Happy Birthday Ella

Ella  turned 3 and we had a wonderful princess party to celebrate the occasion!  Ella invited all her family and friends over for appetizers, princess cake, and ice cream.

Pockie, Ella, and Heather all wanted a quick photo.  Ella wasn't being very cooperative and didn't want to smile, so this is the best we did!

We had a really fun time celebrating Ella's birthday and are so grateful we all live so close together and can celebrate all the wonderful occasions in our lives!

Christmas helpers

These two can be the best of friends and also the worst of friends all at the same time.  Heather has been coming over every Tuesday to spend time with us, and help me get prepared for the twins arrival.  She has even dared to watch Griffin and Ella while I head off to work for a few hours.

This day was a particularly hard day because Griffin was being such a little pill about everything.  Anyways, Heather got the tree out and assembled it and Griffin, Ella and I worked on getting all the ornaments on.  They both seemed to really enjoy themselves, and they didn't fight too much over who got to do what!

I always feel like Christmas is getting closer once we get our tree up. Still lots to do to get ready!

Hope everyone enjoys their 25 days of the 2011 Christmas Season!

Halloween 2011

We had a lot of fun on Halloween. We had a little family dinner consisting of homemade chili, salad, halloween jello, and freshly brewed wassail.  Then it was off to trick-er-treat.  Griffin and Ella were really having a fun time running through the neighborhood.  Heather kept up with them pretty good, I just kind of waddled behind everyone.

This year Ella was a fairy, she let me do her makeup!  Griffin was a swat team member, Easton wore his monster jammies, and according to Griffin I was the "fat doctor". LOL-

The drama for the night happened when Griffin and Ella somehow managed to crash into each other, and Griffin fell and scuffed up his knee. We took them home and Griffin went into his room and screamed, "This is the worst Halloween ever"-  It was quite funny and we all laughed.

Griffin really enjoyed passing out candy to all the trick-er-treaters that came by.  I did find it kind of funny how many mommies were collecting candy for their babies?  Maybe I should have gone to the door requesting double the candy for the twins???  Seriously...made me wonder.

All in all we had a very memorable  night.  I'm so grateful Nate & Heather decided to move here, I love being able to share our life moments together!  Looking forward to many more fun Halloween's!

Just for the sake of remembering I was preggie with twins this year, I'm including a full body photo- and I'm grateful to be able to do so.

Ella on the Tractor

'Nother pic' of Miss Ella!

Went for more of a vintage look with this one.  I just love her facial expression.

Edit of Miss Ella

Miss Ella is one of my favorites to photograph. She is full of personality and has all kinds of fun expressions!

I hope you like this Heather I am going to work on your cd...got to get mom's chip to you too!

2010 Summer Fun

We were so lucky to be able to spend two full weeks together this summer. We spent one week at Heather's house and then the next at mine.  We did all kinds of fun stuff together!

1. Watched How to Train your Dragon (super cute, I might add)
2. Went to two different water attractions
3. Watched movies
4. Took pictures but not as many as my mom would have liked
5. Celebrated Mom and Joe's birthday with a festive "rainbow" theme
6. Sat on the porch and talked and watched the kids play
7. Played at the castle park
8. Midnight Taco Bell jaunt
9. Just plain ole' had fun hanging out together
10. I won an ipad (will do a separate post about it)

It was hard to have everyone leave my house.  It was so quiet and lonely.  I just ended up sulking around for the weekend wishing everyone would come back.  I am happy to report that we are back to our normal routine, except now LJ moved away, so I am still feeling lonely.

Police, and Soldier Men

Griffin loves to play dress up.  While we are working he often dresses up as a police man and shoots all the bad guys in the back yard.

On Sunday we had dinner at Pockie and Julie's house.  We had a little lesson about putting on the armor of God.  Julie put together this neat little outfit for the grand kids to put on as she read the scriptures talking about putting on the armor of God.

Griffin absolutely loved this.  The sword was sharp and dangerous.

Reunion 2010 snippets

Perfect Summer Day

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing,  the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent

Time away, together

For the past week Griffin and I were able to spend some time with Nate, Heather, Ella, & Tank.  It was a lot of fun to spend time with them.

We spent many days at the park, and playing in the warm summer sunshine.  Can't believe summer is officially here now.  I've already got my first sun burn!!



For the most part Griffin and Ella get along quite well. However, Ella does not like it if Griffin is playing with Tank while she is playing with Tank.

Ella is growing up so fast.  The last time I saw her it seemed like she was still a baby, but now she has officially graduated to toddler hood!  She is talking a lot more and is very smart.  She knows what cows, ducks, doggies, fish, and kitties say.

