Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Kitchen Family and had a great time - enjoying wonderful food and company. Thanks - Brandon and Danielle for everything!

On Chrismas Eve - Alayna got to open one present - New Pajamas!! Here is Alayna with a treat for Santa (pumpkin roll and milk) and Rudolph (carrots).

Playing with her new kitchen from Santa,Grandpa Brad, and Grandma Kelli.

After Alayna opened a present she wanted to stop and play, of course...her she is with a new book and princess earrings.

Coby got a zucchini from his Dad (who is definitely getting the last laugh right now!) - Coby had no idea what this present was and even saved it to open it towards the end. (Coby and his dad have overgrown zucchini wars every year...)

Little Dorothy!! Alayna absolutely loves the "Mizard of Loz" - and has told everybody that she was getting Ruby Red Slippers like Dorothy for Christmas. (Thanks Grandpa Perry for giving Alayna her ruby reds - and Maddie and Moira for the fun Dorothy dress). Alayna cried when it was time to take off her new dress.

We had a great Christmas and want to thank everybody for helping us have such an enjoyable holiday season.

Pre-Christmas Randomness

Alayna was so excited to see Santa at our ward Christmas party - she literally pushed her way to second in line - kind of embarassing, but she wasn't about to wait in line. We didn't get a good picture of her looking, but lets be honest she just wanted the candy cane...

Coby downloaded a couple of apps for his IPod that Alayna loves...the whoopie cushion - it provides literally an hour of nonstop giggles.

And we have the light saber app...Alayna figured this one out right away and loves to "fight".

A Bit of Christmas Cheer!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We have been practicing our Christmas carols...Alayna loves to sing and dance and gets a little excited - so here it is - "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town". My favorite line for sure is Alayna's version of "He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake."

Math Genius in the Making...

I just wanted to write up this little story so I wouldn't forget it...it really is too funny not to share.

The other day I was tutoring a student in Math at my house. I usually try and let Alayna take a nap in the afternoon that will overlap with some of my tutoring appointments. When Alayna gets up from her nap she is usually pretty needy and will come and snuggle on my lap and just listen for a few minutes. Then she will want to color in my notebook and play with my calculator and such...Anyways, so that is how this particular day was going, Alayna was coloring in my notebook as I was explaining how parallel lines have the same slope and yada yada yada...when Alayna picks up the pen and points to the notebook, while looking at my student and says with authority, "This is parallel, THIS IS PARALLEL!"

We just laughed and laughed - apparently my student wasn't the only one learning about parallel lines - Alayna knew what they were and was taking over as the teacher. So instead of practicing numbers and counting with Alayna - I think I will skip straight to Geometry - since she has a knack for it already.

Five Guys and One Sad Gal

On Saturday - we tried to to take some family pictures for our Christmas card...its always harder than you think...

After taking family pictures, we went to Five Guys with my Dad, Mom, and Kali. My mom wanted to brave the line at the new In-N-Out Burger, but unfortunately no one was with her...maybe next time. Here is Dad with his "Five Guys" - posted on the comment/picture board.

They were actually "Five Guys" that were eating in the restaurant at the same time as us...

Milk anyone....?

Unfortunately it was cold and Alayna was a little bit tired...so not all of our pictures were perfect(and I have a hard time keeping my eyes open)!

Just walking along!

Thanks Mom, Dad, and Kali - for taking pictures and entertaining! We love you!

Happy Late Birthday Coby!

Happy late Birthday Coby! Alayna and Dad blowing out the candles!!

If I do say so myself - the Caramel Banana Walnut Torte I made for Coby was probably the best cake I have ever eaten - it was absolutely delicious!
On an even better note! My husband is one year older and wiser too! I love him so much! I don't know what I would do without him! He makes my life happier in everyway possible! We just wish we could see him more, Alayna and I treasure the little time we have with him!

In Memory of...the mustache

This last weekend we were visiting Coby's family and we found these fun mustaches in a vending machine.

Grandpa Brad just shaved his mustache for the first time in a very long time - so in loving memory of Grandpa Brad's mustache - Alayna and Brayden wore mustaches of their own.

Everyone with their mustaches...

Grandma Kelli sported the best mustache of all!

Shopping with Kasey!

Yay for a pretty new dress!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Alayna loves Mary Poppins and has wanted to go fly a kite ever since she saw the movie. So we found a cheap Buzz Lightyear kite - which she loves - and headed to the park...of course, no kite flying experience would be complete if you weren't singing, "Let's Go Fly a Kite".

Just Keep Swimming!

We went to our ward "Trunk-or-Treat" on Saturday morning - Alayna loved it and has a full bucket to prove it!

This little fish enjoys a hot dog and chips for lunch - before mom would let her dive into her treat bucket.

Alayna posing for a quick picture with her cousins Joey, Owen, and Gabe.

Brandon, Danielle, Brynnli, and Wyatt all looked great in their costumes too - we especially loved the dogs in their pirate costumes.

Diving in after "Trick-or-Treating" at Grandma's and getting another bucket full of candy. I don't know what we are going to do with all this candy!

On Friday night we carved our pumpkins...Alayna thought it was so neat to tell me how she wanted her pumpkin.

Dad and Alayna with our pumpkins.

