Marvelous Mondays

We were in a Halloween mood yesterday so we made caramel apples for family home evening. The boys helped dip their apples in caramel and then we decorated them with chocolate chips, walnuts and yes...more caramel. These might take a few days for them to finish off.


By the end of the evening, everyone was sticky and had a sugar coated glaze to their eyes. Now that we've made it once I think next time we will experiment with other toppings for it!

Pumpkin Patch

The boys and I visited a local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to carve for halloween. They had a corn maze, animal alley and lots of things for them to climb on.

They were not in the mood for pictures at the end. We found 2 good sized pumpkins to carve later in the week. Should be lots of fun for them!

Meet The Newest Member Of Our Family

Well, our sweet stratus has lasted us almost 8 years. She was slowly trying to die so it was time to get something new. We settled on a 2008 Mazda 5. Most people have not heard of this model, it is a mix between a car and a van. It is a little bigger than a car but definitely not as big as a van on the outside. It gets 29-30 miles to the gallon and seats 6. Inside it is quite roomy but it turns on a dime like a car. We love it. We have been looking at this model for a week now and finally found the perfect one and a great price.

As a plus, it has a 6 cd changer. I have not had a cd player in my vehicle for 8 years so I feel really spoiled.

Marvelous Mondays

For this week's Marvelous Monday we made ghosts to hang on the porch for halloween. The boys loved making them and had fun eating all of the chocolately treats we had set out for them. But...next time, I think I will have the lesson first because they were way too sugared up to listen at the end. ;)

Boys Being Boys

Sneaking onto Daddy's bike...



Keeping dry from the rain...or maybe shading himself from the sun?

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Came around the corner last monday to this! We gave away the crib to a neighbor and the boys were quick to come up with a game of jumping off the stairs onto one of the mattresses! By the time I filmed they were just wrapping up the jumping party. Connor got up to 6 stairs high with his jumping. What a little dare devil!

Latest Project- Kyler's toddler bed

I don't know why I don't go straight from cribs to twin beds. I guess I am trying to keep my kids small as long as possible. I bought this toddler bed off ksl for Kyler's room. It is pottery barn, but the previous child had chewed bite marks around the whole bed so it needed to be refinished.

It had a pretty cream color to it but it didn't go with Kyler's dresser so I refinished it in white. I got to use Randy's orbital sander. Hehehe. It saved me alot of work and it was fun to use.


The finished product
The bed has a really cute beadboard design to it.

Don't worry, the quilt is a little girly but it is just for walkthroughs with the house on the market.

P.S. He has been sleeping great in the bed for a week now. I was bracing myself for a couple days of no sleep like with Connor. I guess he was ready to be a big boy because he gets in that bed and goes to sleep with no problems! I guess potty training is next. Crossing my fingers that goes well too!

Marvelous Mondays

I have decided to make a regular posting on my blog for Marvelous Mondays...which is the new name for our family home evenings. I admit that we have not done the best job at family home evenings. We have used the excuse for a while now that we will do it when Connor understands more. But I've been feeling the need for us to start having it now. If anything it is a great bonding time for us and the kids and a time to try to instruct them with values even if we feel they do not understand what we are saying. By posting it on the blog it will give us a little bit of a record and make sure we don't fizzle out on it. ;)

So this Marvelous Monday was actually broken up into two days. We made my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe on Monday. The boys got to help add the ingredients to it...which they love doing! Connor helped me mix the cookie dough and then we enjoyed the best chocolate chip cookies in the WORLD with milk!!

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If anyone would like the recipe, here it is (I don't use the walnuts in mine)...

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cubes margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Mix together sugars and margarine. Add eggs and vanilla and mix again. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix. Add chocolate chips and walnuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 20 large cookies.

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The second part of Marvelous Mondays for this week was on Tuesday. We went to the Classic Fun Center in Sandy and had a family bounce night.They have huge inflatables that has slides and climbing all over it. And it is Adult friendly. ;) The kids loved it. Randy stuck with Connor and I was with Kyler. By the end of it we were all
tired and red faced from the workout. They also have skating, laser tag, and a huge jungle gym. The boys really liked the dimeacade area so I ended up buying tokens for them to play a little bit there. We were tired and happy at the end of the night.

We didn't get any pictures last night but these are some pics from their cousin's birthday party at the Classic Fun Center during the summer...


This is Mt. Everest. It is really tall and steep. Connor had it figured out in seconds!


Skating with the Cousins.


Pizza Party.On the left side of Connor is his cousin Mckayla who was celebrating her birthday with her twin sister Mckaydee. On the other side is his cousin Kyrie.

Sweet Connor Jay

I'm am so lucky to have a sweet little boy. Connor loves to smile and laugh. He loves little kids and is so soft around babies. Here is a picture of him when he was just a couple weeks old. He was a beautiful baby.

The other day Connor's teacher sent a note home with him to let me know how much she appreciated having him in class. There are children in his class with different levels of disabilities. She said that he is always so soft and sweet to one of the children that has a particularily hard time in class. This touches me because I have a soft spot with people with disabilities. My oldest sister had cerebal palsy so I was always very aware of how people around her treated her.

I am so proud of Connor and how well he is doing in school. He has made huge progress over the past year and we hope that his language will be caught up to other kids by the time he gets into Kindergarten. We love you Connor!