A Child's Prayer

This is Grayson all by himself.
Heavenly Father,
Thankful for blessings, thankful for Batman, thankful for Superman, thankful for the bad guys.
Bless Daddy while he's in Maryland (Daddy is home right now)
Bless Mommy and Grayson and Madison and Koko and Gerdie and Maya and Aspen... I have four dogs!
We love thee very much.
Name a Jesus Tryst
AMEN!

Another funny thing. When Madison is upset at night sometimes I go pick her up and lay her on my shoulder. I rhythmically pat her back to get her to calm down. She totally pats my arm at the same time. It's so funny.

Since Dan has been home we have enjoyed our time together. Last week him and I were able to go skiing. Yes skiing. Both of us haven't done it since we were 14 so we decided to give it a shot. Dan loved it, I wasn't the biggest fan of it. But even though I was skiing I still had fun because I was with my cute hubby.
I went up the mountain yesterday with my cousin Sam and we snowboarded this time. Oh my goodness. Snowboarding is so much more fun! Oh how I've missed it. I'm not sure if she'll ever go with me again, I made her try a run that was just trees and powder. She was at the top and I totally peer pressured her into doing it because she was like there is no way I can do it. But I made her. So about 45 minutes later and her having to take her board off 3 times and hike out, we made it down the mountain. Oh, towards the end I kept telling her to just sit on her board like a sled so she wouldn't have to hike in the deep snow. She wouldn't do it, so I took my board off to show her what I meant. I rode my board to the bottom of the hill and waited for her. She started sliding down and got turned around backwards and lost her board. I was like oh don't worry I'll catch it. So I stuck my hands out to catch it and totally missed and it slammed into my leg! I have a huge sore bruise.

Dan gets to go skiing with Wade tomorrow. Both of us are pleasantly surprised about being able to go enjoy the mountains this winter. It's nice to live so close to all the resorts.

All together

Dan was really funny. He read the Nativity story while all the kids dressed up in towels like sheppherds etc. He totally kept saying... is this the right story? Is that right? Really?
Uh yeah. Apparently he's never read the story of Jesus' birth in the bible. A little weird, but hey.
Grayson was so cute on Christmas morning, he opened the presents so slow and loved everything he got. We had to keep reminding him there were more presents under the tree.
The bottom picture is my favorite. We have been attempting to cut out Grayson's afternoon nap but I guess he's not ready (darn). All the kids were watching a movie downstairs and it seemed eerily quiet. Well I went down to check on them and this is what I found. Grayson zonked out on one beanbag with the rest of the kids on the other beanbag.

Merry Christmas!

Funny...

I love her, she loves me... it's pretty obvious isn't it? :)
My handsome little man, who's not so little anymore. He's talking full sentences so wonderfully, communicating his feelings, and developing to to be his own person. He is like my pint sized best friend. We do everything together every day and I feel quite lucky.
When I tell him how cute he looks he gets a little bashful and smiles because he is proud
We went to Rainbow Gardens up Ogden Canyon with my mom and grandparents. There is a little gift shop and my mom said she would buy Grayson one thing. Out of all the stuffed animals, toy airplanes and lots of other stuff, Grayson picked this umbrella. He said, "want my very own umbrella! It's just my size!" He plays with it daily and I taught him how to twirl in and say singin in the rain. He is a crack up.
The other day we drove by a church and he said, "look Mommy! A temple!" then he saw people outside of it and said, "there's Thomas Monson!"
He came and got in bed with me this morning and I said, "Grayson you are my good boy." and Grayson said, "you are my wife".
This year for Christmas all Grayson wants is a Mack Truck and a Peterbilt. When I asked him about other toys, chocolate, candy etc. He just said, "mack truck and peterbilt that's it!"
When Madison cries he totally mimics me... "shssh shssh shssh, don't worry baby I'm here I'm here."
Last night I was laying by him telling him a story before bedtime and Madison was crying in her crib. In the middle of the story he stopped me and said, "Madison sad, go calm her down"
Every morning when he wakes up he comes into my room, pulls the shade back and looks outside, "look mommy it's a beautiful day outside! It's not dark anymore!"
There are millions of cute things he says and I need to be better at writing them down. He is so funny!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I am a BIG believer in REAL trees. I mean, c'mon the fake ones are just so... fake! I'll get a real tree every Christmas till the day I die!
We had to get our tree while Dan was in town... hopefully I can keep it alive until Christmas! My house smells wonderful and it feels so cozy.
Ah the perfect tree!
Just need to top it off with a star... any ideas where to get one?

Thanksgiving

At about noon we all went bowling! The big kids had fun, but the little ones got kinda bored. I beat everyone the first game then finished dead last the second...lucky maybe?

