Merry Christmas to all!

 Merry Christmas Everyone!  Hope you had a fun and safe holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior!!  We had a great time!  Here's some pics from our Christmas Weekend:

Sledding with Daddy on Friday

Jayce didn't like it too much

But Riley couldn't get enough

Our sad attempt at Cookies for Santa . . . FYI you can't substitute gummi bears for gum drops - It just doesn't work!!

Opened a present on Christmas Eve - Riley got Monster Slippers

Jayce just wanted to play with his balloon from Chili's at dinner that night

Christmas Morning after stockings . . . Jayce still with the balloon!

Pirate Ship from Santa

Jayce's toolbench from Santa

Rockstar!!

This is how he spent most of Christmas Morning!!

Building the pirate ship

Playing with the toolbench

Riley playing the new Wii from Santa

Cuddling watching Cars 2

Playing Wii again, this time in his new legwarmers (Daddy hates these)

Almost Christmas!

Hey all!  Sorry for the delay in posts, we've had a crazy couple weeks.  On Jayce's actual birthday last week we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  They have "Sue" the famous T-Rex and a T-Rex Exhibit right now and I really thought the boys (or at least Riley) would enjoy it.  So we went.  It was the perfect day to go.  The T-Rex deal wasn't as huge as I thought it would be, I was a little disappointed.  They had Sue and a couple of other "big" robotic dinosaurs, but that was about it!  So we went through pretty quick and headed out to the rest of the museum.  We did get our picture taken with a T-Rex though! 

The boys enjoyed the regular fossil section more than the special dino exhibit so we spent quite a bit of time there looking at things.  Last year they were doing some construction in Snowmass CO and found a huge Mammoth skeleton.  So we got to see that.  It was there with people still working to unearth it. 

I also took a couple of comparison photos.  Here's one of Riley when he was about 9 months old:

And Jayce in the same place! 

This one is just Riley, at 9 mo and then at 4 1/2 years. 

I wish I would have been able to get one of Jayce with the ears too, but as a Mom by myself it's hard to get some pictures. 

The next day we went to see Santa!  The elementary school in our neighborhood (the one Riley will go to next year for Kindergarten) had a community night and invited everyone for chili and cookies to see Santa.  We've never actually taken Riley to see Santa, I was never brave enough to fight the lines at the mall (or the nurseries - that's the big place to do it around here) or the screaming child that might be scared of Santa.  but with this free event with just the neighborhood (did I mention I like living in the boonies at times like this!!) I figured this was the best time to do it!  So it was Jayce's first time sitting on Santa's lap, but it was also Riley's First Time!  haha  Does that make me a bad mother!  lol

Then the sicknesses came.  We think we picked it up at the museum.  Jayce's started Saturday with a little bit of the "big D", and I didn't really think much of it.  You know kids, with out a fever they still act and play normal so it's hard to tell.  Sunday we drove up to Cheyenne to visit our good friends the Cazee's who were passing through on their way to Salt Lake.  We hung out at McDonalds and Jayce didn't eat much of anything.  After our visit we went to Sierra Trading Post Outlet and saved a BUNDLE on some hiking boots.  Jayce still not eating much and not needing a diaper change either.  Thinking he was just dehydrated from the diarrhea the day before we tried to get him to drink some juice and didn't think much of it.  Then the next morning I woke up feeling a little puny.  Went to get Jayce to discover he had thrown up sometime in the night and rolled and slept in it!  Yummy!  After cleaning that up, I was exhausted and thinking it was because I hadn't eaten breakfast yet started to get some ready.  My stomach let me know right away that wasn't the issue!!  Jayce seemed better at taht point though and I hesitated on whether or not to take him to the dr.  I called and made the appointment anyways.  But now I had to get him there.  Time to call Daddy!!  Cuz Mommy wasn't getting off the couch anytime soon!  FAB DAD to the rescue!!  Cam took off work at lunch to take Jayce to the doc, took Riley with him, and ran some errands for me - including getting sprite and pedialyte for the sickies!  He was a champ . . . until around 4:00 that afternoon when he walked in the room and told me his stomach wasn't feeling too hot!  Oh no!!  Now we have a 4 year old who feels perfect, a 1 year old on the mend and two parents who are completely under the weather!  Needless to say, no one got much for dinner that night.  Poor kiddos!  Cam stayed home from work the next day too, but by that evening we were both feeling much better.  I thought Riley was starting to get it too yesterday when he "poo-d in his pants" but I think that was just from all the oranges he's been eating lately, cuz nothing since!  So I'm happy to report that we are all back to normal!!  Although I think Jayce has cought on the the whole refusing food thing to get what he wants.  We're gonna have to nip that one! 

