Ah, The Joys of Dress-Up

A few weeks ago I reconnected with a "long lost friend."  She lives down the street but we've been so busy with our lives, kids, work, etc. that we lost touch. Last time I visited with her, her little girl was just a baby. Now she's three! How freaking sad is that?! Anyway, I texted her and said we MUST get together. So we did! We sat there and visited for hours! P and her little girl had a blast raiding the dress up clothes! Here are some pics:

Here she is in a princess outfit AND a Transformers mask! LOL! 

Here is P in his awesome mask!

SPIDERMAN!!!!

This was the best! Spiderman outfit completed with princess shoes!!!

I L.O.V.E. this picture! P is so flippin' strong and E is totally copping a feel! :-)

GRRRRRR!

Merry Christmas

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I know we did! I have been one busy bee working in retail the past month. In a way, I hate working retail because it makes me hate the Christmas season. I truly am grateful for the chance to celebrate our Savior's birth.

I ended up working on Christmas Eve. So, the second I got off from work J and the boys picked me up from work and we headed to his parents house about an hour away. We enjoyed dinner, opened presents, and watched a movie with J's parents. Well, actually they watched a movie and I crapped out on the couch. I was so pooped! :-) We drove home late that night and spent the night at our house.

In the morning, we opened presents together as our little family. It was great fun to watch the boys get excited for their gifts and for the fact that Santa came! Afterward, we headed over to my parents house at 10 AM. (We were supposed to have brunch with my grandparents and my granny at 11 AM.) Anyway, we get there at 10 and ended up waking up my parents! Ooops! We hurried and got the breakfast casserole in the oven and then settled down to open presents with them.

We had a wonderful Christmas and were spoiled rotten. Now, here are the pictures!

This picture should actually be at the end, but oh well. P got a tent from J's parents. He was very excited and could not wait to set it up. He ended up camping out in his bedroom on Christmas night. And, he is actually camping out again tonight!  Ah, simple pleasures!

Here is our Christmas tree before the wrapping paper carnage.

Here are the boys waiting behind the gates. We set up double gates to keep P jailed contained. I was worried he wouldn't sleep and would bother the presents. He ended up sleeping through the night! (I love J's face!)

Checking out the presents. I love how E is reaching deep into the bag!

E wasn't sure about ripping the paper. We couldn't get him to really go for it. Oh well, next year he will!

This ended up being E's favorite toy from our house. It was a toy cell phone. Silly boy loves that thing!

Yay! I got a phone and I'm cute!

Here is a picture of the haul.

We were very blessed this year. Finances have been pretty tight and we only had two presents under the tree. One for each boy. All the rest of this was given to us by a couple anonymous drop offs. We don't know who did it but we are extremely grateful and appreciative!

 P got a rocket from Santa! You put the Styrofoam rocket on the base and stomp your foot on this pedal and it shoots the rocket into the hair. P loved it!

Can you hear me now? This boy loves phones!

Why do you keep taking my photo? We got several of these scowls! 

The boys got two Diego the Explorer toys. Pretty exciting!

The only photo I took at my parents. There is a piano toy by E that he absolutely adores! P loved opening presents and helped Grammy open several of hers!

Here is a pic of P sleeping in his tent. I was trying to get the picture and not wake him up so I didn't get a very good shot.

Anyway, we ended up having a very wonderful Christmas. I hope you did too!

All I Want For Christmas

fWe actually had the opportunity to see Santa at the beginning of December. I just finally getting around to sharing the pictures. We stood in line for what felt like  F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!!! We finally get to Santa and .....

E freaked out and bailed off of Santa's lap. 

What do you want for Christmas young man?

I want a rocket!!

I love P's face in this! I imagine he is either thinking:

"Man, Santa has bad breath" or

"Does Santa have a booger?"

Here is my second attempt of getting a picture of E and Santa together. Nope, not gonna happen! I couldn't stop laughing! Poor kid, I think I traumatized him!

Ok kids, MOVE OVER, it's my turn!

Santa, I'd really like for my mortgage to be paid for .... what do you mean that isn't possible?!

Carli, This Is For You!

Youth Trip To Salt Lake: Part 2

Once we finally got to the condo. We packed all our crap stuff into the tiny place and set up our bedding. We made hot chocolate and popcorn. Then we settled down to watch the movie Forever Strong. Holy crap, I L.O.V.E.D. it! I love movies like that. It was clean in language and was a "feel good" movie. I finally went to bed around 2:00 AM but I hear some of the girls didn't go to bed until 3:30 AM. Gag! I was so tired the next day.

The next morning we made breakfast, begged for a spot in the bathroom line (20 girls & women + 1 bathroom = Full bladders ready to explode!), and packed the vans back up. We drove to The Gateway and did some shopping. The girls in my car wanted to make a stop at the Planetarium. So, we went and saw some fun exhibits and stuff. Then we wandered some stores and mostly played on the escalators. We were reenacting the Elf scene. It was pretty funny.

Afterward, we ate our sack lunches and then we walked 8 city blocks (big ones compared to our "Podunk" town) back to Temple Square. We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and watched the movie that they are showing about Joseph Smith. I've seen it a couple times but never on the huge screen there. It was a wonderful film.

After the movie, we walked the 8 blocks back to our cars and were going to head home. Then we realized that one of the girls forks had gotten accidentally thrown away at the condo. Why she brought a nice, prized fork of her mothers, I shall never know. So, back to the condo we went to do a little dumpster diving to find the dumb fork.

Here is my friend, Stephanie, being OH SO KIND as to get in there and look for the fork that the girl shouldn't have brought in the first place.

We had some nice helpers pointing out bags to rip open and look in. GAG! It stunk pretty bad.

During the search for the blasted fork, I decided to go around and take pictures of all the girls in the cars

After the fork was found, we headed home. It was such a fun time and I love these girls to bits! Some days I wanna strangle a couple but I really do love them! Thanks for sharing in my little trip!

Youth Trip to Salt Lake: Part 1

I serve with the Young Women in my church. We decided to take them to Salt Lake City this weekend for some fun. So, as soon as they got out of school, we packed up the 4 minivans and left. I'm sure it was a sight to see 4 vans following each other very closely the whole way to Utah! 

Here is a picture that I snapped right before we left. I caught them off guard and blinded them with the flash! :-)

Once we got there, we went to Temple Square and listened to a choir concert by West Jordan High School's choir. They were amazing! Afterwards, we walked around and took in the beautiful temple and Christmas lights. Here are some pictures:

This is me with the Adult Leaders that came. We had so much fun!

This is the Assembly Hall, where the concert was held. 

Group shot of the girls we took.

Me trying to be artsy.

I love the reflecting pool by the temple!

A cute couple got engaged as we were walking by. I had to snap a pic!

Another group shot of the girls!

After we took in the sights, we went to drive to the condo that a family was so generously letting us stay in for free. A Utah Jazz game finished up at the same time as we were leaving. :-/  What should have been a five minute drive to the condo turned into an hour drive! Next time I'll check the Jazz schedule!

TO BE CONTINUED ...