Merry Christmas!!!

We hope you all had a very nice Christmas with your family and friends! We have just enjoyed a nice Christmas morning with the kids! They all slept in past 8:00. It was GREAT! I will post pictures after the remainder of our festivities, but that may be a few more days...so enjoy the rest of your own holiday celebrations! We are so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and the peace that His gospel brings into our lives! May His choicest blessings be with you and your families in the new year! Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Bad MOM!!! Cute BOY!!!

Oh, once again I'm a BAD MOM! Yesterday I posted that I was looking forward to what Kyle would bring home from his preschool to hang on our tree! AAAHH, I said something to him about it, and he said, "I already made one Mom. It's right there!" I totally forgot that he made a DARLING gingerbread boy and it was totally hanging right by where Chad hung his! Well, here's a picture of Kyle's first preschool ornament!

He and his cute class sang Christmas carols to all of the parents when we picked them up today. Wait, all of the other kids sang to us...Kyle didn't WANT to! It was VERY windy and FREEZING, so I don't blame him. At least he stood there while I videotaped! I'll have to watch carefully to see if he even tried to sing. Let's hope he WANTS to smile when we take a family photo tonight! (Kyle is on the front row in the dark blue coat!)

Newest Ornament On The Tree!

Can you spot our newest ornament?

Yes, sweet Chad brought home our very first homemade paper ornament with his picture on it!

As my mother just reminded me, of course you make room for these! My Mom still has a hand-painted snowman with googly eyes made by me, AND she has the box I made to put it in! It doesn't go with her decor anymore, so I'll probably inherit it this year, but props to my Mom for hanging it up all these years! She used to even hang up a styrofoam cup that was baked so it would shrink to look like a bell that I made! Sometimes it was in the back of the tree, but it was there year after year! I'll try to be a good Mom like her! Let's see what Kyle brings home tomorrow! :)

Chad sure is handsome, huh? Check out Alison's teeth in the post below, and don't worry Karin, I'll be fair to Kyle and do a post all about him tomorrow after he does his pre-school Christmas caroling!

All She Wants For Christmas...

...is her two front teeth! Finally! For the last couple of weeks, Alison has been "teething" and now these two little crooked bottom teeth have broken through at the same time! Yeah! She is sucking and biting on EVERYTHING! Getting a picture of them was QUITE difficult (especially by myself), so ENJOY!

It's Beginning to look A LOT like Christmas!

At least for those of us who are used to TONS of snow dumped on us! Those of you in St. George, California, Arizona, Florida, OR Australia may not relate! WOW, most of you live in WARM places! What are WE thinking? No, I know most of you have lived in this kind of weather at some point in your lives...so you know what we're going through... tons of shoveling and scraping car windows, tons of runny noses, tons of nervous trips on slippery roads, but still tons of fun!

Favorite Decoration(s) This Year!

As I get more and more ready for Christmas, I am getting more and more excited for Christmas morning with the kids! We have been reading a lot of our Christmas books, singing the few Christmas songs that the boys know over and over again, and playing "I SPY" with our decorations! I do wish it was O.K. to leave the decorations up all year! I love when our house is decorated! Here is a picture of our little tree and a picture of my favorite Christmas display this year! This is a nativity that my parents gave us from their mission to the country of Georgia. I LOVE the nativity, I LOVE the people who gave it to us, and I LOVE the new creche' that I made with my friend Camilla at her Fabulous Friday Enrichment night!

Thanksgiving . . . A Little Late!

I, like many of you, have a MILLION things I SHOULD be doing, and blogging really should be done after my list is completed, but here I sit writing this very long run-on sentence! :) In order to change my background on my blog, I need to hurry and post about Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up at Jeff's Dad's place in Idaho. The trip started out more like a very LONG adventure for my sister-in-law Tricia who got a flat on the side of the freeway on her way to pick the kids and I up! BEEN THERE! But we were thankful that it all got taken care of and that we arrived safely! It was very nice of my mother-in-law to let us use her van so we could all ride together while our husbands worked a little longer! All in all we had GOOD food (Alison really enjoyed her very first turkey dinner), GREAT company, FUN with cousins, YUMMY treats, VERY LATE game nights, and Jeff's brother Clay even DID SOME DISHES!!! Hah! I am thankful for an amazing family, extended and all!

I'm sick of being bopped in the face!

I braved the grocery store, costco, and several more stores with my three kiddos today, but came home with a bad attitude and a really sore jaw! Chad bonked his head right under my chin as I was picking something off of a shelf. I bit my tongue and my jaw really hurts right by my ears. I've been bopped many times before, and I'm sick of it! I just looked up TMJ and TMD, but I'm looking for any info from those of you who have experienced this before. Does anyone have any wisdom or insight on this matter? How to get relief? How to avoid getting bopped in the first place? I've been bopped in the past when the boys were babies, but it's really hurting now that they are bigger. Alison hasn't got me yet, but it's bound to happen! Talk to me... share in my pain...leave me a comment! :D

Happy Birthday Chaddy!!!

My Big Boy turned 5 while we were in St. George! I can't believe it! (Well I guess I can, he's so dang smart!) He LOVES everything Legos right now, so I made him a Lego cake and gave him some Legos and the Lego Star Wars game! We had a fun little pizza party after the race with all of his St. George cousins. He also got to have a sleepover with his cousin Griffin! Thank you MaryAnn for making his birthday morning so special! Chad is such a good boy! He helps me ALL of the time! He already loves to read and is so good at building things! I got to go to his "special day" at preschool on Monday and bring some Lego fruit snacks for his friends! Oohhh I just love this boy!

Race Day!

