What a WONDERFUL time of year...

It has been such a fun and busy week!!! I love the magic of Christmas and the joy it brings. The kids have been so much fun! Madison is so grown up it makes me want to cry. Every present she opened up she would exclaim, "Sweet! Wow!" I loved it. Jakson was in Heaven! I've had to put a time limit on his nintendo playing time. He got a DS for Christmas and a new Wii game.

Our week started off with snow! Once it got started it just kept coming and wouldn't stop. We definitely had a white Christmas. We got so much snow last week it was crazy!!! I am ready for spring weather. Last Monday, Justin had a job interview at the new hospital. He jot the gob! (sp inside joke) He is starting next week. He will be a nurse on the neuro/ortho floor. It is also the dedicated peds floor for the hospital. We are way excited!!! This will hopefully just be a stepping stone. We hope that he will be working in the ER in a year. He has to get a years experience in nursing before he can work in the ER.

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Happy New Year!

Pics from Temple Square...

Christmas lights...

On Tuesday night we bundled up and went to Temple Square to see all of the lights. It was so pretty. It had been a couple of years since we had been. Madison loved the lights!!! This was her first time really seeing them. She was only 4 months old the last time we went. It had snowed all day that day and I was excited because I thought it would be warmer but around 5:30 that evening it cleared up. It was definitely cold!!! We met Shea and Jewl at Cafe Rio and had dinner then drove downtown. After seeing the lights we went and got ice cream (we weren't cold enough quite yet). Justin and I then came home and watched our favorite Biggest Loser contestant win!!! Go Michelle!!! It was a very fun night.

It has currently stopped snowing for a minute. I just went out and measured at about 4 different spots on the patio. We have anywhere between 8-10 inches. According to the weatherman, Justin's parents got 10 inches just today! They're in Vegas going to the BYU bowl game tomorrow so they missed the storm. The snow isn't done yet though. We are supposed to keep getting snow every day for the next week except 1 day. Looks like we'll be having a very Merry White Christmas!!!

CONGRATS TO MY WONDERFUL HUBAND(sp inside joke)!!!

Justin has officially graduated from nursing school!!! Good job Honey!!!!!!!

Falling again...

Once again Jakson fell at lunch recess. He was playing on ice and slipped. He figured since he hadn't fallen the last 2 days he'd played on it that he wouldn't yesterday. Boy was he wrong! Every time that kid falls he ends up banging up his head, never his knees, just his head. He also had a bloody nose but it isn't as bad as last time thank Heaven!

Merry Christmas from the Cougars...

On Sunday, we took a little drive down to Lavell Edwards Stadium to take some Christmas picks. Madison cried part of the time...she was mad that she couldn't go to a football game. Before we even got to the stadium she was talking about going to a game and the whole time during the pic session she kept saying, "I want to football game!" She is so funny!!! I also have to give credit where credit is due. Jakson came up with the saying, "Rise and shout the cougar is out to wish you a Merry Christmas." Justin modified it a little by making it plural. What a creative kid!!! It stinks that my 6 year old can be more creative than me. Oh well, at least we have some creativity in our family. :)

Last night, Justin and I went to The Forgotten Carols with Shea and Jewl. It was AWESOME!!! It was different this year than any other. I recommend going if you can make it. It opens your eyes to other aspects of the Christmas story. (Ex: the Inn Keeper's perspective, a shepherd boy's perspective...) It was very good!!!

Well, hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season.

Twilight, Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations, and crafts...

We're back!!!

We are back from Richfield. We had a really fun time. Poor Jakson was sick most of the time. He had a half of a banana for his Thanksgiving dinner. He was bummed because he loves mashed potatoes and gravy but he just didn't feel up to eating. On Friday he got to play with Riley, who is Uncle Stan's grandson. They had a lot of fun and Madison loved following them around. Justin and I braved the crowd and went to Black Friday at Wal-Mart and K Mart. Richfield actually has both of those stores there. We got some good stuff and hopefully the kids will love it Christmas morning. We also went to breakfast after. It was nice to have some alone time with Justin. On Saturday, the kids played outside with Shannon for a while. Madison had us all in hysterics the whole weekend. She was afraid of Uncle Stan. He reminded her of Uncle Rick who likes to tease EVERYONE including her. So she referred to Stan as Scary. She would ask us, "Where Scary go?" We didn't dare tell Stan I think he would have felt bad. He is actually the nicest guy. It was pretty funny though.