Well, not much else to talk about now.  I did finish one last Crochet Christmas project that wasn't on the original list.  I didn't get Jayce a stocking last year, and just realized recently that I still hadn't gotten him one this year.  So I made one for him. 

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I am still trying to decide if I want to put a J on it.  And if I want to make a matching one for Riley (so Jayce isn't the odd man out since the 3 of us have matching ones).  Maybe next year.  Well, Cam has the rest of the week off for the holiday, and with all the fresh snow we got today maybe we'll go sledding or something tomorrow.

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone!! 

Jayce Turns 1!!

Happy Birthday Jayce!  Well, almost!  His actual birthday isn't until Wednesday, but we celebrated a little early so that Grandma and Grandpa could celebrate with us.  Mommy made a Monkey Cake for Jayce, and Monkey Cupcakes for everyone else.  They turned out so CUTE!!!  Then we also had fruit (because Monkeys like fruit) banana splits and animal crackers.  Party Favors were Monkeys in a Barrel, and I'll say - They were a HUGE Hit!!  Jayce got a new truck from G&G, some books from Tanner and Jackson, a toy Camera from Ryder, and a new swing for the play set from Mommy and Daddy.  He wasn't really into unwrapping the gifts, but all the older boys took care of that for him!  We didn't really do anything special, but it was a lot of fun anyways!  Here's some pictures from his Birthday Party.

Then that night we did an early Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa - it was a present filled day!  Grandma made Pillow Mats for the boys, and they turned out super cute!!!  Riley's is a "Space" theme which he thinks is awesome (he slept on it last night!!) and Jayce's is a cars and trucks theme.  They already love bouncing and falling into their piles of pillows!  These will be truly loved!  And Mommy got some new Pots and Pans!!!  YAY!!  Daddy has been bugging her for a while since we have about used up our skillets beyond the point of usefulness!  So now we have some! 

Now that our trip is over and Jayce's birthday party we just have a few more things to get underway before Christmas.  I will say it's been crazy up to this point, but it's almost nice to get it all out of the way.  I really feel like I can just relax until Christmas.  I did finish all my Crochet Christmas gifts!  I'll have to wait to post pics until after Christmas, but I will do that!  I must say I was very happy with the way they all turned out.  Hopefully everyone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed picking out the patterns and making them!

One more thing.  Please Pray for my Mom again!  This week she made another trip to the hospital for some DANGEROUSLY low blood pressure, and the decision (from everyone, including her) was that she needs round the clock nursing care.  So she has moved from her home to Manor Care Nursing Facility.  This is not an easy transition, but one that everyone knew was coming and was already in the works.  So pray for her peace, her caretakers healing touch and watchful eye, and comfort for those that this is the right choice.  She seems to really like it at Manor Care (after being at the waters for a month) so that is a positive note!  I'm hoping to travel to Indy sometime in the coming months to help get all the remaining affairs in order, so prayers that that goes smoothly as well (especially since I will most likely be traveling with 2 small children on my own!)  If you have the chance to please take the time to visit my mom, it has to be lonely and unnerving being in that situation.  I can give you contact info if you need it, just email or FB me.  Thanks everyone!

Have a Happy Holiday season!

Much Needed Beach Vacation!

We are back from the beach!  Hawaii is so beautiful and so interesting!  I can't wait to go back!!!  And yes, we are already planning ideas for our next trip! 

I took SO many Pictures, it's taking a while to pick just the good ones and upload them all, but I'll have a kodak album up when I get done.  For now here's a few just to make your mouth water!  hahaha!

We spent all day Friday on the plane, and got to our place (wonderful vacation rental - if you ever need a place to stay in Hawaii let me know, I highly recommend this place!!)  after dark.  We were so tired, so sorry I didn't get any pictures of the place, but it was great.  We ate dinner (at a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall place) at the end of the street and crashed.  But with the time change we were up the next morning at 3 am.  So we got ready and went out to watch the sunrise.  It was cloudy (as was most of the week) but we got some snipits of color through the clouds.  We spent the day sightseeing and just driving around the southern half of the island. 

