Macey's Baby Blessing

Emillie (Jared's sister) blessed her baby and couple weeks ago.  Macey Brooke, is what they named her. She is such a sweetie and I have had fun holding her. We decided that since church started at 9:00 a.m. we would go stay in a motel room close by and just let the kids go swimming and find whatever fun there was to find. 

Macey Brooke on her blessing day

We found a Family fun place and let the boys drive bumper boats, they loved that!
Allie didn't care for the water much! Can you tell?
Don't be jealous of my great tan! 

Going Private

I've decided it's time to go private with our blog. Let me know your email address if I don't have it so I can include you on my list. 

Brycen 1st grade

Here is an update on Brycen's 1st grade year so far.

I love this picture of Brycen, he just looks so sweet, and he is so tan from the summer sun.

I was so excited to hear that Brycen was going to have Mr. Kauffman for his teacher.  From what I'd heard he was the best 1st grade teacher. Brycen hates it when a substitute teacher comes. He says that the sub can't read stories funny like Mr. Kauffman. 
Some of Brycen's friends in his class are Ammon, Casey, Keagan and Leif. 
 Back in November, the day we were trying to get moved, we got a call from the school. They told us Brycen had hit his head at recess and needed stitches. We had to stop in the middle of our move and go get Brycen from school and take him to urgent care to get stitched up.  When we asked Brycen how he hit his head, he said he ran into a pole he didn't see. Silly kid! A week later after Jared took out the stitches, like the Dr. said to do, Brycen decided to pick the scab off. It ended up leaving a pretty good scar despite the stitches.  I thought this picture was silly cute! You can see the scar on his head on the right side. I'm sad he has such a big scar on that cute face, but hopefully it will fade with time.
Brycen played an awesome year of soccer. Most games he scored about three goals. He played with his friend Justin, who's dad was the coach.
Every Monday, I go and volunteer in Brycens class. It is fun for me to see him in the classroom. I am so lucky to have such a good kid. Brycen is in the top reading group at school. This past week he had a half yearly test on all the spelling words for the year. He only missed one word out of 100 and that was people spelled peopole. In these pictures, the kids are making their gingerbread houses. 

Brycen's Primary Talk

Brycen gave a talk on Families this past Sunday in primary. He read his talk while dad showed the pictures. Mom got to sit in the back and listen, I was so proud. Here is what he said:

Families are a very important part of Heavenly Father's plan. Our prophets have taught us that the family is sacred.

This is a picture of my family. Heavenly Father created families to bring happiness to his children.

This is a picture of Adam and Eve. They were the first family on earth. God commanded them to have children. Since then, each of us has been commanded to marry and have children.

This is a picture of me when I was a baby. Heavenly Father wants each child who comes to earth to receive a body and to have a loving mother and father.  Mothers and fathers are responsible for teaching their children the gospel.

This is a picture of my mom and dad getting married in the temple. One of the blessings of being married in the temple is that our families can be together forever.

This is a picture of me with my brother Blake and my sister Allie. We have been taught that we must be kind to our families. We should never do or say anything that would hurt each others feelings.

I am very thankful for my family. I love them and I know they love me. I'm glad Heavenly Father made it possible for us to be together forever.

Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve at our house for the first time since we've been married. We made some yummy soup for dinner. Jared made a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their presents Grandma Garbett sent. The kids put on their new p.j.'s  and then watched A Christmas Story, while I wrapped presents in the other room. It was a fun to start our own traditions as a family.

The boys wanted a wii for Christmas, and Santa Claus did not disappoint. Allie loved helping rip open presents. The weather was so bad, we ended up staying home all Christmas day and playing the wii. 

Christmas time happenings!

This Christmas we made the effort to get a family picture for a christmas card, I even went to the trouble of  designing it myself! The weather has been so crazy snowy here in the Portland/Vancouver area, I wasn't able to get out to have it printed, so I've resorted to putting

 it on the blog for you all to see. Thanks to everybody who sent us a Christmas card, we love to receive them and to hear how you are doing!

Jared pulling the kids on a tarp in the snow!

Allie is growing up so fast! She loves to read books especially "momo" (Elmo) books.  She is walking all over the place, getting into everything including the toilet, the cupboards and the garbage. She loves mommy but when daddy comes home she wants nothing to do with mommy! Some of the words she is saying are; Mommy, daddy, ball, bear and baba (bottle). She loves her pink blanket, her bottle and her binki. 

Decorating gingerbread cookies.

The remodel complete

In August we purchased this house, I hated the inside but Jared talked me into buying it and then remodeling! It was tons and tons of work but it is finally done, except for the backsplash in the kitchen and replacing the light fixtures. We were finally able to move in Nov. 14th. So here is the project that stole our whole summer, has practically made me antisocial and made me neglect my blog! I'm soooo glad it is done! Was it worth it?... I'm still not sure....but it is fun to finally say after 81/2 yrs of marriage we finally own a home!

We replaced all the trim, painted the entire house, and put in new blinds.

Rounded the square corners and replaced all the doors.

Replaced the wire racks with the old cabinets from the kitchen.

We put in granite countertops, undermount sinks and new faucets in all the bathrooms.

Jared's Dad helped us open up this wall. 

We knocked out this half wall up the stairs and replaced it with a wrought iron railing.

And my favorite part, but the most work!.. The Kitchen. We added recessed lighting, new cabinets, new appliances and put in tile flooring.