Best Buddies!

These two little dudes are quite the buddies!  They have a fun time together.  Payton loves to tease her, but is actually quite nice to the little lady!  Morgan has found her voice and will LET YOU KNOW when you are doing something that you dont' want her to! Just ask all the folks in Sacrament Meeting each week!  She's a screamer!  Don't mess!  But she adores her older brothers and is constantly following them around- when she is not attached to my hip!  She loves me. :)

Every time Morgan sits down by Payton, she insists that they get their picture taken! Who am I to decline?!

Another instance of wanting her picture taken...this time, Link was home from school to partake as well!  LOVE my kids!

BOO to the sickies!!!

     We have been a bit sick around here as of late.  Not fun...I can assure you!  I always feel SO bad for my children when they are sick, and this last time was no exception!  Payton and Morgan went in for a well-child check up this last week, and it just so happened that NEITHER of them were quite as well as they should have been apparently!  Payton's Pulse/Oxygen levels were really pretty low and they were really worried about him- we almost had to take him to the hospital!  I begged to have them do everything that they can while we were either at the office or at home, and they were so nice to humor me.  Luckily for us, his levels went back up after some Nebulizer treatments, and he was able to skip out on the hospital this time! 
     Morgs didn't have any problems when we went to the doctor on Thursday, but the day after, she took a turn for the most definite worse!  She was absolutely awful!  I felt so bad for the poor little peanut!  She wasn't eating or drinking anything, and wasn't sleeping very well, and she would NOT let me put her down- heaven forbid!  So it was a bit of a long week.  She started to feel a little bit better by the next Wednesday or Thursday, so we didn't take her back into the doctors, but on Thursday night, we noticed that her ear was draining fluid REALLY bad, so I took her in the next day when Payton was scheduled to get his shots (which was SO sad...Why do shots have to be so sad!) and found that the poor little peanut has a ruptured ear drum. :(  Needless to say, we got her on some antibiotics and some ear drops and she is on the up and ups!  Right now- 8:35 (an hour past her bedtime!) she is sitting in Cole's lap eating a muffin because she was STARVING!  My kids are boycotting dinner at the dinner table.  It is COMPLETELY against the rules to have any dinner after dinner time if they don't eat (I know- mean mom!) but we know that she will just be up all night long crying with hunger pains if we dont' feed the poor thing- so she is quite enjoying this time with her daddy!  Little stinker pot. 

On to the second bowl!

Sleep face much?!

Happy Birthday Morgie Porgie!!!

So....my baby girl is two.  {Sniff}  I really don't know how it happened, but the day came and went, and she is a big girl now!  We weren't going to have a party for her or anything, but the day after her birthday (when her present that I REALLY wanted to give her, hence we waited to open up her presents until the day AFTER, didn't come) I decided to make her a few fun Sesame Street cookie pops and got carried away and made a TON!  SOOOO....we improvised and invited a few friends over!  Nothing fancy- just some cookie pops and ice cream and opened presents!  We had a great time!  But we can't believe that our little sweetheart is 2, and that she is such a great little baby girl!  A bit whiny at times (okay well...most of the time!) but she LOVES to cuddle, and loves to be right by me (or her dad will do- in a pinch) at all times!  She is REALLY into sesame street right now, and loves to read books about it.  She isn't thrilled about watching Sesame Street for too long, but will play with her dolls (Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster) for quite some time!  She hasn't really ever been into dolls or anything like that, but for her birthday we gave her a metal grocery cart (which she (and I) LOVE) and she thoroughly enjoys putting her baby in the front part where the babies are supposed to sit and pushing it all around the house!  It is the cutest thing ever.  She was LOTS more excited about her birthday presents then she was with her Christmas Presents, so we were very excited with that. 
     We love our little sweetheart, and are SO glad that she is part of our family!  Happy Birthday Morgie!  Here's to MANY MANY more!

Here she is on her ACTUAL birthday- which was on Sunday!

These babies were SO fun to make!  Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Zoey.  She loves them ALL!   She made sure to sample each and every one that we would let her try.

Notice all the different cookies in the bowl!  Cutest little babe. :)

CHEESE!  Happy Birthday baby girl!  It sure is hard to EVER turn down those big brown eyes!

blog dump

So- there's like 3 posts on the "older Posts" page if anyone is interested!  Enjoy the monthly purge!

