Christmas Spirit!

I love Christmas time and this year it seems extra special. My own house with my kids and fiance. We went and picked out our tree last week and it was so cold! We hurried and found a nice full nine footer. It didn't look that big til we got it in the house. It is seriously huge. It was the kids weekend to go with their Dad and I wanted to make sure they could decorate some of it but we only had a few sets of lights so I put them on the bottom of the tree and then gave them the whole box of ornaments to put on. It was the cutest thing. Of course all of the ornaments ended up on the bottom part of the tree. I felt bad taking them all back down to put the new lights on after they left but we left some of the ornaments for them when they got home and Cadence is now constantly rearranging them.

After our huge snow storm over the weekend we decided to take the kids out to play in the snow. We finally got their boots and snow suits. It was so deep that Cadence couldn't even walk in it. We had tons of fun and made a snowman and named him Bob. He is right out our window so the kids can always see him and they like to make sure he is still there. We didn't have anything to make his face out of except for some baby carrots so Joe carved his mouth and we used balls for his eyes. After I stuck his arms in Braxton wanted to put a stick in too so he put about 6 sticks at the bottom and said they were his feet.

The other day we decided to make some Christmas sugar cookies. We had tons of fun and made a huge mess but it was so worth it. I let the kids help cut out the shapes, we had a Christmas tree a star and made some plain old round ones. We made red and green frosting and had red and green sprinkles. I gave them to the kids and let them go.

My family has so many Christmas traditions and I love every single one of them but I am so excited to be able to start some of my own and things that the kids can look back on and remember how special Christmas was during their childhood just like I remember mine.

U of U student =)

I am so excited to finally start my college experience at the U! I wanted to start there but living in Utah county it was just more practical to attend UVU but since we moved to Park City I finally transferred! I feel like graduation is so far away but I am just about done with all of my generals and pre-requisites. As of January 11th I can officially call myself a student at the University of Utah.

We have season tickets to the basketball games this year. We joined a group called Section F. Coach Boylen wanted a section for the biggest fans to be kind of like the MUSS and stand and cheer and create energy for the team. It has been way fun and the kids love going to the games. Braxton calls them the huge guys lol :) They both put up their U's and clap and cheer and Cadence dances every time the band plays Utah man, she is so adorable. We have a young team but I have very high hopes for them. Last night the football team was there and sat behind us. Braxton was so shy and kept staring at them. He asked tons of questions like who is that and what number is he. At half time they went on the court and a few captains spoke and thanked the fans for their support during the season. When they sat back down we asked a few if they would take a picture with the kids. At first Braxton was shy but he eventually walked over and sat on their lap. They loved it! I am so excited for many more good times and great games!

Jordan Wynn, Chad Manis and Stevenson Sylvester with the kids.

The kids first Utah game!

So Joe and I have season tickets to the Utes games but on Saturday we had no one to watch the kids but luckily our friends wife couldn't make it so they had and extra ticket for Braxton and Cadence gets in free. They were so excited! They love the Utes almost as much as we do. The game was a 2 but we wanted to get there early so we could walk around let the kids see everything. We usually park away from the stadium and ride Trax and the kids loved it. I don't think they had ever ridden it before. We got to the stadium and found some face tattoos for the kids. The band always plays outside before the game and we watched them for a while.

I thought it was pretty cool that they put their hats in a U. We went to our seats and not too long into the game it started to rain which wasn't too fun but at least it wasn't cold. It was right around Cadences nap time so she was kind of out of it for a little while but she never fell asleep but she perked up around half time and really started to enjoy it. Braxton sat on our friend Kerry's lap almost the whole game and stole some popcorn from some of our neighbors (they actually gave it to him but he ate more than they did lol) We were kind of worried that Utah wasn't going to pull out the win for their first game but they ended up winning in overtime =)

We are trying to adjust our season tickets so we can add some for the kids for next year. Hopefully we can because we had tons of fun and so did they. I think it was a lot for them to take in though. Cadence fell asleep on our way back to the car and Braxton fell asleep in the car. That was about 6 and Cadence slept until 7:30 the next morning.

Here are a few pictures from the game:

We also let Braxton take one of our old cameras and take his own pictures. Some are actually okay and not blurry. He took a bunch of videos thinking he was taking a picture. Here are some of his:

Life...

