Catching up

So, I got behind on posting my blogs. I posted a whole bunch today, in chronological order for your viewing pleasure. New years resolution of blogging...stay caught up!

Snow fun

Garrett and Hannah with cousin Isabel on the sleds.



Garrett and cousin Brandon after being dumped off the tubes.



Blaine and Jodi just back from a 4- wheeler ride.




The day after Christmas we went to visit Blaine's parents in Burley. The kids had fun playing with their Jones cousins and playing outside in the snow. Even the big kids (me and Blaine) went out and played. There were 4-wheelers pulling sleds and tubes and Blaine's sister Jolynn and her husband Mike brought the snowmobile out for rides. It was fun but the wind was blowing and made it bitterly cold. Hannah and Jolynn's daughter Isabel rode on the sleds for a long time. Blaine's sister Rachelle pulled them behind the 4-wheeler around and around the house. Those girls did not want to come in the house. They looked so cold but every time we asked them if they were cold, they just shook their heads no. Brave little souls. Good times, good times.

Christmas morning 2008

Blaine & Jodi with Hannah (with no clothes on as usual).



Hannah's haul from Santa.



Garrett's haul from Santa.



Well, Santa was good to us this year. Lots of toys and fun times for all. The Jones family got a Wii this year so we can play games together. After Christmas morning at our house, we went to my parents home for turkey dinner and more gifts. It was a great day for all!

Twas the night before Christmas...

So it has been tradition for as long as I can remember that on Christmas Eve, you get to open one present. It is always new pajamas. Here are my cuties in new pj's and freshly bathed. They are just about ready to get in bed so Santa can visit.

Ryan's first bath

Ryan was finally able to take a tub bath, hooray! He loves it, as most babies do. He loves to kick and splash in the water. I love it because he gets cleaner and smells so good! Garrett and Hannah love to help wash his hair. Ryan loves all the attention he can get.

Christmas cards

We wanted to send some Christmas cards to our friends to let them see updated pics of the kids and our family. After some fun trial runs of taking our own family photo, I don't think it turned out too bad.

wedding day

The Cook cousins:
Back row L to R: Brent, Doug, Brittany, Greg, Cindy, Hailey
Front row L to R: Beckie, Jodi, Kyle, Lesa, Kady



Josh & Nicole, the newlyweds.


My cousin, Nicole got married to her sweetheart, Josh, on Dec. 13. Almost all my cousins were at the reception. This is a picture of us. We are only missing Grayden, Brian and James. Not bad. Congrats Nicole and Josh!

Here comes Santa Claus

See how excited Hannah is to go sit on Santa's lap?



Garrett with Santa.


Yesterday was our ward's annual "Breakfast with Santa." We go and enjoy breakfast made by someone else and the kids get to see Santa and tell them what they want...you know the routine. Anyway, Garrett was really excited. Hannah was acting excited but when we got there, the closest she would come to sitting on Santa's lap was waving at him while clinging to my neck. There was no way she would go up there! We tried persuading her with candy but she is too smart for that old trick. Garrett knows what to do though!

Deck the halls

Garrett helping with the low branches.


Ryan & Jodi doing their part...supervising.



Hannah, Blaine & Garrett getting ornaments ready.




Garrett is so excited!

It has come time again to trim the tree in the Jones house. We got a beautiful tree, real of course, and set it up. It smells so good and makes me more in the Christmas mood. The kids were excited to put up the tree and ornaments. Little kids are impatient, though and at one time, all three were bawling at the same time! Great times, good memories. Anyway, crying done and the lights and tinsel on the tree, now comes the fun part of puting all the ornaments up. Blaine's mom gives the kids each a new ornament each year and writes their name and the year on the bottom. It is really cool and the kids look forward to it each year. Then, when they are grown, they will have some ornaments to put on their own tree...and ours will be bare! :)

First day of snow

My big helper...notice still in boots and snow pants, though.



Hannah, eating snow. Good thing its clean...for now.



Hannah, all decked out to play in the snow.



Yesterday was the first real snow we have had yet this year. Garrett and Hannah were ecstatic! Too bad Garrett had to go to school. Hannah got to go out and play in the snow. She was having a great time and of course, she had to eat some snow too. Might as well, its clean right now. Hannah has done great since Ryan came home. She is my big helper and makes sure we know when Ryan needs something. Anyway, guess winter is officially here. The kids love it, I'm not sure I do, but it makes it feel more like Christmas.

lost a tooth

First lost tooth! Big milestone!

Garrett showing off his lost tooth.

Garrett lost his first tooth the other day. He was so excited to have a loose tooth but wouldn't let anyone pull it out. It was literally hanging there for days. Finally he got brave enough to let Blaine pull it out. He was amazed, "It didn't even hurt!" He did not want to put the tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He has it saved in a little bag. He says he is going to save up and get some more teeth out so he gets more money from the tooth fairy. Hmm...what is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days anyway? Good job bud, you are growing up!

still raking leaves

Garrett hard at work raking all those leaves.

Hannah would rather jump in the leaves
and scatter the piles all over.

So, even though it is December 3rd, we are still raking the leaves from our front yard. We only have two trees in our front yard, neither of which dumps the amount of leaves that are actually in the yard. Those are courtesy of our neighbor's row of cottonwood trees and the lack of raking done by our neighbors. Anyway, Blaine and I were out front this afternoon, starting to rake up this new mountain of leaves and suddenly two teenage boys walk up to us and say, "I see you have a lot of leaves. Would you like some help raking them?" I was very suprised but very willing to accept help. The boys, named Zack and Patrick, were hard workers and in about 15 or 20 minutes, our entire front yard was free of leaves...no small task. I was so pleased and suprised to find there are such good kids out there. I paid them $20 apiece and they seemed suprised to be paid. They saved the day for us right then. Thanks guys!