The Polar Express

We were very lucky this last Monday to be able to ride on the Polar Express to see Santa at the North Pole. This is a fun train ride the Heber Valley Railroad does every December. This train ride sold out in August, but I was able to pick up some tickets on KSL two weeks ago from a family who couldn't go. The trick was to find 3 children to go with us since they did not want to seperate the tickets. Luckily, my sister Amber allowed us to take her 3 kids with us.

Connor is obsessed with trains, so this was a very special train ride for him. The kids got to dress up in their pajamas. (I had another layer of clothing underneath and a jacket because it was pretty cold outside.)
Here is everyone before we boarded the train.


The two girls in the back are Mckatie and Mckayla. They are twins. Randy is holding Kyler and infront of him is his cousin Kyson and Connor is in the front.

Everyone was so excited to be on the train.




We had 2 elves and a chef in our car to help out. They passed out cookies and hot cocoa. Then we got to read the Polar Express together.


Everyone's favorite part is when Santa came on board. Everyone starting jumping once they saw him. He handed each child their own bell.




On the ride home both Mckayla and Mckatie got to dance with elves.

Happy Birthday Randy!!

It's Randy's 31st birthday today. Drop by and send him a birthday wish on his birthday page.

Trip To Temple Square

We decided to take the amtrak train to downtown salt lake to see the lights at temple square last saturday. Connor loves trains so he was very excited.

The kids had a blast.



Temple square photos:

It is hard to see, but there are floating lighted bulbs in the pond. It was so beautiful with all of the lights reflecting in it.
The Christus at the North Visitors Center.

The Salt Lake Temple.

We Have Snow!

We got tons of snow the first week of December. Connor and Kyler were loving it!! Here are some pictures of some of their fun.


Connor and his friend Ben from next door.



Kyler decided that snow was too cold for him. Here he is with some hot cocoa to warm up his fingers!


Connor took his hot cocoa outside. He didn't mind the cold too much.

Cows In The Road

We were up in the Bear Lake area, when we came acrossed a whole cow herd walking in the middle of the road! There where cowboys keeping them going but it was crazy to see so many cows. I kept on thinking a cow was going to run into our truck, since they were so close to us. I thought "only in Idaho this would happen" but Randy mentioned that sheep crossed the road a lot in Summit, too.

Since I had my camera on me, I thought it might be fun to show everyone a little of what we experienced!

Temple Trip

My sister, Tara, flew in from Dallas to be with everyone for thanksgiving weekend. She has been married for a little over a year and a half. Here is a picture I took of her and her husband.

They have a daughter, Kyree, who is absolutely adorable. I was so glad to see them.


Since my parents live in Idaho, that is where everyone met for the thanksgiving weekend. My sister arranged to get sealed as a family in the Logan Temple while they were up. It was a beautiful experience to see them sealed with their daughter for time and all eternity. Here is a picture of us with their family after we came out.

On The Prowl!

Connor is attending his first birthday party on Tuesday for another little neighborhood boy, so we were at Walmart picking out a present for him. (It was torture for Connor because he wanted to keep every toy we looked at.) Well, he found a toy gun and was in love!!!

I let him carry it around the store, for sanity reasons. It was so funny how happy he was. He was even pointing it at people as they walked by and pretending to shoot. He loves guns so much. Must be a Williams gene!


As they say in A Christmas Story "You'll shoot your eye out!"


Randy decided that Connor is not allowed to own a gun til he is 40. I agree!

Connor's Little Bus

All of the kids in the neighborhood are jealous that Connor gets to ride a bus to school. We only live 2 blocks from school so no one in the neighborhood gets to ride a bus, except Connor. Connor is only 3, but he goes to school 2 times a week in a "special" preschool class to help him with his language. He knows plenty of words, but has not used them together in a sentence yet. So he gets to go to school for 2 1/2 hrs twice a week to work with different therapists.

Connnor loves school! But he loves his bus even more. It is normal for him to run after the bus crying when they drop him off after school. I took some pictures of him and his bus this morning to share with everyone.



Here is their secret to keeping the kids in their seat!



Here is the bus. The sun is a little bright behind it.

The Case Of The Missing Cell Phone

We went out on a date last Saturday, and my cell phone mysteriously disappeared. We went to a movie so I naturally put my phone on vibrate (big mistake!). I did not even think of my phone again til Monday morning when I searched the whole house for it. I couldn't remember if my purse was zipped closed or not at the movie. We of course, went to Jordan Commons (they have tons of theatres!)So I called the phone number and guess what option #1 was on the message??? Lost And Found!! I thought it was kind of funny.

No cell phone in lost in found. Randy even walked around the house calling my phone, hoping to hear a vibration. Well, this morning as I was getting Connor ready for school, the thief reappeared from behind the couch with my phone!



Forgot to search Kyler's favorite hiding place!

My Hair Makeover

Ok, so most of you know that I cut my hair around valentines day time and donated it to locks for love in honor of a family that lost the pregnant mom and I think 4 kids during an automobile wreck. I had a neighbor cut it for me who used to do hair. I was pretty happy with the haircut and even went back to her again, but for some reason the cut was never quite..um..even. There were always a few strands I had to curl tighter so it looked like it was even.

But she was a friend and I hadn't gone to a hairstylist for a cut and coloring since right before Connor was born. Well, a new hairstylist moved into our ward, and all of a sudden people starting sporting really trendy hairdos. It's kind of funny because you see the new style and know that she was the one that did it. Some of them are a little wild for my taste, so I was not sure if I wanted to go to her. She tells people that she does their hair the way she wants it, not the way they want it.



Well she came up to me one day to let me know my hair was not cut even. I told her I knew but it was a friend that did it. She also said that I would look really good with an a-line haircut. I told her that is what I had and she said.. Umm, no that is not an A-line!

You just have to know her personality! So I finally let her do my hair and I absolutely love it! Don't know why I waited so long to get my hair colored again, of course, besides the money part!

Halloween

Just to catch up on a few things I am going to be adding a few posts. Halloween was fun for us this year with having both of our boys old enough to go trick or treating. We had our church Halloween party the weekend before. This was the first year that it did not snow or blow bone chilling wind, so it was very pleasant to go with the boys around the neighborhood.

This year Connor was....


Superman.

And Kyler was...


umm...Superman.

Ok, so both of the boys love superheros! They were asking to wear their costumes over and over again weeks before Halloween even rolled around. The funniest part was Kyler loved the cape. Never even tried to take it off. Connor has a superman backpack and Kyler loves to point at it so I can say that it is Superman.

For the Halloween party, I even got into the action. (last minute) Pulled out a black dress, hat and pair of red heels to be the witch of the west. Those heels were really hot looking, but they hurt my feet so bad! I have to think twice about wearing them again.

Ok..So I finally broke down and did a family blog.

I've had some reservations for a while of doing one, both the time factor and trying to keep it seperate from both my website blog and readers. Just googling my name brings up all kinds of pages, so I am trying my hardest to keep this invisible to those who are not close friends and family.

That being said, I am glad to finally join the ranks of blogging mommies! There are so many fun pictures and stories to share with those I don't see that often.

We have 2 adorable monkeys for boys so I figured that there could be no better name for our blog than A Barrell Of Monkeys.