Jimmy's riding a two wheeler

This post is long overdue but a few weeks ago Jimmy started riding a two wheeler bike. He probably could have been doing it long ago but there are not many places for us to ride bikes around here but we finally got smart and took him to the abandoned parking lot next to our apartment complex and it took him one try before he got it. Way to go Jimmy!! (There is a video too. I was having some trouble uploading it but hopefully it works.)

Rainy Day Fun

As you all know from the news California has been receiving an enormous amount of rain recently.* This, of course, translates into bored, wound-up, restless kids. So I was really proud of Ben when he turned that restlessness into creativity and decided to make a road with the books winding from the living room to his play room. He spent hours building and driving his cars along the road. Luke and Jimmy also enjoyed the road creation.

* I know that there are many of you reading this now who are living in never ending snow and below freezing temperatures that are dying to make a comment about how wimpy I am, and I just want to make a little clarification. I am in no way complaining about the rain. Believe me, I will take a little rain any day over what you are experiencing. And for the record, yes, I am a wimp and I'll be the first to admit it!!

Jimmy lost his first tooth!

Over the weekend Jimmy lost his first tooth. I don't think it was really ready to come out on it's own but Jim helped it along a little bit. Jimmy was sucking on his shirt and Jim told him to take it out of his mouth but he didn't listen so Jim gave it a tug to get the shirt out of his mouth. Well, the tooth came loose after that and by the end of the day it had fallen out on it's own. Jim felt terrible about it but Jimmy was really excited despite the fact the the tooth wasn't really ready to come out yet. He couldn't wait to tell his teacher at school because they get a special sticker every time they lose a tooth. There is just something about loosing those baby teeth that makes little boys feel like really big boys! Here he is with his beaming, toothless smile!

Big Boy Bed and New Play Room

After we got back from our Christmas vacation I decided to take down the crib, set up the twin bed for Luke, and move the bunk bed into his room. Well, I didn't actually do that all by myself. My wonderful husband helped me of course. I thought that Luke would revolt after I took his crib away but he seems to be happy with his bed. . .

Except some nights I will go into their room after they are asleep and find this. . .

I can't figure out why he wants to be on the floor but hopefully he will out grow that soon.

Now that I have all of the boys in one room we can have a play room. This is my favorite part! The boys love having a room to play in and I love to have a room to keep all of the toys contained in. It's a win-win situation all around.

Heather and Jason's Wedding

While we were in Utah for the holidays Jim's little sister, Heather got married. She was absolutely gorgeous and it turned out to be a really nice day. She had a luncheon with family and close friends instead of a reception. That was so nice. If I had a chance to go back and get married again I would totally do it like that and not bother with all of the hassle that comes with a reception.

Jimmy was having a great time during the luncheon getting lots of candid shots. It's interesting to see things from the perspective of a child who is not even 4 feet tall.

This little cutie is Myleigh. She is Jim's brother's daughter. Talk about a little sweetheart! Jimmy was totally taken with her too. He took on the role of older brother and wanted to do everything for her and she was loving it! Jimmy keeps telling me that he wants a little sister and after watching him with Myleigh I think that he is definitely serious about that!

Christmas in Montana

We had a great time spending Christmas in Montana. It was definitely a white Christmas for us. Despite the snow, ice, and freezing cold temperatures, there is something so peaceful about being there. It is such a contrast to L. A. It is so wide open and laid back. It was refreshing! We stayed very busy while we were there.

We went sledding. . .

(The best part was watching my 60 year old mother sled down the hill. She's the one in the red coat.)

We found cool, giant ice cycles. . .

. . . we played A LOT of Guitar Hero on the Wii. . .

. . . we had a blast playing with our cousins. . .

. . we enjoyed our Christmas gifts. . .

. . . we made a gingerbread house. . .

. . . and we ate some of it. . .

. . . and we played in the snow and drank lots of hot chocolate!

It just doesn't get much better than that!

Christmas in Utah

We were so lucky this Christmas because we got to spend some quality time with both of our families in Montana and Utah. It was a lot of driving to be able to see everyone but it was well worth it. While we were in Utah we stayed with Jim's parents and we stayed very busy doing a lot of fun things.

We went bowling. . .

I was lucky enough to have a girls night out!

We got to play with our cousins. . .

. . . and uncles. . .

. . . and aunts.

We decorated gingerbread men. . .

And we went on a wagon ride in the freezing outdoors (good thing I forgot to bring my coat that night) at Thanksgiving Point to see the lights.

We had a great time! Stay tuned for more pics from Heather's wedding and our trip to Montana!

Home again

We had a great Christmas this year. We visited our family in both Utah and Montana. Jim's sister also got married. In the end we spent 40+ hours driving in the car so we are tired and working on getting back into the routine of real life. We just got back a few days ago and I am now sorting through the 350 pictures that we took while we were on the trip. Most of which were taken by Jimmy so we have a lot of interesting pictures. He took some pictures of the floor and the ceiling, magnets on the fridge, pictures on the wall and fingers in front of the lens. But overall, he actually took some really good pictures. I'm really glad that he took lots of pictures because I usually end up getting distracted and not taking enough so he made up for my slacking off. So be patient with me as I sort through the pictures and I promise that you will be able to see all of our fun times in Utah and Montana over Christmas!

Ward Christmas Party

We experienced a first at the ward Christmas party this year - we didn't have any children crying in horror at the sight of Santa Clause. When Jimmy and Ben were Luke's age they reacted to Santa in a way that would make one think that he was the devil himself. I felt like the meanest mom trying to get them to sit in Santa's lap. This year was thankfully different. Luke got a kick out of seeing Santa at the party. He had no hesitation whatsoever sitting himself right down on Santa's lap. Jimmy and Ben were pretty excited too.



We had a yummy dinner of roast beef with all of the trimmings and a great program of the nativity scene put on by the primary children. I didn't get to see the program because I was helping the kids back stage. It is really a lot of work to do a production like that with 25 kids under the age of 12. The kids did a great job and brought the true spirit of Christmas into the hearts of those who watched it.

At the end of the night as we were getting ready to leave we were looking around for Ben. Sure enough, we found him by the left over desserts. He had plopped himself right down on the gym floor and dug into his chocolate cake. He made a huge mess but we all got a laugh out of it. When you are 4 you can get away with those things without too much trouble. Sometimes I wish I was 4 again!


Since I was so busy backstage I forgot to take pictures of the boys in their costumes at the church so when we got home from the party they humored me once more and put their costumes on so I could get a couple pictures of them. Jimmy was one of the inn keepers and Ben was a camel who traveled with the wise men to see baby Jesus. They were so adorable!