Catching Up

I have been a bit of a slacker and have not posted anything in months. Here is a quick update.

We did the Halloween thing. It was great and the kids loved it. If you can't tell-Braxton is a dragon and Peyton is a monkey.

Kerrie, Jennifer, Mom and I went to Grand Junction to see our adopted sister and her new baby. We love it and wished we were closer to Mirabella. I already miss her and her baby.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Noorlanders at my parents house. Even though we had a house full we were still missing so many people.

We went to Temple Square to see the lights. For those of you who know Mark that is his little boy on the end.

The following week we had our Christmas party with the Noorlanders. We visited old friends and neighbors, decorated gingerbread houses, played games, exchanged presents and had a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Brian and I celebrated our 5th anniversary in Park City. Thanks to our Mom's who took turns watching our kids we were able leave for 2 nights. We went skiing on Friday and Saturday. I have a really funny post later...I'm still not quite sure if I should share it with the public yet. I'm not good at skiing....not even a little. I should have worn a less noticalbe jacket because people really knew me up there. I think I was the only one on the slope with a pink jacket. Everyone else had black, white, or red. I really stood out. We did have a lot of fun though and really enjoyed the break.

I really cannot believe it has been 5 years. It seems like we are really just starting to get to know each other. We have now made it one year for every month we dated each other. We met July 13th, were engaged October 5th and married December 16th. Thank you to Britt...you are responsible for all this. I know you have heard that before but really. This is all your fault! We have had a lot of fun and have been very blessed to have our boys and each other. He is my best friend and I love him so much.

My boys

I have never done matching outfits before but Grandma Iva bought the boys some cute Sunday clothes. I have to say that I love it. I think they look so grown up which I am not thrilled about but they are so cute too!

Big Baby

I was so tired one morning and was trying to buy some more time for myself by telling Braxton to go get Peyton out of bed. Usually this means Braxton will go in and play in Peyton's room for a while, maybe get in the crib with him, read a couple books and whatever else he can get distracted with in 15 minutes. About 2 minutes later Peyton and Braxton came running in my room. Braxton looked at me and asked, "Did I get Peyton out Mom?" Peyton had a big grin on his face and I knew it was time to convert to a toddler bed. Just to make sure, I put Peyton back in bed to see if he could climb out. Sure enough he did and actually would have taken a hard fall had I not been in there. It has been a rough couple of mornings waking up at 6:00. These pictures are from his first night in his bed. Bedtime is not so bad, it is nap time and morning time. He just doesn't sleep as much.

Heber Creeper

Both of my boys love trains. We took a trip to the Heber Valley Railroad. They had a lot of fun.

Halloween Fun

As my kids are getting older I think the holidays are getting to be more fun. When it was still warm outside the kids painted pumpkins and then decorated them by picking out different faces for them. It was a lot of fun. After I get done taking pictures I look at my kids and have to ask myself how they got so big. It seems like Peyton went from baby to little boy over night.

Visiting Grandma

Brian went to Bakersfield for work "AKA a golf tournament". We tagged along so the kids could see Grandma and Grandpa. Braxton was able to get a little swimming in. It was way too cold for me but Grandma was nice enough to get in with him. The boys also were able to get a little golfing done in the back yard.

A Worthy Cause

This is something my sister in law wrote on her blog but feel I need to share with as many people as I can. Again...please get out and vote this year.

Those of you who are from or have family in California are probably familiar with the importance of the upcoming vote on proposition 8. I know the same measure is on the ballot in a few other states as well all though i am not sure of the number. But all should be informed. The proposition seeks to restore the definition of Marriage. This is not an attack on gays and in NO WAY does it eliminate their rights. "domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections and benefits" as married spouses. (Family Code Sect. 297.5). This will not change. This is about protecting our children.
In 2000 proposition 22 was voted on and 61% of californians voted to reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and woman. Then after a lot of money and lobbying, 4 activist judges in our state supreme court overturned the will of the people in a contoversial 3-4 decision.
You might think- who cares? This doesn't really affect me. So untrue. First and foremost the Prophet and First Presidency of the Church have asked the members of the church to give of all of the time, money and resources they can to help pass this initiative. Every stake has been instructed to organize routes with the help of a coalition of Christian churches to go door to door on saturdays to encourage people to register and vote yes on prop 8. It is that important. If you're familiar with the LDS church, you know that the leaders very rarely involve themselves in politics in any way. This is different. This affects us as members of the church, immensely.
Some of the consequences of a failed proposition would be:
-Children in public schools will be taught that families can be 2 dads or 2 moms or one of each and all are ok. ( education code 51890)
-churches and clergy can legally be sued if they do not allow same-sex marriages in their facilities or do not wish to perform them.
-religious adoption agencies(church social services) will be restricted from placing children only in homes with a father and a mother.
-religions that sponsor private schools like BYU will not only no longer be able to deny admissions to gays based on the honor code, but will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples.
-ministers who preach against homosexuality could be sued for "hate-speech" and can be fined by the government. This has already happened in Canada.

Please get involved where you can. Vote Yes on proposition 8.

I have been tagged

Okay I have been tagged now a few times and have always managed to get out of them but I am actually going to do it this time. Both Lisa and Linds tagged me with 2 different lists so I am going to combine them and make my own! Here it goes...

