Best Ever!

We had a blast sledding up at Nicc's parent's house! Nicc had the 4-wheeler and was pulling an old car hood behind it. He pulled 3 or 4 kids at a time and did everything he could to knock them off. We were sledding around on the pond one time when all 4 kids went flying off. Karissa even did a somersault. Finally, Davin decided that he would give it a try. He and I rode together and he only made it a short way--he didn't like the snow spraying his face.

After that he decided that it was more fun to help dad drive the 4-wheeler (one of his very favorite things to do). He loved that much more, until Nicc was busy watching the sledders and ran right into a bunch of cattails!! They all had fuzz all over themselves. Davin was spitting it out forever!

When we got back to the house Davin came running in with Randon and after he threw all of his clothes off in the garage he started jumping up and down yelling, "that was best ever!" (one of those phrases we have never heard him say before but sure got a good chuckle out of)!

Bowling!!

The day after Christmas we all decided to hit the bowling lanes (partly because it was just too darn cold and windy to go ice skating)! Davin had a blast. The whole way there he kept talking about the bowling pins and he was going to throw a ball (it took a bit of convincing for him to understand that bowling balls are rolled and not thrown). When we got there we were so surprised that they had a pair of bowling shoes for him to wear--he was SO excited! They were a little big because a couple of times when he was running he ran right out of them!

He bowled pretty good but it took his ball FOREVER to get down the lane. He insisted on doing it himself. One time the ball just stopped about 3 feet from the pins! We had a great time!!

Christmas Fun!!!

We had a pretty fun-filled Christmas! Lots of food, people, toys, and good times! Davin was in heaven with all of his "friends" (aka cousins). He hated to leave them to lay down for a nap or do anything. He always "needed" his friends.

We got here after a long trip Tuesday and some adventure with a deer outside of Worland! We knew we were going to hit it. The darn thing went clear off the road and then came right back on--CRUSH!! Not enough damage to even stop us but a little damage to the right front light and the front passenger door. I guess there is a first for everything! We are just glad that it wasn't any worse that it was.

Wednesday we just PLAYED! Wednesday night Santa Claus came to visit and all of the kids got to sit on his lap! Davin was so excited, he even sat on his lap twice. He never told him anything he wanted for Christmas but he LOVED the candy cane that he got! Randon told Davin that he saw Santa fly away in the sky with his reindeer and Davin was eating it up!!! He talked about Santa ALL night.

We also did a Nativity and Davin was a shepherd! He was so funny--he loved his crook, loved being with Randon and Zach, and he even stayed there the entire time!!!

Thursday morning we were up bright and early (with 20 kids there is no hope for anything past 5:30, I was sure)!! The one morning in the past 3 weeks Davin hasn't been up that early, we had to littlerally pry him out of bed! Davin was a little overwhelmed by everything happening Christmas morning, so he showed little emotion! He was mainly interested in his candy!! He got a little trampoline from Santa since his big one outside is out of commission for the winter! He is LOVING it now!! He is quite the trickster! Everything else was fun as long as he had time to play with it. His Magna Doodle entertained him for a LONG time while we went through everyone else opening a gift!! He got lots of GREAT things and is enjoying each of them more and more as he has time to realize what he has been given!

I gave Nicc a trip to Atlanta for a Braves game for our Christmas/Anniversary present! His face was priceless! He kept saying, "Are you for real?" I am just so excited because I can never pull off very big surprises!

We are just enjoying lots of the white stuff--planning on sledding today but the crazy wind that exists in Lovell has put a hold on that! We are headed bowling now so more pics later!!! Hope you all had a GREAT Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

I just thought I would post our Christmas card on here and wish all of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Countdown to Christmas!

I had a friend that posted several of their families pre-Christmas traditions on her blog. I thought it was a great idea and fun to remember some of the things we do each year in preparation for the big day. We never spend Christmas at our own home, so most of the traditions we have in our small family are in preparation for the big day!

