Christmas in Utah

This year we decided to surprise our families for Christmas. We called Grandpa Brad and Grandma Maralee and asked if we could stay with them. This was such a good idea because we got into town two days before Christmas, so we had two days with them all to ourselves. No one else could compete for our time because no else knew we were in town. Smart thinking!

We watched movies, went swimming, ate a lot, went sledding, and even went to see the lights at Temple Square. Thanks for the good times and a wonderful place to crash Grandpa, Grandma, and Alisha. We sure do love you!

From The Mouths of Babes

Little B has a bad habit of saying "butt cheek." I think he likes the way it sounds. After months of washing his mouth out with soap and no stopping his potty mouth, dad took matters in his own hands. Tabasco sauce! Lets just say one application of Tabasco sauce on the tongue did the trick. We finally broke B of his potty mouth.

Fast forward a few weeks later and out of the mouth of our sweet little 18 month old TLex came his first two words strung together, "butt cheek." Dang! The problem is you can't help but laugh when you hear your innocent baby say butt cheek. Seriously, it is hilarious! That sweet voice is ADORABLE, no matter what comes out of it. That little turkey knows he shouldn't be saying it and he giggles every time he does. Which makes it even more adorable. The good news is it sounds like "budgie" when he says it, so anyone outside of our family is non-the-wiser about my potty mouth baby.

I sure do love my boys!

Every Family Needs A Bad Dog!

Once upon a time Mazie was a well behaved dog. When Nate and I were first married we knew our family needed someone else, but we weren't ready for kids. So we settled on a dog. The dog of choice was a Bichon Frise, of course. We meet Mazie shortly after her birthdate on January 2, 2002. We were able to call her ours on February, 14. Because she was our first child we taught her manners and even some tricks. She was a hyper puppy but she obeyed.

When we started adding children to the family Mazie was given the taste of more and more people food because the kids were always dropping stuff. Prekids the only people food we would give her was cheese, carrots, and the occasional scraps of meat. When Ash was about 2 years old he was in the dining room enjoying a bowl of cereal while I was finishing getting ready in my room. All of a sudden I heard Ash screaming, so I ran to him to see what was the matter. The scene I found was Ash at the table with one arm out blocking the dog from getting into his bowl and the other arm shoveling food into his mouth. The taste of food and the want of more changed my once well behaved dog.

It is a good thing we still love our rotten dog.

I love the top right picture. She is like, "what?! I always stand up her to look out the window. I guess
T-lex doesn't mind sharing and mom is busy taking my photo, so don't mind if I do."

Birthday Boy

I know everyone always say's this, but I really can't believe my little buddy has turned 4.

I love spending my days with this fun loving imaginative boy. I am not ready for him to start school next year. Can I keep him this little forever? Little B wanted to celebrate his birthday Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Style. I worked on the decorations and food while dad decorated the cake. I think the party turned out pretty dang cute! The best part of your birthday was having Aunt Cindy join us. Can you believe it. I did not take one picture of her. I am so bummed.

4 things I love most about Little B.
1. You love to play dress up. I constantly find you dressed up as a different character. Scooby Doo, ninja, TMNT, Power Ranger, Super Man, and Batman are a few of your favorites.
2. I love how you play nicely, most of the time, with your brothers.
3. You ride your bike or scooter around the house like a mad man and it makes you so happy.
4. You are FINALLY learning your letters. You like to learn on your own terms.

Disneyland

We sure do love having Disneyland passes. Between October 31 and November 26 we went to Disneyland 8 times. Our annual passes expired on November 27 so we wanted to make the most of the time we had left on our passes. Pretty sure we got our money's worth.

We have found that our Disney trips help us fill the void of not living around family. When holidays get lonely or we just need something different to do, we hop in the car and head to Disneyland for some quality family time. We have also found that when family and friends come to town if we want to see them we have to have go to Disneyland. This year we were lucky enough to take Grandma Connie to Disneyland, meet up with the Erwin, Jensen, Read families, and Nate's cousin Chanelle.

 Chilling with Grandma Honnie and Mickey Mouse

Good time with Chanelle and Darien

Meeting up with the Erwin and Jensen Families

 Our family trip to Disneyland this year is when we got to stay in the California Grand Hotel. Dad went to meetings all day while we played. Good times!

 Meeting up with our Read cousins

 No tricking or treating this year. The kids picked Disneyland instead. 

I think it was and excellent choice

Kid Selfies

I am a big fan of kid selfies, well that is when there aren't a million of them on my phone. Here are a few gems I just found.

This kid!!!

Presidential Library Visits

This year we had annual passes to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which actually get's you into all of the Presidential Libraries. Since the Ronald Reagan Library and the Nixon Libraries are both in Southern California we were able to check both out.

This is the house President Nixon grew up in. Everything inside is like when he was a little guy living in it. President Nixon comes from a family of all boys too.

Acting all Presidential at the Ronald Reagan Museum

The Reagan Library was our favorite of the two libraries. As it has Amazing views, cool old school cars, a retired Airfare One and Marine One, It also has cool traveling exhibits.