Christmas Fun! :o)

Christmas Eve we headed to my Parents...Had an AWESOME dinner and then a little bit of presents! :o)
PD and her new jammies
PG with his new flashlight...RAOR!!!
I got an external flash for my camera....it looks like broad daylight in the living room with low lights at night! Heehee! I am excited to play and figure it out!
The boys watched some videos of the the new Boeing 787...PG sat on Uncle Dave's lap and was mesmerized for a LONG time...didn't say much just sat! It was awesome!
Look what Santa brought! :o)
Christmas morning...PG was really excited!!!
PD liked ripping the paper.
She got a farm..."dooog...moo...baa" (all creatures with 4 legs are "dogs" now but they make different sounds!)
Some of the loot!
PG was SO excited about his present from Santa...He brought him an airport and airplane with people and luggage and a tug and tons of other small peices...but he LOVES it!
He played with it for HOURS!!!
He did take a small break to build Legos with Daddy....But after about 1/2 hour he was back to the airport! Did I mention that he LOVES it!!!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
And Happy New Year!!!

Our attempt at family pictures...

We were all dressed for church and looked really nice so I thought, Hey we should do a family pic...here a few of the "best" ones...
I love this cuz the kids are cute...looking at EACH OTHER!
At least KJ and I are smiling! :o0
PG thought the remote for the camera was fabulous...here is a shot he took himself!
So much for a cute sibling shot!
Merry Christmas!!! :o)

Adventures in babysitting...

This past week we have done a little bit of babysitting. Here are some of the fun things we did...PD likes to put on shoes...Here she is sporting Ransom's tennis shoes...she put them on ALL by HERSELF - and they are even on the RIGHT feet!!

Ashton was disappointed that we got more snow than he did at his house...so when they came over, I bundled them up and sent them out the door. Ashton and Ransom, could not have been happier! Notice that Ashton is kneeling but Ransom is NOT. The snow was so deep that it came up to thigh! They were in HEAVEN! (I don't call that much snow and cold heaven...but the hot chocolate after came close!)
Here is the "Daddy Horsie" !
They had SO much fun! It is cute to watch them play together. They all love it so much!
Lastly, we watched the neighbors girls and after we played for a while, we made a tent with a sheet and the couches and put on a movie and made popcorn. The LOVED it. I have to admit that the tent was pretty cool, we even laid in it for a while after the girls went home. :o)

my engineering feat for the day....

So Jon's Mom moved away and decided she needed a few things that she left behind. So we went and got the stuff and tried to figure out the best/cheapest way to get her lap harp to her....after talking to UPS and them telling me that it would be $60 for them to MAKE me a box that it would fit in....I decided I could make my own....so for $3 I got some boxes from Home Depot and this is what we did....

The biggest problem that I had was NOT making the box, but making the box WITH HELP!
Despite all the "HELP" ... this was my engineering MASTERPIECE!!! it was big and HEAVY but the harp and MOST of the other stuff she wanted, fit inside and WAA-LA!
A box! for just $3!

Gingerbread houses 2009....

This is our gingerbread house making extravaganza!!!! On the spur of the moment we invited the neighbors to come and make some houses too. (and eat candy of course!)
Daddy helped PG and kept PD well stocked with treats to keep her happy.

Maddie and her Mom worked one a house and Katie and her Dad worked on the other house. I worked hard on my own. :o)
Here are the finished products....
PG and his house of yummy-ness!
Here is the big house! :o)
Our Neighbors and their houses! For Cody this was his first house ever, so I am glad that we could help him have a great time....at least I hope he had fun...:o)
This is PD that went back into the kitchen when no one was looking and started eating off of Katie and Cody's house! it was kinda funny...sorry Cody about the hot tub!
The next morning I woke up to SNOW....
and a LOT of it....I shoveled aobut 8" and when KJ came home from work he shoveled another 4-6"...it was GROSS! But the kids were excited. and we should have a great big pile of snow for a snow cave when the exchange students come in a month. The pros and cons of a North facing house...the snow doesn't melt until may! :o)


and another tradition....
our family under the Christmas tree 2009!

