SHEESH!!!

Finally got all caught up on updates. They're ones I started a while back so they are below other posts. Just scroll and you'll see them. To start you off, here's a few random pics from the past bit!
A boy and his dog getting the mail

Our little fish. This girl LOVES her baths

So initial pictures we had of the boys and Bowzer were the boys running in fear of Bowzer. No longer the case! These guys love their dog and luckily for them, he puts up with a whole lot of harassment from them.

A worn out soldier from a hard days work!

Camping Whimpy Winter Style

The boys have gotten a MAJOR itch for summer to get here and have been missing all the fun activities of summer. To try and pacify them a bit we had a "mini" campout for Family Night this week. We roasted marshmallows then set up a tent in the living room and let them sleep in it. Brayden kept insiting we could sleep outside if we just got enough blankets. He was let-down by his whimpy mom who wasn't about to sleep out in the freezing cold when her nice warm bed was just a few steps away. Despite having to sleep inside, the boys enjoyed it.
Kalei's first time haning out by a fire

Bowzer wasn't too keen on the whole fire thing.

Warming their hands. (note, Brayden is wearing nothing but a VERY thin costume and rain boots. The kid has the toughest skin in the world)

Roasting the mallows

Baby Gavin

I know I have a ton of catching up to do but for now I just want to take a minute to plead with all of you to dedicate your prayers to our friends little baby. He is in desperate need of a miracle and will take all the prayers he can get. To read more go here: NatalieNortonPhoto.blogspot.com

New Year's

We spent New Years at home with the remaing family members: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ryan and Auntie Janessa. Watched a lot of movies, ate a lot of food, played a lot of Wii and set of a lot of fireworks (you know the big ones like sparklers and flowers). We tried celebrating New Years with New York (9 o'clock our time) so the kids could get to bed. Laid them down but gave them the treat of being able to watch a movie in bed and they wound up being awake when the real New Year's rolled around.
Somehow I didn't take a sinlge picture.
The next day my mom and I headed up to Rexburg to take Janessa to school. Kalei tagged a long while the boys got to have a "Boys Weekend" with Grandpa and Daddy. This amounted to a whole lot of playin and pizza. It was fun to go back to Rexburg and see all the changes. I even took a nice slip on the ice for old times sake (hey, took the focus of pain of my ankle and onto my back, thought I'd mix it up a bit). The house seems so empty with the Janessa gone and the boys keep asking when she's coming back. Tavita's main motive for her return is she had the nerve to take Home Alone with her (like it's her movie or something!)

Sledding and Bowling

The day after Christmas we went sledding not on snow but ice. It had been a LONG time since we had a fresh snow with several "warm" days in between so the hills were nice sheets of ice. Knowing my luck with getting hurt I decided to be content just observing and taking pictures. It was absolutely terrifying to watch Junior and my brothers take the boys down. I would just sit there and cringe every time they'd go speeding down the slopes. I wanted to get some pictures of them as they came down the hill so thought I'd do just one run down so I could be at the bottom and get better pictures. Junior told me to hop on a tobaggon with him so that way he could carry it back to the top of the hill. Well two adults+a plastic sled+ not enough room to keep your feet in= PAIN!!! We went over a bump and as we were coming down my foot caught and got wrenched ROYALLY. I tried just walking it off but by the next morning resigned my self to staying off it and used crutches. After two days of taking it eays I could limp around pretty well. Now it just hurts if i bend it a certain way or run/jump. Other than my injury we all had a blast and everyone else returned a few days later after we got a fresh blanket of snow.
Brayden and Jason revving to go

Getting ready to destroy my ankle

Daddy taking Vita down

Hanging out with Uncle Jason at the bottom

Brayden racing down the hill with Uncle Ryan

Fun little snow cave at the bottom

Jenson heading down with his daddy

Tavita finally decided he had enough. Wasn't scared, just sick of the snow flying up and hitting him in the face. He just laid down like this forever, wouldn't respond to anyone. Even had some people stop to ask if he was okay.

So we found a nice small area for him to play on

Kalei was the smart one. She skipped out sitting out in the snow freezing and stayed home with Grandma playing peek-a-boo.

We took a family trip to the bowling alley. I think everyone had the most fun watching the 3 boys bowl, though my 2 boys were more interested in the arcade games and had to be pulled away every time it was their turn to go.
Grandpa and Brayden hoping for a strike.

Daddy and Tavita lining it all up

Tavita the scorekeeper

Kalei the cheerleader

Christmas

We had the blessing of having all my family (minus Tyler who's on his mission) come to our house for Christmas. It was a lot of fun relaxing and being able to spend time together. We had a nice little Christmas Eve program, ate WAY to much every day, played a lot of Wii, sledded, bowled, visited and just enjoyed each others company. Only problem is now that everyone is gone, Brayden has decided our family is WAY to small. He has taken to the habit of continuously informing me I need to have more babies so our family can be bigger. Even tells the neighbors that I'm going to have lots of babies so we can have a big family.
All in all it was a very enjoyable Christmas.
Waiting to get started

Hey Jenson, give me that!

The chorister

A little Fa-la-la-la action

Doing the Nativity story

Hanging with Uncle Ryan

The wonderful heads of the family

The very bounteous bounty

Opening presents with Uncle Jon

Holy Cow! Santa found Junior's wedding ring and put it in his stocking.

Our little soldiers. If you ever want to please these guys give them a costume as a gift.

Kalei didn't know what the heck was going on, but she knew it was fun

Playin the Wii

Playin some more (this occupied the majority of the time)

My Christmas Village with this year's addition. (Junior gives me one each year and I got a bonus from the boys)

Preschool Program

A few days before Christmas, Brayden had his Preschool Christmas Program. He had been so excited about it for weeks and was always singing the songs they'd been practicing. His teacher commented on how much he loved to sing and how she was counting on him because some of the other kids wouldn't sing. Boy did he listen and bring the house down. His two favorites were "Deck The Halls" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". He liked "Deck the Halls" because they had the audience sing the verse while the kids stood very still with their hands at their sides. When it came to the chorus they'd put their hands in front of them and sing the "Falalala" part. Well Brayden always sang that VERY strongly but when it came to show time he realized the boys behind him were singing/shouting louder then him. He decided to keep up and they were straining trying to get as loud as possible. It was pretty darn funny.

He enjoyed "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" because he thought the idea of me kissing Santa was absolutely hillarious.

They sang several other songs all with actions and props. It was very cute and we all enjoyed it. In fact, Tavita enjoyed it so much he wound up joining Brayden on stage for a good chunk of it. He sat there attempting to participate as if he knew exactly what he was doing.


A highlight was the kids were finally able to meet with Santa. Bonus, he brought Mrs. Claus along for the ride