i love christmas time!!

i've been listening to christmas music since september. yeah, i know. i only have 1 christmas cd which happens to be my favorite (obviously otherwise i'd purchase another one). harry connick, jr.-when my heart finds christmas. turns out he has like a million christmas albums. i feel very deprived. anyway, now carson only wants harry connick, jr. all the time!! we listen to the radio sometimes but he just ends up wanting harry. i'll look into the rear view mirror to see him mouthing every single word. we were at a store the other day and they were playing christmas music overhead. of course, it was harry. and of course, carson yells, "mom!! it's harry connick, jr.!!" i was very proud. his cd just reminds me of making christmas treats with my family for our neighbors and his cd would be on repeat!! it seriously wouldn't be christmas without him!! enough obsessing about harry, but that's why there's a whole bunch of his christmas songs on here now, in case you were wondering...
i love christmas time. i truly am in a better mood ( i think) and seem to appreciate things more during this time of year. that, and i love giving gifts. not to mention receiving a few myself. i love visiting the temple lights with my family. i love the beautiful christmas songs, especially in church. i love, absolutely love going christmas caroling!! i've been learning christmas songs on my ukulele and practicing really hard so it will accompany me this year!! (still not good, but good enough for my kids!!)
christmas for children is so magical and i love seeing the twinkle in their trusting eyes when they see santa(especially when santa can call them by name), and on christmas morning. it makes me want to giggle and jump up and down for joy just thinking about it!! anyway, bring on the magic, giggles, jumping and don't forget the hot chocolate!! i hope everyone will have a happy, magical, meaningful christmas!!

Cody's Shenanigans

last week on monday night, cody and carson were running along the couch trying to jump from the couch to the coffee table. it's quite a jump so, earlier in the day i moved the coffee table a little closer to the couch but not touching the couch. so, cody was running along and his leg went between the couch and coffee table and SMACK!!! he split his juicy little cheek on the side of the coffee table. last time something like this happened to carson, i did not take him to get stitches (jonathan wasn't home.) he needed them. probably six or so, but i did not take him. anyway, we decided to take cody to get stitches(it was a super quick decision.) there is a phoenix children's urgent care right by our house, and he got 4 stitches. it was sad watching jonathan holding him down and co crying, but i'm glad we did. he got them out on friday and i made jonathan take him to get them out. he had a black eye too for about 5 days. it was really sad. it didn't really bother him though. no excess of crying or trying to take the band aid off his face or anything. now there is just a line on his face that looks like a paper cut.

holy cow!! halloween fun!!

wow. this is a lot of pictures!! i would have had more, but of course my camera ran out of batteries at the beginning of halloween night!! stuff like that always happens! anyway, this is halloween night in queen creek with my sisters families, and no the cute little bumble bee did not pee her pants!! hehe. carson was a skeleton and cody was a sailor, but he wouldn't wear his hat!! it totally made the costume!! from left to right: malloy as the big bad wolf. mckay as a teenage mutant ninja turtle. jaden as the cutest lady bug i've ever seen. roxcy as the cutest bumble bee i've ever seen. nixie as the cutest little red riding hood i've ever seen. the other pictures are of us at mother natures farm earlier halloween morning with juliette and adam + kids and also our friend amber and her two cute kids. it was so fun (except the part where we lost nixie.) and finally the smore pictures!! oh yeah and carson and i at preschool. i was a clown. it was great!! we also went to a halloween party at loretta's house. we were a family of pirates. it was fun. loretta was a troll!! carson finally acts like he likes loretta and kind of agreed to take a picture with her. the boys fell asleep on the way home and they looked so cute dressed in pirate costumes (equipped with mustaches and mr potatohead swords) sleeping i just had to take a picture! we carved a pumpkin of carson's design and the boys had a wonderful time. the picture of all the candy wrappers is this: my parents were out of town. i was supposed to come to their house to water the plants, get the mail, etc. i went on the internet one day and i turned cartoons on for carson. in the meantime he had made a big fort out of pillows and blankets and stuff. when it was time to leave, i went to clean it up. i moved a big pillow away from the ottoman and what do i find?! a HUGE pile of candy wrappers!! he, very sneakily, was getting candy and eating it in secret!! i didn't even hear him!! i laughed so hard! he wasn't even sick!! (i wish he would get sick so he'd lay off the secret stash of candy!!) he has secret stashes of candy in his room somewhere too. i find candy wrappers all the time and ask him where they came from. he always just blames cody. anyway, that was our super fun halloween time and we can't wait for the next big adventure!!

