Ryan's Contribution To Sacrament Meeting

Today, while we were sitting in the chapel at church, Ryan said the funniest thing. For those of you who don't know, when one of the young men offers the sacrament prayers, he says it into a microphone that is under the table cloth. So you can't see him while he is praying. So Ryan realizes on the second prayer that he can't see anyone saying the prayer. So as loud as can be, he runs over to me all excited and says, "Mama, the church is saying the prayer all by itself!" It was very cute!!

Ian's First Birthday

We went to Ian's 1st birthday party two Saturdays ago. He was really cute and grinned ear to ear while everyone sang to him.

Helly made Ian's cake and it looked great.

I think Ryan was hoping it was another birthday for him.

Mr. Sneaky

Playing peek-a-boo with Ian. Our boys love all of their cousins.
Connor thinks this is his personal swing.

Connor disappeared and grandma and I were calling for him and looking everywhere. Finally I caught a glimpse of him in here. He had a huge grin on his face and was completely silent.

A Landmark Moment!!

Crappy picture, but Mark is actually reading the instructions!
Grandpa had plenty of help with the sink.

Random Pictures

What else are brothers for?
Nathan and Alissa played the part of favorite aunt and uncle and planned a movie night with the boys. The boys loved it.

Better than a real horse!

Would you like some yogurt?

My Family Time

Connor sitting with my Aunt Tana.
This is my Aunt Teresa. They are my mom's sisters.

The boys with their Great-Grandma Sammie "Mitzy". My mom's mother.

My cousins.

My Grandpa Dwight and his wife Kathy. That is my mom's Dad.

Ryan's 4th Birthday

Ryan's birthday was on the 21st of December. The power was out when we woke up so we went ahead and sang to him and gave him his present. We baked the cake for him a few days later. So he got two birthdays. Hopefully he won't expect that next year.

Christmas

They boys waiting so patiently. They were really excited when they got up. When we told them only the presents to the left of the fire screen were theirs they were still just as excited.

Connor really enjoyed Christmas.
I think Jacob won the boxing match.

No Power....

So there is this nifty invention called a barbecue cover. Among other things it keeps your barbecue from freezing shut in an ice storm. Thus keeping it usable in the ensuing power outage.

David was finally able to chip enough ice off that he could open it.
Only to find that the valve that you attach to the propane tank was frozen shut.

So, according to the boys, he built a "campfire" and roast the valve over the fire until the ice melted. It was pretty funny.

After some hard work David was able to re-heat our lunch. And now the barbecue cover (that we have had for a couple of years) lives on the barbecue.

I Love Snow!!!

The snow and extra days off with David were a reward, I am sure, for the work and all the trouble the month before. There were people at church that asked if we had gone somewhere for the few weeks before Christmas. I wish I could have said, "Yes, we had a wonderful vacation on an Island somewhere." But instead we were either sick or injured.

The day before Thanksgiving, Samuel disappeared when we had company over. I found him in his bed with a fever, headache, and sore throat. So David took him to the doctor and even though he had a fever of 103.6 she didn't check for anything. She said it was just a fever. (It wasn't my regular doctor.) So he toughed it out for a few days. On the 28th we had Jacob's birthday and on the 29th Jacob, Ryan, and Connor all got sick. So we missed church.

Then the next week they all broke out with impetigo all over their bodies, which is uncommon, and it is very contagious so we missed church on the 7th of December. Then on Saturday the 13th I started feeling really sick. And by the next day I just wanted to curl up die. The headache and sore throat were so bad I went to the Dr. Lo and behold I had a very virulent strain of Strep. And so did the boys, that's why they broke out with impetigo. So had the doctor tested Sam we might have avoided the mom being sick. Luckily we had the snow and ice storm so I only had to be sick at home by myself with the kids one day. That was a blessing.

The next Sunday church was cancelled and then the following Sunday, by my dog being stupid and clumsy, I thought I broke my toe at 4 in the morning and was in so much pain that I took a Vicodin and slept through church. I finally was re-activated and able to attend church on the 4th. What a crazy month it's been.

I just thought this street looked pretty.

Ryan saw this and said, "Wow, those are pretty pigeons!" What pigeons?
"They are pretty pigeon feathers." Okay.....
A pretty pre-Christmas view.

Who needs landscaping to make a pretty backyard. Just need year-round snow.

This was the fun I got to have. I wanted to park in the garage, but when I got to the peak there the back wheels stopped moving and the van slid down to a sideways stop. We ended up having to park in the street and the van ended up encased in ice for almost a week.

Why Haven't You Been Blogging?

I have heard that question/scold more than I care to admit, so here goes.

Our boys had a great time playing in the snow. First they built a snowman with Joyce's grandson Lincoln. I have no idea where Sam learned to do the peace sign.

Then they played at Nana and Poppa's for a little bit.
Then they went to Grandma and Grandpa's to build a real snowman.

The boys worked really hard pushing the balls of snow around,

and played a bit too.

David and Kevin Stacked the body parts together and voila! If you look close

it kind of looks like a bunny with a hat on.

It didn't last long. "Someones" knocked it over and the boys were very sad.