NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!!

We took another trip this Christmas to the Land that NEVER sleeps!! Our friends watched Jackson and Tanner for 4 1/2 days so we could go party hearty. My old roomate from Utah State lives in Harlem and she was so nice and let us stay at her place. We met Jerrin and Sharidee first then later met up with Joey and Katie in New York. The first thing we did was go to the Statue of Liberty.

I new it would be cold, but it was COOOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD. This day actaully wasn't too bad. It got progressively colder as the days went on.

I think we spent 96% of our time in Time Square. Jared and I love Time Square..it's just SOO New York! We ate a lot of Pizza. MMmmmm, I'll dream about some of that pizza for years to come.

This is my FAVORITE store.

This was Charmin's gift to New York. It was nice to get a break from the cold and the Grimy subway latrines. They had a whole bunch of toilets and every time someone came out, it was sanitized, febreezed and you got to choose super soft or super strong toilet paper. Cha Cha Cha...Charmin.

Jared's goal for this trip was to walk across the Brookly Bridge. My goals was to walk across the Brookly Bridge alive. I am not fond of heights, but we made it and it was actually pretty cool.

Our New York trip was not nearly long enough. We didn't see Rockefeller Plaza, Chinatown, Diamond district, Central Park, Somebody Famous....I guess we'll just have to go back again soon. I forgot to mention, we did get to see 3 shows. The Lion Kind-awesome costumes! The Spelling Bee-HILARIOUS! and Stomp-that was something I've always wanted to see. So overall we loved it and New York has not seen the last of us!

One last trip to the potty.

Christmas at Yankee Candle

In Williamsburg there is a Yankee candle outlet that's HUGE! It's actaully a really cool place. They had Santa and Mrs Claus. Last year neither of them would go near Santa without immediate bribes, this year Jackson understood that if he wants a blue bike for Christmas he has to ask the man with the power. Tanner will just do whatever Jackson does.

As I mentioned before, the store was HUGE...and what happens in HUGE places? Tanner disappears. Jackson and Tanner were playing with a Thomas the Train play set and I turned to talk to Jared. When I turned back, Tanner was gone! I started to freak out because I would have gotten lost in this monster store. I didn't even know where to begin looking. All I could think about was either someone snatched him up or he followed somebody out the front door to his death. I had an emplyee call "Code Yellow" and all these people came rushing out asking what Tanner looks like and they started searching the store. Jared found him being held by Mrs. Claus. She said she watched him walk out of the toy area and wander alone so she picked hime up. THANK YOU MRS. CLAUS!!!

In one of the big rooms of this store there was a little bridge with a mini town surrounding it. Every five minutes or so it would snow from the star studded sky. The kids really loved it. I think Jared and I would have liked it too if we weren't so worried about losing one of the little rugrats again.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by MiaLisa and Lisa (must be in the name) so here it goes:

1. I pretend to like any kind of food but really I hate anything that has been overly sauced, greasy foods, oysters, and anything that reminds me that I am eating an animal (most commonly ribs and fried chicken). But I am willing to try anything and even if I hate it I am still open minded and willing to try it again.

2. When I was in kindergarten I used to dress up in my Guess Jeans mini skirt and walk past cute boys' house (It was ALL Tiffany's idea!).

3. I like to check out my tushy multiple times a day in the mirror. I'm just hoping that one of these days when I look I won't be able to find it.

4. I hate public speaking. In high school I got so nervous that I talked so fast to rush through my presentation my teacher actaully laughed at me. The wierd thing is, it made me feel good. Most of my teachers pitied me when I gave presentations. I'd way rather be funny than pitiful.

5. One of my biggest heros is my friend Amy because she can find humor in almost every situation and I believe that laughter is the cure-all.

6. People have always viewed me as quiet and controlled, so apparently I have a great talent at fooling folks. But in all reality Jared is my sanity. Thank heaven for husbands!