Christmas Vacation

    Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year (which I LOVE by the way!) we decided to get the kids up a little early to see if Santa came so that we could be on time for church!  Cole didn't have any meetings- just had to go to church a tich early for an interview- so we had him all to ourselves that morning!  It was so nice!  We then headed to church- which was a disaster!  The program was LOVELY, but the kids were a disaster!  They were so tired, and just wanted to play with their toys- but what can you do!  It was nice to be able to focus a little bit on the Savior on the celebratory day of his birth!  What a marvelous time!  Anyways...after church, we rushed home and frantically packed and cleaned the house and got out of there and headed to Utah for the week!  We had SUCH a wonderful time spending time with everyone, and it was hard to come back to reality- that is for sure!  The kids were in HEAVEN being able to play with their cousins all the time, and they never wanted to leave!  It's nice that we don't live TOO far away so that we can come and play for little bits at a time like this.  We did some travelling back and forth from Richmond to Bountiful, but it was all worth it to be able to spend so much time with family! 
    On the 26th, we had a party with each family!  We were in Richmond for Cole's family gift exchange in the morning, and we had so much fun!  We were able to have a fun lunch, go on a hayride with everyone, open presents, and just hang out and play/chat!  What could be better!  The kids got the CUTEST hats from Grandma and Grandpa Smith, and were most definitely spoiled by their cousins with their gifts!  Cole and I were spoiled as well- of course!  We LOVE being up there on the farm!  The kids are always in heaven! (Not to mention Gus.  He goes CRAZY when we are up there!) 

Not the best picture of either of these two, but I wanted to show that Morgan was ALWAYS wanting to either be in the sled, on the four wheeler, or in the tractor ! This girl is on the MOVE!

Funny that this picture turned out like this with Payton....TALK about being on the move! 

All the Grandkids in their hats before our annual hayride up through the fields!  SUCH a fun tradition! My kids love it!  Poor sleepy Payton though fell asleep while he was sitting up!  He almost fell off the trailer for heavens sake! 

Morgs and I snugglin a little bit.  She is my snuggler!  For a minute anyway! 

That night we headed down to my Aunt Sibbers for a VERY fun and festive Progressive (where we actually didn't do any progressing, but what can ya do!) Dinner!  Grandfather and Wendy were there, and it was such a treat to be with them, and the Webster and Helsten families!  We had a DIVINE dinner, and a really great time decorating Gingerbread Houses, and had a great program after!

At least a few of the Miles family that was there!  We are missing quite a few to different countries right now!  Sheesh!

Cole and I enjoying the program....looking rather pensive wouldn't you say?!

The rest of the time we were in Utah was just spend hangin with fam!  We didn't do much- just lazily spent our days catching up and hangin out!  It was SO much fun!  We did travel back up to Richmond for a few days, then back to Bountiful for the rest of the time- including the New Years Holiday, and we had a great time!  It's hard to travel- especially around Christmas Time- but it is worth it when we get to spend so much time together with our families!  We love you all- and are so glad that you let us spend our holiday with you!  Merry Christmas- until next year!

Merry Christmas!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year ! Santa most DEFINITELY came, and we are So glad that he did.  He left many wonderful gifts for us all, and we had a magical time!  It was SO much fun to try and focus on the Savior more this year, and the kids really took to it.  Every time that anyone would ask them what they were asking Santa for for Christmas, they were sure to let whoever it was they were talking to know that the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas is for the birth of our Savior!  So cute! 
    We were able to have some of our friends over for Christmas Eve dinner that just had a baby, so it was GREAT fun to have them with us to celebrate with our fondue dinner. The kids LOVE this dinner- mostly the jell-o, but who's counting anyways?!  It's fun to see them excited about traditions that we have started together!  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! 

Christmas Eve Jammies ! This is always the LAST thing I put in the "Box" for the year, and the kids love it!  Not pictured are the cute slippers they got too!  So fun. I used to get jammies and slippers when I was a kid, and LOVE giving them to my kids!  Usually I try to make them- that was NOT happenin this year! 

We also read all of the "Christlike things" we did each day and put into one of our Advent Calendars (thanks Mom and Dad!  We absolutely LOVE it!).  The kids thought this was pretty fun to remember back through the month the things that they did that were Christlike!  I LOVE this new tradition!

Cole then read to us the Christmas Story from Luke 2.  The kids were very enthralled.

