Pick Me!!!

I'm participating in the Holiday Goodness Giveaway to win a certificate for this cool stuff! from this cool chick!

Dixie Got Hitched!!

On December 22, 2007, my sister was married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. We were simultaneously sunbathing in Cozumel, but our hearts were with her. We were very upset that we couldn't be there, but we'll get over it soon enough.

She's going to live with Markus in Australia for who knows how long. As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "lucky". Hopefully we can make our way down under to see those two love birds.

Dixie, we miss you already. We love you and wish you two the best.

Christmas Has Come And Gone

Ayden looking at the "river". Brent feeling queasy.
Ayden with mommy's hat.

Josh found some COKE!

Our room. Nana & Poppy put those signs on all of our doors.

The kids all LOVED these stairs.

We won that medal for winning Scattergories


Nana & Poppy. HOTTIES!!

Becca (Josh's cuz) & Dave

Mimi & Matt
Aunt Becki & Austin

Brent, Robin & Kota

-----------------------------------------Cousins in Cozumel





This beach was breathtaking


Christmas morning

Daddy making fun of Ayden's excitement

More surprises in the stocking!

Baby's 1st Christmas!

Cool new bike

Santa brought this firetruck to Aunt Videt's house

We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas this year! It was Ian's first and Ayden's fourth time experiencing the magic. We LOVED the cruise! Everything was spectacular (except for a handful of us getting sick). We highly recommend cruising if you never have. Be ye warned: you will eat and eat and eat and eat. We're still trying to get our land legs back. We've really had a great holiday season. It is so much fun to watch our boys enjoy their own precious moments just like the ones we hold dear to our own hearts. I love the feeling of waking up Christmas morning, knowing that a wonderful morning is waiting for me in the living room. I love my family more than I could ever express (immediate and extended).

Baby Chuck AKA Kota's baby cousin!

Do you like my hat?

It's still not cold enough to wear it.
This is why I get called lizard boy.
I really like bazil with my pasta.
This is why I get called baby Chuck (top middle).

I'm 10 months old.
I've been living outside of my mommy's belly a whole month longer than I was in there.
I love my big brother, and I love to say his name over and over again.
I love to eat anything offered to me.
I am so happy when I get to sit up and give my toys thorough inspections.
Everybody tells me that I'm beautiful and they love my eyes. It's embarrassing.
If I had to choose a favororite body part, it would be both of my thumbs.
I like to copy sounds, especially "PPPTTTTT!"
Life is good.

Bon Voyage!

We've had an adventurous few days to say the least. For starters, Ian is 10 months old now, and he's in the process of cutting his first tooth! Our adventure started Wednesday of last week (I think, the days are all running together for me). Starting Thursday, we've been to the doctor for either Ayden or Ian 4 days, the HOSPITAL 24 hours and we've had steroids, antibiotics and an at home nebulizer prescribed. The diagnoses: Ayden-Asthma; Ian-RSV Bronchiolitus, although I think they BOTH had RSV and Ian caught it from Ayden. Ian is the one who was admitted to the hospital. We just got home this morning and he's doing a lot better. Good enough that we're okay to go on the cruise. We're leaving tomorrow with our nebulizer, inhaler, humidifier, clarinex, singulair, and don't forget the DRAMAMINE for mommy! Wish us luck. I plan on enjoying myself, no matter what it takes!

Overheard in the Hutchinson JEEP

Ayden: "Hey mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy, MOMMY, DADDY!"
Us: "Yes, Ayden?"
Ayden: "I see santa!"
Mommy: "Oh! WOW!"
Ayden: "He must be bringin' me some presents!"

Elf Yourself!

Hey, We just made total elves of ourselves. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1411838335
This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

Christmas photos

We FINALLY have pictures of all four of us!!
Ian was trying to eat the fake snow, which is not a good idea since it's made from

shredded grocery bags. Poor Josh had to keep a close eye on him and kept prying flakes out of his mouth! Our friend, Phillip, took these and moved our heads around from other pictures so we'd all look decent! He did a great job, don't you think?

Why We Love Christopher Walken...

After watching Christopher Walken perform in "Hairspray" last night, I was reminded why Josh and I love him so much. There's no one like him! He's never the main character, but he's in
a LOT of movies, and he always does a great job. The best SNL skit he's ever done is "More Cowbell" which had us and the actors laughing out of control. FYI: click the underlined words for the links.

Slowly Climbing Back Down the Scale

With this cruise coming up I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to shed some lbs. I know myself too well, which means I can't stick to any diets or keep an exercise routine. Well, I found an easy solution. All I'm doing is cutting back on my portions. I can eat anything I want, but less. Doing this made me naturally start choosing more wisely too. I haven't had a burger in a long time. I did have one break from my diet the other day when I ate an entire Sonic chili and cheese coney. Other than that, I've been a good girl. We don't own a scale, so I haven't been weighing myself until last night. I was at my friend Helen's house (watching "Hairspray" which is an AWESOME movie) and used her scale. I got so excited, because according to her scale, I've lost 7 pounds!!! I still have 15 pounds to lose to be back to my pre-marriage weight, and I fully plan on getting there! Rock on, people! Oh, and I called Helen today just to make sure her scale is accurate, and she said she's pretty sure she would notice if her own weight was 7 pounds off. Wouldn't we all?

the Baby Jesus Conga Line

This was too funny to pass up!

Ayden lined up his nativity characters with baby Jesus in the lead!

Christmas Preview

I bought Ayden & Ian matching pajamas for Christmas Eve/morning and I couldn't resist buying this shirt too, which happens to match the pj bottoms. Whenever we get batteries that have enough power to keep the camera on for more than 2 seconds I'll get a picture of the boys with their matching pjs. Just in case you can't figure out what the shirt says: All mommy wants for Christmas is a silent night.

For a Good Laugh

Make sure to click on the LSU IS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP link to the left. It will show how we are feeling here with the big announcement we just heard.

Our Festive Home

This is the very first year we have ventured outside with Christmas spirit.

Josh enjoyed the staple gun a little too much! Ayden had to "help".
Ian can't resist the tree. He started out in the middle of that blanket and ended up on top of the skirt, looking up at the tree. I bet it's a cool view from down there.
Our tree. This picture isn't very flattering, but it's lovely in our eyes.
We have a snowman theme.

Ian will get his stocking with his name after Christmas.

The one on the right says "baby's first Christmas, which Ayden had from Granny on his first.

This is beautiful garland from 3 different types of trees.

Maybe I should get a closeup so you can see the detail.

Let there be light!

In Our Lovely Garden the Ians Are Nodding

Okay mom, here's a good three minutes of Ian nodding. Nodding is his gateway to communication. If he hears a good song, he'll nod. If he wants to talk to us, he'll nod. If he sees someone else nodding, you guessed it, he'll nod! We think it's hilarious every time, but we are biased since he's our child and all. Some of you might think this video is boring. To you I say,"PPPTTTTTTTT!" By the way, today is November 30th, so I survived NoBloBleeBlahh with only three days missed. Not too shabby! Don't expect too much posting from here on out.

the Brief Life Of a Gingerbread House

Ayden and Kota helped me make a gingerbread house!
They took these snowmen off the tree and showed them their new home.
They could no longer resist the candy.
What's so funny, boys?
There goes the house. It lasted about 2 minutes. How else would the snowmen get inside?
Now that is pure bliss.
They each got their own rooftop to devour.
Why don't you have some gingerbread with that icing?