Christmas PJ's

Santa dropped off the boys a gator to share! (Which they love and have actually shared it really well) Santa only brings each of them 3 presents so he put them all in the back of their gator. Good thing for family who spoils the kids rotten! They were opening presents for a long time! Especially Porter who would rip a small piece of wrapping paper then go all the way into the kitchen to throw it away. It was really cute. Good thing Landen showed him how to get it done otherwise it would have taken all day long!

Porter showing off the loot! He got a Big Mr. Potato Head that had 3 other Mr. Potato heads inside with a whole lot of parts.

Santa knew that Hattie needed some form of entertainment for when Mom and Dad have to put her down. So she got a play mat. She really is enjoying it.

Hattie was really excited to finally get a doll. She has wanted one for so long and now she finally has one. So maybe I made that up and she could care less, but it makes us feel better to know that our little girl has a doll!

Landen got a new leapster game this year. He got a leapster last year for Christmas and still loves the thing. He has mastered all his games so Santa thought it was time for a new one. He also got his Hot Wheels Dinosaur that he really really wanted. (We had to take him to the toy store so he could show us what a hot wheels dinosaur was because we had no clue! I don't know how in the world he decides on the things he does, but once he decides on something its set in stone.)

The boys testing out their gator.

What is it??

Isn't this every child's Christmas wish a toilet of their very own. Well Porter seems to think so! He loves his potty still! Santa got it thinking that maybe he would just get use to the idea of using a potty, but Porter has amazed us all and has already used the potty successfully!! YEAH!!

Christmas afternoon we had the Bigelows and Shaufers over for linner! ( We ate at 2:00 so it was kindof lunch and kindof dinner) We had a Thanksgiving feast for Christmas because according to Ty you can never eat to much Thanksgiving food! It was so much fun to be able to spend time with friends. Christmas time can get us a little homesick for family, but being able to spend time with friends helps out a lot. After we had linner we let the kids run wild then headed over to the Bigelows to check out their goods from Santa and eat some yummy pie! We had such a great Christmas!

Santa!

Bass Pro Shops is our favorite place to get the kids Santa pictures done! Usually because they have some form of animal around Santa. Last year it was white tale deer, but this year they went all out! They had reindeer!! (No they are not real, sorry to disappoint!) They also had a whole workshop set up with elves and everything. They had trains set up and small tables for the kids to color at. They had a pit full of "snow" (shredded white paper) that you could drive remote control trucks in. They had an archery range set up for the kids! Our kids had a blast there!


These pictures are from our ward Christmas Party! The kids were pretty excited that they got to see Santa twice this year! (We try to play the the whole Santa thing down because we want our kids to know the real reason we celebrate Christmas so we usually only go see Santa once, but lucky them.) They had a lot of fun seeing Santa! Landen asked for a hot wheels dinosaur. Porter went straight for the goods...the candy cane! Hattie didn't seem to mind that some strange man with a white beard was holding her.

Moving

So we've finally got internet in our new house so I can catch everyone up on the fact that we've moved. We were bursting at the seams in our last house so it was time to switch it up and plus we've been it that house longer then we've ever been in the same place so we were ready for a change. I'll post pictures another day, but I thought I would let everyone know we are alive and well!

Our Trip to Utah!

We had such a fun time on our weekend getaway to Utah! We had lots of things to do and lots of things we wanted to do! We started our trip off on Thursday. We got to the airport on time just to see that our flight was delayed! What a way to start off our trip! Our flight was only delayed for an hour. We flew into Denver where we got to switch planes and then wait on the plane for another hour while they were de-icing the plane. Oh the joys of flying! We finally made it into Utah 2 hours later then we thought.
Friday we got up and got to work! We went and found Hattie a blessing dress which I absolutely love and wish I could dress here up in it everyday! We got things ready for the blessing. Friday night Landen got to have a sleepover with his cousin Kenzi.
On Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Barkers for a cousin breakfast. When we were little we would sleep over at Grandpa and Grandmas and they would get up in the morning and make animal pancakes. Well now since most of us are older we don't get to do that anymore. They thought that it would be fun to get us all together and have breakfast together and they were right. It was so much fun and I am so glad we were able to go.
Saturday afternoon we made the drive to American Fork where Ty's family lives. Ty was able to baptize our nephew Braxton while we were there. We also were able to celebrate Brakell's 3rd Birthday.
Sunday we got up and all got ready to go to church. Ty gave Hattie a beautiful baby blessing. I am so grateful for a husband that can do that for our children. He is an amazing man and we are truly blessed. After the baby blessing we all headed over to my parents house for a luncheon. The house was packed with family and friends. It was so much fun to be able to catch up with everyone!
Monday we were supposed to fly out, but due to the weather we got a phone call that said our flight had been cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday! Oh how sad we were! NOT!! My mom had already planned to have everyone over for a Thanksgiving dinner so everyone came over and ate and ate and ate some more. Then we spent the rest of the night just hanging out. It was so much fun. (So can you tell that we had so much fun!!)
Tuesday we got up and headed to the airport. Our flight was on time! (YEAH!!) Then we got to Denver and once again we were delayed because of electrical problems, but we finally did make it home (3 hrs later than we were supposed to) and we were so glad to be back. (Not really, but we are trying to convince ourselves! We are just not big fans of the weather here in Nebraska! Love the people not the weather!) Here are a ton of pictures from our trip!

Kenzi, Porter, and Landen sleeping in Grandmas magic bed!

