This time of year

This time of year is so fun to see the kids get excited about Christmas and snow and everything else. Yesterday it snowed here and Tyson kept asking if we could go to the mountains to play in the snow. He wanted to make a snowman and asked me today where his nose was. Also, our awesome friends gave us a cute little Nativity set for Christmas, so last night I set it up and was explaining to Tyson who each character was and their part in the Christmas story. After I told him of Joseph, Tyson said, "Where's his car?" What a typical little boy. The thing that I love most is that I have been playing the 24 hour Christmas station and Tyson always comes in and turns it up really loud and dances around the kitchen. He loves the Christmas music and can surprisingly sing along with most of the songs that come on the radio. His personal favorite is Little Drummer Boy because he thinks it is funny when they say "pa rum pum pum pum" So cute! And last night, walking in from the car, Tanner just kept scooping up snow/slush and eating it all the way to the house. Their innocence is so magical.

Wiggle Cars

I sold these fun little wiggle cars at the county fair and I have a few left over that I am selling now. They would make great Christmas presents for your little ones. They are great for ages 2 and up, and they will hold up to 250 lbs so even you can enjoy the fun. My dad even rides them and chases the grandkids around on them! All you do is sit on them and wiggle the steering wheel back and forth and they go! They are so fun. If you are interested, email me at

hollykae3(at)yahoo(dot)com

Holidays

I love holidays where there is always a big family gathering because it seems that is the time all the fun announcements are made. This year the exciting news was Melissa and Rhett's. They are pregnant...due in June. Also, Rhett just found out he got accepted to the University of Utah's Medical school program. This was excellent news for our family because now they will only be in Salt Lake City for the next four years, rather than across the country somewhere. Congrats you two, I am so excited for your little family.

Happy Thanksgiving

Desperate times call for desperate measures. It looks like even Sesame Street is having an economic crisis! Happy turkey eating.

Going to the big "D" and other random ramblings

Last week Anthony had a training in Dallas and I figured it was a good opportunity to get some much needed alone time (for myself and for us as a couple), so I went with him. My parents took both kids and my brother and sisters and G&G White pitched in and helped when possible. Well, Anthony was gone from 7 am to 6 pm, so we didn't get to go see a lot of the sites Dallas has to offer. We went to the Dallas Temple one night, and I also dragged him to HSM3. We did a little shopping, and to my request, ordered Mamma Mia in room (Anthony almost gouged his eyes out with a fork). It was a little corny--the play is much better. By myself, I went to the 6th Floor Museum which is about JFK and is where he supposedly was shot from. It was interesting but I got really lost in downtown Dallas, so I didn't venture out much on my own. For the most part, I got to lounge around, watch TV, surf the Internet, and read a mushy love novel, from which Anthony benefited most! It was a pretty fun week, but I was excited to get back home.Dallas Temple

Some things that I have observed lately:

• It is very difficult to type on a keyboard that is missing the enter key, both shift keys, the "e" key, and the apostrophe key. Our computer has really been through the ringer lately, and thanks to Tanner and him breaking the keys, my wpm has significantly dropped.




• Texas is huge, but the lanes on the road seemed to be so narrow. It made me nervous driving.


• For so long now I have been worried that we haven't started a retirement plan--401K or IRA, but now with the stock market crash, I'm glad we don't have to worry about losing anything right now. I consider it a blessing in disguise. Also, Obama is going to spread the wealth around, so we won't be any better or worse off than the next guy;)
  
• I love that in Utah, all public places are smoke-free. I take clean air for granted sometimes.

• This was a store by our hotel. We didn't actually go in, but I couldn't resist the name. It is pretty catchy.
• There is no greater joy than seeing my two little ones playing well together. Two weeks ago I got the wagon out and when I came back out a few minutes later, I found Tanner laying in the wagon and Tyson was pulling him around. It was so adorable. Tyson was being such a good big brother, and Tanner was loving every minute of his ride. I didn't get a good shot of it, but here are a few pics.

Halloween

This year was a lot of fun with two trick-or-treaters. Tanner understood a lot better of what he was supposed to do than Tyson did at his age. As you can tell, the kids were crayons--Thanks to my sister, Andrea, for letting us borrow these costumes. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect evening to be out and about. I didn't get many good pictures because my camera ran out of battery, so by the time we came home and it had charged, the kids were getting tired and ready to get out of their costumes. Tyson was so cute running up to the door and knocking so softly, then saying, "twick-o-tweet." Tanner just followed him and held out his bucket for them to put candy in. Then Tanner would walk back to sit in the stroller, and want to pull out whatever was just put in his bucket. He is a sucker for suckers. Tyson was so excited about his costume. Sorry, I forgot to flip this one.

