When The Fog Sets In

The presents were wrapped, and mailed to Ernie's parents home.  The luggage was packed. (Even with the remaining straggeling gifts) All last minute Christmas errands run. The house was actually totally clean, even clean sheets! The boys were thrilled that they were FINALLY going to get to fly somewhere.  (Caleb really dosen't believe us that he has flown before because he can't remember it.)
However, as if to say 'this is what you get for being organized and prepared for once', fog set in in Boise.  Yes, all plans drastically came to a hault, may I add here AFTER we had already drove the 2 1/2 hrs to Vegas for our flight, when the airline called and told us the flight was cancelled. (-Yes, we were refunded the tickets!-) Panic set in.  How were we going to get to Boise?  I was sure that Christmas was going to be ruined and we were never going to get there. And I had everything scheduled and oraganized, and completely prepared! That's what I get for scheduling, and don't worry folks, I learned my lesson. :) 

Well, what do ya know we made it here, and with great roads. The drive wasn't even too bad.  (Although, I think that if I ever hear the Chimpunk Christmas CD again, I might loose it.) We have had blast seeing family and good friends.  And it snowed today, so the kids were thrilled!!
Some of my absolute favorite memories are from being at my Grandma's house for Christmas. (Yes, the one who makes the best breakfast if you remember from my previous post)  I am so excited for my boys to get to make those kind of memories.  It is a lot of work to pack up Christmas, but I am so thrilled we get to do it. And one more day until Christmas Eve!  I absolutely LOVE this time of year!!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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The Crafty Elliotts

While Ernie was having fun in NY for buisness (he did get to go to Madison Square Garden to see a Knicks game while he was there) last week, the kids and I got crafty.
This type of thing is not a regular occurance as it created a mess greater than that of playdough, so it was defanitely picture worthy.

Caleb helped a ton. Well, that is his take on it.  But I'm pretty sure Ernie did most of the work while Caleb ate the candy. And he has asked every day since if he can eat the whole house now.

Thanksgiving Feast

Every year my family has the same Thanksgiving traditions.  We have all grown to love our traditions.
We start off the day way earlier than should be humanly possible to run the "Catch the Gobbler" 5k. It is so much fun and the kids had a blast with it this year! Layne and I did the 1 mile with them. Although, I'm pretty sure Ernie can handle the 5k next time! He did awesome.  He ran the entire way and came in first! Like first place, the real deal! Caleb also ran nearly the entire thing, and I was trailing behind him as he sprinted to the finish line in fourth place.  (He would have been third, but an older lady speed walked right passed him in the home stretch. Have a heart lady!)  Anyway, everyone thought it was so cute and would cheer caleb on as he ran, he then would run a little faster.

Nat, Mark and Ernie after they finished

Claire and Ernie

Yeah dad! He took first in his age group! We were quite impressed. I can't remember his time now, but it was like 25 min or something. 

Layne was Ernie's mile run budy

Claire (she won't be able to do the piggy back pose for a ton longer since he will probably pass her up soon)

Caleb laid down in exhaustion after he was done.......

Which only lasted a few minutes and then he was racing Ernie

The proud 5k crowd (We missed you mom)

And I mention lastly that we were the proud winners of 4 turkeys this year!!!

Well, that about covers the first few hours of the day.  As for the rest of the traditions of the day.... a brief run down:

nap

get ready

eat

go to movie

and finally

home for pie with the Roskelley's

 Our movie this year was Fantastic Mr. Fox. And let's just say it wasn't my favorite Thanksgiving movie of all time. (But we know Layne and Micah, you liked it :)  My favorite was actually when we saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We spoke in Dr. Suess inspired rhyme the rest of the evening.

We had a great Thanksgiving.

And yes, it is defanitely time now for Christmas. Even if I wore a skirt and flip flops today.

A Festive Pondering

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Chritsmas! But Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to ponder the things with which we are blessed.

Well, as Thanksgiving has now snuck up out of nowhere,  I decided to post a few of the things I am most grateful for.  I have found (as many of you I'm sure have) when I focus on all the the things I am blessed with it tends to make all of the problems I may have day to day rather insignificant.
(And these are not in any significant order!)

