A little of this and a little of that!!

So lately I've been asking Jake to help me out now and then. Like hey can you go put this in the trash or in the sink and what not. And he usually takes off right away and does it. I hear the cupboards slam and assume he finished it. Well for the past couple of days I haven't been able to find Savannah's other bottle. I was starting to get frustrated because I didn't want to keep on washing the same one. I looked in the diaper bag, in the car, in their toys, in the closet, I mean everywhere.. well at least I thought everywhere. I was going to make some dinner and I opened the cupboard and guess what I found????

 
YUP... it was the bottle and a bunch of other trash that I thought he was throwing away. I check some of the other cupboards and more food and trash. I have no idea where he learned to stash stuff like that but I thought it was pretty funny and had to take a picture. Lately, when I ask him to do stuff, I'll follow him into the kitchen to make sure that he puts it where it's supposed to go. By the way, I had to soak the bottle for a couple of hours because the milk was curdled and nasty. It took it soaking, going through the dishwasher, and boiling it to get the smell out. It was pretty nasty!! Thanks for being such a big helper Jake!!! :-) Haha!!

 

Savannah after eating one of the chocolate chip cookies I made for Aunt Vickie's B-Day!! I think she like it a lot! :-)

 



Savannah modeling the shirt that Grandma Cathy bought her and the dolly that Daddy helped her pick out with some money that she sent. I was a little bummed because I wanted to get Savannah a dolly for her Santa Claus present this year. I thought it would be a fun first Christmas present but oh well.. Shaun had a lot of fun picking it out with her so it made up for my disappointment a little. It was cute seeing him play with her and the dolly.

 

Jake got a shirt too from Grandma and he picked out a Buzz toy of course.. (Jake is obsessed with Buzz if I haven't already told you that.) He has slept with it every night so far and it rarely leaves his hand. He freaks out if Savannah even looks at it.

 

Cheesy Smile!!

 



 

He did not want me to take his picture. He kept getting mad at me and wouldn't let me take a picture with him and Buzz. This is the blank expression I got from him when he finally calmed down.. Silly kid. Later that night he was showing me Buzz and kept saying "Cheese.. Cheese" wanting me to take his picture but he kept shaking Buzz and all the pictures I took were blurry. I can never win with this boy!!

 

Savannah's first ponytail. She had just enough hair that I could get it up in a little ponytail without hurting her head. She looks so cute I think. The super lopsided cheesy smile just makes it even better!! I love this girl!! She is always so happy.. except when Jake is beating on her.. which he has been doing a lot latey. I'm not sure but all of the sudden he must have decided that she was big enough or something because he pushes her, and hits her if she tries to take his toys away, sits on her.. all kinds of stuff. Needless to say, timeout is where he spends a lot of his time lately.

 



 

Another ponytail shot!!

 

 

Doing her gymnastics move. She loves to pull her leg all the way up to her head.

She's so flexible!

 



 

This is one of the pictures that he wanted me to take. The only one that wasn't fuzzy.. but he wouldn't smile!!! Lame!

 



 

After I took her ponytail out.. her hair stuck straight up. Nice mohawk Savvy girl!!!



Hangin' with the Mangelsons!

I just have to brag a little bit about my Aunts and Grandma that I was lucky enough to get to know because I married my husband. The first time I met every single one of them, I felt so accepted and included and welcomed. I feel so blessed to have family that is so amazing. They came out to Las Vegas this weekend and we met up with them for dinner at the Mac Shack and it was just so much fun to chat and eat and laugh. I think I like them so much because they remind me of my awesome family. We are loud and talkative and goofy and funny.. We always have so much fun. So tonight was just what a home sick for California girl needed. Thank you Grandma, Lisa, Cindy, Julene, Leslee, and Lianne. You are sooo amazing and I love you so much. Thank you for helping me with my kiddos and just being so awesome.

Enjoying yummy food and amazing company!! We had so much fun!! P.S. I had the Parmesan crusted chicken salad.. It was delish!! There was a balsamic vinegar type dressing.. It was yummy. They have revamped a lot of their menu. I was pleasantly surprised. I was disappointed at first but my salad was delish!! And we shared one of the apple desserts with this vanilla caramel milkshake thing.. It was soooo yummy! Like bread pudding with apples. I loved it!! It was hard to just have two bites. I wanted to finish it all!!

