Christmas Lights

So we were a little late going up to the Temple to check out the lights because we have either been to busy or the weather was to cold. So we decided to head up last night since it was the last night the lights would be on. It was cold but it was still a really nice night to go and walk around.
I didn't get alot of pictures because we had a large crowd with us and the temple was so crowded but I was able to get a cute one of me with my boys.
We rode the tracks up which was the highlight for Bryce. He wanted to hold on just like Prampa (Grandpa).

Thanks Girls!

I decided to get my girlfriends together for a "girls night out" dinner. It has been so long since we have done something like this.....we do Bunco once a month but it isn't the same as just sitting around catching up.

(L to R) Katie, Me, Becky, Amie and Sheila. I just want thank these girls for such an amazing friendship....I have been friends with Becky and Katie for 30 years. I seriously grew up hooked at the hip with these two and it is so neat that we are still friends. I met Amie at ADP Lemco 4 years ago and although it isn't as long of a friendship it is going strong and I can see us being friends for a long time. Sheila has been one of those friends that I talk to almost every day for the last 15 years. She will be around FOREVER.....My best friend Misty couldn't make it to dinner but me and Misty have been friends for 20 years. Also, my girlfriend Amanda (aka TJ) We nicknamed each other TJ 8 years ago and it has still stuck. We have remained friends for 8 years. She will definatley be in attendance at the next dinner! It is amazing to have friends for so long that you know will be in your life forever. THANKS GIRLS!

Christmas Morning

Bryce took so long to open his presents I was getting impatient and wanting to help him go faster. He would open it and then want to play with each toy after it was unwrapped

Feeding his new baby named Jace. He opened up the baby and told us the baby was poopy

He got this Disney Cars couch that folds out to a bed and he wanted to open all of his presents while laying in his new bed. He would lay down and tell us he was sleeping. Braiden got really spoiled this year and got a new TV for his room. All he wanted to do was go down in his room and play video games on his new TV.

This is what happens when you wake up early and go...go...go all day long. I had two exhausted boys by the end of the day on Christmas!

Christmas Fun

My 2 favorite boys in their new Christmas Eve outfits

Bryce singing along thinking he is just as big as Braiden and Alex

Every year we dress the kids up and do the nativity and this year Bryce was baby Jesus and he was so cute. He just laid there being a baby. I think Mersade was having a hard time holding him (he isn't the lightest little baby)

My Mom has started another tradition (man our family has ALOT of traditions) that every year on Xmas Eve before the Nativity the kids will participate in a talent show. It is fun to watch the kids and all the different talents. This year I thought it would be fun to teach Bryce some sign langauge so he got up and showed all the signs that he knows.

When we got home from Grandma Heath's house and got our jammies from the PJ fairy we got our letters all written to Santa. (yep, Bryce once again thinks he is just as big as the big kids)

Merry Christmas

I want to start off by wishing everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS (even though it is Christmas Eve, I wont be posting tomorrow!) I just want to share some of our family traditions that we have kept going for a long time. I would go crazy at this time of year without some fun family traditions to remind me that the holiday's can be fun!
I want to give a HUGE thanks to Aunt Lisa who offers her house every year for the kids to come and do christmas cookies. This year Lisa took over with Bryce and it is a good thing she did because she let him to WHATEVER he wanted. I kept saying "whoa with the sprinkles" and Lisa would tell me to be quiet he was fine (yah, I wont be eating Bryces cookies) He kept saying he wanted more "sauce" which sauce meant sprinkles (dont ask, we dont) and used a whole bottle on one cookie. He loved every minute (or 1/2 hour, he lasted the longest at the table) making cookies this year.
I only got one picture of Braiden this year and it was a posed picture. He wasn't that into this year....Guess he is growing up!





See, can you blame me for not wanting to eat these? I think we will put these out for Santa Claus!

