Christmas Traditoins

I love the Christmas season, so many family traditions and things to do to bring the spirit in. One of our favorites is The Forgotten Carols. If you don't know what that is, it is a play by Michael McLean about people from the Nativity story that are "forgotten". Mark and I went to this show last night. It always starts off our Christmas season. It really brings the true spirit of Christmas into our hearts. I cry every year. We had great seats this year, due to the opportunity to purchase them in September before they were available to the general public(perk of getting tickets several years in a row). The show and jokes never get old, even though we see it every year. We absolutely love this show and the tradition of going every year. We can't wait till our kids are older and we can share the tradition with them. For now to get them in on the tradition we watch it on DVD and put our homemade ornaments, inspired from the show, on our tree. They don't fully understand the meaning, but it's ok. They will remember always doing it and in the future they will understand it's meaning.
Some of the other Christmas traditions we have coming up are: seeing the lights at Temple Square, at my big family party we have a pinata and sing carols(we have a little volume war on "It's beginning to look like Christmas" that is tons of fun), at my close family party my dad reads "I believe in Santa Claus" to the grand kids and we have Christmas crackers(English poppers with a paper crown, joke and toy inside), new jammies on Christmas Eve, baking tons of cookies, and even though its not recognized as a tradition watching all the wonderful Christmas movies and shows. This really is the most wonderful time of the year and I wish it lasted all year round.

Movies, Rewards, & Holidays

Well another week has past. Had some fun stuff happen last week and many more to come! My sister-in-law and I both love Twilight. I love that she is close by and that we get along and are close to each other. She came over and we watched the first 3 movies together. Then one of my friends has a connection and got us pre-showing tickets of Breaking Dawn for Thursday night. I was little bummed we missed out on the "party stuff" from the midnight showings, but with 2 active little boys and being 5 months pregnant, I think it was better to have an 8 o'clock showing instead. We really liked the movie. A few corny parts, but overall I liked it. They did a good job. Eclipse is still my favorite movie, but Breaking Dawn part 1 is a close 2nd.
Mark had had a talk with one of his supervisors last week and they said he would be getting a raise. They had been looking at what other companies were paying there employees at Mark's "level" and wanted to get him up there. Mainly "we want you to be happy to work here sort of thing." He didn't say when he would get the raise or how much it would be. Until the beginning of this week.... He will get it starting with this pay period we are in now, so next week Hello Raise! It's enough to make me feel even more comfortable about staying at home and not working outside the home. We are calling it "The Christmas bonus that keeps on giving".
We have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. Instead of doing daily posts here or on Facebook we do a family board. We have it hanging in our sitting/living/family room(whatever you want to call it). We haven't been the best at keeping it up to date, but we catch up. It's fun watching it fill up and re-reading them. We started doing this last year and had lots of fun with it. We will be having Mark's family over for dinner tomorrow, Kiera and I will be going shopping on Friday. We don't get up super early, we just go after breakfast. More for the tradition and deals than the specific items at midnight etc. Mark and I tried that I think it was last year. The things we really wanted to get turned out to be limited and we got in line to late even though we were super early. We froze waiting outside, and was just a total bust. There are a few deals I want to grab this year, but if I don't get them... oh well we will survive and it's not going to break my heart. Saturday will be time with my side of the family. Looking forward to all the family time and making memories!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Family, Friends, Gospel, & Singing Bliss

I got to help my mom a lot last week in working on the Christmas Village she puts together every year. We also had my nephews Nik and Mo over one day and spend the night another. Their mom had a nice long labor. My newest nephew Gavin Owen was born on the 9th. We went to see him on the 10th after Mark got home from work.
I also finished Emmett's stocking on the 10th!!! About time right? Now I just need to find some fabric for the backing and get that done and it will be complete and ready for Christmas.
We had some friends over Saturday for dinner. We did this monthly with them for awhile, then had to stop for a bit and now we have picked it back up again. It is really nice getting to hang out with them eating dinner, playing games, and just talking once a month. They are thinking about moving to Maine, which we will really miss them if they do.
Sunday was a busy day for me. I got up early and drove out to Magna. I went to our old ward's primary program. I was able to help the primary president set some stuff up for it. I'm glad I was able to help her out in a small way. After working with her for 9 months in the presidency I was glad to have some part in the day. The kids did awesome! The spirit was there. Afterwards I chatted with some old friends then headed home for lunch then off to my current ward's choir practice. I'm excited to be in a choir again. It's a smaller choir, but it's still fun. After that I had enough time to run home and get my boys for church. It was our Primary's program too. My mom came, and waited for us in the foyer. After Chase ran to give her a hug, he hugged the lady that walked in behind us too. He thought she was Kiera. I didn't think to call her or Mark's dad or any other family members and invite them. I had mentioned it to mom when we worked on the village and she "invited herself".
As soon as we entered the chapel Chase got scared and didn't want to go up for the program. After some convincing we got him up there. He did really good. He sang the songs and actually danced a bit on them too. One lady told me he was doing the robot(we couldn't fully see him, the pulpit was in our way). He got up when it was time for his part and said it perfectly, "I can follow God's plan by being patient." He came up with it on his own, the ending. I was very proud of him and can't believe how big he is getting.
That night the stake had a Christmas Choir practice. I of course attended. It was the best! Not your normal church choral, where it is usually just hymns and nothing to high. One of the songs we are singing is the Halleluja Chorus, from The Messiah. I loved hitting those high notes again. Yeah I sing along with my choir cds etc, but it's not the same as being with a choir doing it. I came home very giddy! I'm loving having the two choirs. I've really missed singing in one.