Jake really didn't want his picture taken but I needed to get a picture with of them with Grandma!!! This was the first time she met Savannah!!!

P.S. Thank you for finding the scorpion for me Leslie. You saved me a heart attack and thank you Lisa for killing it. I HATE SCORPIONS.. I thought they were hiding out because I haven't seen them in awhile but this was bigger than usual and it was right by the front door. I guess I'm always going to have to be paranoid because I never know where they are going to show up!! Blah.... I hate scorpions!!! 

VIDEOS of the KIDDOS

I've been meaning to put up some videos of Jake and Savannah but it always takes forever to load on blogger.. so I uploaded them on You Tube and am sharing the link with you. They are a little long but I'm pretty sure some Grandmas and maybe some Aunts or Uncles might wanna see what my little munchkins have been up to. Hope you enjoy!!

This video is of Jake and Savannah.. Jake is showing off is knowledge of anatomy and Savvy is being her usual sunshine self!!

http://youtu.be/KSLPcI02hOE

This video is of Savannah and her discovery of herself in the mirror!! It's pretty funny!!

http://youtu.be/LMNlFNZotZ4

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!! and FREE KRISPY KREMES

So I have recently been getting into couponing a little bit. I didn't want to before because I always felt like coupons just make you buy more stuff.. which is how I still feel but that doesn't mean I can't find coupons for stuff that I already buy. So I've found a couple of websites that let you print coupons because I don't want to pay for the paper. I've found a few good ones. And I found an amazing site that is called www.freebies2deals.com. Check it out!! It is amazing. There are so many awesome deals that this woman finds. She has inspired me to be a little more frugal and size a little more. I know it seems like a little bit of money that you are saving but it will add up by the end of the year. Being young, poor, and married.. Saving money is definitely a must!!

Anyways.. so on her website today she posted that Krispy Kreme would be giving out a free donut to whoever came in and talked like a pirate or wore an eye patch... well Krispy Kreme usually gives you a free donut anyways.. here is the kicker... if you dress in full pirate garb then they will give you a whole dozen of original glazed for free!! I said oh yeah.. that'll be fun.. technically I'm not supposed to eat donuts but I would never pass up an opportunity to dress up. So, I got to work and found some stuff.. luckily I had red fabric!!! So here are the pics of the pirate costumes that I put together in less than an hour with stuff that I had in my home.

Savannah is my happy girl!! On the other hand.. Jake is such a grump sometimes. It took me about 5 minutes to get him to let me put the bandana on him. He wouldn't let me put the eye patch.. And then he wouldn't smile for the picture. Savannah is just looking at him like oh come on.. just smile Jakey!!:-)

Our pirate grrr.. faces. Savannah is smiling at us and Jake is looking for help.

He probably thinks we are crazy!!

Oh man!! I guess I gotta teach him not to pick his nose!!

Finally got a good picture of his whole outfit!! I totally made that sword too!!

His first Krispy Kreme!!!

Daddy like them too!!

Me and Savvy girl!!

 

 

Baptism FHE

Shaun and I have been trying our best to do FHE, but it doesn't always work out. We came up with an idea to make an agenda and put the lesson on there and just save the whole document under each lesson title. For instance, I'll save this one on my computer as Baptism. I'm sure that we will do more than one lesson with the kids on baptism. We feel like this way we can have the same type of format but change it up from time to time. Or if we forgotten what we've done then at least we have a record of the lesson. I thought it might be helpful to post about it in case someone out there wanted some help. Feel free to change what you want. P.S. This is more of a lesson guideline. I've never been very good at writing out everything. I do better with just an outline.

 

FHE Agenda

 

Opening Song: “Baptism” – Children’s Songbook pg 100-101

Opening Prayer: Mom

Sharing time/Family Business & Calendar:    Share anything you feel inclined to share. Talk about upcoming events & Go over the calendar for that week

Lesson by: Mom

TOPIC: Baptism

-WATCH THIS VIDEO

 

Talk a little about how everyone needs to be baptized. Jesus set the example for us. (Of course you can adjust based on your families needs)

 READ - Alma 7:15-16, Book of Mormon - DISCUSS

 SHARE this quote -

"The attributes by which we shall be judged one day are all spiritual. These include love, virtue, integrity, compassion, and service to others. Your spirit, coupled with and housed in your body, is able to develop and manifest these attributes in ways that are vital to your eternal progression. Spiritual progress is attained through the steps of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, including the endowment and sealing ordinances of the holy temple."

