Finally!

After 6 months of searching, we finally found a house we love!  We're so excited to get a play room and I'm thrilled to have a pantry for the first time in our married lives!  Most houses in Texas are massive and covered in brick and stone.  When we saw our Craftsman style neighborhood we fell in love!  I'm a sucker for a transom window, and they are above every doorway on the first floor.  We signed the contract in November and ground breaking should begin next month.

Our Lot

  

Front Elevation

Floor Plan - we're adding the 5th bedroom and balcony

Our Neighborhood

Gone Baby Gone

The boys got chopped today. We went in for a trim and Maddox opted to cut off all his locks! Griffy somehow ended up with "The Suri". I have always loved that haircut (I even tired it myself about a year ago), but on Griffy it just makes me giggle. When Grant walks in the door tonight, I guess we'll yell SURPRISE!

BEFORE

AFTER

GRIFFIN AS SURI CRUISE

Happy Birthday Poodle!

We celebrated Grant's birthday on January 6th. It was a Sunday, and with our calling as nursery leaders, lets just say the birthday was not off to a great start. Luckily, waiting at home was a chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, covered in chocolate frosting, from Baskin Robins. My chocaholic husband quickly forgot about the chorus of screaming children. Thanks to the wonder that is Ebay, I was able to get the number one item on Grant's wish list. The next time you see Grant he will be sporting his vintage "Member's Only" jacket. Happy birthday to the man who always makes me laugh. I LOVE YOU MORE!!!

Happy New Year!

I had a great time at lunch with my girlfriends on New Year's Eve day. I have known these girls since middle school. We have lived through big bangs, pegged pants and we all survived our no make up, earthy granola girl phase together. I love to spend time with these these girls every time I'm in Utah!

Me, Amy, Julia, & Natalie

Later that day, we had dinner with the Freemans & the Wambolds at Buca di Beppo. We then partied like rock stars, well, like rock stars with 7 children. Jar & Deesha have the perfect house for entertaining. We loaded the kids with sugar and sent them up to the game room. Maybe we gave them a little too much sugar, considering they were all still awake at 2 a.m. We played the Wii until the wee hours of the morning. Even with our techtardation, Grant & I are considering buying a Wii. In just one night, we performed surgery (and only killed one person), created some fabulous meals in an intense cook off, and bowled. It was a great start to a new year!

It's a Boy!

Five years ago (on December 27th), we welcomed Maddox into the world! Time really does fly when you're having fun. I can't believe my baby is 5! We celebrated at Sky High Pizza - one of Madd's favorite places. Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day for Maddox!

Here Comes Santa Claus

We finally got a picture of our boys with Santa! Every year someone is sick, or refuses to approach Santa, or we just run out of time. So even if it's just a ward member, dressed in a red suit, in the middle of the cultural hall, at the annual party, I'll take it!

Santa visited our house a few days early this year. We were heading to Bobo & Tita's house on Monday morning (Christmas Eve) and as much as we have loved hauling presents back and forth to Utah each year, we decided that our Christmas Eve would be on Friday night. We wanted the boys to have a couple of days to enjoy their presents before we took off. Somehow, we still ended up with 3 extra suitcases on the way home from Utah.

Some of you may know that I am not the most tech savvy person. My friend has dubbed me "techtarded" and I would have to agree. I accidentally erased all of our Christmas morning photos, and the photos from the real Christmas morning with my entire family, and the kids having a great time sledding. I know, I already cried about it. Luckily, it was a new memory card and we did get a couple of shots of Santa's gifts the night before on the old memory card. So, you'll just have to picture my kids with excited expressions alongside their toys.

Santa was very busy this year and didn't realize that the fire truck battery had to be charged for a full 24 HOURS before the boys could ride. Thanks Santa for leaving a note, the boys completely understood.



The boys opening their Christmas Eve PJ's.







Santa's Gifts

Trains at NorthPark

A few days before Christmas, we visited a train show at a local mall. Griffy is obsessed with trains and I knew he was going to love it! The only thing I didn't think of was getting Griffy to leave the exhibit. Maddox and I waited outside for about 20 minutes while Grant coaxed Griffy into leaving.

The hats cracked me up!


I loved to see Griffy's faced pressed against the glass for a better view!