Christmas Day

We had a wonderful relaxing Christmas! The kids were so excited to find that Santa visited our home!

The kids got sleeping bags from Santa. They were ecstatic about them and have been sleeping with them ever since! They pulled them out right away and started on their stockings.

Hyrum about to dump out all of his goodies!

Presents! ... they got spoiled rotten by their grandparents!!

Madison couldn't have been happier about all the presents that were under the Christmas tree. She was a machine when it came to unwrapping presents. Hyrum loved it too- but was very happy after his stocking and two presents!

Opening presents from Nana and Papa Pete.
Madison wouldn't let go of her new books that she got from Grandma and Papa.

Hyrum was thrilled, to say the least, that he got a new hat!

He calls his new hat his "motorcycle man hat".

Mommy got pretty spoiled by Santa too. I am so excited about my new sewing machine! Yay!! :)

We got the Cootie Bug game and played it later that night. We had such a fun time laughing and being silly! I love Madison's expression and I also love the fact that Hyrum wore his "missionary tie" that he got from Grandma with his jammie bottoms. The rest of us stayed in our PJ's all day. It was fabulous Christmas!

The Happiest Place On Earth...

I know, it's been a while. November was a crazy month with lots of fun! I have so many pictures from last month and I've been too lazy to upload and blog all the pictures.

My parents came to visit near the first part of November. They treated our family to experience Magical Kingdom. We all LOVED it!

Madison and Hyrum were a bit worried at first, especially on Pirates of the Caribbean. But we just had to remind them that everything there was just like big toys- it was fake. Madison soon got it and had a blast! Hyrum, on the other hand, was bewildered by some of it. But we all had so much fun! Madison's favorite ride was It's A Small World and being able to meet all of the princesses. I definitely think Hyrum enjoyed meeting the princesses too! They got to meet three different princesses: Belle, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.

This was a dream come true for Madison!


Princess Arora asked Hyrum for a kiss, and he was so happy to give up one for her! :)
The princesses were all so sweet to get on their level to talk with them!

Madison and Hyrum still talk about the wonderful experience we all shared at Disneyland. They go around singing "It's a Small World" constantly and when were eating a frozen banana the other night for our FHE treat Hyrum and Madison were both talking about how they ate those on the "Pirate Ship". It was a memorable experience! Thank you Grandma and Papa!!

**I will have to do another post sometime once I get all of my mom's pictures-- she took a TON! (I was too busy having fun! :) )

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween! The kids were counting down the days, hours, and minutes until it was time to trick or treat. We went to our Ward Trunk or Treat and had fun eating hot dogs, chips, and of course lots of candy. I wasn't a very prepared mother and forgot to charge my camera. Hence, no pictures of the Trunk or Treat. The kids got a lot of candy from the ward party and so all of the pictures that I wanted of them before they went out trick or treating are filled with suckers in the mouth that they just couldn't part with.

Miss Madison went as Snow White.

What a yummy sucker!


Hyrum went as a dragon.

Here they are ready to go out trick or treating.


We met up with some of our friends to trick or treat. Here is the gang.

Hyrum ready to go!

They both had such a fun time. Madison especially loved running from house to house with her little friends. Hyrum, on the other hand, was perfectly content after about 10 houses and found his yummy candy!


This picture was not taken on Halloween but it is super cute of these best buddies! (No... I did not have them pose like this... this is all natural with these kids. Most of the time. )

Carving "Mr. Nobody"

We picked out and carved our family pumpkin on Saturday. The kids got really into it this year- especially Madison. She wasn't scared of getting dirty with the pumpkin guts.

Ewww.... pumpkin guts!

Madison hard at work cleaning out the pumpkin.

Everyone watching Daddy finish up all the dirty work.

Madison designed the face of our pumpkin this year. She is quite the little artist. She did a wonderful job too! Here the kids are showing off their mad monster faces with their pumpkin!

After carving our pumpkin the kids asked why he didn't have a body. Hence, we have named him "Mr. NoBody". We love our cute little pumpkin!

October

This month has been a busy one. And I have been too lazy to blog about it. But here are a few pictures of what we've been up to.

We celebrated Daddy's birthday!
I made homemade lemon pie for his birthday because that was his request. I have learned never to make a dessert for a special occasion without trying it out first. That night I made 3 lemon pies. Although we only ate one of them. I am not a Betty homemaker and have learned that I need some practice in the kitchen! I was very persistent and made sure that Cory had a birthday pie... we just didn't eat it until 9:00 pm. Oops!

