Merry Christmas...a little late:)

We had a great Christmas this year! On Christms Eve, we had dinner and a party at Mandy and Jared's house with everyone. The kids got new pajamas from grandma and grandpa...and they were all so excited to get them. We also played the gift exchange game. Hudson played this year and he had a hard time because the gift he ended up with was not one that was meant for a kid. Thanks to uncle Dusty for trading with him:)

The boys in their new jamas.All the grandkids: Treyson, Traxton, Bladen, Oaklee, Hudson, Boston, and Ashten.
Christmas morning was a blast. Hudson was so excited about everything he got...even the clothes! His most favorite gift from santa was his big truck.

Boston did better than I thought he would. He did okay opening the presents(we helped a lot). But he didn't just play with the wrapping paper and boxes...he actually liked the stuff in the boxes!The boys playing with their new stuff!

I didn't get around to posting about Christmas until now because the weekend after Christmas was very busy for us. On Friday, we had a family reunion with Talen's grandma's family. On Saturday, Talen's cousin Braidy got married so we were busy all day with that. And Sunday was the end of the family reunion. The last two days have been recovery time for me...I finally got all my Christmas stuff down and put away and my house semi-cleaned. Hudson had a major regression in the potty area over the last week...so we've been working hard on fixing that problem before we head up north to visit my family. Other than that, we really had a fun Christmas. We were able to talk to Talen's brother, Trumbull, who is on a mission in Argentina. It was great to be able to do that. He's doing really well and will be home before Christmas next year. Well, I hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas and willl have a great new year!

Snowy Days

This week was an unusual one for us down here in southern Utah...it snowed...for a couple of days! Now, I was not very excited to see it (the fact that we don't see much snow is one of the reasons I love it here) but Hudson was so excited! And I decided that my dislike of the snow shouldn't be a reason for my kids not to be able to play in it, so when Boston was down for a nap Hudson and I went out and built this:
Hudson really wasn't much help building the snowman...he just trudged around and kept eating the snow. He really liked the finished snowman and he called him Frosty.

I think that Hudson saw someone making a snow angel on a cartoon or something because he wanted to make one though I'm sure we never told him about them. Pretty soon after he made one he decided that his hands and toes were too cold to play outside anymore and asked to go in...he never does that so I knew he was really cold!

A Day With Dad and Grandpa

On Saturday, Hudson was able to go to the ranch with his dad and grandpa. When Talen woke him up just before 6 that morning, I thought Hudson would be very unhappy, but when Talen asked him if he wanted to go to the ranch he was up and out of bed in two seconds saying he needed to get dressed. They were gone all day and didn't get home until just before bedtime that night. Talen said he had so much fun and that he froze, but didn't complain one bit! I think that Talen has a permanent buddy to take to the ranch with him from now on!!

2 and a Half

Hudson is two and a half today! He is growing up so fast I just can't believe it. One of Talen's aunts told us to measure our kids at two and a half and then double it to see how tall they will be when they grow up. Well, we did it with Hudson...he is 38 1/2" tall right now which, doubled, means he will be 6' 5" tall!! I couldn't believe it! He's always been a tall boy but I never imagined he would end up that tall. I guess when I think about it, he gets tall genes from both sides of the family, but he will definitely tower over both me and Talen!! Right now, Hudson is talking like crazy and he is such a smart boy. He knows his abc's and can count to ten and already recognizes a lot of the letters and numbers by looking at them. He loves to sing songs...right now especially Christmas songs. I love it when he thinks no one is paying attention and he'll just be singing his heart out!! He loves to be with his dad more than anyone...surprise, surprise:) He is so good going to nursery. He loves playing with the kids there and he can always tell me something about what they learned that day. He is a really good eater (at home)...and that makes me nervous for the future when I have to feed a 6' 5" teenager:)!! Overall, he is a good kid...but he is a two year old and he acts like one. I wouldn't change him a bit though...he keep things interesting:) We love him so much and I am so excited to watch him grow and see what life has in store for him!!

Gingerbread Houses!!

Okay...so I know I totally skipped over Thanksgiving and went straight to Christmas, but I just love Christmas so much! For Thanksgiving we went to Talen's grandparents house. We ate way too much, but it was soooo good! I didn't take any pictures, hence no post about it. But we had a good day. Today, we went over to grandma and grandpa Bundy's house to make gingerbread houses. Talen's mom is so great to assemble the houses before we come and spends the whole time making frosting for us.

Hudson really wasn't much help. He just kept shoving candy at me (and eating more than his fair share) then lost interest and went and played with his cousins.
Poor Boston was stuck in the high chair for a lot of the time. He was very happy when we let him out to play too.

Our house.

It took so long to put the 'shingles' on that we didn't really do much else. Hudson requested a snowman (on the left side) and I had the idea to make a tree out of an ice cream cone.

The big kids and all the houses.

The little kids with grandma and grandpa.

