Leaf Hunting

This afternoon we decided to do a fun fall craft! The weather was nice and the boys and I wanted to get out and go on a walk! We decided to go 

LEAF HUNTING 

to get what we needed to make out pictures! 

On our walk we saw lots of exciting things! We walked less then 2 block and were gone for an hour! :) We saw a MAC truck just like the one who is friends with Lighting Mcween! So we had to stop and play around on it! That is until his family got home.... oops! We saw a LOT of fire hydrants!! And Cooper found a very exciting stick, which became a fun thing to HIT EVERYTHING around us! 

When we got to the church the kids collected as many leaves as they could and we headed home! The sun was setting and Spencer started to worry he said "Mom I don't think we are EVER going to make it home! I sure miss my Dad!!" It was so funny and so matter of fact! I assured him we would make it home! And distracted him with the cool stick! I think thats what we are getting the kids for Christmas! They sure loved that thing!

Once we got home the kids had a ball crunching the leaves and helping me pick out what to draw! Spencer was REALLY good at tracing the pictures with the glue! And when it came time to dump the leaves on there was NOT a shortage of little hands wanting to spread those leaves around! When we cleared off the extra leaves Spencer let out a little yelp and said "Wow its magic Mom, we made a leaf picture!!" 

The finished "magical" pictures turned out great! Spencer was so proud of them he wanted to put them on his door! A real place of HONOR! 

HELP..... Sewing is Tricky!

So about 2 months ago I started working on new blankets for the boys to have once the bunk beds came! I started working on them, the bunk beds arrived and then I kinda quit.... for a while! So my sweet friend Amber asked me how it was coming the other day and I told her....it wasn't really coming at all! So she offered to come over and help! She is so GREAT! 

So yesterday we worked on them a little before FHE! I am almost ready to start sewing now! Which FREAKS me out, I don't want to screw it up! 

But I have run into a CREATIVE SNAG! You see Spencer's blanket has a race car on it, and it turned out really cute! But Coopers dump truck looks a little DEFORMED! I was hoping someone out there had an idea of how to make it look a little less...... cheesy!????? 

Here is the update since I talked to my Mom! But its still not right.....

Remember I am made up the pattern from a blanket I saw on Pottery Barn Kids so I am kinda on my own! ANY THOUGHTS or advice would be GREAT! I am not a good sewer and am WISHING I had paid more attention when my Mom tried to teach me all of this! :(

Thankful FHE

SO.... WOW I think at the end of this FHE I need to remember what I have to be thankful for because it was a little tiresome! We had 2 families over for a total of 5 kids  here for FHE! They were ALL over the place! The last month we have just had quiet FHE's and I think with such a drastic change Spencer kinda had a hard time calming down!! (kinda is a nice way to put it!)

First we talked about being thankful for what we have and what others do for us then I did a little Puppet Show with the story of the 10 lepers! I ended up using these SILLY cartoons because I couldn't find any good drawings or pictures ANYWHERE online! ANYWAY the kids kinda thought my lepers were MONSTERS! It was kinda funny!

Then we colored a picture of some things we can be grateful for! After coloring we made a "Thankful TURKEY!" And added feathers that had things the kids were thankful for! Some of the feathers are things like Backyardigins and Puppet Shows! But it turned out pretty cute! We played a fun round of Musical Chairs! The kids kinda chased each other around and then would get distracted and fall down or run ALL over the house and completely forget about the chairs! 

In the end it was exhausting! But I AM THANKFUL for the promise that if I try to do FHE the Lord will bless my boys! I HOPE that I am helping them to understand Heavenly Fathers Plan even on nights where things DON'T go as planned! :) 

Princess Party

This weekend we went to St George for Tippy's Birthday Party! Spencer and Tippy have a really cute friendship! Spencer is such a rough and tumble boy and Tippy is a sweet girly girl; so its been funny to watch their relationship grow! He calls her Princess and has gotten better at not scaring her with bats and swords! I think (?) he is starting to understand that girls like to play differently then boys!

Anyway we went down for 

Tippys Princess Party 

this Saturday! Spencer picked out a princess gift after lots of looking! At first he said she wanted a princess motorcycle or a pink race car but then we started looking at the dolls and he got the hang of it! It was so funny!

The party was over at Noah's so the kids could run around the backyard! It was 70 degress and almost HOT outside! 

Noah and Spencer had a great time together, as we were leaving Spencer said "Mom, I sure like playing with Noah he is my super friend!"

The Birthday cake was ADORABLE! 

Cooper had fun outside but he was FOCUSED on one thing the whole party.... the FOOD! Megan had made some adorable pink cupcakes and Cooper was constantly trying to get into them! I gave him one outside, thinking it would be no big deal for him to dig in out there.....and DIG IN he did! 

