FUN Times

I love this time of the year with all the fun memories, fun activities, birthdays, time with family and friends and remembering what is really important.  So with all that stuff and more, for us (and everyone) this month especially is very busy!  So here are a couple of important things this month so far....

First we had a birthday.  Yup, that would be Toby's 7th Birthday!!!  I can't believe my little baby Toby is 7!!!  When I was pregnant with him we didn't know he was a boy.  We didn't find out until the moment he arrived and I was sooooo excited for Ryan to have a brother.  Toby was born about 2 weeks early at 2:56am on a Tuesday.  He came into the world early and fast.  He came before the doctor could get there.  When I was pregnant I knew I had an active baby because he moved constantly!  After he was born, nothing changed.  He was always moving and wiggling, even when he was asleep, he would never totally relax.  7 years later, nothing has changed.  He used to watch tv while doing a headstand on the couch! (I'm totally serious).  Now he watches tv while jumping up and down, especially when he watching a BYU football game.  We LOVE Toby!  He has the funnest (is that a word?) personality.  If you want a good laugh, hang out with him for a while.  He is very smart and is a great brother.

Here are some pictures from his birthday.  Some are opening presents on his actual birthday and some are on Saturday at his party.  He took a few friends to Incredible Pizza (and we found a few more friends there) and they all had a blast!  It's a pretty fun place and the food isn't that bad.

Next was Alexa's first dance recital.  She was so excited!! And she did wonderful!!!!!!  Here she is in her costume.

(I know that's not the greatest picture but that's her class while performing.)

And lastly (actually it was before her recital) I played with the Herriman Community Orchastra.  It was alot of fun and I was pretty proud of myself!  This is my hidden talent (I don't know if talent is the right word) but I can kinda play the violin.  I played many many many years ago in school and stopped for various reasons.  A couple of years ago I met one of Ry's friends mom and she said she taught violin.  So, long story short, I started taking lessons again.  She plays in the HCO and convinced me to play for the Chrismas Concert.  The music was hard but I loved it.  Can't wait for the next one, I think in the spring.

(I'm in the back so you can't see me very good.)

We have had a great month so far.  The kids are excited about Christmas.  Even Sunny has presents already.

This will make you smile......

Alexa has her first dance recital in a couple of weeks.  Her teacher said to have their hair curly and pulled back.  Last night we experimented with those foam curlers that you put in wet hair and then sleep in them.

Last night :

This morning :

She said she wanted her hair straight tomorrow.  Maybe in a couple of days we will try the bigger curlers.  But I think it is pretty cute and can't believe how good they curled her hair!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a cold and snowy but great Thanksgiving.  I didn't take any pictures of dinner over at Grandma and Grandpa Jeffs house but everyone was there, and the food was great, of course.  I've thought alot about how many things I have to be greatful for and the list is endless.  A few days before Thanksgiving I tried to take notice of all I have been given, not just material things but everything!  I realized our family is very blessed! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Let it snow

Last night we got our first real good snow.  I woke up and let Sunny out and she had to jump through the snow, she couldn't walk.  Here is our patio table (and lovely trash cans in the background) to show how much we got.  When the sun came up it was very pretty! 

We LOVE our Sunny Day

I grew up with several different breeds of dogs, at different times.  I've had a German Shepard, Schnauzer, Chow Chow, and Cocker Spaniel.  But my favorite has to be our dog now.  Her name is Sunny but we like to call her Sunny Day.  Toby named her name because her mom's name was Sky.  She is a mixed breed, her mom is a black lab and her dad a boxer.  And we think she is beautiful!!  She really is pretty and I've gotten many comments about her.  She is big, can be loud, fast, STRONG, has the worst breath, but is the kindest, most gentle, most patient, loving, friendly dog I have ever met.  Well, except for her mom.  I think her personality is a lot like her mom, Sky and that is why we picked her.  We put up with her poop in the yard, stinky breath, slimey bones she brings to us and fur all over because we love her!!!  This is what she puts up with.

