A Joyschool Program

This was a little Christmas program put on by Caden's joyschool on Dec 17th. It was so cute! I don't know if it's because it's the first time I've had a kid in any kind of program but I loved every second of it. They started by "acting" out the nativity. I thought that was awesome! It was so great to focus on Christmas being about Christ and the kids did such a great job. No stage fright at this age. Caden was Joseph and did really good. I thought it was great too that they cast his little "girl friend" Isabel as Mary.

Here they are singing some songs. My favorite was jingle bells because they didn't know when to end. They just kept singing it like a round.

Here's our little Joseph before he gave the horse to Mary. He was lovin it:


And here is the video of jingle bells, enjoy! Caden is in the middle of the back with the BYU t-shirt.

Snow- Finally

This last Tues was our first real snow. And it hasn't stopped since (well maybe just a little). Here's our cute little house all decked out for Christmas. It definitely needed the snow.

This one is actually after we were all done sledding. This is from in front of our house looking down the street. Just behind that house straight back is where our sledding hill is.
This is Caden, Tasia, and Brecken. So cute.

Caden going down on the Maynes' tube.

"Ow, the sun is bright"

My nose is froze and my tail is froze and my toes are froze:

Caden already knew how to make the snow angel, I didn't have to show him:

Here Comes Santa Claus

Santa came to our neighborhood on Saturday morning. He rode in on the fire truck with Mrs. Claus. We heard the sirens and ran outside as quick as we could. It took another twenty minutes after that before he made it to our house. It was really cold because of the wind. Then Santa threw some candy to us. So fun!

We were waiting on the porch swing wrapped in a blanky because it was so cold.

"He's coming Mom, come on!"

Brecken was so disgusted with the wind that he just stayed wrapped up with his face completely hidden.
Here is Mrs. Claus throwing us some candy!

Pink Purple Pink

Tuesday was a big day at our house. We went to get the ultrasound. On the way to the Dr. office we asked Caden if he wanted a boy or girl. He has been going back and forth. He said girl and stuck with it the whole time. He was so excited when he found out the baby is a GIRL. Yay, we are all so excited. Something a little different. I can't wait for hair bows and tights and dresses. This video is showing the baby's face and hands.

Heat Glorious Heat

So, I discovered a new blessing that you don't realize is a blessing until it is gone. I was having a crazy Wed. Caden had been sick and I decided I should take him in to the dr. I had to hurry to the instacare at 8 am so I could be back by 9 so Brans could go to work. He ended up having a sinus infection and the Dr. said it would be ok for him to go to his joy school field trip.

So I rushed over to where we were meeting for the field trip- Brans met me there. I was so glad we could go because Caden was so excited for it. We went to Sweet's candy factory in Salt Lake. What fun! I was so surprised at how good our little 3 year old preschoolers did. We had to wear hair nets and walk within the yellow lines through the factory. They all stayed in a little line and didn't stray from within the yellow lines.

When we got home it was a little cold in the house. So I checked the thermostat. Then figured it was probably because we hadn't changed our air filter in like 6 months. So I changed that, and it still wasn't warming up. So I figured I'd wait and have Brans check it out when he got home. He couldn't figure it out either. So the next morning I called the home warranty and they scheduled an appt. for the following day (Friday).

In the meantime we were getting cold. (Me & the little boys). Brans picked up a space heater on his way home. We lived for the next four days in the basement living room and at night had sleepovers in our room so we could all be warm.

So, it wasn't terrible but when I the heat was finally fixed Mon. morning I felt like dancing around the house. It is sooo nice to be warm.

Thanksgiving

I know, just a little late. How does life get so crazy?

We actually had an awesome Thanksgiving break. Wed afternoon we drove up to Burley ID to Branson's Grandpa's house. We went out to dinner with Grandpa and Brans' parents and little bros & sis. Then we made a late night run to the store to buy cold medicine. The next day we went over to a church for Thanksgiving dinner. We had about 30 people there, Brans family and cousins etc. It was way fun and the boys had fun playing with second cousin little girls, Caden enjoyed his first ever tea party.

We drove back to Kaysville to Brans' parents house that night. At 4:30am the next morning Dawna (Brans little sis) and I headed out to do some Black Friday shopping. It was actually a blast. I was so glad Dawna came with. We got our hair done at the mall (free demo) and had fiber one bars for breakfast. I actually got ALL of my Christmas shopping done. Sweet.

Sat. we had another full out Thanksgiving with all of Brans' immediate family. We have such fun at those fam parties. Yeah, it's no wonder I gained 6 pounds in Nov. That night we ran (literally) to see a little electric light parade. The boys loved it, especially the firetrucks and Santa Claus.

Sadly, no pictures. I don't know why but I don't think I have EVER taken any pictures at Thanksgiving. Hopefully I will start next year.

