Colton's Haircut

Do you think Colton likes getting his haircut?? 

He is getting better at sitting there actually.

But...this time...it was ME who didn't want it cut.

It was bleached blonde from the summer and I LOVE his hair long

but it grows like a chia pet and it was time.

Here is the new Colton with dark hair.

Why aren't my kids toeheads??

I always was.

Oh well, I guess we will wait until next

summer for the blonde hair again :(

He is still cute.

German Dress

 My grandma and grandpa got this dress in Germany when I was about a year old.  My aunt found it when Mylee was a couple of months old and sent it to me.  I don't think it would have the same sentimental value had I not lived in Germany a couple of years ago. 

I LOVE IT.

I would always see the cute German dresses and want to get one, but didn't know when or IF I would be blessed with a little girl, so I'm So glad my gradparents got this for me 27 years ago!

It sure made me miss this beautiful place.

Matt and I always talk about living there and it is like a dream, it seems unreal that we lived there.  I would LOVE to go back and will... somday.



Thankful

Since I am not very good at getting on every day....I am going to combine all my thankfulness in one post because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I finally have a few minutes to sit down!

I am thankful for the gospel. 
At church on Sunday we had two talks on gratitude.

 I loved them.  They were great talks. 

Exactly what I needed.

I am so grateful for the opportunity that we have to go learn more each
week about our Savior and the gospel. 

I am also thankful for my parents!  My dad has been without a job for 16 months, you can read how I feel about that here.  Anyway- 5 months after I wrote that post, he is still without a job.  The funny thing is, they are still optimistic and happy as ever.  I love them.  They are great examples to me and are a couple of the most positive people I know through whatever it may be.  I strive to be like them and thank them for their example.

I'm also grateful for Matt's parents, for all the support and words of encouragement in our journey through Law School. 

I am grateful for awesome friends. 
We just got back from a couple of days in Coeur D' Alene.
 It was awesome!
We stayed up late, ate great food, played Hilarious games, shopped, and they bet Matt to jump in Lake Coeur D'Alene, swim 30 yards and back.  He did it and won $120!!!  I was so proud ;) 

And I am grateful for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  This is Matt and I's 6th Thanksgiving being married.  The first 3 he was traveling with basketball, the 4th he was gone all day and had a dinner with his team in Germany, so this is our 2nd Thanksgiving together and I love it (although he is going to be studying all morning ;))  I love Holidays and being with my family and friends!


Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone can find lots to be thankful for!!!

Thankful

I am just not cut out to be an every day blogger I guess....


BUT today I am thankful that we made the decision to come to Moscow.  I really don't love cold weather, the snow, and living a small town in the middle of no where, but I LOVE MOSCOW.

I love our crazy busy lives up here, our friends, and the people. 

Last night a couple in our ward living up here with no kids offered to babysit for us. Wow.  How nice was that.  So we got to go on a date because of some nice fellow students up here.

I found a group of girls that LOVES to play basketball, all the time, with kids in tow, and anytime.  I could not find that last year.  I have realized how much I have missed it, and these girls are SO fun- I don't know if I'm going to find this everywhere.

I love our apartment, I know so lame, who likes to live in an apartment.  But, I have a friend that I can walk out my door and not even put my shoes on and talk to for a minute (and she has 4 kids living in that apartment, I should NEVER complain about my 2 kids in here being squishy)  We have a clubhouse in the middle of us all, we can just run over at night once the kids are in bed and hang out.  And I think it is just perfect for our family right now.

I love the rolling hills, the trees, the cute houses, the tiny mall, no restaraunts to choose from so we spend no money haha, etc. etc.

Anyway, the closer it is getting to leaving this place, the more I don't want to.

I am grateful that we have had this great opportunity to live up here.

Does this post sound overly positive???  I guess it's a good day cause I'm going to see Breaking Dawn tonight :)  woot woot!

Day 13

Today I am grateful for Sundays.

It is the best day of the week.

