Our Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving. We just went to Home Depot cause it's the cheapest with the nicest looking trees...in our opinion. We took our friend Isaiah with us and he had so much fun with the boys.

Mason Dancing Take 2

And here's a video of his robot dancing!

Mason Can Dance

Mason sure does know how to dance. And he actually let us video it. So, here ya go!

I had a birthday...

Yep it's true....I had a birthday. And I'm almost old!



I had a great day. It all started on Wednesday. We decided to celebrate with just us and a good friend and her son that night.



Montana had to work on Thursday (my actual birthday). So, Mason and Peyton made their presents for me and Montana made the cake and decorated it. Mason made me a card and a crown.



Peyton made me a bracelet.



And then I opened the present from Montana...that I had picked out and told him to get for me.



I got Zumba Party for WII.



We ate cake and ice cream and had a fun little evening!

I woke up Thursday morning assuming that I would take Mason to school, go pick up my double stroller so that I could pick Mason up from school (since Montana was taking the car to work), and go on a little date with Montana that morning. Well, I called Kassie and she said she was just going to call me. She said that we were going that evening to get manicures. So then I looked at Montana and said, "You're not going to work, are you?". And he said nope. We dropped Peyton and Tanner off at a friend's (Amy Smith) house and headed to the bookstore. We got some hot chocolate and wandered around. Then we went to the mall and wandered there. I got some new slippers and then we hit up Red Robin to get my free birthday burger.

We picked up the boys and headed back home. I put Tanner down for a nap and just relaxed until Mason got done with school. Then we did homework and headed to Kassie's home to drop off the boys and pick up Kassie. Kassie and I headed to the Aveda Institute for our manicures. It took quite a while since it's a school but it was so nice and wonderful. Then we headed back to her house to pick up the boys. And when I walked in, there was a surprise party waiting for me!

I had no idea until we drove up to Kassie's home and I saw a friend's car and then I saw the happy birthday sign hanging in Kassie's kitchen. Oh well! It was still fun and I didn't know who all came until I walked in. Montana kept the secret sooooo well. My friend, Amy, had picked up a Costco cake and then Laurel walked in with my final present.



Montana had gotten a "new to me" Kitchen Aid! (But I made a Thayne comment when I saw it... I said, "How much did you spend on it?". I should have just kept my mouth shout. He got a great deal on it and I really do love it!) We visited with friends and then headed home to put the kids to bed.

It was a great birthday...full of surprises and totally not what I was expecting. Montana did a wonderful job on the whole thing. And he even did the dishes and took care of the kids for me. It was such a relaxing day and I didn't want it to end.

Halloween 2011

I figured better late than never on this post! For Halloween, Mason decided he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and therefore, Peyton wanted to be one too! And then I thought it might be fun for the whole family to dress up as turtles. But I realized that I only had about 10 days since we didn't do anything until we came back from Florida. I really only had time to whip out two turtle costumes and that was kinda pushing it. So, Mason was Donatello and Peyton was Raphael.



Tanner wore the cow costume that Mason and Peyton have both worn. I had so many people calling him a girl because of the headband with the horns. Oh well....



We had lots of Halloween parties so the boys were able to get dressed up a lot. We had a party with HopeKids/Paint A Wish, Make A Wish, and a friend's party. And then Mason also wore his costume to school on Halloween and they did a parade. Peyton and I went to the parade to watch him.



When Mason came home from school on Halloween we carved pumpkins. Montana did a shaded like face, I did a face with a binki (for Tanner), Mason's was a bat, and Peyton's was an elephant.





They turned out cute and Mason was so excited that we actually carved our pumpkins this year. Then we ate our traditional Jack-O-Lantern pizza, got costumes on, took pictures, and headed out to Trick or Treat.





Tanner LOVED going up to the doors even though we didn't get him out of the stroller very much. The boys got spoiled and came home with tons of candy. I think it was a success!

