am i brave enough?

we cut up sammy's binkies this morning. i'm not sure if i can handle it, but he is over 2 1/2 and i thought that now would be as good a time as ever. he's already waking up at least once a night to go potty and he is also starting to stall at bedtime. i think he gets it from me. i was the master of stalling at bedtime. he sneeks out, smiles his huge smile, makes your heart melt, and then you have to try to be strong to put him back to bed and not let him get away with it. so we'll see what happens. wish us luck!


and now for your enjoyment, if you can enjoy an amateur video with bad lighting, the video of jeffrey's homemade army guy snowboarders.
you never know what creative thing he'll come up with next.
i love my husband!

it's your birthday!

elliot was so excited to make this card. "lillie is going to love this!" he said. he wrote the whole thing by himself. it was so fun to watch.

sammy was just as excited, just a little limited on the spelling. he did a great job too though!



happy birthday lillie! we wish we were there to sing to you in person. have fun at your teenage mutant ninja turtle party. i know elliot will be sad he missed it! we love you!!

mi, j, e, and s

fun with handcuffs

elliot got some handcuffs with his policeman outfit for christmas and he's had so much fun locking everybody up. i was not in the mood to have handcuffs on my ankles today while doing the dishes so i volunteered our ernie doll to be the bad guy. can i just say, i love it when my ideas work! locking up ernie entertained elliot for over half an hour. he was smiling and laughing the whole time.
sorry ernie, the laws the law.

here's a cute shot of elliot in jeffrey's bear hat. jeffrey made this hat in high school and wore it to school. isn't that smile irresistable?

we can't leave cute sammy out. i love you sam. i love the way you put your arm around me when we read books. i love the way you give me your cheesy grin when you wake up from your nap. i love your smell. i love it when you put your vans on without any socks. i love how you love your brother and miss him everyday when we drop him off at preschool. i love that you love your kittys so much and how you kiss them often. i love that you are still my baby.


and lastly i wanted to share this quote by president hinckley that i found on my cousin rachel's blog.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspered only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

have a great week.

you're thinking... another post today?

i just had to put these on too.

catching up on a lot!

sweet grandma, reading christmas stories to the boys.
thanks for all the love you show us in so many ways.
i miss you mom.

playing in the snow. check out the ice chunks they were collecting. emma, bekah, ben and elliot.

it was great to see jeffrey and spencer jamming on their guitars together. spencer really has a talent. it's fun to see him so determined. we love you!

sala. we love you darling little girl!

grandma homer!!! (great grandma to my kids)

becky and her friend brian

scott and becky doing a duet on the flutes

christmas morning!(sam is the fireman and elliot the policeman. notice jeffrey's handcuffs)

legos!!!

before we left we had a lunch for my dad's birthday! there is scott, kate, dad, laura, dave, brian jr., jeffrey, me, becky, and her friend brian. it was so nice to go out and celebrate. the grandkids had a pizza party back at the house.
we miss you all. it was so great to be home for 2 1/2 weeks and see so many people we love. God bless you all!

lovin our time with the allens

christmas eve angels

grandma allen treated the grandkids to a trip to the aquarium.

the nativity. sam, logan, lindee, jaiden, and elliot

sam and his new best friend, kitty number 2. thanks grandma allen. he sleeps with both kitty cats now. it is so cute.

jen, steve, and jessica hanging out

i love these memories. it shows the love that people have for each other. we know grandpa just loves the grandkids, and boy do they adore him too!

everybody chillin in the kitchen

we love all the fun things grandma plans for us and the grandkids. here they are decorating sugar cookies. we love you guys and miss you already.

friends and more friends

we loved being with so many friends while in utah.

beef, karie, me, and jeffrey. night out without the kids. we had a blast! we miss doing this on a weekly basis. please let's live on the same street someday.

karie and i had the chance to through a bridal shower for our good friend jennifer. it was so much fun. a lot of people helped out and even with the terrible snow storm that tried to scare everyone away it turned out to be a big success. we love you jen and we are so happy for you!

we had the chance to head down to utah county to see some of our great friends we are missing while out in ny. we spent an afternoon with melissa at her house. i'm sad i don't have a picture of corver, their newest little boy. he was born after we moved. it was so fun to see him for the first time. after that we met up at alisa's house for a dinner with some friends and our moms. it was so nice, but we missed those who couldn't make it: lindsey, michelle, marta, allison, and brittney. we love you guys.

seth and sam
elliot and ethan
melissa
amy and brynlee and me
alisa and cassidy

we love you guys. can't wait to see you again.

elliot's christmas morning song

you gotta love the songs that kids make up. make sure you turn the volume up. i don't know how to edit my movies yet, so just watch the first minute.

best friends

my boys.

i love you.

the twins!!

will
just closed his eyes from the flash, sorry little man.

lily
check out that hair and headband! how fun!

will and elliot
this lasted about 3 seconds

sammy and lily
he actually held her for a little while. so sweet.
he keeps patting my tummy saying "baby?"

it was so great to go to boston to see my brother's twins for the first time! the pictures have been great, but there is nothing like holding those babies in person, hearing them breathe, feeling their soft skin, smelling their sweet baby smell, and feeling just a bit of heaven those moments they are in your arms. i'm sad i didn't get a picture of me holding the babies, so eric you've got to send the ones you took of me holding them.

here is lily holding her hands, so cute, while we were at the MIT museum, which was awesome!! thanks eric and sarah! i can't believe i didn't take any pictures of the awesome things we saw there. the boys loved it too! especially the shadow room. it took a quick flash and left your shadow on the wall for a few seconds. sammy laughed his head off. it was cool!

elliot and sam had a blast playing with eric and sarah. it means so much to my kids to be loved and adored. we felt it a lot while home in utah over christmas time, and so it was hard to come back home to ny without family. this quick trip was a great refresher of love and of bonding. elliot and eric built legos, sammy danced to will's christmas train, elliot got a good dose of wii time, and sammy cuddled lily's new doll. i love that sam is still young enough to like pink and hold dolls. preschool taught elliot that pink is "yuck, just for girls." they both loved the babies though! sammy kept saying, "ahhh", and then smiling.

we took a quick trip out to bartley's burgers for dinner. it was sooo good! bartley's brought back the love of the burger to me. grilled onions, yum. jeffrey took a picture with his phone of me taking a big bite of my burger. i forgot to take one with my camera.


riding the "T"

i noticed i didn't get a picture of sarah. how could i miss that?! sarah is so beautiful. she really looks great! it was so fun to sit and talk to her about baby stuff, being a mom, and appreciating the dear husbands we have that have fit into being daddies so easily. i loved seeing my brother with his babies. he is so tender and loving to them. i love that parenting can bring out the best in you. i know that some days it can bring out the worst, but really for the most part we can overcome those days and we become better. it has really strengthened my testimony of the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the plan that God has for us. it has strengthened my testimony of the importance of families and learning to love one another. it makes me happy to see my brother and his wife start off on this new adventure. i'm excited to learn from the things they learn. i'm so glad that we are sort of close to them too. i look forward to seeing them again soon.

new glasses?

sammy needs glasses.

just kidding, but wouldn't they look so cute on him?

or even on elliot?

no but seriously, jeffrey is searching out a new pair of glasses. this is his latest possible set. what do you think? click on the picture to see the details better.