What a wonderful Christmas!

We had such an amazing holiday season this year! I love Christmas and the wonderful spirit that it brings. It seems like everyone is a little merrier this time of year! This year we were able to go with some of our friends to this incredible live nativity scene in Alpine. It was awesome and the kids had a really good time. We were also able to visit Santa and his reindeer, see some lights, and all the other really fun stuff that comes around this time of year. I love the stage that my kids are in and how excited they get about things, I know it won't last forever but a part of me wishes that it will!


all of "the gang" at the nativity scene. So cold but well worth it!


The Nativity scene had lots of live animals. I'd never seen a real camel before. They're huge!


Visiting with Santa. Mckell asked for baby dolls and Brigham asked for a race set. Both of them just lit up when they saw Santa!


After visiting with Santa we got to see some of his reindeer


Taking a break and giving dad a workout! Jeremy could do a lot of push ups with the kids on his back. I won't tell you what happened when I jumped on.


Mckell showing off some of her dance moves


On Christmas Eve Jeremy and some of his brothers took the boys to Utah Lake to do some dry ice bombs,lot's of fun but no pictures sorry. Mckell stayed home with me and we made some cookies for Santa


My little baker!


These are the cookies that Mckell made for Santa all by herself! Believe me if you know her then you know that she likes to do things by herself and doesn't like any help! Don't they look yummy!? Well Santa liked them, he ate them all gone!


Opening up presents at Grandmas on Christmas Eve. We had such a great time! I just love our family!


All the grandkids (and Cailey) with their new jammies.


Grandma and Grandpa gave everyone Wii's for Christmas. We are all super excited about it!


OK this was a funny one. My mom gave Mckell this life size doll and she loves it! The car ride home was a little awkward. It reminded me of junior high stag dances.


We spent Christmas Day opening presents, visiting with my mom and then we went to Jeremy's parents for a huge Christmas brunch. We all ate way to much but we had so much fun together. I think the traditions that we have are so important and I look forward to them every year. On Christmas we were surrounded by the ones that we love and it doesn't get any better than that! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

So many things to be grateful for!

With Thanksgiving just last week we have had a lot of time to reflect on what we are grateful for. I think it is so easy to sit and dwell on the things that we don't have in our lives (most of them are totally unnecessary of course). Our family is so blessed and I would be totally wrong to say that we aren't.
I am grateful for my wonderful husband who I love so much! We have been head over heels for each other since we were sixteen and I am grateful to have such an awesome guy in my life. I am grateful for my children. I still can't believe that Heavenly Father trusts me to take care of these two beautiful children but I am doing my best. They make me a better person. I am grateful for my friends. I have been overwhelmed by the love and support that my friends show me. They always lift me up and keep me going! I am grateful for our house. I complain a lot that it isn't as big as I'd like it but frankly I'm just glad we have a roof over our head! There are so many people out there with NOTHING that would give anything to have my house. I am so grateful for my testimony. I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and cares about me. He hears my prayers and answers them. I could go on and on but I'll spare you.

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving, seeing Santa and Temple Square


The kids helped me make over 60 rolls for our Thanksgiving feast!


Waiting for Santa


Yeah! He's here! The kids were so excited to see him. I love it when they get excited about things!


Remember when you were little and the simplest things made you so happy? Thank goodness for glow sticks.


The lights at Temple Square were gorgeous!


Simply amazing!


Decorating the tree. The kids had so much fun!


Tadaah! It's done! (well at least until the kids go to bed so mom can re-do it all!)

Mckell turns two!

Wow! I can't believe that my little girl is two! They say time flies when you're having fun and we must be having a lot of fun cause these two years have flown by! Mckell has a lot of personality and is very determined. She always keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. Mckell is very much a girly girl and loves anything that is "princess". Everyday when I ask her how she wants to do her hair she replies "princess hair" or "princess castle hair" It doesn't matter what you ask her, the answer is "princess...". Monday night for family night we were making a "thankful turkey", Mckell's answer was "I am thankful for... princess's and pretty hair" how sweet is that? We are trying to teach Mckell her colors but are finding it very difficult since she thinks every color is pink. Doesn't matter what color you show her, it's pink! Mckell loves to practice her "spins" and also enjoys picking on her brother. I can't help but smile everytime I look at her, she truly brings joy to my life!
Mckell started off her big day with some chocolate chip pancakes followed by opening her strawberry shortcake doll house, so cute! She and Brigham played with that thing all day which was nice since I was frantically baking away in the kitchen! That night we had a princess party for her and all of her cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandma and grandpa were there. We are so lucky to have such an amazing family! The party turned out great and we had some yummy pumpkin cheesecake, apple crisp and of course and princess cake. Mckell got some wonderful gifts and loved every minute of it. Here are some pics

