2011 In Review

Merry christmas, Happy New year!

Zen: Turns two on January 30. Zenny has grown up alot. He is very energetic and independent but still very much a momma's boy. He frequently stops playing to come and get a love throughout the day. Zenny was recently tested for Early intervention in Speech and will start therapy sessions in January. He is right on target for everything but language expression. We are looking forward to being able to finally know what he is trying to tell us! He is a sweet boy and loves to play with his big brother Nathan.

Nathan: Turns four on Thursday-Dec. 29. He is not my baby anymore but is growing into a smart little boy. He loves to ask questions, watch movies (which also includes his t.v. shows), ride his new Diego bike which Santa gave him, and play with the Kitty. He will start Preschool in February. Nathan keeps us amazed and laughing at the things he comes up with! Nathan often tries to use our own parenting methods back on us. The other day in the car he wanted to listen to his tape and I told him that we were going to listen to the radio for awhile. He said, "Well, that's not a choice!"

Michael: Michael continues to work as a balloon man, creating various creations of balloon art. He works at Texas Roadhouse, Village Inn, and Fat Cats as well as private parties and events. Michael recently took the LSAT ( Law School Admission Test) and we are still awaiting the results. Take a minute and vote on the poll to the right about which school he'll attend. Michael serves in the ward as one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers and does a great job.

Alene: I am currently staying home enjoying every minute with my boys. I teach piano and babysit a little boy in our ward. I am the serving as the ward Oganist still and early this year felt prompted to volunteer to be the ward choir director. So, after putting it off for a few months I did and of course was immediately called to the position. It has been an interesting experience as I have learned to que, direct, and sing all at the same time. This last sunday we performed a christmas cantata. It was a lot of work but turned out wonderful.

We hope all of our friends and family are doing great and we anticipate with much excitement what the new year will bring for our family.

New Big Boy Bed!

Zenny is now a big boy!! We took the crib down and put up this toddler bed for him.

This his first look at it.

Nathan needed a picture of his bed too.

Here is the bed after we put the thomas sheet set on.

You probably wondering why I didn't have the boys share Nathan's full size bed. Well, That's because I wanted them to actually go to sleep and Zenny can hardly handle it by himself. Together just isn't going to work right now. Plus, he can get in and out of this bed by himself.

Zenny is loving his new found freedom which means mommy now has to read books to him while he falls asleep so that we know he stays in bed for nap and bedtime and not destroying something. We also keep the door shut so that he can't destroy the house or hurt himself should he wake up before his parents.

Halloween

On Halloween we went to Black Island Farms with a friend.



The Boys had fun going down the slides, seeing the animals and vegetables and picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

Going to find the perfect pumpkin.

Nathan found his pumpkin!

Zenny found his Pumpkin!

The boys pumpkins before I carved them.

The boys' pumpkins after carving- Nathan picked the BAT CAT and Zenny got the GRAVEYARD GHOST.

The Boy's showing off their finished pumpkins before going trick or treating.

For Costume pics see Facebook.

Bedtime Story

This is a video of Michael doing his version of Five little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The Boys Love to have him read this to them. This is the Rock and Roll version. He also does an opera version.

Meet Reeses

We adopted a kitty last week. She is 7 months old and an orange/white tabby. Her name is Reeses, but I like to call her Reesey. She is a really friendly but mellow cat. We love having her around. Michael really wants to get a dog but likes cats too. Nathan all but begged me to let him "borrow him". I didn't really grow up with animals so I don't really care either way. Although, I'm not fond of the hair shedding so Reesey will get lots of grooming every week. Here are a few pics.

My Birthday!! Happy 5th Anniversary!!

My Birthday was August 23rd and our anniversary was August 26th. For my birthday, Michael took me to IFLY to go skydiving in the simulator. It was so much fun. I couldn't get the video to upload but here are some pictures of me flying.

For our anniversary, we went to the Hines Mansion in Provo and stayed in this room- Winter Dreams. It was so romantic. We stayed at the mansion 5 years ago on our honeymoon- in the library; picture of the library on the bottom.

This is the library. The tub is up stairs and the bathroom was behind the wall. It was painted to look like a bookcase and it was cool as it was like a secret passage.

Anyways, we had tons of fun. We went out to dinner to Carraba's and then went back to the mansion and watched a movie.

Vacation in Tucson

In July, we went down to Tucson to visit family and pick up our van. Here were some of the highlights:

Visiting family

Haircuts! from Aunt Elna

A trip to the Children's Musuem.

Nathan is putting away his groceries.

Inside a submarine.

Zenny playing with legos!

Playing in the "Jungle" gym.

Here the boys were connecting tubes together and then watching a ball roll through the maze they created.

Riding on a firetruck to put out the fire!

Nathan on the chase!!

Swimming at Aunt Elna's house.

Zenny

Zenny is 19 mo. and into everything. Here is what I found him doing the other day when I came back in from the garage.

What's Up?

So this is a badly needed update! We are still in Ogden. Michael has recently started an LSAT test prep class at BYU. He goes three times a week and spends the night at a friends house to save gas. He is doing very well and has already improved his scores. I am so proud of him! I have subbing for the school districts around here and am hoping to get a job for this next school year. I finished out this school year long-term subbing for a sixth grade class here in Ogden. I absolutely loved it. However, I am totally loving being home full-time with my boys again.

Nathan is getting big and is so smart. He is always singing and loves to play "fight" with his boxing gloves or light saber. Zenny loves to get in on it too. Although, he has to use all of his strength to hold the light saber up so he doesn't do much fighting. It is very fun to watch. Zenny is learnig to talk and getting molars. He is definitely our active child. He is always into something and/or climbing on something. He always has some type of batattle wound.

Nathan is funny. He told me the other day that he wanted to watch a movie. I told him no, we weren't watching movies that day. He told me over and over again that he wanted to and that he liked movies. He finally gave up and sat down to pout. He then told me that "Jesus is going to be mad at you!" I asked him why and he said, "Cause Jesus likes movies!" I tried not to laugh. That was so funny. We have been talking alot about doing what Jesus would want him to do and about obeying. So, I guess he was trying a little reverse psychology.

Sugar Anyone?

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the boys being funny and cute.