"Charlie" Temple

I have discovered how fun it is to put sponge rollers in Zoe's hair. Her hair gets SOOOOO tightly curled, it is too funny. Austin was calling Zoe "Charlie Temple"! I think she look so cute with her hair like this. I am tempted to try it out myself. And I totally expected to have to put her into a straight jacket or something to get her to keep them in her hair, but she did not care, nay, she delighted in the fact that she had them in!

BEFORE

AFTER

Zoe's SEXAY pose

P.S. Aren't those the cutest jammies ever? Zoe LOVES them. She thinks she is "Lulla" (cinderella) when she wears them.

Travis is The Beeeest! (to be said like Nacho Libre)

This year Travis gave me an AWESOME present!! There were 4 small wrapped things in the tree, labeled 1 of 4, 2 of 4, 3 of 4 and 4 of 4. There was also a prequel. So I read opened the prequel, and it was a letter that said this...

This was so exciting!! So you wanna know what the other 4 envelopes were? Tickets to Wicked in Hollywood, BON JOVI CONCERT TICKETS in LA!!! Whale Watching in Dana Point and Airplane tickets!!! I am sooooo excited!!! And when we aren't doing those things, we will be playing at Disneyland!! I knew that he got me tickets to the concert, cuz I found them in the sock drawer, but I had NO IDEA about all this other stuff. And he already has a babysitter arranged, I mean, he thought of everything! I love that! So Thanks Travis!!!! Love ya!!!!

Tink? Jerzi?

Here is our new dog!!! We LOVE her! She is seriously way too cute for her own britches. She will be 6 weeks on Sat. The name? Austin was automatically calling her Tink, which I think fits her perfectly, although I am still toying with Jerzi. (Bon Jovi is from Jersey, keep up.) She loves the kids, and loves to chase them in the backyard. It is soo funny! Here she is taking on Zoe's toy dog that is the same size as her. Thanks Santa!!

Christmas 2007!

This Christmas was awesome, mostly because Jon Bon was a major part of it, but more on that later. Also, because it was our first christmas at home, Santa brought us our new little puppy who is yet to have an OFFICIAL name, and lots of other reasons. I am soooo sad that it is all over, this year went by toooooo fast. But here are some pics and highlights from this years holiday hoorahs!

Here is what the room looked like before we even started opening anything.

Austin helping us tell the Christmas Story.

Christmas Eve, Santa always brings our family pajamas. Here they are.

Cassie and Kevin and my favorite, Diesel, surprised us by driving the 25-30 minute trek through blistering winds, and scorching desert, to come and hang out with us on Christmas Eve. Look at this precious little face.

Look at this... My parents gave me a SIGNED framed picture of my man, Bon Jovi! Yes it is authentic. It is being displayed PROUDLY next to my fireplace. Thanks Mom and DAD!!

These are the cookies we made for Santa. He ate them ALL. Thanks Jana for the Santa shapes.

Santa brought Austin his BIG Optimus Prime transformer that he wanted, and he brought Zoe a retro kitchen that she LOVES. He also brought them a Doggy! That one deserves its own post.

Austin and Travis got matcing hats and later when Travis opened up another hat and put it on because they weren't wearing the same hats anymore.

Zoe's favorite present this year??? These princess shoes that Cassie and KEvin gave her. She wears them all day, every where we go. IT is soo cute.

To sum it up, this was the year of Transformers, Princess stuff, Mets stuff and Bon Jovi. IT was fun and thanks Mom and Dad and Josh for coming over!!!!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa John!!

This last weekend we went up to Safford to do christmas with Travis's side of the family. It was really fun! Among all the other presents they were spoiled with there, the kids were also surprised to see that there was a brand new Trampoline waiting for them at home... here are some pics. They love it!!! They have been playing on it non-stop since Travis set it up yesterday! They have been playing Crack the Egg, Dead Man Walking, and other games. Thanks for everything you guys!!!