Ella really reminds me of a little monkey.  She loves to climb all over everything and everyone!  She even goes up and down the big slide all by herself, I am still in utter amazement over that one!

Heather is keeping herself busy during the day watching two kiddos from the neighborhood.  She is up by 7:30 every day making breakfast, vacuuming, pulling weeds, mowing the yard, cooking, mopping, changing diapers, you name it she is doing it.  I don't think she really stopped for long to just sit.  I was amazed and motivated by her energy and ability to just keep going even though things weren't always going as planned.

Just realized I didn't get any pictures of Nate, but he is busy working as well!  I didn't see him, or him, leave in the morning, and a lot of the times he came home right before we were getting the kiddos ready for bed.  A worker man!

Time at Heather's house is always fun.  Griffin loves it there and he was really sad to leave.  He told Tank he loved him and would never forget him.  Just melted my heart.

I am sad to be back because it was fun to spend time with family and get away from our daily routine. Griffin did really well on the trip down and back and I am happy to report he stayed in his car seat the whole time!

Joe and LJ were busy while were away.  They both worked long days.  I think they did enjoy the quite, but they both were ready for our return!

Now onto my next big project for the summer, potty training Griffin!

New hair cut and color, Zebra girl

While my mom was here I was able to sneak off and get my hair cut and colored. I wasn't planning on getting it colored but my stylist talked me into it.  I put long layers in my hair and of course got it trimmed.  It feels much lighter and I think I will be able to make it through the hot summer months without chopping it off!

My goal is to keep growing my hair, but it seems it always get to a certain point and then I get too hot with it and decide to go short. We will see.

All the girls went out for lunch on Saturday.  Ella Bella pudding and pie was super cute in her zebra outfit.  I must say she was not the sweet little angel she usually is while we were trying to dine!  Perhaps that is the way all babies are.  They know you are trying to relax and enjoy yourself so then they just start acting out.  She's cute so I forgive her.

Cute and happy kiddo's!

This week we have Grammy and Ella here!  Nate and Heather left for a cruise and we get to watch Princess Ella!

Before they left they did some skyping.  Ella is quite the skyper.  She was sending kisses to her mom and dad via my computer screen.  Good thing I have some computer wipes because the screen was a bit, should we say cloudy?

Heather and Nate have called quite a few times to make sure Ella Bella is okay.  I just wanted to post a picture that proves she is...oh and she loves me!

I asked her if she liked being at Aunt Tabby's house and she happily replied, "Ya"!

At the moment I am not sure she is going to want to leave!

Fun with the fam...

This weekend we spent Saturday together as a family.  Joe didn't have to work so we decided to take advantage.  We went to a local park and had a picnic.  Played some "fusbee", baseball, chased each other, and played on the play ground.  It was a bit cold but Griffin loved it.

We also went to the pet store and saw a humongous snake named Elvis.  He is an albino python and weighted slightly over 200 pounds.  He has a turtle and iguana that live in his cage with him. Griffin just thought it was so crazy a turtle would want to be in the same place as such a large snake.  Not sure if he saw the iguana.

We got a surprise visit from Nate, Heather, and Ella.  They decided to come up for Nate's brothers basketball tournament.  It was a really quick trip but we were really happy to be able to say hi!

Heather took LJ's four wheeler out for a spin.  Love the look on her face.  She did quite well and even took it for a spin in the dirt.

Ella hung out in the garage with Joe.  She is really cute especially when she walks around. Her and Griffin played quite well together and she just followed him around.  We are looking forward to having her come and visit us for a whole week!

Of course if the four wheeler is out Griffin has to sneak a ride!

Pockie was even able to come over and visit with us.  Ella decided he was okay and spent some time on his lap!

Miss Ella loves to eat!  I am totally amazed by how much she eats.  She even had a little fit because Heather moved her peaches!  She loves peaches!!

We all had a really good time.  It was a wonderful Saturday!

Happy Birthday Heather!

Just wanted to wish my sister a Happy Birthday!  She is turning 27 today, and yes the picture above is her.

Here are 27 reasons why I love my sister:

1. She always offers to help me with Griffin even though she doesn't live near me.  Just the other day she told me, "I would watch Griffin for a month if I had to"

2. She is a good wife, mother, and housekeeper. Whenever we come to visit her house is always clean and welcoming.  There are fresh sheets on my bed, and she even has a special mat for Griffin to sit on while he eats his breakfast and watches Fox and the Hound.

3. She calls me for advice.

4.  She always has really yummy and easy recipes for dinner.  Her latest and greatest discovery is Taco Chili and it is so yummy!

