Highlights of week 3!

In no particular order....
I finally got to meet Mandy (Andrew's wife) and the kids LOVED her.

Trayton got to throw a snowball at mom. I walked outside to take a picture and he attacked.

Christmas Eve at Granny and Papa's house.

We got to play with lots of cousins.

Crandell Kids and Sands Kids....lots of fun.

Cousins ganged up on Uncle Gordon.

Dinner at Eva's. Mmmm Good. Thanks Nana.

Ginger bread houses. Trayton and his masterpiece.

Dad, Kade wants you to pay special attention to the chocolate snowman lying on his side. He tripped on a rock and fell down. Haha.

Look at all that CANDY!!!

Vacation Part II

For part two of my vacation I went down to the valley to visit my brother and his family. Thanks Gordon and Nicole, I had TONS of fun.
First stop was the Phoenix Zoo.
The boys loved the monkey cage. We got to go inside the monkey cage where they have 18 squirrell monkeys. The boys loved how close the monkeys came to them.
We showed up just in time to feed the elephants carrots too. The kids got to throw the carrots into the elephant pit.
At the petting zoo there was this John Deere Tractor. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the boys on it.
We went to the park. Jordynn Loved the swing!!
Nicole and Mya had fun too!
And we also got to spend time at Caroline's house. Love ya Caroline!!!
And we FINALLY got to meet little Landie. Jordynn and Landie are only a month apart. And I just know they are going to be great friends.

Our trip so far

We finally made it to AZ and are so relieved to finally be here. We left last Thursday and got to stop near Logan to visit the Lundgrens again. The boys were very excited to see snow. Even if there was only a little. Trayton has been asking for snow for a very long time. He keeps telling me he wants to throw snowballs at me. What a sweet boy! Then we made it to Vegas in time for Garrett's birthday. The boys had tons of fun at his party (you can never go wrong with a pinata and cake!). That weekend the boys also got to go to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. They had a blast!! Jeremy was very generous and offered to watch the 4 oldest kids while Meg and I went to a movie. Thanks Jeremy! Then we were off to AZ. We made it to Snowflake Tuesday afternoon. Our first stop was nana's classroom where the boys got to pet a snake, hold a turtle, play with the rat, poke the toad, see the birds, etc. Needless to say they LOVE nana's classroom. Then we got to watch Grandpa Coach at a basketball game. On Wednesday Kent and Kassy came over and we got to visit with them and meet their sweet little girls. We all went over and met Grandma and Grandpa Great, went out to lunch, and even rode the horses. Thursday we were at the Crandell's and got to meet more new cousins and go to the ward Christmas party where the boys met Santa. Whew! I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation. Thanks everybody for all of the fun. We are looking forward to our next adventure with you all.

Update

Hey Kayleen! Thanks for coming to Idaho for Thanksgiving. The kids and I sure did have fun with you and you were a HUGE help to me. We can't wait to see you again in a few weeks.

Trayton is always asking if he can help me cook. This night I put him in charge of cheese. He did such a great job!! It's hard for me to accept that my little kids are growing up but it sure is nice to have such a great helper.
The older Jordynn gets the more I try to figure out who she looks like. Take away her pretty bows and she sure does look like Kade. What do you think?

I am a child of God

Dear Daddy,
I am a child of God. I love Jesus. I love piggy-back rides. I love Nana and riding on her horses. I love mom. I love Dad. Dad is silly. I love Dad to come home. I love daddy taking me to the jungle and him keeping an eye on me. I love Dad giving me piggy-back rides. I love dad putting me behind him and keeping me safe when there is a dinosaur. Love, Trayton

gfdrrirufiiriutrijitrtirtdunm4gfhjhfjhgjgkfhlhhfkhkaqhgjhjghkjhgjejrjrkhguyghygutfhhjjfjfjhshgjhjfhfhjhhjfhfjjdfhfjfjhjhgfhjfjjjjjjjjjjhfgjdhgjhmnghjgjtiugdyt
ytrtrvhfbvbfhgfhdgue4fhfghdfghdghdghkhskhdl;ughdfgdgfygyrgfggdfgfd./fgfdhfghfgyereyuhuhrhrfhrfhjfhfhrfhfrhruhurfrfrhhhhfh

Lights Out!

Last week we had a big storm blow in and cause a power outage. We were without power for about an hour and a half. Of course the outage had to occur at the exact moment as dinner. We ended up eating cold cereal by candle light. The boys thought it was great fun. I tried feeding Jordynn her dinner of rice cereal by candle light too. I thought I was doing a good job and then took a closer look and realized I was missing her mouth more often than not.

As I tried to think of ways to entertain the boys in the dark I thought about a game my family use to play in the dark. I think it was called murder in the dark. However, I don't think my boys could play a game involving secrecy and winking. Needless to say I was glad when the power came back on.

This is just a cute picture of Jordynn. Can you read her shirt? It says, "He's not just my daddy... he's my hero!"

Jonathan

Here's the latest picture I have of Jonathan. He and a group of airmen took a trip to the city of Ur. The city of Ur is the birthplace of Abraham. In this picture Jonathan is standing on top of the ziggurat.



This is a picture of Jonathan hard at work. Thanks for all that you do babe. I love you the most!

