Winter Wonderland

What great snow we have had the last three weeks. We are now officially moved into our new house in Syracuse, UT which means we have our very own driveway to shovel. Kembrie and Brexten had to have their own child size shovels to get out in the snow and help daddy. I love getting them all bundled up in their snow gear. They loved making snow angels this year, and we have yet to build a snowman. Maybe next time.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we did something amazingly fun for Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend at Disneyland and California Adventure. Thanks to Grama Debbie, we all enjoyed a wonderful time at the Happiest Place on Earth. We went on all the rides during the day and had our turkey fixings at Mimi's Cafe nearby. The food was excellent and what was better was that we didn't have to cook or clean up after our feast. We were able to go back to the parks and watch fireworks and a christmas parade. Brexten's favorite ride was Splash Mountain. Brexten was very animated when describing how "they went around a cave in a log and then up the hugest hill and came down it fast and splashed with water all over" he would say, giggling the entire time. Since we went on Splash Mountain several times, Kembrie's favorite ride became the "honeybee's", which was the Winnie the Pooh ride for small children right next door. She went through the ride more times than I can count, and loved every single time. Roller coasters were also a big hit. Bryan got his mother to go with him on the Tower of Terror ride in California Adventure. She didn't quite know what was coming, but I think she enjoyed it anyway. Kembrie was so excited to get to see Cinderella and when she did talk to her, she blew KJ a kiss. She talked about how Cinderella blew her a kiss for the next several days. It was a precious princess moment.
At this time of year, we are so grateful to have family near us and support us through all of life's challenges. We are grateful for healthy children, who are so fun to watch grow and learn on their own. We are grateful for our new home, yes, I said new home, in Syracuse that we are in the process of buying right now. Most of all we are grateful for the Savior in our lives and his gift to mankind. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween

Princess Kembrie, Ladybug Abbie, and Transformer Brexten

Trick or Treating Anyone?

Happy Halloween!

Kembrie's 2nd Birthday

Kembrie turned 2 years old on September 30th. We had a Dora the Explorer Birthday Party for her and my sweet friend Cindi made her this fabulous Dora cake.

Kembrie was so excited to open all her presents and she thanked everyone several times for all the fun girly toys she got. She is definately my polite child.

Brexten, Cody, Kembrie and Kenadee pose for a party picture. KJ got a babydoll stroller from mom and dad that she refused to let go of once we gave it to her. She pushed that babydoll around for the next 2 weeks straight.

What a birthday party! At the end of the night we are ready to go out on the town (or rather down to our bed) in matching earings, purse, and bracelets. I love it!

Just a little more about our sweet girl (as Brex calls her).

Favorite color: pink

Favorite cartoon: Dora the Explorer

Favorite food: anything we feed her

Favorite animal: puppies

Favorite word: thank you

Favorite brother: Brexten- most of the time

Favorite doll: Suzie

Kembrie loves to give kisses and tight squeezes. She tells you exactly what she wants when she wants it, she copies everything Brexten says, she loves to read books, color, and play with taydough (playdough). She loves to play with her Aunt Julie and squeeze, touch, pet or neckchoke baby Abbie. She is not afraid of new people and is very social. She will go play with pretty much anyone at Artic Circle or McD's. She can't wait to go to preschool like Brexten, but loves to have mom and me time when he is gone. She also likes to have her fingernails and toenails done on a regular basis, or whenever I am doing mine. Kembrie is truly a blessing in our family. Happy 2nd Birthday baby girl!

It's about time...

Wow! How the summer has flown by. However, I love September for several reasons:

1. Labor Day weekend last minute summer flings (which we did not participate in this year, bummer)
2. I finally see the fruit of my labors, well technically not mine, but Days Farms sure has nice produce this year
3. Peaches with vanilla ice cream - nightly
4. School starts (or preschool in our case)
5. The air cools down- great for early morning walking
6. I can put my kids to bed earlier- thank goodness
7. The leaves start to change
8. Kembrie celebrates her 2nd Birthday
9. It feels like such a romantic month to me because...
10. Our anniversary is on the 30th!!!

I just wanted to post a few great pictures of my kids with their "bucket" hats. They are quite creative. I couldn't help but take a picture of them when Brexten kept asking for me to get the camera because he had a 'great shot'. Everything Brexten does, KJ wants to do too. They both love to jam out to the guitar, and I couldn't help but get a shot of that too.

Kembrie was way too cute for church today in her new fall dress so I snapped some 'great shots' of her as well. We are practicing for those real birthday pictures that I want to have done later this week. She says cheeze every time and it totally cracks me up how she wrinkles her little nose just like her dad. Enjoy!

Aloha from Hawaii

Our family was lucky enough to go to Maui, Hawaii for a family vacation this past July. We were really spoiled with all kinds of fun from snorkeling with sea turtles and catching some rays on the beach, to walking through botanical gardens and experiencing a traditional Hawaiian Luau. But my favorite part about vacation is spending some good quality time together.

Pictured below are Danny, Grama Vivi, Me, Kembrie & Brexten, and Dave & Mystie at the Maui Ocean Center. Brexten's favorite was the sea turtles, Kembrie was brave enough to touch the starfish with me.

Sunset on the boardwalk in Maui.

Love the kids peering at the ocean behind us.

Wow! Waterfalls are AMAZING in Maui. Julie, Nate, Bryan and Myself hiked through the jungle to swim in this crystal clear waterfall. Did I mention how freezing cold it was? It was like swimming in bottled spring water, you could drink it.

My favorite in Maui was the Torch Flower. It really looked like the native fire torches.

We partied at the classic Luau in Lahina on the beach. We ate lots of great food, watched natives hula dance and cliff divers who were part of the ceremonial tribute to the nature gods.