Another Fun Filled Week

I feel like this is turning into a bit of a diary. I'm just trying to document some of the things that happen in our life as a family. I don't write in my journal as much as I should and these posts help me make sure I get everything in it when I do. I don't know if anyone is reading these, if you are I hope I don't bore you and you enjoy a glimpse into my life....
We had a fun Halloween. Mark wore his costume to work. The boys and I just hung out at home. We went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat that night. It was a good thing for us, not know to many people on our street and our great neighbors told us not to go trick-or-treating on the street unless we just visit the ward members houses(which we don't know all yet). So Mark took the boys around to all the trunks. I stayed in the van with our Halloween mix CD playing to hand out candy. After Emmett's first car he came running back to me to show me his candy. He was so excited about it he didn't care for more then he realized he could get more and walked around with daddy. It was great getting to talk with the ward members a little more.
We were really close to running out of candy, so we decided to leave just in case we had a few trick-or-treaters come to the house. Mark and I made dinner. We had brains and eyes..... Spaghetti and Meatballs. It was the first time we had made meatballs. They didn't really turn out, but worked. We will have to use a different recipe next time. After dinner we got the boys back into costume and drove out to visit our parents. We hung out with Mark's dad for awhile then drove out to see my parents. While there my mom gave me some of my baby clothes and my blessing dress for Lyla.
On November 2nd I finished Emmett's stocking, well I can start backstitching it, which is putting all the detail to faces and outlining the animals etc. We realized that day, our fridge wasn't keeping stuff cold as it should. Our milk was curdling a bit. So we set up a time to have a repair man come over to take a look at it the next day. We have a home warranty and luckily it covers all our appliances. It saved us over $200. The heater and thermostat were gone so he replaced them. The night of the 2nd I got to go to a Girls Night with some of the women in our ward. It was really nice. We mainly just chatted, but was perfect for me, since I don't really know them. So this helped get to know them better. There are some awesome women in my ward!
I had a doctors appointment Thursday morning before the fridge repair guy came. Everything looks good. Still on target for March 20th. Ultrasound showed no problems!
Friday was a pretty chillaxed day.
Saturday it snowed! When Chase saw it, he was ecstatic. He wanted to go out right then to play. We made him wait till after breakfast. Then while I watched the boys play Mark shoveled the walks. Then I wanted to clean off the cars and we realized that neither of us had our keys, and that the front door handle was locked... We were locked out of the house! I went to our next door neighbor who is a cop to see if he had anything to help us get in the house. Nope, but he does have a ladder but the only window opened was small, but he has a 6 or 7 yr old daughter small enough to fit. So they got ready and he climbed up opened the window, put her in, and she opened the door for us. It was crazy. I am sooooo thankful for them. They are just awesome and have helped us so much since we bought the house. After warming up and cleaning the house a bit we took the boys to my parents house. My mom watched them while Mark and I used the gift card my father-in-law gave me for my birthday to go out to lunch then we did a Temple Session. We haven't been in a while and it was perfect. The serenity of the temple was just what I needed. We really need to get back in the habit of going monthly. Afterwards we got the boys, hung out for awhile then went home for dinner. We blew up a couple air mattresses, got the boys to bed.
Then Kiera, my parents, and youngest brother all came over to spend the night. We stayed up late talking, laughing, and sharing stories. It was a lot of fun. We went to bed around 11 I think. We had to be up at about 4 AM to get ready and get on the road to Wyoming for my niece's' blessing. Their church starts at 9. The boys were really good about waking up and I think it helped seeing everyone was at the house. We put Lion King on in the van and they were great. I seriously love having that DVD player, it has helped so much on those long trips, especially the early ones. We had been worried that we would run into snow on the drive up, but didn't hit any! The blessing was beautiful! Then we went over to my brother's house for a luncheon. The boys loved playing with all their cousins. After lunch I started to get a migraine. I had had a bit of a headache, but not to bad. Well the migraine was horrible! We left around 2 so the boys could get a nap in. I tried to rest as well to get rid of the migraine. It went, but came right back after we left Evanston. Then we hit the twisty-turnys of the mountain and was not great for me. I had to make Mark pull over at one point so I could get out of the van and.... I felt better afterwards. Shakey of course, but better. Just a slight headache and wiped out for the rest of the evening. We got home just after 5. I went and laid down and slept for almost 2 hours. Felt much better afterwards. Mark and I were both exhausted. We stayed up long enough to watch CSI Miami and went to bed. Now on to another week. Hoping I'll finish Emmett's stocking this week.

What an awesome week!

