SPRING!!!

I just loved our winter in Rexburg. It was SO great. I even can say, I wish we had had a little bit more snow so the boys could have gone sledding. BUT, I am happy with just the way it went. We got to build two or three snowmen, who melted before the day was over. Every time it did snow the boys got to stand outside and eat it! we even had a snowball fight! what a great winter!!

But alas..SPRING IS IN THE AIR!! why? My tulips have poked their stems up!!!!! The trees ALL have new growth, AND when I go out to put new water in my Bunny cages, the water hasn't frozen from the night!!!!!!! I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!

The last few times we've gone to Grandpa and Grandma's house the boys have been out on their tire swing, and every time I wish I had my camera! Well I remembered it SO here are some GREAT pics of my boys!

New Years Resolutions

Judd loves to sit down every so often and write down plans. Whether they are plans for the month, or the year, or in years to come he just really likes to brainstorm and write things down.
So, it was no surprise to me when he had us sit down to make a New Years Resolution list. Our lists in the past have been as long as we could make them, I think they turned more into "wish list" than resolutions. But this year we made a short simple list so that we could really focus on them. And I didn't want to post it, until we could get through at least one month of success!!! So here is our list!

1)Temple, once a month
2)Country Dancing on campus (BYU-I) every Wed. night!
3)Family Prayer every night with our boys
4)Finish our commercial kitchen to participate in the Rexburg Farmer's Market!
5)Get in shape
6)Go on a cruise
7)Read the Book of Mormon
8)Do the Straw Maze again!

Not in any particular order, but I feel the key to success is to not just stop if we miss a few! We have already missed two or three nights of family prayer, and there was one week we didn't get to go country dancing and NORMALLY I would just give up! But we are still feeling good about our track record! We want to be able to go to the church once a week and play basketball or volleyball and then with country dance, it will really help us to get in shape. It's just really hard in the winter to exercise w/o a gym membership!
So here is to 2012! hopefully a very eventful year for our little family and our nation and our Rexburg Community!

More Christmas

Aww beautiful Temple Square!!! I haven't been in 4 or 5 years (when the lights were out) and it felt so good to see the lights. I actually went so many times this year, I'm probably good for another couple of years. I got to go with my mom and sister. Then we were down with all of Judd's fam a few days later. And Then I went with my Dad and stepmom and fam. The third time is where the pics are from, and I got some really good shots. And ALL three times I went, it was SUPER cold, So this time I learned to really bundle up!


We spent Christmas in Drapper, Utah this year with my Dad and mom(stepmom) and my siblings that live close by (3) and then my brother's family came up from California. So it was a PARTY!! We did so many fun things! we went to the IMAX we went roller skating, bounce housing, and jungle jimming =o) And we had a lot of fun with my parents! My boys HAD A BLAST befor we went to temple square, we went to see the lights down at Thanksgiving point, and that was fun too, I had never done a light show, with music on the radio and such. really fun! Porter wearing Judd's size 13 skates~!



These are the gifts we gave out this year. Judd made them by hand with his brother Juston. It's a coin toss, 1 point if you hit inside the box and 3 if you hit inside the black pipe! it was fun! we played in Draper and Juston played with his inlaws in Utah too. I think we made 4 sets!! (8 in all) so it was a lot of work, they're all lined with carpet...oOOOooOo leave it to Judd to go all out!

It was so fun I think we are going to start making all our gifts for Christmas' in the years to come!

Christmas

The boys waiting on the stairs with there cousins from California. This picture was very hard to get, it took awhile for my boys to cooperate, Porter kept sliding down the stair, and Jackson was pouting...but what felt like 10min later, we got a good picture. (We did this tradition in my family growing up. Oldest at the top of the stair and youngest at the bottom, I should dig one up and post it)


Porter Dear I love you so, your happy smiling face, is such a joy to look at! It makes the world a better place!!!!!

Jackson was also excited at anything he pulled out of his stocking. He could have pulled out a rock and thought it was SO AWSOME because it came from Santa

Grandpa! My Dad, he had a good Christmas I think. He was so fun. He would come down stairs and play with the kids over here and come watch a movie with us there, then go tend Jackson and play someother silly thing with Porter. What a good Gandpa he has turned out to be! I just loved watching him play with my kids and cousins.


And Judd! what a great sport with that smile on his face!

More Christmas Stuff

I had some pumpkins that were still good and decided to try making my own pumpkin mash to cook with. I always remember my mom doing it, we never canned it that I know of, but she would make pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkins =o)

So I called her and she told me what to do. I baked it for an hour and then peeled the skin and just mashed it down with a potato masher....it was quite a lot of work, and I think I am happy to buy it from a can. I think too, that I had a pretty big pumpkin, I had two big canned pumpkins worth when I was done!


I made pumpkin cookies...that is my favorite pumpkin recipe! They turned out pretty good. But once again, not good enough to sway me from buying canned pumkin. I can now say I tried it! and that I REALLY made these cookies from scratch! I even grew the pumpkin! haha!

These are some hair bows I made for christmas time...if only I had a little girl.


Turned out really cute!

More Christmas Fun!

Getting out the Christmas Tree! Jackson has been asking for the Christmas Tree every day since November. We told him we had to wait until after Porter's birthday (Nov 16th) and let me tell you, as soon as Porter's birthday was over he was asking about it again! So we put it up!! You can even see a balloon left over from his party

He was so happy, It was worth getting it out a few weeks early! =o)

We told him we wouldn't decorate it until Christmas, and he was okay with that!


CORNY picture, I know, but I was so proud of my nails, I had them all painted like this for church on sunday, and no one said a thing! I guess that's what happens when you sub primary...I had one 3 year old girl from sunbeams grab my fingers and touch them...she made me feel so good =o)
And some Christmas Cookies I saw in a magazine, with mint extract to make them that much more fun(as if the colors weren't enough!) This is the only pic I got, my kids gobbled them up fast!

A little Christmas Decorating

Tis the season, I've been listening to christmas music and getting out a few christmas decor items everyday! I even have all my presents wrapped, I just can't wait for christmas this year. It is so much more fun having my little boys than it's ever been before!

speaking of the little cheesers! they would NOT give me a normal smile!!

I tried, again.

Some places in my house that make me happy...the mirror of course! Im so vein!

This is a little craft, Marry, Joseph, and Baby Jesus,I made this year for Relief Society, we also had a cookie exchange that was AWSOME! I have never been to one, and I came home with SO MANY pretty cookies, all different, my kids went WILD! even Judd =o) I took Red Velvet cake truffles dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with red sugar!!! they were fun

And our stockings hung in a row! I love, love, love, Christmas!