Our crazy and fun family

Easter

2011-04-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know there are a million photos in this post... but that's all everyone wants anyway right? A picture says a thousand words and all that =)

Notice the blue hand as she tries drinking dye off the egg dipper! mmmmmmmmmm..........

Oh look it's becoming a fashion trend! Cals hand also ended up blue but I guess i didn't get a pic...dang it!

Monster eggs!!! these were such a hit the neighbors came down and joined in. We used every single pipe cleaner we could find

Oren is proud of his creation which is sporting a lovely unibrow, mustache, and beard.

Hunting for eggs.

Ahhhh yes it's still blue!

He's really wide awake with his eyes closed because the sun momentarily made a guest appearance.

We found a few of these lovely treats on our eggs this morning, i think they enjoyed finding eggs as much as the kiddies. Calvin did NOT like them at all. "they are disgusting!"

okay so baby ben really likes to smile, but my camera always makes them blurry cause he moves so fast i think, but isnt he cute?!?

Benjamins blessing day

2011-04-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so the blessing day was a little crazy and we forgot to get pics with everyone and the kids are in their pj's oh well. Here's the man of the day...what a handsome little man!

For those of you who don't know about my wedding dress, the goal was to chop it up and make my kids blessing outfits out of it and a temple dress for myself. So here his vest is my wedding dress. If you look at the other kids they also have some incorporated somewhere....now to start my temple dress...sigh

I just LOVE these kids!!! they are awesome and can always make me smile.

Benjamin Alexander

2011-03-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

     Benjamin Alexander Stocks
   March 2, 2011
   7 lbs. 1 oz 19 1/2 inches

We are very excited to have this new little addition to our family. He is a sweet boy with siblings who are very excited about their new brother. Ziz is the first to alert me whenever brother wakes up from a nap. Cal and Lu are glad to help do anything with him and Lulu has really stepped in to be the second little mommy already especially taking care of Ziz while mommy is busy.

Welcome to the fam!

2011-03-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Calvin holding baby brother. When Cal came to the hospital he ran over jumped up onto my bed and yelled "Yeah that's my baby brother!!!" He loves him TONS and is so excited for him to be here. there are better pics of them together but i just love this one =)

Proud Daddy!

This one of Lulu just makes me smile. she's always making silly faces at me

The girls and mom with the newest addition

Cousin Brakken. Erik and his fam came down and the boys did really good with baby. (they liked his feet the best I think)

Lulu tries her hand at feeding the baby a bottle.

Crazy kids!!!!!

2011-03-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Okay so for some reason my kids have LOVED wearing their underwear on their heads! I'm not sure why....I think it all started one day when they were supposed to be folding their clothes and I started to get frustrated because it was NOT happening so I put Calvins undies on his head and it was instantly hillarious and the newest funny thing to do.

math class

2010-11-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

I remember sitting in math class in high school thinking when are we EVER going to use this stuff? Well I can definitely say that as a mom I never thought I would use it everyday. Lately I have been brushing up on the good old story problems such as...

If you have a family of five, three children and two adults, everyone has pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, except the baby who has cereal and a glass of milk. At lunch dad has a sandwich and chips, mom has leftovers, child 1 has a peanut butter sandwich, child 2 has a hotdog, and child three has noodles. At dinner Everyone eats the same, entree, side, and vegetable. Everyone has something to drink at every meal. Two snacks are made throughout the day and several drinks are consumed (mostly by children who need a clean cup EVERY time). At the end of the day how many dirty dishes will there be?

WOW ALOT!!! And out of that family of five who ALWAYS gets to do them? ( Don't even let me write a story problem for laundry-especially now that there is mud EVERYWHERE!) So how was everyone elses day?