Our week did start off with everyone being a little sick. Not enough to call into work, but it did only last a couple days. We relaxed most of the week. Singing everyday and playing with the boys. Mark had Thursday off for my ultrasound. Surprise I'm pregnant!!!! We found out that we are having a little girl! Oh I was on cloud 9! We went out for ice cream after the appointment(mainly cuz Kiera joined us for the appointment and wanted to spend some extra time with us before going to work). We are going to name our sweet girl Lyla Rose Peterson. When we saw August Rush, the mom's name is Lyla. I loved it. Also turns out my grandma had a sister named Lila. Then I wanted to keep my maiden name somehow and figured using it as a middle name would be awesome! We've been stuck with this name since I was pregnant with Emmett. Any who, we had a fun day just being a family. Friday was the usual and when Mark got home we decorated paper pumpkins. Saturday morning the nursery had a Halloween party for all the nursery aged kids. I took Emmett while Mark stayed home with Chase. They had cookies to decorate, face painting, paper pumpkins to put stickers on, a pumpkin bean bag toss, and pumpkin bowling. Emmett loved the pumpkin bowling. He could have done it all day if we'd have let him. They gave all the kids a treat bag before they left. We went back home and chilled for a bit. Mark finally tried on his costume and it didn't fit. We had bought a size 36 online(he is a size 32) but he was busting the seams. Sit down and seams pop, move your arms back and the shirt rips open like the Hulk to small. So we went to a couple stores to try and find something. We were able to piece one together without spending to much money. We later went to my parents house. My dad painted Chase's face for the ward party(they won't allow masks). We borrowed a few things from my dad for Mark's costume. Chatted for a while then off to the ward Chili cook off. The boys loved running around with the other kids. I really don't like chili, but luckily there was a white chili that I would eat and was pretty good. They had a costume contest and Mark and I won 2nd place for Best Overall Costume. He was a Detective, Chase was Spiderman, Emmett was Superman, and I was the villain(in prison stripes.) It was a fun evening.
Looking forward to relaxing on this beautiful Sunday with the ward Trunk-or-Treat tomorrow night. Happy Halloween!

Weekend Fun

Friday night we painted pumpkins. I find it more fun to paint them rather than gut 'em and carve them. Plus this way the boys can join in on the fun. Here are a few pictures. You can see more on my Facebook page and closer views of their finished pumpkins and Mark/Mine.



Chase

Emmett touched his check after touching the pumpkin

Emmett painting, he would paint a bit give me the brush and clap then paint some more.


This face kills me!

All our pumpkins on the doorstep.(the one is the window is a plastic one.

It was a blast painting the pumpkins. Chase and Emmett had tons of fun. Anywho on with the weekend. Saturday we cleaned the house. It is really nice having someone else there to help, we get everything done in just over an hour! We planted some daffodils in my flower garden next to the tiger lilies. I hope it works out how I want in the spring or close to. I then took the 3 boys over to Mark's brother's house to hang out while I ran some errands and visited my mom. Once they were done playing I picked them up and we came home to make personal "funny face" pizzas. Emmett didn't really understand, but Chase thought it was a riot. We relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Sunday we decided to skip Regional conference. Chase and Emmett both have little colds and we didn't want to deal with them wanting to run all over the place for that long. So we had a relaxing Sunday at home, I worked on Emmett's stocking(might have it done before November or in that first week). Mark watched football and the kids played. Then Mark and I sat down and played Mexican Train, then we let Chase play Mario Party with us. He thinks he is so cool and grown up. I made Lasagna Rolls for dinner, then we played Phase 10, had dessert, played Skipbo, helped the boys clean up the toys, get ready for bed, watched CSI Miami and went to bed ourselves. It was a nice family fun weekend! Should be a great week, with Halloween and all coming up. Chase and Emmett are excited to be super heroes, with Mark the cop(including cop-stash) and me the jailbird.

Our Week

I am loving being a full-time stay-at-home mom again. We are loving our house, only problem is the closest park isn't within walking distance and we are down to one car again. Emmett has been sick on again off again, just a little cold. So I don't want to take him outside to much. So we spend most of the day indoors. They usually get up around 7, we have breakfast then Emmett starts yelling "ly ly ly ly"(meaning Lion King) he is obsessed with that movie. Sometimes Chase agrees sometimes we watch something else. Then we get ready and play all day. I have been working on Emmett's Christmas stocking. I actually started it over a year ago and just slacked off and didn't ever really work on it. I will have it done before Thanksgiving.
Last Saturday Mark had to work. I spent the day baking Halloween cookies. I made some No Bake cookies and used my cookie cutters to make a few spooky shapes. We had bought a cool pan with witch finger shapes. I tried to make sugar cookies in them, but they didn't turn out. It is a thin pan so you can't just pick it up off the rack. I would reach around and push it a bit then grab it out. You can see where this is going right? Well on the 3 batch of witch fingers in the process of reaching around I bumped my arm against the top rack. 350' metal is hot!. I got a second degree burn about an inch long on the top of my arm. I put cookies on hold for awhile till the "shock" of burning my arm and the pain went away. Like I said the witch fingers weren't turning out so I used the remaining of my batter to make regular witches and ghosts. My parents came over that night to help us with a few projects around the house. An outlet won't work(still can't figure out why) and 2 of our sinks were leaking, one had a hole in the pipe and the other the pipe wasn't secured correctly to the neighbor.
The next couple days were uneventful. However Mark had Tuesday off, from working Saturday. So we did some more projects, mowing the lawn, clearing out the planter and putting in some flowers, mostly yard work. It was a good day.
Then back to the usual. Tonight we are going to paint our pumpkins. We don't like to carve them and they tend to last a little longer if they aren't carved. We let the boys each pick a pumpkin at the store to paint and Mark and I will share one. We are looking forward to next week with some Halloween parties and some great family time.
How has your week been?

