Thanksgiving

Even though B is the low man on the totem pole, he was able to get the entire week of Thanksgiving off! The only bummer is that means he's on call Christmas day, the day after Christmas and the day after that, so, that's not great. But, to have him home for the week was truly amazing! We had planned on going to my beautiful older sister's house for Thanksgiving. As an added bonus, her daughter, B was getting baptized the day before Thanksgiving. We were going to be able to be there and that was awesome! We were going to leave Tuesday morning to make the six hour drive to their house. We decided last minute to leave on Monday night and go half way. B and I decided, while the kiddos were at school,  to leave early, so they had no idea that we were going to leave that night. When we told them that we were leaving early, it took them less than an hour to get all their clothes ready and eat dinner. Since we were going half way it meant that we got to stay in a hotel. Best. Day. Ever! The hotel had a pool that was open until 11:00, so we were able to go swimming. Now, when I say we I mean that B took the kids and went swimming. I "forgot" to pack my swim suit. I blame it on the fact that we were trying to be so fast leaving our house. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I hate swimming because pools are always freezing cold. Not to mention, someone has to be on picture duty. How else would we document that we were there?

 It's official, Little B is a total bum. When in a picture, if you get him looking at the camera or smiling, it's by total accident on his part. He makes goofy faces like that on purpose.

Isn't she lovely? I love this sweet little thing so much!

What's not to love about this little fella? I don't remember what he was laughing at, probably something gross, but it made for an awesome picture!

His picture is so dark because I couldn't give the camera time to adjust to the light. He was looking at me and telling me how happy he was to be swimming, so I snapped the picture. These three littles make me so happy!

The next morning when I woke up to work out, I walked out of our room and saw white stuff falling from the sky. We had looked at the weather before we left and it said there was a chance for snow. We had hoped they would be wrong. They weren't. 

I have a lot of anxiety in general, but especially about driving in the snow. When K was a baby I was driving to a family Christmas party and it was snowing. On the freeway, our car slipped, I hit the van next to us, bounced off, and hit the cement barrier. Our car spun in a circle and we stopped facing on coming traffic. It was truly terrifying and increased my anxiety about driving in snow. The offspring was excited about playing in the white stuff with their cousins, I just wanted to make it there alive!

B has no fear and so to drive in the snow was no big deal to him. I am so thankful that he was there to drive us because heaven knows I would have freaked out and it would have taken us months to get there because we would have left the car at the hotel and walked the rest of the way to Montana.

I will say that it's beautiful. I am happy that we had left the night before. The rest of the drive should have taken us three hours, but it took close to five. We saw one car that had flipped over onto it's roof. The ambulance was already there and they were putting the guy on a stretcher. Not great! Hopefully he was ok and able to spend Thanksgiving with family and not in the hospital. 

We got there Tuesday afternoon and every day we were there, four crazy children bundled up and played in the snow.

They made this awesome tunnel that they loved to play in. I don't know what all they did while they were out there, but they would play outside for at least an hour, sometimes longer. They would come in the house, have some hot chocolate, warm up for a few minutes, put on their snow gear again and go back out.

They had so much fun playing in the snow, but they especially loved that they had cousins to play in the snow with.

Little B was so convinced that he wanted to go outside and play. We didn't have any waterproof gloves for him to wear. We tried telling him that his hands would freeze. He still wanted to go. B put his coat on him and took him out. He was out there for less than five minutes. He slipped and tried to catch himself. Once he felt the snow with his bare hands, he was done with the snow. When B showed me this picture I asked why there were tears. When he fell, he started to cry, B wanted a picture of him in the snow. Since they didn't have time to take the picture before little B fell, they took it after. Poor little thing. I don't blame him, snow leaves me in tears too.

B is from November to May older than K. They have always been friends and I am so happy that even though we haven't lived next to each other since they were two, that they are still good friends. B's baptism was amazing and I am so so happy that we were able to be there for it.

Thursday brought crafts and good food. I really don't like turkey, I never have. It seems dry with no flavor. My sister is truly a culinary genius and her turkey was truly amazing! Her's is the first turkey in my whole life that didn't taste like turkey! She had soaked it in a magical brine and it was truly amazing. One of my favorite things to do when we are with family is to play games. Thursday night was game night.