5. She remembers things from our past that I have no recollection of, but is still fun for me to hear.

6. Sometimes when I get cranky she will just say, "Are you cranky today?"  and then she will let me go.

7.  She calls me almost every morning just to see what is going on and she is always so chipper!

8. She reminds me of all the good things about life when I am feeling sad.

9. First she will tell me she is not into blogging, and then she will decide she likes it, and then she will change her mind again!  It cracks me up.

10. She enjoys watching what I think are really silly movies, and she loves to call and tell me about them.  Most of the time she is laughing so hard I can't even understand what she is saying.  A couple of her favorites off the top of my head Dumb and Dumber, and Baby Momma.

11. When we go shopping for clothes together she can always find me really cute tops for cheap.  And she will stop me from buying what she would deem old lady clothes.

12. I enjoy when she comes to visit and we go to our secret cookie place for some of the yummiest sugar cookies ever made!  I only go when she is here, and sometimes with my mom.  We save up our change and go through the drive thru, yes it is a drive thru bakery!  I think one time we went every day for three days straight and then we were too embarrassed to keep going through and ordering two sugar cookies.

13.  She loves to eat fruit and has passed this trait on her to her lovely daughter.

14. She will let you know if she doesn't want to do something but she will do it anyways if she knows you really want to.

15. She is always willing to help others.

16. She is a hard worker and will keep on a project until it is finished.

17. She is always in the know about certain crafting trends. i.e. she was into letters before I knew about them...she also was ahead of the beaded watch band trend and learned how to make them, and she knew about the Cricut way before I did.

18. Lately she's been into learning about parenting.  She loves to share her tips with me.

19. She introduces me to new gadgets. Like DVR (still don't have one), the Cricut, cool waffle makers, and wrought iron decor just to name a few.

20. She is friendly and outgoing.

21. She trusts me enough to let me watch her baby.  Not many people get to do this so I feel it is a great honor!

22. I know I could call her at any time of the day about anything and she would listen to what I had to say.

23.  Sometimes we will just text each other about nothing, but really all that nothing is something quite special.

24. I would consider her to be quite humble.  She is happy with everything she has and recognizes the blessing she has been given.

25.  She has an ability to "bloom wherever she is planted".  She is always finding interesting people and involved in her community.  Ever since we were little she's just been out and about in the neighborhood getting to know everyone, finding babysitting jobs, or helping out where she could.

26. She really is a great hair stylist.  She gives Griffin the best hair cuts and I hate to take him any where else because they just don't turn out as cute.  She is good with all types of hair even though she doesn't think so.  I've had lots of fun with her cutting and dying my hair.  My favorite time was when she was in styling school and she gave me an A-line cut, which was not easy for her to do because she had only recently started, and she gave me some high lights.  I think that was my best hair cut ever, I mean obviously if I still remember it must have been good!

27. Finally, there are many things to love about Heather.  She is truly wonderful in so many ways.  Everyone should have a sister and a friend like Heather in their lives!  I am most grateful that we are sisters.  I am sure we were great friends before we came to Earth, and I am sure we chose each other to be sisters.

Happy Birthday Heather, my sister and my best friend!

Thanksgiving 2009

I need to do some catching up on my blogging...I am trying to use my blog as a journal and I am hoping to get it printed in a book each year so we can all enjoy it, so it is important for me to journal some of the happenings in our lives!

Thanksgiving was really fun.  We all went to Nate and Heather's house. I think it is becoming a tradition because we have been there for the last three years!  My mom couldn't make it this year but she was there is spirit.

Heather sent me a picture of our mom and I blew it up and then we put it on a stick just so she could be there with us.  Griffin loved the stick and took it every where, but he did end up getting in trouble with it, so the "mom stick" had to get put away.

Heather made a really wonderful dinner and the jello was my favorite, but I think everyone knows that!

Dinner was completed with magic juice. Griffin  and Ella really loved it!  I really like the glasses we used, they made the magic juice that much better.  Ella got so messy from eating jello she had to be taken out of her clothes.  She still looked stunning!

No Thanksgiving is complete without going thru all the Black Friday ads.  LJ was very excited about getting up early and seeing what all the fuss was about.  Joe and him went out shopping but didn't leave until around 6, Heather and I, well we woke up at 4:30 AM to head to Target.  Most of the items we wanted were at Target so we figured we would wake up early and get there when it opened.

