Merry Christmas!

What a great year this has been for us! We have had a lot of great things happen (James started his own company) as well as some not so great things (James appendix ruptured), but the good news is that we survived! We had a wonderful Christmas and I think James and I were more excited about the kids' presents than they were! Here is the tree on Christmas Eve:

We feel so blessed especially at this time for all of our blessings. We really tried to focus on the birth of our Savior for all of our Family Home Evenings this past month. We watched the DVD Joy to the World which is such a great video produced by the church.

Here are some pics of the kids on Christmas. James ended up scoring a -15 degree sleeping bag for his winter camp outs with the first one coming up next weekend and a new ladder! I scored a kitchen aid mixer that I am so excited about and an awesome 'Family' sign for my living room from my friend Joanna! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!













Happy New year to all:) My new years resolution- Update this blog more often!

Drezden and the Holy Ghost

Yesterday Kayla was watching the kids for us so that we could run and do some last minute shopping. When we got home she told us about Drezden. Here is the story: Drezden asked Kayla for a candy cane. Kayla said, "You need to ask your mom when she gets home." Drezden walks into his room and then walks out of his room to find Kayla. He finds Kayla and says, "Kayla, I talked to the Holy Ghost and he said I could have the candy cane!"

What a spiritual powerhouse wouldn't you say? :)

Halloween

We had Optimus Prime and two pretty fairies running around our house on Halloween this year! Here are some pics of the cute kiddos.

Its been almost five months... but who's counting?!

I have been so bad at keeping up on the blog this summer! By the way- where did the summer go?! There is so much to catch up on!!! So here goes a long post with some pictures- brace yourselves!

First off, James and I celebrated 5 years this summer! I am so in love with my man- he is awesome! We took a trip to New York the end of August. James went for business and I went for sight seeing! It was so much fun. I came back with some really cute purses. We ate at a yummy BBQ place that had a whole rack of ribs for $11! I was in heaven:)

Drezden started Preschool this year. The first two days he screamed for me to stay but then stopped crying the second he couldn't see me. The teachers say he is doing great and so I am so thrilled! Kinley and I enjoy our time together while he is gone and then we both get so excited to go and pick him up! I didn't cry on the first day I dropped him off until I got back to my car. It was the first day of the next 20+ years of his life! Here is a pic of what he looked like when we picked him up- what a stud!!!

Kinley decided to have her teeth all grow in at the same time. She just cut 6 teeth over the past month! She is such a good sport. I can't imagine how horrible that would feel but she stays in good spirits overall. She really likes to annoy Drezden any way she can. She knows the right buttons to push at any given minute to make him mad. The end result is usually both of them crying so you would think she would learn.... :)

I am back to teaching. I wasn't able to get into my classroom until about 3 days before school started due to construction. It is all set up now and I really like how it looks. My students are also amazing and I think it will be a great year!

I also went on a fun little weekend retreat with some friends this summer. We went up to a cabin that was gorgeous and played games and ate yummy steaks and treats! It was so fun to get a big group of amazing ladies together and act like little girls- complete with screaming and jumping when we saw a little baby mouse!!! Thanks again ladies for the fun weekend!

James started his own business this summer. He started a company specializing in graphic design and translation services. The name of his company is Global Q. I think it is catchy:) He loves being his own boss and has done really well! He is always working so hard and doesn't have a lot of free time. Starting a business is hard work! I love that he is such a great provider for our family.

We have been working on some projects around our house. We just got the fascia, soffit, and gutters put on and it looks amazing!!! Yay for gutters that catch rain:) We have also worked on the shed some more. All of the tools finally have a place where they belong. We have been trying to keep up with our garden all summer... I have canned a lot of salsa!! I have also ate more zucchini this summer than I have ever ate in all my life!!!! We had a zucchini grow to be the size of Kinley! We named him Sasquatch and he stayed on our table for about a month before we gave him a way.

AND THE BIG NEWS OF THE SUMMER........ Drezden is potty trained completely including at night!!!! One day a switch was flipped and he decided he wanted to go potty like a big boy. It is amazing!!!! He is so awesome and we are so proud of him. He has started praying by himself and I love to hear what he prays for. Usually it is to go to his cousin Andy's house or his friend Leighton's house, or for transformers, or to go to the park! He loves to read The Book of Mormon (or rather look at the pictures while we read)! He is growing up so fast!!

I am sure that I am missing many important and pivotal experiences of our summer. I will try and be better as I update more frequently throughout this year. We hope everyone is happy and healthy! We love you guys:)

Happy Birthday Kinley!!

Kinley is 1 today! I cant believe how quickly a year goes by. She is now walking all over the house and she is such a happy little girl. We love her tons and are so happy she is a part of our family:) Happy Birthday little Princess!

Here are some pictures of her today. Thanks to James family for coming and eating some cake and ice cream. We love it when you visit!