Back in September my friend Kerri and I decided we would do the Snow Canyon Half-Marathon. She was totally running that distance already, but I sure needed to sign up for something to get me motivated to run more. We had ten weeks, no problem!!! Well then she got her husband Dave to climb on board as well! Mentally I knew I could do it, the physical part would have to follow, but I am VERY impressed with Dave sticking to his schedule over the last FEW weeks and completing his first half marthon! Dave and Kerri you are both amazing! My sister Karin did the Snow Canyon 5K, and I am SO PROUD of her! She and I ran the course the Monday before! I absolutely LOVED running with my big sister! She is such a wonderful mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, volleyball player, Relief Society president, chauffeur, cook, maid, and she RUNS, too! She had an amazing race that the rest of my family got to see while I was still making my way through Snow Canyon! It was a beautiful race day and a majestic course! I wasn't completely ready and had to walk parts of it, but I finished 2 minutes and 8 seconds after my goal of 2 hours! I'll totally do this race again! I'll be sure to get my hips in shape before next time! I've been walking a little funny for a few days!

Cute Cousins!

I didn't take a ton of pictures while we were visiting with cousins down in St. George, but I'll share what I did take. We loved getting to meet my niece Mae, and we got to be there for her blessing! My sister Karin put us up or put up with us for the week! They took wonderful care of my kiddies and I. The kids played all week long and thoroughly enjoyed themselves! It was a really good break for all of us! We're having another break from school this week since my kids and I all have eye infections! I feel like I cut very fresh onions this morning and the effects haven't gone away all day! We're all looking a bit better, but we'll see how long it lasts!

Halloween Fun and a Crummy Thief!

Alison the Bumblebee!

Kyle the Red Spiderman!

Chad the Black Spiderman!


I should've posted this right after trick-or-treating because I was in a much better mood! Long story short, we chose to watch a movie down stairs with the kids and leave our DARLING hand-painted "Munchies For Monster's" bowl outside with a few treats in it just in case anyone else came around. Well, someone obviously DID come around and they thought that the bowl was part of the treat! Crummy Thief!!!! Even Chad cried when I yelled down that our bowl was gone. He was crying because he thought all of HIS CANDY was gone! I wouldn't be so bummed, but I painted this myself with my sisters-in-law and it held a lot of memories! Well, we told the boys that we could make a new one and they said, "That's going to take a lot of glue." Nope, no glue, just a big flower pot, some paint, and some darn cute stickers!!! UGH! Well, from the party at the church with Kyle throwing a huge fit and not wanting to be a part of any of the fun, parties at both Chad and Kyle's preschools with Kyle not so sure that he wanted to wear his costume, carving pumpkins (and YES, Mike and Brooke, we finally decided we didn't have to carve while sitting on the ground, AND Jeff even tried using one of his power tools!!!), trick-or-treating at Foothill village with Millar's and enjoying all of the crowded yet very fun chaos, and trick-or-treating with the BEST neighbors around and Kyle FINALLY joining in on all of the fun, we've had a wonderful Halloween! Alison wasn't sure about all of the crazy things we've been doing! I could not get one of her BIG smiles in any of the pictures! Chad is surely growing up and loving everything about Halloween, especially the treats!!! AND it really wasn't as BAD as I made it sound with Kyle...I'm just tuckered out! Yeah for a long break in St. George! Wait, Jeff's not coming with us, is it really going to be a break? We shall see!

6 Months Old!

Alison had her 6 month checkup on Monday. She is already 17 pounds and 27 inches, and we love every bit of her! Here are just a few pictures from the last couple of days. (Jeff says my computer time is up, so that's all I get to write tonight!!!)

Fun, Fun!!

Jeff used to make fun of me for saying, "fun, fun" all the time, and now my sister Kristina keeps telling me that I'm always saying "for sure!" Well, we've been having fun, fun, for sure!!! :) I'll just play a little random catch up with my photos once again! Enjoy!

I took these photos when I busted out the Fall decorations! Alison just loved the lights. Can't wait til' Christmas!



Chad ALWAYS has play dates and is ALWAYS asking for play dates, but every once in a while we have someone over for Kyle to play with. Here he is playing with his little buddy Ben! When Ben's mom, Kerri, came to pick him up and I told her to let him stay a bit longer, what she didn't see was that the boys put up the tupperware against the door so she couldn't come get him! It was pretty cute!!! Ben loves Alison already, too! Maybe a little too much!!


Last week, Jeff took the boys kayaking and camping at a reservoir up by Huntsville with our friend Casey and his two boys. "Fun, Fun!!!" Despite the cold weather, the rocky terrain to sleep on, and the not-so-perfect camping gear, they had a blast! Kyle even took some time to "meditate" up on the hill! Alison and I sure enjoyed our time together! :) I have a new little addiction for making flower clips and bows and used our time to shop for some fun supplies! You'd think that I would've caught up on my sleep while they were gone, but I totally stayed up way past my bedtime just organizing my new ribbons! No pictures, but keep your eye out for them to appear on Alison in the posts to come! (BTW, my friend Suzanne has a website with the most darling "decorations" for girls! It's called theprettypetal.com. Check it out!)


This past weekend, my sister Kristina came up with her kids and one of their cousins and we went to the zoo. I won't say it....oh, you're all thinking it anyway...Fun, Fun!!! Her little Tiari got sooo excited to see all of the animals. The boys loved being with their cousins! We all rode on the carousel and the train, gazed at all of the lovely animals, and begged for more time to play! Alison's first time on the rides, and she loved them! We each only lost one of our children! Can you guess who?


And finally, on Monday we met up with Jamie and Landon for our 2nd annual tradition of visiting the witches at Gardner Village. I didn't go crazy with the pictures this year, but we still enjoyed each witch! We had a nice picnic lunch followed by Kyle kicking dirt in Alison's face on accident! AAHH! We even bumped into Chad's preschool friend Paige! We took this picture just in case they need it for their wedding slide show some day!!! Cute girl!



My sister-in-law Sabrina, posted something about "their song." It made me think that I hadn't listened to "our song" for a really long time. Hence the Neil Diamond song that started playing as you read this really long post!

