MERRY CHRISTMAS!

*Once again, photos are courtsey of Tracey! =)

A Few Quick Family Photos

So at Steph's wedding, one of our favorite family photographers, Tracey, took some pictures for us. All of you that got Christmas cards have already seen them, but I'm proud so here they are for the rest of you! (And to those of you who didn't get Christmas cards....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! WE LOVE YOU!!) =)

Lights at Temple Square

For FHE we took a trip up to Temple Square to see the lights. Zaylee loved all of the "mommies, daddy's, and babies" (translation: the nativities). We also decided to go on a tour of the conference center while we were there. It was a lot of fun! I didn't get many photos because I thought that they all looked blurred through my camera, but here are a few!

Graham Cracker Houses

For play date this month we made graham cracker houses! It was so much fun. Granted a two year old definitely finds eating the candy much more entertaining than making a house out of it!

Here's the photos from our fun morning:

Getting started....


Caught sneaking the candy!


Finally she got the hang of putting the candy on the house...


Finished project!


It was fun! Thanks Heidi!

Grandma's Caramels

Well, I did it! Tracey inspired me this year to try to make Grandma's caramels. Thanks Tracey! It was such a great experience for me. It brought back a lot of memories of Grandma and Christmas's with her. Of course, we all remember the green cup used to test when the caramels were ready, sitting around her yellow kitchen table cutting wax paper and wrapping the caramels, the fridge full of caramels after she was done, and delivering them to everyone in town. Not to mention just the overall Christmas memories of singing Christmas songs (including the Chipmunks Christmas album!), decorating her Christmas tree while she sat on the couch and instructed us on how to place the icicles just right, and even sitting by her old coal stove drying our hair after baths at her house. Ahh, so many good memories. I think I've found my new Christmas tradition. It'll be one of the best ways for me to honor and remember Grandma. Love you, Grandma! Miss you!





*Note* I even have the old yellow counter-tops to make it seem even more like the old days! =)

"I dressed myself!"

So, this wasn't the first time that she has put her own clothes on, but it was the first time that she picked out matching clothes, put them on with the tags in back, and right side out! I'm so proud! =) Granted, this was about 2 weeks ago and we have yet to see it happen again, but miracles do happen! (I did the shoes and socks...) Goodness, she's just growing up so fast!

Awesome song....

This is a song that is by a friend of mine. It is amazing. Enterprise people, you know this one--Sam Arnold.

Please listen--but fair warning, it will probably make you cry.

Quick updates

So yes, we are now proud owners of a brand new partially eaten library book!! Hurray!! And it only cost $21.00! How fun! **yes, very sarcastic!** I did just end up taking it in and explaining the situation. They were nice about it but seemed to be absolutely flabbergasted that she actually ate it! Oh, well, that's my girl! =)

Also, I was asked to tell what was in our 72 hour kit meal bags. Well, I didn't want to list them all here so I am going to link you to the website that I got the idea from. So, click here if you are interested in looking at it. We did do a few minor changes to what they suggested but basically just followed their plan. Just arrow down a bit and you will see the day by day outline.

72 hour kits

We've been working on our 72 hour kits for the past year and I think we are finally done. Yesterday we sat down and went through the food portion of our kit and now I am pleased to say that we can now all eat for three days in an emergency!! YEA!!!

This was an idea that I found online. You have three labelled bags for each member of your family (one for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day). So 9 bags for each member with their designated meals for each day. Pretty cool huh!

What to do.....

If your child rips the page of a library book and then proceeds to EAT said ripped library page, do you have to actually tell the librarian and show them or can you just walk in with money and pay for the book so you don't have to get the "are you kidding me, are you really sad enough parents that you'll let your child eat library books??" look? (Even if you do deserve the look...)



No seriously, please tell me. I am so embarrassed and really want to know!!! And no, we will not be checking out anymore library books until she understands fully and clearly that books are NOT for eating!!!!

Look familiar....

"CHEESE!" (yes, she was very proud of herself...)


Yep, she did it again. This time, it wasn't washable marker though and this time it was Daddy who failed to see it happening while Mommy was at work.....how long does it take for permanent marker to wash out?? And does it come out of microfiber sofas???

Halloween

Okay, so this was the only photo that was actually taken on Halloween night. I know, pathetic of me. This photo was actually taken by our landlord. It's her husband and two of their three kids that are in the photo with us.

It was such a fun night. Zaylee had a blast knocking on doors and saying "treat" to everyone that answered. We tried to get her to say trick-or-treat but for some reason treat was all she could get out! =) She tried to end with "Happy Halloween!" But it ended up more like "Happy Do Do." (Don't know where that one came from!!) Over all it was really fun night! Zaylee even had a chance to use her "Care Bear Stare!" on a barking dog. The owners got a kick out of that one!

Hope you all had a great one as well!

It was a first for me.......

