I just wanted everyone to know that we are now officially down to less than a week until we fly home to see our families!! This has been the longest (other than Jay's mission) that we have gone without seeing family and we FEEL IT!! We can't wait.

Hip Hoppin Holiday

The Talbot's presents a little Christmas dance from our family to yours. Remember to pause our blog music on the right side bar and then press the play button! We hope it makes you smile half as much as it makes us.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Here is this awesome decor site and it's all done on a budget. They are doing a giveaway for the first 7 days of Christmas so that they can get more people to know about their website. Just wanted to pass the word. Click on the "All Things Thrifty" button on the top right corner of the blog and it will take you to their web site. Happy Holidays!

Trinette, I had to steal this photo off your blog. You captured the moment so well and yes, Nate and I ARE real rock stars!! Jay, it scares me that you are making that face and holding Ashton, do you think Tyler and Sunni might worry!!? :) Also, Tyler's pinky finger is so funny!! Fun night!

Girls Night to see New Moon at Midnight!!

I have to say, this was a pretty memorable night. First of all, we heard that people had started standing in line for their tickets earlier that day so we decided to go early so that we got good seats. As we all received our ticket to get in the lady informed us that there is a line that has started down the hall. As we read what theater was ours we headed that direction passing many groups of people camped out in a line and on the floor waiting to get into their theater. Well, first of all we were directed right to our theater and the lady told us we could go right in!!

Here is the picture of our group of friends in a TOTALY VACANT theater. We had it all to our selves for a half hour or so. We could not believe it.

So, we took advantage and snapped a bunch of picture in the theater. I had to post all of them because we could not get one without someone blinking or what not. So, ladies, choose your favorite and take it for your blog!!

I think this one turned out the best. No one is blinking! . . . I'm sorry Katie!!! I am completely crowding you! :)

I wish this one was not blurry!

Such a cute pic of Katie and Trinette with their Twilight candies that they brought.

Trinette brought her Twilight game so we set up camp and played it to make the 2 hour wait a little bit shorter. I have to say I was getting pretty excited when it came down to a half hour before showtime.

Brittney, that cake you brought was amazing!!!

I have to say that New Moon was leaps and bounds better than Twilight and I sort of wish that the new director would redo Twilight but I am excited for the next one to come out in June!! My favorite part of the entire show was sitting next to Trinette!! Every time Jacob would come on the screen I would hear Trinette go, "Mmmm". It made me laugh so hard and I completely agreed with her. I am totally Team Jacob!! Thanks for a fun girls night ladies!

"L" is for Luau

It was my turn to teach preschool again and I had the letter "L". A couple of months ago, right after summer, I went to Kroger supermarket and they had all of this Luau stuff for dirt cheap. I thought about what letters I had for preschool and it was perfect. "L" for Luau. I think the kids had so much fun. It was the week before Thanksgiving so it was perfect to have an educational party. This is the picture of their Luau Mobiles that they made to take home. They were pretty proud of them. It's fun to see the kids different personalities when it comes to the way they color and create things.

Pin the Coconut on the Palm Tree was really fun to watch. Especially because they had to wait their turn and help the person that went after them. These are a few pictures of Lennix helping Savanna. So cute how he put his hands on her waist and guided her right to it.

The whole preschool class. Those are some pretty cute kids.

Tuesday and Thursday we ended the class by dancing to Luau music and doing the hula. I think they likes spinning most of all.

Don't worry, I did tell Lennix that this was probably the only time it was okay to wear a skirt.

I bought an actual coconut so that we could taste the milk inside. I had no idea how hard it was to get into it. I ended up using my drill and finally punctured a hole and drained the milk into their glasses. Their faces were classic. As you can tell by Lennix's face, it was not good but everyone tried it. I even tried it and I have to say that it will probably be the last time I do that. it was sure fun though.

They ate all sorts of tropical fruit but the dried mango was their favorite. I can agree with them on that!!

A few cute pictures of my Hawaiian man.

Beginning of November 2009

I hope you don't mind but I want to brag about my WONDERFUL husband Jay for a minute. I am part of a Family Home Evening group where I make 12 of the same FHE lesson and then swap with 11 other girls so I come home with 13 different FHE lessons. It's such a great trade. Well, I have been working on mine for a while and I thought I had a couple more days to do the laminating. Well, I called my friend Brittney to ask her a question and I found out that that very day was the FHE Swap. I went right home and got to work. Well, Jay of course had a lot of studying to do but he came over and started to help and cut out a few of the bazillion things that needed to be cut. About a half hour later I had to go Visiting Teaching. I told Jay thank you and headed out the door. About an hour and a half later I came home to this picture. Jay had been cutting out my FHE lesson for me for 2 hours straight. He finished the hardest part for me while I was gone. TALK ABOUT A LABOR OF LOVE!! He said that his thumb finally stopped being numb about 2 days after he had cut all of those things out for me. Oh, he is sooooo good to me. What would I do without him?

Jay has had a crazy quarter of school. He hardley has time to eat and sleep, let alone, let me cut his hair. This is a great picture of how long and crazy his hair was getting. His face makes it even better.

Well, I have to say that when Jay said that he was just going to use the clippers and cut all of his hair off so that he would not have to deal with it for a while, I was a little nervous but I told him to do whatever was easiest. I trimed up the neck and back and this is what his hair looked liked after the big cut. I have not seen him with this short of hair EVER. He looks very clean and professional. What a handsome man.

Later that night it was time to put the boys to bed and I usually read to Jensen and Jay reads to Lennix. Lennix was so tired that as they were reading he fell asleep. Jay didn't want to move him so he started to study a little bit. I thought is was cute that they both had their books out.

We are so proud of Lennix. He has started to draw actual faces and we are so impressed. The hair is my favorite part. Also, notice the great war wound he has on his forehead. As he was riding on our little sports push peddle car outside on the side walk, he decided to sit on the front of it and did a face plant. It left a good mark but I am amazed with how fast kids heal.

Jensen and Lennix just enjoying the sunshine on the swings

It was such a beautiful fall day so we rode bikes to the park in our apt. complex.

Everytime there is good weather they want to go ride their bikes. Lennix learned how to really peddle fast this year and Jensen is starting to get the hand of it. Jensen half peddles and half pushes with his tip toes.

The boys just cruise'n together.

Jensen was having a hard time sleeping so Jay took him out side to the back porch to look at the stars. It must have been exactly what Jensen needed because I came out side and found this. So sweet!

Jay was rough housing with Jensen and I hear him start crying so hard. Apparently Jay swung Jensen over his shoulder and he his his lip on his bone or something and got a pretty good fat lip. They have to know, that's why it's called "rough" housing. :) It only took two seconds and Jensen looked at Jay and said, "again!"

My families favorite thing I make are my Mom's chocolate chip cookies. Last sunday I just had a desire to make them and of course the boys had to sit on their little table to eat them. They feel so big at their own table.

It looks like Jensen especially liked them.