Not all of us were up to playing games. Little B climbed up in my lap, folded in half and went to sleep. I didn't want to put him to bed because it was only 6:30. I didn't think that he would stay asleep for very long like that anyway. I was wrong. He slept for three hours. We didn't think that he could be very comfortable. B picked him up and left the room. I went to find them a little while later.

 Thanksgiving wiped out more than just the two year old. 

My sister and her husband own a sporting goods store. We had never been there, so on Friday we went. Little B found the helmets and was in heaven. I think he looks like a bobble head. Their store is pretty sweet!

We had so much fun at their house and on Sunday morning when it was time to go, I cried. A lot. No matter how long it's been since we moved away from family, saying goodbye doesn't seem to get any easier. I was the last one to get in the car. I heard sniffles from the back and turned to see that M had  her head in her pillow crying and K was trying so hard to not cry, but finally gave up and let the tears come. Seeing them so sad made me even more sad. We loved spending Thanksgiving with them. My sister is hot a lot, so is their oldest, C. I had no idea it was so bad until we got to their house and found out that their heater, when it's on, which isn't often, is only set for 50. I truly thought I was going to come home with frostbite as a souvenir. Now that we know that we'll be more prepared next time. I know I could have asked her to turn the heat on or gotten another blanket or another coat, but if I had I would have looked like the kid from A Christmas Story, and not been able to put my arms down. Being with family is so amazing and we truly loved every second we were there and can't wait to go back!

November, or, at least a day in it.

November has come and gone. Crazy! Thanksgiving is one of the highlights of the month, but that's not all we did. No sir! We love to do things so here ya go! Our wild and crazy times of November!

I don't like bubble gum. It loses it's flavor so fast and then it gets all hard and nasty to chew. Not to mention it's awful for your teeth. But, every once in awhile, like, once every five to seven years, I want a piece so I can blow some bubbles! You lucky folks get to see a rare moment in history when I actually have bubble gum. As I started to blow the bubbles, little B was fascinated! He didn't try to pop them with his fingers, he tried to pop them with his teeth.  Don't panic you germaphobe's out there. I didn't actually let him pop it with his teeth. He got close, but I didn't let him do it.

 You know those nights when you go check on your little boys at night and you walk in and see the broom across their beds? What's that? You have never experienced that? We hadn't either until a night a couple weeks ago. The broom that is across their beds is the one that little B has claimed as his own. When I sweep, he goes and get's his broom and "helps" me sweep. I couldn't wait for morning to come so I could ask them what was going on in their brains when they put the broom on their beds. Well, I'll spare you the suspense. I asked K first and he told me that little B was the one that had done it, so I looked at little B and asked what the story was with the broom. All I got was a shoulder shrug and an,"I don't know." How anticlimactic! Now if these two pictures don't sum up our overly exciting month, nothing will! There was one event that was pretty much amazing! It's called, a turkey trot. Around this neck of the woods, turkey trots are only a dollar to participate in. We knew that M would complain about it, K would do it and love it and that little B would be so happy to be in the stroller. One brisk Saturday morning, we got bundled up and went out to trot with the other crazies around here.

It was a balmy 29 degrees when we started the race. We had told the kiddos that they would probably warm up as we ran, but to start out it was going to be chilly billy willy. And chilly billy willy it was! Man oh man it was really cold! Don't let M's smile fool you. She smiled and then started asking again why we were doing this, it was too cold, she didn't want to, it was going to take too long, blah blah blah. We told her it would be fun, she disagreed very strongly, we lined up and off we went!

The race was four miles long. We had told them that we would run for a while and then walk then run etc. etc. We had run half a mile before M asked if we could stop. We asked her if something was hurting. She said no, she just wanted to walk. We hadn't even warmed up yet, so we told her no. We weren't trying to be mean, it was really cold and we wanted to warm up a bit before we stopped to walk. We ran a mile and then stopped to walk for a couple minutes.

When we started running again we ran until we had gotten to about the 2 3/4 mile mark. Then we walked. We could see the little yellow sign that told us we were at three miles. We told her that we were going to run at the three mile mark and that we were going to run the entire last mile. While we walked, little B wanted to get out of the stroller and run.

I feel like the picture is kind of dark and I don't love that, but I love that they are running. Little B loved to run and after he had gotten his running fill, he came back to the stroller and said that he was ready to ride again.

