Mythical Creature

Ever since I met Cameron I have heard about these animals that exist by the name elk. Having grown up in southern Georgia I had never seen one of these animals before I moved here. Every year my husband would buy a tag to shoot one of these great beasts and every year he would come home empty handed. I would get the same excuse "It is very hard to get one with a bow since you have to get so close to shoot them." Last year he decided that he would try his luck with a rifle and put in for the cow elk tag but don't draw out. This year he put in again and low and behold he got the tag. Yesterday marked the first day of the hunt and within two hours of him leaving the house he called to let me know that we are now the proud owners of 150 pounds of elk meat. He is very proud of himself for getting his nemesis. We also had to purchase a deep freezer to house all the meat but hey I now have some food storage. I just hope elk meat is as good as I remember from when we were dating!

Gingerbread Houses

On Sunday night we had Cameron's family came over for dinner and gingerbread houses. The houses proved to be a little difficult to get together but we finally all managed. The kids all had fun putting on the decorations. Blake had fun putting one on and then eating two, who doesn't need a sugar high every now and then. After all the kids got to open presents. This year we thought it would be fun for all the kids to exchange and since this was the last time we would all be together before the big day we decided to do it then. Grace got a Barbie and a dog that poops. She and Blake have fought over it ever since on who gets to feed it and make it poop, it is pretty funny. Blake got a couple of Thomas Trains for the tub and he loves them. We had a lot of fun and I hope that we can maybe turn this in to a family tradition. To the left is our family with our house.This is our house.

Cameron's parents Chris and Woody with their house.
Cameron's brother Dan, his wife Katy and their kids Maddi, Preston and Savannah with their house.

Cameron's sister Randi, her husband Brady and Alexa with their house.

Cameron's brother Jason and his two boys Dylan and Braxton with their house.(His wife Nickie and their little girl Natalie couldn't make because Natalie was sick).

Out With the Old

For our anniversary/Christmas we decided that it was time to get new couches. The last ones we bought were not long after we were married and I being young and having no children decided to go with some very unchildrenfriendly couches. The stood up pretty well with Grace because she is a very good child when she is not being mouthy. Blake on the other hand pretty much ruined them in his first year of life. We have been debating about what to get for a while and for anyone who has been to my house knows that last year the TV won that battle so this year was the couches turn. As you can see that with my "old" age I have become practical and went with something that was dark so you can't really see stains and cleans well. We moved the old ones down stairs to the playroom and I know that it is just a matter of time before they are unusable because of the little boy mentioned before. I have also heard from a couple of people that my old couches were not comfortable so hopefully these will suit everyone better. The picture to the left and below are the new ones and the lower picture are the old ones.

Advent Calender

I thought that I would post something fun and crafty that I did for this holiday season. For our wards craft night last month we made these advent calenders. They were lots of fun to make and turned our very cute but be warned they are very time consuming. All they take are some scrapbook paper, a painters canvas, metal tins and Velcro. Grace thinks that it is great fun to get a candy every day and it is her helping recognize her numbers better because I mixed all the numbers up and then she has to find the right one for the day. Some other ideas that were give to fill the tins were service projects, tiny gifts or a scavenger hunt. I am boring and I just did candy but it works. Now when Grace asks when Christmas is I just say when all the candy is gone!

Santa, Christmas Ornaments and a Fake Tree

On Saturday we all made our annual trip to the mall to see Santa and Chris(Cameron's mom) buys all the kids Christmas ornaments. We first met at Hallmark and all the kids picked the ornament they liked. The pictures are after Santa I put them in the wrong order oh well. Grace picked Barbie from Barbie and the Diamond Castle and Blake picked Buzz Lightyear. He was very adamant about that one we didn't even know that he liked him that well. After that we went to see Santa and there was no line at all. Grace jumped right up in his lap so she could tell him everything that she wants. Blake on the other hand was very reluctant which surprised us. For the picture of him and Santa Cameron bribed him with ice cream if he would look at the camera. He did warm to Santa when he realized that Santa knew who Thomas the Train was. So the picture to the left is Grace, Blake and Santa.Grace and Santa

Blake and Santa

All the cousins(Maddi, Savannah and Preston where sick so they didn't make it)

Grace and Blake in Santa's train

Grandma, Blake and Buzz

Grandma, Grace and Barbie

So after we got the ornaments Grace was insistent that we put up our tree. Since Cameron made me get a fake tree last year that wasn't to hard to do. I will say that it was nice and easy but I am still not a fan. maybe one day it will grow on me.

I let the kids pretty much put all the ornaments on so they are not spaced very well but they had fun. Grace talked Cameron into holding her up so she could do the star.

Blake had lots of fun but it took a minute for him to get the concept of hanging the ornaments not just laying them on the branches and letting them fall off and then crying. All in all it was a fun family thing and now we have a tree in our house.

Surprise!

Do you love me?

On Friday night Grace had her very first dance recital. She kept telling me that her song was "My broken heart". I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally after seeing the practice I learned that it was Do you love me, the beginning says "You broke my heart". Now I know. Anyway she was so excited. I have heard about this recital since before she started dance. All she has wanted to do was dance on stage and she finally got too. She was so cute at the recital. She couldn't sit still for more than two seconds until it finally started and then she didn't move. She loved watching all the dances and clapped so hard at the end of them all that I thought she would fall off my lap. She did a good job and we are so proud of her. I told her dad to pick up some flowers which he did but much to her disappointment they were not red. Oh well he will know next time. I videoed her dance with my camera so it is not great but I added it at the bottom. I did cut off her head at one point because I was trying to hold the camera but watch her for real, oh well what do you do. The picture to the left is her on stage with her flowers. Below is what she and Blake did during the intermission and then a picture with Grandma and Grandpa. Now that this one is over she is gearing up for the one in May. I don't think that May can get here fast enough! I am having some trouble with the video so bare with me I will get it up as soon as I can.

