Birthday Camp Out

For Barrett and Xander's 4th birthday I thought it would be fun to do a little camp out at my house, tent and all. I soon realized that with twin 4 year olds, things don't go as planned, they turn out more fun than you could have imagined! I thought I would share our little adventure with you all.

Eating Treats:
We started off the night with an array of treats....shhhh don't tell. When it comes to the kids, I'm such a push over. I hear "Pleaseeeeeee Aunt Lyss can we have just one more?" and I am suckered in. These little boys ate and ate, until they could eat no more.




A Little Bit of Art Time:
Once our tummies were full, we ventured to the table to create works of art with glitter pens. I think there ended up being more glitter on our hands than on the paper!



The Tent of Good Intentions.
Oh the tent from....wait you are not allowed to swear on a blog right? Let's just say long poles little room, you get the point. After the set up (which I smartly did the night before), the boys and I headed in to read some stories. After a few stories and prayers and Barrett saying I have to tell you something really quick, 10 or 15 times, I left the boys to get some sleep. Ten minutes later I heard some rustling downstairs. When I got down there I convinced them to go to bed because of fun times in the morning. About 20 minutes later I heard them again, when I get down there, I realize it's about 10 degrees hotter in the tent and that's why they weren't going to bed. I carried them upstairs to my bed where they fell asleep in an instant and I roughed it on the couch. So much for the tent of good intentions.

Mickey Mouse Pancakes...Of Course!
I'm pretty sure it has become a tradition than when Aunt Lyss is still there in the morning, you can sucker her into making Mickey Mouse pancakes. I was really surprised to hear "you no you, no you "at 7am (fighting over who should use the bathroom first) because of our late night the night before. At first I had some tired campers but once the pancakes hit the plate it was all smiles.







Milk Mustaches
And of course we couldn't finish breakfast until we captured milk mustaches on camera.



Game Time
From breakfast to games, these boys don't miss a beat. Once the found the duffle bag of fun that their Mom packed, they were all about games. (They beat me at High Ho Cherry Oh and Candy Land....that doesn't leave this blog.....I'm a little ashamed I got my trashed kicked by two 4 year olds)






Transformers
And to seal the day we had to watch Transformers before heading home to Mom, Dad, Max and Jacq!

Sundance

So you know those people that go to Sundance to gaulk at celebrities....that was us on Saturday night. My roommate Jessica has a major crush on Collin Farrell, who has been at Sundance for the past couple of days. decided that we should head up to Sundance to find him, so she could make out with him. I'm always up for an adventure, so we decided to go. As we walked around, we spotted him, he looked great. And as you can see in the picture above Jess did get to take a picture with him. Okay we didn't actually find Collin Farrell but the poster was as close as we were going to get without a VIP pass. We soon discovered as we walked around that there was no celebrities to be found because they were all in the VIP parties. But at the very end of the night we did see one celebrity Danny Glover (Leathal Weapon, Angels in the Outfield). And then one of the people that had attached themselves to our group yelled out there is George Clooney, funny because Danny Glover is black and George Clooney is white. We quickly corrected him and Danny gave us a little wave. Now we just need to find out where people get these VIP passes so we can make Jessica's fantasy come true!

Movie Saturday

Fun times at Auntie Lyss's house. On Saturday, the Watson kids came over for a little party. We watched a movie, ate some popcorn, had luncheables, had a blue treat that turned all of our tongues blue, which about every 5 minutes Barrett would drag me in the bathroom to show me. The kids also thought it was hilarious to throw the volleyball off the banaster and here it smack on the floor below, whatever makes them happy right? Max kept asking me where my friends were and why I moved here from his house. And as the kids were leaving, they did find one of my roommates and proceeded to name her Lala (her names is Jessica) and flirted without shame....that's why I love them. Thanks for a fun times guys, hope to do again soon!

So Cliche

Alright so I know that most people make new goals for the New Year and I usually abstain because it's kind of cliche and people usually forget after a month or so. This new year has challenged me to take the opportunity to reflect on my past and where I want to go in the future. In doing so, I took time t0 read through some old journals and found a goal list which I had written a little over a year ago. It was weird, there wasn't anything on it like exercise more, go to the temple more, eat healthier, read more or whatever else, which are all great but it lists goals for life. I know it will take me more than a lifetime to master these goals but when I read them it gave me new inspiration to the type of person I hope to inspire to be and I just wanted to share them with all of you.

1. Be honest with myself and others no matter to what degree or situation, little or big
2. Live a life based on principle and truth so I never have to question myself
3. Live to teach what I know
4. Remember what's truly valuable in life (relationships and knowledge)
5. Nurture my abilities that are unique to me and share them with the world
6. Remember it's not all about me, find the line between selfishness and self-interest
7. Serve others
8. Learn always (find education is all things, all people, all situations)
9. Do things that energize me
10. Put myself in other's shoes, look through their eyes
11. Have fun in life (don't take myself too seriously- life is too short)
12. Love without limits
13. Breakdown the walls I have built up because of the stories of my past
14. Be productive, rid myself of mental, physical, spiritual laziness
15. Don't live in regret
16. Live to be the hero of my life story, not the victim
17. Constantly strengthen my relationship with the Savior
18. Find humility everyday
19. Be grateful, find gratitude in the good and bad
20. Strive to exceed my own expectations as well as meeting the Lord's
21. Find peace
21. Include the Lord in my life, consult with him
22. Stop living in fear, no running
23. Have a greater compassion for people, find charity
24. Better embrace change in my life
25. Follow the spirit, no matter how hard it is
26. Hold onto who I am, no matter the circumstance
27. Trust myself
28. Assume the best about people
29. Be adventurous
30. Shoot for the stars, believe in myself
31. Live a life I love

And I am sure the list will go on and on.... but this is a start ;)

Alright, Alright

I know this is a blog that you will all love (for different reasons, I'm sure). For New Years Jon had sent me a text asking if I wanted to go to dinner and watch a movie. I told him that I am a girl that needs to be wooed if he wanted a date for New Years Eve (a girl has to play hard ball once in a while). He threw out that he had my favorite ice cream and soda but then he said the one thing that would seal the deal....tickets to a Jazz game. I love the Jazz and yes my crush on Carlos Boozer has only grown by leaps and bounds this season and I am not shy about expressing it at the games either. After the game we headed back to Provo to grab a bite to eat but to our surprise every restaurant in Provo was closed because it was a week day and New Years. We ended up grabbing some fast food because I was starving and too impatient to wait for Jon to make us dinner (I hate to cook:)) and watched Dick's Rockin Eve. All and all we had a fun night and the Jazz won, so I guess you could say it was a great night.

Christmas Eve

How grateful I am to have family near by especially during the holidays. I love that my sisters and I have shared in the same traditions for years and now we get to see the traditions pass to a new generation with my sister Shauna's kids! It was so fun to see them light up as we sang songs during Santa's arrival or get drawn into the story of Christ's birth. Love this time of year for what we celebrate and who I get to celebrate with.

Celebrating Christmas in Oregon

Making Cookies with my Mom:
I love the tradition of making cookies with my Mom. As I look back at my childhood I have fond memories of Christmas time and making homemade cookies with my Mom and sisters. We would spend at least a day and make almond roca, spritz, 7-layer bars, and so many others. The smell of cookies, the sound of Christmas music and laughter of family makes it one of my favorite holiday memories of all time and something I would love to do with my future kids someday.





Hanging Around......











Olive Garden.....








The always beyond amazing Christmas dinner.....



Getting ready to go to church.....