Christmas Eve!!

We spent Christmas Eve this year with the Bevan's we started the evening off with a nice Christmas Eve dinner, the food was delicious and it was snowing outside making for a picture perfect Christmas Eve. Following our meal grandma and grandpa Bevan stopped by to give us all our Christmas presents, grandma and grandpa work so hard every Christmas to pick out gifts for the many of their kids, their grandkids and their great grandkids, they are so sweet to put forth so much effort during the holiday season, to show us that they love us, we love them... after they left to go see more of their grandchildren, we sang some Christmas carols... Matt, Dad, and Kara all played their guitars while the kids took turns playing the drums, which they did an awesome job at, it was fun... Matt also performed the Christmas song he wrote for the fam several years back it's such a great song we love hearing it, he is very talented... afterwards we had some delicious chocolate pies made by Chris, he makes a mean dessert, ... we were then able check Santa's current status, we had to see how much time we had before we had to get home... we didn't have much time, Santa was in New York, we figured we did have enough time though to fit it our usual Christmas Eve "hay" ride, we get all bundled up and ride on the back of dad's trailer and cruise around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols, and waving to everyone telling them Merry Christmas, we each take a turn choosing a song, and we sometimes don't know all the words, and our mouths are frozen from the cold, but it is a blast and one of my favorite things we do on Christmas Eve!!! Following the chili but very fun "hay" ride we figured we'd better get home... we hurried home opened our Christmas Eve jammys, read some scriptures, hung our stockings, and set out Santa's cookies and milk, and got to bed just in time!!! It was a very fun Christmas Eve!!!

Playing in the snow!!

The boys are always wanting to play in the snow, they love it!!! Aren't they cute!!

Christmas Party!!

We had a Christmas party slash birthday party for Brad's older brother Chad, he had Santa come at the end, the kids thought it was great, Parker was talking to him non-stop, it was pretty funny, and asked for a Nintendo DS star wars game, and Max at first was a little timid but opened up pretty good, he asked for Transformers, and Bron wasn't sure what to think about him and obviously didn't ask for anything, I guess he'll just get a surprise!!! It was fun to have them see Santa then we didn't have to stand in the long line at the mall... the kids are so excited for Christmas they are at such fun ages, it's going to be a blast!!

Decorating the tree!!

We put up the tree a few days after we cut it down, the boys had a blast decorating it. They both are good little helpers, it's so fun to put on some Christmas music and just spend time together as a family, Parker did a great job putting the star on the top, needed a little boost but did great, and Bron has done pretty good at leaving it alone, Max actually plays with it more than he does, he likes to take off the ornaments and play with them, and I'm always finding little "guys" in the branches somewhere, "guys" are Max's favorite thing to play with and he has found a little hide a way for them, it's pretty funny!! Although I'm vacuming needles up like crazy cause he's in it so much, but that's ok I think it's cute he has so much fun with it....

Annual Tree Hunt

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we always go to Tooele to cut down our Christmas Tree, I have been doing this since I was little and am glad to say we are carrying on the tradition, we go up to Tooele where my grandpa Bevan has some land up in the mountains, we hike up and pick out our "perfect" tree and bring it home, we had Max and Bron, both in back packs this year, and Parker hiked all by himself, he is a good little hiker, just like his dad, we picked out a tree and Parker and I started to cut it down, but Brad had to finish, in the end all together we had 5 trees, and 6 adults to carry them down the mountain, it was a little tricky but we managed and had a great time as usual, it is such a fun tradition, my kids are good little troopers, they had fun, and cute Elli did really good on her first "tree hunt", all bundled up in her little pink snow suit, it was a little cold but we had a blast!!!

Turkey Day!!

