Merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!!! What an awesome Christmas we had this year (minus Steve working). We were able to give a great Christmas to our little ones. The girls got to open some gifts with dad on Christmas Eve and we had homemade pizza with Steve's brother Brian and their family. It ended up being a great night. Then Steve left for work early in the morning and I had the chance to play mom and dad as we opened gifts, figure out how to assemble things, and play till our hearts were content. We ended the night with a great roast dinner and I couldn't have been happier. So... New Year's resolutions?? As of right now I have nothing, (I know kind of pathetic). I will come up with something. Steve and I did set some spiritual goals for next year and I am really excited about them.

Christmas fun and snowmobiling...

Who can honestly believe that it is now 1 week from Christmas? Well thankfully I finished all my Christmas shopping. Thank goodness for online shopping. When you live in the middle of nowhere there is only so much shopping you can do. When Steve and I went to visit family the first week of December we couldn't find much when we went out that we liked and ended up doing the majority of our shopping online and having everything shipped. I love this holiday. Steve and I have really enjoyed shopping for the girls this year. Destinee is really coming into her own so we were able to find some gifts to adapt to her interests. Peyton of course is getting a lot of boy toys (because she is a boy in disguise), who knew.... I have been slowing decorating my house as I have had a little money and some spare time finally. It has been a blast. Again, I am limited to what is out here so I have high hopes of what I can do when we move back to Utah county.

Here are the girls opening 1 present early. We all couldn't resist. Now who couldn't love those little farts..



Alright, we officially started our snowmobiling season! YIPEE.. We have been dying to try out our new snowmobiles we purchased. (Okay they really are not brand new, but new to us. It was a blast. We took the girls with us fearing that they wouldn't like them and we would end up leaving just as fast as we got there. Well... was I surprised. All 3 of them loved it. Oakley loved it so much she slept for almost the entire trip we took. We rode for about 2 1/2 hours and Oakley slept. Peyton couldn't get enough and every time we stopped to take pictures or take a break, Peyton played in the snow. Then 2 days later Steve and I went alone and tore them open. It was so much fun. We ended up going to Daniels Summit and it was perfect snow and weather both times we went. We are excited for more snow to come!!!!


Destinee and Oakley rode with Dad and Peyton was with me


I don't think Peyton is having fun at all. What do you think?


Here is my baby sleeping the ride away

More snowmobiling pics to come when we go again in January when Steve is off again.. till then, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

FHE

So for family home evening one night we talked about temples and decided to make marshmallow temples. It ended up being a blast for the girls and Dez loves to learn about the temples. Peyton was so thrilled to just make a sticky mess, she was cute.


Here was my temple recreated.


Destinee loves the Oquirrh Mountain temple so that was the one she decided to do. She did a great job!


I don't think Peyton could stop laughing. She just made a bunch of sticks with marhmallows on the end. I think she was eating them as much as she was making them. We never got a picture of Steve's temple because he was trying to be so cool and make his the best and he never finished. I guess the girls dominated that one! (HEHE)


Oakley loves to play with babies. She is so sweet with them, its very cute. This picture makes her look so grown up? What happened to my little baby?

Turkey to feed a small army...

Happy turkey day! Well Thanksgiving has come and gone so fast. We ended up staying home this year because Steve was working and had our own little feast. So as sad as this is to admit it, this was my official Thanksgiving dinner all on my own. I had to make everything on my one (literally, Steve was sleeping the whole day). So I decided I would make the best of it and take pictures and make enough food to feed even Steve's family! (HAHA).. Kudos to all those families and mothers who work their buns off to make a great dinner. I have been so lucky to have 2 wonderful families with great recipes and it ended up being delicious. We will be eating turkey for the next month!!! I hope everyone's was wonderful also.


This picture really does not justice, it was fabulous!


Not the best view and nothing looks all that appetizing, but we thought we could get all angles!


Can you see the sweat over my brow from slaving all day? Now that it was complete I can smile!

Anniversary...

Happy anniversary to me! I am about a week and a half behind on this post, but thought I would include it. I can honestly say where does the time go??? It is so fun to look back 4 years ago and see that wonderful man I married and my little sweet Destinee. I was truly blessed to have found a man like Steve to marry and for him to accept not just me (which is plenty), but a very cute daughter too. It has been a crazy little journey for us so far with moving, jobs, kids, school, and so much more. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us and hopefully it will not be in the desert! (ha-ha)... NO I am kiddin, Roosevelt is not that bad, its just hard when your away from family. Anywho, I love you Steven Jay!



Who wouldn't love a little kiss!!!



The beginning of a happy family (and my little nephew Jackson)



Our first 4th of July togehter. I knew then that he was perfect for me! Destinee looks so tiny to me now.

Crazy hair...

Destinee on Friday had crazy hair day, and the kids in her class got to wear their pajamas and bring pillows and blankets to school for having so many good green days. So being the mom that I am, I couldn't help but take pictures of her hair because I thought it actually turned out kind of cute in all the craziness. We sprayed some glitter in it and she was thrilled. Of course, when you takes pictures of Destinee Peyton demands a picture of her... Hence the pajama picture of her!

Witches and vampires and tootsie rolls... oh my

Halloween was great this year. Steve was home, that was a huge plus. Our halloween was loaded with lots of fun activities! We did some pumkin carving first, of course a lightning McQueen for Peyton, and Tinkerbell for Destinee.









On Friday I had the chance to put on the halloween party for her class. The kids had games, treats, music, and hopefully lots of fun. This is a picture of a friend and Destinee in their costumes.





Then we took the girls to a little halloween carnival on Saturday morning where they did games, got cookies and did a little haunted house. It was fun. Then we went trick-or-treating at the local grocery store, and ended the night with a dinner at the church and trunk-or-treating. It was a fun day!

