Snow Blizzard

Christmas Eve this year brought a record setting snow blizzard for Oklahoma. We received 14" of snow! The weather men kept saying we were going to receive 6-10" but I didn't believe it. I figured it would probably end up being only 3 or 4 inches-but I was wrong! 14 inches! We've never had that much snow here. The closest was in January of 2000 where we got almost 9 inches. We had snow drifts up to 6' tall! Most were about 3 or 4 feet tall, but there were some that were 6'. In order to get to our house we had to walk through a snow drift that went up to my waist! It was just crazy! We had sustained winds of about 40 mph with gusts in the 60s. We definitely had a white Christmas! :)
On Christmas Eve we left Brady's parent's house to go grab some things from our house and take care of the dogs but it took us about 40 minutes just to get out of the driveway! Our car got stuck and we had to shovel out a bunch of snow and then push the car with Brady standing on the back of it. We were lucky to get out! There were cars stranded everywhere along the road! Some just stopped in the middle of the road. There were 20 car pile-ups because maneuvering around all the stuck cars was difficult and sometimes because of the blowing snow you wouldn't see them until you were just a few feet away. It was tricky stuff! Especially here in Oklahoma where the people nor the city is prepared for that kind of snowfall.
Brady taught Kolton how to throw snowballs at me! Lovely! ;) He had fun though!

Tuesday, the 22nd

On Tuesday we babysat Kade for Brittney. She had a doctor's appointment and then some packing to get done before they left that afternoon for Omaha. The boys had a blast together. They always do. Kolton has missed Kade. Every couple of days he'll ask if Kade or Brittney are coming over. He's gotten so used to seeing them about every other day that a week is a long time. :)

We were getting the crates ready for a couple of puppies that were shipping out and Kolton's baseball rolled into one. He crawled in to get it and was surprised to find that he liked being in there.

He just sat in there and giggled. It was a fun little place for him to hang out. :)

Sugar Cookies

On Monday, the 21st, we went down to the Revell's house to make sugar cookies. Kolton and Brigham were such good helpers! :) We made quite a mess, but it was fun! We made candy canes, snowmen, bells, gingerbread people, and christmas trees.

With almost every roll of the rolling pin, Kolton and Brigham would hit the dough. I don't know why, but they thought it was a good idea!

Shana and I decorating our cookies. Some of them turned out a little interesting, but we just ate them so whats the big deal?? Kit and Brady each made one cookie while Shana, Brigham, Kolton and I made the rest. :)

It was fun! I love making sugar cookies at Christmas time! Its a lot of fun and just reminds me of when I was little and we would make sugar cookies as a family. When I think of making sugar cookies, I think "family activity." I don't know why, but they just tie together. Its fun Kolton is getting older and can actually start to participate in activities like these. We had a great time!

2nd Birthday

This little boy is 2 years old today!! Happy Birthday Kolton! We love you! We really are blessed to have you in our lives! We love being your parents!

!!bIRTHDAY pARTY!!

We had Kolton's birthday party on the 19th. He's going to be 2! He just keeps surprising us with all the things he'll say and figure out. He's a little boy now and that is weird to think about. 2 years ago we didn't have him! Last year he could barely walk! Then just yesterday we were at the mall and we told him to run thinking then he would keep up with us and we wouldn't have to slow down for him, but no...he took off! Those little legs aren't so little anymore!
He says "please" and "no thank you" with ease. Always says "excuse me" when he burps. He is amazing at anything sports related. I just know he's going to be some pro athlete and support Brady and I. :) He can run fast, throw a spiral like no one's business, can shoot a hoop across the room--he's awesome! He says the cutest things like "see you tomorrow" every time he goes to bed whether its for a nap or at night. If he's ready to go to bed he'll bring you the Book of Mormon to read. He tells me all the time you have to wear a hat and gloves when its cold outside. He says "monomar" for granola bar. He loves cars, trucks, and trains! He sleeps in a "big boy bed" now. He's reached 36" tall and 28 lbs!
We had the party at the Foy's apartment complex's clubhouse. It was great! We decided to have a Disney "Cars" theme for his party. He loved it and even now when he talks about his party he talks about "Cars" and presents.
We did a pinata for the kids. The night before the party he helped me fill the pinata with candy. He was on top of the world. He was so excited to put sucker after sucker in there.
I bought this little booklet from Walmart that had a bunch of cut-outs of "Cars" things. I loved it. Each kid had their own place setting to eat lunch. They had car sandwiches, apple slices, banana slices and chips. Cheetos and Sun Chips were the favorites!

