Christmas Preparations

I didn't get pictures of us decorating our tree because the flash on the camera broke. I got a new camera for Christmas - okay, so I got it a few weeks before Christmas and I'm happy to be able to take all the pictures I want now.

Elliott loves decorating gingerbread houses. I tried my best this year to let Elliott to the decorating by himself. I put the icing on and then let him put candies wherever he wanted. He did an excellent job! Since Christmas he has been enjoying removing and devouring as much of the candy as he can.



With the Big Man himself. When we saw Santa from a distance, Derek was pretty excited. He kept pointing and smiling at him. When we got to his lap, he wasn't as excited. But he only cried for a second and then sat there mildly content long enough for me to take a picture.

Derek LOVES the musical toys Grandma and Grandpa send every year. He just sits there and pushes the buttons over and over and watches them sing and dance. Sometimes he'll even dance with them too. It's really cute. Too bad he got a little rough with Frosty so he doesn't work anymore. I didn't get a picture of this year's toy, but he loves that one just as much.

Discovery Park

Wow. I guess it's really time to catch up on my blog! One Saturday, now long ago (mid-November) we headed to Discovery Park to play, explore, and well, discover. I read a friend's blog about this park and when we got there, I remembered going there once when I was a college student. That was really long ago. :) It is an awesome park with so many things to do. There are two separate areas for children of different ages. The boys had a great time. It was actually a little chilly, so the boys enjoyed themselves more than the parents, but it was still a great way to spend the afternoon. We'll definitely have to return when the weather warms up again.

Pennsylvania here we come!

Brent got a job offer with Air Products in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He accepted it on Monday. He interviewed with them back in January for an internship position. They contacted him last month and invited him to fly back again. They were so impressed with him that they took an offer to his hotel room just 30 minutes after the interviews were over. They never do that, but they knew they wanted him! Pretty awesome. The offer was much better than he expected it would be, so that was pretty sweet. He really likes the company and the people he has met there. He will be part of their MBA Career Development Program. In the program he has the opportunity to rotate positions every 8 months. After that he can choose the position that he wants to work in. He also likes the opportunity to change jobs within the company frequently to keep things interesting. They offered to fly me and Brent out before he accepted the offer, so we were able to go out there last weekend. My mom was so nice to drive up and stay with the boys so we could enjoy our trip without them. They had a great time together and so did we. A realtor took us around the area and showed us housing options. It was really nice to see the area. We also had a chance to do some shopping and relaxing. It was a fun, although short, trip. We even got to experience a snow storm there before coming home to our own storm.

We are really excited for the adventure that awaits us in Pennsylvania. I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but it'll be fun. We'll definitely miss our families and friends out west. Now you have an excuse to go back east. :)

18 months old!

Derek is 18 months old as of a couple weeks ago. He is finally walking!!! He started just a week or so ago. It is so nice to have him walking. He still doesn't say much, but he is figuring out more words slowly. He also finally hit the 20 pound mark. He has only gone to nursery once so far, but he did great and I loved it! It was great to not chase him around during church. He is such a sweet boy and pretty mellow, although he definitely knows what he wants and lets everyone know it. He can hold his own against Elliott. Derek is a sweetheart and growing so quickly.

Jack-o-Lantern Fun

Elliott and i got to work on the jack-o-lantern together. He let me do all the dirty work, but he wanted to help with all the rest. He traced parts of the pattern and helped me cut some of it. Here's our creation of "Freaky Frank."

We decided to try painting him to give him a better Frankenstein effect. The paint turned out kind of green. Now we know poster paint doesn't work very well on pumpkins. It started flaking off the next day. It worked out okay though.

Crafter's Corner

Last month Lis and I were finally able to go to Crafter's Corner, a cute shop where you can go and make metal decorations. We had been trying to find a time to go for 6 months! There are tons of awesome crafts to make - for every holiday or just because. It was difficult to choose just a couple. These are the ones I came home with.

I painted the board and chose paper to put behind the metal to spruce it up. I love the way it turned out!



All I did for the turkey was paint the block it sits on, but I think it's pretty dang cute. The beak and wattle poke out to give it a 3-D effect.

Halloween Fun

Halloween always lasts for days and this year was no exception. We enjoyed 3 days of Halloween festivities. Thursday night was the MBASA Halloween party. Friday was our ward activity and Saturday we went trick-or-treating with the Malmgrens. We missed Brent at the parties but he got to accompany the boys on Saturday.

Here are pictures the first night. Derek made an adorable frog (he's even in a great frog pose) and Elliott was a great skeleton. Unfortunately the flash on my camera decided to die on Saturday so the pics from trick-or-treating didn't turn out.

Elliott had a parade at school. It was a madhouse! There are rows and rows of chairs for families to sit and watch the parade. Then all the kids walk up and down every row. The parade started 20-25 minutes late and lasted for almost 30 minutes. It was crazy! The kindergartners are supposed to get out of school at 10:30 on Fridays, but we didn't leave until almost 11.

Derek waiting for the parade to start - Elliott the skeleton - Mr. Nielsen (the principal) as a Red Neck Super Hero - Mrs. Stewart (Elliott's teacher) as a witch

Overall it was a fun Halloween, but I'm glad it's over. It always makes me tired!