2010-10-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

So here is how Halloween night started.... We trick or treated at the park where some businesses had set up and as we were getting into the van we saw lightning, heard thunder, and saw a WALL of black coming toward us. As soon as we were all in the van it started to hail like CRAZY!!! I was driving 30 mph and could barely see in front of me. Oren was sitting next to me and i could barely hear him shouting. The video is when it had mostly stopped when we remembered we could take video with the camera. The kids thought it was hilarious, I was just glad that we were in the van =)

Fireman Calvin-oh yeah he wants to be a fireman when he grows up.

Princess Lulu-she already believes she is one.

Oh yeah, she wanted to be a "masked princess"-she thought she might shake things up a bit.

Cutest Tinkerbell ever!-until she turned into Stinkerbell. Oren says his nostrils are still burning, and thats saying something for someone who is fairly accustomed to smelling....stuff....

This was about 1/2 hour after the hail. It was an AWESOME double rainbow. I was glad when driving down a smaller road and I was one out of like 10 drivers taking a picture! Seriously EVERY person we saw pulled over at one point and most had a camera in hand. It rocked!

This is the end result. My camera definitely did not catch how beautiful it was, but here it is after the storm cleared out. I love where I live! There is not 1 apt. complex in view!

If babies could talk I'm sure this one would be saying that Halloween is her new favorite holiday!

Cute kids ready to pack it in for the night and head home.

Pumpkins

2010-10-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Cool guttin a punkin

"ya I still don't like the guts. Their slimey."

Okay so I love this one of Cal and dad. I was telling Lu and Ziz to smile, and here are the boys peeking in between for their ten minutes of fame!

Yes that is a fly paper above my head. Yes it IS gone now. And yes it was needed this summer. The first day we put it up I almost took a picture after 24 hrs. I started to count the little friends while eating breakfast. I stopped at over 130!!! OH...and that was only 1 of 3 that were in our kitchen and living room!

I love that Cal can never have a straight face!

Hewe are carving our punkins. Well, mom and dad did most of the carving, but we had lots of fun! Ziz had a bottle, Cal had a vampire face, Lulu had a girl face with beautiful lips and eyelashes, dad had a face that looked like Isabelle (because she now has four teeth =), and mine was a ring because Lulu said I had to have something like a girl, but not the same as hers.

2010-10-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Okay so here is Ziz on her first birthday. Yum! CAKE!!! Of course Calvin and Lulu were there to show her how it was done. She did not take ONE bite of her cake, however she carefully skimmed off almost all of the frosting. Hahahahahaha =)

Summer 2010

2010-09-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since I have updated. We have had a great summer doing anything and everything that is free. We have been to parades, fireworks, rodeos, hot air balloons, picnics, camping, hiking, and everything in between. The kids are both going to preschool and loving it. Isabelle is crawling and walking along the furniture. Life has gone by too fast this summer! hope you all enjoy the picture update.

Childrens Museum

2010-09-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

We went to the childrens museum in SLC with the cousins and had a fun fun day playing and riding the train. Calvin loved the water table the most, but he also thought that climbing the rock wall was pretty good too. And little sassy cowgirl...where does she get that? on the roof they also had a real helicopter which the kids got to "fly" and ride in.

Learning to hunt

2010-09-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Bryan made the kids some bows out of PVC pipe. They really had a great time learning how to "hunt". Calvin especially loved wearing camo and shooting a bow and arrow just like Alex.

fire station

2010-09-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

Tashas boyfriend Brandon took us all to the local fire station in Stevi and let the kids play in ALL the fire trucks and gear. The kids had a great time.

summer fun

2010-09-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

MUD FIGHT!!! Does this look familiar to anyone?!?

The middle pics are when we hiked the grotto. It is an easy hike and there is a waterfall at the end. The kids LOVED it! The other pics are of a fun family campout before Alex left. My family is crazy!!!

Strawberry Days

2010-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

We all went to Strawberry Days for the carnival, the parade, the rodeo, and of course the fresh strawberries and cream!

Elizabeths birthday party

2010-06-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

YAHOO! Birthday party! Elizabeth was SO excited for her party. We all had lots of fun...and yes Calvin is back in a princess dress. He hasn't changed out of Spiderman or Batman since his birthday, but when everyone arrived in princess attire he had to join in. The cake was another experience with a buttercream fondant, but it turned out pretty good. Elizabeth LOVED it...can you tell?!?

