AWESOME PICTURES

My sister in law takes some of the greatest pictures. For Christmas she gave me a disc with some of the pictures she has taken of my family over the past year or so. These three are my most favorites. It seems like there were a lot of Grayden. He is just always around and doing some of the craziest things! Thanks Amy for the super cute pictures. Grayden has been taking the book you gave us to bed at night to look at all the pictures. Should I be worried that he loves looking at pictures of himself??

Christmas "Boogie"

So for those of you who don't spend much time around us you may not know that we fondly refer to Grayden as "boogie." My sister has often questioned the choice of nick name that we have assigned to him, but after viewing this picture there will be no more questions as to how he has earned the beloved name!!!! We were in the kitchen on Christmas morning making breakfast and Grayden walked into the kitchen from the living room and this is what we saw!!! You may ask what possessed us to take a picture instead of get the poor kid a tissue, but really have you ever seen a string of snot this long and thick before? Money is a little tight after Christmas and we were hoping this would win us an award!!!!!!

I know I am a little late with this post, but I always seem to be behind. Anyway on Dec. 4 Carter was baptized and confirmed. It was a wonderful day, and everything went just perfect. It was very nice to spend the day with family and friends. Carter was so excited for this day to come. We are so glad that we were able to share it with him!

Happy Birthday Carter!!!!!!

Carter turned 8 today! I really can't believe I have a child that old. There are so many new things they get to do when they turn 8. We have shopping for new sunday clothes for his baptism on Dec. 5 and today we got to visit the scout store! I was a little surprised that it cost $65 dollars to buy the scouting necessities! Oh the joys of raising kids! I do love watching my kids get older. It is nice to be able to spend time talking to them and feeling like you are having a real conversation. Carter is a great boy and I am very proud to be his mom!!!! I hope the next 8 years are as good as the last!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!

Grandma's glasses

So we were over at my mom and dad's the other night and my mom was going through her cedar chest that is full of the blankets and pillow cases my grandma had made before she passed away. Amongst the stuff were the glasses that she wore until she didn't know she wore glasses anymore. My mom did not really know what to do with them so she just put them in the chest. Well Grayden found those glasses and decided that would be the momento he would have to remember her by. He has not parted with them since. He even had to wear them to church yesterday. Needless to say, he distracted several of the ward members from watching the primary program. When he is not wearing them he nicely tucks one arm in the neck of his shirt and wears them that way.

Ragnar Las Vegas

So two weeks ago Chris and I went to Las Vegas so that I could run the Ragnar relay. It was the first time they have had one in Las Vegas. I was super anxious about the whole event because I came down with a nasty cold three or four days before the race. But thank you to my mother-in-law and her herbal medicine chest I managed to make it through the weekend in pretty decent shape. The race was so fun and I am so glad I did it. I had the first leg and that was awesome because it meant I always finished first in my van. Amy, my sister in law, ran the race with me. I am so glad that she came. I would not have made it through without her. She was definately my moral support. She met me at the end of each of my runs with a banana and ibuprofen. What more can you ask for!!!!!!!!!

Hawaii

I know I have been neglecting my blog, but I have a few minutes to myself this afternoon so I thought I would do some updating. We went to Hawaii last month with Chris' family and had a lot of fun. It was definately a break from some of the other not so pleasant things that we have been dealing with. It was good to get away with family and just be on vacation!!! It was beautiful the whole time we were there and we loved just sitting in the sun on the beautiful beaches. Grayden was happy just to have sand!!!! Jordyn was in heaven in the ocean. I don't think she ever got out and Carter went back and forth from sand to water. Good thing they all inherited their dads skin and esceped sun burn free for the most part.

LOST

So I don't really have an excuse for my absence. I guess I would rather look at other peoples blogs instead of blogging about my own life. Not that I am not enjoying my life. I am also horrible at taking pictures. I think my sisters and sisters in law have way more pictures of my family than I do. We have had a short summer this year. We are on year round school so the kids were only out of school for three weeks before they had to go back. Unfortunately they went back for three weeks and are currently off for another three weeks. We really haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary this summer. We have spent a lot of time at the pool and playing outside. We spent a week in Park City with the Beardshall family. Our big vacation is coming up in a few weeks, with the Olson family. We are spending a week in Hawaii. We have enjoyed many barbeques and trips to the park. We spent a day at lagoon last week, which the kids really enjoyed. I must admit that I am still very much a fan of roller coasters and fun rides! I miss the summer we lived in Farmington and had a season pass to Lagoon. We have even camped out at Wheeler farm for our annual ward camp out. I know it sounds like a strange place for a camping trip, but we very much enjoyed it. So there you have it. We are all doing well and enjoying the summer. So here are a few random pictures from the summer!!!!

