Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Years Eve.

Doesn't it look like our New Years eve party was amazing! Ha, ha.
Happy New Year.
My parents came over to help celebrate with us, we at some junk food and then played games.  The boys played games together while the adults followed tradition and did a puzzle.  
Truman has been begging to do fireworks since the 4th of July so we dug out some snappers and sparklers.  It was all he could talk about today.
But when it came right down to it, Bodie hid inside and Truman freaked out on the front porch while Gregg blew his horn and did sparklers.  Classic.

Everyone was in bed by eight o'clock!
Happy New Year 2014.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas Cards.

I love sending and receiving Christmas cards.
This year it was fun to get cards from new neighbors and ward members.  The boys loved looking at all the cards, especially the ones that had pictures of their cousins on them :)
Best card by far!
It's from our new neighbors who have four boys.  It says, "Love & Cheer, texting you Happy Holidays"  and it's a picture of their boys at the beach all sitting on a bench on their iphones.
So funny!  
And another favorite {my mom's favorite} from our friends the Robinson's.
The pictures are from our trip this summer to Bear Lake - love all the colors!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Christmas Elves.

About a week before Christmas these boxes showed up at the house.
Gregg decided he wanted to surprise the boys by finishing the basketball court by Christmas.
It was SO hard keeping Bodie and Truman from going down there.
They kept seeing Grandpa Quinn and Grandpa Bob come to the house {they were coming to help with the installation} but wondered why they couldn't play with their grandpas.
My dad and Gregg laid the floor one Saturday - although I think Gregg stayed up until about 2 AM to finish.

And then late Christmas Eve grandpa Bob came to help install the basketball hoop.
The basketball lines are being painted sometime mid-January.


Saturday, December 28, 2013

The kids table.

Over the holidays my brother Nate and his wife Lauren came to visit us one day.  I got a kick out of Nate and my dad sitting at 'the kids table' for lunch - well, I guess it is the only place to sit to eat beside the bar.  We are narrowing down a dining room table we like so in the mean time everyone uses the kids table.  Truman and Bodie love it.
I had fun sitting around all afternoon with Lauren discussing our upcoming deliveries, we are both having boys about a month apart.  I gave her all my best post birth/pregnancy tips and tricks!  
One last funny story while I am on the topic of food;

my parents stopped by one night recently on their way home from a trip.  I fed them dinner and as they were leaving my dad pulled out a $1 bill and left it on my countertop and said, "here's a tip"
Totally random!  Thanks dad.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Where's Waldo.

Hopkinson's gave the boys a set of "Where's Waldo" books with a magnifying glass, flashbacks to the 1990's a my childhood!  It was the perfect gift, I get a kick out of Truman in bed like this at night studying away!
Here is a picture of Waldo that Truman drew on a thank you card to Hopkinson's.
I love it.
Doing Waldo with dad one Sunday morning.
 This is serious stuff!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Elder Quinn.

There are a lot of great things on the calendar this month - but one of the best and most anticipated was our google hangout with Elder Quinn yesterday.  This is the first missionary from our family that we were able to "see" on Christmas day and not just talk to.
About thirty minute before our scheduled hangout I started setting up my computer in the great room, making sure the connection was good, making sure everyone would be able to see the computer, etc.  I called by brother Anthony in Michigan to see if he wanted to do a quick hangout with me to see if I had everything set up correctly {I was kind of feeling the pressure to make sure everything was perfect because my parents, grandparents and Hopkinson's all came to our house for the hangout}.

I got side tracked for a few minutes by Gregg and the kids down in the basketball court.  When I ran back upstairs I heard this big booming voice in my house - it was McKay!!! He had log-on a little early as well to make sure his gmail account still worked, etc.  I couldn't see him on my computer but he could see me totally freaking out - and I was!
The boys got to talk to McKay for a minute while we were getting everyone connected.
Of course Truman had to show him his new volleyball!
It made for the best Christmas present ever to talk to him and see him!
 McKay got to see and meet his newest nephew, Nelson.
On Mother's Day when we chat next he will have two more nephews!
On the hangout we had;

Elder Quinn in Mexico City
Dallin & Becca in Georgia
Anthony, Sharon, Ira & Eliot in Michigan
Nathan & Lauren {and Carmen!} in Sandy, Utah
Grandpa & Grandma Arave, Mom & Dad, Hopkinon's, and Simon's in Midway, Utah

McKay is doing great.  He is still serving in the mission office as the financial secretary and learning SO much.

