Uncle Matt

Matt came to spend the holiday with us. It was so good to have some family with us! Matt is wonderful. I know I say that in every post I say about him but it is true. He is such an easy house guest. We tried to go for a bike ride today, but got a flat and only went for about 40 minutes. It was a nice day and we enjoyed a PB&J picnic while fixing a tire. Okay while watching him fix a tire.

Fall gifts

Okay so maybe not a gift, just on loan, or really we are just the storage unit for this Harley. Brian has a friend in Idaho that drives cattle down here often. He wanted his bike here so he can take advantage of riding it year round. So he is keeping it at our house and Brian gets to take care of it.

The kids, especially Max, LOVE it. I went for a ride the other night and I am pretty sure the neighbors heard me yell when he got up to like 20 miles per hour. It did get kind of fun towards the end... maybe I am not the biker chick I thought I was? But look how cute I mean hot Brian looks on it!

a few weeks back...

We are over flowing with dress up clothes, well of everything actually. So Max and Brian made a toy drawer. They also decided to paint it Jon Deere tractor colors.
The finished product! It fits perfect by Lily's bed and holds the humidifier. Their room is so small this was the only space of wall not covered, it is covered now but is so functional! It is so nice having a handy husband!

Max

Here is our funny 4 year old wearing his motorcycle helmet, waiting for a turn on the motorcycle. He is all boy! He has such an imagination these days and I love it. He is such a nice boy to his sister. He still loves to cuddle with me and is such a little helper. He is just a joy to have in our lives. He seems so grown up these days and I want it to stop. I am not ready for him to grow up yet!
Here he is vacuuming our couch. He has always loved vacuums, why? who knows but if he is willing to use it, we are not complaining!

Lily

Why are kids so cute when they are asleep?
We spent 2 days potty training... she loved it...didn't understand it AT ALL...we then quit...lol...she has a bladder of steel! She loved the panties, and sitting on the potty but we realized she was just not ready. She also thought she shouldn't wear clothes and hide her princess undies... so she is back in diapers and clothes. We will try again in a few weeks, months, or years. Really she may train herself if we wait long enough..

She is that fun age that cracks us up laughing often. Probably because we are her parents, but we just can't get enough of her. Some of her new phrases are, "oh goodness" "dang it" "oh gosh"....good thing we don't swear often! (notice the often..) She can sing the whole theme song to Sleeping Beauty, and loves most other songs. She says funny things all day long but I can only think of this one right now. She wanted me to hold her and I said just one minute, so she said, "mom come hold yours baby!" so I said who is my baby (she claims she is a big girl or a princess now a days) she responded by saying, "me, yiyee is yours baby!" I have no clue how to spell how she says her name, but it is y's instead of l's. She is still a little copy cat with her brother, who she lately just calls, "brother." She loves him and wants him with her all the time. In many ways I wish she could stay this size for a long time.

Thanksgiving Feast

We ate dinner at the Peterson's house this year. It was so nice to spend the day with friends and family. The food was great and I ate way to much! I only took these 2 pictures to remember the day! I hope you all had a great day!

Turkey Trot

We ran a 10K on Thanksgiving Day. What a way to say thanks for working bodies! It was mine and Brian's first 10K. Here we are before the race. It was actually January weather here and in the 50s, we were freezing!
Brian was the lucky one to push these darling bundles of joy. They run with him often and did fine, didn't sleep but did fine.

This is Uncle Matt after the race. I ran past them, expecting a cheering squad since I knew I would be last...but they were distracted and didn't see me! It took us about 20 minutes to find each other after the race. I think most of the East Valley participates in this run.
Yay! We did it! Brian was the fastest at 59 minutes. Matt was the second fastest at 60 minutes. I was the third fastest at 1 hr and 10 minutes. Yes that is one mile behind my husband who was pushing 60 lbs in the jogger! Please keep in mind that I AM NOT A RUNNER, well, I wasn't before! With this fast pace i will probably enter the Olympics soon. Just kidding. But my goal was to do it faster then an hour and 15 min and not be the last to finish. There were lots of people behind me. This was a fun race. I am sold on 10ks. They are still somewhat of a challenge but not a nightmare. And a wonderful activity before a huge meal!