He also made MULTIPLE other attempts at more cupcakes! He only succeeded one other time and managed to get a spoon in the cupcake and run into the living room! Face planting onto Megan's couch! Frosting EVERYWHERE!! I think its safe to say Cooper loves CUPCAKES!  SORRY AGAIN MEGAN! 

Pregnancy Woes :(

This specific PREGNANCY COMPLAINT has been bothering me for SOME TIME! I keep trying to look past it and get over it but... it keeps coming up! So its time to get it off my chest! 

It really UPSETS and HURTS me when people comment on my belly! A little bit of teasing could be brushed off as something that comes with the territory but ALL THE TIME? 

I cant understand why it isn't a COMMON RULE OF SOCIETY that you NEVER say anything to a pregnant girl about the size of her tummy! Don't people understand that there is a little person in there and that you cant exactly GO ON A DIET! No one EVER says anything to someone who is overweight, because it would be CRAZY RUDE! But to a PREGNANT girl who isn't large because of bad eating habits or not exercising people feel entitled to comment and ask about how big you are! COME ON, we are OVERLY HORMONAL! THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK! 

I have had SO many rude people say mean things this time! For example on Halloween a total stranger at the gas station asked " Is that your costume?" I was wearing NORMAL clothes!! Who says that? Then at church on Sunday the nursery leader commented "Wow you look like you are ready to explode!!" Oh that one just hurt! And SERIOUSLY WHO SAYS THAT? THINK IT ALL YOU WANT; BUT DON'T SAY THAT! COME ON! 

I also think comments like "Wow you must be getting close" and "Looks like you are about to have that baby!" Are completely off limits! It is such a weird phenomenon and I think that it needs to become unacceptable to say ANYTHING to pregnant women about their size! We are already WELL aware of how big the baby is getting we don't need ANYONE to point it out or ask about it!! 

I am sorry to go off the deep end but I have been complaining to BJ long enough its time I said something! Next time someone says something I am not going to try and cover up their rude comment by saying something nice, I AM GOING  TO LET THEM KNOW ITS RUDE TO SAY THINGS! AND ITS HURTFUL! I am going to start standing up for all those other pregnant girls who are tired of people being rude! Maybe people will start to take the hint? I HOPE SO! 

Deck the Halls

I love the Christmas Season! 

I love all the decorations and the traditions that come with Christmas time! When the house is in full Christmas glory it feels so warm and welcoming! It makes me just want to cuddle up under a blanket with some hot chocolate and wait to Santa come! 

Every year there is a list about a foot long of all the new decorations I want to add for the house to give that "Christmasy feel!" But THIS year I am holding back and trying to be creative with what I have! The Lord has blessed us with so much and its time I use a little restraint and show my gratitude by NOT asking for MORE MORE MORE! (BJ is currently breathing a HUGE sigh of RELIEF!)

Even though I am not getting any new decorations the kids and I had a GREAT time setting up the tree (which I kinda do all by myself cause I like to make it kinda funky but I try and make them feel included:) Cooper loved the lights and kept asking me if they were too hot to touch! Silly boy! And Spencer was fascinated by all the big balls I was putting on! I did have to explain AGAIN this year that the Christmas ornaments that are round are not the same KIND of balls you through around and play catch with! HOPEFULLY that little bit of difference sticks with them! :)

Spencer was SO excited to put the star on the top when the tree was all done! 

Then we got out all the nativities! YEA! I have collected a few over the years and the boys LOVE to play with all their little parts! Spencer calls them the "Jesus Houses" Most of them get put up out of reach but there are 2 the kids love to play with! The new Veggie Tales one is a BIG hit this year! And very durable! THANKS MOM!

We put up some cheesy Micky Mouse stickers on the windows because Cooper is infatuated with Mickey right now! And Spencer was fascinated with the idea that Mickey was dressed up as Santa! (It took a little bit of explaining :)

Anyway I am SURE as the season continues we will make a few fun CHRISTMAS CRAFTS and homemade decorations to help fill the house with that warm cheery feeling! If you have any ideas SEND THEM MY WAY! 

MERRY ALMOST CHRISTMAS

Tis' the (Almost) Season....

So if you hate those people that love to set up Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving,
SKIP THIS POST!
Cause I LOVE CHRISTMAS and I want to enjoy it AS LONG as I can! Oh and I am having a baby in 4 weeks so I thought I should jump the gun and get everything set up, JUST IN CASE!

We started setting up for Christmas today, ITS NOT FINISHED so I am just going to share my
ADORABLE little helpers!

Spencer was ALMOST as excited as me to be getting ready for SANTA!
These silly Santa hats are curtisy of my Mom few years ago, but who doesnt love a CRAZY SANTA hat? Spencer does, he wants as many as he can get on!
Cooper isn't as sure about this whole "Santa hat" thing! But he sure loved the spring in the hat, as long as it wasn't on HIS head!

