While mom's away...

the dad lets the kids break their arms.

Well, I guess only one kid broke his arm, but still.

I was off on my annual cookie weekend in St. George when this happened. I'm so glad that I have an amazing aunt that could step in and take care of the kids so Adam could sit at the hospital for 5 hours with Mason. Good times. Thanks Joan!

As for cookie weekend, I get together with some friends right before Christmas and do a fun weekend where we swap cookies that we bake. We make 7 dozen of whatever kind we pick, and come home with 7 dozen of a delicious variety. We shop and watch movies and eat-out and sleep-in, all the good things that you can't do with little kids at home. I forgot my camera, as usual. My sister had hers so I was so excited to get some pictures from her, but instead I got an African virus. Thanks Stef! So this is all you get, the sorting of the cookies...

Oh my goodness!!

I did it! I have finished this crazy semester of school. I took my last final this morning and I am just so happy to be done. I know school will be even crazier once I am actually in the program, but I'll worry about that when I get there. I have absolutely no desire to catch you up on the last few months of my life because there was nothing that went on besides school, my house falling apart, my children getting behind, my husband getting lost in the laundry, you know, those sorts of things. I don't want to dwell on the fact that if I'm trying to be a good student, I can't do anything else. I'm working on that though, so hopefully next semester won't be as bad.

I have been dying to get these family photos up since we took them, back in the fall, so here they are! Thanks to Tonja for being such a great friend and taking them for us.

I totally sucked at this one, but Adam looks awesome. My favorite part was where he dropped carson at the end of this one...I can't believe we got one of this kid smiling! This one is the most amazing of the bunch, because you see this rare smile. We actually got a few. Yay!

Hopefully you will see more of me from now on. Well, maybe not me, but more of my family/life.

And for good measure...

Halloween and Mason

Oh my goodness. Have you ever met my son Mason? Well, you should because he is so funny. Not always funny on purpose, but man, that kid has issues. One of which is that he hates to have people see him smile. Everyday when I pick him up from school he sees me and then immediately looks at the ground. He watches the ground until he runs into me. He just doesn't want me to see him smile. It's so funny. I love it everyday. I could do an entire post about his issues, to be honest. He his utterly adorable and absolutely stubborn as stubborn can get. He makes us late for school all the time because he just wont' put his coat on, or he won't put his socks on, or he won't move his freaking feet from the two inches space they are occupying. If he doesn't want to do something, he won't. I got some awesome proof of his craziness today at the Halloween parade at his school. Luckily he walked by twice and I got two times the proof!!

McKay's costume is freaking sweet and I will post some more pics after halloween, but here's a little preview.

McKay and his friend Logan who is a totally rad werewolf.More of Mason trying not to smile at me. I mean, seriously, he's so stinkin cute.

A little Glee and Beyonce

I promise someday I will update some good stuff, but I'm just a tiny bit overwhelmed with school right now. Any free time is spent with family and friends. So, some of that time spent with family was watching the new show "Glee" at my brother Tim's house. This episode was so funny and I wanted to show Adam my favorite part but Carson was the one that really loved it. If you have a chance, you should watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U-Qz8yzxVQ

I totally love Kurt (the kicker). I want to hug him.

I showed Carson that Glee video and the real Beyonce "Single Ladies" video. He asks for the football one more often but the whole time we are watching Beyonce, he is saying "I really like those girls." It's so good.

School fun for everyone.

Our whole family started school for the year. This is the first and only time in our lives we will do that, I hope. Meaning - I hope Adam doesn't go back to school ever, or at least not until I'm done. Is that okay to say?

McKay started 2nd grade on Monday, Adam started his last year of Law School on Tuesday, I started back at good ol' SLCC on Wednesday, Carson started preschool (maybe known as daycare) on Wednesday, and Mason starts Kindergarten on Monday. It's gonna be fun to coordinate all these schedules and what not.

Another way awesome thing happened this week. Adam got the official job offer from Kirton and McConkie to return full time as a lawyer after law school! Yay! It was a little crazy there for a bit but I am so happy for him and so proud of all that he has done in the last few years. He is amazing! I actually haven't hated this whole law school thing. It's been a crazy adventure and I'm sure this year will be as crazy, but I have mostly good thoughts about it so far. But it's fun to know there is another chapter in our lives that will be starting soon and I'm totally ready!

Stef's Home!

I really wish I would have taken pictures last night or at the airport or sometime in the last two days, but I didn't so you are just going to have to take my word for it that these things happened. Stefanie is home from Africa!! I'm basically way excited about it. I missed her. She flew in Wednesday night. She got on the plane at 10:00 am Ghana time, which is 6 hours ahead of us (so like 4am our time). She had a quick stop in NYC but didn't even get to see Kiel who was there waiting for her. Then on to SLC. She landed around midnight. I think she had been awake for the last million hours. That's a long day! When we picked her up at the airport, she had befriended this very nice German girl, who was stranded. So one hour later, one lost luggage, and one bonus sweet German, we had Stefanie.

We had a way fun party Thursday night to celebrate her homecoming. It was fun to see all her pictures and hear her funny stories. If you didn't come, you should have. If you didn't come because you didn't know about it, I'm way sorry. If you came, thank you so much!! If you are Brandee and totally helped me for two days getting ready, you are a life saver. If you are my mom, you are the best bathroom cleaner I know.


Here's a link to her facebook African photos. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=101176&id=513501688
It only works if you have a facebook account. Sorry.


I'm glad to have the best sister and to have her home!

Our fan-frickin-tastic summer vacation

Oh my goodness, was it ever a fantastic vacation! We had so much fun. We actually had lots of little trips crammed into one big trip. We started off by going to Laughlin with Adam's family and Uncle Ethan's boat. Then I drove to California while Adam headed home to work for a few days. After a few days with Kenny and Janna, I went to San Diego to spend a few days with my friend Kirsten. Adam flew back to Cali for a a surf trip with his buddy Andy. Then we all met up on the beach for a final hurrah with our friends the Thomsons and some radical boogie boarding. Not a lot of down time on the trip but the jam packed good times were just what we needed. My kids were basically in their swim suits the whole time, so I'm way surprised at all the dirty laundry I have. Actually, maybe more angry than surprised.

Let the good times roll.
Laughlin... Yep, he's totally badical and radical.Good times with the Cummings family in San Diego...

Just the kids watching a movie. NBD.

We went to the beach with Kirsten and met my friend Heather there too. It's always so good to see the old crew.

Then we went to the beach again with the Thomsons. This was our last day and Mason was so done. He spend the whole two hours like this. I think he was cold and was trying to warm up with the hot sand.And then the long, long, long drive home. Oh yes, it was long. It was also pretty funny and I think I have like 60 photos alone of us in the van. I may have to share some of those another day.