Scout our Elf

This year we had the Elf on a Shelf visit our house! Spencer was thrilled that he came and in the way he did. Our Elf actually dropped in and crash landed into our Christmas tree with a parachute!

Then came the process of trying to figure out a name for our Elf. It was quite the long process, because we had no idea what name would be best! Spencer at the last second came up with the best name, Scout, because he is an elf scout for Santa. 

So, here are some fun places Scout hid around our house every day to spy on what we all were doing, and seeing if we were doing what was good or bad.

The shower caddy.

 Spencer's stocking.

 Spencer thought this was great that Scout was playing Jenga with some of Spencer's stuffed animals. 

 Hanging around in the kitchen.

 Watching Elf...Buddy is probably a friend of his.

Resting on one of our African paintings.

Uh-oh, we caught him sneaking some marshmallows!!!

Hanging out in Spencer's backpack.

Hiding behind some candles.

Just hangin' around. 

We loved having Scout around in our house, and he even followed us to Grandpa and Grandma's house until Christmas Day to make sure Spencer was being good!!! Hopefully we'll see him again this Christmas. 

New Year

The new year is upon us, and already the first month has almost passed without me doing one blog post. Sorry about that. We had lots of fun with Tyler's family over Christmas, and then we came home and were all sick. An awful cough that would not go away. Poor Preston had it for three weeks. He didn't eat or sleep well, so that made me worry a lot, so I didn't sleep well and didn't get better. But alas, we have all survived and are well enough now that I really should be catching up with the blog posts.

The first one for this year is always our goal one. We have changed up our goals this year because we wanted it to be more focused and we are having this year be Our Family Year!!! Thirteen is our favorite number, so 2013 seemed ideal to do some grand things with our little family and accomplish some goals together. 

I'm writing these out because I want to be accountable for it all. I know I most likely will not get every one of these done, but I'm pushing to get most of them done. 

First Tyler's goals:

1. Be most in tuned with the Spirit.

2. Be healthier

3. Learn more

Now for each of his he has multiple things to do, but I thought I would just give the overview of it all. 

My goals:

1. catch up on blog; blog more about the city

2. cross stitch

3. Get going on Preston's baby book (a digital one); and also catch up on 5 years of Spencer's

4. Finish up the African coffee table book of all of my favorite photos I took while living there

5. Do a family book for each year Tyler and I have been married (digital)

6. READ (at least 24 books). For January I have already finished Pride & Prejudice and am now halfway through The Perks of Being a Wallflower

7. Finish writing/editing my novel

8. Lose weight/eat healthier--which I REALLY am trying to do after having Preston

9. Relax and stay calm

10. Save money (we have lots of trips this year, plus a move we'll be doing)

11. Catch up on the Christmas scrapbook (not digital)

12. Read our church magazine the Ensign each month

13. Do special things for Tyler throughout the year

14. Try out a new blog idea....this one would take LOADS of time, so I'm still trying to figure out if I'll do it or not. 

Spencer's: 

1. I will play longer with Carson (our next door neighbor)

2. Play with my Christmas presents

3. Help my Dad juice (which he did while Tyler juiced at the beginning of January)

4. Help Preston walk and crawl

5. Write in my journal 

6. Exercise 50 pushups, 50 sit-ups, 50 seconds for wall sits

7. Read more

8. Learn more

9. Spend more time with my family

10. Finish my comic

11. Help Mom clean

12. Think of something cool. 

Preston's: (I'm pretty sure he'll do all of his)

1. Learn how to eat (which he is eating carrots like a champ!)

2. Learn how to crawl

3. Learn how to talk

4. Learn how to walk

5. Sleep more (maybe that is just Dad and Mom's goal for him)

Our Family Goals:

1. Read the whole Book of Mormon together this year. (which we are doing pretty good with!)

2. Serve others more; we are planning three service projects this year to help others

3. Be together and have more fun together. We try to have more movie nights together, more trips together that we all enjoy too. 

So that's it! Think we can do it?? I'm pretty sure we can. I'm excited about our goals, and I'm excited that I have things that I REALLY want to get done this year on my list, which makes me think I will be able to get them all done. Next up I should be able to catch up with all that has happened since mid-December. Hope you all have your goals in order, because then you will definitely grow more throughout the year if you are striving to do something better, bigger, or more positive with your life. Good luck!

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS from our family to yours!

Oh I love these boys!!!

 Spencer's photography skills.

While taking family pictures Spencer got a little silly.

Aw, there's my sweet boy.

Cute little Preston.

He's so happy!

What our family has been up to this year:

• explored more of New York City; saw more parks, museums and things come down the Hudson River.
• sailed for a week on a Disney Cruise (highly recommend)
• saw more Broadway plays, which kinda becomes addicting
• had lots of visitors (which we love!)
• HAD PRESTON!!! We welcomed a beautiful baby boy into our lives on Aug. 13th after four long years of wanting him to come.
• Spencer is an AMAZING big brother, he does anything and everything for Preston
• Spencer turned 8 and was baptized at our church
• Spencer started 3rd grade, and did fall soccer
• Survived Hurricane Sandy, and feel so blessed to have no damage to our place
• took a trip to Vermont and want to go back, it was beautiful in the fall
• We are all healthy and so happy to be so blessed for the things we have, especially two fabulous sons who make us smile everyday. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas prep!

Our Thanksgiving this year was very small and not very eventful. It was just our little family. It was nice though to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV this year (we went to it last year, which was fun also). Then we cooked and whenever it was done was when we ate. It was pretty good. 

Then we decided that after we ate we wanted to put Christmas up!! So....we did! It was so fun. Spencer was super excited to put up all the ornaments and have our home look magical. 

And of course I have to share some more pictures of cute boy Preston. He holds his fingers the same way Spencer did when he was a baby. 

And he's super cute...did you know that? 

I sew can!!!

One way to find out if you can sew or not is to have to get these bad boy patches on!!!

I dreaded trying to figure out how to get through the thick patches, but with some guidance from my mom, who quilts and sews and finds this all easy, I figured it out. It took a little time, and I was so proud of myself for finishing it and doing it all! Then I thought of something....something dreadful....I get to sew patches on for the next 18 years. sigh....

Precious moments

I love it when I can catch these cute moments between the boys. 

We are STILL trying to figure out what color hair Preston has, or will have. Red? Brown? Blonde? Who knows?!

 He loves going outside, and whenever we go out he falls asleep. So by the time we come back from dropping off Spencer this is what usually happens. Too cute!

 Aw, cute baby!

For some reason I feel like his hands are HUGE! Long fingers and a long palm, great for basketball!! 

Halloween 2012

The week of Sandy was also when Halloween was! So it was a little bit different, but still fun!

Spencer this year wanted to be a ghost, and he called it a tablecloth ghost, which I had to keep reminding him that it would be a sheet ghost. He loved it! 

I made both costumes. Why two? Because we had a Halloween party at our church and you can't cover your face, so we did this costume for the church party. Very ghostly, yes?

 Here he is for a night of Trick or Treating!!! Spencer was very specific about his costume, even down to the pointy edges at the bottom. 

Grandma sent Preston his costume, which was big enough to hide the harness under it. Here are our boys all dressed up!!! 

Preston helped me hand out candy to all the trick or treaters.