Update Pictures!

Here are some upated pictures that I took over the summer ENJOY!

Bryces 2nd Birthday this past August!

At the zoo on Bryces B-Day with his friends!

The boys after the fun day with their friends at the zoo!

Last weekend we had a movie/pajama party in the living room. We went and got Monsters VS Aliens, made popcorn and set up pillows and blankets in the living room and watched the movie! They thought it was so fun.
(oh! earlier that day I gave all the boys, including Joe a hair cut, a buz cut I guess, trying to save money)

Hey everyone, I am so sorry I am so bad at updating our blog, I will still try to get better. Our little family is doing well and crazy busy! Jaxson is in preschool now, he goes Mondays, Wesnesdays, and Fridays for two hours in the morning. He loves going and I love having him go. He is learning how to cut paper with siscors and I have caught him a few times with my siscors trying to cut a gogurt open. He is learning how to write his name and learning how to get along with other kids. The first week of class I had to go and get him a little backpack and of course Bryce needed to have one to, and they take it everywhere they go, it is really cute. But Jaxsons teacher has asked that he not put any toys in it when he goes to school because he likes to take them out and play with them. Leave it to Jaxson, I did not know he was taking toys to school. Joe is still working at the bank and he is crazy busy there to and he is now selling forclosed properties and he enjoys that. He has just been called to the Cub Scout Master in our ward this past week and he is really excited about that. I am just staying at home doing my thing, taking care of the kids, laundry, cooking and etc. We had our family pictures taken yesterday and when we get them I will post some pics. We love where we are at and we love our new ward. The Lord has truly blessed our family. May the Lord continue to bless you and your family too.

Weekend with the Bybee's!

This was a fun and busy weekend. Our long time good friends invited our family to go with them and spend the night in Salt Lake. All of us in one house was so fun and crazy. The kids loved having the sleep over and enjoyed playing together. The best part of it was when we put the kids to bed and stayed up playing games all night. On Saturday it started out as a really rainy day so we just stayed inside and played the Wii with the kids. They thought it was so much fun, and we had such a great time with our friends. Brenn and Becky..thanks for the fun weekend and the great memories. We have to do it again.

All of us playing the Wii, it was so fun!!

Look how hard I had to concentrate!! And I lost!!

Even the kids got in on the action!!!

Joe and I after he beat me!!! I forgave him!!

Myself and Becky, just us girls, laughing and having a great time.

The kids played great with each other..

Our North Dakota Trip!

At the beginning of August I took Jaxson and Bryce to see their first cousin in North Dakota. My sister had her first baby at the end of June and they blessed her in church that first Sunday. The trip was long and quick at the same time. We drove with my parents, (Joe had to stay home and work, which I was not happy about but what do you do) and it took us 20 hours just to get there, that was the long part of the trip. The boys did as good as I could expect them to being that they are 3 and 1. When we got there, the boys could not wait to see baby Maggie. She has got to be the cutest little girl I had ever seen ( I am not biased am I, she is my first niece). We spent two days with them loving her, kissing her and holding her. On that Sunday, the day of the blessing my brother in law David cooked this amazing dinner for us. My dad told him he needs to take this on the road (which is saying something if my dad said that). David cooked a 10lb rib eye roast and shrimp with pasta salad and other really good sides. David you are AWESOME!!! You are making Christmas dinner this year!!!

We are having girl time!! Something I do not get at home!! Love you boys!!

Isn't she the cutest!

Grandma, Papa, Laurie, Jaxson, and Bryce with Maggie!

Jaxson with Papa and Maggie. He loves her so much!

David and Jaxson watching America's Funniest Home Video's (Jaxson favorite show)

Maggie is a Papa's girl already!

We were only able to spend two days with them. I then realized how much love and miss my sister, she truly is my best friend and I am lucky to have her for eternity. I am so proud of her for going what she went through to bring this special person to us. I never knew how much I could love little Maggie until she arrived, I love her almost as much as I love my own boys.

Then it was time to head home. That was the other long part. But this time my dad decided to take a little detour. If you know my dad, this does not surprise you, while growing up we always took detours when ever we took a road trip, we never know where we were going to end up when dad is at the wheel. But this time it was a needed detour, we went and spent a day at Yellowstone National Park! My boys were in heaven. We saw so many animals and were just amazed what our Heavenly Father created. It was such a beautiful park and I was so sorry that Joe had missed it, I see a family vacation there next year. Hmmm to be announced!!

