Halloween

Lily goofing off in the tub.

Throwing a fit in the front yard. It's really hard to get mad at this cute face!
Even when she is practicing to be 2 years old!

Her very favorite thing to do right now is take a walk up and down the street with her little car. She doesn't want to ride in the car, she wants to push or pull it. By herself. No help please!

Daddy, Lily and Mom went to Witches Night Out (Matt was at his dad's) at Gardner Village. It's this really cute, quaint shopping area near our home. That night we saw TONS of ladies dressed as witches, enjoying the Halloween spirit! Here is daddy and Lily pointing at some witches. (Daddy has been a pretty good sport. I keep dragging him to girly things, but he comes and "enjoys" the family time)

At Witches Night Out they had these horses for kids to ride. It was her first time on a real horse and she LOVED it! I had her pet the horse first, and then she was totally into it and couldn't get enough. So cute!

Okay, so one day we are wearing levis and t-shirts and the next morning we wake up to about 5 inches of snow!! I couldn't believe it! I was actually off of work a few extra days this week because Matt had pink eye and Lily had croup and double ear infections. So, after I drugged them up with their perscriptions and tylenol, I couldn't let the opportunity pass to try on all the new snow gear for Lily and let her play. Matt said "Pass", so I let him stay inside, but Lily and I went out and shoveled the driveway and walked through the snow. She liked to eat it and kept saying "Yummy."

Here's Matt being a goof ball. We just got him this new University of Utah sweatshirt and he LOVES it (he is a huge fan), so he wanted his picture in it. I snapped it when he thought I wouldn't, so this was the outcome.

We had a chili cook-off ward dinner (we took 3rd place) along with a trunk-or-treating party last night in our neighborhood. Lily is a cheerleader and Matt decided to ditch the camouflage outfit in lieu of his new fedora hat and U of U sweatshirt. I love pictures like these. They sure love each other!

Here's Lily in her costume in front of a painted jack-o-lantern. She isn't into the whole trick or treating thing, but she is realizing how yummy the stuff people are putting in her basket is. She just wants to take the candy right then and eat it as she gets it. Too bad mommy doesn't play that game! She had fun anyway though.

Lily's new bed

So, we've had some fun at our house this past month. We decided to clean out the house as much as possible, so we moved a bunch of stuff to a storage unit and than had a HUGE 2 day yard sale. We did pretty well. Matt raked in the money from all of his stuff he sold! We now have room to move around the house and it feels so much better and less crowded! The stuff in storage is stuff we won't be using until next summer at least, so it's nice.

We also had a long fall break weekend this past week. So, we decided to break Lily of her bottles. I know, I know. Bad mom that I am, she's almost 2 and still had a bottle. Well, not anymore!! I packed them all up Thursday morning and went cold turkey without any at all. She didn't even bat an eye! She's never asked for one or anything. Sippy cups are what she uses now, except in her high chair. I bought her some small cups without lids that we put just a little bit of liquid in and let her try that out.

Then, because that wasn't enough, Lily found out how to climb out of her crib yesterday. Luckily, Jason was home with her because he wasn't feeling too well. She climbed half way out and fell the rest of the way. And then she wouldn't stay in her crib at all and kept falling. So, I looked around on the internet and found this adorable toddler bed for really cheap. It's purple and white and has the Disney princesses on it. It just uses her crib mattress. So, we bought it, brought it home, set it up, took down her crib and than made her room toddler proof. We had to take the bookshelf out because she wanted to climb up it like a ladder. She also has a little trampoline in her room, so she was jumping from that to her new bed. She loves it. And, most importantly, she stayed in it the whole night! I put a baby gate up at her door way so she didn't wake up at night and wander around the house. There are stairs right outside of her room and I didn't want her to fall down them. I can't believe my baby is out of a crib and off of bottles! Next is potty training.....we may wait a few weeks for that!

Matt is doing really well all around. He has made some great friends at school and he is getting straight A's. I'm so proud of him! His classes are accelerated too, so not too shabby! He is having a Halloween party too this year. His first party other than birthdays, so he's pretty excited.

We, as a family, are also getting ready for our long Thanksgiving vacation. We have decided to spend it with Jason's family in Sacramento, California this year! We can't wait!

That's it for now. It's plenty though! Lots of stuff going on, hopefully things will settle down a bit for a little while. I'm just glad we are healthy and happy (most of the time!). Here are some pictures of Lily's new bed and of the kids. See ya!

