Happy Holidays!

I hope you Holidays are just wonderful!

Capturing the Christmas Spirit

I loved this video so much, I wanted to share it. Just click on the following link:
The Christmas Spirit

An Honor

A few days ago we honored my Mom on her birthday. She would have been 66. I am going to say it again.....I MISS HER! We all do and love her SO much and look forward to the day when we will be reunited with her again. So, how did we honor her? With double chocolate Dove ice cream bars. Her favorite! There were many occasions that we would have one together. I miss that!
and Dibs, too. This is one of the only things she enjoyed and could eat in the last few weeks of her life.
It was a good day!

First Snow!

Joshie's First Haircut *sniffle* *sniffle*

Joshie's hair was getting SO long! I LOVED the curls, but it was just getting out of control. I couldn't resist with these pics!

He still is stinkin' cute, even if he doesn't have any more baby curls!

It Has Been So Long!

Oh my goodness! It has been WAY too long since I have blogged. The Christmas Season hits and life gets CRAZY! I need to catch up! Let me start with Thanksgiving. At which I did not take one single solitary picture (lame!). Chad and Abbi came into town the weekend before and were here through Thanksgiving. Nate was nice enough to let me have his BYU football ticket so I could go with Abbi and Caytee. Here we are at the game. Love those ladies! We are just missing Chrys and Carrie, then it would be a complete C* girls picture! (photo courtesy of Caytee)

We spent Thanksgiving at Nate's parents with all his family except for Chrystal. We missed them! It was a great day with yummy food! It is just fun to be with the family.

A "Wicked" Weekend Getaway!

We went to Denver......ate yummy food, shopped, learned that some revolving doors require pushing, napped, walked around downtown, froze our tush's off, and most of all....saw "Wicked"!We frequented the 7-Eleven for hot cocoa and slurpees, where we learned 24 oz. of hot cocoa is way too much! ugh! My Hubby is so good to me! He planned this whole trip back in the Spring as a surprise. He knew how badly I wanted to see "Wicked". I love him! And, "Wicked"...... SO AWESOME!!!!!

Thank you Caytee and Preston for sharing the experience with us!

And a BIG thank you to Carrie and Carol for caring for our boys while we were away! :-)

I Had To Laugh!

This morning when I went to write something on the calendar, I noticed Colby had added something for me on the 14th and 16th. Here is a close-up of each. I wrote Denver on there and Colby added "Colby and Carson go to Bradys" (he forgot little Joshie!) And please notice the smiley face! My favorite part!Then he wrote "go back". Again, notice the frowny face this time.

This kid continually makes me smile! And you can tell he is not at ALL excited to go have a couple of sleepovers at Brady's. He LOVES him!!!!

Wicked....Here We Come!

Well, it has been a week! With Nate being sick, my schedule was totally thrown off. He is now back to his normal self. Yay! That Swine Flu is bad stuff! Joshie had croup and now has a cold and is pretty much miserable and crying about 80% of the time. So unlike him. I am ready for him to be back to his normal self! Poor little thing! Now I just hope we can all be healthy! It is amazing how you take your health for granted!

I am happy to report that my 3rd Primary Program is behind me. The kids did absolutely AWESOME and made me cry just like every other time. Something about children, and the spirit they can bring to a room. Such an amazing thing. I was so proud and happy to have been a small part of it! I have such a great group in Primary. They are just incredible and am so happy to serve with them!

Now I look forward to a weekend away with my Honey to go see Wicked in Denver! Wahoo!

Nate planned this whole trip as a surprise, including the childcare arrangements. He is just about the BEST ever! It couldn't come at a better time!

So this week I will be counting down the days!

Ugh!

This blasted thing has entered our house by way of poor Nate. Halloween night he started feeling some symptoms and the by next day was feeling MISERABLE. We are grateful for Nate's brother, Chad (who just happens to work in the CDC in the Influenza division...so nice!) who is always a phone call away with help! We love him!!! He was able to get us some Tamiflu and now hopefully Nate can be on the mend. Wish us luck and a big THANK YOU to Chad!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N ! ! !

From Mario, Luigi and Elmo

3 Reasons I Smile Everyday

Oh how these 3 boys have changed my life in so many wonderful ways. Each one is unique and special. I love them SO much!!!! They make me smile everyday!

First School Picture

Colby's Kindergarten picture. Not too shabby for his first school picture! Man, he is growing up!

There's A 6 Yr. Old In The House!

This cute kid turned 6 today. Ugh....why do they have to grow up?? Alas, he is and there is nothing I can do about it, except celebrate it!

We started the festivities off Thurs. night at a new place called Pirate Island. It is like a Chucky Cheese, but pirate themed of course. It was a bit crazy, but the boys had fun, and that is all that matters! Some of the family came and Colby got to bring his buddy Tanner.

