ALOHA

Fun on the beach!

After a long day of traveling and no power (all of Hawaii lost power last night), we are having a great time playing on the beach, swimming, and watching the surfers! See you in a week!!

Had to post a picture of the horrible snow that kept us here for a few extra days. It is crazy! Since we have been home the boys favorite spot is in their car seats. They hate them in the car but outside they seem to be ok. Brax and Tay

We did take advantage of the snow today and had a little fun. Taylor loved the snow! He was sad to go inside. He put his gloves back on and didn't take them off until dinner. he also cleaned up the nsow off the floor for us, by eating it!! YUCK!

Braxton didn't so much like it. He got cold fast because he won't wear a hat and ended up taking off his gloves.Ah behold, a great picture. I couldn't find my hat so I tied my scarf around my ears. They were so cold it was worth the new look.Adam and Maggie came up and played in the snow with us too. Adam had fun jumping in and getting cold.

Maggie gave it a try too.

Hmmm... Missed taking a picture of Justin. He was there too!! :-)

We head out again tomorrow! Hopefully everything goes well. We have a few friends that are in the same situation and on our flight tomorrow. Hopefully we all see our families by tomorrow night!

IT FINALLY STOPPED SNOWING!

BUMMER

So unfortunately things didn't work out how we wanted them to as I am blogging from home. With all the snow we have been getting the airport and airline did all they could to get us out of here but at 11 they gave up and cancelled our flight. We were supposed to leave at 6:15 this morning. We were happy for the first delay because after check in and security we were already late. As we boarded the plane at 7 we were ready for take off. The weather and the runway had other ideas for us. Southwest staff was great and let everyone choose if they wanted to stay on the plane or get off and hang out until things were decided. Braxton had a quick nap while Taylor ran up and down the jet way. As I said before at 11 they cancelled the flight and we were off the plane, frustrated and sad, but also in ok spirits. Our boys were so good the whole time and that made my life easier. We are now here until Saturday when we will attempt to get out of Spokane before another storm hits. Pray that is stops snowing. I just saw on the news that they opened flights to some places today but all SLC flights were still cancelled. I checked just to make sure that we couldn't leave today :-) We have great friends that took us so early in the crappy weather and another that came and picked us up so we weren't stranded at the airport! Thanks guys! As for now the snow is coming down hard and we are trying to stay warm. hopefully tomorrow we can go out and play in it for a while! I will have pictures soon!!

As I am sitting here, worried about my flight tomorrow morning, I am listening/watching the greatest musical ever, Mamma Mia. I made Justin brave the weather (good husband) and go to Red Box to pick me up a copy to watch while he is packing. I of course had my packing done 2 days ago :-) So it may not be the greatest out there but it is my favorite that I have seen! I will be seeing Wicked in April so I am sure it will be demoted to second. Anyhow, it has been snowing for the past 12 hours and not letting up. Roads are closed, people are being told to stay away from the the South Hill (where we live) and to stay home. Hmmmm. Seeing how my flight is at 6:15 am and I AM GOING HOME this weather has me down! Everyone pray tonight that we will be on our flight with no delays, ok I will take delays, but just get us there! I am off to enjoy my show!! Good night and MERRY CHRISTMAS if I don't make it back to say so!!!

Saturday night

Justin and I were sick of sugar cookies so instead of decorating sugar cookies we decorated rice krispie treats.

Braxton had a great time helping me cook.

No I am not a bad mother, that side of the stove is off. He is just pretending to cook. :-)

Justin making his treatTaylorBraxton. He ate more of the treats then he got on his rice krispie man. YUM!

Third Santa Visit

Santa came to visit our aprtment complex today! The boys of course didn't want anything to do with him but they were ok with us sitting there. We got a decent family picture with Santa. Last night at our Ward Christmas party the boys had nothing to do with Santa again. I asked Braxton before hand if he wanted to go see Santa and he said "Oh, no!" he he Funny kids!

Dear Santa

I would like these CUTE shoes in a size 8.5 for Christmas.

Santa

I took the boys out to the mall to play and we stopped to see Santa. He was ok from far away but trying to get a picture was totally different. They freaked out!After seeing Santa the boys got a coloring book and hat. Taylor loved his hat!Braxton on the other hand didn't like his.Merry Christmas!!

German Apple Cake

3 eggs
2 C. sugar
1 C. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 C. chopped and peeled tart apples (Granny Smith)
(medium chunks work best)
3/4 C. pecans

Combine wet ingredients. Combine dry ingredients. Mix dry into wet ingredients. Place in 9 x 13 pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 55-60 min at 350 degrees. Drizzle with caramel topping or frost. Both are great!!