Lily playing with an army hat and jacket at the military store
(we were looking for a Halloween costume for Matt).

Matt and Lily on a hay ride at a local farm that did an Octoberfest type thing. It was fun for Lily, but not really Matt's thing. He was a really good sport about it all though.

This is Lily on the first morning she has her bed. She stayed in bed and on the bed all night! I took these pictures before I woke her up to go to the babysitters house. She has her favorite pajamas on....Sponge Bob Square Pants!!

Yes, that is Lily washing the walls with her wet wipes. She will clean anything with those things! I just barely wiped the wall down because we had moved her crib and she watched me, so, of course, she had to help! Such a cutie.

Pics in September

Matt sure has Lily trained! Here she is rubbing his back!

These two sure love each other. They are cuddling and playing.

Here they are just cuddling.

A teacher at my school made this hat for Lily when she was an infant. She LOVES this hat! She will wear it all day if we let her. So, here she is putting on shoes (another favorite past time) and pulling on her hat.

Cute stuff in her hat.

We were cleaning out our house and dejunking with a storage unit and a yard sale. Lily was playing on the hand cart during all of this and fell off and hurt her face. It's clearing up here, but it was really bad. Thankfully, now it doesn't look like there will be a scar.

Here is Princess Lily with her tiara. She put it on herself, which is why it's upside down and around her head the wrong way. She is also blowing on a whistle. She fits the roll of princess well.

September update

JASON PASSED HIS MATH CLASS!! He is taking classes at University of Phoenix for his Bachelor's Degree in Human Resource. Math is definitely NOT one of our family strong points. Matt is pretty good at it, but college algebra is VERY difficult for us. So, it was a 14 week class compacted into 5 weeks and it was tough. But, after LOTS of study time, tutor time and stress, Jason was able to pull through and now he is DONE with math classes. Yippee!! He has 2 classes left and should be graduating about Thanksgiving. I'm so proud of him.

Matt did not get the Student Government position, and he was pretty upset, but I think he is okay now. He still likes school and is enjoying meeting new people and getting new friends. He is such a good kid! He has some pretty tough classes (Chinese, Theater, advanced math, etc.) and he is still getting almost straight A's. He is also very conscientious of others feelings.

Lily is doing well and still loves her daycare situation. She is so cute and so much fun. There are a few pre-2 year old fits. She is just learning how and warming up, I guess. Yesterday, after church, she was up in her crib taking her nap and when she was done sleeping, I guess she got bored before she let us know she was awake. She took off her diaper, threw it on the floor and proceeded to make her crib into a water bed. Thankfully, that was all she did! She LOVES the bath and will do anything to be able to get one. If someone says bath or shower, she runs to the bathroom while trying to take off her clothes. Her other loves, right now are Melmo (Elmo) and Bob (Sponge Bob). She really doesn't like tv all that much, but she loves her books with Elmo and she does watch some Sponge Bob after we get home from running around for her down time.

I am doing well also. I chopped all of my hair off this last week. It was all one length to about mid back, and I had it in a bun or pony tail ALL of the time, so I figured it was time. I cut it off so I just have to run my fingers up the back and it curls up a little. I'd say the back is about 1 inch long. The front is a little longer and I tuck it behind my ears (I can't stand hair around my face) and it's really cute. I'm very happy with this cut. I can wear it curly (which takes me about 5 minutes to do) or I can straighten it. Fun. I'm just trying to keep up with the family, working my job at Midvale Middle School, getting back into Mary Kay (I took a short break for some family summer fun), and just doing mom stuff (groceries, errands, taxi service, bill paying...all the good stuff). If I could sleep for about 3 days, that would be great.

Well, that's about it for our family update. Thanks for reading and keeping in touch! Kirsten

Play time and new van

Lily smelling the roses on the book we are reading. I love how curly her hair is right out of the tub!

Just laughing and playing after tub time.

Matt making faces for Lily. She LOVES this one! So do I, for that matter! He is hilarious.

Here's Matts real smile. So cute!! He is running for student government for his 7th grade class. We were taking pictures for his posters.

Lily and Matt playing football against 2 of Matt's friends. They were having so much fun!

Yea! A touchdown for our team!

Lily enjoying both the ball and the trampoline.

Here she looks scary! She just ate a chocolate chip cookie, so her teeth are all blacked out and her eyes are doing something weird. Oh well, not all pictures of her can be gorgeous!

