To Salt Lake for Some Birthdays!

Well my mom called us last thursday to invite us to a Birthday dinner at my Aunt Stacie's Sunday night. My sister Ashlea, My brother Derek and my cousin Eric all have birthdays within 2 weeks! I let Darren know but seriously didn't think he would say "yes" or that we would be leaving the next morning! I was so excited! I'm really glad we went because I felt really bad for missing my brother's first MMA fight! He won, no surprise there! And he loves fighting for his team, FightKing!

Kaiden was beyond ready to go off to Grammy's house! He packed all that he thought he would need, Pooh and Roo! lol

Jaxton was getting ready for Grammy too, by working on his smiles! Not that it's hard for this guy!

We arrived about 5 pm and got settled in.

My sister Ashlea drove up from Spanish Fork to spend the night and see us.

Darren and I had to go the store for a late night Milk run. It was then I decided Darren and I can not go shopping past 11 pm ever again! We bought way more than we were planning including ALL of the Harry Potter movies on a whim!! I guess we'll just put those babies under the tree, if we can wait that long!

I was asked to make Cake Bites, I doubt I'll have any future visits to SLC that won't include making those sweet treats! Haha! My brother is a HUGE Bubblegum fan. Not specifically the candy, but more of the flavoring. He loves Bubblegum Ice Cream so I figured I'd make him some Birthday Bubblegum Cupcakes. WOW, they turned out FANTASTIC!

I baked for a bit Saturday morning and then we headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, but not before meeting up with my brother and his kiddo, Sadie!

Kaiden loves having his cousin around. However I think she quickly got annoyed of him "RAWRing" in her face. lol

In the car to the Aquarium!!!!!!

Poor Jaxton had some shots friday morning before we left town, and he was SOOOOOO sick the entire trip. Poor lil guy!

We all had a great time at the aquarium! I think Kaiden's favorite part was getting to touch lots of the little sea animals, like starfish, stingrays, anemones, etc!

Playing with the stingrays!

Turtle!!

Jaxton was just content being parked nest to the giant fish tank! lol

After playing there for a few hours, we went to the mall to play for a bit. Darren was so sweet and bought me some chocolates from my very favorite sweets shop, See's Candies! One day I will live next door to one of these! While at the mall, my sister called to tell us she and her beau Coby would be meeting up with us! We were pretty excited but I bet you can guess how excited we were when we saw a PINK ROCK on her finger!

So of course we had to celebrate with food and to the Olive Garden we all went! lol. My family has a sick food obsession, Im seriously surprised we are all as small as we are! Saturday was a GREAT day! Sunday was good too though. In fact Elder Tom Perry is in my mom's ward and we got to visit with him and his wife for a bit after church in their home! They are such sweet people! We enjoyed being with my Aunt Stacie and the whole fam! We only stayed at the dinner for about 2 hours and headed back on the road. The plan was to drive straight home, but Jaxton had a blow out about 30 minutes from Grandma Joyce's so we were only going to stay for 15 minutes and ended up spending the night. lol. We love that lady! Kaiden is so much easier to watch at other people's homes now. So glad he grew out of that super crazy and destructive phase. The next morning we went and saw Rod and Darla. They loved seeing the boys and it was fun to chat over some caramel apples!

And so ended our totally spontaneous trip! lol.

Shimmers and Glitters!

Random post, not related to family at all. I try not to do these which is why.................

I love our ward! All of the girls there are like my sisters! Several of them have begged me to start a blog with random crafts and recipes I've collected and so http://shimmersandglitters.blogspot.com/ was created! I love those girls so much and I'm so glad they pushed me to do this! :D Anyways, go check it out and be sure to "Follow" it! It's been lots of fun to do!