Have you ever been rejected from attending a church conference?? Well me neither, until tonight! There was a big LDS Church and Scouting relationships conference at the SL tabernacle tonight and I don't think they were anticipating quite the crowd that showed up. After searching for parking, I finally entered Temple Square gates about 5 minutes before the start time to find the doors shut and a line of people outside. After a bunch of hemming and hawing and shuffling to the assembly hall for overflow attempts, we finally had an usher come in and tell us that because they weren't planning on it they couldn't get audio/video in the assembly hall and there was no room in the tabernacle so we could all just go home. If I were to guess I would say there were a couple hundred of us sent home. Crazy huh!

So, I enjoyed a nice visit to the visitors center. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to go sit next to the Christus Statue and just feel the spirit that is there. It was a great chance for me to sit and read my scriptures and ponder all that the Savior has done for me in my life. I know that is something that I need to do more of.

Being turned away was a new experience for me but this was definitely not a wasted trip. I am so grateful for it!

Pumpkins!

Yesterday for play date we went pumpkin hunting!

The kids had a blast riding in the wheelbarrow:



Zaylee just couldn't hold still she kept running and running--there were too many pumpkins to see them all!



I did finally get her to sit down long enough to pose for a couple of photos!





Afterwards we headed over to our friends house for painting, eating, and Cinderalla watching:






That evening we decided for Family Home Evening to carve pumpkins for our activity. Now, I haven't done this in years but it was fun!!

Zaylee didn't actually pull any of the guts out, but she looked in and promptly responded "Ewww! That's cucky!!"



Zaylee added a little marker to her painted pumpkin:




My carving (I know not very original):



Alex's one eyed monster:



Final finished pumpkin family (with a handsome man in the background & a cute girl poking around the side!):



What a fun day!!

****UPDATE****

And this is what happens when you not watching your child because you are too busy posting about pumpkins and you forgot to take care the markers from the night before!!!

Where have we been??

Okay, so there is no good answer to that question but I've finally decided to update you all on the last oh 3 months....

It hasn't been an overly busy summer but definitely a fun one!

The last post before this one was just before the 4th of July so we will start there.

For the 4th we had a blast in LaVerkin! We started with a swim in the Virgin River,





We watched the parade,




Enjoyed all the spoils,



Got Zaylee's first face paint (the final product didn't turn out to well so you just get the preview....),




And watched Grandpa get dunked!!





That night the fireworks were awesome!





THANKS FOR THE FUN!!

Next on the agenda....CAMPING! For this trip we went west to North Willow Canyon near Grantsville.



We were visited by a cow,



Played in the nearby stream,



Built rock houses from our rock collection,





And watched as Alex climbed and declared himself as King of the Rocks!




Our next camping trip was to Yuba Lake. The water and sand were fun! The wind was INSANE! As a result....no pictures! Zaylee loved it all until she was hit with the big sand blast and then we enjoyed time in the tent playing cards, prepping dinner, eating, and just all around playing inside. Speaking of tents....luckily (I guess you could put it that way) earlier that morning our zipper broke and Alex had to drive to the closest town to buy a new bigger one--so at least it was roomy!



After Yuba we decided for our next family outing a hotel would be a nicer way to go. So for our anniversary we decided to pack up and head to Fort Collins, CO!!

Did we know anything about it before we got there: NO!!
Did we have fun: YES!!
Did I take any pictures: ...uh...no.....



Following vacation, we kept ourselves busy with the starting back up of school, baptisms for the nephews, baby blessings, and continuing working on applications for Alex's 4th year. He's applying for the Air Force and it's quite the process!! But, he's got an interview on Thursday so keep your fingers crossed!!

On the weekend of the baptisms, while Alex and Zaylee had fun in LaVerkin I stayed up here and enjoyed the company of my family--including a hike back up to Donut Falls. This would be the third trip this year. The first was a previous post and the second, I didn't take any pictures. Actually I didn't from this trip either but I am using these photos courtesy of Kurt & Jill (sorry I didn't ask guys but I know you love me and don't mind, right???)







AWESOME!!

And you can see more on Steph's blog



And now you (or at least I) am almost up to date.

There are a few other fun things that have happened like our getting to go to The Scarlet Pimpernel for free (Thanks Greg & Carolyn!!), pine nut hunting--yep, just hunting, no finding--with Grandpa Gubler, Levi's family, and Rayn's family (that was a ton of fun guys! Thanks for letting Zaylee and I come! I wish I would've taken pictures!!) getting to go to St. George and to go through the temple with Uncle Lynn and Aunt Sandra, Alex's interview with Dixie Hearing and Balance (we still haven't heard back on that one yet), and Witches Night Out (Kasey and Saddie took pictures so check with them if you want to see how awesome we all looked!!)



Now finally, a preview for our Halloween:



In case you don't want to watch the video:



And what you may ask has this litte cutie pie been doing during this WHOLE update??



(Yes, that is a glare she's giving me!)

So...GOOD-BYE!!! (But hopefully not for the next 3 months!) I'm going to play with her! =)