O Christmas Tree

Last Saturday we decorated the Christmas tree. It couldn't have been soon enough for the kids. They wanted it up the second Thanksgiving was over. It's fun now that they can actually help now. We have a fake tree and it is very kid-friendly.
Kamree had lots of fun. She was too young to really help last year. What a difference a year makes.
It was hard to get a good shot of the tree so I just went for a shot of the kiddos. They were fighting earlier but this is proof that they do get along and love each other.
Parker's favorite part is setting up the train under the tree. He LOVES trains and it's so fun having this one under the tree.
Of course you have to end the night with hot chocolate. They are really into it right now. We had a fun night decorating and love the Christmas season. Easton slept through all of this but will hopefully be awake for the fun times next year!

Nutcracker

On Monday night, Kamree and I went to the Nutcracker with my sis-in-law Ashlee and niece Ellie. We started the night off with dinner and then off the the ballet. It was a local dance company that put it on and some of the dancers are in our ward. They did a great job and the dancers from our ward were amazing. Kamree liked it better than I thought she would. When the SugarPlum Fairy came on stage, Kamree said "Mom I want to be her when I grow up". She loved all of the different costumes and of course the ballet dancers. We will be adding this to the top of the list of holiday traditions.
Thanks for the fun night, Ashlee and Ellie!

Parker is 5!!!

Parker turned 5 on November 26th! I cannot believe it. Whenever one of my kids has a birthday, I always like to think about the day they were born and what I was thinking and feeling. It is so crazy to reflect and realize it has been 5 years ago. That was the day that I became a mother and I didn't realize at the time how my life would change. I am so glad that Parker is my son. He has brought so much joy and happiness to our life. He is like a little man now with his own opinions and thoughts. He is so considerate of others, especially Kamree. He is also learning a lot about the Gospel and his prayers are very cute to listen to. He is very into sports of all kinds and will sit and watch a whole Jazz game and not stop cheering. It's pretty cute to hear him say "Defense, Jazz or get the rebound!" He picked out the decorations for his cake and helped Brandon decorate it.
Parker had a small party with a few friends. Of course it was a sports theme so they played all sorts of games. His favorite game was when they had to shoot the basketball from different spots. We also had a party on Sunday with my family and he loves having them around. He always wants to get together with them.
Can you tell he is excited about opening his presents? That one was a Transformer and he absolutely loves it!
One tradition we have on birthdays is lunch at Applebee's with Aunt Jill. He especially loves when they sing and bring dessert.
The night before every birthday we blow up tons of balloons and put them all over their bedroom floor. They love it! Before Parker went to bed he even asked if we doing balloons and even though he knew we were he was still so excited when he woke and they were there. Parker also got to choose his favorite breakfast. I gave him tons of choices but he wanted a blueberry (Eggo) waffle with sprinkles and of course there had to be 5 candles in it. We had lunch with Aunt Jill and dinner at Panda Express, Parker's choice of course. Here are some of Parker's favorite things at age 5:
Favorite food: Mac and Cheese and anything chocolate
Favorite color: Blue and green
Favorite book: Fred the Firefighter and The Polar Express
Favorite t.v shows: Curious George and Sid the Science Kid
Favorite Movie: Cars, Polar Express and Peter Pan
Favorite Animal: Tiger
Favorite Song: Families Can Be Together Forever, Any music by Rascal Flatts
Favorite things to do: Play sports of anykind, especially basketball right now. He loves to play with Kamree and his friends. He also loves to color and draw.
We love you so much Parker and are so happy you are part of our family!

CHRISTMAS HELP WANTED!

With the holidays quickly approaching, I have been thinking a lot about how we do things and our traditions. While my kids are still young, I feel like it's still easy to change or add to the way we do things. I am just wondering if anyone has any fun traditions or things they do? Also, I was talking with a friend about Christmas and what Santa brings. Does Santa bring all your Christmas presents or just one big one and parents do the rest? This is a shout out to my "peeps". I am wanting to hear from you! I would love to know how you do Christmas and what fun traditions you have.

Maybe For Your Birthday

We were at Costco a couple of days ago and I saw a crockpot that I wanted. I told Kamree that I really liked the crockpot and wanted to buy it. Kamree said: "Well, not right now, maybe for your birthday." Hmmm, I think she's heard that line before.

