Sunday, December 28, 2008

Halloween on Christmas

It looks like we are getting ready to trick-or-treat. Santa brought Hulk and Clone Trooper paraphernalia to the boys. It was a lot of fun and also very wild.




The boys are trying to figure out just how Santa gets up and down the chimney. They decorated sugar cookies to leave for Santa with some milk.
We decorated a gingerbread train earlier in december. Each night I would pull it down and let them attack it. They didn't mess with their hands....mouths are more efficient.










Happenings during the holidays

We have had fun during this holiday season. It started by getting bunk beds over Thanksgiving weekend. The boys have loved being in the same room together. So far there have been no injuries...just a lot of late nights with tired kids in the morning.
We went to the Festival of Trees to see the Plummers tree that they do in honor of their daughter, Lucy. Our Young Women had made one too. The boys loved it.
The first day it snowed the boys were so excited. They squeezed into boots and snow suits from last year and had a blast. Why don't they make gloves for little kids? I have only found mittens. Their little hands freeze.

Friday, December 5, 2008

All dogs go to heaven

Sam's preschool was cancelled this morning because his preschool teacher's grandfather died and she was attending his funeral. Sam has never thought about death or funerals. This is the first person he has had to think about in those terms. He knows he gets in trouble if he says "I am going to kill you."... Darn those superhero cartoons. But I don't think he really knows what death is. All day he has been asking me why people die? why do people get old?It is a lot to process for a 4 year old. I have told him we will all die eventunally and get to go back and live as families with Heavenly Father. He then said "will Molly die?" This Katherine and Ryan's dog who he bonded with on our treat to Ouray. Boy, those wheels are turning.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

My 8 Things Post

8 TV shows I watch:
1. Little People Big World
2. Oprah--yes, I still watch her
3. Without a Trace
4. Eleventh Hour
5. Lost--when its on
6. Battle Star Gallactica--when its on
7. Pushing Daisies
8. Daily Show/Colbert Report

8 of My Favorite Restaurants:
1. The Melting Pot
2. Thai Garden
3. Cafe Trang
4. Tomacitas
5. Chili Works
6. Paradise Bakery
7. Bennihanas
8. Chili's

8 Things that happened Yesterday
1. Picked up James' contacts
2. cleaned my house
3. took a bath
4. took my boys to get their hair cut
5. went to Costco
6. Put Laundry away
7. Went to YW
8. watched Get Smart with James

8 Things I am looking Forward to
1. the Holidays
2. My kids being able to get up (quietly), get dressed, and get themselves breakfast
3. Jodi and Mike moving back to Utah!!!!!
4. Going to Spring in the Spring
5. Having my backyard finished and fenced in
6. Obama as president
7. Next months book--I finished Into Thin Air and loved it
8. My ten year anniversay--hope we do something fun and without kids

8 things on my wishlist:
1. Honda Odyssey
2. Basement finished
3. Trip to Hawaii with James for our 10 year anniversary
4. Living closer to my family
5. Complete a triathalon and marathon
6. road bike
7. Lasik
8. More affordable healthcare that is accessible for more Americans

8 Things I love:
1. My husband and kids and family
2. The Gospel
3. My country
4. my church calling
5. a good book with a diet coke while soaking in the tub
6. traveling
7. exercising in 50 degree weather
8. listening to NPR

8 things I can't stand:
1. being woken up in the middle of the night
2. Adult Swim and any other cartoon that james' records
3. Racist jokes told to me thinking I will find them funny
4. plantar fascitis
5. people biting their nails
6. Ignorance
7. Running in the winter
8. Tomatoes and Milk

8 People I am tagging:
1. Julie McKeon--Please update your blog :)
2. Jodi
3. Gina
4. Danni
5. Aunt Julie
6. Hillary
7. Sarah
8. Melissa

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

History has been made

I don't want to get preachy about politics, but regardless of who we voted for and what issues sent us to vote, we all have to sit back and acknowledge the many great things that have happened this past election. As James and I sat and watched Obama give his acceptance speech (if you didn't hear it check it out http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl135) James commented that the first president that Sam will probably remember will be an african american and how cool that concept is. We are truly seeing the ideals that my generation has been taught come to pass. It was amazing to see how many people voted for a man based on the content of his character and not the color of his skin. It was interesting to see how many firsts we had in this last election.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Family Fun this Fall

Enjoying the fall leaves while mom and dad are out raking them up.
Thanks to Heidi our boys were some awesome lookin' Jedis this year.