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese
2 T butter
2 C powdered sugar

I wish I had a picture to show you how great it really is. Just try it!

Crazy thing happens when daddy comes home. Happy boys again! (Grrrr) At least he was home to save me! It is finals week and the boys are missing their daddy. Justin loves to come home to them and their attention. I was just happy I could sit back and relax for the first time today.

HAPPY BOYS PLAYIN BALL...Merry Christmas from Papa and Mama.

The boys got a package from my mom and add the other day and were so excited! They love it and haven't stopped playing with it since we got it! Thanks for shipping it here so we didn't have to bring it home on the plane :-) Love ya!

FOR RENT

TAYLOR DANIEL HATCH ...3 feet tall

...26 pounds
...screams like no other
...has been crying ALL DAY
...won't eat even though he is hungry
...wants to be held but won't stay up on a lap
...doesn't talk yet so he can't tell you what the real problem is
...mean to his brother
...growls when he doesn't get his way
...nose running constantly
...throws tantrums
...nasty cough
...slobbery cause he wont take his fingures out of his mouth

Pick him up at 8:00am and bring him home by 7:00pm. He takes one nap a day and loves to eat, usually. I am taking bids because he will go fast. Call

1-800- I AM GOING INSANE

(Just in case anyone is wondering I really do love my child! He is just having a bad day!)

Countdown begins...

Only TEN more days until we are home for Christmas break! YIPPIE! It is going to be a long traveling day but I can't wait. Starts out at 6:10am as we leave Spokane to Boise and then at 11, Boise to SLC. Why can't there be more then one non-stop flight from Spokane to SLC in a day? We will travel by car from SLC to IF just in time to make it to Julie's basketball game against Skyline. (Sorry Skyline fans) GO IF! :-) Then hopefully I find then energy to make it to a friends reception that night.

Only SEVENTEEN days until Christmas! I am so excited to have Christmas with my family and for the boys to really be able to enjoy the presents and fun this year! Maybe they will even see what snow is because there is no snow here! (I am not missing it at all!)

Only EIGHTEEN more days until I am sitting on a WARM BEACH in HAWAII for a week! I am so excited!

Only SEVENTEEN weeks until I turn 26. It's not a big deal but since I was counting down I thought I would add it in!

This just in. Only EIGHTEEN weeks until I go see WICKED! I have been waiting for so long and this monring my wonderful mother in law called and told me she got tickets for the show in SLC. (hope its ok that I blogged it already)

Only TWENTY-THREE more weeks until Justin Graduates Law school. It may seem like a lot still but it is getting closer and closer and we are looking forward to the new adventures to come.

I am usually not one to countdown things like this but they are big events that I am so excited for! Seeing them written down makes them seem a lot closer! Happy Monday!

Bragging moment

I made this!

The other day Leslie was here and I tell ya my boys love Lyla. They are always in her face and love to play with her. Playing with the keyboard
Braxton found Lyla's bottle that was already gone and kept trying to feed it to her. He was so excited that he could do it. Funny boy!

Last night we watched Lyla for a few hours and the boys loved it! They wanted to help feed her and sat there until she was done. They were such good helpers.

18 month check up

Taylor:
26.8 lbs = 70%
34 inches tall = 90%

Braxton:
25.12 lbs = 50%
34 inches tall = 90%

They are doing fabulous and growing like weeds.

18 Months, WOW

I can't believe 18 months ago my little boys were tiny, 5 lb babies. Time has gone so fast! I am grateful each day to have these two in my home. They are the sweetest little guys ever. They are healthy and happy and so much fun to be with.

Taylor is so content in the things he does. He is learning so much and watches everything we do. He is keeping it all in his mind and will come back to it later. He is so funny and loves to laugh. He is so smart and loves books, cars, and his brother.

Braxton is full of energy. He is constantly on the go and hardly ever sits still. He has an attitude and gets mad when things don't go his way. He is a great brother and always helps Taylor out. He keeps us laughing with his funny personality and keeps us on our toes.

I wrote down a lot of the things I want to remember.

