Making Cookies

Saturday morning I had to make some cookies for my cousins farewell on Sunday. The kids were so excited to watch! They kept saying they wanted a taste so when I was done mixing them up I let them have a beater. They were excited! They loved licking them off. Probably not the best to give them raw cookie dough but oh well!

Grandma's House

We have been trying to spend a day each week with my Grandma Duzett at her house. My kids love to go to her house. I'm not sure why they love it so much, probably the grandma spoiling! She lets them run all over, jump on the couches, has lots of treats, and so on. They certainly love her to pieces! A couple weeks ago we went the day she was making her bread. She was so kind and let the kids help her add the ingredients. The first thing they did was grind the wheat. They loved each taking a turn watching the wheat grinder. Then they added ingredients one at a time and watched it mix up. My grandma let Ella make her own miniature loaf. She was in heaven! She still talks about wanting to go back and make another baby bread. While the bread was rising my grandma made us some scones. The first ones we made into Navajo Tacos and then the rest I ate with jam and cheese. They were so yummy! Anything my grandma makes tastes ten times better then when I make it, she has the magic touch! We waited for our bread to bake so we could take some home and while we were waiting it started to snow and snowed a few inches before we left, it was fun driving home in but wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was such a fun day! She sent us home with a container full of chili for dinner and a hot loaf of bread! We ate like kings! We really enjoy the days we get to spend with my grandma and I'm thankful my kids are getting to know her and learn from her!

She was so happy to be helping!

Easton lost interest in making bread after about 5 minutes, but that's ok because Grandma has lots of toys he loves!

I was watching my sister's little Jack for the day so he was there with us too! He loves to head straight for the phone the second he gets there!

He was like uh-oh I was caught!

He also perfected walking that week as well!

Easton walked around in a circle pulling this little toy for a good half hour. It had little balls that were the caterpillars back on it, he loved it!

So she had her Gingerbread house sitting on the table ready to throw away but the kids noticed it and we walked in the dining room and they were both going to town on it! A little dust never hurts! They loved snacking on it until we left! When we went back again last week they did the same thing, funny kids!

Ikea

We are excited to be close to an Ikea again. There were many times we wished for the last 3 1/2 years that there was an Ikea close by. We wandered over there a few Saturdays ago and spent a good 2 or so hours wandering around. The kids loved it. Ella loved thinking every little kids room was hers and she said she wanted to take it all home with her. We then enjoyed a .50 cent hot dog on our way out!

Barbies with Papa

I went a week or so ago to my mom's with just Ella in the evening. I was sitting in another room when I heard Ella and my dad talking. I went in the nursery and they were sitting on a twin mattress playing barbies together! It was the cutest thing. Ella loves the barbies at my mom's house and they are the first thing she finds when we go over there. My dad was a great sport to play along with her. He tried to leave and she got upset so they played for a few minutes more. The things people do for grand kids! It made Ella's day!

Cousin Bath Time

I think this was on New Years Eve. Jack had never had a bath with anyone before and we put him in there with the cousins and he was in heaven! He was splashing with excitement! They had a lot of fun and then we celebrated the New Year with them at 8 and put them to bed!

Leftover Christmas Pictures

I had a few pictures from Christmas week that really didn't belong anywhere!

 

New Years Eve my mom's family always has a big breakfast together for my cousin Ben's Birthday. They make french toast, bacon, sausage, lots of different juices, chocolate milk, egg nog, milk, and so on! It is so yummy! The kids were excited to play with the cousins and try on Will's hat!

Andrew's sister sent this to me the other day. Throwing gang signs, they are from Memphis after all!

It was freezing the week after Christmas and Easton discovered a love for gloves! He loves to put them on and wear them around the house even if we aren't going anywhere!

Playing go fish with Grandma Pond and Jocey and a neighbor girl. They had so much fun playing it!

First Day of Sunbeams

 Sunday January 6th was Ella's first day of Sunbeams in the Primary. It is still so weird to me that she is in there. She was so excited all week and would get her backpack and tell me she was going to Primary Sunbeams school. She was a little hesitant to walk in but did great! It was our first week back in our old ward and so it wasn't familiar to her but she did great despite! She loves going each week and loves that they sing all the songs she knows! 

The first picture is the best. I finally got her to smile and be happy after 20 pictures! Then she wanted me to be in one. The third picture is from when I asked to get her picture she didn't want anything to do with it.