I LOVE THE OCEAN

Back in May when we went to Sea World, Travis gave a VERY cool present for Mother's Day. He bought me a Dolphin Encounter package so that I could go in and be with the Dolphins! I didn't have a blog at the time, so now that I do, I want to share these pics. It was sooo fun. I have always loved the ocean and especially sea life. I always LOVED going to Sea World when I was younger. We went there on our honeymoon. I always wanted to be a Marine Biologist, (but of course, what little girl didn't). Anyway, this was something I have always wanted to do, and Travis made that happen. I LOVE OCEAN LIFE! You know how some people are about their Dogs and stuff? That is me with Whales and Dolphins, and any form of sea animal. I LOVE learning about them, I LOVE watching them. I want to go Whale Watching more than anything and see these animals in their natural habitat. It absolutley fascinates me. THat is why it makes me so sad to read about Whale Hunting and captivity. I can't say that enough. (If anyone ever wants to read about what I am talking about, let me know. I wrote a paper on it.) ANyway, this wasn't supposed to turn into a lesson or a rant, it was supposed to be me sharing some awesome pics of me and a Dolphin. Here are the pics!

Help Me!

Tomorrow night, Monday, we are going to my Home teachers house for Family Night. He said I was in charge of the treats. Then he said "Oh and we don't eat sugar anymore!" So, what the heck kind of a treat do I make that has no sugar? I know that there are some people who read this blog that would have excellent ideas, so help me! I just hope that I posted this in time for you to read it before tomorrow night...

Yes, Zoe?

Just FYI. Zoe has expanded her vocabulary this week ALOT. It is amazing how all of a sudden these kids will just start to talk when yesterday they couldn't you know? Here are some new things she said this week.

Disneyland
Ariel (and she can identify all the following princesses)
Jasmine
Belle
I wanna come! and I wanna come with you!
Its in my room
Thank you (instead of "Dee")
I don't know

When you tell her "no" to something, this week she started saying "Why?" with a concerned look on her face.

And sadly I think she is over saying "Aye!". This one makes me sad!! I loved that she said that instead of yes. Now she will just say "Uh-huh!")

Recently she has learned to say Santa. Except she calls him "Ho ho ho".

She is so cute! I think I will keep her for awhile.

Shock Therapy Please

Thanks to Vonda's ever enlightening blog, I just became aware of something that is, in my opinion, quite a tragedy. Look at who they cast as our EDWARD CULLEN for the highly anticipated movie TWILIGHT. I think my guy that I picked was a way better Edward... don't you?? That casting director should be fired. I mean look at him, he is not my Edward.

This is my Edward, as I am sure you all remember. The guy on the right.

More Austin Funny's

Things Austin says wrong, but could be right.



Vampire- "VAMPIRATE"

Rainbow- "IMAGINATION" As in "Look Mom! There is an imagination over there!"

Table- "TABOW" ( I have no idea why he doesn't say this right)

Napkin- " Nap-TI-can"

Bridge- "Gridge"

Feather- "Heather"

Also, yesterday, Austin REALLY REALLY had the itch to make christmas cookies. No idea why. But he is my crafty one. I REALLY REALLY did NOT want to make christmas cookies yesterday. He kept bugging me to make them, and I kept telling him we could do it another time. This was what he threatened me with...



" Mom, Santa is always watching and knows that you don't want to make christmas cookies."



So, we went to the store and got things to make christmas cookies. I tried to get him to buy some already made ones, but he wouldn't go for it. We bought some you had to make and frost. After all this, on the way home, he says this...



" Mom, how about Daddy helps me with the cookies and you don't? Does that sound like a good idea?" Thanks alot Austin.

Also, in the car today, he was telling me about a dream he had last night. Let me preface this story by telling you that Austin has a cousin named Jayden (JJ) that has lost pretty much all her front teeth. So, in Austin's dream he said " Santa brought JJ all her teeth for christmas!!" I thought that was cute because he probably has no idea why she has no front teeth... he just really wants Santa to bring her her teeth back. He talks about it all the time! Here she is...

A Gift For You

I am puzzled at the moment. While making dinner Austin said something about not liking "SMASHED POTATOES" and I had this thought that made my thinker sore for a little while. Why in the world do we call them "MASHED POTATOES" when they really should be called "SMASHED POTATOES". I mean, think of how many times you say "SMASH" and how many times you say "MASH". The only other term that I can think of that has that word in it is "MONSTER MASH". Listen, it's not "The MASHING Pumpkins" or "MOOSH" instead of "SMOOSH" right? So my point if you are still reading this extremely enlightening post is that it should be called "SMASHED POTATOES" because that seems like the correct word.

Then I saw the light.

