HALLOWEEN!

Just a little heads up, I wrote this post over a month ago, and somehow forgot to post it. So you might be wondering why I am blogging about this in December, but technically I am just posting it in December. ENJOY!

October is always my favorite month. There is just something about walking outside and smelling the first fires being burned in people's homes that warms my soul. It's probably because my Grandma had the coziest little basement with her wood burning stove that warmed me to the bone, and made me never want to leave. I love fall and winter fashion. The scarves. The boots. The pea coats. The pajamas. The fuzzy socks. I love the fall scented candles,(especially LEAVES from Bath and Body Works.) I love eating pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies, and harvested vegetables like squash and zucchini. But my most favorite thing about the fall, is the falling of the leaves. There isn't a more beautiful scene to behold than watching the leaves change from their lush green, to their radiant reds, oranges, and golds. I love to hear the leaves rustling on the sidewalk in the wind. I love to feel them crunching under my feet when I take a walk. It always seems like fall only lasts the month of October and maybe part of November, and then we are into the dreaded 6 month winter! I wish it could last just a little longer, but then maybe it wouldn't be as special.

The beginning of October wasn't too busy or exciting, besides General Conference, but I already blogged about that so I won't overdo it. The nice thing about October school-wise, is that Isi usually gets a break. This year he was off for a whole week, and was able to get some work time in.

The most exciting thing about October of course, is HALLOWEEN! We had a really fun time this year and I will post some pictures of the kids in their outfits. They got to dress up 4 times this year. The first was for their cousin Addy's birthday. The second was for a big family trunk or treat Isi's extended family did. The third was for their cousin Huxton's 1st year birthday party. The last was for Halloween night. So I have to say I got my money's worth out of their costumes. And here they are...

IRONMAN!!!



LADY BUG!!!



It was a fun month. This time of year always makes me grateful for my family. Where would we be without them?





And I just had to add this picture of Isi's grandma. At the family trunk or treat they had Halloween music playing and when thriller came on she started dancing around. The kids would go stand right in front of her and just stare. They were all astounded by her moves and face (why grandmother, what scary eyes and teeth you have!) It was so funny! We were all laughing.

the ups and downs of life....and the gospel inbetween

Sometimes, religiously, I feel like we ride a roller coaster. Every six months when General Conference comes around, it gives us a new boost to climb the next hill. Then we get to the top, and start to get lazy. We fall. That's what I love about General Conference. It pumps me up spiritually to climb the next hill. I feel like I never really appreciated it enough until I got married and had kids. And what is it about kids and they can't leave you alone to listen anyway? I tried to watch as much as I could, but it was a little difficult with the two chilluns running around. That's what is so great about our world today though, with the click of a mouse we can pull up a talk or even watch it over. I will definitely have to read up on a few of the ones I felt I missed out on, but there were some really inspiring messages given. I loved the talk given by Elder Uchtdorf and especially when he talked about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , and the "golden tickets". I felt like this part of his message was just for me. Some days, I feel like I am not living my life, but just going through the motions until this or that happens. I always tell myself, when this or that happens, life will be so much easier. I find myself not savoring the small and simple moments in life that make me happy. Like my kids saying funny things. My kids saying, "Mommy?"..."I love you." My batch of cookies turning out perfectly. The kids running outside squealing when their daddy gets home. A nice talk I have with my mom. My husband teasing me. Finding 10 bucks in a coat from last winter. I just need to be grateful for all the moments that make life so precious and fragile.

I felt like a lot of the messages given on Saturday and Sunday were about the Book of Mormon, and the truthfulness of its words. I loved hearing these mens' convictions that the book is true, and Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I find it amazing that these talks were given, and then within a few days, the LDS church is being scrutinized during Mitt Romney's campaign, and some saying we aren't Christian. That we worship Joseph Smith and not Jesus Christ. This just goes to show how ignorant some people are. They obviously know nothing of our faith. The Book of Mormon is indeed another testament of Christ, and gives the account of him visiting his "other sheep" after his death and resurrection in Jerusalem. The whole book is centered around Christ. I felt like these messages given over conference were truly inspired, and because the BOM is the keystone of our religion, we need to have our own personal convictions that Joseph Smith TRANSLATED it, not wrote it like someone would a work of fiction, but translated it by the help of God. After reading the BOM, I understand why missionaries trying to share the TRUE gospel with the world pass this book out. If we have a testimony that the book is true, then that would make Joseph Smith a true prophet of God. And if Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, then that makes CHRIST'S church, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the true church. We don't worship Joseph Smith. We admire him for his service to God in his mortal life. We admire that at 14 years old, he was thinking enough about his salvation to pray and ask for an answer. We find it amazing that from that age on, through being tarred, feathered and tortured by the mob, through losing his own children, Joseph Smith, LIKE Christ, never denied his faith, not even in death. I love the BOM and am so grateful for the talks given to strengthen my testimony of it. I love that every six months, we are privileged to hear talks that will help us in our journey. I love being a member of the LDS Church! I know there are some things we don't have all the answers to, but that is where faith comes in, and we are blessed for it.......

