I love this little guy

It is no secret that Levi has me wrapped around his little finger. It's been that way since he was born. I did everything totally different with him then with my girls. I admit, he gets away with everything, simply because he is "my baby" I never made him cry himself to sleep, which has resulted in him still crawling in bed with us on most nights, I nursed him until he was almost 15 months old,and he had his binky until he was 3. I have to call it quits on the babying, and it starts today! He is almost 3 and a half and is no where near potty trained. In my defense, I have tried! He is seriously afraid of the toilet, and for quite some time would run away screaming whenever it was mentioned. Today, I decided (OK, I admit. I was actually Brandon who decided) enough was enough, and today was the day we would start potty training and follow through with it. So all day long, Levi has worn his big boy underwear, and after sitting on the toilet for 45 minutes, he actually went! That was a monumental moment, and there was quite a celebration afterwards. I have to confess, that I almost broke once, when I walked in to check on him, and as he sat there sad as can be, I asked him what was wrong. In the cutest saddest little voice he said, "I'm just having a hard time". I didn't give in though, and throughout the day, he only had 2 accidents. Progress has definitely been made and I think we are on our way to being diaper free, (well at least on the weekends, considering all 3 of my daycare kids are still in diapers.) So wish us luck, and any advice will be greatly appreciated =)

Sisters make the best friends

I just had to say happy birthday to my wonderful sister Cindy. She always writes the sweetest posts on all of our family's Birthdays so I couldn't let the day go by without writing one about her! Just wanted to let you know how special you are to us, and how much we love you and miss you. We have had so many great times, and made so many unforgettable memories. No matter how far apart we are when we all get back together it is like no time has past. Thank you for being such a wonderful Sister, and Aunt. We love you!!!!!!!!!
P.S. I know that you will probably not like the picture I chose, but I thought it was so cute, and I couldn't resist!

Tori's Dance Recital

A little over a week before Christmas, Tori had her dance recital. It is always so much fun to watch her at her recitals. She is so cute, and loves it so much. She is our shy little one, so we are always so proud of how well she does dancing in front of everyone. She smiled and giggled through the whole thing. She loves having her little friend Haylee in her class. They help each other to not be as nervous. We, of course, took a ton of pictures. Here are a few of our favorites.

I Love Christmas

I can't believe the last post I did was for Thanksgiving! Hopefully I won't get in the habit of only posting on holidays =). Christmas was yesterday, and we had a great one. It was full of laughter and fun times spent with our family. On Christmas eve we always go up to Brandon's parent's house and have a little Christmas party. We had a blast eating, playing Settlers of Catan, opening a few presents, having an ornament exchange, getting new pajamas, and just enjoying each others company. Here are some cute pictures from that night:

The kids fell asleep on the way home that night, so we put them straight to bed. We didn't hear a peep from them all night, but right around 7 they all woke up and excitedly came into our room to wake us up. They were given strict instructions to not go downstairs until we were with them. (We did put a baby gate up to block Levi, because all month long he had been waking up really early and sneaking downstairs to get the candy out of the advent calendar). Here is a cute picture of them waiting on the stairs while daddy went downstairs to check and see if Santa came. I love how excited they look.

Here are some pictures of the kids with their presents. They were so happy, and so grateful for everything they got. It made all the months of saving and hunting down of the toys on their wish list worth it =) We spent the first half of the day just hanging out and having fun with each other. I decided not to worry about the mess that always occurs on Christmas morning, and to just have fun playing with the kids. It was great.

