Dino Museum

Britten's preschool took a field trip today to the Dinosaur Museum. Britten has been counting down the days for a week and was so excited. He has spent the week watching Dinosaurs, Night at the Museum, The Land Before Time. He even pulled out his box of dinosaurs that he has not played with in years. The kids had such a great time!! It is a fabulous museum that we have been to several times. That is one bonus of living in a bigger city!

One way to enjoy the winter is to get out in it!

Last Saturday we took a drive up American Fork Canyon. It is about 25 minutes from our house. It was such a beautiful sunny winter time day! I'm glad we had our camera to snap some pictures.

FRESH SNOW!

There is something magical about looking upon a fresh snow as the sun shines down. I took the first picture from our back door this morning after we got a few inches last night. The snow just sparkles. Don't you love our ghetto chair buried in the snow. The second picture is taken from the front of our upstairs bonus room on a different day.

Max's favorite place

When Max is not trying to sleep on me, his very favorite spot is probably the warmest spot in the house. He sleeps right in front of the vent in the kids bathroom. Good thing he is not an outside cat, he would not survive the cold.

my potatoe heads

Sarah wanted to play with her mrs. potatoe head today before she took a nap. When I came in her room to read her a few stories this is what I found. My very own Sarah head. Then Britten wanted in on the action!

MAXIMUS

After the tragic death of our cats, the kids decided they were ready for another little playmate. So, one Saturday we were driving past a pet store and thought we would stop in to see the animals. Of course they had one kitten that was too cute. We held him for about 30 minutes there in the shop and decided we would try him out at home. He has been a good little kitten. Sarah plays with him hourly and loves to get him out of the laundry room in the morning when she wakes up. For some reason he follows me everywhere and loves to sleep in my neck. The good news for max is that he is an inside cat. Hopefully he will be a little safer indoors.

Jeff just told me a week ago that our friends chocolate lab is pregnant in Cedar. They have promised Jeff the pick of the litter for free... So, I guess in a month or two we will have a chocolate lab puppy. Am I a sucker or what???

ICE FISHING!

Jeff and Britten started fishing together when he was about 2 years old. We discovered that Britten has the luck of the Irish when it comes to fishing. I think every time he has gone he has caught something with his little superman fishing pole. Last winter Jeff bought an auger (not sure how to spell) to go ice fishing. This winter they headed up to Strawberry Reservoir to do a little fishing. After about 3 hours of fishing Britten decided, "There are no fish in strawberry resible". He was very disappointed. Maybe they'll have better luck next time!

BABY'S FIRST PICTURE!

It was so exciting to see our little baby on the ultrasound. It was such a spiritual moment for us. He looks healthy with all of his fingers and toes. Britten is so excited to have a baby brother. When I told him it was a boy he said, "That's what I wanted!" I am glad he was not disappointed. Sarah said she was happy too! Now she will have many body guards as she grows up! In the first picture you can see his little profile and it is hard to tell on the computer but he has his legs up over his head with toes pointing down over the top of his head. The second I think is sweet of his little hand. What a miracle.

Something to make any girl SMILE

FLOWER DELIVERY for Leigh Butt!

One day about 3 weeks after we moved in, I found a delivery notice on the door. Someone from the flower shop came by but I must not have heard the doorbell. I of course called Jeff and asked if he's sent flowers and he denied. Around 6pm my cute neighbor Michelle comes over with these beautiful flowers in hand. They delivered them to her by mistake. She got very excited and called her hubby to thank him when he said he did not send flowers. Then she read the card which was addressed to Leigh Butt. My cute cousin Steve and I have had this joke for years about him sending me flowers and me never getting them. I think this is the second time he has officially sent them where they did not get lost in the mail. He sent them as a congrats on the new house, new promotion, new baby... what a great cousin is he? Besides the fact he calls me Leigh butt. Well, the story gets better. We invited our neighbors over the following week for a family night to decorate Christmas cookies. So, all week long they thought they were going to the BUTT's house. They joked about it for a week saying, "we're going to the butt's house, we live next door to the butt's"... etc. Then in church on Sunday they heard someone call us the Bullock's and realized sadly they did not live next door to the Butt's. We had a great laugh over it though. Good old Steve BUTT!