The kids with our pumpkin. A neighborhood squirrel ate part of our other pumpkin and took the lid, so we couldn't use it.

Carving pumpkins with our friends.

Playing in the leaves at G&G White's house.

Catch Up

On his birthday, Tyson spilled apple juice on our computer, which crashed our hard drive and we lost everything. So our computer has been in the shop, and then I left my camera in Beaver for a week, so here are some catch up photos.

This is at my sister's wedding dinner. Laurie and Ladd were married September 27th. Welcome to the family, Ladd. Get ready for craziness!

This is the birthday cake I made Tyson. Not quite as difficult as the choo-choo train, but I thought my hand was going to fall off after piping all those stars.

My little explorer climbed into the dryer.

My adorable little niece, Ava. They came down to go to a Dixie football game with us.


A few weeks ago the whole White family went to Salt Lake for David and Carolyn's anniversary. Anthony hooked us up with this sweet resort in Deer Valley for free. We have never experienced such niceties! It was a really fun weekend.Sunday morning we woke up to a little bit of snow. It felt like Christmas. It was so beautiful.

3 x 5 Tag

I was tagged by Jenny awhile ago and have purposely been putting this off because it required me to get personal, which I usually don't share due to my reserved personality. But I figure there is nothing too discriminating about it, so here I go.

3 Joys:
-My children's gut wrenching laughter
-Good music
-My family

3 Fears:
-snakes, spiders, and all creepy crawly things (I constantly have nightmares about snakes)
-dying in a car/plane crash (but mostly a car crash)
-having someone break into my house at night while I'm there.

3 Goals:
-Get better at playing the piano
-Finish an educational "Quiet Book" for Tyson that I have started
-Develop a skill that will also be financially profitable

3 Obsessions/Collections
-balancing our checkbook
-loading the dishwasher a certain way
-self help books

3 Facts about myself:
-I have never received a ticket (and have only been pulled over twice for registrations--once in my parents' car, and once in my own)
-I wear a smaller pants size now than I ever did in high school (lets hope it lasts!)
-I love reading

Whew! That wasn't so bad. I now tag Andrea, Betsy, Laurie, Nikki, and Kamill.

Lots of news

To say I've been busy would be an understatement. Not to mention our computer sort of crashed, so I have been unable to post, or read any other blogs. How sad for me. Right now I am at Anthony's hotel on the Internet, and my kids are getting anxious to go swimming so I will make this short and sweet. Well, I am still babysitting my friend's baby every week day until the end of October. Then I will tend only 3 days a week. She is easy...sleeps most of the time. Our weekends have been full with going to Beaver for one thing or another such as Brad's mission farewell, Laurie's bridal shower, etc. etc. etc. Brad is now in the MTC and is doing well. He will serve in the West Virginia, Charleston mission.

This is a picture of Melissa and Tyson on Brad's new horse that he bought from the ranch he worked on this summer. It is not old enough to really ride, but Brad was letting people have little rides around the yard. I'm already a scaredy cat, but after seeing my sister, Andrea, get bucked off, there was no way I was getting on it. Maybe when Brad gets back and breaks it in, I will try riding it.

Tyson and Tanner with Brad before he left on his mission. They will have changed so much and be so big when he gets back.The Family at the MTC. The picture is horrible because of the sun and shadows, but it was an altogether good experience. I am so proud of my little brother!

Tanner with the new puppies. He loved chasing them around the lawn, and they are getting pretty playful. By the way, there are still three puppies left if anyone wants them. Free!

We also got family pictures taken. (Thanks to uncle Blake for the photography) However, I can't get the computer to read the DVD, so I will post them another time. It gives me readers something to look forward to, huh?

The Final Countdown

Anthony starts the last week of his Master's program today! By this time next week, he finally, finally, finally will be done with schooling. Not that it has taken him longer than normal (he will have finished the program in less than 2 years) but it will be such a burden lifted off our shoulders--especially his. Then what? Well, we will keep on doing what we have been doing. Anthony wants to stay in this position for a few years to get the experience under his belt, and then hopefully some good opportunities may open up....only time will tell. Now comes the most unpleasant part of the Master's program...Paying for it! I may have to get a job, so if any of you know of something that I could work from home, please pass the word along.

