We Wish You A Merry Christmas...

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas and it was so fun to see Thatcher and Taggart having such a great time! We are so grateful for all of our blessings and especially at this time of year for our Savior Jesus Christ, whos birth we celebrate and whos life we honor and try to emulate. We are so grateful for His perfect life which he freely gave that we may be together as a family forever. It has been a wonderful Chrismas!

On Christmas Eve we had a few families over that we have become close to during our time here in Tucson.




We set up the "jumpy jump" (as we call it) for all the kids and let them have at it. It was really cute to see them all laughing and jumping. They were all SO excited for Christmas and Santa and pretty much were WIRED the whole night...it was fun.





The boys in their Christmas jammies.



The Loot...




Taggy riding around on his new trike.


Thatcher has been wanting some games. Here he is with Candyland that Santa brought him. That Santa is so smart!


Taggy is OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse. Here he is with a Mickey Mouse that he got from Grandma and Grandpa Monson that sings, "hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.


And here is Thatcher dancing to that Mickey Mouse song...


Todd wanted a kid carrier so we can port around one boy so we can know where one boy is at all times when we go on walks, picnics, ect. and have more hands for the other one!


Todd got me and the boys crocs for Christmas...they are so comfy!


Thatcher was bouncing off the walls all day!


Sitting down for Chrismtas dinner.


The feast...


Thatcher riding his new bike.

A Sister in my parents ward was kind enough to give Thatcher and Taggart two Super Hero capes that she makes and sells. They are ADORABLE. Thatcher has been wearing his today and acting the part of a Super Hero...which includes jumping off the couch, or "flying" as he calls it.






It's been a long day for Daddy...

We Finally Did It!

We finally cut Taggart's hair! I saw the last pic that I posted of him on the blog and realized that he could pass for a girl, and that was it! Chop! He looks so cute, and so much older. Our little baby is no more. We took some pictures of the boys in their little Christmas church outfits yesterday by the tree. Getting two little boys to stand still for a picture I have learned can be quite the task! Taggy thinks for some reason when we say smile, we mean blink and close your eyes. So half of the pictures turned out with his eyes closed.

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Has anyone ever wondered WHY they play "These are a few of my favorite things" at Christmas time? I didn't think that The Sound of Music was a Christmas movie? Anyway, these are a few of my favorite things about Christmas time...


Christmas cards! I love getting Christmas cards from all our friends and family from all over the world! Everyday Thatcher and I go check the mail, then post the cards and pictures on our entry way door. I just love this tradition!




I spent ALL day yesterday baking. I love to cook and bake and I love to make Christmas goodies! I made fudge, peppermint bark, and Caramel chocolate dipped pretzel rods. This is such a fun time of year when we think of all our neighbors and friends and bring them yummy treats to eat!

And here are the kids sampling all the Christmas treats!



Oh, and Thatcher wanted me to take his picture next to his puzzle that he is OBSESSED with doing.

Could Be Brothers!

This is my cousin Jessica's little boy Kyler. Taggy and Kyler look a lot alike I just can't believe it! I have always thought that Taggy looks a little like my Grandpa Mason, so funny! I guess those genes are pretty strong!

Can't Wait!

Fact: Most addicting show I have ever seen.
Fact: If Kate chooses Sawyer over Jack I will write hate mail to the writers.
Fact: After Christmas I will start a new countdown.
Fact: Best.Show.Ever.

Rincon Christmas Party

Last night was Todd's company Christmas party. We look forward to it because they really put on the dog for their employees. It is always at a really nice resort and they have a wonderful buffet dinner with entertainment, prizes, and then dancing follows. Last night the dinner was yummy and the dancing was really fun. We are really grateful for Todd's company and how well they take care of all their employees, the Christmas party is just a little example of countless ways. I am so proud of Todd because he works really hard and has been doing such a great job at Rincon. The other day was his performance review from his boss and he came out with a great review with his boss telling him he is one of the best enginneers there. He also got a wonderful raise which we weren't expecting. So at this time of year we are very grateful to be working for such a great employer!

HO HO HO!

