Little Christmas Tree Helper

I decided to start putting up our Christmas tree earlier than usual this year. I was hoping to have it done before Thanksgiving, but that's not going happen...there's just too much going on. Anyway, I started putting on the lights a couple nights ago and as soon as I plugged them in Jaedyn freaked out and started crying. I'm not sure why she got scared, but it didn't last very long. She was over it quickly and then went about her business.

A few minutes later, Jaedyn was back with a big smile on her face and was ready to be my little helper...


Jaedyn quickly gained a fascination for Christmas lights and started helping me put them on the tree, it was so cute. After, she would try to play with the lights already on the tree, but quickly learned the phrase "No, No", not that she hasn't heard that before. Now when she goes to touch the lights she looks at me, shakes her head and finger, and says, "No, No". She already listens better than her brothers.


After helping me for a little while, I guess Jaedyn needed a break...she was working really hard, you know. She stopped for a little snack of a couple "Cars" pit crew guys (she's trying to eat one in this picture; she's not giving me a hate stare, although she does do that often these days).


When she was done with her snack, she moved on to making a few phone calls courtesy of my cell phone. She's got to keep up on the latest gossip with her BFF's. I love how much she gets into talking on the phone, it's so cute.




So, Jaedyn didn't end up being much help with the tree, but that's okay. I've been having a lot of fun watching her and her new love for Christmas tree lights. It's taken me more days to get the lights on than I want to admit, but she's enjoyed every minute of it. She's been playing with them so much that it's been a little difficult getting them on the tree, so I finally plugged in a separate strand for her, and she's been having fun with it (I did have to tell her once to not put the lights in her mouth and luckily she hasn't done it again).

I now know who's going to be my Christmas decorating assistant next year and for many years to come. Now, if I could just get the rest of the tree done!

Mommy & Sons Date With "Harry"

Last night I went on a mommy and sons date with Jaron and Jantzen to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1". The boys have been waiting a long time to see this movie and have been so excited. None of us have read the books, except Jaron. He just started reading the fifth one now, so we didn't know what to expect in this movie.


After only about a half hour into the movie Jantzen fell asleep. He was so tired that none of the loud (and I mean loud) noises bothered him.

Doesn't he look so comfortable sleeping on my lap...


Both Jaron and I really liked the movie, Jantzen will have to wait until it comes out on DVD to see if he likes it. It was a little darker and more violent than the rest of the movies, but it was still good. There was one part that made Jaron jump out of his seat, which gave the couple next to us a laugh. Jaron's now a little bummed out that he has to wait until next June to see the other half.

A couple from my ward was at the movie also and were kind enough to take a picture of me and my boys. Poor Jantzen was still so tired, he couldn't sit up and he had a hard time walking back to the car.


I had a really good time going out with my boys and I hope I can do this more often. I'm really lucky to have such sweet boys that don't mind going out with their mom in public...I love my Jaron and Jantzen!

Crazy Boys!

A couple weeks ago Nena and Tate were in town, so we decided to take the boys to the Dinosaur park to burn some energy. The boys love this park and I do to, except for the sand some sometimes finds it's way into my car when we leave.

I forgot my camera, I know what you're thinking...Me? I never go anywhere without my camera. I don't know what I was thinking that day or if I was at all. Anyway, thankfully Nena had hers and was able to get some fun pictures of the boys having a good time.

I'm not exactly sure what's going on in this picture, but I think that Tate is trying to climb the dinosaur head and Jantz is giving him a boost...watch those hands Jantz!


I just love how well Jaron and Tate can read the sign. Maybe they have "selective" reading skills, you know, like "numchuck skills". At least they didn't get hurt and they had fun, right? I'm not sure what happened to Jantzen, but he was there, somewhere.



And, of course, what would a fun evening at the park with your cousins be without a cute picture of all the boys smiling so nice...

Oh, wait! That's not what they're doing. Sometimes I just picture their smiles differently, but hey, they are cute boys with such fun personalities.

Aviation Nation 2010

Last weekend we were able to go as a family, including Nena's family, to "Aviation Nation" out at Nellis AFB. We've never been to an air show before, so we were excited to go this time. We were also lucky enough to have an escort (thanks Kevin) to get us on base with our car so we wouldn't have to ride the shuttle.

The first thing we did when we got there was go inside this massive plane. I'm told this is the same plane that houses the President of the United States' helicopter when he's in town.


Here's little Jaedyn and Sadie inside the plane...what a couple of cuties!


Here's Jaron, Jantzen, and Sadie checking out the seats on the inside of the plane. They don't look that comfortable, but they seemed to like them just fine.


Here's a picture of the plane from the outside. I only got part of it because it was too big to get all of it in the picture and still be able to see the kids, it was huge!


Jaedyn and Josh didn't last very long in the plane, so they went to check out the planes that were flying around. It was a little loud, so Josh brought some ear plugs for the kids. Jaedyn looked really cute trying to wear them, they didn't stay in her ears for very long though.


As we were walking down to where the Thunderbirds were there was many other planes and demonstrations going on in the air. There were planes that would fly by and bomb the ground (the boys thought that was cool) and then there was this big plane that dropped a parachute. At first Jantzen thought it was a little "Toy Story" army guy, but I told him it was actually a real person. He said it was cool to see, but he'd never do that...I wouldn't either!


We finally made it to where the Thunderbirds were and just hung out until the show started. Jaedyn was loving being on her daddy's shoulders and Jantzen wanted a turn, but quickly freaked out when Josh tried to pick him up.


Here's Josh, Jaedyn, Kevin, and Tate waiting for the show to begin...


