Christmas Tree...Part 2

So, last weekend we decided we better go and cut down our Christmas tree. Seemed like a great day for it...oh, except for the huge snowstorm. It actually turned out to be one of the worst snow storms they've had here in a few years. We first went to McCall's parent's house in Heber. Scott and McCall invited us for some lunch and snow playtime before we headed to the tree cutting areas.

Lillie, Jackson and Abbie
Snow Angels anyone? How the heck do you get up from making a snow angel without wrecking it? That is the million dollar question for our family this winter. We'll let you know when we've solved the mystery.
So after lunch, playtime, and Brad and Scott helping McCall's dad with some things, we were off. McCall's dad graciously offered to lead the way in his big truck to help us find where we were going in all the snow. He took us on a pretty slippery rode, but we were both doing ok with our 4 wheel drive...until we went up a little hill. As her dad got to the top of the hill, his wheels lost their traction and he began to slide back down the hill, right for us. Brad tried to move out of the way, but it was so slippery that we weren't going anywhere. It felt like slow motion as his huge red truck slammed into the front of our car. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and we made it out of that freaky rode safe and sound. Brad and I were ready to give up, but McCall's dad wasn't having it. We went another way and just as the little bit of sun there was that day was almost gone, Brad and Scott found a cute little tree in thigh deep snow just off the side of the road (ya, the rest of us just stayed in the warm cars). It was the longest day ever, but we got our tree and even decorated it when we got home.
My poor baby. Will it ever be the same?

McCall asked us when it was all over if we are going to rethink our little tradition. I'll get back to you on that one. Even though it was a crazy day, we love our tree!

Thanksgiving Fun

Here are just a few highlights from our trip to AZ for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time visiting with friends and family. Unfortunately we had two really sick kids that took us to the Urgent Care twice, but they were troopers. We spent Thanksgiving day at Brad's Aunt Laurie's, the evening at my mom's and then Friday lunch at Brad's Dad's. We ate and ate and ate.

We split up the drive by spending the night in Page, AZ. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever to stay in a hotel. They wanted to live there. You can tell how much sleep we really got all being in the same room together.

The girls had tons of fun with their cousins
Brad's mom got the game Rock Band and everyone was soon addicted. I think I make a pretty hot pregnant drummer. I think the boys might have started to really believe they were in a band, it got a little out of control. Pretty soon after this pic, Brad's shirt came off, then Kristen's husband Garrett's shirt came off and went on his head. Dennis kept it cool and just flipped his collar. I felt very proud to be my hubbie's pregnant groupie.


These are my first homemade pies. Pumpkin and Dolce de Leche. Even though the crust didn't look like the most professional thing, they luckily tasted yummy.

Don't mess with a pregnant lady...

I don't know about anyone else when they are pregnant, but I can get even more demanding and blunt than I already am. Having said that, now I will tell you why there is a picture of a Christmas tree in this post. For the past few years, Brad and I have taken our kids to cut down our own Christmas tree. It was just a fun idea one year that now has turned into our own little family tradition. Well, now that we are living in Utah, I wasn't sure where or when permits go on sale. I totally procrastinated and finally looked it up online Saturday. I found out that the spot we want to go to was almost sold out. So, I called the Ranger Station this morning (they were closed Mon for Veteran's Day) and asked how many they had left. She said only 25 and there were already 4 people there right then. So, I threw on some sweats (I looked hot) and my kids and I sped up to the Heber Ranger Station (about a 40 min. drive from our house). We pulled in and were getting out of the car (which with my 2 kids takes FOREVER) another car pulls into the parking lot AFTER us and 3 people get out and walk ahead of us into the station (walking with my 2 kids also takes FOREVER). When we got inside I heard those people asking the lady how many permits were left and she said 3, and they said they would take all three. I'm sure you all know where this story is going....but I will finish anyway. I kind of freaked out in my head, but SORT OF calmly said to them, "Do you REALLY need all three?" They just kind of stared at me and were like, "umm, I don't know, umm, maybe, well, umm, let's see.... Basically, they didn't know what to say because I think the look on my face might have been a little scary. To make an already long story short, the pregnant lady dressed in sweats, with her two kids, left the ranger station with a permit to cut down her very first tree in Utah in her hand. Thank you, thank you.

The Buzz

We took the girls to the "Bee Movie" this weekend and it was so cute. Good little family flick, my girls thought it was funny.

"There's no place like home..."

