Bring on the Spring!!

Sorry it's hard for me to blog very often when I'm outside soaking up the 75 degree weather (neener neener for all those who got 15 inches of snow yesterday).

We had a great super bowl party...Go Giants!! Most of the girls stayed in the kitchen with all the yummy food (we had the whole melting pot restaurant recreated in my kitchen..Michelle is always welcome at our house) while the kids ran around causing a muck and the boys couldn't unglue themsleves from the game. The highlight of the night was when Rus would squeal like a girl when he got excited about the game (which happened quite often toward the end). All in all it was a great party (sorry the Hales missed out-we missed you guys!)!




(I tried to get Madeline to pose 'cause she looked so cute in her cheerleading outfit but this is all I could get from her)

Here are some more cute pictures of our boys.






BTW-there probably is not a more white trash (no offense) place for our kids to be than right in front of those apartments in the first picture. The guy who owns the old Ford pick-up revs his engine every morning around 6:30 and it wakes up the whole world. Apparently someone put water in his gas tank (I swear it wasn't me, I would've put oil) but it didn't help. He still does it every day. GRRRRRRR.

The Party's Over

So, we've made it back to Virginia in one piece. We had a great Christmas! We suprised Jared's family and I think the best reaction came from his mom. She stood there and stared at him for a while before reacting at all. I wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or punch him in the nose. Eventually she ended up laughing and giving kisses, so that was a releif. We suprised everyone at the Weaver family Christmas party. Which we have Sharidee to thank - so Thanks Shar!!

We had our own Christmas before we flew out to Utah because Santa wanted to bring the boys bikes, and that would've fit on our plane ride home.





I am going to try and do this fast. Here it goes...
This is how the Weavers party








Here are Jared and the boys making use of all the snow





We spent Christmas Eve with the Weavers







And Christmas morning. Dad Weaver made his famous Christmas breakfast made to order (thanks Dad!!)






We spent Christmas afternoon with the Astles. It was defnately more quiet, but it was a fun filled day of opening gifts and playing Jenga!

In a contest, Kali could beat Brian and Jared in Jenga



Last but not least!! We went sledding with Grandpa and Grandma Astle. John and Misa and the kids were able to come too and we had a great time at Murray Park.





Ahhhhhhhhhh, I did it. All in all, we had a great time!! We never got to bed before 2 am because we were up playing games almost every night and I loved every minute of it. Jared is experiencing withdrawls from not playing St Petersburg and I'm going into withdrawls from not playing Rook..so if anyone wants to come aleviate us from our sorrows, our house is open for visitors! Thanks everyone for letting us stay at your houses and play games and keep you up 'til the wee hours of the mornin. We love and miss everyone!!!

Happy Holidays

We're still alive...we are just having the most fun and busy holiday which doesn't allow for much blogging. We'll be up and rolling again soon. Happy New Year!!

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.