Twenty-Five

Well my birthday was on Sunday. 25 on the 25th :)

I had an awesome weekend despite all the moving, packing, and boxes everywhere. I had my brother help me on Friday take several loads to the new house and do a little shopping. That night Mark and I went out on a date. We went to TGI Friday's for dinner then went to The Empress Theatre to see The Music Man. One of my friends from school was the music director for it. They did an awesome job! The Empress Theatre also has a community improv team that performs on the weekends and with our purchase to the musical we got into that for free so we stayed for some good old improv. It was great! It was a small audience, but we still had fun. They used alot of Mark and my suggestions. In one game one actor "forgot all his lines" so he has to read lines from a book, but they ended up using text messages and they used my phone! A little embarrassing, but it was pretty funny.
Saturday was busy. I had to work till 4(my last Saturday working). Chase made my day though. Mark took the boys to the store for a few things and Chase wanted to get me some flowers. Mark asked him what kind and he said Roses. He picked them out and would not let them go, he even held them in the van for the ride home and had to deliver them to me at work. It was adorable! When I got home from work, I had enough time to change and Mark said I should open my present from him, because I could use it... It was a beautiful heart necklace with a square knot on one side and cz's along the other. Afterwards Kiera and I went to the church for a Relief Society dinner then watched the Broadcast. It was awesome! I enjoyed the company of our Relief Society and seeing friends from the other wards in our stake. The broadcast was awesome! I absolutely loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk! One of my favorites! I love symbolism and he usually always has some. I have a new love for Forget Me Not's! Speaking of symbolism.... think of a square knot...k why would you use it rather than another knot? Because the more stress, the more you pull it the stronger it gets right? So Mark's gift was saying no matter how much stress etc there is in our lives our love will grow and only get stronger!!! AHHH! I love him!
Sunday Mark spoiled me. He got up early to make french toast for breakfast. He got the boys all ready(he usually does that anyway on Sundays). His friend Darren joined us at church. And since General Conference is next Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting. Mark got up and bore his and told everyone it was my birthday and if they saw me to wish me happy birthday. After church he made me lunch. And then while I went to my last Primary Presidency Meeting he got the house all ready for family to come over for dinner. We had lasagna rolls. He made everything and I rolled it, last time he tried it didn't work out right. We had a fun night with family. I didn't want a cake so we got doughnuts instead. Mark put a 2 and then 5 regular candles into my foot doughnut while everyone sang to me. It was a great evening!
Monday night we drove out to the new house to work on some stuff and as we pull up our new neighbors were there weeding and mowing the lawn! We were speechless. It was so nice of them! Chase and Emmett played with their kids and just had a ball. I think we are going to get along with them great!

Vegas Baby!!!

Well to start off on Tuesday the 13th we headed out to Cedar City in the afternoon. We had to stop a few times for Chase to go potty and change Emmett's diaper. We did stop in Scipio and they had a Petting Zoo across from the gas station, so we decided to go over. It was closed, but we walked around the outside and saw the animals from afar. We did get to pet a bull cow and a pony and miniature pony. What was really interesting was on top of the ponies, cow, bunnies, sheep, and chickens, they also had emus, an ostrich, and a zebra!!! We got to Cedar around dinner time and went out to eat with Mark's mom and step-dad. Kiera and her roommate Ash had a class till 9, so they didn't get to Cedar till around midnight. This Vegas trip was for Kiera's 21st birthday.
Wednesday morning we got all packed up into our 8 passenger van(loving it!) and headed to Vegas. We stopped in Mesquite for lunch/breakfast and got to Las Vegas around 2pm. We took Marks' mom, step-dad, Kiera, and Ash down to The Excalibur were they were staying got them checked-in and left them to put their luggage in their rooms and get settled. We then headed down the strip to Circus Circus where we were staying. Got checked-in and settled. We drove back to the Excalibur and walked down the strip. We saw the lions at the MGM, went to M&M World and the Coco-Cola Factory, had dinner at a food court, then down to see the fountain show at the Bellagio. Our feet were killing us, and the boys were getting tired by then. So we headed back to get the van and drove back to the hotel and went to bed.
Thursday morning we wanted to take the boys to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus but it was closed for repairs, so we tried the Midway but it wasn't open yet. So we bought bus passes and rode down to The Excalibur and went to their arcade. Every time we walked through the casinos Chase asked to play the games, we told him not till he was 21 of course. He loved the arcade though. It was just like Nickle Cade plus carnival games. He had a blast!!! A nice couple gave us their tickets too so Chase had tons. Mark's mom had got Kiera a spa treatment that morning, once she was done we all went down to the Venetian and went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. We didn't get to go last time we were in Vegas. We had fun. We went back to Mark's mom's room for hoagie sandwiches we had brought from home. We wanted to go swimming together, but the hotel wouldn't let Mark and me and the boys in without a room key(we asked ahead of time). So we got back on the bus to go swimming at Circus Circus, but the boys fell asleep on the bus and we didn't think they'd have any energy to go swimming so we just chilled at the hotel till Ash and Kiera could join us to go to the Midway. Mark's mom wasn't feeling good and just slept the rest of the night. We went to the Midway and played more carnival/arcade games. We didn't get as many tickets, Chase wanted to play more of the racing games etc. We saw a few circus acts as well, then had dinner at the Buffet. The boys were pooped again so we put them to bed. As I got ready for bed I noticed my ankle was swollen and it hurt to walk. So some how, some where I sprained it.
Friday morning we packed up, checked out and got the rest of the family checked out. Loaded the van, and made one last walk to M&M world for some M&M's. Then we headed home. We stopped in St. George to visit Mark's grandpa and his siblings. We got back to Cedar around 5. Kiera and Ash were going to continue to Salt Lake(they had tickets for the BYU/Utah game on Saturday). Mark, the boys, and I were staying the night in Cedar. We just relaxed. I put my foot up and iced it.
Saturday morning we took our time getting ready and packing up before heading back to Salt Lake. We had a lot of fun. Mark offered to let me go gamble but I don't understand the games. I had played a little slot blackjack when we went for Mark's 21st birthday but it doesn't thrill me and I don't really care for it. He didn't want to go gamble either. He did want to enter a poker tournament, but they all started at odd times and just didn't work with our schedule.
My mom says she has put her foot down and I can't go back to Vegas anymore. Last time we went I got really sick. My body had been under a lot of stress putting together a concert and I didn't get to relax till we went to Vegas and just had a cocktail of stuff and was miserable the entire trip. And this time spraining my ankle. She is funny though.

