Colby recieves his arrow of light

I wish I could tell you that we are a scouting family. But scouting is kind of lost on us. Thankfully Colby has had an amazing scout leader that does have a love of the scouting program and has worked hard with these boys to help them earn their "Arrow of Light" awards.

Colby and his good friend Austin Downs

I don't know who this young man is(he is from another ward).
But he came and did a cute program for the award ceremony tonight.





Colby with his scout leader Brother Robert Low

This is one of those times that I am thankful for the talents that others have shared with our family. The leaders did a fabulous job putting this together. Colby was excited and I am proud of him for all the hard work he did to earn this award.

mayley moments

I'm not very good at keeping a journal...so I've decided (at least for now), that I will use my blog to "journal" all the "moments" that happen...the things that make me smile...sometimes cry...or want to scream. But memories that I want to keep none-the -less.

On Sunday, December 30th I was really sick and headed to insta-care...  meanwhile, the rest of the family had an appointment for tithing settlement. Because I was out of commission it was up to Wade to fix Mayley's hair. Here's how the conversation went:

Wade: "Come on Mayley, we need to fix your hair before we go."

Mayley: "I want princess hair."

Wade: "I don't know how to do princess hair."

Me: "It's actually quite simple...she just wants you to gather it into a ponytail then twist it and put a
         clippie in it. Even you can do it."

Wade: "I  didn't understand one thing you said... but just go, we'll figure it out"

A few minutes later I received a text from Wade that said " I just got a "Well, that doesn't look pretty."

Starting Over

To say that it has been way too long since my last post would be a HUGE understatement. And while my OCD is telling me that I need to "catch up" on all that has been missed...The more sensible side of me knows that, that  is a daunting task, that will only cause me to become overwhelmed and fall off the blogging bandwagon before I even get back on. So here is to a fresh start and a new beginning:)

On January 2nd...we kicked off the new year with a celebration of Mayley's birthday. Mayley at age three is all girl. She will only wear dresses...and already has a strong opinion of what "goes together". She loves all things princess and has a very vivid imagination...I often hear her asking "her boys"..."who will be my prince charming?" She is quick witted and has us laughing often. Wade and I are still trying to decide if she is keeping us young or sending us to an early grave...but we love our little mayley girl.

 

I found it really amusing that at age 3 she already had some definite ideas about what was needed for a proper party. In my mind a simple dinner at home with our family and Grandma Lindley was all that was necessary. But at 3:00 (an hour and a half prior to having dinner)

 

 Mayley announced "It's time to get ready for the party!"

 

Me: "What do we need to do to get ready for the party?"

 

Mayley: "Well, first we need party decorations."

 

Now mind you...years ago I was more of a "whistle and bells" kind of girl...but it was lost on my boys... and time and practicality won out. I racked my brain for what I might possible have on hand that would pass for decorations. I went to my craft room and luckily had some pink and black crepe paper for streamers and I pled with Ryan to use his artistic skills and draw her a crown for our centerpiece. It was really sweet watching her boys scramble to put up decorations while I finished dinner. Luckily, Mayley was impressed with our efforts and had a great birthday.

 

 

Then on January 17th we were able to celebrate Colby's 11th birthday. I can't believe how quickly the years have passed. Colby is a great kid. His passions are soccer, his ipod, and reading. This year in school he has gotten excellent grades and  participated in newspaper and jump rope club. He is currently playing futsol and taking piano lessons (much to his chagrin). He is quick to play with mayley and is her favorite "prince charming". We love our Colby and are pleased with the young man he is growing into.

 

 

We celebrated Colby's birthday with dinner and fazookies (instead of the traditional birthday cake) at firehouse. Grandma Lindley was able to join us for a great meal and then back to our house for opening presents.



Happy birthday Mayley!!!!!

Grandma Lindley is amazing. I honestly can't think of a  thing she can't do! One of her many talents is cake decorating. She was kind enough to share her talent and make Mayley's cake.

 Mayley( with grandma lindley) showing us she is "1" year old.

