Christmas Preparations

Here is what Christmas looks like at our house!

Halloween

Dylan was a firefighter this year! It was fun this year, because Dylan understood Halloween a little better. We went to our ward's trunk or treat and Dylan enjoyed having candy handed to him over and over again. It was cute to see him interact with our backdoor neighbor who is his friend Zane at the end of the trunk or treat. They just jabbered back and forth to each other and were so excited! I also took Dylan around to some of the neighbor's and he would knock on the door and say trick or treat! So cute and fun to watch my little boy grow up and learn of the fun American traditions. We are looking forward to Christmas!

There are 5 other new posts besides this one, so keep looking!! Now that I am done with school I have more time to blog, cook, potty train, and play with my crazy two year old and handsome husband. I need to get the pics from my mom's camera I borrowed for our date night when we went to the Lion King on broadway, it was awesome!

First Snow Fall

It is so weird because today it was 68 degrees and just a week or so ago we woke up to this. Dylan had a good time playing in the snow, and insisted on riding his bike right on through it, and also jumping on the trampoline.

Family Times

This picture was taken at a baby shower for Kara. I love my mom and sisters!

My cute nieces after I did their hair. Lindsie said, "I wish I could have my hair done like this everyday." So cute, seriously Melanie, please can I adopt your children?

Melanie's kids Peyton, Aubrey, and Lindsie posing at Thanksgiving Point! They came and stayed overnight at my house and helped me babysit my brother Darrin's two boys. It was a house full, but with Melanie's kids around it felt like I had 3 maids staying with me. They are so well behaved and trained by their mother to keep everything very clean and in order.

My best friend's wedding...

One of my best friends recently was married and it was so fun to be able to attend the wedding ceremony at the Timpanogas Temple, especially because it was in the same sealing room that Bryan and I were married in! She looked beautiful and she was so happy! It is great to see two people so in love and excited for the future. Krystal has been such a good friend to me and I am so happy for her!

My new found joy of Canning!

These year I decided to expand my homemaking skills to include canning. I canned 23 jars of peaches and we have already loved them. Dylan will eat peaches every meal of the day if I serve them, he loves them! Also, I have the best recipe for peach cobbler in the world, and my canned peaches are perfect for cobbler! I only wish I had canned more cause we have already used up quite a few jars.

My other canning experience was with apple butter. MMM, yummy. And what is even better is that I made it with my crockpot, which I love! So easy, so good, and they will make great Christmas gifts with a fresh homemade loaf of bread.

My canning started with a new found dedication to food storage and emergency preparedness. I now have a well stocked pantry, fridge, and freezer with lots more in my storage room in the basement. My next two projects are organizing my storage room in the basement and finding a system for all of my recipes. If anyone has any good recipe systems they have, please share!

Sneak Peek of our New Family Pictures

Our friend Kristina, was nice enough to take our pictures again this year and these are the few that she has shown us so far. Considering Dylan's behavior during the shoot, I am relieved and excited for how the pics turned out.

Ode to Dawson...

I got Dawson when he was 5 weeks old in October of 2004. I had just moved in with my brother Scott and I really just wanted to be married and starting a family. Well, seeing I was not dating anyone of any significance I decided to get a dog. Dawson was a great companion for me at that time in my life and I enjoyed having him. Looking back, I realize I was not a good dog owner and a pretty bad dog trainer. I bought Dawson for $600, but that was only the beginning of a small fortune he cost me. When I moved out of living with Scott, I had to replace the carpet in the room I had stayed in because little did I know Dawson had been peeing under the bed and had ruined the carpet. He also chewed up baseboards and portions of the carpet in other room which later on when I bought the condo for Scott, I repaired. I will admit this now just to demonstrate how bad of a dog owner I was. When Dylan was born I was so lazy that I allowed Dawson to pee on our outside patio that first winter which led me to needing to replace the outside carpet. I was too embarrassed to hire someone else to rip up the carpet for me and replace it, so I did it myself. What a job, that was disgusting. I had to rip up the carpet and then scrape of the glue and then paint a couple coats of Primer to get rid of the smell before I could hire someone to lay down fresh, new carpet. When we lived in Virginia we ended up having to throw away a queen size bed because of the damage Dawson had done to it. All said and done, I loved Dawson like crazy and he was a member of my family. Due to his poor potty training, I could never let him loose in the house while we were gone so he would live in the laundry room while we were away at work. After moving into our new house that does not have a fenced in backyard, and me being gone for 15 hours on days I work, I felt so bad for the dog that I decided it was time to move him on to a new, better home that could give him more attention and love than we could. Also, Bryan had told me that we could not replace our carpet until Dawson was dead. I could not bear living with the current carpet we have until probably a good 8 years or so, which prompted my decision as well. I posted an ad on KSL thinking that I would see if we got any interest, but did not truly think anything would happen. Little did I know, Dawson was gone 4 hours later. I cried for 2 days straight and felt like a terrible person, but over time I had realized that it was the best decision to make for Dawson, me and my family. I have spoken to the lady who took Dawson and she is in love with him and told me that he has literally changed her life. She is a single lady who was quite lonely before Dawson. She carries him everywhere she goes in a purse, is getting him trained to be a therapeutic dog, and is always home with him. When I am driving home from a long day at work I am so grateful that Dawson is being cared for by this new lady in her home, rather than spending the day in our laundry room. I love dogs, but it will be a long time before I have another dog, and if I ever do I will get him or her professionally trained for sure. I will always miss Dawson, but am grateful to feel contented with where he is now.