Thanksgiving day, we started the day off with turkey pancakes, and Brad went and played in the Turkey Bowl, while he was "playing" we were making rolls, and yams for the big feast, Parker is a good little helper in the kitchen. After Brad got home from his game, which he had a blast playing in, we went up the the cabin, Brad's parents have a cabin in Midway, where we spent the holiday, we had fun, ate lots of food, played a game, had some pie.... the usual Thanksgiving Day activities...

Thanksgiving

We had some of our friends and family over for dinner and FHE, we made a turkey out of a pumpkin and construction paper, and wrote on the feathers what we were thankful for, then we frosted turkey and football cookies, turkey obviously for the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up and football for the big BYU-UTAH footbal game on Saturday sadly our company is all UTAH fans, but we're true blue, GO COUGS!!!!

100 things about me!

Ok so lets explain, my friend Tricia did this on her blog.... she challenged her YW in her ward to do the same... and she posted 100 things about her on her blog and I loved reading it, and thought what a fun idea.. so I put myself to the challenge. It did not take me too long to come up with the list, which I cant decide if thats good or bad, I also tried to think of things that weren't a given, so they really are things you didn't know about me, although there will be some that you just have to write like I love my kids... etc. well anyhoo, here it goes.....

I love going out to breakfast

I hate spiders

I hate being cold

I brush my teeth about 6-7 times a day

I am a planner, I call Brad every day around 4:00 to talk about the rest of the days plans...

I love being in labor, I almost didn't put this one cause this last go round was PAINFUL but I love the whole experience, and the miracle of bringing a child into this world.

I love Disneyland!

I LOVE to laugh, it is my favorite emotion.

I'm an emotional person, I cry at commercial, movies, church, and whenever someone else is crying (except my kids, unless they're really in pain, or sad)

I hate unloading the dishwasher

I love hearing songs that remind me of my past

I have a REALLY BAD memory.... I think... ha ha

I ran my first triathlon about 3 weeks ago and loved it... but I don't love running

I love being organized

I LOVE shoes, you can never have enough

I love buying new clothes

I am closterphoebic

I can't spell very good, trying to spell closterphobic reminded me ....

I iron all my clothes

I love the smell of: fresh cut grass, rain, pumpkin spice candles, the ride Pirates of the Carribean, freshly bathed children, banana bread baking, coffee and hotels.

Simon and Garfunkel was the best concert I've ever been to!

Drinking hot things makes my ears itch

I love a wide variety of music from church hymns, to Simon and Garfunkel to Incubus.

I have a crush on Brandon Boyd the lead singer of Incubus

I love my husband very much (had to follow that up after I revieled my secret crush)

I have a bad habit of biting my nails

I love the Holidays

I love the seasons, my favorite being fall

I check my email and now my blog more than I care to admit

I am fairly "handy" thanks to my dad

I don't like being wrong

I can keep a secret

I like to be busy and go places

I'm thankful for my family name, and love geneology and want to get into it more

I am very indecisive

I can't decide if I like working out

I like instant results

I need more patience

I love the beach and the mountains

I love to get dressed up

I love cut off sweats

I like making lists and crossing things off my lists

I like to play games

I get nervous when someone tells a joke for fear I'm not going to "get it"

I get ready and shower, and do my makeup every day, I wish I could get away with not but I have no natural beauty

I'm a slight germ freak

I think it's important to work as a family and teach your children how to work

I love paper towels

I love the invention of tinfoil and can't throw a piece away without crumbling it up as much as possible.

Lakes scare me

I like to water ski

I consider myself a good swimmer

I'm aware of people around me and their needs

I like to serve others

I put a lot of thought into everything I do

I apparently like myself a lot

I am not "book smart"

Potty training is the worst part of parenting (thus far)

I love being a parent, my kids, and Brad are everything to me!!!!

Brad knows me better than anyone else (but still loves me)

I'm glad I was born a girl and not a boy

I think I get along better with boys, girls can annoy me

I like to sew, my latest favorite is Halloween costumes

I like to cook

I love growing my own vegatables

I hate stuffing

I love my grandpa Bevan's rice pudding and rice and banana's

I love my grandparents

I have the best parents in the whole world(sorry you thought you did, but I do) and I'm grateful for all the things they taught me and for everything they DO for me!

