Sesame Street Live

Last night we took the kids to Sesame Street Live at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. I was really excited to see how Jake reacted when he saw Elmo live on stage. Cody had been moaning and groaning all week about how he didn't really want to go, apparently he is so over Sesame Street, something i was completely unaware of when the tickets were purchased. I knew that he would have fun once we got there and of course i was right. The whole first half of the show Jake sat on my lap and hardly even blinked and if you know Jake you know this is very out of character for him, he usually can't sit still to save his life. Cody too enjoyed the show and at intermission i asked him if he was having fun and he said "Yeah i am kind of embarrassed to say it though."

The second half Jake got a little wiggly but still watched the whole thing and even got up to dance a few times. I was very surprised with how well Jake sat and how much he really seemed to enjoy it. It was a fun time for all, Robert may disagree but i heard him humming a tune from the show in the car on the way home, so don't let him fool you. Hopefully i can now convince Robert to let me buy tickets to more things like this, for example Disney on Ice. I always went as a little girl and i loved it.

When we left the sprint Center Jake waved bye to Elmo as we walked away, that's all the thanks i needed for taking that cute little guy to see his favorite red furry monster.

On the way into the show we bought these Elmo lighted twirly things that were a huge hit. I'm pretty sure if you ask Cody he will say that his favorite part about going to the show was getting this. But for $15 a piece wouldn't you think the batteries would last a bit longer. Cody's was almost out of juice by the end of the show.

Cody showing me how great his new favorite toy is...

Jake raisin' the roof..

A probably prohibited picture of the action on stage

The morning after the boys requested to watch Elmo DVD's and they sat happily with there twirly things that are still cool even the day after.

Indoor Camping Adventure

Cody had been asking for a while if him and Robert could set up the tent and have a camp out in the house so Friday night we made all his dreams come true. It actually was a really fun night. The boys got a kick out of getting the tent set up and playing around in it. Jake actually laid down in it and watched cartoons for a while, i was quite shocked to see him so still but he seemed to be enjoying just lying there in the fun tent.

Here are the men of the house getting the tent set up...

All done and ready to goof around...

We had to make Smores, what would a camp out be without Smores??

Cody got a wee bit messy... and asked for seconds of course.

I waited to get in until the air mattresses were in place and there were blankets and pillows a plenty... it was very cozy and comfy in there. We watched Bolt and ate some popcorn after i put Jake to bed, Cody thought he was pretty cool getting to stay up later than Jake.

Robert and Cody and the dogs slept in there all night and in Cody's words "It was the best night ever!" This is a pic of him and Belle the morning after. They played video games in there most of the morning until we took the tent down.

Playing out in the deep freeze

It has been so stinking cold here lately that we haven't really been able to enjoy all the snow that we have outside. Today we decided to venture out for just a little bit to let the boys play in the snow. Cody loves to help Robert shovel and they have been working on our driveway a little bit each day, it's a frozen ice/snow pile. It's finally to the point that i don't think i will get stuck if i decide to get out next week. The boys had fun in the backyard for a little bit this afternoon. Jake actually cried and cried when we made them come in, he is a outside boy, i guess no matter what the temperature. We haven't really had him out in it at all but let him sled today and although he had a hard time walking in the snow he loved being outside.

Loving the snow

Weeeeeeee

The dogs had fun jumping into the snow drifts while playing fetch.

The boys were a bit sad that the swings just didn't seem to work as well in all this snow.

Jake in action

He truly is a monkey. Today he climbed up with out the aid of the stool, he's trouble, good thing he's cute as heck!!

Snow much fun

We are in the middle of a major winter storm here in good ole Kansas. School was canceled today and has already been canceled again for tomorrow. This is quite a storm for Kansas. Being from Utah we are pretty familiar with big snow storms but the below freezing temps that are coming later this week are not so familiar.
Tonight we decided to have a little fun with all the snow outside our door and made snow ice cream. It was actually not too bad, not great but definitely edible or at least Jake thought so.
Here are the instructions in case any of you out there are surrounded by lots of white stuff of your own and want to have a little fun with it.