Kolton had 5 friends come to his party. Kashton Gulbransen, Kade Foy, Tucker Lambourne, Brigham Revell and Ross Sorensen.

I had planned for a long time to make Kolton's cake. I knew what I was going to do and everything. Well, unexpectedly, one of our danes had puppies that week and totally screwed up my plan of events. :) So, Brady finally convinced me to buy the cake (that is what he wanted to do all along). I'm still sad I didn't get to make it but am very happy that I didn't have to spend an entire day working on the cake. It reduced the stress levels a lot! That morning we went to go pick up the cake and they brought me a Transformers cake with Kolton's name spelled with a "C" instead of a "K". I kind of started getting nervous. This was an hour before the party and I didn't have any time for a new one to be made or anything. The lady went back to go look again and thankfully came out with our Cars cake with "Happy Birthday Kolton" written on it! Yay! Kolton loved the cake! He loved that it had cars on it and wanted to play with them immediately! When we were singing happy birthday to him he went to grab the candle so I screamed and grabbed his hand so when it was time for him to blow out the candles he was not interested. So, I had to help him. He loved eating it though! When he sees pictures from his birthday party he starts to sing his little toddler version of happy birthday. ;)

We forgot to find something for the kids to use to break the pinata so we asked the Foys to bring Kade's plastic bat. Not a single dent was put in that pinata by those boys! So, we enlisted the help of Kit Revell to break it open.

With a lot of prodding the kids gathered up quite a bit of candy. Most of them just wanted the suckers but us moms kept trying to get them to get the chocolate! :)

Opening presents was fun! All the kids wanted to get in on the action and help rip the paper and see what was inside. It was awesome! Kolton had a hard time letting go of one present to open the next one. He wanted to play with each on as he opened them. He got lots of cars and trucks, a bike, shirts, a train and a train table. I'm so glad we decided to give him the train and train table at his birthday party. The kids loved playing on it! It has been great too for him to play with in his room!
I am excited to celebrate his birthday this week with just Brady and I. Hopefully we can make it a special day for him! He brings so much joy to our lives! We are constantly cracking up at the things he says and I just know its going to get funnier and funnier!

New Moon

Last Monday (Dec 7) Brady and I went with the Foys to go see New Moon. I had already seen it with my sister but was really excited to see it again as well as for everyone else to see it! Brady's parents watched both Kolton and Kade while we went to go see the movie. We sat in the balcony and ate dessert while we watched. It was great! I'm so glad we were able to go and that we had awesome friends to go with!
(And yes, I just did 2 blog posts in the middle of the night!)

Dad & Son time

Well, I'm up in the middle of the night so I figured I'd update the blog! Roxy went in to labor Tuesday night and has had 8 puppies so far. They are a little weak, but with a lot of work on our part, should be able to make it. Brady only got 45 minutes of sleep Tuesday night before Roxy came in to our room with a puppy in her mouth! Its sweet knowing she felt she needed one of us to be with her! We checked her temperature before we went to bed and it hadn't dropped yet, so we didn't think she'd go in to labor--but she did! Anyway, I'm taking turns with Brady tonight watching Roxy, so that he can get some sleep. She should be done sometime tomorrow delivering puppies, so both of us should be able to sleep Thursday night!
Kolton and Brady have been able to spend a lot of time together the past few days or so. One of Kolton's favorite things to do now is sit on Brady's lap and watch either basketball or football. He will cuddle up to Brady and just watch sports and tell Brady all about it--whether the guy made it or missed it (this includes catching a football).

Brady loves the extra time with him too! I've been blessed with such cuties!

'Tis the Season

I absolutely love this time of year! Especially now that we have Kolton it makes it even more fun!
On Monday, the 7th, we set up the Christmas tree. The tree we have is pretty big so this year we decided to go and buy a small and cheap tree and use that so it wouldn't over-power our little living room. I'm glad we did that! It is big enough to serve its purpose and I still enjoy looking at it!
Kolton was excited to set it up. He had helped a little bit with my parent's tree while we were in Utah and so several times during the process he would mention that he did this with Grandma.
He set up probably 5 or 6 ornaments all on the same 2 branches. Kids are good at that! Brady went to go video tape Kolton putting an ornament on the tree but after over 2 minutes of trying, Kolton couldn't get an ornament on. I don't know what the deal was! He had just done several...maybe he has stage fright! :) He tells me in the morning when we walk out to the living room that I need to turn the lights on on the tree. I'm glad he enjoys it as much as I do!