If you're curious as to why I choose that name, and I know ya'll are! It was because "sparklesandsprinkles" was taken, haha! Great name right!? Of course it was taken! When Darren and I were dating I came up with the line "I love you to Shimmers and Glitters!" It was like "Bits and Pieces" but a MILLION times better! When he got me a Tiffany's necklace for my wedding present he had the back engraved with the same saying. It's kinda our thang and I LOVE IT! I actually don't think many people know that, but there ya go! =D

Brotherly Love

So Jaxton is 6 1/2 months now and I've been meaning to give him his Half Birthday check in for about 2 weeks now. What can we say? We love the lil stinker! He is a way chill kid.

Kaiden does most of the entertaining for him, in fact Jaxton PREFERS watching and playing with his brother over his parents. HOWEVER, he only likes to be fed bottles by his mom or on his own! And this boy LOVES to eat. Jaxton loves eating, but not so much baby food.

He prefers to feed himself. We usually use a "mesh feeder" and put fresh or frozen fruit in it and let him gnaw away.

He throws a fit when his food is all gone. Kaiden was the same although he ate much less. Jaxton has been great, he puts himself to sleep! Half the time he falls asleep in your arms while you feed him and the other half of the time you just lay him down when he's sleepy and he does the rest. What a breeze! When we are out and he is tired he won't let anyone hold him, he just wants to be put in his carseat and fall asleep on his own!!! How sweet is that!?

He takes several naps ranging from 45 minutes to 3 hours and goes to bed at 7 pm. He wakes about 1-2 times a night. This is strange because Kaiden always slept through the night. At least he is never awake for more than 2 minutes either time. I'm thinking he will be beaking teeth soon because he loves to gnaw on EVERYTHING, but mostly our fingers! He can't crawl yet but he does something similar on his back. He will bridge up and scoot, so I guess you can say he's mobile! Jaxton loves rolling over, you can hardly keep the boy on his back. Diaper changes have become quite the circus act as he bridges and scoots out of his diaper and then tries to roll around. Haha.

He, like his brother LOVES the Jumperoo, He throws fits to get into it! What a great investment! We have a few nicknames for the boy, "Little Boy Blue," "Baby Jax," "Jaxxy Poo," "Goo Goo," "Goo Goo Bear," but mostly he goes by "Baby," or "Baby Brother!" He rarely gets called Jaxton, which is a shame because it is an awesome name! lol. We just love having him in our family and can't imagine life without him!

Now to Kaiden.... what can we say about our lil Sour Patch Kid!? I always joke that we MUST have a crazy toddler because our friends with toddlers have said so. He is a mess maker and finds even the nastiest of things to play in. We HAVE to put him to bed in zip up jammies with safety pins because he will unzip them, take his diaper off and play in his own poop ANY chance he gets. Although he has a wild side he also has a very sweet side. His smile and laughter really get ya. I actually let him get away with alot because of his sweet smile.He goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes at 7:30 without fail. He takes 1, 2-3 hour nap still which is great! I usually use that time to get some caft projects done. And most days Jaxton takes a nap during the same time, which is a little piece of heaven!

He has 2 best friends, Carter and Autumn! I'm so lucky to be in a ward with girls that are so cute and so much fun and have little kids that are my kids age! We get together often for play groups and to hang out! Kaiden is an extremley social kid, which makes me happy! He has no fear going up to other kids, saying "hi" and playing with them! He can sometimes be a bully and be possessive over his toys but I think that's normal toddler stuff. One day I took Kaiden to McDonald's to play and I saw Kaiden push a kid so hard the kid, who was a foot taller than Kaiden, fell right on his back. He got a time out for it, but I gotta admit it was impressive. Kaiden has been play Boxing with Darren, so I assume that's where he got it from. Haha. Kaiden LOVES putting gloves on to Box! Kaiden's favorite movie at the moment is Monsters Inc., so it's not uncommon for Kaiden to go up to random kids and RAWR in their faces, quite loudly. lol. This cracks me up! He also has an evil laugh, which is hilarious! It's something lik e"Muahahahaha!" lol. He has grown up so much. He plays with toys longer and will sit down and watch a 20 minute show! His favorite cartoon at the moment is The Backyardigans!