Where to begin?

Well, the time has flown so fast this month already that the days all blur into one. Let's see...
This first picture is of my hair. I decided last week that I needed a trim because my hair was getting really long and tangled. So I asked Anthony to trim about two inches off, and he ended up taking about four. I freaked out and then he felt bad, and then I didn't care because my hair feels healthy now. Plus, it will grow back eventually...right?






This next one isn't very clear but I wanted to show everyone how beautiful blue Tanner's eyes are and how long and dark his lashes are. My brother says Tanner doesn't look like any babies he has seen because he has a long skinny face and head, but he has a contagious smile and giggle, and gorgeous eyes!
We went to the Beaver county fair and they do a pee-wee livestock show. So Tyson was absolutely terrified of the sheep and I dragged him in the ring kicking and screaming. But by the time we were done, I guess he got use to them and was petting his sheep and hugging it saying, "nice beep," and "my beep" (beep meaning sheep), so it was pretty fun.







Grandpa Max even took a turn showing the sheep for the adult fitting and showing class this year.

This is my adorable niece just getting done with the baby contest. And my nephew who has no fear of the sheep, or anything for that matter.

County Fair

Yesterday we went to the county fair with our friends. It was hot! The main event was the demolition derby, which actually dragged on a little too long, but in the end it was worth it. After that, there were fireworks. This picture is of Tyson watching the fireworks while plugging his ears.


During the derby they had rock crawlers, and this van jumped the rocks. It was cool to watch.
(sorry there is no sound--our camera is not that hi-tech)

I'm a big boy now

Tanner turns 13 months today and I can't believe how big both my boys are getting. It is amazing how different they are, and how they each developed at different ages.


Fun Facts about Tyson

• Favorite movie: Cars...he would watch it nonstop if I let him. The cute thing is that he has all the words memorized so he talks and sings along with it.
• Favorite catch phrase: "Mommy and daddy went on a plane." This comes from when we went to Hawaii and left him home. I guess it traumatized him because he won't forget it.
• Defining trait: His white hair. Everywhere we go, someone always says something about how white it is.
• He likes to do everything we do: use daddy's razor to shave his face, brush his teeth, put deodorant on, put my makeup on, pour his own milk, etc. He has become quite independent.
• Likes to torment Tanner.
• Prefers showers to baths.
• He loves music and dancing.
• He loves the outdoors and swimming.

Fun Facts about Tanner

• Doesn't walk yet, but is very mobile. He can get anywhere he wants, and very quickly too.
• He likes his teeth to be brushed.
• Prefers baths, hates showers.
• Loves being outside and likes eating rocks, dirt, bugs (if I don't stop him first!)
• Sleeps about 10 hours or more a night. Yeah!
• Defining trait: his super long beautiful eyelashes. People comment frequently about this.
• Favorite thing to do: whatever Tyson is doing at the time.
• Will eat almost anything I feed him.
• Loves crawling around with shoes on his hands...anyone's shoes.
• Newest thing: giving kisses.
• Likes to torment Tyson

There you have it. My sweet boys aren't always sweet, but they are so fun. I am excited to watch them continue to grow and learn.

Water boys

Today was Tyson's last day of swimming lessons. He did pretty good in level two, but I will still need to work with him a lot to get him ready for next summer. Good thing we have an awesome pool at the hotel to swim in.

Last night I was sick of my boys whining and moaning so I decided to put a bowl of water outside for them to splash around in. Well, what started out as a bowl of water quickly turned into this.....Tanner crawled right in, clothes and all, before I could stop him. And it ended up like this....
An hour of fun for the boys, and an hour of sanity for myself.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was Tanner's 1st birthday! Throughout the day we did our regular routine, but then we had friends and family over for a little party in the evening. It was really fun. I don't think Tanner quite understood what was going on, but he enjoyed the attention. Too bad Tyson skipped his nap and fell asleep at dinner. He was so tired he actually asked me to put him to bed, so he missed the whole thing. Plus, his allergies were acting up and he gets so asthmatic that I wanted him to get sleep if he could. Anyway, I spent a large part of the day making this choo-choo train cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute but I will never do it again because it is too much work! Thanks to friends and family for the presents! Happy Birthday little guy, We Love You so much.



Below is a picture of a tonka truck our friends gave him. He loved it and played with it all night! Plus he got some sand toys that he can dig around in the dirt with (which he loves doing).