Kirtland!

Our friends from Indiana came to spend Thanksgiving with us. Today we toured Historic Kirtland and the Kirtland Temple. We had a neat experience. It is so cool learning about the history of Kirtland. I never realized how much the church received through revelation and all the progress they made while in Kirtland. Basically, it all happened there. We are so blessed to be able to live so close to a place that means so much to me. The yellow home was the Whitney's home.The picture on the top with the green doors is the Kirtland Temple. The other picture on the top is where the ashery and the sawmill was. It was really cool learning about that stuff. Newel K. Whitney was quite the business man. The bottom left picture is where you can tell some missionaries of any ancestor's name that you know that lived in Kirtland. They then print out about 15 pages of all the history they know of that person. Newel K. Whitney kept very good records of who bought what in his store. So, that list will tell you if your ancestor bought something there and what they bought. Really cool. The history also tells you what land they owned, it gives information about what they wrote in their diary, etc. Really neat. On Friday Kirtland turns on all their Christmas lights, plus they have 600 nativity scenes that you can go see. We didn't go last year, but will definitely go this year.

It is raining leaves

Here is Shane and Gavin raking leaves. On the side of our house we have tons of trees so we get bombarded with a lot of them.. After Shane raked up all the leaves we took a step back to look at our yard and it was already looking like we needed to rake AGAIN! When the wind blew, it seriously looked like it was raining leaves in our backyard. They would come down and hit us in the face. It was kind of funny.
While Shane finished raking, Auntie Holly, Gavin and I went to the store to buy everything for our Turkey Dinner! We went to Whole Foods Store because my grocery store didn't have a spice that i needed. They just put in a Whole Foods Store here that is about 5 minutes from our house. Oh my gosh...if you haven't been you need to go. They have food that they set out, sort of like a buffet style(Bob, you might like this one), and the food looked so dang GOOD. Plus, i have heard great things about it. They have every kind of food that you need that you usually cannot find in the grocery store. I guess there specialty is organic foods. They had lots of appetizers sitting out, which was definitely a plus.
HAHA! Here is a picture of Tanner watching Shane and Gavin rake the leaves from off our sun porch. He likes to press his lips up against the screen door and this is what it looks like from the other side! It was hilarious!



Then tonight, these boys went downstairs, blew up the air mattress and made a bed on it. They watched Frosty the Snowman, and afterwards they wrestled around a bit. It was fun.

Time goes by too fast...

I cannot believe how incredibly fast this semester went by for Shane and I! Shane finished his last final on Friday and is off until January 3. We are excited to have him home with us, but he still isn't completely with us because he has to study for his Board Test, which is supposedly an eight hour test! He will be taking Board's on December 15th, and when that is over and done with we will head to Minnesota for Christmas. We can't believe how fast time is going by. Before we know it we will be leaving here and starting new somewhere else. We will actually be MAKING money... which seems very weird to me. I am so proud of him and the hard work he has been putting into Dental School. I know it IS NOT easy, but he makes it look easy. :)

Oh, Christmas Tree...

We did it. We put up our Christmas tree. It is our first artificial Christmas Tree. We just couldn't help ourselves. We wanted to get that Holiday feeling in our home. Never in my life have we put up the Christmas tree this early. All growing up my family never put up the tree until about December 12. Then when Shane and i got married we started putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving because it's been a tradition with Shane's family lately to go chop down our own tree, which is tons of fun. And now, yesterday, which is about a week before Thanksgiving Day, we proudly put it up. We listened to Christmas music while doing it and Gavin was so excited to hang up his ornaments that he decorated. We will only be gone for about a week and a half for Christmas, so we will get plenty of time to enjoy our tree!

ReD HoT ChiLi PePPeR

We had CHiNeSe food for dinner last night. I love chinese. Anyway, there were some ReD hot chili PePPeRS in the kung pao ChiCkeN, but you don't eat them of course, unless you feel like being adventurous. Gavin wanted one. I told him that they are HoT and that he wouldn't like it, but he insisted on trying it. You have to learn by experience, so we let him TrY it. He suDdeNly realized that his mouth was on FiRe. He used his sweater and tried wiping it off his mouth, which obviously doesn't work. He kept saying, "MOM! Help me!" So, i gave him a glass of milk which helps it to cool off better than water does. He was fine about 15 minutes later, but he did have a very uNpLeaSanT experience.

