We have been having so much fun with David out of school this week. We have tried very hard to keep ourselves busy every day and now we are all exhausted after such a packed week. On Tuesday David finally got to experience the Childrens Museum. Of course I forgot my camera but the kids had a blast playing with Daddy at the Museum.

On Wednesday we drove up to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow. It is only about 45 minutes to an hour drive and then we are playing in a couple feet of snow. Dutch loved every thing about it. Maylee I'm pretty sure was thinking, "Are you guys dumb, why on earth would you bring me to this cold, wet, white world." She didn't like it all. She hated getting snow on her shoes and insisted that Daddy hold her the entire time. Dutch and I however had a great time exploring, making footprints and writing in the snow. We didn't bring a sled or anything to play with in the snow. We really don't know what we were thinking. But we did find a piece of cardboard. So we used that as our sled and it worked great. Dutch loved it. Maylee not so much. Dutch only fell once which is really good but he did not appreciate getting snow up his shirt and down his pants. I really need to hit some thrift stores and get some snow pants so we can go a few more times. When it was time to eat lunch we didn't want to put the wet kids in the car so we put them in the trunk to eat. They loved it. That was Maylee's favorite part of the trip. Thursday we got all of our Christmas shopping done, YAY. This will be the last year that we will be able to take the kids with us. It was hard being sneaky. Maylee didn't notice a thing, but Dutch did. So David would go to a different part of the store why I paid and put toys in the trunk. I am so excited for Christmas. It is so much more magical when the kids understand and are excited.

Friday we decided to walk around the mall since we haven't been to the one here yet. That was just plain exhausting with the kids. Since unfortunately we don't have a stroller. One got stolen and the other one got run over. So until next month when I finally purchase a double stroller we just have to chase kids around. NO FUN!

We had some very awesome visitors this weekend. We are lucky enough to live on Jenny and Eric's route to their new home in California from Utah. So on their way to Cali yesterday they stopped and played for the evening. Dutch had been looking so forward to Savvy coming to his house. Yesterday while we were waiting for them to get here I heard the garage opening and I said to Dutch, "Who's here?". So he got super excited and said, Savvy. I said nope Daddy is here. To which he replied, "I don't like Daddy, I want Savvy." Uh oh!

When they did show up Dutch was just as excited to see Savvy as I was to see Jenny. It was so fun to have them at our house. The kids played really well together and it was so much fun to see them remember each other. About 8:30 or so we decided it was time to put the kids to bed so us adults could visit without the chaos. So we set up the air mattress in the kids room and Dutch and Savvy slept on that and then Maylee was in her crib and Vanessa in her pack and play. It was a packed room full of kids. It took about an hour and half for them to finally fall asleep. But we sure had fun listening to them talking, playing and singing songs together.

Once we got the kids down we just hung out and visited and played some card games. I really miss living close to them. But it was such a great night. Thanks Jenny for coming and playing with us.

David starts another block week of exams tomorrow so for the last few days the kids and I have been pretty bored. We hardly see Daddy and when we do he is studying and feeling the pressure of all the tests to come this week. So the other day to cut out some of the extreme boredom the kids and I made cookies. And I let them frost them by themselves for the first time, which was a lot of fun. Maylee barely got any frosting on her cookie, it pretty much went straight from the bowl to her mouth. Dutch really enjoyed frosting the cookies but got a little frustrated that he couldn't do it quite right.

I was getting ready to do a load of the kids laundry the other day and Maylee found her new pair of footsies pajamas in the pile of dirty clothes. She insisted on wearing them. She was already dressed for the day and I really didn't want to put her in her dirty pj's, but after much insistence from her we finally compromised. I put her arms in the arm holes and she wore it like a cape for about an hour. To fight the boredom the kids and I have been going out every evening to do something fun. On Wednesday we went to Toys R Us, so Dutch could look at the toys and then tell Santa what he wants for Christmas this year. I am really hoping that he might be excited to sit on Santa's lap at the Lazenby Christmas party, we'll see how that goes.

Maylee found a bike that she loved while at Toys R Us. I really hope Santa brings her one for Christmas but I'm thinking his shopping might be done and she'll have to wait for her birthday. But Dutch got a bike for his birthday but I never take him out to ride it because then Maylee wants a turn and its to big for her and it just causes problems. So we'll see if Santa might be able to pull something else out of his sleeve. Last night I took the kids out at about 5pm. We had been stuck at home all day, we have no yard to play in and its to freezing cold to go out anyways. So finally I decided to just run to JoAnns and pick up a few things I needed. The thought of going home to David studying again was to much for me to handle, so I asked Dutch if he wanted to go on a date with Mommy. He thought that was a pretty funny word but was still excited even though he didn't have a clue what it meant. So I took the kids to Applebee's all by myself. I was quite proud of how well they did and just that fact that I did it by myself. After dinner we headed over to Barnes and Noble and read Christmas books for an hour. It was a great date night with my two kiddos.

