Miscellaneous Photos

Mohawk

Ballerina moves on the cub scout bridge

My sweet little girl.

This is how she likes to sit on the couch.

Seth doesn't actually use his sit'n'spin how it is intended. In fact, it was confiscated because he was using it to climb up on everything.

Some bows from my bow making party.

Playing air hockey at Uncle Ben and Aunt Danielle's house.

Joss and Seth's new favorite hiding spot is in the cabinets on the entertainment center

Putting this chair next to this light switch kept Seth busy for a long time. It was great.

This was Joslyn's fishing trip. She took on of her broken necklaces and tied it to the end of this stick and fished from her pillow boat.

Joss was trying to be helpful and cut into the tie that I was making Patrick for Christmas.

Petting the sting-rays at the zoo.

Holding the snake at a friends birthday party.

Little boys in overalls make me so happy!

Joss's ankle after a day of scooter riding.

Seth eating at the table like a big boy.

He has the whole backyard to play in and he just wants to sit here and make faces at his mommy.

Making the pleats for a skirt for Joss.

Curlformers

Playing with the pegs at grandma and grandpa's house.

First swing with his new swing.

Dressing herself.

Joss Turns 3!!!

Poor Joslyn was recovering from the stomach flu on her actual birthday. Though you couldn't tell from this picture.

Since she wasn't feeling well and since her daddy was at work/school the whole day we celebrated a few days later.

We put up lots of fun decorations while she was taking a nap, so that when she woke up, daddy would be home and we would all be ready to party!






Joss got a fun new outfit, some play food and dishes, but most of all her mommy and daddy made her a new play stove!


After opening presents and playing for a while, we went out to dinner at Red Robin. Joss was pretty shy when they all came to sing to her, but she was smiling really big too. She also got a balloon and an ice cream sundae! So fun. Seth really enjoyed watching everyone and Joss was really liking coloring the kids menu.



The next day, I made Joss a special monkey birthday cake. She named it George after Curious George and loved getting to share it with everyone. She did however keep asking me where her George cake went and I had to remind her that we ate it.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSS! WE LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS!!

Mesa Temple Lights 2011

Between coats of paint on the entertainment center, we took the kids out to see the temple lights. I was thoroughly exhausted and really in a bad mood and I just did not want to have to chase Seth and Joss around the temple grounds, but Patrick convinced me that it would be a good thing for our family. So we went and to my surprise our kids were really well behaved. Joss walked next to me the entire time holding my hand and just enjoying all the pretty lights. Even Seth was good and didn't run away too many times. I was so thankful that my husband convinced me to go. It was great being able to talk to my kids about how our family was sealed together forever inside the temple. It was a great experience for our family, dispite the horribly blurry picture. :)

Patrick and Kelli's Christmas Present

For Christmas this year we decided to build ourselves an entertainment center. We used plans from Ana White's website to make six pieces that combined for one large unit. It was A LOT of work and it took us much longer than we thought it was going to. Patrick literally spent day and night working on this project. I would help during nap time and after the kids were in bed. Even though it was a ton of work and by the end we really started to hate it, we loved working together on this project and are very happy with the way it turned out.

Patrick's first step in making the entertainment center was to make himself a work bench.


Next he made the main tv console.


After that, we made the tv hutch, two side cabinets, and the two side hutches.


Once that was all done, we sanded it down, primed it and put two coats of paint on her. Here is a tip for you, don't paint outside at night. It doesn't work so well. :)Needless to say our paint job isn't that great, but we were so finished working on this project that we didn't care.


Once everything was dry we brought it in, added holes for the cords, put the cabinet doors on including all the hardware, secured it to the wall and added our accessories. Patrick still needs to make two small drawers for until the tv and I still need to distress it, but we love it and are very happy with how it came out.

Christmas

We really enjoyed Christmas this year. There is just something about having kids that makes Christmas more magical! I loved watching Joss get excited about the Christmas lights and seeing our tree for the first time. I loved that she would always point out the baby Jesus in our nativity scenes. She loved giving gifts to others and it was just so much fun. I can't wait until next year when we have two kids to bring in the magic of Christmas to our home.

My side of the family did a cousins gift exchange this year. Joss got Matthew a nerf gun and Seth got Carrigan a ballerina music box. Seth got a train and Joss got a Curious George stuffed animal. As you can see she LOVES it!


We had another new face in our home this Christmas. This is Rudolph. He was my grandpa's reindeer. When my grandma passed away early in the year, he came to live with us.


Every year my mom makes her grandkids a special ornament to go in their Christmas bags. This year was a very special Christmas mouse.


Here is how Santa left the tree after he left on Christmas Eve.


Here is Joss ripping into the doll house that Mamu and Papu got her. She LOVES this doll house! Plays with it all the time.


Joss and Seth enjoying some of their new toys.



Every year Santa always leaves us special treats to eat. This year he left us juice boxes! Seth and Joss were in heaven!!



This year, Santa left us a really big present in the backyard! A SWING SET!!!! I had to laugh because when Joss saw it in the backyard, she said "A park?" She was so happy that Santa brought her her very own park to play on. By the smiles on these kids' faces you can tell that they love their new "park".



This is about as "white" as our Christmases come in Phoenix. I am not complaining!


Our family in our new Christmas jammas. Joss loves that hers have hearts all over them.


After opening our Christmas presents we went to church. I was asked to play for the choir and they were in serious need of male voices so Patrick sang in the choir. A very special thanks goes to Uncle Scott for watching Joss and Seth so that we could do that. Here is our family picture in our matching Christmas outfits. I had fun making all the little parts so our family could be a little extra festive for the holiday.


We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas as well.