Black Friday

Jaycee and Preston after a full morning of shopping.

Uncle E falling asleep with Hailey on his lap after the BF sales.

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning and literlly met the paperboy out on the porch in my pajamas. I was so excited to get to the ads and look through them. My mom and I have a system to the whole thing, sorting the ads and then putting them into piles, then marking what we want and then writing it all down according to when the stores open. We found most everything we wanted at Kohl's, but they opened at 4AM! So we got up and went, it was fun to be out amongst all those other crazy shoppers just like us. There were 2 lines to check out on opposite sides of the store, they were all the way down the length of the store and almost met in the back. Erick (my older brother) LOVES to go with us. He just likes to make up stories about what happens, they are always a stretch of the truth, but so fun to hear him tell it. We put him in line and then shuttled our purchases to him and kept shopping. I took him a car rug for Preston and told him I took it out of someone elses cart when they weren't looking and got a nasty look of shock from another lady in line! (I really didn't, but I was lucky to get the last one.) We then went to Target, Smiths and Rite Aid, then out to breakfast. I got everything I wanted and was able to get back home and snuggle in the warm bed with Dave for an hour before the kids got up!

Thanksgiving Day

Preston and Logan (they are 1 week apart)

Dave, Preston, Brigham and Hailey playing with music tubes.

Grandma Great and Preston making cute faces at each other.

This year was Thanksgiving with my family. We went to my Aunt Carole's. It was a fun day to just be together with everyone and to relax. Nothing notable happened, which for us is a really good thing.But I was inspired by reading a friends blog (thanks, Airie) and thought I would write my list of the top 10 things I am thankful for, beyond the first 2 are the less "typical" gratitude items.

1. My family--they really are my life and I cannot imagine life without ANY of them! Dave is the perfect hubby and my babies are so wonderful. My extended family, oh they are all lovely!

2. The Gospel--I spent 18 months serving the Lord and teaching his gospel and I am forever in awe of how perfect the plan is. I love everything the Savior has done for me. It is truly a daily part of my life.

3. Contacts--not friends, though they are definitely on the list, but it would be the gift of sight by simply putting a plastic concave disc in my eye. I am amazed by them and so grateful to not have to wear glasses!

4. Chocolate! I love that stuff! Yea for the cacao bean!

5. Black Friday/shopping. I really enjoy hunting for a good deal and getting fun new stuff for cheap. It is a great release for me.

6. My pillow top matress--is it so comfortable and I love the fact that I get to wake up next to my honey every morning.

7. Warm, clean water--there is nothing like the relaxing pulse of the shower head and warm water beating on your back to wake you up. I love to drink water and that feeling of cool water running down my throat. Ah, I am grateful to not have to purify water before drinking or worry about it getting in my mouth when showering.

8. A/C--I know it sounds a bit vain but after being a missionary and being in the heat I vowed to never be hot again if I could help it. So I love having A/C in the car, house, everywhere, I love it blowing in my face!

9. My car--it makes me happy every time I get in a drive it. I just love it! It has everything that I want and is powerful.

10. Cell phones--it is so convenient to be able to call on the road and get ahold of anyone. To call Dave at school and to have the world at my fingertips.

Turkeys

Tyson,Hailey and Becca

Hailey and AJ

We got together with our friends from the ward, the McNeals. We made turkeys out of food and the kids really enjoyed it, they had more fun eating all of the fixins, but that was the point of it, just to have fun together in preparation for Thanksgiving.

A (scratch that) TWO little slice of Heaven

There are times that I catch glimpses of heaven; whether in the eyes of my kids when they are laughing and their eyes just shine as they belly laugh, or in those quiet moments when I watch their little angelic faces as they sleep as their stomachs rhythmically rise and fall. I had a tender experience with Hailey last week where she had a dream that put me in awe, realizing that she is really just on loan to me, and a blessing that I need to treasure. I am still trying to find that balance of respecting them for the fact that we are all spirits and were created by a Higher Being and the fact that they have little bodies that they are trying to figure out and at times spaz out! We went out to lunch yesterday with my Grandparents and Papa Great spilled his tall, full glass of ice water across the table fromHailey. It got her wet and she screamed, not just cried, but screamed that her new flower pants from Papa got all wet. I am sure it was cold, but I immediately stripped her right at the table and put on dry pants, trying to comfort her, but it was to no avail! She had a fit for a good 5 minutes. I knew she was hungry and needed food,but she couldn't calm down.
I get worn down and by the end of the day I am just so tired. I am trying to make dinner (homemade chicken noodle soup for the sickies in the house) and Preston and Hailey are both whining at me, Dave is late from school and just texted me that he will not even make it home for dinner, Hailey has decided she is too big for naps and yet still desperately needs them....Arrrrrrrr!!It is those times when I have a hard time remembering their divinity! So any ideas of how to keep a more eternal perspective on life? (Or is it just inevietable that this is life and it happens that way?)

Twilight

As many of you already know the Twilight mahem has officially started! Last night a couple of my girfriends and I went to the 12:01AM showing. It was insane, a lot like the day after Thanksgiving sales! Women were lined up around the building in the freezing cold and there were screams of delight when the doors were opened. It was fun to watch it with that audience. When the characters were introduced there was vocal erruptions for them. All the inside jokes everyone understood, since we were all fanatics and had read the books. We made shirts for the opening, not something that I would normally do, it was like I was 14 all over again! Ah, to feel so young again, it was euphoric.I really enjoyed the movie and even though I am tired today from being out til 3AM it was soo worth it!