What Day Is It???

When I woke up this morning and the boys were all excited about the snow outside, I really thought we must have hibernated for a few months! Isn't it only OCTOBER 12th??? It did melt by the time we were out of church, but it was still coming down off and on. Crazy! We have new windows sitting in our garage waiting to be installed. Too bad they weren't in before it got so cold! These old windows don't keep out much of the chill! Well, it's supposed to warm up this week, so we'll get them in before all of the other storms that are sure to come!

Cock-A-Doodle-Do!

I'm lovin' the "DO" Alison gets when her pony tail gets pulled out! Jeff put her in her jammies, and this is how she looked when they were snuggling before bed! (This is what I was laughing at Trish when we were on the phone!) Our cute neighbor friends, Sophie and Emily, sometimes comment on Alison's crazy hair in the morning as we walk to school! They're going to love this one! Hey, at least I did her hair today!

Cutie Patootie!

The pictures will speak for themselves! Alison is so much fun right now! Oh, and the boys are cutie patooties, too! Chad took the lovely picture of me kissing Alison, so I had to add that! :) FYI-I don't give her plastic wrap to play with on a regular basis. She just loves the sound of the crunchy wrapping and is always reaching out for it. See what happens when I take it away?!

Grandpa Hughes' 65th

This weekend we went up to Jeff's Dad's in Idaho for his 65th birthday party! The cousins had so much fun playing with each other and all of the animals! And of course they spent a good portion of their time playing with Grandpa's trains! Chad and Kyle love Grandpa's model trains and can't wait to have their own layout!

Exactly Why I Don't Scrapbook!

I have just spent an hour "playing" on the internet, looking for different blog backgrounds, changing font colors, changing the color of my playlist, blah, blah, blah... The point is, I don't make layout decisions quickly, AND I don't stick to my choices. When I used to attempt to scrapbook, I would spend FOREVER on a layout, only to pick things off because I didn't like how it turned out. So, here I am once again "picking things off!" You don't even know how many times I've cut and pasted different HTML/JavaScript's (whatever those are) into this silly blog. All I wanted to do was have a change of scenery for Fall! I still don't think this one is THE best, but I need to go to bed. Being at the temple this morning at 7 a.m. has left me a little tired all day! Good Night! Thanks for letting me go on and on and on!!!
P.S. Thanks Chris for the link to the Leelou blogs! Yes, I changed my background once again!

Learning And Growing!

Our lives have become a little busier than I'm used to! Alison is growing so quickly! At her four month appointment a few weeks ago she was 15 pounds 12 ounces and 26 inches long. The day before the appointment she had grabbed a popsicle out of my hand and started sucking on it. When her doctor heard that, he laughed and said she was certainly ready to start on solids. So the messy fun begins! The boys were big helpers when we gave her her first rice cereal. Kyle is learning not to gag her!!! They both love her so much! Chad started preschool at our Elementary School on the 3rd. He goes Monday through Thursday from 8:30-11:30-It's FANTASTIC! He doesn't turn 5 until November, so we have another long year before Kindergarten. He was so excited to start..he didn't even need me when he was walking to school. I have to sign him in, so I just followed him as he confidently walked right to his locker and classroom. Yes, he has a locker in preschool! So cute! Chad has also decided he is ready to ride his bike without training wheels! Jeff was gone when he first did it, so I had to push him and then snap a picture. We went that evening to the school and gave him more space to ride free! What a big boy! Kyle is trying to keep up with him as well! After a few crashes, he decided it would be more fun to play on the playground, so we'll get more pictures of him later! After a week of having Chad at school I had the "opportunity" to put Kyle in a preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (Something we BOTH need!) So my little guy started last Friday and he LOVED it! When I went to pick him up, he walked right past me to the car and said "I had FUN today Mom!" I didn't even have to ask! So, a few times a week, I will just have my little Alison, and my big boys will be off learning and growing without me! These new stages in life are GREAT!

End of Summer Fun!

This Summer has flown! I thought I'd better hurry and post some of the summer activities that I missed! WARNING: A LOT of pictures to follow! I take WAY too many photos! If you don't care about all of these activities...Don't click on the slideshows! About a month ago we headed down to Thanksgiving Point for $2 Tuesdays with our neighbors the Green's and the Bertola's. I had no idea about the Children's Discovery Garden or the HUGE waterfalls at the main garden. I hope these pictures will convince my family that they need to come up so we can go together!!! BEAUTIFUL!

We took our very first trip to Bear Lake with our friends the McMullin's. We ate pizza the size of Alison, played at the park, rode on 4-wheelers, played at the beach, and had a delightful time at their family's cabin! Chad's new thing is to talk about building a cabin with his Dad at Bear Lake! When I say we don't have money for that right now, he says, "We don't need money, we're going to build it ourselves!" And then I say it will still take money to buy the material. He says "I'm saving my pennies!" Oh, the lessons he will learn! So Bonnie, we obviously had a BLAST, and the cabin made a deep impression on Chad! Thanks!

My friend Bonnie also had us over to her sister's for a few swims! My boys LOVED swimming with their friends! Kyle even went down the slide and jumped off the diving board! Chad said he'd do it next year! :)

A few weekends ago we had our niece and nephews, Abby, Cannon, and Lincoln, over for the morning. Jeff was SUPER Uncle and pulled out all of his extra tile pieces and let the kids tile some pavers for the yard! They loved it!

Our end of summer Primary activity for church was a dunking booth! Can you say, FUN??!!! Chad loved watching and squirting people with his water bottle, and he climbed in at the end to play with his friends. Kyle kept wanting to get dunked. He'd stand in line and then back out when it was his turn. Finally he followed through with it and let one of the big boys catch him with me holding on to his hand. This was a super cool activity!