Last night Shelly and Jeff went to the Jazz game so we had their kids for the evening. I had watched the Today Show afternoon edition with Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee. I love them!!! On Monday they had this woman and her daughter on doing little crafts and they did one that was their handprints cut out and glued together to make a wreath. They were so cute so I made them with the kids last night. It was fun and the kids seemed to love it even the two 2 year olds. After we finished those we made countdown 'til Christmas chains. On 5+ chains I had the kids write something they could do nice and then told them that when they break off that chain to do what was written on it that day. They came up with some good things like: help do the dishes, make someone's bed, and be happy.

We've had a busy last week and a half but we've also had a lot of fun. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!!! We will be visiting Justin's grandma out of town. My kids are so excited they absolutely love her!!! I will post more after we get back. I don't think we will have internet access where we're going. :) Funny huh? I still haven't posted the pictures from Twilight so I will do that later too. I'm at work right now and don't have what I need to post them now.

Utes may be going to a BCS Bowl but...

National champions:

BYU 1, Utes 0

Twilight...

I have officially seen Twilight twice now. I went to the midnight showing and then again last night @ 7. I liked it the first time but LOVED it the second!!! There were at least 3 of us in our group last night that had gone to the midnight showing. We all liked it better the second time around. My very good friend (she keeps me sane!) Crystal couldn't go either time and I have really debated going a third time with her. I know I'm such a nerd!!! At the midnight showing there were people paying 10 bucks to get their pic taken with a poster of the movie and them standing on the red carpet, and people arriving in limos. I'm not that big of a nerd. I will post pics from our time at the movies later.

I also wanted to post a quick shout out: Go Cougars!!! (Twilight may be the best highlight of my weekend if BYU loses. Michigan already lost.)

Rise and shout!!!

It's officially rival week! I HATE and LOVE this week at the same time!!! Hopefully, we will be very happy on Saturday!!! Just like Madison would say GOOOO Cougars!!!

3 weeks and 3 days left!!! (counting today)

Three weeks from Tuesday is Justin's last final for nursing school! Hallelujah!!! I can not wait until he is done. After he graduates with his associates in nursing then only 2 more years for his bachelors and 2 years for his masters. But in 3 weeks we'll be over one HUGE milestone. Having had Justin working full time, going to school full time, me working full time (and a part time job for a year), having just had Madison when he started nursing school and Jakson starting school himself has made the last 2 years tiring to say the least. It has, however, been very rewarding at the same time and quite the growing experience. I am so proud of him. I know it's been the hardest for him. While going to school full time and working full time he was also a full time dad while I worked during the day. I don't know how he has managed. I think he'll need to take a week off after finals and sleep for a week straight. He won't catch up on all of the sleep he's missed out on the last 2 years but it'll help.

Thanks to all of the babysitters that have helped us out. Especially those of you that stepped in at the last minute to help. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I am so proud of Jakson as well. He has been a tremendous help. He has helped out so many times with Madison. I am truly blessed with wonderful kids and most of the time a wonderful husband. (The rest of the time he is more than wonderful!!! Couldn't think of an adequate word.)

Snowy day...

Miss Personality...

Tired...

Halloween is so much work. I'm so grateful it only comes once a year. Our day started out with the Halloween parade at school. It is fun to see some of the creative costumes people come up with. Jakson was an injured bullrider. Madison was Cinderella. After the parade Madison and I helped with Jakson's class party. Madison thought she was so cool! I got to see my 2 cousins as well. One was Hannah Montana and the other a clown. (They are in the pics below.) After school we ran downtown to visit Grandpa Powell. Then, Aunt Jewl had trick-or-treating at work so we met Uncle Shea there. Madison was in heaven! She loved all of the candy! On our way out to the car Madison was running and she lost her shoe. Shea yelled, "Cinderella lost her slipper!" It was so funny I about wet my pants!!! You just had to be there. We ended our night with dinner at my parents' house and trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. Madison had had it by then and she didn't want to go with us so she stayed with Shea and my parents while Jewl, Jakson and I went out in the neighborhood. Jakson was so tired that we only made it to about 20 houses before he was wanting to go home. When I was a kid I never wanted to go home! Halloween is fun but I'm glad it's over! Thanksgiving is my favorite!!!

