We survived!

Holy cow...I can't believe it's been so long since I posted, and if it weren't for my Dad's prodding it probably would have been a while longer before I got to it. Thanks for the motivation Dad. As soon as Christmas was over I pretty much spent 2 weeks recovering and doing nothing! It was great! Christmas was amazing this year. We had so many fun parties to go to, and spent so much time with family it was awesome. For Christmas Eve we did the same thing we always do. My mom, brother and sister all came over and we made homeade pizza. Then we read The Polar express and had root beer floats, and opened jammies. Aidan was so excited that he had a very hard time sleeping, which means we all did. We really probably only got about two hours in, but it was worth it! Christmas morning was amazing. The only problem was that I over did it again this year, as usual. Halfway through opening presents Aidan started complaining that he was tired and didn't want to open any more presents. He just wanted to play with what he had opened. Aidan got the Robot that he asked for, a Tag reading system, digital camera, a bunch of games, clothes, and a tool set to name a few. Baylee got her first doll house, dolls, a tea set, shopping cart and play food, clothes, jewlery and jewlery box and who know what else, lol. They had a lot of fun and made it a very special Christmas for us. I am still trying to recover. I still ahve new toys strung out all over the place, and just barely put my tree down two days ago. Hopefully I will get it all under control soon. Hope you all had a great holiday and happy New Year. Just a fair warning...their is a ton of pictures.
This is Aidan and the pizza he made. He looks forward to it every year. This year I was super fancy and made homeade dough and sauce. It made a big difference. They were great!

Baylee in her new Jammies on Christmas Eve. She is such a little cheeser!

Aidan in his new jammies on Christmas Eve.

This year Aidan insisted that we leave a "gorilla bar" aka granola bar, and carrots for Santa and the Reindeer. He wanted to give Santa something healthy so that he would have enough energy to get to all the houses. What a little sweetie!

This is what it looked like after Santa came. Holy crap their were a lot of presents.

At 5:30 on Christmas morning. Baylee not feeling to photogenic apparently. Just waiting to go see what Santa brought.

Aidan with his amazing robot. He absolutely loves this toy. It is pretty sweet!

Baylee trying to peek at the doll as Aidan helps her unwrap it.

Baylee wore this vest for a while. She is such a girl. She loves getting dressed and putting on shoes and jewlery. She walks around saying "tute?" (cute)

And this is after the Christmas tornado. I straightened the present about twenty times to get a picture but could never get back before it was destroyed again.

This is Baylee in the hat that my sister knitted for her. She loves it. Barry was throwing her in the air right before this picture and she is cracking up! I love it!

This is the real tool set that Nanny gave to Aidan. It comes with everything! He wears it constantly and is always trying to find things "to work on" The tools are all real, the are jsut smaller so it's a little scary to have him walking around with a real hammer and pliers. Atleast he has safety goggles though. lol

Party Animals

Well, three Christmas parties down and 1 more to go. It has been so fun. I absolutely love this time of year. It's so fun to spend so much time with family, and to watch the kids excitement. There are so many fun traditions and activities. It seems like I am just consistenly happy around this time of year. These pictures are all out of order but you should be able to figure out what is going on in most of them.


I have decided that more than one visit to Santa may not be the best idea. This was the second time the kids sat on his lap this month and Aidan changes what he asks for eash time. Last time he asked for a magic set. In line for this Santa he decided he wanted a robot. When it was actually his turn he told Santa he wanted a telescope. UGH

I absolutely love this picture. She is such a little cutie!

Aidan proudly showing me his gingerbread house he labored very loving on. Shorty after this picture he dropped it and was heartbroken.

Baylee was way too busy eating all the candy off of her house to pose for a picture. She is such a little oinker.

Aidan and Devery having a great time working on their houses.

And again...Baylee eating the candy as quick as dad can put it on her house. At least she's having fun right?

Bigger and Better

Well....it's official, Aidan is growing up way too fast. A couple months ago Barry's brother and sister in law told us about a bed that they had that they would like to sell. It has barely been used and is a great bed. I was a little hesitant at first but asked Aidan if he was interested. The main selling point for him was that it came with a desk. He was super excited to do his
"homework" at a desk. He has been in his toddler bed for almost three years now. It is pretty small and he was starting to look a little big for it. He loved it though and truthfully so did I. We decided it was to good of a deal to pass up so we went for it. I was completely surprised by how big it is. It is a double bed but has a big headboard, eight drawers and a secret crawlspace underneath. It takes up his whole room! lol Good news....he loves it! Bad news......the desk won't fit in his room. We are going to have to wait until we move to use the whole set. He sleeps so much better on it, and loves having a big comfy down comforter. He looks like a tiny little peanut in it. I love actually being able to lay in bed with him to read our stories at night. It is a good transition, but just one more reminder that my baby boy isn't a baby anymore.
Aidan with his cute little Thomas the Train toddler bed one last time.