We start by getting a REAL Christmas tree as soon as we can after Thanksgiving. This is a tradition that Nicc insisted on and has ended up being a LOT of fun! The nice thing about living where we do is we only have to travel about 10 minutes before we are in prime Christmas tree country!

We all decorate the Christmas tree together and add a new ornament each year. This year I added one for our family and Davin helped make one of his own.

I love to decorate our home. I can not believe how much stuff we have accumulated over the past few years! I actually had to start putting decorations in many rooms!

We of course go see Santa, although it is not a tradition that we are all fond of! Davin is slowly warming up. When we went to see Santa he wanted nothing to do with him, however, he and I were in the mall in Idaho Falls and he asked to go see Santa, so we did. This time he walked up to him and stood next to him all on his own but refused to look at him or talk to him (until he gave him a candy cane)!

We have just recently started making treats! I hate to cook, bake, or do much of anything if it requires a kitchen, however, this year we made some simple yummies. One of our favorites are chocolate covored pretzels, in fact we seem to make these for most holidays now!

I have to pu up my Nativity set! I have been collecting it piece by piece since I was quite young! I didn't even pu all of the piece out this year! Davin enjoys looking at it over and over again--he will climb up the piano to do so, I am just scared to death I am going to lose a piece as he picks it up to examine it for the 40th time!

Nicc and I love to read a story each day of December from this book (my mom gave it to us several years ago). We still bawl in all of the stories even though we know how they are going to end.
Hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with your own traditions!!!

Potty Mess!!!

Just to let you know, this is mainly for my own records, someday Davin's wife will get a kick out of this (maybe me someday too)!

So, I am wondering why I didn't run the first time I heard the toilet flush. Instead, it wasn't until I heard him continually trying to flush many times in a row. When I got to the bathroom I would have gladly traded motherhood for just about anything at that point. Davin's underwear were off, there was poop in places I would have never imagined and he was trying to flush an ENTIRE box of wipes down the toilet! We have been working on the toilet training thing for about a month and a half now. He does great as long as we remind him to go and he usually will not poop in his underwear, he waits until I put a diaper on him. Well, he has been a little on the sickish side today with two poopy diapers already so that should have been my first reason for not putting underwear on him! When I found him, he was totally calm and just told me, "it won't flush, mom." I asked him if he went poopy and he told me, "It's in the potty now." Well, you guessed it, my dear sweet boy put it where it was supposed to go, just like we had talked about (hence the mess everywhere)! Well, he is in the tub now, and I have finished cleaning up. I am really hoping that some day I look back and think this is funny! As for now, Davin will not have unders on for the rest of today!!!

Sorry no pics to accompany this one--I think it is better that way!

Davin's Prayers

Davin loves to say the prayer whenever we pray, the only thing is he gives thanks for the food no matter what. Well, tonight we were guiding him and Nicc reminded him to give thanks for mommy and daddy and from there he went on to say thanks for everything from the Christmas tree, lights, presents, pillows, slippers, anything he saw (this was his longest prayer by far) and then when we went to his bedroom for bed he just started saying "Thank for cars, basket hoops, animals," and went on again naming all of the things he saw. Nicc and I were just laughing! I guess we too should be grateful because he finally seems to have a little better grasp of what a prayer is! I am grateful for a small child that loves so much to pray and understands the importance of it!!

Go Lady Braves!!

I just have to brag about my husband for a minute! Davin and I are going crazy because Nicc's first basketball game is tonight but it is at a tournament in Cheyenne. He just called and said his sophomores won 65 to 44 over Cheyenne Central!!!! He was so excited, just talking to him gave me chills. He said his girls did everything he asked them to and he had goosebumps the entire game. Anyway, we are proud of Nicc and his girls! Go Lady Braves!!!

O Christmas Tree!

Christmas can come now!!!! We have our Christmas tree!