Halloween Extravaganza

I love Halloween! I love seeing my kids dressed up and so excited to go trick or treating. I love watching them run from door to door as fast as their little legs will carry them. I love how they say "Thank You" in their sweetest little kid voice. They are so sweet and innocent and I know that won't last forever so I am cherishing every moment! Ahhh to be a kid again! This year we did all of our usual festivities, pumpkin carving, pumpkin patch, Halloween parties, trick or treating and of course dinner and more trick or treating at grandmas. We also added a haunted train ride to our list of things to do, I'm so glad our friends the Shipleys could come with us. Traditions are so important and I absolutely look forward to them every year. Here are some pictures of our Halloween fun. Oh and the random video at the end is Mckell making her interpretive dance debut.

My little angel!

My sweet little angel Mckell has had some pretty interesting nap times lately. Mckell is so full of life and personality and everyday is different with her. She is so unpredictable and we never know what she'll do next. All we know is, YOU CAN'T LEAVE HER ALONE!
The other day I put her down for a nap in her snow white undies. When I woke her up she was in her Belle undies. I thought it was weird but her room looked fine and nothing seemed out of place. Later that night when I put her to bed I noticed a dirty pair of snow white undies in the top drawer of her dresser. She climbed up her dresser, got a clean pair, put them on, put her dirty ones in the dresser and shut the drawer!
A few days later I came in her room as she was screaming Help me Help me! I found her lying on the floor, minus her clothes. I asked her if she "pottied" she replied yes, "over there" pointing to her air conditioning vent. She actually peed down the air conditioning vent!
This morning I woke up to a very loud Mom Help Me Mom Help Me! She sleeps in a diaper so I knew that it wasn't some sort of "accident" I ran into her room thinking something must be wrong. As soon as I opened her door she stopped screaming and in her nicest princess voice she responded "Mom, I slept good!" Hello random child!

Gotta love my little angel!

new family pics

Yeah! I am so excited to have new family pics. My wonderful friend Jess took these for us and she did a fabulous job! I want to also thank Leslie who was so nice to come and get the kids smiling. I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends. We got a lot of good pics and it will be hard to decide which ones will make it on our wall of fame!

Swimming and Football

Brigham finished up swim lessons last week and I am so glad! It is a little much to go everyday for two weeks. He had a great time and loved his teacher. Last week Brigham started itty bitty football. He was so excited that he couldn't stop skipping and frolicking around. After his first class he showed me all of his new skills and then we came home and watched the video over and over and over again! I just love when he gets excited about something.



I thought this video was hilarious! It pretty much sums up what 3 yr old football is like!

One last Hoorah!

Before I post about our latest adventures, I have to tell you what I overheard Brigham singing the other day. This was sung to the tune of "A Sunbeam" from nursery.
"An old man an old man, Jesus wants me for an old man" I laughed so hard I was just about in tears! He was singing this to his batman toy. So Cute! OK so here are some pictures from our latest adventures...

My dear friend Jess and I took our kids to the copper mine in Herriman. We piled all the kids in the car (which gave me a brief panic attack thinking about someday when the car is full of my own kids, wow frightening) After a few minor detours we made it! The kids had a great time and it was interesting to learn some new facts about copper. I learned that I never want to drive one of their trucks since their top speed is 13 mph. That would make for a long day!













Brigham had his first swimming lessons this past week. He loves to swim I love to listen to the random things that he tells his teacher!





On Saturday we headed up to Pineview to enjoy a day on the water with some of our friends. We had so much fun and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time! We had a great time boating and the view was amazing. I can't wait to go back!