How to Host a Murder

This Halloween Jay and I decided to throw a "How to Host a Murder" party (Thanks Steph for the game!!) Our particular game was called "An Affair to Dismember." I have never participated in one of these, let alone, hosted one so I was a little nervous how it would turn out. Well, we invited the most perfect couples and it was SOOOO much fun. I've decided that this is going to have to be an annual event!

Mood is everything. This first picture is our apartment just before all of the guests arrived. They said that "if your home resembles and old scary mansion, then decorating for the party will be easy." So, I thought that on a $10.00 decorating budget, it turned out pretty good. The next picture is with the flash. Since the party takes place at Castle Von Morgue I thought the body bags were appropriate.

These were one of the items on the menu. They were so appropriate!

The Menu

Us playing the game

Each of the Couples:

Madame Aretha Garlique (Trinette) and Balihi the Monster of Rogersandhammerstein (Nate) Oh, Nate I am still laughing at your character!!

The Mummy of Aldrinktotat (Andy) and Glumda the Witch of Depressed (Tabby) Always good to go into business with friends!! Congrats on the twins Glumda.

The Prince of Dimness (Peter) and Dr. Angela Deth, DDS (Sherrida) All I have to say is shady, shady, shady!

Hannibal Sheckter (Jay) and Lizzy Bourdeoux (The whole event was my engagement party)

I had to get a picture of my 10 caret diamond. Too bad my fiance was murdered at my engagement party by my real life husband!! Maybe that's why Hannibal was winking at me during the night. Maybe I could sell the ring and pay off our Dental School loans? Oh, do you think they would notice that it's really styrofoam, alum. foil and glitter? :)

All the Suspects!! Thank you for such a memorable night!!

HAPPY HOLLOWEEN!!

We have been so spoiled this Halloween and I have to say that I have never tired out of a holiday but this year I was more than ready to pack up my Halloween decor and put my house back to normal. As a family we went to two friend Halloween parties, a ward trunk or treat, preschool party, and hosted a party at our house all of which we dressed up for. So much fun!! I have posted so many pictures because of course I have a picture fetish and have to document everything so I hope you enjoy ALL of the pics.

Lennix and Jensen looked so cute that I had to take a picture by our not-yet-carved pumpkins.

Lennix and Mason were our entertainment during our friend Allyson's party. I have to say that Lennix smoked him!! :)

Oh, I laughed so hard when I told Lennix to give me a scary face for a picture. It couldn't have turned out more perfect.

Doesn't Jay look so great. His costume will make more sense when you see him next to me in some later pictures.

Jensen couldn't keep these teeth in but he loved them.

Right before we went to the party we heard Lennix and Jensen laughing together in the office. I had to grab my camera. Lennix would press something on Jay's phone and when the picture would pop up he would scream and fall back and then Jensen would do the exact same thing and then they would just laugh together. It was so cute!

Right after we got back from trick or treating

Decorating on a budget. I can't wait to add on every year.

It was Lennix's first real Trick or Treat. We met up with a bunch of friends and then found the Birds (in the picture) and went Trick or Treating in their neighborhood. It is such a nice neighborhood and it felt like everyone was in the Halloween spirit. One of their neighbors even put together a pretty good haunted house in their front yard. I don't think Jensen liked it very much. He looked horrified the whole time we walked through it and I think he was too afraid to cry. Lennix got scared but Liz (the girl holding Lennix's hand) was so good to him and he felt safe with her. She was so great to stay with Lennix almost the entire night. I have to say the best part of this picture is William. He is perfectly in character!!

Jay and Andy sporting Pedro's wig. Those are some sweet beards!! Too bad you had to shave yours Andy!

Oh, this makes me laugh. It looks like Jay should be wearing skin tight pants and a skinny tie. he would make a perfect Emo. Andy you look pretty tough.

Are they not the cutest Firemen you've ever seen? They loved that they wore their costumes almost a week straight. There were just so many parties to wear them to. I would put them in their jammies, wash their costumes and they were back in them the next day.

Our little family Trick or Treating. We decided to not dress up one of the nights.

The Bird Family. Oh, my goodness, I love this family. So perfect!!

The Millers little girls all ready to go trick or treating. Why is it that I don't get to ride in a wagon and be pushed around all night getting candy. I can see why kids love this holiday.

Our ward has an Annual "Trick or Trunk" at the church. I wanted to wear a different costume so I crimped my hair and threw on everything that did not go together to make me into a nerd. Lennix's tie was a perfect touch. Side Story: I came out from getting ready and I had this whole costume on and I thought it was so cute when Lennix looked at me and looked at my entire outfite and then he said "Momma, your socks are crazy." Of all the things I was wearing he noticed my socks! I thought it was funny.

They had just got their faces painted.

They are so cute!

Marie painting a spider web on Lennix's face.

Our finished pumpkins!! Lennix was so proud of his witch's pumkin. He really did help me carve it out.

They loved all the gew and grime that came out of the pumpkins. I just noticed the great big knife that is sitting in fron of the pumkins.:)

This was at our friends the Warcups and McBrides Halloween party. Jensen and Kaleen took turns giving each other rides.

Tabby's costume was awesome!! I can't believe I did not get their whole "White Trash" family. This is us looking tough. But don't let my costume fool you, I could take ya!

Just for fun.

This is what Jensen did almost the whole party. He pushed Evie around and both of them loved it.

Lennix just after he gave the pinata a good hit.

He just looked really cute standing there.

Isn't this such a great picture. I am so glad that we dressed up as this. It worked out better than I expected and Jay was great to play the character so well and let me make him look old. I do have to say it was hard to keep a straight face.

The whole family

Lennix painting his pumpkin. He could not wait until Jensen went to sleep so that he could get started and he was not finished until every bit was covered in paint.

My Young Women who I get to serve wanted to decorate a trunk for the "Trick or Trunk" for our ward party. It turned out so well and I think the all the girls were really proud of it. It won "Most Creative" at the party. Their hard work paid off and the spider was awesome.

Everyone at Mutual surrounding our pre-painted candy holding spider.

It already looked so cool. I love paper mache.

Getting my hands dirty.

The girls practicing their face painting for the Trick or Trunk.

The beginnings of the spider.

Lennix and Jensen love to play with these Jenga blocks and build train tracks and bridges. They were playing so cute right before they went to bed that I took a few pictures.

Cedar Point October 17th 2009

Jay and I were so lucky to get to go to Cedar Point on Oct. 17th. Thanks to the Bassett's, they watched our kids and we enjoyed an entire day together. We started out the day with the ride "Raptor" and from that the rides got better and faster. The park is right on lake Erie and we had to snap a picture because it was quite pretty. By far, our favorite ride was Millenial Force. It is an EXTREME roller-coaster. It was one of our last rides of the night so it was about 9:00 p.m.. As we took off to climb up to the top I noticed that the fog had come in and I looked down about 200 feet and it looked like we were going to drop into a big black hole of fog. It was SO EXCITING. We kept climbing and climbing (did I mention that we were second to the front!!) and as we reached the top I love the sound when you are no longer on tracks and it's all a about gravity working it's magic. The drop was insane and felt like forever. I could go on that ride over and over just for the drop in the beginning. There were so many fun turns and gut wrenching hills. We agreed that the hour and a half wait was worth every second. We cannot wait to go every year we are here in Ohio!!!