The Great Grandparents came and gave all the kids presents!
Papa and Grandma have new bean bags at their house. The kids love to watch movies and wrestle on them!
Dan was able to come home for Thanksgiving thanks to some wonderful family members! We realized how it's so easy to take someone for granted when you see everyday. I really appreciate him more now and can't wait for Christmas. Grayson and Madison were all over him the whole time. They were so glad to see him! It was great to have Dan home, and we miss him already.
Grandma bought carrot cake from the Lion House Pantry... it's Grayson's favorite dessert, so he was in heaven!
I am realizing how much I need a new camera. This picture is my new favorite and it's poor quality. BUMMER!
After dessert the kids lined up and sang songs. The only song Grayson knew was I am A Child of God and it was so stinkin cute when he sang it. He couldn't quite keep up, but the words he got in were right on!

My Beautiful Girl

Natalie took some candid shots of Madison on Sunday and I think they are so darling! Notice she's got 2 teeth now... they are sharp little buggers! P.S. I can't believe she is already 7 months old :(
Since Dan has been gone we have been staying busy with family and friends. I don't think I've cooked one meal in the last 11 days (oatmeal and eggs n toast don't count), I think that may just be the only good thing about him being gone! BUT I would much rather cook dinner every night of my life if it meant having my hubby home. We are missin him like crazy!

Bouncin off the... ground?

We celebrated Katie's 5th birthday party at Bouncin' Off the Walls. All in all we had a blast except for the part where Grayson rolled off this big slide and bounced the back of his head off the carpet covered concrete floor. He let out some big screams and passed out in my arms for a couple of seconds. After about 5 minutes of snuggling and crying he hit the slide again and continued the night like nothing ever happened.
I just LOVE his face!
In an amazing effort by Natalie and I, we got BOTH Grandparents to look at the camera. Amazing!
I bet he went down this slide 50 times! It was his heaven!
Of course I had to try it out! Big inflatable slides... not JUST for kids :)
Wasn't even close to popping with these big boys on it. Heavy duty!
Yay, Isaiah got a haircut! He has the cutest little smile.
This was the other day... I NEVER make Madison wear jeans because even size 12-18months (the size pictured above) is too tight. So on this day she just wore them unbuttoned and unzipped.
This baby is so stinkin delightful. She is just so happy and fun to be around. She gives me big open mouth kisses on my cheek then hides her face in my neck. She's rolling around and babbling all the time. So close to crawling...but I hope she's not in any hurry! I'll have my hands full when she can move a significant amount.
We were chewing bubble gum and he was really excited about it!

So long farewell I hate to say goodbye...

So today is the day. The first day of the longest 4 months of my life! We took Dan to the airport to fly to Maryland to begin his 'Public Affairs' training for the guard. Basically he's learning everything there is to know about shooting video, still photography, and conducting interviews. Why he can't learn that in Utah is beyond me:) So here's to 4 months of getting in shape so when he comes back I will 'wow' him with my oh so hot bod.... :) And 4 months of enjoying ALL of my time with my kids. Hopefully when he comes back I'm still sane! We will miss him like crazy. He DOES however get to come home at Christmas time for a week. I've never been so excited for Santa in my life!

So the other night a few friends wanted to see Dan once more before he left, so we went bowling! We had a nice time and Grayson quite enjoyed it except for the pooping in his pants sitting in time out part. I will definitely take him again!
Aren't they a sappy bunch?! We are so lucky to have such good friends!
Madison, "blah blah slobber spit" Milo,"Uh Oooh!"

Halloweeny!

I made this picture black and white because the flash made it really bright. We both had costumes but forgot to take a picture all dressed up! DUH!
He loved playing in the guts. When that white bowl was full he stuck both his hands in and wasn't paying attention... Grayson and the bowl went crashing on the floor. What a mess!
Haha.
Dan hates to eat anything pumkin, but LOVES carving them.
Mine is the easy one on the right. I don't have the patience for all that detail crap.
Our two pumkins with our two... Punkins!

On Friday the kids went trick or treating at Dan's office.
We went to my parent's neighborhood on Halloween night and got plenty of candy!
Here he is enjoying the spoils. I let him pick 3 to eat... the rest I'm not sure what to do with!

Flaming Gorge

We had a great time cabin camping with the family. Most of our time was spent outside around the fire or riding on the 4-wheelers.











Dan made himself the designated campfire man. He stayed outside with the kids when the rest of the wussy adults were too cold to stay outside.
















Notice I got a shot of Papa and Grayson sleeping and one of Dan yawning. That's because sweet little Madison is getting some teeth (and being an idiot I didn't bring the teething tablets or infant tylonel) so she didn't sleep much during the night. Adam, being the cycling dork that he is, brought his biking gear just for one trail ride. Check out those sexy pants WOO! All the kids absolutely loved the 4-wheelers. Most of the time the boys played outside and the girls played inside. One day while we were inside I braided all of the girls hair. Don't they look cute...