Merry Christmas!!!

"I be 3 for my birfday!"

PG's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving so we waited until Saturday to have his party but he did get a few presents ON his birthday. Lots of people told him Happy Birthday and Grandma and Papa even called and sang to him...he thought that was AWESOME!
Derek and Aunt Mindy Gave him a new giraffe! He really does like it...we told him to smile and say cheese and this is what we got...gotta love kids with a mind of their own! :o)
He got a car mat and some new cars...
ON Saturday...
he got a scooter! (I got a screaming deal on black friday on that one!)
Then he had his party. he got a Mator truck for his cake...
he really liked his cake and I think he spit on it a bit trying to get those 3 candles out! It was kinda funny. and VERY cute!
He got some more presents and had TONS of fun playing with his cousins. Thanks everyone for comming and making his day Special! :o)

Trans-siberian Orchestra....

So if you didn't get the scoop. I entered a contest on a local radio station for tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. I ended up winning! Random of all Random!!! :o) The VIP packages consisted of...
free limo service to and from the concert...
4 tickets for the concert...
the concert itself! :o)
$120 in gift certificates to Rodizio Grill.. and an Autographed Guitar...I will post that later..:o)
IT was totally weird to actually win something be we really had a good time! :o)
A bit of a sensory overload by the end but way COOL over all!
Thanks KOSY!!!
and Thanks Manda for taking the kids...:o)

crafty crafty!

I don't know if I ever posted it before...but here they are... I have made our stockings and last week I finally got PD's done and decided to go ahead and make PR's...
King Jon's

Mine
PG's
PD's
PR's...don't look too long at this one...it is supposed to be a reindeer NOT a bear...I think I may try to fix it! We will see! She doesn't need it this year anyway!

Trip to MN

My Aunt Dorothy died last week so the kids and I took a little trip to Minnesota. We were able to travel with Papa and Grandma. PG was SOOOO happy to fly on a plane again. He giggled and had SO much fun. Of course the potty scared him, good thing we took lots of pull-ups for him to travel in. Right after we took off in SLC we hit some rough air and PG just giggled which made PD laugh and then he said "that pilot is a crazy driver!" even the people behind us giggled!
Once we finally arrived in MN we got a baggage cart and loaded everything on, including PG. It was really funny. I think we got our $4 worth for sure!

We spent our time at the farm. The kids enjoyed the open spaces and tractors.
I love this pic. PG is looking into an old chicken coup.
And the tractor!
PG is funny. He LOVES things like tractors and firetrucks and cockpits until he gets up close and realizes that they are really big and he chickens out of looking around. But Once I got up and pulled PD up with me, he thought maybe it would be ok...
then he thought it was ok to sit by himself, and he was fine until Papa tried to start them up and that made him a little nervous again. :o)
It was a so pretty out there, even in the late fall/winter of MN
PD was playing with the plants and PD was playing in the dirt. They enjoyed the time to play.My cousin's son Michael showed PG how to drive his RC car...then he turned the controls over and let him drive. It was cute to see him playing with PG.
Here is the head stone marker...4 deaths in 1 family in 5 years...crazy (3 are in this pic and Dorothy's son is buried next to them.)
This is my cousin that I have always been good friends with, Kelly. She said she is going to come out to UT and visit...I can't wait!
My mom and her little brother, George. :o) I LOVE the smiles!
After it was all over we all just sat around and gabbed! It was nice to be with family, that I haven't seen in YEARS!! Including my Grandma. It was cool to introduce my kids to their great-grandmother.
PD thought Uncle Georges shoes were fabulous!
Then it was time to come home. PG started potty training before we went on this little trip and he did REALLY well. We had to find bathrooms EVERYWHERE but I am very proud of him!
We had a few short nights so sleep was in order for the ride home. PG sat next to Aunt Joy and talked her ear off for hours! It was really CUTE!
I thought this veiw of Mt. Timpanogos above the clouds on our decent back into SLC was totally COOL!!
Here is me and my boy...FLYING!!! I love my family and I LOVE to FLY!!!