mom who is also my dear friend! Thanks for the fun night Mom, I love you!!!

New Family Pictures

We recently had family pictures taken. My sister-in-law Katie took them for us and did a great job. We just went to Wheeler Farm and found some great shots as usual. I just wanted to post a few of my favortie pictures. She took about 100 pictures, so it was hard to narrow it down, but here they are!

A fun family picture of us walking down the dirt road. Ethan was actually complaining the whole time we were walking because he had dropped his favorite stick :)

Don't worry, we went back and found his precious stick after we got some good pictures :).

I love these pics of the boys smiling together, especially with Ethan looking so sweetly at his little brother!

Our sweet little Ethan -

almost 4 1/2 years old.

Cute little Eli - he'll be 2 years old next month.

Veteran's Day Parade

On Veteran's Day last year we stumbled across West Jordan's Veteran's Day Parade. We really enjoyed it, so we made it a point to go this year. The boys really liked all of the flags and soldiers and of course candy - what is a parade without candy?! I explained what a veteran was to the boys and later I heard Ethan telling his cousins that a "veteran is someone who fights to keep our world safe!" Unfortunately Eli wasn't a big fan of the LOUD firetruck horn and siren, but other than that it was a fun time for everyone. Thank you to all of the men and women who help keep our country safe and fight for the freedoms we enjoy!


Watching the parade!!!

Story Time

On Nov.11, I caught this cute moment with my camera. Ethan and Eli love to read books and it was so cute to see Ethan "reading" this book to Eli. They will sometimes do this for nearly an hour; so fun!!! I love seeeing my boys enjoy each others company. I hope they continue to be good friends!

Eli's Sweet Dreams!

So, I ask Eli every morning if he had sweet dreams and what did he dream about. Lately he has been saying nearly every morning,

"I had sweet dreams about Jesus!"

Well, this morning I asked him the question at breakfast and he answered with a mouth full of food. I told him to wait and swallow and then tell me. Here is how it went:

"I had sweet dreams about Jesus and Hinckley."

"Really?! Hinckley - you mean Pres. Hinckley?"

"Pres. Hinckley, the prophet!"

"Wow- that is neat. Was he nice?"

"Yes, very nice!"

And that was it. Then we went on to play with his food or something - he is only 23 months old! Man, I wish I could see this kids dreams! I didn't even know he knew about Pres. Hinckley since now we talk about Pres. Monson, the current prophet. Eli, you are a pretty special little boy with some awesome dreams!!! Thanks for sharing them with me!

Mommy and Ethan Date Night!!

Sometimes you just need a little one-on-one time with your child!! I had been getting a little frustrated with Ethan lately just for little things or not listening to me and that everything he did would take so long to do and trying get out the door to go to this and that, etc. Well, it was time for a Mommy and Ethan date night where we could just go and have fun and he could be in charge and take as long as he wanted to do anything and I could be totally patient because we didn't have to be anywhere else, except there being together!!!

So, our date night began. He planned the whole thing. He said he wanted to do 4 things:

1- Go to the library and pick out books and a movie for later that night!
2- Go get an ice cream cone together for dessert!
3-Go swimming at the rec center!
4-Come home and watch our movie and eat popcorn


We had an awesome time together!! He really wore me out with the swimming. The pool has a playground in the water and the water is only 2-3 feet deep everywhere. Needless to say I was pretty pooped after catching him on the slide and walking on my hands through the shallow water, trying not to drag my pregnant belly on the bottom of the pool :) (I know, not a fun mental image). I love being with Ethan and sharing his enthusiasm for life and being able to take time to listen to everything on his mind!! (and there is a lot on his mind ) It was so nice to have time devoted just to him and not have to be in a rush to do anything else. I know that life doesn't always allow us to not be in a rush or not have to be somewhere, so it was nice to create this little bubble of time that was just for Ethan and me!! I love you my little Ethan boy and I can't wait for another date with you really soon!

Halloween Trick-or-Treating

Well, Halloween finally arrived!! The boys were so excited to go trick - or-treating. We decided to go to Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood this year! They had a great time and got sooooo much candy.

It was fun to have grandma and grandpa with us. Ethan and Eli kept saying, "Don't worry Grandma. Don't be scared, I have a flashlight in my bucket." Eli especially liked to repeat it to us over and over again to make sure we were not scared!! It was so cute that they wanted to protect us. Ethan even helped his Daddy out with the candy. Ethan doesn't like Almond Joys but he knew they were Tim's favorite, so whenever that was available he would kindly ask if he could have "two please." It is nice to have our kids looking out for us :) Thanks for a fun Halloween boys!!

Halloween at Preschool

Ethan got to dress up for his Halloween party at preschool. The preschool kids even got to go trick-or-treating to the high school kids and sing Halloween songs for them. He had a great time and just LOVES preschool, escpecially at Halloween!

Ethan with his teacher Miss Wendy!

Ethan with his good friend Natalie Watson! These two just love eachother- so cute!

The First Snow!!!

So, the boys were in the bathtub for a long time this morning because we were telling ghost stories in the dark with flashlights. We had a great time, but finally decided they should get out of the tub since the water was cold and their little fingers looked like prunes. When they got out of the tub and went into Ethan's room to get dressed, we discovered it was SNOWING!!!! We were in the bathroom so long, that it had started to snow while we were in there. The boys were so excited. They both dropped their towels and stood at the window watching it and jumping up and down cheering! No one can accuse my boys of not being enthusiastic!!! Ethan at least managed to put on some underwear, but I caught Eli's little naked bum!
After they got dressed, we got all bundled up and went outside to play in it. They wanted to ride their bikes in the snow. They had a great time and even managed to catch a few snow flakes on their tongue. Simple pleasures are the best!!!

Halloween at Gardner Village

We went to Gardner Village a few days before Halloween so we could enjoy the fun witches and festivities! It was fun to have my sister-in-law Katie and her kids, Daniel and Ava come along too. We started the night off right with a free sample of fudge and a caramel apple (Tim and I had been really wanting a caramel apple recently, so it was nice to satisfy that little craving).

The kids posing with the witches who were playing baseball. We couldn't get them to all look at the camera at the same time, so this is what we got :)
Yeah, they are all at least looking at the camera. The cousins always have a fun time being together so it was fun watching them play and be excited about the witches.

Reading with Jon

Jon is our neighbor and comes over to our house quite a bit. The boys love him and he is a like a big brother to them. I snapped this cute picture the other day of Jon reading to both kids. They love to read books and it was so fun for them to have Jon reading to them - thanks Jon!

Halloween Party at G'ma and G'pa's

We had a great Halloween party at Grandma and Grandpa's house the week before Halloween. The cousins decorated little mini pizza's to look like jack-o-lanterns and played lots of games. We had a great time!!

Making pumpkin face pizza's - what a cute idea?!!

Posing for Halloween costume pictures.
Superman Ethan and Power Ranger Tanner, Super frog Eli (he wanted to be something super like his brother Ethan), Jeanie Kaya, and curious George Cole

Laughing with Grandma for the picture!!

Tim and me strutting our fun costumes. Tim's Sumo wrestling costume was a great hit. The kids loved using him as a punching bag and he even won the costume contest at work!

The kids eating the bug jello that Tim, Ethan, Eli , and I made!

They had fun slurping up the jello through a straw!

Grandpa wanted to get in on the sumo wrestling fun!

They all had a great time bowling with pumpkins - thanks for such fun ideas Grandma!