Now back on my "BAD DAY," we really did have a GOOD morning! We went to Thanksgiving Point again hoping to go to the Dinosaur museum for our friend Landon's birthday, but the line was super long. We headed over to the gardens again and discovered even more fun and more beauty! Thanks Jamie!

And last but not least, we've gone to the zoo a few times, most recently with my friends Bonnie and Camilla. I swear I would never leave our house if it weren't for all of these wonderful friends! This was the first time the boys rode on the new carousel and they loved it!

We've also had fun BBQ's with our neighbor friends, picked plums and canned plum jam for the first time at Jeff's Mom's, had a sleep-over at Jeff's brother Clay's house, rode bikes and played around the house, and played lots of Wii, but I have NO photos to share . . . imagine that! Chad starts pre-school tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. which means I have to start waking up early! I usually go back to sleep with Alison after she eats, and I don't get up until the boys do. I guess I need to become a morning person so Chad isn't late to school! HOPEFULLY, this will mean that I can get back into a good running routine! No more LAZY Summer days and nights!

"You Had A Bad Day, The Camera Don't Lie...."

Well, sometimes song lyrics say it best! We had a wonderful morning yesterday at Thanksgiving Point to celebrate our friend Landon's birthday, but our trip home which should have been 30 minutes tops, took more like 3 HOURS!!! Getting a flat tire on I-15, not fun! Parole officer who pulls over to help not being able to get the last stinkin' lug nut off, not fun! Rationing our last drops of water in our bottle, not FUN! Being gone from Alison for two feedings when I only pumped for ONE, NOT fun! Having the insurance HELPpoint people send a lock smith instead of a tow-truck after an hours wait, NOT FUN! Waiting again for the tow-truck to come, NOT FUN! Riding in a stinky, smoke smelling tow truck with no seat belts with my two boys, well...if you ask them that was tons of FUN! Anyway, I waited until today to do my venting, but yesterday was just one of those days, and the truly funny thing was that I took the pictures just so I could blog about it. Pitiful! (Oh yeah, having it all cost an arm and a leg just because the Volkswagen specific lug nuts were stripped by the guys who FIXED the car back in February when we didn't have our car for TWO WHOLE MONTHS, NOT FUN!!!!!) O.K. I obviously need to "work at a smile, and go for a ride! Cause I had a bad day!" I'll add the pictures of the GOOD part of the day in my next post about our end of Summer FUN!

Our Big Girl!

Alison is 4 months ALREADY!!!! She is such a BIG GIRL!!!! As you can see in these photos she does exactly what a 4 month old is supposed to do! She smiles and laughs a ton, she likes to sit in the high chair and saucer, she is starting to roll to her belly not just her back, and she sticks EVERYTHING in her mouth, even her THUMB! I was playing with her on the floor the other morning and Chad wanted to help her roll. He even added his blankie so she could have more room to do her thing! Oh yeah, and don't you just love that HUGE tongue?!!! She'll be able to touch her nose with that thing soon enough! Takes after me, I'm so proud!

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes!

A few weeks ago, my Grandma Bell came for a super quick visit! This was the first time she has been to our home and the first time seeing our little Alison!

My parents happened to be up at my house for a wedding, so it was fun to get a four generation photo. (This was the best of the three that we took! Eyes closed, people looking away, etc. on the others!)

Kyle got really excited to show Grandma his world ball. She started showing the boys ALL of the places she has been! It was pretty cute!

It truly is fun when grandparents come!

Hello Zucchini!!!

Yes, the days of "what should we do with all of this zucchini" are upon us! So far we've had chocolate zucchini cake and zucchini bread, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has a favorite zucchini recipe they'd like to share? Oh yeah, we should've picked this zucchini a little sooner, but we were out of town! Made for a cute picture though!

Warm River 08'

I shouldn't be posting right now because I have a million things to do, but I need a break! I'm sitting here in my pajamas at 2:30 in the afternoon, but hey the laundry has been going since first thing this morning, my kitchen is tidy, Alison is asleep, and the boys are playing nicely together! Those things aren't always going to happen at the same time, so here I sit! We just got back from a camping trip with Jeff's family in Warm River, Idaho. I was not completely sure about camping for three nights with a baby, but she was an ANGEL!!! The boys had such a good time playing in the freezing cold water, riding bikes, floating down the river over and over again, , fishing, visiting Mesa Falls, eating treats whenever they wanted, and especially playing with cousins! We don't have a perfect life (the boys totally got into a fist fight, got their fair share of scrapes, and Alison had a crying fit right when it was our turn to make dinner), but I choose to blog about the good times because that's what we should remember! It really was a fun weekend playing with family! (Alison is crying now and the boys want something to eat, so I'm going to cut this short! Enjoy the pictures!)

Robert and Sabrina's Wedding 07/19/08

Last Saturday Jeff's younger brother Robert married Sabrina Bevans in the Rexburg, Idaho temple. It was a beautiful sealing followed by an eventful day! We were at the temple at 7:30 in the morning, a picnic lunch around noon, and a reception that evening! The kids even managed to chop up some worms and play a little ball while we were there, and I discovered that Alison totally looks like Jeff's sisters!!! I guess I knew that, but I hadn't taken any pictures with them yet! We loved being there to celebrate with Robert and Sabrina! You'd think by the number of photos I took that I was their photographer or something!!! I took 100+ photos! Don't worry, I didn't use them all in the slide show! Now the newlyweds are headed up to Alaska to live while Robert serves in the National Guard. We are sad that we won't get to be with them during their first years of marriage, but I think it will be exciting to be away from all of the family and rely totally on each other! We wish them all the best!