Halloween pics!

Madison is so funny!!!

With this beautiful weather we've been having Madison has wanted to play outside every day. She asked me today if she could go out and I told her to get some pants on. Well...she came back in the room with Jakson's swimming suit on...

Chasing cows...and new hairdo...

Busy weekend!

Jakson had a sleep over at grandma and grandpa's all weekend. He spent his weekend decorating cookies and chasing cows. Yup! You read it right. He was chasing cows. What a goof, huh? Don't worry I got pictures. Cows are my family's newest adventure. My parents and brothers have purchased beef cows to raise for their meat. They were born this spring. I saw 2 of them this afternoon. They are quite cute!!!

Madison, Justin and I went to the BYU football game. It was a perfect day for football. The weather was beautiful!!! Madison loves football. She is so funny. She would stop whatever she was doing to cheer at the end of the fight song each time it was played. She would throw her fist in the air and say, "rah rah rah rah rah." So cute!!! Then we went to dinner with Shea and Jewl. It was a lot of fun. I forget how busy football season makes us, but I love it!!! Football season is my favorite. As Madison would say, "Peace out!"

Pics from the week...the pop tart was my dinner. Funny huh?

Crazy weather!!!

We started out our week with snow on the ground. It was freezing!!! It is UEA weekend this week so Jakson has been out of school the last 2 days. He was worried it was going to be cold but it has been beautiful! The kids wore shorts today. The high was 72 today and it is supposed to be the high again tomorrow. That's Utah weather for you.
We haven't had a whole lot going on the last couple of weeks. In the fall our lives revolve around Cougar football. The only thing I am going to say about Cougar football is I have never been so upset over a game as I have been about last night's game against TCU.
Well, I can't think of anything else so talk to ya later!

BYU vs. USU

We are back from the game. It was a very interesting game. It looked like USU showed up to play and BYU was still back in Provo. We were able to pull out a victory but it wasn't a pretty one. On Friday we headed up to Logan early. Once we were up there we checked into the hotel and then went to Chili's for dinner. There were 12 of us: Justin, Jakson, me, my parents, my brothers, Jewl, and 4 cousins. We had 3 other cousins and Justin's 2 sisters come to the game as well. Justin's sisters sat in a different section and we never saw them. It was a pretty packed game.

On Saturday, we woke up and headed home. Jakson went with my parents to Coalville camping and Madison is still in Richfield so it was just Justin and me. It was really quiet. We went to dinner and bowling. It was our 2nd date of the year. We usually only average 2 dates a year. I've decided we really need to go out on dates more often. It was so much fun! Although we kept talking about the kids the whole time. Jakson is home now. I am used to him being away sleeping over at my parent's house but I am not used to Madison being away for so long. I really miss her and have only averaged crying once a day. I don't think she'll be doing this again any time soon. She'll be home tomorrow and I can't wait!!! Later.

Missing teeth week!

Can you believe that sweet little face could punch someone so hard she knocks their tooth out? And brother still loves her!

Another missing tooth!

Jakson lost his second tooth tonight. He was in the toy room cleaning when he started to cry/whine. When I went in to check what was going on he told me that Madison had punched him in the mouth. As I proceeded to look I noticed that his tooth that had been there only 5 minutes before was now gone. He found it on the floor by where he had been when Madison punched him. What an arm that girl has!!! I am so proud! Jakson didn't even notice the tooth was gone until I said something! Kids are so fun!

Missing Tooth!!!

Lost first tooth!!!

Jakson lost his first tooth today at school. He was wiggling it a lot last night and we thought it wasn't too far from falling out. I guess it fell out at school today. I am posting some pics. As you'll see in them he scratched up his face again. He was riding his skateboard this time, and a kid ran out in front of him. He knocked the kid over and fell on his face. It's a good thing he had his helmet on or his head would have been banged up again. It was on the same side too. That happened on Saturday night. We had our primary program yesterday. Jakson did awesome. All of the primary kids wrote there own parts. I love those programs. There is always something funny that happens!

