Kelly Returns!

 

Brandon's brother Kelly returned from his mission in Thailand on December 19th. We all gathered at the airport that night(a huge group) and everyone was so excited! The weather was terrible and many flights were delayed. His plane couldn't land and had to refuel in Las Vegas which put them landing in Salt Lake at 1:30 am! Talk about disappointment! Most of us went home, but a few stayed including Brandon, Tanner and Megan!

Brandon's Birthday

 

The world now knows what b-day Brandon celebrated on December 9th! I'm a little behind on blogging with all the holiday action, but I am catching up! We went to eat at Thai Chili Garden, I suppose we could say in honor of his brother Kelly who just returned from his mission in Thailand. When we came home he opened his gifts and we had cake and ice cream. The cake turned out really good. I just bought it from Albertson's and then printed a stretch Y logo, cut out the Y and put in on top of the cake. Tanner was pretty impressed with my skills! he he

Christmas Blankets

One of the best purchases I made this season, was buying each of the kids a Christmas blanket(a couple weeks before Christmas). It wasn't something I planned on, but when I saw the blankets for such a great deal I decided to buy ONE. Then I realized I had better get FOUR. That happens a lot where I think ONE will do just fine, and then I realize the kids may fight so I just end up buying FOUR. You know how that is! Any-hoo, I didn't know how much they would love these blankets! They are super soft and just made them feel special. They take them in the car and sleep with them. With the exception of Gavin who thought it rather insulting that I was trying to replace his "dee-dee"(blankie). So I have sort of adopted his for now, and I even ended up buying one for Brandon. It's been a fun memory and I'm so glad we have them. Hope you all had a great Christmas. I know "Wii" did. More posts to come!
Tanner loves his blue snowman blanket!










Megan loves her gingerbread man blanket.









Zach's nickname is Moosie and he loves red!



Gavin's(aka Mommy's adopted blanket for now!)

Temple Square and Festival of Trees

 

I find myself not keeping up with the blog as I should for two reasons:
1. I am extremely busy and trying to get ready for Christmas.
2. I am also into Facebook and spend time on that too.

So I am making an effort to keep up on the blog. We went to the Festival of Trees and Temple Square last week. Megan danced at the Festival of Trees and did a great job. Then we headed up to T. Square with the other thousands of people who had the same idea. There was also a game getting out of the Energy Solutions Arena so it was pretty well packed throughout all of Salt Lake. A lovely time to choose to take the kids! Ha ha. But, all in all a nice time. Exhausting...but it was really beautiful.

Happy Birthday Brandon/Daddy!

Make a Smilebox greeting

JUST A SMALL ONE THIS TIME!

Saw it...

Loved it! Yup, I really did. I thought it was great fun!

It's that time of year again...this time, Disco style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Pause our music on the side if you need to!

The big game...straight ahead

This is hanging outside of our home right now. Brandon said it needed to be up the WHOLE week. I don't even think we do that with the American flag during the week of the 4th and that's my fave holiday. Brandon is wearing blue everyday this week, and Tanner is wearing a BYU shirt to school EVERY day(yes, he has that many!) Freaky you may say? I say,do what ya gotta do boys. Go Cougs.
P.S. While I was outside taking this picture, 18 month old Gavin locked me out the front door! He pushed the chair over to the door and bolted the door. I'm sure he was trying to figure out a way to escape. I was lucky to be able to get in through the garage!

Gavin's stitches

This picture isn't the best. Sorry.
He is a real stinker! His new trick is to push the chairs over to where ever he wants and climb on into trouble! He had just pushed a chair over to the kitchen sink and was getting ready to get into the sink. Brandon got him down off the chair. Gavin got upset(temper! temper!) and bonked his head on the cabinet knob! It isn't even sharp but he must have hit just right on the bone. Brandon being quite the expert on stitches from his childhood experiences, decided we'd better take him on in, so I did. He got three stitches. Poor kid! Surprisingly, he was the first child of ours to need stitches. Crazy boy! Honestly, when he is awake, we are pretty much just trying to keep him safe! He is anywhere and everywhere...that he shouldn't be! I made three trips to the pediatric night clinic last week. One for Zach because he had the croup and they gave him an oral steroid to open up his airways. The next night was for Gavin's stitches. Then two days later, I took Gavin in again for the croup. He also received the steroid but through a shot. He just loves that place so much now...not. The poor child had such a look of terror going in after he got stitches. He put his blankie over his head the WHOLE time the doctor examined him. He was so hoping the doc would disappear. Oh, the trauma! But at least they have a cool fish tank with "Nemos" and give out suckers. That's partially worth the trip.

To Wii or not to Wii, that is the question...

We don't have one...yet. The last latest and greatest thing in the gaming department we purchased is the Nintendo 64 I bought for Brandon about 10 years ago. Obviously that was a time in life where he had more time! I have been happy that the kids like to do a variety of activities and haven't exactly invested our money in that area very much. But now, Tanner is getting older and has been to birthday parties and relatives houses this year where he has played the Wii and really enjoyed it. I like the family and physical aspect of the Wii system and all of the options it brings. I don't like the price and the price of the games. Is it worth it? Tanner has also mention that he likes the Didj system by Leapfrog. It looks pretty educational. Please feel free to share your opinion!