Random

So, if anyone has been wondering what we have been up to for the last couple weeks...these pictures will show you. A whole lot of not very much! The boys and I have been pretty bored with Talen being gone. This is Hudson's break-dancing picture:

He yelled at me from the other room and said 'Look mom...LOOK MOM!!' So I came running and he said 'I'm so tricky!' He was very proud of himself!
Boston is definitely still being a momma's boy. Any where I am he is there trying to climb up my leg. He gets mad when I won't pick him up!

The boys have been playing together a lot...but not really. Boston would really like to play with Hudson, but the second Hudson sees Boston coming for him he grabs all of his toys and puts them on the couch so he can't get them. This was a rare moment when they were kind of playing together.

Sadly, this is how much of our nights are spent. By the time we're done with dinner and all cleaned up I am completely worn out, so I'll let Hudson watch a movie on the computer. That is, until he dropped the computer behind the couch...now I can't get a movie to run on it! So, now I have to let him watch on the tv:

As for me, I'm starting on my second book and I plan on finishing a throw that I've been quilting for way too long now. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to completely finish my Christmas shopping!! I'm just hoping the rest of this month will go by quickly...and who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and Talen's hunters will get their deer early. Then he'd be able to come home! I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'm not going to get my hopes up!!

Trick-or-Treat!!

We had a fun Halloween again this year. We got the kids ready to go after their naps and headed to grandma and grandpa Bundy's house to meet up with their cousins to do a little trick-or-treating down Bundy Lane. Hudson had a blast and was ready to go to the next house as soon as he got some candy in his bag from the one he was at.

Hudson was a scarecrow and did really good at keeping his hat on and not touching his face. I told him he couldn't go trick-or-treating if he did...what a mean mom!
Boston was a lion and he hated his hat, so he spent most of the time with out it. I had to snap pictures fast so I could get a couple before he grabbed it and pulled it off.

They look so excited don't they?! They were both so done with pictures before we even started!

All the cousins. Back row: Hudson the scarecrow, Treyson the knight, Bladen the indian, Ashten the renaissance princess (I think?). Front row: Boston the lion, Oaklee Pocahontas, and Traxton the dragon.

After we left the grandparents, we came home and Talen got called out to work (yes...Talen was on call last Halloween too). We were going to take him trick-or-treating a little bit around our neighborhood, but I didn't feel up to taking him and Boston by myself...so the neighborhood thing will have to wait until next year. Hudson had fun anyway answering the door and handing out candy to all the kids.

On the Go...

Well, I've been slacking on my posts and I had a few things I needed to put on here before the Halloween pictures tomorrow. First, Boston is 9 months old!! We went to the doctor on Monday...his stats are: 22 lbs. 3oz. (76%), 29 in. (73%). His doctor was very suprised that he is still going up in the weight percentile. I guess after 6 months they normally go down, so he would have expected Boston to be around 50%. I told him that the 70's are low numbers comapred to Hudson though. He's doing everything right now that he should be, and his first tooth is all the way in (the picture above was my attempt at getting a picture of it, but no luck!). When his doctor asked if he was crawling yet, I had to tell him no. He was turning in circles and getting up on his hands and knees, but no forward movement. So, we get home and later that same night....he crawled.
So, now he's wandering into the kitchen and slowly following Hudson and I wherever we go.

I did take some video of him crawling this morning, so I'll have to figure out how to get that on here next.

It's funny because somtimes he gets up on his hands and feet and does a bear crawl. This picture is him doing that, but it just kind of looks like he is doing push-ups!

Pumpkins

We deicded to carve and paint pumpkins a couple weeks ago...I'm just late at posting the pictures!

Talen did the gutting of the pumpkins and I poked the holes for him to follow the pattern and actually carve them.
Hudson got to paint his and Boston's pumpkins. He loved it, but had to stop to pose for the picture.

Hopefully you can tell what they are. New York Yankees for Talen and Hudson, and Boston Red Sox for me and Boston.

Can you guess who decided the theme for our pumpkins this year?

Tagged!!

Well, I was tagged by Shaunelle and I had to go to 'my pictures' and tell about the 5th picture in my second folder. This picture is quite fitting for this time of year. It was the beginning of October in 2005. I remember this hunting trip well because it is really the only one I've gone on with Talen...and because that same weekend we found out we were pregnant with Hudson! I was with Talen on the fourwheeler when a bunch of turkeys were walking by the side of the road. Talen wanted to get a big tom, but I think I encouraged him to just shoot any of them. After he shot this one, he made me hold it on the way back to camp. It was gross and I got blood all over my pants! Too bad I wasn't asked for the 6th picture because it is of me holding the turkey(which Talen insisted on)...and you can tell I wasn't thrilled! Fun times!

Now I will tag Brandy, Jackie, Michelle, and Jess. Go to your 'my pictures' folder and tell about the 4th picture in your 4th folder! Have fun!!

Cute Boy!