David is only able to study at home if we can keep the kids away from him. The other day we were lucky enough to get both the kids down for naps at the same time. But leave it to Maylee to spoil that and wake up an hour and a half early. But Daddy was able to get her to go back to sleep and rock her while studying. Today he was trying to study but the kids just kept coming up stairs and pestering him. I made the suggestion to pretend like he is leaving and then sneak back in. So he went through the whole routine of leaving, he gave everybody hugs and kisses and then went out into the garage. So then I took the kids out front for a minute and he came back in and upstairs to the office. For the next two hours the kids had no clue he was up there and never bothered to go looking for him. It worked like a charm.

The past two weeks the kids and I spent in Arizona. We drove down on Monday to help with Stormy's wedding preparation. It's amazing how much goes into planning a wedding. But everything turned out wonderful and it was so awesome to be able to attend Stormy and Spenser's sealing. Those two are so perfect together, I am so happy they found each other. Stormy looked gorgeous on her wedding day.

We spent all day Friday before the wedding decorating the cultural hall. And we literally spent all day Friday doing it. The kids were wiped out by the end of the day.

Everyone taking a break from decorating and eating pizza... Kade, Maylee and Neela all asleep on the couch... At one point Maylee crawled into Noah's lap while he was trying to figure out the lights and just wanted to snuggle, it was so cute... The Wedding Day...

This is the best picture I could get of Dutch in his cute Wedding outfit... Maylee looked adorable in her Wedding outfit but she was being a little stinker and wouldn't let me take a decent picture of her... So here she is giving Daddy a drink of water... And with Mommy...

The rest of the time there we spent hanging out with family. It was seriously the busiest two weeks. We really never stopped going the entire time we were there. Thankfully for David's mom, he was able to fly down for the wedding and then back for school and then down again for Thanksgiving. We had so much fun, Dutch especially had a blast playing with Maxx, Jase and Kade. He seriously loves his cousins so much and I love watching him play with his cousins. I always hate taking them away from family. I'm so grateful to have such a great family and for my kids to be so loved by everyone.

While I was there I did Maylee's hair in pigtails for the first time. So CUTE!!! David and his brothers minus one on Thanksgiving...

Tonight for Family Home Evening we decorated the house for Christmas. Dutch is so excited for Christmas this year and is definitely starting to understand what it is all about a little better. At least the Santa Clause and presents part. So when David brought the tree in from the garage and started setting it up Dutch got super excited and shouted, "Christmas is here, where are the presents". So he doesn't completely get it but we are working on it. So after we set up all the decorations we had a lesson using their Playskool nativity to help him understand that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. However it is very exciting as a parent to watch how excited the kids are. I love Christmas time. I'll have to post some more pictures of how cute the house looks all decorated for Christmas, but tonight I am completely wiped out.

My mom, Tara and I were also able to go and see New Moon while I was in town and I have to say it was a thousand times better than Twlight. I was so nervous to see it because I was afraid that I wouldn't like it but I loved it. And wow its hard not to like Jacob better after seeing the movie because, WOW he sure is good looking.

Some random cute pictures just because....

Baby Girl!

We found out today that we will be welcoming another little girl to our family in March. We are super excited. Dutch is excited and wants to name her little Dutch and Maylee doesn't have a clue what is going on but we think she is going to love having a baby around, except for the fact that she will no longer be the baby herself.

This past weekend we made a very quick trip to Phoenix to help welcome home David's little brother Chase from his mission to Argentina. We left Friday as soon as David got out of class, got to Phoenix around 9pm and headed home on Sunday around noon. It was short but we were so glad we were able to go. It was a lot of fun to go to the airport and watch Chase see his family after two years. Unfortunately while we were there both of our kids ended up really sick. When we left on Friday we knew Maylee had an ear infection but we got some antibiotics for her and we weren't too worried. Until Dutch woke up Saturday morning with a high fever and cough. But despite all the sickness we had a great time seeing Chase and the whole family but I am hoping that the family doesn't end up sick.

Waiting... We see him... Finally he's here, he sure did walk really slow down that terminal. After the airport we spent the rest of our time at Fawn and Dave's house spending time with family and eating. It was fun to be able to just sit and visit over there just like before we moved. It really made it hard to leave.

Ashley, who weighs as much as Dutch, was pushing him on the swing. I think she used every ounce of energy she had. The car ride home. I know I looked riducioulsy sleepy here but I was. David and I literally only got about an hour and a half of decent sleep the night before. Dutch was up every 15-20 minutes from his fever and cough. It was miserable. I'm just glad we were able to make it home safely, with as tired as we were. On the way home we were making excellent time until we came to Hoover Dam. About 4 miles before the check point traffic came to a complete stop and it took us about 35 minutes to get through it. And as we are just creeping along Dutch announces that he needs to pee. David didn't want to pull over and get out of line so we tried to see if he could hold it for a few minutes just til we made it through check point. Well that wasn't going to happen, so we finally came to an area with enough room to pull off and I got out with Dutch. We only walked about 10 feet from the car and I pulled down Dutch's pants. Since he is potty training he still can't use that great little hole in the front of his pants, so about 15 feet from a huge line of traffic, Dutch stood out there with his naked bum pointing to the traffic peeing. It was so hilarious.