Xander is 6!

This year we had a nice quiet little family party for Xander. We had a fancy breakfast for dinner menu... scrambled eggs with the works, crepes, and sausage. And then of course, cake. He wanted his cake to be the Red Lego Ninja, so to accomplish that I decided I'd give fondant a try. I made my own marshmallow fondant from a recipe I found through pinterest. It was super easy to make... a little messy though. I'd like to learn how to use the fondant better, but for my first try, I was happy with how it turned out. 

Presents! Xander and Landon are way into Star Wars and love to play the Lego Star Wars Wii game, so we got him a couple of the Lego Star Wars books. He is also my crafty one, so he got a paracord bracelet kit and a pumpkin carving kit (He really wanted one.)

So grateful for this little boy. He's a good little helper and in a lot of ways plays the oldest brother part. He is a hard worker and loves school and learning. When did my kids start getting to be big!

8 year old Gavin

The last few months have been busy, and here all of the sudden October is over and November has started. Back in September Gavin turned 8! We had family over for a Sunday dinner of Cafe Rio style tacos and then a digging in the dirt worm cake. Gavin has been obsessed with worms and digging for them (at times in places he shouldn't) since summer began, so when he was trying to come up with cake ideas and changing his mind every few days I came up with my own Gavin appropriate idea.

Present time!

Party Guests... most of these pictures are courtesy of the boys who love to confiscate the camera and have way too much fun with it!

Then in October Gavin was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Typically kids are baptized when they are 8 (the age of accountability... the point where they are old enough to start being responsible for their own choices). When it came time for Gavin to be baptized, Ben and I did some talking. We wanted to be sure it was his choice and that he was ready. I worried that with his special needs that maybe we should wait. I didn't want to him be baptized at 8 just because it was expected of both him and us. But we decided he was ready, He knows Jesus loves him and died for him, and he is a good boy that wants to be like Jesus. After he was baptized, he then had hands placed on his head by the righteous men in his family that hold the priesthood and gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He can now have that guidance as a constant companion in his life. And as Ben reminded me as we discussed things, what greater gift could he get to help him through his struggles and this life? 

It was a beautiful day for our little family and were so thankful to have the program be filled by all of our family members... grandma, great-grandpas, uncles, aunts, mom, and dad... all participated. Sarah and Treyton and Jonathon even came up from Provo to be with us. It was great, though we were sure missing my side of the family so far away.

Things are not always easy with and for this little boy, but I am so glad he is mine. And I am so proud of him for choosing to be like Jesus Christ and be baptized. It's hard to believe he's becoming so grown up!

A Little Halloween Creativity

I know it's been quite awhile since I've blogged... almost nine months to be exact. The last year has been full of lots of ups and downs and changes, and I just haven't managed to keep up with the blogging. But I'm trying to make up for it now.

I've felt a little overwhelmed recently, and last week in particular was crazy and stressful. SO this week I decided I needed to do something fun that I liked to do to de-stress. I always like opportunities to be creative and with Halloween season upon us, I decided to decorate it up a bit!

I bought poster board and tissue paper from the dollar store and went to work on our front window. This is the first holiday season that we've actually had a front window to decorate for people to see. The boys and I had fun making things. Xander, my more creative one outta of the bunch so far, just thought it was the best. We made a mess, and I didn't get done things that maybe should have gotten done, but it was an enjoyable afternoon, and we had fun. I needed it. I think I might do the other front bedroom windows too!

Enjoy!

Christmas Season 2013

We had dinner at church with a short Christmas message, and then Santa made an appearance. This is the first year all of them actually sat on Santa's lap. I forgot the camera, but luckily I had a friend who snapped some photos for me. (Thanks, Rosea!)

We spent Christmas Eve with the Barnes bunch. We were only missing Jonathon who is serving a mission in Ohio, but he'll be back by next Christmas. At least we got to Skype with him on Christmas! This year we all got Christmas jammies. Aren't we so cute.

The grandbabies.

Daron and Brooke wanted to get a few family pictures in their matching jammies. To try to get Evelyn to smile I stood behind Ben and made Tanner play peek-a-boo with her. The faces we got from here were too fun. She sure is one adorable little girl.

These two had matching reindeer jammies. Tanner the boy version and Evelyn the girl. These two are just so stinking cute... 

Christmas morning. We got camping stuff this year. Now we just have to wait for the warm weather!

Christmas at Grandma's house. The boys got wiggle cars (aka plasma cars). We had quite workshop going on. Since then when they need to go use some energy up, I send out into the garage to use these... love them.

Ann also got Tanner these Santa jammies... they're size 24 months. But Santa is supposed to be chunky, right! Love this chunky monkey.

We had a great December and Christmas season. We enjoyed being with family and appreciated the generosity of so many. We hope you enjoyed the Holidays as well.

Change up

I was ready for a hair change.
Instead of chopping it all off like I usually do after having a baby...
I decided to go curly.
My friend Holly is in beauty school right now and got a lot of practice rolling today...
Love it.

 

Halloween 2013

Pumpkin Carving
The boys could hardly wait to carve pumpkins. The big boys were even able to use butter knives to carve part of their own pumpkins this year. If you look close, the boys are making the same faces as their pumpkins.


The year of the Star Wars.

Baby Yoda in all of his cuteness.

We were too late and missed our ward's trunk or treat, but we made it down to trunk or treat with Grandma and Grandpa's ward. We had a lot of fun and the boys came away with more candy than they need. My only complaints... cold and rainy, and candy was sufficiently lacking in the chocolate department! ;)