Mom's reminder

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will--to your surprise--miss them profoundly."

Thomas S. Monson

Where does the time go?? James and Dad (James was 10 months old---now 2 1/2!)

Austin at about 9 month (now almost 5!!)

A Follow up Deal

I stumbled on to this today. If you spent $50 on Proctor and Gamble products before Jan 31, you can send in a form for $120 on coupons from them. So, if you by chance hit the last Albertsons sale and bought a bunch of Pampers Diapers, then you could do this. Check it out!
http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/en_US/jsp/EDS_Page.jsp?pageID=Year-of-Savings

I hope it works. I can always use a jumpstart on couponing!

Another good buy!

I have a love hate relationship with Alberstons. If you have to get a normal everyday item there, it can be expensive. But on the flip side, when they have sales----they can be awesome!
Today I got:
7 packages of Pampers diapers
7 boxes of General Mills cereal
3 fruit snacks
5 Betty Crocker Brownie mixes
7 Betty Crocker Cake mixes

I spent 57 dollars total and got 160 worth of food and diapers. ( I might have bought more diapers but they were pretty picked over). It comes out to be that I got everything at about 1/3 of it's normal price. The diaper packages work out to be 3-4 dollars a package. That, in an of itself makes me happy. The other stuff is just frosting on the cake. Thanks Albertsons!

More snow fun

It snowed a lot before and over Christmas. So while Bryce, Cam and Dad were out feeding cows and moving snow, we played :)
All you need is some snow, a few fourwheelers and a sled!

James, Blake, and Josie getting ready to go.

Austin and James getting a fun ride.

Kaitlyn and Garrett getting ready.

Josie, Kathleen and Calvin, tearing up the yard :)

We all had a great time. I would say the sled go the worst end of it all. There was some ice in the driveway and after a few too many bumps on the ice, it cracked. I guess it took one for the team

Christmas fun

Christmas this year was at my parent's house. There were 20 people there and we had a good, loud time. A Christmas Eve tradition, that we have done as long as I can remember, it to sing Christmas carols. The best part, when you are a kid, is that we always get to use instraments too. For example, a triangle, jingle bells, tamborine, shakers, etc. Anything that makes "music". Needless to say, it gets a little noisy. Just be glad these are still pics and not video.

Uncle Blake (the kids love him) with Austin and Josie.

This is my attempt to capture everyone in the small living room, making noise, I mean music.

Some of the kids, doing the music thing. It is also like the paparazi visit us at Christmas time. In the back you can see Burke and Bryce with cameras, I obviously had mine and also Russ will have his out too. Plus there are usually video cameras rolling as well.

Mimi and Caden tapping out a song.

Jose, Austin , Calvin and Garrett.


Sorry Kathleen, I had to include this picture. We were singing a song (I'm not sure which one) and I got this pic. Isn't that great! Maybe it's her hippo impression. (Just be glad I didn't post it on facebook:)

SNOW!!!

It finally snowed. I thought I had jinxed the season. I bought snow boots for Austin and James in early November (I was hoping to avoid the---"it just snowed, everyone go buy boots rush". But then we waited and waited and waited. Finally it happened. Austin and James were so excited. That's why these picures are taken when it looks like it is getting dark outside. They didn't want to wait until the next day to go out and play!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving week in UT, visit with Marnie and Pops (Cam's parents). It was so nice to be able to see them and the siblings and have a little vacation.
Pops took us up flying.
Here are James and I getting in the plane (it is SMALL inside). James wanted to fly but since he can't ride by himself, he got to do a taxi around the airport. Then I got my turn. It was fun but weird because it is such a small plane. Kinda like riding a bicycle in the air.

Austin was lucky enough to go up in the plane with Pops, all by himself. He didn't say much but I think he had a good time.

The boys, Cam and Uncle Dean played a little football. Austin and James loved it. Guess we'll have to practice so they can play when then are a little bigger.

James is a pretty tough football player!

We are so glad that Cam's family lives closer now. Although a 6-7 hour car ride isn't my favorite, it is still a day trip and we don't have to fly. Now we are able to visit them more and they can come hang out in Kuna some too :)

Have you ever noticed?

Have you ever noticed that while preparing for the wonderful holidays, everything else in life gets backlogged?
I am totally behind on most everything. You name it, and I'm sure it is on my "list" of to do. Including pictures and blog posts. Life gets crazy around the holidays. But now, it is time to get it all under control again. Piece by piece. A great man said that we should a try to do a little better. That is what I am aiming for---a little better.

Weather

The other day, the boys and I were getting ready to go out and rake leaves. It was a nice afternoon, about 70 degrees. Just as we are ready to go out, the wind starts. Big wind. Then the temperature drops. It went down to 50 degrees in about 20 minutes. The leaves were swirling, so the leaf raking got put on pause, but the boys still wanted to head out in the wind storm.

I know I didn't capture this very well with a still camera but Austin was out in the crazy wind, with leaves swirling around him. He had a tree limb and was trying to hit the flying leaves. He was yelling and running all over the yard.

James was out there too, but was less excited about all the leaves flying in his face, so he would stand on the porch to get out of some of the wind.

This picture you can actually see the leaves flying all around Austin.

They were having a great time. No toys for Christmas at my house, just need more crazy weather!

Then yesterday we had some dark clouds roll in. First it started with freezing rain, then small snow flakes, then these HUGE snow flakes. Luckily nothing stuck. I'm not ready for snow on the ground yet. I haven't even raked my leaves!

Random pictures

This is James and Austin in their aprons Mimi made for them. Anytime I start cooking in the kitchen, James wants to put on his apron and "me help?" They love them.



The boys had recently watched Mulan. Then that evening at dinner, James said he was a dragon (like the little dragon in Mulan) and he made this face. I didn't catch him with his eyes rolled way back. That was what the original dragon face was. It was hilarious.
Yesterday, one of my patients said "God put kids and cats on the Earth for entertainment." Maybe it's true :)