Morning Conversation

This was the conversation at breakfast yesterday,
Jaden and Tatum were singing "Santa Claus is coming to town"
Tatum (in her I know everything voice): "Jaden, Christmas is not about Santa, it is about Jesus"
(I thought to myself, yes she finally got it.)
Jaden: " I know, but Heavenly Father is like Santa because he gave us a gift. Do you know what that gift was?"
Tatum: "Was it a car?"
Jaden: "No"
Tatum: "Um a Barbie?"
Jaden: "No"
Tatum: " Um a Disney Princess computer with a piano?"
Jaden: "No Tatum, He gave us Jesus who died for us."
Tatum: "Well that is the silliest gift I have ever heard of"
I guess we still have a lot of teaching to do.

Family Pictures

My mom and grandpa with me and the kids

Our family (Trey hit his picture limit)

My two youngest brothers Cory and Skylar

The Kids and Grandpa Great (or Grandpa Quack Quack, he does a great Donald Duck voice)

My grandpa and his wife Heather were also at my parents for Thanksgiving. It was fun to see them again. It had been almost two years since we saw them. We enjoyed being with them.

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday we went to the school my mom teaches at to have breakfast with Santa. Tatum was so proud because she was not afraid of Santa this year. Jaden spent the morning wondering where Santa parked his sleigh. It was a great way to start the Christmas season.

Teeth Cleaning

Getting our teeth cleaned with Grandma.

New Posts

It has been awhile since I last posted. Here are a few of the things we have been up to. I have forgotten the dates on most of these.

Happy Four Months

Can you believe that four months ago he was this small.

Now he is 14lbs and 24.5 in. and growing up so fast.

Thanksgiving

Trey getting ready to go shopping at 4:30.Nap time with Grandpa

First Thanksgiving (no he didn't eat the pie)

This Thanksgiving we went to my parents in Idaho Falls. We had a great Thanksgiving, the real fun was Black Friday. To me Thanksgiving is just a day to get through to start the Christmas season. Anyway back to Black Friday. It was so much fun, although Josh might not think so. I made him go and wait in line at Best Buy for his own present at 3:30 am in the freezing cold. While Josh was freezing my Dad was the taxi driver for me, my mom, and Heather and Trey (yes we took Trey out with us). We went to Wal-Mart and my wonderful dad stood in line for the gift that my mom wanted to buy and we shopped like crazy. Josh met was at Wal-Mart and then we all headed to Toys R Us. Josh stood in line there while we picked up all the toys we needed. After shopping we went to breakfast and then back home to watch football. That afternoon we went to my mom's office and she cleaned the kids teeth, then we went to lunch, then to see Bolt. After that we went to the mall and then home. Trey was out from 4:30am to 8:30pm minus one hour of football watching. He is my little shopper and he did so good. Thank goodness for carseat naps.

Tatum's Bridal Pictures

A few weeks ago Tatum asked me about weddings. She has decided that she does not like "marrying" and she does not want to get married, but she really wanted to try on a wedding dress. So while we were in Idaho the past weekend she tried on my wedding dress. She loved the fact that everyone wanted to take pictures of her, but she still does not want to get married.

Trey's first food

Two weeks ago (I know the date on this one) we start Trey on rice cereal. Although it was really messy he loved it. He is growing up so fast.

Fire Station

Last month (again I forgot when) our neighbor invited us to the fire station. His brother is a firefighter and he gave us a private tour of the firehouse. It was really fun. It was a lot more detailed than the school tours we have been on. The kids got to sit in the driver's seat and try on the fire gear. They also got to push the siren and the lights. We had so much fun. Thank you to our neighbors.

Children's Museum and Disney on Ice

Last month sometime (I told you I forgot most of the dates on these) my sister-in-law Becky told us that Mickey and Minnie Mouse were coming to the Children's Museum to promote Disney on Ice. So we met Becky and her kids and Grandma Tilley at the Museum for a fun day. As we walked in they had a jar that you could put your name in to win four free tickets to Disney on Ice. Tatum asked if we could enter so I put my name thinking there was no way we would win the tickets. That night we got a phone call telling us we won! Tatum was thrilled, but Jaden did not want to go. According to him it was something for girls. So we took Becky and Brecken with us. It was so much fun to have girl time. What could be better than seeing Mickey and Minnie and then going to Disney on Ice.

Utah Football

I was not able to go to the last two Utah football games so Josh took Jaden to one and Tatum to the other. Since the TCU game was on Thursday and Jaden had school the next day Tatum went to TCU and Jaden went to the BYU game. Josh went onto the field after both games. I am sure there are stories to these, but I was not there. Josh can add more if he wants.
The top picture is after the BYU game and the bottom one is after the TCU game.

Happy 3 Months

Here is Trey's 3 month update. He is such a good baby. He is now sleeping 5-6 hours at night. He laughed for the first time last night. His big brother and sister love him very much, sometimes too much. He is such a blessing to our family.

