Christmas Goodies

Ari and I made yummy Christmas treats all day today, with the help of my little buddy Damon.
It was a lot of fun. Hopefully when we wake up tomorrow we will find that everything turned out well and we can take them to the neighbors.
Andy and Damon had a great time with the gummy bears. They created characters and acted out a silly little bear story. It was very cute and fun to listen to. Damon loved it. I didn't give him a lot of attention today, because I was so busy in the kitchen, so he was just loving it. I also learned that he is pretty creative. And where is Tyler during all this Christmas excitement? Well, let's just say we call him "The Grinch".

Ward Christmas Party

This is the only picture we got of Damon with Santa. He was not very thrilled to be speaking with him. He lightened up a little bit and told him he wants a train and a gameboy. Both of which were news to me. Isn't that the way it goes.

Damon was however very excited about the sweet suckers that Santa was giving to all the kids. There were so many people at our party and the kids were so excited. It was cute, but a little tiring.

Sledding!

The park across the street from our house has the perfect sledding hill. It is just very rare that there is snow to use it (kids are always using their sleds even without snow, it is pretty funny.) We took the opportunity today.
Damon was so excited to go to the park. He picked up all of his toys without even complaining. It was really nice, and now I know how little help he really needs. He claims a lot, but now I know the truth.
It was a little chilly today and the first really wintery weather we have. Since we live on a busy road and a hill we know winter is here when we watch people sliding down the hill all day (I mean in their cars.) Someone actually slid from the road and into our yard today. They just missed our car.
I had to convince Damon to get in the sled with me. He spent most of his time sliding down the hill on his tummy. I guess the sled goes too fast for him.

What was once a summer kiddie pool has now become the king of all sleds. I don't know who these kids were, but what an idea! I wish I had thought of it, and also that I had a sweet kiddie pool like this to use as a sled. I hope they didn't notice I was taking pictures of them. I tried to be sneaky. I fully expect the police to show up at my door anytime tonight. Okay, now I sound crazy! I really do not go around taking pictures of other people's children.

Damon's phone calls

Here is Damon wondering the house while talking to Elise and Brady.
Opps! He dropped the phone and it closed. Much to Damon's dismay the call ended.
Don't worry he called Brady back.

This is Damon on the phone with Elise and Brady in Iowa. He loves them both very much and was having such a great time talking to them. He was pacing around the entire house just like Tyler does when he is one the phone. I just hope he doen't also start picking things up and placing them in random, unseen places around the house. Tyler does that while he is on the phone, too. I will find the remote in the garage and crazy things like that. Whenever we are in the store or somewhere busy Damon wants to call people. He also askes to call Brady during the day. I have to remind him that Brady is in school. So if anyone needs someone to talk to, Damon is always happy to have a phone conversation. Give him a call.

BOYS!!!!

We had a little get together with Tyler's family last weekend. All the little boys and only one balloon was a bit of a problem. The only time anyone was smiling or happy was when they had the thing and were running from everyone else. The rest of the time they were mad and chasing down the person who had it. It was really funny to see how fast their moods would change as they repeatedly caught and then had stollen the silly balloon. It got pretty intense a few times. They are all very competitive. Next time we know to have more than one.

Thanksgiving

This is Damon's preschool friends. They all came over for a "Thanksgiving Feast".
The kids made these feather headbands and the mom's got to wear these awesome pilgrim hats.
We spent Thanksgiving day at our house and had lots of family members from both sides share the day with us. It was all so yummy and we had a great time together.
We ended the meal with a little sparkling grape juice.

Andy and Ari

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving Andy and Ari got hitched. It was such a fun day. We got to enjoy the Temple, and Temple square. We ate a really yummy breakfast in the Joseph Smith building and then went to Thanksgiving Point later in the day for dinner and dancing. It was lots of fun. They are back from their honeymoon and have the pleasure (I'm sure) of living with us for a few weeks. I hope they are enjoying being here as much as I enjoy having them here.
Damon had a lot of fun playing around outside. It was a really nice day.
Aren't they so cute?!!

Puppy!

Our dog Terk is a daddy to this cute little puppy. There was only one, which is a bummer, but he is sure cute.
Damon took this picture and was pretty proud of it. It is too close for comfort so I made it small, but I wanted to post it because he did such a good job.

Primary Talent Show

At our Primary Talent Show last night the bishop asked Tyler to help them with their skit, but wouldn't tell him what he had to do. Here he is as their table. The characters ended up getting mad and left Tyler with cups on his back.
Here he is trying to get them off and about a half a second later they are spilling all over his neck. It was funny. I wish I had a picture of that.
Damon was very excited to play basketball for his talent. He went downstairs to practice a lot this week. He was so funny. It was really cute. If anyone is looking for a great primary activity have a talent show. It was so cute and funny. The kids do most of the work. We just bought pizza and soda, and made some rice crispey treats. The prep, planning, and clean up was really minimal and it turned out really great. The kids were so cute and excited about their skills. We had all kinds of things. From teaching us how to draw a rose, a drumer, jokes, singing, piano, etc. Oh, and of course a lesson in shooting a basketball from my favorite little buddy.

Worms!