Funny Story

So about a month ago (so Bryce would have been 18 months) Bryce started calling Tim by his name instead of calling him Daddy. Well, it would frustrate Tim so bad and he would say "no, I am Daddy not Tim" and Bryce would think it is so funny that they would sit and fight back and forth....."No Tim"...."No Daddy". Well I would just sit in the background and laugh and laugh because it was driving Tim nuts (and Bryce was still calling me Mommy) So, Tim got this idea that he would teach Bryce that my name is Vicki and make him call me by my name. The first time Tim told Bryce my name was Vicki and Bryce said "No...Mommy" Ha Ha that didn't help Tim's situation. Well since then I have taught Bryce that Daddy is Tim and Mommy is Vicki. Well, he can't say Vicki, it sounds more like Sippy and I love that nobody knows he is calling me by my name instead of Mommy.
So, the other day me and Tim were standing in the kitchen and Bryce walks in and looks up at us and says "Hi Tim...Hi Sippy". Okay, I am not ready for my 20 month old "baby" to walk in a room and call me by my name. I feel like he is way to little to be doing that already! Oh well, it is so cute that I just smile and answer him.

Ho Ho Ho

Grandma Heath has started a fun tradition (I think she is trying to make it a tradition) to take all the family to a fun Christmas activity every year (last year was the Polar Express). This year she took the entire family to Wheeler Farm to have dinner with Santa. It is so much fun to have the whole family all together, it rarely happens. We also went on a hay ride around Wheeler Farm to see the xmas lights which was cold but we were all dressed for the weather so it made it lots of fun!

Playdough

With the weather so dang cold it is really hard to keep a 19 month old entertained in the house so I got on and googled salt dough and decided that me and Bryce would make some playdough to keep us entertained. It was so easy and so much fun.
2 C. Flour
1 C. Salt
1 C. Water
1 Tablespoon of cooking oil (optional)
Nice and safe if the kids try to eat some. (Ha Ha, Bryce only tried once and told me it was yucky.)




Bryce made me roll the dough into little balls and then he stacked them on top of each other. (That is what the picture is of)

Snow much fun!

So this is pretty much Bryce's first time out in the snow. He went out and played in it last year but I don't really count it since he was too little to understand what was going on. This year it started snowing pretty hard so we ran down to Kmart to get Bryce and Braid some snow boots and the whole way down there Bryce just kept saying "my hand" meaning he wanted us to let him touch the snow. So, when we got home we bundled him up and let him go and he walked straight over to the snow and put one finger in and lifted it up and said "Bryce's hand....Brrrr"

My Tag of 8's

I have been tagged so here it goes.....(thanks Les)

Favorite T.V. Shows:
1. The Hills
2. Cops
3. Americas Most Wanted
4. The Bachelor and or The Bachelorette
5. Criminal Minds
6. Desperate Housewives
7. Survivor
8. American Idol
9. Amazing Race ( I added another cause I oviously watch alot of TV)

What I Did Yesterday:
1. Got Braiden up and ready for school which was amazingly easy today??
2. Got home from taking Braid and made Bryce breakfast and got him dressed for the day
3. Read some of of my book (that is consuming my day!)
4. Met Leslie at Sam's Club for some shopping
5. Met Leslie & Amie at Jumpin Jacks to get some energy out of our kids. Then got lunch at Fazolis.
6. Picked Braid up from school and took him to get a haircut which was MUCH needed
7. Went and did more xmas shopping at Target with Tim. Almost done, YEAH!
8. Soaked in the bathtub and read more of that dang book before heading off to bed.

Favorite Restaurants:
1. Olive Garden
2. McDonalds
3. Sizzler
4. Fazolis
5. Apollo Burger
6. Geckos
7. Subway
8. Gosh, I have no more and I thought we ate out alot.

I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Christmas Day
2. A much needed vacation
3. Christmas Dinner at Wheeler Farm with Extended Family
4. Getting my braces off
5. Survivor Season finale
6. Starting the new year
7. MOPS ( I always look forward to this)
8. A date night with Tim

My Wish List:
1. Tim wouldn't have to work so many hours
2. A better more reliable economy
3. Braiden would have more friends in our neighborhood (less driving for me)
4. I could go to another Denver Broncos game with Braiden
5. Taking Braiden and Bryce to DisneyLand
6. Cuter hair
7. Getting my family 4 wheelers
8. I was a better photographer.

