Mom and Connor Date

When I saw that one of Connor's favorite bands was coming to San Antonio, I had to splurge and get tickets!

As Connor has gotten older, I have seen the need for us to have more one on one time. These little dates keep the relationship tight and we have time to talk. And it's positive time together. Sometimes I nag way too much-- especially a teenager-- and positive time together is really, really important.

One Republic was in town for the big Rodeo in San Antonio. This is a HUGE rodeo that happens every year and lasts for 2 weeks. The rodeo is first, and then the concert is afterwards. Maybe that is a way to get people to go to the rodeo??? 

The opening ceremonies were pretty cool and very patriotic!

Connor is so excited for what's about to happen!

Connor being a goof bal!

We splurged and got cotton candy and a soda! Connor was in sugar heaven!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night. This was taken right as One Republic came out and started their first song. It was Connor's favorite song, "Secrets."  He is beyond excited in this pic.

This is my other favorite picture of the night. This is Connor's hands playing the "air-piano" along with the band playing "Secrets." So grateful that he has the talent of playing the piano so he can play cool songs like these!

Playing the "air-piano" 

We had such a fun time together. Connor is such a fun kid. He's got a great sense of humor and knows how to have a fun time. Doing things like this helps me to realize just how great my kids are. I am so blessed to have them in my life and to be their mom. I am grateful to learn and grow with them in this life.

Another Birthday for Dad!

Happy birthday to one of the greatest men I know!!!! These pictures are pretty lame, but I had to post them for laughing's sake.....and the cuteness factor, of course!

I love these two faces!

First present, a bottle of juice!!!!!! Yea!!! Brett loves this juice, so it was actually a really great choice for him.

I love these two faces, too!!!

Next present: A BOTTLE OF MOUTHWASH!!! YIPEE! If you know Brett, he HATES to chew gum, but is always conscience of his breath, especially working with his patients. So, this is a great gift too.

Brett did get other presents that day, but I have no documentation of them! And no pictures of Connor!!! Oh, well. This was worth the post for the laugh. 

The year of the juice and mouthwash!!!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

We finally made it to Utah!! 

After a 20 hour drive, we made it. It was hard, but not as bad as I thought. We had pretty good weather throughout the drive, and we were so excited when we made it to Moab! We knew we were getting close, then!

The beautiful mountains in Spanish Fork Canyon

What we weren't ready for was the cold!!! We left TX and it was 80*. It was in the low teens the whole 3 weeks we were in Utah!

Here are some highlights from the trip.

Seeing some of my favorite people in the world. Grandma and Grandpa Harmon. I am so blessed to have these two wonderful people in my life!

Cute little TJ!!!! First time to see this sweet boy!!!

The kids could not wait to be with "the cousins"!! I love this little boy!!

Making gingerbread boys with the cousins at Grandma's house!

This little girl is so sweet and precious. She talks like a little, tiny mouse. Her voice is so, so high. It's so cute. She was a little shy, at first, to come and play and be friends with me. Then when she realized I was connected to Connor, Makenna, and McKay, she was my friend! The ended up calling me and Makenna both, "McCami". It was so cute! Love this little thing!

My one and only sister!!!!

Love this cute little TJ! We got to be good friends while we were there!

The only drinking we'll ever see at our house! Martinelli's sparkling apple cider!

Happy New Year!!!  So much more fun to celebrate with cousins!!

One of McKay's Christmas presents was to have an art session with my fabulous Uncle, Kirt. He is my mom's older brother and is a wonderful, talented painter. McKay LOVES art and loves to paint, so this was like a dream come true, for him! He was so excited to spend some time with him, to paint in a real studio and to have a masterpiece!

Here they are before the session

We left them and went to run some errands. A few hours later we came back and I asked how it went. Kirt said, "It was good. We made some mistakes, but we learned from them. Right, McKay?" McKay looked a little sad and I said, "It's ok, buddy. Learning to be a painter like Uncle Kirt takes time and a lot of practice. This was a great experience for you, so don't feel bad if it doesn't look just like his!"

Kirt asked, "Well, do you want to come see what we did?" He took us downstairs to his studio and this is what we saw:

That is a picture McKay painted! Yes, McKay did that. Can you believe it?

I was shocked, to say the least!!! Kirt had his easel and canvas and showed McKay what to do. McKay mimicked him, and this was the finished product! I couldn't believe it. 

We definitely have a budding artist in our family! 

Thanks, Kirt!

Connor said he was going to miss the snow so much. Brett dared him to stick his face in it and he did!

The beautiful view from my parent's deck. You can see Saratoga if you look carefully!

Christmas at Grandma's House!

What a fun Christmas!!!

This year we got to spend Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house!! 

In Utah.

With SNOW!!