Well...the Cat's out of the Bag...it's finally time to Tell everyone about our SECRET identities

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mY DaRlinG bOyS

After church i went to get Gavin out of Moonbeams and he usually gets all upset at me because he doesn't want to leave. Well, last Sunday was a nice surprise. I went in the room and as soon as he saw me he ran to me and said "hi mommy!" It was so sweet. Then as i buckled him in his seat he said, "i had fun mom." Life is good when my kids are happy. :)
It's bathtime. Tanner has a whale hanging out of his mouth. He always hangs onto things with his mouth if his hands are unavailable.
Gavin and Tanner love bathtime. They have so much fun. They have their squirty animals that they love playing with. Gavin loves squirting Tanner in the face with water. I have to make him stop though because it can be too much! :) Tanner loves the water though, so he doesn't mind so much. They just get along so well with each other.
Gavin and i decorated some christmas ornaments yesterday. He is so proud of his ornaments.
The leaves have started falling in our yard. As you can see. Our trees are still in the process of changing color. Some are still green, i can't believe it.

Gavin seems to be growing up so much with the way he talks lately. It is so awesome to see the changes take place. I love tucking him in bed because that is when he is the sweetest. When i go to tuck him in bed he will talk to me while he caresses my face with his hand. It is so sweet. The other night we just had family prayer, but when i tucked him in he thought we should pray again. He said, " Let's pray mom," so seriously. I said, "ok, you say it." Everytime he prays he gets a big smile on his face. He said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank for our family, thank you for church, thank you for Lauren(our friend), thank you for our friends, thank you for family, thank you for Tanner, thank you for Gavin, thank you for mommy, thank you for moddy, daddy, Jesus Christ, Amen." Moddy is what he accidentally calls daddy sometimes and it is so funny. It is like he wants to say mommy, but is thinking of daddy, so he gets the two words mixed in there together. Anyway, he corrected himself by saying daddy right after he said moddy.
One of the things i say a lot is "that is your problem." Well, he used it on me the other day. Something happened to the computer and he said, "that is your problem." Then after he went to the bathroom yesterday he had this weird look on his face and so i said, "what?" He just looked at me all calm and said, "i didn't say anything mom." So funny.
He is always trying to tell me, "Be careful mom, don't hurt yourself." He is so concerned for me. He absolutely loves helping me cook. That would be nice if he became a great cook one day. Is there anything wrong with buying a boy one of those play kitchens? I think he would love it, but Shane thinks he needs something more boyish. Gavin brought a wal-mart ad magazine to me yesterday and said, "i want boy stuff mom." He loves looking at the toy ads, it is so funny.

4 InCrEdiBLe YeArS oN ThUrSdaY!!

Shane and i will be married for four years on Thursday. Wow! I can't believe it! We have done and accomplished so much together in those four years. Let me take you on a little journey from the beginning...

July 2003- Shane and i met for the first time.
August 2003- Shane and I went on our first date.
September 2003- We got engaged!
October 2003- We drove to SLC to meet my mom, sister, and brother Stephen there. Shane met them for the first time. I picked out my wedding dress.
Nov. 14, 2003- Day before wedding. Shane met my dad for the first time. I took out my endowments.
Nov. 15, 2003- Got married in the SLC temple!
The night of Nov. 15, 2003- I got food poisoning from Subway on our wedding night! And I couldn't eat there again for at least a year.
November 16, 2003- Our apartment flooded because of our washer.
November 17, 2003- Car broke down.
Thanksgiving of 2003- Flew home for Thanksgiving. Shane met all my cousins for the first time!
Christmas of 2003- Drove home to Minnesota from Idaho and we got caught in the most trecherous(spelling?) weather i have ever been in!
January of 2004- Went on a cruise to the caribbean.
April of 2004- Surprise! Found out we were pregnant!
June of 2004-Went on vacation to California with Shane's family.
August 2004- Took a trip up to South Dakota with my family to do some camping, and see Mount Rushmore, etc.
October 2004- Became managers of an 80 room apartment complex.
December 25, 2004- Gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
August 2005- I graduated with my Bachelor's in English!
October 2005 - Went on vacation to Florida with my parents.
October 2005- Shane flew to Ohio for a dental interview.
November/December 2005- Shane flew to Florida for a dental interview.
December 2005 - Found out that we were accepted into Case Western Dental School
February 2006- Found out we were pregnant again!!
May 2006- Shane graduated with a bachelor's in Chemistry or biology. I can't remember! :)
May 2006- Sold all of our belongings and drove to Minnesota to live with my parents for 6 weeks, while we picked out a house to buy in Ohio. And we were all done managing! That was a relief!
June 2006-Moved to Ohio.
July 2006- Found out we were having another boy. Also found out that he had a birth defect, gastroschisis.
August 2006- Shane started Dental School.
September 2006- Gave birth to another beautiful baby boy. Found out he not only had gastroschisis, but that he had hypospadius, and an anti-trypsin deficiency.
October 2006- Practically lived at the hospital because Tanner was in the NICU for a month.
November 2006- Spent Thanksgiving in Minnesota with my family.
Christmas 2006- Flew to Idaho for Christmas.
July 2007- Flew to Idaho for vacation.
August 2007- Took a trip to Niagara Falls.
Thanksgiving 2007- Our friends from Idaho are coming to our house for Thanksgiving and my sister will be with us too.
Christmas 2007- Driving to Minnesota to be with my family.

