Christmas Day

The kids woke us up at their normal time about 7:30, Noah was up first and then Ashton, and they went and got Caitlin out of her crib.  They were so very excited and could hardly wait for us to get downstairs.  As we were walking down the stairs Ashton kept trying to look into the family room to see if Santa had come.


We started with the stockings, and let the kids go through those first, they were excited but they wanted to go right for the presents this year.  I had Ashton pass all the presents out to everyone first.

 We had Caitlin open one of hers first so that she would have something to play with while we opened the rest of the presents, that helped for a little bit, but she just wanted to be in the middle of everything.

I loved her response to the rocking bear, she loved it and would lay her head down on it when we put her on it.

The boys seemed to love everything, especially Noah who more than once said, with his hands up in the air, this is the best Christmas ever!!  he is so dramatic.

Both boys got lots of Lego's, this year and the big present was the wii u with a bunch of skylanders figurine for it.  I know the boys were excited about the wii u but once Jason got it out and started playing with it he was hooked, I think he will be playing almost as much as the boys.

The boys were pretty excited to help open Caitlin's big present from Santa, they were less impressed when they found out it was a car seat.

I tried for a picture of all the kids, the boys cooperated but Caitlin wanted nothing to do with it,  Oh well I guess there is always next year.

After opening presents we had to quickly get ready to go to Dad and Val's for brunch, we had to be there at 11:00.  We were a little late leaving our house, it was 10:30 when we left, but due to my excessive speeding we made great time and got there only about 10 mins late.  We had a wonderful brunch and visiting with family for a couple of hours.  I don't know what I was thinking I didn't take one picture.  Then we headed over to moms house for dinner that evening.

The boys were not happy about going to grandmas house they wanted to go home, which you have to understand that is not normal for the boys, they love being at grandmas house, but they just wanted to be home with all the new toys.  Once we were there they were just fine.  We had a wonderful meal again at moms house and they kids got to open their present from grandma and grandpa.  Noah loved the cardboard airplane it was fun watching him play in it, and Caitlin loved the baby doll.

I wanted to get a family picture of us before it was too late and everyone was too grouchy.

There was a bunch pictures with silly hats and Caitlin

The boys were pretty excited to get home and get to play with their new toys for a little bit before heading to bed.  We had a wonderful Christmas this year and were blessed to be able to spend it with our family and loved ones.

45 Weeks

This was a big week for Caitlin, she had her first Christmas. I kept it simple for her with only a couple gifts, and Santa brought her a car seat. She kind of ripped the paper off her presents but we did have to help her. She still won't eat baby food, she wants what we eat. She is starting to be more brave with standing on her own, and taking a few steps. She has decided that she doesn't want to take naps during the day. She will sleep for a short time but then wakes up. She still needs to sleep, and because she won't sleep during the day she wants to go to bed by 6-6:30 which is just a hard time to put her down. I know I keep saying this but, it is getting harder and harder to get these pictures. She wont stay still at all.  I decided that this week I was going to embrace the fact that she won't be still.  Well it was that or prolong what was taking way to long to get one decent photo.  Besides it was that or the one that she was screaming in.

You would think that with that look on her face it was sheer torture to lay down and have your picture taken!

Christmas Eve

This year we decided to have Christmas eve at our house.  We have the space for it and it is easier for us not to have to go back and forth to Utah county two days in a row.  We always do a celebration on Christmas eve with Myron's side of the family but this year at the last minute, (like Christmas eve) no one was able to make it I was sad for Myron that his family choose not to spend time with him on the holidays.  But in the end all that matters is that he has his family around him that loves him and wants to spend time with him.

We kept the menu simple with soup, sandwiches, cheese ball, crackers, beef stick and a relish tray.  It was nice to be at our house and the kids had fun with everyone around.

Mom and Myron came up earlier in the afternoon and brought huge gingerbread men for the boys to decorate.  They had fun with that and of course Noah wanted his to look just like the picture.

Mom brought up some luminaries and we lined the sidewalk and driveway with them, they were really fun.