This was at the very top of the mountains before we got into the park. (This made me a little nervous looking down the cliffs into the canyon.) It was so beautiful to see everything!

The boys with Mom!

Jaxson, Bryce, Grandma and Papa!

We saw a water fall after the canyon and still before we entered the park. It was so relaxing and refreshing to hear. ( I love the outdoors, isn't Heavenly Father wonderful to us.)

The boys throwing rocks into the waterfall. They had a blast.

Then once we got into Yellowstone Park, we saw so many buffalo's, and they were CLOSE!!! I had no idea how BIG they acutall are.

This buffalo was on the road and we had to wait for it to cross so in this picture it was 20 feet from us if that, makes you a little nervous being that close. Luckily it was a female and not as large.

Now this buffalo was on the other side of us as we were sitting waiting for that other buffalo to cross, and this is a male. Look how huge he is.


We saw other animals like bears and elk but I could not get a picture of them quick enough, I wish I had, but we had such a great time in Yellowstone Park. Thanks Dad for the detour once again. After Yellowstone we headed home. We had a good trip with some not so good times but we enjoyed it all the same. David, LeighAnne and Maggie we love you and miss you so much.

Pioneer Day!

July 24th in Utah is like a second 4th of July, it's Pioneer Day, a state holiday and in some ways it is bigger than the 4th of July. Joe had the day off and so did my parents and we decided to spend the day outdoors away from crowds. We took the boys up to Bridal Vail falls that is up in the canyons and went for a nice little hike. Joe and Papa took them up to the top of the falls, they thought it was the coolest thing. After that we had a little picinic and they got to throw rocks in a little river, we spent an hour doing that and they loved it. Later that night after their naps we went swimming and had a really good BBQ. (Joe is getting better every year with his grilling skills! Man was is good!) When it got dark we went across the street in an empty parking lot and lit some fireworks for the boys. I do not know who had more fun, Jaxson and Bryce or Joe and my dad. But all in all we had such a fun day.

Jaxson and Bryce with Grandma and Papa!Bryce thought the water was too cold and he kept lifting up his feet

everytime we set him in!

Jaxson people watching!


Bryce is just going with the flow!

Later on, dad and papa swimming with the boys!

Mama's First Hair Cutting Session!

About a week ago I decided to cut both of the boy's hair myself to save a little bit of money. Well, it did not go as planned so I ended up buzzing their hair for the summer. Joe and I laughed about it for a while, but at least I did not cry about it and thought 'Oh well, it will grow back soon'. I am glad that it did not turn out to bad. Practice makes perfect, right? What are boy's for.

Update!

Finally I have a little bit of time to update our blog. In July Joe and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, my parents took the boys over night and we went out to dinner and to see the new Harry Potter movie and had a great time without the boys. Jaxson has started potty training and doing pretty well at it with only a few difficulties but we are moving forward with it. I also enrolled Jaxson into preschool starting at the end of August and he goes two days a week until May, he is really excited about it and so am I. I hope everyone is doing well and I will do another post with some pictures in the next few days.

Our 4th Of July!

At the end of June Joe and I talked about what we wanted to do for the 4th of July! We thought of BBQ, or going to Seven Peaks (our local water park), then we thought of going to a minor league baseball game. And that idea was the winner, we thought since Jaxson played t-ball this spring that he would love to go to a game. And so we bought our tickets a week ahead of time and I am sure glad we did, we had really good seats. The day came and Jaxson was so excited that he could not stand himself, all day long he asked if we could leave now. We parked our car at a commuter train station and rode the train down to the ballpark (was the best idea ever, did not have to fight traffic). We got in and Jaxson and Bryce were in heaven, they loved to watch the game, eat hot dogs, popcorn, and an icee. They had more sugar and food than they have ever had, and they thought it was the greatest thing. The baseball game went into 4 extra innings and did not get over until about 11:30pm, then the ballpark had an amazing fireworks show. At first Jaxson and Bryce were scared then they started to enjoy the fireworks. By the time everything was over and we got home after 1:00 in the morning, the boys were exhausted, but they had so much fun. They loved cheering for who ever was at bat and also loved to watch the mascot (a bee) dance around and get everyone moving. We had such a good time with our boys and we might make this an annual tradition for the 4th of July. I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th. We love and miss you.