Home sweet Home

I made it home on Thursday and finally downloaded all of my pictures. It was such a fun trip. I'm really glad I made it. The kids had such a great time playing with their cousins. Even though the car ride was long and hard on them they are already asking to go back to aunt Meg's house. I'm not sure I was able to give Meg a break but it was a nice break from routine for me. I can hardly wait to go back in December. We went to the air show, did art projects, had a picnic at the park, played in the sun, cuddled babies, treated ourselves to Cold Stone, and just had a great time. Thanks Meg for making it so much fun!
The day before I left I got a phone call from a friend I had up in Alaska. The Lundgrens live in Logan now and I decided to stop and visit them on my way home. I am So glad that I did. It was so great to see Tiziana and her family again and they even surprised me with a visit from the Scotts. It was such a great trip. This deployment has reminded me of all the people in Alaska that took care of me and the boys during Jonathan's first deployment. People are usually surprised when I admit that I miss Alaska. I don't miss the subzero tempertures and darkness. I miss the friends I made. Tiziana was the reason I survived Jonathan's first deployment. Her husband was also deployed and her example was such a strength to me. Not only did she endure 9 months without her husband but she gave birth to her second little girl while he was gone. She amazed me (and still does). I remember when the boys were very sick for an entire month and I was quickly becoming depressed. I finally prayed for help and the next thing I know Tiziana is at my door with food and toys for the boys. Her chicken noodle soup was the first thing the boys ate (and kept down) in weeks. And it was during her visit that I saw Kade smile for the first time in weeks. I can't count the number of times she showed up when I needed help. It was so good to see her again. Thanks Tiziana!

Thunderbirds

The kids and I happened to show up in Vegas on the same weekend that the Thunderbirds were performing. Being the adventurous folk that we are we packed up all 6 kids and 3 adults and went out to Nellis to watch the performance. The kids had tons of fun. I'm always impressed by the Thunderbirds. They spin and do these death dives and fly upside down, etc., etc.
However, we made the mistake of staying until the end of the show and had to battle the huge crowd to get back to the car. We had to take a bus from the parking lot to the airshow and back again. The line for the buses was enormous. If you look at this picture you can barely see the middle of the line. It looped all the way down to the end of the street and back up again. It took FOREVER to get to the buses. Did I mention we had 6 kids with us? Whew! Good thing we had so much fun while we were there.

Surprise!

A week or so ago I was talking to Meg and she said, "Mandi, I miss you. Come see me." So long story short...I did. Only I didn't tell her I was coming. Jeremy and I conspired together and surprised her. My trip was really long. It consisted of leaving at 5 am. (with a groggy four year old, a newly potty trained three year old, and a much too alert 6 month old), several hours on the road, a quick pit stop, several more hours on the road, emergency pit stop for Kade, lunch with Kayleen in Provo (YEAH), several more hours on the road, our portable dvd player NOT working, several more pit stops, strange lady in the bathroom taking Jordynn away from Trayton (Trayton was holding her while I helped Kade in the bathroom. I'm sure she was just trying to help but you don't go grabbing my baby!), more long hours on the road, lots of traffic, one wrong turn=20 extra minutes, and finally 14 hours after I left I made it. The kids were really great and Meg's reaction made all 14 long hours worth it. Love ya Meg!

Pumpkin Patch

Trayton's Preschool took a fieldtrip to a local pumpkin patch and we went along to help. It was a little chilly in the morning but after lunch it warmed up and we got to take our coats off and enjoy some sunshine. Here we all are on the hayride.
Kade loved this huge barrell full of corn. He actually passed up FOOD to play an extra 10 minutes in the corn box.
I put Jordynn in the backpack and never heard a peep out of her. She was so CONTENT sitting up there watching everyone.
They had all of these bales of hay piled up for the kids to climb on. It made me a little nervous watching Kade climb this thing. He went up it so fast.
Trayton was much more cautious but had just as much fun. I found so much hay and corn in their clothes, hair, hats, diaper, gloves, etc.
Picking their pumpkins...
Instead of carving the pumpkins this year I went for easy and had them paint the pumpkins.

Kade

Happy Birthday Kade. I hope you had a great day! I can't believe how big he is. Time goes by too fast. Wherever we went today he told everyone he saw, "I'm the birthday guy." And at the end of the day I overheard Trayton comment, "Kade, this is the best birthday you've ever had." Well, Kaders I hope they keep getting better. I love you very very much!
Kade asked to have a superhero birthday. I'm the safest mom around with this crime fighting trio.For his cake we cut bat shapes(since he is batman) out of fondant icing and Kade stuck them all over the cake himself. He did such a great job.After Kade and his friends ate pizza we served cake! I made a miniture cake just for Kade and let him have it all. I put the cake in front of him before handing him a fork so he literally dove in and bit a chunk of cake off. Mmmm good. I've never met a kid who didn't like a candy filled pinata. Today was no different. My little boys think its great just to be allowed/encouraged to hit something as hard as they can. The candy is just a SWEET bonus.Kade has been asking for sunglasses for awhile now (ever since he broke his last pair). I told him he was hot and he replied, "yeah that candy (fireball) I ate made my mouth pretty hot."Happy birthday Kade. We love you!

Fall...

We have really been enjoying our fall season this year. Interior Alaska doesn't have much of a fall season (they actually had snow in September this year). So the boys are thrilled with the cool air and pile of leaves. I was raking leaves yesterday and the boys thought it would be great to have a leaf fight.

Trayton making a leaf angel.

I didn't know leaves could be so FUN!

Fall is such a wonderful time of year. And to top it all of this morning during breakfast the boys started shouting, "SNOW!" Yes, that's right, Snow. We just started enjoying fall and now we are watching the snow fall. I heard a local weatherman say it is the earliest snowfall ever recorded. Aren't we lucky?!?