BYU -UTAH GAME!

Yesterday we had a BYU/UTAH game day celebration! We started it off with a little pancake breakfast and then had a little party for the game. 11 years ago we had our first date at the BYU -UTAH game. It was 1998 -- the year BYU won at the U! We went with Ry's parents and our friends Bob and Jolene. Well, yesterday we invited Bob and Jo over along with their kids for a little party. It was so much fun and RY was especially glad they came (they are all UTES and balanced out the sides. The kids and I are all cougars. (Although the girls have been a little fickle lately!) We had so much fun and ended up pulling out the lights and camera to take a few snaps of their twins with Carter. It was a great game and I was especially happy at the end of it all! GO BYU!!!

Thanksgiving!

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house and it was so much fun! We had all of my family over and it ended up being 24 of us! We ate, chatted, played games, watched the movie UP, exchanged names for Christmas and I took pics of both my brother's families. It was also my Dad's Birthday so we celebrated that too! It was a great day and I am just so grateful to be back close to family again and have the chance to be together! I am so grateful for so many things --health, our home, our kids and baby, the Gospel, family, friends, and so much more -- Happy Thanksgiving!!!

6 week smiles!

Gracie is six weeks old and has seriously been such a good baby!!! It's so much fun to see her starting to smile and make eye contact! And even better -- she sleeps so well! She has been a dream and we love her to death! She had quite the conversation with Great Grandma O. this past weekend! So fun!

Fully vaccinated!

So this past weekend our family is officially vaccinated! My friend Emily and I went to stand in line last Monday for the tickets to get the H1N1 vaccine. Got Ry a ticket for Thursday and the kids their booster for Sat. They all got them finished and it feels so good to be done with it! The new ticket system has made it so smooth and so much better!!!

"Relishing" the season!

Every year I love to make my Mom's cranberry relish! It just isn't Thanksgiving with out it! And the think I love about it is that it's easy enough for the kids to do the whole thing! They look forward to it and love it every year! We made enough to have for the next year! It's great with Turkey, on sandwiches, and we love it with turkey casserole! Here's the recipe!

CRANBERRY RELISH

3 C. fresh cranberries
1 apple
1 orange
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 T. lemon juice
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Grind all together and stir. put into
bottles or freezing containers and freeze.
Thaw and serve. Refrigerate after opening.

Thankful Thursday-- Great Grandmas!

I am so thankful that our children have TWO sets of Great Grandparents! When I was born I had one Grandma and one Grandpa who I loved dearly and was so grateful for but I never had the chance to meet or know any of my great Grandparents. Ryan has his Grandparents on BOTH sides still (we lost or G.G. Wen last fall but still have our dear Grandma O.) So this is a picture of little Grace being held by both of her Great Grandmas -- Grandma Gayla came last week from AZ to see her and Grandma Orange lives close and we are so glad about that! We love you both very much and are so grateful to have you in our lives and as such "GREAT" Grandmas to our children!!!

I'm in love with our UPS man!

Ok -- Did I scare ya all???? :) Now you can see how cute he is and how could ya not be in love?! I found this costume for 90% off at Shopko after Halloween! What a deal-- the best $3.99 I ever spent! The girls always have oodles of dress ups and Carter always wants to join in too! But really, as he is now getting older, pink slip ons and fairy wings really aren't up his alley! So every year I try to go and find BOY constumes to put in a special dress up trunk for him! Last year we added fireman, knight, spiderman, and a storm trooper. Then I found this one this week and couldn't resist! He has worn it ALL day and delivered me packages all afternoon! He is so into it -- He demands that I be sure to go inside and answer the door and he stays as long as it takes til I answer it -- So I had to be creative getting a few shots of him! Seriously, this outfit has been worth every penny! I haven't figured out what to do by tonight when it's time to get into the PJs!

One month/Thankful Thursday!

So today Gracie is one month old! Cannot believe how fast that has gone! She is doing so well and growing fast! I'm going to do a snap of her in this same spot each month and it should be fun to look back on the little changes that happen from month to month! We are sure loving her and love how good she has been! She has already been a good little sleeper which is probably due to being on formula! Which leads me to my Thankful Thursday post. I did this a few times but want to start it up again since it's Thanksgiving this month and also because I think it's so important to focus on the blessings in life and express gratitude for them. So this week I am VERY thankful for free formula! As some may know, our babies (2 of our past 3) have been allergic to my milk! Aubs actually had a one week trip to Primary Children's for us to find that out and then Carter followed right along. So after talking to our pediatric gastrointerologist before Grace was born, she recommended we just don't chance it and put her on the same liquid gold-- We call it liquid gold because it generally costs about $25 a can! Well, it is a huge blessing because we haven't had to buy a single can yet. The hospital sent us home with 2 cases and also a referral to the formula rep who has given us a great supply and then our wonderful Dr. has also supplied us with cans at her apts. For all of this I am soooooo very grateful and more than that, I am grateful to see how well she is doing on it and how healthy she has been! Thank goodness it's such a weird formula -- not too many kids have to be on it so it is one that they need to use up.

Happy one month little Gracie!