Today, Colby got the "You are special" plate.....

had some Luigi cake upon his request......

and he got to ride his NEW bike.

and Joshie thoroughly enjoyed the festivities as well! (had to throw this pic in!:)

All in all it has been a great celebration of our special boy, Colby. This is one amazing kid! He blows my mind on a daily basis with his intelligence, love, sensitivity, humor, and tenderness.

I love you my big boy Colbs!!!! I love you all the way to the moon and back! Happy Birthday! We are SO proud of the boy you are and are becoming!

Thinking Christmas

Now, now, now....please don't scorn me for talking Christmas when Halloween is still weeks away, so hear me out! Over a month ago my mind has started reeling about Christmas gifts. Crazy, I know! I like to make many of my gifts, so I have to think ahead or else I am STRESSED at Christmas time. This year I decided (since my goal is to simplify) to start early, so that I can hopefully have everything done and just ENJOY Christmas and all that comes with it, and have more opportunities to do things for others. I have already accomplished much and am feeling really good about this year!! Yeah!!! Now, I have been inspired by two of my Sisters-in-law about how to do Christmas for my kids. I LOVE it!!!! It will be less stressful, less money and less stuff! So here it is....the 4 rules I am sticking by for Christmas gifts for my boys.....

1. Something to wear
2. Something to read
3. Something they need
4. Something they want

easy peezy, lemon squeezy!!!! well, hopefully! :-)

Such A Talker......Now

I love Carson......
not just because he can be sneaky......goofy......and just plain adorable.......But because he talks so well! He has worked so hard and done so great on his speech. His speech was delayed. On his 2nd birthday he was only saying a few words. A lot of the reason he was having speech issues was because of this:

he is a thumb sucker. So we put him in Speech Therapy and a playgroup and he improved leaps and bounds. He is now all caught up with just a few articulation issues, but is doing so AWESOME!!!! Now we can't get the child to be quiet. I love it!!! I am just so proud of him. He is a little STUD!!

His phrase of choice right now is, "oh snap!"

Proof!

Luckily a wonderful lady from our ward was there at the 5K to cheer her daughter on, so as we finished she snapped our picture too.

See we really did do it!

Joshie's 1 Yr. Pics

We Did It!

This past weekend was our City's celebration. Nate and I decided to run the 5K on Monday, at the last minute. Without really being prepared, I was nervous, but WE DID IT!!! Our first 5K and running event all together and we weren't last! It was so fun to do it with Nate. We pushed Joshie in the stroller and he loved every minute of it. Nate did so awesome. I was so proud of him! I have always wanted to do something like this and now that I have, I am less intimidated and I think I am hooked. We are planning to do a 4-miler on Thanksgiving and then my goal is to run a half marathon in 2010. Wish me luck! It feels so great to accomplish something that you have never done before. Unfortunately we didn't get any pics. What was I thinking not documenting this with a photo?! The best part of the whole event was doing it with my Honey and Best Friend!

Carson, Carson, Carson!

Carson did this again. This time around was not as pleasant and easy as the first. So after:

1. one Pedatrician
2. one Ear, Nose and Throat doctor
3. multiple "tools"
4. a screaming, fighting 3 yr. old (this kid is freakishly strong!)
5. a shot for sedation (I cried. So NOT fun!)
6. one wonderful husband who came to my aid after my teary eyed phone call
7. a wonderful Aunt Carrie who watched our other 2 boys

2 hours later we were left with an extracted popcorn kernel and this banged up, bloody right ear. Luckily there is no damage to the ear drum, just the inside is scratched up. I was emotionally exhausted by the end. Poor kid. I think he will really NEVER do that again......atleast we can hope!

A New Baby

A new little one will be joining the C* family in March. Now, now don't get ahead of yourselves! We are NOT having a baby! However, this cute couple is and it will be their first! Hooray for Caytee and Preston (Nate's little sis and hubby). We are thrilled for them. Congrats to you guys and we love you!

New Beginnings

Colby started Kindergarten today. He insisted on riding the bus and was not the least bit scared about it. I promptly got in the car and drove to his school to make sure he was ok and to get some pictures. But lets be honest.....I didn't go there to make sure he was ok. I knew he was, it was for my sake! As I watched him get on the bus my heart and eyes swelled. My heart swelled with a contradiction of emotions. Such joy and such sadness. Such joy because he is SO ready and confident, and this is a milestone of new-found freedom. I am so proud of him! And sadness, becuase it means he is growing up and won't be at home with me anymore. I have to hand him over to others that I hope take good care of him and love him as much as I do.

*Big SIGH*

Colby is ready to go!

Colby and Carson are spotting the bus stop

waiting for the bus with the kids


no Colby don't go!

look closely beyond the sun glair....he is SO ready!

sitting at his table in the classroom pointing at his name tag.

We love you Colby! Good luck this year!

Well, atleast I have my mornings to spend with these 2 aborable boys! I can take that!