Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Well this is how we kicked off our Christmas Season! We didn't put up lights this year so the Young Men in our ward felt the need to decorate our house for us. We appreciated their service sooooooo much, especially when we were awoken at 1 a.m. by the nice policeman asking if we wanted to press charges on our sweet little exterior decorators! Oh good times:)

Next, the kids and I decorated our Christmas tree. Landon got a hold of my camera and took this picture of Ella, I'm kind of glad now considering half of those ornaments in the picture are no longer due to my ball loving two year old who decided to teach himself to pitch this month with my pretty ornaments.

Ella had a Christmas concert and her and the class sang some cute songs with a little dancing too. They were so fun to watch.

This is Ella at her concert 2 seconds before her sweet brother jumped into the picture for the fifth time.

Then off to visit my Grandma's. There is nothing like my Grandma's cooking, I usually start thinking about it late October. I have the two best Grandma's and am so fortunate to be able see them and love them.

After Grandma's it's off to the Temple lights with all of my siblings. I love this part. We have a really fun time being together.

Ella and Kensley

Our Family in front of the lights. We tried to get everyone to look but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

Wayne and the boys

Ella and Chase (he's actually rejoicing because we let him out of his stroller)

My Dad and Teri came over for our family Christmas party. We enjoyed lots of singing and great company.

And finally the night before Christmas. This is my favorite part, after everything is finished and the kids our asleep, I can just sit here forever and enjoy this scene and knowing how excited the kids our going to be......

and then it happens

and it's wonderful

and then all good things must come to an end.

Merry Christmas, we'll see you next year!

Busy Busy!

So this month was crazy busy. Here's just a few things we've been up to....
On Thanksgiving day we rounded up the whole family and did a Turkey Trot around the park. I think it helps keep off those extra holiday pounds and makes a fun morning!

After that we went with Wayne's sister Leah to a coyotes game.
It was our family's first hockey game and it was really fun.

Landon Teigan Ella and Dawson

Landon shooting his first hockey puck.

My Little Ella Bella!

And here is our Chase who has made this month so busy for me!!!!!
He is the all time busiest kid I have ever met in my life. This month he split open his toe, his eyebrow, broke two christmas ornaments last night and this morning through my cell phone in the toilet or the bathroom sink, I don't know they are both his favorite toys right now. But I love him, and I still love my mom, who when I tell her these things, laughs very hard.....

And so the conversation of the day:
Ella "Mom, Mom! Chase had your chapstick.
Me "Oh good, I need some" and I put it on.
Me "Ella why is this wet?"
Ella "Oh, Chase threw it in the toilet."
Me "Of course he did, of course"

and now.......we relax......Right....

Fall Festivities

The kids all had a blast this Halloween. Lots of fun and plenty of places to wear their costumes.

Our Jack Jack and Dash (I tried to get Ella to be Violet but she had to be the pink princess) hence, Princess Aurora.
Chase's first time Trick or Treating, it didn't take him long to get the idea. Some people would let him take two and he like this idea and would then be upset at those who would only let him take one.

So cute.

Ella, before her preschool Halloween party. Her favorite part was the Mummy races where they wrapped TP around themselves and had a race, and of course the caramel apples as well.

Tonya had her annual Halloween party, which is always so much fun. Here are all the cousins together.

Our ward Halloween party was a lot of fun. The kids loved all the different games, cotton candy and the chili this year was especially good. Here are the girls, Hailey, Ella and Bella.

Wayne and I dressed up as.... can you guess? Mary Poppins and Bert. When we were apart, they thought I was a waiter and Wayne was a bum. Oh well, Happy Halloween.

The Incredible Landon turns 6

Landon turns 6 years old today! I absolutely adore this kid and have thoroughly enjoyed every second of his life! Here are just a few things that make him special to me....
I love how he cares about his family
I love that he loves to bring Ella and Chase to school so he can show them to his classmates
I love how he loves to wrestle with his dad
I love that he still dresses up as pirates and Tarzan or whatever it is he wants to be that day
I love that he still doesn't care if he gives me a kiss in front of his friends
I love that he has a strong desire to do the right thing
I love when he gets laughing so hard he can't breath
I love his sarcasm "Right dad, like you could do that"
I love that he is just a happy person
I love it when we turn music on and sing and dance our hearts out
and my favorite...
I love that he still grabs my hair and rubs it on his face when we snuggle.
I love this boy. Happy Birthday.

October Nights with a side of Ham

We have thoroughly enjoyed the evenings this month. It's so nice to just go outside and play till it gets dark and the house doesn't get dirty either, what a beautiful thing.

