Christmas Morning

Christmas was great! Carter got golf clubs and a lego Chess set, Hanna got a Nintendo DS and doll accessories, Jake got a Star Wars lego set and soccer goal, Josh got a pirate ship and truck. Geneva got a camera and many accessories and Jared got an XBox 360 and Guitar Hero. We all felt very spoiled! We tried out a new danish breakfast called Aebleskivers. They were a hit.

Christmas Eve highlights

We heated up the hot tub for the first time and went for a dip on Christmas Eve! We performed the Christmas Story of Christ's birth for our grandparents next and wrote a gift to give to Jesus this year. We will save it in a special white stocking until next year and open it up to see if we did it. Then we each opened a gift and went to bed! I'd like to say we got a good night's sleep, but I got up with Carter once and Jared was up with him for two hours (he was so excited he couldn't sleep for 3 hours during the night!)Jared and I remember doing the exact same thing at that age.

Tis the Season for White Elephant Giving

This is a picture of our friends car.... Jared and I went to a Christmas Dinner Party last weekend. The food was excellent (Thank you Carter's) and the white elephant gift exchange was hilarious. We walked away with a book "What your Poo is telling you" and a cookie monster colored robe and four licensce plate frames that read "I LOVE BINGO"!(thank you DI) Now, we could tell right away that these license plate frames were very coveted, so instead of keeping them all to ourselves we decided to share our good fortune with four friends in our ward who were at the party. Yes, you could not find us in Sunday School last Sunday because we were in the parking lot with power drill in hand switching out boring frames for the beloved I LOVE BINGO ones instead. Its made for a fun week as we have seen our friends coming and going through the neighborhood. Just ask our friend Cathy who was at Old Navy last Monday and walked out to not being able to find her car, and then realizing the one with the Bingo Framed license plate was actually hers! They seem to be growing on people, because 3 of the 4 families are still driving around with them on. Anyway, Merry Christmas and I hope you get something better than the "Bingo Frame" and if you "mysteriously" end up with one under your tree next year,(because we may be getting some back now that we have started a neighborhood war), just keep giving the gift that keeps giving.

Finished at Last!

The pool is officially finished! Here are the last pictures.

Hanna's 7th birthday

Our baby girl turned 7 today! We are so happy to have her in our family. She got to take cupcakes to school, cookies to dance, and have a family over for cake and ice-cream. She got My biggest lil petshop, a new outfit, some horses, and some art/ craft projects to work on. A very busy, fun day!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas at the Chuggs

I went to Deseret Book to buy a picture of Christ for this cut out, they didn't have anything that would work so I came home with a picture of Santa Claus!(Is that sacrilegious?)


I hosted the RS dinner portion of the progressive dinner at my house last week. I used it as an excuse to purchase some new decorations and had fun decorating! Here are some highlights of Christmas at our house.

Scripture Tote instructions

I've added instructions to my creative outlet blog on how to make the bags for those of you that expressed interest in knowing how to make them. Scroll down and click on the link! They make great Christmas gifts!

Getting Closer!

Its exciting to see the progress of our back yard. Its starting to look like a yard and less like a desert patch with a big pool hole. If you haven't seen the other pictures of the pool, scroll down to the older posts.

Thanksgiving traditions

Jared and I come from families where food is very important. Not just any food, but good food. What I mean by that is homemade is always better, real butter, potatoes and homemade gravy are a must, and when it comes to our holiday meals, we don't cut many corners. Jared of course is a big part of this and helps me a lot. He helped make the pies this year, and single handedly took care of the turkey, rolls, potatoes, and gravy. (I know unbelievable huh) I had the broccoli casserole, two styles of yams, salad, and two kinds of stuffing to keep me busy, along with making the table look pretty. So fun, but I'm glad its only a couple times a year! My pies turned out especially nice this year, so I took a picture. Everyone has pie traditions at Thanksgiving, ours are: pumpkin, apple, and chocolate cream. Thanks for helping honey, I love that you are willing, you're the best!

Grandma June

Mine is a great heritage. My parents both come from LARGE LDS close knit families. I have just returned from my Grandma June's funeral up in South East Idaho where my roots are from. Grandma was 91 and had lived a very full and great life. She was my last living grandparent. Although it was an emotional weekend, I couldn't help but feel that it was more of a celebration of her life and her descendants. You see, Grandma had 12 children. (one died at birth-scroll down to see her children, all but one was in attendance). Grandma also had 66 grandchildren; 143 great-grandchildren; and seven great-great-grandchildren. She was amazing at keeping them all straight too! I am priveleged to be one of those grandchildren to whom she has handed down lessons in loving FAMILY, GOD, & COUNTRY and a legacy of hardwork passed down from generation to generation. I would have it no other way. Thanks Grandma for your example as you waited patiently for Grandpa and you to be sealed all those years. Thanks for servng two missions and inspiring so many of your descendants to do the same. Countless blessings of the gospel have been spread world wide because of this. I am proud to be your grand-daughter and I will carry on your traditions. I love you. My siblings and parents: Back row: Kandra, Clark, Anthony, Dad front row: Kimberly, Geneva, Mom