We celebrated my birthday on the 19th with a delicious cheese cake Cory surprised me with. YUMMY! :)

This last week we have been having a lot of sick days. Hyrum was very sick with a fever and a horrid cough for 6 days. And Madison had the same thing for 4 days. I'm so glad they are all better and I got away without getting it. Yay!

Barnett Family Park

We found a fun park in Lakeland that is loads of fun to go to. It has fun water fountains to run through and a play ground. We've gone there a couple of times and Madison and Hyrum LOVE it!


Daddy and the kids pretending to be crocodiles.

One of Hyrum's many facial expressions as he soaks himself in the water!

Madison posing for the camera!

Hyrum was having so much fun I couldn't get a picture of him standing still. So here is another action shot. I love this boy's smile! (And Madison in the background.)

They have this cute statue at the park and Madison came to me and said, "Mommy come take my picture with those boys over there." I asked her if they were her boyfriends and she smiled and answered in the affirmative. What a girl!

All dressed up and ready for church!

These kids are SO DARN CUTE!!! .... at least their mommy thinks so!

We Are A Happy Family!

Madison and Hyrum love taking pictures these days. We were all in a pretty goofy mood on Friday night and decided to try to get a family picture.

Take One...

Take Two...

Take Three... I think this is as good as it's gonna get folks!
We love spending time as a family! :)

Update

It's been a while since I've updated this blog of mine... it's definitely time!


Madison is still loving school! She is constantly writing letters and singing songs that she has learned at school. She loves the fact that she gets to see her friends everyday- she is such a social butterfly! She has also become particular about a couple of things since she has started. She does not like us calling her by "Skatz" anymore. This has been one of her nicknames from Daddy for quite a long time now. Hyrum calls her this name the majority of the time because it is easier for him to say. She has now corrected us and tells us that we need to call her Madi or Madison. (Makes sense, doesn't it?) Ever since she has started school one of her chores has been to leave in the morning with a clean room. Madison has taken pride in her clean room and locks her door everyday before she leaves for school. I asked her why she does this and she told me that "she doesn't want anyone coming in and messing up her clean room." It works for me! :)


Hyrum and I have enjoyed the one-on-one time that we have to play together in the mornings since Madison has started school. I have decided to start potty training him AGAIN. (Hence the funny pictures of the kids with underwear on their heads!) I have decided that its REALLY time to start potty training since he has started to use the laundry room to do his business. Today Hyrum and I stopped to get a few things at the grocery store real quick- while he was wearing his big boy underwear. I thought that we would be safe. Yah RIGHT! He stopped in the middle of the isle dripping wet saying, "uh-oh potty!" A little late for that one. Needless to say we had a mess on aisle 8 to clean up! Haha. Pretty funny! Hyrum is doing pretty good. He still does not want to tell me he needs to go to the bathroom until after the fact. But he is becoming more and more willing to sit on the potty for me- and will go most of the time. (I wonder if Cheetos have a playing part in that one!) We are learning about colors right now. He is now starting to tell me other colors than "blue" when I ask him what color certain objects are. Now that's what I call success! :)
This picture of Daddy was taken by Madison on Sunday. (My kids have really been into taking their own pictures these days.) Daddy has been sick for the last week with a cold/cough he can't shake off. We hope he gets better soon!

Sorry I've just been too lazy to get on here and blog. I need to start taking more pictures and get back into business!

First Day Of School

Madison has been asking me for two years when she would be able to start school. Believe it or not, the day finally came for this little girl. Madison's first day of Preschool was on Tuesday.

I love Madison's face. She is so darling!

Madi was being quite silly with her posing. Too funny!

Here is Madi in her new classroom.

She is absolutely LOVING school. She is so excited and feels so lucky to get to go to school every day. (I hope she keeps up her positive attitude throughout her life!) She is making a lot of new friends and loves to come home and share with me what she has learned. I can't believe my girl is getting so big! What a fun stage Madison is entering. SO FUN!

Uncle Devon!!

We were lucky to have Uncle Dev-O come out and visit us last Friday night. Madison and Hyrum LOVE Devon and they both ran to them when he came over!!



We had the pleasure of meeting Devon's good friend, Kaylee.

We made pizza together... and it was yummy! :)


And after much laughing and monkeying around...

We decided to eat some ice cream and watch a movie together. We had so much fun- it was sad to see Devon leave us so soon. We love you Devon!