Words they say: Mom, Dad, ball, jump, good job, ah-oh, diaper, stinky, look, yes, NO, this, purple, blue, car, 1-2-3-go, yum, milk, snack, football, touchdown, juice, thank you, Pa Pa, hi, hello, goodbye, bye bye, bonk, crash, nose, more, knock-knock,bath. They will try to repeat anything you say to them and sometimes will shock us with what they listened to us say by saying it back. Hmmm, we better watch what we say with these two around

Things they do: climb up the couch and chairs, go down slides, walk up and down stair (with help), jump, dance, throw a ball hard, get a diaper when asked, throw things away, bring things to us when asked, get blankets and binkis for each other, tell us when they want to watch tv, take us to where we keep the binkis if one is wanted (they know all the spots to check for them), bring books for us to read, catch balls, give us their binkis when we ask for them, know what a nose is, bark like a dog, read books to each other, sing/do actions to head, shoulders, knees, and toes, love to sing, play pat-a-cake with their feet, dip all their food, say mmmm when they like something, tackle and wrestle each other and us, love to be tickled, love walking on us if we are on the floor, give kisses, run, say sorry and rub each others heads, try summer salts, love to flip over my head (Uncle Heath's trick), push cars under our legs or just climb through our legs, love to tease, shut doors, blow bubbles in the water

Things they love: Justin's whiskers, blankies, binkis, wrestling, chocolate milk, ketchup, hot dogs, cheese, chips, dips, pickles, M&M's, coloring, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, Ducktales, Shrek, books, cars, animals (pretend ones), Taylor loves his shoes, socks and hats and get mad when we take them off, bath time

Things Taylor doesn't like: wheat bread, crust, He is pretty much the easiest kid to feed. He loves to eat! Being left in nursery

Things Braxton doesn't like: shoes, socks, hats, cottage cheese, apple peals, wheat bread. He is also easy to please but don't think for a minute that he will keep his shoes and socks on. He is just like his mom!

Nicknames that have stuck:

Taylor: Taylor bug, Tator tot, Tay, T, Taylor-man,

Braxton: Brax, B, Beazer, Braxamous,

We love you two monkeys!

Black Friday Shopping

Friday morning started out early for me. Leslie and I were out the door at 7 (not so early but still too early for me) and headed down to the mall. We got there and no one was there. Macy's was the only store open until 8 so we shopped Macy's until 8. Gymboree had a few great deals but I didn't take them up on much. I would have loved to but I had to keep the spending down to a minimum :-) I can always shop clothes for my boys at Gymboree. After the mall we went to Old Navy and that store was crazy busy! The line was 2/3 a way through the store. It went fast and I ended up with a fleece for Justin. Still nothing for me. I shop like that a lot. I find everything I want for everyone but me. SIGH. :-) We hit Target where I spent 25 dollars for 80 dollars worth of stuff. It wasn't so picked over that we still got a few of the good deals when we got there. Last but not least was Joanns. I LOVE fabric! The snuggle fabric was 1.50 a yard which was great. i got 70 dollars worth of fabric for 20 bucks. Watch out Grandma, I need to get it to you to have your lady put the holes in it so I can stitch around the edges. No avoiding me now :-) In all we had a great time out and about with out the little ones. We have great husbands that were lucky enough to stay home with them. Our trunk after shopping. I thought we did great! Not to little and not too much! All the fun fabric I got for blankets.

Who wants to go next year?? :-)

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving with friends this year. Everyone had their assignments and it all turned out great! We did THREE small turkey breasts to make sure there were lots of left overs. Thanks everyone for the fun time!

The tableThe yummy buffet of foodTaylor and Braxton enjoying their first real Thanksgiving dinnerDad and the boysThe famThe aftermath of a great dinner. What a mess!

After dinner and pie we decorated ginger bread houses. Taylor and Braxton ate their houses before they could even put candy on it. My houses had MAJOR trauma! I put it together a few days before so it was sitting in my kitchen. I dropped a bowl on it, a high chair tray and broke the side when I tried to move it. My poor house had a rough start and ended pretty bad too. The frosting I used (from the kit) didn't work AT ALL! Don't ever get the Wonka Kit. The frosting was no good. My house was covered in extra frosting and didn't turn out too cute. I have to say that I love the Necco roof with the little piece missing.

Anyhow, we had a great Thanksgiving but can't wait to be home for Christmas. We missed our families.

I am grateful today for many things. The Gospel, Justin, my boys that are crying :-), their blankies that make everything better, FAMILY that we miss, friends here in Spokane, friends we miss, my apartment, my car, interent, blogging, doing my first Thanksgiving dinner, giggles from my boys, children that learn new things each day, my camera to capture cute moments of my boys, heat to keep us warm (it's so cold today), Justin almost done with school, yummy sticky buns that are cooking. I am grateful for everyone and everything in my life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!