Cookies for Santa

Aunt Shauna helped the boys make cookies for Santa

RS Table

Every year I decorate a table for our annual RS Christmas dinner. This year I went for an Old Navy theme (it just reminded me of the old performance fleece commercials) Here are some pictures of the finished table. I mad mittens for the silverware to go in on the plates, and scarfs to tie around each chair. Then I did a really long scarf to go around the center vase. Mostly probably only Shauna and my mom will be interested in these pictures. I always have so much fun doing this.

Christmas with Justin's Parents

Justin's parents came to spend some time with us since we won't be going to California for Christmas. It was been a very busy weekend, and things are just getting more crazy as the week goes on, but that is the fun of Christmas. Jack got some Tinker Toys, which he hasn't stoppped playing with since. Justin and I went to his work Christmas party which was just awkward. It was like a cocktail party and the doctor invited a bunch of people, so we didn't know hardley anyone and we don't drink so it wasn't that fun. Overall we had a lot of funt his weekend and here are the pictures. I can't wait for my family to come now.

5 things about me!

Some of my friends have been doing this and I always have fun reading them. I don't have a camera, I pick it up tomorrow, thank goodness. so here we go, here are 5random things about me.

1. I absolutely love cheese. Not only the kind you eat, but musicals, books about falling in love with a vampire, cheesy reality and tv shows, etc. I am just a very cheesy person and proud of it!

2. I love Christmas decorations, but I am sort of a freak about them. Only silver and red, mostly just christmas bulbs. I have a smaller house but when you walk in it can be a bit overwhelming with Christmas decor. Also when the holiday is over I take them all down the next day, I hate things being up more than a day past the holiday if I can help it.

3. I love taking baths. In the winter I noramlly average two a day, everyday.I just get so cold that in my mind that is the only way I can warm up.....I like them really hot too, like you can barely stand to be in there. And I love using different bubble baths. My new favorite Justin got for my birthday is Bath and Body Works, "Sleep, Dream Bath" it is heavenly. Oh one more things about the bath that may be a bit different. I love to sit in the bath while it is filling, by the time it is full and I turn off the water I am about ready to get out.

4. I am really bad at hiding presents. Every year Justin finds his presents, he isn't snooping around I am just bad at hiding. We got in an argument about this the other day. He thinks he must be good at hiding, but the fact is he doesn't shop until the day before christmas so there isn't much hiding involved. i am the oppoiste I buy really early.

5. I am really bad at returning things. I know this is a really bad habbit. When I borrow, I have every intention of returning things right away and I stare at it every day, but every time I leave my house I never remember to drop things off that I have borrowed. So if I have anyones things, I am sorry, really it is sitting on my counter ready to bring aback to you....someday.

Sick Boys

I am so tired of sick kids. Both of the boys have had really bad coughs for like the past week. Jack is normally up all night tossing and turning, I get limited sleep! I thought Jack was getting better until yesterday he started complaining about his ear hurting, so I thought for sure we would be making a visit to the doctor today (of course that would happen when are insurance should be kicking in the next few weeks). Well I got lucky, today he seems to be fine, a little coughing but nothing compared so that is a relief and saves us about $100. Anyway here is a pictre of him I took the other day. He was just laying around all day in his PJ's watching movies and I came down stairs and saw him cuddling with this cute reindeer my mom got for him.

Putting up the tree

I borrowed Michelle's camera just so I could take pictures of the event. I finally feel like its really Christmas now. There is nothing better than the smell of a tree in the house! That's right we have a realy tree. Justin has never experienced the fake tree Christmas and he still insists that it's child abuse if you don't have a real tree! I'm not complaining......don't worry i know that 99% of you aren't abusive parents! Isn't it beautiful! And if you were wondering the million presents under the tree? Well my family will be here for Christmas and my mom being the ultimate organized Christmas shopper brought all of the presents wrapped and everything when she drove here for Thanksgiving.....good thing you came mom, there is no way you could have checked all of that luggage!

Can you tell which ornament Jack did all my himself, it was liking hanging by a little twig, we had to wait until later to fix that....he was so proud.

Christmas Picture

I normally don't go for the cheesy backgrounds but while we were waiting for the plain backdrop the lady asked if I just wanted to take some of the boys with the Christmas one, they turned out too cute for me not to get a sheet.