Birthday Fun, Moving, and Camping

The last month has been an adventure. For Chase's 4th birthday we went to the zoo. Mark had to work, so it was the 3 of us, Robby and Steph and their 2 boys, then David and Candace and their kids met us there. We had a lot of fun. After Mark got home and we had dinner, Mark and I took Chase out for an ice cream cone at Artic Circle. Then we went out to a movie. We wanted to take him to Whinnie the Pooh, but he said it was boring so we saw Captian America instead. We usually don't take the boys to the theater. They can never hold still for the entire movie. Chase was a little restless, but he did pretty good. The only time he held still was if Captian America was in costume in the scene. We had fun though. Mark's parents came to town that weekend for Chase's birthday party. Friday the 29th Chase swallowed a toy. We don't know what toy. We ended up taking him to Primary Childrens. After 4 hours, x-rays, and a barium test(which apparently they can sweeten for kids and Chase downed it) they couldn't find it. They are pretty sure he did swallow something, it just must have been small enough, plastic and already passed his stomach. Chase's party the next day was a hit. It was a Despicable Me party. We played some games from the movie like, the carnival game. I found a picture of the alien from the movie and put it on a cup that we used a nerf gun to knock it over. We read Sleepy Kittens, had an annoying sounds contest, which didn't work so we tried funny faces. We also made Cookie Robots. One of Kiera's friends makes cakes. So we had her do a Despicable Me one with minions in fondant. It was awesome! Then a few people stayed late to watch Despicable Me and eat pizza. We had a lot of fun, as well as the kids.
Kiera moved into an apartment with a friend across from the U the begining of August. We transformed her room into the playroom. It was a little odd at first not having her here. Shortly after we felt we should start looking for houses and found one! I didn't think we would find one so fast. But the offer was accepted on the 12th! It is in Kearns. Big yard, not completely fenced but won't take much to finish it off. The house is completely finished, 4 bedrooms, split entry, and a big driveway. Everytime we go over the more we love it. We originally thought the two trees in the back were crab apple, so we planned to cut them down, well we just found out that one is a pear and the other is a banana apple!!! Yeah!! We don't have to cut down trees!!! We will be getting the kids in mid September.
The 13-14 we had the 1st annual Rose reunion. It was at the family property in Malad Idaho. I've never been there with so many people before. It was fun! One of my aunts brought her 4 wheelers. We went for a ride and got really dirty!!! The boys had a blast up there.
Now we are just planning for a trip to Las Vegas for Kiera's 21st birthday next month(hopefully I don't get sick this time) and getting ready for the house!

sorry

I've really fallen behind on here. I'll try to do better. I really don't like posting pictures on here, it is sort of a pain. But I do always post them to facebook, so you can see them there.
We had a great and eventful Father's Day. We spent the morning at Mark's cousin's homecoming. There was a trential(sp?) rain that day and I was on call. we had several apartments flood, so I was on the phone alot. We had family over for dinner and I had to leave for another apartment problem. It was a nice day minus all the problems at the complex.
June 28th I finally got to get the cap for the tooth i had the root canal on forever ago.
July 4th, we enjoyed the Magna parade, Emmett was scared of the sirens from the cops. We went to my uncle's house in Hopper for fireworks.
July 7th, Chase finally started riding the bike he got for Christmas. He loves it and always wants to be outside riding it.
July 10th we celebrated Mark's birthday. I made fondant for the first time. It turned out good.
July 17th was National Ice Cream Day. We had an Ice Cream party at my parents. It was lots of fun.
today Emmett had a fever, looks like he has another tooth coming in.