Christmas Morning

We put up a fake tree this year that we bought a few years back. I looked for a few weeks for a skirt for the bottom and star for the top. I found a star for the top but could not find a skirt for the bottom. Well, when my parents arrived, I realized I did not need a skirt because their presents filled the bottom of the tree nicely. Good thing they came this year... The kids had a ball opening their many presents. I did not get to many pictures because I was video taping most of the morning. A highlight for Britten was that Santa brought him bumble bee the transformer. He was jumping up and down!! Thank you Santa! Sarah's highlight was her tea set from Santa. For months she has been coming up to me whispering in my ear, "MOM, can Santa bring me a little tea set for Christmas?" She has played with it every day since opening it up and sometimes several times in one day.

CHRISTMAS EVE!

Christmas Eve was nice and relaxing. It was snowing outside and we enjoyed a good time inside drinking hot chocolate. Britten was so very excited to leave cookies for Santa and the kids enjoyed opening one present before they went to bed.

Christmas PJ's!

We started this fun tradition when Britten was a baby. I am not sure where I learned about it but I know many people do it! So, every Christmas Eve the kids open their pajamas and wear them that night.

What is Christmas without GINGERBREAD houses?

The good old gingerbread house... We bought this kit to make a gingerbread house around the 1st of December. Britten asked me several times if we could make it and I never felt up to it. So, the days passed us by and before we knew it Christmas had already come and gone. So, we made it a day or two before the new year. The kids were so excited and loved sticking the candy in the frosting. Our cute neighbor Jake (7 years old) came over and was very impressed with our little house.

The BIG MOVE

I did not take any pictures of our move. I guess because moving is not really a highlight in life. We found out in October that Jeff's company wanted him to transfer up north to the Provo area. Jeff started around the first of November and recruited Lynnie and Papa John to come and help me with the kids. I was still in my first trimester and not feeling so hot. We slowly started packing for the target day of November 14th to move. We had a 26 foot trailer reserved. As Jeff and his Dad started to fill it up we realized there was no way our stuff would all fit inside. So, we had to get another 26 foot trailer. The second one was full of boxes mostly and a few items of furniture. Jeff's parents were life savors. We could not have done it without them. They made runs to the office supply store for packing material almost daily and made sure we were well fed and the kids were well entertained! Thank YOU to the Bullock's! Pictures of our new house will follow. I have not taken any yet!

The pictures that did not make the Christmas card!

Every year I try to take a picture of the kids to put in a Christmas card. This year was a bit of a challenge. We moved in the middle of November and so between moving in and getting out Christmas decorations their was not much time to work on Christmas cards. One morning I decided finally to just take their picture and they were not to excited about it! It gets very challenging to take pictures of more than one kid. All of you out there with more than one know what I am talking about... Anyway, I thought some of these were pretty funny. Sarah is at the stage of the weird smile. She kind of resembles Shanaenae in the one with her big lips. At one point I told the kids to open their eyes wide because Britten has smiley eyes like his dad. Well, Sarah's eyes look like they are going to pop out. After about 30 something pictures we got a few good ones. Then I had printer problems and a missing address book! So, to those of you that did not get our card this year, I am very sorry. Here is what you missed.

Face Painting

These are some of my favorite pictures. Britten saw the face painting station and knew right away he wanted his face painted! They both sat really still while the lady painted their faces. Britten has really sensitive eyes that water all the time. As soon as she started painting on his face his eyes started to water. I thought he was going to ask her to stop but he sat there with his eyes shut tight until she finished. They were so proud of the artwork on their faces. Every time they passed a mirror they had to stop and examine. Britten was really bummed out when it came time to wash it off the next day...

Some of the Zoo Wildlife

The Panda Bears are really amazing creatures. That was my favorite exhibit. They said there are only 39 living panda bears in the United States and 5 of them are at the San Diego Zoo. The monkey was a favorite of Britten's. When we walked up to this monkey Britten looked at him and said, "hey, he looks just like the Grinch!" It was very funny. And lastly are the biggest monkeys at the zoo that day.