three

I can't believe that today my babies are three years old!

Ky and Kade a few hours old


Ky's first birthday
Kade's first birthday

2 years old

Kade a few days before he turned 3

Ky a few days before he turned 3

My babies turned into 3 year-olds overnight, I think. It has gone by so fast, and we have felt so blessed to have these sweet, handsome boys in our family every day. They are such smart, happy, well-behaved little boys. They love each other so much, and it is fun to see them really interact with each other, to entertain one another, to cheer each other up, help each other, and learn from each other (good things as well as not so good things!)

Ky and Kade: These past three years have been the happiest of my life. Your mommy and daddy love you so much. We are excited to see what happens in our family while you are three!

Tonight we will have a small birthday party and open (more) presents and eat cake. I'll post pictures of that later, along with the posts of our Christmas vacation!

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We hope your Christmas was as great as ours. We are having such a great time here in Utah, and have so much to post about when we get home. There has been lots of snow, lots of relaxing, and lots of good food.

finally...

I know...it feels like I'm the last person on the planet to see this movie, but come on, it's been less than two weeks since it opened. I waited to see it until I could see it with my mom, and I loved it. Yes, it had it's flaws, and probably could have been done better with a bigger budget, but that didn't stop me from laughing, crying, and wanting to see it again, right away. Now how long do we have to wait for the next one?

we made it!

After a long day of traveling yesterday, we made it! The boys and I are here in Utah with my family. So far the boys are loving all the extra attention and fun stuff to play with, and I am loving being "home." So, those of you who are in the area...let's party!

turkey day

We had a great Thanksgiving. Bart's brother Bret and his wife Charise came up and stayed with us starting Tuesday, and they brought their new baby, Cooper. Bart's parents came over one at a time on Thanksgiving so that one of them could be with Bart's sister Sadie who was home sick. Other than missing Sadie, we had a great day. A friend helped Bart deep-fry our turkey and we've decided that's the only way to go. It was delicious!! The food was all so good, and by some miracle, it all finished cooking at the same time! We spent the rest of the day relaxing, watching football, visiting, and holding Cooper (he's almost as delicious as my boys!)

The table, all ready for the feast
Bart carving the turkey. Yum!
Enjoying...

first snow!

Kade and Ky were so excited to wake up to snow on the ground yesterday. They have been waiting for snow for months now and it finally arrived. From the second they knew there was snow on the ground, they asked every few minutes if they could go play in it. I told them we had to eat breakfast and get dressed first, and we couldn't go fast enough.
Once we began putting on all our snow gear, it took a good half hour before we were ready to go out.

All dressed up and ready to go. I've never seen them so bundled up before.
Once outside, they immediately started throwing snow at me. They tromped around in it, and less than ten minutes after we got out there, they were begging to go back inside because "this snow is cold." There was no way I was going to spend 30 minutes getting snow gear on for ten minutes outside. So, I convinced them to help me make a snowman, play follow the leader, and try out their new red shovels. Still, every five minutes or so they asked to go inside complaining of being cold. I knew there as no way they were that cold, because I knew how many layers they were wearing. So, I didn't feel too bad making them stay out for a total of 25 minutes.

My poor little Florida babies!

At least they look like they were having a good time!

another gift idea

My talented friend Jessica, who became my friend when we were in 7th grade, makes jewelry. Her jewelry is the subject of a giveaway on the blog: Mama's Losin' It. If you are looking for some beautiful jewelry to give as a gift this year, check out Jessica's site here.

countdown

The boys and I are flying to Utah 2 weeks from tomorrow. We are so excited. We will be there for three weeks (Bart will join us for the last week), so for all of you who will be in Utah then, let us know so that we can get together.

I fully intend on eating at Cafe Rio, Pudding on the Rice, and I was craving Old Spaghetti Factory the other night, so maybe you can meet us at one of the above. Or perhaps we can meet up and just gaze at the mountains together--it's been too long since I've seen them...Mount Timpanogos, I've missed you!

(Oh, and of course I've missed my family immensely, but let's leave it at that lest the tears begin.)

go utes!

