Easter

It was so fun to have family in town to celebrate Easter with.  Bear woke up bright and early and had to wait for Jaxson and Olivia to wake up before he could find the eggs and jelly beans. It was torture for a 3 year old; although not as torturous as sharing new toys with your little brother.

After the excitement of the Easter Baskets were over we ate yummy cinnamon rolls and tried to watch General Conference. Tried, being the key word.

That afternoon the kids needed to get out and run off some energy so Heather took them out to blow bubbles and run around the apartment complex. I had to laugh when Aaron suggested they wear capes and the 2 older kids agreed.

The highlight of our Easter came just after we ate dinner when the house started rocking. Heather commented that our couch was moving just as I was realizing my chair and the table were rocking. There was  7.2 earthquake in Mexico and we felt it! It was such a strange feeling, not at all what I thought an earthquake would feel like.

Easter Bunny

{Aaron 1983}

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

Egg Hunting Round 2

The sister missionaries from our ward put on an Easter Egg hunt at the Stake Center. 

Bear got more candy than he needed.

I confiscated it all, and have been eating more candy than I need.

After the egg hunt we went inside and watched a movie about the Saviors life.

It was so neat to watch Bear understand who the movie was about and that the Savior was resurrected after he died.

St. Patricks Day

We had a very low key St. Patricks day this year, in fact it was just like any other day except I made both the boys wear green and had Aaron cook us up some delicious green crepes.

My favorite part of the day was enjoying the beautiful 80 degree weather we've been having and spending the afternoon at the park.

You

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

-Diane Ackerman

And there's no one I'd rather live it with than you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Aaron sent me my virtual bouquet of flowers again this year. Awesome.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentines Day (and Chinese New Year) today.

*Breakfast with heart shaped blueberry pancakes topped with strawberries, bananas, raspberries, peanut butter, syrup and whip cream (yum!)

*Fresh squeezed o.j. (Because the boys are my main squeezes)

*dressing Moose up in Bears 1st V-Day Shirt

*chocolate covered strawberries and cinnamon bears

*New Books

*Steak Dinner with sparkling cranberry juice

*Moose insisting on standing

*sleeping in the tent!

Hope your day was spent with the ones you love!

(just for kicks I'm posting a link to the picture of Bear in the shirt--it never ceases to amaze me how fast they grow)

New Years Day

New Years Day I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast then headed out for a morning sans kids to meet my friend Brooke's newest addition. It was so fun to hold a snuggly newborn and catch up with Brooke. She's moving to Texas in a month and while I'm so excited for her new adventure, I'm a little sad that she won't be there when we visit Utah.

Once I got back we had Aunt Lauren bring my two nephews over to sled and snowboard in the backyard. It was fun to see the boys again and I can't believe how much they've changed since August. They seemed to have adapted to Utah pretty well, especially Kaleb who said he was born to live in the snow (if only I felt the same way about the snow….)

Aaron had been brining a turkey for a couple days and cooked us up a delicious turkey dinner that night. It was so nice to see Andrea and her family one more time before we headed home. Bear absolutely loved being with all of his cousins for a week straight.

All in all it was a perfect way to start off the new year!

Party like it's two thousand and nine

New Years Eve we were able to spend in Salt Lake with my siblings. Ryan and his family had been out of town over Christmas so we had our Christmas with them that night. Annette cooked a yummy dinner, we opened presents, talked, did some little poppers and called it an early night.

This year my siblings did handmade gifts which turned out so fun. Annette made Mel and I cute signs to hang in our houses, along with the cutest memory game with Temples for Bear and Moose. Bear loves to "play the Temple!" every day. Mel and Jordan tied fleece blankets for all the kids. They are so soft and cute. Bear got a Bear one (of course) and loves to count how many Bears there are on it. Moose's is a cute striped one and he just likes to eat it.

When we got back to Nana & Grandpa's we let Bear bang some pots and pans with Jax & Liv then it was off to bed by 10 pm (for him). I ended up making cinnamon rolls, so despite my plans for an early bedtime Aaron, Moose and I stayed up waaaay to late. We did get to ring in the new year with the neighbors and their illegal fireworks along with more loud pots & pans courtesy of Jax & Liv once more.

We had such a great New Years Eve with our family-it was the perfect way to ring in the new year!

*as I was looking through the pictures I couldn't believe I don't have one picture of cute Lydia the newest niece in our family. This trip was our first time meeting her and I fell in love instantly. She is absolutely adorable. I guess I was too busy stuffing my face with yummy food while she was awake.*

Christmas Day 09

We had a wonderful Christmas day this year. I was sure that Jaxson and Olivia would be up at 5am wanting to open presents, so I was surprised when we got to "sleep in" until after 7:30. We started off the morning with a Christmas message that Aaron put together, then it was upstairs to see what Santa brought.

The reaction on Bear's face was pretty priceless. He was holding his transformers that he'd gotten the night before and when he saw his batcave he immediately dropped his blanket and his "guys" and ran over to start checking things out.

I think the thing Aaron looks most forward to every Christmas is his Mom's homemade eggnog, and once again it did not disappoint. So delicious.

Moose was still pretty sick, so I called our pediatrician in Utah to see if we needed to take him to instacare. Our awesome dr. said he'd call us in a little bit and meet us at his office. Who does that on Christmas? Needless to say we were very grateful. As soon as we started talking to my brother serving a mission in Greece, Dr. Freestone called and told us he was headed to the office. We said a quick hi and goodbye to Eric, then took Moose to the dr. He had a terrible Ear Infection. Poor guy. After telling Dr. Freestone thank you about a hundred times we headed to Walgreens to get his meds. I used to complain about Aaron having to work on the holidays, but I was so grateful for the people that were working that day.

