The First Real Snow

We had a little snow storm come through on Saturday. This was the first real snow of the season. We all had fun playing with friends in the snow. The snow makes it feel more like Christmas now.

Dave and the boys only built this huge snowball, since Dave quickly realized that anything else would be destroyed by the neighborhood kids. He was right...even this snowball was obliterated within minutes.

Christmas Traditions

Our family is growing older and family traditions are becoming necessary. I am not too creative in thinking of new things to do. I'd love to hear what traditions you had growing up or are currently starting now! Please post your ideas as a comment for this post. I'm hoping to get some great tradition ideas from all of you! Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Yes, I am one year older (for security's sake I won't say exactly how old on this blog)...but I am still in my 20's. Whahoo!! I had a pretty normal day, which is to be expected when you're an adult. But I really appreciate all the love and well wishes from my family and friends. I loved all the emails, phone calls, cards, and comments on this blog. I felt very loved. Derek decided that his gift to me was "to be nice all day". He did okay, but I had to remind the boy. :) Days ago Taylor said that he was going to buy me "an orange knife to carve pumpkins". I'm glad he didn't follow through. :)

I helped the boys make the birthday cake (provided by Scott and Traci...Thanks guys)!
Their technique may have been a bit unorthodox, but they had fun.
Derek came up with the great idea of putting the Transformer Optimus Prime on the top. How thoughtful huh? :) I think the cake turned out great! It was so so yummy.
Dave brought home Cafe Rio burritos and Snickers Ice Cream bars. My favorites! After dinner Derek gave a Family Home Evening lesson on "Mommies". Dave and the boys were so sweet with their love and compliments. That was the best gift of all. I love my little family!

Our Trip to California

As a very last minute decision, we decided to drive to California for Thanksgiving this year. We were able to visit with Dave's family and had a wonderful trip.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to their favorite little zoo and we ALL rode the train. Taylor was so lucky to be surrounded by his daddy, aunt Lindsay, and Grandma Judy.
A cute picture...but try to ignore crazy cousin Matt behind us. :)
Here are some pictures of the fun we had at the zoo's park.

One of my most favorite activities is just hanging out with family. So this week was so perfect for me. Thank you Grandma Judy and Grandpa David for letting us crash at your house!

Our Trip to California (part 2)

We were also lucky enough to visit with my sister and her family in Walnut Creek. Plus, as an added bonus, my brother and his family were also down visiting from Oregon. We had a great time playing with them and the boys got to spend some quality time with their cousins.

My sister lives by a great little walking trail, so we took a little walk to a nearby park. Here is Taylor and his cousin Kari. Cute kids!
There was a large flock of geese just hanging out on the baseball field. Dave chased those poor geese all over. He has way too much energy.


After our walk Traci helped the kids with a fun treat. They made turkeys out of cookies, cordial cherries, and candy corn. They all turned out so cute and were so yummy! Traci is so talented in that area. Where does she get all her energy?? Thanks Laurel and Doug for hosting a fun day together!

7 Years of Bliss!

I tried posting this a week ago, but our internet was out. It's old news, but it's something to post I guess! :) Dave and I recently celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I told him that I would plan the day's activities, so I surprised him with an appointment to go target shooting. I know, I know...not very romantic, but we sure had a lot of fun together.

After the gun range we went to lunch at PF Chang's...mmm! My fortune cookie made us laugh so hard that the waiter actually brought me a replacement. It said "You are constantly struggling for self improvement and it shows." Okay, so the word "struggling" implies that I never do quite acheive improvement and people can see that. Oh, I shed some tears of laughter on that one. Anyway, we had a great day and I feel so blessed to still be madly in love with my eternal partner. Thanks for 7 great years Dave! I love you!

Popcycles?

I thought this was cute. Derek just came to me and asked, "those guys that aren't a prophet are called a-popcycles...right?" Ha ha.

Brock the Builder

Scott and Traci (Taylor's uncle and aunt) sent this fun belated birthday gift. Traci made her own stickers for the hat and tool belt that say, "Brock the Builder". She's very clever. Taylor literally squealed when he opened it. Then he yelled "now I can help Grandpa build his house." He tells me that he can't wait to show Grandma his new belt. Thanks for the fun gift guys!