what a great weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend. Saturday night we spent at my parents house with my siblings. We had a wonderful dinner, played games as a famliy and had some good laughs. Sunday I taught Sharing Time. I had fun doing it and hope the kids did too. We wanted to make it to a friends homecoming, but the boys didn't wake from their nap intime. Around 4 o'clock I picked up my brother and brought him back to my house. Mark and I left for our 5 year anniversary getaway. We checked into the Anniversary Inn(of course). We stayed in the Venice room. We got our stuff in and then went out to dinner at TGI Fridays. I know it's not really romantic, but we love that place! It was still early after we finished eatting so we went and saw Fast Five at the theater. Again not really romantic, but hey it doesn't always have to be so. Monday morning(our actual anniversary) we got up had some breakfast, exchanged some pants at Walmart that I had bought a couple days prior that the zipper was broken on, and headed out to Lagoon. It was overcast all day and sprinkled alot. Now if you know me, you know I hate rollercoasters. I don't like the "oh my gosh my stomach is now in my ears" feeling. I really don't enjoy it. But Mark said I had to go on atleast one with him. I have been on some of the rollercoasters at Lagoon before, but know that I don't like any of them. We did go on The Bat and their new one Bombora. I did like them. I wouldn't go on any other rollercoaster though. Of course we did the other rides. We spent some time at Lagoona Beach. Probably not the best idea with how the weather was, but we had to go. Mark froze in the water. He hates the cold, so we didn't stay there long. We did a few more rides, played a few games then went back to the hotel to lay out our swim stuff. We walked to the Trax station and rode downtown. We had a nice little dinner and amazing dessert at The Garden Resturant at the Joseph Smith Memorial building. Then headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a movie and popcorn there. It was really nice staying up late, sleeping late, and not having to worry about anyone but ourselves. Douglas and Kiera did a good job watching the boys and had some stories to share with us about Chase rubbing some ladies thigh at Walmart(luckily she had a good sense of humor and understood he is 3yrs old) and how other people kept thinking they were a couple and my boys were their kids(hilarious). Anywho.... I'm glad Mark and I were able to get away for a couple days. It was really nice just being Mark and Deborah, not Mommy and Daddy for a couple days.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had an interesting Memorial Day Weekend. We spent Friday packing everything up and after dinner we got in the van and drove down to Cedar City. Mark's brother Robby and his family rode down with us. Traffic wasn't bad. We left around 7, stopped a couple times for potty breaks(2 preschoolers), and arrived just after 11pm. Despite the late night the boys all woke up early. At 10 the guys went to set stuff up at the church for Grandpa J's 80th birthday party. The girls ran to Wal-mart to get some last minute stuff. It was fun, we grabbed a dinosaur and happy birthday ballon, with a bunch of balloons to have on the floor for the kids. We got some silly string, party poppers, and leis. We got a special lei for the birthday boy. This was a surprise party. Mark's aunt Lynnette and her kids came up for it. When we walked into the gym we attacked him with silly string! Then we cleaned him off and he got his lei(we were already wearing ours). We had a nice little lunch and some cake. We chilled at the home the rest of the evening. We played lots of Mexican Train, some Phase Ten and Uno. Mark, Robby, Kiera, and I all stayed up till about 2 AM playing Mexican Train, we played all 15 rounds. Sunday we went to sacrament with Pam and Robert(mark's mom and step-dad). We watched movies and played more games. After dinner we were starting a game of Mexican Train and Chase starts crying. We yelled for him to come tell us what was wrong, and he just starts screaming bloody murder. All 7 adults run to the bedroom where he was to see what was wrong. He was holding the top of his head. I couldn't see anything and told him he was fine. We told them not to jump on the bed(they weren't suppose to be in the room anyways). As I helped him off the bed, I saw a nice gash on the back of his head. I panicked and yelled for someone to get me something NOW.(normal reaction for a mom right). I did calm down and focused on Chase to keep him calm. He stopped crying after we got a towel on his head. It didn't bleed to bad. But we looked at his head and decided we had to go to the ER.

2 little monkeys jumped on the bed, 1 fell off and broke his head, mommy took him to the doctor and the doctor gave him 2 stitches!

They didn't have many people working, but we were in and out pretty quick. They were really nice. He was thirsty and they gave him some juice, he was cold and they gave him a blanket(I love how they are heated), they got us a remote so we could turn on the tv and find something he would watch. He wanted to sit on my lap, so I sat on the bed with him on my lap. When she came in to set up she put her gloves on and had some extras that he could wear, which he thought was pretty cool. As they did the local anistetik(sp) he didn't really like it. He wanted to cuddle Mark, so he sat on my lap and hugged dad. The doctor put some extra in, just for good measure. She did have to take a couple small breaks for Chase to relax. Then he was fine. When she pulled the stitch through she accidentaly pulled some of his hair and he jumped, but other than that he did really good. She told us the stitches are really easy to remove and told Mark how to do it and gave him some "disposable" tools to do it with in ten days. We went back to grandma's and watched Kung Fu Panda and went to bed. Chase did place his hands behind his head and felt the knots from the stitches and tried to pull it, but we stopped him and explained he couldn't.
Monday we went to the Memorial Service at the cemetary Mark's grandma is burried at. It was pretty cool. I'd never been to one. We visited a few family members graves then went to get lunch and pack up. We got the van loaded and played some more mexican train. During one round Morgan got his fingers shut in the fireplace door. Nikolai was trying to close it and Morgan stuck his fingers in last moment. (no fire in there, its one of those electric type ones). He got a nice cut on both sides of his finger. He is alright though. Chase didn't bother his stitches at all and is doing great. At 3 we headed home. Stopping of course in Beaver to get some Squeaky Cheese. We got home about 8:30. Emmett was happy to be home he was just running around laughing. We got the boys ready for bed and guess what Chase does.....Jumps on his bed! One day after he cuts open his head, he goes and does the same thing that caused it. We talked to him about it. Crazy kid!!!
Overall we had a good weekend. It was a nice break.

Nothing to exciting going on right now. I've been trying to make myself work-out each day. I've been failing. I have DVD's, video games, an eliptical, and an exercise bike plus access to the fitness room at our complex. I just have a hard time finding a time to do them. It's easier to do them when I'm not stepping over the boys or risking hitting them in one of my moves. I try to get up early and do it before the boys get up, but I have a hard time getting up early unless I have somewhere to be. Their nap times are different times so that doesn't work. And after they go to bed is usually when Mark and I have some alone time watching our favorites shows without the boys running infront of the tv and yelling. I know it is going to take some sacrifice. I've started eatting a bit healthier so that will help. I'm also impatient and am not seeing results as fast as I want them. Such is life though right.

oh wow!

