Spooktacular Family Night

With the chill in the air it was time to warm up with hot pizza & breadsticks... then freeze our fingers off digging guts out of pumpkins! Tis the Halloween season!

We had a blast making "monster" pizzas and carving pumpkins for family night. Landen was totally grossed out by the slimy feeling while the other two wanted to make sure every seed was saved to bake as a snack later. Abbey drew her face out for me to carve, Landen picked a picture of a jack-o-latern that he liked from the newspaper and Braxton took a totally different approach and did a snake. (He was listening to me tell Bryce that I saw a cool pumpkin carved into a snake.)

Sorry for the blurry picture-- I need to get a tripod for these kinds of shots!

Handsome Boys

It was time to get the boys new Sunday pants and shoes and boy was that a nightmare to get the two of them to focus long enough in the store to actually try on something!!! I was hoping for one stop shopping, but to all our dismay... it didn't happen. Eventually we found some stuff and they sure looked cute on Sunday. I was glad that Bryce took a second to grab this snapshot of them before we headed out the door. Here are two fine future missionaries!

Happy 5th Birthday Braxton!

This week was Braxton's 5th birthday and he could hardly wait! Every morning he would get up and count down the days on the calendar. On his birthday he asked me how many more days till his next birthday. When he found out it was 365 more days he said that was too long to count down from and walked away.

I think Braxton had a fun time bringing a birthday treat to preschool, having a tiny friend party and then a big family party that night! We were jam packed with activities all day (not to mention the other appointments and obligations from regular life to do).

Braxton was able to invite 3 friends to go to Carl's Jr. with him for lunch and then back to our house for icecream. They boys all had a blast! They were so well behaved and having so much fun that we had to extend the party out another hour! (I didn't expect that one!) Here are a few pictures:

Parker, Braxton & Carter showing off their kid's meal toy at Carl's Jr.

Parker & Braxton
Carter & Braxton

We were sad that his cousin, Porter, was sick and couldn't come cause Braxton would have loved for him to join in too. Landen had a blast and felt so cool to be able to be one of the "big boys" all day and skip a nap to party!

Braxton loved opening all of his presents! He received a bike ramp and a castle from our family, pj's from both Grandma & Grandpa Christensen and Grandma & Grandpa Bezzant, money and then lots of dragons and guys to go with his castle from lots of different family members! He was so excited for everything and hasn't given them a rest yet! Thank you to everyone for their generosity and helping to make his birthday so much fun!!!

A few things about Braxton:

*He LOVES playing with friends

*Misses Abbey when she is gone to school

*Loves to ride the little motorcycle

*Loves TV and movies. I think he would watch all day if I would let him!

*Loves gum and all treats

*Full of energy

*Loves preschool

*Wants a pocket knife and a BB gun REALLY bad but mom won't let him have them yet

*Loves to play nintendo

*So good to help Abbey with her chores after he is done with his own.

*Very competitive! Doesn't like to lose at all!!!

*Tender hearted

We love Braxton so much and he has brought so much fun into our house! I can't believe that he is already 5! Happy Birthday Braxton!!!

Big Changes

I guess that the only constant thing in life is change and that is staying true at our house! I just got a new calling today... 2nd counselor in Relief Society! What a shocker!!! I about fell over dead when I realized that the bishopric wanted to talk me with Bryce and it was for ME! All day I kept going through possible callings that were open in the ward for Bryce and was 100% sure I was safe. I am about 1 month shy of being the primary president for a year. I definately didn't see this one coming. I had finally gotten into a groove and was really enjoying primary. I have been so blessed to have such a fabulous presidency!!! I will really miss working with Kathleen Haskell, Shanda Bezzant and Judy Moss. There is a bond and friendship that is developed that is undescribable and it makes me want to cry thinking about leaving that for the "unkown." I have also been blessed with fabulous teachers and leaders that magnify their callings and have made me sleep well at night knowing the love that they truly have for their classes and/or groups. I am sure that things in relief society will be great too but I don't really have experience with R.S. since I have spent most of my married life in primary and young women's. I guess it is time to dust off my "adventure boots" and get to work!

Other changes in our house... Landen has a "big boy" bed now and Abbey moved down to the basement bedroom! We are starting to shuffle things around as we get prepared for a baby to come to our house! 2 weeks and 1 day till we find out what we are having!!! (Not that I am counting down) Landen is excited to have a big bed and I still need to find him some cute bedding. At the moment he doesn't seem to care that he is sleeping on purple sheets but I just can't leave it that way! Abbey is also loving being downstairs. She practically has her own hotel sweet (minus the housekeeping) since she has a full bathroom just off of her bedroom. It will be weird to not hear her singing in the bathroom all of the time. Abbey cracks me up cause on days she doesn't have to hurry to school she likes to turn on the clock radio and crank up the mexican tunes. I feel like it is cherry picking season every Saturday and think that I am going to look out the window to see a family of Mexicans chattering away while they pick the trees clean!

Anyway, a few more hours till a jam packed week starts again! That is for the next blog entry though!

Favorites!

My sister Karen put up a post about her favorites and a challenge to put one up of my own. Then my sister-in-law, Celeste, took her challenge and I had a blast reading both of their posts so I am taking the challenge and doing it too.

Favorite Food:
1. Chicken rolls
2. Mexican
3. Steak & potatoes
4. Being pregnant right now.. MEAT! MEAT! MEAT! How weird is that??
5. Anything I don't have to cook or clean up!

