Trail of Stone...

When I was growing up my Mom would always tell me that she could tell exactly where I had been and what I had been doing in our house. She said I would leave a "trail." I now know exactly what she was talking about! Stone leaves a perfect trail of destruction through our house. Anyone could walk in our house and be able to tell exactly what Stone has been up to. Today he was out in the snow playing...you can see from the pictures that he shed his snow clothes by the garage door, shed his jammies (which he was wearing under his snow clothes) at the bottom of the stairs, then got in the bath tub upstairs. So funny! Stone definitely didn't get his looks from me as he looks JUST LIKE Rick...but he did get my "trail" making skills:) That's something right:)

Dear Santa...

There is nothing we love more than Stone's yearly letter to Santa:) At "Tingle and Jingle's" prompting Stone got right on his letter to Santa. It went something like this...

Dear Santa:
I've been a very good boy this year. For Christmas I'd like big blocks so I can build a fort, airplane geotrax, a remote control dinosaur, legos, the Eye Clops, a v-pocket, and a guitar. There are more things I'd like but I just can't think of them now. I know this is alot to ask, so just do what you can. Thanks Santa...I love you!

We got such a chuckle out of the fact that he acknowledged that he was asking for a lot but that he would "let Santa off the hook" by saying "just do what you can." So funny! I love Christmas and all that comes along with it! I can't believe it is only a week away! It goes by WAY too fast!

Tingle & Jingle...

We borrowed a fun Christmas tradition from our friends, the Johnson's. This is our 3rd year having "Tingle and Jingle" our family Christmas Elves visit. They come during the night sometime during the Christmas season and leave a little note for Stone to give him a "status report" on how he's doing on the "naughty & nice lists". They also leave him a little Christmas present.

Stone has been so excited for "Tingle and Jingle" to visit that he hasn't been sleeping through the night. He will come in to our room at 3 am to let us know that "Tingle and Jingle" didn't visit yet, but that he would try to go back to sleep to see if they would come:) Finally, "Tingle and Jingle" visited this week! They left Stone a cool marble toy and a note that went something like this...

"We’ve been watching and waiting for the right time to come and visit you. We were so excited that you didn’t have to pull a card in Mrs. Larsen’s class yesterday that we thought it was the perfect time to visit."

"Keep up the good work Stone. Nothing makes Santa more happy than when you are listening to your parents and are doing well in school. Santa is so very proud of the way you’ve been working on your spelling words and doing so well on your tests."

"Santa said to remind you to send him your list soon…he is busy packing up his sleigh for Christmas. Also, keep working hard in school! Work on your handwriting, and especially work on paying attention so you don’t have to pull cards. Good work Stone! Merry Christmas!"

I know what your thinking...we've added to the "Santa" threat and you would be right! Stone not only aced his spelling test this week, but he didn't have to pull one card! Thanks "Tingle and Jingle!"

Family Night Gone OH SO WRONG...

We love Monday nights! Every Monday we have family night with our friends Cindy and Kallie Jo Stewart. They endure some new recipe I'm experimenting with for dinner, we go on fun outings, we play games, we do all sorts of goofy things. But tonight we had the family night of all family nights! I know what you are thinking...you are thinking we invited Keith Urban to dinner...but NO that is Rick...lol. Or as we now call him, "Kevin Urban"...Keith's long lost brother:)

Since Rick started his own company earlier this year, he decided that he would not get a haircut until January 2009. I think this is his rebellion from having to travel and do so many tradeshows at his last job. So he has been growing his hair since around May. His hair has grown bigger and bigger with each passing day and don't be fooled, he LOVES IT! He is very proud of his hair and we have more fun teasing him about it than you can imagine. Of course he wakes up first thing and in his fake suave voice says things like..."I wake up with my hair looking this good...jealous?" Ahhh, have I mentioned how much fun it is to be married to my husband? There is never a dull moment or a day without some serious laughter. Sorry Ladies...he's taken!!! :)

Take Another Look...

Take another look...that isn't Stone...that is Rick with his Dad in 1978. Can you believe how much Stone looks like Rick as a child? I just can't get over it!

Rick's dad passed away when Rick was just 6 years old. We don't have many pictures of Rick with his dad so this one is quite a treasure!

I often wonder how Rick would be different if his dad hadn't died when he was so young. Rick's dad was an avid hunter and an athlete. Rick doesn't care much about sports (yay for me) and hunting is something I can't imagine him doing. Don't get me wrong he CARES if the U of U beats BYU (go Utes!!!)...but there is no Monday Night football at our house:)

Some of the things I love most about Rick I think are probably a result of him being raised by a single mother...a FABULOUS mother! Everybody should be as lucky to have a mother-in-law like I do!

I'm So Gourmet...Whoop Whoop!

Okay, so no this is not a picture of my roasted chicken...but wouldn't it be fun if it was:) BUT, mine looked kinda like this! I've never roasted a chicken before and I was nervous...AND my cooking coach (Janet) wasn't answering her cell (it was like she was not concerned about my little roasting chickens AT ALL). And even with all of that I managed to roast an EDIBLE and pretty tasty chicken! Herbs and lemons in the "cavity" it was so gourmet I could hardly stand myself!!! Oprah did not lead me astray on this recipe:) Yay Oprah!

Indiana Jones

Stone has known what he wanted to be for Halloween since our trip to Disneyland last February. Before we went on that trip we had rented all the Indiana Jones movies and watched them. We knew that on that trip he would be tall enough to ride "Indiana Jones Adventure." He was so excited after riding the ride that he decided he wanted to be Indiana Jones for Halloween. We thought he made a pretty cute and adventurous Indy:).

Because we had gotten back from our trip late the night before Halloween, I made Stone take a long nap before trick-or-treating. I should have followed suit! He had so much energy after his nap that we trick-or-treated for two full hours! He finally decided that he'd had enough after his bag was too heavy for him to carry anymore.

I got such a laugh out of his post trick-or-treating sorting of the candy. He cleared the entire family room floor and sorted all of his candy by type. It covered the entire floor! He then counted it and was very proud of his Halloween booty:)

I know I say this alot but I just can't believe how quickly he is growing up. You know they are getting older when they don't want to be dressed up as a fuzzy skunk or a cute little goat anymore:( Halloween has become one of our family's favorite holidays! I can't believe it has already come and gone!