We ended the night at my dad's parents house visiting with his family. Bear, Nixon and Grandpa kept themselves entertained by having Woody slide down the banister, just like in the movie Toy Story.

We were glad to be able to spend Christmas with family this year and definitely missed those that weren't able to make it back "home" for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Remember how I said I didn't do a Christmas Card this year. Well, you can go ahead and consider this little gem our card. I apologize if it offends anyone, but really, I tried to take some pictures and this is what we ended up with. Sorta brings the picture taking to an abrupt end; ya, that's just how things go around here.

We really do hope you have a wonderful Christmas. We are so lucky to have so many awesome family and friends to share the holiday season with.

Christmas Eve

For as long as I can remember I've spent Christmas Eve at my moms parent's house; this year was no exception. We arrived at Grandma's house exhausted from the drive, but so happy to be with family again.

I told Aaron I knew exactly what we'd be eating for dinner that night and was glad to see that I was right. little has changed about Christmas Eve from the time I was little. We do a program (although we are short on characters for the Christmas Nativity play, so we just read it now) and then the chaos begins as presents are opened.

It was such a fun night spent with family we hadn't seen since August. Bear loved his new "guys" and asked if he could keep them. Moose just liked to chew on the wrapping paper, although he does like his new blocks now that all the wrapping paper is long gone.

I do have to add that poor little Moose was sick on Christmas Eve and was running a fever as well as throwing up. My cute cousin was holding him and told me he threw up, I just figured it was spit up and she didn't know any better. Ya, about 15 minutes later when I was holding him, I found out she did know the difference and he was definitely throwing up. Other than the fever and throwing up you'd never know he didn't feel good, he was being such happy smily guy all night.

We are so grateful that my grandparents still let us invade their home with mass chaos every year and we truly wouldn't have it any other way. We did miss all our family that couldn't be with us this year and can't wait until we can celebrate with everyone again.

Christmas Eve Day

We left for Utah on Wednesday night and drove to St. George. Thanks to my brother-in-law who works for the Marriott we get an awesome rate and were grateful to be able to get a good nights sleep before driving the rest of the way to Salt Lake.

We drove straight to Robintino's to meet Aaron's family for pizza (and the best ranch to dip your pizza in) and then headed to the bowling alley for the annual bowling party. We were short in numbers this year, but still had a great time with all our family that was there.

After telling Bear several times that he couldn't be on the floor when anyone was bowling, he decided that he could be the only one when it was his turn too, so our helping him bowl came to an abrupt halt. He's such an independent little kid and sometimes it cracks me up how he wants to do everything by himself.

I was all set to bowl and after doing one round and having my score being a whopping 1 I decided to let our nephew Sorun take over for. I guess the wii really doesn't count as practice when it come to bowling in real life....

Thanks for the yummy pizza and an afternoon of bowling Nana & Grandpa!

How to dispose of a Christmas Tree in 5 easy steps

1. Make sure it's dark outside

2. turn off balcony lights

3. lift up tree and throw it over the balcony

4. run downstairs and quickly throw tree in dumpster
5. walk back to apartment as if nothing unusual happened and there isn't a very large hole in the lawn from tree trunk.

Advent Calendar Day 16

We've been sick around here for a couple weeks now and I hate to admit that I've totally dropped the ball on the majority of our advent calendar activities. I did however manage to get a new Christmas book wrapped for the boys to open one day.

I'm glad to know Moose was more excited about the wrapping paper Bear was more excited about the piece of candy in the advent calendar. Christmas day is going to be awesome.

Gingerbread House

For our advent activity on Thursday night we decorated a gingerbread house. I bought a kit at Costco again this year and when all was said and done Aaron said next year we're making our own from scratch. Yea, we'll see how that goes....

Picking the Tree

We went to a mom & pop place to pick out our Christmas Tree this year. The sign said they were open from 9am-9pm; we were surprised when getting there at 4 they told us they were closed for another hour. So we did the next best thing and headed to our local Lowe's.

It's nice to have a live tree and the smell of fresh pine in our house. I love at least having it smell like Christmas.

*Do you like Bear's outfit? I loved the Cars rash guard, black courds, and army shoes. It's a totally classic Bear outfit and just shows how stubborn he is when it comes to picking his own clothes*

Christmas

If you're looking for some Christ centered Christmas things for kids go here. Acutally, even if you don't have kids you should still check it out.

Giving Thanks

We were fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving in Newport Beach with my dad's parents as well as my Uncle David & his family from New York and my cousin Zach who is studying law in Fullerton.

David & Maryelen had a condo in Newport for the week.

This was the view from their balcony. I told Aaron I could definitely move closer to the ocean.

Bear took an instant liking to Nicole and demanded her full attention all weekend.

After a delicious dinner we relaxed and played the wii, then decided to go walk along the beach.

Aaron & Zach braved the cold water and tried to get a little boogie boarding in.

As the sun was setting we saw Dolphing jumping in the distance.

{moose was back at the condo with G&G}

Thank you again to my aunt & uncle for their generosity and inviting us the spend the Holiday with their family. We truly had an amazing weekend (more on that come) and enjoyed being with family again. We are so blessed.