This weekend we are headed up to Logan for the BYU vs Utah State game Friday night. I am way excited to go. Madison is going to Richfield with Grandma and Grandpa Powell. I am going to be so homesick for her!!! I don't think I can go 3 days without hearing her say, "Sexy Daddy," "Tute butt!" or "Love you!" She is so much fun! Jakson, I think is going to be sleeping over at my parents house. I think Justin and I might go on an actual date. We haven't been on one since our anniversary in June and it had been quite a while prior to that. Jakson is going to Logan with us so we won't be away from him for too long.

For those of you that are far away we'll try to take some pics of the changing leaves. They are always beautiful up in Sardine Canyon.

Quiet week!

We haven't been up to a whole lot this week. We've actually been a little boring! Justin and I took a couple of weeks off from running. Boy was that a mistake!!! We started back up this week and it is killing me!!! I am so tired. It does feel good to be back running. The kids have just been hanging out. We're going to the BYU football game on Saturday. That will be a lot of fun. Well, just thought I'd put up a post. I can't think of anything else that has happened this week. I told you we were kind of boring this week! :) Later.......

Jakson's first battle wounds!!!

Jakson recieved his first battle wounds at recess yesterday. He was out playing kick ball at lunch when all of his friends and he decided to play dodge ball. I'm not sure of all the exact details but from what I understand is... Jakson was running and another kid was chasing him. The kid pushed Jakson and Jakson said he did a sort of flip. He said he rolled his ankle, landed on his head and bounced. Can I just tell you? These pics don't do it justice! I think it looks a lot worse in person. I got a call from the school advising me that he had gotten a head injury but that it wasn't too bad. It was only 20 minutes until school got out but I ran up there anyways. When I actually saw it I wanted to cry. He said it had been gushing blood at first but by the time I got there it had slowed down. He had ice on it and that helped. He told me that he was so tough that he just cried when it happened. He told my mom that he knew was lucky because he had guardian angels there and they made it so that he didn't fall harder or get hurt worse. He was definitely lucky. I hope it heals fast. He has school pics on the 25th.

Jakson's first recess battle wounds!!!

Fun pics of the kids from this summer!

Madison drinking Cherry Coke from the 2L.

Madison loves to stretch her legs with Dad.

Jakson just loves to be a goof!!!

We love football!!!

GO COUGARS!!!

GO WOLVERINES!!!

Now if UNLV could just pull off a win against Utah it would be a perfect day of football!!!

Invitation...

In April Justin is planning to run the Salt Lake marathon and I am planning to run the half marathon. Anyone interested is free to join us!!! :) So start training now!!!

10K pics

He is so DANG CUTE!!!

Football season has started!!!

Jakson survived his first week of school! He is loving it. He thinks his teacher, Ms. Butler, is great. Justin started his final semester of nursing school. He has 3 months left! And then he starts all over with school for his Bachelor's degree, and then his Master's. I think after this semester things will get a little easier for him for a while. Hopefully! He said this semester is going to be the worst. They are giving him a lot of busy work on top of the normal tests, clinicals, and regular school work. It will just make the semester go by quicker.

To celebrate school being back in and Labor Day we went camping last weekend. It was very busy! On Saturday morning we woke up at 5am and drove from Coalville to Midway. When I say we I mean Madison and me. Justin actually woke up at 3am and Jakson slept in with my parents. Justin ran the Midway Swiss Days 10K. He did AWESOME!!! He was meant to be a runner. I think he should train for the next Olympics (since he has so much free time. Just kidding). :) He ran it in 51:47. It was better than he had hoped for so he was really excited. To think if he hadn't gotten up so early he may have had more energy to run quicker. Madison was a little ANGEL! She has never had to get up that early before and she usually sleeps until 7:30 or 8. She was very easy going and happy. After the race we drove to Provo and met my parents, Jakson, my brothers and their better halves for a tailgate party before the BYU football game. Madison is now obsessed with football. She sees a football and gets excited. She is so funny. On Sunday we watched movies and played games in my parents trailer. It was very windy and rained off and on during the day. That night it started raining hard and didn't really stop until we were finished packing up and headed home on Monday morning. It was a very fun weekend and would've been perfect had Michigan beat Utah. :(

On Sunday we also finished our family Biggest Loser competition. Justin won!!! He is so skinny now. He ended up losing 33 pounds and wants to lose a few more. He worked so hard and was so dedicated! He actually lost double the weight I did. We are starting all over with the competition on Saturday. I am going to be the biggest loser this next time!!! Well, as Madison says "Peace!"

School pics from the first day...