My girls were fighting it out this year to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. No matter how hard I tried to get one of them to change their minds, it didn't work. So, I took Abbie to the costume store with me and we happened to see the Glenda (the good witch from the Wizard of Oz) costume and once she saw the princess sparkly dress, she was in love. For weeks now, they have been trying their costumes on and turning on the movie, then acting out the scenes as their characters, it is hilarious. Luckily, the weather was good to us, no snow or rain, just a chilly wind. It was a fun night.
Jackson, Scott and McCall brought dinner over and trick-or-treated with us. Jackson was the cutest pirate, but for some reason I missed getting a picture of all three of them. I might have to steal one from McCall's blog.

These are pics of our FHE Monday night carving pumpkins. The girls were excited because they picked these pumkins from a real pumpkin patch on a preschool field trip. They were so proud and loved getting messy.

Happy Birthday to my Princesses!

October is a busy month at our house. Abbie celebrated her 5th birthday and Lillie her 3rd. We had a combined party at a place called Backyard Adventures. It's basically a room with a ton of playground equiptment on steroids. It was so much fun, even the "big kids" had fun too. Abbie and Lillie got spoiled with a ton of presents, especially having my parents come into town for the party weekend. It was so great to have my parents come and stay with us. I think Abbie and Lillie wore them out so bad they probably had to go home and sleep for 2 days. After the party, I tried to get Abbie and Lillie to promise me that they will stop growing up, but they just giggled and said no way. Too bad for mommy.

Sleeping like a baby...

We got new couches about a month ago and for some reason, Lillie loves to fall asleep on them. I guess they have passed the comfort test, we must have picked good ones. She is so funny. The other night when I was tucking her into bed she said, "Mommy, I love you so bad." That was the best thing I had heard all week. It's times like this that make being a mommy so worth it.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

For some reason, every weekend in October has been freezing and stormy up here. During the week, the weather is around 70 and so wonderful, then the weekend comes and with it, SNOW! These first pictures are of Brad and I in Park City. We like to do a trip with just us two before we have a baby. With Abbie's pregnancy it was Newport and with Lillie's it was New York. So, Scott and McCall bravely took Abbie and Lillie from Friday evening, until Sunday morning (You guys are the best!). The girls had a blast with them and Jackson, and we had fun hanging out in the snow in Park City. It is such a fun place and it's so close by.


The next weekend was conference and between Sunday sessions, we drove up the Alpine Loop and found tons of snow to play in. The girls had a blast building a snowman and watching Brad and Scott shake trees of snow on themselves.

Finally, this past weekend, the snow stuck! This is what we saw in our backyard and front yard when we woke up Sunday morning. So pretty, but what the heck am I in for living here? If nobody has heard from me come January, please come and dig me out!

Books Anyone?

OK, so I'm getting bored lately and am just entering the annoying "I'm too uncomfortable to sleep" phase of the pregnancy, so I am looking for good books to read. One of the things I miss a lot about AZ is my book club to always get new book ideas from. Anyone read anything good lately?

What's Fall?

I've never really lived in a place that actually has four seasons, so it's fun to see that fall really does exist. A couple Sunday's ago we drove up the Alpine Loop and looked at all the leaves changing colors. It was the prettiest drive. We went on a little hike just as the sun was beginning to set. Our girls are little machines when it comes to hiking, it's so funny. They get so upset if we try to tell them which way to go, they have to be the "leaders."

Hooray for Premiere week!

Do any other mom's out there get as excited as I do for TV Premiere week? At least "The Biggest Loser" has been on for a couple of weeks now. I love that show. But......I can't wait for the Thursday night Office one hour season premiere! How can you look at this picture and not start laughing? I'm pulling for ya Jim and Pam! At Target right now in the "dollar spot" they have post-it's, pens, and notepads that are all from "The Office." I got some for Brad because they are so funny. Happy TV week everyone.

10 Random Things About Me

I got tagged for this a long time ago and feel like blogging, so here it goes.....

1. I have a pretty heavy addiction to Target. I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that share this with me.

2. I still sleep with a blanket every night. It's an animal one that my grandma made for me when I was little. The weird thing is that I didn't really start sleeping with it until Jr. High, so it's still in great shape. Brad pretends to make fun of me, but I think he is secretly jealous of how much cuddle time my blanket gets.

3. I totally know the whole Fresh Prince of Bel Air rap. So sad, but true. Every once in a while it will pop into my head, so weird.

