Frightening black cats

 A neighbor and I are doing a preschool for Hallie and her little girl.  This week was my week and we were working on the letter F and the color black.  So these are our Frightening Black cats.  I thought they turned out really cute so I had to share.  They are super easy to make.  Just get some black and orange foam, google eyes and orange glue for the dots and of course smarties ( you can also use sixlets). Then just cut everything out and use hot glue to glue everything together.  They had a lot of fun making them.

Brady's Baptism/ Birthday

Our Family the day of Brady's Baptism

(I love how Brady is holding Hallie's hand but if you were to ask him about it he would deny it or say he was trying to let go or something.  Heaven forbid they should let anyone know that they actually do care about their sisters.)

John and Brady

Brady's baptism was such a special day for our family.  I still can't believe that I have a kid old enough to be baptized.  He was very excited and nervous.  I hope that we have taught him what he needs to make good choices thoughout his life.  Yes he will make mistakes, we all do, but hopefully they will be small mistakes and he will learn from them.  A funny story about Brady happened a couple of days before.  For those of you who don't know Brady has a tendency to sleep walk just after going to bed.  Usually around 9 or 10 when John and I are still awake.  This night apparently we had been talking about saying prayers or something and when Brady came walking up the stairs John and I heard him saying something.  As we listened closer and he got closer to us we realized that he was saying a prayer while he was walking.  He came up and sat right next to John.  He closed his prayer and fell back asleep next to John.  When we finally stopped laughing we took him back down to his room.  He had no idea the next day that he had even come upstairs.  Hopefully that is a good sign that he always has a prayer in his heart.   

Brady and Alex Mcqueen 

We were in St. George during Brady's birthday.  Some good friends of ours the Mcqueen's were also there from Michigan.  Alex's birthday is the day after Brady's, so we decided to have a combined pool party.  The kids had a lot of fun.

Our New House

So I figured I better post at least one picture of our new house so everyone could see. We are really enjoying having our own home, since it has been 5 years since we owned our own house. We love being able to plan things to do and to truly get settled and yes throw away every single box that has moved us for the last five years. John keeps asking me if I am sure I want to get rid of ALL the boxes, and I just answer yes without a doubt. I am done moving for a long time. We truly feel blessed to have such a beautiful home and hope that you can all enjoy it with us. You are all welcome anytime.

Snow much Fun!!

The kids and I all bundled up yesterday and went out to check out the snow in the back yard. I know, we have been here for a month now and this is the first. What can I say I am a slacker and have been trying to get my house put together first. Anyway, Lexie even got bundled and came out with us. We found that there is a little bit a slope and Brady was taking full advantage of it. Hallie however wouldn't even get on the sled, even with me offering to go with her. Lexie wasn't sure what to think at first, she really didn't like the sled. Then I got on and we went down the hill. She didn't mind it too much after that. We had a lot of fun and I'm sure we will be out there again soon.

December started off being a busy month. John and I went to Hawaii and spent 9 days there with Matt and Monica. We had a lot of fun. The most enjoyable part was at the end when we took a 5 1/2 hour trip on a Catamaran. We were able to see dolphin, a monk seal (only 1000 left), and some humpback whales. We were sad to leave but ready to get back to our kids. Then 3 days after we returned from Hawaii John and I closed on our new house. So we were able to be in it for Christmas. We truly enjoyed being in our own home again. If you didn't know we were living with my parents until we found a house. We ended up being with them for 2 months. They were great, but we were all ready to have our own stuff again. The first thing Brady said when we spent our first night, as he was climbing into bed, was, "I sure missed this old bed." I couldn't have put it any better. I will post pictures of the new house later.

As for the kids they are doing well. Brady is doing really well considering he as been in 3 different schools this year. The first day was hard at the new and final school but after the first hour he was excited and was fitting right in. As for Hallie, she is keeping me on my toes as usual. She had her third birthday before Christmas but still insists on doing everything Brady does, much to Brady's dismay. Alexa is now 10 months old and is really changing fast. I still can't believe that in March she will be a year old. I will post more pictures of the kids later. Hope everyone is doing well and miss you all.

More pictures of Yellowstone National Park.

Old Faithful

Brady waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

We went with our friends and spent the day in Yellowstone.  Me and Tonya have been friends since the sixth grade.

While waiting for Old Faithful two buffalo were walking past.  Brady was being a very protective big brother, notice the arm around Hallie.

Me and the girls at a waterfall in Yellowstone.

John and Hallie at the same waterfall in Yellowstone.

Last Saturday we spent the day in Yellowstone with some friends.  We had a lot of fun.  It made for a very long day but it was worth it.  This is probably the last chance we will have before the snow really starts to fly.