Busy month...again!

How does time always seem to get away from me!

We have been so incredibly busy that I never get around to writing it down.

I really want to be better about it so I can document all of the things that we are always doing.

First, I volunteer in Saxon's class once again while my friend watches the other kids.

Then, she volunteers once a week while I watch her kids.

It's been so much fun to go to school with Saxon every week.

I also signed up to help with most of Saxon's and Bridger's class parties.

I actually didn't sign up to help with the Polar Express party because I was afraid it would be at the same time as Bridger's Christmas program, but they needed extra help, and Bridger Christmas program was the week before.

Every time I volunteer at one of Saxon's parties, I call Bridger's teacher, Ms. Nettie for an idea.  She gave me the idea for home-made puffy paint for and it was a huge hit!  For the Christmas party, we made sugar cone Christmas trees.  All of the kids wore their jammies and Bridger and Dalton got to come too.

Here's Saxon: 

Also, right before we went to CA, Saxon lost  his first tooth!

It was a big day.

We celebrated a lot and then the Tooth Fairy brought him a gold dollar!

Then while we were in CA, he discovered that his two front teeth are loose too!

Last week Dalton and I went on a date to the Lehi pool.

We swam all morning and then got a donut.

It was awesome.

So fun to spend one-on-one time with my little man.

My boys are such troopers.

Every Wednesday, I have YW, but Nate works every other Wednesday night.

So, every other week, they come with me to the Beehive Activity.

Last week was a combined activity and it was the Amazing Race.

They came with me and all the youth from place to place helping solve clues.

We ended up at the temple (where it was bitterly cold) and the Bishop gave a message.

I stayed in the car with Dalton because he had fallen asleep, but Saxon and Bridger went with all the youth to go listen to the Bishop talk about "Standing in Holy Places."

Everyone in our ward knows the boys.

My boys probably know more people than I do because they are so outgoing and do the funniest things!

Also, big news, Bridger decided to show us what he can do in preschool and instead of saying "I can't..." about everything, he just does it.  He writes his name and his letters and everything.  His teacher told me that he is so smart, but he refused to be forced to do anything.  He has to decide that he wants to.  So, he has finally decided and I'm really proud of him.

And my little Dalton is such a smart guy.  He copies everything that the boys do.  Too much.  I heard him tell Bridger "I'm going to punch you in the face!" because he heard Bridger say that once.  Great.  He also talks to me about everything.  It's so funny!  My other boys liked to talk but Dalton is a serious little chatter-box.  He's super-opinionated too!  Sometimes I have to remind him that he's only two and can't do everything, but he doesn't think that's a good excuse.  He's started getting really upset when the boys go anywhere without him.  Whenever the boys go to a friends house, or to a birthday party, Dalton cries the whole time they are gone "Me go too!" because he hates being left out.

And Saxon's big news is that he can read.  Yay!  So proud of him.  He did his reading assessment at school and tested above benchmark level.  He's doing really well in school and he loves it.  Mostly he loves all of his friends, but luckily he learns while he's there too.

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, we spent the day in Camarillo again.

Gregor needed a ride to his friend's house (he and Joy stayed there for New Years) and we were hoping as long as we were going out that way, that we could spend the day with my Dad.  The kids begged the whole trip to spend more time at Pop's house.  Nathan has a Wii and he would play with them, so they couldn't get enough of it.

Once we got there, the boys got set up with the video games and my Dad and Gregor went out to bring back lunch.  After lunch, me and Deanna and Gregor and Joy went to walk around the outlets and left my Dad and Nathan with the kids because none of them wanted to go shopping.

When we got back, this is what we found: 

Pops and Dalton napping together.  So cute!  My Dad said that the big boys "offended" Dalton somehow and he went in the other room to cry.  He started crying for "Mommy" and my Dad said "I knew we didn't want to go down that path..."  LOL.  So he picked him up and started telling him stories.  He snuggled him in the chair and after Goldilocks and the three bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Three Pigs, Dalton was out, and so was Pops.

After spending the day with Pops, we dropped off Gregor and Joy in Simi Valley and headed home to get Uncle Kasen.  My mom left a package of poppers for the kids for New Year's Eve.  So, Kasen and I went the the drive-through at Panda to get food, and then went home to celebrate.

We had treats and martinellis and poppers, and then Uncle Kasen turned on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original one) and the kids LOVED it!  After the movie, we said Happy New Year and Kasen and I tried to go to bed.  The kids stayed up partying in Grammie's loft until 1 a.m.  They were too wound up to sleep!

I don't know what we would have done without Uncle Kasen this trip.

We love him!

Happy New Year!

Grammie's Wedding

December 28th was Grammie's wedding.

It was beautiful.

The kids looked darling!

But it was a lot of work all by myself (Nate was only in town for Christmas Day).

They had a really hard time trying to stay out of everything until it started.

Grammie had candy jars set out and it was just way too tempting...

Then, Uncle Ron has an amazing pool and Bridger kept sneaking out to "just touch it."

Bridger wanted to pee in the grass.

Dalton almost knocked over a table trying to reach the candy.

Saxon was standing guard over the lemonade making sure no one touched it until the wedding started.

And we even managed to light a napkin on fire before the night was over...

Grammie asked the boys to be ring bearers and they said no.

Saxon finally agreed to it with a little bribing from Aunt BB, and then the other boys decided that they wanted to do it too.

So the boys walked out with their ring pillow and Alice followed with her flower basket.

Alice was the best flower girl I've ever seen!

