Valentines Day

For some reason this year Jared was super excited about Valentines Day. I read him a book on where Valentines Day was derived from and wanted to make Valentine Cards right then. So we went to work. I thought it would take us all the week before to finish them but we did it in one setting, over 30. I drew a heart on the inside of the card and Jared and Spencer took a pen and made little holes all along the line making the front bumpy. And then I wrote a little message and Jared wrote his name on every single one, this is where I thought he'd get bored. Spencer was really cute while helping and right away he wanted to make some for his friends Peter, Anna and Sophie who moved last October. They were also excited to give me a gift which Jared reminded Chris of, "Remember it starts with an F".

So all week Jared was excited and kept asking me when it would be Sunday so he could go to bed that night. This boy loves decorations. At Christmas he told me I didn't have enough to which I agreed and bought more but it still wasn't enough. Then the other week I hosted a baby shower at our place and someone brought decorations which Jared saw before he left. He asked me to keep them up and someone took them down when helping clean up and when Jared got home he just cried and cried. So I knew I needed something for him. So the night before I made "heart" snowflakes and put them up in the boys' room while they were asleep. It was so cute when they woke up Jared said, "Look at this! Do you see this!" It really wasn't much but he appreciated it. For Breakfast it was Heart shaped waffles with berries and cool whip. They loved it and scarfed it down.
I got a dozen red roses from all my boys and our little gift to them was a compliation of their current favorite songs. There were a lot of songs they liked that we didn't have so we were hoping they'd be on the radio in the car and if they were lucky they sometimes got to watch the music video of them. It was a hit and they loved it! I am now rocking out to Justin Beiber, Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus all day long and I'm actually ok with it cause my boys are too cute when singing and dancing with it. Below is the playlist with their favorites bolded. The rest we added cause we thought they'd like them and we already had them in our library.

1. Eye of the Tiger- Survivor (Both boys like this one but I'd say Spencer likes it more. He always picks it as the song he wants me to sing to him at night)
2. Stuck Like Glue- Sugarland (was Jared's fav for awhile, still likes it but not his #1 anymore)
3. I want to Hold your Hand- The Beatles
4. Party in the U.S.A- Miley Cyrus (One of Jared's #1favorites at the time, Spencer likes it too)
5. Yellow Submarine- The Beatles (One of Spencer's #1 favs, again another song he requests at bedtime)
6. Don't Stop Believin- Journey
7. Hound Dog- Elvis Presley
8. Baby- Justin Bieber and Ludacris (Jared's other #1 fav, again Spencer likes it a lot too)
9. Just the Girl- Click Five
10. Trashin' the Camp- Phil Collins
11. Bless the Broken Road- Rascal Flatts (Jared used to love this song back when we were in Provo, he'd sing it to me and it was the sweetest ever so I added it for sentimental reasons)
12. Firework- Katy Perry (I would say this is Spencer's all time Favorite. When shopping the other day it came on and he started screaming, more squeling, with delight. Jared too likes this song and Miles for that matter)
13. Eight Days a Week- The Beatles
14. Mr. Mom- Lonestar
15. Ticket to Ride- The Beatles
16. Animal- Neon Trees
17. Keep Holding On- Glee Cast

Below are videos of them listening for the first time. I need to get a better video because they can really rock out to these songs.

Professional Pictures

This is why I don't like paying for pictures when I have three little boys: The plan was to have the pictures of only the boys but it was not going well so they threw Chris and I in them. you can totally tell we were not planning on it by our choice of clothing. Oh well. Needless to say none of the pictures made it on the wall. Much Better! Not only are these picture 100% and make it on my wall but they were free. Thanks to two good friends, Beth and Karyn (took Miles') I am happy with my family pictures (I ended up borrowing Beth's camera and taking Spencer's picture)

BYU Volleyball

A few Fridays ago BYU was in Chicago playing Loyola and we decided to show our cougar spirit despite the fact the game started at bedtime. (I was only worried about Miles). I'm glad we went even though they lost. They played to five games and I loved it and got into it a little too much at the end by booing at the refs for a h.o.r.r.i.b.l.e call. I need to be a better example for my boys (I'm ok with booing but I did a little too much).

The boys enjoyed their popcorn that they bought with their own money. Miles was better than I ever anticipated. The hardest part was it was Really Hot and he kept looking at us saying "ot, ot, ot!" His little cheeks were soooo rosy.

He loved cheering regardless of who won the point.

If only BYU had a basketball game close by. We'd be all over it. Go Jimmer! (My boys are very much aware of who Jimmer is and how good he is:)

Best Friends

These boys are the best of friends. They play so well with each other and stick up for each other. Nothing warms a mother's heart more than seeing your children interact lovingly towards each other. My favorite is when I'm cleaning in the next room over and just listening to their make believe play... priceless. I hope they're always close. (they have MANY fights but they really are close) Miles was already in bed when we took this family shot:(

They also include Miles a lot which I'm grateful for. Miles is getting to be pretty demanding and throws plenty of fits and they are so patient to work with him. I on the other hand, when he lays prostrate on the floor, walk away. To which I'm told I'm mean and need to help him. They all look out for each other.

