black island farms

we went to black island farms for the first time this year. the kids LOVED IT!

yes, i am a wuss

the corn sand box, their favorite part!

on the tractor ride

picking pumpkins

visitors in the night ;)

 

having kids is awesome, because the holidays are so much fun! the leprechan played tricks on us this year and it was delightful! this is the first year he came to our house and reese was totally in awe! he loved finding the note and following the foot prints to the bathroom. the leprechan left his hat and reese wore it for days afterward. it was so fun! 

 coloring eggs

the easter bunny came!

cute kids for church

brad and i at the easter egg hunt. 

reese was thrilled over the easter bunny. he kept asking me what he looked like, what his last name was and when he was coming. he was disappointed that the easter bunny "forgot" to hide the eggs we colored. i think the easter basket made up for it though.

christmas came!

every year on christmas eve we open our pajamas and go to the cantwell party. here's the best pic of our little family.  we ate tons of food. it was so freaking good! i made home made macaroni and cheese and i have to tell you it was fabulous! i wish i would have gotten more pictures but we were having too much fun. we played bingo, did a puppet show of the nativity and did our gift exchange. it was really really fun. then we went home so that santa could come.
we put reese to bed, and like every night he called for one of us to come down. brad went and reese was telling him all about santa, he was so excited he couldn't sleep! that's the best feeling in the world!

when reese woke up and came upstairs i think he was still a little to groggy to realize what was going on. he saw the train set that santa had set up for him and looked a little confused. then he realized what was going on and got very, very happy. one of his favorite things was that santa left some pistaschios out for his enjoyment. he ate some first thing! then we opened up our gifts.

i thought i went all out this year because i got brad a TV and roku player for our bedroom.

i was proved wrong when i opened up this little baby! a tiny little not that said "i lied".

(back-story: a couple of days before christmas we were out shopping and brad got a call on his phone, they asked for me. so he handed the phone over. the man said he was from RC Willey and wanted to know when i wanted my couches delivered. i immediately handed the phone back to brad, and was like, um....... i hope christmas didn't just get ruined, but at the same time i hope you didn't buy new couches! we can't afford them!" reese and i walked on while brad "cleared up" the situation. the man had the wrong account pulled up. he hadn't ordered couches.)

well, turns out he lied. he did buy the couches that i have been drooling over for the last six months! they are gorgeous! i will have to take a picture and put on here.

little jovi slept right through all the christmas commotion. which was fine. she needed it. santa brought her a little cabbage patch dolly.

my mom and dad came over to see reese's loot and then we all headed to shanea's for the annual christmas brunch. reese was desperate to get back to his toys so we came home for a little while. he played, then napped and then we stopped by lynn and george's, and went to dinner at my parents house. it was an amazing day and i feel so blessed and loved by my family. i love that christmas has turned into so much more than just gifts. it's the best to give and give some more.

a talk with santy claus

reese told santa he wants a red choo choo train with a track. jovi wants to keep momma happy and go to sleep before midnight. 

Merry Christmas!

(after we left, reese had a total melt down because he wanted to show santa the ornament that he made and forgot. we told him we couldn't go back because he was so busy, and brad told him, "reese it's ok, santa knows you like jesus knows you!" freaking made me laugh so hard!)

halloween

RAWR! for halloween reese was a scary monster.

we decorated our car for the ward trunk or treat.

 

brad and i were bats

on halloween night we went to kade and terra's for their annual party. it was so much fun. reese really got into trick or treating this year. he actually knew what to expect and had been asking for weeks if it was halloween yet. i took him around the neighborhood with some other kids and he was SO FREAKING CUTE! he got really good at saying "trick or treat" and then ran to the next house. if no one answered the door he would yell, "too bad, so sad! let's go to the next one!" and take off.

christmas 2010

merry christmas! i know i am a little late writing about it but nonetheless. here we are in our new pj's on christmas eve. it's probably my favorite tradition because it doesn't have to come out of the budget and i love surprising brad every year and him surprising me! he got me a hilarious shirt that is the 13 days of christmas with literal pictures, really funny.

christmas moring reese ran right out into the living room! we had to yell for him to come to our room so that we could all go in together to see what santa brought. he came and visited indeed! he brought reese a race track, a slide, some firefighter boots and a few books. reese ran right for the slide but got distracted by the race track for at least 5 minutes before he ever made it to the slide.

opening presents from mom and dad. he got despicable me and now it is his absolute favorite movie. he comes to me and says, " mom! me! me!" whenever he wants to watch it.

sweet panda shirt from brad

awesome black jacket from me.

by the time we get through christmas day i realize that i don't get any other pictures except for the morning... oh well. shows that we are having a good time right? we went to shanea's for breakfast, lynn and george's for lunch and my mom's for dinner. it was a great day. i think i love that the older i get the less selfish i am. i used to really care about the things i got for christmas, and i used to have really high expectations. now that i don't christmas (and birthdays and all those things) are so much better.

a few days before we went to the christmas village. jensyn, reese and hurley all looked so cute in this one that i had to post it.

december is my fave

i freaking LOVE december this year, a few good reasons:

 

experiencing snow for the first time this year

 

surprise visits from my favorite New York niece!

gearing up and going skiing!

 

 going to temple square and getting some of the best pictures of the year

 

having this guy jump out and scare me at my own house! FREAKING HILARIOUS!!! smith and edwards is the best store ever!

reese and bentley

reese at weber state, that is a real reindeer behind him!

i've also been drinking hot chocolate with real whip cream, like, EVERY single day.

been shopping for gifts for all my favorite people.

had some serious wake up calls about how blessed we really are. 

grateful we have enough money this year. 

life is good in december.

thanksgiving in texas

this year we went to texas for thanksgiving to visit brad's grandparents. they live about an hour out of dallas on lake texoma. our flight was at 6 a.m. so we left our house at about 3 in the morning. by the end of the flight reese was out. 

the first day we were there we settled in and papa dean took me and sally on a little tour of the city. then we all went to the golden corral for dinner. we were having a great night. i realized that i had seen reese going poop so i decided to take him to the restroom to change him. i scooped him up and then realized too late that he had had a massive explosion! i got him to the bathroom and there was poop everywhere. on every piece of his clothing, all over my hoodie, even on his shoes. so i just had to wipe him down with baby wipes. poor kid was stuck running around the resturaunt with just a diaper on. (of course it happened the ONE time i didn't have an extra outfit with me)

 cace and bentley at the oil well

 reese, brad, me and grandma

the next day we drove out to bogata. we went and visited papa dean's land. we saw his cotton fields, and his oil wells. we also went to three different cemetaries. sounds kind of boring, but i really enjoyed it. we went and visited aunt ruth that day too. she is an exceptional woman. i just love her.

brad and aunt ruth

we drove by this lovely little place on the way home. it's always nice to add in some culture.

we then of course had thanksgiving dinner. it was so weird for me to be away from home for a major holiday. we had fun, but i was feeling a little homesick. brad's grandparents were so generous and kind to us. it was so good to get out and see where they live. we went for a walk down by lake texoma, played kickball with the kids in the back yard, ate a lot of good food and just had so much fun.