Christmas 2009

Our Favorite Things
Kenton – My favorite things to do are hanging out with Daddy,
Reading books,
Playing hide and seek,
Jumping on the trampoline,
School – especially recess.

McKay – My favorite things are putting puzzles together,
Playing with trains,
Reading books,
Dressing up in my costumes,
Saying, “Do you love me? I love you too!”

Ellyen – My favorite things are being held by Mommy or Daddy,
Sitting on the couch, sucking my thumb while snuggling
with my blanket,
Eating chocolate.

Jed – My favorite things are having a family to come home to,
Relaxing - watching a movie,
The beauty of the earth,
Talking with friends – especially my best friend – my wife!

Lynette – My favorite things are getting a good nights sleep!
Being creative with various projects such as sewing,
reupholstering and refinishing furniture, making
jewelry, etc.,
Having beautiful music in our home,
Hearing people say, “I love you.” or “I need a luv.” or “Can
you hold me?” or “Do you want to cuddle?”
Knowing Jed loves me,
Feeling Heavenly Father’s love in my life.

When I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and count my multitude of blessings and then I don’t feel so bad.

We love and miss all of you. Merry Christmas!

Rainy day play

I gave the boys umbrella's and now they are thrilled to play outside in the rain with their rain gear. It is very muddy these days. We are loving the changing trees and the beauty of the fall season. Happy Raining!

Here is an updated picture of Ellyen. She has grown up so much the past few months. She is crawling and getting into everything. She keeps us busy cleaning up behind her.

I love Ellyen

We are having so much fun with our little girl. Several times a day I hear someone say, "I love Ellyen." Kenton is one of her biggest fans.

First Day of Kindergarten

It finally happened! Kenton is in school. He is doing great and loves school. Life is a little easier to manage during the day for me as well. I am almost finished reupholstering my chair!! It is so beautiful and I am sure to post my bragging rights when it is finally complete. But that is a side track. Here are Kenton's first day photos (a little late I know but welcome to my life.) I admit, I cried.

I still have photo's of our trip to Arizona to post. I hope I get to that soon. But I also have new fun family photo's so I need to post those as we are almost to Ellyen's first birthday.

Hiking in the Superstitions

Look at Jed with his adorable little girl. She is having so much fun!

We hiked to the wind caves. Kenton wanted to go to the top, so we did.

It was so nice of Alan and his boys to take us on a desert hike. It was really hot and I was getting grumpy but I am glad we went. It is fun to look at these pictures now.

Kenton is a great little hiker!

I love the faces on McKay. He makes me laugh.

McKay loved being with his uncles, aunts and cousins. He was grateful that Alan was helping him down the mountain.

I love this picture of Alan. He is always willing to take us on these fun adventures. We had a fun time with him, Ethan and Addison.

Kathleen was able to join us for a few days in Arizona. She loved to hike, take pictures and remember the names of the flora.

At the Lake

I love this picture. Doesn't Jed look great?!

Chad is so nice. He took us to the lake after working all night and not getting much sleep. We loved it! Okay, so I had to force Kenton on the tube kicking and screaming but once the boat started moving, he loved it! Go figure.

I love how Haley and Taylor and also Haley and Aly were trying to push each other off. This is a great shot.

I am so proud of Jed for getting up on the wake board the first time. He had a great time. We had a ton of fun and are so grateful Chad was so generous with us!

Ellyen's Happy Easter

Here are a few updated pictures of Ellyen. She is so much fun. She loves to be held. My arms have developed a lot of pain from the strain of holding her so much. I am hoping it will subside when she is sitting and crawling. She is so darling, it is hard to put her down.

This is Ellyen in her Easter Dress. It is fun to sew a little bit but it is very difficult finding time to be in the sewing room. I have too many projects going on right now. Two of them are making a valance for Ellyen's room and roman shades for the boys room. Now with with late summer light, we are having trouble getting them to go to bed. I am hoping the shades will darken their room.

Painting Easter Eggs

We like to be creative and paint our Easter eggs. Here is our creative basket. I am sure you can guess who's painted each one.

Here is the process. Jed's is geometric - very masculine.

McKay loves to paint. He gets it all over his face as usual.

Kenton is also creative. He is learning to keep colors seperate and creates his own design.

The hunt for the eggs is on.

It is a cold Saturday afternoon but the boys loved it. This is McKay's first hunt.

Thomas Train and friends

Above the boys are reading a Thomas train story.

