Wickedly sad girl

I was really excited to go and see Wicked which is passing through town. After trying to get tickets online for an hour I gave up (yes I really wasted an hour of my life hitting the refresh button!). Apparently they were not prepared for the masses and it sold out pretty fast. Of course plenty of tickets are floating around the internet if you want to pay $500 a pop! I might as well go to NYC and see it on Broadway. Did anyone get tickets?

A new twist on an old favorite

I went to my first ever cookie exchange, YUM! I must admit cookies are one of my favorite things about Christmas. Someone had made homemade Oreo's with peppermint frosting! They have mint Oreo's right, how had I never thought of this myself? Needless to say these are in my cookie jar right now and the rate we are going they are not going to last long!

Peppermint Oreo's
1 box Chocolate cake mix
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Butter

Mix roll into balls and bake at 350 for about six to eight minutes.
Cool cookies sandwich with peppermint frosting.

Peppermint Frosting
vanilla frosting with a teaspoon of peppermint extract.
For a festive touch I marbled in a little red food coloring.

Today after lunch I gave my son one and he looks at it, looks up to me and says, "wait a minute this is two cookies," he was beeming when he realized they were both his.

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

I come out to find my two little monkeys sitting on the stairs eating chocolate chip cookies, at 8 in the morning mind you!
"Excuse me?" I say, my son looks at me with huge puppy dogs eyes, afraid he has done something wrong.
"Where did you get that from?" I ask him.
Without a moments hesitation my daughter looks at him and says "You're welcome Caden!" then tuns to me with a big beaming smile. Yes my two year old monkey climbed up on top of the counter opened the cookie jar and stole not one but two cookies. At least she is looking out for her brother right?

Picture Post!

For Auntie Ang.
We love the new dress, she even did her signature turn in front of the mirror while exclaiming "I pretty!"(we are to blame for this one, if you hear it enough what are you going to do?) and she was not shy about posing for the camera either.















For Nana, Papa, and Auntie Em
This weekend we finally got around to getting the "big boy" bike in reward for potty training. We, well I should say he, has been filling out a chart for the last month (I was not always good at remembering it, and neither was he!) So we had a little yeah for you party when we put the final stickers on this weekend and we got his bike. Little sister was happy to inherit his old bike as well. Due to the rainy day we had to play indoors, thanks goodness for garages!

I did it!

My almost two year old loves to say this. She is always very proud of all her accomplishments. I decided to make their Halloween costumes this year and I have to admit I felt a very proud "I did it!" of my own. If I can do it ANYONE can, really. So here are a few pictures of our trick or treaters, who had a very fun Halloween.

My Obsession

I had to share, it was way to much fun not to! Tuesday night I went to a Jason Mraz concert. I was a fan before, now I am a little obsessed, my husband can attest to this! I have been listening to him non-stop. Good thing I owned all his albums before I went to the show. And because I didn't have a recording device of my own here is a clip from the show courtesy of good old you tube. Any screams coming from the right of the screen were coming from me.

Jack-O'Lanterns

The Monday before Halloween tradition continues, for our FHE activity we carved pumpkins, and like last year mom forgot to pick up the candles...opps, good thing we have a handy backup flashlight!

2 for 1

My friend recently gave birth to what she thought would be one bundle of joy that turned into twins! It is possible with all of our technology to somehow miss baby number two. So after pushing out her little girl she was a little shocked to hear the doctor say there is something else in there and five minutes later she was holding her little boy. It seems they have been coming down in twos a lot lately! I would like to place my order for two please. I just think the faster they come down the better!

Ode to my kids

The Big Boy

Well, he is just that, a big boy. I watch him sleep sometimes in amazement at how grown up he is looking. His baby cheeks, and stubby fingers are turning into little boy features and I find myself wondering how he got so big, so fast. He is now (drum roll please) potty trained and very proud of the fact. He loves singing and often, especially in the car, will burst into song. He is finding his independence and this morning as we got dressed to take him to a friends house he informed me he could take himself. As much as he loves to be independent I can always count on a huge smile and great big hug when he returns as if to say he had missed me the whole time he was away. He is our peace loving boy and for the most part he is very good to his little sister.

The Princess

What can I say she really is just that, a princess, at least she thinks so. She is very strong willed and determined. She is not to happy when anyone or anything gets in between her and what she wants. She at the ripe age of 21 months is forming very strong opinions, and she is not afraid to share them! She, like her brother, loves to sing and always does actions to her favorite primary songs. She is an adventurer at heart and seems to fear nothing as she climbs up, down, and around everything. She can let herself in or out of her crib with ease, but I am not ready to put her in a big bed yet. She is still our little sweet pea but despite her petite size she is growing up on us.