Here are the cute girls all dressed. We painted Destinee's face and of course Peyton had to have hers done just like her sister... Plus little Oakley is finally walking! She still likes to crawl here and there, but her little Frankenstein walk is so dang cute.

Summer is over...

Its hard to believe that I have gone this long with out updating my blog but I guess I will just wrap up in one how our summer was! Summer was good, and as always, not long enough. We had many great days in the sun playing, going to lunch, and of course, going swimming. Its been great getting to know all my friends out here in Roosevelt and the chance to do some fun things together. Well in August we went to Starvation reservoir with Steve's family for a week for a little boating trip. It was kind of crazy. I think it rained just as much as it didn't rain... but that is all part of camping right? We had plenty of chances to wake board, ride jet ski's and our new wave runners we bought. We did a little cliff jumping and swimming. Thanks to mom and dad we had amazing food. Everyone pitched in and we had some pretty dang good stuff. The kids had lots of fun activities to do at camp such as decorating visors, hitting a fish pinata, and decorating bags to hold their candy. For those who have never been to Starvation reservoir I say go. It is beautiful there. I believe that is the only good thing in Duchesne county...... Aside from that trip we didn't really do much outside of our little town. We did visit family here and there and we did boating as often as we could here at home. We did take the boat once up to Provo and I think that everyone enjoyed a little play time there. We took it with us when we watched Steve's siblings while his parents went a cruise for a few days. It was awesome for them to get a break and that we had the chance to help out. At the end of August Destinee started school. My little girl is growing up and starting 1st grade. She loves her teacher and enjoys going to school. As like any kid she just doesn't want to do homework and wants to play. So we are getting the hang of the school thing all over again. Steve has been in Colorado working on a hole out there and has been there for quite some time. It is not easy to have that man gone for 4 weeks straight. You learn to figure things out all on your own. You rely more on the Lords help in getting through those weeks with 3 little naughty girls.

Peyton is doing a little bit of preschool and is surprising me with how much she knows. Kids are so unpredictable and just when you think they are learning nothing, they show you what's up. She is hilarious. If there is one thing about Peyton, it is that she is hilarious. She makes the best comments and never has a dull moment. She is totally potty trained and has been for a little while now. That is one of the greatest joys when you have one more kid out of diapers!!!

Oakley is busy as ever. It is just that age where they want to destroy everything and make you happier than ever to see them growing. She is still not walking but she knows how. She reminds me alot of Peyton and she will walk I guess when she is good and ready. She has learned to wave, say hi and lots of other cute things.

Also Peyton turned 3 at the end of August and Oakley also turned 1. So I have a set of pictures to share from the birthday party we had for the girls. It turned out to be so much fun and it was a blast to have family come out our way. The girls got spoiled to death. Thanks to everyone for making it a special day for all of us....

Amber's visit!!!

Well I couldn't be happier, my sister Amber has moved back into the states. She will be living in Iowa!!! Much much closer than Japan if you ask me. So she had the chance to come and visit us in little Utah and I was able to take the girls and spend some time with her and Sadie. I thought I would add some pictures of the fun nature hike we went on up in beautiful Little Cottonwood Canyon. Peyton was crazy as always trying to jump off things, run ahead of us, and fall on her butt a few times. Go Peyton!!! Destinee did great and had a blast. Then Amber and Sadie had the chance to come over to our house for the night and it was fun. We had pizza, played outside, admired the jewelry she had helped design and make with my dad and sit and visit. All in all it was a great visit. Thanks Bino and Sadie as always for the fun time we had to spend with you guys. The girls had a BLAST!
What happened to Oakley??? What a fatty. I love it...

Cupcakes anyone???

Ok so this is just to toot my own horn! So a couple of years ago my dearest friend Doranne from my work gave me a cupcake book that I have fell in love with. I have made a few attempts at recreating these adorable cupcakes. So me, being the baker I am,(HA HA)signed up for a bake sale for a little boy needing to have cancer removed from his eye. I always try to sign up for things and serve when possible. So I decided since it was for a little boy to make the alligator. It turned out to be a blast to do, and finally I had something turn out like it was supposed to! Steve was wonderful and helped with the frosting also! So expect more fun cupcake pictures to come, as I have found some adorable ones to make for these fun summer months coming up.

Ok how lame am I??? It has been since February since I last posted anything. So much has been going on and losts of fun pictures to share!! So one of the biggest things... I have gone blonde.. ok but not completely. I weaved blonde in on top (most of it is blond) with some dark, and its all dark underneath. I was really nervous and I still have to get used to it but to say the least I love it!!! Little Oakley (who is not so little anymore), now has two little teeth. She looks all grownup now. She loves to stand, wants nothing to do with being on her stomach, and loves to eat table food. She pretends to be eating something when she wants people food. She is so much fun!! Destinee is reading exceptionally well. It is so much fun.. and she now has lost her third tooth (picture to come soon) and her fourth one is loose. As for Peyton, she is just a bundle of joy. She is Destinee's shadow right now. She is always begging me to go outside and "play with friends". We are loving the warm weather here. I spend time with Peyton outside while Destinee is at school. I have actually been sunburned.. AND I LOVE IT. Bring on the warm weather to warm up those lakes!! So it is official. We have dewinterized our boat. We changed things to help it run better and it started up just like a champ. Now we are counting down the days till we can go out. Steve's job is actually getting better. The guys are finally warming up to him and have been better. They had a few guys that quit, and the new ones replacing them are much better. So overall, things are looking up for Steve. It still is tough, but its all worth every bit of it. We miss everyone back home. We can't wait to be close to family and friends again... Don't be afraid to come visit (HEHE). Till next time, PEACE!