We have to go cut down our Christmas tree every year (one tradition that Nicc insists on) and we were able to go do that last night. Lucky for us Nicc had early morning basketball practice so we could go after school before it got dark. We hiked for a while until we found our perfect tree (or as perfect as it was going to get)! Davin loved walking on the snow and saying "this is a good Christmas tree" at every tree we passed!

When we got home we decorated the tree. It took Davin a while to get the ornaments on. He would work and work until he finally got frustrated and shouted "Help me!"

After the tree was up we watched the Grinch and ate a big bowl of popcorn!!

I am so excited for Christmas! I love this time of year and everything that accompanies it from the business, the lights, the decoration to the spirit and the opportunity to reflect on the birth of our Savior! Merry Christmas!

I should go to sleep.

I am passing this story on from Nicc. Tonight we put Davin to bed then I was out working on some stuff in the kitchen and Nicc was brushing his teeth in the bathroom. When Nicc finished and came out he said Davin was sitting on our bed and as soon as he saw him he scuttled to the end of the bed to hop off and as doing so said, "I should go to sleep."

Davin is in this habit of getting out of bed a few times before falling asleep, however, usually he comes and finds us when he does so. Anyway, Nicc and I got a giggle out of this! He really is a funn kid!

Thanksgiving!!

We had an excellent Thanksgiving--everything from the turkey, to family, to the MANY miles traveled around the state of Wyoming!

We left as soon as Nicc got out of school Wednesday at 12:00 to head to Casper. There we met my grandma and grandpa and were soon accompanied by my Mom, Dad, brothers, and my Uncle and his family! This is the first time ALL of my family has been together since Davin's blessing. It was "awesome, cool" as Davin called it! We spent Thanksgiving Day in Casper eating, eating, and eating! Davin ate up the attention being the only child! I finally moved up to the adult table this year (my brothers say all you have to do is have a kid to move up, they are on the lookout for one to snatch next year so they can move up! We took a family picture and were shocked that everyone looked good on the first try!

We left Casper late Thursday night and headed to Rock Springs where we planned our attack for Black Friday. This year my mom and I were accompanied by my brother Chris and Nicc! I can not believe that Nicc came. Not only that but he and I went to Wal-Mart! He just laughed hysterically the entire time saying, "This is CRAZY!" He was most amazed watching everyone rush in as the doors were opened! We were pretty successful and got everything we needed. After we all calmed down from Friday morning we decorated the Christmas tree at my Mom and Dad's house and then we had an early Christmas with them (we will not see them at Christmas this year)! Davin totally understands what to do with presents this year and not only that, but he thought that all of the presents under the tree should be for him. I don't know if I dare put any of our presents under our tree!

Davin and his " Go Braves helmet!"

Saturday we were totally lazy all morning! Davin entertained his uncles as they tried to keep up with him.Finally when we pulled ourselves together we took Davin to see Santa. When we got there he was feeding his reindeer lunch so we killed some time and went back later. He talked about Santa the entire time we were waitng, saying, "please some candy, Santa." and "I a good boy." and anything else we had talked about telling Santa. When we finally got to go back and see him Davin was not so thrilled to tell him ANYTHING and refused to get very close to him! He did say thank you for the candy cane.

Saturday night we put Davin to bed early so we all could play games. We all sat up playing Cranium for 5 hours and laughed so hard at times we were all crying!

We had an excellent Thanksgiving and were grateful for the opportunity to spend it with family!

The rhombus!!!

Just a funny story! We were at story time the other day and Davin went to sit on the shape carpet. As he walked over and got on the stage he stated, "Can I sit on the rhombus?" I didn't know whether to laugh and be proud or be totally embarrassed. What 2 year old calls a diamond a rhombus?!

Just a fun weekend!

We haven't had a weekend without anything specifically going on since school started so we had a pretty fun time enjoying this weekend. Friday night Nicc and Davin built a fort in the living room. Nicc was just as excited as Davin (probably more truthfully) and kept saying, "Dav, this is going to be awesome" after which Davin would repeat, "yeah Dad, awesome!" they moved all my furniture around and had a great time. The tent is still up and Davin flips if we even move it for a minute and cries, "my house is broken!" I am not sure how we will lose the "house."

