BYU!

A trip to Utah would not be complete with an outing to BYU. On Monday we picked up Seth, who is currently a Freshman at BYU, and he went with us to the bookstore to pick up some BYU gear for Hoyt and Jett. Hoyt couldn't believe all the BYU stuff and kept saying, "Mom, look, a BYU football, a BYU hat, a BYU jacket" and on and on! He would have bought the entire store if he could have!

After our trip to the bookstore we took Seth to lunch at The Brick Oven. Seth and the boys loved lunch, and I loved taking a walk down memory lane! Hoyt kept asking us when we were going to go to the football game. He thinks every time we're at BYU there should be a football game being played! I promised him that next season we would be sure to take him to a game.

At the Wilkinson Center in front of a mural of the mountains surrounding BYU....


and we had to get one with Seth!


Hoyt had to stop and play a game at the bowling alley in the Wilkinson Center. As you can imagine, I had to pry him away!

Christmas at Temple Square

The day after our ward Christmas party we loaded up the car and headed to Utah. The boys and I were going to spend a few days with Allison and the kids while Ryon and Matt went to a conference in Las Vegas. The guys didn't have to leave until Sunday night, so we were able to spend Saturday night in Salt Lake, and Sunday at Bigler's before they left.

I was determined to take the boys to Temple Square to see the lights on our way down to Bigler's. I hadn't been since I was in college and I knew Hoyt would love all the lights and the visitors center. To say that Temple Square was crowded is an understatement! I could hardly get the stroller through the crowds - it was literally wall to wall people. Looking back on it, I guess Saturday night wasn't the best time to go. Even though it was extremely crowded, we enjoyed looking at the lights and Hoyt loved being able to see the Christus and "touch Jesus's feet"! Next time I think we'll go on a weeknight!

With so many people there, we couldn't get a very good shot - but this was better than nothing!


Hoyt could have spent all night by Jesus


Hoyt and Ryon looking at lights


Even though it was freezing, the boys were troopers and loved the lights!


Beautiful!

Let's Party!

We started off the holiday "party" season with our annual ward Christmas dinner. Hoyt loves to go, see all his friends, run around the church and sit on Santa's lap. Jett enjoyed crawling everywhere and getting into everything (no surprise there!). Thank goodness for Emily and Robin, the boys' favorite babysitters, who watched Hoyt and Jett that night while Ryon and I worked in the kitchen!

When it came time to sit on Santa's lap, Hoyt was a bit awestruck. He told Santa that he wanted Star Wars legos and action figures for Christmas, but I don't think he smiled once. Funny boy!

Jett was more interested in the spoon in his hand than Santa, but I was determined to get a picture of both boys with Mr. Claus!


Hoyt and Santa

O' (Artificial) Christmas Tree

Well, it's official. I have thought about it, talked about it, and written about it for years and we have finally done it! We bought our first FAKE Christmas tree yesterday and I can't tell you how wonderful it was to come home, put it up, plug it in and....tada....instant lights! I thought I would miss the fresh pine smell of a real tree, but honestly I didn't. I was too enamoured with the fact that I didn't have to water the tree morning and night, vacuum up needles, or spend an hour stringing lights. O how we love our fake Christmas tree!!

Hoyt starting to decorate the tree

This boy loves to decorate for Christmas!

The finished product - pretty fabulous if I do say so myself!

The only problem with having a fake tree is that I really don't want to think about taking it down. Now that I don't have to worry about the tree becoming dry and a fire hazard, I could probably keep it up until February....at least!

11 Months!

I would like to know where 11 months have gone? It seems like yesterday that we were bringing Jett home from the hospital and now he is almost one! I have to say that he is the sweetest little boy around, with the biggest blue eyes and longest eyelashes you have ever seen. At 11 months Jett enjoys:

crawling all over the house

getting into every cabinet, cupboard and drawer that he can reach

pulling himself up and walking along the couch, chairs, walls, etc. (He is not brave enough to let go at this point!)

taking baths with Hoyt and splashing...splashing...splashing

eating! He loves his baby food and is reluctant to try most of the "real people" food that I put in front of him.

saying "mama, baba and bye-bye (while waving)" We're still waiting for "dada" and "Hoyt"!

playing with and laughing at Hoyt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Grandma and Grandpa Murray and Marcus came to our house, and we had a day full of good food and lots of fun. We had our friends the Symon's over for dessert (they have six children) so we had a full house. It definitely felt like a Thanksgiving that I'm used to with lots of kids running around having fun, while the adults sat and talked and ate dessert!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little shot of the table before dinner...

and during. Hoyt looks pretty happy, doesn't he?

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Bathtime

Bathtime is one of our favorite times of the day around here. These two love to splash, laugh, swim, play, etc. They could spend at least an hour in the bathtub!

More Family Shots

About a week after our first family photo shoot, I took the boys out to get a few more pictures of the two of them together. Ryon came with us, so we ended up taking a few pictures of all of us together. One picture of the boys turned out terrific, so I was happy that I got at least one great shot! Ryon thinks I am a bit crazy when it comes to taking pictures, but I keep telling him that one day he will be grateful that we have these precious memories!

The picture of the day!!

Family Pictures 2011

We had a friend in our ward take some family pictures of us at Rock Creek Park in late October. One of the family shots turned out great....except for one thing! The background was great, the boys looked darling, Ryon looked good, but unfortunately my hair looked the most ridiculous shade of blonde!! What do you do? I guess I'll have to wait another year for a picture that I look decent in - oh well!

After the family shots, I took some pictures of the boys. They looked darling, of course!

Happy Halloween!

Luckily Jett was feeling much better the day of Halloween, so he was able to participate in some of the festivities. We went over to our friends the Darrow's for dinner and then the kids went out trick-or-treating. Jett didn't brave the cold weather for trick-or-treating, but at least we got to put him in his costume and take some pictures. I think I have the cutest Batman and cowboy around!

Batman and his side-kick....the cowboy!


How adorable are they?


Getting ready to head out and trick-or-treat


What a handsome little cowboy


Gone are the days when I could tell Hoyt what he should be for Halloween. He had it all figured out in August this year - either Darth Vadar or Batman.




Hoyt and his best buddy Logan


Trick-or-treating (Logan's big sisters are behind him). Paige was queen Amidala from Star Wars and Hoyt thought her costume was "awesome mom"!