Christmas

We moved James out of our room after the Christmas holiday, which has done wonders for my sleep, but unfortunately the only other room is the computer room, so I have to find time to blog when he is awake.
For Christmas we went to Dallas to see Devon's family. It was a full house and a great time! It actually snowed the day after we got there. Spencer and Grandpa built a snowman, but Elizabeth has those pictures, we'll have to post them later.
On Christmas Eve Kelsey and I decided it would be fun for our kids to do the "Christmas Play." They didn't think it would be so fun. In the end Aurora was the only willing participant. Oh well, maybe next year!


Here is a picture of the boys in their PJ's from Grandma Gosney. Of course they are not both smiling in the same picture!


Spencer got tools from Santa. We was pretty excited. He wore the goggles around all day and kept "fixing stuff". I can't believe we didn't get a single picture of James on his first Christmas morning, but in our defense in was a crazy morning. As Catherine put it "If that's low key, what is a normal Christmas like?" James really has a hard time with crowds, but thankfully this is the only time he seemed overwhelmed during our trip to Dallas.

Here we are in front of the tree, I guess James is in these pictures!


We had a great time. I'm surprised we don't have more pictures, but maybe some other family members have one's of my kids to share. Devon' must have gotten all pictured out in Mexico.
We did get to do a lot of fun things in Dallas that we can't do in Monument Valley. We played ball at the church, went to a park (where Spencer discovered his new favorite, the tire swing) and played on the toys at the mall. We also hit a lot of "after Christmas" sales and got some good deals.

James' first food

Today James tried his first food. I didn't think he would do to well, and I was actually secretly hoping he wouldn't because of the crazy upcoming holiday, but he loved it! He even made some smacking sounds to tell how good it was!

Monster hunting

Spencer's new favorite pass-time is monster hunting. He (and Devon) will go around the house looking for monsters. When they see one they run back to the couch and hide under the blankets. Then they do it again about a thousand times. Daddy is his favorite partner in crime.

So this is what you need for a good monster hunt. You need a hunting hat, and a weapon- apparently a plastic spade works exceptionally well.

James is a Junior Monster Hunter right now, he has to wait until he can walk to go on the serious hunts.

Our Trip

We left on Saturday November 14th for my grandpa's funeral. We were glad we left early, because when we hit the Spanish Fork Canyon the snow was horrible. There were semi's pulled over on the road and sort of to the side of the road to put on their snow chains. It was crazy! Devon is a great driver, and we made it through without a scratch.



The funeral was very nice, it was good to remember what a great man my grandpa is.
Devon left after the funeral, but I stayed and then went to Idaho with my mom. We came back and met Devon in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. It was fun to spend time with family, but Devon and I decided we were apart for too long, and James decided he was away from his own bed for too long. We had a great time, but it's good to be home. Here are some pictures of the boys having fun with cousins and grandma and grandpa!

My Grandpa

My Grandpa passed away this morning. I will miss him so much. I think that I am the most sad that my kids won't grow up knowing him. I guess it's my job to be a little more like him so they can learn the great things he taught me. He always made people feel welcome and important. He really did remember everyone's name. He always smiled and told silly jokes. I remember him telling stories to us and playing the guitar and singing songs when we were kids. In elementary school he came up to Idaho every year to play for our school classes, and when I started teaching he played for each of my classes at least once. He always made my classes laugh. I know he is in a better place with people that he hasn't seen for a long time. I'm sure they are glad to have him, but we will surely miss him. I am so grateful to have the gospel at this time, it will be wonderful to see him again some day.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween here. Spencer (and Devon and I) were cowboys, James was a cow. On the 30th there was an activity at the Family Center with crafts, games and food, and then there was a carnival at the school. The carnival was at the gym, which Spencer calls the "ball game." He just ran around and danced to the live band. He thought it was great. There was a guy there with a pretty scary mask, so every time Spencer saw him he would stop dancing and go hide by Daddy until he felt safe, then he would dance again. On Halloween Spencer woke up from his nap and said "I'm ready to go Trick or Treating!" We had to wait a few hours, but Spencer had a great time when we went. There were too many masked people out that night though, Spencer woke up with nightmares all night long! At least it made the transition from daylight savings a little easier- only one really bad night, and then he was ready to sleep!

October snowstorm

Well, I was a little worried that Spencer would not be able to play in the snow too much this year because we are going south for Christmas, but I didn't need to worry. We got about 4 inches of snow a few days before Halloween. It's all melted now, but it was fun while it lasted!