I have ALOT of catching up to do on here! Christmas came and went again faster than I wanted it to, and again, it was filled with lots of fun and excitment for the kids. I love Christmas but I'm glad it's over;) The kids had so much fun this year, and I'll add some more pics later from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I'm on Aaron's laptop and don't have all the pics loaded onto his computer, so I'll make sure to add them when I get a chance to....


One of our Christmas activities we did with the kids this year was Temple Square. We rode the Trax downtown with Jon and Lindsay's family and it was the kid's first experience riding one. Gabe was a little bit nervous at first to get on but as soon as he did, he really thought it was cool. Bella did well considering how cold it was and how long it took to get to our destination...

When we finally reached downtown Salt Lake, the kids were hungry so we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed on over to the temple grounds. The kids really enjoyed the beauty of the temple surroundings and all the different colors of lights. There didn't seem to be as many lights this year as I normally remember but it was still a beautiful sight to see. The kids enjoyed the outdoor nativity scene, and also enjoyed seeing the big Christ statue in the visitors building as well as the big mural paintings on the walls. We will definitely be back again next year!

Fall is in the Air

It's been a long time since I've been on here so I thought I'd write a quick post on things. The boys started school a couple months ago...Kaden is in 6th grade now, and Gabe started Kindergarten. School seems to be going well for the both of them, the only thing we have a hard time with is the year round schedule. I think it's harder for me to adjust to than the boys, I don't like these long break-time intervals! Other than that, things are good.

Bella's 2nd birthday was yesterday, which is so hard to believe. Seems like it was just yesterday that I gave birth to her. She is such a joy to our family, and I love having her here. Having a girl is a completely different experience than a boy. I have to admit, it's been funner for me. She's a true girly-girl. Loves to dance, dress up, play with her dolls, etc...definitely like her mom! Don't get me wrong, little boys are fun, but I can relate with her so much more than the men of the house. I love it!

Anyways, for her birthday we made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Aaron made some tasty chili for dinner. Afterwards we took some cake and ice cream over to Lindsay's and she opened her presents. She got lots of cute outfits for the season which I can't wait to try on her. Her absolute favorite gift was a Jessie doll from Toy Story and a Pillow Pet...It was fun watching her little face light up as she opened them, last year she was too young to really understand but this year she knew this was her special day, it was all about her! I will post some pics on here in a little bit when I have more time.

All you Need Is Love

Valentine's Weekend is here. I'm a little bit disappointed how quickly it came...every year I bake the cute pink heart sugar cookies with the kids and I haven't done this yet. I remember when I was a little girl and how much I loved baking them with my mom. Maybe I'll have to whip some up tomorrow for my kids' sake!

Gabe had a very special time with yesterday with his Valentine's crush. Her name is Tiyana and she's in Kindergarten...he was so excited to go play with her at her house yesterday and made her a special Valentines. He insisted we also give her a picture of him along with the Valentines...he kept saying "I love her so much, I can't wait to see her!" over and over again. I can't believe my 4 year old is already crushing on a girl!

Tonight Aaron and I will be going to my one of my favorite restaurants, Tsuanami. And then we'll be going to see the movie Valentine's Day. Perfect Valentine's date I must say!

To end my short but sweet blog post, I wanted to tell express my love to all my family and friends with three simple words. I Love You. And Happy Heart Day to you all!

Goodbye 2009!

Well, I must say that the holidays came and went faster than the blink of an eye! We had a wonderful Christmas...Christmas eve was spent at the Cummings' Family, which is an annual tradition that I look forward to every year. We had a great time with all the siblings and nieces and nephews and their little ones. The kids all reinacted the Nativity scene. Gabe talked and prepared for this moment for days ahead! He pre-reserved the role for Joseph and called dibs on his cousin Audrey as Mary. Unfortunately Audrey wasn't able to make it since they went to her Mother's family this year, Gabe wasn't too happy about that to say the least! Lol, Bella took on the role of Mary since she was the only girl there, and baby Graham was Jesus this year. We all did a gift exchange of gift cards and the kids got toys ofcourse...Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys some new sleds, and they decided that the sleds would be fun to use on Grandma's stairs...Grandma didn't like that idea so much, but no one got hurt which I guess is a first with a houseful of rambunctious boys. After the party we hurried home and put the kids to bed to start the preparations for the arrival of santa! I don't know why I saved my wrapping for the last minute, but we were up til' midnight wrapping everything. Or let me rephrase that..."I" was up til' midnight wrapping everything since Aaron seems to think he's exempt from that job! Lol, he hurried and prepped my gifts in a bunch of gift bags...the easier the better I suppose.

Christmas morning came and the kids were filled with excitment and glee. This year we were able to indulge with the gifts, when last year times were hard for us, so it was very enjoyable and exciting to see their little faces light up with excitement. Their absolute favorite gift were legos and some remote controlled helicopters that Aaron had picked out. Bella's was her new baby doll which she kisses and rocks all the time! It's cute seeing a motherly instinct with a one year old, so sweet! My main gift was the best! Aaron competely suprised me this year and got me a new kitchen table! It's a smaller saloon-type table with the tall legs and tall chairs, I was so suprised and excited! He had hidden it in our garage and brought it out last after we were all done opening everything. I've wanted this for a very long time...we have a kitchen table in our front room/dining room area, but not one in our little kitchen, which is where we like to hang out and eat most of the time, and now we can sit down and have family meals on it every day! Anyways, after we had finished opening the gifts we went over to Aaron's parent's house for a gift exchange and breakfast...later on we made another stop to Grandpa Pehrson's house, and then to Lindsay's for some dinner with her inlaws and more gifts...At the end of the day I was lying in bed thinking about how sadit is that it all had come to an end, but also felt some relief that all the holiday spending, parties, food, gifts, decorations, etc. were done with, atleast for another year! It's good that this holiday comes only once a year, I think we'd all be broke with no sanity left! Lol...

New Year's was a fun time for us. We had originally planned on staying home with the kids this year and banging pots and pans. At the last minute Kaden's mother called and offered to watch them for a few hours since she was staying in and wanted some company, so we took her up on the offer and ended up going to a New Year's party at our friends, The McAlisters. It was lots of fun, although sometimes I think I'd rather be home porking out in my sweats and watching movies with the kids...I can't believe 2009 is over, and I have a feeling in my gut that 2010 is going to be a great year for my family with lots of goals to be reached and new accomplishments!

Aaron and I had the opportunity to go up to Park City January 2nd-3rd on an overnight trip with some friends. They had gotten a really nice suite for an awesome deal, and we went with 4 other couples for the night and went to a concert up there. We cooked a big dinner in the kitchen to save money and then we went to the concert...LMFAO is the name of the group that was playing, it's very good dance music but nothing you'd want your mama listening too! The next morning we went and got breakfast and then went and grabbed the kids from my mom's house...the kids had lots of fun going to church with Grandma, Gabe was excited to meet some new kids and wear his new sweater to their church...It was great picking up my little munchkins, even after just one night I had missed them immensely!