Stay tuned for all the Christmas Cheer, I am hoping to be all done tomorrow! We'll see........

I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus FHE

Yesterday was a super busy day, but somehow I managed to pull an FHE together! I had found a simple idea and just expanded it a little!

First we sang the song "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus," which I really love! I think we are going to have to listen to it a lot more! Then we played a game! The game starts with a set of foot prints and then Spencer JUMPED to each new set of footprints! First I set out a picture of Jesus and asked Spencer what Jesus was doing in the picture? Then I set down a picture of how he could do something JUST LIKE JESUS!

For example, Jesus went to the temple when he was a boy, you can go to the temple and to Church! Or Jesus helped people, you can help Mom and Brother! He had a lot of fun JUMPING, and asked to play it 3 times! He knew all the pictures by the end!Then we played musical chairs, on each chair I put one of the pictures of things HE could do to BE LIKE JESUS! And when the music stopped we said what each of us could do to be more like Him! The kids LOVED musical chairs! Even Cooper got in on the action and chased us around!
We had a coloring page and talked a little bit more about what kind of things Jesus would and WOULDN'T do! Afterwards Spencer asked me to if he could play the "Jesus feet game" again! We had a lot of fun, and it was really simple! HURRAY!!!
AND I made DESSERT! And I NEVER make dessert! But I saw this recipe on Rachel's blog and I couldn't stop thinking about it! Its called Turtle Pumpkin Pie! And it is INCREDIBLE! It was very simple and only took me 15 minutes MAX to make! It chills in the fridge so you don't even have to bake it! I loved it, and ALL the boys loved it! THANKS RACHEL! I am totally making it for Thanksgiving!I love his expression, he is trying to figure out what this is and why its SO YUMMY!

SILLY WINKS

I have been meaning to catch the boys playing on MSN Messenger for a while now! We spend a lot of time talking to my parents with our web cam! The boys love being able to see Gramzie and Grandad! And lately they have found the fun little "Winks" that you can send back and forth!
THEY ARE OBSESSED!

Cooper loves the blue monster that growls at you after he comes out of the door! He would watch it OVER AND OVER! He has just started growling BACK at the monster which is the CUTEST thing in the world! Spencer loves to click on the images, he has gotten really good at the mouse! My favorite is the dancing pig!

(Sorry about the angles on the video I was holding the camera and holding Cooper in my lap!!:)


The really funny part of this whole game is that they could play the SAME winks over and over and NEVER get sick of it! If you can see it in this video the ENTIRE messenger screen is full of winks! I am SURE my parents have long closed it down so they can ignore the friendly little cartoons! While my boys are laughing up a storm!

You can tell Cooper has his favorites and gets a little impatient with Spencer if he clicks on a cartoon he doesn't like or takes too long between winks!
Oh my silly silly boys!
Whatever keeps them from beating on each other and makes them laugh!

I hope everyone can see how much they love it and how funny it is to watch their fascination with such a simple little WINK! ;)

Hurray for Visitors!!

Today we had a few family visitors! BJ's Parents, Brother and Sister came through Cedar on their up to Wyoming! We all went out to Breakfast for Kristie's Birthday! Spencer made her the CUTEST card (which I forgot to get a pictures of, darnit) Spencer was so excited to see Nana and Papa he really wanted to leave with them!
He loves NANA and PAPA! Then this afternoon Jenise came up for a quick visit! BJ went into work and so we thought it would be fun to just have some sister, nephew time! We got some take-out from the GREAT Hawaiian restaurant that has amazingly yummy Kahlua Pork, stopped at the grocery store for some chocolates and headed home to relax!Jenise had stopped at Old Navy on her way up and picked up some hats and mittens for the kids! They were having a big winter clothing sale and all the hats and mittens were a dollar today! YEA! We also got Cooper a warm winter coat!! BUT..... I tried to get away with getting the bigger size so that it would FOR SURE fit him next year! AND my plan didn't really work! He looked like Randy from A Christmas Story! He could barely walk and his arms wouldn't lay at his side! I guess sometimes you really have to get them the RIGHT size! Oh well, the whole thing made for a fun evening! THANKS SO MUCH for coming up J we all had a such a blast! It would have been sad and lonley WITHOUT YOU! We LOVE YOU!

LAZY PJ Days....

The last few days being 8 months pregnant has really caught up with me (or at least that's my excuse for being tired and lazy!!!

:)
The boys and I have stayed in our PJ's until after nap time every day this week! We have watched a lot of movies, played a lot of games, and read a lot of books! I have meant to get pictures of them all week but I've been a little to lazy to do that too!

