Black Eye

Yes, I have a black eye.  No, I did not slip down the stairs.  I've been playing a lot of basketball lately and I took an elbow to the face this week.  Doesn't it make me look tough?

Yeah, I thought so.

Rease's Kindergarten Class

This is Rease's class picture this year.  She has made some cute little friends and we have loved her teacher Mrs. Dunn.

Birthday Poses

Today is Liev's birthday and the perfect day to be crazy, cute, silly, happy, surprised and every other face he's making in these cute pics.  Hope your day is great dude!

Liev's 2 year old birthday

For Liev's birthday we decided to keep it simple and take the party away from our house.  We went down the road to Boondocks and had a great time and no mess to clean up at home!

 We started with pizza for dinner. 

 Then cake and ice cream of course.

 And a few presents.  Rease gave him a bracelet and he isn't quite sure what to think of it - she is so thoughtful!

 Then the party really started...

 We spent the next 2 hours playing video games and winning tickets galore.  The girls thought they were in heaven!  We really had a fun night together and loved celebrating our guy's birthday!

Just a few things about my 2 year old Liev:

1) He is such a sweet little boy and loves hanging out with his mama.  We usually have one snuggle time a day and, though the rest of the day he is usually running around crazy, he takes time to hug and kiss me whenever I ask for it!

2) His vocabulary has really progressed in the past month or so.  He can say the names of everyone in the family, helps say family prayer at night, is good with his please and thank-yous and his newest word: Awesome. 

3) Liev is so fun because he is our first boy.  He brings a whole new dimension to our house with trucks, trains, balls, climbing, jumping and wrestling.  We love his little spirit in our home and love that he is our boy!  Happy Birthday Buddy!

2 year stats from Dr. Erickson

Weight: 28.88 lbs - 58%

Height: 35.94 inches - 82%

Head: 20.2 inches - 96%

Kangaroo Zoo

We took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo this week - seriously the best place for small kids.  It has a variety of bounce houses for the kids to play on - small kiddie houses for the babies and huge slides for the big kids.  We were there for 3 or 4 hours and the kids had the best time.  Best of all, they were completely worn out by time we left and slept like babies that night!

Liev and Canyon spent a lot of time in the "under 2" bounce house.  They didn't get trampled quite as easily here and were content playing together.

 The girls loved the slides.  They went over and over on the tallest slides they had and couldn't get enough.  Liev and Canyon even tried out some of the smaller slides.

 Inside one of the bouncie areas.  I love that these two look like their trapped inside!

 We ended the night with pizza and capri suns.  You can tell by the red cheeks that the kids got a great workout and played hard.  Such a fun night!



The beanie

Darn.  I hate it when my hat flaps over my face when I'm trying to sleep!

Loose Tooth

Rease had her first loose tooth this week.  She was super excited at first and kept wiggling and wiggling on it.  Then when she realized it was ready to come out she got a little nervous.  She didn't want anyone to try and take it out for her.

 It was pretty loose and would get more loose as she ate and food caught on it.  She decided she wanted Papa to try and take it out.

 So off we went to the dental office and she was happy as a clown with the laughing gas on.  No more cares in the world. 

 Then before she knew it, Papa had the tooth out and she was once again excited. 

 The tooth fairy is going to visit tonight!



Happy 1st Birthday Canyon!

Canyon turned one on January 9th.  Hayley planned the cutest cookie monster party for him. 

She made different kinds of cookes and had them all displayed.  Then had chocolate milk and regular milk in mason jars for everyone to drink.  It was darling!

The kids loved it and couldn't get enough cookies.

This is the cake Hayley made for Canyon to eat. 

He didn't quite know what to do with it at first, but it didn't take long for him to dig in!

Happy Birthday little Canyon!

Making a Mess

Liev is always getting into something and silently making a mess.  This time it was a whole bag of teddy grahams. 

Scrunched

I've been watching Canyon lately as Hayley has had to fill in at work a lot.  The kids have fun when he's here and it's great to have cousing close by to play with.  We do have to get Rease from the bus stop every afternoon and this particular day I had Josh's car.  It was no problem - they all scrunched in the backseat and had a blast playing.  Who needs more room than this?

Couples Bunco

I've been in a bunco group for over 3 years now and we get together once a month to play.  We have a great time together and usually end up chatting most of the night away.  Anyway, one of the girls suggested that once a year we do a couples bunco and bring our spouses with us.  We decided to start the year off right and had our couples bunco night at the beginning of January.  It was such a fun night together with everyone and I'll have to say it was much more intense with all the men there.  They were very serious about the game!  But we had a great time and decided they can be invited back to play with us once a year. 

More Sledding

Josh loves taking the girls sledding on our hill.  Each time he gets a little more serious about it.  Today he made this "sweet" jump for them to go off. 

 Rease ended up under the fence and almost over the edge one time.  But they thought it was "awesome"  and didn't want to stop.  What a fun winter it has been so far!



BYU Game

Dad got tickets to a BYU basketball game from another doctor at the last minute one night.  So Rease and I packed up and joined him at the game.  The seats were right on the floor and included dinner before and snacks at halftime.  We felt like celebrities! 

 Plus it helped that we won the game! 

 After the game as the players were leaving the court, we saw Brandon Davies and he shook our hands and got a picture with Rease.  Wow is he tall!

It was a really fun game and so great to have such good seats!

Big Foot

Liev wants to be just like his dad!  He's handsome just like dad - that's for sure!

Baby Keen

Keen is the best baby.  He has been such a fun little guy to have around and is doing so many things right now.  Just wanted to share them with you. 

He has the biggest smile.  It lights up his face when he grins from ear to ear!

 I had to take a picture of these diapers that we are using right now.  My mom had a bunch of diapers in storage that she has had since we were kids.  She finally decided she could part with them so we all split them up and each got a bunch to use.  These are the old, fat, plastic kind with the sticky tabs.  They are quite a sight.  They do the trick, but I'll have to say we will be glad when our stash of mom's diapers is all used up!

 Keen has strong legs and always wants to stand when we're holding him.  Just wants to be a big kid!

 He is an expert roller too.  No keeping him in one place anymore!

 And he has the yummiest, rolly legs that I love to tickle and munch on.  Look at those rolls - aren't they the best?

You're the best Baby Keen!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Once again the group gathered at our house for the annual Panini Party for Josh's birthday.  I think this is 6 or 7 years in a row that we've done this and it is always a great day.  Not only do we get to celebrate Josh's birthday, but we get to hang out with our friends and family for a day!  Our house is just big enough to fit everyone but we all squeezed in just fine! 

 Our little family when Josh turned 34. 

Wow - 34!  Really Josh, that is old!

We sure do love you though and I am thankful every day that you're my partner!  Hope your day was a great one!

Rapunzel Squared

The girls both got Rapunzel wigs from Grammie for Christmas this year.  They thought they were just "so beautiful" as Rapunzel in their dresses, wigs and all. 

You are beautiful sisters!

BYU Basketball

My Uncle Chris is a cameraman for the Jazz.  One of the first BYU games was played at the Energy Solutions Arena so he got us tickets to come watch while he ran the camera.  It was a great game and really fun to have Chris there too.  BYU Basketball has begun!

Rhen was super cute in her BYU outfit with her pom-pom.  She cheered the whole game!