I can't believe I haven't posted since January!!! Sorry blogging world! I have a hard time posting pictures on here, they never work how I want them. so maybe I will only do them now and then otherwise you will just have to check out facebook for those, sorry... Anyways let's catch up.......
1/22- Emmett's 1st bday party: We had streamers hangning from the celing, balloons, and pictures of Mickey Mouse and 1s. Emmett loved the balloons and kept a hold of one all night! Emmett was spoiled that night. He ate all of his cake again and got messier than on his bday, even though this one had less frosting.
1/27- I had a root canal, minimal pain during recovery.
Feburary-started picking up extra hours at work Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays when Mark gets home from work.
2/10- I was offered to be manager of my own complex in Layton! I had to turn down the offer, that is a far drive for Mark to get to work and I didn't think(still don't) think that I was ready for it at that time.
2/12- we had our Valentine's Day date, we went to TGI Fridays and Color Me Mine, we made an Easter plate, festive right ;)
2/20- new callings in our ward... Mark is a Sunday School teacher for the 16-17 year olds, and I am 1st counselor in the Primary!!!
3/1- Emmett gets double ear infection and bronchilities... Poor baby
3/10- we went to Disney On Ice, it was awesome! Emmett was tired so he was a little bit of a pain for the first half, then we got snacks at intermission and he was good the rest of the show.
3/11- Zoo trip with my eldest brother and his family.
3/13- my nephew Sean had his ordination. Yeah Family time!!!! While they did the ordination Chase was crouched down by their feet looking up into the circle trying to figure out what they were doing.
3/19- We bought me a 2004 Toyota Sienna!!! It is an 8 seater and had an after market dvd player! I love it! Having 2 cars again is really nice. I've wanted a mini van since high school. I always knew I would be a mom with a mini van.
3/20- Our Primary presidencey spoke in Sacrament meeting. They actually had me sing instead of speak. I sang "Like His Hands". I've sang it many times for different reason and this was the first time that I cried. The words really spoke to me this time and it meant alot!
3/29- we got a massage chair for free from our neighbors. They didn't have room for it anymore. Oh, it is so nice!!!
4/1- I played an April Fools joke at my office. I labeled everything with post-it notes! I hit my elbow just right early that morning and that evening we went to get it checked cuz my hand had gone a little numb. Luis(our maitenece guy) had put frosting on all the door handles of my van! The doctor said that I just bumped my elbow in the right spot and nothing was really wrong.
4/7- I got 2 tickets for an amazing price for Mark and my dad to go to the Jazz game. $80 total for 2 lower bowl seats!!! They had a great time.
4/11- I got my hair permed!!!
4/22- we got a '50 old projector screen tv from my aunt.
4/23- Kiera took the boys while Mark and I worked to the Peterson Egg Hunt, and that night we dyed Easter Eggs at Grandpa & Grandma Rose's.
4/24- Easter Sunday!!! Chase had fun finding eggs and his basket, Emmett didn't quite get it. They both got stuffed bunnies, matching church clothes, a couple toys, and of course candy. We had Mark's dad and my parents and Douglas over for dinner. I made some new recipes. It turned out pretty good and we had an awesome night.
End of April- Chase is fully potty trained. He wears underwear to bed now!
5/3- Emmett got his first hair cut!!! He is growing so fast!
5/5- The Primary presidency had a Teacher Appreciation dinner. I sang "Window To His Love". It was a really nice evening. Mark gave me my Mother's Day gift early. A Nook!!!!! I'm so excited I love it!!!!
5/6- Emmett is completly off the bottle. He was only getting it at night. We finished the can of formula so no more. He has done really well.
5/7- We drove to Wyoming for my niece, Elizabeth's, baptism. I drove the whole way. It was nice. We had fun spending time with family for her special day. Having the DVD player in the van was really nice. My brother David gave me a bunch of books for my Nook. Mostly ones I've already read, but I love them and re-read them often.

Now you are caught up!

Question for fellow bloggers

I really want to post about Emmett's first birthday party, but there are lots of pictures I want to share and I don't like doing them individually. I've noticed some friends have the pictures in a collage..... How do you do it? Please share your wisdom!

HELP!!!!

What a day and it is only 10:40! I'm mainly going to vent right now, so if you want to skip this post go for it, I won't blame you. It shouldn't be to bad though.
I'm driving myself crazy this morning. We are going to go get our taxes done tomorrow night and I'm trying to figure out my "earnings" from selling Avon. I'm getting so confused and just lost I'm not sure I'm doing it right....... UGH! On top of the frustration that that is building Emmett kept walking up to me and grabs my right hand right as I am trying to click on something on the computer and it doesn't help. I know he just wants my attention and wants me to hold him. BUT it was really irrating at the time. I know when he does it, that shortly after he will be climbing down from my lap so now add more to the frustration. He only sits for a second every time. Then I have Chase getting mad because Emmett did this and did that. Brotherly love right!
Thanks for letting me vent, I feel a little better now.

Emmett is 1 year old!!!!

I can't believe we have finally reached it! Emmett's 1st birthday was Wednesday! He actually had a rough sleep that morning. He had woken up just after 1am and had a hard time going back to sleep till I gave him a bottle. As I climbed back into bed I realized that he was born at 1:10 am, we were back in bed asleep at 1:04(so close right!). He woke up earlier than usual to start his day. My sister-in-law gave us this adorable Birthday Boy onesie a long time ago and I had to have Emmett wear it. Just after breakfast his diaper leaked onto his clothes. Luckily there was time to wash it before we had to leave for Daycare. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to spend all day with him on his birthday, but it's ok. When Mark got home from work and picking the boys up he brought them into the office to play for a bit while he helped us with a computer problem.
That night after dinner had settled in our tummys we had some birthday cake! Just some individual cakes from Reams with Sesame Street Characters. We did not put a candle on Emmett's but we did sing to him. He totally went to town on it!

