You know what makes me happy?

• It is November 5th and this weekend I will finish up my Christmas shopping except for 1 thing (just waiting for a better deal to come).  I am so excited to enjoy the holiday season with no stress of buying gifts!
  
• Alyssa, Justin and Ezra come to see us 1 week from tomorrow!
• Finals are next week for Mike and then he will have a few days off and then go back for 4 days and then get another week off.
• I got 10 hours of sleep last night.
• I found 2 dresses at Target yesterday for $4.50 each.
• I am going to have another niece born at the end of April.
• I have so many great friends who I love to pieces.
• Our lives are about as busy as can be right now but we are happier than we have ever been and feel a million blessings surrounding us!

Part 2 of my projects

The past few weeks ha ve been CRAZY for me.  Mostly because I fill my limited free time to doing huge projects while Mike is at school.  It isn't very easy when I have two little boys around but we made it work.  

I decided to move Emerson and Madden into the same room.  I spent a lot of time re-organizing toys and cleaning.  I painted the room and hung all the decorations.  I love their room now.  It has turned into one of my favorite rooms in the house.

I also painted another bedroom, the backsplash in the kitchen and the alcoves in the house.  I am so glad to be putting the house back together:)

St. George

The first weekend in October we headed up to St. George to spend the weekend with my family.

We were all able to go except for Rob and Rocio:(  We missed them tons!

Cute little EZ was so much fun.  He was so fascinated with Emerson and Madden.  He wanted to be involved in anything they were doing with Ryan.  He was also my buddy.  We had lots of fun playing together (I think I am his fav:)

Madden loved Katelyn.  He kept giving her kisses and always made sure her binky was going in her mouth (even when she didn't need it) it was really sweet!

I love this picture of Madden and Boppa.  These kids love their boppa!  They are always so excited to see him.  Emerson loves going on rides in Boppa's fast car.

I got to spend lots of time holding our sweet Katelyn.  She is the first girl niece we have.  She is a sweet little thing!

Saturday night we got to go to a very long dinner with my grandma, aunt kim, meg and aunt Jackie.  We went to Texas Roadhouse and had to wait for 2 hours to get a table and then had horrible service and didn't get to sit next to eachother!  It wasn't the best but at least we got to see all of them.  

A lot of the trip was spent with the boys playing XBOX.

Me & Katelyn

Justin passing the football:)

uncle ry and his boys!  these kids are sure lucky to have such a cool uncle!

Ryan and all the grandkids....so far!  The kids weren't thrilled but at least we got some pictures:)

The best part of the trip was just lounging around and watching these kids play together.  

Halloween Projects

This week has been a week of projects for me.  I started out doing my halloween decorations....

My friend showed me a blog that had a bunch of cute ideas so I copied a few of them.  The subway art I just printed from my computer.  I got the bird and cage for $2.  The frame for the subway art was also $2.

I got the Happy Halloween sign from Tai Pan last week for $3 and the crate the jars are sitting in for $1.50 at Michaels.  

I painted the boxes and the pumpkins and the black pot, added some moss and a halloween net runner for a grand total of $19!  I already had the candy jars and the other supplies so it made it so cheap!

Now, I am working on moving the boys into the same room, making a guest room and doing more painting.  I love getting cleaned up and organized, it is so much fun!  

Beego

I finally broke down and let the boys get a pet.....

Meet Beego (Emerson named him, don't ask what that name means.  We have no idea).

Some cute kids in our ward caught him for us in their house.  Emerson and Madden love him.  When they wake up in the morning they go and check on Beego.  He doesn't come out of his cage but I guess it is just fun for them to look at and I don't have to do a thing:)

Big Boy!

Emerson started pre-school last month.  I can't believe he is old enough to be going.  Yes, he is only 3 but he is more than ready to go!

He was so excited to put his backpack on and is always telling me to hurry so we "don't be late to my school."  

As soon as I dropped him off he just jumped out of the car and started walking in.  His teacher, Mrs Moss, had to tell him to say bye to his mom.  I am so glad that he loves it and is having fun but I kinda wish he would miss me....just a little, he is my first!  His teacher loves him and it sounds like he is a good boy at school, lets hope it stays that way:)

Madden gets sad almost every time we have to drop Emerson off for school.  I think he does like mommy all to himself but still misses his pal!

Mike keeps telling me we need to have just one more kid so we can get it over with and  be done.  I feel completely opposite.  These boy are demanding and they cry and whine a lot but I still love the stages they are in.  I am laughing everyday at the things they say and do and I would love to extend this difficult phase of life for a couple more years!  I don't want to just "get it over with."  I want to try and enjoy these moments as much as possible.  I know they will be gone sooner than I know it!

A few reasons to miss utah

Mike was lucky enough to have a short break at the end of August so we took advantage and went back home to visit.  

Before we moved to AZ, Emerson loved mowing the lawn with Boppa.  He got to do it a couple times while we were there, I am pretty sure Boppa loves it more than Emers:)  It is special time for the 2 of them!

I miss green, lush plants and trees.  This is my parents backyard and I miss all the fun we have out here.  Not only is it BEAUTIFUL, it is fun!

Baby Katelyn and Boppa.  Katelyn was born at the beginning of August, she is our first niece so we had to go see her!

Me and Katelyn.  I loved holding her and the boys loved kissing her.  She is a cutie!

Madden and Ezra.  They were so cute together.  Madden liked to feed EZ anything he was eating.  Right here he was feeding him an apple.  I think Ezra liked having him around....until Madden started getting possessive of toys Ezra would play with.  I can't wait for Christmas with these kiddos.  It will be so fun!

The last highlight of our trip was going to get Mani/Pedi's & lunch with my mom and sisters.  I love those girls so much and can't wait till we do it again.  The best part was how much my mom loved and enjoyed her very first pedicure!!