Halloween Fun!

Parker and Kamree had lots going on this Halloween. Here are a few fun pics to re-cap our Halloween fun.Kamree had a Halloween party at her dance class. They danced to "Thriller" and had fun treats!
Parker had a party at his preschool. These are some of his favorite friends. Aren't they cute in their costumes?
We also went to a party with cousin Ellie at Aunt Ashlee's work. We had such a fun time. There was trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples and fun little games. Parker and Kamree also got their faces painted.


Here is a picture on Halloween night, right before trick-or-treating. Kamree was Cinderella of course, Parker was Peter Pan and Easton was a cute little frog. They went trick-or-treating through the neighborhood and had a great time. I stayed home with Easton and handed out candy to the few trick-or-treaters we got. I had way too much candy left over and Brandon suggested we keep it as part of our food storage (cause you can totally survive on skittles and milky way bars). I need to get rid of it soon or it will go to storage on my thighs and hips! One other fun thing Brandon and I did a couple of weeks ago was go to a Halloween party with some friends and had a great time. Good friends, good food, fun games and lots of laughs. We love this time of year and can't wait till it comes again!

Carving Pumpins

The FHE before Halloween we carved pumpkins. This is always a fun, yet messy and time-consuming activity but the kiddos LOVE it! They loved taking out the seeds and the funny feeling of the pumpkin "guts" as Parker likes to call them.



Of course we had to let Easton in on the action too! I didn't get any pictures of the finished product but we ended up with a bat, a ghost and a princess crown.

More of Kamre is Three!

The day after Kamree's birthday we had a party with my family. Kamree got this Princess chair for her birthday from Uncle Ty. She loves it!

Blowing out the candles on her princess cake (with a little help from Parker of course)
We were a little camera happy getting pictures of Kamree with all the family. Here she is with Grandma and Grandpa . She loves spending time with her grandparents.
I love this picture of her with my grandparents, Kamree's great-grandparents. Also known as Grandma and Grandpa 2.
Kamree with my brothers, Trev and Ty. They love to play and are such fun uncles!
Kamree with Aunt Jill and Uncle A. She loves them both and can't wait till they have their baby.
We also went to dinner at Applebee's with Brandon's family. They sang to Kamree and brought out free dessert which she shared with her cute cousin Ellie and Parker. Brandon's parents were also here from St.George for Kamree's birthday. Kamree loves spending time with them and all of her family.

Kamree is three!

Kamree turned 3 on October 18th! She celebrated by having a princess birthday party with her favorite friends. The highlight of the party was having the "real" Cinderella come.

Kamree had such an amazing time at her party and kept talking about it for days. The girls all came wearing princess dress-up. When her friends first came, they decorated pink princess crowns for the girls and blue hats for the boys. She didn't know that Cinderella was coming and she was so surprised when she knocked on the door. Cinerella played games, told stories, sang "happy birthday" and took pictures. Most of the girls were a little afraid of her but not Kamree. Everywhere she went Kamree had to be right by her side. When she left Kamree asked me if she was riding a carriage or flying a plane back to her castle. We ate cupcakes with pink frosting and little Cinderellas on them and then opened presents. It was so much fun for her and I was so thankful my mom and sister were there to help out. I couldn't have done it without them. Although very fun, parties are a lot of work! Very worth it though. Later that night we let Kamree choose where to go to dinner and we ended up at Winger's. She had a very fun birthday! I asked Kamree to tell me about some of her favorite things at age 3 so here goes:
Favorite food: Spaghetti and vanilla ice cream
Favorite color: Pink
Favorite book: A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Favorite t.v shows: Little Einstein and Curious George
Favorite Movie: One guess...Cinderella of course!
Favorite Animal: Penguin
Favorite Song: I Am A Child Of God and Popcorn Popping
Favorite things to do: Dance, twirl, sing, dress-up in Cinderella dress-up and play with Parker

I can't believe that Kamree is three. She has grown up so much the past few months. She is a very lovey and cuddly girl and always has a kiss or hug ready to give. She is also ready to give you a compliment or quick to say "I love you". As you can tell she loves princesses and is always singing and dancing around the house. She really does love Parker and looks up to him a lot. She has been through a lot with her mole getting removed and her surgeries and has handled it all so amazingly. I think Heavenly Father knew that she had the Spirit and personality that could handle this obstacle. She constantly amazes us and keeps us laughing and on our toes. Kamree, we love you so much and are so grateful and happy you are a part of our eternal family!