Everyone at Grandpa and Grandmas cousin breakfast.
Names starting from the back left: Brigette (younger sister), Chalise (cousin), Derek (Nicoles husband), Nicole (cousin), (Holding Hattie), Brooke, (younger sister), Cortney, (Brooke's Husband) Jace (cousin), Nicole (Jace's wife), Megan (Bronson's wife), Ty, Brindee
Middle row: Krista (cousin), Braxton, (younger brother), Quinn, (cousin)
Front Left:Jake (cousin), Grandma Barker, (Holding Mikyla(Brooke's daughter)) Grandpa Barker ( Holding Landen, and Kenzi (Brooke's daughter)), Bronson, (younger brother, holding Porter)
Sorry if you confused by who everyone is. I thought I would try for those of you who know our family. We almost had everyone there except my older sister BreeAnne her husband Steve and their son Ammon. Also my cousin Josh, his wife Mindy, and their boy Zander and my other cousin Courtney.

Getting Hattie ready for her big day!

Ty and Hattie

Hattie in her beautiful blessing dress!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Barker with Hattie.

Great Grandpa Richards and Zella with Hattie.

Grandpa and Grandma Barker with Hattie.
(I'm sorry Mom, I just had to post this picture of Dad it just reminds me of how Dad is!)

Grandma and Grandpa Loveless with Hattie

Porter playing on the swing set. (Notice the Ken doll on the ground behind him. He discovered Barbies while at Grandma and Grandpa Barkers house. He carried them around everywhere he even took one out to Grandpa's truck when we were leaving. He thought he could take it home. Thanks to Grandpas brilliant idea we switched the doll with a car and he was still happy as can be! Thank goodness!! I don't think we are ready for Barbies yet! (Especially for Porter)

The Loveless side cousins!

From front left: Ciera (holding Hattie), Shelbie (holding Porter)

Middle from left: Bryson, Landen

Back from left: Hunter, Braxton, Brakell

Hattie, Kenzi, and Mikyla in their Christmas Dresses.

Oh so pretty!!

Hunting, Volcanoes, & Gingerbread houses!

Saturday Ty took Landen out "hunting". Ty really just wanted to scope out an area and shoot his bow at a target. Landen was so excited to go with him. He came home and said he had a lot of fun sitting in the trunk and watching dad. He also told me he got a chance to shoot the bow. I think we have another hunter on our hands! Porter was a little upset he didn't get to go, but I cured him of that and bored him to sleep shopping.

This afternoon the boys worked on making a volcano. Landen and Porter painted the volcano. After the paint dried Ty and Landen made it explode. They had a lot of fun doing it.

Tonight for family night we built our own gingerbread house. Last week for family night we went to the gingerbread festival at the Mormon Trail Center. They have all these amazing gingerbread houses that people have been working on for months. If we go again I'll take some pictures. If you are in Omaha this is definitely something worth seeing. Anyways, so we went the festival to get some ideas and this week we put our ideas together and came up with this. They boys had so much fun putting all the candy on it. This is something we will definitely do next year. Maybe in a few years we'll be brave enough to put our gingerbread house in the festival.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

At our house we have a tradition of everyone making their own pie! We do this the night before Thanksgiving, so this is Landen and Porter working on their chocolate pudding pie! It was delicious! They did a great job.

Landen and Hattie enjoying the Macy's Day Parade while mom was trying to get things ready to go.

This is how we started out our Thanksgiving playing football!! Well Ty played football. Landen played for a couple plays but then decided he was going to go "turkey hunting" with Porter a few other friends! We all had a lot of fun!

Another of our favorite traditions is decorating turkeys while waiting for our real turkey to cook. The boys had a blast making their turkeys. Landen said his turkey was a museum turkey. That why there is a "rope" in front of his turkey. Porter thought it was great that his marshmallows would just stick to the turkey. This year our turkeys were made out of caramel corn instead of rice crispies. They were really yummy!!

Porter ready to enjoy his Thanksgiving dinner!

After we finished eating we headed to the movie theaters and say Madagascar 2. Then off to our friends house for pie!

Landen, Sydaleigh, and Porter enjoying their pie!

Hattie had a great Thanksgiving!! She ate, slept, ate, slept, ate, slept, then was adored by 5 little girls who all wanted a turn holding her. They were so cute with her and I think she really enjoyed the attention she was getting from them.

We really did have a great Thanksgiving we are are so thankful to be a family! We have a lot of fun together and really enjoy being together. We are also so grateful for great friends that make us feel so welcomed! 2008 Thanksgiving was a great success!

Well Child Visits!!

Hattie had her 2 month check-up (crazy I know I can't believe she is 2 months already) yesterday. She weighs 11lbs 6 oz and is 22.5 inches long. She is such a good happy and healthy baby!! We love her so much!

Porter had his 18 month check-up today. He weighs 24 lbs!! Yeah!! He is finally putting more weight on so no more once a month weight checks. I can't remember what his height was, but he was in the 50 percentile so he was average. Weight he is still in the 25th, but he's steady and not dropping!! Oh it was music to my ears when they said he didn't have to come back until his 2 year check-up! (Porter is trying to get me to eat the pinto beans that he and Landen were playing in. Hence the reason he is opening his mouth.)

So if you were to come to our house today this is what you would find. 2 boys playing in a bucket of pinto beans. They love when we get these beans out to play in. It doesn't happen all the time it is a rare treat for the days that they are being extra good! They play for hours in these things and yes I do find them all over the place even after we think we clean them up, but they have so much fun and play so well with each other its worth it!! So if you ever have a desire to play in a bucket of beans come on over and they'll show you how much fun it is!!