He actually ate more than all of us. Mark only ate half of his, it had to much frosting, and was whipped, I ate almost all of it, Chase ate all the frosting and a little bit of the cake. Emmett ate the whole thing!!! I kept debating of taking it away from him, that was a lot of sugar! We knew that as soon as we tried, he would freak out! So we let him eat as much as he wanted...the whole thing! Oh my gosh I couldn't believe it. He had lots of fun though! He didn't get as messy as Chase did on his 1st birthday. Chase had rubbed his hands in his hair and threw pieces on the floor. Not Emmett, he only dropped maybe 2 pieces on the floor and just had frosting on his hands, face, and belly. His birthday party is not until Saturday night(more on that then). We had a lot of fun! He has grown so much in the last year! He has started trying to say "Chase" and "Kiera" and "quack". A note on the "quack" he was playing in the tub and I showed him one of the ducks and quacked with it and he started coping me. It was adorable! He will make vroom noises when he has a car, boat, sometimes any toy, and he will push them along the floor. He also says "mine" well he doesn't really say it, he will point to things and then to himself. Sometimes when he does it and points to himself he will shake his head, saying "not mine". He started walking just before Christmas(like a day or two) and now he is trying to run! He got sick last week with a cold, and a cold in his eyes as well, and an ear infection. While he was sick he got pretty attached to his bear. It's pretty cute watching him carry it around. He loves playing with his brother. They like to lay on top of each other and bump heads into each others bellys or just head butt. Emmett loves when we chase him around. He has learned to go down the stairs. I'm still uneasy about letting him do it, so we are always right there as he goes down just to be safe. He is such a big boy and it will be exciting to watch him grow further, and learn more.

Necessary Evil

Yesterday when I went to take my boys to daycare so I could go to work, my car wouldn't start!!! For some reason the battery had died. Luckily Mark was home sick(who wanted to rest, understandably, and preferred to have the boys at daycare) so I took them back into him and went to find our maintenance man. He was doing a work order for one of the apartments, but came to help jump my car. Though he teases me all the time(sometimes worse than what I got from my brothers and all their friends) and has some bad humor, he is a really nice guy and I appreciate the help he gave me. We got the car running and I was able to get the boys to daycare and me into work on time...barely. Cars are a necessary evil. Yes I know you can live without them, but it does make a life a ton easier..

Christmas Recap

I really wanted to get this done before the new year, but obviously I failed...

We got to celebrate Christmas 4 days in a row! On the 23rd was my extended family party. We get together at a church(since we are so huge) and hang out almost all day. This year there were Gingerbread House making, coloring pages, basketball, snacks, and hanging out. Once everyone arrived we did the Nativity Story. My aunt keeps all the pieces in a tote. There are costume for all the characters and even signs with their parts on it. Afterwards we have a Sing-a-long. We sing the same songs every year but it never gets old! When we sing "It's Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas" and split into parts we compete to be the loudest and who can hold the final note the longest. It is so much fun. We usually sing this one again after all the others. The Nativity and sing-a-long are our traditions and we've done it every year as well as have a Pinata!!! My dad and his siblings take turns each year on who gets to make/get it. Then we start from the youngest kid and work our way up. Emmett was the youngest and got to hit first! I don't think we got past the 8 year olds before the pinata was done. After the mad dash for candy we settle down and my Grandparents hand out gifts for everyone and we give them our gift. We use to draw names and exchange gifts with everyone, but we have gotten so big now that a different sibling of my dads is in charge of the family service project and we donate to whichever place they chose. Last year was the food bank and this year was the Road Home.

On the 24th we had Mark's dad and brother and his family over to our house. We played a few games and had a nice ham dinner. Then we exchanged gifts with each other. Nik and Chase wanted to open everyone presents not just their own. Before we go to bed on Christmas Eve we always open one gift which is pajamas. Then we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol and put cookies and milk out for Santa. We also have a special key to hang on the door so Santa can get in. Chase was super excited!
The next morning, Emmett woke up before Chase so I woke Chase up. I told him that Santa had come, I said it several times before he realized what was going on and shot out of bed. He was so excited to open his presents. We let the boys take turns one then one etc. It was lots of fun. Breakfast took longer than we liked, but was yummy sticky buns! Chase got a bike from Aunt Kiera(but we pretended it was from Santa) and after breakfast we took him outside and let him ride it for a bit. He can't quite figure out the pedaling but he got a couple turns in. We vegged the rest of the day and enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner.
On the 26th we drove out to Greenriver, WY for my family party with my siblings and parents. My brother and his wife held it at their house and prepared a nice ham dinner. It was really nice being with all my brothers and their families. We chatted and opened gifts. Again Chase kept thinking it was his turn. Then we played Harry Potter Scene It and Twilight Scene It. Mark and I won both. Then we made the journey home. Mark drove my parents(my dad has a hard time seeing the roads at night) and I drove our car. When we hit Parleys Canyon there was salt etc flying up onto my windshield so bad that I couldn't see except for a small portion in the bottom left corner and even then I could only see a few feet in front of me. Our washer fluid hasn't worked in years and we can't fix it. It was a bit scary. Nothing happened, we were safe. We got home after midnight, but it was a ton of fun.

Emmett was walking by Christmas Eve and is all over the place. He thinks he is all that in a bag of chips! Chase is fully potty trained(day time) and does awesome! I'm so proud of him!
Hope your Christmas was just as awesome as mine! Happy New Year and I hope this year gets even better than last!