Some Big Changes!

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to do another post but our lives have been crazy! In April Joe finally graduated from BYU with his bacholer's degree. He could not find a full time position at that time and so he countinued working part time at the bank and then he worked part time for my parents at their carpet store for about a month. Then one night Joe and I started talking about our finances and with me quiting the newpaper route soon we had to look at cutting some costs. So we started looking at apartments closer to his work to save on time and gas. We found a great apartment about 20 min from his work and decided that is going to be the best solution for us. And so we moved our family in 10 days, yes I said 10 days. Those were the most long and craziest days we have ever had. I was still working and packing up the house while still trying to take care of my family. While all of this was going on Joe had a job interview for a really good position with in the bank. The first of June we moved, I was so tired and moody that Joe said the day after we moved to quit my job now and we could figure out the rest. So that is what I did, I quit the paper route the first of June. The day after I quit my job Joe received a phone call telling him that he was hired for the position he interviewed for and they were giving him a better salary than they had told him in the interview. We were so excited and now I could focus on just being a wife and mother, Joe is taking care of the rest. Our new ward is awesome and we have been welcomed into it. We have truly been blessed. We love and miss all of you!

Our Crisis

Yesterday started out ok. I ran some errands with the boys, we came home ate lunch, all of us took a nice long nap. Then around 4:30 in the afternoon I had to wake the boys up from their nap. So I first got Jaxson up, then I went to go and get Bryce up. Well that is when it started, I could not get into the room that he was sleeping in (the playroom). Some how, some way the door got locked with him in it and we do not have a key to that door. I tried everything, a coat hanger, a bobby pin, I even tried to literally kick the door open. Jaxson was right next to me the whole time and he did not really know what was going on until I started kicking the door. That scared both him and Bryce and they started to scream, so I new I could not try that again. I called Joe at work and he works about 45 minutes away so there was no way I could wait for him to come home and help, then I called my mom and dad, they were 30 minutes away and I could not wait for them either. So I was thinking to myself "what do I do?", do I call the fire department or who should I call. Inside I am freaking out, but I knew I could not show it to Jaxson, so I remained calm (I am very proud of myself for staying that calm). After 20 very long minutes I finally jammed a screw driver in the door and through some miracle I popped it open. So on Monday we are going to home depot to get a new door knob that has a key to it so if this ever happens again I will have some way to get in. What a scary half an hour that was. Some day I will laugh about this, at least that is what my family says.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I hope everyone had a great St. Patricks Day! We did not do to much but we did make St. Patricks Day hats. They had such a great time making them. I let them trace out a shamrock on paper, then mommy cut it out for them, and then they were able to glue it to the paper to decorate. That was their favorite part, to decorate the hat with their stickers. They thought it was so much fun to have something to show daddy when he came home, and he loved it. We are still trying to teach Jaxson and Bryce all of these little holidays, they do not understand yet but they think its fun when we dress up the house and do crafts to show daddy.

Our Sunday Night Activity!

On sunday night the kids wanted something to do, so as a family we decided to have dessert, but this time Jaxson and Bryce wanted to help. I looked in the kitchen to see what I could find that they could help with and I had a package of Nestle cookies that were ready to put on the cookie sheet and bake and that was perfect for Jaxson. We set a stool at the counter and he got up and was able to set the dough on a cookie sheet. He thought that was the funnest thing to do with mom. Dad and Bryce watched as we did that then Bryce decided that is what he wanted to do as well. So we let him. He wanted to eat the dough more than place them onto the cookie sheet, but he thought he was a big boy and could do what Jaxson was doing. Sometimes you have to step back and let them do it their way and that is not the easiest thing to do but I let them do it their way. It was a fun ending to our weekend, we might have to start making this a Sunday night activity that they can look forward to.

A Day at the Park

Today was a great day to be outside and that is what we did. The boys had a friend come over and so we packed a lunch, grabbed the soccer balls and headed out. We have a little park about four blocks away from our house and the boys love to go there when we can. The playground is just their size and I do not have to worry about them getting hurt. After they played on the playground, they played soccer for a while. Jaxson loves to kick the ball and Bryce loves to hold it. It was so funny to watch their motor skills develop and for them to learn how their little bodies can move. They have some scrapes and bruises not to mention how dirty they got, but they had a great time being boys. It was so nice to get out and get some fresh air and exercise.