But TODAY I grabbed the camera and got a few pictures of the boys being goofy! This morning we read a few stories in Mommy's bed and then the boys hopped into the computer chair and started spinning around! They were giggling and laughing up a storm until I started taping
them:) But its a cute clip anyway!


Later that morning we made a little fort and the kids played in it on and off the rest of the day! It was really cute because Cooper would crawl under the table and growl! I don't know if he was pretending to be a bear or a dinosaur but it sure was funny!
After nap the boys started racing up and down the hall! We had a few casualties (as expected!!) but over all they had a fun time racing!
In all of these picture I am sure you will notice my not so tidy house! Along with my growing belly I have become less and less concerned with cleaning during the day! I still do the dishes as they get dirty during the day!!! And pick up so I have a clean house when I go to bed, but I have started to SLACK off picking up during the afternoon! I just hate picking up at nap time just to watch it go to POT as soon as the kids wake up! I haven't been as patient with the boys when they mess up what I just spent my QUIET time cleaning! SO my solution is to NOT clean it up and wait till they go to bed! :) LAZY... YES! But I don't get as frustrated so I am willing to call it a small success, instead of a failure!

Proud to be an American, and GLAD its OVER!

BJ and I went and voted today! We had to take the kids and once we got there Spencer kept asking where the "B-oat" was? He was a little bummed I said "V-ote" and that he wasn't getting on a Boat after all!

For some reason I always get a little sentimental on election day! I am glad I live in a country where we can all disagree and still go and vote for who ever WE feel is best for the us without the fear of what will happen to us for speaking our mind!

And No matter the outcome I am grateful I had the opportunity to cast my vote! BJ and I had fun discussing all of the different debates and hearing friends and families opinions!
BUT BOY I am GLAD its OVER!

I hope the country can change for the better and we can all unite behind whoever is elected!

Scriptures FHE

Tonight we had our FHE on the scriptures! We talked about the different books and where they came from! I tried to explain that the scriptures are stories the prophets have written down to help us be more like Jesus!
The we had a puppet show! YEA!!! I did a few little stories! The first one was about how Joseph Smith got the Book of Mormon. Then I told him about Captain Moroni and the Stripling Warriors! He thought it was really neat to see the swords and hear about the young boys we were soldiers! Then we talked about the Bible and how those stories are from Europe and tell about older prophets and Jesus! I told him the story of the Ten Commandments and Jesus walking on the water! We had to explain that walking on the water is different then swimming in the water! And then he was VERY impressed that Jesus could walk on it since he couldn't even swim in the water yet!
Some of the puppets!! I kinda love making these little puppets and the look on Spencer's face when we open the curtains for the show!

I made a little coloring page, because Spencer listens really well while he colors! So we kinda went over what the names of the scripture books are and who wrote them! Cooper really enjoyed coloring and didn't even eat any markers or color on any furniture! A total success!
At bed time Spencer was excited to sit down and read his scriptures and asked me to find the story about the young soldiers and the neat prophet captain! So I think it went well!

Friendship Bread with Friends

On Saturday night BJ and Caleb took a much needed break and went out to a "Man Movie!" Steph and I hung out and talked while the kids RAN AROUND and had a great time playing! We decided to finish up this Amish Friendship Bread BJ had been working on for the last 9 days! It turned out really good! I wanted to post this funny picture of the kids helping us clean up!
They both really wanted to help us make the bread! SO EVERY OTHER ingredient was added by either Tippy or Spencer! They were both really good about taking turns and LOVED to lick the beaters after we were done!

The boys had fun at their movie and we all enjoyed relaxing and hanging out! But next time the girls are hitting the town while the boys stay home! YEA!!!

Trick or Treat

We went down to St George this year for Halloween! Unfortunately BJ had to work but the kids and I had a great time going around to to Trick or Treat with all our family and friends!

We stopped by Jenise's apartment first! Cooper fell asleep on the way their so he was a little groggy but as soon as he saw the treats he woke right up! He kept taking handfuls! And then he would put them back in the bucket! :) Silly kid, you have to hold on to those treats!
After visiting with Jenise we went out to Hurricane to trick or treat with the Hanks and the Steele's. Megan's neighborhood was perfect for walking around with the kids and we knew they would all love to go together! Spencer was a bit grouchy before we got started but warmed up and was great at saying "trick or treat" and thank you (phew) Cooper wasn't really into walking all over so I ended up carrying him while he bit THROUGH the candy wrappers to get a taste! He wasn't really into waiting!
We ended up back at BJ's parents with all the cousins! By then I was completely WORN out but the kids had a great time running around! The buzz from the candy didn't wear off until 11:00!
We had a great time, next year I think the kids will be a little more into it! When we got home on Saturday Spencer asked if he could go around and go trick or treat at home?