Thanksgiving FHE

I've actually been wanting to post this for a week now. Last Mon. we had a Family Home Evening that actually went really well. (Usually the boys run around and it seems like they don't listen to a thing). We had a short lesson about gratitude and they did pretty good listening. Then we went upstairs to make paper turkeys. I don't know why but Caden has been kind of obsessed about turkeys this year prepping up to Thanksgiving. We colored our paper turkeys and wrote on each feather something we are thankful for. Caden usually colors for 20 seconds and is off. But he was totally into it, he even colored two of them.

I asked Caden what he was thankful for to write it on his feathers. His first answer: the church. I was so surprised, I hadn't even prompted him for that one. Then he said some things that were more like I was expecting: turkeys, crocodiles, and his good buddy Isabel. Fun stuff, what a 3 year old boy is thankful for. Then we hung them in the living room window. We even had to go outside to check out how they looked. Can I just say holidays are so much more fun with kids!

Birthday Weekend

Branson's birthday was on Monday (the 17th). Since he has to work late on Mondays I planned some festivities for the weekend. First up was a date for he and me for Friday night. Things being what they are, Brecken's not sleeping problem came to a head that day. I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to take him to the dr. friday afternoon after Brans got home. Surprisingly (not really) Brecken was in great physical health- just going through an I want to be held all night and day phase. Sadly, that pushed our date back and we didn't have time to go to Provo for dinner and the comedy show like I had planned. We ended up going to the Olive Garden instead and it was WONDERFUL. It was actually nice to just go and eat and take our time not having to hurry anywhere else. We even splurged and ordered our favorite Olive Garden appetizer: Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta. If you haven't had it I highly recommend it - it is cheesy goodness!

Sat. the fun continued when Brans sister Brittany and her husband and baby came to spend the night along with brans' little bro Taylor. His bro and sis that are in college in Provo came to play that night also. We had a blast playing spoons and eating cake!

Sunday was the official birthday party. All of Brans' brothers and sisters were able to make it! We had a fondue dinner and dessert, inspired by my good buddy Christa. It turned out great and a was a blast.

Aunt Sally brought some temp. tattoos back from Hawaii- they are so cool and Brecken loved them:

Here's some of the gang during presents. Caden has one of the presents up his shirt (homemade wrapping paper). Next to him is Dillon, Jonny, Brittany, and Mo.
Look how adorable- sally and little bro. Tay:

It was so hilarious having the present wrapped in Caden's shirt that everyone decided to do it like that too. They took their presents out of the gift bags and put them in Caden's shirt. He loved it! A little attention goes a long way:

Yummy, yummy. Here we are playing Mormon Bridge and eating our dessert fondues (chocolate & Caramel):

Brittany is dealing, Jonny stretching, Branson happy:

These last few pics are from Monday morning (Brans' actual birthday). We always do breakfast in bed- pancakes with ice cream on top. Brans had to get dressed already so he wouldn't be late to work. He had lots of help eating his breakfast.

He had lots of help opening his presents too:

Notice the very happy face Branson has here- he's opening a BYU shirt, his favorite:

Here he is with his loot. He said it was a great birthday!

And here is the finished product with Brecken's tattoos. He loves lifting his shirt to show everyone the turtle on this tummy!

A Day Out

Can I just say it was sooo sooo nice to get out of the house. I've been going a little stir crazy with having sicky's quarantined not to mention not having a car, blah, blah, blah. I think we all had a great day!

We got all dressed and painted for the BYU game and out the door by 9:30am. Caden was so excited to get to finally go to BYU. We stopped first at the bookstore so I could do a little b-day shopping for Branson. Sadly, I wasn't the only one with that great idea. It was so crowded I could barely push the stroller between people and clothes racks. After a while Caden got sick of it and started saying in a loud voice,"Excuse me, we are coming through." A little embarassing but very effective.

Then we strolled through campus over to the stadium. We stopped on the way to pick up a $5 pizza and had a little picnic in the sun. We totally lucked out with the weather it was perfect all day. Then it was on in to the stadium to go sit with Grandma, Grandpa, Taylor, Moe, Dawna, and Sally. (Brans' parents and bros and sis). The boys did so good the entire game. It was a blast!

Here's Brecken all painted- he wanted a cougar paw on each cheek:

Dad ended up giving Caden a piggy ride for a little ways. We did a lot of walking.

Brecken's turn.

Here we are at the game. Perfect seats (the very tippy top) so the boys could have some wiggle room.

Look at that fat little cheek. Cute huh.

Caden enjoyed using Grandpa's "goggles".

Brecken was so tired (he only slept 6 1/2 hrs the previous night). He somehow managed to stay awake the whole game though.

Go Cougs!

Brecken looking stylin' just like his gorgeous Aunt Sally:

Yuck, Sick

Another sick week in the West household. I feel like we've had someone not feeling good for the last month. This week it was the stomach flu. Brecken had it on Sunday- that's how I was able to blog so much. He was sleeping during church and I had a quiet empty house. I woke up with it on Tues. Caden was super duper cute. I was being sick at 6am with Brecken crying on my lap. Caden got up and saw us, so I told him to get Daddy. I heard him go in there and tell dad- "mom is sick and she needs orajel". (Orajel is his fix all medicine in his little mind). Later that morning he came downstairs to where I was with a thermometer. He stuck it up my sleeve (I'm not a brave mom, I always take their temp. in the pits instead of anally) and told me he was checking my beaver. What a sweet kid, it meant a lot.

