O Christmas Tree

We got a beautiful tree this year! I have absolutely loved having it in my house. It smells incredible and is so full and green. I love it .. there is something about having it in my house that just makes me smile (except when my boys keep using the ornaments as a kicking ball -haha ... luckily they are shatterproof!)

We had such a good time decorating the tree! We set it up and put on the lights, but didn't have quite enough so only put the star on next. I know, tradition is supposed to be to put the star on last and Kayson was just too excited! So here he is putting the star on .. with his daddy not shown! :)

Without putting on the ornaments, the boys went to bed. Altho, they had a good time playing with the ornaments first.

It turned out as a good thing that we didn't finish decoration ... b/c the tree fell down on Jess and I that night. :( It was such a disappointment for the next couple days to have our tree here, but leaning on the wall. We tried again the next night, but it was very crooked and would have fallen over too. Third time is a charm b/c it worked the 3rd night! Hooray! I put on the lights and ribbon w/o the boys, but saved the rest for them to help me with!

My big helpers.

Concentrating so hard! The finished product! Isn't it beautiful!?!

This is what Len looks like when I tell him to "look with your eyes" .. only w/o me and the camera he is looking right at the ornaments.

I'm sure it will still be up after the holidays .. especially since we'll be gone for a while .. we are all enjoying it too much!

Side note:

Glad we got more snow, the boys and I spent the entire morning playing in it! We all had a blast! Here are the 2 things Kayson wanted to make sure happened (I only have a pic of 1):

1. Build a snowman

2. Eat the snow!

I don't think they anticipated the spitting .. but they thought it was soo funny. Eat, spit, say, "yucky" and eat it again and again and again!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Last weekend, we had friends over for dinner. I wanted to be a little festive for Halloween and finally tried for the first time, on my own, Dinner in a Pumpkin! What fun!

My happy helpers, scooping out the muck and seeds!

They are hard workers and,

as Kayson says, "I a strong boy!"

The finished product!

I know the pumpkin looks a bit unappealing, but

trust me, it had to look like that for the pumpkin

to taste so good! :)

"and they all fall down!"

Having fun with friends! (If you listen carefully, you can tell Jess is having his own kind of fun with his friend!)

Photo shoot!

As you can probably tell, I'm not much of a photographer. But my boys are so cute and did pretty well for these shots, I just had to share them!

Brothers!

This is doing the "rock" after a high-five.

Sweet smiles!

One of these days I'll catch one of Kayson's

real smiles. But for now, I'll enjoy the cheese!

Playing with each other.

"cheese!"

And a video to show how much Len is learning from his big brother!

And the new outing is ...

... bowling! My boys love it! Our first time, Kayson already knew enough about what it was to be excited. The second time we were planning to go, I told Kayson and he said, "I love bowling!" Lendon showed his excitement by chanting most of the way there, "I, bowling!"

Lendon could carry the ball basically on his own.

We still helped him tho .. that would hurt!

He just loves watching the ball go.

But even more, he wanted to make sure both

mom & dad saw him push it!

The happy bowler!

Check out his hold on the ball!

He's got it down!

And now for the victory dance!

They have a dragon that the kids can push it down the lane. Lendon uses it every time, but Kayson chose not to use it at all our second time. And he's pretty good! I hate to admit this, but all 3 of my boys (Jess included) bowled a better game than me. Sad. :( That just shows how good they are .. right!?! :)

My boys!

A load of pictures .. I'll just let you enjoy them. I have to tell you the truth tho .. you're missing out, they are even cuter in real life. :) I know, is that possible!?! :)

Aren't they sweet? Especially my sweet Jess. I'm sure you all can see why I feel so lucky to be the girl in these boys life. I love them deeply and am so glad to have them! :)

Anniversary and birthday.

I know I'm a little late, but these were such fun days, I wanted to go back! Our anniversary is the day before Kayson's birthday. We got a wonderful babysitter and spent the evening together. We were able to go to a nice restaurant and have the best steak I think I have ever had. Yum! The nice thing about Jess is that we can often share a meal .. so it isn't too pricey! :) Then, with a nice deal from citydeals.com we were able to go on a sunset sailboat ride. The sunset was nice .. and it was just nice to spend the time together.

This was the yummy dessert they served us on our boat ride .. unfortunately I was soo full from dinner, it was hard to enjoy. :)

My sailing partner!

Kayson's birthday was a fun day .. but I think it was a little full for a 3 year old. He enjoyed every activity, but when the end of the day came .. he was soo tired.

We took him to Toy Story 3 for a matinee. He was so cute in the theatre. I think he was very amazed at how big the screen was .. and loved the treats he got to snack on the whole time!

We also went to Pirate Island, where they have pizza and arcade games. He had a good time with both .. especially since his friends Seth and Ellie were there.

Playing air hockey with daddy .. he did pretty well!

He requested a guitar cake (which he kept calling a piano) .. so whenever anyone asked him about his birthday, he would say "piano birthday" or "it's my birthday" or "happy birthday me" :)

Here he is enjoying cake with his friends!

His birthday is close to the 24th of July which (for those outside of Utah) is a Utah holiday .. which means we can set off fireworks. So, we ended the day with some fireworks. He loved the ones we did for the 4th, so we invited a bunch of people from the neighborhood and lit up the night. He loved it. This pic is actually from the 4th, but here he is with his good friend Gavin .. watching the fireworks!

Bedtime! As mentioned, he was so sad. Is it mean that I took a picture? I guess I wanted to remind myself to take it a little slower next year .. fun activities, just not so many (or just not so late into the night)

I am so happy to have this sweet boy in my life. He brings so many smiles to my face. I can't believe at times it's been ONLY 3 years ... just because I feel like he has been in my life forever. I am so lucky to be his mommy and so pleased with the boy he is. I love you, Kayson .. with all my heart!

Water!

Yesterday, I was planning to set up our cool beach ball sprinkler for the boys. Kayson LOVES running thru any type of water and I knew he would love it. Lendon gets in the water some, but loves being outside no matter what we're doing. :)

Plans changed, however, when we had quite the rain storm!

This was our alternative:

At least they still got to play in the water!!!