Colorado

Well we had a fun and exciting weekend. We went out to Dinosaur, Colorado which is 3 miles over the Utah border. We went out to work off our debt for our puppy- yeah I said puppy!!! Her name is Nutmeg and she is so cute! My step-mom's cousins dog had puppies and my step mom got one and so did we! James helped with some home improvement projects and I just played:) Drezden LOVED seeing all of the dinosaurs. It was really fun to see everyone minus Jer and his family:( Here are some pics from the weekend.

Kinley Walks / Drezden walks in boots!

It has been pretty eventful at our house the past few weeks! Lets start at the beginning...

James tore down our old shed and built a new one. It is not completely finished yet (still needs the roof, siding and door) but he is getting closer. Look at the steps he has done- isn't he amazing?!



























We got our flower beds in the front all put in- most of the flowers are in bloom now since this picture is a few weeks old but what do you think?

Here is a video of Kinley walking. She can stand up in the middle of the room and just start going. She hasn't quite perfected it yet but she claps after she walks or stands up- it is so cute:) Her birthday is coming up on the 19th (Happy Birthday to Joanna that day too!) and she will be one already. Her bottom two teeth are up and she looks like a cute little cabbage patch doll!

As you can see by the pictures- Drezden enjoys boots. I catch him daily in his snow boots (always with out pants for some reason!) and if he cant find his snow boots he puts my boots on! He is such a character and is talking all the time! He loves big boy underwears but doesn't like to go to the bathroom in the big boy potty- what gives??!?!


James also finished the fence complete with a 7 foot gate. It looks awesome and Drezden loves playing outside. He got this swing set for his birthday and he loves swinging, sliding, and jumping!
Kayla and Sarah both graduated from American Fork High School! Here are a few pics of the girls from the ceremony.

My mom came up for Kayla's graduation. We love when she visits and Kinley formed a special bond with her real quick. Here is a picture of them snuggling. We miss and love you grandma!

Long Post....

A lot has been happening at our house! First of all, our laptop got a virus. We had to blast the computer and lost all of our programs and so I have not been able to upload pictures or videos. We finally restored everything to somewhat of its original state and so I am able to blog again- yay!

James finished the fence. I wish I would have got a before picture but this one is 400% better that what was up when we moved in. I love it! James is also going to build a gate in front of where we park our cars so that our backyard will be fully fenced and Drezden can play outside!

With that, we got a screen door on the back of the house. I love letting more light in during the day! I just love sunshine:)

We also bought and planted some trees in our backyard. We already had the Rose of Sharon's but we transplanted them and put them all together. I cant wait to see everything in bloom:)

After three tries of getting the paint color right we are finished! I still have some touch up work to do but for the most part we are done painting for a long time. We did a tan color on the walls and down the hallway. I have one red wall in my front room and it is awesome! Tell me what you think. The temple picture was my birthday present from James and the kids this year. I think it is so beautiful. I love it on the red wall.


We also chipped out the tiled window sill and replaced it with wood. We framed in the window as well and then got 1 (yes just 1 not 2 that dont match) blind. It looks awesome! It is hard to get a good picture because of the light but I love it.

I finally finished Kinley's letters and got them put up in her room. I think they turned out pretty cute. I love her little shelves that her daddy hung up too!

James went to New York on a business trip for a few days last week. While he was gone Kinley ended up with an ear infection and Drezden got the stomach flu. Lets just say it was a CRAZY week!

Drezden is still not wanting to potty train:( We have tried and tried so we are going to take a break until summer. Maybe he will be ready by then. I signed him up for preschool and so we have to get it done this summer. He can say his full name (first and last) and some of his friends names too... here is a cute little video.

Other than that, we are wanting to get our garden planted but with this snow today.... the days are getting pushed farther back. James will be starting his "building the shed" project soon and so more pictures will follow. We hope everyone is having a wonderful Spring season:)What is with the crazy snow in APRIL!!!!

Kayla has less wisdom!

That is right- Kayla got her wisdom teeth removed this past Friday. She did amazing. The more time I spend with her the more I have grown to love and respect her. It takes a lot to move away from home with out your parents for your Senior year and she has done amazing! I tried to get some pictures but she threatened me so I passed...! Hopefully in days to come she will want to eat more that just ice cream:) Love ya little sis!

In other news- James and I both went to the dentist last week- James has 6 cavities (some needing root canals) and I have 12 (4 needing root canals). What is in this Utah water?!?! If anyone is feeling extremely wealthy you are encouraged to donate money to the James and Tiffany Dental fund:)

We hope everyone is happy, healthy, and has NO cavities!

Happy 3rd Birthday Drezden

Drezden is 3!!! We have had an eventful weekend. It all started in the middle of last week with all 5 of us getting sick! What are the odds? We were able to spend some quality time out in the sun on Saturday working in the yard. Today we all woke up with nasty coughs and runny noses so we stayed home from church:( Drezden was so sad to miss nursery especially on his birthday! We had some cake today and Drezden opened his presents. Happy Birthday bud- you are the best!!!

This morning:

This Afternoon:

We Love you!!!