Derek wanted to get in on the action.

GO COUGARS!!

We were invited by a another couple in our apartment complex to go the BYU football game last night. We got a great deal on tickets, but we were pretty close to the top of stadium. All the same, it was a very fun night. The weather was great! I was with my adorable husband! And...the Cougars won again, so everything was perfect. It would have been fun to take the boys, but the game started at their bedtime...maybe next year. Taylor did cry for the hour before we left saying "I want to go to BYU cougars with you." It broke my heart.

Oh, the score.... BYU 27 TCU 22
Thanks Janene, for watching the boys until late!!!

An Insider View

I posted the exterior of my parents' addition in a previous post. This time I have pictures of the "current" state of the interior. I'm sure it looks somewhat different now, but as of last Saturday, this was the progress. It is all sheetrocked, and maybe taped and mudded now. The stucco dudes were also there on Saturday working on the outside. It's looking so good!

There was a bay window and exterior wall previously. You can see where the addition starts as there is plastic on the ceiling.
Derek in his helper-dude attire.
These french doors lead out onto the extended patio. The boys LOVED helping Daddy and Grandpa screw in the sheetrock. Boys and their power tools, huh?

Grandpa and Taylor working together. Thank you Grandpa for all your patience! Hey, he's the one that asked the little guys if they wanted to help. :)

I need help!

I need help...well, in many ways, but that's a whole other blog entry. :) I am making our annual family video/picture montage set to background music. The problem is, (and this is where I need your help), is that I don't have any ideas for music this year. So...if you have heard any songs that relate to family, children, love, sentimental mushy, good times, etc. please post a comment and list them!! Thanks a bunch!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! We had a busy, but fun day. It all started early this morning since Derek has school at 8:00 am. Taylor and I watched his school parade, which was very cute. After we picked up Derek from school and took a plate of cookies to Dave's office. It was fun to meet all the people he tells stories about each day. Then we raced home in time to babysit for my sister.

Here are some photos of the boys outside Dave's work. We had time to kill. Derek was "the Red Batman". The first time he put this costume on he said "I don't even look like Derek. I look like Batman".
Here's Raphael, our cute little Ninja Turtle.
Derek and two of his cousins that we watched today, Cameron and Landon.

Don't be too impressed with this cute dinner. It was $4.99 from Papa Murphy's. :) But I thought it was fun so I took a picture of it anyway. Ha ha.

The End of a Fun Day

After dinner we went trick or treating. The boys only lasted 40 minutes. Taylor got spooked at one too many doors and decided he was done. He stopped going up to the last of the doors and Derek went up all alone. Some doors Taylor did actually walk up for candy, however, he'd refuse to take the candy once he got there. Just take the candy dude!! You're already there!!

Here's Taylor and his loot.

This is a total "Better Homes and Gardens" shot...well I thought so anyway. :)
All done trick or treating. What a fun day.

An Early Lesson on Taxes

Pumpkins A Go-Go

Here are some photos from our pumpkin carving family night. The boys drew on their pumpkins and we were supposed to cut out where they drew. That turned out impossible to do, since Derek's facial features were tiny and Taylor just scribbled all over his. (Apparently his pumpkin "was on fire".) So they described what face they wanted and we did our best to carve it for them. We had a lot of fun and the boys love looking at their jack-o-lanterns.

My Parents' Addition

We've been driving up to my parents' house just about every weekend for the past six months. Dave and our brother-in-law have been helping my dad build this addition to their house. Dave has learned a whole lot since he's been involved with everything from the foundation to the roof. Here are some photos of the current state of the addition. It's extending the dining room and deck and adding a storage room and guest room to the basement.

I guess it looks a little different now. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. There is now a window in the downstairs room just under the upstairs window.

I'm glad we captured them working on a stormy day. It has rained or snowed the past five weekends that they have been working. But the weather has been great now that they are done with the exterior work. Great.