Merry Christmas...a little late

**We've been sans Internet for a while so here's our Christmas morning post a little late**

MERRY CHRISTMAS
from:

Sir Cartalot the Knight/Minstrel (Santa brought Carter a guitar--not pictured),

...his squire, Will the Hungry (poor Will, he was starving all morning and ate the bananas Santa left in his and Daddy's stockings instead of opening his presents),

...his Dad who sadly spent the whole day in bed and couldn't come to Great-Grandma's and Great-Grandpa's house with us,

...and his mom who now has an awesome running vest and won't get hit by a car when she goes running in the morning.

"It's true, where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas!!"

-Muppet Christmas Carol

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Luke 2 (and a bit of Matthew 2)

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger...

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And lo, the sheep of the flocks did shout for joy and did give high fives unto one another. (I love their woolly belts) It reminded me of this.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?

The next Thomas Edison

Well, it might not be very comfortable, but in theory it's a pretty good idea.

Carter rubber banded a matchbox race car to his foot so that he could go rollerskating in the kitchen.

What The Gladsome Tidings Be

So, I went to the salon yesterday (thank you Chelsi for watching my boys) to get my hair done for Jeremy's swanky work party that I had to borrow a dress for because I do not own "cocktail attire." I love getting my hair done, but I do not know what it is about salons that brings out the worst in women. It seems like every time I go, no one is ever saying anything nice. Maybe the fumes from the haircare products activate the beeyotch switch and the women just can help the rude, bitter, ornery comments from flying out of their mouths. Yesterday's complaining session was about Christmas. How decorating makes such a bleeping mess and how annoying Christmas music is and how it never feels like Christmas anymore. The girl who cuts my hair wondered if it was the economy or the warm weather that was making people not feel excited for Christmas. I want to scream, "IT'S BECAUSE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN CHRIST! Everything else is just a symbol of Him and his love for us. DON'T YOU GET IT? It has nothing to do with the economy or the weather, it has everything to do with YOU." But since I'm a coward I didn't say anything. The conversation has been bothering me all day because I'm excited that it's Christmas time and I love getting ready for Christmas and all of the time consuming festivities that go along with it.
So, a little too late, here's my rebuttal.



My super-cute and wonderful former roommate, Kristin, gave me this FANTASTIC book when we were roommates eight years ago. It's called "Shepherds, Why This Jubilee?" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It's two different talks about the Christmas season and the Savior. If you're feeling too much like Ebenezer this year, I recommend that you read this book and then the one by Mr. Dickens. They always make me feel better and help me to feel the Christmas spirit.


Merry Christmas from my soapbox to yours:)

Oh, There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

We spent Thanksgiving with Jeremy's family this year and had a great time--we missed you Grandpa Dave. Here are some of the pictures from Thanksgiving day and the weekend.

Grandma and Grandma.


C, W, P1, P2, P3

B&B

Kaycee and Will --she taught him lots of tricks:)

Double trouble.

Will and Papa

Storytime with Aunt Kat

I am thankful for...

turtles, dinner, books, and trains. This is our thankful tree. We put the names of our entire family on the leaves and then other things that we are grateful for.
I am grateful for Will whose silliness keeps everyone laughing.

I am grateful for Carter whose sense of humor and creativity make everyday exciting.

I am grateful for Jeremy because every girl needs a Mr. Darcy. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for...

SILLY TEENAGE GIRLS!

Thanks to everyone who became so obsessed with Twilight that they made a movie. I loved it.

But, my favorite part about the Twilight movie was the Harry Potter TRAILER.

I am thankful for...

AIRPLANES!

They bring our friends from far away to visit.

This is Carter and his first buddy, Peter, who came from Washington, DC to visit his grandma.

This is Becca and her buddy, Emily and baby Annelise. Wow, Becca sure needs a haircut.

I am thankful for...

big brothers!!

This is how crazy they are. (That's his Peter Pan hat, a headlamp as a belt/holster for his sword, and Buzz Lightyear underwear.)

This is how sad little brothers are when the big brother's blanket gets put in the washing machine or when the big brother goes to a friend's house. Ninety minutes folks!