The new big bed! This picture is a little decieving. It doesn't quite show how big it looks in his room. Baylee has already figured out that she can pull the drawers and step in them to climb on the bed.

Adorable Little Messy Face!

This is what Baylee looke like after every single meal. I am pretty sure she does it on purpose because she know's she will get a bath. This meal was particularly messy. Apparently she decided her bowl made a better accessory than dish. She was having so much fun that I had to fight the urge to stop her and get her out of her highchair. Instead I decided to take pictures. She was a disaster but I sure got some cute pictures!

Goodbye Johnson and Johnson!

Well....Sunday was a rough day for Aidan. His first pet died, his fish Johnson and Johnson. It was given to him almost a year ago from his preschool teacher Miss Margaret. When he brought it home he was so excited! He immediately named him Johnson and Johnson (the KBull 93 D.J.'s) Then he wanted to go get him a new fish tank. We found a cute little pirates tank and began the lesson of how to take care of a fish. He did really good for a while. Then a couple months ago he stopped eating. All the food I gave him would just float on the top and he just hung out on the bottom of the tank. I have been waiting for him to die for months and Sunday it looked like he was ready. I found him laying sideways on the gravel, barely breathing. So Barry and I pulled Aidan aside and showed Johnson and Johnson to him and explained that he was having a really hard time breathing and was probably hurting. I told him that I thought it would be best if we sent him to fishy heaven. What came next was completely unespected.

Aidan looked at him for a bit and understood that he needed to go. Then he looked at me and asked if he would come back after he went to heaven. When I told him no he started crying. He was so upset. He just kept saying how much he would miss him, and how he was the best fish ever. It was the most heartbreaking, sincere cry. He was sitting on my lap and all the sudden asked "So will he be with God in heaven?" I said yes. A minute later he brought the phone down to me and asked if we could call God so that he could make sure that he would take care of Johnson and Johnson. I told him that God doesn't have a phone number, and that to talk to him we just say prayers. Then he went upstair and pulled a chair in front of the fish tank and started talking to Johnson and Johnson and telling him that he loved him and would miss him, and thank you for being such a good fish. By this point I was seriously contemplating doing goldfish mouth to mouth. He was so sincere, and so upset. He asked me to take a picture of him so that he could remember him forever. That's why he is sideways in the picture.

This experience taught me two things. 1) I don't think its a good idea for us to have another pet for a while. I don't if he could handle another heartbreak. and 2) that a four year old can be compassionate, and full of emotion. It was so hard to watch him lern this lesson, but I was so proud that he could feel so strongly and sincerely. He is such an amazing little boy and makes me so proud.

RIP Johnson and Johnson!

Thanksgiving!

Wow....what a fun and delicious week we have had. We started celebrating last weekend with Barry's family. We spent Thanksgiving day with my family, and my aunt, uncle, grandma, and cousins. Last night I had 20 friends at my house for our 7th annual "Friends Thanksgiving." Needless to say we have eaten our fair share of turkey this week. It was so much fun to get to spend time with our friends and family and be reminded just how lucky we are. I really do feel blessed to have the family and life that I have. Thanks to everyone wo celebrated with us, and I hope it was a great day for the rest of you!

Aidan and Baylee sported their Utes shirts at Barry's family party because it was the day of the big game. Almost Barry's entire family is BYU fans so Aidan was getting harassed all day, but if you saw the game you know who got the last laugh. GO UTES!!!

This is my aunts cute little dog Lucy. She and Baylee spent most of the night playing. Baylee chased the poor thing around the house all night, but Lucy put up with it because she was constantly getting food from Baylee.

This is my aunt Melissa's family. They are all so cute, and we had so much fun with them. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

My family....Scott, Britt, Haley and mom. Love you guys!

Baylee had a great time playing "aka" banging on the piano.

Aidan playing guitar hero and taking it very seriously. He is so funny when he gets so focused on something.

Dinner Idea

Okay sorry it is a day late....For those of you that are wondering what this recipe is all about read the post below.
Last night I made Hawaiin Haystacks for dinner and they were really easy and really yummy. Here is the recipe

1/2 C. Butter
1/2 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 C. milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 C. fresh sliced mushrooms
6 chicken breasts (cooked and cut into bite size pieces)

Melt the butter in a large sausepan. Add flour and salt and mix well. Add milk and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add soup, mushrooms, and chicken. Simmer for 15 min. Serve over cooked rice and top with the following items.

sliced celery
grated cheddar cheese
pineapple
chopped green onions
coconut
toasted sliced almonds
chowmein noodles

Enjoy!!!! It serves about 8 people, so if you don't have that many either cut it in half or enjoy the leftovers.