ChRIstMaS

So Christmas is a super fun time of year I know for everyone! Here at our house we had a ton of fun and got lots of presents but the best part is always getting to spend time with both of my wonderful families! I never thought I would enjoy Christmas with a family other than my own and my in laws sure put that theory quick to rest many many years ago. I have great in laws and of course a great family!! We went back and forth and back and forth and got to party with everyone!!! I won't bore you with details of who got what but just put a few cute pictures of the boys. I love new jammies the most!! There is nothing cuter than that! And my sisters boys were able to spend Christmas eve at my moms so that was fun!! Then we met Thurza, Josh and Jeff at the cemetery to put luminaries on Kim's grave which is always special!! It puts a little more perspective on what is most important. FAMILY!! Oh and I just have to mention the super cute and soft and comfy blankets that my mother in law made my boys!! They are so cute and they love cuddling up with them!

WeEkeNd FuLL oF ParTieS!!

This weekend we had Christmas parties both nights. At the Gordon Christmas party we had a live nativity put on by the little kids and Santa came!!! The nativity turned out so cute!!! Toby was a wise man, Tryce a shepherd and Hayes was Baby Jesus. I thought they looked adorable and Hayes was a pretty sweet baby Jesus I was somewhat shocked that he stayed in the manger! Then at my Aunt Helen's Christmas party we had a little program and the kids made reindeer antlers and played a little game. Tryce didn't want to make the antlers and the BYU bowl game was on so Jake and Hayes had to leave early to go down to party (or just be rather disappointed) with his brother!! So here are some pictures of the festivities!!!







So this may seems like a ton of pictures but I took way more and then I had to add this one of Brett and Lindsey because I thought it was cute!! We had a fun weekend and thanks to everyone who planned these parties! We hope that everyone has a great Christmas this year!

SnOw DaY!!

Why is it that kids don't care about being cold?! As soon as they saw it was snowing they wanted to get their snow stuff on and go outside and play. By the time they got it all on, I thought they were going to be back in complaining they were cold...but they stayed out all afternoon!! And they keep doing it day after day. They think it is so fun and I love it because they tend to get a little bored inside all day!! So as much as I hate to say it...YEA FOR SNOW DAYS!!! Snow clothes are so worth the money especially when you buy them a little big for next year too!

SeAtTLE

Jake left on Thursday to go to Seattle for a baseball coaches clinic. Me and the boys weren't invited I guess so we had a few days without him. Toby was the most concerned about who was going to cook dinner! I think he forgets who makes him breakfast and lunch. So anyway he came home last night and brought me the cutest thing!!!
It's a lovebird clock!!! It's so cute and fun!! The legs swing to the tick and it has these eyelashes on it! I was just thinking on Saturday that I would like a new cute clock. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy one myself! So we all are glad to have him home. The boys missed him but they sure were good for me. I don't even feel like I need a break from the kids!!

Nursery Rhyme Day

So today at kindergarten, Toby had to dress as a nursery rhyme character. He was so excited for the "big day!" He was a blind mouse, obviously from Three Blind Mice. He even had a cute tail that is peeking out a little. He looked super cute and had a ton of fun in the gym playing games!!!Here Tryce is waiting for the parade to start!

Holding your baby brother is serious business! Here he is parading through the school and his cousin Kaimbri behind him!Being a blind mouse is also pretty serious stuff...I don't think he broke a smile the whole time. He must be a tough blind mouse!!!

YoU kNoW yOu WaNt OnE!

So my friend makes these super cute petticoat skirts!!! She can do pretty much any color or size. If you are interested in one leave me a comment and I can get you in touch with her!!

The photos are courtesy of Photography by Jocelin, another one of my talented friends!!! You can see more of her work on my sidebar!

Back To Normalcy-is there such a thing?