Saturday was pretty nice, considering this last week it snowed almost every day, so we, anticipating the coming winter, worked outside to get some things ready. Davin was outside for a while helping Nicc in the shop but then wanted to go in. After a while Nicc needed my help so I went out. Davin didn't have any pants or shoes on so I told him to stay inside, he couldn't come out without shoes on, and that I would be right back. Just a few minutes later Nicc and I saw this cute little guy running toward the shop with a sweatshirt, his unders, and a pair of boots on! He knew he couldn't come outside without shoes on so he put them on. I guess I forgot to mention that he needed pants too! We were laughing to hard to tell him he needed pants on so within just a second he was running through the snow in his skimpy outfit, but hey, at least he had shoes on!

Sorry about the fuzzy picture!

Haircut!

I have been waiting to get my haircut and I knew this time I wanted it short! Nicc laughs because I always cut it short in the winter (he thinks it would be better to have it short during the hot summer)! This time she really went short, although the pictures don't do it justice. The top part on my head is only about 1 1/2 inches long and that is the same all the way down the back. The longest part is on the sides! I sure am having fun with it! I love the spiky do and it is by far the easiest do I have ever had--in less that 10 minutes I am done, that includes blow drying (which for me usually takes forever!).

Here is Davin trying to style his hair after watching me do mine. He found the putty and knew right away it went in his hair!

Potty Chair!!!

So, I had no intention of trying to potty train Davin this early but the opportunity arose today! I was watching two other girls and had been asking them if they need to go potty. Both said no but just then Davin hopped off the chair and said, "I have to go potty." He ran to the bathroom and proceeded to go to the bathroom. He barely trickled but it was a success. Afterward, I thought I better take advantage of this and offered to put underwear on him. He was soooooo excited! He had underwear on from 9:30 this morning until bedtime, and he did not want a diaper on then. We had 3 small accidents but some very successful times too! Right before bed I asked him if he needed to go and he ran to the bathroom. I was getting some things in the kitchen (I hadn't made it to the bathroom yet) when I heard, "Mommy, mommy, come here!" I ran back there kind of scared as to what I might find. I found the potty chair full and he did it all on his own. He kept saying, "I'm a big boy!" I am really proud of him and happy about how this is all going. However, ask me in a few days and I make sure I am still enjoying the whole potty training saga!

Halloween!

OK, I know I am a little late getting all of our Halloween stuff on here but better late than never! We had a great Halloween and great weather! We have been talking about it for a couple of weeks, when we first bought our pumpkins (if you don't get them early, you don't get any). Davin was loving the pumpkins and wanted to paint them everyday! He had 2 that got several paint jobs!

When we finally got to carve pumpkins he was really in heaven. He wouldn't touch the guts, but had a great time "carving" his pumpkin with a little poker while Daddy did the other one!

Davin wore a devil costume that my brother wore years ago! I think the costume must have transforming powers because he was truly a devil that day!

To start the day off we went to see Nicc at school and have a pancake party with his guided reading class, then some friends and I took our kids trick-or-treating down town with the elementary school. This was the lazy man's trick-or-treating. The kids sat, or laid, in the stroller and let everyone put candy in their buckets! I was proud of my son when he did say "Thank you" every time (a little bit of his angelic self did show through)!

Later that night we hit a few homes around our house. Davin loved knocking on the doors and said "trick-or-treat" as soon as he knocked, before they opened the door! We laugh because the first house he went to we prepped him to get "good" candy (Nicc and I were sick of suckers) and there he chose a fiber bar!

Later that night we hit a trunk-or-treat with some friends and then went to the care center. Several of the older people were dressed up, some were asleep with their bowl of candy. At every one Davin just said, "Mom, look at that guy!" I had a hard time keeping my composure, however, he did say thank you every time, even to the ones that were asleep!

By the end of the night we had way too much candy for a 2 year old!