Somebody's Mom

I have to thank my nephew "Z" for this post. Last night I asked "Z" if he knew who I was. He looked at me and said "Somebody's mom". We had not seen him since last November when he was not yet two, so to remember my name it was not going to happen.
Then last night at two in the morning while I was sick, tired and feeding Trey I thought about that conversation and what it meant to be "somebody's mom". Thank you "Z". Here it goes, if it is rambling forgive me, Tech just won (Wreck 'em Tech), it is late, I have a fever, feeding Trey, and tired.
Really moms out there, is there anything better than being somebody's mom? We have these beautiful spirits that Heavenly Father entrusted us with. For those of you who have a child, or a family member at war this is how I think our Father in Heaven feels. We send them off to fight a mighty foe and pray that they return.We send them to camps to prepare them and they are given the best weapons to defend themselves, and others. Then we pray. We wait by the phone or computer to hear from them. We count down days till they all come home. Most do come back, but some don't. Our Father in Heaven sends us away to fight the mightiest of foes (Satan). He sends us to our mothers and it is our job to prepare them to return home. We teach them to pray to Him so He knows we are okay and He can give the guidance only He can. I am sure He cries when we forget Him and what Christ did for us. We try to arm them with the best weapon a strong testimony of Him, and His son Jesus Christ. And then along with Him we pray. We pray that we as mothers did enough and that our children are the brave strong soldiers we teach them to be. We hope they remember early morning scripture study, family prayer, and Family home Evening. Most come home, but some don't. And oh how He must ache for those that don't because He loves each of us and, like mothers, He wants His family to be together forever.

Don't we have a great responsibility as mothers? It is our job to get them back to Him. They come to us so perfect, after all they just left Him. No wonder we cry when we first see them. It is amazing to think that we can fall in love so hard. Now that is love at first sight. We love them, teach them and pray that they return to Him.

Halloween

We love Halloween at our house (except dad but one day that will change). It's my favorite holiday and now that I have kids we have Halloween traditions. For Family Home Evening the week of Halloween we carve our pumpkins and we have Chili and corn bread for dinner on Halloween night. This year we made pumpkin pancakes for dinner on carving night.
This year Jaden was a skeleton, Tatum was Tinkerbell, and Trey was the cutest tiger ever.

Tatum is beautiful

This is what happens when I am feeding Trey and Tatum goes to the bathroom by herself. She does makeup. If you look close you can see the eye shadow and the blush. We never know what she is going to do next.

He passed

Josh took his National Physical Therapy Board Exam yesterday and he passed! We are all proud of him.

Junior Utes Day

Saturday was Junior Utes Day at the Utah Football game (sorry all of our Cougar friends) and the kids had a chance to go on the field for the start off the game. Tatum was not too thrilled that the football players were touching her hands and Jaden didn't even put his hand out to give the players five. Dad had fun though.

Trey and the slide

We went to the park today and Trey went on a slide for the first time. Both Jaden and Tatum had to go with him because neither one wants to be left out when it comes to helping with him.

I Love To See The Temple

Today Jaden was watching Trey for me while I was cleaning. He found that Trey loved to hear him sing "I Love To See The Temple." It was cute to see his reaction.

Why we don't play with knives

Okay this is so Tatum. Today she wanted a banana for a snack, but I was feeding Trey so I told her she had to wait until I was done. I could hear her in the kitchen and I told her to come and see me. Just then she started screaming and she came running into the living room with blood dripping from her thumb. She had decided that she was much older than three so she tried to slice the banana with my sharp knife and she sliced her thumb open. It was not deep enough for stitches, but it would not stop bleeding. She would not take her band-aid off for the picture but I promise she got it good. If you look close you can also see her nails that she painted herself. She also painted her toes, my bathroom rug, a towel, the wall, and the tile. She is more than a hand full.

The Pacific Northwest

This past weekend we went on a whirlwind trip to the Pacific Northwest. Here is a quick summary of the weekend.
Friday- We meet my parents and Skylar in Burley and drove to Boise for the night. The kids had a blast in the pool.
Saturday- We drove to Lacey, WA to see Travis and his family. The the kids got to play with their cousin Cora and we saw Canyon for the first time.
Sunday- We went to church for Canyon's baby blessing. After Sacrament we went to Tillamook, OR to visit the cheese factory. The kids have been wanting to go since Josh and I went last March. We then went to Oceanside to see the ocean and after that we drove to Lincoln City to play in the ocean (the tide was not coming up over the sandbar in Oceanside). The kids loved running out to the waves and then racing the waves up the beach. After that we drove back to Portland and meet my parents again. We spent the night in Troutdale.
Monday- We drove to Multnomah Falls and hiked up to the bridge. Jaden decided that he wanted to hike the mile to the top of the falls because going back would be quiting and he "doesn't know the meaning of the word quit". After all "it only takes 60 seconds to go a mile" (we spent way to much time in a car driving for him to know that). We decided half way up that we needed to go back and get on the road because it was taking a lot longer than 60 seconds. After stopping about 7 more times for bathroom breaks we made it back to Bountiful at 10:30 that night.
We spent about 32 hours in the car this weekend, but it was worth it.
the falls

the boys who are not quiters

Skylar, Tatum, Jaden, Josh, and Trey

Lincoln City beach

Oceanside beach

Canyon, Cora, Tatum, Trey, and Jaden

The pool in Boise

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids in Lacey

Trey and grandpa