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

This post is for me to catch up on photos and still stay in order

Enjoying our First Summer in Ohio

In Franklin county they always have fun "learning" days that is put on by the Park and Recreation . My friend Brittney told me about this Fire day and when I heard there was going to be a fire truck there I could not pass it up. The boys loved it!!

Lennix was a little bit hesitant because the guy that helped him in the engine had a really big beard and he was a pretty big guy. I think the man won Lennix over after he let him honk the horn.

It was the first time Lennix had ever learned about Stop, Drop and Roll and that is all he talked about for days. He would even remember details about the presentation and remind me of what Bob the Fireman taught him.What am I to do with Jensen? This is one of his favorite things to do right now. He must be his mother's son. I think he just likes the feel of picking up the dirt out of my plant and letting it run through his fingers onto the couch and floor and I really think he feels that there is nothing wrong with it. . .

As you can tell by his "I did something wrong?" look. The smearing of dirt on his clothes and face is a nice touch. I have learned something and I want to share it. . . Everytime my kids get into something (for the 20th time) and there is a big mess . . . before I lose my temper and say things that don't help the situation, I go get my camera. By the time I find it, turn it on and figure out the angle that makes it look the worst I am smiling and thinking of what a funny memory this is going to be down the road when it is all cleaned up. Don't worry, there are still consiquences, I just handle it a lot better than I would have. So the next time your kids get into something that makes you mad enough to lose your temper . . . go get your camera! It probably will make a great picture and a memory. This is the Bunny Park. It is the best place to take the kids during the summer. It remindes me of Gateway in SLC, only better. It is free and we always bring lunch and meet our friends there. They play so hard that everytime on the way home the boys can't keep their eyes open and they just crash.

We decided to go to the zoo as a family. I get to go quite a bit but it is so much more fun when Jay comes. This walk way was awesome. I can't even imagine how much time it took to make that. All of those trees and shrubs are all man made.

I think Jensen was getting a little tired

He loved the Sting Rays. He kept on telling me that it was Mr. Ray off of Nemo

This turned out so well. We caught him eating his lunch

It took some convincing but he did end up touching his nose.

In June there was a going away party at are apt. complex for all those who were done with school and going out into the "real world." I think there were about 8 couples just from our ward that moved out last June. That is going to be crazy every year while we live here.

This is the boy's favorite thing to do with Jay.

The boys never tire of it and I can imagine it's a pretty good work out for Jay
There is this beautiful park, Batelle Darby, and this was at the end of the day when we were letting the kids play on the playground. I just thought this picture was pretty funny!

Look at those dirty feet!

Hang'n out with my boys on the back porck. They still love to play in this chair.

Jay and I were able to go to a Clippers game together. We met some of the guys in his dental class. Our seats were awesome. We sat right behind home base and a couple of rows up from the field. We had such a good time and everytime we go on a date we remember how much we love to just hang out together.

It is a sweet stadium!

This is how many of our days are spent. We grab our neigbors hose and keep filling up the bowls with water. I think of you Mom evertime we do this!! I bet everyone of your grandkids will have memories of playing in the water with your kitchen items on the back patio of your house!

Jensen enjoying his yogart after a hard day of playing in the sunshine

Lennix is awesome when it comes to memorization. We read his Book of Mormon together before he goes to bed and his favorite stoy is the Iron Rod. Well, one day I started to read it and I realized he was saying the whole stoy word for word with me so I let him take the stage. He knew every word!! I was so impressed that I showed Jay and then we decided that we had to get it on film. Here it is. . .

They love having each other to play with. Especially in their favorite chair on the back porch, in thier diapers and with their blankets. Life can't get much better!

Some of the chior member of our ward got together and went to Batell Darby to play some games and eat dessert.

The boys were obsessed with the poor dogs tail.

Jensen loving it

So, I have to say that I feel so spoiled being far away from my family. Every holiday, or anytime my Mom feels like it's been a while, she sends us the best most random packages. I LOVE them! I always know of one of two items that will be in there (the reason why she sends it) but 90% of the items are just for fun and to make us all smile. That's exactly what they do. Now whenever my boys see any type of package they get so excited and say "It's from Grandpa Skip and Grand Barbie." Here are some pictures of the swimming tubes that my mom sent and a little snipit of how much fun they had with them.

Nice Shot!

Those are great faces :)

You will not see this very often in our house anymore so I had to take a picture.

I wish some of the other pictures worked because they were so funny. They were having a great time making faces at me on the screen.

Rainy Day in Ohio

There was a span where it seemed like it rained a lot and the rain was actually quite warm. The olny thing is that if my boys see water, it's as if something pulls them right into it and then they look at me dripping wet like "I don't know what happned?" So, a bunch of us decided that we were just going to put our kids in their grubbies and let them go wild in the mud puddle in the back of our apartments.

Lennix was a little unsure (which is weird) but Jensen didn't even hesitate.

Lennix had more fun picking the dandilions and blowing all the petals off in the wind.

Lennix gets his first BIKE!!

Lennix got a Lightning McQueen bike!! He could not have been more excited. There is this girl, Hope, in Jay's dental class and she told him that her son grew out of his bike and asked if we wanted it. Talk about Lennix being excited!! As I opened the door when Jay got home, he had set the bike right in front so that was the first thing Lennix saw. He jumped right on!!

It was dark outside but none of us cared. Jay took him on a ride down the sidewalk and this was Lennix's smile the whole time!!

Excited Lennix - Proud Dad

When we got inside he did not want to put the bike away. He was being so cute that we had to take a little video.

Just documenting!

Part of my responsibilities for the Young Women High Adventure was to help come up with a good meal plan for the whole week using all different outdoor cooking sources. We wanted them to learn new things to cook so I looked on line and there was this great dutch oven pizza recipe that I needed to try before we put it on the menu. So, we called some friends and this is our get-to-gether to try Dutch oven Pizza.

This was the yummiest pizza I have ever had. The crust was almost 2 inches thick!! So good. Here is the recipe if you have a dutch oven and would like to try it.

2 boxes of Jiffy pizza dough mix

Pizza sauce or Spaghetti sauce (Traditional Prego is our fav.)

all the toppings you like

of course mozerella cheese

(I think we almost used a whole large bag of shreddes moz.)

Line the dutch oven with foil. Make the Pizza dough like the box tells you. Flatten the dough with your fingers into the dutch oven. Spread the sauce over the dough and use half of the cheese over the sauce. Add toppings and finish with the rest of the cheese. Set the dutch oven over hot briquets and put about 12 briquets on the lid and cook for about 15 min. That's it.

It was so simple and it cooked in only 15 min. Mmmmmm. If you make it, let me know how you liked it!

These are most of the wonderful Young Women and leaders that I get to serve with. There is a tradition that every spring Conference - the Y.M. and Y.W. get together to have a brunch and watch the first Sat. session. It was a lot of fun.