I am thankful for...

AFTERNOON CHURCH!

The best part about having church at 1:00pm is being able to have a lot of time in the morning to spend with your family.

Carter woke up at 6:00am so we made muffins and watched them bake from start to finish so that we wouldn't wake up Will and Daddy. If you look hard enough, you can actually see the muffins jump while they're rising.

Happy Sunday!

I am thankful for...

COUSINS!

We have had a great time playing with some of our cousins the last couple of weeks--missed you P1,2,3.

You can't beat playing a game of Twister with your cousins.

Left to right: Carter, Kaycee, David, Bradee and Jeremy. Bradee was of course the Twister champion! This is a super-cute picture of my super-cute grandma and my super-cute cousin, Meggie, at a bridal shower for our super-cute-soon-to-be-cousin-in-law.
This is Will and his cousin, Caleb, chillin' on the couch while Caleb's parents were in Oklahoma. Good times:) Every other Monday our cousin, Austin, comes over and spends the day with us. He is just a couple months younger than Carter and so cute. He read Carter stories about a little monkey (Curious George) who went to the temple with his daddy. It was so darling.

Happy Halloween from Peter Pan, the Lost Boy that looks like a bear, and President Lincoln.

Swords Part Deux--Why Jeremy Rocks!!

Jeremy has been working around the clock this month and finally came home before midnight yesterday. He was so EXHAUSTED but since he's so AWESOME he played Beauty and the Beast with us instead of taking a nap. We love you Daddy!

Gaston (Carter) and one of his cronies (Will) attacking the Beast (Daddy.)

More attacks on the poor Beast.


Gaston and the Beast fighting to the death.

Belle (Mommy) kissing the injured Beast.

Gaston--injured and abandoned waiting for his followers to rescue him.

Swords Part Un

When I was growing up, we had a couple of dogs. My mom didn't love dogs, but my sister, Katrina, did. She used to pretend that she was a dog and was obsessed with them and finally my mom decided that for her mental health (and Kat's) we needed to get a dog. I have reached that point with swords. Everyone has a sword, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Captain Hook, pirates, Wart (from Sword in the Stone), Nephi, Ammon, Captain Moroni, you name it. So when we found foam swords at the craft store, we just HAD to get them.

Carter was so excited for his sword that he slept with it the first night (and several after that). Dad had to work late and I promised Carter that if he went straight to bed that he could have a sword fight with Daddy when he woke up. The next morning, I made Jeremy wake Carter up for the fight. Jeremy called Carter's name and rubbed his back trying to wake him up. Carter didn't budge. I told Jeremy to whisper "sword fight" which he did and Carter jumped out of bed, grabbed his sword, smacked Jeremy and then laid back down asleep again. I sat him on my lap and it took about 30 seconds for him to sort of wake up. He sleepily sword fought his Dad for a while and then woke up and chased him all over the house until Jeremy had to go to work. It was precious. When Will woke up, he got to join in the fight too.

These pictures are of Carter the day after his sword acquisition.





Because I am so awesome, I made Carter a duct tape sword belt with holster.

Fourth Folder Tag

This is a cool tag (merci Mme. Ricks). Go to your fourth folder and post your fourth picture.




This one is Carter and his cousin, Jacob, finger painting in August 2007 when Will was a tiny baby and Jeremy spent five days a week in Texas.

I tag: Andrea, Chelsi, Circe, Rachel and RoseAnna

Our dad had a couple of hours off on Saturday so we decided to go to the pumpkin patch in Farmington. The boys had so much fun playing in the dirt and hay, not to mention the pumpkins. We played tag in the hay maze. Daddy and Will versus Mommy and Carter.

Will and Daddy.


Carter with one of his MANY pumpkins.

Will playing in the dirt:)

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've posted so I thought I'd just share some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Here's Carter with the weekend's big catch.
Here are Jacob and Carter with Grandma Jan making witches brew at Grandma's Witchiepoo Party.
This is Carter's "quiver of arrows" just like Robin Hood. He's a pretty resourceful kid.
This is Will on his way to work in Daddy's shoes.
This is Carter and my grandma playing foosball. How cute is that?