What were you doing last night?

Well, if motherhood were merit badges you can earn and sew onto your bandelow, I would have gotten one for last night! I stayed up late reading a book (I know I should have just gone to sleep, but I get addicted to reading) About an hour after I had drifted off, I heard Hailey calling for me and whining, I was hoping that Dave would just get up and take care of her, but since he had to get up at 5:30 this morning, I rolled out of bed to check on her. I sauntered in, half asleep, and went over the where she was just whining. I bent down to kiss her and noticed that all too familiar, gut churnig stomach acid smell. I turned on the lamp and there was throw-up all over her bed, in her hair and down her pajamas. I knew I needed help and went and woke up Dave (bless his heart) and we got her showered, her bed stripped and changed, and the sheets put in the washer and then got her settled back down. Not and hour later I was back up, repeating the same process! I decided that I would stay with her until she fell asleep, I was rubbing her back when she popped her head up and asked for juice. I took her to the kitchen with me and felt that low rumble in her stomach...I rushed her over to the sink and she lost it again! At this point the smell is getting to me and I am trying to hold myself together! I put on the 4th pair of pajamas for the night and get her settled back down. She quickly drifted off to sleep and I went to bed. Preston slept for 9 hours! (Thank heavens!) But woke up at 6:15...Oh well! I was trying to just laugh about it. This morning she is doing so much better, just her old self. Not sure what that was. Thank heaven for the morning, everything is always better in the light of day.

Family Pictures

Ah, the time of year that we get to try and keep the kids clean enough for a 15 minute photo shoot! I held off putting Hailey's dress on until the last minute when we were going to walk out the door...Grandma gave her one blue M&M and it ended up as a big blue spot on the white satin part of her dress! Why not the black where it wouldn't show?? Thank heavens for the tide to go pen, it got it right out! Luckily we got some cute pics, Preston is such a ham for the camera and we had to bribe Hailey to even smile by getting her a coloring book when we were done. I love to get family pictures to watch how much they change over the year. Here are some of my favorite!

Ah, life!

We really do have a lot of fun admist the chaos of what we call our life! Here are a few of those sweet moments that we captured. Preston is still small enough to bathe in the bathroom sink. I love my baby boy.

Here is Hailey carving her pumpkin. Her main complaint was that it was cold. We never actually finished it, but I think she got the jist of it because on Sunday in Nursery she was walking around carrying a Barney doll singing the song while the other hand was stabbing Barney with a knife (the same way I carved the lid off the pumpkin) as she was singing acting like it was perfectly normal!

Preston is so happy, he loves to laugh, here is a video of his sweet giggles! He just got his first tooth on the bottom last week and the second one I noticed popped through today. He got his flu shot today and was giggling, his thighs are so tickelish, even after she stabbed him he kept smiling, a moment of stunned expression, but not one tear! I was amazed.

Going Private

I had a conversation with my MIL the other day about a news story that told some of the horrors of having a blog and having not nice people viewing your blog and learning things about your personal life and even geting your address from names, posts and photos. It made me sick to my stomach to find out what people can do with a little information in the wrong hands.
I know it is a pain to log in and read a blog, but I promise I will update often so you won't be disappointed...I just feel that with my young family I need to make sure we are safe on the internet. That is why I have decided to go private. So please leave me the email address that you want to login to my blog with; either in the comments or email it to me. Thanks for understanding. I love blogging, but don't want it to turn into something I never anticipated. Thanks for reading my posts and commenting, I love that it is a way to keep in contact with so many of you, to share our lives and to feel connected to those I love.

Our goings ons

We have been spending more time at home now that Preston naps in the morning, the weather is cold, and we are working on potty training, so I have to come up with fun things to do; not only to entertain the kids, but me also! Hailey got these glasses from my VT companion, it made for a hilarious pic and good laughs! Preston is my good little model. Hailey was excited for the snow on Tuesday, she went outside and helped Papa shovel, she is such a little helper, I enjoy seeing her satisfaction in helping to get chores done!

The day before the snow was due to come, we went to Thanksgiving Point with Shanda and her kids, and met Jess with her boys there. It was fun, the kids love the animals and it was a nice outing from the everyday. Especially now that it is cold. It was cute to see Hailey and Jackson seeing each other across the field, they screamed with delight and started to run towards each other. I pulled out my camera to catch this truly Kodak moment of their long awaited embrace...Hailey ran right past him and kept on going. (I am still holding out hope that they will get married one day so we can be related to the Mostellers!) I am trying to look forward to winter, but I am just not! Boo cold weather!

Brown Family Pics

Brooklyn, Candace and Preston

4 generations of girls!

All the cousins

Papa and Hailey playing like always!

My moms family has 7 siblings all of which have kids and some of those kids have kids. We haven't had a family pic with all of us since 1989...yeah just a few years ago! Erick couldn't make it at the last minute. He is the manager of a branch in Colorado and had to fire one of the ladies so he had to stay and couldn't come. My cousin Brady is on a mission, but other than that everyone was there. It seemed to take forever, but I guess with that many in the family it would. Ryan was so sick and Heather hadn't slept since she had a night shift at the hospital, but they made it and managed to stay awake for the pics. I sure hope that at least one of them turned out, but we will see when they get developed. Here are some of the pics that we took with our camera.