A Visit With Uncle Robert

On the 13th, Jeff's brother Robert came with his fiance Sabrina for a visit and dinner. Clay and Tricia and their kids joined us as well! We had such a good night! The boys LOVED playing with Uncle Robert! He is going to be such a good dad some day! Tricia and I loved visiting with Sabrina. She is such a cute girl! It was so easy to talk to her. Being with them made me so excited for their wedding! I'll post about that tomorrow! (I'm so close to being caught up!!!)

Fun With The Marion's

After our busy 4th of July weekend, the fun just kept on coming! My sister Diane and her family stayed with us for a few more days while my niece Rachel went to EFY. The cousins had so much fun playing together! We went and got shaved ice or "ice shacks" as Chad calls them, played outside with our rocket sprinkler (thanks for the idea Kristina), and one night we went down to BYU and watched "Horton Hears A Who" outside on blankets. Chad and Kyle loved building with Legos and playing Wii with their big cousins, and they were all so cute with Alison! We wish we lived closer and could play like this all of the time! By the way...Happy Birthday DiDi! Hope you had fun on your Trek! What a cool way to spend Pioneer Day!

Optimism vs. Reality!

Well, I was optimistic that I would post every day this week to catch up, but I'm tired and my back really hurts and Jeff has offered a back massage. So the reality is, I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Alison's Blessing Day

The real reason everyone had come up to our place for the 4th was to be here for Alison's blessing. We loved having so many family members here to participate and to support us. She received a very sweet blessing! She was blessed in the dress my mother made for my niece Rachel 15 years ago. Time sure flies! I am so excited to watch this little girl grow up! She has so many people who love her and will help her along the way. We all love her so much! Well, looking back on that weekend, I wish I wouldn't have bought as much food, I wish I would've relaxed more and just enjoyed all of the company, and I wish I would've fixed Alison's hair better. BUT, no regrets now---It was a wonderful weekend! Like my Mom says, "Things always turn out just fine!"

4th of July

We had the BEST 4th of July this year! You may ask "What were you thinking, inviting ALL of your sisters and their families AND your Mom and Dad to stay with you?", but I'll just tell you that we all had such a blast so it was worth it! It was Alison's blessing weekend so they were all coming anyway, and I thought the cousins needed to be able to hang out as much as possible so I invited everyone to come crash at our place just for Friday night. We went to Liberty park and played in the water and rode some rickety old rides. We had a wonderful BBQ put on by Jeff! We went to the aquarium, had ice cream, did fireworks, and to top it all off, the cousins got to camp out in our back yard! So much FUN!!! And we got a cousin picture with all 22 grandkids! I love my sisters and their families and of course my parents! Thanks for coming and creating such wonderful memories with us!!!

St. George (a whole month ago!!)

At the rate I'm going, I'll be playing catch up forever and never get to post about our current events! No....my goal this week is to do at least one post a day so I can be totally caught up. Let's see how that goes! Since our computer crashed and then we switched to a hand-me-down and now we have this wonderful new MAC, I have had issues with getting all of my pictures organized and on one computer. Jeff has been so good to help me get them moved today!!! So here are some pictures from our trip to St. George a month ago!!! We went down so Jeff could tile my parents bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen. He did an amazing job and worked soooo hard! The kids and I had a blast playing with cousins and my sisters! The boys don't understand why we don't drive down to play every day!!! If only gas prices were lower! :)

Jeff's Birthday and Father's Day

Well......a few posts ago I said that I was becoming addicted to blogging. I'm thinking that wasn't completely true! I took a leave of absence during the entire month of June and now half of July, and I'm going to have to play some serious catch up!!! Having three children must've finally caught up with me last month. I haven't given myself much computer time! Oh yeah, we never replaced our crashed computer, so I have to use this SLOW hand-me-down! Jeff is buying a new computer tonight, so I'll be back in business soon enough!!! I totally missed posting about Jeff's birthday and Father's day, so here are just a few pictures of those lovely days! When we celebrated with Jeff's family, we actually celebrated for Kyle's birthday, too. As you can see, I gave in and got Jeff a Wii! It is such a blast! I can't wait til' my birthday so I can get the Wii Fit! For Father's day, Chad wanted to have Krispie Kreams and hot chocolate on the front porch with his dad. They did that when I ran the marathon, and Chad totally loved it! Jeff usually doesn't read my blog, but I do love him and hope those days were special for him! Well, my time is up! I must go make dinner! I WILL post again soon! Erin---I'm so excited to be off the bottom of your bloglist!!! :)

"Tag" I'm It

My Sister-In-Law Brittney tagged me on her blog. Since I'm addicted to blogging, I guess I'll do it! Just another excuse to sit here at my computer wasting time when my house needs cleaning!!! (I've been tagged before, so I'm sorry if this bores you. Just don't read it!)

4 jobs I have had:
*"Weed Technician" for Belmont Gardening. My sister Karin and I worked for my dad pulling weeds around St. George in the HOT summer!
*Making hot dogs, spinning cotton candy, cleaning, etc. at the "Dugout" at Snow Canyon Chevron. Don't want to dwell on that one! Did this during my Senior year of High School.
*Teller and FSR at Zions Bank. Those were the good ol' days! Right Erin?!!! I worked with THE BEST people! This job put me through college.
*1st Grade Teacher at Midvale Elementary. I did this for 4+ years until Chad was born in 03'. I do miss many of the faculty and students, but I wouldn't trade my new "job" as a mother for the world!
4 movies I have watched more than once:
*Breakin' 1 and Breakin' 2-Electric Boogaloo
*Can't Buy Me Love
*Watcher In The Woods
*Sound of Music or Mary Poppins-our Sunday shows
(I guarantee that most of the movies I have watched, I've watched more than once, so I thought I would mention some that I remember watching all of the time when I was younger. Oh the memories!
4 Places I've Lived:
*Pasadena, California
*Victorville, California
*Santa Clara, Utah
*Cedar City, Utah
+ good ol' SLC!
4 Places I've Been:
*Dry Tortugas National Park for our honeymoon. Jeff's Aunt worked for the National Park Service, so we got the hook up!! See this link:http://www.nps.gov/drto
*Mauii & The Big Island, Hawaii
*Cozumel and Grand Cayman (First cruise. Such a blast!)
*Chicago, Baltimore, NYC, & many other U.S. cities :)
4 People Who E-mail Me Regularly:
*Book Club Friends
*Primary Presidency
*Jeff's Mom
*Papa John's, Scholastic, Comcast, and many other businesses/bills
4 of My Favorite Foods:
*Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa Salad
*Ice Cream
*Fruit, especially pineapple, strawberries, peaches, bananas...sounds like a good smoothie!
*Anything I don't have to make myself!
4 Places I'd like to Visit:
*Australia -I've wanted to ever since I was young!
*Europe
*Another cruise ANYWHERE!
*Anywhere our family or friends are!
4 Things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
*All of the things Alison will be learning over her first year! I love when babies learn new things!
*Christmas! I'm always looking forward to Christmas!
*Kelly's new baby in the Fall!
*Many more family fun moments!!!
And FINALLY 4 Friends I'm tagging:
You know... I've been tagged before, and sometimes you just don't feel like doing it! So if you're in the mood to be tagged on your own site, consider yourself tagged!