Snow Ice Cream

Get a metal bowl, nestle it in the snow.
Put 3 cups of fresh snow in bowl.
Add 2 Tbs of milk, 1/4 C. sugar and 1 tsp vanilla(adjust to taste)
Stir and eat!

Like i said it was not too bad. It got mixed reviews at our house. Cody kept saying that he wanted to eat it without the snow in it, i don't think he really got the whole concept. Jake kept coming back for more. I just thought it was fun to make. We finished the evening off with a family game of Mickey Mouse Yahtzee. It was a fun snowy night in and i think we have a couple more ahead of us this week.

Christmas 2009

We have had a great Christmas season this year. It is our second Christmas here in Kansas and we have had fun doing all our favorite activities this time of year. We tried to do something seasonally appropriate every weekend of December. We made and decorated Christmas cookies, which both boys enjoyed. The dogs and the oven ended up with the last laugh on the cookie front though. The dogs got to a plate that Robert had made up to take to work, then to hide the rest of the cookies from said dogs i put the cookies in the oven and later that day i forgot and preheated the oven for dinner and opened it to a melted frosting mess. The boys still ate them but they were pretty crispy after that second bake. Below is a picture of the boys when we asked the question "Who wants to make cookies?"

Another one of our favorite things to do around the holidays is to drive around and look at Christmas lights. We had a fun little drive around our town and stopped in the park to take some pictures. We found a fun house on our drive that had there lights synchronized to music you could tune in through your car radio, the boys thought that was really neat. Jake was so cute because every time he saw pretty lights he would go "OhhhhOhhh" it was so cute, he did it all month long whenever he saw lights.




We went back to Utah again for Christmas this year. We started the trip off at Robert's brother's house in Heber. Cody was so excited to see his cousins again and they had fun playing in the snow and reconnecting. We also got to ride the Polar Express again this year, it is such a fun tradition and if you are in the area and haven't been it's a great way to get you in the Christmas spirit.


I'm not going to lie it was a bit of a rough year. Almost everyone at Robert's family's house was sick on Christmas and Cody threw up Christmas night, Jake had a ongoing fever and i couldn't stop coughing. While it was rough we got through it and really did have a nice Christmas day. The boys got spoiled as usual and Christmas morning was exciting as always. Cody was up at the crack of dawn and it took Jake a while to get into the swing of things but it wasn't long before they were both tearing into their presents.


The day after Christmas we headed off to my parents house in Orem. The boys had fun opening more presents there. The next day my sister Deena and her family came to visit and it was so fun seeing the kids play together. Jake took a liking to big cousin Hayden and it was fun to see the twins who have gotten so big.
We also took a family trip to Krispy Kreme right down the street from my parents house. Cody loves doughnuts and we wanted to subject Jake to his first Krispy Kreme ever and the results were great. He couldn't shove them in fast enough, it was pretty funny.

By the end of the trip we were actually ready to hit the road and head for home. We missed it a bit more than we did last year. The boys were good on the plane ride home and we were so happy to snag a earlier flight home that day. I had to take this picture of Cody on the plane, it was just so funny, does this kid have it rough or what!!

We hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas and find themselves jumping into a great New Year in 2010. I am looking forward to a year full of family fun and great new memories.

Santa Visit '09

Since moving here to Kansas we have gone to see Santa's at Bass Pro Shops in nearby Olathe. They have a outstanding set up with a full Santa's Wonderland. They also have a lot of other fun activities for the kids to do, there is car racing, laser shooting gallery, remote control Monster trucks, Wii fishing, dart shooting and lots of neat decorations to look at. The boys had a good time. Jake was a bit more leery of Santa this year, i think if Cody wouldn't have been with him he may have freaked out a bit more, there were no tears but a definite worried look and he was ready to tell Santa Bye Bye. We go to Bass Pro quite a bit so it's fun to be able to go there and visit Santa this time of year. Cody told Santa exactly what he wants and he even told him what Jake wants, such a nice brother.

Waiting in line to see the man in red!

Family Pictures 2009

Jake 18 months

Cody 5yrs