family night fun!!

for this past family night we decided to make smores. it was seriously a blast!! we used our barbeque to roast the marshmallows, and i have to say, jonathan roasts the marshmallows the best. his were all perfectly browned and warm. i'm very jealous. so i tried to do mine like his and i was too impatient. i just ended up sticking mine right into the flames instead of listening to his strict no-flame instructions. so, of course, mine always caught on fire. but i will say that i LOVE the taste of the burned-black marshmallow smores!! i know that is weird, but i do love them so. anyway, cody was hilarious. he kept walking over to carson and stealing bites and taking handfuls of smores. we were all gloriously sticky and very content afterward. it was so fun!!

lately, i've been feeling very thankful, just thankful for things in general. here are a few things i've had on my mind: (sorry if it's corny or cheesey)
i'm thankful for my husband. for everything he does and everything he is. i can honestly say i would be totally and completely lost without him.
i'm thankful for my two handsome boys who keep me feeling like i'm a kid and always give me hugs, kisses and shower me with silly, lovable faces.
i'm thankful for my parents and my parents-in-law for always helping us out at the last possible second and just being wonderful in general.
i'm thankful for my sisters who trust me enough to let me make their kids costumes and teach in their preschools!! i'm also thankful for my sisters because they never judge me and always make me feel like i can be myself.
i'm thankful for certain ward members who are great examples to me and still are my friends even when they know i'm a little flaky and a lot crazy.
i'm thankful for my good friends who always include me and love me still.
i'm thankful for my church callings.
i'm thankful for my sewing maching.
i'm thankful for my family as a whole. including parents, brothers and their wives and kids, sisters and their wives and kids, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law.. i love all of them and love to spend holidays and vacations with them.
i'm sure i will think of more after i post this, of course, since i have a slow-moving mind, but this will have to do for now.

there is one more thing i would like to share with you. i recently visited a blog of an lds woman. i don't know her personally, i just heard her blog was awesome. her name is stephanie neilson. she and her husband were in a plane crash in august and are still recovering. they have four children. she is one of the most inspiring women. her sister is keeping up her blog for her while she is in a coma (i think). she posts things that stephanie has posted in the past. the things she writes are wonderful. one thing that particularly caught my eye was this: our marriage+our children= treasure. i don't know if she made it up, or if she heard it somewhere, but the way she writes about her husband and her children makes me wonder what i'm doing on this computer right now, and why i'm not hanging out with my family!! if you want to check out her blog, it's www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. i love that saying so much. it keeps things in perspective for me. i might just make it into a plaque and hang it up in my house!! thanks for reading my long post!!

p.s. my parents computer won't let me post pictures of our family night! next time!

early halloween fun!!

last friday night, we went (my boys and i) with my sister-in-law eden, my sister tiff and her family to main street and the museum of natural history. it was so fun! we dressed as if it were halloween, and most of the shops on main were handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. at the museum, they were showing "night at the museum" and had the telescopes out so we could look at the moon and some stars. carson loved it!! he was a skeleton and it took forever to put the face paint on ( he had a runny nose and kept wiping it!) cody was supposed to be a sailor, but i couldn't get the dollar store sailor shirt to fit over his head. now i know why it was at the dollar store. so, instead he wore an incredibles costume i made for carson 2 years ago and was baby jack-jack (it was too big!) i wore a mummy shirt. (wow that sounds lame) anyway, it was a blast and the kids loved it!

cody's first birthday and other adventures!!

i haven't posted anything for over a month!! so much has happened!! here it is:

Cody had his first birthday party at a park by our house. it was a lot of fun!! most of our families were in attendance and he got so many great gifts. it was awesome to have family there we don't get to see that often!! he had a little bear cake all to himself and he wasn't shy with it either!! he devoured it pretty quickly and of course, objected to the bib, so he was a mess. we did some water balloons because it was hot and then we did the pinata!! i always love to watch kids bust the pinata! (i secretly wish i could do it too) it was a blast!! the other pictures are of cody getting stuck in carson's cupboard where we keep his little cups, plates, bowls and utensils. it has a drawer so cody (and carson sometimes too) likes to crawl up inside and usually ends up crying because he is stuck. these are two separate occasions where he has gotten stuck. the very last picture is of amber, tiff, my mom , juliette and i, in flagstaff last friday. it was juliette's birthday and we drove up to surprise her and take her out for dinner and shopping. it was awesome. we had to leave early the next day, but i wished i could have stayed the whole weekend. we went to oregano's for dinner and then to the basement, a really cute urban outfitters type shop. we were there 45 minutes past closing!! but they said they really didn't mind. i can't wait to go up and visit again!!

lake trip!!

jonathan and carson went with his family to the lake a couple of days last week. here are some pics!

this is carson. he fell asleep in the car on the way to jonathan's parents house with his "telescope" (aka paper towel tube thing) in his steve nash jersey for whatever reason. this one is melissa, eden and i at sunday dinner. melissa and i got matching apple earrings (representing twilight cause we're obsessed) and we have matching necklaces too. oh and matching shirts but we weren't wearing them at the time. eden doesn't have her ears pierced, but she has the other matching stuff too. oh yeah, matching bracelets. wow we really are obsessed with bella and edward!! yikes!


carson was playing outside on his swing set. after a short while we heard yelling and went to investigate. he had climbed all the way up to the roof of his fort thingy on his swing set. it made me a little nervous for him to be up there, but he seems completely comfortable up there. not afraid of heights like me!! apparently, cody isn't either. he climbed up this ladder so fast and was sad when we took him off.
this is, once again, melissa, eden and i standing in front of...the twilight movie poster! surprised? you shouldn't be! obsessed? yes we are! we went to the movies to see sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 (which was super cute!) and we just HAD to stop to take pictures!



this is eden and carson at sunday dinner at the saragers for eden's birthday. this is her birthday cake i made her. yes, you're right...it is twilight oriented. heart-shaped cake with a bitten apple and a brown wolf (for me, i love jacob). on the apple it says"bitten and smitten"...and yes we are! breaking dawn anybody?! best book ever! i stayed up all night reading it and was totally sick the next day from no sleep!!
the 15th is my birthday (24, blechhh) and i've already had such a fun birthday week!! some new clothes from my mother and mother-in-law and shoes too! they are the best!! last weekend, for eden's birthday patti, eden, melissa and i went to stay overnight at a hotel and to go shopping. it was so much fun!! we also went to sisterhood of the traveling pants 2, and ate at the cheesecake factory!! ahh, i love girls days!! speaking of... i can't wait to have a girls day with my friends this weekend!! we are going swimming at karissa's dad's house just like old times!! it's going to be spectacular!!

here are some pictures of my loves: cody, carson and eden at superstition springs mall on the 2-story carousel. it was three dollars a-piece. i was sad. they liked it though! jonathan, cars and cody at grandmother sarager's pool. i was very nervous watching them making the totem pole. but they seemed to enjoy it for the most part. carson, malloy and nixie jane in a cute blow-up pool at my parents house. thanks again to juliette, who probably hates me now, for watching carson for pretty much the whole morning while i looked for ukulele tabs online!

so cody is now standing up and attempting to walk!! it is so cute, i'm so excited! he also does, SO BIG! with his arms up! but of course, never does it for me. he will do it when carson and jonathan want him to but never for me!! that's nice!

another quick story, pretty much every morning, we wake up to carson and cody laughing in cody's crib. but the other morning we woke up to the book of mormon stories song fully equipped with hand motions, i'm sure and accompanied by the bom, boms after every verse. i was laughing so hard even though it was so early. it totally made my day!! so... nobody can keep secrets. especially women in my ward who were never intended to hear the secret in the first place!! intrigued?! if you don't know what it is (its really not that cool, and no i'm not pregnant people!) try to guess if you want! this will be fun! be creative!