Merry Christmas!

Ok. I know it's the middle of January but this is the first chance I've had. The kids had a great Christmas and, as every year, are spoiled. Who needs Santa Claus when you have grandparents? Anyway, they each got a V Tech handheld from Santa along with a new game and a keyboard V Tech. It was a great idea Santa had and has been a big hit. They don't fight over who gets to play games anymore as they each have their handhelds and they get to play games where they actually learn something which is what mom likes. They got a few toys and clothes from mom and dad and the big family gift was our 6' air hockey table. Even James loves to play with it and asks Benji to play with him all the time. It's fun to watch him stand on a chair so he can reach and try to beat Benji. I think he just likes it when people score as he always says Score! no matter who did.

Grandma and Grandpa, Nanny and Grampy, and Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sharon did their spoiling of the kids also. The kids made out like no other with all the new toys, games, and clothes they got. The boys each got a new bike which Benji can't wait until the snow melt to ride his and James loves to get on his even though he hasn't quite figured out how to work the pedals. Alyssa got a new doll house that dad is going to have fun putting together. Problem is we have to get around to painting it first.

The gift that Alyssa loved the best was the one from Heavenly Father. There was an envelope under the tree to Benji, Alyssa, and James from Heavenly Father and when she opened it up it had a pink paper inside of it. I kept telling her that Heavenly Father determines if we are going to add a boy or girl to our family and he is blessing us with a little girl. She was so excited that she hugged the paper. It was really cute to watch. All the kids got to call Ryan's family and tell them what we were having and the kids thought that was pretty cool. My family came over for dinner and I told them that we would tell everyone after we said the prayer for dinner. Alyssa did really good since it is especially hard for her to keep a secret. She likes to tell everyone all the exciting news. As we were in the kitchen, she came over and whispered to me asking if she could tell Bre and Dan it was a girl before dinner. Of course, Bre was standing right next to me and heard the whole conversation but I told Alyssa that we needed to wait for dinner and she kept it secret. Then we set the table with pink napkins and my nephew Giovanni was complaining about using pink napkins as they are a girl color. Alyssa looked at him and told him shhh, it's a secret for me and my family. I just started laughing and asked Alyssa if she would like to share the secret with everyone else which she was more than happy to. We almost made it to when we had planned as that happened as soon as we sat down at the table. I think everyone is pretty excited. Alyssa has already told me she's going to help hold her sister and give her a bath. She asks me everyday when the baby is coming as she is having a hard time waiting. It's been fun to see her so excited and I've been soaking up every minute watching her as this is our last one.

All in all I think we all had a great Christmas. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ok. So I'm bad at keeping my blog up-to-date but December is just a crazy month so here are a couple catch up blogs. Ryan's birthday was December 19th and lucky him got to spend it at our ward's Christmas Party. Hey, at least he was treated to dinner and a show as they were doing a play. He got a drop down ladder for our garage from his parents and a New York Yankees jacket from my parents. The kids and I just got him a shirt and tie as it was what he was in need of. December birthdays are hard as your trying to get ready for Christmas but I hope he had a good day overall.

The kids are always excited when daddy comes home. It usually starts an hour before he arrives asking when he'll be home and as soon as he walks in the door, their faces just light up. Their world revolves around daddy and, even though he won't admit, he can't live without them either. I'm so glad for every year we get to celebrate another birthday together.

Happy Birthday Ryan! We love you!

Happy Birthday Benji!

Well the birthday countdown continues. Benji turned 6 yesterday and is turning into quite a young man. We celebrated his and Easton's birthday on Saturday with cake and ice cream in Price. He got to go hunting with Zac and even got to hold the pheasants that Zac got. He thought that was a blast. On Monday night, Grandma came up and we went to dinner at Sizzlers. Afterwards Benji got to do his favorite activity. Ice Skating! It was a lot of fun. Benji is a great skater and didn't even fall once. Alyssa wanted to do it on her own and took a lot of dives on purpose but it was fun to watch her. James came out with the most battle scars. As I was holding him up and helping him skate, a kid was trying to skate backwards behind me. I didn't see him and he didn't see me and hit me straight on. I tried to save James as much as possible, and hurt my knees in the process, but I went down so fast that James hit the ice face first. The poor kid ended up with a fat lip, bloody nose, and bruise on his forehead. Needless to say, he was done for the night. Benji made sure James was ok and then skated a couple more laps before we called it a night. He had a great time.

