Ward Christmas Party

Here are the pictures from the Ward Christmas Party, complete with a visit from Santa (by far the kids' favorite part). Benson had enough courage to sit on Santa's lap this year, although he does look quite nervous. He just had to tell him about the skateboard he wants him to bring him. And Jaycie wasn't too sure about it. She was okay for about 15 seconds, and then decided she'd had enough, but of course my camera battery died right as she started to scream, so no famous screaming in Santa's lap pictures for her this year, dang. And I just had to post these following pictures and brag about how good the kids in our ward are. They are so cute with my kids and such great helpers. I thought it was so cute to see Benson holding hands with 2 other boys waiting in line for Santa. I'm sure he was quite nervous (see last year) and having them there helped.

And I just had to comment on how crazy it is to be in Southern CA for Christmas. It's my 3rd Christmas here and I still can't get used to it. When we got to the church Saturday morning for the party there was basketball going on in the cultural hall, so they moved the party outside. We were all sweating and trying to block the sun from our eyes. Then when we went inside for the program the AC was on and it was freezing. Camron said, "This is nuts, when is it colder inside than it is outside at a Christmas party?!?" Only in LA.....

Jaycie's catching on

Jaycie started saying "bye bye" a few months ago, however it only lasted a few days, and then she decided she would rather walk than talk. So she has been somewhat speechless since then (I mean she can repeat "mama", but really never says it on her own).
Last night however, she joined us for family prayer (she's been going to bed earlier lately so this is the first time in a week or two that she has been with us) and quickly remembered how much she hates sitting still. She was squirming and crying in my arms right up until she heard Camron say, "Amen" at which point all crying stopped as she let out a sigh and quickly shouted "AMEN!" and excitedly jumped out of my arms. Oh how quick they learn!

Benson's 3rd Birthday (1 1/2 weeks later)

Benson actually had more of a birth-month celebration than a birth-day celebration this year. It started out with Grandpa and Gramma visiting and Gramma taking them out to play in the rain. They had a blast to say the least, and since it rains about once a year here it was a real treat. He then had cake and icecream and got to open his present: nerf guns! (Jury is still out on who plays with them more, Daddy or Benson :) Then Emily and Matt came to visit and we got to go to a Real Salt Lake Soccer playoff game. The kids loved it and looked adorable in their soccer jerseys from Aunt Emily. And to make it even better, Real won!
Then he had his real birthday party full of cake, presents and fun! He even got to take a friend with him to McDonalds, which he thought was amazing! He loved the car from Papa and Granny and even came in crying a few nights later because he forgot to put it "to sleep" in the box it came in.

I can't believe what a big boy he is! The past 3 years have flown by. He is still my cuddle bug and a great helper with his little sister, Jaycie. We sure love having him in our family!

Jaycie's 1st Birthday (1 month later)

So I realized that since today is Nov. 17th, that means that Jaycie's birthday was over a month ago, so I guess I better get her pictures posted before it's TOO late. So here they are!
The Balloon Fight:

The cake:

The presents (the pacifier package was immediately shoved in her mouth, still in the wrapper, I think that was by far her favorite present!):

I still can't believe my baby is one-year old (well 13 months now)! She is such a cute little girl who just melts her momma's heart. We love our little Jaycie Grace and are so glad she's in our family!

Happy Halloween!

The whole family at the Ward Party.

Costume breakdown:

Dad & Mom - pest control

Aubrielle & Jaycie - ladybugs

Benson - a "nice" black widow - anyone who referred to him as "scary" was quickly corrected, "I not cary, I a NICE pider!"

Daddy and Jaycie - too cute not to share

The kids all ready to trick-or-treat!

Finally got rid of that lump in my throat!

