Christmas Morning 2009

I loved Tysen's face when he saw his power wheel quad bike. He rode it around and had to get a feel for it. He kept pulsing the button that makes it go. so he was stop and go for a while until he figured out that if he held it down it would keep going. :-) We took more video this year than pictures. So we only have the one family picture. That is ok because we can watch the great video footage we got.

Tysen got:

Aquadoodle

computer

shopping cart

train set

tonka trucks

microphone

....among other things

Daddy got:

Bike

Universal Remote

Sage TV

some tools

blue ray DVDs

cologne

Mommy got:

Necklace

Lens

cricut

VS Jammies

Perfume

"Gone With the Wind" Blue Ray

Here we are in our matching jammies on Christmas Morning.

This Christmas morning was special because we were able to deliver some presents to a needy family. It was a very special experience to shop for each person and to deliver them (anonymously) on their door step Christmas morning. We were able to teach Tysen about giving this year which is something we want to be a priority every year.

Grand Canyon/ Polar Express..Choo Choo

For our Christmas vacation we took a trip to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and to ride on the Polar Express train. The Grand Canyon was so gorgeous with all the snow around. We took one train to the Grand Canyon; then, we got back and rode on the Polar Express train, where we met Santa Claus. Tysen now has a new found love for trains since experiencing them first hand.

This vacation was the perfect thing to do before Christmas to get us in the spirit! It was filled with lots of fun family time and beautiful scenery. And we got to experience the prettiest white Christmas ever.

Merry Christmas!

We didn't get as many of these out this year as we would've liked So, we just wanted to make sure we wished all of our friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Decorating the Christmas Tree 2009

We got our tree the other weekend and it has been sadly bare until now. We woke up today and it felt like the perfect time to decorate out tree. So we got out our plastic ornaments and our colorful lights and decked out the tree. Tysen was all over the place trying to do everything at once. He was so amazed by all the new "toys" that were brought down from the attic to decorate the tree with. He didn't want us to do anything without him, until after about 15 min, then he was ready to move on to bigger and better things.

Setting up the (non breakable) nativity scene.

Putting up ornaments with Mommy

Trying to do it himself.."I can do it Mommy"

Helping daddy put the hooks on

Maybe Daddy can help

Work Christmas Party

Since I was young, I have always LOVED to get all dressed up to go somewhere. I still get very excited and in this case it was much needed. I am 7 1/2 months pregnant and I really needed to take time for myself. Getting all prettied up rejuvenates the soul, I think. Even though it didn't start out very fun because when I went shopping for a dress I only got more depressed as I looked at my round figure in a bunch of ill fitting dresses. Thank goodness I came across this dress, which isn't even a maternity dress, because I was about to give up and it would've resulted in wearing sweats to Dan's Christmas Party. :-)

The Work Christmas Party was fun and I even won a $50 gift card. We had a yummy dinner and had a great time spending our fake money at the mock casino night. I am getting pretty good at Black Jack, I'm too scared to play anything else...maybe next year.

I was very proud to be on my hubby's arm all night. He always makes me feel like the only woman in the room. He looked very handsome as well. I even loved that we were color coordinated (like prom or something)

It was exactly the night I needed with my husband.

Christmas Stockings

I wanted to do these last year but there were...complications

So, I made sure to get them done this year before CHRISTMAS!

And even though my house is in shambles, I should be doing a million other things and my child was a little neglected for a day...We will have stockings for Christmas!

I'll go straighten out my priorities now :-)

...I'll do the new baby's next year

BIG BOY BED!

This had to happen before the baby came....

And it did...with little to no problems. (except that Mommy cried at the sight of her big boy in his big boy bed)

Mommy's Number 24 Birthday

DISNEYLAND!!

Love the lights
Love the rides
Love that Tysen wanted to ride the carousel 20 times
Love the music
Loved Tysen's face on the Pirates of the Caribbean
Love that it is Christmas time
Love that I got to spend my Birthday with my Family!

Why is he crying....it's Disneyland!

Cookie Day!

Every year we have a cookie day with Dan's family and we make gingerbread houses. This year we had it in our backyard. The kids made some cool houses and by the end of it we had candy everywhere and frosting all over the concrete, the basketball hoop, the hammock, and the KIDS! What is cookie day without FROSTING WARS!

Dan working hard on the construction...I said I would decorate :-)


Working away, trying to build the BEST!

Decorating our mini-me house

We ended up with a pool and all...the boys were very creative but, mommy made the house look gooood!