I haven't posted for a while because there really hasn't been anything to post about. We are just living life and loving it. We have been in Park City for over 2 months! It's crazy how fast time flies. Fall semester started and I really like all of my classes. I am taking my math class at the UVU Wasatch campus in Heber and I have 3 online classes: Biology, Nutrition and Intermediate writing. I hate writing but so far it has been okay. The kids are doing great, it amazes me how much they grow and improve in so little time. When it was warm we would put them in the jogging strollers and run/walk to a park about a mile away from our house. It was great, I hate sitting in the house all day and it kept us and the kids active. Now that it is cold it really sucks. It has already snowed a few times up here and the kids hate that we can't go to the park. I love fall because that means: Halloween, the leaves change, my birthday and football. We have season tickets to the Utah games. They are so much fun! We also have all the NFL games. I love football and Joe is really glad he has someone who loves to watch sports as much as he does. He has a fantasy football league with his friends and someone backed out or something right before they started so I was recruited to play. I really thought that I would get beaten every week but we are 4 weeks in and I am winning! =) It's really funny because they really take this stuff seriously and I really could care less if I played. They can't handle the fact the a girl is beating all 9 of them. I'm sure that my winning streak will come to an end soon but right now it's great. Besides football, school, and the kiddos we really don't have much going on right now but life is good and I wouldn't have it any other way. If any of you are ever up here don't be afraid to stop by and say hi.

Oh and we finally set a date... July 2nd. I am so excited, at times I feel like it is so far away and other times I feel like it is coming really fast. Only 268 days...

Little Utes

So college football starts this week and we have season tickets to the Utah games, we wanted some new shirts and things so we went to the U of U bookstore on Friday to see what they had. The kids were crazy that day and were into everything at the store. Some guy walked up to me and asked "Is that your daughter?" and I was like oh crap what did she break? but I said yes and he said he was the marketing manager for the bookstore and said that he thought she was adorable and that he wanted to take some pictures of her in a little cheerleader outfit if it was okay with me and that she would be able to take the outfit home. I thought it was pretty cool so we changed her and he took some video of her dancing and running around with pom-poms and then took some photos. Braxton was pretty jealous so the guy let him get a jersey and he took some video and pictures of him too. They were great and he said he would email me the photos. I will post them as soon as I get them. Cadence is on the front page of the bookstore website which is http://www.bookstore.utah.edu/utah/home.aspx. She is so dang cute. She is kissing the mascot Swoop. The guy gave me his card and said that they would be using the photos for the website and that the video would be used for commercials that would be on during a sports show on KSL on Saturday nights. They also gave us 20% off everything we bought that day! It was so fun and I can't wait to see what they do with the video and the rest of the photos.

ENGAGED!!

So we have been talking about getting married for a long time but I had no idea when or how he was going to propose. We had looked at rings and found one that I liked and he put it on layaway but it didn't have the diamond yet. We talked about going together to pick out the diamond so that it would be exactly what I wanted. Well he already knew basically what I wanted so he went and picked it out on his own and I had no idea. On Friday he said he wanted to go to our favorite restaurant Cafe Trio. It is so good and it is our special place. We sat out on their patio and it was a gorgeous evening. Our food was great and Joe said he wanted dessert so we ordered my favorite, creme brulee. It was taking longer then normal to get out to us and when it finally came I knew why. They had written "Will you marry me?" in chocolate on the plate. It was so cute!

Joe pulled out the ring and got down on one knee. I kissed him and said yes! It was so perfect and so romantic. I love him with all of my heart. I cant wait to marry my best friend! We haven't decided on a date yet. Probably next summer sometime. I will keep everyone updated though.

Sidetracked... haha

Well, I am supposed to be working on a paper, but some how got sidetracked onto here. This is my first post and I love reading Jess' blog entries. Here are a couple things going on right now from my (Joe's) perspective! :)

We have been together for just over 14 months and I feel closer and closer to the kids every week that goes by. Tuesday night, something special and unexpected happened. As I was leaving her house at about 10, Braxton was taking a bath and said bye to me and seemed happy. I was just getting on the on-ramp and Jessica is calling, strange I thought cause I didn't expect her to call that soon. Then I hear Braxton crying through the phone and asking for me so I told him I would be right there. It made me feel so good because when I got there he was really happy to see me and was asking for "the stinky elephant" (a character that has come from we don't know where haha) to brush his teeth. Anyways, the kids are great and I love them tons!

Friday morning we will be AT&T getting our new iPhones and getting one part of our lives that were separate, together. It is very exciting!! Not only for our phones, which is gonna be freakin sweet, but because its combined out cell phone plans and saving us some money. We will keep you posted on how they are, but I will tell you from my experience of the first iPhone, it will be amazing!