Just wanted to share with everyone my good news: the tumor that I had removed from my thyroid this past Tuesday was benign and my recovery process is going extremely well!
For those of you who don't know they discovered a tumor on my thyroid at my first obgyn visit when I found out I was pregnant with Jaycie and have been monitoring it ever since. We decided earlier this month to have it taken out as it was continuing to grow and becoming bothersome.
My mom is here taking care of me so I am in great hands, and the kids are doing a great job taking care of me as well. Whenever Benson wants to cuddle with me he promises, "I won't touch you neck mom!" And the other night as Aubrielle was saying the bedtime prayer she was sure to add in, "And please bless that mommy doesn't swallow any more golf balls." LOL, too funny.
Anyway, thanks for all your prayers and thoughts, I really appreciate your love and concern and am happy to report I am doing much better than I expected (HOORAY :)

The innocence of children

Oh that I was still a child and had such a simple look on life!

Aubrielle was talking to my younger brother, Tyler, who is 19 years old last Friday night. She had called to inform him that she wanted him to make her a medium red hat, so she can be a ladybug for Halloween, and that he also needed to make Benson a medium black hat so he can be a spider. Anyone who knows Aubrielle and has talked to her on the phone lately will realize how one-sided these conversations are. She had been talking non-stop for about 5 minutes before she finally paused long enough that Tyler could explain he had to go. After she hung up she said, "He said he was shopping with his friends and had to go." "Shopping for what?" Camron asked. She quickly responded, "Probably for Lucy (Celeste's little girl), or maybe for Jaycie." LOL...I'm sure that's what Tyler was shopping for :)

A while ago I was playing basketball with Benson and Aubrielle in our front room with Benson's little tike hoop. Aubrielle started singing, "Hit me with your best shot!" when asking for the basketball. After singing it a few times I decided to branch out a little so I started singing, "Hit me baby one more time!!" To which Benson quickly turned around and exclaimed, "We no hit babies!!"

During another one of our basketball games I was the assigned cheerleader (although Aubrielle was much more impressed with her aunts Lindsey and Celeste when she learned they were REAL cheerleaders, she thought that was quite an accomplishment :). Anyway, I was running out of cheers so I went for a very basic "Go, Fight, Win!" At this point Aubrielle and Benson's gender-characteristics became very apparent. Benson turns around and says, "Fight?!?! No we fight bad guys like this!" (He then proceeds to run and around and "fight" the imaginary bad guys in our front room) Aubrielle however comes over to me, gives me that disappointed mother look and says, "Mom, we don't fight. Maybe I should be in charge of picking the cheers from now on."

Thanks Gramma and Papa!

Thanks to Gramma and Papa we have some SWEET Halloween PJ's! And yes, Aubrielle insisted on me taking all the pictures of her and Benson :) (And of course coached Benson on what faces to make)

Some things never change....

Aubrielle today...
And again back in 2006...

She is bound and determined to keep that massaging turtle's hair looking good!
She is so funny.

We must live TOO close to Hollywood!

I told the kids to get ready to walk down to the laundry mat with me this afternoon and Aubrielle came back in this...

Too much Nintendo?

Aubrielle: "Benson, I'm Ariel, who are you?"
Benson: "I Benson."
Aubrielle: "No, we're playing A GAME!"
Benson (not missing a beat): "Oh, I Mario!!"

Photoshop Fun

Let's just say I LOVE Photoshop (and my precious girls of course)!

One Man's Junk...

is definitely another man's treasure (or should I say my kids' treasure?). Check out this playset we picked up last weekend.

Left alone and unattended in someone's front yard with the greatest words a mother of three could ever read, "FREE". We then had to ship the cardboard play house out to the garage (since Aubrielle insisted we couldn't throw it away; when she gets married she will apparently be taking it with her, we'll see how her hubby feels about that...in 20 years of course:)

Zuchinni Baby

Maybe it's the fact that I had Jaycie 10 months ago, or maybe my kids are just very "mothering" and "fathering". I'm not sure which one.

Anyhow when my friend sent us home with some zuchinni from her garden it immediately became a baby doll. They carried that thing around the house for several days until I, being the mean mom I am, announced to them that their zuchinni baby would be much happier if it was made into zuchinni muffins that we could all eat.

Aubrielle then looked up at me and asked, "You mean we're going to die it?"

"Yep, that's what you have to do to make it into zuchinni muffins" I cheerfully replied (trying not to make it sound so morbid).