We made it! Four miles in 49 minutes. We walked some but ran most of the time. I was so proud of M and K for doing it. They did so great! M truly hates running and I was so proud of her for doing it even when she felt like it was too hard. We held hands a lot as we ran so that I could help her. Don't misunderstand, I wasn't pulling on her, we really were just holding hands telling each other that we could do it. K is a really good runner, I think that he could have gone faster and longer. He was running fast enough that he and B finished 30 seconds ahead of me, M and little B. K wasn't even that tired when we got done. At the starting line, M and K saw their P.E. teacher. She was there running the race too. We finished before she did and both M and K loved being done and being able to watch their teacher come across the finish line. She got done running and came over to tell both of them that they are great little runners. To say that K was beaming would be a gross understatement. M said thank you and ate another Oreo. Yes, at the finish line instead of having fruit like is common at the races we've done in the past, they had Oreo's. Having those made M feel like the race was almost worth it. The website had said that there would be transportation back to the starting line where we left are car. They lied. Instead of having a ride back, B ran the four miles back to get the car. The little's and I started walking back. When you aren't running, 29 degrees is really cold! Maybe it had warmed up a little, but if it had it wasn't by a lot. Our hands were frozen and little B was in tears because his hands hurt so bad. When he started crying I asked him what was wrong and he said,"My hands is freezing!" He had gloves, but he had sucked on them and so they were wet and freezing his hands. We had a blanket, but he didn't want to wrap his hands up. He was just done with the whole thing. We made it to the two mile sign and that's when we saw our car coming. B had made it back and was our knight in shining armor, there to rescue us from the cold! We were all so happy to see him and get a ride. 

Running a four mile race definitely calls for lunch at a pizza place. We had never been here before, but had heard that it's amazing. They were right, it's amazing!

They have a window where you can watch them make your pizza. That was really cool!

B was feeling extra nice and even got the kiddos a pitcher of Root beer. We don't really drink soda, so they loved it! The day turned out fun for everyone and hopefully good memories were made.

Time fly's or is it flies or is that the little bug?

Really? It's been like a month and a half since I put anything on here? That's not great. Remember when B was in school and I used to update this here blog like once a week? In my defense, I just don't feel like a whole lot is going on. Not to mention we had to get a new computer and this one is super duper annoying to put pictures on. I know, I know, excuses are like noses, we all have them and they all smell. The past is the past and it's time to move on right? I just got off the phone with my ever charming younger brother and he told me that he and his lovely are moving to Florida come heck or high water next October. When I first heard the news a while ago I tried to warn him. It's hot. All. Of. The. Time. Not to mention it smells like a swamp. It's a fun place to visit, but miserable to live. I guess if one loves the heat and humidity and the heat and sweating all over all the time and the heat, then Florida is the place for you. I will say that the reflectors on the road are always nice because it never gets cold so they always look brand new. I guess that's something. Anyway, I didn't get on here to talk about him and his life plans, it's just on my mind and I tend to say what's on my mind. Let's see here, Halloween was fun. Here are a couple pictures just for the sake of record keeping.

OK, clearly this isn't a Halloween picture, but the sunrise was so beautiful one morning that I had to take a picture. If only it was as beautiful in the picture as it had been in real life, I would win a photo contest, I'm sure of it! I digress, Halloween pictures ASAP!

Again, not a Halloween picture, but pumpkins and Halloween are like a bulimic person and a toilet, they go hand in hand. Not to mention, I was so happy with my with pumpkin that I had to document that it was AWE-some! My witch masterpiece took two days, what with all the paint drying, hair gluing and face decorating. It was well worth the wait. We were told by a neighbor that pumpkins get smashed a lot around here. I was worried about our pumpkins being turned into smashed pumpkin surprise, but I'm pretty sure that when the pumpkin smashing hoodlums came around and saw our amazing pumpkins,(especially the witch), they turned to another house to get their pumpkin smashing fix.  Can I just ask why someone would do that? Why would you smash anything that didn't belong to you, but smashing pumpkins seems especially heinous. If someone is going to go through the effort of getting a pumpkin, carving it or painting it or coloring it or leaving it like they just cut it off the vein and put it on their porch, then why would you ruin it? I don't get it. Anyway, that's it really. For real this time, without any further adieu,  

Here it is! M was an Eskimo, K was a cop and little B was a spider. We went down to Boise to spend Halloween with our amazing friends, the S clan. We loved every minute and I even laughed when we got pulled over. It presented a perfect opportunity to teach the offspring a quick lesson. Don't go 70 in a 55 and pass a cop. Chances of getting a speeding ticket are pretty high. Darn it!

