the octopus

before!

after!

bowling

colton hung out with my sister and her family while i was going to doctor appointments. he got to go bowling for his first time. he had a lot of fun and asked me when he could go again.

addison lee durrant

our family welcomed the arrival of our precious little girl. addison was born on june 21, 2011 at 3:00am. she weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz. she was 21 inches long.

Pinewood Derby

Last night was Pinewood Derby for the cub scouts in our ward. About a month ago Jay started doing research on the internet on ways to improve the cars. The boys picked out their car designs and went to work getting them cut out. They spent several hours in grandpa's shop spending quality time with their dad and grandpa. Jay decided this year that he wasn't going to procrastinate and get the cars done ahead of time. Well, things around here don't work out as planned. Jay was sick for about two weeks and we ended up finishing them up last night right before the race. Oh well, there is always next year.

Two nights ago the cars received their paint jobs. Both of the boys wanted camo paint jobs. Colton had requested a red camo paint job. Jay got out all the spray paint (including pink) and just before he was about to paint Colton covered his eyes and said "I can't watch"!! He was so afraid it was going to look girly. Needless to say it turned out awesome and Colton loved it.

Several hours before race time Colton had become sick. I was afraid he was going to miss out. Luckily he got better and was able to go. I know he would have been so disappointed as he was really looking forward to this race.

Cars were weighed and checked in. The boys sat patiently in the pit area. Every car got to race a total of 8 times. There were 22 boys racing so it took about 45 minutes to complete the race. During the race the boys were so excited they couldn't sit still. They thoroughly enjoyed cheering on all the racers and then giving them all "high fives" at the end of each race.

Colton's car was a little on the slow side but he didn't seem to care. Jayden's car did pretty good and won first place a couple of times. At the end of the race all the boys received trophy's. The smile on Colton's face after receiving his trophy was priceless.

The boys proudly brought home their cars and trophies excitedly looking forward to next year.

cone of shame

our dog, dusty, got hit by a car the middle of november. the night it happened she didn't come home and around 10:30pm we got a call from one of our neighbors telling us he saw her get hit around the time the boys got home from school. we then went outside searching for her and gave up about 45 minutes later. shortly after we came in we got a call from my father-in-law telling us that dusty was at their house and she was in pretty bad shape. jay and i drove down there and brought her home. her wound was pretty big and she couldn't walk. the next morning we took her into our vet and she had to have 25 staples. she came home with an e-collar and wore that for about a month. one night the boys decided they wanted to try on dusty's "cone of shame". it was quite hilarious.

there is beauty all around

when i woke up this morning it was very cold outside. but what i saw took me by surprise. our house is surrounded by trees and the frost on the trees was so breath taking. everything in sight was covered in white. i immediately got my camera so i could capture the view i was experiencing.

red ryder

this year for christmas my dad got both of the boys red ryder bb guns. they have been wanting bb guys for quite some time now but jay and i have been hesitant. boys and bb guns can be a little scary if you know what i mean! jayden caught right on but colton gets impatient and gives up. the boys love shooting with their dad, grandpa durrant and uncle dan'l. the weather has been really cold lately and shooting practice doesn't last more than 15 minutes.