Hiking the Yl

2010-06-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Oren wanted to hike the Y before we left the valley so we decided to take the challenge on tuesday. We all made it...YAY!!! We had quite a bit of fun and the kids LOVED it!

Last day of school

2010-05-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth has LOVED pre-school but now it has come to a close. Here is our beautiful girl with her teacher Miss Becky, receiving her "diploma", and sitting with her class as they sang to the parents. I think I will miss her going to preschool just as much as she will!

Updates of the kids

2010-05-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Calvin is the stud-liest little man I have ever seen! He is always so happy- he rocks!

Always a princess! She is never wearing JUST pants and a shirt because as she informed me last night "that is just not beautiful!"

AWWWWE...Doesn't she just melt your little heart?!? She is growing way too fast and trying to scoot on the floor already. She is THE BEST baby. Never fussy just very chill, smiling, and laughing all the time.

This is the best that we could get of the family, but hey at least we're all in it... right?!?

I am completely computer retarded. I can't figure out how to rotate these without downloading them to our computer...that and its a Mac and I don't know how to work it cause' it's not a PC...HELP!!!

Happy Birthday Calvin!!!

2010-05-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

HOLY COW!!! I can't believe it's birthday time already again! We now have two crazy three year olds at our house...at least for a few more weeks! Here are a few shots of the birthday boy...and I think the party was a success.

PRESENTS!!

Calvin got a tent from G-ma Missy and the kids love it! They have slept in it every night so far.

Auntie and Baby

Cool Superhero!!

Here are some of the kids making edible spiders. I found THE BIGGEST marshmallows in the whole world and had the kids stick pretzel sticks in them for legs.

All of our Spidey friends.

The cake. This cake was actually pretty easy and fast...I was very surprised and pleased!

Baby gets food

2010-03-06T20:56:00.001-08:00

Baby Belle went to her 4 month checkup and weighed in at 15 pounds and 3 oz. She officially weighs half as much as Elizabeth and Calvin! What a chub! Now she gets REAL food. She likes it alright, but is a MESSY eater!

2010-03-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

Two CRAZY kids!

While shopping at Home Depot for tub supplies we happened to be there for their free day project for kids. Here they are making rain gauges. They got aprons, all the supplies, and a pin showing what they made for their project to put on their apron. Calvin LOVED it!!! Lulu is kinda sick and now has a fever so she was a little less than enthusiastic.

While mom and dad were painting the bathroom Calvin decided to EAT some paint. Thank goodness his is only nontoxic watercolor!

Surprise Project

2010-03-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

So Oren and I decided to take on a little project this week. Redo Annas bathroom. This is the before picture of the tub.

These pictures are where Oren is saying "Just what the heck did I let my wife convince me to do?!?"

Before pictures of the walls

After pictures OHH LA LA! The curtain is not metallic but it kinda looks like it in the picture but it really matches the tan/gold color of the paint on the upper half of the walls.

Nice white bathtub with no mold! And what will the family think when they arrive home tonight? I have NO idea but hopefully all goes well and they enjoy. I know I need a nap after this one.

2010-01-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

Mary going to the MTC. Yahoo Mary!
The kids swimming with Oren at the hotel on the way back from Illinois.

Oren and Belle watching a movie in 3-D for new years eve.

Two stylin kids

Crashing at the hotel after the first day of travel to Illinois. The journey was two full 12 hour days of driving but the kids were fantastic!

CHRISTMAS 2009
Draw! Oren is using his new clamps like six-shooters and sporting his new MT Griz gear from Ma Missy

What?!? A picture of mom? Here we are opening a pair of socks for Belle.

Okay so the doll house got finished being built, but not finished decorating. She LOVES it anyway and spends hours at a time playing with it.

Train track WOOHOO!!

Happy girl.