Ella loves riding her tricycle, she usually rides with the handle bars backwards, like in the above picture.

Chase LOVES being outside, he even busted his lip open the other day, making a beeline out the front door and missed the step, poor kid.

Landon riding with no hands.

And now the side of ham.......

definitely his fathers son.

Fun Kids

Landon and I took this picture in the doctors office to trick Daddy that we skipped his appointment and went to the beach instead, so this is Landon swimming at the beach!

This was pretty funny, I had to put this in for memory sake, I have a similar one from when I was a kid.

Chase playing in the "pirate ship" with Landon.

My Utah Girl

I got to help throw a baby shower for my super duper friend Melissa. She got to visit for a week and we always have so much fun while there family is here, it's like nothing ever changed. I do miss her terribly though, good thing we still have a phone!

Scariest Weekend Ever

It's taken me a week to recover and finally write about our crazy weekend last week. Last Thursday night, Landon came down with a cold, no big deal, but late that night he came out of his room struggling to breath. Wayne ran to him and yelled for me saying Landon couldn't breath and his lips were blue. I know that Landon always gets labored breathing, and wheezing when he has a cold and so I immediately get my breathing machine and give him a treatment. Luckily he fell asleep and he was able to receive a priesthood blessing. His breathing continued to struggle all through the night and I just laid there listening to every breath and would give him a treatment each time it got worse. So early the next morning I took him to Urgent Care where they took blood, gave him a steroid shot, X-rayed him, you name it, they did it. Then the doctor came in and said, he's not improving and we need to ambulance him to the pediatrics unit at Thunderbird Hospital. What???? I tried to stay calm, but on the inside I was crying silent tears. I called Wayne and he rushed over to meet us at the hospital. When we got there, they ran a bunch of new tests and the doctors said he was having a severe asthma attack. ASTHMA!!!!!where did this come from????I had no idea. They continued to monitor him and after no progress, they put him on another ambulance to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at St. Joseph's Hospital. I believe this is my worst personal nightmare, I can't even say how afraid for my little boy I was and more afraid I couldn't understand why he wasn't getting better with the aggressive treatments they were doing. When I arrived at St. Joseph's the doctors and nurses were so absolutely wonderful. They loved and cared for him and helped us understand everything there is to know about what had happened to him and what he was going through. I had this awful guilt for not knowing what was happening and not being able to fix it myself like I had in the past. But, I am so thankful for the priesthood blessing he received that night because I thought that I was dealing with something entirely different and he needed that blessing to get him though that night. Landon came home late Sunday night and was finally able to go back to school on Thursday. He is so thankful to be out of the hospital, he would cry every night that he just wanted to go home, over and over again, it was awful. But then again, after they brought him a playstation in his room, he said, "It's kinda fun here Mom, maybe we don't have to go so soon." We are so thrilled to have him back home and have things crazy, chaotic and just normal again. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for watching over Landon this week. My own testimony of priesthood blessings was strengthened and I am thankful for all of the prayers that were answered. I feel so much gratitude to our family, friends and our ward who were so giving, supportive and thoughtful, I can't even begin to say thank you to all of them. But just know that every prayer, kind word and deed were so greatly appreciated and I am so thankful to know and have such loving people surround our family. THANK YOU a million times over.

Ella's First Day of Preschool: Before and After.......

Ella had her first day of preschool today, she was sooo excited until it was time to get dressed....dun, dun, dun. I told her to pick out a shirt and she did but then I picked the pants and she was not happy with my choice, she wanted her pink skirt which I told her she could wear tomorrow. So she got very upset and then fought me on her hair, shoes and even her backpack, so hence the wonderful "first day of preschool pictures"

Before. . .

. . . and here are the After
Ella had the best day with Miss. Monica and all her preschool friends. I had to take this picture afterwords because she was all smiles....Hallelujah! A much better "first day of preschool picture."

and her first "projects" Super job Ella! May next time be a bit less emotional though.

Please Mom........

Recently Ella has been asking for a new thing each day this week for her "Birthday" (which was in July) Things like Twinkle toes shoes, Barbie doctors, cheerleading costume etc. etc. So I had the talk with her that there are a lot of things she will want, but we can't have everything we ask for. So I told her all the things that we do get to have; a home, a family, food etc. etc. So today she comes in asking for a flat iron that makes your hair turn pink, ( I despise nick jr. commercials) and I said "Ella, that sure is a long list of thing your asking for, remember our talk yesterday?" And she turns to me and says, "Your right, I'll go make a list!" ......Seriously.....