Sleeping

Poor Easton just hasn't been 100% for a few weeks. It has been a hard transition to be in the cold. He has a never ending cough thanks to the inversions that won't go away. He also keeps waking up too early and it leaves him tired and ready for a nap by 11. This last week he did not feel good and on Tuesday I left him with Andrew and he put him down by 7:30 and he fell right to sleep. He has thrown up his dinner and just didn't feel great. He insisted on wearing his boots to bed, can't argue with a sick boy. He woke up the next day perfectly fine and running through the house. He is so busy that nothing slows him down! He still has a cough but I think it is just lingering because the air here is so nasty!  The bottom picture was another night he didn't feel good and I went in and he was hanging on to his bear as tight as he could. Andrew's sister gave the kids each a bear for Christmas and they can be warmed up, they have been perfect this winter!

 

Happy New Year!!!

We had a calm New Years Eve this year. We had dinner with my Parents and my sister and her husband. We then played some games and snacked. We really had a good night. We are happy to say goodbye to 2012 and to ring in the new year! 2013 has lots of promising things for us! We are looking forward to Graduation first and foremost and Andrew starting his career and beginning to pay off our student debt! When he started school 2013 was so far away but now that it is here it definitely wasn't! We look forward to what is in store for us this year and hoping moving isn't on our list!

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Bibo Family Christmas Party

The Saturday after Christmas we had a Christmas Party with Andrew's family. His brother and his family weren't able to come on Christmas so we celebrated again that weekend. We started off by going to see Les Mis and his brothers family went to another movie! We then went and picked up our kids from my mom's and went back to his parents house. We had a yummy dinner with ham, veggies, chips, and they went and bought a few dozen Texas Roadhouse rolls on their way home from the movie that we ate. They were so good! We then did a white elephant gift exchange. We have decided to make this a part of celebrations every year. We also did our gift exchange with the names we had drawn! I got a game and some scrapbook paper! It was such a fun day and it was nice to spend some time with his brother and their kids!

  

Temple Square

Every year we always go down with my family to see the lights at Temple Square. Well since none of us were in town to do it before Christmas we decided we would do it after! We went the day after Christmas and it was perfect! There wasn't a whole lot of people and there wasn't any mutuals! It was lightly snowing but it just added to it! It was a little cold but we really enjoyed it!

Of course after we see the lights we always go to the Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square. We always have! We were looking forward to it since it had been so long since we had been! The kids weren't very well behaved that night but we still enjoyed our dinner! It was such a fun night! I remember when none of us were married we used a table half that size! 

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning we woke up bright and early at 6! My little sister loves to get up then so we go along with it. Easton jumped right on Ella's head which she wasn't to happy about!

We always have waited in the hall for my dad to start a fire before we go out to see what Santa brought!

The girls were so cute holding hands!

And then we were happy once we spotted Jasmine! It was like Magic watching her get so excited! It was like Santa is real and he did listen to me when I told him what I wanted, it was so sweet!

Tyler got a cool ride on tractor and Jack really wanted to ride on it too!

After we opened all our gifts we had a nice breakfast. We had my Grandma come and my Uncle and Aunt and their family. It was perfect! We then got to Skype my little brother and meet his companion! It was so awesome to see him and talk to him. He has such an amazing testimony and such a strong spirit! He is where he is supposed to be right now and loves the work! We love technology too! We had him on the projector on a wall so we could all see him!

After we skyped we left to spend the Afternoon with Andrew's family! We had such an enjoyable time. We had a nice Christmas dinner of Ham and Potatoes and lots of yummy food! It is no wonder I gained a few pounds! We then exchanged gifts and just visited. It really was a perfect afternoon just relaxing and not a worry in the world!

I think the kids were a little tired. They did sneak a little nap in at Grandma's house!

With Aunt Becky and Uncle Daniel! They love our kids but I have to say the feeling is pretty mutual!

Aunt Anna and Deb!

About 6 we left and headed to my aunt and uncles house for dinner (again!). We first did a gift exchange. Most of us cousins have a cousin that is close to our age, usually we are less than a year apart. We have always exchanged gifts with that cousin. I gave my cousin Molly a pair of shoes. When I saw them at Charming Charlies they just looked like Molly! She gave me 6 jars of her salsa she canned this fall and some cute serving bowls to put them in! I was seriously so excited for the salsa! I have been wanting to make some but they always do it after I leave town! I have already gone through one jar! It is so good and was so perfect for me! It is fun to still exchange gifts with her! After that we had a nice dinner and the guys all played some games! It was such a perfect day and we feel so spoiled by our families! It was so fun to be home!