Kembrie's ready for some hula dancing!

Brexten, Kembrie and Abbie LOVED playing on the beach and making sea turtles and sand castles. A handful of sand for lunch never bothered sweet little Abbie.

Brexten was soo excited for his very own surfboard (or more accurately boogie board) to hit some waves with. Well, it was more like hit the pool with.

Mahalo to Grama Vivi for inviting all of us to experience the wonderful Hawaiian Islands!!

I got Tagged

1- Self-portrait. This is me after a long day out in 98 degree weather, thus the ponytail.

2- What are your kids doing right now? Brexten and Kembrie are running around the house making a huge mess and coloring with marker all over their hands, feet, clothes, floor, and a little on the coloring book. It's a good thing the markers are washable. They will need baths tonight.

3- Our laundry, it doesn't even fit in the way too small laundry basket, but it is sorted.

4- Our closet, well half of it anyway. How about that high school letterman jacket right next to my dresses. We are crammed for space, but honestly you would think maybe a good place for it would be a box.

5- Our fridge. It was leftover night tonight, and I still have containers full of food. I can't keep enough apple juice for the kids, and Mountain Dew for Bryan stocked up in this fridge. Notice only a six pack on the bottom right, and an almost empty apple juice container in the door.

6- Kitchen sink. Mine has some dinner dishes in it. Typical.

7- Toilet. This is actually Brexten's bathroom and we just cleaned it yesterday, lucky for me. I trick the kids into helping me by playing treasure hunt, and the washcloths are our treasure maps. After we use them to navigate through cleaning the bathroom, they get a treasure or treat. It really works for me, but now I just need him to hit the water everytime instead of the floor.

8- My favorite shoes are last year's flip-flops with half of the metallic sequins missing. I have honestly been trying to find another pair to replace them, but they remain my all time favorite flip-flops for the second summer season.

9- My favorite room in our house is our front room. It is my pretty picture and scripture reading room, very peaceful, when the kids are asleep.

10- My dream vacation is Hawaii, and we are going this friday for a week with my family. We are so lucky and excited. This is Bryan's t-shirt for our trip - Aloha Hawaii!

I got tagged by my sweet sister Karen. She did this really cute picture tag. The rules are you have to take them right now, with no fixing it up and tag five other people. I tag Lisa, Shauni, Kami, Cindi, and Melanie.

What A Teaparty

How cute are these pictures? I just had to put a plug in for our little princess teaparty that Kembrie, Brexten and I had yesterday. KJ was Cinderella with her gloves. We all ate pretzels, gummy bears, animal crackers, chips, and pretend tea. It was a lot of fun. I also just wanted to comment on my new blog layout. Yes, I know I have been updating like crazy, but I have finally found a layout that I really like!! Yea!! So this should be our blog site for quite a while now. I also noticed that I have been posting on Tuesdays, so I didn't want to break tradtion. Love you all!

The BIG 30th Birthday!!

Happy 30th Birthday to Bryan!! He's finally reached that monumental age when we should have life figured out right? Well he's working on it anyways. We had a huge birthday bash for Bry last week at an awesome Chinese restaurant. A ton of our family and friends came to celebrate Bry's Big Day. We had a fun table set up in our banquet room with candy and bags for the kids to decorate and then fill with their own stash. Not to mention the huge birthday cake that Kembrie loved sticking her fingers in before the party started. Brexten was so excited when blowing the candles out with him. I made Bryan a little scrapbook album of his first 30 years. It was so much fun to make. Cindi helped me put it together and we found everything from his drooling baby pictures, to sports, golf, prom, mission, family, and wedding pictures. It was a blast to make for him and just made me love Bry for being him. Most of his friends from work are also pictured here. Bryan has a fun, easy going personality and he genuinely cares about others, that's what makes him such a great friend. We had a great time and missed those of our family who were not there. We love Bryan and wish him the best for his next 30 years!

We love Grandma!

Kembrie, Brexten, and Abbie pose together in their adorable sweat outfits from Grandma Viv. Brex and KJ love to play with their cute cousin Abbie who is just starting to move around quite well. Pretty soon she will be up and running around with them, but for now she love to sit in our little piano baby bouncer. Brexten thinks that she is spitting up because she always has a wet bib on (she's probably teething). Kembrie always wants to know where Aunt Julie and Abbie are. She loves to give Abbie hugs and feed her food she is not supposed to have like Cocoa Puffs at 4 months old. (Sorry Julie) We love you Grandma Viv!

my first blog

Aren't we gorgeous gals? I'm finally a blogger now thanks to my great friends Lisa, Melanie, Kami, and Cindi (not pictured)!!! We had a whopper of a girls night out at my house. It started with our monthly book club meeting. We had great food and a fun discussion on the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom, which I highly recommend. Then we all stayed and chatted while creating my new Blog!! I never would have gotten as far as I did with out them. We snacked some more and finally posed for our snap shot at 2 am. I would say we can still look great even in the wee hours of the morning. I had a great time and loved spending time with my closest girlfriends. Melanie was in town for the week and I just realized how much I am going to miss her. Her twin boys are absolutely adorable and I told her that they make me 1% baby hungry, which is a huge step given that I am in NO condition to be adding to my pair of "Genes". My funnest memories of my girlfriends are staying up late chatting about life, husbands, kids and being feminine. I love to be girly and get all dolled up just to be out on the town with my girlfriends. These girls are the reason that I am even blogging today. Thanks to Shauni, who started it all a few years ago. Sorry it took me sooo long to catch the blog bug. However, I know that this will be a fun adventure and a great way to keep in touch with family and friends who are tending to be moving out of state in the recent past.

Love ya,

(Yes, I really do)

Jen