I'm becoming a "Blog-aholic!"

I saw this on a friend's blog and had to see how addicted I was. It's not that I blog all of the time, my problem is that I love reading everyone else's! I also love to check the comments! So, I'm quickly becoming a "Blog-aholic!" Oh yeah, and I lied in my last entry because I said it would be my last one for the day, but as you can see I'm so addicted that as I was reading a friend's blog I felt the urge to do "just one more" entry! Just one more can't hurt, right???
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"Hughes' Cheeks"

For my fourth and final entry for this go around, I wanted to share some cute photos of Jeff and Alison playing together! When each of my children were born, I heard the phrase "Oh, he/she's got those "Hughes' Cheeks," or "Look at those chubby cheeks!" A definite trait from the Hughes' side is that they all have those cute chubby cheeks! I was busting up when I finished taking this series of photos. Tell me if I'm crazy, but doesn't the last picture make it look like Jeff blew Alison's cheeks up like a balloon?

Kyle's 3rd Birthday!

Kyle turned 3 on Friday! When I would ask him what he would like for his birthday or for his birthday cake he would only say "Transformers." So, he's never seen "Transformers", at least not that I know of, but Chad and his friends think they're cool, and Kyle wants to do what they're doing, so we went with it! I wasn't very ambitious this year, so I just stood his Transformers next to his cake that he wanted to be a square. I gave him his breakfast on a Transformer plate and hung a "Happy Birthday" sign with Transformers on it. I'm a good Mom, right? No, actually I felt pretty lazy, but I think he enjoyed his day. We met Jeff at the aquarium, and enjoyed all of the fish. Kyle loves the sting rays! From an IKEA mailing we found out that Kyle shares his birthday with our IKEA store, so he received a $10 gift card and he got to pick out a toy. Jeff coaxed him into a swing for our front tree, which turned out to be a total blast for the boys! For dinner we had some of Kyle's favorite things: hot dogs, corn on the cob, chips, and pineapple! Chad gave him a sleeping bag, and they both got to sleep in the tent we set up in the play room. Jeff would've camped in the back yard with them, but it was raining off and on all day! They loved "camping" together in the play room! We even had their noise maker turned on to the cricket sounds! I sure do love Kyle! I've struggled a bit lately with some of his misbehaviors, but Jeff reminds me that he's just "2!" Well now he's just "3", and I look forward to another great year! He truly brings so much joy to my life. He is always so silly and gives the best kisses! I can't imagine life without him!

One Month Old

Alison turned one month old on Wednesday. Time sure is flying! We all love her so much, and we're enjoying every minute with her! The poor thing is going to have to endure my little photo sessions every milestone. Oh, she's going to have to endure them even when she's just in a cute outfit! Please tell me I'm not the only one who sets up blankets for back drops and takes a ton of pictures just to get a few that look decent!!! My floor may need to be swept, but I always make time to take pictures! You have to agree that catching those slight smiles make it all worth it! Isn't she adorable?

A Quick Visit

Last week our Puriri cousins came up north, and Alison got to meet them for the first time. They had so much fun playing together for the afternoon! Sweet Tali held Alison most of the time they were here! Kristina said it reminded her of when Tiari was a baby last year and Tali would hold her all of the time. So cute! (Doesn't Alison look like she belongs to their family?

Updated Baby Pictures

For my third and final entry for the evening, I just wanted to post some cute pictures of our little Alison. She is three weeks old now and growing so quickly! At her appointment yesterday she weighed 10 lbs. 3 oz. Our new Pediatrician just loves her! (So that makes me just love him!) He kept saying, "Oh, she's so strong! Oh, she's so alert! She's so big! and of course "Oh, just look at that hair!" She really is a good baby! It's been fun to have different relatives come and see her. In these pictures you'll see my sister's Karin and MaryAnn, Jeff's Dad and step mom Irene, and of course Chad and Kyle. In one of them Chad is arm restling her. It's one of our favorite things to do at bed time along with Rock, Paper, Scissors. I think it's cute that he wants her to be able to play with us, too! He just better look out, because, like I said, she's growing so quickly and will probably catch up to her brother's soon! (Thanks for the cute onesie with her name and darling outfit in the last photo DiDi!)

First Day of Church

I decided since it was Mother's Day that I wanted to take Alison to church. Jeff and the boys were so sweet and brought me breakfast in bed, but it took a little while and getting all of us ready took a little more time than usual. Needless to say we made it a few minutes late, but it was good to be back. It was fun to get her dressed up! Did I just say that? Anyone I've talked to lately knows that I'm a little afraid of all of this girly stuff. I decided to put a big bow in her hair and go with it! Chad and Kyle loved having their sister there. Chad even had Jeff write "Mom, This is your first time bringing Alison to church. I love you. Love, Chad" on the card they gave me. He drew a really cute picture of our family, too. I love being a Mom! (You gotta love the crossed eyes in the last photo!)

