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.

Ellyen's Blessing

This is our beautiful little girl, Ellyen, in her blessing dress. I made the dress with left over fabric from my wedding dress. It is all silk with silk ribbon embroidery. The hat is fashioned after a 1920's women's cloche. We blessed Ellyen on our 7th Wedding anniversary. She is a good baby and we are all grateful I had enough faith to go through this whole process one more time. She has already brought so much joy to our family.

We bought a new Nikon camera for Christmas so we are still trying to figure out how to use it. Jed also bought me the Adobe Photoshop program to help edit the pictures but I cannot open it until Christmas day so these pictures are straight from the photo shoot.

This photo gives you an idea of the embroidery

Her beautiful small feet. She has Jed's long fingers and toes. Jed is grateful for that because he thinks my toes are short and a little odd. You would have to see them to understand and that isn't a picture I am interested in taking.

We are still working on baby announcements and a Christmas letter. It may be a little late but hopefully we will get it done. We are running a little behind as I am finding out that it is hard to get everything done that I would like to do. We hope to be getting more Christmas cards from all of you as we haven't received too many this year.

Oh, I should add a few pictures of the boys.

We mad a gingerbread house. Jed and I had to keep telling ourselves that this was suppose to be fun and it didn't have to be perfect.

I also took a picture of our Thanksgiving dinner before we began eating. We decided to use our china this year. It was very fun and festive. We had a much smaller crowd at our home that most of you enjoyed but we had a fun time together.

I love this picture of McKay. He is usually a sweet little boy but the independence of a 3 year old is starting to set in already.

Ellyen Belle

Kenton and McKay dressed up for a ward Halloween Party on October 29th. McKay is dressed as a drum major and Kenton is batman.

Ellyen Belle was born on October 31st at 5:18 am. She was 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. It was a surprise that she was born 3 weeks early. Everyone is healthy and doing fine. The boys love to check on Ellyen and often ask where she is.

Here is Jed holding Ellyen in front of the mirror- one of his favorite things to do.

Kenton: "Mom, how does the baby come out of your belly?"

Mom: "It is a very painful process."

Kenton: "Why does it hurt so bad?"

Mom: "That is the way Heavenly Father made it."

Kenton: "Why did Heavenly Father make it to hurt so much?"

Mom: "That is a very good question."

Kenton: "Mom, can I go to the hospital when the baby is born?"

Mom: "No."

Kenton: "Why not?"

Mom: "Because if you go to the hospital then Daddy will have to pay attention to you and I need him to pay attention to me."

Kenton:"Daddy, Mom said I cannot go to the hospital with you because you won't pay attention to her. Can I go to the hospital when the baby is born?"

The boys felt pretty cooped up in the hospital. They did enjoy watching their first football game on the TV.

Kenton, McKay and Ellyen pose for their first picture together.

The boys love to help in the yard. They are responsible for picking up dead branches and the hickory nuts. Their reward after working hard is a ride in the wheelbarrow.

Texas Trip

Okay, so earlier today while I was updating our blog, I totally freaked out because I thought I had deleted all our photos from our trip to Texas. But, they have been found.

We stopped to visit with Scott and Julie's family. Kenton asked me the other day if we could go see them again. I tried to explain that they live a long way from us. The boys had so much fun with their kids.











While in Texas, we stayed at Crystal Beach. At

the time we were there we experienced hurricane Dolly so, we didn't have much time on the beach. Gratfully, we missed hurricane Ike. the place we stayed is non-existant now. We had

fun visiting with Jed's family. Jed and I had a lot of fun body surfing on the waves. The boys prefered to play in the sand.

Our summer in a nutshell

Have you ever seen such beautiful boys?!




Jed is very proud of his iris collection. It is about the only plant the deer don't eat.








Jed's gift for receiving tenure - an organ. The boys love to play around as well. It is great but I have to say it looks a lot larger in my home than it did in our friends home.













A lazy day in the yard. Kids enjoy such simple pleasures.



















These are pictures at Shenandoah National Park. We had a fun camping trip but got rained out the last day and came home early. It was okay with me. I was worn out. As you can see in the last picture. Jed had us go on several 3 mile hikes every day. The boys did great and walked about 2 mile each day but they were too tired to hike back up to the ridge. It was beautiful but camping is lot of work. Jed ended up carrying the boys out as I kept reminding him that I was already carrying myself and a baby. He is a good sport.






























Kenton's first marshmellow roasting!









This is a picture of the Appalachian Trail. As exhausted as we were, we had to be able to say we hiked part of this famous trail.




















We visited Cooper's Rock with our friend Kathleen. They all love Kathleen and miss her now that she has moved to Utah for a great job opportunity. The last time we had Kathleen over for dinner before she left Kenton said, "Now we have two Mom's. A play mom and an instruction Mom." He then proceeded to tell me which mom I was but I reassured him I already knew which mom he thinks I am.

This is the family at Cooper's Rock. Don't you love the picture of me and Jed! This is us showing that we still love each other.






We went to visit our friends just out of town and took the kids on a hay ride. It is so peaceful there.
We are now busy preparing for the baby. I have her blessing dress complete and a girl quilt. I am trying to complete some Christmas gifts before the birth. It is hard to know if I will accomplish them after her arrival. We will load pictures of her within a few days after her birth.

It's a GIRL!!!

I am still in shock. I was sure it was a boy. I keep asking Jed if it is possible for someone to only have boy sperm and no girl sperm. He keeps trying to tell me that it is "x" sperm. Whatever! Anyway, the baby is healthy and there doesn't appear to be any concerns so that is great news! We are due around Thanksgiving so we have a lot to be grateful for this year.