December

We had a great Christmas! We were able to see every member of my family! We had so much fun. I love the Christmas Holiday for this reason, I love spending time with family.

We played some fun games!

We celebrated LJ's 8th Birthday.

We had a blast Christmas day. So much fun, that we forgot to take pictures! But believe me, we had a blast! We had Megan and Annemarie, and their 2 dogs here for the week of Christmas.

Erin and her family were here for the weekend of Christmas. 

I LOVE having my sisters around. I wish we all lived closer to each other.

Lucy and her family arrived on New Year's Eve. We had not seen Derrick in 2 years! It was great to reconnect and play with their kids.

Lucy and I

This last weekend we held LJ's Baptism. It was a neat experience. AJ's parents were able to come over for it. My parents were also here. (They live in Star, about 20 miles away.) I can't believe my baby is baptized! I am so proud of him. He is such a cute kid. He has such a sweet spirit and I love hanging out with him. He is very talkative and can hold his own with the boys. 

LJ and AJ

We are all proud of you, LJ!

Stockings

The boys have always had lame stockings. Just ugly dollar store ones.

Not anymore!!!

A really good friend of ours made us stockings this year, and I must say, they are AMAZING!

She even made AJ and I some. 

She used ties to make the cuff edge. I can't get over how much I love them! Thanks, Jamie!

November

Our November when by in a blur! 

SJ finished up Cross Country with Sage Middle School and was asked to join a Cross Country Club. He had a lot of fun and really pushed himself. He had a regional meet on the 12th, which he took 16th place in. He ran soo fast!

The following weekend, AJ, BJ, SJ and IJ entered the Turkey Trot. This was a 4 person, relay race. We were really proud of all of them! They really enjoyed it.

For Thanksgiving, we headed over to Rexburg, to spend it with AJ's family. We stopped off at my sister, Erin's house for a few days first. We had so much fun! We love spending time with them. We had a great Thanksgiving with AJ's family. We had such a relaxing, enjoyable time. I also had a great birthday!

 Luke wrote this in school,after our Thanksgiving Break. I love how he spelled Erin Rebecca!

We did have a scare! I accidentally turned on a stove burned under a Pyrex pan and it exploded! I was standing right next to the stove when it happened and my knuckle got cut up by one of the flying glass shrapnel. By the time AJ walked into the kitchen, the shortbread that had been in the pan was on fire, there was glass EVERYWHERE and I was dripping blood everywhere. It took us over an hour to clean up the mess and we were finding glass shards for weeks! We were really lucky that the boys weren't in the kitchen at the time or that I didn't receive more damage.

SJ and AJ were in the Boise Christmas Run today. SJ took 2nd place in his age division! (There were about 100 kids in that division.) We love that he has found something that boosts his confidence and that he enjoys.

We are really excited for Christmas! Through out the break, we will get to see all of my sisters and their families! We have not seen Megan, Annemarie, Lucy and her 2 little ones since May and we have not seen Lucy's husband for 1 1/2 years. I LOVE Christmas time!

SJ's Birthday

On Halloween, SJ turned 13. 

We really are lucky to have SJ in our family. He is caring, sensitive, hard-working, determined and responsible.

SJ loves playing board games!

I wanted to make a special cake for his birthday and with the help of a friend and Pinterest, I found the perfect one, but I failed! (I cried soo hard!)

It got stuck in the pan while I was trying to get it out. I then made a second one, and failed AGAIN!

We had Halloween Cake Failure for SJ's cake. He was really understanding about it, this is one of the many things we love about him. :)

 The colors did turn out cool!

We love you, SJ!

2011 Fall Break

We had a great break. It is really nice to have some time in the fall to get stuff done. I did end up sick 5 of the days, but the boys were so good and let me rest. It sure is different having older kids while you are sick. :) 

One of the fun things we did, which will probably become a tradition, was I took the boys each out to lunch on an individual basic. This was really nice to have one-on-one time with each of them. They each got to pick their place to eat and then they got to join me for my errand run that day. Each of our boys are so unique and amazing! I enjoyed all of the lunches very much. 

We also went to a Pumpkin Patch. This has become a tradition for Fall Break too. The boys love walking through the fields and picking their own pumpkins. It is fun to see them hunt for the perfect one.

 I also love getting pictures. The boys get tired of my taking so many!

 2 cute pumpkins!

 

We also attended our ward's Chili Cook-off and Trunk or Treat. This was fun and the boys loved dressing up. We had fun getting their costumes ready.

 My one goal for the break was to get the boy's rooms cleaned out. It was a major job, but it got done. Yahoo!

Now back to school for 3 weeks and then we have Thanksgiving Break!

Fall Break

We have 2 weeks off for Fall Break. I have to say, I love sleeping in! We are going to deep clean the boys rooms and go to a pumpkin patch. Other then that, we are going to relax and enjoy the weather and each other!

Happy Birthday, IJ!

IJ is 11! We can't believe it! He is such an amazing kid. He is quiet, adventurous, tender-hearted, and loving. He ended up getting Citizen of the Month a few days after his birthday, this was his first time getting it, so it was extra special! We love you, IJ!

On a side note, I cut my finger open while doing dishes after dinner. It was pretty deep, but we just butterflied it. It has healed nicely. :)

AJ fixing me up. OUCH!

SJ and Running

SJ joined Cross County this fall. Because we are in a Charter School, we do not have our own sports program, so if a child wants to do a sport, they have to join a sports program that is in our district. SJ ran for Sage Valley Middle School. I know that this was a challenge for him, because he didn't know any of the kids, but he was brave and did it. He did soo great this season! At his first meet, he ran the mile and a half in 11:04 and at his last meet, which was Districts, he ran that same mile and a half in 9:24! He is doing so good and we were so proud of him. Their boys team took first at District! SJ's coach told him that if he runs in between seasons and keeps improving, there is the potential that he could be team captain next year! SJ also got invited to be a part of a running club here in the valley. This starts on Monday and he is really excited. We are so proud of SJ and have seen this really improve his self-confidence!

Sage Valley Boys Cross Country Team

New Dishwasher

A few days after we put in our new microwave, our dishwasher broke! Granted, it was 15 years old, but dang! We were lucky that AJ's parents were coming into town that weekend, so his Dad could help him install it. We love our new one!

Doing dishes by hand!

 Our new dishwasher!

 We also went to Boise's Art in the Park with AJ's parents. I look forward to this every year. This is a fun picture of the boys at a statue at the park.

Our Labor Day

On Labor Day, I made AJ labor! (Thanks, honey! You're the MAN!) We put in an "above the stove" microwave! We LOVE it! It really opened up our kitchen. We got our old microwave for our wedding, so it was 16 years old! We can now pop microwave popcorn!