Let me tell you it was CRAZY!  Crazy but lots of fun. When we got to Target the line was so huge, it wrapped all around the building.  We decided we would wait in the warm car until they opened the doors up and then we thought we could sneak in. We were wrong.  They had some really big mean security guards that made everyone go to the back of the line.  It took about 15 minutes until the end of the line finally came to where we were.

Once we got inside we divided and conquered.  Silly me forgot to charge my cell phone so I couldn't get a hold of Heather to tell her where I was.  She was trying to hold a spot in line but then decided to come find me. I decided I would just wait in the toy section and observe the madness, just hoping she would find me.  Eventually we did meet up and by the time we did the line was all the way around the store! It was so crazy!  People were just grabbing stuff!  The workers were trying to restock the shelves and people would just bombard them before they could even get out the door.

We waited in line for an hour, but it was very entertaining. I think my favorite memory was when the strange looking girl came over to the movie kiosk and rummaged around a bit.  All the sudden she looked up with this really giddy look and ran off with some season's of Monk.  It was truly hilarious!

LJ was even able to get some things on his list. However he was disappointed he didn't get the tool door buster he really wanted.  We tried to tell him to make a list and decide what was a must and go for it...but you know when you are a novice Black Friday shopper you don't always listen...

I am sure my mom would have loved to go shopping but I don't think she would have woken up to go with Heather and I.  She would have opted to stay home and watch the babies.

One day we went to a play place.  They had a huge jungle gym, laser tag, and all kinds of video games. Griffin had a lot of fun climbing around and riding some rides.  He used to be so afraid when the little quarter rides started moving and now he is begging me for more money!

Joe found the Dance, Dance Revolution game and was having a fun time.  We all were ready to go but he had to finish his game.

He was moving around a lot, so here is my creative attempt at showing his motion.

Here is my ever so fabulous sister sitting with Ella while we all went out and had a bit of fun.  After our play day we went to the Olive Garden where we had some of the slowest service ever. LJ was the one who reminded us to enjoy being together.  I think we were all just hungry and suffering from low blood sugar.

We made lots of fun memories this year and a good time was had by all!

Happy Halloween

This Halloween we ended up staying in town.  We were planning on going to visit with my mom but due to sickness we ended up having a "stay cation" instead!

Above is the pumpkin Joe carved on Halloween night.  Luckily our neighbor brought us over a pumpkin on Friday night.  All over town the pumpkins were sold out...since I wasn't planning on celebrating Halloween here I didn't pick any pumpkins up.  Anyways, I just adore his pumpkin and I really like how my picture turned out.  This was taken in manual mode, people!!! I was able to make like the candle light  look brighter than it actually was.  Loving it!

We did two ward trunk-er-treats. We went to one on Wednesday at the Wells's ward because Joe was asked to make animal balloons for the their Halloween fair.  Griffin went as a giraffe.

The lovely Miss Whitney painted a smiley face for him at the face painting booth!

Here is a picture of Joe making animal balloons at his booth.  There were tons of kids and each of them wanted a balloon.  He was super busy.  Griffin loved watching him.

As the night progressed Griffin got too hot in his costume so we had to take it off.  He loved playing drums with Joe's balloon pump.  He is using a pencil he got from the trunk-er-treat.

I dressed up as a witch for the trunk-er-treat activities.  Griffin actually rode over to the event with the Wells so he didn't see me all dressed up until he was trick-er-treating.  When he saw me he said, "hey mommy you are a witch".  It was really cute and made my day!  I loved my eye lashes and just so you know if I could wear them this way every day I would. *wink*

Here is the beautiful Jamilyn dressed up as a very LARGE clown.  Such a cutie running around in this thing all night!

On Saturday, actual Halloween day, we went to BOO at the ZOO.  Griffin had a ton of fun riding the train, and looking at all the animals!  This is the only picture I got of him or any of us at the zoo because well, my battery ran out.  Seems like every time we have a family event the batteries on my camera are beyond low!! I really need to remember to charge them or just break down and buy an extra back up battery!

Saturday day night we went to Pokie's ward for Trunk-er-treating.  Griffin had a fun time doing all the booths with Pockie.  As soon as he saw Pockie he gave him a big hug and told him Happy Halloween.

Griffin was on such a sugar high when it came time to do the actual trunk-er-treating he just ran circles all over the parking lot.  It was good for him to get his energy out.

Okay so after this was over we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some supplies for our Halloween crab fest, this was at 7:30 pm.  Griffin ran all over the grocery store.  Once we got home he was so excited to pass out candy and he told all of our trick-er-treaters to be safe once they were leaving.  He even invited a few of the kids in to play! So funny!

We finally got to eat our crab, carve our pumpkin, and watch Hocus Pocus.  It was a full day of fun!