Our Christmas

This year for Christmas, we decided to stay home.  I'll be honest, I wasn't thrilled about the idea at first, but it really turned out to be fun. We started out Christmas Eve going to breakfast and bowling. (forgot my camera)  Then we had a fun night home with just our family playing games and reading Christmas stories... very different then what we are used to. 

The best part about being away was all of the packages and presents that were sent.  It made it look like we had WAY more than we really did, and we were sooo excited to open them... Thanks everyone!!

This picture was taken Christmas Eve.  I just LOVE jammies!  ESPECIALLY warm, snugly, soft, MATCHING, Christmas jammies! :)

Just before bed... 3:00 am to be exact.

Boston got a GLOW WORM, which he Loves!  He started jumping up and down holding his wormy.  Check out his hair, this was mid jump.

Tate got his LAPTOP that he's been dying to have.

Batman stuff

Just happy to be here!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Zoo Lights

we went with some friends to the Zoo Wild Lights.  and it was so dang cold that we could barely make it to see Santa and back before we all froze to death.  then back to our house for pizza and donuts (great combination i know).  i think our noses and cheeks stayed bright red the rest of the night.  

Us with the Hendriks

This santa was not the most friendly i've ever seen, but oh well at least the kids got to see him.

HALLOWEEN

we did so many fun things this halloween. we first went to the boo at the zoo while my parents were in town. it was so great to see BATMAN. oh my gosh, tate just about had a heart attack, he was so excited to see the real batman.


i know this is a blurry picture, but i love the excitement on his face.

as you can see he was just mesmerized by THE BATMAN

then we got to trick or treat throughout the zoo.

we went over to some friends to carve pumpkins.

we had "beggars night"on the 30th in our neighborhood. (don't ask me why we all can't trick or treat on the same night, they do things weird out here in ohio.

here's dallin getting ready to take the boys out

worn out after all the trick or treating. (and it was dang cold that night)


then on halloween night we went over to our friends neighborhood to trick or treat.

here's batman, mr incredible, and hon solo running from house to house.

boston and taylee...gracie girl i missed getting your picture


and after all that trick or treating we then on to another friends house for yummy cider and donuts. boston wanted to spoon feed himself the entire cup of hot chocolate.

oh and i forgot to mention that dallin and i dressed up as batgirl and the joker for a party we went to (thanks kiki), but i don't have a picture of that yet. too bad! ... or i just don't want to go to the effort to get the picture to show you. ;)

NASTY

yesterday, i was trying to take a quick shower while the kids were watching letter factory. it is so rare that i actually get 10 minutes alone to take a shower, but that's besides the point. so while i'm in showering, for one reason or another, tate came in to talk to me, which is fine. well apparently he didn't close the door when he left because about 3 minutes later i hear boston's little voice saying "wa-wa wa-wa mmmm" i throw the shower curtain open and scream because boston had found a medicine cup on the counter and had been drinking water from the TOILET!!
i know he is not the first toddler to drink toilet water, but he is my first toddler to drink toilet water! i don't know why, but tate never had a fetish with toilets like boston does. i cannot leave the bathroom door open for 5 seconds because that little man will beat me to the potty every single time. he's like a magnet.

TOO LONG

WOW, two months just flew by and then I realized... Oh yeah, I have a blog! Here are a few things we have been up to... so everyone can stop HARASSING me.



*We had Dallins cousins/friends in town.
*Hurricane Ike destroyed our big tree and the siding on our house.
*Dallin and I both had a spell of Bronchitis.
*Soccer season came and went for Tate.
*OSU Football
*Boston is into everything, and starting to talk a bit.
*My parents came to visit... oh so fun.
*Halloween with Batman and Robin.
*And 2 nights of trick or treating!

Now hopefully I can get a blog post for a few of these and still try to stay with the current happenings of our lives.

The Windy... I mean RAINY City

Mindy Emily Me
This was one of the funnest road trips I think I have ever been on. This is us as we were beginning our 6 hr drive to Chicago. The drive actually went by surprisingly fast. I guess that's what happens when you don't have to entertain kids in the car. We just talked and laughed the WHOLE time.


That night we walked around the Windy City for a while until we found dinner.


We ate at a little pizza joint and had the famous Chicago style pizza. It was great... if you like cheese. I think it had like 2-3 inches of cheese and the sauce and the sauce was on top. Different but good.

That night I had such a hard time settling down. It really felt like I was 5 the night before Christmas. I think my two Pregnant roomies were about to boot me out of there :0)

SO... I have to say the build up was way bigger than the actual show. Yeah I know. I was a little disappointed with Oprah. I really expected her to be a little more social with the audience and have a little more fun. We did get two taping's rather than just one, which was cool, because they don't normally do that. The topic was forgiveness, and then we had Dr Oz. The Forgiveness story was really kind of depressing. It was about some kid who killed his brother and mom, and his dad forgave him. Maybe if the shows had been a little more up beat Oprah would have been more outgoing. I don't know.