We tried to get pictures of us but of course there was at least one child that didn't want to cooperate.  This was the best that we could get.

We had to get one with the grandparents and then the uncles.  There wasn't one that was great of everyone so I choose the best ones.  Ashton is doing this silly head up thing, I wish he would stop it makes him look funny.

We did our gift exchange but with only 4 kids involved it wasn't as exciting as it has been in the past.  Santa brought jammie's for the whole family and the boys were excited to put them on right away.

I almost forgot to get a shot of all of us, and when I did remember Caitlin was already in bed but we tried to get one anyways.  Of course Noah was his silly self, at least he isn't screaming.

Ashton actually not long after this picture was taken put himself to bed, that was just one more indication that he wasn't feeling good.  Once we got all the kids to bed we were able to get Christmas out.  I hadn't put any presents out because of Caitlin, I put a couple out one day and she was all over them so I decided to wait.
I always get so excited about getting everything out and thinking about how excited the kids are going to be in the morning.

Ashton Christmas concert

So Ashton got to be a part of the 2nd grade Christmas concert because he is in the 1st/2nd grade split class.   Jason had to miss the concert because he was taking his final.  I had spent all day doing my holiday baking, for neighbors and for Jason's office.

It was at the school and we got there and it was packed the gym is so small and it was filled with all the students and parents.  It was a cute concert, it was about Christmas around the world and each class had their speaking parts and then they would sing a songs also.  I tired to video it so Jason could hear it but I was too far away and then neither Noah or Caitlin wanted to cooperate.  Noah didn't want to sit still and kept trying to push the stroller into people and Caitlin didn't want to be quiet.

Ashton did a great job and I was very proud of him.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

44 weeks

This week, Caitlin has decided that she needs to take one or two steps on her own in between the couch and ottoman.  I am pretty sure she will be walking by the time she is one if not sooner.  I can't believe that I am already talking about when she is one.  I guess I better start planning her party! 
She has still been vetoing baby food, she wants real food.  I am missing the ease of opening a jar and feeding her. 
This week Caitlin got to go outside during a snowstorm and she loved it, she kept trying to hold out her hands to catch the snowflakes, it was the cutest thing.  I can't wait for Christmas next week, it will be fun to see what she does with her gifts.  I didn't get her much with her being so young but I have had some toys tucked away for her for a couple of months that I have been dying to give her. 

1 year

I can't believe we have been in this house for over a year now.  This last year has flown by, we still love this house, it was a great move for our family.  When we moved in last year it was on Ashton's birthday and then we were thrown into the holiday season then we had to get ready for baby girl.  Other than her room we haven't done much to the house. I painted her room and I love this color, I am tempted to paint the rest of the house this color, we will see though.

 I was itching to get going on some projects, I did get a wild hair while Jason was gone a couple of months ago and I painted the fireplace mantle, and I love how it turned out. 

We did get a couple of little things crossed of our list right before Thanksgiving.  One thing we have hated since we moved in was the carpet on the stairs.  It is the first thing you see when you walk in the front door, and the fact that it wasn't centered drove us crazy.  We finally did something about it, we knew that matching the existing carpet would be impossible  so we went with a different type all together.  I am happy with how it turned out, the only downside is that now the cats seem to think we gave them a whole stair case to use as a scratch post.

We also had some one come out and fix the gas line to the stove so that the two drawers would close all the way.  It was such a simple thing but it is so nice that they close all the way now. 
I am still searching for someone to come and paint the house, I am not painting the entryway, and I figure since we will have to hire someone to do that I might as well have them paint the kitchen and family room at the same time.  The rest of the house I can paint myself when I want to. 

We made some pretty good progress on the yard in the last year, it was really run down and the lawn looked really rough.  But by the time fall came around it looked pretty good, there are still some things we want to do but obviously it will have to wait till spring.


I found these from when the house was listed for sale.

 These were taken in June, we cut back a ton of bushes, added new bark and just tried to baby the lawn back to life.  Overall we were very happy with how it was turning out, but we also felt like we needed to live with some of the existing bushes and plants for a while before we made more changes.