That's right folks. I have given it a lot of thought, and after much prayer and contemplation ... I will be cheering for the Utah Utes this Saturday. I realize that most readers of this blog are Cougar fans. Don't worry. I've ok'ed this with my bishop and he promises that I can still keep my membership and temple recommend. Let me further explain. My main goal is a better Cougar team of the future. Let me explain how only a Utah win will accomplish that.

#1- I'm sorry to break it to you all, but a BYU win will NOT put them in a BCS bowl game. The Cougars sorry performance against TCU a few weeks ago put an end to those dreams. And to those of you who want to argue about other 1 loss teams going to a BCS bowl ... sorry, it ain't going to be the Cougars. The BCS won't allow for it:

"By rule, one non-BCS league team gets an automatic invite if it finishes in the top 12 or if it finishes in the top 16 and a BCS conference champion, like the Big East or ACC champion likely will this season, finishes lower. The BCS bowls can choose which team it wants if there are a few that fit the criteria, and at the moment, the odds are good that Utah would be the choice over Boise State, and if eligible, Ball State.
Barring a total collapse, Florida and Alabama will be in the BCS, and so will two Big 12 South teams (assuming Missouri doesn't win the Big 12 title). Assume Ohio State will get an at-large spot if Penn State beats Michigan State. With one non-BCS conference team getting in, which will be Utah if it beats BYU, and Boise State if the Cougars beat the Utes, there's your BCS." - FoxSports.com

This then leads me to my next point...

#2- Trust me, if it has to be anyone, you want it to be Utah. A Utah loss, and Boise State gets the spot. Which they have had the past two years. Any idea what that costs the Mountain West Conference? $17.5 MILLION. I'm not kidding. (see http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfb/facts). Maybe they could use that money to fix their lousy TV contract. Taking me to ...

#3- No one will see the BYU-Utah game anyway. You know how everyone in Utah calls this the Holy War and how every year KSL and the Salt Lake Tribune do stories about how this is the best rivalry in the nation. Last year I lived in Florida. Now I'm in Wisconsin. Think anyone there cares about this game ... or has even ever heard of the Holy War? Nope. And none of them will get to see it anyway. The Mountain West Conference has the worst TV contract of any football conference. Which explains why ...

#4- Utah in a BCS game is great exposure ... not just for the Utes, but for the entire conference. I'm actually surprised to admit that the MWC had a great season. Look, they have 3 ranked teams now, and probably will at the end of the season. They played great in their non-conference games, which is very important for a non-"Big Six" conference. In my opinion, if no one plays in a BCS bowl to represent all they have accomplished this year ... it's all for naught. I mean come on, look at what the Mountain West gets ...

#5- Win or lose, BYU will play in Las Vegas... again. A Utah loss means they play in the Poinsettia Bowl. Both of these games are before Christmas. Lame. December 20th? No one is thinking about watching bowl games December 20th! I'll still be wondering how long I can put off buying Ashli a Christmas present! Besides, one of these bowls gets the 5th selection from the Pac-10. The other gets the 7th. Wow. Win those games and what do you prove?

I'm sure that many of you will have a problem with this. It goes against everything you have even done. Some of you will call me a traitor. Many of you will say I'm not a fan. I just want what is best for this program long term. I believe Bronco is doing a great job and that the team will continue to improve. This is what is best for BYU this year. And please realize that I attended BYU during the Crowton era. I do not 'bleed blue' as my wife does. Besides, as long as they sing "Popcorn Popping" at the games, or until the fans in Provo learn to tailgate, it won't really be college football anyway:-)

I'LL BE WEARING RED THIS SATURDAY!!! GO UTES!!!

