SNOW ANGELS?

Brandon has been so excited to be outside since we have been blasted with snow here in American Fork. We have had a few BIG snow storms in the past week and a half. Thankfully he is a big helper with the shovel (maybe in a year or two he will even be able to move some snow with it :) Brienna, however, is not so fond of her bulky winter wear, or being cold. She just wanted to ride her "bike".
Both of the kids enjoyed tasting the cold flakes, and attempting to build a snow slide.
Of course the best part is warming up afterwards with hot chocolate! I am sure that we will have many more chances to enjoy the snow in the weeks to come.

Oh Christmas Tree!

  Here is a picture of my beautiful tree! We always have lots of fun hunting for the perfect tree on the mountain. This year we were on turbo hunting mode because I left my sick baby home with grandma. Luckily dad and mom had gone the week before (they say it was because of the weather, but we all know it was to beat the rush :) Anyway, they had things scouted out for us, and we were able to all get trees in under 2 hours- which is seriously a miracle!!
Anyway, I loved this one! I wanted it to be really big and pretty all the way around (so I could show it off through the window. I had fun decorating it with lots of bright (shatter-proof ornaments). It makes me smile everytime I walk by. I love Christmas!

Porch of Fire?

 

Justin had lots of fun putting lights on the house this year. However, me being the safety nut that I am, I didn't want him climbing on the steep roof (with his luck he would surely fall off!) so he put lights on the porch. I thought he was finished, but while I was decorating the tree he found more lights and put them everywhere that he possible could on the proch. He calls it the Porch of Fire (hopefully it won't really become that :)). Our house might look a little funny to those who drive by, with just the porch decked out. Maybe I will let him climb a little higher next year... maybe!

Trick or treat!

Here are our picture from Halloween. We had lots of fun being a super family! And the kids LOVED getting candy!

Black eye!

 
Poor Brienna had a rough Halloween. She bonked her eye on the edge of my bed. I didn't realize how bad it was until later when it was all swollen- In the next couple of days it got really black :( I am guessing this won't be the last injury we see out of our crazy little girl!

My little pumpkins

Here the kids are searching for the perfect pumpkin at Maceys :) Brandon of course found the funniest looking one and couldn't be conviced to choose another one. He has a strong will and is very determined once he has made up his mind! We had lots of fun carving the pumpkins too (mostly Justin who is creative and gets very into it His is the pumkin on the end with a bat, a spider, and frankenstien carved into it)

Six things about me...

Okay, so I was tagged by Kristen to post six random things about myself (I'll have to narrow it down). This was good since I needed to post again anyway, although I am not sure who to tag since everyone has probably given up and stopped reading my blog and won't know I tagged them, but I will tag Andrew and Emily Smith. Now we will see if they actually check this (I admit, I would have given up too). Okay, here it goes... 1) I don't really like fall. I always miss summer, I can't stand the smells (this is left over from pregnancy) and I HATE it getting colder and darker, and mostly I hate that Justin is back in school and never home- I miss SUMMER!!!
2) I am horrible with directions and anything to do with technology... and I DON"T REALLY CARE (I guess this is more of a confession) I am sure I could do better at both if I really tried, but I don't have time to do all the things I REALLY enjoy, and I just don't care to learn. That is why I married the smartest man in the world! He downloads our pictures, fixes the computer (and my car) and helps me figure out how to get were I need to go. I would be truly LOST without him (ahhhhh). One little plug for myself, I do know the important things - how to email pictures to Costco to be printed, how to find directions on mapquest, and how to buy and sell on Ebay (my new obsession)
3) I love to eat out. I don't care where (usually) as long as I don't have to cook it, it tastes better. I ecspecially enjoy Cafe Rio (mmmm pork salad), and anywhere with a good steak!
4)I want a big family, but I am not sure if I can handle more than two kids, actually I don't know if I can even handle them :) I love my kids more than ANYTHING! I spoil them rotten and they are the light of my life. I love to watch them sleep and I think about all the amazing things they will become and the cute things they did that day. BUT, around 4:00 pm each day, after attempting to go to the store, keep the house clean, and trying to make dinner- I wonder if I have what it takes to be a mom. Sometimes I feel it is a miracle that they are alive and fed at the end of the day (please don't call the authorities, I change their diapers too) If only they weren't soooooo cute, and just when I am ready to give up, Brandon will say, "I love you mom, you're my best friend" or Brienna comes over with a book and a smile and plops down on my lap for a story- then I smile and wonder what I would ever do WITHOUT them. I love my babies!
5) I am already almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I don't care for fall, but I can't wait for Christmas:) Plus I don't like fight through crowds of onry Christmas shoppers.
6) I always take a bite out of Justin's sandwiches. It started when we were dating and I wanted to see what his food tasted like. When he would go away to fill up his drink or something I would take a big bite and then wrap his sandwich back up. A few times he was seriously freaked out thinking some crazy worker had given him bad food, or tasted it themselves (I am very convincing) But now I do it everytime I make him luches or we go out to eat, he knows it means that I love him (and his food).
That is enough from me, I am going to bed- good night!