We also went to the IHH Annual Birthday Party at the Red Barn in Santaquin. We rode on the wagon ride to pick our pumpkin.





It was dark by the time we got out to the patch so we hurried and picked one and headed back to the barn. We had to eat ice cream while we were there. It was so good and so fun to visit with some of our heart friends.

And, for FHE one night, we headed to Hee Haw Farms with our friends Jon and Kassie and their boys. We opted not to do the corn maze cause the line was way long by the time we got to that point. Instead, we did a trick or treat wagon ride where candy was thrown at us.



Then we played in the corn box.




We checked out the petting zoo, the new little piglets, and ate cotton candy. We ended on the big slide! The boys loved the slide and wanted to go down again and again and again!

We had so much fun in October doing all the fun fall/Halloween things. We can't wait for it to come back next year!

Cardiology Visit

Peyton had a Cardiology visit on November 3rd. And I'm having a hard time realizing that I never posted about it. We went to the Riverton Office (which we love!) and we ended up having to wait about 20 minutes before they were ready for us. We did Peyton's ECHO first. He kinda freaked out about having to lay on the bed but he was excited to pick a movie. He wanted to watch Barnyard. I was prepared with M&M's and Skittles but we didn't have to pull them out. He did amazing during the ECHO. He held still and just watched his movie. There were parts of it that hurt so he just held my hand and did fine.

Then we moved to the room and waited and waited and waited and waited. They must have been really busy that day. Montana and I needed to have our blood drawn for some research they are doing so we were able to do all of that and the paperwork and discussion while we were waiting for the doctor. Peyton even held my hand while I had my blood drawn!

Dr. Etheridge finally came in (after we had been there for about 1 1/2 hours) and she listened to Peyton. She said he sounded great. And his ECHO looked wonderful...as well as his EKG. We were really glad to hear this since we have so many heart friends that are struggling right now. And then she shocked us by telling us that she doesn't want us back for a year! YAY PEYTON!!!

We talked to her about Kindergarten next year and about what things we need to do as far as his heart condition goes...like paperwork on file with the school, the district, and the Cardiologist. And she decided that she should see us in August, right before school starts. And then we will be going in yearly in the summer versus the winter. And they will probably do a few more tests next August just to make sure everything is still good.

We were so happy after we left that appointment. And Peyton did so well that he got to pick where we would eat lunch. Any guesses?!? His favorite...MCDONALDS. Montana tried to convince him of something else but that didn't work.

It was a good visit and Peyton is just a joy to have around...except for his whining. We are grateful for him and his special spirit in our home!

Lots and Lots of Stuff

So, I'm gonna hopefully update the blog. I realized that I haven't even posted official Halloween pictures. And now I have my birthday to post among other things...like Peyton's Cardiology visit. Since I have so much to blog about, this first post will just be all things random!

Tanner turned 18 months at the end of September. We had General Conference the first Sunday in October and then the 2nd Sunday we were in Florida. So, Tanner's first time in Nursery was the middle of October. He lasted about 5 minutes before he was screaming. And he hasn't lasted without us in there since then. But I did take pictures of him on his first official day of Nursery.

Every October, Provo puts on the Halloween Half. It is a half marathon through Provo Canyon. My sister Ashley ran it last year and lots of family came to support her. She decided to run again this year but the timing didn't work out of lots of people to come down. So, I decided to load up the three boys (Montana was working) and head over to the finish line.

We watched her cross the line and then we wandered through thousands of people to find each other. We caught up with her, took some pictures, and headed home. She did amazing this year! She beat her time from last year and wasn't nearly as exhausted as last year. We are so proud of Aunt Ashley!

Tanner really enjoys reading books. Every once in a while, I'll find him sitting in the kitchen with his stuffed animals, blankets, and a book. And he is the one that puts everything there.

The other day, he wanted to read with Mason. We put him on our bed, next to Mason, and he picked a book (one of Mason's - Batman). He was so cute.