4. I've always had a fear of drowning (not of water...hard to explain). Kind of strange since I pretty much lived in the water growing up.

5. When I was little I was not a fan of my name and for some reason thought my name should be Stephanie. I don't know why I chose that name, but I would always try to get my family to call me that.

6. I married my High School sweetheart (aaahhhhhh)

7. I love to sing along to any song and constantly have a song in my head. I've always wished that I actually had a good voice to go along with that passion. One Sunday during church the ward chior got up to sing and Abbie asked why I didn't go up there to sing and Brad started dying laughing...nice.

8. In Junior High I was dead set on naming my daughter Charlie when I grew up. Jack Weyland anyone???

9. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican Food. Not very random, but I'm pregnant right now and my mind often wanders to food.

10. I love reading, writing, learning, teaching...all that nerdy stuff. I can't wait until I can go back to school one day and get my masters.

So sorry if you were bored to tears, but I love reading these on other people's blogs, hopefully you did too.

It's Another Girl!

We went to our ultrasound this morning and found out that we are having our third girl! Poor Brad keeps getting more outnumbered. He is excited that he doesn't have to buy anything new because we already have girl stuff (keep dreamin' honey). Everything looked normal and healthy, so we are glad to have that peace of mind and Abbie and Lillie are excited to have another sister. Just this afternoon we started calculating how much it is going to cost to pay for THREE weddings and decided we better start saving now.

Old News...

I haven't had access to my camera for a while, because Brad has been using it for work. (He dropped his and it won't work). We just got back from a fun vacation in AZ that started with a Randall Family reunion. Those pics are coming soon. Here are some pics from here in UT on Pioneer Day. I had no idea that they celebrate it here just as much as the 4th of July. Banks closed, work off, fireworks, parades, the whole shabang. So, in support of our awesome pioneers, we decided to set off our own fireworks in our backyard (ya, they're legal here). It was fun, the kids loved it, the neighbors were annoyed, it was raining (barely), and our grass only caught fire once...doesn't get any better than that.

Still reading...

OK, I finished "New Moon" the other day. Still good, but it got a little cheesy. I kind of just want Jacob to go away, I think he is annoying. Unfortunately, by the end of "New Moon" Bella started to bug me as well. Hopefully there will be a little more action in the third one, "Eclipse," I think it comes out next month.

Twilight

I just finished the book "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and I loved it. I think I might be the last person to read this book, because everyone has been telling me how good it is. I could not put it down. I read it in two days and can't wait to start the next book in the series.

Funny Conversation

This is how a little conversation between Brad and Abbie went this morning.....

Abbie: "Dad, what's this called on your head again?" (pointing to his forehead)
Brad: "That's my forehead"
Abbie: "What's a forehead good for, anyway?"
Brad: "It's just part of your head"
Abbie: "But, what is it good for? Why is it there?"
Brad: "It holds our brain inside of our head."
Abbie: (In her best "duh Dad" tone) "How can it hold our brain if it doesn't have any hands?"
Brad and Jaime: Lots of laughing
Brad: "You know, just how a bowl holds your cereal in the morning, but it doesn't have any hands either."
Abbie: "But, Dad, it has a spoon."

I love kids, they make for the best conversations. The other day Abbie asked me how the baby was going to get out of my tummy. (YIKES) I just said that the doctor will take it out. Luckily, she just took that answer as good enough, for now.

Blog Catch Up

I haven't been feeling the greatest lately, so I haven't been posting what we've been up to. Here is a quick catch up on a few things that have been going on. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

While Brad's mom was here, we went and hiked to Bridal Veil Falls in the Provo Canyon. It's just a little hike, great for the girls and lots of shady spots of grass for a picnic. We took dinner and had a great time. (Yes, my girls hiked in skirts, they are obsessed with skirts right now, they want to wear one every day)

4th of July!!!

We went to a swim and BBQ over at Aunt Lisa's sister's house. It was so sweet for them to invite us and we had a blast. Really good food and my girls must have been in the pool for 2 1/2 hours. They were so exhausted that they feel asleep at 7:30 and we missed going back for fireworks. Not too sad though, Brad and I were just as wiped out.

How many kids can fit in a pool? Abbie and Lillie loved having so many

kids around.

After baths last night, Abbie found some star stickers in her room and decided that Brad needed some decorations. So, her and Lillie made him so pretty! There were even stickers all over the top and back of his head. They take such good care of their Daddy.