This last weekend my dad came to our house while Tyler worked and I took Hunter's Safety, yup Tyler finally got me to take it. I was less than excited. I will post pictures of that later. I will also put up some pictures of my house after Tyler paints it. That was our deal. He has to paint our house since I took the class. I hate painting and I needed something out of the deal. Anyway, my dad and Taylor came over to babysit for us. It was fun to see them and so nice of them to help us out. I came home for lunch as they were getting home from the park. Damon was so excited to show me this worm they dug up. He was a little scared of them when he was little, so he was very proud of himself. At first I thought he was putting on a good show and trying to be brave, but he was really into the worm. Not afraid at all. He is really turning into a typical, bug loving, dirt digging, messy little boy.

Friends

We had lots of fun visiting with our friends from Wisconsin. Tara, Jocelyn, and Carter came to see us last week. Damon was so excited before they got here, but then he acted a little silly. I think he got shy. He hasn't seen his buddy Jocelyn (except on their blog) for almost a year.
Here is a cute picture of Damon and Jocelyn. We are always making them sit together in pictures. We keep waiting for them to one day not agree to it. Hopefully they will always be friends.

We love Halloween

Here are a few pictures of our fun Halloween. We had a lot of different places to go. Damon was so excited to be Spiderman. He hasn't ever really had an opinion before (I think I talked him out of something last year, so I guess we will say this is the first year he picked what he wanted to be.) These pictures weren't all taken on the same day, however you will notice Damon is Spiderman in every one. He practially wore out his costume before Halloween.

Here is Damon at a party at the library.

I made Tyler help us carve pumpkins this year. He usually tries to get out of it. He ended up doing most of the work. No wonder he avoids it. Damon picked a hard pattern and wanted Daddy to help him. I guess you can't really see it in this picture, but it was a bunch of little monsters. It turned out really good.

This is Damon's preschool class. They had a little party and the moms were all feeling very safe. We had Superman, Batman, and Spiderman all under one roof.

Our ward had a trunk-or-treat. Tyler handed out the candy while Damon and I went to all the cars. Then we went back to our trunk and Damon had just as much fun passing out candy to all the kids. It was a lot of fun and we, errrrr Damon got some really good candy.

We made a stop at the mall to see Rainbow Bright, a.k.a. my sister Lori.

Tag, You're It

The Rules:

Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags six people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Have fun!

1. My favorite breakfast is pancakes and fried eggs, when I have the time. When I don't Damon and I like old fashioned oatmeal (not the quick oats) with cinnamon, rasins, and pecans, fast and so yummy.
2. I have negative feelings about worrying about the people I love. I worry way too much.
3. When I was little, I used to, like JaCeelyn worry myself sick (maybe we should start a support group). However, when I wasn't worrying about something silly (I had no idea the things adults have to be concerned with) I also loved cooking with my mom and playing games with my dad and siblings. I learned so much from both of my parents and have lots of memories from when I was young. Oh, I also loved watching "Full House" with my family every Friday night. We would race downstairs with our dinner and never missed an episode. Good times! Anybody else do that?
4. I love so many things, but if you want the really less sentimental things here it is. I love bags. I am always looking at them and talking myself out of buying anymore. Tyler tries to compare his love of guns, and buying them with my bags. I don't think so. There is quite the price difference there. He will continue to try, but I will never buy it.
5. I'm a sucker for... hmmmm. I can't really think of anything really good. I would say I do let Tyler get his way a little more than I should. He just has a way of getting what he wants. His mom says he was always like that growing up too. She says he never got in much trouble because he would just smile and not say much. He is very tricky.
6. I absolutely love getting a lot accomplished. If I ever have a dead line or just a lot to do I have to make a list for myself. That I don't love so much, but crossing things off feels really good.

State Cross Country

We had such a good day at the State Cross Country meet. Ryan did so well. We are very proud of him for taking second place overall. Both the boys and girls took first place as a team which is so exciting. They all did so well. Dad does such a good job and really gets nervous and excited for all of his runners. He is the best coach ever, and I speak from experience. Love you, Dad!!!Here we are with Ryan. I always like to get pictures and have to beg him to be in them with us.
While at the meet, Damon really enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was such a nice fall day. Damon really wanted to get up in this tree so I got a picture. Yes the glasses are mine. He left his in the car and then complained about the sun being in his face, what was I to do?
We went to Red Lobster to celebrate. Damon did such a great job cutting his salad with a butterknife and fork.

Damon was very silly today. I think the excitement really rubbed off on him. He is also very excited to have a new cousin. She lives in Iowa so we won't see her until Christmas, but he likes to look at pictures of her on the internet. He asked if he could call her his sister. He keeps saying how cute she is. Her name is Mylee and she was born on this last Wed. (Oct. 24).We can't wait to meet her. Christmas seems so far away.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a Corn Maze\Pumpkin Patch today for Preschool. Damon had so much fun running around and playing with all the cats. This one followed us through the whole maze.
Damon was excited to sit in the big tractor.
In here we got to pick out a pumpkin and take it home, however Damon was obviously much more excited about the cats.

And here is another little tractor. The lady gave the kids a ride in the trailor. They had so much fun and the weather was beautiful (we went here last year and it was so cold it almost wasn't fun.)

Snow?

This is the third time it has snowed already this year. What is going on with the weather. It is crazy, it is almost like being back home again.

Football

Here is Taylor after his final football game of the year. He did very well and we had fun watching, even though I thought we would freeze. Brrrrrrr!

Day at the Mall

Ryan got a 'fro-hawk, which was soon after cut off, Damon and Grandma played hide-and-seek, and we enjoyed the swarm of kids that usually fills the Playplace on a cold Saturday. We had fun.