Life in Utah

We have moved to Utah! I haven't caught up on my blogging, but I want to keep documenting our family time together. We are happy here. We are so excited to have our kids grow up with their cousins. We found a house that we love and hope to live there until our children are grown. We close on the house in 3 weeks. We love a lot of things about living here, but one of the things I love most is being close to the temple. We started a tradition we call "treats at the temple". I pack some treats and snacks, pick the kids up from school, and we drive 5 minutes to the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We have a picnic and play on the the temple grounds. The kids love it. They say things like,"I love the temple."
Today Steve was home early and the weather was perfect so we went to the temple. I took my camera to get some updated pictures of the kids. Ehlana and Jaxson ran around with the camera too and got some cute shots. I'm trying to be better about taking pictures for our family history (or present). They seem to be growing so fast.

Christmas 2013

Our annual Ugly Sweater Christmas party was a hit this year! Hideous sweaters, lots of friends, great white elephant gifts, and a game of Christmas Family Feud. Some of the white elephant gifts included a poster sized, autographed wedding picture and a live white mouse. (Who we later found frozen to death by the bus stop. Poor little Christmas mouse.) 

Once again I didn't take very good pictures, but some of my friends did!

The Snows and Sillitos were pretty funny in their "ugly" sweaters... 

We spent Christmas Eve with my family having our traditional Jesus Supper. Christmas morning the kids dove into their gifts. Lucky for him, Santa didn't have any gifts to assemble this year! But Mrs. Clause spent an hour putting together the new train set.

Merry Christmas!

Steve bought me this beautiful mother's ring for Christmas. It was my favorite gift. Three blue stones for my three boys (Benson was still in my tummy) and one pink stone for my little girl.

Jaxson Turns 8

Jaxson turned 8 years old (back in November last year). He was very excited to be baptized and we spent one family night each month teaching him about baptism. He also memorized all of the articles of faith before his birthday. We are so proud of him and the decision he has made. We didn't get good pictures and I'm so disappointed! He was also very excited to start cub scouts, he loves to go each week and enjoyed cub scout camp this year. My little boy is so grown up!

On Jaxson's Birthday we started the day off right with pancakes and a balloon pit. He chose a Lego party this year and it was really easy and fun! With a large wipe off board we purchased at Home Depot and some inexpensive Lego kits from Tuesday Morning the boys had a great time building and racing their cars.

Thanks to my sister's idea his cake was easy to make and turned out great! All you need is a 9x13 cake cut into four pieces, some big marshmallows cut in half, and lots of colorful frosting. 

We are so proud of our Jaxson James and the wonderful boy he has become. He is smart, funny, inquisitive, energetic, and fun to be around. He has learned so much about his Savior, Jesus Christ, and has a genuine desire to follow His plan and make good choices.

We love you, Buddy Boo.