This is where Jay spent his first semester semester of Dental School. We called it the cave.This is located in the very back closet of our apartment. It was a little quieter but quite cramped. Jay said that when I did the laundry it would shake the whole wall and I'm sure it made reading a little bit more difficult. :) So, we searched many places for a desk and found a good one. I wanted to take of picture of this before he had a bigger and better study area.
I helped one of my friends decorate her house and while we were putting up pictures Lennix decided to step through the glass of a picture frame. He got a pretty good cut so we elevated his foot and fed him popcorn to help with the pain. Well, that wasn't working so he said that he wanted a big band-aid on it so it would stop hurting. Yup, the big band-aid made it feel much better. After that, he was so proud of his hurt toe.

Everytime I let Jensen play out side without his shoes he comes in with bloody big toes. He has this thing that when he runs and walks he drags the tip of his toes on the sidewalk until one of them bleeds. He seems to not mind a bit but it gives me chills just to think about it. I know it will be one of those things that I will talk about when he is older so I had to document it!

This is my hair salon. It's Jensen's turn to get his hair cut and he's not quite sure what to think about it. Now, I'm not quite sure what Lennix is doing :)

Oh! he looks so handsome all clean cut!

That is some great hair. I wish my hair was that stylish right after a nap!

Lennix and Brooklyn are the best of friends. She came over to play with Lennix and brought him a bee costume so they could be dressed up together. I think that Brooklyn really beleives that she should have been born an animal! :)

Easter 2009

We had the boys go on a hunt for their Easter baskets and they couldn't believe that all that fun stuff and candy was legal and actually for THEM. They loved it.

My parents are so great so always send packages every holiday and I have to confess that half of their Easter baskets were what we got from them!! Thanks Dad and Mom. Jay was having a little fun with Jensen and the squishy toy.
I remember playing with a toy like this when I was a kid.

I think we ended up doing about 3 different egg hunts this year. This particular picture was at our friends the Hendricks. A bunch of the 1st year dental students and their families had a BBQ and an eg hunt for the kids. Jensen kept on stuffing his face with any candy he could find.

Finding candy in the grass. YUMMY!

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Climbing trip to Red River Gorge, Kentucky

We have made some really great friends here in Ohio and among our favorites are the Millers. They are fun and spontanious and are always in the mood for adventure. So, naturally, we do quite a lot with them. We decided that during Jay's first short break of Dental School we were going to go climbing in Red River Gorge. We heard it was a must while we lived so close to it. We hopped in the car and got the kids ready for our 4 hour drive to Kentucky. The drive was beautiful. This was just one of the wonderful housed we saw on the way. Jay and I decided that we could be so happy in a place like this- Just not so close to the freeway :).

The first thing we did when we got there was set up camp and the first thing all the kids did was play in the mud puddles and get dirty!

This was so funny. He seriously did dive into the mud head first. Such a great sad face.

A little family picture by the almost started fire

Andy, Evie, Tabi, and Brooklyn (their other little girl Madi stayed home with Tabi's mom)

We joke in our family that Jensen is our really good eater. Seriously, he will eat just about anything (especially meat) but come on, this is taking it way too far! :)

Jay is bonding with Jensen while building the fire. I still think it was a miracle that Jay and Andy actually did get that damp fire wood to start. I won't mention the trip to the gas station to get the starter log! I tell you. There was major determination going on there. In their defence, I think they tried for hours to light those saturated logs and for the safty of all of us they had to resort to the starter log. We were sure gratful for it though!!

Lennix was so dirty so I wanted to take some pictures. He was being cute and silly and these pictures made me happy.

Brooklyn and Lennix are the best of friends. I caught them holding hads as we started the hike.

I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and it was not even spring yet

So pretty

We mad it to the Natural Bridge. . . I guess I was under the impression that nothing like this exsists out east. Well, my uneducated mind has been changed and the more I live here and learn of places to go, the more I love it.

On the other side of the bridge

Lennix is on his way to walk on top

This is a great picture. I think Jensen is looking for some good hand holds.

As we stood on top of the Natural Bridge. Our next destination was that flat rock right behind us.

Lennix and Brookly being good sports about us taking pictures

This is as we looked back at the Natural Bridge from the other ledge. So amazing. I can't even imagine how beautuful this place will be in the summer and especially in the fall. We've made it a goal to come back during the fall to see all the leaves change.

Jensen had enough hiking for one day. Jay was pretty talented to take him off his back and set him down with out interupting his nap. If I had a nickel for all the odd places my kids have taken a nap! :)

I LOVE this picture of Jay. That is such a genuine smile. Boy, I married a handsome man!

Tabi and I still talk about how wonderful Our husbands were on this trip. We did not pack for rain at all. Jay and Andy spent many hours constucting some type of shelter so that we could eat our meal in a dry area. They even made a shelter over our fire because everything we brought needed to be cooked over the fire. Thank goodness for the Millers bringing their camp stove for that first meal or we would have been eating raw carrots and potatoes for dinner.

Our sencond day of hiking. Yes, it was still raining and so we did not get to climb but it was so beautiful. It actually wasn't a hard rain, it felt like those misters at a baseball game so it was actually quite pleasant to hike in and it kept us nice and cool. Pretty sweet cave.

This part made me think of Zion. The beautiful trees and hundreds of feet of sheer rock clifs to our side.
Jay and Lennix enjoying their hike
Me and my Jensen
This describes Jensen perfectly. He is my little lover. I have to say it is one of my favorite pictures because he is really giving me a great big kiss on my cheek!!
All of us in another cave. It did start to rain a bit harder so we couldn't handle not climbing at all so . . .
All of us played on the rock a litte bit.

Okay, this one is just for laughs. This is officially Evie's first climb!
Yup, eating dirt. Maybe I should have packed some treats :)
Lennix kept on throwing dirt on Jensen so he had to sit in time out. I think he enjoyed it more than anything.
This was the mood for the whole day. It was so beautiful with the fog hugging the mountains and when it rains I feel like it is cleaning and refreshing everything. The millers kept on saying how they wish that it wasn't raining so that we could have climbed but I know they agree with me when I say I wouldn't change one thing about this trip because it was so memorable -rain and all.
We had to document the shelter over the fire.
Okay, we got back to camp after hiking and it started to rain pretty bad. The kids were not having a great time so we decided to put on a movie in our car while we got things ready for dinner. It was getting pretty dark so I went into our tent to get my flash light and noticed that a wonderful puddle of water was forming on our sleeping bags from the drops that were coming from the top of our tent. I wanted to be a good sport so I told Jay that we could somehow dry our things and figure it out or sleep in the car. Well, I was so relieved when he said that we were just going to pack up and take off that night. I was actually out of clothes for the boys and I don't think I've felt more dirty on a campling trip. The only stipulation was that we didn't want to leave until we cooked Andy and Tabi's Steaks that had been marinating for 2 days. As you can tell they were well worth the wait!! The best steaks I have ever had (well, close second to my father in law Art's cooking :)). I don't know if it was because I was starving or what but we tried to duplicate that taste and can't quite get it! After we ate it didn't take up very long to pack our things and all of us headed out of Red River Gorge at 10:00pm for our 4 hour drive home.