Falling away from summer.......

Time is a funny thing. One day can seem so arduous and long to me, and then before I know it it's Sunday and I am looking back at my week wondering where all my time went, and what exactly I got accomplished. Did I clean my house this past week? Yes, every day. Is it clean? NO!!! Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom is so frustrating! Some days I feel worthless. I have two little tazmanian devils at my heels ruining everything I do, and then I ask myself why I even bother mopping the floor when I know its just going to get spilled on in ten minutes. I have laundry coming out my ears, which is being unfolded as I am folding it, dishes getting broke, potty training accidents to clean,dinner to make, etc, etc. Then someone will say something like, "Staying home with your kids is one of the hardest jobs there is," and I suddenly feel validated. Even though some days I need a timeout more than my children, I know I should feel grateful that I am able to spend so much time with them, because it is all going by so fast! I feel like I am on a runaway time train. When it first pulled out of the station, slowly trudging forward, I was just a kid scrambling to find a nice seat to fit in. As it started chugging faster and faster, I was in my teens, holding on and wondering where I was headed. Now at 24, the train is at full speed, and I am looking out the windows trying to catch glimpses of my life that is literally passing me by! I keep telling myself I need to blog more and do better at keeping a consistent journal because I know I am going to forget all the things I see along the way, and it makes me sad. I talked to my sister-in-law a few weeks back and she told me to at least blog once a month, and then if I have time do more. I think that's a pretty easy enough goal, so I am going to give it a try. Today I will blog about September's events, and just do a brief summary of events from the beginning of the year when I last blogged.

In April, Isi found out he had been accepted to the Nursing program at the University of Utah. He was ecstatic! School ended, and we began looking for places to rent for the fall. After looking at how pricey rent was in the Salt Lake area, we decided to check into the housing market, and to no surprise, some of the houses would have mortgage payments that were less than rent. We applied for a loan, and to our great surprise got approved. Although it wasn't for much, and there wasn't a lot of decent homes that were not short sales in our price range, we were so excited. We started house hunting, but nothing really caught our eye. I remembered a couple of months prior, we were staying at Isi's parents and I went on a jog in their neighborhood. I passed a cute little brick rambler that was for sale, and even though we weren't looking into buying at the time, I decided to back track. I was surprised to see the advertising papers listed the home for what seemed to me like a pretty good price. But I told myself we weren't even buying, and so I continued on my run. I told Isi about this house, and we decided to do a drive by. When we pulled up, the price of the home had dropped even more than what it was when I first passed it. We decided to take a peek in the windows. (Now I will have you know, the home was unoccupied, and we knew this was trespassing but we just had to!)I was expecting the home to be extremely outdated, or have something amiss, because it wasn't a short sale and the price was decent. When we looked in, there was new carpet, and I could see a brand new stove sitting in the kitchen. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed the pretty new paint color too. The yard was nice and big. What was wrong with this house? We told our realtor, and he gave us a showing. He was also surprised that it wasn't a short sale, and was such a good price, especially for the neighborhood. He called the the the realtor that had listed the house and got details. It only had 2 prior owners. There wasn't anything wrong with it. Some investors bought it to flip it, but the market kept dropping and they were trying to get rid of it. We all felt really good about it, so we put an offer in. This was the beginning of June and by the end of June we were moved in. Everything seemed to just work out and fall into place. Isi was still working for my dad until school began, so he would stay in Wales during the week and come home on the weekends. We love having our own home, although it is true...once you move in, you have no money to fix it up how you would like it! But maybe once Isi is done with school we can finish the basement.

AUGUST...

Isi started school the end of August, and it has been nice to have more of a schedule. I am glad he is getting school out of the way now while we are still young and just beginning our family. He has loved his program so far.

I tried to get the kids to play in the sprinkler out back. Kai decided it would be fun to drench his sister, but she played along with him for a while. Then it turned sour and she was done.






SEPTEMBER...

September always kicks off with Labor Day weekend, and I love it. This year we went camping! In Fil's backyard! It was actually really fun. There were no dirty kids and clothes. Okay so there was, just not as bad as if we were to really have camped on a mountain. The drive was 5 minutes, and I could pee inside in the middle of the night without envisioning a mountain creature biting my butt while I try to pop a squat. Now that's what I call camping! We finished off the day with a BBQ at our place.





