And here’s my smokin’ hot husband. He thinks he’s old, but he’s still a kid at heart with his goofy-picture poses, and dancing/wrestling shots with the kids. Such a great Dad & Uncle!

Anyway, back to the spoils… Here’s Emma and Jake in there Christmas Eve jammies. Emma in Ariel and Jake in Buzz Lightyear. (sidenote: I washed Jake’s jammies once and they are already too small…sob!)

                 Brad and Emma on one of the sleds that one day we’ll be able to use (if we ever get a good snow down here). You’d think in Utah, we would of had at least one good snow by now, but nope. The sleds remain in the garage waiting.

THE BIG WHITE TRUCK!!! We don’t know where Emma got the idea, but all she kept saying she wanted for Christmas was a big white truck. She asked Santa for it at the ward party, and so I kept looking for one at the store with no luck. I would take her down the toy isles, and say “now what do you want for christmas?” I’d point out different cars or toys, but she just wanted the white truck (which, for the life of me, could not find a white truck. Red, yellow, blue, sure, but not the white.) Finally, a couple days before Christmas, we were at Smiths (who would have thought smiths?), and lo and behold, I see a white truck. I pass it and tell Brad to throw it in the cart and hide it with my coat. When it came time to open presents, I was a little anxious to see if she would be happy with this white truck or if she had a specific model, or who knows what, in her mind. She ripped it open, “MY BIG WHITE TRUCK! SANTA GOT ME MY BIG WHITE TRUCK!” Big sigh of relief. Christmas was a success! She was excited about her art easel, too. We spend quite a bit of time drawing pictures and learning letters. She even gives me “lessons” like she learns in primary.

Jake, on the other hand, not so difficult. He wasn’t even interested in opening the presents. I would put a present in front of him with a little ripped part to start, and he’d crawl away to an already opened present and play with that instead. Lucky for Emma, she was able to open all of his presents too. We would set the opened toys in front of him, and he’d give each one a bite — and that was a great Christmas for him!

We got Judy a calendar with family pictures, and Bill  4 bags of marshmallows with a marshmallow double barrel gun that shoots about 50 mini-marshmallows rapid fire! LET IT SNOW! We all know men are really just boys who still want to play with toys right? It was super fun, and I plan on getting at least 4 more for my family! (Sorry to the Gary Wight’s who we visited on the Grandparents’ way out. We brought a big snow storm throughout their house). The kids were sure great about eating getting them cleaned up!

It’s always interesting to see what my parents send! Here’s Brad with his head massager and Boise Bronco colored tortilla chips! We laughed about it, but the massager felt wonderful! My mom got me a sewing machine (that I have no clue how to get it set up, or use for that matter. I know how to push the pedal once it’s all set up. But I’m super excited to learn how to use it, and try to learn a new skill! I guess I should get into the instruction manual this week and give it a shot!) I also got a pair of new glasses that replaced my twisted, tilted, wrong prescription, out of style glasses, and I love them! (OOh and we got an IKEA bookshelf for the house! Man I love that store!)

Brad got a pad, but managed to convince me to let him have it before Christmas, so Christmas under the tree probably wasn’t very exciting for him! New shoes, socks, candy, and a not-so-impressive remote control car that Emma and I ended up playing with instead . His dad got him a pocket knife that he was thought was pretty cool though. Next year, I’ll have to stay strong and make sure all the presents make it under the tree!

These were some of my favorites with Brad and Jake. Something about a father and son together just melts my heart.

A couple of my favorites of the kids (I’ll get to editing these last two later) — there’s my procrastinating again….

Emma’s learning how to bust’a move, and it’s hilarious! I love watching her dance and “shake her booty!” Jake’s still smiling away; loving life, food, and his sister.

