A little update..

I realized it's been a little while since I posted anything, mostly because I'm pretty horrible at remembering to take pictures.
In the past month we..
-Had a pretty awesome yard sale where we sold a bunch of junk.. I mean treasures and made almost $200 dollars! It was pretty sweet and I forgot to take any pictures during it.
-Went bowling with a bunch of my family and my sister-in-law's family. I was pretty bad until the end and I got 4 strikes and a 9 on the last set! (see Jamie's link for pics)
-Went to Lyman, Utah for Thanksgiving to see TJ's mom's side of the family. I think there were around 80 people and a whole lot of food! From there we went to Gunnison for the rest of the weekend. I also forgot to take a single picture while we were there. Yep, I'm pretty awesome!

Beau had a Thanksgiving feast at Preschool. Here he is afterwards in his Indian vest he made at school.

This last weekend our friends Chad and Amber came down for a visit. Here is a pic of Amber and I with our combined 5 boys! I am holding Tate, and she has Noah and big boy Owen. Combine them with TJ, Chad, and Tyler(Chad's brother) and we were very outnumbered! We had fun and it was so good to see them!

Maybe we should take away the Halloween candy...

Just kidding, they are like this most of the time without the help of sugar. Daddy likes to get them all wound up just in time for bed.

Halloween!

It is no secret that Halloween is a favorite holiday at our house! The boys have been so excited for this day to finally arrive, and it didn't disappoint. They had a big time!I made Beau's skeleton costume this year, just some white felt and hot glue- gotta love spending around 8 dollars for a costume.

Luke got Beau's hand-me-down rooster costume from a few years ago. He had the choice between that or a spider and he was freaked out by the spider legs, so a chicken it was.

I got in on the action with fake eyelashes and some wings! We went to this awesome neighborhood in Hurricane called Sycamore Lane. It has lots of big trees, big houses and pretty much every house is all decked out with haunted houses and scary music. They boys loved it! We also hit Campbell's house for his 2nd birthday, but I guess I forgot my camera at that point.

We have learned the hard way in our 2 years in St. George that if you don't want your pumpkin to be smushy by Halloween you can't carve them too early. We went for Wednesday before Halloween and they survived!

Of course we had to make some Halloween treats too. Eyeballs and caramel apples with eyes. Yummy. Actually the eyeballs were a bit much- doughnut holes dipped in white chocolate with a chocolate chip and red icing. Yikes! They looked cool though.

Beau had circus day at school on Wednesday. He is not a very cheerful clown in this picture. When I picked him up he told me he didn't want his face painted and he was pretty grumpy on the way home. I finally got it out of him that he thought he couldn't eat his popcorn with paint on his lips, and I had to bribe him to take his picture. He cheered up when we washed his face and he got to eat all his popcorn.

Camping and Hunting

We had a good trip to Gunnison last weekend to do a little camping and hunting. There are no pics of a dead deer this time(TJ's dad got one, but he didn't- sorry sweetie!) But we had great weather and lots of fun.Luke was getting ready to go up in the mountains, practicing on the tinkerbell 4-wheeler.




I went hunting with TJ on Saturday night for my first time ever. It might be my last as I am not good luck and TJ says I talk and move around too much.

And this was on the drive home. The poor guy got a little tuckered out, I guess. Believe it or not he is asleep in this picture.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Believe it or not TJ and I got married 7 years ago today! I can't believe how fast the years go. Love you babe! Only eternity to go...

 

Check out my Target loot!

I made a little trip to Target today and spent about $6.21 for all of this stuff! Okay I actually spent $11.21, but I got a $5 gift card. I'm pretty sure the cashier hated me by the end of it, but sometimes it pays off to be annoying! I saved $47.63. And, yes, we will be getting our recommended amount of daily fiber now ;)
(If you want to see how I did it click on my link at the side to Good or Free Deals, scroll down to find the Target logo and from there she has two links to Hip To Save and Money Saving Mom. A lot of the coupons were printable so check it out!)

A very eventful day

Beau has been waiting for this day to come for a long while, and finally it came! He started preschool today and it seems he is going to really love it.

I dropped him off and he told me he didn't want me to get out of the car. He wanted to walk in by himself. This should come as a big shock to anyone who knows Beau. He has never done well with change and anything new. (just ask any one of his primary teachers) I guess he was very ready to go to school!

And here has been the other event for the day, potty training! Call me crazy because I am actually potty training a 2 and 1/2 year old boy. Well I should say he is potty training himself. He has been going really well for about a week, and today I finally got brave and put him in underwear. He always tells me when he needs to go #1, but #2 is another story. He is doing awesome so far, still wearing pull ups for bedtime and naps, but we will see how it goes tomorrow. Wish us luck and any advice is welcome. (Sorry if the pic is offensive, but I did censor it! It was just too funny to see him peeing with a helmet on.)

Beau's Party

We kept the celebration going for Beau's birthday on Saturday. We had a little swim party with the Blackwell gang in the morning, a BBQ at our place in the afternoon, and finished up the day with some bowling. And I took a lot of pics so here they are.. Sorry for all the collages- they are just way easier than posting a million pics. Click on them to see the pictures bigger.
Beau's cakes have steadily gone downhill throughout the years, sorry maybe next year's cake will show some improvement. (but don't hold me to it)

TJ worked with a guy who ownes a bowling alley. He invited us, along with TJ's coworkers and their families, to some free bowling and pizza! The boys had a blast, we had to end up setting a lane up just for Beau and Luke because they couldn't wait for their turn. We ended up bowling about 3 games a piece, and they still didn't want to leave!

