9 and 9

Scott and I just celebrated our 9th Anniversary! We had a lovely evening of dinner and a movie. There isn't much else to tell about that, except that we still love each other after 9 years!

But one cute little girl in our family just turned 9 months. She is lots more fun to talk about and take pictures of. Here are some notable things about the last couple of months:

*Still no teeth!
*Mastering the finger food thing.
*Crawling and leaving no corner of our house unexplored.
*Pulling herself up to standing!!! Ahh, she is too small for these things!
*Still giggles for her silly brothers everyday.
*Weighs 14 pounds and is just under 26 inches. (Itty-bitty!)

Christmas Countdown

Here is a list of all the stuff we did over Christmas break, because that is too many pictures to load onto my blog.

*Decorated 2 Christmas trees (ours and my parents)
*Decorated sugar cookies (twice)
*Watched one school Christmas concert
*Saw Santa (3 times!)
*Watched 2 light show displays
*Decorated Gingerbread houses
*Went bowling
*Played at the arcade
*Watched Christmas movies
*Went on a Jingle Bell walk
*Delivered goodies to neighbors and friends
*Saw 2 reindeer (I believe it was Prancer and Dancer)
*Acted out the Nativity
*Opened presents (twice)
*Had one family portrait session
*Attended an awesome Sacrament meeting
*Celebrated a wonderful Christmas with my whole family!

Shovelling Snow

Shovelling snow is serious business!

Family Pictures 2011

Family Picture Outakes

Did anyone notice that Max is in everyone of these pictures?

Saturday night at the movies

Movie tickets: $0
Concession stand: $0
"Concessions": $3.50
Money to buy concessions: $0
Movie Theater: $0
Movie Rental: $1


Easton exclaiming, "Mom, this was the best surprise ever!": Priceless!
And all of the boys agreed.


But seriously, it was one of the best, and cheapest, family Saturday nights we've had in a long time. We'll definitely be doing this one again.

Happy Post-Halloween

This year's Halloween felt like a sprint all day. I took my kids plus one extra to Trick-or-Treating on Main Street (never again!...or at least go earlier next year).
The kids thought it was fun, and I'm surprised I didn't lose anyone.

Ginny was just happy to be along for the ride,

and Max was happy to just sit in the stroller and eat his loot half way through.
One hour of standing in long lines to get about 15 peices of candy was not my idea of a good time, but the kiddos were more than thrilled with what they got.



Later that evening we went around our neighborhood. Max and Luke were already tired and wanted to go back home after visiting the 10 houses in our little subdivision. My friend and I took Easton and her son to one more subdivision though, and their bags got heavy enough that we (the moms) had to carry them back home. What kind of dessert can I make with all this candy to get rid of it faster?

And cheer the Cougars of BYU!

on the move

For a laugh

he lost it!

Easton finally lost his first tooth. He has been hard at work wiggling that tooth for a good month now. Yesterday he had me give it a try, but then it started to hurt a little, so I told him to do it. He ripped that sucker right out! He was a little disgusted that blood was involved, but he thought it was awesome. He was so excited to put it under his pillow last night. Actually, we didn't put it there, he was nervous that it might get lost, or the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to reach it, so we put it on the shelf next to his bed. At 4am he came into our room to tell Scott that the tooth fairy left him a dollar and a note in a tiny envelope (cute idea I got on pinterest). It was like Christmas morning!
p.s. This is perfect timing. We have family pictures tomorrow.

he's five

I can't believe that Luke is five. I also can't believe that he is an inch taller than Easton, and that he can read like the dickens and hasn't even begun school yet. Yep, Lucas is one smart kiddo. He is also one of the most random, loveable, goofy, and sensitive boys you'll meet. I am enjoying watching my kids NOT grow up in certain ways. I love that he has no idea about larger things in life, and just loves to play and read books all day long. He loves to pretend to be super heroes. He loves to just run around on the field during soccer games, even though he only touches the ball probably twice during the entire game. He loves primary, and he loves to wave at us in the congregation whenever the children are asked to do a musical number. He loves to draw a zillion pictures a day lately, and then find a spot for every single one of them on my fridge. He loves to help me, and when we are baking, he makes sure we've added all of the "ingredients". And no matter how big he gets, he still loves to cuddle, and he loves to be tickled.

He is smart, he is tall, and most people just assume he is Easton's twin. But I'm glad he is not. I am glad he is still a silly 5 year old, instead of a "growing-more-serious-everyday" six year old. I am enjoying watching him grow up, but still stay young at the same time. Happy 5th birthday, Lucas!

"Grampa's cycle!"

All of the boys finally had their first ride on Grandpa's motorcycle. And in the words of Max: "Its cool!" Enjoy.



If you listen really closely in Max's video, right before I start laughing, you can hear him yell "Woo-hoo!" (I didn't get a video of Luke riding, because he decided that he wanted to ride about 10 minutes later after the other two boys had taken a few turns.)

Ginny 6 Months

Ginny is 6 months old next week, and she has started a few new exciting things. She loves her exersaucer, and I was surprised that she was big enough to touch the floor when sitting inside it.
We've also started to give her some solid foods. Contrary to this cute picture, she is not a big fan.


And this is just a cute picture, because this is how I found them this morning when I was finished getting ready.

1st day of school part 2

Lucas started preschool today (hooray!) Luke was so excited, that he started to wear his backpack at 7:20 this morning. School doesn't begin until 8:15. It is on M,W,F for 2 hours. If only I could unload Max onto someone, I could get a whole lot done in those 2 hours.

Labor Day Weekend

Over the weekend, Scott and I worked on this: And Ginny worked on this:

Playing Dress-up

My mom gave me all of my baby clothes that she had saved when I found out that I was having a baby girl. Ginny never really wore these clothes, and it is starting to get colder outside, so I thought it would be fun to play a little dress-up and take pictures of her in all of my old baby clothes.

New Routine

Easton just begun 1st grade! I can't believe he will be gone all day long. He leaves with Scott at 7:30am and gets home on the bus at 3pm. That is a very long time for me to be away from Easton. He was pretty nervous about eating lunch at school, but I think he had a great first day. A few of his friends from last year are in his class, and he has a cool teacher, Mr. Zimmerman. Next week, Luke will start going to preschool 3 days a week. I haven't decided what I am always going to do with that free time, but today, I made Blackberry Jam! Hooray for a new school year!