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party. Since I am on the activities committee, I took the kids over to the church at 9:00am (since Todd was out of town until later that afternoon) and spent most of the day setting up, and getting ready for the party. My friend Teresa is the committee chair, which makes things really fun, and she did a really good job with this party. We had a musical program and then desserts and Santa after. As you can see Thatcher loved Santa, Taggy did not. Thatcher has defiantly grasped the idea of Santa, and keeps talking about him. We are getting excited for Christmas around here!

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday we got all decorated for Christmas! Todd put up our Christmas lights and we got all decorated inside the house as well. Thatcher has been so excited this year and keeps talking about Santa, Reindeer, and "Crickis lights". It has actually felt like "Crickis" here the last couple days because it has been overcast and chilly! Evey one is getting into a festive mood, time to break out the hot chocolate!


Don't fall!


"Up on the house top..."


The finished product!!

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have had such a fun week here at our house! Grandpa and Grandma Monson and Uncles Jon and Dave came and we have had a blast! Thanksgiving was delicious. My Mom and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen getting the dinner ready and it was great to learn from her how she makes all the traditional Turkey day meals. The boys have LOVED all the attention, and have had plenty of spoiling! There have been lots of games played, trips to the park, late night movies, lots of wrestling and a trip to an old western town with a stunt show and a yummy cowboy dinner. Grandma and Grandpa bought a early Christmas present for Thatcher and Taggy, it is a mini-jumping castle for the backyard! (Thanks Mom and Dad!) They LOVE it. It is so fun to watch them bouncing all over the place. The other night I was severely out numbered as the testosterone took over and all the 'boys' had a wrestling match in the living room. I will say that I beat my 16 year-old-football-playing brother at a arm wrestling match...looks like carrying 25 lbs. babies around all day does pay off! It has been such a fun little vacation and it will be hard to get back on schedule next week, good thing will still have two more days to spend playing and enjoying every ones company! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for all the fun! It has been a blast!

Thankful Tom

It was a tradition in my family to make a shoe box turkey (called Thankful Tom) and 'stuff' him with little notes of what we were thankful for. Then at Thanksgiving dinner my Dad would read all the notes and we would guess who wrote them. It was a fun tradition. Well last night for FHE we had a little lesson about being thankful and then made our Thankful Tom. Thatcher has been having a hard time letting go of the whole Halloween concept, so I have been talking about turkeys a lot lately, but I don't think he knew what a turkey looked like until last night! He now is going around saying, 'ahhhh scary turkey!'...I keep having to remind him that turkeys are not scary and Halloween is over! I told him that turkeys are not scary, they are funny...which he replied, 'no mommy, turkeys are not funny.' Alright, I stand corrected. We are excited to stuff Thankful Tom with all things we are grateful for!


Thatcher having a 'gobbly' time!


Todd helping Thatcher color a picture of what he is thankful for...


The finished product.

You know you are too young to get married when...

...the groom suggests to do this...

Hillarious Videos....

For all you moms out there who have Nick Jr. as part of your day....this is for you...


You know you are LDS when...

This is Halloween, This is Halloween!!!

We had a great Halloween! This year was so fun because Thatcher understood what was going on. All I have heard for the past couple weeks is 'I want Halloween!'. He was VERY into all the decorations and kept asking me about 'scary pumpkins' and 'ghosts' and 'witches'. He was so excited to carve jack-o-lanterns! It was really cute. This year Thatcher and Taggart went as Nemo and Squirt (the turtle) from Finding Nemo (one of Thatcher's favorites). I know I am a little bias, but they were so cute. Our Halloween festivities started Tuesday with playgroup at Lacey's house. The kids all dressed in their costumes and went trick-or-treating inside to various doors where the moms were behind passing out candy. On Halloween we went to Story Time at the library where all the kids were in costume and then had a little parade and party. Last night Thatcher was SO excited for trick-or-treating and had a lot of fun getting candy. Taggy was really good the whole time, just hanging out in the stroller (he was probably wondering what the heck was going on!). It was a fun filled day! Our ward Halloween party isn't until tomorrow night...so Halloween isn't even over for us! Thatcher is so happy!

This video isn't great quality, but it is really cute.