Thanksgiving Weekend

We headed down to see family for the Thanksgiving holiday. My nice sister-in-law hosted and it was a fantastic feast. That night we headed to Andy's family and spent some time with his awesome cousin and his wife. Syd got me through the shock of Logan's cleft and what I needed to do to get him the best care. I owe my sanity that year all to her. It was really fun to hang out with them.
The next morning I got to spend some time with my best friend. We were roommates in college and it was so fun to reminisce over a very yummy breakfast. After breakfast I went to do a little Christmas shopping. It was so nice to have a break from the craziness of life. The rest of the day was spent hanging out with the family.
Saturday was my birthday and the big rivalry game. My sweet in-laws took us out for another yummy breakfast. Then it was time for the rivalry game. I didn't want to go to the stadium this year. Hanging out with BYU fans was not my idea of a fun birthday. My other sister-in-law hosted a fun game/birthday party at her house. We enjoyed more yummy food and some atrocious football. That night my 94 year old great aunt was here from Hawaii along with my sweet grandma so we met up with them for a family dinner. (I am sensing a food theme)
Sunday we decided to go see the lights of Temple Square on our way back home. The boys and I rode on the train while Andy drove the car. It felt like Christmas!
Thanks to everyone who made this such a great weekend. We had a blast!!

The kids playing video games.

Logan and Bridger

All of my Grandma's greats

Alex is named after his great-great grandfather, my grandma's daddy.

Logan, GG and Aunt Iris

The train ride

My cute boys

I love my boys!!!

This is my all time favorite scenic picture

The Christmas Tree Hunt

We started a tradition a few years back of cutting down our own Christmas tree. Every year it has been so fun and such an adventure. We went up with "Uncle" Doug and his wife Jetta. We had a lot of fun eating cookies and hiking through steep drifts of snow to find the perfect tree. Thanks Doug and Jetta for coming with us. We had a blast!!

Reflections

Beauty is... was the theme for Reflections this year. Alex had decided at the beginning of the school year that he wanted to enter a photograph again. One Sunday night after leaf collecting in the canyon he came and asked for the camera. He went to work putting together a winning picture. This is the result:

We went to awards night at the school and Alex was excited that his picture was chosen to move on to the next level.


A couple of weeks later we received a phone call. The caller asked for Alex. The person on the other end told him that his entry had won at district and would be moving on to the regional level. She also said it was chosen as the Best of Cache County. We were so proud of him!! Stay tuned for regional results which will happen some time in January.

Awesome Deal

I just ordered my Christmas cards for FREE. Yes you read that right for free. Here is the link to get 50 free Christmas cards: FREE Just use the coupon code freebies4mom-1109 and they are all yours. No shipping and handling charge either. So just upload your picture, add some text and you are all set and ready for Christmas.

Meet the newest members of our family

Yes that is right those are mice. My boys have been going on dates to the pet store for quite sometime. One night they came home with this crazy plan they had hatched. I wasn't too thrilled about it but I was outvoted. Their names are Lilly and Sasha. I blame this whole thing on reading. We read Ralph S. Mouse and next thing you know I have mice. I just pray that a motorcycle isn't the next thing on the list.

I promise to catch up

I am sooo very behind in my blogging. I am honestly not sure why. Maybe my working full time may be the biggest factor. But today I have some free time. I have been able to relax and enjoy life. My kids are playing nicely downstairs so I am going to throw caution to the wind and catch up. So stay tuned because there will be new posts a coming just you wait and see.

PS Check out my photo blog for my early Christmas present to all my friends and family.

Halloween

The week of Halloween Logan and Andy had gone down to SLC for a couple of days so we were not able to carve the pumpkins. Well Saturday everything on my to do list crashed into me and had to be done that day. We literally carved the pumpkins 15 minutes before trick-or-treaters came.
I love Halloween. I use to do a family theme and get all into the holiday. Not sure why but I have changed. I still desire that but my frugalness wins out every time. Hopefully my big plans for next year will work out and we will have a rockin' Halloween. Back to topic: This year I had my kids costumes picked out early. However mine and hubby's had not been nor had the candy. So Halloween day we ran to Shopko to get the candy. I thought I would look to see if maybe I could find something for me, I didn't. We then came across the perfect costume for my dear politically minded husband, the POTUS himself. My boys persuaded me to get it so I did. I ended up puttin on Andy's old boot cast and my sling and going out like that. I had a lot of folks worried about what I had done to myself.
Then after pumpkins we had to have our annual witch's brew. We have had this drink every year for as long as I remember even at my house growing up. The same story is told that you must drink the brew before going out into the night to be invisible to all of the ghouls and goblins. This year was the first year Logan was entranced by the brew. In fact, he was into the whole holiday. After dinner we stepped out into the night to trick-or-treat. It was a lot of fun and the kids have enough candy to last a really long time. Enjoy the pictures!!!