We stopped by to see Sierra and Savannah on Halloween

Grandpa Chief and Eeler stopped by to check out the Jedi's before we went trick-or-treating

On Halloween afternoon we went up to James' work for trick-or-treating. They had icecream "monster mush" sundaes to assemble at the end. Nothing like a pile of candy to go on icecream. This went well with the candy the boys had been shoveling in all day.

My fun purchase of the summer was a bike trailer. These are the best. The boys love it and mom gets a good workout. With all these nice fall days we have gotten some good bike rides in.

We had a family night with three other families in our ward the monday before Halloween. We decorated sugar cookies and carved pumpkins. This is Sam's buddy Josh.

We decided to try out the trick-or-treating at Hogle Zoo this year (along with 24,000 others). It was a madhouse. The kids had fun with their cousins Ike and kaitlyn, but we will not be adding this to our "things we must do again next fall"list.

One of our favorite Halloween time activities is visiting the Garden after Dark at Red Butte Gardens. They even had light sabers that actually glowed. Those are spider hats on their heads if you are wondering.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Ouray-- "The Switzerland of America"

We went to the prettiest town in Colorado over UEA. It is this quaint, little town completely surrounded by tall mountains. It is about 90 miles south of Grand Junction. We were expecting to be cold --its 78oo ft and its the middle of october-- but we were spoiled. The weather was warm and sunny. We spent the weekend exploring ghost towns and waterfalls, playing at parks, hot tubbing, and enjoying the fall leaves and good food. We went with our good friends, the Jones. We always have a great time with them.






My little bro is the coolest nerd!

I got an unexpected call from my youngest brother Matt saying he was coming into town to do some recruiting for Rice and give a Colloqium (fancy word for lecture on his research) down at BYU. Me and my aunt Julie decided to go and show our support. (No, we were not the only females in the room)
I was so proud of him (even though I had not idea what he was saying). He was so poised and confident. He was so worried about the questions they might ask and being able to answer them. I told him to use the Sarah Palin strategy, it seemed to work for her. But he was able to answer all their questions. The picture in the middle is him talking physics geek talk with some guys after. I asked his former professor if the average 3rd and 4th year physics major would have been able to follow this presentation and he said no way. Each time I have Matt explain his research to me on a dumbed down scale I understand a little bit more. maybe by the time he graduates (in a year hopefully) I will be able to say "my brother is graduating with a degree in atomic physics from Rice University. He did he his studies on ......" So what does a guy with a PhD in atomic physics do for a living you ask? They can get a job in the industry working for an oil company doing research on alternative energy---that is so cool. I am so proud of you Matt.



Big Boy Mo

We decided it was time to potty train Mo. Once Mo learned he could poop for candy he was on board. After he got the hang of things he looked up at me while on the toilet and said "Mom, can you give me some privacy?" He is doing so well and in true Mo style-insisting he do it all himself. This has been his outfit of choice for the last month-underwear and his superman cape. It has been nice to leave the house without a diaper bag. I may go buy myself a smaller purse.

Friday, September 19, 2008

A rare moment for me

I am currently sitting here with me feet propped up watching a rerun of Gilmore Girls and looking at people's blogs while I enjoy a diet coke and a quiet house. Yes, a quiet house. This has not happened for well years. Sam went to a play group after preschool and Mo is taking a nap. I have the house to myself and it is a foreign feeling. In the past I would take the opportunity to clean or organize something. My boys have gotten so good and playing with each other, that I can do those projects while they are awake and in the home. I have organized all my closets this fall and even our messy basement. When Mo went down, I thought I am going to just hang out and enjoy the silence. This is a wonderful moment. I can't remember when this last happened.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

First Camping Trip!!! (Finally)