Does Lulu love dollies? (barbies NOT babies...YUCK)

Diego car it now goes everywhere with us

The unfinished doll house

Temple Suare lights. Yeah we saw Erik and fam. for about 2 minutes then got sepparated by the mass of people. guess that's what we get for going on the last Mon. (family home evening night) before Christmas. But we still had an awesome time.

Erik's beautiful family going to Temple Square to see the lights.

Waiting at the "train" (trax) station for the train. Yes there's a baby under that red hat.

Making gingerbread/graham cracker houses. We had Erik and the boys over to help. They made dinner then we got our hands dirty. It was hilarious watching the kids devour the candy. Here's Ryker

Captain underpants. We can't get him dressed EVER!

Brakken was the best to watch. After eating candy Oren gave him two glasses of egg nog. Then from the sugar high Brakken decided running around was a good idea. A few minutes later he changed his mind and decided this was NOT a good idea. He went to the bathroom and threw up. He came out crying " Too much Sugar!!"

lulu was a little under the weather but still participated

Erik and the boys building their fort. NOT a house

The kids crash under the pressure of the new move.

Chubby McChubberston.

Decorating the tree at mama Lene and Papa Lade's. Yes the babys face is red from some sort of wierdo rash, sorry baby.

Wit Woo. Hey there honey!

Calvin riding the goats at grandpa Bryans. He woke up at 6:00 to inform us that he was ready to ride the goats. He is still kinda scared once he's on but also loves it...love hate relationship I guess.

Alex really does love babies! okay well I had something really important to do and he was asleep so I plopped the baby on him and then I came back minutes later to find them both asleep so of course I snapped a picture. For Cute!!
Feeding the babe.

We love this picture of Lulu! These kids love laying on the floor by the baby so the next few pictures are them laying on the floor havin' a good time.

bath time!

Lulu kept playing with the rings to the bottles it was so funny so here she is. Crazy girl.

Calvin kissin his sis

New haircut

2010-01-28T15:53:00.000-08:00

Where is dad when you need a photo session?

Here's my Christmas present from my mom...new haircut. I am SO excited! My hair was completely over processed and dead so here is healthy hair once again. YAHOO! I can't wait to do it with my natural curl fun fun fun. More updated pics of the kids to come.

oops

2010-01-23T17:04:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be the picture posted later down the page, but the computer will only let me see microscopic thumbnails so I picked the wrong one so HERE is Calvin being licked by a cow. Hopefully more good stuff to post later tonight to catch up!

Worlds largest posting

2010-01-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

Okay so the computer died a sudden and horrible death, then we had a baby, then we moved, then we were in Illinois for two weeks. Now we have a computer and I can update! Here is Baby Belle under the billi lights because her billiruben was high. She was in them for about three days. I'm sure she loved her own personal tanning bed and stellar goggles.

Halloween 2009. A cowboy and what a princess?!?

Lulu laughed at her hair and exclaimed "I look like brakken!"

The kids finally get to hold the new baby. Because of H1N1 nobody under 14 was allowed to come to the hospital. So we checked out after the first day and came home so the kids could hold their new baby.

Brand new baby! Isabelle Madison 7lb. 1 oz.

carving pumpkins. Sorry bad photographer I never got a finished picture os Lulus. oops. Her pumpkin had eyelashes and was winking with an oval mouth so she could sing. It was awesome!

Having some fun in the TON of leaves that we got to rake by hand.

Lulu has nobody to play dress-up with so who is her recruit? Yep Calvin. I call these pictures blackmail.

A country fair in Payson right next to the house. We went and had lots of fun. I was even lucky enough to snap the picture right when Cal got licked by a cow! Have I ever mentioned I love Payson?

First day of preschool! (not sure how to rotate the pic because the file is weird) Can we say someone was SO excited?!?

Just being cute for mom to take pictures of.

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

Lulu was having tons of fun at the balloons! She was so excited to get to wear her flag shirt and she helped mom make the clips that were in her hair.