The other night we told the boys we were going to watch a movie. Their first questions was, "Is it a Thomas movie?" Jed said, "Yes, it is a Thomas movie." He meant it is a Thomas S Monson movie.

During the movie, McKay kept asking questions like, "Is Gordon in this movie?"

Dad says,"I bet there is. Let's listen and see if they show Gordon."

McKay askes, "Is there a James?" "What about a Toby?"

Hmmm... Jed and I look at each other. "Well there may be a Henry or Hal for short." Jed responds.

Mom says, "I waiting for the Dieter train myself."

Speaking of Prophets. After General Conference we had a family home evening on what we learned from General Conference.

Kenton says, "When you see the temple, you are never lost."

Mom says, "We need a nice picture of the temple in our home." (more on this later)

McKay said he didn't learn anything, however once we sat down at the table to draw pictures of what we learned McKay said, "Touch the temple and the temple touches you."

Whoever said a 3 year old doesn't get anything out of General Conference even when he is playing with trains.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So, for a year and a half, after a 20 mile bike ride, I told Jed I needed an old lady bike so I could sit up straight and be more comfortable. He kept telling me I just needed new handle bars. So, finally I found a bike I really love. After much talk, he finally bought it for me for my birthday. I reassured him that it wouldn't tarnish his image to have me on an old lady bike. It is seriously the cutest old lady bike I have ever seen. Hey, I figure if I am still riding a bike at my age, then that it awesome in and of itself and deserve to have an amazingly darling bike!

At the rink

Today we had a Mommy and Me activity at the ice rink. We had a lot of fun. Here are the boys playing hockey!

Super Powers

So, the other morning I am standing in the bathroom and I hear McKay run into his room and he says to Kenton, "Do we have super powers?"
Kenton says, "Yes and I am Wonder Woman."
McKay says, "I am Hot Girl." He really means Hawkgirl.

Rock 'n Roll

Our rock 'n roller.

Our little girl

I wanted to share Ellyen's smile with everyone. She is so adorable. We sure love her. I had a hard time picking one picture so I added all my favorites.

One of my latest projects

A few months before Christmas, McKay asked me to make him a quilt for his bed. I just love how it turned out. I am planning to make a matching one for Kenton but I think I will wait until I am not so sleep deprived. I don't really want to brag about the way it turned out but I think I am going to brag about it. I love it so much!

Winter is here!

So winter has finally come to us. Kenton says, "Mom, why does the snow last so long?" It has only been here for a week. I told him that it is a product of no sun or warmth.

We are already looking forward to the days of sun and blue sky. We are a little tired of being home bound. Between the cold and Ellyen we havne't ventured out much

This is my morning conversation with Kenton as he started teasing McKay.

Lynette: "I need you to do some work to occupy your attention. Come help me clear off the table."

Kenton: "That's too much work."

Lynette: "That's what life is all about. Work, work, work!"

Kenton: "I'm not a work guy, I am a play guy."

Nice! I am really in trouble with this one.

Happy New Year

Here is the family picture we took with our camera. The boys were so interested in looking at the picture on the camera screen that it was hard to keep them still until the picture was actually taken. But, we finally got a picture were we all look good. Well, as good as it gets anyway.

This was taken a few days after Christmas, as you can see, unlike Washington, we have no snow. Lots of rain and gray skies. This is taken in our back yard. For those who haven't taken the opportunity to visit us yet, you can see the river in the background. We love our yard!Cute boys! It is amazing that our combined DNA will produce such good looking children!

This is the platter we made for Jed. We had so much fun making it. The kids added their hand prints (Ellyen's hand didn't work so well so she got a hand and a foot.) Just in case you cannot tell, this gift brought tears to Jed's eyes. You know it is a good gift if they get tears. The plate reads, "Tiny hands will forever make an imprint on our hearts." I came up with that. I am still amazed with myself. I had a blast making Christmas gifts at the new ceramic store in town.

Christmas Morning! Here the boys are adorned in their "Speed Car PJ's" as they call them. Jed and I were hoping they would grow out of their race car obsession but they haven't done so yet. We finally broke down and bought them a race track, no batteries required!

We have had a wonderful holiday together. This is the first year Jed has actually taken off the days he gets for the holiday. It has been so fun to have him home more. I am going to be sad tomorrow when the real work week begins again. Our new garage door opener is only halfway installed so the garage is unusable at the moment. So many projects, so little time.