Woah!  Out of order!  Sorry...here we are with the Hansens just getting ready to start the Fondue Dinner!

Lincoln's coveted Ninja Lego Sets!  This kid is a maniac when it comes to Legos ! He LOVES them!  He put this entire castle together all on his own!  He might have had a LITTLE bit of help, but he pretty much did it all alone ! What a stud!

Payton got lots of ninja stuff as well- just not legos.  He's not much into building with Legos yet.  He likes to destroy them though!  We is REALLY into figurines, and Santa found him the perfect stuff!  Way to go big guy!

Morgan hit the JP with a SWEET kitchen set from Santa!  She even got loads of food as well!  She loves it, and can often be found in her room talking on the little phone that came with it! So cute!

She's also really into Sesame Street, so she got a few little figurines and stuffed animals. She now sleeps with Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster each night!

WE LOVE CHRISTMAS!  A Merry one to One and All!

Christmas Activities

We do LOTS of fun activities around here at Christmas time!  Here is just a sampling of a few of the things that we get to do together!  For those of you that don't know...I LOVE Christmas!  It is for sure my most favorite time of the year!

Playing "Missle Team!!!!"  Don't know what it is except for that they ran around the house for like an HOUR pretending that they were missles!  SO CUTE, and way cute because they let Morgs join in the fun!  She was in HEAVEN!

 

Writing letters to Santa...this was a BIG hit this year! The boys kept their letters up on the fridge (the 2nd ones they wrote!  The first ones- of course- went straight to Santa's workshop!) and referred to them quite often! Santa was most definitely kept on his toes right up until the end this year!

We decorated Gingerbread Cookies- and maybe ate a little frosting!  The kids had a blast!

Morgs really liked to eat them!  She's not much into decorating!

Payton was really getting the hang of it, and loved to put the eyes on each of the Gingerbread Men

THIS kid is a decorator!  I tell you what!

You tell me...HOW am I supposed to resist these cutest little face!

 

 

 

Even Dad got in on the action!  YEAH! He made the best cookie by far (not shown)  It was an Eskimo!  The cookie was all fluffy and white decorated with two beady little red eyes sticking out from underneath the fluff! So clever!

 Had a fun Gingerbread House decorating party with some new friends this year!  It was SUCH a great time, and a LOT of candy was consumed by all!

Sierra and Jenny Leon displaying their beautiful masterpiece!

The  Naandi family getting in on the action!

Two of the Wilson family (Tate- one of Lincolns really great buddies from school, and his Mom Wendi)  The other 3 were somewhere else roaming the house!

I tell you what...that Lincoln is a DECORATOR!  He LOVES it!  Eats it up...literally sometimes! ;)  Waka Waka!

Taking our annual trip to the Spaghetti Factory for some yummy Spaghet and a freaky lady that made us some balloon animals- but that's a different story entirely!

Payton fell asleep on the way there and took a few minutes to warm up to the whole situation! Silly boy.

LOVE the self portraits!  They make for the cutest pics for sure!

Made a quick trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE this place, and I love it too!  Plus, Cole was able to join us- so it was a DOUBLE bonus!  YEAH for outings! 

Sorry for the weird pics. I- of course- forgot my camera, so we had to make due with Cole's phone!  Sometimes though, it takes better pics than my camera!    Do these two look like twins or WHAT!?!

Absolutely serious about flying his space ship.  You know it man.

 Got LOTS of fun things each day in the box!  This day it was rudolph the red nosed reindeer sucker pops!  They thought these were pretty darn funny!

Morgans- of course- was covered in hair the second that she took it out of her mouth!  We spend alot of time washing it off until it finally shattered when she dropped it on my bathroom floor!  Oops...lesson learned. 

 Made the COOLEST snow fort EVER!  Lincoln and Cole (and Payton and Morgan until their hands got too cold to participate any longer) make a mean snow fort!  This one even came complete with crawl through tunnels, turrets to make it look like a castle, and our very own sledding hill!  So cool.

Cole is SOOO great to play in the snow with the kids, and they will spend HOURS out there making all sorts of great creations!  Forget just a plain old snowman (cool as they may be!) We go for the castles and stuff!  I get ambushed quite frequently with snowballs when I come walking around the corner unawares! 

Getting ready for a sled down the hill

There are just a few of our fun things we did this December!  Sorry for the long post.  Cookie for you if you finished!