Andy and Tabi -Thank you so much for such a memorable weekend. We couldn't have had as much fun with anyone else. I think it will be one of the trips we remember most!! Plus, a good steak always makes everything better! :)

Cincinnati Equarium

We heard that there was a really great aquarium down in Cincinnati so some of our Dental friends got together a caravaned to spend the day there. It was a really cool city.

They loved that they were slimy

Lennix kept on sayin that this was Bruce off of Nemo. Isn't that amazing artwork?

I just liked this picture. The tunnel that we walked through was completely glass and it felt like you were in the aquarium.

This is classic.

It was the best picture I could get of lennix petting the sharks

I can't believe how clear this picture turned out.We had just taken Lennix to a frog exibit at COSI and so when he saw that there were frogs he had to go see them.

What a great family picture :) Jay is my favorite. Lennix could not stop talking about the "really big frogs" that he got to climb on.

I have to say this was my favorite. They were so much fun to watch and it kept my boys attention for quite some time.

As we were leaving. Lennix did not want to go and Jensen was just about asleep by that time. It was well worth the drive.

Jay had a break from school so we decided to take the boys to the Zoo. They loved the part where they got to pet the goats.

They were so friendly but leave it up to me to tell Jensen to hug the only one with a little bit of agression. I laugh eveytime I watch this.

We had to make sure Jensen was not afraid of the goats after the "attack" so we had him brush a few of them. I was so proud of both of them because they were so soft and cute with each of the goats.

This bear put on a great show for us. It stayed right by our window and would just pase back and forth and then come back up to the window again. Even though he was tame I was very grateful for that very thick piece of glass between us.

This picure is sure to make you smile. At COSI (the Columbus science center) they handed out these glasses for the all the kids to draw on. Lennix was so proud of his that he wore them most of the time.

Rub a dub dub two stripe Jammied boys in the tub. Lennix's hair is so long. This is the time that Jay would say that I need to cut it before he starts looking like a girl. In this picture, I kind of see his point. Sorry Lennix!

I have a few other pictures to post of this but in short, it was our week to watch all the kids for date night. Well, Jensen came around my back and fell onto the leg of the chair I was sitting on. he completely cut open his eye and my wonderful friend Tabbi took all of our kids we were watching (she was also watching kids for her date night!) and we cruised to the Children's Hospital. 5 hours later at almost 12:00 at night they just put some ointment and tape on his eye and sent us home. We are glad we went just to make sure he was okay but we hope we never have to do that again. Poor Jensen!
It just makes me laugh to see that most of these pictures that I am posting of Jensen looks like we torcher our child!! This one was completely Lennix's doing. I noticed that the bathroom door was shut and I came into Lennix dipping his entire hand into to Vaseline bottel and smothering Jensens head in it. This is what his hair looked like for about three days.

Jay Rocks

I might get in trouble for posting this but I don't care because I am so proud of Jay. I completely caught him reviewing his grade for one of his classes and had to take a picure of it. The reason for the picutre is because Jay has a teacher that prides himself on never giving perfect scores. . .

Well, this is Jay reluctantly showing me his PERFECT SCORE of 4.0. He was the only one is his entire class to get that grade. He's amazing!

Even though he got that awesome score there is always something else that needs to get done. I think they should give him a little time off to actually enjoy his grade :). Well, Jay needed a little bit more time on his preps so he brought some things home and used the kitchen as his dental lab. I thought it was great.

This was not quite finished but I thought it looked really good. Jay probably thinks I'm nuts that I want to take a picture of everthing but I'm sure he will one day thank me.

The OSU Dental School puts on an annual "Mandi-Ball" and it's a night to get to know everyone in the Dental program. It was held at the Gateway on OSU campus. I loved it because I got to meet a lot of people that Jay associates with everyday and now I have a faces to names. Everyone was so nice and friendly and it was fun getting all fancied up for an evening of friends, food and dancing. Every couple should do that every now and again!

I have to start this one out by saying that I promise I do not beat my child. Poor Jensen turned 1 year old and along with that came so many bumps and bruises that they are too many to count. We noticed one day that he had over eight cuts or bruises just on his face so we had to take a picture. I think this picture was taken just after he had bumped into something else. We are glad that he is starting to come out of this phase.

Jay was out fixing the car and Lennix could not stand that he was not out side with him. So we got him all bundled up and he loved "helping" jay fix the car.


Hopfully there will be many more bonding projects like this in the future. Such a great picture of Jay and Lennix.
Having a great time in the bath

Their hair is great. They go nuts with splashing, so now they know that they can't splash until I close the curtains and then all lets loose after that closes. I'm glad they enjoy taking a bath.

We decided to have a little fondue for Valentines day and it turned out really well . . .

Except for the Artichoke dip. It was discusting but we got a good laugh out of it.

My nephew Tyler sent us Flat Stanley so that we could take him on adventures and then write back and tell him about all the fun we had and send Flat S. back to him. It was really fun and here are a few pictures of places that we took him. Lennix thought it was so great.

This is one of the first adventures we took Flat Stanley on. Lennix had just received this fishing kit form GrandBarbie (my mom) in one of our wonderful "random" packages from her and my dad. Lennix could not wait to take Flat Stanley Fishing.

This is Greaters Ice Cream. I love that not only do they have great ice cream but they have this wonderful play area for the kids to hang out in.

Now that's a good picture!

Jensen loved the slide. He went down it over and over. Everytime we go, that's were I always find him.

As Lennix was playing at Greaters he tried to get over this little wall that keeps the basketballs in. Well, he slipped and fell right on his front teeth. There was a lot of blood and I thought for sure he was going to lose his bottom tooth. I called Jay and my dad and they told me that if it was at all possible, save the tooth. So I had him bite down on this paper towel and he was so good and he kept biting on it all the way home. He wanted to watch a movie so this is how he stayed for a good portion of it. The tooth stayed in and he healed so quickley.

Oh the things we make Jay do. In the book that we sent Tyler we told him that Flat Stanly had so many treats during his adventures here that he had a tooth ache and had to go see the dentist. It was only appropriate that we wrote Jay in as the Dentist :).
This was that same night of the tooth accident. As you can tell he bounced right back. Kids are so resiliant!

It was around Valentines day so our ward had a cookie decorating activity for the kids. They loved it and of course Flat Stanley came with us.

I love Jensen's Cheeks Lennix is so proud of his friend Flat Stanley
Jensen in Jay's ball cap. I can't believe that one day he will actually be big enough to fit into it. Such a happy little guy.

This was at the "Mandi-Ball" that Jay and I went to for the Dental School. We thought our Nephew Tyler would get a kick out of it. That has to be the most unappetizing cake I have seen :).

Enjoying the Winter

I love this picture of Jensen

Coming home from the holidays is a big adjustment. We went from seeing everyone all the time for a couple of weeks to knowing that we probably would not see family for a long time. I tried to make it really fun for the boys back here in Ohio so they wouldn't miss everyone too much. This is our first fort that we made in our front room. They loved it.

