Big Paul's Big Christmas

Paul is about to outgrow me. I know this because he points it out every time he walks by me. He got a lot of cool stuff for Christmas.

Nothing wrong with morning hair. He is such a sweet big brother to Jude

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Paul got everyone in the family a present this year. He used his own chore money to buy Dave the Wii game he wanted. He gave coupons to Jude promising to rescue him when he cries. He gave his airplane collection to Noah. He gave me a whole coupon book of sweet promises, like a no complaining coupon! He was really thoughtful this year.

Baby Jude's First Christmas

Jude loved his big dump truck. It reminded me so much of Paul's first Christmas.

I have a feeling that truck will get some hard use in the next few years!

He wants to run with the big boys, but eventually I get my little baby back.

(Check out those thighs!!... um, him. NOT me.)

Yep, Jude's favorite part of Christmas was eating the paper.

Noah's dinosaur was bigger than Jude and it can rear up on its hind legs and roar. Jude was fascinated and a little scared, but wouldn't stop crawling after it.

Baby Jude. Always brave in the face of the unknown!

He is the sweetest little guy imaginable. We all love

him soo much.

Noah's Christmas

We had SOOOO much snow this Christmas and all Noah ever wanted to do was go out and play in it. Our steps on the back deck were so thick with snow that Noah was sledding down them. Climbing back up was the hard part, but he even had a good time doing that.

Showing off his hard work!

Santa brought Noah a remote controlled walking roaring dinosaur Christmas morning. Everyone was having a good time with it. Noah especially enjoyed chasing Jude with it. Jude... didn't enjoy it so much.

Noah BEGGED this year to make a Ninjabread house with me. Yep, it's just a regular old gingerbread house, but I guess if your a 4 year old boy ninjabread sounds a LOT cooler.

Santa Clause came to Noah's preschool as a surprise and he was absolutely terrified. I realized it wasn't going to go well when we were walking in. Noah was nervous and he asked me if he was going to get shots? I guess the three flu shots this year traumatized him a little more than I thought. So, there was a lot of crying at first, then he tried really hard to look happy and tell Santa what he wanted. He didn't quite pull it off though.

Remembering Steve

Happy birthday Steve. Your always in our hearts. Love you.

Nathan

Nathan is leaving on his mission to Kenya, Africa tomorrow. I thought this picture from his visit here this summer was really cute. It will be fun to compare it to another when he gets back in two years. I think Jude might change a little bit...

Its Nathan's famous thoughtful look, I especially like the sunset on his face!
Oh yeah! Paul and Adam had a good time on the jet ski with Alan.

Noah was a little more timid in the water, and really, who could blame him? Take a look at the color of that water.

Nathan, Adam, Paul and Kyle had a blast. Good times at Lake Manawa. We'll miss you Nathan and we are sooo proud of you!

How it all began.

It was climbing up this flight of 120 stairs to get to BYU campus from the parking lot below where Dave first talked to me. He was on his way to study on campus, and of course, I was already late to class. He had some time and I was rushed. I thought he was a player and he thought I was a snob. Luckily, first impressions didn't last and he invited me to a fireside. It's all history from there.
Bridal Veil Falls

When we were dating Dave borrowed his roommates motorcycle and we rode up here. It was a gorgeous ride, but as we got higher up it got colder and colder. By the time we got to the top, in shorts, we looked at the other people up there and they were all decked out in winter coats and hats. We took a quick look around and shivered back down the mountain.

We had Paul take this picture and there isn't much grosser than taking a picture of your parents kissing. Man it is fun to torture small children!

Utah Family Fun

Oh sweet BYU. I had such a love hate relationship with you. Going back to walk through the campus with my boys brought back soo many good and funny memories. How could I resist the family statue picture?? Love it.

Bridal Veil Falls has changed a lot since I lived there, but it was still beautiful. The boys had a blast playing in the icy cold mountain water. The water was pouring over the trail. It made my feet go numb after about 30 seconds, but it didn't slow the boys down at all. That is Adam in the yellow and Paul in the white.

We climbed as a family up to the Timpangos Caves. It turned out to be more of a hike than we were prepared for. Dave and the big boys made it all the way through. I wimped out with Jude. A baby sling and some extra water would have been really nice! I felt like one of the brides with no oil in my lamp... dang parables.

My cute boys, stopping to pose by the clear mountain stream.

We drove up to Squaw Peak, the look out point. Of course my boys took off exploring. They found a lizard, so life just couldn't be any better.