Being dressed by the boys.  (That's Ry's shirt. It fits her good).

They came downstairs after getting dressed for school and she followed looking like this.

 

Who's this girl?

When I was little I always wanted long hair, but mine was short.  I knew if I had a little girl I would let her hair grow long.  And that's what I did.  So it would make sense that my beautiful girl would want short hair, right? Yes, she has been wanting short hair for a couple of years now but I have kept putting her off by telling her she has beautiful long hair and there are many girls who would love to have her hair.  Well, I finally gave in and this is the result. (Yes we have kept about 5 inches in a bag.)

I surprised myself by actually really liking it.  I think she is sooooooo CUTE!

Halloween

Here are the Halloween costumes.  This year was cold and rainy.  The kids didn't stay out long, which was fine with me.  They came home and had pizza and we called it a night, a fun night.

Alexa also got to wear her costume to dance class on the Wednesday before Halloween.  Lots of very cute girls!

And there were of course the class parties for R,T and A.  Lacie came to Alexa's but stayed with Grandpa during the boy's.

We made slime in Ry's class.

Happy Halloween until next year!

Halloween Poem

This is Ryan's poem he wrote at school.  It's not exactly G rated but I got a good laugh.  Here it is.....

Witches Brew

By Ryan Jeffs

5th grade

I'll thorw in an ax,

and a fifth graders earwax.

In goes some eyes of a little little bird,

and maybe even an old man's turd.

Two wings of a bat,

and a Utah Utes Hat.

Let's put in a hose,

and a second graders nose.

Now we're done with our witches brew,

all except a little of you.

The End

Yup, that's my boy!  Happy Halloween a little early.





Capitol Reef

We decided to take a much needed vacation/getaway and headed down to southern Utah.  We stayed in Torrey, which is about 45 minutes away from Boulder (Utah that is).  It is about 3 1/2 hours S.E. from us.  In Torrey (well I don't know if it's technically IN Torrey) is Capitol Reef National Park.  It is fairly small, compared to other National Parks and so beautiful.  It has hikes that are small (2 or so miles) that the kids can do and we could take Lacie on.  We have done them before but never with Lacie.  It was fun and she did great.

This is called Hickman Bridge and was our favorite hike.

Here is the other side of Hickman Bridge.

R, T and A had fun finding different "things" in the rock formations, like faces, and animals (kinda like finding things in the clouds).  Toby saw a skeleton face here.  Can you see it?

Hint: it's actually on the rock, not in the formation.

Our hotel had a pool and the kids had a blast.  Here are a few pictures.  Lacie LOVED the water and naturally started kicking and using her arms.  It was very cute and funny to see it.  The camera lense kept fogging up because it was warm and steamy with the hot tub next to the pool.

On our way home (it wasn't really on our way) we stopped at Goblin Valley.  If we weren't so tired the kids would have had a blast running all over.  We had fun anyway.  Goblin Valley looks like a "field" of little goblins.  When you get down in them they are huge rock formations and they are fun to climb in, around and on.  Actually I don't think you are really supposed to climb on them but it was very interesting and if I was a geologist, I would be in heaven. 

Toby is kicking the "football" through the "goal posts." 

We had a fun time but are glad to be home.  Well, Larry and I are: I think the kids could have stayed for a couple of weeks!

The Park

The kids are "off track" for a few weeks so we are always looking for fun things to do.  We like to go have lunch with Larry and play at the park by his work and it is a nice break for him also.  Here are some pictures from the day we ate with him.  The weather was perfect!  We all had fun and Lacie tried a real swing for the first time.  She was a little nervous at first.

In the Beginning....

Here is the beginning of something that I hope becomes fun, silly, interesting, and full of good memories.  Can't believe I'm actually entering into the world of blogging, but here it goes!!!!!......

I guess I will begin with some of my most recent favorite pictures and see what becomes of this whole blogging thing.  Just a warning, our family is loud (even though YOU can't hear ), often messy, crazy, silly, funny but most of all, beautiful!!!  Hope you can handle it.