Fishing

Two Saturdays ago Cameron's dad took Cameron, Grace, Jason(Cameron's brother), Dylan and Braxton(Jason's boys) out in the boat fishing. It was freezing and they had to get up at 6 am but Grace loved every moment of it. Cameron even said she cried when they brought the boat back to shore. They caught lots of fish and Grace even caught the biggest one. They did put the boat away for the winter but Grace can't wait to go again in the spring. The picture to the left is Grace with her fish. My little princess wouldn't hold it for the picture because it was gross and they barely got her to hold the net but she finally gave in for one quick shot.Grandpa, Braxton, Dylan, and Grace.

Grace reeling in her fish.

Grace and grandpa while he let her drive the boat. Blake was very sad that he didn't get to make this trip but his dad was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to keep him in the boat. That is probably true, maybe by spring he will settle down a little and he will get to go too.

Halloween '08

I am a slacker and I'm finally posting Halloween. I guess late is better than never. So as you can see the kids are Jasmin and a monkey. The Jasmin costume was a little bit of an issue because we told Grace she couldn't show her tummy she had to wear something under it. She cried about that for a night(when doesn't she cry) and then the next morning she agreed to our terms, Cameron did tell me that when he took her to the Bishop's house to trick or treating she asked if he was the man who didn't like her to show her tummy, Cameron said yes and she just said oh. I wonder if she is now mad at him. Oh well. Anyway on Halloween we first went to Cameron's parents house and got to see Dylan, Braxton and Natalie. Then we trick or treated around there for a little bit. Then we went back to our own neighborhood. Cameron took the kids around and then we went to my friend Tiffany's for dinner. I am a bad neighbor and bought no candy because we would not be there all night, we turned off all our lights but people still came by. I feel bad and guess I could have gone with the honor system and left some on the porch but oh well next year I guess. On our way home that night Grace said "Mom people came by our house and then said Damn it they have no candy." When questioned what she said she changed it to Oh man. We finally got her to admit what she said and Cameron tired his hardest to pinpoint it on me for teaching her that word but she said to learned it on her own. We talked with her about naughty words and hopefully that is the end of that but does it make me a bad mom if I thought it was a little funny!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my dad Shaw's birthday. The kids really wish they could be with him to have cake and ice cream because according to Grace it is not you birthday til you blow out the candles. Anyway we hope you have a great day and we love you!

Pumpkin Carving

On Sunday we went over to Cameron's parent's house for our annual Halloween pumpkin carving. Chris made her dinner in a pumpkin which is very yummy and then we all carved our pumpkins. I went with an easy face this year after tyring to do something harder last year and a big piece fell off. This year I also brought paint for the kids to paint their pumpkins. The kids seem to always try to help with the carving and it just turns out bad so this year I decide that while we carved they could paint, it turned out well. Grace did two faces on hers and Blake just painted purple lines on his, why purple you ask who knows! Anyway we had lots of fun!

Happy Birthday Mom!

This is my mom Patty and today is her birthday so I just wanted to let her know we are thinking about her. Happy birthday, we hope you have a great day and we love you!

Barnyard Boo and Fall Festival

On Friday 11 kids and four crazy moms went to Thanksgiving Point to their annual barnyard boo. This is kind of like a little carnival on the farm country at Thanksgiving Point and I am sorry to say that I was a little disappointed. Not only does it cost more than to just go to the farm but they also wouldn't let me get everyone in for half price with my membership. They did have a few little activities for the kids to do that is extra but you can only do 5 with your purchase price. All Grace wanted to do was have her face painted, we have been there several times to ride the pony so she really didn't care about that, and the face painters where already gone when we got there at 4 when it was open til 8 or 9. The pony ride was a 45 minute wait and my kids didn't really care about the other little activities. They did get balloons, Grace got a pink pig and Blake got an orange hat that he picked all by himself. We also rode the wagon and decorated cookies. It was also fall break for all the schools so it was completely crowded hence the 45 minute wait. All in all think that it is safe to say I will not be doing this next year. The kids had fun but not anymore fun than if we want on a normal day for free.

This year instead of a trunk or treat our ward did a fall festival on the 18th. They did lots of fun games for the kids, face painting, coloring, dinner and cotton candy(my very favorite treat and quickly becoming my kids favorite too). They also took family pictures which is to the left and I am posting it even though I think that it is an awful picture of me. Cameron is not in it because he is in Vegas trying to clean up our house for new renters but that is a whole other story. The kids had so much fun. The dinner was soup and Blake is not crazy about soup so he eat candy for dinner and let me just say he was bouncing off the walls even more than he already does. After we got home he just laid in his bed yelling at me, it was kind of funny. Anyway the kids did dress up so here is a sneak peak for Halloween, a monkey and Jasmin. The picture below I really like of Blake because he is multitasking. He wanted to throw the sponge but he also didn't want to give up the frog he just won, he wasn't using his mouth for anything so perfect holding place, such a smart kid. They also threw a football at milk jugs and both knocked over a few. Grace was also very happy about the face painting since we had missed it yesterday and hey this face painting was free!

Pumpkin Patch

Monday night for FHE we went to the pumpkin patch. At first Blake was a little concerned about running through all that dirt in the semi darkness but after he realized that I really was ok with it he took off. After we all picked out our pumpkins we let the kids run through the hay maze they had set up for children. Blake didn't really run through it as much as climb on it but hey what are little boys for if not doing things they shouldn't and making their mothers nervous. It was really cold but the kids loved it so in my book that is called a success.