Calvin loved the balloons. He was a little mesmerized I think.

Our day started around 5:45 am so we could see the balloons and the festivities went on from there. We were about 15 minutes too late to see them blowing them up, but we did get to see them all in the air and watch the balloon games. We were in a spot that the balloons would all go right over so we got to see them pretty close up from underneath.

Parade

2009-07-06T07:15:00.001-07:00

Here' the kids and Oren watching the parade. I didn't take many pictures of the parade, but it was a good one! We had lots of fun and the weather was PERFECT! They even had an Apache helicopter fly right over the parade this year.

Waiting.....

2009-07-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth got to buy cotton candy at the fireworks this year. Can you tell it made her kinda hyper?!? She thought it was good for a couple bites then was done because it was sticky and Calvin had one piece and then spit it out. I guess he's not a fan.

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to begin. Calvin and Elizabeth were a little crazy . We watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks in Provo this year.

What's that I see?!?

2009-06-17T07:49:00.001-07:00

What in the world?...oh now I see...it's a GIRL!!! Okay so I couldn't really tell on this one, but the tech assured me that's what the picture is. The middle picture is her face and the bottom is...well...her bottom tee hee Okay and her legs and feet. You really have to use your imagination here but thought that I would share anyway! Elizabeth says her favorite part is the babies heart she thought it was pretty cool to watch.

New cousin

2009-06-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here's Elizabeth with her newest cousin Jacklin. She and Calvin love the baby! Here's Calvin watching sister and just being the most handsome boy ever!!!

The cake

2009-06-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

This is what Elizabeth looked like when all her friends arrived...fast asleep on the floor. She pretty much remained in a half-asleep mode until we had lunch and cake. Speaking of which, here is the cake fit for a princess.

Lulu's party

2009-06-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

Here's Lulu with her princess friends (all the rest were princes). They all looked so pretty! She was also a little nervous from previous experience to blow out her candles, but as long as dad stood by her she did fine.

Hooray Lulu is three!

2009-06-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Happy Birthday Lulu!!!

Gifts

2009-06-03T15:12:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth got everything princess from dress-up to fingernail polish and lip gloss. Her new favorite thing is to cross her eyes and make funny faces...so here are a few of Lulu at her finest!

Cake

2009-06-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth wanted to have cupcakes for her birthday and they had to be pink with pink frosting, sprinkles, and a cherry on top! She did a great job blowing out two candles then she got too close for the third and the flame kinda got her lip before she blew it out. She thought it was funny. When she looks at the picture she says "ooh ooh it's burning my lips!"

New haircut!

2009-06-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

WIT WOO CALVIN!! LOOKIN GOOD!

It has been getting WAY too hot for Calvin to keep his long hair so for the first time ever mom used clippers on Calvin! I think he is lovin' it he keeps on petting his head =) He absolutely LOVES these sunglasses and would not take them off for days...then they got stepped on. OOOPS!! You would think that we had lost a member of the family-he cried for two hours straight that they were "broken...broken...". We weren't sure whether we should bury them or just throw them away. But look at those beautiful blue eyes without them!

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-05-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

WOW! Calvin is two! He had a wonderful pirate party with a bunch of his friends. I must say that I am especially proud of the cake it turned out awesome! We had games, lunch, and presents. What more could a little boy want? For lunch we had gold nuggets and jewels (chicken nuggets and fruit) and some swill (7-up) to drink. We had TONS of fun playing in the sun! It got up to about 73 degrees so it was perfect pirate-y weather!

Games

2009-05-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

The first game that we played was a bean bag toss called feed the alligator. Some of the kids made it while some just decided to walk right up and put it in it's mouth. Pretty cute alligator though huh?!?

Arrrrrrrrrgggggghhh... treasure

2009-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

The next game that we played was digging for buried treasure. The kids loved it and got some fun stuff to put in their goodie bags.

Let there be cake!

2009-05-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here he is blowing out the candles on his beautiful cake!