I'm back to posting

Okay well we just took in our camera on Saturday and they have to send it out to fix it......I am so frustrated I am going through the holidays without a camera. Especially since I am blogging it is so hard not to take a picture documenting ecerything to put on the blog ( justin will forever make fun of me for this) Anyway I felt like I needed to post something. I looked and everyone of my friends had a new post up, even Danielle who has been M.I.A. since Halloween. So here you go...a post. Oh and for all of you who gave me a hard time when i said that I ordered my Christmas cards this year instead of making them, all day I have been now doubting that decision! Thanks a lot! there is a reason I am not my normal self, I have not been slacking I have been called as the Primary President so lets just say...I have very limited time!

Coming From Jack

I thought this was cute, last night I was brushing Jack's teeth when we found a comb. We said to me,
Jack- "Mommy could you make me handsome".

Me- "Sure"

Me- "Oh you look so handsome"

Jack- "Yeah just like Jordan" (my brother)

I thought Jordan would get a good laugh from this, apparently you are really admired by your nephew.

Thanksgiving

My Camera Broke

Well my camera is broken, I just need to get to Best Buy to replace it, but until then it kind of puts a damper on the whole blog thing. How do you like my new Christmas/Winter Backround. I was getting so sick of the fall one. Nicole it looks like we have the same taste!

Family Night

We have been doing FHE really well this month and we have had so much fun. The first thing Jack says when he hears Family Night is "Yeah we can do Ring around the Rosie". We end with singing songs, the boys love this one, over and over again. I got this idea off of my friend Anne's blog and the boys loved it. Well Linc loved eating everything. We were pretty impressed with Jack he put the marshmellows and the grapes on the back feathers all by himself. I asked Justin to cut the beak out of cheese and that almost took him the whole time. I was wanted just a trianle piece and of course he had to carve out a perfect beak. He even asked me to go print off a picture of a turkey so he could see exactally what their beaks looked like.....that's why we love him so much. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Do as I say.....Not as I do

Well this is how I found Jack yesterday when i went downstairs. How does he know where I even keep the chocolate chips????? He has obviously seen this done before. How could I get mad, he's just like me!

My Brother is Engaged!

We are so happy, my brother is engaged! We love Kristine and are excited to have her in the family. Jack pretty much always mentions Kristine whenever he talks about Jordan so the kids already feel like she is an aunt. I just thought this picture of them was so good. we love you guys!

Las Vegas Zoo

This zoo gets 2 very big thumbs down.....very lame. We were all excited to see teh tiger and we get there and there is a sogn, "In Loving Memory" from 2003. It was just the most ghetto zoo you can imagine with a million birds flying everywhere....Gross. Jack enjoyed it though, Linc was afraid of the birds, big giant roosters would like come right up to the stroller, he wasn't a fan.

The Patrick Pirates

the boys new favorite thing is playing pirates. Jack brought down the laundry basket last night and said it was a pirate boat. The boys lately love sword fighting, except Jack always get the big sword....sorry Linc.

Feeling left out!!!

Okay so Jack's new thing is "thats for girls, or thats for boys!" He is constantly saying this about everything, and tonight we went to see the "Bee Movie" (very, very cute by the way) and Jack had a special Pez that he picked out for his candy. Well I happen to love Pez so when I asked him for one he said, "No mom this candy is only for boys!" Okay fine then!!! The other day he said to me, "mom you can have Lincoln and I will have dad because he is a boy". Oh well I guess he still does come running to me when he's hurt or needs comfort. I just need to get used to the fact that I am the odd man (or women) out in this family......I need a girl so bad. I did have a dream the other night that we had a little girl!

Whatever makes Jack happy day

This morning Lincoln and Jack were fighting over the ABC cookie cutters. Like always Jack was trying to neatly organize them, and Linc wanted to destroy! So I decided to put them away and that would solve the problem. About 10 minutes later I go upstairs and Jack is hugging Justin. I guess he came upstairs and was pouting over in the corner of our room. When Justin got out of the shower and asked him what was wrong he said, "Mommy made me really sad because she took away the ABC's". That has been his famous line lately, "Mommy you are making me really sad......." I had heard enough of it so I decided we would do whatever made Jack happy today. So this morning he played outside in the dirt, then had lunch, we made Sugar Cookies, ABC's of course, and I made him an awesome fort! He still has a couple more hours left so we shall see what else come of the day.

