Ella and Cole Turn 3!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson got them swimsuits for their birthday. That's all they want to wear. I make them wear real clothes when we leave the house and the second we get home, the swimsuits are back on. They wore them to bed so this is them wearing them while eating breakfast. They had pancakes that spelled their name. The same breakfast Ty had for his 3rd birthday.

 Since their birthday fell on President's weekend, my family was able to come up and celebrate with us. It was so much fun! I was on the phone with my sister the day before telling her how much I hate pillow pets! Guess what she got them? Thanks Jill!

 So excited to be 3!

This was the part of the day they have been waiting for, for weeks! Eating birthday cake!

I can't believe my babies are 3. It's sad in a way. No more babies in our house. But, I am happy they are more independent. They are the best of friends!

*I am going to post the 3 year update on each of the individually soon!

Basketball

 Tyler started playing basketball at the beginning of the year. This is his first time playing, and he loves it! There are a lot of boys in our neighborhood that are playing, so it is fun to either play with them or against them. Jake and I are trying to really teach Ty the game. "Get in there!" "Shoot!" He is one of the tallest on his team, but one of the most timid too. He says he wants to continue playing though (unlike soccer). This is a

 beginning league, so it is a little frustrating for the parents because they really aren't taught the fundamentals of the game. It's more just dribble and shoot. Hopefully next season will be more aggressive. It's been so fun to watch him play though.

Cole and Ella love to go to Ty's games! They love to get the basketball stamp on their hand when they come in the door. They think that's fun.

Christmas Round 2

 We went to Vegas for New Year's. My brother Jimmy and his family were on break from school and we knew it was going to be a very long time before we see them. So, we took the opportunity to go to where we thought it would be a little warmer than Lehi. It wasn't. It was cold and windy! Huge bummer, but still fun. My parent's waited until we were all there to celebrate Christmas. It really did feel like Christmas morning all over again. The kids got more stuff...and then some more. We ate all day.

 We did the traditional pinata, but it was freezing outside! The guys improvised and hooked it up inside the house.

 The kids made popcorn with Grandpa. One of their favorite things to do!

 My mom, sister's and I had the opportunity to work at the New Year's Eve party at Caesar's Palace. I was a little hesitant about doing it, because it was going to be a very long day and I didn't want to miss out on family festivities. I am so glad I did it though. It was so much fun! We had a great time at the biggest and most expensive party in Vegas. And while we were eating steak and lobster...everyone else was at home puking. I guess the day started out okay with going to a bounce house, but quickly went downhill from there. The flu started to get passed around and Jake said they were cleaning up vomit from one kid or another the rest of the day. We didn't get home until 3AM from working at the party and all of the guys were still up when we did walk in the door. They looked like zombies who had just been through war. It was kinda funny! I am so glad I missed all of that! The flu was passed to everyone in the family except for me. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm okay with it!

 We played games at my aunt and uncle's house. They had this spinning chair thing and my kids loved it!

Sick boy!

Christmas 2010

We always spend Christmas Eve with the Brannelly's. We have chinese food for dinner and then make sugar cookies for Santa. It is always a great time!     

 Christmas Day was awesome! This was my second year in a row spending under $100 on everyone's Christmas. Jake and I usually don't get each other anything, but I was able to score some great things for both of us too! The kids got a kitchen from G&G Avance. It is so fun and they love it. They play so nicely together. Cole and Ella got Fur Real puppies from G&G Johnson. They carry them around everywhere. Tyler got more Hot Wheels tracks and cars, and he also got a electronic drum set. We hung out and played all day in our jammies and I loved it! We had a really nice dinner just the 5 of us. It was a great day!

Before Christmas Festivites

We went to Incredible Pizza in Draper, because I got an awesome deal on dinner and play passes. The food was just 'ok', but it was really fun to play. The kids loved bowling, and playing arcade games. Even though Ella's face doesn't show it, she had a great time!

We went to the annual Grandma Moss Christmas Party. (Jake's grandma) The kids reenact the Nativity Story. They don't really enjoy doing it, but they are good sports.

The "Jingle Jam" at Tyler's school

Building gingerbread houses. Jake and the boys are the ones that really put it together. Ella ate the candy. That's why she has a blue eye!

12 Days of Christmas

**Ty did not want his picture taken

My mom send the kids fun activites to do everyday for the 12 days of Christmas. They absolutely loved it! Everyday was a new project and it was always the 1st thing they asked for in the morning. Thanks mom!

So Sneaky!

Me: "It's time to get ready for your nap."

And then this happens.