Presents

2009-05-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Here is Calvin opening his presents. Well...he really didn't open them we had to dump the bags out in front of him because he was too interested in the previous gifts!

TAG?!?

2009-04-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

Okay so I just got "tagged" by Sharilyn to go to my sixth folder and the sixth picture on my computer. This is it. Oren on that oh so glorious day of graduation from BYU. This day was a ton of fun. We went to his ceremony and cheered, even though they told us not to-we're such rule breakers, then we scurried over to Dee and Gays house where we had an AWESOME BBQ. I was actually just telling Oren I want to have a BBQ like that again soon it was great with tons of food and family to celebrate. It was a great day. We like this picture because it has the Y on the building, the BYU sign, and the Y on the mountain. Pretty neat huh?!?

Ick Ick Lulu is sick

2009-03-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

I feel so bad for Lulu she has been sick since last Sunday. Here she is yet again on the couch trying to recover. I decided to post this because although she is miserable I keep wondering where my personal maid is since I've been sick everyday for weeks from sun up to sun down. Wouldn't it be lovely to have someone to bring me 7-up, read me stories, make me whatever I feel like eating, and let me watch TV all day?!? Ahhhh the wonderful days of being sick as a child, they really were the best! Alas I still get to be mom and do everything around the house while feeling like I've been hit by a truck......I think I will buy myself some bon bons............blaaaach maybe I'll just drink some pickle juice.........or something.......ha ha

Pinewood

2009-03-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Okay so I just love the treat that one of our den leaders did for tonight. Little pinewood cars out of Twinkies, mini Oreo wheels, with a gummy bear driver?!? Rock on! They were a huge hit with the boys! (alright me too)

Ahhh...the biggest night of a young scouters life(and some fathers for that matter)...the Pinewood Derby. I just had to add this because the Pinewood was SO much fun! Our boys did awesome and there were no arguments or hurt feeling-that I could tell anyway. I love scouts they are the best!

Spring has sprung!!!

2009-03-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

We were oh so happy to see that Spring is officially here in Payson! We love the beautiful daffodils popping up to say hello. Elizabeth says "Dad say it with me daf-OH-dills". We love Spring the nice warm air, the beautiful colors of flowers, and the happy news of a new little "chick" of our own that will be hatching in early Nov. (the 3rd to be precise). Yahoo we are all so excited for all of these new changes that spring brings. Especially a big sister and big brother. They got to go to the doctor for the first visit and see the baby on TV. Yeah they really have NO idea what is coming their way. But Oren says that the baby will come out with a sticker on it's butt that claims "AS SEEN ON TV" Leave it to Oren to provide the comic relief of the situation. tee hee

Boys will be boys

2009-03-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

What else is there to say to describe this picture except... boys will be boys. Calvin decided to put two crayons up his nose this morning and walked around that way for quite a while. Lu and I thought it was rather comical so out came the camera. Oh yeah this one is definitely going to be shown on the first date! He is such a cutie! We love him even with the crayon nose.

Always a princess

2009-03-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Lulu is ALWAYS being a princess from the way she walks, talks, and puts that hand on her hip. The other day she went to the neighbors house to play with Tara and came home wearing this lovely little number. Oooh la la Lulu is posh! What a beautiful and fun little girl...I mean princess.

Cookin up a storm

2009-03-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here's Lulu cooking some homemade bread with Mama 'Lene. Elizabeth is a great cook and was very excited to put on an apron and help make bread. Papa 'Lade is also in the background peeling an apple for one of his favorite little buddies...Calvin.

2009-02-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

Isn't it beautiful what a tax return can buy??? We spent weeks driving every minivan in Utah and Salt Lake county to find one that we both like......alot! This is a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan with a 3.8 liter engine ("just in case we need to tow things" Oren says). All the seats in the 2nd and 3rd row are stow and go which I really like. And what would a new van be for Brittany if it wasn't a bargain right?!? We got this beauty for under $10,000 thanks to the eagle eye and wheelin' and dealin'......We are very excited for the needed room.