All lit up! The big pumpkin in the middle was grown by Grandpa Lloyd and cut by his friend Ray - who is an award winning pumpkin carver!

Little Nemo just keeps swimming! She definitely had all the right moves to be Nemo! Alayna has been wearing her Nemo costume all month and practicing her "trick-or-treating" - so we had a great Halloween - she kept us all entertained.

It's Official...

The first snowstorm of fall has arrived! Alayna was super excited to get outside and stomp around and taste the snow(sick! I know, but every kid does it...)

Our neighbors have a talking Dracula so we have to go and bond with him quite frequently.

These pictures are really for my sister, Tif - she wanted to see what I made at super Saturday last weekend. These cute little aprons are for Madeline (butterflies) and Alayna (cupcake) for Christmas.

This sign does double duty - woot! On one side you get this...and on the other side...

this! So Merry Christmas to all! Maybe it just feels like Christmas since - we are in the middle of a blizzard!

Happenings...

Yesterday we went miniature golfing - Alayna loved it - especially fishing her ball out of the water or throwing it in the water.

Swinging away - she was always very adamant that she had a turn too.

We had a little Girls Date and went to the Cheesecake Factory with my mom and Kali - yum - it was absolutely delectable as always. Thanks Mom!

Last weekend we went to Coby's mission reunion - he had a great time visiting with his former companions - and I had a great time supervising all of the two year olds on the roller coaster - Alayna loved it and probably went down it 50 times...the petrified look on her face everytime she went down always made me laugh because she would get off and drag the car back up and couldn't wait for her turn again - she really is fearless.

100th Post!

This should be a celebration - I never in a millions years thought that I would blog enough to get to my 100th post, but nevertheless today is that day!

We usually make at least a weekly visit to my family at the Stewart house - the drive takes about a half an hour from our house to get to their house...but this is why I love that drive....

Alayna(so excited): I see it! I see it! Look mom! I see the temple! I love to see the temple.

(the Jordan River Temple)

a second later -

Alayna: Another one! Its another temple! I see it Mom!

(Oquirrh Mountain Temple)

about 3 minutes later -

Alayna: Its a temple! Its a temple! You see it Mom! I love to see the Temple!

(Draper Temple)

We are also able to see this temple - (similar expressions from Alayna)

Mount Timpanogos Temple

Probably what warms my heart more than anything is that Alayna looks for the temples - the whole way - we also love to see the temples in the dark - when the temples are so bright and easy to see.

Here are some more funny things Alayna has been saying recently -

We were out to eat and Alayna was trying to climb out of her booster seat to grab the salt and pepper shakers to ruin her food - and so I made her sit back in her chair as Coby was getting ready to lecture her...

Me: But just look at that face. (She was grinning impishly and giving the "I never get in trouble face"

Coby: Just look at this face. (Coby scowls and makes a mean face)

Alayna: I don't like that face! (We laughed so hard - of course!)

Today as we were walking into sacrament meeting she shakes the Bishop's hand ...

Alayna: Hello, Prophet!

Me: That's the Bishop.

Alayna: Oh hi, Bishop!

(The Bishop didn't know what to say and just laughed and told her how cute she was)

Alayna was eating a Fat Boy ice cream sandwich and rubbing it all over her lips like chapstick -

Alayna(lips all puckered): Look at my Fat Boy lips!

A Little Bit of This & That

I am so excited that Alayna's hair is finallly getting long enough that we can do some fun things with it(that is all her real hair) - now if she was as excited about doing her hair as I am - it would make things a lot easier. I usually have to bribe her to sit still and not cry.

My little Tinkerbell - sprouted wings and flew everywhere this week...she was always asking me, "Put my wings on mom?!" She waits all day for Coby to get home so she can really fly...

This weekend we went to the Utah State Fair on Saturday - with some of Coby's family. Here are Alayna, Brayden, and Karter standing by the biggest cow we've ever seen. It was over 5'5'' tall and weighed over 3000 pounds (by the way the biggest cow is not the one wearing the striped shirt - that is me and my belly is sticking out further than my boobs...I guess that can only mean that our little guy is growing away.)

Alayna petting a calf that is just a few weeks old. Alayna loved to pet anything she could get her hands on.

Alayna got to pick a ride - and she chose to ride the horses. She also had to ride the biggest one..she just laughed and loved riding the horses. We have a little cowgirl on our hands.

My Future Farmers of America!

Alayna lending a hand to "milk" the cows - but it was really just water...so do you say water the cow?!

We also wen to the truck pull - where a truck has to pull this machine that has a weight that moves closer and closer to the truck - making it harder to pull...I didn't think it was very exciting - I would have much rather seen a truck tug-of-war or something like that.

The only treat Alayna wanted at the fair was a build your own slurpee - yum - brain freeze and all.

They had a little street singer that was geared towards the kids - they had tons of things for the kids to play and shake - and Alayna was shakin' and dancin' with the best of them.

While Alayna was petting this lamb - I got attacked by his cellmate trying to take this picture. My shirt had lamb spit and goobers all over it.

Taking a minute to smell the flowers before eating dinner at the Mayan.

Alayna, Karter, and Brayden posing at the top of the treehouse.

Everyone else enjoying dinner. Thanks for a fun weekend!