I tag Jamie, Katie, Kim, Dad, Heather, and Brian. I know this is kind of a girl-thing so Dad you can be off the hook. Brian, you have no excuse.
THE RULES
1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about!
2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules

"can you say cho-co-la-te m-i-l-k"

Hey everybody this is my first attempt to blog and it is already exciting!! So yesterday Jackson really wanted some chocolate milk and kept grabbing my leg and asked, "Dad can I have some chocolate milk please?" I think he had been asking for about five minutes when I realized that my "DAD" instinct to block out such requests had kicked in and I hadn't heard what he was asking so I asked "what?" He replied "I want some chocolate milk!" and another "DAD" instinct kicked in and I replied "Go ask your mother". He came back after a few minutes and said "Mom said I could have some chocolate milk!!!" So I said "Okay I will make you some". Somewhere along the way Jackson got the idea that his Dad needed a little help and said. "Dad can you say cho-co-la-te m-i-l-k" So that is the day that my three year old son taught me how to pronounce chocolate milk. Oh and Brian if we were in a contest I could totally learn how to say chocolate milk faster than you.

"Go Team Falcon Kickers!"

This is how much Jackson liked playing in his soccer games.

Here's coach trying to give Jackson a pep talk.

Here's Jackson's team giving a final cheer at their final game

When Jackson wouldn't play in the game Jared asked what was wrong. Jackson loves playing soccer with Dad and his team mates but he didn't like the idea of an opposing team. So when Jared yells across the field to Jackson what he meant was "You don't need to be afraid of the other team in red" what he yelled was "It's okay Jackson, they are kids just like you-they're just a different color." Oh, husbands say the darndest things!

"B" is for "bakery"

For Jackson's "pre-school" they were learning the letter "B" so they got to take a tour of the Ukrops Bakery. Jackson used to be the only boy and he was the youngest so he got a lot of attention from the girls, but now the ratio is 3:3 but he still likes to be the ladies man. Except now he just has someone to play fight with and they don't run away crying when he shoots them with a pretend laser. But the boys do fight over pretend spaceships. It's actually pretty funny. Jackson will steal another boys invisible spaceship and the boy will cry because Jackson won't give back the invisible spaceship. So I have to tell Jackson that it's rude to steal other peoples invisible toys and he need to give it back. It's always something.

This was the freezer part of the tour

This was the Tanner part of the tour

This was the most fun part of the tour because they got to decorate their own cake and write their names on it and take it home and let Dad eat it.

"Trunk or Treat"

So last night was our big ward halloween party. Jackson loved being Super man. Tanner scared himslef to tears being Frankenstein. It was fun.

I just have to add some before and afer pics of the boys so you can see what our little blondies really look like, although I think this is what they were meant to look like in the first place (with the black hair).

Tanner warmed up to the idea of being green and scary after he figured out it was all to get tons of candy.

Journal writing

I grew up writing in my journal almost everyday. Some people would say that is a sign of diligence and that my future posterity will greatly appreciate my time and effort. That I will have left something of great importance because it shows who their mother, grandmother, great great whoever really was and how people really lived -or whatever it is that draws people to read about other people's personal lives.

I worry about what my posterity will find. At first it's kind of fun to read my old journals. I was embarassingly obsessed with boys I never had the guts to talk to, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (still haven't figured that one out), and my friends. Then as I got older I started writing more spiritual things and that always makes me feel good to remember when I really started figuring things out. But then writing started getting sparse and you can see the harsh effects of the child bearing years. It seems that I no longer have the time to sit and write about all the funny things the boys do everyday and about how happy I am being a mom, but I seem to find ample time to jot down the chaos and anger I feel when I find a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet or Jackson has decided that not only is his body a canvas for artwork but so is Tanners.

So I have concluded that I want to take Elder Eyring's advice in keeping a journal, but I have decided to go the extra mile and keep two journals. One for Happy thoughts and the other one for my real thoughts. Then at the end of it all someone will have to burn the latter to spare my poor posterity of knowing where they really came from.