I hate going to the dentist (but I like my dentist he's a very nice guy)

I've learned not to get annoyed or put out by little things that don't matter like when Brad leaves his toothbrush by the kitchen sink, or when he doesn't pick up his clothes, or when he leaves the toys in the bath and takes a shower or when..... J/k

I hate scary movies or being scared

I get scared easy, especially when I'm home alone at night by myself

I baricade my doors when I'm home alone by myself

My biggest fear in life is that something "bad" will happen to my kids

I keep my doors locked all the time

Apparently I'm paranoid

I don't like NOT getting my way

I love clean sheets but hate the process of changing them

I like fresh, clean laundry I'm ok with folding laundry but Hate putting it away

I love watching my children perform, or play sports, and learn new things and concepts

Chocolate milk is my favorite beverage

I should drink more water

I can touch my nose with my tongue

I like to people watch

I want to go back to school one day

I know I am the only person responsible for my attitude and how I respond to everything

I like to buy used furniture from D.I. and re-finish it

I want to read more

I'm good at cutting hair

I'm not a morning person

I've watched Princess Bride more than any other movie ever

I'm an easy going, laid back, flexible person

Speaking of flexible I can do the splits

I think I'm funny, but I'm not

I'm attracted to anyone who's funny

My sisters are my best friends and I love that I have 3 of them

My sister kara can make me laugh harder than any one else

I wish I could play the piano or any instrument

I love make-up

I love when my house is clean, which is rare, but I love it

I grew up in Idaho

I have the funniest, cutest little brother ever

I love cereal

I've never been stung by a bee

I love a clean car

Ok so I wasn't keeping track and that was a little more than 100, but there ya go, I loved doing this, and would love if you all did the same it is quite entertaining so do it... well hope you enjoyed it... look forward to reading yours... love ya all

Triathlon!

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So I ran my first Triathlon a few weeks ago, November 3, it was a blast! I made my friend Tricia do it with me cause she's iron woman, and has done several before, it was the T3 Turkey Triathlon in Orem... It was a 3 mile run, a 10 mile bike and a 350 meter swim... I finished in 1 hour and 29 minutes!!!! My sister's friend Becky did it too, we all had a blast!! It was a good event for me to start with, good distances on everything.I am glad Kara, Brooke and Tricia have been examples to me and my inspiration in getting my butt in shape!!! This was not my first race however.... I ran in the Swiss Days 10k back in September, which was also very fun!! I wasn't going to do it, but Brad talked me into it, I'm glad he did, it gave me a good feel for the whole "race" experience... I'm excited to do more such events in the future!!!

Ok so I'm trying to figure out this whole blog thing, I know a lot of you have been blogging for ever but I'm new to this, I have been totally spying on other peoples blogs trying to get a feel for what other people write, I have found most of you are very "deep" lots of great things shared out there, I'm not sure I can keep up, but I'll try and make this worth it, so spare with me while I try and do this, I'm excited to post what we're up to, and share with ya'll the fun things we're doing, and the thoughts we're feeling... I hope to be able to keep in touch with those of you we don't get to see every day, those of you who live far away but we think of often, ( and those we do see often too) so yeah this is going to be fun, thanks for letting me into your lives, I look forward to being able to see what you are all doing too, LOVE YOU ALL...

Halloween

Our three little guys.....

Parker was Nachoooooo! Max, Oscar the Grouch, and Bronson, was an ant, Parker's idea, the kids had fun dressing up in their costumes, Parker picked to be Nacho about 6 months ago and I made the costume for him for his birthday, Max is wearing the same Osacar the Grouch costume I wore (and my 4 siblings) wore when we were 2, and we threw Bron's together at the last minute, he is missing his antenna's but he's still cute.