Christmas 2010

Here are some pictures from this years Christmas!!!




Frosting cookies (although I think Jace ate more frosting than cookie)




Jace helping Grandpa "roll the rolls". Everytime he finished a roll he put it on the baking sheet and yelled, "I did it!"


(Alesa loved everyone, but Uncle Scott was her FAVORITE!!!)





Our Christmas Eve Program 2010! (you won't see ALL the characters because we had a BIG family in a small room. I couldn't get everyone.) Sheep and Cows:










Shepards:


Angels:




Mary and Joseph (Makayla was right in front of me so I only got Bradley. Sorry!):


Grandma reading a Christmas story:



The End




Or maybe just more posting another day :)

SNOW DAY!!!

WOW. That's all I have to say. The moisture that has come down in our town the last 48 hours, is the same amount that came down all of LAST YEAR (in my mind anyway)!

Rain, rain, slush, rain, snow, SnOw, SNOW!!! That's all it's been the last 2 days. I knew it would be a lot but this:



is a LOT!

Ryan has been as happy as a kid at Christmas-time! Why? He FINALLY gets to use his snow blower!!! He got it as a Christmas present LAST year, but there wasn't any snow to plow. Needless to say our neighbors are very happy to let him snow plow their drive ways and side walks to his hearts content.


Jace is loving it as well. Although he is 2 1/2, this is the first year he can really play in it. He got SO excited when I asked him if he wanted to go outside to play. He layed in it, he sat in it, he walked in it, he climbed a small hill and said weeeeeee when he slid down the 1 foot length it was.




We (meaning mostly Mom) built a snowman! Jace's first one! I would have built more, but the snow wasn't packing very well, and it took me FOREVER to pack one. That's ok. He turned out great! Jace isn't smiling in this picture because he took his gloves off. Enough said. *smile* (don't you love how his expression matches his hat)


Afterwards we came inside and drank some hot chocolate to warm up! Ahhhh....



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Growing and Growing

OK so I found my camera bag (which had the camera cord to the computer in it) and have new pictures to share!!!





I LOVE these pictures, but hate them at the same time. They just prove to me that my boys are growing up. Jace looks so big in these and Kayson is moving along beside him.

*sigh*

I promise to enjoy this moment while I am in it (even if re-arranging the Christmas tree for the 3rd time makes me mad).

It must be...

that time of season. I generally get really pensive around Thanksgiving and Christmas. And this year it's been a more deep and profound kind of thinking. Yesterday Ryan had a scope done on his upper body. Nothing to report. He's fine. Just too much acid in his stomach. On our way home from the hospital we stopped by RedBox and got a couple of movies to watch while he recovered.

I must have needed to watch this particular movie without any distractions because Ryan fell asleep once we got home, Jace took a 2 1/2 hour nap on the living room floor (which was a shock because he doesn't take naps anymore let alone on the FLOOR) and Kayson took a long nap as well. I had 2 hours to devote my listening ear to the following movie:


I don't know what happened inside of me. Something clicked and I feel.... so....

balanced.

happy.

calm.

If you've been to my blog before you'll have noticed my quotes on the top right hand side. Well, I changed them. To me they seem to stick out with lessons I've learned this year. Lessons I don't want to forget. Because for the first time in my life, I feel like I could live as the person I am today... for the rest of it.

One quote from the movie I loved was:

"God lives in me as me".

I understood what Liz (the main character) was talking about when she said that, so then something else hit me. Why am I so stressed??? Why do I feel like I'm enduring life??? I'm always worried that I'm not smart enough. Not skinny enough. Not happy enough. Not organized enough. Not spiritual enough. And you know what I found???

I'M NOT!!!!

and I'm done stressing over it: a perfectly clean house, up and ready to go before the kids wake up, what to eat or not eat, what to enjoy or not enjoy. I'm not saying if you came over to my house it would look like a tornado hit it, or that I'll be stuffing my face with ice cream 24/7, but you will see toys on the floor and a batch of laundry waiting to be taken upstairs (I will never have stairs in my house again EVER), maybe even some dishes in the sink from breakfast. I will have the boys dressed, the kitchen will be tidy, and my bed will be made...(maybe).

I don't know where that pressure came from. Maybe because I see it everywhere I go and wonder why I'm not like that. But I feel like if God is going to live in me as me, then I want Him to feel the same way I do.

balanced.

happy.

calm.

I've got a long road ahead still and I do want to be better at organizing and getting ready before 10:00 am. But I feel like I can take my time and enjoy the learning process. Everyone is a teacher, everyone is a clue on how to do that.

My journey has begun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year was quite the change from last years Thanksgiving. I went from helping my Mom with the dinner for 70+ people in a church house gym, to just my family and next door neighbors Katie and Eric. Their plans fell through and I couldn't have them eating alone. It was really nice. But I now know the CRAZINESS of making food ALL DAY and fully appreciate all the years my mother did it for us!!! That's really all I did, and I LOVED it! It was perfect! I put the turkey in the oven at 8:00 am and didn't stop making food until it was time to eat. But I did get a lot of new recipes! Like: Artichoke and Spinach Dip! YUM! Pepper Cheese Ball (a Merkley favorite) and... others I can't remember right now. I made my first Chocolate Pudding Cream Pie. (and failed because Ryan told me to mix the whip cream in AFTER the pudding set up)*sigh*

In the end everything turned out great! My neighbor Katie made fruit salad and a pumpkin roll for dessert. WOW! Ryan was in heaven with that roll. After a lot of playing and eating and talking, we called it a night. It couldn't have been a more perfect "first" Thanksgiving for me and our family!

(p.s. Sorry no pictures due to a lot of cooking!)