Sunday was Cameron's race.  He did GREAT!!!  It was 13.5 miles, and quite the bear (according to him) with all the climbing.  A lot of ups and downs, around 3,000 feet of elevation changes.  For comparison, that's about the same amount of climbing the Blue Sky Marathon has, but it is twice the distance.  Cam still finished strong at 3 hours and 8 minutes.  The winner came in at 1 hour 21 minutes, and it was his 4th time winning the thing.  Some other interesting things: they had a group of 3 guys called the X-Treme Team.  These guys go around running races and triathlons to raise awareness and honor wounded veterans.  In order to do that they "disable" themselves by starting at the back of the pack and doing the entire race wearing gas-masks.  They were an impressive group to say the least.  So there was a lot of media attention on them.  Also, the valley and surrounding mountains were the race took place is called Kualoa Ranch.  It's so beautiful that Hollywood spends a lot of time filming there.  Some of the movies filmed there include Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor, 50 First Dates, Godzilla, Mighty Joe Young, and LOST.   After the race we hung out at the beach, it was a little sunnier, and just relaxed.  

Monday morning we got up early again and hiked to the Makapu'u Point lighthouse to watch the sunrise.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!!  We are so glad we did this for sunrise!  You can't actually get to the lighthouse, but I got a few good pictures of it.  Then we went back to the beach.  Our rental was only 2 houses away from the beach.  Monday was supposed to have the best weather at "our" beach so we decided to spend the day there rather than driving around chasing the sun.  It started out a little cloudy, but by 11 it cleared out and was just gorgeous.  We did a little boogie-boarding (or attempted to at least - it's a good thing our beach was nearly deserted, we probably looked pretty funny to any locals!) 

The next morning we did a couple more hikes.  We started out at Diamond Head Point.  A must do with some beautiful views, but a little crowded for my taste.  Then moved on to a nicer more quiet and beautiful hike to Manoa Falls.  It's through the rainforest (truely a jungle!) and ends at a beautiful waterfall that just seems to go on forever!  It was a muddy hike, but worth it none-the-less!  Then after that . . . back to the beach!!  This time we ventured north again to the North Shore (famous for the huge waves and surfers).  After a stop to view the Temple, and do some shopping in a locals market (and get some great deals!) we parked ourselves on Sunset beach to watch the surfers and . . . what else- The Sunset!!  We got chased out by a quick downpour, but the clouds cleared enough just before sunset to make it a extravagant sight!  One of my favorite sunsets by far!!  We ate dinner that night at a great little mexican place with some great Fish Tacos!  The food on this vacation did not disappoint that's for sure!

Wednesday was December 7, 2011, the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  So again we got up really early, and went to the ceremonies for the day of remembrance. WOW!!!  That's all I can say . . . WOW!!!  It was so emotional, humbling, and just inspiring to be in the presence of the survivors of that infamous day.  We were near the stage for the ceremonies themselves, so we could see the survivors faces as they watched the ceremonies.  Then afterwards they stationed the survivors around the area for others to chat with, take pictures with or sign autographs.  It kinda felt like a spectacle, so we didn't get to close, but we did listen a little as we passed by.  again, WOW!!  Just hearing some of the snipits makes you realize that even with all that has been recorded and all the stories that have been told about that day, there is still so much that will be lost when these survivors finally meet their comrades.  We were fortunate enough to get a place on a boat to go out to the Arizona Memorial.  Again, emotional and humbling!  I didn't realize that when the survivors of the Arizona die they have the option of having their ashes placed in the Arizona with their shipmates.  Apparently most have chosen that option.  One wife even had her husband exhumed to do this when they put this alternative in place.  They even had a service that very evening for one soldier.  So amazing!  I could talk about that place all day.  Cam and I both feel so blessed to have gotten to experience that.  But, the day soon came to an end . . . so we again headed to the beach to watch the sunset! 

Thursday was another busy day!  Another early morning, this time to Hanauma Bay to watch the sunrise and do some snorkeling.  I could have spent all day there!!  We got to see a turtle!!  That was exciting!  And some very colorful fish!  I really enjoyed snorkeling, and Cam even started to enjoy it . . .after he got over his fear of thinking he was going to drown!  ;) The afternoon and evening was spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  There is a TON to see there, and we rushed around to see as much as we could before our scheduled Luau and Show.  The luau was lacking a little (good food, bad show) but that may be because the show after, HA, the Breathe of Life, was incredible!!  The cultural dancing, fire twirling, you name it!  So cool!! 

Friday we wrapped things up with another day at the beach!  Lunch at another fabulous local place, and soaking up the sun for as long as we could!  We were both very sad to leave.  There was so much that we wanted to do that we didn't get to.  Guess that means we will just have to make a return trip!!  ;)  And we are home now, happy to see our boys and spend the holidays like they should be - with cold weather and snow!