3 months old

I cannot believe that our little baby is now 3 months old. Time is flying by and sometimes I want it to stop. I truly love this phase. Easton is so smiley and interactive right now. He loves when you talk to him and he will coo and talk back. He is such a happy baby and barely cries when he needs something. He is not the best sleeper however but that's okay, it will come in with time. He is also getting SO big! At his 2 month appointment he was: 13 pounds and 75th percentile, 25 inches long and 97th percentile and 25th percentile for his head. He's a big boy and fitting just right in 3-6 month clothes. Parker loves him so much and is always singing songs to him. He is always saying things like "I love you forever Easton" and "I'm so glad I have a brother". It's pretty cute. Kamree also loves Easton but sometimes she loves him too much! He gets lots of squeezes. She does love when he smiles at her and sometimes plays like she is his little mommy. I am loving and enjoying every minute of our little guy!

Easton is always soaking up everything going on around him. He loves to watch Parker and Kamree dancing, running around and entertaining him.
This is Easton's classic sleeping pose. Gotta love his pouty face.


Our happy, beautiful little guy. I love being your mom!

Go Cougars!

Brandon and Parker went to the BYU game on September 20th when they played Wyoming. They had such a fun time and Parker is still talking about it. He goes around the house singing the BYU fight song and has taught it to Kamree. At least once a day I hear "rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, gooooooo Cougars!" He loved spending time with Brandon too and Brandon loves that Parker is old enough to enjoy doing these things with him.
Of course you can't leave a BYU game without a football and a BYU hat which is now his favorite! Parker also made sure to tell me many times that BYU won the game. Go Cougars!!!

Princess Spa Party!!!

Okay, so I am way behind on posts. Back on August 7th Kamree got to go to the cutest princess, spa and tea party ever. My sister-in-law Ashlee works at a spa that puts on these fun parties for little girls. First they get to try on all sorts of dress-ups and walk down the runway. They get to see themselves on a big screen t.v which adds to the fun. Of course Kamree wore Cinderella, which is her favorite, most of the time. She did change into Tinkerbell and then back to Cinderella.

Kamree and Ellie in Tinkerbell dress-up
Kamree with Aunt Ashlee
Kamree getting her first pedicure which she loved of course! Even more fun when wearing your Cinderella gown and tiara!
No girls day out is complete without a tea party. They served mini sandwiches, cookies, cupcakes and pink hot chocolate with whip cream and pink sprinkles. Before the tea party they also did Kamree's hair and make-up with glitter. She had such a fun time and is still talking about it. I think I loved it just as much as she did. Thank you Aunt Ashlee and cousin Ellie for such an unforgettable day!

I-FLY!!!

Okay, so I'm a little behind on my posts. On the Saturday before Easton's blessing (Sept. 13th) we did the coolest thing. If you've ever wanted to try skydiving but are too scared like I am, you can get a bit of the experience at I-FLY in Ogden. Brandon's parents were in town for the weekend and his dad, sister, Bran and I decided to give it a try. I loved it and want to go again soon. Don't mind our smashed and wind blown faces!


ME!

BRAN!


Parker, Kamree and Ellie watched us in awe! Afterward we found out they can do this as young as 3. Parker was sad because he wanted to try and I think he totally would have. He always wishes he can fly like a superhero. Maybe next time!

Easton's Blessing

We blessed Easton on September 14th and it was a wonderful day. This first little milestone is always such an amazing reminder to me of how fresh from God these special spirits are. Brandon gave a beautiful blessing and it is so humbling for me to get a glimpse of what might be in store for my sweet little babies future. I hope that those special things he was blessed with will come to pass and that I can be the mother I need to be to help him realize those blessings. A big thanks to our family who joined us on this special day. Here are a few pics to enjoy! Sound asleep


Easton and Grandma
Kamree with her Great-Grandpa


Parker and Aunt Jill