Lennix loves to be told stories. This is Jay telling him one about airplanes before he went to bed. The next day, Lennix was running around the house telling me the story and holding his hand the same way and flying his airplane around the house. They listen more than we think.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY BABY! He does not like a big deal made out of his birthday. But I had to post at least one picture. That was such a good cake!

This is how I found Jensen when I came back into the room after just a few minutes. He was so zonked so I just wrapped him up in a blanket and let him take his nap right there.

The first real SNOW DAY. So we all bundled up and went outside to play. Oh, I can't get enough of that smile.

I love this video. It puts a smile on my face everytime I watch it.

I am so glad I capture a picture of this. They were absolutely enjoying the snow.

I felt bad. I did not have any smaller boots for Jensen. I decided to buy them a little bit bigger so that he could grow into them. Well, he couldn't even take one step. He actually stayed in that one spot the whole time we were making our snowman and throwing snowballs. As you can tell, he didn't even care. He was just enjoying his time outside.

Lennix was so proud of his snowman. The snow had no moisture in it so it was so difficult to pack. You might laugh at how small it is but we were pretty impressed that we built it up so high. All in perspective!! Plus, I think it's the cutest snowman I've seen. Good Job Lennix!

The perfect "eating snow" picture

If you are dressed for an Ohio winter, it is actually quite pleasant. Me and my little buddy.

I know I say that other pictures are my "favorites" but as my kids get older I have new favorites. I love this picture because there is nothing better than a clean happy boy running around in his diaper.

The Winter Sunrise out of our window

This picture will make my parents laugh! Jensen had a fetish with their garland. Every time Jensen was not in our sight and was not making any noise we knew where he was. He would climb up the stairs to the landing and sit there and eat my parents garland. By the time we left they just had to take it down because Jensen had destroyed it.

When we got back into Ohio, Jay had a couple of days before school started so he took us to the Dental school and gave us a tour. This is where the lectures are held. Not too bad.

His locker
The clinic. Looks like some people are getting a head start.

After the tour Jensen was out. Lennix just wanted to be like Jensen so if you look closely you can tell he's faking it. :)

One thing I love about my mom is that she always comes up with something so fun for the kids to do. Ash and Lennix really wanted to play outside in the snow so my mom brought the outside in. They had so much fun. Lennix just kept on eating anything he made.

The Holidays with Our Family

Back to our home in Ohio! We miss our family but it's always good to be in your own home!

Right!! Do you think they are really asleep?
They were having so much fun playing in Jaxson's bed.

Force Feeding.

So, hardly anyone knows jay WITHOUT a beard in Ohio. I really didn't think he was going to shave it but. He did. He was such a good sport, letting me document as comecally shaved his beard in stages. He should own a harley with this one.

Hello . . .? Do I hear the 70's calling.

I have to say this is a pretty good Hitler face. Oh, wait, he still looks too nice :)

Jensen had had enough

On of my favorite things to do with the family!!

Game on!

We took our kids on a hay ride through Layton park to see the lights. It was sure cold but worth it.

Two of my sisters Beth and Steph with their babes Indy and Alec.

If you couldn't tell in his eyes, Jay loves his boys

My cute parents with Beth's Lauren

The whole clan at the end of the ride. It was so short that we didn't want to get off. The driver actully decided to take us around one more time, fee of charge. I thought that was very sweet of him.

Family Party at the Canterbury

This is my cousin's son after he volunteered to be dressed up like santa. I think this was one of the best games that I have played at a family party. My sister Beth gave each of our groups three rolls of crate paper -Red, White, and Green. She gave us a certain amount of time to dress our Santa. . .  May the best Santa win. 

I am still kicking myself for not getting my Grandpa in this picture. He won best santa with no contest. But, I have to say he had some pretty tough competition. Those are some of my neices and my cousins kids and yes, that is my Bro. Jasen Rock'n out as Santa in the back.

This was the best part. They basically mauled Jasen and  tore his "santa suite" to shreds. It was so much fun to watch.

Steph came up with our other game. Each of us was a letter and Steph had a list of all the words that could be made out of these four letters. As she read the word we had to place our selves in the right spot to spell the word. It was really confusingly funny.  We got pretty competitive :). I love games that involve everyone. 

A darling picture of my sister Daph holding my Jensen

I love my little family!!

My mom was so cute to take our kids home after the family party and told us to go out and have fun with my siblings. We decided to go bowling. 

My sister Beth and her Lauren. She loves her momma.

After we realized that every lane was taken at the bowling alley we decided to go to my brother Jarem's house to play rock band. Way better anyway!

It was probably pushing 12:00 and Lauren was awake as could be. She's a partier. I thought this was so cute as she wanted to play with the boys.

Another picture of the family band

Our Own Christmas Eve in Ohio

We were so lucky to be able to go for the holidays so Jay and I decided, before we headed home, we wanted to celebrate Christmas with our little family and establish some of our own traditions.

I can never go wrong with adding a tie to Jay's presents. It is the one thing that I think he would never tire of receiving. Such an easy pleaser.

Lennix loved his basket ball hoop so much that it didn't last that long. At least it got some good use before we headed home for the holidays.

Ever since I can remember, my family has had a pinata on Christmas Eve. So, of course, it was only natural for us to carry on the tradition. Well, I had this great idea to try to make one myself. As you can see it was not as great as I imagined but how much fun the boys had  was way better than expected. 

Lennix accidently saw this present before I wrapped it and for days he could not stop talking about his basket ball hoop. We were very excited to give it to him. 

Who ever said COSI was just for Kids :)

As we walked in, Jay and I saw people on this high wire bicycle and of course we had to try it.

Inside the submarine

When I saw this picture for the first time I immediately thought Jensen looked  like my Grandpa Werrett

I think this was Jay's favorite part. Plus, his beard looks pretty sweet in this picture

Ugly Sweater Bunco

Oh Yes, we are looking pretty hot in our sweet sweaters. It makes me miss our little bunco group.

Shepherds Dinner

This was the finished product. It turned out really well and we did it on a very slim budget. I thought that the coffee tables in the middle, so that people could sit on the floor like they probably would have in Christ's time, turned out really well. We had a short program about how the Shepherds were the first to see the star in Bethlehem and how we are all "Witnesses of Christ." We handed out the dinner and explained the meaning behind it and then a sister in our ward, Brittney Harper, sang a beautiful song to end the night. It really was a wonderful activity. I was very glad to be part of it.

Our food table was really fun. They wanted to actually eat what the Shepherds would have eaten back in Jesus' time and we served them in these big baskets. It kept the feel of the whole night.

My good friend Leah asked me if I would help her decorate for the Christmas Enrichment night. I was so excited when she told me that they were going to have a Shepherds dinner. I was very new to the ward and this was a great time to get to know people. Leah and I took a drive and actually pulled dead and dried weeds and branches and everything else we could find and asked many people if we could use some of their vases they had in their homes. That is what we used to make the centerpieces. It was great and we had many laughs while pulling weeds. We went to Panera bread and they gave us all of their unused bread and we served it is baskets that we rounded up. We even went to wal-mart and got those battery operated lights so it looked like we had little candles on the tables, and the potato sack fabric that we found was a great finishing touch. So much fun.