Right after writing that last paragraph I went to Dictionary.com and looked up the definitions of both words. It seems that even though "SMASH" sounds better and more correct, and even though I typically tend to be right all the time, now is not that time. "SMASH" means "to break to pieces with violence and often with a crashing sound, as by striking, letting fall, or dashing against something; shatter:" while "MASH" means "to reduce to a soft, pulpy mass, as by beating or pressure, esp. in the preparation of food". Apparently I thought WAY too hard about this one... But at least we can now feel comforted that the term "MASHED POTATOES" is accurate. Now when you are eating your turkey dinners on Christmas day, you will have a conversation starter. Don't say I never gave you anything for Christmas.

Catch Up

Ok, I have am like 5 posts behind. So be prepared. This will be a catch up post with lots of info compiled into 1 quadruple whammy. Ready? Hang in there.

So the first week of December, we went to Safford for the Electric Parade, and Wendy's county Christmas Party, where she had to sing a mini-solo from the song "The 12 Days of Christmas." Very humorous if I do say so myself. And the kids got to play with their cousins Kaleb and Payten!

Then the next day we made our favorite thing, Candy Trains with Grandma John. We love to make these!!

We also took Christmas pictures of Grandpa and Grandma John.

It was a really fun trip!!

Then last Saturday, we made our Gingerbread House that Austin has been waiting EVER SO patiently to make. Zoe didn't so much make a gingerbread house, as much as she just ATE the things that go on the house. Needless to say we were a little short on candy to decorate with.

Beautifully finished product. Then Sunday, we did family pictures with the Campbell's. Here is a sample of my photographic skills... Austin holding little cousin Diesel for the first time and loving it. Today, Monday, Austin and I FINALLY made our Christmas Countdown Chain. I know, it is really late, so there were only 14 links, but we did it. Austin is here to offer you step-by-step instructions on how to ACCURATLY complete your Christmas Chains.

1. Cut strips from red and green construction paper. Make sure that you stick your tongue out while doing it, it really helps.

2. Using either stickers or stamps, decorate the outside of the cut strips with something Christmasy like so.

3. Hang somewhere and start counting down the days!!!!

Sneak Peek

Guess what I got to do today???? I got to go and pick which puppy I wanted for Christmas!!! I have to be very careful not to let the kids see my blog for a couple days but, here she is, completely adorable and TINY. She has really big blue eyes right now. She was born on November 17, so she is like 2 weeks right now?? Go ahead and melt. I am having a hard time deciding on the name. It will either be Tink for our love of Disneyland, or Jovi, for our love of, hmm I can't think what that would be. But we might use that name for a future human baby girl, but we might not. So which do I use?? Come on, I want to hear EVERYONE'S pick. If you read this post, you are now obligated to comment!!!!! I can't decide!!!!

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Still On Earth

I hear there are some of you out there wondering if I have fallen off the face of the planet. I can understand your concern, how horrible would that be.... if that happened to me, I know. But don't worry. I am fine. I was safely in hiding in a little town called Joseph City. I love small towns so much that I wisked myself away for a relaxing retreat up North for the week. Complete with rat poop and whiny kids. Rat poop I can handle, whiny kids- not so much! Kristal and her Dad can vouch for that. Rat poop will nicely scoop away and surrender to the Pine Sol soaked rag, while whiny kids persist until you have ripped all your own hair out of your own head. But really, the kids. Something got into them. Austin threw the biggest fit before we left because he couldn't take Kamryn and Jaden's green plastic chair with him. I know, you are completely befuddled right? I was too. Still am. I was a little to harsh towards the end of the week there perhaps. And to think that I was there since Tuesday, and my camera NEVER left its little home in the camera bag?? Not one picture was snapped, not one smile was captured. I think that is the real tragedy here. So I apologize to you for coming back from my secret vacay empty handed. Kristal, thanks for having us over, and for letting us hang out. I hope you are hanging in there while your husband is freaking skiing his tiny little brown butt off in freaking Colorado!!! Not fair. We had fun though!!!!!!

Kodak Moment

Here are the pictures I took where the kids were actually cooperating with me! I think they turned out pretty good! But just look at these faces! When they aren't sticking their tongue out at me and screaming at eachother, I REALLY think that I could actually eat their cute little cheeks like big red apples. I know, a little dramatic, but don't you know me by now? Now, tell me, in case I want to use these for christmas cards, which is your fave??

A.

B.C.

Thanks Reesa, this is Hilarious!!

Say Cheese!

So yesterday I did the unthinkable, and ATTEMPTED to take the kids christmas pictures by myself, while Travis was at work! I got them all ready and looking nice, then the madness began. Here is the evidence that this should never be attempted without 2-3 adults present!! After all this, do you think that I got any good ones? You will have to wait and see.