This Is The Place

On the 3rd of this month, for our first outing with Alison, we enjoyed a few hours at "This Is The Place Heritage Park." The boys loved seeing all of the baby animals, riding on the train, playing at the playground, and riding ponies. This was Chad's first time riding a pony. Kyle has done it a few times already, but Chad has always said that he would ride one when his dad was with us. So, I held him to it and got him to ride. He loved it! We had a really fun afternoon!

Alison Elizabeth Hughes

Well, what a HORRIBLE time to have our computer crash AGAIN!!! Our sweet baby Alison has been with us for a week and we haven't even been able to post!!! I'm sorry for those of you that haven't heard anything yet, but I just have not felt like being on the phone all day long. Anyway, she's here and YES she is ours even with the thick dark hair! (not switched in the nursery!) She was born at 10:59 p.m. on Monday, April 21st. She weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. At her appointment on Friday she was 22 inches, so I think she was actually a little longer at birth. She is such a GOOD baby! The boys can't kiss her enough and can't stop telling me how cute she is! My parents have been here all week and left this morning. Wow, what a huge help they have been! We all miss them already! Well, imagine that-I have to run take care of little Ali. She must know that I am trying to get something done! She's already just like her brothers!!! With our computer back, I hope I can post more pictures soon!! Thanks for all of your love and support!!!

Ready for Baby Sister!

Chad and Kyle are going to be such good big brothers! They are so excited for their baby sister to come out!! I had some wonderful friends throw a couple of baby showers for me, and the boys have been immersed in pink things and flowers ever since. They even helped Jeff paint their old room purple for their sister. Their cousin Eyan was born a couple of weeks ago, and we've all been a little more baby hungry since then! (If you click on the slide show and open it in a new window, it will make the pictures bigger and you can see my comments!)

Still Kickin'

Our baby is due on the 23rd, but she's still in there kickin' it! I'm 85% efaced and dilated to almost a 3, so we would hope that she's coming any day (any minute!!). It's a very strange feeling to want to go into labor! Bring on the pain, because the end result is so worth it!!! A year ago this weekend I was running the Salt Lake City Marathon, now hopefully I'll be spending this weekend delivering our little angel (another sort of marathon experience!). We'll let you know when she's here! (Jeff has never posted, so it may be through email that you hear the news!)

Easter!

Our Easter Festivities began a few weekends ago when we held a "Bunny Breakfast" for the children in our Primary. (I'm the Secretary.) It turned out to be a very fun morning with a bunny roll breakfast, bunny relay races, and a cute service project where we "Easter Egged" some people in our ward. The day before Easter we had an Easter Egg hunt with our neighbors and friends. Always a fun event, and the boys of course loved the candy! We let the boys dye 6 eggs total that night so we wouldn't have a ton of eggs to deal with over the next week. Chad chose blue dye and Kyle chose green, so we had three of each color! We're good ol' lazy parents! The Easter Bunny certainly delivered the next morning! Chad got the new bike his long legs so needed, and Kyle got a scooter that he spent the entire day riding in our house! The Easter Bunny must've known that he would get Chad's hand-me-down bike! We had our traditional bunny roll breakfast, but this year I made them cinnamon rolls instead of orange rolls. Yummy!!! I feel like a pro after making them for the Primary breakfast as well! The boys looked super handsome in their Easter shirts and ties! They love wearing ties (even when they're a little too big for them!). Chad did a wonderful job in Primary reading the scripture, and we ended the day with a very nice dinner with Jeff's sister Brittney, her husband Kevin, and their son Cahlin. It's easy to get caught up in all of these fun Easter traditions, but our home teacher shared a wonderful message with us this month about our Savior. It was also really nice to be talking about our Savior all month long in Primary. We are so grateful to know that He lives and loves us!

Spring Soccer

Do you think I'll ever begin a blog without apologizing for not writing for so long? Well, my excuses this time include not having a computer for more than two weeks, Primary Activities, going to St. George, teaching preschool, babysitting, pure laziness, oh yeah and I'm Pregnant!!! Well, Chad has started his soccer season, and WOW have things changed since last year! For those with kids on the team last year and those who came to watch his games, he and his friends have not pulled their shirts over their heads during the game once this year! He is actually following the ball and kicking it when he can! Yeah! Kyle really wants to be playing with his brother, but he'll have to wait until he's three! We love our little Saturday soccer games when we get to hang out with our friends and cheer on our kids! Go Blue Dragons!!! (P.S. We miss you Carson!!!)

Welcome Home!

Well, it has been a very long 23 months, but my parents are now home from their mission. They got called to the Armenia, Yerevan mission but served the entire time in Tiblisi, Georgia. We were to welcome them at the airport on Tuesday the 19th after they spent a week with my sister Diane in Colorado. With all of the times we've been to the airport to pick up family and friends, we feel like pros. BUT, we failed!!! Their flight came in almost 30 minutes EARLY!! Unheard of! We were so late that my Mom was already standing with all of their bags and my Dad was outside looking for us! Well, they forgave us, and we had a wonderful visit until we sent them on home to St. George on Friday. While they were with us, I took them to Provo to visit with four of the Elders they served with and their first Mission President. The Elders were the first Elders to ever serve in Georgia, and my parents really formed a special relationship with each of them. I loved watching them catch up with them! Jeff and I took them to the Salt Lake temple one morning. We took Mom to an aquarium while Dad stayed home to get some rest so he could get over his cold. Jeff also took Mom to a tile store, plumbing store, and Home Depot to get ideas for their Casita! My boys had an absolutely wonderful time playing with them and talking their ears off! It is so good to have them back, and it's good to know that we'll see them next week for my nephew's baptism and again (of course) when our baby comes!!! We know we've been blessed for the service they gave, but we do love having them around!!!