Also, professional things are moving in the right direction for me! I am well on my way to getting out and training on my own (rather than getting $12 per session when the client is paying around $55) Keep you posted on this as well!

Hope ya'll enjoyed reading this :)

Joe

Catch up...

It's been a while since I posted. Life has just been so busy. I have started my summer semester at UVU and my classes aren't hard they just require A LOT of reading so when I'm not at work I am usually doing homework. I try to spend as much time with the kids as I can too. We have been going to the park a few times a week and they just love it. Joe and I also bought Lagoon season passes! We bought them last year but didn't use them as much as we would have liked to so this year we decided we would buy them and go on the weekends the kids are with their dad. We've only been once so far but we are planning on going alot more. We took a trip to Denver to visit Joe's mom over Memorial Day weekend. It was tons of fun. We got up at 3:30 on Friday morning so we could be out by 5! It was crazy but worth it to have the kids sleeping for half of our long drive. They did really well until we were about 30 minutes away. I think that they could sense that we were getting close and they got really anxious. We got there about 12:30 and just hung out at his mom's house. We went to a restaurant call The Elephant Bar for dinner and it was so delicious. The best part was the desserts. They were so good that I would plan a trip to Denver just for the desserts. On Saturday we went to this really cool ampitheater called Red Rocks, it was gorgeous! We took the kids to a park and went shopping. We went to dinner and watched the Lakers/Nuggets game. On Sunday we went to a town south of Denver called Breckenridge. It looks just like Park City. They had a main street just like Park City that has a bunch of little shops that were all way cute. It started to hail and rain really hard. We were quite a ways from the car and we covered the kids with some jackets and ran all the way to the car. We were soaked but the kids were pretty dry, Cadence actually fell asleep. I don't know how you fall asleep in a stroller with a jacket over your head and pouring rain but she managed. As we were on our to Joe's mom's house it was still raining but now there was lightning and thunder with it. I've never seen so much lightning in my life and it was so close to us. We went to dinner at Carinos which was really yummy. Cadence was stealing my salad and noodles off my plate, she didn't want her own dinner. She is the only 2 year old I know that likes salad, most of them just spit it out. After dinner we went back to the hotel and decided to go swimming which was a really bad idea. There was WAY too much cholrine in the pool and hot tub and it gave all of us chemical burns. I felt so bad for Braxton he had it really bad. It mostly just burned his private areas, and we tried to put him the bath to wash the chlorine off but he just wanted to take a cold shower because it felt better. Poor guy. I was so mad that the hotel didn't test the water before letting people in the pool. We were all pretty much better by the next morning though. Monday was Memorial Day and Joe's mom and Cousin Julie were running in the Bolder Boulder which is a 10k race they hold every year. It was a really fun atmosphere to be in and they did great. We enjoyed cheering them on and watching them finish the race. There were so many people there, they had about 50,000 people in the race and then all of the people that were there just to watch. It was crazy. Joe and I are going to do it next year, I am really excited. After the race we went to downtown Denver and walked around, ate lunch and bought souvenirs then Julie had to catch her flight back to Ohio. We just hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night. We had to be up at 6 so we could catch our flight (Joe's dad flew out and was driving the car back). Braxton was really excited to fly. We made sure to get window seats and the kids got to watch us take off. They loved it! Braxton thought it was the coolest thing ever and Cadence wasn't really sure what to think. They were surprisingly good, I thought they were going to disturb everyone by being loud and obnoxious but they didn't. It was a fun trip and it was great to spend time with some of our family.

Monster!

This is her new monster face. It's so funny. She growls when she does it too. It make me laugh everytime.

Easter

We go to the Benjamin Easter egg hunt every year instead of trying to fight the people at the Spanish Fork one. It's short and sweet and every kid gets a prize. On Easter we woke up and the kids found their eggs and baskets. After church we went to my grandmas house for another easter egg hunt. It was a great day and they had lots of fun.

Cadence's 2nd Birthday

Cadence's birthday was on the 8th so this is a little late but I finally put the pictures on my computer. We had the whole family over for her birthday and she got lots of fun stuff. My mom gave her a little princess chair that she loves and we gave her some clothes and a cute pink baseball glove. She loved everything and had tons of fun.