If I had to guess Kaiden's "favorite" thing it would be anything with wheels that moves or that moves him. He gets so excited when an airplane flies over our house or when he sees a train! lol. His favorite toy is the 4-Wheeler right now because he thinks it's a Monster Truck. He's even tried to drive over the baby like Monster Trucks drive over beater cars. Of course Jaxton was jsut laughing! haha! Kaiden gets a kick out of getting his brother to crack up!

Kaiden's favorite food is Mac N Cheese! And anything I bake! His other daily staple is chocolate milk! He probably asks for it 5 times a day! lol. Kaiden is a lil daredevil and LOVES to count to 3 and jump off our couch. It has been great to see him breaking the language barrier! He puts sentences together and has A LOT less melt downs now that he can just explain what he wants/ what he's upset about. Kaiden-roo LOVES helping out! If I'm baking or sewing or cleaning he HAS to be right up in my project helping me as I go. Last night I was letting him press on my foot pedal as I was sewing our Christmas stockings. He had a blast. lol

I have a few videos I need to upload so check back soon!

TTFN!

Halloween Parte Dos!

Now I know it's over a week past Halloween however, my friend took pics of the Tunk or Treat and she was moving this week (just across town THANKFULLY) so I patiently waited for her to email them to me! And she did!

My friend Lauren and I at our ward's Trunk or Treat!

I had such GREAT ideas to decorate our Expedition, but the Rexburg weather was SUPER windy. Seriously reminded me of tornado weather back in Oklahoma! Anyways I was lucky enough to get a few streamers taped up. Half of my decorations flew down the street, haha! We only stayed about 40 minutes because the wind plus the cold was a little ridiculous! I dont even think Kaiden cared. lol

BOY, did Kaiden absolutley LOVE Halloween! He still screams "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" lol, maybe he still thinks he will get candy!? This boy sure loves the sweets! I'm so glad I went with the Pirate theme for Kaiden. I was able to easily layer it for the cold weather and he got to tote around, really swing around, his sword! Jaxton's skunk costume was great too! We layered underneath it but the costume covered head to toe PLUS had mittens. So we never had to worry about him being too cold. Skunks are my fave!

Grandma Dena sent us a package that arrived just on the day of Halloween and had some adorable pajamas in them! I had to take pictures because my boys are just too cute!!!

Cheeser!

Hehe, mini Darren!!!!!

Best Buds! I love having sons and they love being brothers!

It's crazy to wonder where we will be trick or treating next year! We'll let everyone know any news we get about law schools!

TTFN!!!

Halloween Part One!

Our Halloweeny weekend started Friday with a party at our good friends, the Ross'. Christina is such a cute girl! She graduated in elementary education and always has the cutest kids parties! As you can tell, Kaiden is a pirate this year! And a handsome one at that!

ARRRRRRRRGH!

And Jaxton was our Lil' Stinker!!! Skunks are probably my favorite animal! lol

We had a great time and I had a blast making the treats we brought!

Frankie Cake Pops!

Kaiden at the kids table. lol

This is my good friend and neighbor, Lauren! We like to pretend her lil punkin, Ellie and Jaxton go on dates! lol. Jaxton tries to be a gentleman and hold her hand the whole time. ;D She also has a toddler boy, Carter, so Lauren and I hang out quite often!

This cute lil Minnie Mouse is my friend Chelsea's lil girl Autumn. Kaiden and Autumn play together ALL the time. If you ask Kaiden if Autumn is his girlfriend he will say "yes!" lol

Here's my friend Chelsea and her lil boy John aka Darth Vader! I have no clue what the lil boys are looking at. haha. Chelsea and her husband Josh came over after the party and we played games and told scary stories until midnight! lol

Six months old!!!!!!!!!!

