He's Back!!

Dan's brother, Mike, got home from his mission yesterday. He has been serving as a missionary for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in the Recife, Brazil mission for the last 2 years. When he left on his mission Spencer was 4 weeks old, and now he is 2! We were able to talk to Mike on the phone last night which was so fun (and despite speaking Portuguese for the last 2 years his English was pretty good!). Blake has been stumbling on his last few prayers because he is so used to saying "bless Uncle Mike and Uncle Kyle on their missions." We explained to him that Uncle Mike is home and he's not a missionary anymore so he is trying to get used to just praying for Uncle Kyle.
We are so proud of Mike and the GREAT work that he did in Brazil. We are excited for him to head out to BYU in January and hear of all his fun experiences out there.
Welcome Home Mike!

Just Because...

I felt like it was time to update the blog a little bit. Here are the boys in their Spiderman winter hats they bought with birthday money.And a few weeks ago we wen to bed one night and our old house was standing. Get up the next morning to take Blake to school and it is gone. Here they are tearing down Jo and Ruben's house right across the street. Kind of sad to look down the street and my old house is gone. Oh well...this house is better! :)

Goodbye Granny

FIVE generation picture taken November 2008

My sister called me this morning while me and the boys were out running errands to tell me that Granny passed away this morning. I am still in shock about it. I knew she was old (she was 98 years old) and I knew she was having health problems but it was just a big surprise. Granny was like the Energizer Bunny, we thought she would out-live us all.

Granny is my great grandma and my boys' great-great grandma. We were able to go visit Granny just 3 weeks ago when we were in California for Grandma Hobbs funeral and I am so glad we saw her.

For the second time in one month I am faced with losing another Grandma. I remember being in high school and having 6 grandmas alive and now I have one. I am grateful that I have memories with my grandparents.
Most importantly I am thankful for my knowledge that family relationships don't end with death and that I will see Granny again.

Blake and Spencer with Granny

Giveaways.....

Tip Junkie is doing her 12 days of Junkie again this Christmas. Head on over and check out what she's offering. Click here.

2 year and 4 year Pictures

I decided to just do my own portrait studio in the basement. It's nothing thrilling but it saved me a trip, by myself, with both boys to get their pictures taken. Their individual pictures turned out cute, the ones of them together....not so much...

This picture pretty much says it all! :)

Happy Halloween

Here's a recap of our Halloween Festivites. It started on Friday night with the ward Trunk-or-Treat.Blake and his friend Matthew in the costume parade.

Spencer and Dad in the costume parade.

Then on Halloween afternoon we carved pumpkins.



Then the Lotz family came over for soup and breadsticks and we got all the kids ready to hit the town. Spencer TOTALLY caught on to the idea of walking up to someones door, reaching in the bowl and taking as much candy as he wanted. If we didn't watch him close he would just keep taking candy and filling his bucket. It was pretty funny.
Blake: Optimus Prime, Mason: Bumlebee, Spencer: Pirate, Cyrus: Chicken, Miriam: Butterfly
Cyrus and Spencer's little legs got tired a lot quicker than the other kids so they got to ride from house to house.
The boys with their loot.
Spencer the pirate saying "Arrrrgh."
Happy Halloween!

20 Week Ultrasound

Blake's been saying all along he wants another brother....guess he knew something we didn't know.

IT'S A BOY!!!

20 Week Belly Shot

More Parties

Today was a day of parties! First was Blake's Harvest Festival (just call it a freakin' Halloween Party for cryin' our loud!) at school. Spencer and I went and helped and it was fun to see him at school with his friends.

Blake with the robot hat he made.
Coloring pumpkins with Mason and Miriam.
Spencer and Blake eating snack. Spencer loved sitting at the big table with Blake.


Then later that night Blake had his birthday party. He turned 4 so he could invite 4 friends to his Transformers Birthday party. He had a great time. Here are some pictures from the party.
Blake with his Transformers cake. Not too bad if I do say so myself.
Decepticon Bowling.
Playing Optimus Prime Says
Happy Birthday!
Opening the Allspark box they had to find with all their goodie bags in it.