You can read his weekly updates on his blog HERE

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Morning.

 We spent Christmas morning in our new home with just our family - I think it is the first year we have done this and it was nice.  We were invited to the big celebration at Hopkinon's house and although we wanted to be with all the kids this morning for the magic, we {mostly I} did have the energy to pack everything up and go down there for just one night.  We needed some good sleep in our own beds!
First picture of the day {via the iphone} - the kids were excited about the new hot wheels.
I love all the magic.
First things first!
The boys were so excited to give each other their gifts.
Here is Truman trying to guess what Bodie gave him.
How perfect, ping pong balls for the new ping pong table!
{Bodie came up with this all on his own and I though it was genius and so thoughtful since Truman is always playing}
Truman has been whooping up on everyone at ping pong - the kid has got some skills - whenever my mom is over they play a little tournament together which always involves a lot of giggling.
And Truman's gift to Bodie.
A tennis racquet.
Truman really wanted to get Bodie a racquet so they can play together this summer, again, how thoughtful.  
New BYU shirt for Truman.
Bodie got a new octopus {current obsessions} shirt which I didn't get a picture of although he is wearing it in later pictures.
To Dad from Truman and Bodie.
This was the year of "teeny-tiny" for Bodie.  He loves caring around anything "teeny-tiny" to play with.  My parents gave him these micro racers which were perfect!
Gregg was super surprised by the new iphone.
{which was a total last minute purchase by me, and I am go glad I got it because he surprised me with a chromecast}
I thought the new house and new car were our gifts to each other this year?!?
A new army watch which he was happy about.
Books for Gregg.
This is kind of a funny story.  I knew we had one of the Bill O'Reilly "killing" books but I could not remember which one {and our books are not unpacked yet} so I stopped by my in-laws house one day to ask my father-in-law if he remembered which one we owned and what ones I needed to buy for Gregg.  He ran down to his office and returned with all these books.  He said, "Here, Gregg will like all of these, wrap them up and let him read them."  Thanks Bob for the recommendations and help {and for lending them to us}.  Merry Christmas Gregg and happy reading ... but you have to return them to your dad when you are done!!! :)
More "teeny-tiny" treasures for Bodie - action figure squinkies.
The boys each got a new DK pocket genius book.  They are the cutest books ever and our boys love looking at the pictures and reading them.  Truman got one about the earth and Bodie got one about animals in the sea.
Bodie pretending to drive the power-wheels.  He might need some driving instructions!
Mom, look at this trick - one foot in the air.
We have known for a while that this was the "big gift" we wanted to get the boys.  It will be perfect for driving around the basketball court in the winters and out on the driveway in the summer.  I thought it was kind of cute how the boys would get a Christmas gift and then sit in the power wheels to open each gift and then find a pace to stash the new gift.
Grandma and grandpa Simons gave the boys each a set of these magnetic shapes to build things with - another huge hit!  
Bodie with is squinkies all lined up counting them.
Traditional orange, cranberry pull apart {although it does not look very appetizing in this picture}.  This is the perfect Christmas morning recipe because you do all the prep work the night before, put it in the oven and then in the morning all you have to do is bake it.  And it makes the house smell so good.

After a quick bite to eat we sent the boys on a treasure hunt.  There was a note in an envelope left in our Christmas tree {which Truman happened to notice FIRST THING when he came down in the morning so we had to kind of distract him into looking at the other gifts under the tree since we wanted to wait until the end to open the note...}

The treasure hunt lead the boys all around the house until finally they ended up downstairs in the {almost} finished basketball court.

Gregg, his dad and my dad have been working on finishing the court without the boys knowing - it was one sneaky task keeping the boys from going down there the last few days.
The cement walls all had to be sanded down {which created a HUGE mess in the entire house} in preparation for the siding {which is back ordered until mid January - thats why I said "almost finished"}.  Gregg debated and debated over what kind of floor to put down.  He finally decided on these basketball floor planks that have a rubber padding under them - they are very similar to what our rec center has.  The basketball court lines are being painted in a few weeks.
We got a "mid-sized" basketball hoop for the boys...
...and the big size for dad.

Merry Christmas.