I remember one year when I was 10 or 11, we went to my grandparent's house in California for Christmas. It seemed like it was the best Christmas ever! I remember getting a Cabbage Patch Doll that year. That holiday is one of my favorite memories!!

Now that I'm the parent, I realize just how hard it is to pull off a "destination" Christmas. It was a lot of work, but sure worth it!

This is the classic "waiting-to-see-what-Santa-brought-us" picture!! There are several of these same style pictures that were taken of me and my siblings throughout the years. Priceless!

Pure excitement and joy on these happy sleepy-eyed faces! Love that photo bomber in the back!!!

That night, McKay left Santa a note with some cookies. Santa even signed, "Yummy!" back. Love these believing kids!

Makenna was so excited to get her Utah necklace

Connor opening something super exciting!!!

McKay was super thrilled about these "night-vision" goggles

We are probably the last family on the block to get one of these, hence the super suprised looks on the kids faces!

You can also see Kenna in her snuggy here

Something funny that happened with this present: We found a guy on Craigslist that was selling an old Wii with a bunch of really cool games and some controllers. We had already bought this new Wii, but decided to buy the old one with all the cool games. The cost of the whole package was less than the games would cost to buy by themselves. 

We met the guy and picked up our "package". I had it all set out, ready to wrap while the kids were at school. Well, I got a little distracted and did not get to wrapping the presents. And I also forgot that they were all sitting out. So, you can guess what happened: the kids saw the Wii and the games out. I was thinking inside my mind, "Stupid Rush!!!!!!" (A thing Brett's dad likes to say to himself when he's done something stupid. And that would be me at that time!!!)

Luckily, Brett is a little quicker on his feet than I am and said, "Oh, well we didn't want to show you guys this present because we thought it might make you jealous. But now that you've seen it, I guess it's ok to tell you about it. We bought this Wii and games off the internet for a family that we are doing a Sub-for-Santa for." 

The kids bought it. Phew!

They were disappointed it wouldn't be ours, but understood that since we were going to Utah, that was our main present.

Hence, the total EXCITEMENT!

Merry Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

This time of the year is my absolute favorite. There is just something magical about Christmas time. 

My visiting teachers understand that. 

One of my visiting teachers, Raelynn Garcia, is the best example of a visiting teacher I know of. She is caring, kind, loving and always doing something for me or my family.

In December, she brought over all the supplies to make homemade gingerbread houses! And when I say ALL the supplies, I mean ALL!!!

This was the real deal!

She designed a template, made the dough, cut the dough out to match the template, baked the dough, and brought the finished pieces over to our house.

She brought homemade frosting.

She brought every kind of candy you could think of to decorate the houses!

The kids were in heaven!

Kenna and her house

Mickey and his house

One of my favorite things of all time: Decorating the TREE!!

Yes, both boys are wearing shorts in December! Gotta love Texas weather!

Gigantic snowflake we copied from Pinterest

McKay wrote two letters to Santa because he lost his first one. Then he ended up finding the first one, of course! So he sent both!

I love how he says, "I've been trying to be good, but it's been a little hard."

This is a mural McKay made for Grandma Bell for Christmas. He got a frame for it and everything. He was so proud!

Happy Halloween!

I am going to begin this post with a very cute picture and end it with a very disturbing one!!! You'll see, trust me!

In Texas, you can't wear your Halloween costume to school. So, we had to do SOMETHING to celebrate this fun holiday!

Here's the cute face to go with a really fun hair-do!

Its a spider hair-do!!!! Makenna loved this and so did all her friends!

The day before Halloween, our ward had a Halloween party! (We also added a new member to our family!! But more on that later!)

We are so grateful for our ward family here in Texas. We feel so blessed to have many great people to associate with and celebrate fun holidays with! 

Here is Connor as a Mad Scientist. Sometimes he really fits the part! 

Kenna as Hermoine

McKay as, you guessed it, Harry Potter!

For the actual day of Halloween, Connor wanted to change things up a bit. He decided to go as a medieval warrior with a scruffy beard!

Kenna really rocks the Hermoine hair-do.

Connor playing the part of warrior well. That is a real sword, by the way. A present from Uncle Mike.

McKay as Harry Potter. This boy loves ALL things Harry Potter. Ask him any question, and he will know the answer!

Good Hermoine pose, no?

And here is the latest addition to our family: Ladybird. Yes, that is her full name. She is a true Texas dog named after Ladybird Johnson-- Lyndon B. Johnson's wife. She is a black lab mixed with something with big ears! It's been an adjustment, but we're happy to have her.

The kids just adore her

And here are the creepy pictures I promised. A really decked out Halloween house. The kids were petrified, but couldn't stay away! 

Here are the kids from the sidewalk. See that creepy figure in the background? That's an adult. He's dressed up as the Grim Reaper. He came over to the kids and asked them if they wanted to take a picture up close.

They were more brave than I would be!!!