Excuses, Excuses

I have so many excuses for why I haven't kept my blog up to date. I have a ton of completed projects and projects in the work, I have been taking care of two crazy kids (and signing one up for kindergarten, AHH!), I've been doing some political stuff, and we still don't have the internet at our house. But none of them are really very good excuses.  So below is a catch up of all the holidays and cute kid stuff I have missed. Next I will post about all of my projects and politics!

She just can't help it

She just can't help falling asleep no matter where she is when she get this tired. And there is no way that I am ever going to wake her up.

 We have this strange gene in my family that turns us into monsters right after we wake up. My sister Jessie has it pretty bad. I have to admit that in the morning I'm not the nicest person. But neither of us even compares to Libby when she wakes up from a nap.

Libby has always been a hot tempered child. She cried non stop for most of her first two years of life. But after her naps she is totally ridiculous. She can cry for a good two hours after a nap if things aren't handled right. Just today at my parent's house, Laura had a friend over when Libby woke up. Laura warned her friend, "Don't look or talk to her after she wakes up." When her friend asked why Laura said, "I don't really know why, she is just REALLY sensitive." I think it might be time to get rid of the nap, it is starting to defeat the purpose!

Easter

The friday before Easter we were totally crazy and decided to take a trip down to Zion and enjoy the nice spring weather. Everyone else in the entire would made that same decision. It was so crowed! We had to stand in the shuttles every time we rode them. We hiked Emerald pools and there was people everywhere! It was still nice to get out though. And by the second half of the hike the crowds had kind of thinned out.

 Laura, Heath and Trevin up a tree after our picnic before we started hiking.

 We brought a backpack for Libby to ride in. But she refused to ride in it. She had to walk. The whole way. She refused to hold hands. And she wanted to walk on the edge. The whole time! My mom had nightmares all night the next night of kids falling off cliffs. It was not pleasant. But once we got to a trail where she couldn't fall off the edge we were much better.

 Trevin on the other hand was an expert hiker. He never complained even when he tripped once. He was really fast and was in the lead with Laura most of the time.

 Trev was really good a finding little caves that only he could fit into.

 Libby was quite a mess by they time we finished. She had sunscreen all over in her hair, dirt on her face, and a hole in the knee of her pants. Zion is so pretty and the weather wasn't that bad. It was a little cold but there was no wind, what a nice change from Cedar in the spring.

 Easter morning the Easter Bunny left a trail of eggs from the kids bedrooms to their baskets. Libby held the basket and ate the candy while Trev picked up the eggs and followed the trail.

 The found their baskets under the piano. Trev was really excited to see the shovel. He needed a new one.

 Trevin and Libby both got new swim suits and Legos!

Libby Lou's Second Birthday

Libby turned two in February. We started the celebration off with birthday waffles for lunch (it's tradition, except usually it's pancakes, but we were feeling waffles that day).

 Libby blowing out the candles and Trevin there for support if she couldn't get them out on her own.

 Libby with crazy baby hair saying, " I two!"

After work we let Libby pick out her own present at the store. We have never done that before. Normally I have a present planned for them for months and can't wait to get it for them. But we really had no idea what to get her. She picked out a little doll house.

After dinner we had a family party.

 Opening up her new scooter from my family. She loves to ride this around the house, but loves to push Trevin around on it even more!

Blowing out the candles on her birthday sugar cookies. I was sick of cake, and since her birthday is so close to Valentines Day I opted for valentines decorated cookies instead.

Trevin's Army Birthday

Trevin's real birthday is in December but we all got sick around his birthday so we couldn't have a friend party until after Christmas. (We had a family birthday party on his birthday but I can't seem to find any pictures from that. I guess we didnt' take any. Like I said we were sick, I must have just forgotten to get the camera out.) We had an Army themed party for all of the boys in our neighborhood (plus Sierra and Laura) on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We sent out draft notices that told everyone to show up at our house in camo ready for basic training and war!

 I couldn't believe how dressed up everyone came! They really went all out. Some even came with their faces painted. We painted the rest of the kids' faces when they got there. Once everyone arrived and got their face painted we marched down stairs for a sweet obstacle course. It was too dark in the basement to get any good pictures.Sad, I know, because this thing was awesome! The soldiers started by running through tires, then climbed through a bunch of yarn I had tied through the framing, then they had to pop a balloon, climb under the air hockey table and then stand up on a bucket. They were getting pretty competitive about it and everyone wanted to go again to beat their time.

After the obstacle course we came up stairs for target practice. I made a target out of butcher paper and taped it to the outside of the big window in our front room. Then when they shot at the window with the Nerf bullets they stuck to window and we could add up their points.

 After target practice we had a tug of war in the basement and then we ate lunch in the Mess Hall and opened presents. After that everyone wanted to have a full out Nerf war in the basement. Two minutes into the battle everyone was crying! We eliminated the bullets and that solved the crying problem and everyone had fun until their parent's came to get them.

 It was totally crazy in our house for an hour and a half but it was so fun!

Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my family, my Grandma Murray and Uncle Raymond, and my cousin Kathryn and her family.

Grandma, Raymond, Kathryn, Emma, Jonathon.

 Emma, Jonathon, Heath, Jessie, Trevin (protesting Laura's piano playing) and Laura at the piano.

 Libby being her usual sassy self.

We had a little talent show after dinner. Everyone was suposed to perform something but most chickened out. Trevin has started learning the piano so he played with a little help from me and Libby.

After the talent show we played a few games. This one has turned into a tradition. My mom fills Easter eggs with different amounts of money ($1-$10 I think). One at a time we send a kid (only kids get to play not adults. Boo.) out of the room and we hide one egg. The we let them in and sing Christmas Carrols while they look for the egg. The louder we sing the closer they are getting.

 

After the games the kids acted out the Nativity.

 Trevin as Joseph.

 Trevin as Joseph, Emma the angel, Laura as a very upset Mary (crying on baby Jesus because she couldn't decided if she wanted to be Mary or the angel and then "everyone was being mean to her.") Drew as the wise man and Jacob as his trusty camel.

We had so much fun that by the time we got home we were pooped. But Laura was writing a note to Santa and the Reindeer so Trevin really needed to too.

Trevin had enough energy to write , "Dear Santa, Please leave me.." but then he was just too tired so he told me what else to write. I dutifully acted as his scribe.

 We left the notes with a few cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for all of the Reindeer to share and then it was off to bed.

 In the morning Libby was very excited to see that Santa had brought her the Baby Alive she had cared for all day at Target just a few days before. Trevin just asked Santa to surprise him and he was surprised to see a Bat Cave that his preschool teacher has at her house too. They were pretty happy kids.

Since Christmas was on Sunday we dressed up in our new church clothes and headed into town. We stopped at my parents house first and then headed down to go to church with Dustin's family and then over to their house. It was a busy day!

Halloween and Thanksgiving

My little sister Laura went to the Pumpkin Festival in 2010 and got a Home Depot apron at one of the booths. Trevin coveted that that apron for an entire year. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. So when the Pumpkin Festival came around again we knew we had to go. Laura spent the night over at our house so we all went together. It turns out that the festival was kind of a bust. They only had one pumpkin left when we got there, it was like a million degrees that day, and all of the lines were so long that we just ended up going to the Home Depot booth and then got the heck out of there. But it was so worth it just to get the aprons. Libby even got one. They were pretty excited about them even though Libby doesn't look like it in the picture.

 For family home evening the Monday before Halloween we all got together to carve pumpkins at our house.

 Heath's scary pumpkin. He goes for this style every year. I'm surprised that it doesn't have stitches and guts hanging out of its mouth. It just has the knife stuck in its head.

 My Mom's and Laura's cat pumpkin.

 Mine and Trevin's green pumpkin. I saw a bunch of green pumpkins on a trailer by one of our neighbor's house and wanted one bad! A few days later they were selling them for like 50 cents! I was way happy.

 Trevin wanted to be a "Red Ninja" for Halloween this year. I tried to talk him into being something that we already had a costume for. I refuse to buy Halloween costumes before November because you can get them  for like 3 dollars then  instead of 30. So I just decided to make a red ninja costume. I found some red velvet and black cotton in the remnants bin at Wal-Mart for like 4 dollars. Then I just got one of Trevin's long sleeved shirts and used it as a pattern. I made the arms really tight but other than that it turned out just how I wanted.

Libby didn't get any say in her costume. Trevin's old Dragon costume fit her perfect and I love it so she had to wear it.

 I tried to tell Trev that Ninjas just use their hands a feet as weapons but he wasn't buying it, so he had to take his gladiator sword from last years costume trick-or-treating with us.

 On the way into my mom's house after trick-or-treating I dropped my camera and it has never functioned right since. These are the last pictures taken with a fully functioning camera. Sad face.

 For Thanksgiving it was our year to go with Dustin's family. His parents were eating at his Uncle Chad and Aunt Sherene's house. So all of Dustin's siblings, their wives and kids headed over as well as Grandad and Grandma Gaye and Dustin's aunt Kellie's family too. It was a huge group! Meagan and Shelynne came over to our house that morning and we made pies together to take over for dessert. It was super fun! I love having my sister-in-laws over. We always have a good time. And dinner at Chad and Sherene's was really yummy and fun too!

A few hours after dinner we headed to the old seventh ward building for a traditional Thanksgiving basketball game. The rest of the family that didn't eat at Chad and Sheren's came as well. I only stayed for a minute before Libby and I headed up to my parents house to have another dinner with my family. Dustin and Trevin stayed and played a little longer then came up too.

The weekend after Thanksgiving Dustin played in the annual Alumni Basketball Tournament at Cedar High. His favorite coach from high school is the head coach now and host the tournament every year. This year Dustin's team won the whole thing! He even made the game winning shot in their first game. His friends from high school never get together so it is really nice to see a lot of them every year at the tournament.