My favorite boy!

With Rylee being the oldest and always doing new things, and Gracie being the baby with new "firsts" everyday, I think Cole gets left in that "middle child" spot. So, here is a post all about my favorite boy.

Cole is three years old, and he loves being a boy. Just recently my mom bought him the Kung Fu Panda movie (very funny and cute if you haven't seen it) and he loves it. I have to remind him that "the book store, grocery store, mall, and church are not places where we do Kung fu." He loves it!

He is very, very smart. He loves to learn all about numbers so maybe he's going to be a math whiz! (It will be no thanks to me, my brain doesn't work that way). He is very snugly and often asks me to sit and snuggle with him while he's watching cartoons. He often will give me a hug and a kiss and tell me that he loves me for no reason. He just runs off and leaves me all twitter-paited by my boys devotion to his mommy. I love momma's boys!

Cole looks up to Rylee and loves Gracie and helps me a lot. I always thought he would be a shy boy, but he seems to be slowly coming out of his shell, sometimes by following his sister's lead, but even by himself he will smile and say hi to people. Although, he does stop at strangers. He still needs my approval of people before he decides they deserve a smile or any other type of acknowledgement.

Cole is the sweetest boy I know and I tell him all the time that he's "my favorite boy" (hopefully we don't have any more boys, or I better stop saying that). But he is my favorite boy. He makes me smile all the time and I love hearing his excitement and laughter. Right now we have an advent calendar on our wall and everyday he asks me "mom, is the candy there yet?" The magic of Christmas is amazing! Candy magically appears in those pockets every night and no one knows how they get there! So all day long he's asking me "just feel mom, just feel" to see if the candy has shown up yet. He's so cute!

I just love him!

I know, I know. . .

I'm such a dork. I couldn't help put go ahead and pin up the curls. Besides, she does have her Christmas Concert tonight and she'll be all dressed up, so why not a fancy hair do! So cute! How much do you love it?!

Some more favs. . .

I know this one isn't the best of all of us, but I thought Gracie looked so cute showing her rock to the photographer! She looks so proud of her discovery!

A few more of my favs. . .

I Love Hair!

Here are two more of the latest hair styles I've tried on Rylee. I think the one I did today (the last two pics) is my favorite so far. I found another website, so I think I'm going to add a whole new section on my sidebar dedicated to hair blogs, since this is my newest obesession. Love it!
You can't tell very well, but in the second picture, the two piggies were braids that I wrapped together in the middle and left the curls out for a cute piggy tail look. These hairstyles are mostly meant for girls with long hair and Rylee's is not quite long enough, but we make do!

In the last style the ponytail is meant to be curled and then pinned up to make a crown of curls, but we left it in a pony since she's not going to prom or anything. Maybe for church we'll try the crown of curls.

Family Photo Shoot

Here is a SMALL sample of the family pics we did this weekend. Thanks to my friend Becki for taking them for us. It was a lot of fun (at least for me, the kids got a little bored, nothing that ice-cream cones can't cure)!

Baby Monkey

I forgot. . .

In case you want to check out the hair blog from the previous post, HERE is the link

I don't consider myself to be much of a fashion/hair person, but when I find something cute and fun I get really excited. I've never been really good at figuring out how to style my own hair let alone my daughters, but with the help of fashionable friends and a sister-in-law who is always in the know (thanks, Taryn), I think I've done a pretty good job of staying away from the "frumpy-mom" look. So, when I discovered this blog that's all about hair, including step-by-step instructions, I was excited. These pictures are my first attempt and I think it turned out pretty good! You can kinda see the black ribbon inter-twined with her hair. This hairstyle is suppose to be for those of us who don't know how to french braid. Perfect! What do you think?

Now I'm off to the store for longer ribbons (so I can tie a bow at the top of her ponytail) in many, many, many colors!

Look what I got in the mail this week!

Well, it's totally official! I'm graduated! And I have the papers to prove it! I got an "official transcript" in the mail as well that is no longer official since I HAD to open it. I graduated with a 3.81! Yay for me!

We love Santa! (mostly)

The kids got to see Santa at our Primary activity this year. That's why they're in their favorite pajamas. We had a pajama party with breakfast. Way fun. Anyway, the kids were pretty excited to see Santa and get a little goody bad. As you can tell from the last picture, Gracie feels the same way about Santa as she did last year.

Christmas Trees

I don't know if you've ever tried to make a gingerbread house, but thier hard! So, in our family we make a gingerbread tree. It's much easier. And look how cute it turns out! The kids licked probably half the frosting and ate nearly a third of the candy's, but overall, a cute little gingerbread tree!
This year we were going to buy a fake, pre-lit tree, but then we realized we have nowhere in our tiny little house to store it! So, unless we want to tree to stay up all year, we had to get a real one that we can throw away. But we love it (and all the pine needles all over the floor, grrrrr)!

Christmas Pajamas!

I love new pajamas! Growing up, my parents always gave us pajamas every year on Christmas Eve and we would wear them as we drove around town that night and around the zoo looking at Christmas lights!

We still carry on that tradition in my little family, but this year I had to get them early.

1. Because I really wanted them.

and 2. Because I really wanted them for my Primary Christmas Party!

For our Christmas party this year we all got to wear our pajamas for a Christmas breakfast. The 11-year-old kids worked really hard and put on a short skit of the Christmas story for us to watch and they did such an awesome job! Then, some Christmas tree ornament making, a little Christmas music dance freeze, and of course, Santa Claus took some time out of his VERY busy schedule to bring a little treat to all the kids.

So fun!

Thanks to all the leaders and teachers who came to help with all the chaos! We couldn't do anything without your help and support!