Happy 5th birthday Beau!

I can't even believe Beau turned 5 today. I know I say it every year, but they just grow up way too fast!Beau got a new bike for his b-day. He wanted one just like Aiden's(our next door neighbor). And he seems quite pleased with it. Luke had to get in on the action too. Beau had to take a break from riding to talk to Grandma Petersen on the phone for a minute.

Beau got to choose the restaurant for his birthday meal, and this year he choose Chili's. He ordered a cheese pizza and corn-on-the-cob. Everyone's favorite part was the molten chocolate cake for dessert. Yummy!

After dinner Beau got to pick out a couple of toys with his birthday money. He picked out a bazooka gun, and army helmet, and some army accessories. (We don't encourage the violence, it just comes natural to these boys.) :)
Happy birthday Beau! We love you so much!

Just call me "the bright one"..

Q: What is the quickest way to kill 12 small crickets bought with good intentions to feed your very hungry pet frog?


A: Leave them in your car in St. George in 109 degree weather for 5 minutes while you pick up a pizza for dinner.

Unfortunally I know this from experience. Also, I didn't realize they were dead until I got home. And did I mention the frog will only eat live crickets. Fabulous!

Fishin'

The boys and I went fishing the other night at a pond by our house. It is only about 1 mile away from us. We only caught 2 tiny fish, but the boys still had fun. I also got some pretty cute pictures!

A much needed update...

This is probably my most random post yet. Just a few bits from the past few weeks Holding baby Mataya-and not enjoying her one bit! I got to go visit my sister Lindsay while she was visiting in Marysvale. It was a quick trip, but I had to go meet Mataya! And she has grown a ton since this pic!

A beautiful sunset in St. George - the pic doesn't do it justice!

A bowl full of cherry tomatoes grown from our very own backyard.. yum!

On the 24th of July we went to a baseball game with the boys. Luke loved watching them hit the ball, and Beau mostly liked the treats and of course the music in between innings. And there was an awesome fireworks show after the game.

And this is my nephew Parker being crazy on the slip-n-slide in Marysvale. I warned you it was random.

Our mini vacation

These two little baby burritos were the main reason for our visit up north. Our friends Chad and Amber had these two little guys, Noah and Tate, in June and I had to go meet them. She also has a 2 year old boy, Owen. Yep her life is a little crazy right now, it was fun to visit for a couple days.

Beau has been begging to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's ever since we moved to St. George. We don't have one down here so TJ and I took Beau, Luke and Owen for lunch on Friday.

Amber and I took all the boys to the Thanksgiving Point dino museum on Saturday while TJ and Chad went fishing. We had a lot of fun and Beau is sure he wants to be a dinosaur scientist when he grows up. TJ and Chad didn't have as much luck. The fish didn't bite and TJ broke his fly rod about 20 minutes into fishing.

 

I know it's not in order, but Friday night we went to my sister Heather's house for dinner. I got to see all my sisters, their kids, and my grandparents. It was so good to see everybody!

Silly boys

Beau has been a little in to dressing up lately. Almost every outfit looks good with the safety glasses (he thinks). I also have to keep reminding him he doesn't need 2 jackets with it being 110 degrees outside! He has been doing swimming lessons the past 2 weeks and just has two more days left. He is doing really good and loves to be in the water.


I came home from work last night to find a messy little house, but 3 very happy boys! TJ does a great job of watching the boys while I am gone. As you can see if you watched the video, Luke has made a full recovery from his surgery. We feel like his true personality is really shining now that he feels good all the time. Also, before his surgery he was talking some but probably only about 2 to 3 word sentences. Now, he is talking all the time and saying some 6 word sentences! We were laughing so hard at him hitting the balls last night, mostly at his little squat before he would hit the ball and the concentration on his little face. And of course he was showing off just a little bit :).

Our tadpole is all grown up!

Beau's little tadpole who we named "tad" is all grown up into what we think is a toad! We got him from the 4th of July games in Gunnison and we have no idea what kind he is. It was really fun to watch him change, it all seemed to happen really fast. He popped out his back legs first, then his front legs, and within a couple days he had completely lost his tail! I guess he "absorbed" it, because it didn't actually fall off. TJ made the nice little home for him with sand from our sandbox and rocks from the yard, since he couldn't live in the fish tank anymore.

Happy 4th!

We went to good old Gunnison for the 4th celebration. We had fun swimming, playing with the cousins, watching the parade, watching fireworks, and watching motorcycles do some fancy tricks in the air. Here are a few highlights from our weekend.

The slide on the pool just wasn't enough fun for Beau. He had to do fancy tricks jumping off the slide instead.

Luke and Italia driving the Barbie Jeep.

Luke watching the motorcycles flip in the air.

He couldn't take his eyes off of it. We thought Beau would like it too, but he was very tired and kept asking to go home. Here is a little video from the action.

Happy 4th! (cont.)

mmmm... parade candy

I've decided the Gunnison parade is way too long. But at least they pass out otter pops and loads of candy to keep me happy :).


Reindeer walking in the parade


Yes, that's a picture of a huge cow's rear end. I'm a little slow with the camera sometimes.

Beau had to get a fish at the park games. We ended up with 5 fish and a tadpole! One fish died before we got them into the bowl and it was a little traumatic. The rest survived the drive home from Gunnison. Hopefully they will make it for a while. Beau has been begging for a dog, but he's happy with a few fish for a while.

Hi fishies!