Be mine...

This year I stepped it up a little for Valentines Day. Homemade valentines were given out, Teacher valentines were made as well, also while at work the night before I made each of the kids a valentine bag full of treats and a list of reason why I love them. Also, I was was lucky (or ben was) enough to think well ahead for Ben's present and it was well received. I gave him the new pearl jam cd and the documentary dvd. LAst night while we folded laundry we watched the documentary.(Now that's love!) I must say it was interesting. Ben was sweet as well when he brought home dinner for us all. ( After spending most of the day installing our new dishwasher, I had no desire or energy to cook! I did have some cute things planned for dinner though- maybe next year.) The kids and him had panda and he made a separate trip to cafe rio, where the line was amazingly long, just for me. Ahh love! He also brought home a large box of sees chocolates and 2 new charms for my pandora bracelet. What a cute husband- he knows exactly what I like. Love you husband!

Cupids coming

Jocelyn announced at dinner tonight that cupids coming. Riley followed by an emphatic "yeah, I know!" A little dicussion of what he does followed. Pretty cute. Didn't know that they were taught about Cupid at school. For some reason it surprised me. Valentines is a big deal for our kids, at least the making of the valentines box is a big deal. So much that Jocelyn is in denial that this year her class is not doing them. She wants to make one for fun. I just sigh! I was actually relieved I had one less to do! Riley's is done. He had to take his box and valentines in early. Cute the rope was his choice and after I covered his box and printed out his picture, he covered the box with the hearts. It turned out pretty cute. He said the kids wouldn't stop talking about it. He acted bugged but I know he was happy! So this weekend we'll work on Jocelyn's and jake's valentines. We came up with some creative ones and they are excited to get 'em done.

My favorite things

Christmas brought about some of my new favorite things. On the absolute top of the list is my iPad. It has been amazingly handy and a little indulgent- yes indulgent. It's mine - all mine and for the most part I am able to keep the kids away from it. Emails are being checked more often, my bank account is closely watched, pinterest is a must, and nothing's could be better than staying up late with Ben to conquer the latest level of angry birds ( alot of laughing due to those elusive green pigs). I love it! I'm so grateful to Ben - he spoils me.
Next on the list are my slippers. These beauties were found at Ross on our date night just before Christmas. When I exclaimed how cute- Ben tossed them in the cart, before I could even try them on!


Next- my boots again, we were out shopping together and I mentioned them to Ben and he pretty much said "you're getting them" I gues sometimes I need a little push to spend money on myself. I love these boots just to throw on when I run kids around.


Last on my list , a short list, it doesn't take much to make me happy- my new iPhone. Pretty handy even though I was perfectly content with my old and outdated phone. My phone was just a perk to Ben's Christmas present- the iPhone 4s. My phone was thrown in for a buck. Who could resist? This year I was a little spoiled I'll admit it. But man these things make me feel comfy, cute, efficient, and on top of happenings in our lives.

Sugar Plums part 3

This year we decided to spice up our trip to Temple Square to see the lights. We decide to to take tracks downtown to the Gateway where (Thanks to Grandma Allen for the McDonalds gift cards) we had dinner and walked around a little. We then headed up to temple square. We enjoyed the lights and the nativity scene and then we jumped back on tracks and headed home. The kids loved it. The trip was short and sweet. That's pretty much the only way our family can do things these days. Short but meaningful and the kids all expressed how fun it was and how grateful they were for the fun evening.

Sugar plums part 2

One of my favorite things about Christmas- new Church clothes. Growing up, my mom made sure that she made all of the girls new dresses for Christmas. Now with my own family, I do the same except we are overloaded with ties, sweaters, and white shirts. At least I get to make one dress- Jocelyn loved her new dress, thankfully- 3 patterns put into one and some of my own for the ruffles, it turned out exactly how I pictured it in my head. They all looked dashing in their new clothes.

See ya next year, sugar plums!