Suns vs. Bulls

Wednesday night before Turkey day we went to a Suns vs Bulls game. We went with two of my friends from school and one of the girls sisters. The Suns were up by 22 points and then after 2 over times lost! It was a great game. It was my first pro basketball game.

This is Latoya. We spend A LOT of time together studing, I adore her and it was nice to play instead of study!

the latest

These are some random shots from 2 weeks ago. We haven't been doing much around here. Max likes to act like he is Andy often. and yes it is still warm enough to wear tank tops.. not every day, just a few days a week.

Lily has hit the age that she doesn't want to nap everyday. She usually still goes into her room and will stay in there for up to 2 hours, but is just playing. Some days she sleeps, some not so much. This picture was taken one afternoon when she wanted her pj's on at 5:30 and then fell asleep at 6! We were worried for the morning but she got up at her normal time.

Brian had his annual elk hunt at a cabin this past week. It fell right at finals week so he wasn't going to go because I couldn't do the kids alone that week. At the same time we were deciding they couldn't go, Alligent Air decided they would now fly to IF for really cheap, so they all flew there. It was such a nice way to travel for them and cost less then driving! So they left on a Friday and came back the next Friday. I was missing them like crazy by Sunday! My house became the new library and I had friends over often to study. It was nice to see how all these single girls do grad school. BUT I am very greatful to have the family i have! I wouldn't change it for the world!

They had a great time! Brian was at a cabin for 4 days. The kids stayed at my parents and then spent the days while my mom was at work with either Aunt Sara (Brian's sister) or my sister, Aunt Kate. They were able to play with cousins and snow. Every time I talked to Max he asked about the dog, the same way I asked about his sister. It was too cute.

It is sooo nice to have them back home and have life back to normal. They got in town the day after my last final. I have this whole week off. I am so excited to have a break! Rumor is next quarter isn't as rough as this last one! I am sure hoping so!

Ben

Ben had appointments at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. He came with his darling family, his mother-in-law, and our parents for support and help with Emmerson while at appointments. My cousin lives near the Mayo so they spent the week there. We went and visited them in the evenings. Bens father-in-law came on Friday to talk with the Doctors (he is a DR) and Matt came for the weekend. It was a somber week but so good to spend time with them. This situation is the hardest our family has had to endure. His wife, Jena has two blogs. You can read them here and here. These pictures are in no order...

I am so in LOVE with this baby. She is so HAPPY! ALL THE TIME!
It has been mentioned (my mom and Jena) that I put horrible pictures of people on my blog...I usually pick the best I have... my mom will NOT be happy with this one but I thought it was cute

Here is cousin Zach and his baby. It was so nice of them to let us take over his house!
Max is also in LOVE!

sorry Dad. this is the only picture you were up close in...

Jena and her mom.

Please pray for Ben. I know many of you already are, and we truly thank you for it! Faith goes a very long way. Ben and Jena are very good examples to us of faith. We love them very much.

Happy Halloween

Trick or treating was funny this year... at least me and my friend Crista thought so...one hour, one block and they were all done! Way too much candy was brought home!

carving pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa

Halloween celebration

We decided to have a few friends over on Saturday to celebrate Halloween. The Grays, Petersons, and Stephanie (with Lexee, pictured here) came. Kent and Karen were also in town. We ate yummy soups (it is fall even if it is 85 degrees out) and had Halloween desserts. They were cute but not really the best to eat (I can say since I made them) and I got no pictures of them! We decorated sugar cookies and planned to carve pumpkins but just kept playing corn hole...I guess the game is expected at our parties