On Saturday we went to "Boo at the Zoo" at the Tautphause Park Zoo. I remembered an extra camera battery, however forgot the memory card! LAME! So you'll have to forgive the few crappy pics I got off our phone. :D We met up with Lauren and Skyler and their 2 babies!

Kaiden saying hi to the donkey! Darren and Kaiden fed this sad little donkey a Tootsie roll! lol

Darren and Kaiden watching the llamas chase each other!

The Zoo was decorated absolutley adorably! Some of the animals were out of their exhibits and to make up for it they put lots of decorations ALL over! Lots of those giant blow up decorations, pumpkins lights! They did a great job! They also had lots of vendors handing out candy. It was EXTREMLEY crowded so we all agreed to leave and grab some food at Chili's!!!! Love that place!

Sunday Kaiden and I carved pumpkins! Darren wanted nothing to do without. lol. Only because I glittered them a few weeks ago and Darren HATES with a PASSION, glitter. It gets all over and it's hard to get off. But it was okay, because Kaiden and I had some Mommy n Me time! Kaiden had a BLAST!

He loved every minute of it.

He liked being right up in the project! Haha!

Our Pumpkin Boy, Jeffery! We call him Jeffy!

Kaiden got so upset when we put Jeffy outside that Darren had to turn him so Kaiden could see him out our window. He gets really attached to his friends! lol Kaiden would keep taking Darren and I to the door to bring Jeffy inside. lol

I called this post "Halloween Part One" because tomorrow, monday is the REAL Halloween and we have a few things planned for tomorrow, so I will give it it's own post! I just LOVE Halloween and I'm thinking Kaiden does too! For several reasons, he likes to dress up, especially with a sword, he LOVES pumpkin guts, FREE candy, and getting scared! lol. The best part was when Kaiden was chanting "Halloween! Halloween!" in the car all the way to the zoo! lol

On a side note Darren has applied to 6 Law Schools:

University of Utah- Salt Lake City, UT

Gonzaga University- Spokane, WA

St. Mary's University- San Antonio, TX

Creighton University- Omaha, NE

Drake University- Des Moines, IA

University of Missouri- Kansas City, MO

I guess we'll find out what schools we got accepted to and go from there! How exciting!!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!

TTFN!

These Kinda Days Put Smiles On Our Faces!

Today was just all around fun! A friend I invited to our Halloween dinner is planning to do one for her family so she asked if she could come over and meal plan with her. I guess I've become the well known AMAZING cook/ baker in the ward. I can't say I'm not flattered! It was a great morning helping her plan her Halloween dinner.

After she left I started planning Darren and I's "middle of the day" date! I created a cutsie Scavenger Hunt. I bought a basket and decorated it real cute.

He had to use the basket to collect all of the items for our date around the house. Then he had to meet me outside where I laid out blankets, pillows and a laptop so we could watch a little Netflix.

Can you guess what we did? We toasted marshmallows and had some smores. Its kinda cold here but not freezing yet. It's like hoodie and blankets weather. It was a great time, Jaxton even joined us for awhile. lol. The smores took a little while to cook because the Rexburg wind was blowing the flame all over the place but it served it's purpose.

I thought I was surprising Darren with our "date" but really he surprised me... with a new LAPTOP. Mine had been destroyed by a team effort of Kaiden and I. lol. I was ecstatic! Its just the PERFECT computer for me! Lots of upgrades and a built in camera. It's got a bigger screen and is lighter than my old one. Darren is soo sooooooooooooo good to me. Apparently this is my early Christmas present. lol

Last night we found out Darren's LSAT scores. He got a great score and now we are deciding what schools we want to apply to. Time will tell where we end up. Finger's Crossed for Texas...... San Antonio area. (Haha, there's actually a Catholic Law School there. lol. Maybe we will end up there one day. A girl can only dream!)

I am just so happy with this time in our life! I wish we could just press pause for awhile. The excitement the endless possibilities. The crazy but cute and fun kiddos. Our awesome friends, neighbors and ward. We feel so blessed with everything that is going on right now!!!!