Let the fun begin!

We are hoping that you all had a wonderful Christmas day. We sure did! Gavin wasn't at all interested in anything, he cruised the house in his walker all morning while the rest of us opened gifts. Tanner on the other hand was in seventh heaven. He had so much fun and was so excited that Santa brought him everything he wanted. We hope that you all enjoy the pictures. There are many!


^ Here is what Santa brought Gavin. He hasn't stopped playing with it all day :)

^Tanner's stash included Pixos, a sleeping bag, and lollypops

^Gavin on Christmas morning

^Tanner waiting for Grandma June to get out of the restroom so that he could go see what Santa brought him :)

^Looking for the loot

^Ah-ha! Here it is!

^The smile says it all

^Gavin just pushed anything out of his way so that he could go for a stroll

^Tanner loves his color wonder

^So excited about the blanket that Nana made for him

^Dad trying to get Gavin interested in anything...didn't work

^He really was excited to get Horton Hears A Who, his face just doesn't show it

^However, I think you can tell how excited he was to get anything with Spiderman on it

^And let the meltdown begin! Tanner told daddy "no" and had to go sit in the corner (It may be Christmas but that doesn't mean we stop punishing :)

^The aftermath..at least some of it

^Michael can pretend all he wants that he doesn't like BYU..but his face says it all

Tanner and mommy relaxing after the excitement died down. We were actually waiting for the orange rolls to come out of the oven.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night!

We just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We hope that you all have a wonderful day spent with family and friends. Being that we are away from both of our families we have made our own tradition and we open our home to the missionaries on Christmas Eve so that they have a family to spend Christmas with. Tonight we will have 4 missionaries over for dinner, a Christmas movie, and of course a few presents for them.
We love you all and pray that you are safe and happy!

Christmas Cookies & Fire Fighters

As we were out delivering Christmas treats today we passed about 9 fire stations. Tanner loves fire trucks and he kept saying, "Mom, we need to make Christmas cookies and take them to the fire fighters, they are really hungry." So after a morning of driving around and an afternoon of making graham cracker houses (see post below) we made sugar cookies (thank-you pillsbury) and Tanner frosted and decorated them. Tonight when Michael got home we took a drive to the nearest fire station and delivered the cookies. The fire fighters were very sweet and Tanner got the full tour. He even got to see their bedrooms. Here are a few pictures... oh, Gavin stayed home with dad and had a bath so we took his picture when we got home...such a cutie!^The fire fighter had to hold the helmet on Tanner's head because it was so heavy and Tanner almost fell over when he let go :)
^This was Tanner's reaction when the nice fire fighter turned the lights on the truck and made then flash^And of course, Gavin all clean and ready for bed...such a big boy!

Graham Cracker Houses

Today Tanner invited some of his friends over to make graham cracker houses. They had so much fun. This is Tanner's masterpiece.

A night of fun & and a not so happy baby

We went to our ward Christmas Party on Saturday night and had a great time. It is always fun to hang out with your friends on days other than Sunday when you are in class and can't really talk.
Tanner was so excited to see Santa and tell him that he really really wants Pixos for Christmas. Santa knew exactly what he was talking about.

Gavin on the other hand was not his usual cheery self when it came time to sit on Santa's lap. I was very surprised at his reaction. Tanner has never cried on Santa's lap, in fact, every Santa that he has gone to see in the past 4 years has been shocked by his cheerfulness. It also didn't help that Gavin is getting to the age where he is scared of everyone but his mom and dad.

I would say he was just a little upset, wouldn't you?

Dear Santa...

I found this tonight while searching for something online..thought you would all enjoy it :)


Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited their doctor's office more than my own doctor's, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground.

I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmas', since had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt, in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother", because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in to dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,

MOM

P.S. One more thing ...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Is it a girl or a boy?

Little girl or little boy?
The Stone's found out today.
They were all excited
To see what was on the way.


The baby is healthy and wiggily too,
The news brought lots of joy,
And if you haven't guessed it yet,
They're having another boy!

Zachary Brandt Stone

Isn't she lovely?!?

This is just a small tribute to my sister's teenage years. Love you guys!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I feel that I have slacked badly this year because it took me an extra week to get my Christmas tree up. hehe
After Christmas last year we threw our fake tree away because of disfunctional lights and we hadn't been out to get a replacement.....until today. I have wanted a slim tree for a long time. I don't know what it is but I love the look of them. We went out as a family today and found our tree. Here is the finished product....We also finished getting everything on the fireplace. This is probably my favorite.