I don't normally comment a whole lot on political issues, maybe because I often feel inadequate in my knowledge of both sides on any subject. But, today I was reading an article on the church website (HERE) about a few statements given from people on both sides of the Prop. 8 controversy in California.

Most of you know there has been a massive attack on our church after the passing of prop. 8. It seems funny to me that people who work so hard in the name of "tolerance" is now calling for the dismissal of the voice of the majority. Where is their "tolerance?" Perhaps tolerance is only granted to those with whom you agree?

The reason I've decided to post about this topic is because of my concern for my children and the world that they face as they grow up. Will they have to face persecution because of their faith as "tolerance" continues to be redefined? Will they have to defend themselves and the church? Will they be ridiculed or loose friends because of their belief in the value of traditional family?

As children (and especially teenagers) there is a great deal of pressure to define who you are and the person you will become. What kinds of pressures will we have to counter-act as parents? What will be the fight and will we win?

As I ponder on these questions I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who understands my fears and concerns. I am grateful to know that I can turn to Him when I feel lost and that He will protect my children as thier faith in Him grows.

At this time when the church is under attack, it is our job to do what we can to protect and stand up for what our faith holds so dear. But while we stand up for what we believe in, we must show love and compassion to those who lack love and compassion for us.

"But I say unto you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matt 5: 44)

The Seven Year Itch!

Justin and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary yesterday. This particular anniversary reminds me of the phrase "seven year itch" when the (typically) husband will have an affair. When I googled the phrase, this photo came up. I guess Marilyn Monroe did a movie all about it!

Anyway, the last seven years have been so awesome. No itching here! We have three adorable kids that sometimes make us crazy, but we are so blessed to have the craziness in our home. We are especially blessed to be able to get away from all the craziness occasionally and spend sometime with just each other ( in Mexico!).

Thanks, babe, for the last seven years of being my husband. I love being your wife and look forward to many, many, many more years of craziness!

I saw it!

Well, I saw the movie. And I have to say, I liked it! I know a lot of people didn't really like it and were quite disappointed, but I went in with little to no expectations other than the obvious expecatation that it wouldn't compare to the book. How could it? How can any movie ever compare to the book? Movie directors simply do not have the vision that the authors of these wonderful books do, but I think they did an pretty decent job. Then again, I rarely don't like a movie that I see as long as it's clean, so my opinion may not be worth much. Anywho, I enjoyed the time out with a few girl friends and the freedom to forget all about the real world for just a minute. What did all of you think?

I KNOW IT'S EARLY!!!!!!

. . . but I love Christmas time! As soon as November hits, sometimes even before that, I begin planning my Christmas decorations, where we might get a tree this year, and what kinds of music to play in the beginning so as not to drive my husband crazy with a "too early" Christmas. I love this time of year! I can't wait to see all the lights hanging on people's houses and all over town. I love going to the store and seeing a giant Christmas tree all decorated, coaxing you to make your way to the Christmas isles and purchase decorations for your house (which I always fall for). I'm so weak! I love Christmas! It feels so good all the time and people are nicer than they are the rest of the year and my kids get excited to see Santa and make a birthday cake for Jesus ( I think they just like to eat the cake). Not to mention all the great gifts you get to get for all those you love, big and small gifts and everything in between. I love you, Christmas! Why can't you come a bit earlier, like July, and maybe stay till April? I promise I would keep my tree up that long if you would just stay!

I also love being able to teach my children all the fun family traditions we have on the commercial side of Christmas and tell them about the importance of Christmas and the Savior which makes this time of year so special! They get really excited about giving gifts to other people, they can be so generous!


Hmmmmmmm. I love this time of year!

Green Man Walking

When we were in Mexico, Justin got such a kick out of the traffic lights for pedestrians that tells you when to walk and not to walk. We tried to take a video of them but none of our videos showed up. Thanks goodness for you tube! You can see what I'm talking about HERE. Notice how the little man gets faster as he runs out of time!

Monopoly

I love to play games, but I rarely win. Infact, a while back Justin said that he won't play games with me on Sunday's anymore because it brings too much contention into our hom! Did I mention that I'm not a very gracious loser?

Anyway, while in Mexico, we decided to play Monopoly, one of my favorite games that I never win.

Here is what it looks like when we play this game. Notice in the first picture (Justin's stuff) there is a great deal of cash and a good amount of property cards.

In the last picture (my stuff) you'll notice the complete lack of cash and the multiple properties now mortgaged out in order to pay my debts. The game got worse from there. Eventually, Justin had a good majority of my properties so we gave up (or I did). Did I mention that I'm a sore loser?

To celebrate my birthday last month, my graduation last week, and our wedding annivesary next week, Justin and I decided to go to Rocky Point, Mexico. It was just the two of us and we had so much fun! We got to eat, sleep, and play whenever we wanted to, because the kids were at home with grandma! Although, we did miss them and look forward to taking them back in a few months.
Here is a picture of us at the warf (I think that's what you call it). We spent a good amount of time there shopping, getting fish at the market, and eating the yummiest tacos.










This is us at a yummy restaruant where we had an awsome vew of the ocean while we ate. It was very yummy. I had steak and shrimp wrapped in bacon and Justin had divorced fish. I thought that was a funny thing to order when we're celebrating our wedding anniversary!






The first night we got there we decided to go for a walk on the beach. The tide was out really far and we were able to walk on a lot of coral and found some fun sea shells that we brought back for the kids.

This is the view from our room. We loved where we stayed. I would highly recommed the Princessa. It's where we will stay when we take the kids. The pool area even has kiddy pools!

Overall, it was really nice to get away with my husband for a few days. Huge thanks to my mom who barely made it through the weekend. My kids sure kept her busy! She's probably still napping in order to recuperate!