Later that afternoon we headed over to my mom and dad's house to hang out. It was so much fun having everyone in town. Christmas would not be the same without everyone. Everyone had a blast playing on the new Wii, expecially with Wii Fit. (Thanks Grandpa Park for finding them for us in Idaho!) I am so mad that I didn't get any pictures except one! Here are my mom, my sisters and me wearing our new aprons from my Aunt Linda. We all had to decide which ones we wanted, and it took a while but we all finally decided. Here's the requested picture Auntie Lin =)

What a wonderful day, with so many fun memories made. I love Christmas =)

Tori

Today Tori had a hard time going to Primary. She just did not want to go. As I walked her to the primary room, and we stood outside of the door she said, "Mom I just don't want to go!" I asked her why, and her response was, "We just sing too many songs and it makes my mouth hurt!" That's a new one! I got a good laugh out of that and thought I'd share =)

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving yesterday. This year was our turn with Brandon's family, so we headed up to Conifer to Jeremy and Tisha's house for our Thanksgiving feast. We got there around 12:30. The house smelled so good! I hadn't been up to see their new house since it was completed (sad I know) so Tisha gave me a tour. It is gorgeous! After that Brandon pulled out Alexis's front tooth that was hanging by a thread. We decided that was a good idea, since every time she would bit into something she would scream in pain. You can't be in pain while eating Thanksgiving dinner! Dinner was delicious. We got more then enough, and will be snacking on ham and turkey for a few days I am sure. After we ate Nana let the kids open up ornaments that she got them. She gets them a new ornament every year, and the kids always love getting them.

Notice the toothless grin? Alexis was quite taken aback when she first looked in the mirror after it was pulled.

Nana got the girls these adorable porcelain ballerina ornaments. Levi got a cute little mouse on a candy cane.

After that we played some games. Jeremy and Tisha have tons and tons of fun games. The kids were in heaven. I got some good ideas for Christmas presents too =)

Our favorite game had to be Rock Band. We all had a blast, and quite a few laughs with that one.

Brandon had fun teaching Levi how to hold the guitar. Like father like son =)

Brandon's mom is a nurse and she was able to have some of the extra flu shots from work, so she gave everyone who hadn't already had them, flu shots. The kids and I already had them, but Brandon hadn't and he somehow talked his mom into letting him give it to himself. He had us all cringing, but he thought it was great!

We all then decided that we wanted to go to the movies. Brandon and Jeremy took the kids to see Bolt in 3-D which they loved, and us girls all went to Twilight. It was my second time seeing it. I loved it! I know it has gotten mixed reviews but I have to say I thought it was great! I could see it over and over and not get tired of it =) That ended our day. I missed being with my family, but we had a really fun day with Brandon's family. I am so grateful for the close relationships we have with both of our families. I love this time of year.

"Come What May and Love it"

Today I went visiting teaching, and my wonderful visiting teaching partner, Celeste, gave an excellent message based on a talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin at General Conference this past October. The talk was titled, "Come what may and love it". It was a really great talk. Little did I know at the time how it would help me throughout the day today. Kristalyn watched the kids while I went visiting teaching (what a lifesaver!) After I got home I watched Mason for a few hours so that she could finish up some things at her house. Before she left we were talking in the front room. The boys were running around playing. Things got a little quiet and that should have been my first clue that something was going on. I said goodbye to Kristalyn and went to go get the boys. I heard giggling in the laundry room in the kitchen. As I opened the door and walked in, this is what I saw:
Both of those red food containers were full, as was the water container.

Sorry if these pictures gross you out, but I had to include all of them so you can get the full visual. (In case you weren't sure, that is cat food in the litter box.)

The remaining cat food was poured out into the pantry.

Now after seeing this site, I admit I panicked a little. I immediately removed the boys, to asses the damage, only to have all three of them run straight into the front room and onto the carpet with the cat food/ water/ kitty litter all over their feet. As I could feel myself begin to freak out, the words of Elder Wirthlin's talk popped into my head. "Come what may, and love it". In his talk he said " Learn to laugh. The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable." So as horribly gross this mess was, I decided to just laugh, go get my camera and not stress about it. Now if you thought the drama ended there, you are wrong. Later on when Kristalyn came to pick up Mason, we once again were talking in the front room. (Maybe I should be doing less talking, and more supervising). Levi and Weston shut themselves in the bathroom, and when I went to get them out this is what I saw. (notice the opened toothpaste?)
Here is where it ended up:

What a day! I am grateful that I was able to hear that lesson this morning. It definitely helped me get through the crazy happenings of the day. I am sure if I didn't have Elder Wirthlin's words fresh in my head these boys would not be smiling in this picture. =)