Gifts

As the new month begins and the Christmas season rushes in I cannot help but think about the amazing gifts that have been given to me that nobody could put a price on.
In just a few weeks it will have been 30 years ago that I was given the gift of life by a loving mother who still to this day takes care of me the best she knows how.
It has been 15 years since I found out that I had been given the gift of singing. A gift that I try to use every day, even if it is just to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to a couple of sweet little boys.
It has been 6 years since I received the gift of love. True love. That love has been tried and tested many times and it will forever be strong because of faith, patience, and compassion.
4 years ago a precious gift was placed in my arms and I have never let go of him. My sweet, loving, and extremely friendly Tanner brings such light to my life and I pray daily that that light never goes out.
1 year ago I was again blessed with a precious gift. One that I never get tired of kissing and squeezing because he is just so squishy. Gavin smiles and the world goes away. He blows kisses and everything is perfect.
And for some reason that I am positive only my Heavenly Father knows, I am again being given yet another little gift. Next week I will know if this gift will come wrapped in a pink or blue bow but that doesn't matter to me because just the knowledge that my Father in Heaven feels that I am special enough to be given all these gifts makes me feel more loved than I could ever imagine.
Many gifts will be passed out by me and probably to me in the next few weeks, but the greatest gift I have ever been given is the knowledge that I am loved.

What an example!

I saw this on the news today and it touched my heart so much. I have more to be thankful for than I can name. I have my family, my friends, my health. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ which blesses my life immensely. I have a loving Father in Heaven and an older brother who gave his life for me, but I hadn't really thought of how thankful I am for the examples of others until I watched this news clip today. What a sweet little boy. I pray that as we go through the next month and have the opportunities to do good for other people that we will put ourselves out there and give. I know that I am going to try my best to bless the life of someone else this Christmas because I want my children to learn to love and give like Brendan did.

I so want to sew!

A few weeks ago a sister in our ward presented us with the opportunity to make Christmas card holders. I had never sewn anything before (unless you count the dickie from Jr. High) and I was very excited to try something new. It took me almost 2 hours in the fabric department of my Walmart to make up my mind. This is how it turned out:



Well, this sweet sister then asked us if we wanted to make anything else. She showed us a tree skirt she had made and it was so cute. The only problem was that I bought a new tree skirt last year after months of searching that matches the decor of my house so who would I give it to?
I had to think of someone because I was excited for this new adventure. One of my sisters told me to make it for our youngest sister Heather who had gotten married earlier this year and didn't yet have a tree skirt. Perfect! I picked out the fabrics a little faster this time, making sure to get colors Heather would like. This is the final product:

Well, it had to happen sometime.....

And last night was the night.

You see, Tanner is a very mellow child compared to most 4-year-olds. He doesn't jump off things, he doesn't climb all the scary toys at the park, and he has never hurt himself bad enough for blood to show.......until last night.
For some reason Tanner is a late night guy, I wonder where he gets it from? OK, he gets it from me. He doesn't take a nap and he is still up until 10:00 every night. Well, last night I was sending one last email for church and I told Tanner to go jump in bed. I didn't think he would take me literally but a few seconds later when that big crack sound was heard through the house, I knew we were in for some fun. Michael went running in the room and screamed (he's going to love this) "Oh my gosh, there is blood everywhere!"
WHAT?!?! Tanner and blood have never gotten together in the same sentence. I went running to his room to find my sweet mellow child with a gash above his eye and more blood than I thought could ever come out his little head.
While I got dressed Michael put him in the bath tub to rinse the blood off of him and it instantly stopped bleeding. Michael thought, oh good, he is alright, we don't have to go to ER. Well, not the case. When I looked closely I could see that it was pretty bad, and to have that much blood just wasn't normal.
I decided to take him to a small hospital and was very lucky to be the only one in the ER. All Tanner could say the entire way there was, "mommy, I don't want a shot!" I felt bad because I wasn't sure if they were going to have to do stitches or glue. Lucky for him they used the lovely purple glue. I think he was just as scared of the purple glue as he was the shot he never had to have. I am so thankful that he had a fantastic doctor and his head looks wonderful! You can see in the picture all the lovely iodine that stained his head and the nice purple glue. I still wonder how that much blood could come from a cut that size.
By the time we left the ER (at around midnight) Tanner was back to his normal self. He said goodbye to Greenshoes (that is what he lovingly named the blue hippo in the room. The bed was a hipppo) and said, "goodnight friend" to all the ER staff.
Enjoy the pics!

Time is running out

I know that I have more than 9 people that look at our blog and I really want to make it private so I need email addresses. I will be making our blog private on Tuesday the 18th. If you want to be able to view our blog PLEASE leave me your email address. I am sure that there are people who view our blog that I don't know are viewing it...if I know you and you leave me your address, I have no problem adding you.
So, you have 4 more days to leave me your email address....the clock is ticking...
tick
tock
tick
tock
......

OH, and I can't leave without saying....

GO BYU!!!

Privacy Please......

OK, so I have decided to join the rest of my family and go private also. I had added a thing to my blog so that I could see who had been to visit and within 2 days there were about 30 people I didn't even know...a little scary. If you will please leave me your email address in the comments I will be more than happy to add you in, of course, I have to know who you are :)

PARTY!

We had Gavin's birthday party on Friday night and had so much fun. There were about 30 people there to help us celebrate. We enjoyed dinner and then we had the yummiest cake. Here are the pictures of Gavin indulging himself in cake and also pictures of the fun toys he got from his friends.

May I have your tree?

I can't tell you how many times in the last week people have asked me if they could have the tree in my front yard. What?!? I would never give up this tree. It is the prettiest tree on our whole street. Here is the proof...