January

Two things worth recording in January was our Christmas Present to our neighbor from 2009, I'm glad she finally redeemed it, to go to the Medieval Tournament. The food was fine, not great. The program was good, just a little too long, and more intense than either Chris or I thought it would be. We were cheering for the white and black knight who lost. Spencer got scared and ended up sitting on Chris' lap and Jared was so in to it his little arms were bent at the elbow and every time the knights would go in for a jab or whatever his little hand would come up and just shake, he was totally into it. I wish I had a video of it but I will remember it forver.

The next thing was my little sister and her husband came out! What a treat! It wasn't for a long time but we squeezed in as much as we could, one being the Museum and Science and Industry we love this place.While there we explored a new part of the museum we hadn't yet set foot in. This section dealt with the body and one activity you competed against someone to see who could relax their minds the most. Camille and Mike did it first and Camille whooped him and then Jared and Spencer tried it out. They were so cute and they drew a crowd. Lots of pictures were being taken and only a few from my camera.Jared was the winner.Mike and Camille watching the boys in action. Everyone had this expression. They really did look cute.

I always LOVE it when family comes. Wish it could be more often. I'll take it when I can.

Christmas 2010

Am I too late to post about Christmas? Oh well. I've had the pictures uploaded for over a month and usually that's my excuse for not blogging. But alass our Christmas:

We decided at the last minute to drive "home" for Christmas and let that be our gift to our parents. Our first stop, Wyoming, Trent's house. Every year they do a live Nativity and this year they were Mary and Joseph with their baby Shonee and my parents were going to be there so we decided this would be a great year to go. We arrived Christmas Eve day. Below is Chris, the boys and Clairee sledding
Waiting for the Nativity to start. Jared was a shepherd and at the last moment he decided he didn't want to but he looked cute while it lasted.
Trent and Mardy and the donkey. The weather was great. It was cold but not blowing...still. Miles had fallen asleep so I was able to enjoy it fully.


The Shepherds going to see the Christ Child

The cowboys (wisemen)

That evening after going to Mardy's parent's house for a yummy dinner, we opened our pajamas, read the Christmas story again, and sent them to bed. Chris wanted to put out Transformers for their Santa gift but I wanted to do the piano and Ball and net. I think it's fun to put stuff together that night. I should have listened to Chris though. Their favorite things were the transformers maybe next year I'll let him pick out the "Santa" gift.
The boys slept in really well. Miles not so good. Chris got up with him and saw a Moose though so that was fun. Everyone was up but Jared so I decided to wake him up. I crept in there and said, "Jared do you want to get up?" He answered something groggily and then I said, "It's Christmas!" And he bolted up squinting saying, "Oh yea, I forgot!"
They loved their stocking and their favorite thing in them was their toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouth washes. One that colors the teeth blue so you can wash them off and then a normal mouth wash. They took a break from opening their stocking stuffers to go brush their teeth.

Jared and Clairee sitting in Clairee's princess chair, all the kids loved this chair. Camille had our family this year and she made everyone hats. Check out how cute they boys are and they love them and I've gotten so many comments on them since.

We had Trent and Mardy and we gave Clairee crowns and shoes, what girl doesn't love shoes?
Mid morning watching... I don't remember
Miles on Clairee's horse that she got. This thing was cool and old school and Miles loved it.
Late that afternoon we decided to head to Idaho. The weather forecast said snow for the next day so we decided to leave early since the roads we'd be traveling through the mountains weren't freeways. The boys did remarkably well on the 5 1/2 hour trip sleeping a lot of it and watching movies the rest. We surprised everyone and the boys were excited to open their gifts, too bad everyone had to ship their gifts and we ended up coming. The one they're opening below was one they'd been anticipating for awhile. It's an animal tree house with an animal for each letter of the alphabet. Spencer's speech therapist would bring toys and games to play with while working with Spencer and this was his favorite. And since Christmas we have used it and played with it daily. We all love it. (Miles' favorite animals are the ostrich and flamingo, it's not uncommon to see them in his hands throughout the day.)
They got silly hats which were fun (In the background is Andy, Ashley's husband who was able to come home from Iraq for 2 weeks. it was fun seeing him. He gets to come home for good in either April or May)

I failed to take pictures :( but here's one of Miles and Bridger, Mal and Brandon's baby. These two are a couple weeks shy of a year apart.
Christmas was awesome, seeing family was worth it and the travel was decent besides me hitting a very big bunny rabit on the way home and cracking our front bumper. After several trips to and from Idaho our kids know the meaning of a long car ride. Last week we went to the outlet mall in Aurora, an hour away and we told our kids it was going to be a long ride. Jared's response... How many days?