1- Faith
2- My family
3- power liftgate and doors on my car
4- a great marriage
5- pedicures
6- uplifting friends
7- chocolate covered cinnamon bears
8- snuggeling with my little boys
9- air conditioning
10- an amazing bed- like smile every time I get into it at night amazing
11- shoes- wait, let me make that CUTE shoes
12- modern every day conveniences (flushing toilet, washing machine, crock pot, you get the idea)
13- Scriptures
14- Parents (both my immediate and my in-laws) because, well hello they obviously raised great kids!
15- cafe rio/ costa vida salads
16- music
17- laughter
18- tevo
19-weekend trips to cabins- no boys allowed
20- cell phones
21- education
22- employment
23- pictures (so my memory dosen't fade quite so quickly)
24- Being able to saty at home with my quickly growing boys
25- massage- make that a great massage therapist

Oh, and my kids are some of the most blessed kids in the entire world.  Very few children have as many devoted grandparents and relitives as they do.

Luckily I could easily add to this list.

And luckily for all of you reading, I'll not add to the list :)  But this has given me an opportunity to start really recognizing every little blessing in my life. For instance, the blessing of my adorable children fast asleep in their beds long before 8.  I really am blessed!!!

The New Family Photogropher

I was downloading pictures the other day and I came across the following pictures.

I was pretty sure I had an idea of who the culprit was, but as I came across these self portrates all suspicions were put to rest.

I just realized I never posted pictures of the whole Halloween experience, only the costumes! so, here we go.

 Here are pumpkin carvers.
For some reason, 3 eyes were really in this year!

Here are my three men hanging out at the trunk o' treat

So, part way through the night, Ernie decided to ditch the Harry Potter getup and go as a missionary.
  He is a funny kid, and obviously inventive.

OK, so I must insert here how much of a rough evening we had trying to get him to get out of the car.  He was rude and belligerent and we couldn't figure out why he wouldn't go trick or treating with his costume. I was so frustrated with him.  He finally came up with this idea and he was all of a sudden in a great mood. He finally made a comment later on during the night that his costume was too long.  Aha! I finally figured it out, he felt a little bit like he was wearing a dress and all of a sudden got weirded out by it.  That's the

 I'm not sure what made him think of the new costume idea.  Luckily we were at the church trunk o' treat, so we went and found the missionaries so he could capture the moment with them. They supplied him with a B of M to compete his ensemble.  What a kid! That's all I can say! We thought it was awesome, and got over the beginning rough part of the evening.  (And I know, of all things to change their costumes into, how can a mother complain?)

The Adventure Hero Phase of Life

I'll be honest, I was a little sad as I was preparing for this Halloween.  (But keep reading, it gets better) As I was searching for costumes for 'older' children, I remembered how much fun it was to dress my little boys up.  We have had a lion, monkey, and buzz to die for (just to mention a few).  I thought that my days of cutesy costumes were gone because let's face it, Ernie just cannot be squeezed into a 4T.

But, as soon as their costumes arrived (you will be shocked, Indiana Jones was one of them) I was SOOOOO excited to see them get all dressed up!  And even if they no longer like to be animals or characters from animated movies, they're still pretty darn cute!

My Indiana Jones

My Harry Potter

 

 And I loved that this year was completely their thing. They picked their costumes, which built the anticipation up for them. They were So much fun!  And they really got into their characters.









How lucky am I? I really feel blessed to have such wonderful boys. They are so much fun. 
If you hadn't noticed by previous posts, I am a little sentimental. I sometimes think it will never get better than the moments I've had with them, and so I dread that different phases pass of their childhood.  I often dread that things are changing, that my youngest is nearly five. And having them grow up has been hard to watch. However, then the next phase hits and I realize that all of it is wonderful.  Every moment.
They develop personality; a sense of humor that out wits their dad, charm that would woo anyone, gratitude. They start to develop their own testimony of who they are and why they're here. They give you a hug and thank you for everything that you do for them as a mom.
I then wake up and notice the moment. And then I realize that I am proud and I am grateful.  Extremely grateful, for every fleeting moment.

Real Men Camp With Elk

The Ernie's went camping this past weekend with the Young Men. They had a great time. Ernie sent me a text  to tell me that there were some elk that roamed into the camp.  I thought, oh cool, there were elk that you could see from a far distance from your tents.
I was totally shocked when I saw the picture! I had no idea how close they got! What an amazing experience for him.  There were 8 of them.

Fall Festivities

A few weekends ago we had London Bridge Days.  It was a lot of fun.  They have a ton of stuff going on the whole weekend.  We went to the parade with some friends in the morning and then we went to the fall fun fair that night.

Here are the kids hanging out in the very warm weather waiting for the parade to start.