Yea!! We got a new (used) van! We all fit comfortably and Lily isn't kicking the people in the front seat constantly. It's a 2006 Dodge Caravan with only 54,000 miles and a DVD player. We love it. It also came with the extended warranty. Yippee for us!

Start of School

Ok. So now that school has officially started, we have no pictures or fun things to report about, because there is no time left in my life! Lily still loves playing in the water whenever I can get outside with her. She first runs to the swing and I push her for a few minutes. Than she wants to get down and runs to the trampoline. She jumps and goofs off for a few minutes there and wants to get down. Than she runs to her slide (which I put the end into her pool) and goes down that and plays in the water for a few minutes. Than she wants to run into the front yard and say "hi" to everyone who is outside walking their dogs, riding their bikes or washing their cars. We try to do this every day after work, but sometimes we don't make it through her whole regimen. How early is too early to look into ADHD??? Just kidding. She is just extremely active!!! We are trying a new daycare. Actually, it's one of my friends that used to watch Matt when he was 2. She has 6 girls, her 2 youngest are 1 and 3 and Lily LOVES it over there. She has tons of girl toys, a playground in the backyard and friends to play with.

Matt absolutely loves junior high. He is going to Midvale Middle with me every day. He is taking advanced math and english classes, Chinese and drama. His favorites are Chinese and drama so far. He has also decided to run for class officer. I will keep you updated on that. He is still doing some pretty fun stuff. He went to Yellowstone with my parents and brothers and their kids. Jason and I had to work, so we had to stay home, but they had a great time! Matt is also going to Bear Lake with his dad this weekend for Labor Day and staying in his grandparents cabin. He loves to visit his dad and play with his brother and the video games.

School is going well this year. I have been extremely tired, but I think that's just because of the stress of school starting! We all had the flu over the weekend, but it has finally passed and we luckily didn't have to miss any school or work for it. Hopefully I lost a few pounds from it though!

Jason is doing really well. He is in his final math class for his bachelors degree. Math is NOT his subject and struggles, but we have a teacher from my school coming over to tutor him and Jason is working hard to get through this class. It is really difficult for him because he usually does extremely well in school and it comes easy to him, but math is a different story. Right now, he is past the halfway point and still going strong and doing well. I'm so proud of him!

That's our life in a nutshell for now. I will post some pictures and give you more updates soon!

Pirate Island and just playing

So, we finally made it to Pirate Island in Orem, Utah. (pirateislandusa.com) It was very cool. It's a pizza/pasta restaurant with ships and skeletons all over (fun, not scary) and the waiters are all dressed like pirates and talk like pirates. They also have an arcade for the kids with tokens and tickets and a free play place for 6 and under. Very fun, very cool, not as inexpensive as I was hoping, but still worth it. Next time I will just order the family meal (2 pizza's, breadsticks, drinks and tokens) instead of letting everyone choose a dish that they want individually (plus drinks, salad bar and dessert for some, and extra tokens, it got pretty pricey). This pic is of Matt, Lily and Matt's friend, Taylor. They've been friends for about 5 years.

Jason is trying to toss pennies into the skeletons cup so it will become animated. He got 4 of them in, but then they bounced or rolled out. We all had a great time though.

Matt getting his eye poked out by the captains hook and Lily wondering what in the heck he is doing!
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Lily and Tayson (my brother, Josh's kid) are playing in our backyard. This picture is hilarious. Tayson's face says it all....."Would you PLEASE sit down so we can get this show on the road!"

I love this one too. Tayson is trying to be like the Dukes of Hazard and climb in thru the open window.

Lily and mommy playing the bongos. She seems to be having a ton of fun, while I just sit back and relax after working all day. This is my favorite part of the day, though!

I think she is done with pictures for today......

Someone gave us a cheerleading outfit hand me down and I just had to put it on her! She looked super cute, but was way grumpy, so I didn't get really great pics of this outfit.

If you're wondering why all my pictures seem to be of Lily and hardly any of Matt, it's because Lily doesn't have a choice! I grab my camera and follow her around and make her pose and stuff. Matt has a life. He likes to be out with his friends, or he's at his dads, or he just doesn't want his picture taken at that time. I get pics of him, but not as many as I would like. Maybe I'll start following him around with the camera! That should be interesting! He would LOVE it. Not.