The end of Christmas for some is a sad occasion. For me- not so much. Even though I walked around the house singing "I cried the day that I take the tree down"- thank you Michael McLean- inside I secretly couldn't wait to get everything put away and back to normal. I may have been a little hasty I realized when Ben exclaimed as he walked in the door from work-on Wednesday, confronted with a house completely back to normal "oh my, you really couldn't wait, could you?" NOPE! We had discussed doing it on Saturday- I couldn't wait! Yesterday the outside lights came down- back to normal. AAHHHh! now I can breath and move on to other projects. But for now, here are a few of our fun times this last month. Lots of pictures- just a warning but of course they are all cute!

Ethan's first band concert. He was stressed but did well. He plays percussion.















Riley lost his very first tooth. i wish I had video of his face when it was pulled out and told there was a little bit of blood in his mouth. He FREAKED! It was hilarious and a little traumatic for him. Nothing the tooth fairy couldn't fix.















Ethan had a project for school- design a pair of shoes out of cardboard and duct tape. He had a blast making them- complete with tread and laces.




























One of Will's favorite places to play...












Will surprised us all by getting two teeth. We found them at his well check Dec 1st. He is the first kiddo in our house to get teeth before turning 1. He wasn't even fussy or anything while they came in - I never even knew!






Jocelyn got away with 2 new cute outfits this season. This one was for her school choir concert and was really fun to make for her. The snowglobe turned out soo cute.





















This years Jingle Jam was actually enjoyable. Owen did great watching the kids and when he did the - I got my eyes on you signal to Carson and Jake- I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. They thought he was pretty funny. I had a hard time finding Jocelyn. never thought she'd be on the top row. Riley was cute as ever, a little elf.










































Jake's 6th grade class put on a puppet show- A Christmas Carol- he did great as Marley.














The kids had their Christmas piano recital and they all did amazingly! Ethan played the theme from the Office, Jake played Haul of the Mountain King, and Jocelyn played Jolly ol Saint Nicholas.

We're thankful for targets and so much more!

Thanksgiving was easy going for us this year. Thank goodness- last year put us over the top with our crazy trip to washington. So this year was spent at home. There are so many things to be grateful for and I was grateful to spend it with my cute husband and kids. I made a bunch of pies, yummy rolls, and everything else to trim out our turkey. YUMMMM! The day was full with a parade, a dog show, sling shots and targets, lots of eating, kids in and out of the house, more eating, more sling shot action and then more eating and then bed for everyone except me. I headed out to start my shopping with mom and Laura and then home for a short nap and out again at 6 am for a few more things. Shopping was a success!

The kids lined up to shoot the elusive targets!


Bonnie and Derek and kids came over the day after Thanksgiving just for the chance to eat some more and play games.


Our Christmas season full of recitals and traditions is well underway. This week is amazingly busy for us- Jake's Christmas choir concert was last week and then tonight, the choir sings at the Joseph Smith Memorial building.


Last night we finally were able to decorate the family tree downstairs. It was fun to unwrap each ornament and talk about why it was picked and when. This year the kids did great again picking out their new ornaments that reflect their personalities.

Ethan picked out a mixer- he became quite the baker this year!


Owen picked a train- no surprise


Jake, a motorcycle


Riley picked a soccer ball- he played great this season


Jocelyn picked out a cupcake, to go along with her halloween theme of being sweet!



Ben and I picked out a robot santa- I love it because it looks vintage and completely different from our previous santa ornaments, Will, who could not stay awake for all the fun - a blue onesie ornament to start his collection off.


It was a fun evening of decorating and listening to the prophet. Unfortunately near the end of the devotional Owen hit a pillow into one of our stockings, hanging so nicely which caused the stocking and the heavy holder to fall on him, resulting in this




We bandaged him up after the bleeding finally stopped but as I was headed into work I just kept getting the feeling that he needed the staples. After talking to the ER Doctor, I called Ben and he brought Owen into the Hospital. He was sound asleep until they started cleaning the wound- very fast I might add and less than a 10 seconds later he was crowned with the staples. Not too happy and after we took the pictures to show him he just said "no staples". not a happy camper! Funny thing is as I was hanging the stockings up a couple of weeks ago I said "do not touch these stockings, they will fall on your head and you will probably need to have staples" No Joke!!