I Tag the following:
1. Amanda
2. Katie
3. Amie
4. Lisa C.
5. Becky (guess u will have to get to get that blog up and going)
6. Dani

Happy Holidays!

This is my favorite time of the year (or I guess I should say favorite time of winter. My most favorite time of year is SUMMER)
I love all the activities that come with winter and Christmas. It is so much more fun watching my kids enjoy it. Braiden is acting like he is getting too old for some of the activities but I am not buying it....He loved sitting on Santa's lap with his little brother.

GO BRONCOS!

What an amazing trip this was.....thanks to my husband and my Dad! I owe Tim a huge thank you for letting me go down to Denver with my Dad and Braiden for a Denver Broncos game. I can say this was on my "bucket list" and was such a fun thing to experience with my Dad and my little Broncos fan Braiden.



It was hard not to get excited when the music came on and the Broncos came running out through the huge blown up Bronco!




These were our amazing seats (My Dad is in the orange sweatshirt). We were in between the 10 and 20 yard line up 30 rows. It was perfect because we were up high enough that we could see the action but we weren't too high to see.


Me and Braiden walked right down to the field to get a picture before the game started....we were right behind the team while they were practicing. It was amazing.



My dad was going to Colorado Springs to visit with a friend so we stayed in Colo Springs and on Sat. before my Dad met up with his friend he dropped me and Braid off at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. We were going to be there from 12-5 and I was a little nervous that we would be there forever but this zoo was amazing and was so big that we had NO problem fiding plenty to do until Grandpa came back to get us. Braiden's favorite part of the zoo was feeding the giraffes crackers. They have the longest tongues I have ever seen.

First touchdown!

Way to go buddy! We play for such an awesome coach that gave Braiden an opportunity to play positions that he has never played before (one of them being a running back) and gave Braiden a chance to score a touchdown. I am so proud of Braiden and so very excited for him. GO BINGHAM! We are playing our Championship game this Saturday and can't wait to see the outcome.

The Perfect Pumpkin!

Carving our pumpkins
We had alot of fun carving pumpkins this year. Braiden couldn't decide what to carve on his and then he decided to carve a 72 which his his football number. I thought that was a neat idea. I carved a smiley face and of course Tim carved a face with a big mouth and saved some guts from his pumpkin to put outside the mouth to make it look like it was throwing up. That is Tim for ya! Bryce had alot of fun coloring on his pumpkin. We gave him a marker and let him color all over it and as soon as he thought is was good he colored on mine, Braids and Tim's pumpkin too. He just kept looking inside my pumpkin and saying "eeewww".





Pumpkin Patch
We had so much fun going to pick the perfect pumpkin. When we got there Bryce just kept pointing and saying "whoa poompkin". We all picked out what we thought was the perfect pumpkin and then headed home to carve them.

Trunk or Treat

We decided to go down to the West Jordan Park for a Halloween Trunk or Treat with my friend Amie and she ended up running a little late so me and Bryce got to hang our together for some fun Halloween activities. When we got there they were doing a Halloween magic show which only held Bryce's attention for a few minutes and then he got a balloon sword from a clown (which he LOVED) and then he walked in a costume parade in front of everyone which he wasn't even sure why everyone was looking at him but it was cute. My friend Amie got there in time to Trunk or Treat and the kids loved it. Bryce would say "treat" and as soon as they put it in his pumpkin he would take it right back out and want to hold it. He was holding a piece of candy in each hand at all times. It was alot of fun but it is amazing how I always feel like I am missing someone when Braid isn't there. He went to a Halloween party with his football team (I am sure he had more fun there) but we sure missed having him with us!

Fall Leaves

Braiden is such a sport to rake up all the leaves so him and Byrce could play in them. Bryce didn't like to sit on the pile unless Braid was sitting right next to him. I have so much fun watching Braiden be a big brother. He is such a good brother.