Jake outgrew his bathtub, so I had to buy him this duck bath that he loves. He’s my waterbaby. The second he hears the bath running, he’s right by the bathtub hitting the sides and trying to push me out of the way. Then when his bath is done, and Emma’s in, he’s right back in there trying to splash her. I tried to give them a bath together last week, and he was so excited, I had to have him in my hands the entire time because he wouldn’t stop moving and slipping and trying to drown himself in the process. Yes, he still has rolls and rolls, but if you can believe it, I think he’s starting to thin out a bit.

We had a great Thanksgiving in Twin Falls with the Family — only missing two families (Brian & Amber). Fabulous food and company! Parry made a fried turkey, and it was delicious! I’m usually not a big Thanksgiving eater, but that was great! (What isn’t great when it’s been fried in fat?). Anna made rolls with people and things we’re thankful for on pieces of paper baked inside of them — big hit with the kids. They filled up on bread, just so they could find the paper! And Thanksgiving’s always complete with Angela and my mom doing most of the baking — Delicious! Emma on the other hand, just doesn’t appreciate a good meal. She filled up completely on potato chips. Anytime I lost track of Emma, I’d just watch the snack table, and time after time, she’d plop her chair next to the potato chips. As long as everyone’s happy right? Truly thankful for a wonderful family, fabulous husband and kids, and the many blessings that have been poured on us this year!

I had originally planned to have Jake be The Hulk, seeing as he is humongous, but couldn’t find just a simple green pair of jammies… So that night, I grabbed some red jammies and drew on his face with eye liner. Cutest little devil I ever did see!

The kids really enjoy wrestling with Brad… something about being repeatedly tossed to the ground seems appealing to them. 3 on 1 with a blanket over his head — this man’s got Skilz!

They had cool shaped swings made from tires; here’s Emma riding the airplane and going down the haystack slide.

Then we jumped behind a tractor for a ride out to the farms. Our driver, Farmer Casey, stopped by the carrot section and gave the kids all some vegetables to feed to the animals. I should have taken a picture of him. First farmer I’ve seen in “skinny jeans,” but he talked to the kids about the farms and different vegetables, and it was fun.

Then we rode to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Here’s Emma trying to decide what one to take home. Such an important decision to a 3 year old, and there were so many pumpkins! They even threw one in for Jacob, which Emma decided to claim as her own because it was smaller and she had an easier time carrying it.

They had the animal section with a whole bunch of different farm animals. Emma chose to give her delicious carrot to the donkeys, who downed the whole carrot in a couple bites.

And of course, my little guy was smiling and happy the whole day! What a trooper!

I wish my camera took better pictures in low-light, but this tabernacle was awesome! I loved the pipes!

Emma loved all the fountains. I know we had to stop and touch at least four of them, and she thought that was pretty cool.

And Jake just loved being out and about!

He may look upset here, but this is just his “I’ve found something I want, and I’m going to get it” face. Super funny!

Thought it was funny that I caught both of them at the same time with their “disgusted” face. So Attractive!

Amber’s always passing clothes down to me from her kids, which has been a super awesome blessing; so when she had a boy just 4 1/2 months after mine, I thought I might be on my own to clothe Jake. Well, obviously from the picture, Cooper’s got quite a bit of catching up to do. Surprisingly the problem may be Jake catching up to Jack’s (Amber’s 2 year old) size. We were pulling stuff out of his closet that he had just barely outgrown, that will fit Jake now…. Yes, that’s right. My 6 month old is in 18 month clothes…

This was also the week Jake decided it was time to CRAWL! One day before he turned 6 months! I was not prepared to have this one moving so fast.

He sure looks proud of himself though! He’s so happy to be moving around and discovering everything around him. He’s my little adventurer! Always looking for something new, and a new corner to explore. Emma on the other hand, not so excited about him attacking her Dora Memory game and trying to share her toys. She’s a great big sister though; always telling me when Jake’s found a new stash of wires or another outlet plug.

Now, right before turning 7 months, he is pulling himself up to standing positions and will walk along some of the shorter furniture items.  He keeps attempting the stairs, and so far, has done 3 steps. Boy am I in for it!  I have a feeling he’s going to be my child that constantly is in need of stitches…