And today was even better because Matt had no meetings this morning and got home an hour after church :)

Mylee took a 3 hour nap, and so did Matt and I.  Colton watched the movie Rio- twice!

Matt and I made a Japanese dish my dad learned on his mission, "Curry", for dinner.

I made chocolate chip cookies and we had friends over and ate them :)

Colton and Mylee danced in the living room while listening to music.

We put the kids to bed and Matt and I sat here and looked at Christmas presents, he told me he can't think of one thing he wants for Christmas so I told him he wasn't going to get anything and not to feel bad.  Why waste the money if he doesn't want anything right??  He is totally fine with that.  He also told me Colton is still too young to remember what he gets, so why get him or Mylee anything?

Sad to be in Law School...but it is the best time when our kids are young and we live in a tiny apartment- no room for anything else!

We are having our nightly snack and then will go read in bed together. 

I love our simple Sundays.

I'm Thankful for

...The love of my life.

About 7 years ago, I met Matt.  I have never been happier than this time that I have known/been married to him.

We went to a "marriage workshop" last night for church and in one of the classes they talked about things you have had to compromise since you have been married.  I seriously had to think about it Forever and I don't think there are many things i have had to compromise being married to Matt.  We are a lot alike, have the same interests, hobbies, and he is the most easy going person I know-never complains and enjoys just about everything.  I love love love him.

Today

I am thankful for Colton and Mylee.  (This counts as 2 days :))

Colton will be 3 years old in a few weeks.  He is the sweetest little boy.  He has been a really slow to start talking and sometimes it breaks my heart to see him trying to communicate and can't. 

He gives the best kisses and hugs, is very even-tempered, loves to help me clean-up his toys and does it very willingly, I seriously can not imagine my life without that little man.  He has brought SO much joy into our home.  I will always treasure taking him to Germany with us when he was 8 months old and Matt leaving me there for a week alone, not knowing anyone, How grateful I was for that sweet little 8 month old.  I love him more than ever and am SO glad I get to be his mom.

Mylee- this little girl can melt anyone's heart. I remember the night before I went in to be induced with her I cried and cried that I would not be able to love another baby as much as Colton.  But, it amazes me how much love you can keep giving, because this little girl had me wrapped around her finger the moment she was born.  She will give you a big old, dimply smile any time you look at her.  She gives the best kisses and she LOVES her little family.  She is definitely a mama's girl, but as soon as her dad walks in the room, she wants his attention!  And Colton, that's a whole different story, she follows him around all day and wants to do everything that he does.  I think it's the sweetest thing.

Being a mom is definitely not the easiest thing...there are lots of rough days, but even more great moments to make up for those bad days!  I have been really busy the past couple of weeks, and I feel like when I get busy, I start trying to get out of the house every day just to not have to sit at home all day with my kids....So the past couple of days I have been questioning my role right now.  I am a stay at home mom, I should TREASURE being at home with my kids, sitting on the ground and playing with them, cuddling up and watching movies, teaching them the alphabet, singing with them, dancing with them, drawing with them, feeding them, etc. etc.  Pretty soon, they are going to be gone at school all day and I am going to miss spending all day every day with them and them depending on me! 

So, I am thankful that I can be a mom.  Thankful for my kids.  And thankful for Heavenly Father guiding me, reminding me of my role and the importance of it because it is easy to feel like everything you do as a mom is of no importance. 

Thankful

I'm not very good at this blogging every day thing...but I am trying :)

Today, I am thankful for one of my favorite shows, "The Biggest Loser"

HaHa, no seriously though, I look forward to every Tuesday because of it.

It totally inspires me to exercise, eat healthy, and I cry every week :)

Love it!!!

Day 5-6

      Today, I am thankful for a day off!  We have had something (Matt or I, or both) every night for over 2 weeks!  Yes, SOME of them were of our choice (girls nights, playing basketball, games with friends) but this past week with the kids being sick, me being sick, and going to bed way too late because of various activities (which I loved), but today we just hung out all day. 