8 T.V. shows I love to watch:
The Hills
Heros
The Office
30 Rock
Desperate Housewives
Ugly Betty
Lost
Oprah
...thank goodness for DVR. There are still so many more shows.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Olive Garden
Red Robin....mmmmm bottomless fries!
Ruby River
Carrabas
Outback
Cafe Rio
Chef's Table
Tahoe Joe's

8 Things that happened yesterday:
Woke up at 8:30
Cleaned the kitchen
Took kids to the park
Ate lunch at the park
Went to see Melissa and the kids
Went to another park
Went to Taco Bell
Gave kids a bath (I also showered yesterday)

8 Things I look forward to:
Halloween
My birthday
Thanksgiving
Anniversary
A vacation with my husband
Christmas Shopping
Seeing my kids on Christmas Day
Seeing "Twilight" the movie.

8 Things I love about fall:
Changing Leaves
Sweaters, boots and scarves
Pumpkin carving
Hot Chocolate
Thanksgiving
Cooler Temps!
Baking Day
Apple Cider

8 Things on My Wish list:
Another baby...someday
Good health for my family
Someday more money
A house with a yard
Kids that get along
Obedient kids
Traveling with my husband
A vacation with my sisters and Mom

8 Joys:
Brian
Braxton
Peyton
Family
Holidays
Sleeping in
Going on Dates
Good Friends

Fears:
Car accidents
Loosing someone I love
Me leaving me children motherless
Spiders, bees, cockroaches, and all other insects
Going outside when it is dark
Sleeping in my house alone
Raising Children
Large amounts of water

Current obsessions/collections:
Playing with Photoshop
Eating!
This one is hard...pass

Surprising facts:
I am #8 of 11 children (That might not be that surprising)
I can do formal up do's for hair
I collect shoes. I have had some shoes for years that I have never worn but plan on it someday.
I have a hard time getting rid of things or throwing things away.
I love to cook and bake but don't because I hate to do dishes.
I don't try things if I know it is a guarantee I will not win or succeed. I am trying to change that.
I can sew
I love making lists

I tag Carrie Kindt and Brittany Walker

Poor Baby!

My poor baby was sick this past week. It started on Saturday. Tuesday I took him to the doctor and he said he had the flu. He had really high fevers over the next couple of days and his stomach aches seemed to worsen. He just laid in pain on my bed all day long crying and rolling around in pain. It was horrible to watch. On Friday I took him back to the doctor when I saw he had a 103 fever. By the time we got there it was 105. Their thermometer came back as "too high to register". We had to do some blood tests and a couple of other tests. Then they sent me to the hospital to do some x-rays. He was such a good boy and said "CHEEEESE" when we laid him on the x-ray table. It came back that he had pneumonia. We went back to the doctor for some shots and medicine. When the nurse gave him the shot he said, "Did you cut my leg open?" He was crying and said "That's okay...I'm not mad at you!" He is doing much better now! I accidentally over dosed him so he was able to get a really good 17 hours of sleep, was awake for an hour and then fell back to sleep for a while. I called my Best Friend Lindsay who is the best pharmacist that I personally know and she told me the amounts I gave him were wrong. I was only to give him 10 mls in 24 hours tops. I had given him 12 in 18 hours. Ooops. In my defense I think he really needed the sleep!

The Dress List

There is this new website called thedresslist.com Some friends of ours have started it so people can sell or rent their wedding dresses or formals. There is no cost to post or sell. I know that I have had some old formals in the closet that I will never wear again. I think it is a great idea. I have a friend who wants to post all of her old pageant dresses. I actually rented my wedding dress because I didn't see any point of buying when I was only going to wear it once. If you are interested click

here

They also have places for you to advertise your services for a low cost. If you are in the wedding business at all, it is a great place to do that as well. The website is just getting started but I think it is going to be big in no time. They are going to a lot of schools and cities to get the name out there. Check it out.

I found this on Dani's blog. I thought it looked like fun.

You Belong in 1956

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

Happy Birthday Dear Braxton....

I know this sound totally cliche but I cannot believe my baby is 4 years old. I really have taken so much for granted and wish I could go back to days that I will never have back.

We tried to make Braxton's birthday extra fun for him. We have been planning it for weeks now. Braxton and I started a couple of weeks ago looking for a cake. He decided on this dinosaur one. I was kind of scared thinking it looked a little hard, but it ended up being really easy. I have tried to make it a tradition for my kids to make their birthday cakes. Not that they care but I really want to make their birthday's special. His first birthday it was a puppy, second-elmo, third-train, and now a dino. I theme it around what they are interested in that year so I can always remember what age they liked different things at.

I had to wake up super early....well 7:00 to run to the store to get powdered sugar so I could finish making the frosting. Braxton woke up shortly after. I sang happy birthday and he ran into our bedroom to wake Brian up telling him he wanted to open his presents. I always go over board and this year was no exception. It makes it all worth it when you see the faces light up though.

We later had a party with some friends and cousins that he chose to come (it was his first friend party and I don't know if I want to ever do another one). We went to Jumpin Jacks then back to the house for a dinosaur hunt and pin the horn on the triceratops. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed every bit of it. He loved all the gifts he received from friends.

He did receive an early gift from Grandma Hawkins and Aunt Missy yesterday. I told them he needed winter clothes more than toys. He asked me if he could open it up (it was in a bag). He pulled the tissue paper out and said, "where is the present?" I told him that was the present. He pulled out the shirt with a weird look and said, "No this is a shirt!" and then put it down and ran off. I loved the present though. Thanks Grandma and Missy.

First Day of Preschool

Well today was the first day of Braxton's second year of preschool. He was really missing his teacher Miss Tiffany and was happy to be back. He was really excited when he found his name all over the class room. He told me "Miss Tiffany knows my name!"