This is everyone we met up with in Chicago. Tricia it was SO FUN to see you and meet your CUTE FAMILY!!


Mindy Emily Tricia Me
Here we are outside of the studio. No that is not FREE STUFF in our bags. We just went to her store and bought some souvenirs.


TRIVIA TIME
Of the three of us, two pregnant and one not. Which one would you guess ended up PUKING on the streets of Chicago in the pouring rain. Oh and don't let me forget the head out of the cab window dry-heaving incident!!

... Thats right, it was ME!! I won't give full details but yes, it definitely happend. And NO I'm not Pregnant! Hmm now I wish I would have let the girls take my picture after that. Believe me, it was not pretty!

After that we went back to the hotel and relaxed/slept for a while. I woke up feeling MUCH BETTER and then we headed to Wicked.


For me, this was THE BEST part of the whole trip. I have been wanting to see Wicked for SO LONG. When we found out that we were going to Chicago, I told the girls that we have to see Wicked while we were there. My only regret is that we didn't spend more on our tickets and sit up closer. But with only one week notice there wasn't much we could do about it. I already can't wait to go back with Dallin to see it again!!! HINT HINT BABE!!


Just before the show started. In the bathroom of course.

The next morning/afternoon we got up and saw a little bit of the city. We were staying right next to the John Hancock building. This shot was taken from the 96th floor, in the bathroom. Perfect place for a picture!

This trip was SOOO needed. Thanks hubbies and babysitters for letting us go.

5 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

CHICAGO HERE I COME!!

NEED I SAY MORE?

YELLOWSTONE

MORE PICTURES!!!
While we were in Utah we went to Yellowstone with my family. We saw lots of animals, went on a few hikes, we drove both loops at least once, and then did some more driving. WOW it has been a while since I have been to Yellowstone, I forgot that's pretty much what you do there DRIVE! But oh my gosh it was fun. I owe my family BIG. Camping without a husband isn't the easiest thing to do. Here are some pictures of the family vacation!


Overlooking one of the waterfalls.


Tate was glad there was a fence right there. Because earlier we were just as close to some buffalo without a fence and he DID NOT have that cute little smile on his face.




Tate, Kaden, and Abbi at the hot pots... so stinky!





This is one of the 4 bears that we saw. We watched this bear cross the road and then climb up the side of the mountain and walk across this log.




Grandpa with all the, overlooking some more waterfalls (that you can't see)


Tate, Kaden, and Ellie just talking a break during one of our hikes.




This is when Tate got his Jr Ranger badge. He had to do a big booklet of worksheets to get this cool badge. It was a lot of fun.




Another bear stopping traffic.




Grandma with the kids in the old faithful lodge.




Bossie just hang'n out.




The kids climbing up a mini mountain.




At the top.


Tate looking at some wildlife.




This elk was SO BIG, I wish I had a good full body shot. I can't believe how close we got to some of the animals. Probably not the smartest thing to do. But we did anyway.






All of us at the camp site.

UTAH TRIP

A few weeks ago, I took the boys home and we surprised my parents with a 2 week visit. We had such a good time. We stayed so busy with friends and family get- together's. We went to Yellowstone, went swimming, went fishing, we had a GNO with my mom and sister to go see Mama Mia, went to a fam reunion in Idaho, and much more. Boston started warming up to everyone just in time for us to leave again. I can't believe how fast two weeks go by when you are busy every day all day. But by the end of the trip we were ready to come home and have a daddy/husband again. We missed you Dallin!! But we still had TONS OF FUN!

I'm a little behind in my blogging, but here are a few pictures from the trip. No. I mean a lot of pictures from the trip.


Tate and Ellie playing batman and princess batgirl. I guess I didn't get a shot of her in her attire.


Abbi taking Bos for a spin.

This was one of our FHE's roasting marshmallow's. I forgot how the lesson applied to the mallow's but it was GOOD! :) Thx Nate.

Scotties 2 year old Wiggly Party.


All the grandkids at Gma & Gpa Rob and Les's

My dad has started this fun little tradition taking the kids fishing each summer to this cute little fish farm in N. Ogden. So they are guaranteed to catch some fish. The kids absolutely LOVE it. It was such a hot day this year.

This is Tates first fish he caught.

Just waiting for the fish to bite.

Look at that proud face.


ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL!!
This was SO hard to get these kids to pose for just one picture with them holding their fishing poles. Mostly because half of them thought they were swards and couldn't keep them still. They just wanted to play 4 MUSKETEERS.


The boys taking a rest after fishing all morning.


This is Boston's new best friend. He just FELL in love with Grandpa this trip. Which came in rather handy, since Dallin wasn't with us. It was nice to have someone else Boston would go to.

Later that day we went to Dallins sisters to go cool off in her pool.

Jordyn Tate and Chase. (Tate loves that he can be classified as one of the BIG kids now.)


This little thing is so cool. It just drives you all over the pool, and Tate loved it.


Alex and Bos


Gma Leslie, Alex, Emma, Wendy, and Bos


All the kids