Date Night...

I love Date Night...

A night Bec and I have to ourselves.

Occasional double dates are fun and enjoyable.

But I truly enjoy our one-on-one time; out of the house; without the kids.

The kids are getting their pj's on as we speak.

Bec's in the bathroom putting on her make-up.

I'm anxiously waiting.

Family Pictures

Is it just me, or is taking family pictures a pretty daunting task? There's choosing and coordinating the right outfits, finding the right location at the right time of day, getting the kids to smile, getting the kids to smile while looking at the camera, getting the kids to smile while looking at the camera all at the same time... funny, but I am now realizing why family pictures from the Pioneer era seldom included smiling faces! Thank goodness for digital cameras that allow for hundreds of pictures that yield at least a few noteworthy shots (and let us not forget Photoshop)!

Seeing how we didn't make it out to take pictures during the summer (or even fall) before winter came, we decided to take some inside shots of the kids and us all together. Here are some of my favorites:

Us

Dallin

Kailee

Tylie

"The Shicken's Dead"

On the weekends I make a warm breakfast for the kids. Nothing huge or grand... Usually just scrambled eggs & cheese for Ty, and eggs-over-easy for D & K. This morning I took out three eggs to get started. While I was mixing the first two eggs and getting ready to scramble them, Kailee came over to the stove and asked: "Dad, did you kill a chicken?" I giggled and said, "No sweetie. There wasn't a chicken in the egg. The egg came from the chicken and that's what we're eating."

I proceeded to cook the eggs and served them on the plate for Ty. When I went to get the other egg, it was missing. My first thought was perhaps I had dropped it on the floor and somehow didn't notice it.

Nope.

I then started looking on the counter to see if it rolled away (you know-since eggs always do that...) when I noticed K laying on the sofa in a somewhat-fetal position looking sad. I said, "K K? Are you alright?" She got up and walked over to me with her hands bundled up in her shirt and in quite a sad voice said, "I don't want the chicken to die! I'm trying to warm it up!" I tried not laughing, but how could you not when history almost repeats itself??? (for those of you not familiar-Bec had a similar experience with her mom when she was little) Kailee took the egg off the stove when I wasn't looking and wrapped it up in her pj shirt! She was trying to revive it back to life! She looked so heart broken when I asked her to give it back to me. I had to go into some serious details on the gestation of an egg (and with my last biology class YEARS ago-I couldn't remember any details...) and how we're NOT killing a chicken when we eat eggs. She felt better (or as she says, "Bether") and was perfectly fine eating her eggs-over-easy after-all.

The funny thing was, Dallin listened intently to the entire conversation as if these were thoughts he had thought before, just never asked. Guess this morning was their Intro to Biology lesson!

Step One... change background = CHECK!

You'd think that by now I would've learned how to change the background on our blog! But no...

I can't tell you how many man hours I've spent trying to get it figured out. I came up with this design in Photoshop that I wanted to use as the background-nothing spectacular or anything. Just something to get rid of our Christmas background! Also, something to get the ball rolling with us blogging again... but I just couldn't for the life of me get it to work coming from photobucket.

Then I thought, Alright. I'll just use one of the "cutestblogsontheblock" templates... And still-it took me forever to get that to work... sheesh... you'd think I'd never used a computer before.

Finally. I am here. On the other end of the first hurdle looking forward to more to come. I guess I shouldn't take too long of a break, since we have yet many pictures and stories to catch you all up on!

A Few Firsts

Just a few Firsts that we have experienced this past month:

And for the weak, that 2nd and 3rd pictures from the bottom are GROSS!!!!!!!!!

WICKED!!!!!

I FINALLY got to see Wicked for the first time in Denver with my mom and sister for our annual girls weekend.

BYU Football

We took Dallin to his first game. He was super excited for days when we told him we were taking him to a game.

After hot dogs, cotton candy, hot chocolate and tons of yelling and booing (the refs sucked!!!), we were happy to have an easy win.

SANTA!!!