Happy Halloween!

Goodbye!!

Well I won't be posting for a while, we are leaving tommorrow for our Cruise. I will be thinking about you all while I am Cruising Mexico. Have a good week!

Uncle Jordan's visit

My brother Jordan and his girlfriend Kristine came down to visit us for the BYU vs. UNLV football game. We had lots of fun, the boys just absolutely loved the attention. Jordan bought the boys BYU t-shirts which was fun, of course Justin wore a UNLV shirt and cheered for them in a crowd of BYU fans, but it made for a fun game. jack did really well at the game and then he slept through the whole 2nd half. Las night after they had left, Jack went over and was building with his legos. When we told him it was time to say prayers he said, "I don't want to go to bed, Lincoln can go to bed and I will build with my legos and wait for Jordan and Kristine to come home". Its a good thing they are going to Disneyland this weekend so we could advert his attention to that, because he was pretty upset when we had to explain to him that Jordan and Kristine didn't live here and weren't coming back for a long time!

New Shoes

I just love buying the boys tennis shoes for the winter. Ever since the first year we went and Jack's feet were too thick for the cheap shoes, I cannot buy them generic shoes. I guess I am a snob in that way. There is something about tennis shoes that are they same as the adults but so small. What can I say I love mini things!

Conference at the Patrick's

Can you tell we loved conference this last weekend? Something about it just makes me sleep, and those who know me know I don't fall asleep easily. My friend put it good, it is the peacefulness that makes you sleep. And if you are thinking, wow, she looks really tan...maybe even orange....Well I have one week before my cruise and gosh darn it I am going to make every last bit of that tanning pass last. Because I know it will be a really long time before I am tan again.

Apparently I need to start buying band aides at Costco. Jack has been faking a lot of injuries lately. This is how he came downstairs the other day. He walks down and says, "Mommy I really have a lot of owies". When I took them out later that day, the ones in his hair were like ripping out his hair. He started crying and said, "My hairs all gone". I had to take him to a mirror to assure him that he still had some hair left.

Playhouse Disney Live

Last night we went to the "Playhouse Disney Live" show. The boys had a lot of fun. It even kept Lincoln's attention for the most part. We went with our good friends the Christensens so that is who you see in the pictures.

Spelling and Grammar

Okay, so I realize I am not the best with spelling and grammer in my posts, so apolagies to all who care, I will try to do better at using spell check. We are getting ready to go to Playhouse Disney, the Live show, I am so excited to see the boys reactions. We will be posting pictures shortly. Happy Conference watching to all!

5 Years!!!

This week we had our 5 year anniversary.....I can't believe it's only been that long. I got tagged with this a couple of times so I thought it would be fun to do it on our anniversary.

Where did you meet your husband?
Justin and I met at a church dance when I had just turned 17 and Justin was 15, almost 16. I was kind of seeing this other guy...but at the same time I noticed Justin at every dance. (These were dances put on in like a basement nightclub, by a member of the church....but were not actually put on by the church...but basically a church dance.) Well the guy that I was seeing left this particular dance early,a nd Justin took advantage of that!

What was the first thing you said to your husband?
Well he asked me to dance so I guess the first thing I said to him was "yes". We didn't talk much during the dance, we danced pretty close and I think both of us could tell we really liked eachother. I asked him to dance the next song just so he would know I was interested.

Where was your first date?
We went with a group to the movies, We saw "Dante's Peak".

Did you have a long courtship/Engagement?
Well we dated for 2 years, then I graduated highschool and moved to Provo, then during the summers when I would go home and after Justin graduated we would be together. So including writing on our missions We were pretty much together for 5 years. We were engaged two months after our missions and married 2 months after that.

Where did you get engaged?
We were visiting Justin's sister in Florida. We were snokling at Destin Beach. I decided that I wasn't a huge fan of snokling so I went and sat on the beach. Justin swam up to me and said, "Look at the cool shell I found" It was the ring, he had been snokling with it in his pocket.