Doctor Appointments

The boys had their 2 year old and 4 year old check ups today followed by the H1N1 vaccine for all of us...so fun! Here are their stats:

Spencer at 2 years old:
Weight-26 lbs.
Height-33 inches

Blake at 4 years:
Weight-32 lbs.
Height- 40 inches

I can't remember the percentiles they are in...it took all my mental capacity to just remember the weight and height for both of them. :)

Happy Birthday Blake

Blake is 4 years old today. We had a pretty low key birthday today because it was snowing ALL DAY and he is having his party with 4 friends (since he is turning 4 years old) on Thursday. We did wake him up singing and with his presents. Then he went to school and he said everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. Dan was at work until bedtime so it was just me and the boys for the afternoon and evening. Blake chose what to have for dinner....pizza and soup....I don't know where he got that combination, but it's his birthday so that's what he got. He has been obsessed with Robin Hood lately so he played with the bow and arrow he got for his birthday all day.
He got to pick out a treat at the store (since I wasn't about to make a cake today and then one for the party on Thursday) and he picked popsicles (it's a winter storm outside and he picks popsicles!). Well, candles don't go in popsicles well so we found some pudding packs to put candles in and sing to him.
When Dad got home Spencer went to bed and while I visited with my Visiting Teachers Dad and Blake ate popsicles and watched Charlie Brown Halloween...he loved having some time with Dad.
Happy Birthday Blake....I can't believe you're already 4 years old!Opening his cards and presents.

New Optimus Prime costume.
Blake with his "cake."
His new bow and arrow that has only been put down for him to nap and go to school.

Newest Member of the Family

We had to get a bigger car since the family is getting bigger. We bought this today....my AWD mini-van!

Corn Maze

Last night we went to the Corn Maze in Vaughn, Montana. It was cold and windy and eventually started raining a little bit but it was the only time we could go in the next week so the weather couldn't stand in our way! :) The boys didn't even notice it was cold, they had a great time running around the whole place (because of the weather it wasn't very crowded). After we were done we went to McDonald's Playplace and had Hot Chocolate. It was a perfect fall evening.Dan and the boys at the top of the slide.

At the bottom of the slide.

Blake and Spence on the Cow Train
Playing in the corn box.
FamilyPhoto Shoot!
Look at them cowboys!
Blake and Spencer had a great time running ahead of us in the hay maze and hiding. Here they are when we found them.

Happy #2 Spencer

Today is Spencer's 2nd birthday. I can't believe he's already 2! He had such a fun day for a little guy. We woke him up singing and giving him his presents, then he had pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we headed over to the church for a Halloween playgroup where the kids came in costume and we decorated sugar cookies. Before and after nap it was actually nice enough that the boys were able to play outside which was a nice surprise after yucky, cold, rainy weather.
I made him one of his favorite dinners, chicken cressants and broccoli, and then we had our Montana family over for a family party (meaning the Lotz family). He had Elmo cupcakes and presents. It was a busy and fun day for a little guy. We love having this little one in our family. He has really started showing his little personality more and more the last few weeks and it is so fun. Happy Birthday Spence!

Showing off some of his new presents.
Spencer the Skeleton and Blake the Lightning McQueen Pit Crew Member ready for Playgroup.


The 5 kiddos at the party.
Opening presents.

Cousin Pedicures!

After the funeral we all went back to Grandma's house and my Dad and his generation started watching old family videos (when I say old I mean before sound was included in home videos). My generation was pretty sure they could sit there all night and watch voumes 1-8 in one sitting so us girl cousins decided to go do something fun together (all the boys were watching football and were occupied). We hopped in our cars and went to get pedicures. It was a fun night.

This was my first pedicure (Stacey's too). I think they are pretty fun, and relaxing. Should have started getting these years ago! :)

Grandma's Funeral

Saturday, October 17, was Grandma's funeral. It was a wonderful service. Carrie and I were a little nervous for Dad because he was conducting and he gets choked up announcing speakers in Sacrament Meeting so his mom's funeral was going to be hard. He did so good though, we were proud! All the grand kids sang a song, Grandma's sister and 2 daughters spoke and my cousin did a piano medley.
After the funeral we went to the cemetery where dad dedicated the grave and then we went back to the church for a lunch that the Relief Society put together for the family. It was a nice day to be with family and remember Grandma. It was weird to all be together and Grandma not be there. She will be missed but we know where she is and that we will see her again.Grandma's Pall Bearers were the 6 out of 8 grandsons at the funeral (the other 2 were not there because they are serving missions)

At the gravesite. Holly (my cousin) came up with the cute idea to have little paintings from each of the great-grandkids at the cemetary. I think it looked really nice. (Blake's is the 2nd from left and Spencer's is the 4th from left)

Blake and Spencer helping me take a flower from the casket.
The 4 oldest great-grandkids (Nora, Sarah, Spencer, Blake) playing a game during the lunch.