Christmas

Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad Wall's house...

football signed by the BYU football team from Grandpa Wall!

I love this picture of Dave and Addie


Christmas morning. Kelton was awesome and didn't get up until 7. Santa came! What a fun day we had. We had family come visit and relaxed all day. I am so grateful for the family I have and so don't deserve. Sam's "car"
Kelton opening his DS from Grandma Johnson

yes, I got a new laptop and a new camera (wonder what shad is going to be saying he "needs")

Anything is a hat.

Anything is a hat for Sam. Toilet seat, cars, trucks, real hats...and today he came in the living room like this....



He didn't say a word. He just came in with his shopping cart like it was a normal thing to do.

Last night I came home at 9:30 to this.I know it's not a hat, but I thought it was pretty funny.

more pics

I forgot to add these. This is with my new camera. no editing once again. for real. this is really how good this camera is... wooohooo!

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

The boys and I went to Temple Square last night and saw some lights, and some frozen air....seriously. You could see the crystals in the air we were breathing. Fun times though.

Salad a la Amy

First of all this is NOT edited at all. Doesn't it look delicous! I got a new camera for Christmas and had to make sure it worked ok and all. I made this salad for myself the other night and thought it looked so good I had to take a picture.

Ingredients you ask?
Spinach
Romaine
Hard Boiled Egg
Red Onion
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper and Parmesan dressing
Tri-color Tortilla Strips
Love

Santa

Pick up Kelton at school 3:00
Drive to University Mall-missing all but 1 light.
Arrive to see Santa 3:32.
Line closed at 3:30 for Santa's dinner HOUR starting at 4
Go to Pizza Factory (of course they have pizza!)
No pizza.
Boys get mac and cheese, me chicken parmesan with spaghetti
Kelton eats like he never has. Sam eats mine.
KJ "mom, Santa just came in!"
Santa had just walked by our table to eat his dinner! How exciting!
Told the waitress, who confirms this.
KJ "I wonder what he eats?"
Leave Pizza Factory 4:30
wait in line
Santa comes about 4:45 and wanders the line talking to children.
He puts arm around Kelton and looks at Sam
"We saw you eating at Pizza Factory Santa. We were eating there too!"
Santa "ho ho ho. Yes, I love that place. I ate chicken marsala, lasagna, salad, bread, and ice cream. That's why I am so fat. Ho ho ho."
Kelton is grinning ear to ear right now with amazement.
Sam is staring at him
Santa's helpers show up and line starts to move.
Santa takes his seat.
Wait, wait, wait
We are next. Sam keeps running to Santa to sit on his lap.
Kelton grinning.
Our turn, Sam runs up to him. stops. I lift him up. He screams.
Kelton sits next to Santa
Sam is on his lap yelling.
They tickle him-he starts to grin.
Santa asks Kelton what he would like.
He says a DS or a telescope, you choose.
"That's great. I am the King of Surprises! Mom, will you do me a favor? I am starting a little earlier this year, since my schedule is so full, so will you make sure the boys get to bed a little earlier than usual? That would be so helpful if you did that for me."
Sure Santa. I can do that.
We get suckers from Sees Candy. My fav., but do I get one? no
We leave.
Walking out to the car
"Mom, we better make sure to leave earlier from grandma's on Christmas Eve. I can't believe how much he ate. I wonder if the reindeer are here. He did surprise me a couple times with presents.I just saw something move on top of the mall. It was shaped just like the front of a sleigh. I think it's up there hiding."
What an awesome 2 hours.
Totally worth it.
Totally.

To Matt Man

Dear Sam,

Oh my dear Sam, how I love you.
I don't know what my day would be like without you in it.
You get into everything.
All I can do is laugh at you.
Last week you were able to clog the bathroom sink.
You somehow got little tiny rocks and about a roll of TP down the drain. There were other things down there as well, so it wasn't just your fault. We fixed that, so it's not a big deal at all.
You are such a climber, and you have no fear.
It's fun to watch you climb on the stove and turn it on, try to get into the medicine cabinet, the freezer, and the cupboard with the cups. You even know how to put things in the microwave and start it.
I don't know how you were able to open the laundry room door and dump the laundry soap all over the floor. What was I doing? Ah, yes, I remember, I was picking up the Christmas tree off the floor. It was only the 2nd time that day. I don't know why I didn't tie it to the wall at the beginning.
The other day, while you were in the bath after putting syrup in your hair, you decided you needed to poop. I am so happy you were able to yell mom! Poop! It was helpful because I was able to scoop it out in big pieces, versus the runny poo you had in the tub day before.
It's amazing how fast you can open the wipes and pull them all out. It's even more amazing that you can find where I have hidden them.
I love that you love to sit behind me on the computer chair just so you can rub my hair with your oh so soft hands.
You have the cutest little smile and say sorry so cute, that even though you are 2 and act like a normal 2 year old, it is so-so hard to say no to you.

I love you,
mom

PS I hope you all can sense a little sarcasm in this.

From Shad's mouth

"I was going to leave you a sticky note on the fridge last night, but I fell asleep."
Me "Oh! (smiling) was it a love note?"
"No, it was going to say do the cookies taste better the longer the dough is in the fridge?"

Typical.

*update: when i ordered these through valley view elem. shad wanted peanut butter chocolate. so i ordered that and oatmeal. i just made the cookies, delivered them to he and kelton downstairs playing video games, and he says in all seriousness, "i thought you would make the oatmeal. those are what sounded good. but i guess these are pretty good. i do love you."

the oatmeal tub is in the garbage.
kidding, but i won't be making those any time soon.

Thanksgiving

I love how they are looking at Sam


Me and my beautiful sis. It's hard to even post this picture of me, however it's a good one of her.


Ainsley just pushed him down. kidding. She is helping him up. Notice dad(grandpa) in the background.


Ben Family


I know it's been a week. If you only knew. Well, you do, since I have such a huge following and all. I will write a post about the last couple days and Sam.
Anyway, the Matt Wall family drove from Washington for the weekend. Because of this, we were able to have 2 Thanksgiving dinners. I honestly think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. For real, it is. I. Love. It.
Friday little Griffy was sealed to the family at the Draper temple. I loved seeing the family in white, and it was special to see everyone together.
Kelton and I went to the BYU U of U game with Matt, Coop, Dave, Shell, Grandma and Grandpa Wall. Ben and Hailey were there too, but not by us. It was a blast. I love watching football. I know I talk most of the game and not mostly about football, but really how often do I get to be around adults? Fun times. Great weekend.
I am thankful for my family and my friends. I wouldn't be complete without them. I love you.

Night with Shell

Aunt Shell played with Kelton, Eli, and Blakey last week. Kelton had a blast. He was also completely spent the next day. Thanks Shell, he always has fun with you.

No Fear

Shad has been talking about going to Kangaroo Zoo for the last few weeks. We went on Saturday morning. I knew Sam would love it, but didn't think he would be able to climb up the slides on his own. Wrong. He thought the kiddie area was lame. He went in the little blow ups for maybe 10 minutes, the rest of the time was on the big kid slides. His little legs were going so fast he fell a couple times running from one to the next. He threw up after about an hour, but we cleaned it up, got him a drink, and kept playing. Fun times. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.

















Last week when Sam was climbing up the file cabinet he reached the top, turned around, pulled his pants down and sat on the printer like he was going to pee. Last night he wanted to sit on the potty, so I obliged and he went in it! Now he is refusing to put on a diaper, pull up, or even big boy pants. Good times thinking he is wanting to go in the toilet, but he hardly talks yet. Anyway, I did get the undies on him for about 30 seconds today. Such a cute bum.