My cousin Stephanie got married on the 10th of September and it was lovely. Her event was held at the Red Butte Gardens up by the U and it was the most beautifual scenery, and she just added all the more to it. Congrats Steph, you looked stunning!






After her wedding, September wasn't too eventful, besides the fact that it's the beginning of the college football season and so our weekends pretty much consist of watching games. Or more like Isi watching games while I read. I did however have a little game spirit when the Utes played BYU, and we went to a tailgate party at the Macey's store in West Jordan.







After tailgating, we took Kai, Pres, and Nas (Kai's cousin that was born 3 days before him) on the Trax. The boys had been talking about trains so we thought it would be an adventure for them.





When we got to Salt Lake City, we got off at the Temple Square station and let the kids meander around. They mostly wanted to look at all the waterfalls and little ponds that surround the temple. One of the ponds they thought was a turtle shell, and Kai and Nas kept going up to this fire hydrant saying it was a little man. It was a fun little outing, but pretty exhausting :)

And a Happy New Year!

These past couple of months have really flown by. Kai turned 2 November 15, then it was Thanksgiving, then our 3 year anniversary December 15, then Christmas, then Presli turned 1 December 29. Whewwwww!!! It seems like from Halloween on there is always some holiday or birthday to celebrate, and not enough time to enjoy everything.




I guess I will start off with our little boy...who is growing up too fast! It just seems like yesterday I was waiting, waiting, waiting for him to decide to bless us with his presence. Then my water finally broke, and I was so relieved and excited for him to get here. He was born at 8:23 a.m. on November 15, 2008 and weighed 7lbs even. He has been so much fun, and I can't imagine my life without him. He was potty trained in October, and since then it just feels like he is a little boy. It has been so nice to not have 2 in diapers! I never want to do that again! He is talking so much, and he just gets more and more fun.



For his birthday, we took him to Snow College to swim. He has some cousins that he absolutely adores, and he had so much fun. Afterward, we took them all to Roy's for pizza and cake and ice cream.



































WE LOVE YOU MONKEY!!!

Thanksgiving is definitely my 2nd favorite holiday next to Christmas. I love seeing family and eating! This year we spent Thanksgiving at my moms and there was quite a crowd. I got to see some family I hadn't seen in a while and it was nice to relax and catch up with everyone. Of course the boys had to play in their "turkey bowl" while the girls made dinner...but whats new! Everything still turned out and it was a lot of fun. Here are some pix from our turkey day.





















































December 15 marked three years of one of the best days of my life...our wedding. I love my husband so much and appreciate all that he does. He really is an amazing husband, and works hard for our family. He is a big help to me, and always supports me. He encouraged me to go back to school and I was able to take an Anatomy class this past semester. He is always so happy and lifts my spirits. I don't know what I would do without him.
I LOVE YOU ISI!

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. I love pondering about our Savior's birth and life. I hope that I can teach my kids about him, and not make Christmas just about Santa and the presents. On a lighter note, Kai did know who Santa was so it did make Christmas a lot of fun. We had a tiny tree, which was actually good so there weren't that many ornaments for me to pick up that the kids had pulled off! I did buy a good sized tree for next year though at the Target after Christmas sale. It came with lights so I am actually excited to put it up next year! The only downside was I wasn't thinking about the size of the box when I bought it, so it didn't fit in my Mom's trunk and we had to take it out of the box to fit. I guess I will have to find a tree bag or something.... We did go up to Heber to the North Pole Express. My parents bought us all tickets, which were actually quite pricey for what we got, but it was still really fun for the kids. Santa came on the train and gave all the kids a present. As we were riding back to Heber, "Santa's elves" passed out bells that we jingled while singing jingle bells. After the song this lady got on the mic and was like, "Ok, we will be collecting those bells back!" The helpers came around and collected the bells, which was what the kids liked the most! Even more than their present from Santa himself, and the hot chocolate they got. For 50 bucks a ticket, couldn't they have just kept a 10c bell? Come on people!!! It was really fun though and Kai was so excited to see Santa. Thanks Mom and Dad!














































































Last, but not least was Presli's birthday. On December 29, 2009 at 10:17 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. She came into this world screaming with a head of black hair. She was so beautiful, and just keeps getting more beautiful. She has such a sweet and tender spirit, and gets hurt so easy. We call her Boo Boo because she gets completely devastated over the smallest incidents and it is so sad! It is so fun to watch her and Kai play together. They are starting to interact a lot more and I think they will be good friends, so it has been nice having them close.
Isi was gone working for the week in AZ over her birthday, so we didn't celebrate it until New Years Day. We went to SL and visited Isi's family. We all went sledding, and had cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun.







WE LOVE YOU BOO BOO!