Thursday, January 15, 2015

Best Frenemies....

Seeing as how it's January and we have been feeling a little cooped up lately... I decided to let these two play outside together. I have to say- some days they are the worst of enemies, at each other's throats and bugging one another all day, but in the blink of an eye they are best friends again. They're once again smiling, sharing, and hugging, being silly, and laughing.
 I guess this is the nature of brothers. 







Happy New Year Welcome 2015

We welcomed in the New Year with most of my family. 
Tyler watched Boise state play in the Fiesta Bowl. 
We played card games, we ate lots of food, and mostly we just chilled after a weekend filled with lots of driving. Uncle Kar Kar and Aunt Melanie even took the boys to the church to hit baseballs from a pitching machine in the gym. 

(Who could resist Plonkers Popcorn? SO good!)
(The boys were twinning with Auntie Mel) 
(I vow to get more snuggles from these boys while I can!)
(A New Year's kiss-- promptly followed by laughing because my mom said we needed more tongue.) 

In this New Year I want to:
Take more time to fully enjoy all the beauty that surrounds us. 

Spend more quality family time-- laugh and be silly. 
Dare to be adventurous doing new things. 

Take time to enjoy the days of my kids being little.
(Also, more snuggling, cuz there should always be more of that!) 
Make healthy eating choices, but not be afraid to indulge every once in a while. 
And among my many other goals for the new year (which I won't bore you all with the whole list) is to step back and be the "fun mom" every once in a while. I tend to say 'no' a lot and I'm making it a goal to try and say yes more-- when I can. I also plan on taking each of my wonderful kiddos on one on one "dates" with mom. 

Can't wait to see what new adventures 2015 brings us! 

The Day After Christmas

Tyler had to work the next day (which was a bummer) and we ended up leaving for Idaho after he got off work Friday night. It's not the first time we've made a late night drive. It has it's pros and cons... one being that the kids sleep in the car because it's dark-- which makes for a quiet drive, but we don't sleep-- which makes for a tired following morning. Saturday Tyler's sister, Kelly, was blessing their newest baby girl so we hopped in the car to drive to Jerome. Kent and Teesy drove with our kids (which I'm sure was entertaining for them). It was a lot of driving, but good to catch up with Derek and Kim, who rode with us, while making the drive. 

Unfortunately I didn't pictures of our cutest newest niece, she was tiny and precious and sleeping. I chalk all these missed photo opportunites up to lack of sleep. Kelly and Mike did take some pictures of everyone though, so the picture taking wasn't lost on everyone. :) We stayed for a few hours and Mike's family hosted a great little lunch. Eventually we said our goodbyes and hoped to beat the incoming snowstorm going home. 

We made pretty good time, going back to Fruitland, and Tyler was driving great despite weather conditions. Things were pretty smooth sailing until we hit the off ramp to the Fruitland exit. I felt that we were going a little too fast for the off ramp, but Tyler's the expert snow driver, so I didn't say anything. As he was slowing down and we were rounding the curve, our car started to slide in the direction of the metal guard rail. It was so scary seeing our car move towards it and knowing that we were going to hit. By some miracle (which I'm giving credit to my father in-laws morning prayer before we all traveled) we stopped about a foot before hitting the railing. I think we were all so relived and shocked that we didn't hit it. I'm so grateful we were safe the rest of the way home too. 

The boys had fun playing in the snow that night and Sunday morning before church. They also thoroughly enjoyed beating up Uncle Derek and playing with the dogs, and riding fourwheelers, and visiting Grandma Howard (who loads them up with cookies).

We are so glad we could visit Idaho again. 
(Quincy claims he never sleeps in...) 
(Bundling up to go outside was a regular occurrence when we were there) 
(Snowball fight before church) 
(Passed out on the way to church because of snowball fight)
(Beating up playing with Uncle Derek) 
(Got some treasures from Grandma Howard- vintage thread!) 
(Trying grapefruit for the first time-- they didn't like it) 
(A gorgeous snowy day to leave.) 

(Beautiful snowy roads home up in the pass) 
(Last hour in the car is brutal) 
(Home again, home again... hello sunshine!)


Christmas Morning

It seems like each year Christmas morning goes by quicker and quicker. 
The kids woke up around 7:15 and were eager to go see what Santa brought. Tyler put a chair at the end of our hallway blocking off the living room. This deterred them for a bit before they came into our room hoping to get us out of bed. They were all opening things at the same time and so quickly that I couldn't really capture it all good enough. Braxton was really excited that he got The Flash action figure from Santa and the Planes 2 Fire and Rescue movie. Quincy got his Lego Star Wars set, new chapter books and the Lego Movie. Zayden loved his new puzzles, and a drill from Santa. 
It's so much fun seeing the excitement on their faces.

20 minutes later they were breaking in their new toys and games and were having a blast!





After we spent a couple hours at home playing, watching the new Home Alone 2 movie, showering and getting dressed we headed up to Vancouver to see everyone else and have Christmas dinner. I didn't take many pictures while we were up there, and I regret that now, but we were just busy hanging out, playing games, and eating. 
It's always great to be with family during the holidays. 



Christmas Eve

Every year we've lived here in our duplex our adjoining neighbors have insisted on getting our boys something for Christmas. It started out with  just stockings, then movies, and toys... I believe our kids are their surrogate grandchildren, since they have none of their own. Our boys sure enjoy getting special things from them and I know it brings joy to our neighbors' hearts as well. This year they all got new superhero jammies. 
For Christmas Eve dinner we decided to go get Chinese food. Tyler was really craving their BBQ pork and spicy mustard. It definitely hit the spot! The boys really enjoyed it as well, and Braxton even said 'This is the best Christmas Eve dinner ever!' 


A bonus was that we had enough to take home for leftovers. 
That night we let the boys open one present from us. 
As you can see they were already wearing new jammies from the neighbors so their present they opened was sweats. Not as exciting as superhero stuff, but they WERE needed. 
After everyone was tucked in bed Santa made his deliveries... 
........and we all slept until 7:15 the next morning.