Mayley receieved this toy for christmas in hope it would help motivate her to learn to walk...but she would rather sit in it and have Taylor push her around. Luckily Taylor doesn't mind.

Christmas was great for helping Mayley in her gift "unwrapping" abilities.



Mayley was more interested in eating the paper she tore off her gifts than she was to unwrap them and see what was inside.

 

This little piggy bank ended up being her favorite gift. Once she opened it, she wasn't interested in opening anymore presents and she got upset if anyone tried to take it from her.

 Ready to have some cake!

 She started off just eating the frosting with 2 fingers.

Then she moved on to handfuls.

 She was upset...She actually got some cake in that bite!



Happy Birthday Mayley! We love you and are so glad you are  part of our family!!!!

Happy New Year 2011

This year we celebrated New Year's Eve with a candle light dinner at home. We enjoyed Chinese food from Wok on Wheels (complete with chop sticks) and Martinelli's sparkling cider. During dinner Wade asked everyone to tell us what their favorite thing  about 2010 was. My first thought was that Mayley survived RSV. Wade agreed and added our family trip to yellowstone where we were able to see a black bear. Ryan said our family trip to yellowstone. Colby said his birthday (which broke my heart because that's when we were in the midst of driving back and forth to salt lake dividing our time between home and being with Mayley in the hospital. Thank goodness for my mom! Some how she managed to make it a wonderful day and made him feel special, in all our chaos!) Colby also was grateful he was baptized. Taylor's highlight was getting Daisy ( our  border collie puppy). so over all I think we can count 2010 as a great year.

 We gave Mayley a bath and got her ready for bed...

Then Wade and I played some games with the boys.

The boys were determined to stay awake until midnight, while wade and I thought sleep sounded more enticing.

Then today we joined Scott, Teresa, and Brad at Wade's parents house for the annual  New Years Day feast and football tradition. Where we eat lots of yummy food, visit and and watch football.

I took my camera to take pictures of all the yummy food we get to enjoy....but when I got home I realized the only pictures I took was  Mayley letting Grandpa hold her. For the past several months anytime grandpa would put his arms out to Mayley and offer to hold her, she would crinkle up her nose at him, whine, and turn away. If we forced her to go to him she would burst into tears. So I was very happy today to watch her sit contentedly on her grandpas lap.

Holiday Happenings

                            

Taylor playing "I spy" with Mayley.

    

Wade made 2 batches of sugar cookies, frosted them with the boys and delivered them to friends and neighbors.

I usually buy an ornament for each of the kids for Christmas...but this year I thought it would be fun for them to make their own... I got the idea for the snowman ornaments off my friend Christi's blog...Hers were MUCH cuter.... but the boys had fun, and it kept them entertained for a few hours.

 

Mayley kept herself busy by "cleaning out" the cupboards 



A few years ago,in an attempt to get my boys to eat SOMETHING remotely healthy on Christmas morning, I bought small cereal boxes to put in there stockings... somehow that morphed into a tradition in there minds. Since they also think that peach french toast should also be a Christmas morning tradition they got there cereal boxes Christmas eve morning.

Somehow making gingerbread houses became "tradition" too... This year we found kits at the grocery store . Much easier than making your own. Taylor chose a Santa Sleigh. As you can tell they had lots of fun!

And one of my personal favorite traditions is our annual Christmas Eve seafood dinner with Wade's parents... This years menu included lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp scampi, cocktail shrimp, rice pilaf, garlic cheddar biscuits, fried Pollock and  bacon scallops. Even mayley enjoyed the meal.

Colby,Mayley, Taylor and Ryan showing off their Christmas Eve Pajama's

And last, but not least, the annual tradition of leaving a treat for Santa and his reindeer, along with a note.

This years treat was root beer, eggnog, crackers and cheese and carrot stick with a lemon garnish for the reindeer.

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!!!!!!!

My latest creations

This is how I spent a good portion of my saturday :)

I added a little spice to Missy May's christmas pj's.

Then I decorated these tote bags for my book club ladies. (2 down; 3 to go) :)

almost ready for christmas!!!!!