Boys Update

Graham, now officially 2, is stubborn, independent and still a rotten sleeper but he is also the family jokester, loves attention, and completely precious. Graham really is Mr. Personality and although he can be quite a handful, his sweet little smile completely melts my heart. He laughs at everything and is constantly trying to make the rest of us laugh too. Graham is Crew's biggest fan but also really loves his mom, dad, grand parents and his uncle Cam (it really is hilarious how much he loves Cam). Graham is always answering questions that other people ask Crew and tells me at least ten times a day to "watch mom!" as he shows me his latest trick. It is so much fun to see this little guy in action. He is a super fast runner and scooters all around the neighborhood. Graham loves music and is usually singing songs all day long. His favorites are Jingle Bells, Happy Birthday, and a slew of Winnie the Pooh and Backyardigans songs. Graham is in the 90% for height and 60% for weight. He also loves dogs, spaghetti and tackling Crew. We love you Graham!

Oh and by the way.... he still produces copious amounts of drool!

Crew is my very big 5 year old. He really seems older than he is most of the time because he is so mature. I love hearing Crew's thoughts and watching his little mind work. He absolutely loves school and is always trying to read things to me and spell new words. Crew is my little monkey. He can climb literally anything and usually does. This big boy is usually a very good older brother and gives Graham plenty of reasons to adore him. He also loves music, dancing and singing. Crew is in the 60% for height and 20% for weight so he is my skinny boy but we are making some serious improvements in his eating department! Crew always just amazes me with all that he is capable of doing but he will always be my little snuggler and has the most tender heart. We are so excited to see all this boys continues to learn and do. I love my precious Crew.

Crew's Birthday and Then Some...

Can you believe my Crew is 5? Yes, it is true. Crew's birthday was January 10th and choose to celebrate all week long. We started the festivities by going for a little family hike at the Santa Rosa Plateau just 20 minutes from here. Really, I don't know why we don't do things like this more often. The boys LOVED it and it was so wonderful to be outside enjoying a beautiful day.

After hiking we got kind of cleaned up and took Crew bowling with his friend Tavin for more celebrating. (We've decided to only do parties on the even years now. The odd years are a fun activity with a friend). Crew and Tavin are pretty good little buds and they had a blast bowling.

Monday I took the boys down to Sea World for the day. We picked up my nephew Parker on the way down and had a really fantastic day. All the animals seemed to be putting on a show for Crew's special day!

Sadly, I didn't really get any great pictures of the three boys all day (Probably because there was only one mom!) But they were so good and it was so much fun to have Parker boy there with us. Tuesday was his actual birthday. Crew was up early and insisted on opening presents first thing. Love his little swollen morning face.

Tuesday was also his first day back at school. More reasons to celebrate! And finally, Crew chose birthday cupcakes: Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and M&Ms on top! It was a wonderful day. We sure love this boy and can't believe how fast he is growing up! A few pics I never posted from December... Gingerbread House making of course (Crew's favorite)

And Crew was a Christmas ornament for his preschool program. He was so cute! And true to Graham's style, he wanted a piece of the spotlight.

Christmas and Graham's Birthday in Arizona

The boys and I started our holiday break by driving out to Arizona on the morning of the 22nd. They were so good on the trip and were thrilled to have Grandma, Grandpa and Maren's family waiting for them. The boys started the trip out right with some Mentos geysers.

Friday night we picked Matt up at the airport and went to Old Country Buffet in honor of my dad's 60th birthday. He for some reason is very passionate about this joint however the rest of us were not quite as impressed! After our delicious dinner we headed over to the Mesa Temple light.

Then it was back to the house so dad could open his present. We contacted long time friends and family members and compiled a book full of pictures and highlights of my dad's life. It was really fun to make and turned out fantastic!

Christmas eve began with getting my dad's tractor ready for our trailer ride that night. The rest of the day was spent outside preparing luminaries, riding quads chatting it up and just enjoying a beautiful day.

Then it was time to light the candles

Little pyro!

Grandma and sweet baby Drew

I love luminaries on Christmas Eve. It is honestly the best part of Christmas and always seems so magical to me! This was our first Christmas home in four year since my little Graham made us miss our last turn with my family. It has actually been 6 years since my parents had all of us home because Christian was on a mission before that. Needless to say, we all really enjoyed spending the holidays together!

The tractor ride and caroling were a really big hit!

Sadly this is the only picture I have of Christmas morning. We had church at 9 so things were a little crazy!

Monday morning we all went to the zoo. Graham was just old enough to ride the camel with the big boys and he LOVED it!

The big boys also got to do the "polar slide"

That afternoon we celebrated Graham's 2nd birthday with my family and Matt's parents. He is not a huge cake fan so we opted for a donut hole cake this year.

Poor guy, it is so hard to have a birthday right after Christmas. He still enjoyed himself but we may have to work out a system as he gets older. He did get the new Winnie the Pooh movie for his birthday, mostly because I love it too. Seriously, if you haven't seen it you must. So cute and funny. Tuesday morning, Graham's actually birthday, we went to the park as a family and then hit up Bahama Bucks before Matt headed back across the desert. Maren't family left for Utah that morning too so the boys and I had a nice mellow afternoon together. We rode their new scooters to feed the horses (one of Graham's most favorite things to do).

Then it was his favorite, spaghetti, for dinner and an early bedtime. I did snap a few pictures of my parents house for those of you who were wanting to see it. Everything looks so beautiful and it was so nice to have that space when we were all together.

The next morning we got up early and hopped on a plane to Utah.