Where did September go?

I have been a MAJOR blog slacker lately. I have so many things I want to update and no time to update. Our world has been turned slightly upside down recently with job changes, illnesses and new school routines. I am hoping that we can settle in for a while but my job is only temporary so I am assured things will change again soon.
One of my newest goals is to develop my talents and doing things that I want to do. One of those is becoming a doula, that is in my 5 year plan. (I have to put that here to remind myself of my goal) But one I am starting now is photography. I have a new fun camera and I am going to be taking classes as well. Also I launched a photo blog, I hope I can stay on top of two blogs. I have a couple of sessions already set up but I am willing to do more if anyone is interested. Right now I am offering them at a great deal, FREE. So leave a comment on my blog or call me and we can set things up.
As for the fam you can see what we have been up to in September via pictures.

Painting with pudding

Harvesting our garden

Logan started "preschool"

Enjoying being Aggies!

Fishing with dad

9 years!!!!

10 years ago yesterday I met my sweet, awesome hubby at an institute dance (a church dance.) The next day we went to the temple on our first date where we did sealings. Ask me how nerve racked I was. Anyway when my hubby thought about proposing he set everything up at the temple first and then proposed. Well the sentimental guy that he is realized that the 16th was a Monday and the SLC temple was opened on Mondays. So a year after we were sealed the first time we were sealed for real. It was such a neat relaxed experience since there was only one other couple getting married that day. We had the wedding and the luncheon the same day and the reception the next night.
My reception was EVERYTHING I wanted it to be. I had always dreamed of having a celebratory party instead of just a reciving line and cookies and punch. Luckily my husband thinks like I do and we partied. It was such a fun night and one that I will always remember. Thanks Andy for 9 great years and hopefully many more to come.
(I left my wedding pics down at my moms so this is the only wedding pic I have. Maybe I will post more next week when I pick it up.)

We had only been dating a month in this picture. The BIG rivalry game and we are still together:)

October 16, 2000

My cute boys!!

Last weekend I took the boys for a photo shoot. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. Here are the ones that will grace our wall for the next year.

Alex 2nd grade

Logan age 3

My darling boys

The Party

Logan told me about a month ago that he wanted to go to the fire station for his birthday so we did. Logan had a lot of fun and was even able to fulfill his dream of "driving" a fire truck. We also went to SLC that weekend and celebarted with both sides of the family. We even got to go to another fire station and this time got to squirt the fire hose. What a lucky little 3 year old!!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 3rd Birthday Logan!!

Logan came into this world two weeks early and totally threw our world into a loop. To this day he is still proving that HE is in charge. He is a laughing, smiling, teasing hurricane that just never stops. He has taught his mom so much in his short little life and he has his daddy wrapped around his little finger. He is so good at giving kisses and hugs and telling you "la boo." Logan is the perfect fit in our family and we sure do love him. Happy birthday Stinky Roo!!

First ER Visit!!

Well after many close calls Logan finally had his first trip to the ER this morning. We went to speech class this am and as we were getting up to go to the rug Logan's chair tipped back. He fell back and hit the edge of the cabinet. I didn't think much of it at first since Logan always seems to bounce right back. As soon as I picked him up I knew we needed medical attention. (I will spare you the gory details.) The teacher shoved some Kleenex on it as I tried to fumble for me keys and head out the door. I was trying to figure out how to apply pressure on it, have him in the car seat and drive. Thankfully, there was a towel in my car so I created a turban like contraption and drove the 2 blocks to the hospital.
We got back to the room pretty quickly but Logan gets bored easily. After they assessed him and put on the numbing gel we had to wait. After 4 trips to the potty (more on potty training later) and 3 laps around the hospital they were ready to proceed. I was feeling so bad for the little guy but he did so well. He only let out a little whimper as they put the staples in. About 2 hours later we were on our way home. I think I need to invest in AFLAC for this one.

Showing off his cool bracelet.

You can see where the wound is here (without being gory)

This is how they kept the numbing gel on. They called him Ninja Logan.

Swimming Lessons

Alex had swimming lessons the last 2 weeks and he is quite the little fish. He is able to do all the floats by himself and can even do the front and back stroke. He came a long way from the kid that hated going underwater. Good work bugs!!

Treading water

Front float

Back float
All the way under

Harvest Time

I love having a garden. In fact I love it so much that every year we have a jungle in our garden space.

Because of the depth of our garden it is hard to spot ripe veggies. I ventured into the jungle to get a tomato out for BLT's for dinner. I came out with quite the haul. 36 grape tomatoes and 2 celebrities. Alex came in yesterday with a gigantic beef steak that I had missed.The tomatoes were divine! Thanks to all of our nice neighbors who have shared their bounty with us as well. We just have to pray that our yummy zucchini will come on soon.