A little nothing

Since Halloween, not much has happened. I'm happy about that. It's been quiet, normal, and fun at times. We're just waiting for the holidays to finally come around. A few things to report are:

- Kayson has learned to roll over from back to belly! (which is new to me since Jace learned belly to back first)

- Tator "turned" 1 years old. (That just means he's survived living with me)

- Isaac got a 100% on his spelling test last week!

- Ryan and I got NEW TIRES for my car! I'm so happy to have it back.

- Aunt Taci is flying in TOMORROW for Thanksgiving! We can't wait to see her!

Kayson has his 6 month check up coming soon. Yeah. More shots. He's been doing 100% better since we put the tubes in his ears. He's finally learned to have an out-loud laugh and it's SO cute! He CONSTANTLY says Ma ma ma ma which is also opposite of Jace. Jace would only say Da da da da. It makes me smile.

Since Jace learned to climb over the child safety gate, I've had to teach him how to stay in his room at night. I'm happy to say that it didn't take as long as I thought it would, and I LOVE being able to put him to bed without having to step over the gate. Now if only potty training would come as fast. I'm not officially trying to potty train him, but he will sit on the toilet happily and I thought I'd test the waters. But after the Cars underwear got peed on (with a lot of work before to go on the toilet) I decided that he needed more time. I'll wait. I want to enjoy this journey. Not be stressed.

I'm sorry to say I have no new pictures to post. I'll work on that :)

Happy Halloween!

This year we had a lot more fun trick-or-treating! Our ward, along with 2 other wards, had a trunk-or-treat at our old church house. We left at 5:30 all dressed up. Jace was a skeleton (and earlier he was a dead cowboy) and Kayson was a lion! We were ready to get some candy! Jace had the funniest look on his face the whole time we were at the church. He thought everyone's costumes were interesting, but his favorite part was walking up to the back of the cars to get the treats. He was on cloud 9 the entire time!




We left the church and hit a couple of friends house on our street. Then we went to Aunt Cami and Uncle James' house. It took Jace a second to realize who they were! We got candy and a few pictures with them, then left for Grandma and Grandpa Hartle's house.




Jace got a whole cup of candy there! We all took pictures of the boys in their costumes then ate dinner. When we left for home, both boys were so tired they slept the whole way there and while I changed them into pajamas. I didn't hear a peep the rest of the night. I think I like Halloween :)

Pumpkins!!!

I can't take credit for this post. My neighbor Katie bought pumpkins, and asked me if I wanted to carve them with her. Otherwise I wouldn't have done it this year. Shame on me! It was a BLAST!

My neighbor Katie has two boys. Dominic and Gabrielle. Both of her boys are 2 months older than each of my boys. What awesome neighbors to have! Dominic and Jace play at each others' house ALL DAY! I can't wait for Gabrielle and Kayson to enjoy their friendship when they're older.

Here are the pictures from last nights fun:

Katie bought the carving kits after last years Halloween. She paid PENNIES on the dollar for them. I know what I'm doing next week! Shopping for next years costumes!






The boys didn't do much after we gutted the pumpkins. They went and played while Katie and I did the rest.







My pumpkin is the monster. Katie's is a bat in front of a moon. Pretty good huh!


Gabrielle LOVED his pumpkin!



Kayson didn't pay too much attention to his.





HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

What To Do When...

Your tire blows 1 mile from your exit off I-15:

-Have your brother-in-law watch for a good place to pull off
-Have same brother-in-law unload trunk and get spare out
-Have brother-in-law change tire
-Load trunk while brother-in-law cleans his hands with baby wipes



This was my situation a few weekends ago. Thankfully Cami and James rode with me on our trip to my nephew Bradley's ordination in Tooele. I don't know what I would have done without them! Especially with two boys in the car. Probably panicked. This was my first experience with ANY flat tire on the inter-state, and I think I handled it well thanks to James. He changed that tire in 10 minutes! I've never seen one changed so fast. We then followed my Mom and Dad home going 45 miles an hour. LONGEST 2 1/2 hour ride home EVER! Needless to say NO ONE in my car is allowed to complain about following parents home in their shaky-trailer-truck because they'll only be going 50 mph. Bad carma.



Oh the fun didn't stop there either. After our camping trip for UEA, I came back to my "Dollar Car" dead. OH and we can't forget the flat tire with a screw in it. Thanks to my awesome brother Logan and my awesome Dad, they started the car (which died because a certain little 2 year old left some rear-view mirror lights on) and switched the tire. The tire turned out to be an easy $11.00 fix and we're all good now. So in 1 month I took care of 2 tires and a dead battery! WOO HOO! (not)

My fixin car days are over for now. They work, but I still need to buy new tires for my Nissan. So if you know of any good deals for 18 inch rims out there PLEASE let me know!

Horsing Around

When Isaac came out during his school break, we all had a chance to go four-wheeling. Well afterwards Uncle Troy hadn't put the horses up from their ride, so we grabbed the chance to let the boys ride them. I LOVED watching Isaac and Samuel ride! They looked just like the best little cowboy buddies EVER!





Jace LOVED, LOVED, LOVED riding horses! In fact he would throw the BIGGEST tantrum EVER when we took him off the horse. Seeing his face light up that day made me smile. I guess we'll have to have Uncle Troy teach him to ride now :)





Kayson didn't really get to have an opinion. I don't think he got a chance. Who could with Jace screaming the whole time to get off!



I love seeing Ryan on the horses. He would race Samuel around the small pasture, and my heart would flutter! I can't help but swoon when he does that! Every time I see him race across the ground on a horse I picture in my head The Man From Snowy River.



*sigh* He's so beautiful. I'm the luckiest girl in the world :)