(Yes, it is the 'fall' town activities, and yes my children are in shorts and flip flops.)

One of our favorite parts, yes those are camels. Real, live camels.

Here is a closer shot.  Pretty crazy!

The most entertaining part hands down had to be the scantily dressed past their glory days women dancers.  They went all out with their costumes and hair. And they were movin and groovin! I wish with all my heart that I hadn't been laughing so hard that it was impossible to take a picture.  Maybe next year.

That night we went to the fair.  I didn't get a lot of pictures, because it was one thing to the next and the boys didn't give much of a chance.

Our friend Dan challenged Ernie to a race through the blow up obstacle course.  I was scared they were going to break it!  It was a hoot to watch (yes, I just said hoot!).  The kids thought it was awesome.  They were moving so fast, that the only pictures that turned out were the ones right after they rolled out of it. 

 

We had a lot of fun.

And for those unbelievers, that is grass they are standing on.  Real green grass.  Grass and camels in Lake Havasu, who would have thought?

BYU Game

There is a little catching up to do.  First I will start with the UNLV-BYU game.  Most would assume that we were cheering for blue, all the way.  Okay, get ready, some of you may be a little disappointed. We are true unyielding UNLV fans for at the entire length of a football game.  (Sitting in the Presidents box with the president, and other important people like the basketball coach, causes a sense of obligation to cheer for the red. Thanks dad for letting us be part of your great perks.)

Dad and Ernie took advantage of being able to go anywhere they wanted with dad's all access passes.  Pretty cool huh?!

Here is our attempted self portrait while hanging out in the suite eating yummy food. Dad, mom, Ernie and I had a great time, even if the mood was a little solemn as BYU made great play after great play.

(And don't you worry, we were silently cheering for the Cougars the whole time. Shhhhhhhhh)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It has become a tradition to go to McCall with some of my dear friends and spend a weekend at a cabin we found there.  I don't have a ton of pictures of it, but here is at least this to help me remember my 2009 experience.  These ladies are true friends, and especially with all of the changes in our life this year, it was wonderful to get together with them.

Cute shoes and great andventures

Today, after I picked up Ernie from school I put on my creative hat.  I decided to take the kids to the park. I know, extremely inventive, you know me :).

The weather has finally cooled down and it was a breezy 82! In celebration of cooler weather, I wore close toed shoes. While the children were fighting off robbers and bandits, I admired my feet.  Aren't they cute?






We found a new park, so I guess I did get a little creative. The boys immediately turned it into the stage for some great adventure, I'm sure involving Indiana Jones in some way, although I never directly heard his name.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to venture back into the outdoors.  It was a little overwhelming when it was too hot to sit on a bench and watch as your children tried not to burn themselves.  Yes, I'm thinking now that the days of 120 are past, I'm starting to like this weather.  In fact, I think I might even start to find this rather nice :).

IT'S FINALLY FALL

We were finally able to make it official, fall can finally come.  We went to the pumpkin patch.  Now, going to the pumpkin patch has been a tradition now for a long time.  This year you will notice it was a little different than past years.  We were in shorts and flip flops!!!

                               

                                The boys loved it! We were able to go with my cousin (yes a fourth cousin still qualifies as a cousin :) and her family.

       

Devon wouldn't ever hold still, but it was fun to get at least Ernie, Caleb and Carter in the picture!

  Ernie wanted to get an action shot!
We were actually having quite the cold front over the weekend.  So it was only in the low 80's! 

The place we went was a farm that also had an apple orchard.  The boys got really excited when they saw apple trees and really wanted to pick some.

Sadly, we were missing the biggest member of our family. (He went back to NH for the weekend)

So I decided when we are in Vegas again next weekend for our temple trip, I am going to drag Ernie back   so we can get our annual family picture at the pumpkin patch.

Although, we did take this picture and text it to him.  This is us missing him as we waited in a very long line to purchase our pumpkins and apples.  Oh, and we got yummy fresh apple juice!

It has been hard to get in to the fall mood, which is my FAVORITE time of year!   The lack of the crisp cool fall air that usually whispers with its breeze for the fall decorations to be hauled from storage, the 100 degree weather, this all kind of hinders the call of autumn. But this definitely helped me get in the mood! Yes, I even got corn stalks (but no hay barrel this year).

And to top it all off, this morning was a nice and wonderful 65 degrees, and I felt that at least for a an hour or so I was a little at home.

And now I say come fall, I am ready for you!  (Even though I do not get a fun seasonal wardrobe change)