I can't believe that two people can accomplish so much in 4 years! If i get anymore detailed on our journey i will go on forever. It is amazing to me. This has been the most exciting, busiest, fun-filled, adventurous, difficult, challenging, non-stop, joyous 4 years of our lives. Life has been hard, but so much fun. We have truly been blessed and have seen the Lord's hand in our lives through every uncertainty and every challenging moment, and even in the joyous occasions. The most important thing is that we have made it through every difficulty and joyous moment together, and have grown closer and love each other more because of it.

La La La

Well, our weekend and this coming week is going to be pretty uneventful. This weekend Shane and i have been busy-Shane has been studying for finals and i have been preparing to give the lesson in Relief Society! Here is a picture of Gavin walking around with his "blanky" over his head. He is like Linus on Charlie Brown. He will not let go of his blanky. I am not sure why he does it, but it is so funny. I will be doing something and i look over and there he is walking around with his blanket over his head....he walks around like he can see. Here is a funny story.... Everytime Gavin puts his own underwear on he always put the back end in the front and the front of the underwear in the back. It is so funny because he looks like he has one huge wedgy.

ThInKinG aBouT X-mAs AlrEadY

Here are some pictures that Holly took of our family today. We were hoping to use one of these pictures for our Holiday photocard, but we might attempt taking more pictures another time because we don't want to use one of these. It was fun taking these pictures except for the fact that all three of my boys were irritable because they were hungry!!! Goodness. Boys and their stomachs. :)

BeSt BuDs

I checked on the boys today and they(Gavin) took off Gavin's mattress and were using it as a slide. They thought it was so funny, Tanner especially. He was cracking up. It was so funny.

Talking on the phone.
Climbing the stairs.
Gavin is explaining to me how hungry he is.
Yesterday Tanner and Gavin got into the lotion and Tanner had it plastered all over his hair and he had it all around his mouth because he was trying to eat it.

Trying to get some books out of the bookshelf
Tanner is trying to feed Gavin a sock.

Tanner went poo poo in his pants and Gavin said, "ohh, pee ewww tanner, mommy change him!" It was so funny because that is the first time Gavin has ever commented on Tanner's dirty diapers.

They are having tons of fun lately playing upstairs together. Since the upstairs is their domain they are taking full advantage of it. The other day we found them playing in the toilet water. Tanner's head was soaking wet and Gavin was naked and all wet. It was funny, but a little scary because babies can fall in the toilet head first and drown. Anwyay, since tanner has been more expressive with Gavin they are having so much fun playing together.

There is a monster upstairs

Gavin is seeing monsters in his closet. He wakes up early every morning, crying. He runs to our bedroom and says, "there is a monster upstairs, in my closet." I thought maybe i could try to turn it into a "good" monster. He has seen Monsters the movie and so i told him it was Sully. I told him Sully wasn't trying to scare him, but that he wanted to tell him a joke. Gavin had me go to his room to tell Sully to leave. I told Gavin that Sully said he was sorry and that he didn't mean to scare him. I told him that if Sully shows up again just tell him to leave. So now Gavin tells me that he told Sully to leave, but he is still scared. Today Gavin was having a pretend conversation with Sully. He was saying this... "You be nice to me Sully".."Okay".." Don't say okay to me, okay Sully?...." oh okay".... It was really funny. I can't remember the whole conversation.