Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Damon and Brady both asked Santa for a Nintendo DS. Evan got a Diego bike and Sean got a Little People set. The boys were good and slept until 7:00. When I got up at 7:30 they were busy playing with their DS'. We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Craddock's where the boys got lots of clothes! Mom LOVES when they get clothes! Christmas Day we went to Grandma Karren's where they got fun games and puzzles. I think they all did quite well this year. Our family gift was a Wii and we have been playing Guitar Hero and Wii Sports pretty much non stop. I love Christmas, but I am glad we have another year before it comes again. :)

Let it Snow!

The boys and I took advantage of no school and no work and plenty of freshly falling snow. We went to the store and bought some sleds and went sledding on the small hill in our trailer park. I think we will find some bigger hills when Daddy gets home from work. Sean seemed to like the snow until we put him on the sled. Damon, Brady & Evan had a blast and I couldn't think of anything better to spend our day off doing!

They are so proud of their snowman. (I have had those wooden pieces for over 15 years and this is the first time we have used them.)

Braces

Darrell got his braces put on this morning. I tried to get a picture of him. He wouldn't let me. I will keep trying to surprise him or catch him smiling and post it when I can. He actually looks pretty cute with them. He says that he plans to go into hiding for the next 14-18 months. The good news is that they aren't painful for him. He is going to have to get used to them before he can eat much though. We are both really excited for the end result. The funniest part is that he will be 30 before he gets them taken off! :)

Our Family Picture

I have been asking Darrell to get our family pictures taken for a couple of months now. After we put up our tree, I suggested that we take a picture in front of it. He finally agreed and came up with an idea to get a nice fireplace behind us. (It's on our TV) He set up the camera, set the timer and we took the pictures ourselves. I really like how it turned out. It was our cheapest family picture sitting ever! All I paid for was the printing of the Christmas Cards at Walgreens. Not bad if you ask me!

Poor Baby Sean

Baby Sean seems to have had more than his fair share of accidents recently. I don't know how many of you I told about this, but I got a text from Darrell a few weeks back during an orientation at work. He was letting me know that there was no more emergency, but the ambulance had been to our house to check out Sean. I immediately left the orientation to call home. His older brothers had been running in circles like they always do and he just wanted to join in. He got knocked over and went unconcsious for a few minutes. Needless to say, Darrell was quite worried and called the ambulance. Everything was fine and he even woke up before they got there and they are right across the street from us.
So, today when Darrell called me at work again, I was definitely concerned. Darrell spent the morning trying to replace our kitchen light fixture and Sean happened to get in the way. I am not sure the exact details. I just know that we thought he might need stitches. I hurried home and found that he was fine other than the big cut on his upper lip. It isn't as deep as Darrell had originaly thought. We bandaged him up and he is doing well. I am just hoping that a 3rd big accident doesn't come along any time soon. Poor Baby Sean!

Darrell is calling him baby Hitler!

Phoenix NASCAR style

Our trip to Phoenix for the 2nd to last race of the year was so much fun! We went with Kevin and Mariana and Chas and Carrie. This was Kevin and Mariana's first race and my first race without the boys there. We were able to go on pit road and be up close while they qualified for positions and practiced. Here are some pictures courtesy of Mariana. :)

Darrell and I watching the band after the Nationwide race.

Here we all are walking under the track to pit road.

Kevin at his driver's merchandise hauler. #26 Jamie McMurray

Kevin and #26 Jamie McMurray.

(Darrell was a little upset that Kevin was able to meet and take pictures with his driver for his first time at the track. He has been trying to meet Tony for quite some time now.)

Kevin and Mariana with thier Fan View Scanner at the race.

We are actually standing on the track!!

Kevin and Mariana

Carrie and Chas

The 6 of us!

We love our kids, but it was sure nice to have some time away!

Trick or Treating

Halloween is always such a fun time to get together with family and friends. We went to Grandma Karren's for pizza and root beer with ALL the Karren cousins. Then we took most of them trick or treating around Uncle Bryan's old neighborhood in AF. The bigger boys all ran from house to house and Evan was so excited that he was able to keep up with them. Sean stayed with Mom in the stroller. He wasn't quite sure what was happening. After that, we went to Grandma Craddock's house to see our other cousins. Damon decided that he was too tired to do any more trick or treating. I convinced Brady and Evan to go with Sean and cousin Skylee. Here they are at a door waiting patiently to say the magic words. Sean actually enjoyed walking from house to house. He was so cute trying to decide what piece of candy to choose. We had a great time and have buckets full of candy to last us a few months at least. :)

Skylee was dressed as Tinkerbell and her wings lit up!

