The Farm

I really hate how difficult it is to move photos on this blog, so in all my laziness, you will just have to deal.
We went to the Heritage Farms today. It's a non-working farm for kids and adults to come and enjoy. It was only 3 miles from our new place, which is one of the reasons I really like it here. Everything is so close. The boys had a wonderful time. Ryder really enjoyed feeding the chickens, they ground their own corn first, and then fed the chickens. Ryder did it one kernel at a time. It was hilarious, and he taught me with a great amount of seriousness how to do it the right way. They boys loved the tractor that they not only got to play on, but they rode in the back around the farm. Zane's favorite part was the gentleman that brought all kinds of icky animals, african roach's, bald python (which we learned have toes, very cool), a tarantula, a bullfrog and some 3 week old bunnies (those were actually adorable). This is just another fabulous activity that we were able to do thanks to our Mom's clubs. I like how close and convenient everything is here. Makes trips out a lot easier for all of us.

In case you hadn't heard...

We MOVED!

Kitchen

Living room
Boys Room

Zane playing in snow the day we moved in

Zane driving the moving truck. He did a great job!

So here we are, all settled into our new place in TX. So far we love it!! Minus of course our friends we left behind. But then that would have made life perfect, and we all know, life is never perfect. Our transition has gone very smoothly. Cheryl helped us move out here and get unloaded, when we dropped Cheryl off at the airport to head back to PHX, we picked up my Mom who stayed with us for a few days to help with the kids and unpacking. In 6 days time we were totally unpacked and settled in. We have already been doing play groups for the past 2 weeks, and are really having a great time. The boys have handled the move amazingly well.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas

These are, of course, in no particular order:

Zane with his Aunt Lana

All 6 grandkids

See, he is real

My niece, nephew and step-son. On the Polar Express

Here we are just before we started our Polar Express Train Ride

The Silly 6

Grandma with her 2 boys

Ryder with his new Woody and Buzz plush. They are now inseparable

I hate trying to arrange pictures on this blog. So, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Christmas pretty much rocked this year. We keep it very simple, believing that who and how you spend Christmas is far more important than how many gifts are under the tree. My Mom and her husband came in 2 days before Christmas and just went along for the crazy ride. We spent Christmas eve with our good friends the Callister's. It was so relaxing, and fun, and the food, well, you just can't go wrong when you dine at the Callister's. Christmas day was a hoot. Ryder woke up at about 6 am, and I did my best to keep him happy, until about 6:30 when i just couldn't stand it any longer. I woke Zane up so we could get the fun going. We did our usual gift opening, the boys surprised us on what things they liked the most. Needless to say, Santa did not hit the nail on the head. Oh, well, maybe next year. For the 5th, and unfortunately final, year, we had Christmas breakfast at the Tenney's. The rest of the day consisted of movies, playing, and most importantly, not getting out of our PJ's the whole day.
Over the next few days Kib's kids, and my sis in law and her kids, arrived in PHX. We went up to Williams for the Polar Express Train Ride. It was AWESOME!!!! My Mom and Ken treated all 11 of us to the Polar Express experience and we all could not have enjoyed ourselves more. We even got to see snow. Which both my kids decided they didn't like, that was, until we got in the car and drove away, and Zane decided that snow was his favorite thing in the world. whatever!
New Years eve we spent at the Tenney's. SO FUN!! Although we were home by 8:30 to tuck the little guys in, and I, of course, celebrated on east coast time, and was in bed by 10:15.
So here we are, it's now 2011, and there is no doubt that it is going to be a HUGE year for our family. Just not sure if it's huge good, or huge bad, yet. All I know is that we are ready for this adventure to Dallas. Ready to not be in limbo, ready to get back to eating better, and definitely ready to start working out again.

I just have to post

Santa: what do you want for Christmas
Ryder: Good
Santa: I can do that
Santa: are you a good boy
Ryder: Yup
Santa: Are you scared
Ryder:Yup
Santa: Do you want a Candy Cane
Ryder: Yup
Hey, at least he didn't cry

Zane LOVES Santa now that he is older. He had a whole list of things that he wanted. Starting with an ambulance, a police car, pokemon, ironman, and about 100 other things. Boy is he going to be very disappointed when Christmas morning comes.

We went to our ward Christmas party. It was a WhoVille celebration. It was so fun and the hair, oh my goodness, there was some amazing hair-do's there.

The boys in front of the Christmas tree in their Christmas PJ's. Kib and I bought these PJ's back in September when we were out shopping with the boys. We actually thought that Zane would forget about them and we would be able to keep with tradition of new PJ's on christmas eve. HA! He has asked for them every week since we got them, and once the tree went up, it became daily. We finally caved and gave them to the boys. Now, we just can't get them out of the PJ's. They were them to aerobics, school, shopping, playing outside, sleep, and repeat. At least we know they like them.

I was so thrilled to receive an email from my father-in-law thanking me for keeping this blog. It made me want to hop on and post something. For a while i was thinking I was just doing this for my BFF, who already knows everything anyways. Glad to know others are enjoying it as well. So far this month has been absolutely crazy with preparing for our big move, and all that goes along with the holidays in general. We are really looking forward to having our extended family together the week between Christmas to New Years. I am sure that there will be plenty of pictures and stories. These next few weeks will fly by, and then we begin our new adventure, in our new home, with new surroundings, and new adventures. What a great way to start a NEW year.

Thanksgiving

Zane and Ryder loving on our Santa

Reyna and Zane by the fire

The boys all snuggled up

Ryder thought Thanksgiving was better served on his head than on a plate

Our Thanksgiving family photo shoot

We had such a nice Thanksgiving. We all ran in the local Turkey Trot, watched the Macy's Day parade. Ate food, warmed by the fire pit, and of course, took some amazing family photos. Black Friday in our house means decorating for Christmas, which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. Nothing too crazy this year. Just fun, and relaxing.

A few Halloween photos

Breaking the silence

The Winner Grandkids

Ryder struttin his stuff

A fun family photo in Seattle

The boys in the sleeper car on the train

It's been far too long since I last updated my blog. frankly, it's kind of a pain. It's much easier to just post photos on facebook. But on the outside chance that there are people out there that actually follow my blog, I will give you the cliffnotes update.
Ryder is fully potty trained. No accidents in the past month. I will give it a few more weeks b4 I start giving away our extra diapers, but he doesn't even need them at night or for naps. It's such a blessing to have had 2 boys both potty trained by 2.5 years old. Guess we must have done something right. Ryder's newest trick is telling people his name. It started this past week when a fire fighter asked him "what's your name" and he responded "Ryder". So cute. Seems I always have a lot to say about Ryder, but that is becuase he is still at the age where he is growing and learning exponentially. Zane is a little less obvious with his growth, although I will say that he is becoming much easier to deal with. Tantrums are starting to diminish, and we are able to communicate more effectively. He is much better at arguing his point though, and I am not always sure I like that, cuz it makes a lot of sense.
We went to WA for a last minute trip in October, we were able to see Kib's family, my brother and his family, and a couple of friends as well. The highlight for the boys was the train ride to LA, which was AWESOME, and relaxing, and most definitely the way that we will travel again. Halloween came and went without any incidents this year (last year Zane was in the hospital with pneumonia). We had lots of parties to go to. Zane was a police officer, skeleton, batman, and astronaut, Ryder just stuck with the astronaut the whole time. They were so good, and respected our candy rule. They each got to keep 5 pieces of candy, and the rest got recycled back out the door to the trick-or-treater's