 They made out like bandits! Yes you read correctly,  16.1 pounds of candy. In years past the parent tax has been high, but this year due to inflation the parent tax was increased. Instead of taking some of the Reese's, we took them all. (When I say we took them all I mean that we took them and put them in a freezer bag and put them in said freezer because as we all know, Reese's are a million times better frozen. Anyone is welcome to eat them, they just forget about them.) 

We know we're late in saying it, but we hope that you all had a most excellent Halloween and that those of us parents were able to get the parent tax we deserve! 

Wedding bells are ringing

The time has come to reveal the picture of J and I when we were wedding dress shopping!

Oh how I wish I was wearing the dress! That would have made the picture even better. Alas, it wasn't to be. Don't get me wrong, I loved holding it up so J could compare the two. J is so beautiful and I loved being there with M and mom and S as J made her decision. She picked her dress and wedding plans got underway. Finally, the big day arrived and  beautiful J got married last week. We were lucky enough to be able to go. We went down a few days early to hang out with friends and family. Because we were able to be there a few days early, we were able to be there when she went through the temple. As we were in the celestial room I looked around and saw all of mom and dad's kids with their spouses or very near future spouse. I am a million percent sure that both dad and Brandon were there too, we just couldn't see them. It was truly so amazing to be in there as an entire family. That's what it's all about folks. Family and the gospel. Nothing else matters. The deepest desire of my heart is to one day be standing in the temple with B and our three kids and their spouses or future spouses or be in there as our kids are going on missions or just going through the temple for the first time. I hope that they want to go to the temple and that they gain strong enough testimonies that the temple is their goal. Anyway, I digress. The temple was amazing. I love it there! The wedding came and went and now there are no more weddings on either side of our families until the nieces and nephews start getting married. Which, won't be long. Just sayin'. To say that J looked beautiful would be a huge, gross understatement.

These three were the bridesmaid's. I'm pretty sure they loved their job. M loved that she was able to hang out with K and A. They were together all day, They were pretty cute together.

D and B waiting for them to come out of the temple. It seems to take forever for the bride and groom to come out. it's awful! These two had a great time running around together. I feel like this side of the temple would have been better for pictures, but they wanted them in the shade, so to the other side we went.

Isn't she lovely?! The rest of the group looks great too, especially the guy on the far left. B was the tallest in the family until M came around. 

Sister and sister-in-laws picture. I love this group of ladies. I am loud and annoying and tell people what I think and they seem to like me anyway. 

We took advantage of having someone around to take a picture of  us again. In case you don't know this about me,  I feel like one can never take too many pictures!

I love him! I am so happy that he's my date and that I get to be with him forever!

Some of M's family couldn't be in the temple so, they did a ring ceremony before the luncheon. I can't believe J's married! I remember her when she was 6. She told me that she doesn't remember life before me. Now she's all grown up and married. 

The reception was full of dancing(and singing because I just can't help myself. Especially when, Shot Through the Heart, comes on!),

bouquet throwing,

garter catching, and 

Sparklers! Can you tell that sparklers make M a wee-bit nervous?! We all had a great day and are happy for J and M. We hope that they are happy for ever and ever and ever!

Family pictures 2015

We were able to go to Utah last week for J and M's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and J looked breathtaking. We were able to be there a few days before the wedding. On one of the afternoon's we were able to go up to Sundance Ski Resort and take family pictures. Our beautiful sister-in-law, S came with us and took the pictures. She did an amazing job! I don't know what one's I like best, so you get an overload of our pictures. You're welcome!

I feel like the background almost looks like we're in a photo studio and they pulled down a painted scene of mountains. 

I don't totally love this one because I feel like I have gigantic legs and this makes them look really big. But I love that even little B is smiling.

This is real life family picture taking. 

I think the kiddo pictures all turned out cute. I just don't know which one I like the best.

 I love love love the door shots. There are little buildings around Sundance. This is a glass door on one of the buildings. It's showing a reflection of the trees in the glass. I think they're so awesome!

We liked this spot so much that we went back to try and get better shots. I really don't know which one I like best. I love this group of people and I am so happy that we were able to get family pictures in Utah.