I thought only girls cut their own hair!

Tuesday morning, January 15, Daddy and I were getting ready to give Ryan a haircut in preparation for his 4 year old pictures that we were having taken on Thursday the 17th. As I was getting things ready to do the deed, Ryan asked if he could hold the scissors for me. I said sure, as longs as he just held them!!! Wrong words to say to a 3 soon to be 4 year old! I was getting the clippers out and trying to remember which attachment to use when what to my listening ears do I hear, but the horrible sound of scissors against hair and the "snip snip" that comes along with the sound!

I took one look at Ryan and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I simply started to chuckle & told him to go show his dad what he had done. Dad got a good chuckle out of it as well and we told Ryan that his hair really had to be cut now! Upon closer inspection of his haircut job we realized that his "snip snip" went almost all the way down to the scalp. We wanted to keep his hair as long as we could since it is only the middle of January, but alas, we had to cut it short, just like Daddy's and it looks like it is the middle of summer, not winter.

If he wanted to be like Dad, well now he is, the same haircut and all!!!

Edible Playdough

On the 7th of January my good friend Carlee and her daughter Addison came from Springville to play. We hadn't seen them since we moved into our house back in June. We were so excited to have them visit! Carlee brought some homemade Edible playdough and the kids had a great time with it, especially Ryan. Even Addison and Nathan got into it, although Nathan mainly wanted to throw it!

Addison loved rolling out the dough and then squeezing and pinching it!

After several attempts we finally got Nathan to at least put the dough on his finger.

All in all, it was a great time & Carlee and I enjoyed some adult conversation too!

The First Day of 2008

We spent the first day of 2008 with family. Naturally Nathan was up early & Ryan shortly thereafter. London, our niece, slept in until about 9:30! I sure wish our kids did that sometimes!! Once the kids were up and fed, London continually asked when we were going to Aunt Leslie's?, as that is where were spending the afternoon and evening. We let her know that it would be after lunch and after Nathan's nap. Her and Ryan decided they wanted to the Pirate Life game, so the two kids and Matt sat down and played the game. I thought that Ryan & London would only last part way through the game, but they made it all the way through!



When Nathan finally awoke from the his first nap of 2008 we loaded up all the goodies, the sled & the kids and headed over to Riverton to my sister, Leslie's house. While there we ate yummy food (lots of which was leftovers from the night before), visited with family, which included GranDee & Grandpa John this time, & watched the kids sled. Oh and don't forget about watching football on Leslie & Robert's new LCD T.V.!

Dylan (in his everyday clothes) Ashley (she almost ran me over)

London (watch out for Ryan!) Ryan (falling off the sled)

Ryan (hanging on & loving it) Ryan (On his tummy, oh yea!)


Nathan discovered a new goodie that he loves...Oreos!!!! He makes quite the mess with them too...but he sure is cute when he eats them.


HAPPY 2008!!!!

Rockin' New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve Tradition usually consists of going to my parents house for an evening of games, food & fun. 2007, was a bit different. My parents decided to ditch us for a party with some old friends from California from over 16 years ago. Matt & I decided that we would have a party at our house instead!

My brother, Steve, & his family came as well as my sister, Leslie, & her family came. We had a yummy dinner followed by lots of delicious goodies to keeps us awake all night. The older kids (age 11+) played games such as Taboo, Catch Phrase & Life: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest before midnight.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the kids even the little ones stayed up to welcome the new year. In fact the only party poopers were our kids! Nathan was asleep of his own accord by 7:30 & Ryan by some force by 10:30ish.

All these pictures are taken either right before midnight or just after! Enjoy!

No sooner did midnight roll around and everyone except for my family & my niece London left to find their warm comfy beds to lay their little heads down to sleep.

Uncle Greg Came to Visit!

Uncle, Greg came for a quick visit after Christmas. He flew into SLC late Christmas night, leaving early the 28th of December. Although we only had a few short days with him, we enjoyed every minute with him. He is so good with the boys & they can never get enough of him.
Greg came to our new house the morning after Christmas, so he got to see all the brand new toys the boys got for Christmas. The minute he arrive, Ryan was running around showing Uncle Greg the train table downstairs & his neat blue room.
After visiting for a few minutes, that is all that Ryan would let us, we went downstairs & the boys played with Uncle Greg. Ryan & Greg played kickball & Ryan showed Greg how he could count to 10 & his secret hiding spot! Greg made the mistake of showing Ryan how to run his video camera & from then on that is all Ryan wanted to do!!

We watched Ryan on T.V. via Greg's video camera several times after seeing some video of Kaiya. We were able to convince Ryan to go sledding with Uncle Greg. So on went the coats & hats and out we went with the new sled that Santa brought. We went sledding in the driveway & Uncle Greg took Ryan into the little grass area across from the house. Ryan took a few face plants & scraped up his face a bit, but he didn't even complain! Maybe we should have Uncle Greg play with him more often! It was a great time had by all. Even Nathan had his first sledding experience!

Christmas 2007

Wow!!Christmas 2007 for us lasted 3 days.

Round 1:

We did our little family's Christmas on Christmas Eve morning because Matt actually had the day off from work (a miracle), and we were going to be with Grandma & Grandpa in Santaquin for Christmas day. Nathan was the first one awake at about 7:20 am, which surprised both Matt & I. Ryan knew that we had talked to Santa & he said that he could come to our house a day early since we were not going to be home for Christmas morning, but that he could take our stockings to Ryan's cousins' house for Christmas morning, so we figured he would be up really early to open his presents & see what Santa brought him.


But alas, we actually woke him up around 7:45am.



"Ryan guess who came last night?"

"Who, mom?"

"Santa!"