This year, Ty finally understood Santa. We have taken her to see him at least 5 times. Each time, she adores him and cuddles him. She even says hi to him anywhere and everywhere she sees him (may it be picture, movie, or someone who even looks, remotely, like him).

The ER

Yes, it has finally happened. We have had a late night visit to the ER. Tylie fell out of her crib and hit her head on the dresser. It took 3 adults to hold her down so that the Doctor could fix her, and thats after they wrapped her up in a towel to hold her tight! She was crying so hard, from being held down, that she literally had broken blood vessels all over her face.

2 stitches inside and 5 staples later, she is fine. You would never know that she had a nasty accident last night. She is the toughest little thing I know.

KAILEE

We don't have any firsts for this sweet little girl, but I had to put a picture of her because she is so stinkin' cute!!!!

Who says cartoons aren't educational???

While driving in the car this evening, the kids and I had quite an interesting conversation... Here's how it went:

Kailee: Dad? When you die, we won't have a dad anymore.

Me: I will always be your dad. Even after I die.

Dallin: Will we see you?

Me: You might not see me for a little while, but we are family and we will see each other again.

Dallin: Where will you be?

Me: Well, my body will be buried, but my spirit will be in heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus.

Kailee: OH yeah! Kinda like when Tom killed Jerry! Remember, Dallin? Jerry's ghost floated up to the sky?

Me: {speechless for a moment, while I gathered my thoughts}

Although we've had multiple talks about the plan of salvation, I thought it would be wise to go into a little more detail after hearing that remark.

I didn't want them thinking I'd have a halo, wings, or legs that faded away without any feet...

Thanks Tom & Jerry for allowing me another

opportunity to teach my children the gospel!

Halloween 2009

Halloween is one of our families favorite holidays! There is no double meaning, you get to wear whatever you want the entire month, Witch Hat Parties, Witches Night Out, Wee Little Witches Weekend, Halloween Parties at school and friend's, Pumpkin Patches, Trick or Treating at Dad's work and door to door, Trunk or Treating, the more makeup the better, scary or pretty, handsome or ugly, and lots of late nights watching "scary movies" ie: The Halloween that Almost Wasn't, Mr. Boogedy, The Bride of Boogedy, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, ESPECIALLY Hocus Pocus. Halloween would not be complete without Hocus Pocus. My kids quote that movie more than any other movie.

Since I can remember, Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. I have been a witch every Halloween since I was in 2nd grade. My 3 little friends and I were convinced I was a real witch that year when I used my wand to make her Pippy Long Stocking ponytail stick up without the use of wire. Because of my unusual fascination with Witches, my children have come to believe I am a real Witch, more so than there is a Santa Claus. With this prelude, here are this years pictures.

Dallin is our Fireman, Kailee is a Pretty Witch (cause all us good witches are) and Tylie is Boo from Monsters Inc. She seriously made the best Boo ever.

Dallin and Kailee doing what they do best: Teasing and Posing

Kailee guarding (or is she eating) the Trunk or Treat Candy.

Our ward had a costume contest and to no surprise (yes, I am a prideful mother of a freaking cute child), Tylie won cutest costume. With this being said, she had more fun walking this little devil, than playing with her prize or eating her candy.

I thought it was fun that my friend Camber and her daughter dressed as fellow witches.

(Amy, you bugged out before we could get you and Rylie!)

(Sorry for the blurry picture)

We went trick or treating with the Lybberts. The kids had fun, but Dallin and Tyler were the most diligent.

I am the Room Mom for Kailee's class, so I was in charge of their Halloween Party. It was fun and the kids enjoyed it. I am glad that its over. Though, now I have to get ready for the winter party...

Kailee didn't want to wear her hat because it wasn't real. I love how big it is and you cant see her face at all!

Kailee with her "boyfriend". She told me that she "really likes this picture."

Dallin's Class party. His teacher is the best 1st grade teacher ever. Dallin loves her. Leading up to this party, they made frosted Haunted Houses, Halloween books to read as homework, and lots of Halloween poems and activities.