Fall

As if on cue there is a definite bite in the air today.
Welcome Fall, with your pretty color, and the sudden need of socks and shoes, and crisp fresh air. I am excited to eat warm soup, and sip hot chocolate, and get all comfy under covers again, but I do have one small favor of you fall. Will you please tell your soon to be here friend the winter that you would like to stay as long as possible and keep him, with his snow and below zero killer wind, far, far away, at least for now. Thanks!

Family reunion

Lots of food, a trip to Zion's, photos, laughing, swiming, shopping, playing, Bryce Canyon, hiking, movies, road trips, jumping jacks, and lots more food!

Flashback Friday

This was taken some 20 odd years ago, it was a family vacation I remember well. We've grown some and are now all officially "adults". Two of us are married with families of our own. These next two weeks when we are all together again I am sure there will be more pictures, lots of laughs, and a ton more memories to add to our collection. I love family!

Flashback Friday

Good friends, great times, cherished memories. We will miss you Jones family!

Project get things done

Starts today. After this post I will not be blogging,surfing,or watching TV in hopes that hubby and I can tackle a few projects that have been left undone for to long. So until we make some progress we are putting into affect a media fast. I have to admit this is going to be hard for me. Maybe even harder then potty training. Who am I kidding nothing can be harder then that right now!

On Potty Training

Why does he think it is more comfortable and convenient to go in his pants? Why is he holding it today because he is in underwear? Why can he not just magically get it? Why is parenting so hard?

Three and thriving

Every year I tell myself it will be small, I'll keep it simple, he is only three after all. So how did I end up with 15 plus kids, a ton of food, and a pinata? I can't help it I like birthdays, parties are fun, so I guess from here on out party on! He'll always have big birthdays.

Flash Back Friday

Nine months of anticipation, 20 hours of labor, three years of blessings.
I continue to learn and grow because he is a part of my life.
I love you my sweet, sweet, baby boy

I always say I am never...but here we go again :)

Three Joys
1. A loving husband who does his best to give me all I want and more.
2. Two beautiful, healthy children. One who was even an angel ALL sacrament long today :)
3. The beauty of the mountains that make me smile everyday.

Three fears
1. Losing a child physically,spiritually, basically in any way possible.
2. Bad people who hurt others, and could possibly harm my family or myself.
3. The dark

Three Goals
1. To be a better wife and active mother.
2. To get back into the habit of daily scripture study.
3. To show love and kindness to everyone regardless.

Three current obsessions
1. Blogs!
2. Babies
3. Spades on the computer

Three random surprising facts about me
1. I once yelled at my eighth grade teacher
2. I like twisted plots either in books, or movies
3. I have lived both in the northwest, and on an island and I hate seafood.

I am not tagging anyone but I would love to hear your "threes" so if you do it comment so I can come check um out.

Kissy Kissy

I am cheating and directing everyone to another blog for this post. All I have to say is we are in trouble! So go see for yourself. Kisses

Summer Time

It is coming I can feel it! The smell of fresh cut grass, Popsicles, and lots of bubbles. Not to mention the water parks, family reunions, birthday celebrations, and a gazillion trips to the park! Sweet, sweet summer what has taken you so long?

Oh joy

Three reason's to shout for joy:
1. I have seen evidence that my children love each other and do listen to me. . . sometimes! The other day my son gave his very treasured Buzz Lightyear toy to his sister.
"Here Fia you try," he encouraged.
When she got the laser to work he beamed with pride.
"Good job Fia, good job!" he exclaimed.

2. My little guy is quite the little helper and is always asking if he can help with whatever we are doing. He likes to feel useful and we are trying to encourage him to do things. He is great at cleaning ears of corn!


3. I can put my daughters hair in itty, bitty ponies! Unfortunately she has something against things in her hair so they never last more then a minute, but she did leave them in long enough for me to capture proof that it is possible!

Trippin'

Half way into our journey we were all thinking why are we doing this? Seemingly a million hours and one screaming baby later we made it. And it was worth every minute to see Hermana Wesley, go to Disneyland, eat red velvet cupcakes from Sprinkles, splash in the pacific, and of course hang out with the ever so fun Naco. Good times, good times.

A few favs from our photo shoot

I really do love them all. I highly recommend family photos far away from the confines of a studio. And I also highly recommend Ashley.

love is in the air

We recently had a photo shoot with the wonderful Ashley Thalman. More to come later.

Cinco De Mayo

This day holds precedence in our house not because we are Mexican, but because this also happens to be the day that my sweetheart turns yet another year older. Needless to say it is a fun day of celebration at our house.

She liked the cake


look at all those candles


the ruins

presents!