Our Family January 2009

The Start of the Holidays

We walked around looking at the lights for a while and Jay thought is  was time to get the kids warm by the fire.

It was freezing so we had to make sure the kids were nice and cozy.

We decided to take the kids to the Columbus Zoo for the showing of the lights on Thanksgiving night. We were so glad we went.

I think my kids watch me and as soon as I turn my back they are the best partners in "crime". This is one of the "crime scenes". 

The remains of mine and Lennix's ginger bread house. All he was interested in was eating it.

For all those who stayed in town, our ward put on a Thanksgiving lunch and we stayed a played games.

We decorated for the holidays and then had a little baseball game. Lennix is getting pretty accurate. 

Jensen's 1st Birthday

This was Jensen's Birthday cake. It was really fun to make. He had a little truck that he loves playing with so that was the inspiration for the cake. As you can tell by the following pictures, he loved it!

On both of Lennix's birthday's he would not touch his cake. That is not the case with Jensen. We decided to place him on top of the table and let him go to town. It was apparent that he was enjoying ever bit and we are in trouble because he has a major sweet tooth.

Our family at the party. I think Lennix is wondering why he didn't take advantage of his birthday cake at his party. July will come so soon!

This truck was Jensen's favorite present. Oh wait, it was his only present that night!! Good thing we chose wisely. He still loves playing with it and he takes it to the park to play with it in the dirt. I love the cute faces kids make when they concentrate.

During the next week, Jnsen received many fun Birthday pakages from Aunt's and Uncle's and Grandparents. He felt very loved. Thank you everyone!!

As Jensen was opening all of his presents I'm sure Lennix didn't understand why there was not one for him. Well, leave it up to my mom to think of everything and there was a little present for him. Lennix loves this little trucks and we find them in the oddest places in our apartment. A side note about Lennix . . . if you didn't notice, Lennix has lined up his trucks perfectly. This is totally his personality. Not all the time, but most of the time he is very precise about where he places his toys and is very meticulous. He even comes home, takes off his shoes and socks and puts one sock into each of his shoes and then puts them in his shoe drawer. I know what your thinking . . . I wish he was this clean and meticulous about everything of his!

Yes, we are a bunch of married mom's that went to the midnight showing of "Twilight." 

Both of these pictures are a few of the darling girls that I have met since we moved to Ohio. I have to say that I was more excited to have a girls night then to actually see the movie. I felt like I was back in school hang'n out with my girlfriends again.

Oh yes, we totally made shirts. We decided that if we were going to stay up for the midnight showing then we were going to go all out and make shirts to match the occasion.

This is Laura Lee, Karlie, and me sporting the back of our shirts

I am so glad that we went through with the idea to make shirts. For some reason it made the night that much more fun.

This is Karlie at my apartment ironing on her saying to the back of her shirt. The simple project turned into an entire day activity but we had so much fun and we loved going through all of the sayings that we found on the internet to put on our shirts. Also, after we found the rock that had been thrown in my printer, the project went pretty fast!

There is this wonderful Science Center called COSI that a group of us took our kids to. We decided to go to the "Ocean" exhibit first. I soon learned that it's probably a good idea to do the one with the most water last. They had such a good time though.

Poor Jensen was sitting right behind the kids and Lennix was using the scoop to throw water right on top of him.

I loved to see Lennix go from one thing to another. I can't believe how creative and educational this place was.

Enjoying the play area with his friend Maddi

Jensen was having a good time also

I'm sure many of you have seen the digestive system exhibit but I thought is was hilarious. Lennix was quite taken with the poo machine (I'm not talking about the Disney character). :)

This was amazing. The skeleton was shaped out of wire and as you can see it was gigantic. 

I guess I shouldn't paint my toe nails in front of Lennix anymore!! Also, I now keep it far away so he cannot get it but I was proud of him because he did not get one bit on anything else. He kept it all on his feet. 

Can't you just see the look of "Did I just do something wronge?" on his face. 

I went in to check on Jensen while he was taking his nap and I had to take a picture of him and his bear. He always has to have it right by his head so he can twirle it's hair to help him fall asleep. I have just never seen him actually cuddle with him. So Sweet.

I adore his blue eyes.

There is just something about little legs in diapers that I absolutely love

We are up to date!

Well, here are many, many pictures of the last couple of months. It has taken me a while but I really do want to try to keep up on this so I don't have to download over a hundred pictures at a time. My own fault. :) We hope you enjoy the pictures and that it gives you an idea of where we are, what we are doing, and how much we enjoy being here. We love all of you!!

Like father like son. Just doing a daily check up to see if everything looks good!!

My friend Jordan invited me to go to the fish shop and then to Graters ice cream after.  All three of the kids crashed on the way home.

 I couldn't believe how fun this store was for kids. They had a place that you could pet some of the fish and there were so any different tanks of all different fish. 

Lennix would stick his hand in the water and let the fish come right up and put it's mouth over his finger. He didn't even flinch.

Our Apartment

These next couple of pictures are mainly for my family. It is nice to picture where someone lives when you talk to them on the phone so I decide to add some pictures of the main rooms in our apartment. This of course is Jensen's room

Lennix's room. 

This is my attempt at wall painting. Nothing like my mom's but thank you for the inspiration off of Lennix's chair you made him!! 

Other side of Lennix's room.

The front room. Before we moved to Ohio I sold our little "Blue Angel" car. We took that money and decided to buy a nice couch. After 6 weeks of waiting, sitting on the floor or the round patio chair, it arrived! We could not be more pleased. It brightened up the room and the pillows were a good surprise. They perfectly matched everything we had and now it feels so cozy.

This is for my Mom. I wanted to show her

 what my bedroom ended up looking like. Here is part of the story - So all of the stress about weather to buy a new comforter or not has completely gone away. I realized after reading a talk  by President Packer that you "use it up, wear it out or do without." It is exactly what I need to hear. I had to realize that I needed to go back to what I do best, use what I have and make it work. I feel so blessed to have the things that we do and I kept on thinking that right now I may have better things than someone might have their entire life. I would feel ungrateful, in my circumstance, to go splurge on a new bed set if I really did not need to. There are still a few things I need to do to finish the room but I am pleased with the outcome and I felt like I was heeding to the council of Pres. Packer. Who would have thought I'd have a spiritual experience while decorating my bedroom!! Silly me.

As I was putting all of these pictures on the blog I decided to go check on Jensen. This is how I found him. I thought is was so sweet how he was hugging his bear. I could have stayed in there for an hour and just watched him sleep.

We were just playing with the camera and Lennix was taking the pictures.

Oh my goodness. That face!!

I love their little chubby legs. They play so well together. It is nice now that Jensen is pretty mobil, no walking just yet, but he is able to make a get away when he needs to. 

Ohio in the Fall

My friend Trinette had a big Halloween party and everyone dressed up. It was so much fun and we played games and of course we did a lot of running around trying to not let our kids pull down all the decorations. 