Okay, so these are a couple weeks old, but I figured I would post them anyway. I took Boston to Kiddie Kandids for his 8 month pictures and he did so good. It took us a total of about 10 minutes to take the pictures...the photographer was very impressed. I'm glad I took him in when I did because we' ve had a rough couple weeks since. Hudson and Boston went through a case of the good old hand-foot-mouth disease:( It didn't hardly phase Hudson, but Boston was another story. He was absolutely miserable. I felt so bad for him. Well, the day after he started feeling better, I woke up with a terrible tooth ache. I went in to my dentist office and ended up having a partial root canal. Supposedly that was supposed to stop the pain, but it just got worse and worse (that was my conference weekend...super fun). So, Monday morning I went back to the dentist, and he figured out it was a lot worse than just needing a root canal. I did get a root canal, but I also had to have some surgery above the tooth next to that one. It was a bad experience. Now I have a whole bunch of stitches in my gums and my face is just starting to look normal again...I was really swollen. And to top it all off...all of this happened while Talen was on call, and he was gone a lot. I'm just hoping this is the end of our bad luck and we can start to get back to our normal lives. Oh, wait...never mind...I forgot that Boston is just starting to get his first tooth and he is not a happy camper. I guess that's just how it goes!!

Handbag Giveaway...

This website www.handbagplanet.com is giving away some super cute handbags...one every hour...for the launch of their new site! Go check it out!!

The Big 2-8!!

Today is Talen's birthday and I just wanted to do a little post to wish him a happy one!! He is on call today, so hopefully we'll get to see him for a little bit at some point. Hudson made him a special birthday card and helped me make him some yummy cake. If Talen is home for dinner we'll be having his favorite...chicken cordon bleu! We're not having his family birthday party for a couple weeks...but when Hudson woke up and I told him it was dad's birthday today and he started saying "cake" "blow out candles" "sing song" "presents". So, for Hudson's sake, we'll be having a mini party today! Talen, we love you soooo much and couldn't ask for a better dad/husband! Happy Birthday!!!

SUPERMAN!

Boston is so wanting to get moving...but he can't figure out that he needs to put his hands and knees on the ground. Instead he does the 'Superman'. He has figured out how to turn around in a complete circle...so I'm sure the crawling will not be too far behind. I'm not sure I'm ready for 2 mobile children, but it will be nice when he can go where he wants and not get so frustrated.
Whenever I'm taking pictures of Boston, Hudson always wants to get in too. When he layed down, Boston looked right over at him and gave him a kiss! I was glad I had my camera ready because it didn't last very long!
And here's just a cute picture of Boston. I realized that I haven't been taking very many pictures of him lately and he is getting so big. I can't believe he is almost 8 months old already!

Remembering 9/11

I just read my sister's blog and she posted her memories of 9/11 and I thought that was a great idea. I was in my first semester of college, and most of my roommates were still in bed, but for some reason I was taking an early First Aid class. I remember hearing my classmates talking about planes crashing and buildings coming down, but no one really knew what exactly was happening. I went straight back to my appartment and watched the news with my roommates for the rest of the day. It was a very strange day for me because I didn't know how to handle all the terrible things that I was hearing and seeing on the news. I was away from all of my family and I felt very helpless and a little afraid. I remember very clearly when it was announced that all the missionaries in New York were accounted for. I was very thankful that they were all okay...and I wouldn't know how important that news would be to me until some months later when I met and fell in love with one of those missionaries. Thinking back on 9/11 makes me very thankful to live in this country and thankful for all those who are still fighting for our freedom!

This is WAY too revealing...

Tagged. Thanks Lyndy:)

The rules: No cleaning!!!! That is it. I want to see how you really live. And you must tag 5 people back. Here we go! And please don't judge!

1. Closet




Lyndy, you said you had the smallest closet ever...well, now you've seen one smaller! I hate my closet...it is packed, basically, from floor to ceiling!









2.Sink



Not too bad...but this time last year would have been another story. I am very greatful for my dishwasher!!






3. Toilet




Ugh. Most toilets are just smelly and gross no matter how clean they are. Now mine is even worse because I have a little pottier who doesn't quite hit the water all the time.









4.Laundry Room



More like the laundy closet. I dream of the day when I have a whole room to do my laundry in, no matter what size the room is!











5. Kids/Pets




Hudson and Boston. No pets...but sometimes my kids are like animals!











6. Place I want to visit:




I would love to visit my sister in Silverdale, WA


7. Fridge/Freezer


What do I say about this? I know I could be a lot more organized...but who wants to organize their fridge?












8. Self-Portrait










This is the best I could find of a recent picture. I'm a mom...I don't have pictures by myself anymore!




9. Favorite Room

??In a house so small there are only so many rooms to choose from. This one is my favorite at this moment...it's naptime, so there aren't toys all over the place. And I love my couch.






10. Favorite Shoes





Trusty Old Navy flip-flops...can't go wrong there.






Now I tag Brandy, Jackie, Michelle, Jessica, and Cheryl.

Fall is my least favorite season...

Talen thought that he deserved a little space on our blog, and I thought that was a good idea. This weekend, Talen took a guy on a guided antelope hunt on the Arizona strip. They did pretty good because the hunt was for an entire week, but they got their antelope on the second day. I was happy to hear that, because like I said, fall is my least favorite season. This is just the start of some long and lonely months ahead!