Disneyland Magic

We love Disneyland in our family! We just returned from another fun-filled trip to Southern California where we enjoyed Disneyland, Legoland, and Sea World. Disneyland is by far my favorite. Just walking down mainstreat with the anticipation of the day ahead, seeing the characters, and hopping on that first ride is enough to make just about anyone giddy with excitement (and forget how much money they spent to get there). It somehow transforms me into a kid all over again! We were lucky enough to have lots of cousins, and G'ma & G'pa with us this year. Every year brings new memories and a new favorite thing each kid did this time. Carter loved riding Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. Hanna loved meeting Belle at Princess story time and California Screamin', Jake got to fight Darth Vader (he'd been talking about that for weeks), and Josh loved meeting Pooh Bear and shooting his BUZZ blaster at his cousins!

Trick or Treating with Cousins

Audrey 13-Witch, Austin 8-Darth Vader, Carter 8-Grim Reaper, Andrew 10-Army Guy, Hanna 6-Belle, Jake 4-Jango Fett, Josh 1.5-Pirate

With such a big group, it was hard to keep track of all of our trick or treators! We also met some friends from the ward along the way, so at one point we would arrive at a house and 15 kids would parade up to the door! The kids raced from house to house with Carter, Andrew, and Austin leading the way. We lost Jake at one point (not shocking for those of you that know him well), and we covered all, but one street in our little neighborhood. The weather was perfect-no jackets needed! It all made for a perfect Halloween.
Jake was the most excited for his costume this year. He saw it in a magazine and talked about it for days. I found it online for a more reasonable price and we caved and ordered it for him. It was the perfect costume for him since he eat, drinks, and sleeps Star Wars right now! He told everyone "I'm going to be Jingle this year". To their bewildered responses we would have to clarify that for him. By Halloween though, he was finally saying it right!

More Pool pictures posted

There are some new photos of the pool posted if you are intested. (Finally after they haven't done a thing for almost 3 weeks-so frustrating). Scroll down to view.

Carving Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening we carved the kids pumpkins. Carter and Hanna were really good this year at sraping out their own pumpkins with only a little help. Jake was all excited to help until he actually touched the pumpkin slime and had a sudden change of heart. Josh tried to get in on the action when we found him teetering on a chair knife in hand going after Hanna's pumpkin. They each designed their own. I love carving pumpkins probably more than they do its such a fun tradition!

Lil' Matey

Okay, some of you that have known us for awhile have seen this costume before. You know the pirate costume that we frantically made for Carter when he was two the night before Halloween when he would have nothing to do with the Buzz Light year stuff we bought him? Its the very same one. Then when Jake was one he wore it too. So I have to admit I felt a little cheap when I pulled it out again for Joshy to wear tonight to the Fall Festival at the kids school. However, when I put it on him and saw just how cute he was it melted my heart - three times over as I recalled; Carter running around so happy swinging the sword at everyone, Jake pulling off the hat and bandana and refusing to wear it, and now my Josh with his huge smile, running around proudly showing all his siblings his pirate get up. There's not a lot of things in the world cuter than a little boy running around in a Pirate costume!

A Relaxing Wednesday

We have been fortunate to move to an area with a lot of fun parks. The kids have narrowed it down to their top two favorites. The Butterfly Park and the Dinosaur Park. Since Jared is on nights this week and got a decent nights sleep last night, the little boys and I decided to introduce him to the Butterfly Park this morning. It was a beautiful Fall Las Vegas morning with perfect weather. The boys looked cute in their "BIU" (as Jake calls it) shirts that we purchased for the weekend game vs. UNLV. We topped off the morning with lunch at BAJA FRESH. Sure wish every Wednesday was as fun as today!


Whenever we say "Cheese" to Josh he scrunches his nose now!

Autumn in Utah

We just returned from Utah where we bought a new car and spent conference weekend with family. It was a quick and fun trip. We experienced the first snow of the year....which meant an emergency trip to Old Navy...for pants and socks. We took a scenic drive in Ogden Canyon and I went crazy snapping pictures of one of my favorite subjects. Fall leaves. Grandma Karyl and Grandpa Boyd took really good care of us. Lots of home cooked yummy food! These are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend.

I am Josh.....

I am 20 months old. I am still very much a cuddly baby. I am a lover of outside. I am good at looking at books. I am good at my baby sign language. I am not a great eater. I am willing to take a bite if and only if everyone stands around and claps and cheers me on. I am still loving my blue silky blanky. I am a TV addict sometimes. I am very jealous if anyone sits on mom or dad's lap, or my chair, or my anything that I deem as mine. I am loving my milk sippy cups. I am saying lots of new words....like pickaboo, more, book, shoes, please, Nanna (Hanna),and shaking my head to say NO!, I am the boss around here most of the time. I am the Joy of my family every day. I am the boss. I am so CUTE! I am growing up way to fast.