"He did!!!!"

"Yea, should we see what he brought you?"

"YEA!!!!!!!!!!"

And off he rushed to the front room. Both the boys got all sorts of neat things & Ryan kept saying "cool"

Nathan got a present from Santa & both boys got a sled from Santa, but there wasn't anything under the tree for Ryan! It took us a while, but we found a not from Santa in the branches of the Christmas tree. It told Ryan the present from Santa was too big to fit under the tree, especially with all the other presents that were already there, but that he if took Nathan, mom & dad downstairs he just may find his present. Signed "Mr. C".

We grabbed the camcorder & the camera & off to the basement we trodded. Matt & I made Ryan wait outside the basement door while we got the cameras ready to go & then entered Ryan. He was so excited that he got something from Santa that he asked for! He has been so excited to show all his cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents his new train table!!!! Great present Santa! Thanks.


Christmas Eve with the Kelley's is always fun. We get together with Matt's extended family to do a Christmas Eve Family Home Evening with songs, a fun Christmas story & of course THE CHRISTMAS STORY of the Birth of Jesus.

When that has come to a close we play a great game that I have come to love & Ryan got to play it for the first time this year.

Grandma Kelley gets a bunch of sugar cubes & writes a word that relates to Christmas. One letter for reach side of the cube. This year the word was "JOY" So really each cube had the word on it twice since a cube has 6 sides. There are several sets, each put into a pie pan or something similar. Everyone brings several "white elephant" gifts, not more than about $1, wrapped & placed in the middle of a circle. With everyone sitting in a circle & a timer set for a pre-determined amount of time (this year I think 15-20 minutes) those with the cubes roll, & if they spell "JOY" they take a present from the middle. If no word is spelled the tin of cubes is then passed to the person next to them. What happens when all the gifts are gone from the middle you ask? That is when the game really gets fun. When presents run out from the middle, & "JOY" is spelled, that person gets to "steal" a gift from another person in the circle. That goes on for the allotted time & then when time expires, those are the gifts you end up with.

As was mentioned, this was Ryan's first year playing with us, since the last time we had Christmas with the the Kelley's he was almost 2, and he had a blast. Aunt Weeze (Marie) sat next to him & helped him know when he spelled "JOY". Every time he was able to steal a present from another person, his cute little face just lit up and he got an evil little smirk, but it was the cutest thing too. When it was all said & done, Ryan made out like a bandit. He got a package of Army men, a package of Cowboys & Indians, a little pig flashlight that oinks when you light it up, & $1.

We then ate a few goodies & drove to Steve & Angie's house to spend the night so we didn't have to drive back to Santaquin from Eagle Mountain early Christmas morning! Thanks Steve & Angie!

Round 2:

Despite Ryan & his cousins going to sleep at 11pm Christmas Eve, they were awake at 6am to see what Santa had brought! Ryan found his stocking & found that Santa had brought him some cars from the movie "Cars" & some other goodies. Naturally he wanted them opened, but we told him to go back to sleep & we could open them while London & her family opened their presents from Santa. That subdued them 'til about 7-730am & then they couldn't handle the excitement anymore & the woke us all up. Even little Reece (2) had to be woken up.

Matt & I got ready for the day & convinced Ryan to do the same. We arrived in Santaquin, late as usual, but just in time for a yummy breakfast at Aunt Kathy's, then off to Grandma Kelley's we went (next door) for the exchange of the extended family gifts. Once that was done, we piled back into the car and drove one block to Grandma & Grandpa's house to have open presents with them.

The kids wanted to open all their presents & didn't care about the rest of us. They were so excited about all the neat things they got and showed them off to all of the aunts, uncles, mom, dads & of course Grandma & Grandpa! The adults finally got to open our presents, while the kids played around us. It was a lot of fun & very enjoyable. After visiting for a while, Matt's siblings left to visit with their in-laws, which left just our family with Grandma & Grandpa. Ryan loved the attention.

Finally, it was nap-time, but of course Ryan would have nothing to do with it, so daddy & him went & visited Grandma Hiatt, while Nathan & I stayed at Grandma's to take a nap. We both took a 3 hour nap! When Ryan & Daddy got back to Grandma's house they watched "Santa Claus 3". Just as the movie ended it was dinner time. So back into the cars we went (Ryan drove with Grandma & Grandpa) to Grandma Kelley's house for a scrumptious Christmas dinner. Every Christmas Grandma Kelley makes a pork roast, meatballs, & lots of other yummy stuff.
After eating way too much food, Matt decorated a small birthday cake with chocolate chips that said, "Happy 30th" and everyone sang to mommy!. We loaded everything up & finally made back home around 10pm!!! Wow...what a long day.

Round 3:

Uncle Greg came to visit for a few days from Colorado so we had Christmas with the Bianucci's on Thursday the 27. We started off with dinner & then off to the gifts we went. We all got wonderful gifts from everyone. The boys received a few more toys & enjoyed playing with them on the spot. Matt got the best gift of all. I had told him that he had one HUGE gift still waiting for him, but I wasn't about to tell him what it was. So he "thunk until his puzzler was sore", but couldn't come up with anything. All he knew was that my parent's,the boys & I all went in on the gift. What he didn't realize was that all my siblings did too! So what was this huge gift you ask?! It was a handheld GPS unit! Matt had mentioned it to me once about a month ago, saying it would be fun to take the boys out and go geo-caching with them, but how expensive they are...so my little evil brain starting scheming up an evil plan...& he got his toy! He has enjoyed it already.

Although our Christmas lasted for so many days & rounds we enjoyed the holidays & the time we were able to spend with our family. Thanks to all for a wonderful Christmas Season!!!