Where did you get married?
We got married in the Oakland Temple, October, 3, 2002

Where did you honeymoon and how was it?
So much fun we went to Hawaii, we went to the Poynisian Cultural Center, on a Dinner Cruise and just hung out at the beach. it was so fun and in two weeks we are going on a Cruise through Mexico, I like to consider that our sencond Honeymoon!!!!

Hiking the Narrows

Here are some pictures of Justin. This weekend he went withthe Young Men on an overnighter and a hike. I thought these pictures were fun and Justin never gets to appear on my posts so here he it. Isn't he cute!

Update on Lincoln

We did have to take Lincoln into the ER on Saturday. He was panting againg and in so much pain for about and hour and a half. It didn't let up all night while we were there either. he didn't have a fever or any signs of being sick, so the dr wanted some x-rays done of his stomach and lungs. When those were done the dr noticed something abnormal and so he ordered for a barium enema ( which basically means they gave him an enema with this white stuff and he was under the x-ray machine while the radiologist watched the go through his colon and instestines) they were check for a sign of blockage or that his Large intestine was swallowing the small intestine. That too came back fine, so we were relieved. The reason why the x-rays looked strange is because Lincoln from birth has a differnt colon path. Most of us the colon goes up over and kind of coils back down. Lincoln's goes up and over and then shoots straight down. They said it shouldn't ever cause problems but that we should know that is the casr with him. So we left the ER with the diagnosis of a stomach virus. I guess some flu's can slow down the intestine and so while Lincoln is producing gas the intestine is having a hard time squeezing it out so it is building up in the poor little guy and that is whats causing all of thae pain. We got a perscription for some drops that calm the stomach and help with the contracting. So far today they have seemed to work. He is exhausted though, yesterday was rough on him and he didn't sleep too well last night either. I need to follow up with his pediatrition on Monday and I will keep you all posted.

I love my Lincoln

I feel like sometimes I am talking so much about Jack and all of the funny things he does and says that Lincoln doesn't get as much attention. First off I had to post the before and after pictures of Lincoln's face, it has come so far thanks to a good dermatoligist, it makes me so happy, now people can see actually how cute he is besides just looking at the rash on his face. Tonight we almost had to take the poor little guy to the emergency room. we thought he may have swallowed something. After his nap today he all of a sudden he started screaming and he wouldn't stop. Then he got all short of breath and started sweating. He just wanted to be on all fours laying on Justin's legs. I called the nurse at the doctors office and she heard his breathing and told us to take him to the emergency room. Well since we don't have any insurance we weren't really thrilled with this outcome, but of course he start getting in the car. well Lincoln ended up throwing up and by the time we were half way there he was totally fine. so we turned around. About and hour later he started it again this time acting like he neede to go the the bathroom. I put him in the bathtub and he finally went to the bathroom in there, then I swintched baths and he did it again in the next bath, this happened a couple of times. I think after that he felt much better, he is sleeping now so I hope he feels better. I just hate him being sick, i get so worried.

Finally Some Nice Weather

I love fall! We went to the park the other day and it was so much fun, Lincoln loved it, asn is big enough now to go down the slides and climb up himself. I had one of those moments today that I just thought about how much I love my kids, its so fun being a mom.

My Mom is the Best

Pretty much when the doorbell rings Jack knows it is a package from grandma, because you know the ups and fedex men are the only ones who ring and knock. Today the boys got an awesome Halloween pack from her.....Shes the best!

" You are the Music in Me"

Okay so anyone who knows me knows that I love anything cheesy. So of course Highschool Musical is right up my alley. I think I am rubbing off on my kids. This is what I heard while I was giving them a bath, notice Lincoln is singing along too. We has watched Highschool Musical 2 earlier today. Sorry about the fact that they are in the bath, but I couldn't pass this up. I think I kept the video tasteful. Oh and by the way, do you like Jack's face, he looks like a villian in a move with a scar right across his eye. He got hit by a swing...or I guess I should say a swinging kid. Good thing I got their pictures done last week.

Photo Shoot

Lincoln's face looked so good this morning, (for those of you who don't know he gets really bad excema on his cheeks) So I couldn't resist taking the boys in to get recent pictures done. I get so hot and tired while they are shooting. Lincoln of course whatever position they put him in would immediately get up and run away. But after it was all done these turned out pretty cute!

Our Family, by Jack