James found out he had a vacation day that had to be used and we were feeling bad another summer had past and we still had not taken the boys camping. We planned a spontaneous trip down to Moab where it would be a little warmer. The weather was beautiful and we had a blast. We decided this trip needed to be documented so we went out and got a new camera. We knew the boys would love it, but we were not sure how James and I would do, so we decided for our first time we would just get a campspot at a paid campground in Moab. (Its nice to camp and be 100ft from flushing toilets and warm showers--especially when you are potty training your two year old). The boys did great both nights and with the purchase of earplugs James and I did better on the second night--RV campgrounds are noisy!!!! The first morning We woke up to 3 farts from Mo and him rolling over to ask "Is this our tent?"We spent all day saturday hiking in Arches. The weather was beautiful and the boys are awesome hikers. We probably went about 4 miles by the time the day was done. They loved scaling the walls up to the arches and finding caves to play in.


They even let us take another hike sunday morning before we left Moab. We caught lizards, threw rocks in the stream, and of course found sticks for weapons.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Flowers at Temple Square

Heidi took this picture of my boys on Temple Square when they were visiting. I love this picute and am amazed they were still long enough for her to get some cute poses. I think its because they watched her well-trained picture posing family do it first. Thanks for the picture Heidi. We had so much fun with Reed and Heidi's family when they came up. Sam loved having sleep overs with cousins in his room. He was devastated when they had to go home.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Music that moves me.

I was totally sick of my running mix. I am always looking for good music to work out to. Thank goodness my husband has a good selection to browse through. I have recently added these to my mix. They rock and they move me. Even the words to Stand are great to listen to.
* Stand-Blues Traveler
* Scartissue-Red Hot Chili Peppers
*Could You Be Loved?- Bob Marley
If you have good music that you love to listen to, that gets your butt up and exercising, please share.

James' work summer party


James has been with Master Control 1 year. They put on a fun family party each summer at Thanksgiving Point. The boys had a blast. They jumped, played in the water, got a balloon Spiderman, and ate snow cones. Our camera is still broken. Thank goodness for digital cameras and email.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Pictures from a friend








So we went to this most excellent reunion concert last saturday. The Police worked out their differences (not really-they just love fame and money) and put on a concert. We were all pleasantly surprised. You never know how bands are going to be when they reunite. It was so much fun. We went with a group of friends. We were a bunch of 30 and 40 year olds rocking out to a group of 50 and 60 something year olds. Good times!!!!! Usana theater parking sucks!!!!!! Anyway my good friend Rachel sent me pictures since well I have no camera at this time. By the way James' shirt is 22+ years old.



Tuesday, July 22, 2008

4th of July


Our Ward does a fun primary parade and pancake breakfast on the 4th. We wanted to participate in this before we went up to Bear Lake for the Jardine family reunion. Our good friend took this picture for me, because my camera is broken. We had a lot of fun on the 4th. The boys loved tubing behind uncle Glenn's boat with their cousins and watching them knee board and ski. They even got to watch mom ski (or at least try to). We rented a surry (bike with a cover on top and bench in front for kids to sit on) and biked around Garden City with the kids.

Our Summer

People have been giving me a hard time because I have not updated my blog. In June I put it off because I was busy with YW's Wilderness camp and Youth Conference. At the end of June we went to the SL Art's Festival and had blast. We got the boys' faces painted, ran through the fountains after spilling really expensive smoothies all over our wagon, and listened to our family favorite band, Atherton. While we sat there listening to great music, I thought this will make a great blog. I will finally update it. Mo was getting restless and grabbed my camera. At first I thought oh no, get it away from him. But it seemed harmless enough, he started to take pictures and was sitting there content. Well, 2 years should not handle expensive electronics period!!! He broke the shutter and my camera is out of commision. No blog for the arts festival, the 4th of july, or the police concert. Well that is my sad story. I will work on getting my camera fixed and getting some posts by the time Reed and Heidi come up to visit.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

May 1st



Today we went up to Kathryn's grave. We go up every year on her birthday. My mom sends up yellow balloons for the boys to send up to heaven. We also pick out flowers. Here are the years 2004-2008. It is still a difficult concept for the boys to grasp, but we hope that each year they will understand a little bit more about her and where she is. We always appreciate the calls and cards sent to us around that time.