Leaf Hunt!

I know, it is almost December and here I am posting about things in the fall. This day I am going to post about was so perfect and so much fun, I didn't have the heart not to post about it.

Here in Tennessee, the leaves this year do not start to change their colors until the end of October, early November. It was earlier this month that I took the kids on leaf hunt after they woke up from their nap. Brandon had a late day at school and I thought that it would be nice to get out of the house.

We had a fabulous time on our leaft hunt. Ben, Hyrum, and Emily LOVED walking down the road looking for leaves. We started our hunt in front of our own house and continued down the road.

Since they were all loose (no stroller) I made them hold hands as we went on our adventure. It was so cute to see them walk down the sidewalk together. They were so excited when they saw any leaves on the ground and would run quickly to go and pick them up. I would let them pick up only one leaf if the leaves were on someone's yard and when the leaves were not in anyone's yard, I let them pick up as many as they wanted to. They were in heaven! They loved every minute. It was so cute.

Ben would pick up a leaf and get so excited and say leaf, leaf over and over again. He was pretty much finished with the hunt after a few leaves.

Emmy's favorite part about the acitvity was wearing her bag like a purse. It was so funny. She did also get a pretty big kick about putting the leaves inside her "purse."

Hyrum loved being on a mission to find leaves and took his job very serioiusly. He wanted to go anywhere and everywhere to find the leaves.

To end the perfect afternoon, we went to McDonalds for dinner.

Those days are the days that make me so grateful that I get to stay home with my kids and be their mom.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to stay home and celebrate by ourselves.

To start the day off, the kid's watched the Macy's Thankgsiving Day Parade and played with blocks while Brandon and I worked hard to prepare our feast.

Ben and Hyrum made an awesome tower together. Hyrum called it daddy's school since the tower had an eye on it like daddy's school. Of course, after I took Hyrum's picture by the tower, everyone needed a turn. Ben is pretending to talk to his Papa on the phone.

While we were putting the finishing touches on the dinner. The kid's colored little turkeys that we used for name plates. The kids LOVED it. It was a perfect way to distract them for a few more minutes until dinner was ready.

Hyrum wrote everyone's name next to their turkey so we would know where to sit.

Also during the time before dinner was finish, I had Hyrum show me some fo the fun things he made at school for Thanksgiving. Below is a picture of Hyrum modeling the Indian vest that he made at school. When he came home to show me his Indian outfit he was so excited and thought he looked so cool in his little vest. It was so cute!

We of course had turkey, mash potatoes and gravy, yams, homemade potato rolls, and stuffing. For drinks, we had sparkling cider and sprite. The food actually turned out okay, other then the fact that my stuffing was dry.

Ben and Emmy loved the dinner. They had so much food. They really liked the yams and would eat them so quickly.
It was so cute, while we were eating, Hyrum broke out in song about Thankgiving that he learned at school. It was so cute, we had to record him saying it.

While Brandon and I cleaned up after dinnner, Hyrum and Ben had a great time playing football together. They would throw the ball from one side of the house to the other having a blast and laughing the whole time. Sorry the pictures are blurry, they were montion shots!

After dinner, we went over to our friends the Moore's house to have some pie and ice cream. We took over a crummy pumpkin pie that didn't turn out so hot(Sorry Morres, but thanks again for a fun night) to share with everyone.

It was a great Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Flashback Friday- Thanksgiving 2006

Below are the few pictures that I took during Thanksgiving of 2006.

Like always, we went to my grandma's house on my dad's side for Thanksgiving. My dad has many brothers and sisters; it is a huge party with many people.

Everyone makes such delicious food. The rolls and pie are to die for!

After the dinner, we all play games. It is always so much fun.

As you can tell by the pictures, Ben and Emmy are a little over a month old. What I remember about that Thanksgiving is having a good time with everyone and being really tired.The outfit that Emmy is wearing in the pictures has a little side story behind it. When we first got married, Brandon's brother Craig and his wife Nancy were expecting their last child. They had not found out what they were having before I went shopping for a gift. I decided to get a girl outfit and a boy outfit. Craig and Nancy ended up having another boy and I held onto the outfit with hopes that I might have a girl. I think she looks so sweet in the pictures below.
Hyrum loved sitting in the high chair next to cousin Calvin during the dinner. They are best buds and have a blast together.

Bows, Bracelets and Giveaway!

As many of you know, for the past couple of years I have been making flower attachments for headbands for my dear Emmy. I have recently added bracelets to my list of things I have been making.

Now after two years my blog is officially open for business. I thought that the best way to start it off would be to do a giveaway.

The website is http://www.emmysbows.blogspot.com/

Primary Program

Back at the end of October was the primary program for our ward. It was Hyrum's first primary program. He had the first line in the program after the Primary President gave the opening statement. His line was, "My name is Hyrum, and I am a child of God." He did such a great job! He spoke loud and clearly. He had a huge smile on his face after he said his part.

After most of the sunbeams said their part, the whole little sunbeam class sang I am a Child of God acappella . Hyrum was all excited to sing and he did. He was louder then the other kids and go embarrassed. After sitting on his teachers' lap for a few minutes, he sat back on his chair and continued to participate.

They had a few songs about missionaries which were Hyrum's favorite. The primary children each brought a jacket/blazer to put on for the few songs. The primary presidency even made missionary looking tags for each child to wear. Hyrum was so excited and so proud to be a missionary and to sing with the missionaries.

During the rest of the program he was the kid pulling silly faces at the audience and playing around. Brandon and I were giving him the stern look, but nothing seemed to work. Also, what took the cake was at the end of the program they had a girl sing a beautiful solo. During the solo, Hyrum had his fingers stuck in his ears and displaying a very disgusted look. Everyone got a good kick out of it.

This is a big step up from the first time he sang with the primary in sacrament meeting. He went up to sing, but didn't sing and just stood their with a pouty expression. The chorister said that if looks could kill, the whole congregation would be dead.

We love him!

Flashback Friday- Hyrum's First Celebration

This is the flashback that I wanted to do last week, but didn't get around to it. For Hyrum's first birthday, we had a great party at Hyrum's great-grandparents on my dad's side. Tons of family were there to help celebrate the Hyrum's first birthday.
Hyrum received fun presents and most of them were food! Everyone knew he LOVED to eat! It was a perfect present that he loved. He also received a few toys and books.

It was so cute. When Hyrum was first given his birthday cake, he took his pointer finger, stuck it the cake, put it in his mouth. He then decided that he liked the cake and that using two hands would be a better option of getting more into his mouth faster.

It was such a fun day. As you can tell by the pictures, he was such a happy baby. He was so content being around family.