 —Elder Russell M. Nelson, "Thanks Be to God", General Conference, Apr. 2012

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK?

Why is Baptism important?

How can we remember the covenants (promises) we make when we are baptized?

ACTIVITY: Coloring Pages - Click on the link - It opens as a pdf file - there is one for boys and one for girls : http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8629

Closing Song: “When I Am Baptized” – Children’s Songbook – pg. 103

Closing Prayer: Dad

Exploring the great outdoors in Vegas

 Well, it's been a little bit since my last post but nothing has really happened so I have had little to post about... Until today!! So Shaun came home from a job interview yesterday (he quit his pest control job because there were some not so awesome things going on.. so he started "looking for something else) and said.. let's go!! I said, "what? where are we going?" He said it's a surprise!" Well I had a Relief Society activity and we wouldn't have made it back in time so he said "we'll go tomorrow!" Well I love surprises but I have a really hard time waiting for them.. I can usually persuade Shaun in some way or other to tell me what he has planned.. but this time he stuck his ground and I didn't know where we were going until I saw the sign that said Mt. Charleston and he turned onto that road.. It was still a good surprise. I haven't been up in the mountains for awhile and I seriously didn't believe Shaun when he said it was a lot cooler but we drove up and up and up and stopped near a place called Kyle's canyon, and I got out of the car and it felt amazing!!! It was so nice to feel a little cool, mountain air breeze. It made me miss Cali a lot. Anyways, a lot of the side roads were closed because it has been raining a lot lately and there was a lot of erosion going on. So we just stopped on the side of the road and found a easy, little trail called Fletcher Canyon Trail. Jake was crying towards the end of our drive and as soon as we pulled him out and put him down on the trail he was soo happy!! He loves being outside!! Anyways, here are some pictures from our little excursion!
 

Alas, there is some beauty in Las Vegas!!! :-) It was funny because we were driving through the desert and Shaun says, "Isn't this beautiful?" I said, "Um, not really. It's a bunch of dirt and ugly desert plants!" About 20 minutes down the road and closer to the mountain it started looking less like desert and more like forest. Shaun says, "What about now?" I said, "Ok.. it's a lot prettier now!" He has been trying so hard to get me to appreciate the "beauty" of Las Vegas. Well I think I appreciate it more when I'm 25 miles away from the city. :-) A lot more beautiful out here. Who knew??
 



At the trail head. Jake would not look at the camera.. BOOGER!!





Me and my kiddos.. What is that face Savannah? This is a rare picture.. Jake is smiling and Savannah is not.. That almost never happens!
 

 Dad threw some rocks!!!

 So of course Jake had to too!! I think he was excited that I didn't get mad at him for throwing them.

 Trying to pick up the big one!!

 And he howled at the moon! or the sun I guess!! (Actually, a dog was on the trail coming down while we were going up.. He was aww-wooing like a dog when I snapped this shot!!) Sorry it's blurry but I thought it was funny!!

 And looked at me like I was crazy for taking pictures of him in his natural habitat!

 Then Savannah had to eat some rocks.

 and smile while she ate some rocks!

 and Dad kept trying to stop her from eating rocks!

 And then Jake picked up a really big rock and threw it. I'm surprised he didn't drop it on his toe.. He is stronger than I thought!

Smiling like a goof!! Daddy holding onto the rock so he doesn't throw it again!!

 Then Savannah decided to hang from the tree like a monkey!!

 So of course Jake had to do it too!!

 

And again on another branch!! He kept saying "up daadee!
 

 Cutest pic ever!! I think she already has him wrapped around her little finger!! Don't you?

 Trying to get her to look at the camera!!

 Just have Daddy take the picture!!

 Walking in the wilderness is his favorite thing to do!! He took off right a

 My explorer!! He was not scared at all!!

 My cute girl!!

 

And of course a family pic!! Not the best one ever.. I had to balance the camera on a rock that was balanced on a tree branch and then set the timer and run up the tiny hill, grab Jake, try to get Savannah to look at the camera and not me, and get Jake to smile too!! I wasn't super successful!! But it's still cute!!

And probably my favorite shot of the whole trip!! Cute!!