I think I could title most of my posts catch-up posts since I don't blog as often and here's another one of those posts.

We have a new niece on the Snell side of the family and her name is Brea Kate. (I love the name) I was excited to make some girl bibs when we found out what they were having. I also made a simple blanket and appliqued onsies. They're really easy to make. (Pattern, Tutorial 1, Tutorial 2)

Kaleb had his singing program at school last Tuesday and it was cute to watch. Kaleb was so far away and they're all the same height so I didn't get a picture of him singing but this is him on his way in to sit down.

Christmas Eve was at our house and there was alot of food and family and fun. So much food we forgot to eat the Pomegranate Cheesecake for dessert. Don't worry, it made it's appearance on Christmas instead. I'll post the recipe along with other dishes we had on my food blog soon.

After all of the fun we had we cleaned up and Kaleb put out milk, cookies, and a carrot for the reindeer.

Christmas morning was a little different since my brother was calling from Germany at 9:00AM. So we knew we had to be leave for my parents by 8:30. I had made a breakfast casserole the night before so I set my alarm for 6:45 to put it in the oven. The kids were sound asleep so I went back to bed. Next thing I know it's 8:20 so it was a mad dash to wake up the kids and get over to my parents. Kaleb was so excited we heard paper and in about 30 seconds he had unwrapped 3 presents after we told him he had to wait. His response, "I can't help it, I'm just sooo excited!" We let Ashton open one present and then headed to my parents. It was great to be able to talk to my brother (over Skype even) and see how he was doing. We didn't end up getting back home to open our presents until 12:00PM. You can sum up Kaleb's Christmas with Transformers, Star Wars and Bionicle's. The three things he's obsessed with. Ashton's would be more generic like cars, trucks, and balls.

Here's some video of Ashton with his new ball. I guess it was so big he didn't know what to do with it so he starting rolling over it.

Christmas ended with a yummy dinner and our annual white elephant gift exchange. Let's just say I was glad to get my N'Sync doll after seeing the pink embroidered soft toilet seat. Although it would fit right in with our blue 60's bathroom.

And the most exciting part is that we finally have doors on our kitchen cabinets. It only took 8 months to get around to painting them. It's nice not looking at all of the stuff in my cupboards anymore. Now onto the basement!

Do you think Matt got carried away with the lights this year?

The Ghost of Christmas Past...

It's always fun (and sometimes embarrassing) to look back. Here's a look at the pictures we've used for past Christmas cards.

Christmas 2003

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Which brings me to 2009. Saturday we decided to take pictures. We meaning us and our tripod (worked for 2007) and so we practiced and took 2 pictures in our living room. We noticed the camera battery was low so we started charging it but after about 10 minutes it was starting to snow. So we figured we could get enough pictures and headed off to Wheeler Farm across the street. It was freezing cold and windy and the camera lasted for only 4 shots. With 2 kids and nobody standing behind the camera to get Ashton to smile this was the best we had with only 4 photo's to choose from. (I know, poor planning with the battery.)

So looking at the 2 "practice" pictures we took in our living room before going to wheeler farm we decided to go with this picture. Every year I think I'll just pay someone to take our picture but they want $200+ for the copyright and I don't have that kind of money.

Christmas 2009


Backtracking....Thanksgiving I didn't take any pictures except for this picture of Kaleb and I in his bed after reading a story.


Did you know Santa even visit's Wal-Mart. The Saturday after Thanksgiving they had free pictures with Santa. Although I didn't want to wait the hour for the photo to print so I took my own. Kaleb was so excited, Ashton on the other hand...not so much. We're getting excited for Christmas! Hopefully I can finish the shopping I have left this week.

The holiday season is in full swing and I love it! Matt put the Christmas lights up last Thursday and I love seeing the lights when we pull up to our house. I can't wait to put up the rest of the decorations this weekend!

The 15th was our wards primary program and Kaleb did a great job. I also experienced my singing my first (and hopefully last) solo. You're probably thinking "I didn't know you could sing?" and I don't. At least not solo sing. I was in choir but that was the "cool" thing to do when I was in high school. Our choir was huge. But overall I think I did a good job.

This last week has been stressful and I'm glad I have a long weekend ahead to spend with family and good food! These 2 pictures are from a couple of weeks ago; the boys loved the first snow storm (while I sat on the nice warm couch and took pictures) and then Ashton decided he wanted to wait in a laundry basket while we were getting ready for church one Sunday.

School Pictures & Halloween

School pictures have improved since I was in school (other than I wish I could have fixed Kaleb's hair before they took the picture). They let you pick if you want close-up shots instead of just the standard from the chest up picture. Then they have a high resolution cd with the images on it (color, black/white, sepia) so that you can do whatever you want with them. Although I don't think I'll need anymore than what I have it's kind of cool to be able to save them to your computer. We always seem to cut Kaleb's hair right after getting his yearly pictures taken and then we let it grow out for a year and cut it again.

A couple days before Halloween Kaleb had his school parade and then I helped with the class party after.


Halloween morning we went with my mom and sister to the SLCC Halloween Party. We go every year because there are about 20 different stations that the kids can do things at and it's all free. They decorated pumpkins, cookies, played games and had lots of fun. My favorite is watching the donut on a string. Even Ashton tried joining in on it.

And the fun continues...

Matt's branch won a contest and so we were able to go to a Real game. The boys had fun, Kaleb liked watching the game and Ashton just liked being outside and probably didn't care about the game. He did like meeting the mascot though. They were handing out chicken buckets to wear as hats and Kaleb thought he was so cool.



And last weekend was our annual Halloween Party. This year only the kids dressed up and they had fun jumping on the trampoline while we were getting dinner ready.

Fun on the Farm

This is what alot of my pictures look like; either a) Ashton will have a cheesy smile or b) it's a picture of Ashton's hair because I'm obsessed with it.

This video shows how "cheesy" my boys are when they see the camera.

We had a great weekend in Logan, UT. It was a last minute trip with my dad's side of the family and we had a blast. Bowling, movies, swimming and the best part was this farm that had tons of activities. Corn mazes, pony rides, train rides, pumpkin launcher, HUGE slide and lots more. All for $6/person.

Kaleb loved jumping in the hay!

This is the slide. We didn't know at first you could use burlap sacks to ride down on to make it less bumpy. Ashton went down by himself after Kaleb before we could stop him. I wish I had video of when he was alone. He ended up flipping around and went head first down the slide. I think he was a little hesitant to go down alone after that.

Here are 2 videos of Ashton and then Kaleb. (Matt took the 2nd video and didn't realize you can't turn the camera when shooting video)

Next up was the sling-shot. There was a pumpkin target down the hill. We never did manage to hit it but came really close a couple of times.

Then came the corn maze. Shortly after this picture Ashton fell asleep in the stroller. He needed a quick nap so he had energy to see everything else.

Next was the pony ride. Ashton didn't want to leave the "mamimals" as he calls them.

Then the train.

Had to pet the goats.

After the goats we were going through some of the old farm houses and there were some kittys that had been abandoned there the day before. Someone had dropped them off. One of them sat in Kaleb's lap for 30+ minutes and Kaleb begged to let him keep him. He said how they didn't have a family and the kitty liked him. It was sad, and cute but not enough for me to bring a cat home to take care of. But it was cute to see Kaleb get attached so quickly. He's been begging for a pet lately but ever since our fish experience I haven't jumped at the idea. Meanwhile Ashton chased the ducks and turkeys.

And the boys loved swimming at the hotel. (It was really steamy so it was hard to get a good picture.)

Overall it was a great weekend and nice to get away and have some fun!