    I mean, we still had church and Matt had meetings before and after, and we still had to make dinner, and take care of our sweet kiddos...but it was still a day off and I think I will be going to bed at 8:30 (Thanks to Daylight Savings :))

Day 4

Well..since I haven't blogged about our Halloween yet, but I have to blog about what I am thankful for....this is going to be an I'm thankful for Holidays post :)

I love Holiday's--every single Holiday. I'm not going to lie, I don't go all out with decorating and stuff, but I love them nonetheless. 

Anyway- this year, we had lots of fun Halloween activities!  It started off with my friend Paige and her husband, Phil's annual Halloween party.  This was the weekend before Halloween.  It was a costume contest, dance, dinner, dessert, pie eating, donut eating competition.  SO fun!  My parents were still in town, and my mom actually helped decorate and they took Mylee home early so we could stay for a little more fun :)

I made Matt enter the donut eating competition since I think he has a really big mouth...and he can eat!  BUT..sadly-- HE LOST!  He got 2nd place!!  One of his friends (another law student) I guess has a bigger mouth than he does :)

Here are most of the guests...all dressed up!

The Friday before Halloween we had a ward party (no pictures) and the Saturday before, we had Trunk-or-Treating. 

The day of Halloween, we went to the mall for Trick-or-Treating.

Colton was sick, I was sick, it was perfect for us.

 My cute kids...you can tell Colton is not so happy!

Mylee was a little witch who would not keep her hat on!

O...and YES, he was a monkey last year. My mom got him this cute dragon costume, and I had made the mistake of earlier letting him try on the monkey just to see if it still fit.  So, after we made him try on the dragon costume, he only wanted to be a monkey--I wasn't going to fight him about it!

The greatest part about the night was that ALL of my friends (plus lots of other people) did a Flashmob dance to "Thriller", in the middle of the mall, while everyone was there Trick-or- Treating.  I really don't know the reason I decided not to do it, I was sick, had sick kids, was tired bla bla bla, I didn't do it but LOVED watching it!!  They were awesome...even got on the news!

So...there you have it. Our exciting Halloween (that I am thankful for ;))

Day 3

Tonight I went and played basketball.  It was the first time I have REALLY played since Colton was about 3 months old and I played in a tournament in Montana.  Let me just say, I have MISSED basketball!  I loved it.  I probably also haven't had that good of a work out since that tournament almost 3 years ago! 

Anyway, so today I am thankful for the opportunity I had to play basketball in my life. Some of my greatest friends, coaches, teammates that I have ever known came from my interaction with basketball. It has given me confidence, a free education, and some of the greatest times of my life! Basketball brought me from Georiga out west and more specifically to Pocatello, Idaho where I met my husband (totally worth it!)

(This picture was taken after Matt's last home game ever at ISU)

NaBloPoMo

So, this month is National Blog Posting Month.  You are supposed to write a blog post every day!  I don't know why I am even attempting this...BUT I figure it is a good way to count my blessings this month of Thanksgiving.  (I know, I already missed the first day)

Last night, we had a girls night.  Amazing food, fun games, made bows, and I have the greatest friends here!  We have decided we are heading to Boise for Matt's 3rd year, and this will probably be the hardest move for me thus far in my life- AND I have moved A LOT! 

I have NEVER been a girls night girl. My best friends have always been my basketball teammates or classmates, and Matt of course. Last year, Matt studied all day and every night and every Saturday all day. Us girls, we stuck together, and we all helped each other get through the first year of law school, having babies and all, without our families close by. I love these girls and am So thankful they have been in my life at this time!

We also NEVER take pictures when we get together (without our children)  Here is a picture of Some of us (we will need to get a real one sometime with everyone :))...plus some zombies hehe.  They are my work-out partners, my babysitters, my meal planners, I can go to them to talk about our kids, our good days, bad days, our sleepless nights, our favorite tv shows, desserts, crafts, our desires to be a better person, mom, wife, exerciser, eater, etc. etc.  I love them all and treasure these 2 years in Moscow I have been able to spend with them.