New van YAHOO!!!

2009-02-19T19:02:00.001-08:00

I'm a big girl now!

2009-01-19T18:56:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth is just getting so big! Here she is with her new haircut. Yesterday she told me that her hair was too long and she needed it cut...so off it went. We cut off about four inches and now it looks like she has thicker hair. YAHOO!!! We love LuLu

Twas the night before Christmas....

2009-01-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Look it's the manger scene...I like these birds to go here!

These wise men are pretty cool!

Don't EAT the stickers Lu!!

This year we wanted to make sure and teach the kids that Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Christ. So we gave the kids stickers to put up while dad read the Christmas story from the Bible. It was really fun and the kids got really into being part of the story. When we were finished we asked them why we celebrate Christmas and Lulu said " Because it's Jesus birthday! Happy birthday to you happy Birthday to you...." and she lead us in two joyous rounds of Happy Birthday for Jesus.

Christmas morning is FINALLY here!!

2009-01-02T20:59:00.000-08:00

Calvin is just in awe that when we went to bed there were definitely not this may gifts under that tree!

New Princess pens?!? How cool. Most of the presents for Lulu were princess or Dora Dora Dora the explorer!

Ahhhhh Christmas morning what a joyous occasion. The kids were great, we finally told them to go at it and neither one of them moved. So dad got Lulu the first gift and told her she could unwrap it. She hesitantly tore a small corner and whispered with a twinkle in her eye "I can open it?" Yep you can, and that was it...the paper kept flying all morning. Oh and yes the tree is still crooked it gives it character!!

daddy dearest

2009-01-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

New boots for dad YAHOO! We love Cabelas snow boots!

ahh such bliss

2009-01-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

Maybe the best gift after all was just the wrapping paper!

we LOVE books!

2009-01-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

We love to read and the kids got about 50 new books this Christmas! Look at that little boy......isn't he just the cutest?!?

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYS!

2009-01-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here we are after all the presents are opened and we just have to try them out. Look at those cute outfits from Grandma. WIT WOO. Elizabeth couldn't wait to put hers on. After opening two presents she remembered the gift that she had opened just a few days earlier and had thrown a HUGE fit because she had to wait till Christmas to wear it! (Time out was her best friend that day) I thinks some of the favorite gifts this year were the twin babies with stroller and the CD player.

Dance dance dance

2009-01-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

Here's Calvin dancing to the music of his new CD player that Santa brought. I would say that these kids had a great Christmas!!

Christmas Pond Village

2009-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

This was REALLY cool looking! In Salem they had these big rafts made of wood with trees that are all lit up out all over the pond. I really wish that I had my dads camera for this one because my pictures just don't do it ANY justice!!

THE SNOW CAPPED MOUNTAINS

2008-12-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

This is the view from our back door. I thought that the clouds over the mountains were pretty cool. Can I just say that I love the snow at Christmas time?!?

ALL ABOARD!!!

2008-12-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

All aboard the Polar Express! While out selling ice cream one day Oren met the Anderson family. Mr. Anderson has built this extensive train track around his home and about four other homes. Every year at Christmas they set it up as the Polar Express. Everything is free, however they do have donations set up for a 9 year old girl in their neighborhood who has a rare type of Leukemia and has just started treatment at Primary Childrens Hospital. They do a GREAT job and make it extremely fun for the kids( OK even us parents thought it was really neat and we all want to build a train set of our own). "When we get there we'll shout yeah laughing all the way........that's the way things happen on the Polar Express."
Here we all are on our little box car. This train holds about four box cars with 3-4 people each. The train then magically took us around to different Christmas sights and lights where we, of course, met up with Santa at the North Pole. It was awesome, even though we didn't get to go down Glacier Gulch...giggle giggle

Santa's Workshop

Lights and such on the ride.

A little house with a merry-go-round inside. The really cool part was the tunnel of lights that we went through the house. It had snowflakes and lots of lights right above your head. Very cool!