Here are all the Star Wars boys. Cousin Tyler was Obi Wan Kanobi. Damon was Luke Skywalker, Brady was Anakin Skywalker, Evan was Darth Maul and Sean was Darth Vader.


Baby Darth Vader!

My Turn!

A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: Mandie Payne
C-Cake or Pie: Chocolate Cake
D-Day: Saturday (unless I have to work)
E-Essential Item: Cell phone
F-Favorite Color: Purple
G-Gummi bears or gummi worms: gummi worms
H-Hometown: Born in Mission Veijo, CA Raised in Orem, UT
I-Indulgences: Anything chocolate
J-January or July: July - Love boating weather
K-Kids: 4 boys
L-Life is incomplete without: my family
M-Marriage Date: April 20, 2000 (one year anniversary of columbine- nice huh?)
N-Number of Siblings: 3 brothers and 2 sisters
O-Oranges or Apples: Apples
P-Phobias or Fears: Bees or Wasps
Q-Quote: "Inconceivable!"
R-Reason to Smile: Christmas is almost completely bought and paid for!!
S-Season: Summer
T-Tag: How about....Mandi Mackey
U-Unknown fact about me: I have recently been wanting to try to have a baby girl. I need to snap out of it! I don't think it's gonna happen. :)
V-Vacation destination of choice: Disneyland or a cruise
W-Worst Habit: Spending too much time on the computer
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Neither
Y-your favorite food: Chinese or mexican
Z-Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Pumpkin Carving

We spent Monday evening carving our pumpkins and the boys decided it was a contest. Damon and Daddy worked together carving the Spider pumpkin. Brady and Mom carved the Pirate Ship. Daddy was faster and according to the boys, he won. Then we had one more pumpkin to carve and I saw this vampire silouette. How appropriate for the Twilight books that I have been reading the last few weeks. I think that they all turned out pretty good. I love the pattern books that they make these days. Without them, my carving skills would be non-existant. Happy Halloween!!

The 2 on the ends have tatto like transfers. They were really easy and are actually pretty cute!

A day at the Zoo

I have been wanting to take the boys to the zoo for quite some time now. There has always been an excuse for us not to go. Too much money, too hot, too cold, etc. Well, I was able to get some free tickets from my store director at work and yesterday was such a beautiful, fall day that we had no more excuses. We invited my sisters and their families and we were on our way to the zoo. In all honesty, I was a little disappointed. The zoo is not what it used to be. The exhibits are all run down, the animals were kinda boring and the train ride that cost us an extra $1 per person was only 5 minutes long. On the other hand, the boys didn't seem to notice and they had a great time seeing all the animals. Sean was fascinated by the monkeys and the snakes especially. He kept pointing and talking. It was fun to see their reactions to the elephants and the rhinos. All in all, it was a great time spent with our family. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Sean and Kaden were so impressed with the snakes. The boys kept trying to get Daddy to see them.

Daddy wouldn't get too close and barely even looked at the snakes.

Kenzie and Sean watching the Giraffes.

Evan in the turtle shell.

This is Baby Emma (Cathie's baby) covered in chicken pox. I know, I feel a little guilty for infecting all the cousins.

This is Kaden (Carrie's baby). He is covered as well. Hey, they wanted their kids to get the chicken pox. It isn't entirely my fault! :)

I'm not sure what Abbie (Cathie's oldest) was so upset about.

They found the urge to climb on every animal statue that there was. The one in the pink jacket is Kenzie (Carrie's oldest).

Brady in the turtle shell.

Baby Sean pointing at all the monkeys.

Climbing again!

My boys at the zoo.

Free Purse!!

Enter to win a free purse from handbag planet! http://www.handbagplanet.com

Pumpkin Land

New 'Do!

So, I was getting bored with my look and decided to go in and let them help me decide what I should do with it. This is what we came up with. I like the change and am enjoying feeling "lighter". What do you think?? (My eyes are weird in this one, but it shows off the color the best. Damon took the pictures for me.)

Star Wars Boys

I know that it is still a little early for Halloween, but the boys were very excited to try on thier costumes. We are going with a Star Wars theme this year.

Here is Baby Sean as Darth Vader. (We are going to struggle to keep his hat on)

Here are the 3 older boys striking a pose with their light sabers.

They take this very seriously.

Damon is Luke Skywalker.

Brady is Anakin Skywalker.

And here is Evan as Darth Maul. We are going to have a battle of good vs. evil with the older boys against the younger boys.

I LOVE Halloween!

My 3 Spotted Boys

Here is my Baby Sean with the chicken pox.



Evan is starting to clear up.



Brady is ready to go back to school.



I thought it would be fun to show you my 3 spotted boys. It is pretty funny now that they are not itchy and miserable. Things should be getting back to normal very soon. Here they are in the bathtub all covered in spots!