You see those two icicle ornaments right next to each other? Yeah, he did that! ;)

Last night we went to go see Santa. We went to Bass Pro Shop again. I really like it there! They have it decorated all cute and Santa looks real and they give you a picture for free AND they let you take as many pictures you want with your own camera. Its great! I prepped Kolton for our visit with Santa all day, but when push came to shove, he wouldn't sit on his lap. We decided not to force him to do it so I held him while he talked to Santa. It made it very enjoyable for him. He told Santa hi and gave him a hi-five and took the candy from him. Santa was really nice and very understanding! (Kade sat on Santa's lap this year without crying!)

After visiting with Santa we walked around and played with the different things they had set up. Kolton had a blast! He absolutely loved the train and car track. He asked to go back to those two things several times!


We also stopped by the fish tank and watched the fish for a while. Kolton just wanted to go back to the cars and train. :)
Afterwards we went to go get some frozen yogurt at Orange Tree. It was a fun night! I'm glad we were able to go and Kolton had a fun time! Can you believe that Christmas is 2 weeks away? Crazy!

Big Boy

Kolton has been sleeping in a "big boy bed." Really, I just took the side railing off his crib. He's done really well! He falls asleep in there EASY for both naps and at night. Its great! The hard part is keeping him in there! :) He'll just come in to my room at night and get on the bed. Last night he even brought his pillow and blankie with him. My vow is to work on that so that hopefully soon he'll sleep in there all night. I couldn't and can't believe, though, how well he's adjusted! I've heard stories of having to lock kids in the room but we haven't had any problems. He just stays on his bed until he falls asleep!

Sarah's Wedding::Trip to Utah

Well, this actually starts with a few catch-up randomness...
Most of the time when Kolton gets his diaper changed, and EVERY time he gets a poopy diaper changed, he asks for powder on his pee-pee. He'll say "powder pee-pee" several times and very loudly! I don't know why but he loves that stuff. Sometimes he'll hold it while you are changing the diaper ready to give it to you when you are done. Well, this time it opened and he got a little messy. :)
Oh these two are just the best of friends! They hug and kiss on each other all the time and love to play with one another. It will be a big change for them when they no longer live 5 minutes away from each other! In fact the Foys babysat for us tonight so we could go to a Primary meeting. These two boys are with each other probably every other day!

Brady and I usually go to bed together, turn on the t.v. and I quickly fall asleep while he stays up to finish whatever sporting event he's watching. Before he goes to sleep he'll go and crack Kolton's bedroom door and check on him. This night he thought Kolton looked so sweet he grabbed the camera and decided to take a picture of him so I could see it--even if it meant waking him up with the flash! :) Well, it didn't wake him up and Brady got to run in to our room and wake me up to show me how cute our son is! I have such sweet boys! ;)



NOW for the Utah trip...
What a crazy Friday we all had! Brady had to take Kolton and I to the airport at 5:00 in the morning. Our first flight to Denver went well. Kolton slept for most of it which was very nice (especially since he needed it--I needed it!). We had a 30 minute layover and came in at gate A62 and had to get to gate A32, which if you know the Denver airport, gate A62 is in like the basement. So Kolton and I walked very fast to gate A32. When we got there the guy was announcing that we had been moved to gate A66--BACK where I came from. Now, I only had a little less than 15 minutes before my plane was supposed to take off. I was freaking out! Got back and there was a huge line in front of the gate and they were announcing that we had been bumped to a very small plane and more than half of us would not make it on the flight we were supposed to, which was even going to be delayed by over an hour anyway. I was nervous because Sarah's wedding was at 1:00 at the Draper temple. Anyway, after a long time of waiting, we finally left and got to Salt Lake at 11:30, I changed clothes in a gas station restroom and made it to the temple at 12:55 after getting lost on the way. I was afraid I was going to miss it but luckily they let us in despite our tardiness. It was great to be able to be there and see her marry her sweetheart!
My brothers and sister graciously offered to watch Kolton outside the temple during the wedding and for an hour or so after as well for us to take pictures. It was pretty cold up there--the wind was pretty strong!

Here's Sarah and Jacob coming out of the temple. She's so pretty! And I loved her dress!

I had to run up and say hi to her when she came out! We've had so many fun times together! She was the funnest friend I had in high school and definitely my best! She helped me a lot when Lillian past away with comforting words and talks and quotes from general authorities about life after death and eternal families. She's been a great example to me and I'm so glad we are friends!