12-1-2010

There is a huge difference in moving to Utah when you are grown up, and growing up in Utah. I hate the cold. I have been here for 4 winters now and I am still not used to it. I love having the snow for the holidays, but then it can go! My kids are not the same way. They love to go outside and play in that crazy cold stuff. So after taking 20 minutes to get all of their gear on, I push them out the door and watch them from the window. I've tried being the fun winter mom, but it just won't stick. I think I am a really fun summer mom though, so it makes makes up for it, right?

11-27-2010

My uncle said to me last week, "You can feel at home anywhere if you have good friends and a good ward." I have really missed being around my family and wished we lived closer, but I believe this to be true. I have really great friends and a really great ward! We love any excuse to go out. This was for Lindsay's birthday. Dinner at Flour Girls & Dough Boys, and then we went bowling. So much fun! I love them!

Ella

She's becoming high maintenance at 2! Boy am I in for it! (No, it was not on!)

Better late than never...Halloween!

We carved pumpkins 2 weeks early. They were on sale. It isn't my favorite Halloween activity, so I thought we would get it out of the way. I know, I am no fun! I carved the twins' pumpkin for them. They thought it was pretty cool. Tyler did his own this year. All by himself. I thought he did a great job. Jake and my sister Krista have this drive every year to "one up" their pumpkins from the year before. This is what they got. Krista did the girl from Nightmare Before Christmas, and Jake's is just a little morbid. A man hanging from a tree in a graveyard. Yeah, I don't know!

Tyler and Ella had a hard time decided what they were going to dress up as this year. For school, Ty just went as a racecar driver. It was the easiest thing to do so he could wear it all day and not have to get stressed out about adding things in time for the parade. (That happened last year when he forgot to put his boxing gloves on.) The picture of Ty at the school parade is one of my favorite pictures of him EVER! It is so him! He is sensitive and wants to feel supported. He doesn't like feeling alone. So I watched him walk along the parade with a worried look on his face, trying to find us. It wasn't until this moment that he finally spotted us. I just happened to snap the camera at the right moment. It was awesome! He was so relieved to see us and was so happy!

We took the kids to IHOP for dinner. They were offering free "scary face" pancakes for the kids, so I wanted to take advantage of that. We don't go out very often, so this was a treat for them. They loved creating their own faces and then eating them.

Halloween night, (or I guess the Saturday before, since it fell on a Sunday this year) it was cloudy all day until 4 pm when the Trunk or Treat was starting. It started to pour rain! And it didn't let up until everyone was done for the night. Tyler decided he really wanted to be a robot. I think mostly because it was a project he could work on with his dad. Jake worked on Tyler's robot costumes most of the day. He finished right before we were supposed to leave for the church. We put Ty in it and then got out to the car...and didn't know how we were going to get him in. It was kinda funny. They had considered walking to the church, but because it was raining, it would have been a mess. So, we took him out of his costume and put him back in it when we got to the church. Cole knew he wanted to be a dinosaur. No problems there. Ella, oh I love her! She had the choice between 4 different princesses, a cute witch, or a cute pirate. Nope, no way! She wanted to be a dinosaur with Cole. We just went with it. Twin dino's...cute right? It was also the warmest costume, so it worked out well.

The Trunk or Treat was fun, but we only stayed for about 30 minutes. My kids don't do well in crowds. They get scared and want to cling to us. I don't blame them though. I would probably get scared in a sea of adults too if I were only 3 feet tall! We got some candy, and got the heck out of there!

When it was time to do some real trick or treating...Ella wasn't interested at all. She wanted to stay home and color. So, Jake was the candy-passer-outer and I went with the boys. Tyler was totally good with going to 10-12 houses. He was done and wanted to go home. Probably because it was really hard to walk in his costume. But, Cole threw the biggest fit when we headed back to the house! "I not done, I want more candy!" So we dropped Ty off and went back out. He went to 2 more houses and then he was good. Time to go home.

We let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted. They have one day of the year where that's okay. Have at it! Then after they came down off their sugar highs, it was off to bed.
A good night!

UEA=Panaca

We had a 4 day weekend for UEA, so we decided to go to Panaca. Jack and Julie joined us, so it was a lot of fun! We rode four-wheelers, which was Tyler and Meghann's favorite thing to do. They loved the fact that they could drive by themselves. No age limits at the Bulloch's! We went to the Gorge, and swam in the Spring. We ate, played, and talked. It was a fun and relaxing weekend.

Jack and Julie had to leave on Saturday, and my parents came up to see the kids.