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

2008-12-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

The kids Loved to see Santa (we even went back for a second time after dinner). About halfway through the Polar Express ride we got to stop at the North Pole and see the big man in red himself! The elves were very friendly and the kids each got a picture of Jesus, a candy cane, and a bell...from Santas sleigh of course.

After the kids saw Santa and the fun side of Christmas they had pictures, music, and props to remind us of the real reason of Christmas. Here is a row of what it looked like to give an idea. It was a GREAT ride and good that the kids could see that Jesus was the center of it all.

The Temple at Christmas time

2008-12-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

Beautiful lights...Beautiful family

2008-12-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here we are at lovely Temple Square. We love to go to look at the beautiful lights. This year we went to dinner with the Stew crew, Anna 'n Jude, and Mary Ellen. We first started the venture by going to The Old Spaghetti Factory then heading to see the lights. We thoroughly enjoyed all the Christmas-y splendor.

Let it SNOW SNOW SNOW!!

2008-11-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

YAHOO YAHOO IT'S SNOWING!!!

When we woke up this morning the first thing Elizabeth said was "SNOW!! WE NEED TO GO SLEDDING!" She was relentless and so here we are at 7:00 am bundled in all our snow gear sledding and making snowballs on Nov. 5th. Oh and yes, for all you worried moms looking at this picture of Bubba, we did find a pair of mittens for him to save his hands from the bitter cold and wind.

hey hey he's a monkey......

2008-11-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

We borrowed this costume from Brakken and the first day that we got it Calvin did not want to take it off. He wanted to sleep in it because it is so nice, fuzzy, and soft. Now when he gets out of bed he finds his monkey and brings it to us so he can wear it again.

pretty pretty princess

2008-11-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful little girl! She was so very excited to be a beautiful princess and she thinks that she has to wear this dress all the time! Ten bonus points to anyone who can name where that fabric came from.

here we go, trick or treating!

2008-11-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

Can we say sugar shock?!?

2008-11-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

Look at ALL that CANDY!! Two little kids are as happy as can be!

2008-11-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

Who are those CUTE kids?!?

2008-11-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth thought that the pumpkin "guts" were pretty yucky. She went in one time to pull them out and then let mom and dad take it from there!

Carving Pumpkins!

2008-11-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

Calvin think that "guts" were yucky? NO WAY!! He is all boy and guts are SO COOL!!

2008-11-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

These are our Jack-O-Lanterns all lit up the picture is kinda fuzzy but it's the thought right?

Happy Autumn

2008-10-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

We had to take a picture this year with the BEAUTIFUL fall colors. There are tons of reds here in Payson that we usually didn't see in Provo. We liked this one the best because it captures the feeling of our family perfectly-happy and a little silly!

2008-10-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

All Because Two People Fell in Love!!

2008-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth riding "Captain Horse"
Calvin punk rocker- Cool Doo Dude!!

Halloween 2007 Little Bo Peep and her Sheep

Brittany, Britler, Bern, or my fave - Mom

2008-10-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Blonde?!?

Oren, Dad, or Orn

2008-10-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

Here's Oren and new baby Calvin (although at this particular moment he was still unnamed we had a VERY hard time deciding what to call the little man).

This picture is Oren at Glacier National Park. He loves to be in nature and thought that relief on a mountainside was just something he couldn't pass up.......you guessed it he pooped in the park...oh so very Oren!

Silly Faces

2008-10-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

He NEVER stops smiling!

2008-10-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

Bubba

2008-10-19T21:05:00.001-07:00

Calvin is now lovingly called Bubba because when Elizabeth tried calling him brother when he came to her world that is what came out and that is what stuck!

Lou Lou

2008-10-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

These are a few of her favorite things....
1. purses, a must have for every little girl
2. brother, or wrestling partner
3. money, she will literally beg for money all the time - she "needs it"
4.mommy and daddy, can't live without them even though she has informed us she no longer needs any of our help!

2008-10-19T17:32:00.000-07:00