Two sides

So this is the two sides of our little man-- Carter was the HULK this year for Halloween -- which sad to say, REALLY fits his personality lately! The poor little guys has had quite the transition this past few months. From moving away from Flag -- the only home he really remembers, to moving into a little apt. for a few months, looking for homes, moving into one, going to a new preschool and then welcoming a new baby sister home. Needless to say, it's a hard transition, he's a BOY, and he is 4! All three constitute some aggression! He gets very frustrated easily and says GRRRRRR! a lot and has decided anything bad or that bugs him is a "shut up" thing! Like if his shirt bugs him, it's a SHUT UP SHIRT!!! It's definitely getting better and Mom and Dad are trying to spend a lot more one on one time with him and praise all the positive we can. Well..... this was him yesterday in his Hulk attire and then this morning as we got up and ready for church -- he found his little Future Missionary tag and wanted to wear it all day! The cute part was the fact that he totally got into it! He was so cute all morning and wore it to church and even bore his little testimony! I think we may think about making it part of his daily attire! (j/k!) But seriously -- it was too cute how excited he was about it. We still had a few little issues tonight with him and that's to be expected -- He's a boy! I'd almost worry if he were always a little angel! But he is ours and we love him to death! Thanks for being such a good little sport through it all buddy! We love you!!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween morning breakfast!

Carter's fav! Cross bone fruit plate!

Witches brew!

Fun way to do breadsticks!

Our whole gang!

Had so much fun with Grandma and cousins to
trick or treat with! Thanks guys!!!

Spooky hot cocoa looking at us after trick or treats!

A few of our pumpkins!

Let the candy smuggling begin!

I remember fondly being a kid smuggling my Halloween candy up to my room and into various places (other than the shoebox full on top of the fridge that my parents would have control over and give us our daily allotment) And who is to say I still don't smuggle candy?! :) Well, last night the kids had a little Halloween carnival and of course came back with their own bags of candy. I let them have some and then snagged their bags and sent them off to brush teeth and head to bed. Ry went up after they were all asleep and called to me to get the camera! Whenever HE says that -- I know I'm in for something good! So this is what we found -- 2 nights before the big night and here she is -- already taking it in -- even in her dreams!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

It's really here!

Well, it's official-- Fall is over and Winter is on the way! Today we had our first little snow of the season -- and I must say, although I LOVE Fall (it's my favorite season!) it was fun to see the change and welcome in a new Season! I love the 4 different Seasons and how change happens in such beautiful ways! I think Utah is so beautiful and love how each season is so amazing! So good to be back and so fun to see the beauty in each season . I think life is the same -- each season has it's own beauty and I hope to live every day ready to find the beauty in each opportunity and experience and enjoy the "season" that I'm in! Here's to the Seasons!!!

First smiles

"Smiles are the language of love"
-J.C. Hare

The Pumkin patch!

This afternoon was so beautiful and so warm -- I was dying to get out and so we did! we packed everyone up and went to the pumpkin patch! The baby stayed in her carrier all snuggled up and covered the whole time and slept through it all! The kids each picked their own pumpkins and they are looking forward to carving them this coming week! It was a fun fall day -- perfect for pickin pumpkins with my pumpkins!

For my Mom

As some of you know, My mom was the biggest lady bug freak ever! She loved anything lady bug and started collecting things way back. As my brothers and I started having kids, we had a whole bunch of girls and no boys for quite a while! She made her grandma sleep over visits into what she called, "Lady Bug Club!" The sent cute little invitations, and when the girls got to Grandma's it was everything lady bug! Dinner with a lady bug theme, watching movies like Bugs Life, doing cute crafts, and for breakfast the next morning-- Lady bug pancakes (pancake batter with red food coloring and chocolate chips!) As the boys came, she made a bumblebee club for them! Always a treat and something we miss so much -- Our lady bug grandma! So when my friend Trish made me a lady bug hat for Gracie, I had to put it to good use and take advantage of the time that she'll let me mold and play with her through a few more newborn shoots. So for you Mom, here is you littlest lady bug club member!

H1N1 vaccine = One happy Mommy!

Today my only priority was getting to the Bountiful Regional center to get the kids and myself our vaccinations for the swine flu! And WE DID IT!!! Ry stayed home with the baby and the kids and I left early to try and beat the crowds. We pulled through McDonalds and then headed over. HOLY COW! Or should I should say HOLY SWINE there were a TON of people there! It ended up taking us 2 hours in line but we did it and the kids did so well. The line actually wrapped around the Regional center twice and I heard that later it even wrapped 3 times! We were really debating on whether we should do it or not, but with a newborn at home -- I had to do it- It was a beautiful Fall day and the weather was so nice! Feels good to check that one off my list!

Fall time fun!

The kids found a huge dead sunflower out in the filed on Friday and brought it over to the swing set to disect. They were out there for forever and had so much fun collecting the seeds with their friends. We thought it would be fun to roast a few and then all the rest we're planning on throwing into the filed in between all our houses. It's wetland property and should be a great place for sunflowers to grow -- we hope -- I guess we'll have to wait til next Summer to see if anything happens. If not, it was something fun to do on a Fall afternoon!

Gracie's First photo shoot!

Okay, Can I help it??? Of course before she was even born I've been thinking and dreaming about taking her pictures! Every prop I've found over the past couple years, every new pose I discover, I think of doing that with our own baby--and this weekend I was finally able to! It was so much fun and she was the best little sport! I think I went a little too crazy, but hey! It ended up being a prolonged photo shoot with many feeding, nap breaks in between and lots of help from Daddy! Now, it's just deciding on what to use for her announcement! I can't believe she is already over a week old! She is so good and even giving us good stretches at night! We love having little Gracie in our family! Here are a few of our favorites!