 

I love this picture of Brandon at Spirit Lake. We had fun there with the Wallis crew over Labor Day weekend. Brandon did some more fishing, hiking, eating, and playing. He loves the great outdoors and camping (He gets this mostly from his dad since my definition of camping includes a toliet and preferably electricity :)) Brandons favorite part of fishing was playing with the worms!! My favorite part of camping is seeing the excitement and wonder in his eyes with each new discovery- it is enough to make me like camping a little more!

 
Yeah! It worked! Here is another phot from this summer. Mom and Dad are into fossil hunting now- I guess they didn't have anything to do (ha ha) They got all the kids excited about it too, and even took them on a special fossil finding adventure. We think they are a little crazy, but the kids just think they are fun!!!

testing testing 1 2 3...

 
Okay, I am trying to learn how to post individual pictures. Hopefully when I push post we will be looking at a picture of Justin, Brandon and I in a canoe at our summer campout this year. We had lots of fun! The only pole that caught a fish was Brandon's fisher price pole from Wal-Mart that says "not for sport". Brandon didn't really like actually having a live fish on his pole, and it was all Justin could to to get him to poke them before they were tossed back into the lake. Now Brandon thinks we catch fish simply to poke them. :)

Here we are ...again!?

Okay, so I don't know why, but this blog stuff just isn't my thing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE looking at other peoples postings. I really feel like I know what some of my friends are up to, even though I haven't talked to you forever, because of your blogs. It makes me jealous, but I just don't feel like I know what I am doing here, or if anyone (besides Amy Jo, who has been my "inspiration" in doing this), is even looking at this thing. BUT... I am going to do better! I am setting some new goals for myself, and this blog is part of them. I don't promise to be GREAT at this, but I will do BETTER (which really shouldn't be hard since I haven't posted since August:)) And if any of you want to let me know that you are actually seeing this, that would be a good push for me to keep it up.
I will give a quick update on our fam, and then attempt to post some fun pictures from Brandon's third birthday (yes, I do think I am too young to have a three year old:) ) Anyway, Justin is back is school, again, but at least he is doing work for his Masters degree. This makes me feel like there is some end in sight- I can't wait to have my husband back! He also has a new job whcih we are very excited about!!! He is now working for FFKR, the biggest architecture firm in the state. Perhaps you have seen some of there work, which includes... the Vernal temple, Navuoo, Draper, Rexburg, etc temples, U of U and BYU stadiums, Delta Center, Everything for Larry Miller and on and on. They are also doing the big Salt Lake down town remodel. Anyway, Justin is very excited to be working on some really big projects, and this is hopefully a job he will be at for a LONG time (can you say WFFKR?) He especially enjoys the free hot cider :) ha ha.
Okay, so I am sick of typing already- and you are probably sick of reading this, so I will get to the pictures of my BIG boy and his little sister (who thinks she is a BIG girl). Oh yeah, I love being a mom! My kids are the cutest- even if they are making me insane half of the time- all the absolutely adorable things they say and do everyday make it worth it. I am very lucky!!!!

Dancing King

So Justin said that I needed to put some photos on the blog of Brandon wearing clothes- I don't think this is what he meant, but I think that I am pretty funny. Brandon likes to dance, so when I told him that these were Brienna's dancing skirts he just had to try them out. I think he looks super cute. I can always use a good laugh in the middle of the day:)

Princess Brienna

Okay, here are some pictures of my little princess- Brienna. As you can see she is usually a mess from eating something. She just turned one on June 19th, but she thinks that she is 2 1/2 like her older brother. She can usually be found following him around- up or down the stairs, on the slide, climbing the couch or a chair or pretty much anything Brandon is doing she thinks she can do too.
It is a rare occasion when I can keep a bow in her hair, shoes on her feet, or a braclet on. She is also not a fan of wearing a dress. So much for having a little GIRL to dress up. Oh well, she always has a smile on her face and can make us laugh- what more could I ask for????

Here we go... finally!!!

Hey there everyone. We are finally blogging. I don't know how well we will do at this, or how often I will get pictures posted- but I am just glad to get started :)

I am starting with some pictures of my sweet boy Brandon. He loves to dance and sing. When he is dancing and jumping around he says he is doing "magic." I think it is so cute and it always makes me smile. So enjoy these pictues of his "Magic Moves"