Happy Halloween

These first few pictures are actually from a week ago but they are the best pics I have of our costumes. This is Fireman Caden. Notice he is all in red, his favorite color:

Brecken was our little Tigger complete with all the Bounciness one could ever want:
Mommy the witch... cackle, cackle, cackle.

Daddy was a scary monster. A little too scary in fact. Caden made him wash his face off the very second we got home from the party. He wouldn't let daddy be a scary monster again on Halloween so daddy was a BYU fan instead:

This one is from Halloween day. I learned some things for the next one. This is our first time living somewhere where kids actually come trick or treat. Nobody would come at the apartments. I learned get everyone dressed and ready to go by about 4 pm and kids eating dinner by 5 pm. We had the kids eating at 5:45 and that's when trick or treaters started showing up. Caden wanted to answer the door every time and thus didn't eat his dinner. Brecken was insistant that he would DIE without candy NOW. He wanted the candy we were giving to the trick or treaters. At one point they were both wailing on the top of their lungs. Here's Brecken's give me candy now face:

FINALLLY! The boys are dressed and ready to hit the street trick or treating. Hurry up mom what's taking you so long.

Brecken is diving in after we got home from trick or treating. We didn't know their would be so many kids hitting us up for candy. I bought $10 worth of yummy chocolate and by 7:15 it was all gone. Branson turned off the lights and joined us out trick or treating. Sadly this meant we didn't have candy to join in the trunk or treat that was to start at 8pm. It ended up being ok. We went and had donuts and were pooped out. Poor Caden had had a fever all day and was definitely ready for bed. Kids shouldn't be allowed to be sick on halloween.

Here's sweet little Brecky ZZ asleep on the couch. I think he had a pretty good day and ate about 10 suckers (at least).

Joy School Halloween Party

Wed. was the big Halloween Party Day for joy school. Caden was so excited to wear his fireman costume and to see what his friends would be dressed up as. One of the other boys from his class was so excited he woke up three times during the night before and asked his mom each time if it was time to go yet.

The kids had a blast, they trick or treated eachother (one kid would answer the door while the other said trick or treat). They made eyeball treats with powdered donuts. They learned a bunch of songs and carved a pumpkin. At the end of school we moms gathered in the front yard for a little program they made for us.

Caden didn't have his boots on and he deemed them of such importance he ran out of the little parade to have me put them on. So I tried to shove them on as quick as I could. Of course they were on the wrong feet and I couldn't get them in and it was just about Caden's turn to stand up and take his twirl and bow. I also thought I was taking an adorable video of their marching and singing and later saw that it wasn't there because I hadn't pushed the button all the way. D'oh.

Here he is, "Hi mom, look at me!"

Pumpkins anyone?

Yay pumpkin carving time. Caden couldn't wait to make a face for his pumpkin. We were originally going to do it on for FHE on Mon but Daddy got home late and kiddos needed to go to bed early. So we had FHE on Tuesday night instead. Here's Brecky ready to go!

Wow, tools just for carving pumpkins, I've got to get my hands on those:

Above: Dad carving away- super lid maker. I noticed this year that I have several years of pictures of Brans carving with his tongue sticking out. I love this guy.

Below: Here's looking at you pumpkin. Yes Caden's is the smallest and he loved it because he picked it from the pumpkin patch all by himself.

The final products: Guess which one is Brans'... Yep BYU baby. Then Caden's and Brecken's followed by my pig. What an inspiration, why haven't I ever thought of a pig jack-0-lantern before. (If you didn't know I have a little bit of a pig fettish).

Cars

This actually happened last week. The week of Brecken's birthday. We were having a Monday morning like usual. I was getting the boys ready to go for a walk when Branson called. "Hey guess what- the car died," He informed me. We had two cars a few months ago. In Aug the black one died and would cost us $2500 to fix which is probably more that the car is worth. So I've just been going without a vehicle and Brans has been using the blue one for work. That Mon morning we was just driving out of the court parking lot in Salt Lake when it died on him. Poor guy.

His boss had to pick him up and get the blue car towed. (The blue car is actually his boss'- he just has been letting us use it for the past few years) Then his boss let Brans use his nice car while we started searching for a new one. We had already been planning on buying a new car when Brans got his raise in another month so it wasn't too much of a shock. At first I was thinking yay, this will be fun car shopping. By Wed I was wishing it was over. It's just a little stressful to have to buy a car in 3 or 4 days. Yikes.

Wed night we went and test drove three cars and found the one we liked. Thurs we called and began the buying process (it was a for sale by owner). We thought we'd be able to pick it up Thurs night but paperwork always takes longer than anticipated. Long story short (kind of) we finally were able to go pick it up Friday night. Here are a couple of pics, it's a 2006 Toyota Camry. Pretty sweet car!

This is the day after we got it. We were headed to a Halloween Party for Branson's Work. Yes, it is a leather interior- spoiled huh.