thanks giving

Thanks to Bart for taking a day off of work and taking me to Chicago for the weekend.
Thanks to Bart's family for watching Kade and Ky so we could escape for a few days.
Thanks to the temple workers at the Chicago temple for holding the session for us since the bad traffic made us a few minutes late.
No thanks to Googlemaps who gave us two bogus addresses for Giordano's pizza near our hotel, and caused us to drive around for an hour only to find no Giordano's.
Thanks to Bart for taking me to Red Robin instead.
Thanks to Bart for the new bracelet, nail polish and shirt we found at the mall.
Thanks to the Hyatt Place hotel for having a huge TV with HD so Bart could stay up late watching things blow up in high definition.
Thanks to Ikea for being across the street from our hotel, for having thousands of amazing things to look at, some to buy and some to wonder what they were.
Also, thanks to Ikea for the shopping cart escalators. I've never seen anything so cool!
Thanks to Bart for taking me back to the mall and for the birthday present that I will pretend to be so surprised about in a few weeks.
Thanks to Giordano's for the yummy pizza we had for lunch Saturday afternoon (or was it dinner? What do you call it when it's 3:30 in the afternoon?)
Thanks to the Florida Gators for the entertaining first half we got to watch while we waited for our Chicago style stuffed pizza to cook.
Thanks to Kade and Ky for being good while we were gone, and for being so excited to see us when we got back.
Thanks to Bart for marrying me 5 1/2 years ago and for being such an amazing husband. What a fun date!

great gift idea

If you are like me, you know a lot of people who just had a baby. Or maybe you just had a baby. If so, you have to check out my friend Meg's etsy shop. She makes the cutest bath aprons called Swaddles. She gave us two when Kade and Ky were born and they are great. They work great for little babies, big babies, and toddlers. We still use them and my boys are almost three. (Of course now they are used mostly as post-bath super hero capes.) They make great Christmas gifts, or buy one for yourself! Check out her shop here.

bunnies and leaves

Last week the boys and I went to play with their Aunt Sadie. Sadie showed them the new baby bunnies (there are 9!). The boys loved them. They would smile at them, and didn't like when they would hop away. They were so soft and adorable!
Then, Sadie raked the leaves into a pile and the boys jumped right in. It was their first time playing the leaves and it was so fun to watch.

Here are six of the nine bunnies. Aren't they cute?

Kade and three bunnies

Ky demonstrating improper baby bunny holding technique, but look at that smile!

Covered in leaves

When they got tired of jumping in the leaves, they decided to bury Sadie in them.

Then, it turned into a leaf-throwing fight. We all had a blast!

i'm an aunt!

My amazing sister-in-law had her first baby, Cooper Bret Miller, on Sunday. We were lucky enough to be able to be at the hospital waiting for his arrival. Charise did a great job carrying and delivering this beautiful, healthy, 8 lb. 10 oz. baby boy. He is adorable, soft, warm, and delicious! Congrats Bret and Charise!Kade wanted to show Cooper his drawing, and then asked, "Why he not smile at my picture?"

Ky hoped that smiling really big at the baby would make him smile back.Uncle Bart...doesn't he look good with a baby in his arms?

happy halloween!

We had such a great Halloween. The boys are at such a fun age where everything about Halloween is exciting and they are able to do so much more than last year.Kade as the Evil Emperor Zurg (from Toy Story 2). He has been a little obsessed with Zurg for awhile now, so I was excited to find this costume for him.

Ky as Buzz Lightyear. He doesn't stop saying, "To infinity and beyond!" and "pewing" everyone with his laser.

What a pair!

Sweet boy

Silly Buzz

The boys with their friend Lily

The Toy Story gang: Jessie, Zurg, Buzz and Woody

Evil vs. Good

Ky was the only one brave enough to scoop out the pumpkin guts
Kade's monster face (carved by mom) and Ky's werewolf (carved by dad. Bart had never carved a pumpkin with a pattern and the little saws. He did a great job!)

birthday boy

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday. Today he turns 28. Today I think about how lucky I am to be married to him...I get to talk to him every day (about everything), I get to snuggle with him at night, and I get to kiss him whenever I want. It doesn't get any better than that.

I am looking forward to him coming home from work today, so that he can open his presents, then we can eat his traditional birthday dinner: lasagna. Then some friends are coming over for cake and ice cream. Only it's not going to be plain old cake. No, Bart requested the peanut butter chocolate cheesecake that I made for him last year, and I must say it looks delicious cooling in the fridge.