Anniversary

So last Thursday was our (me and Joe) one year anniversary. We didn't do anything on Thursday because we had the kids and decided Friday would be easier. We made reservations at The Melting Pot and we got all dressed up. It was really fun. If you haven't ever been to The Melting Pot I really recommend it. It's expensive but very worth it. It is a fondue restaurant and absolutely delicious. First you decide on a cheese and they bring you bread and veggies to dip in it. Then you decide on a flavor for the entrees. They bring you a plate full of raw meat which is kind of gross but you just boil the meat and veggies and it's really good. Dessert was worth the whole dinner. We had a dark chocolate with some peanut butter in it and they bring you a plate full of delicious goodies to dip in it. There were strawberries, bananas, rice crispy treats, brownies, marshmallows, cheesecake, and pound cake. Everything was great. It was a great night and we had a great time.
I can't believe we have been together for a year now. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love him and my life it going really great. He supports me and helps me anyway he can and he treats my kids as if they were his. I can't wait to spend more years together just like this one.

Weekend

I hate just sitting around on Saturdays so we are always looking for things to go do with the kids. This weekend we decided to take them to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was pretty fun. There were tons of people so it was hard to see the fish and you had to wait for a spot to open up in front of the tank to get a good look at them. Braxton loved it and Cadence just kept running around saying "fish, fish" it was funny. They had an area that you could pet stingrays but both of the kids were too scared to put their hands in the water. I was going to show Braxton that it was okay to touch them and tried to work my way up to pet them but no one would move and when I finally reached the front some redneck jerk got in front of me and then scared the stingray away so I just gave up and decided that I just wasn't supposed to pet one that day. All in all it was a pretty fun experience. I think if we go back it would be on a day that wasn't so busy. I forgot my camera so we have no pictures, sorry.

SPRING!

I love that it is finally getting warm and so do the kids. On Saturday we took them to the park for the first time of the year. They loved it. We have already gone again. They would go everyday if we would let them. Hopefully we can go alot more once it gets a little bit warmer in the evenings. Here are a few pictures.

VEGAS!

We went to Las Vegas over the weekend and it was tons of fun. It is a tradition in my family. They go to the Nascar race every year. (I go shopping =D) Everyone but me, Joe and Cadence went down on Wednesday night. I couldn't go because I had a test for math. Braxton wanted to ride down with my mom so I let him. Wednesday morning they had a parade of all the semi-trucks that haul the cars to the different tracks. Braxton loved it. We left Thursday and had a nice trip down and stopped in St. George for In 'N Out. I love their burgers they are so good. We finally got to Vegas and into our hotel. We were staying at the Stratosphere so we decided it would be fun to go to the top to the observation deck. It was gorgeous. Then we decided to go on the rides. They were awesome and scary at the same time. They next day we went to the pool it was really awesome. It was on the roof. It was kinda chilly because the wind was blowing but we had fun playing and I tried to teach Braxton to swim. He didn't really catch on but he had fun. As we were leaving the hotel we were trying to catch an elevator but it was pretty much impossible so when we finally got one all 19 of us decided to squeeze on. It was really funny to see peoples faces when they saw how many of us were on it. I was in the corner so I decided to take a picture of everyone. We wanted to take the kids to see the fountains at the Bellagio but they didn't start til 3:00 and we were there at 12 so we just decided to go to lunch at In 'N Out again. After lunch we went to the race track and walked around and looked at all the different trailers with the drivers merchandise. It's also a great time to check out all the really redneck people. You can find a lot of them when you are around Nascar. We had to drive to Mesquite because that's where we were staying the other 2 nights. We went to a Mexican restourant in Mesquite, it's really good. We were pretty tired by the time we got to our hotel so we just went to bed after. Saturday morning the guys woke up and went to the first race. We didn't want to fight the crowds or traffic in Vegas so we decided to go to St. George and go shopping and then take the kids to the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. I got some great deals on clothes for the kids for summer and bought some toys for us to play in the sand with. The sand dunes were lots of fun. Cadence had fallen asleep and was really cranky when we first got there and didn't want to touch the sand but she came around and she really loved it. We buried each of the kids in the sand (except Cadence) and dug a really deep hole. We all got really dirty but really enjoyed it. We drove back to Mesquite and had dinner as the Casa Blanca. The kids wanted to go bowling so my mom and my aunt took the kids and we decided to do some gambling. I don't gamble much because I hate to lose money. My brother was the only one to win any money but we all still had fun. On Sunday the guys woke up and went the 2nd race and we again went to St. George for more shopping. We got home at about 9 that night exhausted but happy from a great trip with the family.