Everyone with their awesome houses!

Love this tradition!

Tysen's Number 2 Party

SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED 11/25/09

For Tysen's number 2 birthday we just had Family over for dinner and sang happy birthday! Aunt Emily made an Elmo pinata that Tysen was not sure about hitting at first...But, after all the other kids hit the Elmo head Ty got right in there with them. Aunt Shelley (the cake expert) made the Elmo cake which was SUPER yummy. And Ty loved all of his Elmo decorations (which we left up for a few days just for fun). Tysen got lots of ELMO toys (are you starting to see a pattern yet?)and he got his first Geo Tracks set.

We have a tradition in our family that after the Happy Birthday song is sung and the candles get blown out the Birthday person has to BITE THE CAKE!

Tysen completely went for it...no questions asked!

Tysen is so good at being the center of attention...he thrives off of it!

Cheesy Matching Jammies

These will never get old for me.

We made it a tradition to have matching pajamas for Christmas and I LOVE IT..as cheesy as it is.

The only thing is that matching P.J.'s cost a fortune so the only other option is to make them!

Last year I made them but with the help of my wonderful sister...ok...with A LOT of help from my sister...ok, she pretty much made them for me!

Anyways, I did not want to bug her again so I found a tutorial online and I am soooo proud of myself! They are super easy and now I know how to make then for every year!

(and I did it all for about 25$ bucks!)

I made my pattern by tracing an old pair of P.J. pants. Then cut is out and sewed each leg together

Then you have to sew the legs to each other by putting one leg inside the other and sewing around the crotch area

The only thing left is to size the waist band and hem up the bottom.

With in a couple hours I had three pairs of pajama bottoms.

Here are all three...Tysen's are too cute!

We just got matching shirts and I designed a little logo on the computer then ironed them onto the shirt.

They are not perfect but they turned out cuter than anything they had online!

Baby # 2

MY HAVE YOU GROWN!

Mommy is feeling pretty good now. Not as tired and not as sick.

You are kicking like a maniac! The doctors tell me that you are a BRAT already because you won't sit still while they try and take pictures of you.

You are healthy so far. We had a couple scares but everything turned out to be O.K.

Your big brother loves to tell Mommy that there is a baby in her tummy. I don't know if he fully gets it; but, he is learning how to be very careful with babies so, by the time you arrive he will be a pro!

Tysen gets mad at Mommy because when he goes to sit on my lap he can't sit back all the way. He gets irritated with your little bump then and want me to move it away. Other times he kisses and loves you and seems to be excited for you.

We are just so happy that we are all doing well and that we are all HEALTHY!

Still working on your name...

Mommy, baby#2 and Tysen at 18 weeks

Mommy and baby#2 at 5 months

Happy 4th Year!

It does not seem like it's been four years since our wedding. Time flies and I can't believe we already have one baby and another on the way. We must be having fun for time to fly by so quickly.

For our anniversary (October 15th) Dan took me to a new restaurant in old town called "The Edge" A little too overpriced for my taste but the food was pretty good. We sat in a cute little booth and were able to just take our time and talk. We even managed to talk about things other than pregnancy and Tysen. We reminisced...and it was so nice to reconnect a little.

Then (since I'm pregnant and can't stay up past 10:00) We went home and PASSED OUT!

Boo Bear, (HEHEHE)
I only get happier and happier each day with you. You have taught me so much about love and patience and understanding. You are my rock (who I lean on way too much) and you never get tired of how much I need you. I feel so much security in our love for each other. I admire the person you are. Because of your love and support I am a better wife, friend and mother. Thanks for being my Best Bud! I love you!
Happy Anniversary!

Halloween Fun ...All Month Long!

We still have 2 weeks left in October and we have already squeezed most of the FUN out of Halloween. I don't know if Tysen will cry or laugh when I tell him he gets to go trick or treating again.

We've painted a pumpkin with Miss Natalie

Proud artists!

We've gone to the Pumpkin patch festival with Gavin and Travis

and put on the famous ELMO costume.

Picking out a weird green pumpkin

Sweetest Elmo EVER!

Got his hair sprayed blue

Along with his cool cousins

We've Gone to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church

and used hands to eat the donut on the string

In record time too!

Hung out with more cousins...

Jace, Kade and Gage

Got all decked out in costume...

And we have to do this two more times still!

(we should have skipped dressing up for the trunk-or-treat)

But, it sure feels like Fall is in the air

(apart from the 100 degree weather)