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!!! I just finished up getting my house back in order after a bomb went off. This is the price I must pay for just playing for days and especially when I have all my boys (Jake) home! This is one thing I love about Jake being a teacher but sometimes it's a love/hate relationship. We started the big weekend off with Toby and Tryce having a sleepover with Grandma Barbara, which is always a fun time for them!! (Although I'm not so sure about my dad) This also gave me and Jake some time to get a little Christmas shopping done! Then we picked them up the next day and went to the Startup Candy Company and got a few bags of their big suckers. Not a big deal to some but my kids love them!!! Went to Arby's for lunch where Tryce immediately spilled his entire Sprite all over the table and there were napkins nowhere to be found. We took the kids bowling to Fat Cats!!! They absolutely love to bowl!!! We went and had Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Maxine's house with all the Gordon's. Jake made Grandmas day by saying that it was the best Thanksgiving dinner ever!!! And it really was delicious! Then Grandma trusted me to separate her silver from her stainless steel utensils. She didn't trust me enough to load her dishwasher but she did let me handwash the rest of the dishes as long as the water was hot enough to burn my hands. She is such a hoot!!! Then when we got ready to leave I couldn't find Tryce. The last place I looked was in Grandma Max's room where she had gone to get away from the chaos and there cuddled up to her was Tryce! They were cuddled in a blanket watching tv and talking about bowling!! It was sweet!!! Then over to my mom's for some treats, more football, Rock Band, Apples to Apples, and looking at ads to get our game plan ready for 3 AM!!! We went and got pretty much everything on our list. It was fun as always. I even talked my friend Andrea into going this year and she was so fun and I think she will be in every year now!!! Sure all day Friday I felt and looked like I got hit by a train and was totally worthless who cares right!?!

So now Thanksgiving break mess is cleaned up for now and I can only imagine what it will look like when Christmas break comes...it's a long one!!!

(I'm not offended if you didn't make it through this long post)

ThAnkSgiVinG

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

From our house to yours!

We hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!! (Props courtesy of Toby's kindergarten art class)

TwiLiGHt

I finally got my background working again!! And just in time for the movie. We are going to the midnight movie. And by we I don't mean me and Jake. There is no way I would ever be able to drag him to a movie like this and it's way funner to go out with the girls. And a babysitter at midnight would be hard to come up with as well! So I hope that it's not a major disappointment. Don't worry I won't be posting any movie details to ruin it for some of you!! I hope that I have something exciting to post about soon. Not much going on here I guess. I'm super excited to do day after Thanksgiving shopping! My family and I get way into it!!! And I know some of you do as well because I've seen you out there at 3 am. If we are after the same things, we should team up...Natalie, Rachael!!!

New Find!!!

So I recently came across my new favorite blog site. This gal is amazing!!! I wish I was half as creative as she is. LOVE LOVE ALL her ideas!! (Although some are girlie and we all no I don't need any of that) So I just thought I'd share with you all! I am also adding her to my blog list. Just look for Unnecessary Necessities. Or click on it.

Halloween

The boys had a really fun Halloween this year! We went to our ward trunk-or-treat and then down to Jake's mom's ward trunk-or-treat. Can I just say that I really enjoy the whole trunk-or-treat thing!! It makes it so easy! Just walking around the church parking lot instead of going from door to door. Love it!!! Anyways we had a great time and the kids got too much candy. We hope you all had a great Halloween as well!!! Now for Thanksgiving, my favorite!!!!

Toby-the transformer
Tryce-the spider

Hayes-a dinosaur

All the cousins on Jake's side

Hayes loving the sucker that grandpa Pat gave him. He surprisingly wasn't even that sticky!

PumPKin CarVinG

Tuesday night we finally carved our pumpkins!!! The kids had so much fun. They have been talking about carving pumpkins for a while now. It was so fun to watch the take out the "guts", I thought they would hate touching it but they didn't seem to mind. (as you can tell) I should have let them do mine too. And then of course Jake had to be a smart alec and wear rubber gloves. I don't know which of the boys in my house is the weirdest!!

AnnUaL pArTy

My mom has this Halloween party every year. It could be described as an extravaganza!!! She goes all out and it is soo much fun, especially for the kids! They all get to get dressed up in their costumes. Dawson is Elvis, Tryce a spider, Dylan a mummy, Toby a transformer or to be more precise Optimus Prime, Rylee a 50's girl, Cade Buzz Lightyear, Trajan a Trajan, and Hayes a dinosaur or a dragon whatever you want to call him. They all looked super cute in their costumes. Then my mom has tons of yummy food and especially delicious treats with of course a HALLOWEEN THEME. She plans a ton of fun games for the kids to play and also fun crafts for them to make.
And Tricia dressed up as a hippie. Brett and Lindsey were lacking in costumes but still were super fun to have there and I borrowed them ours for a photo op! Lori and baby Paige were in halloween spirit with their cute shirts! Bart didn't make the party due to his basement had work left to do before the big carpet day!Here is the only game I got pictures of and it was hillarious. They had to have thier hands behind their back and eat the donut on the string. It was definatly funny.Toby of course followed the rules exactly...While Tryce just plain didn't give a rip about rules. (see the difference in these two)And yet still thought he had won!!!
Thanks for putting together such a fun party for the kids mom!! They can't wait until next year! You are way too patient! (Some of you know what I mean)