Favorite Drink:
1. Jones Cream Soda... hands down
2. Rootbeer
3. Grape or orange soda
I am not a huge soda drinker though but I love these on a special occasion!

Favorite Store:
1. GAP Outlet
2. Down to Earth at Gardner Village
3. Target

Favorite Candy:
1. Chocolate
2. Chocolate w/ caramel
3. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
Who am I kidding??? I love all candy that isn't dark chocolate (except those fabulous york peppermint patties & jr. mints) or sour stuff. I do NOT like sour stuff.

Favorite Things:
1. An immaculate house
2. Dates w/ Bryce
3. Girls night
4. Unexpected hugs and kisses from my kids & Bryce
5. Shopping!
6. Redoing something (i.e. painting a room, modifying a flowerbed) I love to see transformations happen!
7. Organizing

Favorite TV Shows:
1. Don't really watch much tv
2. I love chick flick movies!
3. I like Cold Case sometimes

Favorite Rush:
1. Getting a REALLY good deal!
2. Making over something (see #6 on favorite things I like!)
3. Laughing my guts out uncontrollably

Favorite Treats:
1. I pretty much like anything with sugar
2. Depends on what I am craving that day... pregnancy or not.
3. Hot cinnamon rolls
4. Fresh chocolate chip cookies

Favorite Holiday:
1. I get so excited for each one! :)
2. Christmas time
3. Halloween / Fall
4. 4th of July


:) Okay...YOUR TURN! I wont tag anyone...but would totally LOVE reading YOUR favorite things!

Happy Birthday to ME!

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 30th birthday! It seems weird to blog about my own birthday but it was such an awesome day that I just had to document it!

I had a million birthday wishes through phone calls, emails, text messages, posts on facebook and friends pop in to say hello! That made me feel good that so many people thought of me! The kids got up at 6:30 to make me an egg sandwich with a huge glass of milk and brought me breakfast in bed! (They made one for Bryce too! He doesn't eat breakfast and they didn't seem to notice cause after he took one bite they all asked for a bite and before you knew it... both of our sandwiches were gone. We didn't care since we finally weren't fighting them to eat and they weren't fighting with each other!) Bryce bought me a carpet cleaner that I wanted! He didn't want to get me something that I had asked for cause he likes to surprise me... but I HATE surprises! Anyway, we all got ready for the day, sent Abbey off to school and took the boys over to a neighbor's house to play. How cool is that?! My neighbor called and volunteered to watch the boys so Bryce and I could spend the morning together!!! As we went out to get into the car we found balloons all over the porch and a huge banner on my garage from a few of the other neighbor ladies! What great friends huh?! Anyway- Bryce took me shopping and then to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. I have been craving meat so bad this entire pregnancy and I definately ate my portion (and a few other people's portions too). We had a great time being alone and I found some cute clothes that I can fit into now! I then spent the afternoon at scrapbooking stores looking for paper to make cards out of while Bryce stayed home to work and let the boys have a nap. In the evening time lots of my family came over and we loaded up on cream puff dessert and rootbeer floats! Both of those sounded so good to me and since it was my birthday it didn't matter if they didn't really go together or not! I went to bed that night completely exhausted but feeling on top of the world. If turning 30 is this much fun... I can't wait for 40! Oh wait-- I didn't really just say that! I will wait!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday fabulous! I really should list each person cause every little thing that was done for me that day meant so much to me! THANK YOU!!!

P.S. Landen must have known that I was getting frustrated about not having time to use my carpet cleaner yet cause tonight after I got him out of the tub he walked into his room, went over to the corner and peed on the carpet. Then he came and told on himself. What do you say to that? Well, I have now used my carpet cleaner!

A much better day

Today went much better. I watch Braxton losing his temper and know that it comes from me and that is a kick in the gut. I recommitted myself to try and keep my cool when life happens and I did better today. It is probably due to Bryce praying for me this morning. I am glad that he thought of it cause I sure didn't! It was nice to get a text message from him wishing me a good day and that he prayed I would have a better day today. I am glad that one of us is in tune to ask for help from the perfect source! It was also nice to relieve a little bit of stress by going out to eat last night and not have that responsibility to worry about. We had fun picking out pumpkins at Lisa's house too. THANKS LISA! Our poor pumpkin plants all died and that was the only thing the kids really cared about growing! They did get excited though when our other stuff started producing though.

Abbey had school pictures today so we took the boys down to the school this afternoon to get theirs done too. Landen was a TOTAL stinker! He couldn't crack a smile to save his life even when we were just sitting on the chairs waiting for our turn. He watched several other kids laughing their heads off at the rubber chicken flying through the air as he kept a stone cold "look at me if you want to die" face the entire time. Then when it was actually HIS turn to sit on the stool he started kicking and screaming for the whole school to hear. I tried sitting next to him. It didn't matter. I calmly explained what she was going to do. He didn't care. I finally threatened him that if he didn't stop screaming and sit up to get his picture taken that he wasn't going to play on the playground outside at the school. Instantly the tears stopped and he sat up quietly with a force smile on his face. I don't think that she ever got a good smile but I guess we will see in a few weeks when we get the pictures back. I don't think that Landen will ever be tagged as a "people pleaser!" He doesn't care what you think... if he doesn't want to do it... he isn't doing it. I can barely get the kid to give me a hug now half the time. And this is coming from the kid that wouldn't let me have my own breathing space for the first year and a half of his life!

Anyway- I made a dent in the clutter of my house and hopefully can get the rest done tomorrow. The kids are in bed, dishes are done and I think that it is time for a hot bath to prepare for tomorrow!