This is the best shot I could get of the Thunderbirds jets, there's one missing. I had to hold my camera up above every ones head, take a picture, and hope it turned out...it didn't turn out that bad.


I took several pictures of the Thunderbirds as they flew around doing their tricks, but they all didn't turn out (I need a fancier camera). These are the ones that turned out the best and are my favorites...


I snapped this one too soon. They were flying right towards each other (the one on the left was upside down) and it looked like they were going to crash, but at the last second they both turned on their sides and went right past each other, it was so cool!


I thought this one was cool because the pilot was making the jet fly slow past all of us.



These next two pictures were taken directly over my head. A couple times I didn't know they were coming and I got freaked out as soon as they passed...they are LOUD!!



How crazy is this?...


The Thunderbirds were awesome!! I can't believe some of the crazy things they do in those jets and how good they are at it. I would totally be puking in the cockpit (TMI?).

Of course, we had to get a family picture in front of the Thunderbirds' jets, sorry kids, it's a little bright.


Here's my boys in front of the Thunderbirds building. I didn't know, until we came here, that Nellis AFB is their home. I thought that was pretty cool.


We wandered around some more before we left and we came across these bars that some military men were trying to do pull ups on. Jaron and Sadie decided to give it a try too. Jaron had some (a lot) help from his dad, while Sadie did most of it herself...she's a tough little girl.



It was fun finally being able to go to the air show. Even though we had a little bit of drama from some of the kids, I think we all had a good time. The planes and jets were awesome to watch, we'll definitely come again next year.

Future A+ Student...And a Blogger

Jaedyn is just too cute for words! Jaron has this desk in the toy room that he does his homework at every day. Jaedyn has obviously paid attention to him doing this, so she knows exactly what it's for. I caught her the other day climbing on the chair, grabbing one of Jaron's pencils and going to town on her "homework", it was just so adorable! Now, let's hope that when she's actually in school that she'll be this enthusiastic about doing her homework.


Even though she's using her right hand in this picture, we're still not sure what hand she's going to write with...she goes back and forth all the time. Josh is hoping she'll be "awesome" like him and be a lefty, but I think she'll be even more "Awesome" (with a capital "A") like the rest of us and be a righty...


Is this a sign that I'm on the computer too much...



Just yesterday I caught Jaedyn playing with the boys' laptop on the desk. She actually put it up there, turned it on, and started typing away. I think she's going to be my future "blogging buddy".

Sweet, Helpful Brothers

Jaedyn loves this little car that Jantzen got for his first birthday. She's figured out the whole walking thing, so she can make it inside the car, but she hasn't quite figured out how to make it move yet.


That's where her brothers come into the picture. Jaron and Jantzen absolutely adore Jaedyn and they will do anything for her. They are very quick to play with her when she gets in the car, which sometimes I think she gets bugged by, but she still loves them.

I love how Jantzen is trying to tickle Jaedyn under her chin and she's responding with a "what the heck are you doing" kind of look...


When the princess is ready for her ride, her brothers are quickly there to give her a push around the house...



When all is said and done and the ride is over, the kids are happy and they were able to spend some good quality time together, which makes me very happy. I say this a lot, but I love how my boys are so good to their little sister...they are the best brothers ever!

Stake 50th Anniversary

This last weekend we celebrated our stakes 50th anniversary with a lot of fun activities. We attended the mini carnival they had on Saturday with our friends, the Heiselbetz's. The boys loved it because it was a lot like the Pioneer Days party they have every year, just a little smaller, not as hot, and everything was free.

Jaedyn spent most of her time relaxing in the stroller because we didn't want to chase her all over now that she's walking.


There were a few different blow up slides for the boys to play on, one was a regular slide, one was a mini obstacle course before the slide part, and the other was a bounce house with a slide attached. They spent most of the day on those and it wasn't too crowded so they got to enjoy a lot of play time.

They love these things...





While the boys played on the big kid toys, Jaedyn got to play in a "little" kid area. It had mini slides and cars for the younger kids to play with and not be bothered by big kids running by. Jaedyn mostly played on the slide...


..and tried to climb up it (a bad habit she's learning from her brothers).


There were also some mini games for the kids to play, but Jaron only wanted to play on the slides, so it was just Jantzen and Dallin that played the games. They got candy as prizes because the toys were all gone. Jantz was funny about it and said, "I don't care about the toys, I just want the candy"...what a funny kid!

They played mini golf and Jantz almost made a hole in one...


They played "Plunko" and it was pretty much a tie between the two of them...


The last game they played was balloon darts. Out of three darts, Jantz hit one balloon and popped it, he was so excited...


After games, we all enjoyed some yummy root beer floats and snow cones (yes, it was still 80+ degrees here).


Even though Jaron didn't hang out with us that much, I managed to snag him long enough to get a picture of all of us together. We all had a fun time at the anniversary carnival with our family and friends. It's so nice to have a stake that gets together to do fun things like this.


At church yesterday we had a special stake conference with talks from past leaders in our stake. I didn't get to hear much of what was said because some of my kids were having behavioral issues, but I did get to hear the wonderful singing by our stake choir (which my awesome friend Lara and her husband are a part of) and they did a really good job. I'm glad I got to enjoy some part of the conference.

Thank you family for another fun weekend together.

My Poor Bloody Nose Girl...

A couple days ago when I went to get Jaedyn up for the day, this is what I saw...


...my poor little princess with dried blood on her nose and blood spots on her sheets. For some unknown reason she got a bloody nose during the night. I'm not sure if it spontaneously happened or if she somehow picked her nose while she slept and caused it to bleed (the air is really dry here).

In any case, she didn't do any complaining about it, she's still the happiest little girl I know, and how it happened will forever remain a mystery.