I love you Bart. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

baby rush

I have 5 blogging friends who are expecting a baby very soon. From any day now to just a couple weeks from now. Some of these friends I haven't seen for years, but it is fun to stay caught up through their blogs and wait for the arrival of their little ones with them. A few months ago, I think I counted 10 people from my blog list that were pregnant at the same time. Some of them have had their baby already, and now we are coming to the end of the baby rush. So, good luck Heidi, Natalie, Charise, Emily and Whitney. I can't wait to meet the new little ones, even if it is only through cyberspace.

enjoying the season

There is a park just a few minutes away from our house. The boys love to play on the slides and swings. They also love to run around on the baseball field and pretend they are playing a real game. We recently discovered that there is a great path that winds through the trees that line the park. The trees right now are such beautiful colors, it makes the walk that much more fun. It's so fun to watch the boys hiking through the fallen leaves, watching out for large tree roots and they can even hike up and down the steep parts with ease. It really reminds me that they are little boys now, and not toddlers.

Ky throwing an acorn into the woods. They could do this for hours.My boys and the bright, colorful leaves
Hiking up the path
Say "cheese"

book review

I finished reading The Host last night. I started it a few weeks ago when Bart brought it home for me when he knew I had had a bad day (isn't he the sweetest?)

Anyway, I have had several people ask me to let them know what I thought of it when I was done so here goes. (Don't worry, I won't give away anything in the book. I hate when people do that. In fact, I don't even watch movie previews any more. If I already know I want to watch a certain movie, I don't want to know anything that is going to happen, or any of the jokes, etc. I want to be totally surprised. So I will show the same courtesy here.

First I have to say, that for the first while I had to remind myself about every other chapter that while, yes, this was a Stephenie Meyer book, no, Edward was not going to be in it. Of course I knew that, but I think somewhere deep down I was waiting for him to make an appearance.

The first few days I was reading it, whenever Bart would ask how it was, I would tell him it was weird. Not bad weird, but I'm not really a sci-fi person, and the story concept was a bit out there. I wasn't sure I was ever going to be okay with the concept--not in a moral way or anything like that, it was just out there.

Then one day, I was telling Bart about it, and I realized that I already believed in the characters and the plot line like the author wanted me to. After I reached that point, I really liked the book and always wanted to find out what was going to happen next.

There were a few slow parts, and a few of the "twists" that I saw coming, but most of the story was really interesting. I'm amazed at how Stephenie Meyer can take characters and concepts that are so unbelievable and make them so believable. Also, she makes all the pieces of the story work together in a way that always surprises me.

It wasn't as good as the Twilight series, but I'm definitely sad that it's over and I'm back to thinking, "Now what am I going to read?"

photographer

This is what happens when two two-year-olds learn how to use a camera. It's funny the things they want to take pictures of. It's so nice having a digital camera, because it doesn't cost anything to let them snap away to their little hearts' content.

fun, fun weekend

We had a great weekend and did lots of fun stuff. The weather here has suddenly turned quite chilly, but we managed to have some great outdoor fun anyway. Thursday, the boys and I went to the local zoo. It was much smaller than the zoos I'm used to going to, but it had some fun animals, and it was in a gorgeous setting.

A lot of the zoo looked like this: lots of trees, with colorful leaves
The boys' favorite animal was this moose. It kept pacing and grunting. The boys have been making moose sounds all weekend.
I had to get a picture of the boys with this bright red bush.
The giraffe exhibit was awesome, they sold giraffe crackers on this platform to feed the giraffes. The boys got scared when they saw the long purple tongue, but they still thought the giraffes were pretty neat.
This smile only lasted until Kade turned around and realized that the giraffe was trying to "eat him."Friday evening we were invited to have dinner at the home of one of the doctors Bart works with. Yes, it is October in Wisconsin, and yes the boys were in the pool. Don't worry, the water was very warm and the boys only shivered when they got out. The boys were so excited to swim. When we lived in Florida, we would go swimming several times per week, and we haven't gone since June, so it was great to see them back in the pool again.

It was great to visit with Dr. Block and his family. They are such a neat family and Bart and I thought it was exciting to be in a home with teenagers leaving for Friday night activities again. Bart is lucky to work with such great people.

Saturday morning we went to a local wildlife preserve. This was the bird area, where the boys loved feeding the ducks and geese. They also had a lot of other birds on display.

Bart got to feed this deer. It was neat to see the dear so close and watch the boys watch the deer.

Kade and the deer

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying General Conference. It was nice to be inspired and uplifted as we are every six months.