Fun Weekend

This weekend Joe's Mom and cousin Julie were in town. It was nice to see them. It was my first time meeting Julie and she is really awesome. The kids went with their dad so we had lots of time to do some "grownup" things. Friday night we went to dinner for Joe's dads birthday at Trio. That is one of our favorite restaurants. It was a really nice dinner and afterwards we just hung out around the house. We played a little Mariokart, I'm not very good at it but its really fun. On Saturday we went shopping for most of the day which I enjoyed alot. I love to shop. We went to dinner at The Dodo, it's a nice healthy restaurant at the Gateway and then went to the Jazz game. We had great seats on the 24th row. They paid tribut to Larry H. Miller which was really nice. They played a video for him and spotlighted his seat. His wife was there and they gave her some flowers and Deron Williams gave her the game ball after the game ended. It was great. The game was really good too. We had a great view and could see all the action. I just hope that they can keep up the good work do some great things this year in honor of Larry Miller.
On Sunday we went snowboarding at the Canyons. It was so much fun. I hadn't been in almost a year so I had to get used to it all over again. Joe and Julie had never been so I had to do all the teaching. They did really well though and we only had to do a few runs on the bunny hill. It was so gorgeous up there. I love the mountains and get up there every chance I get.

Braxtons Birthday

It was Braxtons Birthday on Sunday. I can't believe that he is 4. It's crazy. On Saturday we had party and went to Jumping Jacks with a few of his cousins and one of his friends. It was a blast but so hard to keep track of 6 kids. It was so busy, there were tons of kids there. After we played for a few hours we went to Dairy Queen and had some ice cream. On Sunday everyone in my family came over for dinner and Braxtons party. We had chicken because that's his favorite. Once again he was spoiled by everyone. My mom makes my kids cakes every year. She wants to make it a tradition they will remember with her. This year she asked Braxton what kind he wanted and he just said he wanted a red cake. (He is obsessed with the color red) We tried to show him some cute cakes like a monkey one and he didn't want them. So my mom went and bought a bunch of red candy and sprinkles to put on it. It turned out really cute. (I'll add pictures later. I have't put them on my computer yet.)

New Year New Beginnings

So I just started school this month. It's easier then I anticipated but I wish I could go to school and not work. Going to school full time, working full time and have 2 kids is hard work, but it's all worth it in the end. I'm really lucky my work is so flexible with my schedule they allow me to work whatever hours I need to go to school and still keep my full time status. It's been really great. I hope that all my jobs in the future will be as great as this one.

Christmas and New Years

I know this is really late but I just haven't had time to post anything.
We spent Christmas with my family. It was tons of fun. I had Christmas Eve off of work so Joe and I spent the whole morning wrapping Christmas presents. I found out I got my kids way too much. LOL. After we wrapped all day. We got ready to go to Joes church for their Christmas Eve meeting. It was really nice. I'd never been to another church besides the LDS church. It was nice to see what other people do and that they really aren't that much different then us. After that we went to my Granma Reynolds' house to open up the PJs we get every year. The kids were spending Christmas Eve with their dad's family so we dropped them off then we headed to my families Christmas Eve party. This year it was at my Uncle Gordans house. We ate alot of food and played tons of fun games. I was sad that I didn't get to put the kids to bed and wake up with them on Christmas but I had them last year so I guess it was only fair. Joe stayed the night so he got up with me and my family to open our presents. The kids got home before we finished opening all of the presents and they got to open their stuff from my parents and me.

We got a call from Travis at 9. It was so nice to hear from him. He sounded so good and so happy. We got some pictures later in the day from the mission president at the MTC in Madrid.
I already miss him tons and we are counting down the days til he gets home. After everyone had the chance to talk to Travis we said our goodbyes and cried a little. (We don't get another call til Mothers Day.) We went to both of my grandparents houses to open up presents. My kids got tons of stuff. They are so spoiled. I got a really cute necklace from my aunt. It is a metal circle with 2 stick figures of my kids and their names on it. I love it and wear it almost everyday. At my grandma Reynolds' house we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast: blintzes and tons of bacon and sausage. It was a really great day spent with family. I was sad it was over so fast.

On New Years we went to my grandmas house and had a party. It was tons of fun. We played games all night waiting for midnight. Braxton made it but Cadence was passed out at 10. All the grandkids slept over which means I got to sleep in and had some time to finish cleaning up the Christmas mess. On New Years Day everyone goes to my Grandmas house again and all the girls go shopping. It's tons of fun and nice to get out of the house and leave all the kids home with the guys.