On Tuesday, his actual birthday, Grandma came with us to drop Benji and Alyssa off at school as she has never been to their schools before. After school, Nanny and Grampy took us out to lunch for Benji's birthday and then took Benji shoe shopping (Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sharon's present). Benji had a great birthday and can't wait until he turns 7 next year. Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sharon called and sang him Happy Birthday and so did Nanny Great and Pops. He thought that was great. Grandma and Grandpa got him clothes, pajamas, and some lego race cars. Nanny and Grampy got him a Jimmie Johnson helmet with race car. Dad, Mom, Alyssa, and James got him the Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordan hot wheel cars. He loves to race cars and I think Jimmy Johnson has already won 5 of his races!

Happy Birthday Benji! We love you!

Happy Birthday James!

Yesterday was James' birthday. I was singing Happy Birthday to him all day and he kept telling me "no, Benji". For some reason he thought it should be Benji's birthday and not his. I kept trying to get him to tell me he's 2 but he wasn't interested. We're celebrating his birthday with the family on Saturday but Ryan, Benji, James, and I went to Jumping Jacks in Springville for his birthday last night (Alyssa's in California with Nanny). The boys loved going down the slides and they didn't want to leave after we'd already been there 1 1/2 hours. It was fun to watch them play. I can't believe James is already 2 years old. Time sure flies by when you're having fun!

Happy Birthday James! We love you!

Random Things Tag

Ok. So I'm apparently not a very good friend. Ryan keeps yelling at me because apparently Stephanie has tagged me 4 times and I haven't posted it yet. Sorry Stephanie. Honestly, if I can just get through the day, I'm doing good anymore. Anyway, here it goes.

4 random things I like about my husband

1. He gets stuck with the kids an awful lot because of Young Womens and other activities that I have going on at night but he hasn't complained about it once.
2. The way he plays with the kids even when he's absolutely exhausted.
3. When the kids and I spend the night away from home he doesn't sleep because he misses us.
4. When I stress out he's always right there telling me everything is going to work out.

4 movies I could watch more than once

1. Kate & Leopold
2. National Treasure
3. You've Got Mail
4. Back to the Future

4 tv shows I watch

1. House (the reruns at 10:00 with Ryan)
2. What's tv again?

4 places I've been

1. Honolulu
2. Guam
3. Cape Cod
4. Louisiana

4 favorite foods

1. Steak
2. Mexican
3. Italian
4. Taco Soup

4 places I would like to visit

1. Italy
2. Sacred Grove
3. France
4. Jerusalem

4 things I am looking forward to next year

1. New baby
2. Alyssa being in kindergarten
3. James potty training
4. Spending another year with my family

Sam's Birthday Surprise!

Well we finally let the cat out of the bag that we are expecting another baby in May. The due date is May 5th to be exact. Everyone was pretty much surprised as they thought we were done, including us! But as we tell everyone, you can't be sad about a baby. Stressed, yes, but not sad. Benji was originally asking for a girl but has now decided he wants a boy. I think that's because Alyssa wants a girl. Alyssa is convinced it's a girl so we've had to tell her that it will be ok if it's a boy. She tells us no it won't because we already have 2 boys and she's the only girl. So everybody better pray that it's a girl for Alyssa's sake or I think we'll be paying for it! James is too young to understand and is oblivious to everything. I'm not sure how prepared we are for another one but hopefully the Lord will give us both the strength and the patience we need to add to our caous. At any rate, we are thankful for whatever the Lord blesses us with and we just pray that everything goes smoothly.

My birthday was great. It was nice and relaxing. Ryan had a real bad cold so we didn't feel like going out to dinner. So we did the next best thing. Mom gave us a gift certificate to Olive Garden for our anniversary that we didn't use so we used it for my birthday and Ryan brought Olive Garden home for dinner. It worked out great. I didn't have to cook and we didn't have to chase the kids all over the restaurant! Sometimes that is more of a chore than it's worth. All in all, I had a great day.

First Day of Preschool

Alyssa had her first day of Preschool today. She was very excited since she went to the same Preschool last year and her teacher just moved into our ward 2 months ago. Her daughter, Hallie, and Alyssa are friends so she already had someone to play with on the first day. James had a hard time with it. As soon as we got home he kept asking if it was time to get in the car to go get Alyssa and Benji. When I told him no he kept throwing fits. It's hard to be the youngest sometimes. Alyssa had a great day and can't wait until Thursday when she gets to go back again!