Valentine's Day & Catch Up (AGAIN)

A month has passed and I've only taken pictures on Valentine's Day and when my parents came home, so I thought I could quickly do a post for each. I will mention that it has been a very eventful month for our family. My dear Grandpa Blunck passed away. He is finally with my sweet Grandma Blunck after 9+ years, so the tears have just been because I will miss him until we are all reunited some day! We truly enjoyed our visit with my family and extended family at his funeral! I loved seeing all of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles! I am so thankful for my Grandpa and the love he showed me and my family! I am so blessed because of how he raised my own Dad!
Within minutes of finding out of his passing, Jeff called me with "good news and bad news." I asked for the good news first. He said, "Well, we might be getting a new car sooner than you thought!" And I replied, "AAHH, that means you've been in a car accident!" He got hit by a guy who must not be as familiar as we are with the CRAZY I-80 construction and exits! We finally get to take the car in tomorrow to the busy auto body shop. Getting my own car back won't come soon enough! I am way too tall for a Pontiac G6 rental car! We do count our blessings that Jeff wasn't injured because there have been horrible accidents in the same spot.
The Valentine cookie pictures don't have anything to do with what I've been saying, but the boys are cute and sure enjoyed eating a lot of sugar cookies this month! I gave the boys tickets to the Monster Jam for Valentine's day. I wasn't sure if this was really up our alley, but I thought "little boys and big trucks, how could they not love it!" We couldn't take the camera in, but trust me, we all had a good time. We had to struggle with Kyle to keep his ear plugs in because the trucks were VERY loud! They loved the transformer cars and seeing the big trucks squish the little cars. Now we can check Monster Jam off of our things to try list!

Grandpa Blunck

After church yesterday, we went as a family to visit my Grandpa Blunck who is in the hospital. He is 93 years old. He was asleep when we got there, but the nurse who was sitting with him said he would want us to wake him. He has someone sitting with him 24/7. Once he got over the surprise of being woken up by our crazy family, we had a really good visit. He and I talked about how he met Grandma, where they've lived, his college days, his work, but he was most excited to talk about my Mom and Dad coming home from their mission in a few weeks. He can't wait to see them, but he said, "Oh, they probably won't even remember me!" I assured him that you would, Mom and Dad, and I told him that I would bring you guys to visit when you were in Salt Lake. He acted as much like his old self as he could by saying "Boo" to the boys and tickling them, and they shared their race cars with him. He even said, "I'm Rulon, and I aint foolin!" I held his hand most of the time while we were there. He was pretty excited that we were going to have a baby around his birthday. The guy sitting with him said that he had had a pretty bad morning, but after someone had come to visit him, he had totally brightened right up. I think it was Aunt Karen, but I know "those three girls and a boy from Salt Lake" had visited him yesterday as well. I'm guessing those were Jerry's kids. He mentioned to me that his neck and back were hurting, so a nurse brought him some pain meds. His arms looked pretty bruised up and he had a bit of trouble with his temporary hearing aid, but we really did have a good visit. I'm glad we live close enough that we were able to go be with him!

Disneyland

As part of our Christmas festivities, we took the boys down to Disneyland for the first time! We planned on going with my sister Diane and her family from Colorado, but with a broken leg and some travel issues, they ended up going a few days after us. Unexpectedly, my sister MaryAnn and her family ended up coming down with us at the very last minute! She has boys Chad and Kyle's ages so we all had a blast! It was a pretty crowded day, so we didn't do a ton of rides, but we are so glad we went! We did enough to keep them talking about it for a while! I hope by the next time we go, they will forget how scared they were to do some of the rides! We actually got Chad and his cousin Griffin to go on Thunder Mountain. Chad's thoughts after were that it was fun, but he didn't like it! If I weren't pregnant, I probably would've dragged him on a few more of the big rides! Kyle was asleep as we started Pirates of the Carribean, but quickly woke up as we went down the first hill! He says "I'm Jackin Sparrow" almost daily! He and I had such a good time driving the cars. I let him steer the whole time which meant we were laughing the entire time. After waiting in line FOREVER, I saw a sign that pregnant women shouldn't ride it, but it was so worth it! Chad was "a little" afraid to ride the Buzz Light Year Astro Blaster ride, but once he was on it, he cheered up. The Haunted Mansion brought on a few complaints as well! They loved the Star Wars show, the Circus Train, Finding Nemo, the Tea Cups, and waiting in line after line after line! Oh, the memories we will have!

Christmas Catch Up

Wow, what a month we have had! Sorry for the long break from blogging, but you know what this means, right? A really long slide show of pictures!!! Yeah! If I wasn't pregnant and didn't have a cold right now, I may have written a cute twelve day of Christmas poem to catch you up on all of our happenings, but I AM pregnant and I DO have a cold, so here is a plain old list of some of the highlights of our month shown in the slideshow: decorating our tree and house in time for an Elder's Quorum dinner on the 2nd, building a snowman with Kyle while Chad was at preschool, hot chocolate all month long, building a gingerbread tree, going to see the lights at temple square with our friends the Brough's, visiting with Santa at our church party, decorating cookies and playing Christmas Twister with our preschool friends, decorating more cookies with Ashton-the boy we babysit, Preschool Christmas party at McDonald's, building a snow cave with Dad, opening P.J.'s from Grandpa and Grandma Hughes, reading so many Christmas stories, and of course all of the joys of Christmas morning especially talking to Grandma and Poopah on the phone! Chad and Kyle's baby sister even got a pink Mountain Top Tile shirt from Daddy! We had such a wonderful Christmas and absolutely loved hearing from so many of you, our family and friends!