Runnaway dog

I will tell you that I adore my dog, however, she is constantly running away. I get so tired of chasing her. Lucky for me, Jordyn is in love with her or any other animal for that matter and is generally the one that is sent to rescue the wild beagle. She (meaning the dog) is a little infatuated with the neighborhood cat "meow"se. Jordyn is a little in love with the cat too. But cassie is bound and determined to bug that cat on a daily basis. Anyway the point of this post is to ask, why when she has such comfy sleeping conditions does she feel the need to run away all the time? I should really just lock the door one night and make her sleep outside, but I am afraid she wouldn't care and Jordyn would be devastated.

This is what happens when mom is not home!

Stevie Wonder

Thank you, Thank you to my dear and wonderful parents who decided to donate their piano to a very good cause. Carter has been dying to start taking piano lessons. Unfortunately we have never had a piano and since they are so expensive we have just never bought one. Carter has had two lessons now and is really loving it. He has always loved the piano. Even when he was just a tiny kid he would sit on my moms lap while she played the piano and put his hands on hers and pretend it was him playing. He has been waking up early everyday so he could practice before school. We are just hoping that the newness does not wear off and that he will continue to enjoy learning how to play! Unfortunately for me Grayden thinks he should also play everyday!!!!! It can be very loud at our house sometimes!

Bed Time / Home Repairs

We put the kids to bed in their bedrooms and without fail Chris and I will go up to bed and they have snuck into the hallway to sleep on the floor.  I can't for the life of me figure out why they would rather sleep on the floor in the hallway instead of a bed.  This particular night Jordyn took refuge from her bed in a tupperware container.  Let me just say this is not the first time she has fallen asleep in a bucket or a laundry basket.  At any rate Chris and I both got a good laugh from it.  She did not stay there all night.  I heard her get up in the middle of the night and go back to her bed.

The other day Chris decided he was going to change the faucet on our kitchen sink.  He had never tried doing this before, but was determined to do it himself.  Lucky for him he had lots of help from his little crew!!!!

So hard to keep up!!

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything new.  My grandma called me this week and asked if I had a blog so she could keep up on what was going on in our lives.  So if my grandma is going to be checking up regularly I better give her something new to read.  I can't exactly find my camera right now, so you will have to make do without any new pictures.  I kind of feel like we are in the doldrums of winter.  The kids have been outside the last few days since it has been a little warmer and it is making me feel even more antsy for the warm weather.  We haven't really done anything exciting as of late.  The kids are going off track again in a few weeks, so I guess I had better get started brainstorming for some fun inside activities.

Grayden Turns 2!

I can't believe my baby is two!!!  How fast the time flies!  Right now Graydens favorite thing is Handy Manny so as you can see that is the kind of party we had.   How lucky for him his dad even dressed up as Manny.  I am not sure he actually even noticed, but it was entertaining for the rest of the family.  We had a great time.  

Happy Holiday's!

We had a wonderful Christmas.  We spent Christmas Eve night at our house with my family.  We had the annual Christmas story puppet show.  We had a nice dinner and it was very low key and casual.  It was wonderful.  Then Christmas morning Chris' parents came to see the kids open their presents.  The kids didn't wake up until almost 8.  We stayed home all morning and enjoyed the snow.  We had lunch with Chris' family at his mom and dads and then went over to my grandparents later that evening.  It was the first Christmas since we have been married that we have spent any time at our own house.  We are usually out of the house for breakfast and we don't come home until late in the evening. 

We had a nice new years too.  Carter and Jordyn slept over at Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Rogers for New years eve and then on New years day we hung out with Chris' family.  We had tons of food, played lots of games, and watched some football.  It was nice to spend time together.  We are excited to start a new year!  Hopefully it will be a good one!