fives

Kade

Ky

I just wanted to send a huge birthday shout-out to the two most awesome, funny, smart, cute, best-buddy boys in the whole world. Today my boys turned 5!! I can't even believe it. We spent the day playing with their new Christmas presents, watching Toy Story 3, going to Chuck E. Cheese and having chocolate waffles and ice cream for dessert. Here are some of my favorite things about Ky and Kade right now:

Ky:
Ky is reading so well. He can pick up a book and read most of it. He also writes very well and loves to write notes and cards to everyone and only occasionally asks for help spelling a word. He still shares everything with Kade, and if Kade is crying about something he wants, Ky will almost always give Kade what he wants. Ky is so funny. He loves to tell jokes, but even more than that are just the funny things he says. He quotes movies and song lyrics at just the right time to make everyone laugh.
Kade:
As always, Kade is so expressive. His eyebrows are almost always raised, either in excitement or from being upset. He's also constantly expressing his love for each member of our family. He likes to tell us that he loves us more than _____________ (fill in the blank). It's fun to hear what he comes up with that he loves us more than. Winter is hard on Kade because he still has a deep love for sports. He wishes he could be outside playing football or going golfing with dad. He makes up for not being able to play sports outside by watching sports with Bart.

The two of them are inseparable. The worst thing I can threaten them with as punishment is to split them up and make them play in separate rooms--and I only make that threat when they are fighting. They always try to make their brother's time outs more enjoyable by bringing them toys (which is of course prohibited). Even if one of them gets in trouble for hurting his brother, the one that got hurt always tries to get their brother out of a punishment. Luckily they usually play super well together, so this rarely happens.

They are both really into Star Wars right now. They also went through some serious Iron Man and War Machine, and Transformers phases this year too. Ever since they started 4 year old kindergarten in September, they have both decided that they love to color. Actually, I guess it would be more accurate to say that they like to draw, because they rarely want to color out of a coloring book, but like to create their own pictures on a blank sheet of paper.

They recently discovered the show Backyardigans, and have been watching a lot of it lately. They also like to play video games. Their favorites include Little Big Planet, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, and Lego Harry Potter (although they got the Toy Story video game for their birthday today, so we'll have to see if that becomes a new favorite).

I am so lucky to be Kade and Ky's mom. They are seriously the best kids a parent could hope for. They are such good boys--full of energy, but so good. They are fun, happy, and full of love. Happy Birthday Kade & Ky!! I hope it's the best!

crazy snow storm

It's been a few weeks now since we had this crazy snow storm. There was a lot of snow, and even more wind. Because of all the wind, there were some huge drifts of snow. I could see patches of my grass in places, and other places the snow drifts were 3-4 feet deep. The funniest thing I think was that the wind blew the snow through the screens on our windows and made it so we could hardly see out the window at all. This was just the first big snow storm of the season and I'm sure we'll have more.

This is what our sliding glass door looked like in the morning. See how the snow goes all the way up to the top on one side? Crazy.

singing christmas songs!

Here are some fun videos of the boys singing Christmas songs. The first one is what they performed at the Christmas party at church, and the other two are from their preschool winter program. Enjoy!

jonathan and katherine's wedding day

My little brother Jonathan married his sweetheart Katherine on November 20th in the Draper temple. We were lucky enough to be there to help them celebrate this special day. It was so neat being in the sealing room with lots of my family members watching them be sealed.
Outside the temple afterwards, we tried to take pictures, but it was soooo windy and cold, so pictures didn't last very long. But I think I got a few good ones anyway. Katherine's dad is a photographer and was their official photographer, but I wanted to take some too, so I tagged along behind him to capture a few moments.

Doesn't my mom look pretty in this picture (and wind-blown, and happy)

Our family

I love how happy my brother looks in this shot

Isn't my new sister-in-law gorgeous?! Yep, she is.

Glad they can be silly together

My amazing mother made the cake, and did the flowers, in addition to planning and throwing the entire reception. Her talent never ceases to amaze me.

Ky chilling at the reception with his uncle Daniel-my older brother

Silly Kade

Right after the bride and groom cut the cake and fed each other a bite, Ky jumped right in to get a bite himself. It's a good thing his uncle loves him enough to interrupt this moment. Silly boy!

The whole day was just beautiful, and we are so glad we got to be there. Congrats Jonathan and Katherine!

eclipse movie release party

Saturday I hosted a fun little Eclipse movie party. I used a few ideas from my Twilight party, and a few new ideas. Because I had been in Utah for two weeks a week before this party, I had planned on keeping things really low key. That didn't work. I guess I can't throw a party "low key." That's okay because it turned out great and everyone had a great time (I think).

These little party favors were kinda last minute, but I love how they turned out. Eclipse ornaments for all the guests to take home and hang on their tree, plus a little chocolate because no party favor is complete without chocolate.

I covered the drink glasses with blood (aka red corn syrup). I loved how it looked with the frothy white pina colada drink inside-I just forgot to take a picture of it.

I wish I could say that I made these cookies, but I did not. My very talented friend Brittney made them. Can you even believe the detail on each cookie, taken from the various Twilight book covers? Amazing. Before I ate mine, I thought, "These look too cute to eat." Then I ate it and thought, "I'm sure glad I decided to eat that, because it was delicious!"

We had a great time eating, talking and watching the movie. I can't wait for the Breaking Dawn party, (which won't be for another year and a halfish).

we're back!

We got back last weekend from a two week vacation to Utah. We were there for my brother Jonathan's wedding and Thanksgiving. We had a fun, very busy time between prepping for the wedding, throwing a bridal shower and attending a second one, to entertaining Kade and Ky, to planning and throwing Thanksgiving. We didn't get to visit with many friends, but we made sure we ate at Cafe Rio and Carrabba's.
I'll post more about the wedding when I have a chance to go through the pictures, but I did want to share this picture of the funnest thing I've ever seen at an airport.
When were were in Minneapolis for a long layover, the boys and I found this cool wall. There were three of these umbrellas, each made up of lots of little umbrellas. When you moved in front of them, they scattered like fallen leaves blowing in the wind, then they would move back to the original spot. We played with this wall for nearly 30 minutes, and the boys kept asking me if we could make one of those walls at our house. They were so disappointed when we flew home that our layover was not in Minneapolis.