Welcome Home Uncle Tyson

Jared' s brother Tyson arrived home yesterday from his mission in Chile. He actually left Chile a couple weeks ago and flew to Russia to visit with his parents who are serving as mission presidents over there.

Before he got home - Emma, knowing he went to Russia before coming to Utah, told me how she was excited for Tyson to get home - but really excited for Grandma T to come home too. Thinking Tyson was bringing T with him. I had to explain Grandma T had to stay in Russia, because her mission wasn't over... this was a little sad discovery for her - but after a few minutes was okay. Lucky we have Skype or I am pretty sure Emma would have jumped a plane to Russia as soon as we got to the airport.


He has been home less then 24 hours and has already had In-and-Out and Del Taco, and is already planning for where he will eat next... my kinda of guy!

When he came down the escalator he was wearing a Russia fur hat and we all started laughing immediately - it was perfect. Unfortunately the picture isn't very good - sorry!

That day the kids and I made signs for his arrival - mainly me, but they liked coloring on the back of them. :)

Emma remembered him very well and was so excited to see him, she ran right up to him as soon as he hit the floor and gave him a big hug. Carson, watching what Emma was doing, ran right along with her and hugged him too - which is a rare thing to happen to "strangers". He even gave a few smiles and they are already great buds! Harrison was very excited to introduce himself and was a happy baby - until he got hungry in the car, then he didn't care who Uncle Tyson was. :)

That night Emma made special note in her prayer to welcome him home and say thanks for his safe arrival - then (in her prayer) gave a detailed explanation of how Tyson is home, but Grandma T and Big Grandpa did not come home with him and how they are still in "The Russia" on their mission. Then began to ask for them to come home tomorrow ... this may take a while to explain - how can she understand 2 years more? Funny and cute at the same time.

Welcome Home Tyson, we have looked forward to you getting home for 2 years and we are so excited to have you back!


PS: for all of my local friends - I think my husband has relocated into his parents house for the next week or so... so if you want to play, hang out, go shopping, have late night Twilight watching nights... I am pretty much husbandless until Tyson starts school (at least). :)

My Yearly Allotment

I have an addiction to Hickory Farm's Summer Sausage. I could seriously eat it in unhealthy portions. I love it!

Jared however, does not love it. He is pretty sure it is the most unhealthy thing ever, he hates the smell and thinks it is gross that I take chunks of meat and gnaw on it.

So I have to limit my addiction to Christmas time. Every Christmas, since we were married, that has been one of my gifts. I look forward to it every year - my mouth waters when when walk by the kiosk in the mall and I know it is coming.

I did get extra lucky this year and got some as a gift from my good friend Heidi - who knows all about my addiction and my yearly stipend. :)

So next year, when you are thinking about what to get me - now you know... but make sure to sneak it past Jared... because if I get too much from others it may change how much he gets me! hahaha!

Preschool!!!

Emma recently started preschool! My good friend Reva called randomly and said her twin boys (2 of Emma's closest friends) were starting preschool. She had heard of a few recent openings at the AF High School Preschool, where the high school students have a class about preschool education and then take turns teaching the kids the lesson. There is a teacher there at all times and is wonderful, her name is Ms. Megan and she looks like she is 12, but is super nice and very caring about the kids and their "early education." Anyway, we took the openings and are happy with our decision already!

I have to say I was almost emotional when I took her the first morning. She looked so cute and so big! I can't believe my little girl was walking off to preschool. I was so proud of her. I waited until they were all inside before I left, I couldn't stop watching her. Then while she was gone I found myself waiting for the time to pick her up. It is so fun hearing about what she has learned, who she played with - everything. I love watching her grow up - she is the best!

She absolutely loves it. She loves her new friends and having the Andrew and Anthony there also. She loves learning new things and showing me all of the crafts she has done. What a fun new phase of life!

Merry Christmas Mormons!

I heard about this from Melissa, my good friend that always keeps me on top of the funny stuff - thanks Melissa, Jared and I were in tears laughing!

Birthday Bash!

November is a big month for our house. Emma's birthday is Nov. 19th and Carson's birthday is Nov. 16th. We had a week of presents, cake and parties. It was a lot of fun but we will definitely need a full year to recover.

Tuesday was their birthday party - we had a Royal Birthday party. The invitations were in scroll form and Emma and Carson delivered them in their Royal costumes. The guests wore Royal attire. We had a balloon arch at the door and Conner one of our super awesome neighbors dressed up as a Court Jester and as the guests arrived he announced them as Princess (and their name) or Prince (and their name). We did a Royal Memory game - which is Emma's favorite game. Played "put the kiss on the frog" - which was a cute drawing of a frog that Uncle Eric drew for the Bash. Ran around and tired to find the lost Royal treasure and get in back in the treasure chest before the King noticed that it was gone. Then we opened gifts and had cake.

THE CAKE!!! Sherrie, one of my closest friends and Emma's favorite mom supplied the cake. Her mom is a professional cake creator and did the most amazing castle cake for us! It truely was the best present ever!

After cake we had a Royal Ball and turned on the music and let the kids run wild until their parents arrived. It was a crazy hour and a half but it turned out so fun!

I have to give special thanks to ... Sherrie - who really is the kid's second mom, who helped me plan, set up, get through, clean up and everything in between. She is the greatest friend anyone could ask for! Liz - who doesn't ever need to be asked. She did the things I needed done, before I knew I needed them done. She held Harrison the entire time and really helped me get through the day. Eric for being an artist. Conner for being such a great Jester. All the parents who stayed. Jared for letting me go overboard and even helping in the end.

I love my kids and love making little memories like this day with them.

Happy Harrison

Harrison is getting so dang cute. He is getting much bigger and is already such a talker! He talks more then Carson already! He is sleeping better and eats better well. We haven't gotten him sleeping through the night steady yet. He will go about 7 hours and tease me as though he can do it and then the next night not sleep at all. It is a really fun game we play! I don't have any complaints though - he is still little enough that I put up with whatever because he is so cute and hasn't learned how to talk back. I love him though - he is a great mixture of Carson's good looks and Emma's spicy personality. He is a cuddle bug and a loves to be with people and I love being with him!

Emma's First Sleepover

Jared have a little rule, we haven't had to put into affect yet. We are not fans of sleepovers. We kind of think now-a-days a late night with friends over is fine, but sleep overs are not for us (or our kids). We are not sure if we are against friends sleeping here, that is still under debate, but sleeping out just isn't going to happen. Different I know, but just something we feel comfortable with. There is one exception - family.

So Emma's cousin Ashlyn got to sleep over last month. Ashlyn is absolutely the sweetest little girl and I loved having here. We had a great time, we went to the Dinosaur Museum, ice creams at the Thanksgiving Point Malt Shop, and then headed home for princess movies and popcorn. They finally made it to bed and even slept great. We had pancakes in the morning and my brother-in-law Stan came and got her so they could drive home (they live in St. George). Emma loved hanging out with Ash, Carson liked having another friend to play with and I loved listening to them giggle themselves to sleep.

Canning

I was going through my pictures and realized I haven't blogged in a really time! Sorry.

I have been canning. I am actually done, but I spent a lot of time the in Sept and Oct canning. I did salsa, spaghetti sauce, apple sauce, peaches, pears and lots and lots of freezer jam.

My parents were here for one of my "adventures" and we stayed up until after midnight doing applesauce (because we thought it would be easier after the kids went to bed). Lucky them. We had a good time though and now I have a few shelves full of jars to show for it.