Jay and I went as High School sweethearts (nerd meets cheerleader. Later we decided that jay more so looked like an omish man and I decided I just had a bad hair day.  We've decided that we are going to plan ahead and get creative next year.

This is so funny. This is the classic game of pass the pumkin to the next person without using your hands. This picture could be great blackmail.

Some of the girls that I've become friends with.

We are waiting for the pumkin to get to us.

I got to babysit hese cute kids (Max and Isabelle) on Halloween day. They were so much fun and so good to me all day. 

We had to take a picture of the crafts we made. Funny Story: Isabelle was strumming the guitar and decided to make up a Halloween song. Her song was, "Jesus wants me for a Pumpkin." I thought is was hillarious.

At our ward house they put on a trunk or treat. Lennix could not believe that it was okay to be given so much candy. You can tell it was a little bit cold though.

This was our good friends the Parry's car. Tristan was trying to scare Lennix. 

I've never done a trunk or treat and now I think it's the way to go. Not too much walking and then when your done it's just a big party and eveyone stays after and chats and eats their candy. Some of the ward members even decorated their trunks or the bed of their trucks. It was really fun.

Me and my darling Ranger and Yankee. I had to have Lennix as a Yankee one last time. I had finished his pants to his shirt and I could not help but have him that for Halloween. 

I sure love them.

Hydrating before the Trunk or Treat!

Jensen looked so cute as a Forest Ranger. He didn't like the hat so much but he sure looked cute.

It was perfect that Jay had the shirt with the patch and he also wore his name tag. Also, I found those perfect pants for only 2 dollars here at a second hand childrens store. Perfect.

So Cute!

Rock'n out in their birthday Suits

I had to post this one because Jensen has the best sad face. As soon as I scooted Lennix's chair next to his he stopped crying and I took the rest of the pictures.

These two love to play with eachother. I had just given them a bath and they love to run around in their diapers. I couldn't help but get my camera and go to town with some pictures.

Lennix would kiss Jensen to make him laugh and then jump off his chair and run around the room as Jensen continued to laugh at him and then jump back onto his chair and start it all again. So sweet.

My Dad and Mom gave the boys these chairs for Lennix's birthday. I died how cute they were. My Mom (with sister Beth's help) stained them and then my mom hand painted their names, numbers and the New York Yankee logo on them. They are the cutest chairs I have ever seen and the boys love them.

The whole time Lennix would tell me that Grandpa Skip gave Jensen his chair and Grand Barbie gave him his chair. 

I love being able to be home with my boys. This is one of those priceless moments that I would not be a part of if I was not able to be home.  Also, these are the times that you feel like all of you hard work has paid off and that at least you are doing something right for them to enjoy life like this. I love being a mom!! I love my Boys!!

Painting Pumpkins and Halloween Bunco

I decided to get some pumpkins for us to paint for FHE. Well, Lennix couldn't wait and wanted to paint it before and at FHE. So this is him pondering what color to use next.

I love my little buddy

Jensen's firts battle wound. If you click on this picture you'll be able to see it better. As you can tell, it's not bothering him too bad.

We decided to paint our pumpkins for our FHE. 

Lennix now asks everyday if he can paint his pumpkin. There is so much paint on his little pumpkin that you can just peel it off now. He had so much fun.

I'm hard at work.

Our final projects!

My first experience playing Bunco. Some of the girls had already left before we took this picture but this was most of us that played. It was a dress-up-for-Halloween but only half of us came dressed. It was a lot of fun.

The Roll off. We had a tie in who had the most Buncos and wins. I did the roll of for the most Bunco's and I actually Won!! Beginners luck. 

Cute girl Jordan and Myself.

Me and Adrianne. Those bangs are pretty sweet!

Some of the things we have been up to

We went to this really neat place called Slate Run Farm. It is kept up in 18th Century style. Even all the people that ran it are dressed in period. I was invited by some of the girls in my ward and we packed lunches and had such a great time. I love that they have kept every thing authentic there. This was one of the darling homes.

This sheep pushed it's head right through those boards and came right up to Lennix. He love it. All of the animals were so used to people that it made it really fun for the kids.

The leaves were starting to change. So pretty.

Of course, Jensen was eating everything he could get his hands on and having a great time doing it. A little grass won't hurt him.

This is how Lennix's plays with his cars. He loves to watch as the wheels turn.

I cut Jay's hair one evening and decided to also cut Lennix's. This was the only way he would let me do it.  He sat and sprayed himself in the face and giggled the entire time. 

Across from our front door, there is this pond. I think part of it is a bird refuge. We go over there and feed the birds and I always think of you mom when we go. You are the real life "Bird lady."

Oh yes, that is Jensen's food again. By this time i just had to laugh and snap a picture. This one turned out so well. Look at that guilty face.

Of course he's thinking, "But mom, it is so much fun (and you shouldn't leave it where I can get it all the time). I now never put it in my bad and store it high in the counter.

Lennix saying goodbye to Jay for his first day of Dental School! Can you tell he wants to go with him so badly?

Jensen's first taste of dirt and loving it.

I asked him to smile for a picture and no lie this is what he came up with. So Cute!

He was so excited to see pumba off of Lion King.

I told him to turn around for a picture and he gave me the best smile. Don't mind the huge lion in the background.

It was great that the lion was sitting right there. 

My favorite picture of the day. On our way to see the Moose.

There were 4 Otters that would jump into the water and then swim right across all the kids faces. Every Lennix would scream. Of course all the kids caught on. We stayed here probably the longest.

He wanted the goat to suck on his finger. The goat is thinking "what is that little kid doing. Please don't hurt me." Lennix didn't really know how to be soft with them. It was fun to watch him though.

We went to the Zoo the saturday before school started. Lennix loved the part where they had all of these goats lying and standing around and they let the kids in to pet them.

Yep. That is Jensen's formula. You should have seen the guilty look on his face when I walked in on him. Here he is trying to scoop up and put it back in for me.

He's trying to tell me sorry by giving me back what's left of it.

He's helping me unpack and decorate

This doesn't happen very often anymore. It's great that they basically have the same expression on their faces.

Jay's White Coat Cerimony

I wish cameras could really capture the moment. The sunset on our drive home was so beautiful.

The White Coat Ceremony too place at the Blackwell (which is a 5 star hotel) so we felt like celebrities. They Vallet your car open all your doors for you and then we had people usher us to the upstairs and showed us where to go. After the Ceremony there was a big buffet and there were a couple of photographers that were ging around all night taking pictures of everyone everywhere. We kind of felt like celebrities. I guess they wine and dine you and then that's it. Once school starts they whip you into shape. 

I had to take pictures of everything.

I think Jay was pinning something on Lennix. I thought this was such a cute picture.

The whole family. 

Jay and his boys. Look at Jensens blue eyes!!

Ohhhh...

Lennix was so sad when he saw Jay walk past him and to his seat. He wanted to go with him. Look how cute he looks in his little suite.

This is such a great picture and we had the best seats. He looks good in his white coat.

Jay being presented with his white coat on.