She flung out one flower petal at a time as far as she could.

As soon as the petal hit the ground, Bridger and Dalton would go racing over to it to stomp on it.  It was awesome!  I laughed until I cried...

I wish I had video taped it.

Then, while Grammie and Bob exchanged vows, Saxon stood there with his pillow as still as can be.  He kept trying to tell me something but I couldn't understand him.  I asked him after and he said he was telling me to take some pictures LOL.  He wanted his big moment documented.

As soon as the ceremony was over Saxon took over the camera because he wanted to make sure to get some pictures of Grammie looking like a princess.

My mom had a dance floor set up in the middle of the tent and as soon as dinner was over, it was time for dancing.  Dalton, it turns out, is a dancing machine!  Who knew?  He danced his little heart out all night long.  It was awesome.

Some of Saxon's photography:

Aunt BB with Dalton and Baby Gabby.  Dalton couldn't stay away from Baby Gabby.  He was hugging and kissing her all night long!

Grammie and Bob with Baby Penny.

She looked like a cupcake.

Her dress matched the wedding cake :)

She might be the cutest baby I've ever seen.

Love her!

The boys begged the DJ to turn on "Thriller."  When he did, Saxon got too nervous to dance, but BRIDGER (my shy one) danced to the whole song and even did the moon walk.  It was awesome!  I was so so so impressed with him!  Once again...wishing I had a way to video tape it.

It was such a fun party!  Grammie looked gorgeous and Bob looked really great too.  The whole thing was beautiful and by the time we left, the kids were wiped out!  (So was I).  They partied hard all night long :)

the day after Christmas

 The day after Christmas, Gregor wanted to take Joy to the Santa Monica Pier.

 We walked all around the pier and to all the lookout points.

 Then we took the kids to the park on the beach to play.

When it was time to go, we didn't want to get stuck in traffic on the 405, so instead we took the coast home and went through Camarillo.  Way longer, but no traffic.  Since we were going to be in Camarillo anyway, Gregor wanted us to eat at one of his favorite hole-in-the-wall places (Gregor knows a lot of hole-in-the-wall places).  It was a drive-up-diner type place with no seating that served Chinese food and hamburgers.  Weird, but it was really good.  I got a chicken bowl and 3 kids meals for the kids and drinks and it only cost $12.  So, I guess it was worth the detour :)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was so busy and so fun!

Nate flew into town late the night before so he was there with us.

The kids were so excited that Santa came!

Dalton got a Big Wheel:

Saxon got a new bike:

And Bridger got a giant blow up bear-target and the movie BRAVE to got with it :)

Dalton gave each of his brothers a funny t-shirt.

Saxon's says "A Wookiee ate my homework"

and Bridger's says "This is my mad face."

Appropriate since Bridger likes to pull out his mad face a lot.

Dalton got Pete's Dragon from Mike (his favorite movie ever!)

and you can see by the look on his face that he was a little confused by the Tinkerbell that Mike got him LOL.

Mike also got Dalton an ant farm and Ryan thought that was really cool too :)

Saxon got Star Wars Legos:

And the boys got a Star Wars X-Box!

They were so excited!!!

Words can't even describe how excited they were!

A video game was the only thing that Saxon wanted for Christmas.

(Bridger wanted "Alien Guts.")

After we opened presents, my mom made a big Christmas breakfast for everyone.

Yum!

Then we got dressed and headed to my Grandma Beth's house for a Christmas lunch.

After her house, we went straight over to Gp Roy and Jenna's for his big Birthday Party/Christmas Party.

I've been a little sad for a few years that my kids have never gotten to experience Christmas in CA.  In Utah we just hang out as a family, which is nice in it's own way.  But in CA, Christmas is a huge party where we see all of our cousins.  My Grandpa Roy always gives a beautiful Christmas message and we exchange gifts and have snacks and the kids get to do a big Christmas pinata to celebrate Grandpa's b-day.  Then Jenna makes hot fudge sundae's with homemade hot fudge.  We all wear our new Christmas clothes and run around and explore Gp. and Jenna's huge house.  It's a huge 3 day party with a family home evening with Grandpa and Jenna, and then Christmas Eve with my Dad and then a formal dinner with Grandma Beth and a Christmas program, and then Christmas morning, lunch with Grandma and exchanging gifts, and then a party with Grandpa Roy for the rest of the day.

My kids got to play with all of their cousins that they never get to see and with the always favorite Aunt BB.  They also loved getting attention from Uncle Kasen and Aunt Brookie.  And of course Grammie.  Their new Gp. Bob won them over right away too.  Every time he would walk into a room Dalton would point and shout "BOB!"

One of my favorite parts of Christmas Day was Joy and Saxon at the piano.  Saxon learned the song "The Shepherd's Song" in primary and he loves it.  He talked Aunt Joy into playing for him and together they sat at the piano playing and singing.  We were the last ones to leave because it was so much fun to stand by the piano and watch.  My Grandpa Roy video taped it.  Joy plays beautifully (esp. since she had never even heard of the song before) and Saxon has a darling little voice!  Even Bridger joined in once and Dalton sat in the other room playing with toys and singing along too.

My boys with their Great-Grandpa-Roy.

Saxon is holding the new duck hunt toy that we all got Grandpa for Christmas.

Grandpa and Jenna and the great-grandkids:

(at least those of them that were there this year)

Grandpa and Jenna and the Grandkids and spouses:

We had such an amazing Christmas!

It was So. Much. Fun!!!