Fun in the Sun

This summer Dylan enjoyed playing in the water, be it be at Grandma and Grandpa's pool, the local swimming pool, or just outside playing in the hose.


Dylan's cousin Katelyn spent the day with us and I took them in my bike trailer to the park and out to lunch at the community center, then they enjoyed time playing with the hose before it was time for a nap (for the kids and myself, to any of you who do not know, I love nap time! I could sure use the time to work on school work, but there is nothing better than a nap in thmiddle of the day!


Dylan sure loves to make messes with his food.

Beginning of Updates, Dylan turned 2!

Dylan turned 2 on July 1st, 2010. We had a birthday party for him at our house with our family. It was a ball-themed party!. I made meatBALLS with cream sauce, fried mac n' cheese BALLS, watermelon BALLS, and cupcakes decorated as BALLS. It was a fun time and Dylan got a lot of fun presents! Thank you everyone for coming!

Aunt Alyssa and Dylan playing with kazoos...

Yummy BALL food...

Amateur decorated cupcakes...

Dylan trying out the frosting...

Blowing out the candle...

My mom and I...

Cousin Lindsie playing with the party balloons...

Cousin Peyton...

Cousin Crew enjoying the party...

MMMM....

Hanging out while Dylan opened presents...

Aunt Jen, Aunt Melanie, Cousins Katelyn & Aubrey...

Aunt Jen and some kids...

Katelyn and Dylan, cousins only 1 month apart...

Aunt Kara, cousin Hallie, Aunt Melanie, & Dylan...

Mom & her big birthday boy!

What's new with Dylan

A couple mornings ago Bryan and I were in our bedroom and Dylan had been playing in his room. It had been quiet for a minute so we went to check on him and we found him in his crib. He had somehow managed to climb up into his crib, so we figured it was time for a toddler bed so he would not hurt himself climbing out of his crib. So far he likes it pretty well, but this morning I found him sleeping on the floor next to the pillow I had placed next to his bed. I have heard they have small guard rails to put on the mattress, so I am going to get one of those so he does not keep rolling off the bed in his sleep.

Dylan checking out his new bed after I made it! He thinks it is pretty cool. Just today he took Grandma and Papa into his room to see his "big boy bed."


We have been enjoying the lovely weather and doing a lot of swimming and playing outside lately. I need to start taking some pictures, then I will have some more things to post about. I am pretty proud of my flower gardens and will post some pictures soon!

Thankful!

I am thankful for this past Easter weekend and the remembrance of the Savior and his resurrection. How comforting it is to know that Christ lives and that He loves each and every one of us. There is a plan and reason for this life and I am so grateful to have this knowledge and be able to teach it to my children. I am so blessed to be a mother and have such a wonderful little boy to raise and I know I have so far to go to reach my potential and to create the home that my Savior would want me to have. I am grateful for General Conference and the teachings that were given by such inspired men and women. I love my family so much and am grateful for the multitudes of blessings that have been poured out upon my family. As I work at the hospital and see the trauma and turmoil that people go through I wonder why I have it so easy. Bryan helps remind me that we will have our trials too and that we should just enjoy the good times while helping others through their hard times. My husband is such a good example to me of how to treat others. He is so kind and genuine to everyone. I love him so much and cherish the times we get to spend with each other. Time flies so fast that I need to remember to just enjoy every minute of it.

Easter, 2010

The Friday before Easter Bryan's work did a egg hunt for the kids and the Easter bunny even showed up. Just like Santa though, Dylan did not like the Easter bunny. In fact he didn't even like any of it except for the ride home when he was able to chow down on all of his candy!


What a great Easter Sunday we had. We started it off having my parents and my brother Darrin and his family over for breakfast and Conference. The later that night everyone came back over for dinner, easter egg hunt, and dessert. My brother Scott and his family came as well. Here are some pictures from the Easter egg hunt.

Katelyn is Scott's little girl. She just wanted to stick all of the smarties directly into her mouth, wrapper and all! So cute!

I love this picture of Dylan! What a handsome, happy little boy I have!

This picture is not from Easter but I love it. Since we have moved to Lehi we are 5 minutes away from Dylan's cousin Carter and they are becoming good friends (when they are not fighting over toys) On a side note, my parents just moved all of their stuff into their new home in Lehi this past weekend. They still have to stay in Price till the end of the school year, but we are so excited to have them close!