Luckily they both went along with the idea after we took some pictures of them with their "baby" (check out the "proud parents" looks on their faces...too funny) and helped me make some incredible zuchinni muffins. We had a great time and fortunately did not have to mourn the loss of our zuchinni baby, but were just able to celebrate it's new life as zuchinni muffins!

Little Piggy

Me: "What are you guys doing in here?"

Aubrielle: "That's a cage; she's our pig!"

Meltin My Heart

Me (so sick I can barely get off the couch and looking like death): "Benson, how do I look?"
Benson: "Um, bootiful!"

So of course Camron tries this same trick....

Camron: "Benson, how do I look"
Benson (without missing a beat): "Um, Cazy (aka Crazy)!"

Oh how I love my little boy!

The Jaycie says.....

So one of the songs we sing all day long at this house is from the LeapFrog "FridgePhonics" magnet. It is a very basic tune with the words, "The A says ah, the A says ah, every letter makes a sound the A says ah" (Great way to teach your kids the letters by the way, especially when accompanied by the DVD "Letter Factory") Anyway, we have adopted this song to Jaycie's newest sound, a grunt/squeak/yelp. She loves the song (especially making her sound nice and loud) And as you can imagine, her brother and sister love the song as well:

But we might need to add another verse to the song soon....Jaycie has started saying, "bah, bah". This of course translates to "bye, bye". She has been attempting it for a few days, but I just thought it was a fluke until last night when she consistantly waved her hand and said "bah, bah". SO incredibly cute, but also so sad that she is already so big!! Although if this is anything like any of the other tricks she's learned (rolling over, waving, giving kisses, etc.), she'll do it for a few days and then we won't see it again for about a month.....not really sure why she works that way, but she does!

Just lovin my little girl

Jaycie Grace
9 months old

Painting Pottery

The kids had a blast painting bowls for Grandpa and Grandma's house. They each painted and decorated their own bowl (well, Jaycie and Lucy did have some help!). The bowls turned out so cute; we can't wait to go back to their house so we can use them! And many thanks to Uncle Dallan for all his help and these great pics!

Camron's New Love

Well Camron and I were able to successfully build his Father's Day gift (a remote controlled airplane) and with the help of Camron's cousin, Todd, Camron was even able to get it up and in the air and flying.

He was able to take it with him to Spokane for the Grubbs Family reunion and really enjoyed flying it there. There was a total of 4 planes at the reunion and the guys had a great time going out together. (Camron even offered to get up with Jaycie early one morning, I of course was shocked until I realized he pawned Jaycie off on his mom and went out flying with the guys....ah ha, it's all starting to make sense now.....LOL)

Adventures in "fly fishing"

On one of the nightly airplane outings during the Grubbs family reunion, Uncle Mack decided it was time to give some amatuers some time behind the control. Great idea, right? Well it was, until his plane landed here....(if you make the picture bigger you can see a small spot of red in the top of the tree....that's Mack's plane)

Of course it happened right before dusk, so runners were sent to gather the necessary supplies: a spotlight, flashlights, and a fishing pole...

The idea was to cast a weight around the plane and tug it out of the tree. Great in theory, but after 1 1/2 hours of trying it we were on to idea number #2, throwing a tennis ball with fishing line attached to it up over the plane and hoping to tug the plane out of the tree. After several tries, and many, many yards of tangled fishing line, Camron and Brandon successfully rocked the branches enough to knock the plane loose. What an adventure....and great lesson in flying, steer clear and I mean really clear of any and all trees!

Missing a True Friend

My sweet friend Ginger Clinton passed away unexpectedly Sunday morning. I will forever be touched by her example of true friendship. She had an amazing way of making everyone feel like her best friend. I am so grateful for my testimony of the Savior at a time like this and knowing that families are forever. Ginger will get to be with her adorable family again someday because of the life she led and the covenants she made. I'm comforted in knowing Ginger is in a better place now, but I will sure miss her bubbly personality and all the giggles we shared. Her life touched me for the better and I hope to be able to emulate her Christlike love for all she knew.

Rockin out to Rockband

Oh the joys of teenage uncles (and their toys!!)

Happy 4th of July!

Grandpa and Grandma with Jaycie, Benson, Lucy and Aubrielle