Here's the group that was at the temple. Her dad, standing next to her, is the sweetest guy! Their whole family is just so nice!



After the picture taking there was a dinner at 4:30. My family had to leave at about 6:15 to go to see Savior of the World in Salt Lake at 7:30 that night. My aunt Sonja and two of her children, Sam and Elise, were in it and they had tickets for that night to see them. (I heard they did GREAT!)

My friend, Mallory, from high school (well really college--we didn't get along in high school :)) was there with her husband Casey and son Beck. It was nice to be able to catch up with her and meet Beck. He's almost one year younger than Kolton. Although, it was a little embarrassing to be seeing her for the first time in several years and Kolton and I be looking the way we were! :) Kolton was filthy from running around and laying on the floor and tired from being up since 4-something in the morning and I was tired too! We had fun though!

Every time we go visit my family, Kolton plays in the dog beds. He especially likes Lexi's. I have to take a picture every time! Hopefully we won't have a picture of him when he's 10 laying in her bed! ;)

Kolton got to play with Grandma a lot! While we were there he learned how to actually say "grandma" instead of "mawmaw."

On Saturday Cam and I went to go see New Moon. Neither of us had seen it so we went together. We loved it and I am so glad I was able to go with her! She's such a funny girl and it was great to spend some time together just us sisters! Kolton stayed with my parents and brothers and got to have a lot of fun himself! Grandma even bought him a big truck!

Yes, we are a goofy family! :) Shawn (on the left) gets his mission call tomorrow! I'm so excited to find out where he'll be going! I'll be sure to post about it tomorrow when I find out! He filled Cam and myself in on all his BYU girl drama! :)

Kolton had so much fun playing with the train set there! Everyone I think had a turn playing with him with it. Kolton and I stayed home from church on Sunday because I had a bad sore throat (which I unfortunately gave to Cam). That night Derek and Lizzie were able to come over for dinner and hang out with us. We also drew names for Christmas this year. I got Cambrea, Brady got Lizzie, and Kolton got Tyler.

Grandpa made cookies a few times while we were there. Kolton didn't complain about that! He loved sitting in his seat at the island and eating and playing.

On Tuesday we went to Derek's apartment to hang out with him for a little bit! Kolton had fun playing in the laundry basket, with their blinds, looking at their fish, playing with a Jazz teddy bear and basketball, and looking at their dog, Cookie. Derek is such a crack-up and really is a very thoughtful guy!

That night we also went to Shawn's dorm at BYU to give him a new charger for his computer. He had SEVERAL papers due that week and his charger wasn't working for his laptop so we had to bring him a new one--which come to find out it wasn't the charger but really the computer but we jerry-rigged it to work! ;) In his apartment/dorm thing one of his roommates has a "life-size" barbie. It was just a little taller than Kolton. He loved dancing with her and hugging her and giving her kisses. I couldn't tell if he knew she was fake or not. It was pretty funny!

After hanging out with Shawn for an hour or so we met Sarah at Cafe Rio for some dinner so we could talk and catch up. Kolton was NOT interested in sitting at the restaurant so I pretty much just let him run around. Great parenting-huh? ;) There were other kids doing it too, I mean, it was Provo...
After dinner we went to her apartment so I could see where she lives! It was so great to be able to talk and hang out!

I don't know what night this is, but one night Kolton and my dad played with the train for probably over an hour! Kolton just kept saying "papa watch, papa watch" every time he'd move the train or do anything. It was pretty funny actually to listen to him in his little voice say that constantly!

Tyler asked for a back rub and my mom volunteered and then Kolton decided he'd help to. It got a little complicated with my mom rubbing and Kolton walking, but it worked out pretty well I think! ;)

On Friday night we went to Olive Garden for dinner. They sat us at the same table we sat at the last time I came to Olive Garden with them! We had a lot of fun and the food was really good! Kolton was actually really good for having to sit there for an hour and a half.

Here are just some pictures of Kolton playing with two of his uncles, Shawn and Tyler, and his aunt Cambrea. He would sit there and eat sun chips with Shawn and after each bite they'd look at each other and say "mumumumumumum" and then take another bite. It was cute! Both Shawn and Tyler played basketball with him too. He asked to do that every day! Tyler also walked him to the park and played with him there. Kolton thought that was pretty awesome! He saw a "bi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-g truck" on the walk back too! :) He would be so wild when Cam would read him a book. He'd get all goofy and embarrassed or something! He loved it though!
We had a great time and I'm so glad I went! Oh, and our flights on the way back were much less dramatic then on the way there!