O Christmas tree! We went on a ram-bam tree hunt. Thought I had found the tree...but then I decided it wasn't it.

After we went up the mountain and came back down, I decided it was. It was dark and took Ev 3 seconds to get it down.

When we got home, Ev told me it wasn't in the truck. I didn't believe him. There was NOTHING in the truck bed. Ev and Hy went and found it on the road.

And there it is.

Happy 5th B-day, Jeb!

By our little Branch church house is a cemetery that holds the precious, tiny body of our firstborn. Today Evan and I took Hyrum and Riley and sang "Happy Birthday" at Jeb's grave. I didn't cry but feelings were close to the surface.

I miss my little boy and often wonder what he would be doing. My cousin, Terra has a boy 2 days older; my old roommate, Janae has a little boy that was born on the exact same day; and my little neighbor, Austin who I've been doing preschool with is one month younger. I love to see how these boys have grown and what they are doing.

Time has certainly eased the pain but it hasn't erased the memory. I don't think a mother can ever forget. I used to tell everyone we met about our firstborn; partially because it was such a big part of our life and partially because for me it helped to ease the pain by sharing with others. But now I rarely tell people we meet because it is so special and sacred to me.

I appreciate all of you that have supported us, especially in that first year after we had lost Jeb. But at this Christmas time, I remember so much how he isn't lost to us and because of Jesus Christ he is ours forever, if we do our part. I had a good conversation with a friend of mine last Sunday about the afterlife. I don't know what Jeb is doing now but he really is so close to me even though he seems so far away.


(These pictures were taken Memorial Day weekend this year right after Riley was born. Mom took Hyrum to church and brought flowers to Jeb's grave. I don't know how much Hyrum understands but I love the second picture. Little children are so much closer to heaven...)

Happy Birthday little Jeb. I love you.

Christmas countdown

Grandma Spencer made my family the Christmas countdown tree who knows how many years ago. I asked Mom if Hyrum and I could do it this year and (with Janeen's permission) we got to take it home. Now each night we get to put up the little ornaments. Hy LOVES it! It brought back so many memories when Hy and I got it out. Love you, Grandma!

Hy-isms

• Evan and I have both told Hy (on different occasions) to hold our hand and he says, "No, I wanna hold my own hand". And he grabs his own hand and marches off without us.


• Hyrum knows how to do "downward dog" and only a few people really know why...


• He is terrified of heights


• His new word is "sure" when you ask him to do something


• "You wanna (insert: whatever he is doing) wit me?" He loves to have you come with him wherever he goes


• He loves to wake me up in the morning to tell me that "Riles" is awake


• He can't say the /c/ or /k/ sound and replaces it with the /t/ sound. This causes laughter, shocked looks, and frequent misunderstandings...."kitty" is the funniest.


• I asked him what Santa was bringing him this year and he said a "bucket"

I love my little Hyrum!

No-Picture Phobia

I have a phobia of blogging without pictures. Many of you pull it off. But I just can't do it!! So this lead me to ask myself why the only pic we took over the weekend was of a truck we looked at. Hmmm....

So here is our month in review:
Skeet shooting with the young men.

Ev on his weight loss program...hehehe

Shipping calves.

Appearance of OB-one-kanobi (sorry to all of you Star Wars fans...I know I slaughtered the spelling of his name) Wee willie winkie...
And "hat day" at preschool.

Things I didn't get pics of:

Thanksgiving

Friends that moved from the valley

Mummsie's b-day

Visits with both sides of my family

Oh well. Such is life.

Good Eaters...but this???

I've always hoped that Hyrum would eat well and eat healthy food. But this? Seriously?

I bought this pepper and was putting up groceries when I hear this CRUNCH! He took a bite out of each ridge.

Riley had her first bowl of rice cereal on Sunday. She was so excited she was shaking! She grabbed the bowl and was trying to eat the bowl. (I've got the video on the camcorder if you ever come to my house and watch home videos with me---but I didn't get a picture 'til afterwards. So this is kind of what it looked like.)

Thanks for the new Halloween bib, Grandma I!

Aunt Decca made me do it.

Primary

Janelle, remember when we would play "primary" with all of the dolls and stuffed animals? Well, now I use real dolls.

To the rest of you....my son LOVES church. A LOT. So when he woke up with a snotty nose and couldn't go to church today I promised him we'd play nursery. And we did.

My darling husband

Basically, it was a party of F-U-N! Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get invited next year!

Then we played carnival games...

Then we ate apples off a string (but if you were smart like Hyrum, you just pulled the apple off of the string....)

Halloween Carnival

First...we had our jack o'lantern carving contest.

Mother Goose

Alright all you impatient people!

Kimberly holding banana baby, Riley. Hyrum is a tractor, what else??

More to come!

Even best of friends....

...sometimes steal each other's socks.

Happy B-day Decca poo!

(The one on the left is Maddie Jo Pickering, Riley's BFF and Decca's OTHER niece)

You are no longer a teenager!!!